unity of action. For there is no centre of gravity
common to Freedom and Slavery. They will not compose an
equilibrious figure. You may cry "Peace! Peace!" but so long
as these two antagonistic Ideas remain, each seeking to
organize itself and get exclusive power, there is no peace;
there can be none.

The question before the nation to-day is, Which shall
prevail--the Idea and Fact of Freedom, or the Idea and the
Fact of Slavery; Freedom, exclusive and universal, or
Slavery, exclusive and universal? The question is not
merely, Shall the African be bond or free? but, Shall
America be a Democracy or a Despotism? For nothing is so
remorseless as an idea, and no logic is so strong as the
historical development of a national idea by millions of
men. A measure is nothing without its Principle. The Idea
which allows Slavery in South Carolina will establish it
also in New England. The bondage of a black man in
Alexandria imperils every white woman's daughter in Boston.
You cannot escape the consequences of a first Principle more
than you can "take the leap of Niagara and stop when
half-way down." The Principle which recognizes Slavery in
the Constitution of the United States would make all America
a Despotism, while the Principle which made John Quincy
Adams a free man would extirpate Slavery from Louisiana and
Texas. It is plain America cannot long hold these two
contradictions in the national consciousness. Equilibrium
must come.[4]

[Footnote 4: See this statement in Mr. Parker's Additional Speeches,
Addresses, and Occasional Sermons. Boston, 1855, vol. ii. p. 250, _et
seq._]

These two ideas are represented by two parties which aim at the
ultimate organization of their respective doctrines, the party
indicating the special tendency towards Democracy or Despotism. The
Party of Freedom is not yet well organized; that of Slavery is in
admirable order and discipline. These two parties are continually at
war attended with various success.

1. In the individual States of the North, since the Revolution, the
Party of Freedom has gained some great victories; it has abolished
Personal Slavery in every northern State, and on a deep-laid
foundation has built up Democratic Institutions with well proportioned
beauty. The Idea of Freedom, so genial to the Anglo-Saxon, so welcome
to all of Puritanic bi