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1The mass of men serve the State thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army,
2and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, &c. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the
3judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can
4perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well. Such command no more respect than men of straw, or a lump
5of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good
6citizens. Others, as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders, serve the state chiefly with
7their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending
8it, as God. A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men, serve the State with their
9consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated by it as enemies. A wise
10man will only be useful as a man, and will not submit to be "clay," and "stop a hole to keep the wind away," but leave
11that office to his dust at least: "I am too high-born to be propertied, To be a secondary at control, Or useful
12serving-man and instrument To any sovereign state throughout the world." He who gives himself entirely to his fellow-men
13appears to them useless and selfish; but he who gives himself partially to them is pronounced a benefactor and
14philanthropist. How does it become a man to behave toward the American government today? I answer that he cannot without
15disgrace be associated with it. I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is
16the slave's government also. All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to and
17to resist the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable. But almost all say that such
18is not the case now. But such was the case, they think, in the Revolution of '75. If one were to tell me that this was a
19bad government because it taxed certain foreign commodities brought to its ports, it is most probable that I should not
20make an ado about it, for I can do without them: all machines have their friction; and possibly this does enough good to
21counter-balance the evil. At any rate, it is a great evil to make a stir about it. But when the friction comes to have
22its machine, and oppression and robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any longer. In other words,
23when a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole
24country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too
25soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize. What makes this duty the more urgent is that fact, that the country so
26overrun is not our own, but ours is the invading army. Paley, a common authority with many on moral questions, in his
27chapter on the "Duty of Submission to Civil Government," resolves all civil obligation into expediency; and he proceeds
28to say, "that so long as the interest of the whole society requires it, that is, so long as the established government
29cannot be resisted or changed without public inconveniency, it is the will of God that the established government be
30obeyed, and no longer."--"This principle being admitted, the justice of every particular case of resistance is reduced
31to a computation of the quantity of the danger and grievance on the one side, and of the probability and expense of
32redressing it on the other." Of this, he says, every man shall judge for himself. But Paley appears never to have
33contemplated those cases to which the rule of expediency does not apply, in which a people, as well as an individual,
34must do justice, cost what it may. If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man, I must restore it to him
35though I drown myself. This, according to Paley, would be inconvenient. But he that would save his life, in such a case,
36shall lose it. This people must cease to hold slaves, and to make war on Mexico, though it cost them their existence as
37a people. In their practice, nations agree with Paley; but does anyone think that Massachusetts does exactly what is
38right at the present crisis? "A drab of state, a cloth-o'-silver slut, To have her train borne up, and her soul trail in
39the dirt." Practically speaking, the opponents to a reform in Massachusetts are not a hundred thousand politicians at
40the South, but a hundred thousand merchants and farmers here, who are more interested in commerce and agriculture than
41they are in humanity, and are not prepared to do justice to the slave and to Mexico, cost what it may. I quarrel not
42with far-off foes, but with those who, near at home, co-operate with, and do the bidding of those far away, and without
43whom the latter would be harmless. We are accustomed to say, that the mass of men are unprepared; but improvement is
44slow, because the few are not materially wiser or better than the many. It is not so important that many should be as
45good as you, as that there be some absolute goodness somewhere; for that will leaven the whole lump. There are thousands
46who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who, esteeming
47themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not
48what to do, and do nothing; who even postpone the question of freedom to the question of free-trade, and quietly read
49the prices-current along with the latest advices from Mexico, after dinner, and, it may be, fall asleep over them both.
50What is the price-current of an honest man and patriot today? They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they
51petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait, well disposed, for others to remedy the evil,
52that they may no longer have it to regret. At most, they give only a cheap vote, and a feeble countenance and Godspeed,
53to the right, as it goes by them. There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man; but it
54is easier to deal with the real possessor of a thing than with the temporary guardian of it. All voting is a sort of
55gaming, like chequers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral
56questions; and betting naturally accompanies it. The character of the voters is not staked. I cast my vote, perchance,
57as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that that right should prevail. I am willing to leave it to the
58majority. Its obligation, therefore, never exceeds that of expediency. Even voting for the right is doing nothing for
59it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the
60mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action of
61masses of men. When the majority shall at length vote for the abolition of slavery, it will be because they are
62indifferent to slavery, or because there is but little slavery left to be abolished by their vote. They will then be the
63only slaves. Only his vote can hasten the abolition of slavery who asserts his own freedom by his vote.
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