iment, every day gaining a wider
spread, and a deeper root, in the best feelings of freemen, that
slavery is alike derogatory to the present enlightened condition of
man, and a solecism in the institutions of our country: without, in
any degree, wishing to appeal to the prejudices, either sectarian or
geographical, of any portion of your honourable body, your
memorialists cannot consent to withhold themselves from the influence
of the irresistible current, manifest in the march of mind, towards
perfection, and are therefore free to acknowledge, that they cannot,
as consistent republicans, omit to raise their voices, in a respectful
petition to their government on behalf of the sufferings, the
privations, and the unmerited degradation of their fellow-men the
colored people of America.

That the several states in this confederation, are, to a certain
constitutional extent, sovereign and independent, is readily admitted;
but that their independence is qualified by the federal constitution,
is equally certain. No state, has a right to injure or destroy the
fair fame of the republic: and no state has a right, unnecessarily to
jeopardize the peace of prosperity of any other state. And that all
the states, and all the people of each and every state in the union,
are indissolubly bound to submit to the majority, is a fundamental
principle of the union.

With these preliminary remarks, your memorialists will ask your
paternal and special attention to the subject of _slavery in the
District of Columbia_. This District, the seat of the national
councils, and the common property of the whole republic, is by the
constitution of the country, under your immediate care, and exclusive
government--and to the combined wisdom, patriotism and prudence of
your honourable body, is the common mind turned, with intense anxiety,
knowing that nothing can exempt any portion of us from the shame and
mortification that may attach to the character of its public laws and
institutions; while nothing can prevent their participation in the
splendour and renown of its wisdom, prosperity, and happiness. The
District of Columbia, then, being the common property of the nation,
the nation has an indubitable right, and it is consistent with the
fitness of things, to have the institutions and the laws of the
District, conformably to the aggregate sentiment of the whole people.
The clearly expressed public opinion is against the continuance of
slavery--and, b