Thursday, January 1, 2009

The Labor Question in Kentucky!

The question of slavery is beginning to demand decisive action at the hand of the people of Kentucky, as it must in every slave State sooner or later. The Louisville Journal is pressing the slave holders of the State to give it their attention. Under the existing state of things labor is rapidly leaving the State, and will continue to do so as long as slavery exists by law. The State Constitution prohibits the emancipation of slaves without the consent of their owners, or without paying their value in money and removing them from the State. The State Journal therefore urges the owners to consent to their emancipation and to [illegible] retention of the State until labor shall become more abundant. Kentucky will speedily be compelled by her industrial necessities, to follow the example of Maryland, and so will every other slave-holding State, even if slavery should not be abolished by an amendment to the National Constitution.

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, Friday, December 30, 1864

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