Berkeley and Jefferson intelligencer. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va.) 1802-1810, 1803-11-25
CONGRESS efshe UNITED STAEEs
MOUSE OF REpREsESrATtvxs.
November 4.
DEBATE ON THE
LOUISIANA TREATI

the whole.
Mr.. Dawsonin the chair--on the reso-
lutions for carrying the Treaty, into et-
feet.
Mr.. Gaylord Griswold said he had
hoped that some gentlemen in favour OF
the resolutionundcr consideration would
have risen to assign his reasons infavour
oft. But no gentlemen friendly to, its
adoption having risen, and feeling him
self embarrassed, he would take the d.
berry Of suggesting his doubts as to the
propriety OF the resolution. He hoped
the committee would have the candour
to believe, that in stating those doubts
which hung upon his mind, his object
was not to delay the progress Of the mea-
sures contemplated, but to gain informa-
ton.
In rejecting for the short time, dur
ing which the subject has been before
him, he had not been able to pursue it in
all its bearings, nor to solve all the ditfi-
cuities it presented. He had first ask
ed himself where was to be found the
constitutional power Of the government
to incorporate the territory with the
inhabitants thereof, inrthe Union oftAe
United States, with the privileges of
citizens Of the United States Is there
any such power And ifthere is, where
is it lodgeds giving his opinion or the
constitutional right Of making treaties,
he would say that it was vested in the
President and Senate, and that treaty
made by them on subject constitutional
ly in theirtreaty making power was valid,
without the assent of this House. This
house had to be sure the physical power
of refusing the necessary means to carry
treaties into sffects bot this power was
essentially different from chat conferred
by the constitution. But if the treaty
making power should be exceeded, if it
should be undertaken to make it operate
upon subjects not constitutionally ves-
ted, he had right to say that it was his
duty not to carry it into effect. Even
should its provisionsbe highly beneficial,
it was not less their constitutional duty
to resist it. He would not undertake to
say that his mind was perfectly fixed,
but h. entertained doubts, serious doubts i;
and he hoped gentlemen would candidly
give them answers.
He found in the Sd article Of the treaty
that - The inhabitants Of the coded ter
fitory shall be incorporated in the union
OF the United States, and admitted as
soon as possible, according to the Prin-
cip!es OF the federal constitution, to the
enjoyment Of all the rights, advantages
and immunities Of citizens ofthe United
States and in the mean time they shall
be maintained and protected in the free
enjoyment oftheir liberty, property, and
the religion which they profess" Here
then is a compactbetween the French go
vernment and that of the United States
to admit to citizenship persons out of the
jurisdiction Of the United States as it
now is, and to admit territory out Of the
United States to be incorporated into the
unien.< lie did not in the constitution
find such power vested in the President
and Senate. ! II such power be not ex-
pressiy vested, it must be reserved to
the people. 1t was not consistent with
the spirit Of the constitution that terrific
~ other than that attached to the u. S.
a, the lime of the adoption Of the eons.i-
tutio4t should be admitted because at
that stme the persons who formed the
constitution Of the United States had a
particular respect for the then subsisting
territory, they carried their ideas to the
time when there might be an extended
population; but they did not carry them
forward to the time when an addition
might be made to the union of a territory
equal to the whole United States, which
additional territory might overbalance
the existing territory, and thereby the
rights Of the now citizens of the United
States, be swallowed up and lost. Such
a measure could not be consistent either
with the spirit orthe genius Of the go
vernment.
For these reasons Mr.. Griswold was