Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1840-05-21
ABOLITION PETITIONS.

ABOLITION PETITIONS.
A letter from the VICE PRESIDENT to LEWIS
TApPAN, IF Ne,o York, upon declining to
present to the Senate an abolition Petition,
signed by one huncred and forty ,comen.
WASHINGTON, MARCH %, 1910.
Your letter of the nth inst. was duly re-
ceived, enclosing petition to Congress,
signed by one hundred and forty women of
the city and county of New York, praying
for the abolition ofslavery and the slave trade
in the District of Columbia, and in those
Territories of the United States where they
exist, and to admit no new slave States into
the Union, requesting me to lay the same be-
fore the Senate. l have also received your
letter OF the 18th instant, requ sting me to
inform you when would present the petit
(. ton. Having declined to present the petit
ton, tits, perhaps, due to the fair petitioners,
and to you, their organ, as we'll as to my
self, to state some of the reasons which die
tate my course.
The constitutional right Of petition is con-
tanned in the first article of amendments as
follows:
"Congress shall make no law respecting
the establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
| freedom of speech, or of the press or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for redress
| ofgrievances.''
Congress has never made law abridging
this right, but the people assemble at plea
sure, and petition at pleasure fer redress of
G ievances. OF course, this part CT the Cen
stitution has not been violated AID if it
does not exist, Congress could not constitu-
| tionally, have passed such law, because
no such power is delegated to Congress.
! This right. reserved to the people, does not
| devolve upon the presiding officer Of the SEN
ate the obligation of presenting petitions of
every conceivable description.
There are considerations Of moral and
| political, as well as Of constitutional ma
ture, which would not permit me to present
petitions of character evidently hostile to
the Union, or destructive Of the principles On
which it is founded. The patriots Of the
Revolution made great sacrifices Of blood and
treasure to establish and confirm the doctrines
set forth in the Declaration of independence.
Each State was then an Independent sove-
reignty; and to form perpetual confedera-
cy for the safety and benefit of the whole,
embodying the great doctrines of the Declar-
! alton, compromise of interest and feeling
was necessary. That compromise was made;
and the principle which your fair petitioners
are agitating was settled. The right ofreg-
uiating and abolishing slavery was reserved
| to the States; and Congress have no more
| right to destroy slavery in Virginia and Ma
rylind than they have to establish slavery in
New York or New England. The rights of
petition for these objects is reciprocal, and
the obligation of the presiding officer to pre-
sent petition TO the Senate, if it exist in
their case, is equally strong in both. But
cannot recognize the obligation in either case,
though | acknowledge the right of the Peo-
pie in both. Is a difference made between
the District of Columbia, and the States of
Maryland and Virginia, from which it was
taken The question was settled in relation
to this District by those States. by the form
alton and adoption of the Federal Constitu-
ton and Constitutions of their respective
States. The right Of Congress to exercise
exclusive Legislation in all cases whatever
does not mean omnipotent Legislation. Con-
gress have no right in the District Of Column
bia to take away the right of trial by Jury to
pass an &c post facto law; to establish reli-
gion by law, nor to destroy the rights Of pro-
perty, or the personal liberty of the citizen.
These reserved rights are as sacred in the
District Of Columbia as in the State of New
York. They have the same right to consid- |
or the abolition ofslavery in New York grie-
vance, and petition to Congress to establish it
there, as the citizens Of New York have 10
consider it grievance in the District, and
petition Congress to abolish il. Their right |
in either case to assemble peaceably and
make their petition, / do not call in questions;
but the obligation on my part to present it |
to the Senate, do not admit.
If a number of citizens should consider |
Republican Governmental grievance, and pc |
tition Congress to establish a monarchy; i'll
others should consider religious liberation |
grievance, and petition Congress to destroy |
heresy, by abolisbing all religious sects but
their own, should not consider it my duty
TO present their petitions to the Senate, nor do
consider it my duty to present petition the /
certain tendency Of which is to destroy the
harmony and eventually to break asunder the
bonds Of our Union.
In regard to New States, the case is, if