Both
infringe important rights: one, of property; the other, the vital right
of all, which is to other rights as soul to body,--the right of a man
to himself. Both are condemned; but their relative condemnation must be
measured by their relative characters. As Freedom is more than property,
as Man is above the dollar that he owns, as heaven, to which we all
aspire, is higher than earth, where every accumulation of wealth must
ever remain, so are the rights assailed by an American Congress higher
than those once assailed by the British Parliament. And just in this
degree must history condemn the Slave Act more than the Stamp Act.
Sir, I might here stop. It is enough, in this place, and on this
occasion, to show the unconstitutionality of this enactment. Your duty
commences at once. All legislation hostile to the fundamental law of
the land should be repealed without delay. But the argument is not yet
exhausted. Even if this Act could claim any validity or apology under
the Constitution, which it cannot, it lacks that essential support in
the Public Conscience of the States, where it is to be enforced, which
is the life of all law, and with-out which any law must become a dead
letter.
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