USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lives of the eminent dead and biographical notices of prominent living citizens of Montgomery County, Pa. > Part 9
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" It has sometimes been permitted, in God's providence, that a people should deliberately fix the great principles of their polity under circumstances happily calculated to secure to themselves and their posterity the high blessings of His benevolent justice, so as to promise the fulfillment of the great end for which He created man -happiness. Such was the occasion when these States declared themselves free and independent; such was that which secured to the people of the Northwestern Territory the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty ; and such, let me observe, and not least in importance, is that on which we are deliberating. The people of these happy States were the first who proclaimed before the uni- verse that 'All men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.' I pray you, sir, go back with me to the memorable era of which I am speaking. How stood the
affairs of our ancestors when they adopted these truths as the maxims of their policy? The power of one of the mightiest nations was raised to crush them; that power was directed by the vindictive spirit of an incensed king and parliament and a prejudiced people. A large mass of the people of America adhered to the mother coun- try, ready to become her willing instruments in the worst scenes of the sanguinary conflict. The States were without government, with- out allies, without revenue, without arms, and without military or-
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. ; ganization. In such a state of things, under such circumstances, they called the Supreme Judge of the world to witness that as to them His laws had been violated, and it had become their duty to .resist oppression, and on the purity of their motives they invoked the protecting arm of His providence, and plighted their lives, their . fortunes and their sacred honor to vindicate the truth that govern- . ments ought to secure to all men the inalienable rights of life, lib- . erty, and the pursuit of happiness. What a prodigy! Truths that : the speculative philosopher and retired philanthropist had hardly · ventured to indulge, were now proclaimed as the bright gem which · was to be obtained cheaply, at the cost of every danger that man . could encounter.
All that before was wonderful, sunk into little-
ness. The fainting hopes of humanity were revived ; the world was irradiated by the blaze of truth; it was as the voice of Justice cry- .ing from the wilderness, whither the arm of tyranny had banished her: 'Despair not, ye oppressed nations. My temples are not · everywhere desolate. There is still a people determined and able to vindicate my empire.' The pledge they gave was redeemed. . The arm of that Providence besought with all the fervency of the prayers of suffering virtue was extended to good men engaged in a just cause, who had sworn to establish the great principles of social · liberty or to fall victims to the high attempt. The oppressor was humbled to acknowledge that our country was and of right ought to be free and independent. Magnanimous allies had been obtained . during the contest, and the recognition of the independence of our , country by Britain removed the last caveat to our admission into the community of nations. History informs us, though independence and peace had been achieved, still much remained to be done, by a wise policy and just laws, to secure the benefit of the great princi- ples consecrated at the birth of our political community.
"In 1787 an occasion offered still more felicitous than that in which the faculties of sovereign power were assumed to apply the just, social principles unanimously recognized by the great act of the Congress of 1776. The cession of the Northwestern Territory by the several States claiming it, in full sovereignty, to the United States, gave to the old Congress an opportunity of showing that peace and security had not weakened their faith in or lessened their . attachment to the principles of the great corner-stone of all our laws and constitutions-the Declaration of Independence. That instru- ment had the unanimous vote of the representatives of all the States. 'There were no geographical distinctions then; slaveholding and non-slaveholding States were not thought of. By one simultaneous act the Congress declared and the States ratified the declaration that governments were established to secure the enjoyment of individual rights, deriving their just authority from the consent of the gov- erned.
"At that time, let it be remembered, all the States contained slaves, and all the States declared before the Supreme Judge of the world that slavery was a violation of His truth, and admitting the
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binding obligation to remedy the wrong when possible. Now lett us recur to the ordinance of 1787 and the articles of compact it con- tains. I can do it justice in no other language than that declaring; its purposes, as laid down by the wise and good men who conceived and gave it effect. Thus it reads :
"""'And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and re- ligious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions, are erected; to fix and establish those prin- ciples as the bases of all laws, constitutions and governments which forever hereafter shall be formed in said territory; to provide also; for the establishment of States and permanent governments therein, and for their admission to a share in the Federal councils on an equal footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be- consistent with the general interests.'
