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458
CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER DIGEST JAN. 1 TO DEC. 31, 1856
Abstracts 3477 - 3479
SLAVERY (Cont'd)
freedom of the press, and freedom of religion, making these liberties
blessings instead of curses. The Democratic journals of the South
view the election of Buchanan as a slavery triumph. (3)
3477 - L Dec. 13; ed: 2/1 - The recent developments of insurrectionary
plots among the slaves of Tennessee and Kentucky are fraught with meaning,
and it would be well for us to pause a moment and study carefully
the lessons they present. They teach us that tyranny is never safe,
that under the flowerstorm surface lurks and glows the slumberir:g volcano
that the master can never lie down at night and sleep the quiet and
sweet sleep of the peaceful and secure, that beneath his very roof a
danger lurks which ni'ay at any moment fill his home with horror. The
wealth, the ease, and the, idleness that he enjoys are purchased at the
price of wrorig, and in lurid letters upon the dark disc of the future,
he may always see the terrible word "retribution." (9)
3478 - L Dec. 23; ed:2/1 - Surgeon Edmonson of the U. S. army, who had'
a slave by the name of Dred Scott, lived first in Missouri. He moved
to Illinois, living there three years and later moved to Minnesota, where
he remained for some time. Scott, who was wi th him all of this time,
married a female slave, the property of a major in the regiment to which
Edmonson belonged., A chi Id was born to the couple in free terri tory.
Another chi Id was born in Missouri.
By the laws of the United States, Illinois, and Minnesota, Dred Scott
and his wife were made free by the voluntary act of their masters in
taking them into free territory. Dred sued for his freedom in Missouri,
but the judge declared his claim invalid and he was ruled a slave. His
chi Idren were also "condemned to bondage." The case was appp.aled by
the master who had transferred his title in Scott to John A. Sanford of
New York.
"Why should the master appeal from a decision in his favor? The intention
was to get a decree- from the highest legal tribunal' in the land,
(heaven save the mark) allowing the slave-holder to bring his slaves into
the free North, to live here with them. and breed slaves here; aye,
condemned to eternal servitude, children born beneath the sun of a free
commonweal tho "
(12)
34'79 - L Dec. 23; ed: 2/2 - The question of sla.very has become so thoroughly
interwoven with our political system that all matters connected with,
or relating to the subject, become interesting. For the benefit of our
readers we give the following brief account of its introduction into this
continent:
Slaves were sold in Cuba as early as 1521. At that time the Spaniards
were much less desirous than the Portuguese of possessing slaves, and in
1539 approximately 12,000 Negroes were sold in that city of Lisbon. The
trade in slaves was not free in the sixteenth century as licenses were
granted by the government. (3)