Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1845-02-22

ing the eatymang power he would there see rssrsno.
made to the acquisition cesson of territory the adjustment
Of boundaries DC embraced within the scope of the treafl
pooa but nowhere, earlessy assert will he the slight
est reference to foreign territory foreign States
ion with the clause providing for the admission of States
| into the Union
This, Mr. believed the and undoubted the
DRY Of the Constitution. He inclined to adopt the
view which had been put forth by gentlemen, that the
Constitution contained reference at all any future
sion of territory What he said was, that the mode of effect
ing such extension not in view in this clause respecting
States but that il belonged to the treaty power And
this in analogy to the principle though not the FORM Of
the old articles of confederation We have that while
the Confederation made provision for the admission of foreign
colonies into the conederacy to be done only by the
of ates, being t0ohirds of the whole number
OF States which is precisely the proportion now required by
the existing Constitution effect the acquisition OF foreign
territory by treaty. II be borne in mind oo that under
the articles of confederation the Continental Congress the
mang well Legislative branch of the Government
and that the vote Of nine Safes twohirs,
quired TO enter into treaties admit Canada and the other
British colonies the conederacy The present exaord
claim, therefore, admit foreign States into the Union
by Legislative majority Of the Houses Of Congress-
does not receive any the slightest countenanee from the
old articles of confederation
But the Senator from Pennsy vana insists il nominal
ed in the bond This short and simple ut least
II ran thus New States may be admitted by Congress
Texas is State therefore, Texas may be admitted
by Congress And the gentleman read Crabbes Synonymes
and vattes law OF nations to show what this clause of the
Constitution by the word State Nov, with all respect
Mr. K must say that neither Cabbes Synonymes Vatte
no, nor Che hoped his honorable friend from Mississippi would
not suppose he apun Walkers dictionary was the au-
thorty by which this question be decided The Con-
situton decides it for itself
It surely not for (said Mr.. r. assume to tell the
learned legal Senator from Pennsylvania what had been the
repeated decisions of the Supreme Court respecting the
ing of the word State used in the Constitution The
Interpretation put upon it by that gentleman and his friends
ana the very definition OF Vattei now quoted by him. had
been over and again brought before that Court and reject
ed as wholly nappcabe to the Constitution of the United
Sares In regard the meaning of the phrase as used in the
Constitution that august tribunal had sa through its wise
umnares the Constitution speak for itself He nigh,
refer the gentleman to the early and leading Of Hepburn
Ezey where Chief Justice Marshall had overrled and
rejected Vaeps definition under the general law Of nations
wholly nappcabe the Constitution of the United States
Mr. H. was no lawyer yet he had tried by close and long
study to understand the Constitution of his country by all the
lights accessible to him. There had been more recent and
very important case sometimes called the Cherokee case and
sometimes the Georgia case, Worcester the State of
Georgia, Think in which this definition, quoted by the gen.
teman from Vate had been again rejected having nothing
TO do with the Constitution of the United States State Of
the American Unon the word found in the Constu
ton OF the United States meant very different thing from
State or Nation in the general unqualified sense of the law
nations Under the law of nations State wholly
reign, separate and Independent community But this
tainy not the condition of the States Of the American
union In the of the Constitution for they expressly
disabled by the Constitution itself from the exercise Of many
&C. No term had greater variety Of Specifications than this
OF State In the celebrated Virginia report and resolutions
1879 Mr. Madison said there four different Specifications
IN which used and said the Supreme Court Some
times meant the territory, simply at other times
the political community in other cases. the organized Gov
eminent In all these different Senses according the SUI
peme Court is used in different parts Of the Consultations
and IN each case its particular meaning must be detemnedby
the context wish, therefore, arrive the
in which this phrase " States is used the clause of
the Constitution under discussion, and "squeeze
out of the text Mr.. Jefferson says, meaning con-
ary to the intentions of the trainers Of the Constitution and
OF the people who accepted it, must instead of referring
CRADLES Synonymes, Walkers Dictionary, Vatte turn
to the Constitution ITSELF and in doing that read the oe
clause relating to the subject and part and isolated
from the rest Now, Mr. President let read the whole
clause relating to the subject it stands in the Censt
tuition Ut
'New States may be admitted by the Congress into this
Union but States shall be formed or erected within
the jurisdiction OF other State formed by
the junction of States parts States without
the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned well
as OF the Congress-
In giving to Congress the power admit States into
the Union, the Constitution proceeds t States shall
be formed erected" &c The new States to be admitted
them stated to be ormed erected Now, sir is it not
absurdy suppose would it not be the gossest
language that the Congress Of the United States was
to legislate respecting the formation erection of new
States except within the limits of the United States under
our own jurisdiction, and out of territory Mark
me- Mr. President do not restrict this power to ter
rory within the limits Of the United States the time whes
the Me asking for admission be formed or erect
ed The fet Of the Constitution itself, them de-
csivey confirmation of the overwhelming evidence of con-
temporary story show what Mr. jefferson calls the true
and honest of the nstumentthc in which was
framed by the Convention and adopted by the people.
But if the gentleman still insists his uraital mean
ng Mr. r. would take the liberty Of carrying him little fur
her back in his law learning Though he lawyer ne
repeated, yet in his younger days, with desire of acquiring
such knowledge Of the general principles of civil and pot
,a Jurisprudence proper to every citizen of free
he had read Blackones Commentaries and he had there
ound that of all the various sorts Of interpretations that which
most condemned the strictly literal Interpretation Qui
tSret ia kterd, havef IN corfice.
The gentleman said Texas was State was new State
md therefore might admit her into the Union Did he
ecocct the Of the Bolognan law, which imposed the
heaviest penalty the of drawng blood the "
Now happened that surgeon, passing along the street.
man drop under stroke of apopexy, and bed him the
spot to his life. Now sir according to the honorable
Senator's of interpretation the surgeon must have been
condemned to death for his humanity for he had drawn
blood in the Streets Such the ,cods Of the law, but
such was not its meaning The true meaning not to be
obtained from the words only, but from the context from the
suectmatter from the and Of the law and from
the consequences which would attend given construction
10 illustrate this principle Cicero had long ago cited
of the laws of Rome which ordained that the who
deserted the ship storm should forfeit all their interest in
The vessel and cargo to the who should remain the
seL ship at sea being threatened with impending desc
hon by sudden and fearful tempest the mariners all left her
TO save their lives 1t happened there helpless invalid
on board who could not stir and by the mercy of Providence
the ship was waited into port, and his life saved He
knew the provision Of the law and claimed the ownership Of
The vessel and cargo, forfeited to his benefit because he had
remained an The ship According to the school Of blind
ncxorable Interpretation, his was good one for il is
quite unquestionae that he had remained in the ship
according to the words OF the law, that Texas State