THE
UNCONSTITUTIONALITY
OF
SLAVERY.
BY LYSANDER SPOONER.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY BELA MARSH,
NO. 25 CORNHILL.
1845.
ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by LYSANDER SPOONER, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
DOW & JACKSON'S ANTI-SLAVERY PRESS.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.--WHAT IS LAW? PAGE 5
" II.--WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONS, 18
" III.--THE COLONIAL CHARTERS, 24
" IV.--COLONIAL STATUTES, 36
" V.--THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 42
" VI.--THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS OF 1789. (MEANING OF THE WORD "FREE,") 46
" VII.--THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, 61
" VIII.--THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, 65
" IX.--THE INTENTIONS OF THE CONVENTION, 135
" X.--THE PRACTICE OF THE GOVERNMENT, 145
" XI.--THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PEOPLE, 147
" XII.--THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS OF 1845, 150
" XIII.--THE CHILDREN OF SLAVES ARE BORN FREE, 153
THE UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF SLAVERY.
CHAPTER I.
WHAT IS LAW?
Before examining the language of the Constitution, in regard to Slavery, let us obtain a view of the principles, by virtue of which _law_ arises out of those constitutions and compacts, by which people agree to establish government.
To do this it is necessary to define the term _law_. Popular opinions are very loose and indefinite, both as to the true definition of law, and also as to the principle, by virtue of which law results from the compacts or contracts of mankind with each other.
What then is LAW? That law, I mean, which, and which only, judicial tribunals are morally bound, under all circumstances, to declare and sustain?
In answering this question, I shall attempt to show that law is an intelligible principle of right, necessarily resulting from the nature of man; and not an arbitrary rule, that can be established by mere will, numbers or power.
To determine whether this proposition be correct, we must look at the _general_ signification of the term _law_.
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: The Unconstitutionality of Slavery by Spooner
- 2: Impartial and inflexible principle
- 3: The contract is unlawful and void
- 4: An immutable principle of right
- 5: Partial and arbitrary application
- 6: Would be sufficient to make theft lawful
- 7: Conflicting and arbitrary edicts
- 8: Says Lord Chief Justice Hobart has also advanced
- 9: The learned judge himself Blackstone declares in p
- 10: In the construction also of which compacts
- 11: On some pretext of promoting a great public good
- 12: Which judicial tribunals actually recognize as authoritative
- 13: By a few unconstitutional enactments
- 14: That slavery was tolerated in the colonies
- 15: Even after this statute was passed in 1750
- 16: The second charter 1665 has this proviso
- 17: At the time of issuing the charter to Pawlet
- 18: For aught that appears from the statute
- 19: And that all goods and merchandize
- 20: Bancroft from the preamble to this statute
- 21: Wares or merchandizes among which men were not known
- 22: The only possible legal inference from the statute
- 23: It does nothing towards legalizing slavery in America
- 24: Can be legalized only by positive legislation
- 25: And the colonial governments began to pass statutes
- 26: He or they shall not thereby be manumitted or set free
- 27: Mulattos and mestizoes have been deemed absolute slaves
- 28: The natural and inalienable right of individuals to life
- 29: Unless it have been unequivocally and authoritatively denied
- 30: Formed constitutions prior to 1789
- 31: South Carolina had no statute as has before been mentioned
- 32: Viz Are they used as the correlatives
- 33: As the freemen of a city or state
- 34: Are given of the word freemen
- 35: And territories thereunto belonging
- 36: Instead of a meaning merely correlative with slavery
- 37: Possessing a freehold of the value of twenty pounds
- 38: Or persons possessed of franchises
- 39: To entitle even such to the franchises of suffrage
- 40: Both to residence and citizenship
- 41: As a constitutional state institution
- 42: They are competent to sanction
- 43: It personifies the constitution as a crafty individual
- 44: By inuendo and double entendre
- 45: Or statutes enacted by legislatures
- 46: Except that which is peremptory
- 47: To the support of dishonest purposes
- 48: That where rights are infringed
- 49: Let us examine those clauses of the constitution
- 50: Or too refractory to render service or labor
- 51: Purporting to hold persons to service or labor
- 52: Either for or against its constitutionality
- 53: Or as the correlative of slavery
- 54: In the United States constitution
- 55: In the way of making an apportionment
- 56: And the popular national representation
- 57: In construing a political paper
- 58: But such passengers are not therefore slaves
- 59: From prohibiting the immigration of foreigners generally
- 60: And that congress were prohibited only from interfering
- 61: And not from prohibiting the importation of slaves
- 62: And what are these extraneous circumstances
- 63: Do ordain and establish this constitution
- 64: Yet because it was thus ratified
- 65: Arbitrarily imposed by the state governments
- 66: Must be thrown out for inconsistency
- 67: Grant letters of marque and reprisal
- 68: Arming and disciplining the militia
- 69: Are eligible to the office of president
- 70: And if eligible to that office
- 71: The writ of habeas corpus did not
- 72: Touching the constitutional guaranties given to slavery
- 73: Two such contradictory guaranties
- 74: Suffrage in both the governments
- 75: The feudal privileges of nobles
- 76: Freemen produce and consume vastly more than slaves
- 77: In the republicanism of the state governments
- 78: The guaranty given by the national constitution
- 79: The intentions of the convention
- 80: Had no intention of sanctioning slavery and why
- 81: Were the mere scriveners of the constitution
- 82: Nor of any evidence cognizable by any judicial tribunal
- 83: And disagreements of oral testimony
- 84: The debates in the Pennsylvania convention
- 85: It is palpably and wholly incompatible with slavery
- 86: While the non slaveholders were divided
- 87: Tennessee also was formerly a part of North Carolina
- 88: These slave acts were previously unconstitutional
- 89: Natural law may be overborne by arbitrary institutions
- 90: It would do nothing towards enslaving their children