THE LANDMARK OF SPEECH IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, AGAINST THE REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI PROHIBITION OF SLAVERY NORTH OF 36° 30′ IN THE NEBRASKA AND KANSAS BILL, 21ST FEB. 1854 249-314 FINAL PROTEST FOR HIMSELF AND THE CLERGY OF NEW ENGLAND AGAINST SLAVERY IN NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. SPEECH IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE NIGHT OF THE FINAL PASSAGE OF THE NEBRASKA AND KANSAS BILL, 25TH MAY, 1854 315-326 DEFENCE OF MASSACHUSETTS. SPEECHES IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE BOSTON MEMORIAL FOR THE REPEAL OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE BILL, AND IN REPLY TO MESSRS. JONES, OF TENNESSEE, BUTLER, OF SOUTH CAROLINA, AND MASON, OF VIRGINIA, 26TH AND 28TH JUNE 327-371 STRUGGLE FOR THE REPEAL OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE BILL. IN THE 1854, 372-387 31ST JULY, 1854, SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 31st July, THE DUTIES OF MASSACHUSETTS AT THE PRESENT CRISIS. SPEECH BEFORE THE REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION AT WORCESTER, 388-411 7TH SEPTEMBER, 1854 THE POSITION AND DUTIES OF THE MERCHANT; ILLUSTRATED BY THE LIFE OF GRANVILLE SHARP. AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION OF BOSTON, ON THE EVENING OF 15TH NOV., 1854 412-449 THE DEMANDS OF FREEDOM REPEAL OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE BILL. SPEECH IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. AGAINST MR. TOUCEY'S BILL, AND FOR THE REPEAL OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE BILL, 23D FEB., 1855 450-467 WAGES OF SEAMEN IN CASE OF WRECK. SPEECH IN THE SEN ATE OF THE UNITED STATES, SECURE WAGES TO SEAMEN IN 1855 ON INTRODUCING A BILL TO CASE OF WRECK, THE ANTI-SLAVERY ENTERPRISE; ITS NECESSITY, PRACTICABILITY AND DIGNITY, WITH GLIMPSES AT THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE NORTH. ADDRESS BEFORE THE PEOPLE OF NEW YORK, AT THE METROPOLITAN THEATRE, 9th MAY, 1855 THE SLAVE OLIGARCHY AND ITS USURPATIONS 475-521 THE OUT RAGES IN KANSAS THE DIFFERENT POLITICAL PARTIES THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. SPEECH AT FANEUIL HALL, BOSTON, ON THE EVENING OF 2D nov., 1855 522-562 ACCEPTANCE OF THE OFFICE OF SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. LETTER TO THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS, 14TH MAY, 1851. Read in the Senate by Hon. Henry Wilson, President, and in the House of Representatives by Hon. N. P. Banks, Speaker. FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I HAVE received by the hands of the Secretary of the Commonwealth a certificate, that, by concurrent votes of the two branches of the Legislature, namely, by the Senate, on the 22d day of January, and by the House of Representatives, on the 24th day of April, I was duly elected, in conformity to the provisions of the Constitution and Laws of the United States, a Senator to represent the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the Senate of the United States, for the term of six years, commencing on the 4th day of March, 1851. If I were to follow the customary course, I should receive this in silence. But the protracted and unprecedented contest which ended in my election, the interest it awakened, the importance universally conceded to it, the ardor of opposition and the constancy of support which it aroused, also the principles, which more than ever among us, it brought into discussion, seem to justify, what my own feelings irresistibly prompt, a departure from this rule. If, beyond these considerations, any apology may be needed for thus directly addressing the Legislature, I may find it in the example of an illustrious predecessor, whose clear and venerable name will be a sufficient authority.* The trust conferred on me is one of the most weighty which a citizen can receive. It concerns the grandest interests of our own Commonwealth, and also of the Union whereof we are an indissoluble part. Like every post of eminent duty, it is a post of eminent honor. A personal ambition, such as I cannot confess, might be satisfied to possess it. But when I think what it requires, I am obliged to say, that its honors are all eclipsed in my sight by its duties. Your appointment finds me in a private station, with which I am entirely content. But this is not all. For the first time in my life, I am now called to political office. With none of the experience so amply possessed by others, to smooth the way of labor, I might well hesitate. But I am cheered by the generous confidence, which, throughout a lengthened contest, persevered in sustaining me, and by the conviction that, amidst all seeming differences of party, the sentiments, of which I am the known advo * John Quincy Adams. · cate, and which led to my original selection as a candidate, are dear to the hearts of a large majority of the people of this Commonwealth. I derive, also, a most grateful consciousness of personal independence from the circumstance, which I deem it frank and proper thus publicly to declare and place on record, that this office comes to me, unsought and undesired. Acknowledging the right of my country to the service of her sons wherever she chooses to place them, and with a heart full of gratitude that a sacred cause has been permitted to triumph through me, I now accept the post of Senator. I accept it as the servant of Massachusetts; mindful of the sentiments solemnly uttered by her successive Legislatures; of the genius which inspires her history; and of the men, her perpetual pride and ornament, who breathed into her that breath of Liberty, which early made her an example to her sister States. In such a service, the way, though new to my footsteps, will be illumined by lights which cannot be missed. I accept it as the servant of the Union; bound to study and maintain, with equal patriotic care, the interests of all parts of our country; to discountenance every effort to loosen any of those ties by which our fellowship of States is held in fraternal company; and to oppose all sectionalism, whether it appear in unconstitutional efforts by the North to carry so great a boon as Freedom into the slave States, or in unconstitutional efforts by the South, aided by Northern allies, to carry the sectional evil of Slavery into the free States; or in whatsoever efforts it may make to extend the sectional domination |