True American. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1835-18??, 1839-03-08
relates to slavery in the Territory of Flo

us iand SIDES ny slave States, and Is severa
hundred miles from the nearest free State
1t almost extends within the tropics, and the
nearest important island to it on the water
side IS Cuba, Il slave island. This simple
statement ofits geographical position should
OF Itself decide the question. When, by the
treaty OF 1919 with Spain, it was coded tc
the United States, slavery existed within it
BY the terms of that treaty, the effects and
property of the inhabitants are secured to
them, and they are allowed to remove and
take them away, if they think proper to do
so. without limitation as to time. fit were
expedient, therefore, to abolish slavery in it
1t could not be done consistently with the
treaty, without granting to the ancient in
habltants a reasonable time to remove their
slaves. But further. By the compromise
which took place on the passage of the act
tor the admission Of Missouri into the Union
in the year 1920, it was agreed and under
stood that the line of sc deg. 80 min. OF
north latitude should mark the boundary
between the free States and the slave States
to be created in the territories of the Uni
ted States ceded by the treaty of Loilisia-
ma; those situated south of it being slave
States, and those north of it free States
But Florida is south of that line, and, con-
sequcnt y, according to the spirit OF the I'M
Outstanding which prevailed at the period
alluded to, should be a slave State. 1t may
be true that the compromise does not in
terms embrace Florida, and that it is not
absolutely binding and obligatory but all
candid and impartial men must agree that
1t ought not to be disregardcd without the
most weighty considerations, and that no.
thing could lie mt r. to be deprecated than
to open anew the bleeding wounds which
were happily bound up and healed by til; t
compromise. Florida is the only remaining
Territory to be admitted into the Union
with the institution of domestic slavery,
while Wisconsin and Iowa are now nearly
ripe for admission without it.
The next instance in which the exercise
OF the power Of Congress is solicited is that
OF prohibiting what is denominated by the
petitioners the slave trade between the
States, or, as it is described in abolition pc
tltlons, the traffic in human beings between
the States. This exercise of the power of
Congress is claimed under that clause of
the Constitution which invests it with au-
thorlty to regulate commerce with foreign
nations, and among the several States, and
with the Indian tribes. The power to re-
gulate commerce among the several States,
like other powers in the Constitution, has
hitherto remained dormant in respect to the
interior trade by land between the States.
1t was power granted, like all the other
powers Of the General Government, to Sc
cure peace and harmony among the States.
Hitherto it has not been necessary to cxer-
else it. All the cases in which, during the
progress of time, it may become cxpedient
to exert the general authority to regulate
commerce between the States, cannot be
conceived. We may easily imagine, how
ever, contingencies which, if they were to
happen, might require the intcrposition of
the common authority. If, for example,
the State of Ohio were, by law, to prohibit
any vessel entering the port of Cincinnati,
from the port of Louisville, in Kentucky, if
that case be not already provided for by the
laws which regulate our coasing-tratlc, it
would be competent to the General Go
to annul the prohibition emana-
ting from State authority. Or if the State
of Kentucky were to prohibit the introduce
ton within its limits, of any articles Of trade,
the production of the industry fthe inhab-
ltants of the State of Ohio, the General Go
vernment might, by its authority, supersede
the State enactment. But | deny that the
General Government has any authority,
whatever, from the Constitution, to abolish |
what is called the slave trade, or, in other
words, to prohibit the removal Of slaves
from one slave State to another slave State.
The grant in the Constitution is of
power of regulation, and not prohibition.-I
1t is conservative, not destructive. Regu-
ation ca II tcrmini implies the continued
existence or prosecution of the thing regu-
lated. Prohibition implies total discontin-
nance or humiliation. The regulation in
ended was designed to facilitate and accom-
nodate, not to obstruct and incommode the
to be regulated. Can it be pre-
ended that, under this power to regulate
commerce among the States, Congress has
he power to prohibit the transportation of
i've stock which, in countless numbers, are
lailv passing from the Western and in
error States to the Southern, Southwestern,
md Atlantic States! The moment the in
,ontcstiblc fact is admitted, that negro |
slaves are property, the law of movable
property irrcsistably attaches itsclfto Them
md secures the right of carrying them from
'ne to another State, where they are recog-
1iscd as property, without any hindrance
whatever from Congress.
But, Mr.. President | will not dctain the
Senate longer on the subject of slavery
within the District and in Florida, and of
he right of Congress to prohibit the re-
noval of slaves from one State to another.
These, as | have already intimated, with
are but so many masked
concealing the real and ultimate
point of attack. That point of attack is the
Institution of domestic slavery as it exists
in these States. 1t is to liberate three mil |
lions of slaves held i'll bondage within them.
And now, allow me sir, to glance at the in
obstacles which lie in the way
Of the accomplishment of this end, and at
some ofthe consequences which would en-
sue if it were possible to attain it.
The first impeachment is the utter and alb
Solutc want of all power on the part Of the
General Government to effect the purpose.
The Constitution of the United States ere.
ates limited Government, comprising
few powers, and leaving the
residuary mass of political power in the
possession of the several States. 1t is well |
known that the subject of slavery interpo-
'ed one of the greatest difficulties in the
ormation Of the Constitution II was hap
ply compromised and adjusted in spirit .