Analysis: The New "Democratic" Doctrine
The topic of the new "Democratic" doctrine revolves around the contentious relationship between free states and slave states in the context of 19th-century American politics, particularly regarding the institution of slavery and its implications for labor. The text highlights a perceived arrogance from Southern slaveholders who are accused of pushing for measures that undermine the rights and dignity of Northern white laborers. It articulates a belief that the Southern system of slavery, contrary to common perceptions, is presented as more stable and secure for workers than the conditions faced by free laborers in the North.
Key figures, including politicians and public commentators, are cited as supporting this doctrine, which posits that slavery could extend beyond race to include white laborers, framing them as "white slaves." This rhetoric reflects a broader political struggle, where advocates for free labor, like John C. Fremont, stand in opposition to Democratic candidates, such as James Buchanan, who are associated with pro-slavery sentiments. The argument emphasizes the need for a political alignment that favors the dignity of free labor over the expansion of slave labor, thus inviting readers to consider the historical implications of these ideological divides. Understanding this doctrine is essential for grasping the complexities of labor, race, and political power during a transformative period in American history.
Analysis: The New "Democratic" Doctrine
Date: 1856
Author: Young Men’s Fremont and Dayton Central Union
Genre: political tract
The People of the Free States have so long yielded to the arrogant demands of the Slave Oligarchy in the South, that the latter has come to think it can carry any measure it sees fit, no matter how degrading it may be to the character of the free white men of the North.
Not many years ago the Southern slaveholders were contented to have their “human chattels” protected in the States where they held them.
Next, they demanded and secured five Slave States from acquired territory, (La., Fla., Ark., Mo., and Texas,) while the Free States have only secured two,—Iowa and California.
Next, the Slave power demanded all the territories, and broke down the Missouri Compromise, which secured a part of those territories to free labor.
Next, they demanded the right to come into the free States with their slaves whenever they choose, and stay as long as they please, and the United States Courts seem about to yield to them, and grant this outrageous demand.
But the last, the crowning, the diabolical assumption is, that Slavery is not to be confined to the NEGRO RACE, but must be made to include laboring WHITE MEN also. This doctrine, which is so monstrous and shocking as almost to seem incredible, is now openly avowed and defended by very many of the newspapers and of the public men of the South that support James Buchanan. The doctrine is also proclaimed by some Northern newspapers of the so-called Democratic party, but not generally with such boldness as in the South. . . .
“I call upon the opponents of Slavery to prove that the WHITE LABORERS of the North are as happy, as contented, or as comfortable, as the Slaves of the South. In the South the slaves do not suffer one-tenth of the evils endured by the white laborers of the North. Poverty is unknown to the Southern slave, for as soon as the masters of slaves becomes too poor to provide for them, he SELLS them to others who can take care of them. This, sir, is one of the excellencies of the system of Slavery, and this the superior condition of the Southern slave over the Northern WHITE laborer.”
According to Mr. Downs, then, (good Democratic authority) all that the Northern white laborer requires is somebody to sell him when he falls into poverty. Admirable philanthropy! Beautiful Democracy!
Senator Clemens of Alabama declared in a speech in the U. S. Senate, that “ the operatives of New England were not as well situated nor as comfortably off as the slaves that cultivate the rice and cotton fields of the South.”
In a recent speech by Mr. Reynolds, Pierce Buchanan—Democratic candidate for Congress from Missouri, that gentleman distinctly asserted that—”The same construction of the power of Congress to exclude Slavery from a United States Territory, would justify the Government in excluding foreign-born citizens—GERMANS AND IRISH AS WELL AS NIGGERS.”
Here a Missouri Democrat classes GERMANS and IRISH indiscriminately with NEGRO SLAVES.
Mr. L. H. Goode, another Atchison Democrat of Missouri, in a recent speech against the Free State men of Kansas, denounced the laboring men as “WHITE SLAVES.”
These extracts are not taken from obscure prints, or obscure men. They are from the active, influential papers, and influential men who lead the Democratic party.
The Washington Union, the national organ of the “Democratic” party, says that the honest and heroic free LABORING MEN of Kansas—”Are a MISERABLE, BLEAR-EYED RABBLE, who have been transferred like SO MANY CATTLE to that country.”
SENATOR BUTLER, (the uncle of “Assassin” Brooks) a shining light in the Democratic galaxy, declared in a speech in the U.S. Senate this session—”That men have no right to VOTE unless they are possessed of property as required by the Constitution of South Carolina. There no man can vote unless he owns ten negroes, or real estate to the value of ten thousand dollars.”
And this is the doctrine which “Democracy,” so-called, would introduce into the Free States.
JAMES BUCHANAN, the Presidential candidate of the men and of the party who hold these odious views, advocated the doctrine in the U. S. Senate, of reducing the WAGES of AMERICAN OPERATIVES and LABORERS to the European standard, which is known to be about TEN CENTS A DAY. What a fit candidate Mr. Buchanan is for those who would make WHITE MEN slaves!
JOHN C. FREMONT, the true Republican and true Democrat, who has worked his own way from poverty to greatness, pays the following high tribute to the dignity of FREE LABOR, and yet his enemies have the meanness to assert that he is a slave-holder. Col. Fremont never owned a dollar in human flesh. Hear what he says about “free labor.”
“FREE LABOR”—the natural capital which constitutes the real wealth of this great country, and creates that intelligent power in the masses, alone to be relied on as the bulwark of FREE INSTITUTIONS.”
The New York Day Book, one of the two papers in New York City that support James Buchanan, proposes to enslave poor AMERICANS, GERMANS and IRISH, who may fall into poverty and be unable to support their families. Here are the Day Book’s exact words in speaking of the POOR WHITE PEOPLE.
“Sell the parents of these children into SLAVERY. Let our Legislature pass a law that whoever will take these parents and take care of them and their OFFSPRING, in sickness and in health,—clothe them, feed them, and house them,—shall be legally entitled to their services; and let the same Legislature degree that whoever receives these parents and their CHILDREN, and obtains their services, shall take care of them AS LONG AS THEY SHALL LIVE.”
JOHN C. FREMONT is the Representative and Advocate of the extension of FREE LABOR.
JAMES BUCHANAN and MILLARD FILLMORE are the Advocates of the extension of Slave Labor.
For which will you cast your votes, Lovers of Liberty?