Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1820-05-09

| this position, I will now ask the attention
of the committee to the history OF this
provision, while under the consideration
of the convention. In the draft OF
constitution reported on the 9th OF Au-
gust, by the committee five, after pro-
posing that it should be necessary Tor
two thirds of the members present, OF
each branch of Congress, to consent to
the admission of new states, they further
report, that I" If the admission be con-
sented to, the new states shall be adj
mitted on the same terms with the OIL
ginal states" On the S0th of August,
when this part of the report of the com
lnittee was acted upon, it was moved to
strike out that part of it which proposes
their admission on Gan equal footing
with the original States" and it was
agreed to.
Previous to this time, / will again re-
peat, it was agreed that the slaves should
be represented, and also that the states
then existing should have the right of
deciding whether they would tolerate
the importation or migration of slaves
previous to 1903, or not. To say that
the new states, therefore, should be adj
mitted on the same terms with the ORR
ginal states, was to give them the pow
er also of admitting or rejecting slavery (;
and as, in the exercise of that power, the
new states might destroy the leading
principle of this compromise, by giving
the balance ofpower to the slavc-holding
states, and allow its unlimited expan-
sion; and because it would, as / have
before stated, virtually authorize the
new states to be formed in the N. w.
Territory to repeal the restriction i'm
posed by the compact contained in the
ordinance of '87, it was stricken out,
leaving Congress, therefore, to exercise
the very discretion which is now pro-
posed to be exercised in admitting Mis-
souri,.
This conclusion, Mr.. Chairman, |
think is fairly derivable from the pre-
misses which think have as fairly en-
ployed. Indeed, sir, think it must be
obvious to all who have adverted to the
journals of that convention, that the in
tention was, to settle the principles which
should apply to the then existing states,
permanently, and to leave the manner
and time of admitting new states, to be
regulated by Congress, guaranteeing,
however, TO such new states the same
federal rights which were secured to the
old The great object, Mr.. Chairman,
was to unite liz one common federative
government the then existing states, and
to secure to those states the power Of
guarding their common interests. They
had fought and they had bled in the
cause of freedom, and, in establishing a
form of government for themselves and
posterity, it could not be expected that
they would leave question, which pre-
scented greater difficulty in agreeing upon
the principles of that government than
all others, in such a situation as to put
it in the power OF the new members that
might be introduced into the family, to
unhinge and destroy those very princi-
pies. l mean the compromise Of re-
presentation. That they would thus
expose the very foundation upon which
their government rested to be torn up by
future states, and that, too, with their
sanction, think can scarcely be beliey-
ed.
But, sir, would here beg leave to
call the attention of the committee to a
proposition made in that convention, and
which was very near being adopted, as
strongly indicative of the views and feel
ings of the trainers of our constitution,
when rejecting upon this very subject.
On the l4th July, the following propo-
sition was moved: 6 That to secure the
liberties of the states already confedera-
ted, the number of Representatives in the.
first branch, from the states which shall
hereafter be established, shall never ex-
coed the Representatives from such OF
the thirteen United States as shall accede
to this confederation" This PROPOSE
ton was made while both the subject OF
representation and the admission of new
states was under consideration and on
the very next day after, the convention
had adopted provision which had for its
object the regulation of the representa-
ton in this branch Of Congress, accord
ing to the population of the respective
states; but, as Congress would have the
power of admitting or rejecting new
states, and the power of decreeing whe-
Their these states should decide on the adj
mission of slavery, it was therefore I'M
necessary to restrict the representation
of such states, as the wisdom OF Con-
gress might allow to participate in the
blessings of the Union, to less number