ible with the
inalienable rights of all mankind, as set forth in the Declaration of
Independence--incompatible with the fundamental principles of the
constitutions of all the free states of the Union; and therefore, when
provided for in the constitution of the United States, are indicated by
expressions which must receive the narrowest and most restricted
construction, and never be enlarged by implication. There is, I repeat,
not one word, not one syllable, in the constitution of the United
States, which interdicts to Congress the reception of petitions from
slaves; and as there is express interdiction to Congress to abridge by
law the right of petition, that right, upon every principle of fair
construction, is as much the right of the South as of the North--as
much the right of the slave as of the master; and the presentation of a
petition from slaves, for a legitimate object, respectful in language,
and in its tone and character submissive to the decision which the
house may pass upon it, far from degrading the rights of the South, is
a mark of signal homage to those rights.

"An enemy to the Union for presenting a petition!--an enemy to the
Union! I have shown that the presentation of petitions is one of the
most imperious duties of a member of Congress. I trust I have shown
that the right of petition, guaranteed to the people of the United
States, without exception of slaves, express or implied, cannot be
_abridged_ by any act of both houses, with the approbation of the
President of the United States; but this resolution, by the act of one
branch of the Legislature, would effect an enormous abridgment of the
right of petition, not only by denying it to full one sixth part of the
whole people, but by declaring an enemy to the Union any member of the
house who should present such a petition.

"When the resolution declaring that I had trifled with the house was
under consideration, one of the most prominent allegations laid to my
charge was that, by asking that question, I had intended indirectly to
cast ridicule upon that resolution, and upon the house for adopting it.
Nor was this entirely without foundation. I did not intend to cast
ridicule upon the house, but to expose the absurdity of that resolution,
against which I had protested as unconstitutional and unjust. But the
characteristic peculiarity of this charge against me was, that, while
some of the gentlemen of the South were urging the house to pass a vote
o