On the record
But the people of France, shut up in darkness during centuries of misrule, passed at a step from abject servitude to unlimited freedom.
Source
gutenberg.orgWilliam Seward: “But the people of France, shut up in darkness during centuries of misrule, passed at a step from abject servitude to…”
Editor's note · Context
Seward contrasts the rapid transition of the French people from servitude to freedom with the American experience.
Share
More from William Seward
From and after the fourth day of July, 1842, there shall be, throughout the United States, NO HEREDITARY SLAVERY, but on and after that day every child born within the United States shall be FREE.
That freedom and that security required that the nations of Europe should relax their grasp on the American Continent.
The perils of the enterprize are already passed--its difficulties have already been removed--when it shall have been accomplished it will be justly regarded as the last noble effort which rendered the Republic imperishable.
Slavery therefore must be restrained, and, without violence or injustice, must be abolished.
Other voices in this conversation
