The law of the Creator, which invests every human being with an inalienable title to freedom, cannot be repealed by any interior law which asserts that man is property.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the inherent right to freedom that every person possesses, despite any laws or systems that may deem otherwise.
Salmon P. Chase's quote articulates a profound belief in the fundamental nature of human freedom, arguing that this right is innate and cannot be overridden by unjust laws that treat individuals as property. It serves as a reminder that true freedom is a birthright, granted by the Creator, and no human-made law can morally invalidate this essence of humanity. This perspective is a powerful assertion against slavery and oppression, emphasizing the inviolability of personal liberty.
In practice
In a speech advocating for civil rights, one could use this quote to highlight the injustice of discriminatory laws.
My agency in promoting the passage of the National Bank Act was the greatest financial mistake of my life. It has built up a monopoly, which affects every interest in the country. It should be repealed, but before that can be accomplished, the people will be arrayed on one side and the banks on the other, in a contest such as we have never before seen in this country.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of all mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
Once I should have been, if not satisfied, partially, at least, contented with suffrage for the intelligent and those who have been soldiers; now I am convinced that universal suffrage is demanded by sound policy and impartial justice.
A democracy is a government in the hands of men of low birth, no property, and vulgar employments.
All religions begin with the cry Help.
A message came from my youth of vanished days, saying, 'I wait for you among the quivering of unborn May, where smiles ripen for tears and hours ache with songs unsung.' It says, 'Come to me across the worn-out track of age, through the gates of death. For dreams fade, hopes fail, the fathered fruits of the year decay, but I am the eternal truth, and you shall meet me again and again in your voyage of life from shore to shore.
My political curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude for the public welfare, leads me to ask who authorized them (the framers of the Constitution) to speak the language of 'We, the People,' instead of 'We, the States'?
There is in each of us an ancient force that takes and an ancient force that gives. A man finds little difficulty facing that place within himself where the taking force dwells, but it's almost impossible for him to see into the giving force without changing into something other than man. For a woman, the situation is reversed. ... These things are so ancient within us that they're ground into each separate cell of our bodies... It's as easy to be overwhelmed by giving as by taking.
What seems to us but dim funeral tapers may be heaven's distant lamps.
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