Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-07-31

dom against slavery. There was, at that time,
no other national territory out of which slave
holding states could be carved; nor was there
any thought of acquiring territory with such an
object. And yet the votes of Delaware, Mary
land Virginia North Carolina, South Carolina
and Georgia were given, and unanimously given
for the positive exclusion of slavery from all the
vast region now possessed by Ohio, Indiana, H.
linois, Michigan and Wisconsin, and for the Vlr-
tual restriction of the right of re-claiming fug-
tive servants to cases of escape from the original
states. There was very little compromise here.
There was clear, unqualified, decisive action in
the fulflment and in renewal of the solemn
pledge given in l774, reiterated in l776, and
in pursuance of the settled national policy Of re-
stricting slavery to the original States and of
excluding it from all national territory and from
all new States.
1t is t9 be borne in mind that neither in this
ordinance, nor i'll the national acts which pre-
ceded it, did the congress undertake to legslate
upon the actual personal relations Of the lnhabl-
tants of the original States. They sought to
impress on the national character and the ma
tional policy the stamp of liberty; but they did
not, so far as we can see, attempt to interfere
with the internal arrangements OF any State,
however inconsistent those arrangements might
be with that character and policy They eX-
pected, however, and they had reason to expect,
that slavery would be excluded from all places
of national jurisdiction and that whatever in the
arrangements of particular States savored OF des-
potsm and oppression, and especially that the
system of slavery, which concentrates in itself
the whole essence and all the attributes of des-
potsm and oppression, would give way before
the steady action of the national faith and the
national policy.
Such was the state of opinion, when the con-
yenton for framing the constitution of the United
States assembled The ordinance of 1887,
which was the most significant and decisive ex-
preston of this opinion, was promulgated while
the constitution convention was in session. The
constitution, therefore, is to be examined with
reference to the public acts which preceded it,
and the prevalent popular sentiment
And the first thing that arrests the attention
of the inquirer is the remarkable preamble which
is prefxed TO the operating clauses of the instru-
ment, in which the objects to be attained by it
are particularly enumerated. These are "to
form more perfect union establish justice, en-
sure domestic tranquility, provide for the com
mon defence, promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings Of liberty" 1t would be
singular, indeed if a constitution adopted for
such objects, and under such circumstances
should be found to contain guarantees of slavery
We sh ould expect, on the contrary, that, although
the national government created by it might not
be directly authorized to act upon the slavery al
ready existing in the State, all power to create
or continue the system by national sanction,
would be carefully withheld and some safeguards
would be provided against its further extension
And such, in our judgment, was the true eftec
of the Constitution. We are not prepared to de-
ny, on the one hand, that several clauses OF the
instrument were intended to refer to slaves; mol
to admit on the other all the consequences
which the friends of slavery would deduce from
these clauses. We abstain from these questions
It's enough for our purpose that 1t seems clea
that neither the trainers of the constitution, mol
the people who adopted it, intended to violate the
pledges given in the covenant Of l774, in the dec
laraton of l776, in the ordinance of 1887; tina
they did not purpose to confer on Congress or the
general government any power to establish o.
continue or sanction slavery any where that, |
they did not intend to authorize direct natlona
legislation for the removal of the slavery existln!
in particular States, under their local laws, thel
did intend to keep the action Of the national gov
ernment free from all connection with the system
TO disCountenance and discourage it in the States
and to favor the abolition of it by State authority
result then generally expected; and, finally, tt
provide against its further extension, by confnin:
the power to acquire new territory, and adml
new States to the general government, the line O
whose policy was clearly marked out by the or
dinance and preceding public acts
We cannot thiuk that any unprecedented studen
Of the constitution, examining it in the light 0
precedent action, and contemporary opinion, cal
arrive at any other conclusion than this, No a
mendment of the constitution would be needed :.
adapt it to the new condition Of things, were eve
ry State in the Union TO abolish slavery forthwith
to slavery as a national institution to be uphcl
by national law. On the contrary, every claus
which ever has been or can be construed as re
erring to slavery treats it the creature of Stat
law and dependent wholly upon State law for it
existence and continuance. So careful were tn
trainers of the constitution to negative all implie
sanction of savehoding, that not only were tn
terms, 'Slave," "slayery," and "slaveholdlng,' e,
cluded, but even the word "servitude," which wa
at first inserted to express the condition, unde
the local law, ofthe persons who were to be de
livered up, should they escape from one State il
to another, was, on motion Of MIR. Randolph, {
Virginia, stricken out, and " service" unanlmou
ly inserted; " the former being thought to expires
the condition of slaves, and the latter the oblg
tions of free persons"
That such was the general understanding