I do not propose to argue questions of natural rights and inherent
powers. I plant my reliance upon the Constitution; that Constitution
which you have all sworn to support; that Constitution which you have
solemnly pledged yourself to maintain while you hold the seat you now
occupy in the Senate; to which you are bound in its spirit and in its
letter, not grudgingly, but willingly, to render your obedience and
support as long as you hold office under the Federal Government.
When the tempter entered the garden of Eden and induced our common
mother to offend against the law which God had given to her through
Adam, he was the first teacher of that "higher law" which sets the will
of the individual above the solemn rule which he is bound, as a part of
every community, to observe. From the effect of the introduction of that
higher law in the garden of Eden, and the fall consequent upon it, came
sin into the world; and from sin came death and banishment and
subjugation, as the punishment of sin; the loss of life, unfettered
liberty, and perfect happiness followed from that first great law which
was given by God to fallen man.
Why, then, shall we talk about natural rights? Who is to define them?
Where is the judge who is to sit over the court to try natural rights?
What is the era at which you will fix the date by which you will
determine the breadth, the length, and the depth of those called the
rights of nature? Shall it be after the fall, when the earth was covered
with thorns, and man had to earn his bread in the sweat of his brow? Or
shall it be when there was equality between the sexes, when he lived in
the garden, when all his wants were supplied, and when thorns and
thistles were unknown on the face of the earth? Shall it be then? Shall
it be after the flood, when, for the first sin committed after the
waters retired from the face of the earth, the doom of slavery was fixed
upon the mongrel descendants of Ham? If after the flood, and after that
decree, how idle is all this prating about natural rights as standing
above the obligations of civil government! The Constitution is the law
supreme to every American.
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