The Government Of The Absolute Majority Instead

I Take Higher Ground. I Hold That In The Present State Of Civilization, Where Two Races Of Different Origin, And Distinguished By Color, And Other Physical Differences, As Well As Intellectual, Are Brought Together, The Relation Now Existing In The Slaveholding States Between The Two, Is, Instead Of An Evil, A Good—a Positive Good. . . . I Hold Then, That There Never Has Yet Existed A Wealthy And Civilized Society In Which One Portion Of The Community Did Not, In Point Of Fact, Live On The Labor Of The Other.

[the Taxing Power Of The State] Divides The Community Into Two Great Classes: One Consisting Of Those Who, In Reality, Pay The Taxes And, Of Course, Bear Exclusively The Burden Of Supporting The Government; And The Other, Of Those Who Are The Recipients Of Their Proceeds Through Disbursements,and Who Are, In Fact, Supported By The Government; Or, In Fewer Words, To Divide It Into Tax-payers And Tax-consumers. But The Effect Of This Is To Place Them In Antagonistic Relations In Reference To The Fiscal Action Of The Government And The Entire Course Of Policy Therewith Connected.

Property Is In Its Nature Timid And Seeks Protection, And Nothing Is More Gratifying To Government Than To Become A Protector.

To Maintain The Ascendancy Of The Constitution Over The Lawmaking Majority Is The Great And Essential Point On Which The Success Of The [american] System Must Depend; Unless That Ascendancy Can Be Preserved, The Necessary Consequence Must Be That The Laws Will Supersede The Constitution; And, Finally, The Will Of The Executive, By Influence Of Its Patronage, Will Supersede The Laws . . .

There Never Has Yet Existed A Wealthy And Civilized Society In Which One Portion Of The Community Did Not, In Point Of Fact, Live On The Labor Of The Other.