Mr. Sumner. The Senator shall speak for himself. He has spoken now, and you shall hear what he said before:—
“Certainly the Constitution of the United States must be construed upon the same principle.”
That is, as “a contract entered into between two individuals.”
“And when we are considering”—
What?—
“a doubtful question, the whole former history of the country, the Declaration of Independence, the writings of Washington and of Jefferson and of Madison, the writings in ‘The Federalist,’ everything that pertained to that day and gives color and tone to the Constitution, must be considered.”
I am happy in any word of respect for the Declaration,—because the claim of Equal Rights stands on the Constitution interpreted by the Declaration.
This brings me again to the main question. We have the National Constitution from the Preamble to the signature of George Washington, and then we have the recent Amendments, all to be interpreted by the National Declaration, which proclaims, as with trumpet:—
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”