And animated and sustained by a declaration, so inspiring and sublime, they rushed to arms, and as the result of agonizing efforts and dreadful sufferings, achieved under God the independence of their country.

The great truth, whence they derived light and strength to assert and defend their rights, they made the foundation of their republic.

And in the midst of _this republic_, must we prove, that He, who was the Truth, did not contradict "the truths" which He Himself, as their Creator, had made self-evident to mankind?
Is Jesus Christ in favor of American slavery?
What, according to those laws which make it what it is, is American slavery?
In the Statute-Book of South Carolina thus it is written:[A] "Slaves shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed and adjudged in law to be _chattels personal_ in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators and assigns, to all intents, constructions and purposes whatever." The very root of American slavery consists in the assumption, that _law has reduced men to chattels_.

But this assumption is, and must be, a gross falsehood.

Men and cattle are separated from each other by the Creator, immutably, eternally, and by an impassable gulf.