It will be
found that both parts of the country held it equally an evil, a moral
and political evil. It will not be found that, either at the North or
at the South, there was much, though there was some, invective against
slavery as inhuman and cruel. The great ground of objection to it was
political; that it weakened the social fabric; that, taking the place
of free labor, society became less strong and labor less productive;
and therefore we find from all the eminent men of the time the clearest
expression of their opinion that slavery is an evil. They ascribed its
existence here, not without truth, and not without some acerbity of
temper and force of language, to the injurious policy of the mother
country, who, to favor the navigator, had entailed these evils upon the
colonies. * * * You observe, sir, that the term slave, or slavery, is
not used in the Constitution. The Constitution does not require that
"fugitive slaves" shall be delivered up. It requires that persons held
to service in one State, and escaping into another, shall be delivered
up.
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