" Look at the scope and character of this declaration. Here, in- deed, the great self-evident truths of which I have been speaking; were applied in full effect to a virgin territory unstained by the vices; untainted by the errors, and unembarrassed by the mistaken notions of" interest incident to human society. They were the laws of God ap- plied to a country before it had been peopled, by a wise foresight,. which has been often displayed under the guidance of a kind Provi- . dence, by the councils of our country. At the era of independence. the wholesome maxims of our policy, though recognized, could not have their full effect, because in the infancy of our settlements the curse of slavery had been entailed upon us by a blinded and unkindi mother country. All that virtue could require was that so inveter- ate a disease should be relieved by applying diligently discreet cor- rectives, and, above all, guarding against the extension of the evil. Thus do we find, four years after peace had been settled, on cool deliberation, the Federal council seized the first opportunity of planting the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, like seed cast in a soil received, as it were, from the hands of the Creator, where they designed them to flourish in eternal vigor and. spread their fragrant branches through the world. This mighty stroke of a wise policy was had under the utmost freedom from all! bias of selfishness and of constraint.
" The great men who executed this trust looked not at the bear -- ings of interest or to the gratification of an unworthy ambition. The ordinance declares a second time that slavery was viewed as a great: evil, and one for the existence of which the people of that day were. not accountable; that States which found themselves under the. sad necessity of permitting its continuance, might, at the same time,. without inconsistency, declare again and again all men are created. equal. This immortal ordinance, which, with its elder sister, the Declaration of Independence, will shed eternal and unextinguish- able lustre over the annals of our country, was also adopted by an unanimous vote. It was aye, aye, from New Hampshire to Geor- gia. Here again there was no geographical distinction. In this. act of imperishable virtue Virginia had the largest share. She ceded
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the most extensive and best founded right to the territory. She left Congress free to impress on it the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty. She gave her ready voice for the ordinance, and it is believed her representatives were among the most ardent advocates for the measure. I cannot look into the articles of com- pact without burning with admiration of their principles and the wisdom and virtue by which they have been consecrated. There are no marginal notes, or I would briefly recount them. The rights of the untutored Indian were guaranteed, and, in the goodness and wisdom of the legislator, it was left open to his hopes that his pos- terity might one day enjoy the blessings of the rights they secured. These blessings, Mr. President, have been already consecrated to three stars of your constellation, that will soon take rank as of the first magnitude. Ohio will probably appear in that character at the next census. I have spoken of the ordinance of 1787 as apply- ing to a territory. But of what mighty magnitude it is! It is fitted to contain a mightier population, than that of the mightiest coun- tries of the Old Continent. If its history was not insulated by more comprehensive events, it might now stand as the world's best hope. In this instrument it was not necessary to repeat that all men are created equal ; that was already inscribed on the corner-stone of all your laws and polity. It was here enough to say no man should be a slave, and that every man should have an equal share of civil and religious liberty by the decree of unchangeable justice. So far we discover no holding back; all is one consistent, just, enlightened and unvarying policy. Everything seems to have been done in the- divine spirit, breathed by the representatives of an oppressed peo- ple, in the Declaration of Independence.
"About this period it became necessary to form a more perfect union, and the Constitution framed by an assembly over which Washington presided, seemed to have put the last hand to the work which placed on an immovable foundation the fundamental princi- ples of civil and religious liberty wherever our republics, their laws and constitutions, are erected. That instrument, framed with al- most superhuman intelligence, clothed the Congress with all legis- lative powers granted in it, and with power to make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territories belonging to the United States; and all engagements were declared to be as valid against the United States under the Constitution as under the Confedera- tion. Among the first acts of the new Congress is one providing that the ordinance of 1787 should continue to have full effect. At the formation of the Constitution this ordinance must have been well understood. It was enacted a little time anterior to the ad- journment of the convention, and was the harbinger of the great compact of union. The councils from which they emanated were clothed with the power and represented the majesty of the people, and it was impossible that the compromise resorted to by the con- vention, in settling the rule of representation and taxation, should have been considered as applicable only to the States then existing and to those which might be admitted out of the territory of the
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good old thirteen. The same obligation of duty, consistency and regard to right, which induced the old Congress to prohibit slavery in the Northwestern Territory, could not have been inoperative in the convention, as many States had long before abolished slavery, and nobody seems then to have thought it admissible only under hard necessity. I think it will scarcely be contended that in 1787 any of our councils could have contemplated the purchase of the territory which presents the great question on which we are now deliberating, or that such a question would have grown out of such an event.
