hey finally presented the anomaly of maintaining a
noble struggle for national independence, avowedly based upon the
broadest principle of human right. They aggregated themselves,
eventually, into a federal union--a political nationality founded on
'the corner stone' of liberty, and not of slavery. In view of all the
circumstances, this was a wonderful result; but the old original
opposition, which had been incapable of resisting slavery in the days of
colonial infancy and weakness, had not yet been subdued on the day when
the nation arrived at its majority and assumed the rights of manhood.
The venerable patriots of the revolution were men of the most
enlightened and liberal views on the subject; so much so, indeed, as to
shame the degeneracy of their unworthy successors in those States which
still retain the slave institution. With the general consent, in the
Constitution of 1787, the germs of freedom were planted, while at the
same time, apparently as a matter of course, the flourishing tree of
slavery was effectually girdled, and the axe was already laid at its
root. Three very simple provisions effectually secured this momentous
result. The provision for stopping the slave trade in 1808, and the
antagonist clause for opening wide the gates of our country to the
immigration of free white men, together with that which restricted the
representation of slave populations in the proportion of three to
five--these cardinal provisions marked the certain doom of slavery. In
the lapse of time, and with the operation of ordinary social causes, the
result was as certain and inevitable as any other effect of natural
laws. In spite of the universal prevalence of slavery at first, free
labor pushed itself forward and won its way, until, in more than half
the original States, slave labor had receded before it and disappeared
forever. The wisdom of those great fundamental provisions of our
Constitution has been fully vindicated by the results of eighty years'
experience. They have worked smoothly and progressively, in perfect
conformity with that universal social law which, has made slavery a
temporary and transitional institution wherever it has existed among
civilized nations.

That such a law exists can hardly be questioned. Its operation is
apparent, not only in the partial experience of our own country, but in
that of all others where the natural social tendencies have had
unimpeded sway. No one has ever denied its existence a