Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-02-14
FANEUEA HALE. ADDRESS.
To the People Of The United States.

rightful source of political power; that govern
ment is delegated and limited trust; that all
authority not conferred is reseryed and that, in
fact, there are grave questions, lying deeper than
the organized forms of government, and over which
government, in none of its branches, has Just con-
troll
When, in the course Of events, question Of
this kind arises, it is fit to be examined, and must
be examined by the people themselves, and con-
sdered and decided by an enlightened and con-
sCientious exercise of the public Judgment and
full and determined expression Of the public will
1t is, perhaps matter of necessity, that those
to whom power is conided, under free constitu-
ton, must be left, in ordinary cases, to be Judges
themselves, of the limits imposed on their own
authority, subject to such checks and balances as
the trainers Of the government may have proyld-
ed. But in times of great excitement, of poti-
cal and party heat; in times when mems passions
strengthen dangerously the natural tendency of
all power to enlarge its limits by construction and
inference, by plausible arguments and bad prece-
dents, in such times it bchooves the great con-
shtucnt body to put forth its own power of invcs-
tigation and decision, and to judge for itself,
whether its agents are about to transcend their
authority and abuse their trust.
Such an inquiry in the judgment of this con-
ycntion, is presented to the people of the United
States, by the project broached last year, and now
zealously and holly pursued, of annexing Texas
to the United States
This question transcends the bounds of all or
binary political topics 1t is not question how
the United States shall be governed, but what
shall hereafter constitute the United States it is
not question as to what system of policy shall
prevail in the'country but what the country it.
self shall be- 1t is a question which touches the
identity of the republic The inquiry is, wheth
err we shall remain as we have been since 1899
OF whether we shall now Join another people t.
US, and mix, not only our interests hopes anC
prospects, but our very being with another, ant
a foreign State.
This fearful proposition must awaken, and We
are glad to know does awaken, deep and in
tense feeling throughout great part Of the coun
try. 1t touches rejecting minds to the yery
quick, because it appears to them to strike a
foundations, to endanger first principles, g. to me
mace, in a manner well calculated to excite alarm
and terror, the stability of our political institu
D., tons
= A question Of this magnitude is too broad tt
stand on any platform of party politics; it is to-
> deep for any, or all, the political creeds and dog
mas of the day; it presents itself, or should pre-
= sent itself, not to political organizations, not t
Il, 70, l.,
cal considerations, but to the People Of the Unit
ed States, the 0hole People of the United States
u as a subject of the greatest and most lasting i'm
II portmcc, and calling, earnestly and imperative
ly, for immediate consideration and rescute &C
. ton.
J We are assembled here where the voice {
:, reemen is wont to be uttered to signify our o.
position to this project. And as the project i
self is as bold as it is alarming, scarcely seekin
~ to disguise the want of constitutional power
sustain it, and setting forth its great and leadin
- objects, with SO ublushing countenance an
u such hardihood Of ayowal, as to create astonsl
" ment, net only in the United States, but all Owe
u the world; so, while we protest against it, in I'll
~ most solemn manner, we shall state the gre
= grounds OF our protest, respectfully and dispa
- sionaely, but freely and learlcssly and as if f
- led as we are filed, with the most profound COZ
~ r ycton that we are resisting measure, the mi
VI chiefof which cannot be measured in its magn
y tude, nor calculated in It's duration
t 7 We regard the scheme Of anncxing Texas
. the United States, as being
l. A plain violation ofthe constitution.
! 2. As calculated and designed, by the op;
IN declaration of its friends, to uphold the interes
&c of slavery, extend its influence, and secure
~ permanent duration.
H. |. There is no constitutional poper in "a
ly branch Of tie government, or all the branches
/" the government, to annex a foreign State to t
Union.
s'' The successful termination of the revolution
NC nv war left the old thirteen States free and inc
i'e pendent, although united in a common confcdt
M acv. Some of these States possessed large trat
~ of territory, lying within the limits of their n
q pectiye charters from the crown Of England, I
'a' as vet cultivated or settled Before the adopt
Gus of the present constitution, it is we'll known Il
nc these States had made extensive grants of t
49, territory to the United states, WIN 'he mum
iIS rigina purpose of disposing ofthe same for
''> payment of the debt Of the revolution.
The cesson ofVrginia, to, whom much
10 largest portion of the territory belonged, be
'ey all the land within her original charter, was mi
- in 1884; and it was the express condition oft
Pa grant that the coded territory should be laid
vac and formed into States, each to be of suitable
-. tent net less than hundred ncr more than
1T hundred and fifty miles square.
ak At the adoption of the present constltu'
;a. these territories belonged to the United Sta
rem and the government of the United States
Tho bound to make provision for their admission
! e the Union as States, so soon as they should
,;na come properly settled and peopled for that
lear pose. For the government of this territory
ond memorable ordinance Of July 1887, was pas
$3.50 H., ,lio lau If the rOIlr