" In 1787 North Carolina ceded to the United States the terri- tory which is now called Tennessee. In the cession she stipulates, among other things, that the inhabitants of that territory should en- joy the benefits of the ordinance, save only that the Congress should pass no law tending to emancipate slaves. In this, I apprehend, it will hardly be contended she was binding them by restrictions, but that it will be allowed she intended to secure to them all the liberty their condition would permit. This recognition and ratification of the ordinance is proof of the estimation in which its principles were held; and Tennessee has been admitted under its enfranchising, or, as you will call them, restricting provisions, and has long appeared amongst us as an ornament to this body. On her admission were the words 'on an equal footing with the original States' first used. She being the first State admitted under the articles of compact in the ordinance of 1787, the words were from thence transplanted, and, like texts from another book, not standing in their original relation to other words, their meaning has been misunderstood. Turn to the ordinance, and they are made plain. It there reads: 'The new State shall be admitted when it shall have sixty thousand free in- habitants therein, by its delegates in the Congress of the United States, on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and State government; provided, the constitution and State gov- ernment so formed shall be republican and in conformity to the principles contained in these articles." These are conditions under which seven new States have been admitted into this Union, save only the article respecting slavery has been silent in the admission of Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, and by especial reservations it has not been required of Louisiana to forbid slavery.
" Can it be possible, after this long settled construction, that it can be seriously contended that the Congress, in the admission of Missouri, can propose no check on the evil of slavery, and, by parity of reasoning, none on any portion of the country acquired under the title of Louisiana? We have seen Mississippi and Alabama brought into the Confederation under compact to permit slavery. Louisiana has been admitted in the discretion of Congress, on what grounds I know not, but, I am bound to believe, from what was un- derstood to have been uncontrollable necessity. If so, it can avail Missouri nothing, as no such necessity exists in this case. The
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amendment has, I have to regret, but a limited operation on slavery. It is not proposed to free the slaves in Missouri, but to prevent their increase by immigration. This principle does not touch all the: provisions of the treaty. The country is to be eventually incor- porated into the Union, it is admitted. We are all anxious the portion in question should be. The dispute is, shall she be admitted without securing to her the franchises of civil and religious liberty, as far as her condition admits of its being done. Congress has power to prevent the migration of slaves, and though lexicographers may not be uniform in their interpretation of the word, in general acceptation it means change of place ; so it has been construed by the Congress. An act now exists prohibiting the migration of slaves to Louisiana in any manner but as bona fide the property of persons actually going to settle within it. I know it will be alleged that it has been repealed. But I have searched the Statue Book, and looked' into the Constitution of Louisiana, and can find no repeal of it. The section I allude to is as follows :
" ' It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to import or bring into the said Territory, from any part or place without the limits of the United States, or cause or procure to be so imported or brought, or knowingly to aid or assist in so importing or bring- ing any slave or slaves; and every person so offending, and being; thereof convicted before any court within said Territory having competent jurisdiction, shall forfeit and pay for each and every slave. so imported the sum of three hundred dollars; one moiety for the use of the United States and the other moiety for the use of the per- son or persons who shall sue for the same, and every slave so brought shall thereupon become entitled to and receive his or her freedom," etc.
" If this be the law, where is your wonder-working writ of habeas corpus? Are your judiciary asleep and your laws a dead letter? If I am mistaken I hope to be corrected, but it is enough for my pur- pose to show that such a law has existed, and that the power of Con- gress to regulate the migration of slaves is not a new doctrine, nor now first proposed to be exercised. It proves incontestably that the motion I have now offered has not hitherto been deemed as con- flicting with the provisions of the treaty of cession. I am willing to consider Missouri as an inchoate State. No one will more gladly see her admitted into the Union ; but I wish to see the page of her Constitution irradiated with the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty-to see her become a party to that covenant around which the patriots of '76 pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. The committee have attached the admission of Missouri to the bill for admitting Maine under the pretext of con- geniality. How insufficient the pretence ! What ludicrous incon -. gruity do the two propositions present! You are not acting on a section of two or three lines. As to Maine, it is her Constitution that you are ratifying. What do you find on the front of it?
" 'Article I, Section 1. All men are born free and equal, and are
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free to worship God in their own way.' Here is a substantial pledge to the good old faith. To her we say, 'Come, sister; take your place in our constellation. The lustre of your countenance will brighten the American galaxy.' But do not urge us to admit Mis- souri under a pretence of congeniality-with the visage of a savage deformed with the hideous cicatrices of barbaric pride-with her features marred as if the finger of Lucifer had been drawn across them."
That speech, one of many which he delivered while in Congress, displays, as nothing else could, the habit of his thoughts and the style of his oratory. Able as were all the others made in the de- bate upon the Missouri question, there were none of them which sur- passed this brief but comprehensive oration in the force of its logic or the foresight which it displays. The debate lasted three weeks, at the end of which time the vote was taken on Mr. Roberts' re- strictive amendment, and was negatived by a vote of 16 ayes to 27 nays. As the mover Mr. R. made the closing speech, which was a complete refutation of every position which the opponents of the motion had taken. On the defeat of that amendment, Mr. Thomas, of Illinois, submitted the following additional section as an amend- ment to the Missouri scheme, which it was proposed by a report of the Judiciary Committee to incorporate with the Maine bill:
"And be it further enacted, That in all that tract of country ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, excepting only such part thereof as is included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude otherwise than in the punishment of crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted ; provided, always, that any person escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully due, claimed in any State or Territory of the United States, such fugitives may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service aforesaid."
