NAUVOO, ILLINOIS.
PRINTED BY JOHN TAYLOR.
1844.
The first edition, which this edition is designed to reproduce,contains a few typographical and other errors corrected in latereditions (e. g. that of 1866). For clarity, several readings fromlater editions are used in this text; all are marked with brackets.In only one case (a tarriff being 'subversion' in the first editionand 'supervision' in others) did the changes produce a significantdifference in meaning, and the context clearly supports the latter asthe correct reading.
Born in a land of liberty, and breathing an air uncorrupted with thesirocco of barbarous climes, I ever feel a double anxiety for thehappiness of all men, both in time and in eternity. My cogitations,like Daniel's, have for a long time troubled me, when I viewed thecondition of men throughout the world, and more especially in thisboasted realm, where the Declaration of Independence "holds thesetruths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that theyare endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; thatamong these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness," but at thesame time some two or three millions of people are held as slavesfor life, because the spirit in them is covered with a darker skinthan ours: and hundreds of our kindred for an infraction, or supposedinfraction of some over wise statute, have to be incarcerated indungeon glooms, or suffer the more moral penitentiary gravitationof mercy in a nut-shell, while the duelist, the debauchee, and thedefaulter for millions, and other criminals, take the upper-most roomsat feasts, or, like the bird of passage find a more congenial clime byflight.
The wisdom which ought to characterize the freest, wisest, and mostnoble nation of the nineteenth century, should, like the sun inhis meridian splendor, warm every object beneath its rays: and themain efforts of her officers, who are nothing more nor less thanthe servants of the people, ought to be directed to ameliorate thecondition of all: black or white, bond or free; for the best of bookssays, "God hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell onthe face of the earth."
Our common country presents to all men the same advantages; the samefacilities; the same prospects; the same honors; and the same rewards:and without hypocrisy, the Constitution, when it says, "We, the peopleof the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establishjustice, ensure tranquility, provide for the common defence, promotethe general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselvesand our posterity, [do] ordain and establish this Constitution forthe United States of America," meant just what it said, withoutreference to color or condition: ad [infinitum]. The aspirationsand expectations of a virtuous people, environed with so wise, soliberal, so deep, so broad, and so high a charter of equal rights, asappears in said Constitution, ought to be treated by those to whom theadministration of the laws are intrusted, with as much sanctity, as theprayers of the Saints are treated in heaven, that love, confidence andunion, like the sun, moon and stars, should bear witness,
(For ever singing as they shine,)
"The hand that made us is divine!"
Unity is power; and when I reflect on the importance of it to thestability of all governments, I am astounded at the silly moves ofpersons and parties to foment discord in order to ride into power onth