People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 November 1893 — WHICH? [ARTICLE]

WHICH?

The Slave Power or the Money Power. That the present condition of our country, industrially and politically, is decidedly alarming, all good citizens must admit. And they must desire, as clearly as possible, to understand the difficulties m the way between us and a general diffusion of happiness and prosperity. To achieve this purpose must think for ourselves, and study the cold facts of impartial political history. Subsidized editors or other interested persons should not be allowed to warp or shape our opinions or our views. “ One man may aver one thing and another another, ” said Lord Coke, ‘ ‘ but the proof of the verity is the record.” With this great truth in view, I propose looking backward for as close a view of the political history of our republic as the limits of this article will allow. We will appeal to the record for guidance. During the administration of President Jackson, two questions were presented for adjustment, and the directness and vigor with which he decided them attracted much attention. These were the nullification and bank questions. And they were incidents of the slave power and the money power, to which I will now call attention.

As early in the colonial history of our country as the year 1619, slaves were lauded at Jamestown, Va. Subsequently others were landed there, and at other ports, by British slave traders. The colonists,, in many instances, opposed this introduction of slaves, and passed laws to prevent it. But in the time of Queen Anne, Parliament reversed the colonial laws, and opened every American port to slave merchants, and the slave trade thereby received a strong stimulus. Oglethorpe for a while succeeded - in keeping slaves out of Georgia; but upon his departure all barriers were broken down, and Georgia became a slave colony. In the constitutional convention there was a strong desire to liberate the slaves. To uphold and propagate a system of servitude was abhorrent to the noble men who were framing a new government and dedicating it to freedom. Yet the poverty of the planters was such at the close of the war that abolition of slavery seemed impracticable. However, they decided that it must ultimately be abolished, and to expediate this comsummation they provided for the extinction of the African slave trade.

Then the new ship of state was launched, with a supposed cargo of equal rights for all men. Washington was in command, and the young republic started out to find a better and broader way for human progress. In consonance with this design, Virginia not only voted to accept the Constitution, but prohibited the importation of slaves. And in 1787, when Congress organized the Northwest Territory, the vote to prohibit slavery was unanimous. But here a marked hiatus intervened, followed by the germination of a desire to infuse new life into the vile institution. This disposition of slavery to recuperate seems to have been simultaneous with the establishment of the first national bank, in 1791. This moneyed institution opened a national purse, and gave a strong impulse to speculation; and as ownership of black labor was the only monopoly outside of the bank interest, it appeared to offer the capitalist the most lucrative way of investment. So slavery that had been ebbing its life away, felt the spur of the speculative tendency the bank had roused, and stoutly mounted upon the flow of the tide. From that time the cupidity of the planter tightened its hold on an institution that gave him the ease of leisure as well as profit. Virginia became a slave producing state. Mississippi and Alabama were admitted as new slave states, and then came Missouri asking for admission, and was finally admitted upon the compromise agreement that slavery should never exist north of 36 degrees and 30 minutes north latitude. Previous to the administration of President Jackson, the South had thoroughly amalgamated ail its interests with slavery. John C. Calhoun, the leading exponent of the institution, responding to ( the fulness of the fact that slavery capitalized labor, espoused the cause of the bank in the financial legislation of Congress. This action was

consistent with his ulta slave propagandism, for whenever the banks expanded the currency, a u rife, the influx of slaves into the Southern states was by the thousand. In Mississippi alone, from 1830 to 1837, the slave population ciIn enormous inflation and speculation, it was estimated that over forty million dollars was iuvest e worked . u tne iu furthe n of his schemes, had urged South Carolina to the verge of treason by nullification of me revenue laws. The president promptly suppressed him, and the rebellious state remained in the Union. Crushing nullification with an iron heel did not in the least reta. a iue gr dominated extreme arrogance. The public conscience was seared, and liberty put to shame. Domestic purity was discounted, and duelling made honorable. ine meuwus pursued by the advocates o e institution did no., toweve «• unchallenged. William Lloyd Garrison and others took up the gauntlet for liberty and human rights. But to obtain the public ear and rouse the public conscience, was to move a mountain. While the moral sentiment of the North was dormant, the interest of the slaveholder was intensifying. The human chattels were increasing. Slave pehs were inhumanly crowded, the auction block was in constant use, and the interstate traffic in human flesh wes said to involve fifty thousand slaves a year.

Then southern members of Congress became more aggressive than before. The bludgeon became an active factor in legislation. The.party leaders plied the party lash. Social ostracism glared upon the individual recalcitrant. Meantime me »o called Omnibus bill, the Fugitive S>ave bill, the Nebraska bill, and other iniquitous measures were formulated in law. The bloody trail of this “system of abominations” was now rousing strong resistance to its progress. The murder of Lovejoy, the assault upon Sumner, the deadly raids upon Kansas,’ — all called loudly for reactionary measures. In response to this call Giddings and his co-adjutors were reinforced in the House, while Hale and Sumner found increased suppqrt in the Senate. A political revolution was in progress, and the evolved force of new ideas burst asunder the old Whig party, and from its debris came the nucleus of the present Republican party. In 1856 the Republicans of Maine elected their candidate for governor. Later, in the presidential campaign, the Democrats held a great meeting in Portland, at which Howell Cobb, of Georgia, and Pierre Soule, of Louisiana, were present as orators. At an entertainment given in honor of the distinguished visitors the following sentiment was broached:—

Poor old Maine Has submitted again To the fanatic's chain And the liquor law's reign. With its murderous stain. She missed stays last Monday at top of the tide. Went stern onto Wells beach, knocked a hole in her side. And strained every timber; But fourth of November Old Buck and Bieck Will examine the wreck And fit her and float her and sail her anew, Discharging two-thirds of her lubberly crew; Replacing the milk-sops with trustworthy tars • Who will never abandon the stripes and the stars. The superb effrontery with which those men posed as the special champions of the flag of their country is well disclosed in the above lines. All who opposed them were “fanatics” or “disunionists.” Yet at that time military companies were drilling all over the South in order to destroy the republic if they failed to control it. • As history repeats itself, we may find the same dangerously masked elements to-day—bold conspirators charging conspiracy on others. But slavery fell. With political blindness it resolved-to rule or ruin. It cold do neither, and went down forever as a result of its criminal folly, carrying with it the dead bodies of a million brave men. We erased all law that welded property to human flesh, but have, since that time taught men their rights and how to maintain them? Have we increased the intelligence, elevated good morals, diffused happiness. crowned labor, and banished poverty? No. "We have simply made a change of rulers. We deposed, the limited slave power, to install in its place the unlimited money power, which has for ages been the God-defy-ing tyrant of the world. (Continued next week.)