Mr. Roberts opposed this amendment as determinedly and ably as he had advocated his own, but it was eventually adopted, and the bill, so amended, admitting Missouri into the Union, was en- acted into law. This was the famous act, the repeal of which in 1854, under the lead of Stephen A. Douglas and President Pierce, gave rise to the present Republican party, and eventually led to the slaveholders' rebellion against the United States. The opposition of Mr. Roberts to the extension of slavery, at that early day, was most earnest and unyielding. This was the last of the great mea- sures on which he was called to act, as the close of the session ter- minated his useful and most honorable public labors in Congress.
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His efforts to stay the spread of the social pestilence was for the time fruitless, as the compromise was adopted, and slavery had full sway over all the territory lying south of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude until the Ist of January, 1863, when it was abolished forever in all our borders.
In 1823, after the expiration of his term of office as Senator of the United States, he was invited to stand for the Legislature, an invitation which, with much reluctance, he accepted. At that time public attention became engrossed with the duty of selecting a suc- cessor to President Monroe. There were several candidates, all claiming to be Democrats-Crawford of Georgia, Adams of Massa. chusetts, Clay of Kentucky, Jackson of Tennessee, and Calhoun of :South Carolina, each having some show of support. Mr. Roberts favored the nomination of Crawford, who was the favorite of the intellect of the Republican or Democratic party. Had not his health failed him the probability was that he would have proved the strongest candidate. Supposing that by obtaining a seat in the Legislature at that time he would thereby promote the chances of ·Crawford's election, Mr. Roberts accepted the nomination, and rwas elected. Almost single-handed and alone he stood out against the tide of Jacksonism that swept through the Pennsylvania Legis- lature. In this his standing as a public man was rendered quite un- ¡popular, notwithstanding he was once thereafter returned to his seat. .As the last of his legislative services he took an active and leading part in the great internal improvement scheme which at that time started the prosperous career which has since been pursued by the Keystone State. That great system was not adopted in the form Mr. Roberts desired, owing to the refusal of the Senate to incor- porate the essential provision for a sinking fund to eventually liqui- date the outlay. He was urged to stand as a candidate for the next session of the Legislature, but he felt it was time for him to retire .and look more after his private affairs. One feature of the Improve- ment enactment was for a Canal Board to serve without pay, as an expedient to get rid of drones. This plan was only partially suc- ·cessful, as idle and incompetent men pressed themselves into even that public position. Governor Shultz at length sent a commission to Mr. Roberts with the request that he would accept it. Being un- willing to show reluctance to execute a policy which he had so ear- nestly supported, and to keep the appointment out of improper hands, he consented to fill the place, although at great private sacri- ffice. He continued to fulfill the duties of his office for three years,
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much to the advantage of the State. This brought his public ser- vices up to the year 1827, when Jacksonism had acquired control of all State affairs in Pennsylvania. The Republican Canal Board was . obnoxious to the predominant Jackson junto in the Legislature, and . the members of the former body were legislated out of office, they having refused to resign the discharge of their duties, and a new ' Jackson board was legislated into office, as they would not trust : Governor Shultz to make other appointment.
From this time forward Mr. Roberts was active in his opposition : to Jacksonism, and kept the defenders of the Hero of New Orleans . engaged in an animated public discussion of the claims of that im- petuous and arbitrary man to the confidence of the American peo- ple. This drew down upon him the displeasure of those who were ' carried away by the military renown of Jackson. Mr. Roberts was . a warm and able defender of Mr. Adams, who was made the target . for the bitter assaults of men like Samuel D. Ingham, and Timothy Pickering, who sought to advance Jackson's interests by creating : popular prejudice against President Adams, who, as well as Jackson and Clay, had been Democrats up to the time of his election. In . this purpose these adversaries of Mr. Adams were successful, and in . 1828 Jackson was elevated to the Presidency by the popular vote. . In his opposition to General Jackson, Mr. Roberts was governed : solely by patriotic and impersonal motives. He felt and knew he - was engaged in an unpopular cause, and the public controversy was " most distasteful to him; but he fearlessly breasted the storm and i looked forward to the time when it was to spend its force. That time came with the expiration of President Jackson's last term. It - is true Van Buren succeeded him, but the unnatural coalition which had constituted the Jackson party melted away under the adminis- tration of his more politic but less willful predecessor.
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