Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Slavery volume 5 .djvu/284

272 soldiers, became free; there has not been any white slavery—of the old kind—since '76. I know some families in this city whose parents came to America as slaves— white slaves, I mean. They were bought in England; they were sold in America—sold under cruel laws. I should not like to mention their names; but in 1850, they were the most desperate Hunkers that could be found. Born of slaves, the iron had entered their contaminated souls, and they sought to enslave your brethren and my parishioners. These were the children of white slaves. The Indians were set free by laws. In most of the States, attempts were made to free the blacks. All the New England States set them free;—partly by the programme of principles in their Constitutions; partly by the decisions of courts; partly by statute law, enacted by the legislature. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, soon followed. In twelve years after the Declaration of Independence, seven of the thirteen States had begun efforts to abolish slavery for ever. The truths of the Declaration carried forward New England and other Northern States; nay, the momentum of the Revolution carried the whole of Congress forward, and ere long, America performed two great acts, restricting Despotocracy—establishing freedom and not bondage. Here they are.

I. In 1787, the general government had jurisdiction over the North-Western territory, and decreed that therein slavery should never exist, to all time, save as a punishment for crime "duly convicted." On that spot, there have since grown up five great States; Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Five great States, with four and a half millions of men, and not a slave. Near a million children went to the schools of those States last year, and there is not a slave. Out of 239,345 square miles, there is not an inch of slave soil, except what stands in the shoes of Senator Douglas and his coadjutors. That is the first thing.

II. In 1808, America abolished the slave-trade. Before that it was carried on from the harbours of New England; Boston, Bristol, Newport, New York, added to their wealth by enslaving men. These were the great ports