I
then said that if Massachusetts--following her purpose through a
stated line of conduct--chose to take the last step, which
separates her from the Union, it is her right to go, and I will
neither vote one dollar nor one man to coerce her back; but I
will say to her, Godspeed, in memory of the kind associations
which once existed between her and the other States.
"It has been a conviction of pressing necessity--it has been a
belief that we are to be deprived in the Union of the rights
which our fathers bequeathed to us--which has brought
Mississippi to her present decision. She has heard proclaimed
the theory that all men are created free and equal, and this
made the basis of an attack upon her social institutions; and
the sacred Declaration of Independence has been invoked to
maintain the position of the equality of the races. That
Declaration of Independence is to be construed by the
circumstances and purposes for which it was made. The
communities were declaring their independence; the people of
those communities were asserting that no man was born--to use
the language of Mr. Jefferson--booted and spurred, to ride over
the rest of mankind; that men were created equal--meaning the
men of the political community; that there was no divine right
to rule; that no man inherited the right to govern; that there
were no classes by which power and place descended to families;
but that all stations were equally within the grasp of each
member of the body politic.
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