er affirm nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no word to
them. To those, however, who really love the Union, may I not speak?
Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our
National fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes,
would it not be wise to ascertain why we do it? Will you hazard so
desperate a step while there is any possibility that any portion of the
certain ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while the
certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly
from,--will you risk the omission of so fearful a mistake?
All profess to be content in the Union, if all constitutional rights can
be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written in the
Constitution, has been denied? I think not. Happily the human mind is
so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this.
Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written
provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If, by the mere
force of numbers, a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly
written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view,
justify revolution--certainly would if such right were a vital one.
But such is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and
of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and
negations, guaranties and prohibitions in the Constitution, that
controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever
be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question
which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can
anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length contain, express
provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be
surrendered by National or State authority? The Constitution does not
expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The
Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in
the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say.
From questions of this class spring all our constitutional
controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities.
If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the government
must cease. There is no other alternative; for continuing the government
is acquiescence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case
will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which, in turn,
will divi
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