Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1859 — The Freeman’s Catechism Concerning the Irrepressible Conflict. [ARTICLE]

The Freeman’s Catechism Concerning the Irrepressible Conflict.

Question —Who first promulgated the doctrine of the irrepressible conflict? Answer—Thomas Jefferson. Q —When and how did he promulgate it? A—ln a letter written to a friend in 1821. Q-VVh at did lie say? A—“ Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people (negro slaves) are to he free; nor is it less certain that the two forms of society cannot be perpetuated under the same government.” Q —Who next promulgated it? A—Henry Clay. Q —When and how did he promulgate it! A—ln a speech delivered before-Ahe American Colonization Society, in 1827. Q —What did he say! A—“ Until universal darkness and despair shall prevail it will be impossible to repress the sympathies and the efforts of the freemen in behalf of the unhappy portion of our race who are doomed to bondage.” Q —Who endorsed Mr. Clay’s remarks* A—Daniel Webster. Q —Who says so!A—Edward Everett. Q —Who next promulgated it? A —The Richmond Enquirer, a D; mocratic newspaper. Q —When did it promulgate it! A —ln the Presidential campaign of 1856. Q—What • id it say? A—“ Two opposite and conflicting forms ol society cannot, among civilized men, coe ist anil endure. The one must give way and cease to exist —the other become universal. * * * If free society be unnatural, immoral and unchristian, it must fall and give wav to si ,ve society—a social system as old as the world, as universal as man.” Q —Who next re-stated the fact! A—William 11- Seward. Q —When, where and how! A 1858. Q —What did he say? A —Whilst referring to thq coil sion which had occurred between the two systems oi labor in the United States, he said: -‘lt (the collision) is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces; and it means that the United States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slaveholding nation or entirely a free labor nation.” Q. —Did tie intimate the process by which they will ultimately become so? A —He did; he said: “Whilst I confidently believe and hope my country will yet become a land of universal Freedom, I do not expect that it will he made so otherwise than through the action of the several t.ates cooperating with the Federal Government, and all acting in strict conformity with their respective Constitutions.” Q —ls :here any treason in this! A—Not unless Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay and !> ini ’I Webster, and the editor of the Richmond Enquirer were traitors.