Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-07-23
Chicago Convention.
The subjoined resolutions were adopted by
the Chicago Harbor and River Convention,
with great unanimity.
perry.

The subjoined resolutions were adopted by
the Chicago Harbor and River Convention,
with great unanimity.
First, That the Constitution of the United
States was framed by practical men, for prac-
teal purposes, declared in its preamble
'To provide for the common defence, to pro-
mote the general welfare, and to secure the
blessings of liberty :" and was mainly de-
signed to create d government whose func-
tons should be adequate to the protection
of the common interests Of all the States.
or Of two or more of them, which could
not be maintained by the action Of the sep
arated States. That in strict accordance
with this object, the revenues derived from
commerce were surrendered to the general
government, with the express understanding
that they should be applied to the promotion
of those common interests.
,. That among these common interests
and objects were-1st. Foreign Commerce,
to the regulation Of which, the powers of the
States severally were confessedly inadequate,
and ID, internal trade and navigation, wher-
ever the concurrence of two or more States
was necessary TO its preservation, or where
the expense of its maintenance should be
equitably borne by two or more States, and
"lGIt, VI CUuIoBf tuOSB StdttS muSl nbCbSSl l.
rly have "A voice in its regulation and hence
resulted the Constitutions grant of power to
Congress, "to regulate with for
eign nations and among the States"
3. That being thus possessed both of the
means and of the power which were denied
to the States respectively, Congress became
obligated by every cons liberation of good
faith and common justice to cherish and in
4r,o- l1tl H.. E;-l, - ill., --
mltted to its care, by expanding and extend
ing the means of conducting them, and Of af-
fording them all those facilities and all that
protection which the States individually
would have afforded, had the revenue and the
authority been left to them.
A. That this obligation has ever been re-
cognized from the foundation of the govern
ment, and has been fulfilled partially, by
erecting lighthouses, building piers for har
bors, breakwaters and sea-walls, removing
distractions in rivers and providing other ia.
cilities for the carried on from the
ports on the Atlantic coast and the same OBJ
legations have been fulfilled to a much less
extent in providing similar facilities for 'com
merce among the States ) and that the prin
ciple has been most emphatically acknowl
edged to embrace the western lakes and riv
SA'f ~ " lllNlp -
houses upon them, which appropriations have
never been questioned in Congress as want
ing constitutional authority.
5. That thus by a series of acts whicl
have received the sanction of the people o
the United States and of every department o
the Federal Government, under all Admins
f t%rations, the common understanding of thu
intent and objects of the trainers of the Con.
ctitntiop in rrantinr a., T,nrroce .b,o ro,,o
to regulate has been manifestet
and has been confirmed by the People, ant
this understanding has become as much
part of that instrument as any one of its mos
explicit provisions.
6. That the power "to regulate commerc
with Foreign Nations and among the State
and with the Indian tribes" is on its face S
I palpably applicable in its whole extent t
e each Of the subjects enumerated equally an
in the same manner, as to render any attempt
# to make it more explicit, idle and futile, an
that those who admit the rightful applicatio
of the power to Foreign Commerce, by faci
itating and protecting its operations by in
l. proving Harbors and clearing out navigabl
rivers, cannot consistently deny that it equa
ly authorizes similar facilities to "CommerC
among the States.'
7. That "Foreign Commerce" is depenl
T. ent upon internal trade for the distribution
ly its freights, and for the means of paying f
n. them, so that whatever improves the one, a.
rs vances the other and they are so INSOFAR
- BILE that they should be regarded as one.-
On That an export from the American shore to
as British port in Canada is as much foreig
commerce as it it had been carried direct
to Liverpool, and that an expectation 10 Ii
D. erpool neither gains nor loses any of the cha
acteristics Of foreign commerce, by the