I demand it,
because it is a law which conflicts with the Constitution of the
country, and with all the judicial interpretations of that
Constitution, wherever they have been applied to the white race.
Because it is a law abhorrent to the moral and religious sentiments
of a vast majority of the community called upon to enforce it.
Because it is a law which, if executed in the Free States, divests
them of the character of Free States, and makes them voluntary
participators in the guilt of slaveholding. Because it is a law
Which disgraces our country in the eyes of the whole civilized
world, and gives plausible occasion to the votaries of despotic
power to decry republican institutions. Because it is a law which
forbids us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, and
which makes it a crime to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, and
to visit and succor the sick and imprisoned. Because it is a law
which renders the precepts of the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus
Christ seditious; and were the Savior and his band of disciples now
on earth, there is but one of them who would escape its penalties by
pretending to 'conquer his prejudices.
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