The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1848-07-07

Cluue slavery rom tle teTTltOfltS. as has 80
often been done with the assent Of AL. This
doctrine is set forth in the published opinion
of the highly respectable nominee of that
Convention, who, it is wei! known, received
that distinction because he avowed that o.
pinion, and who, il is equally certain, would
not have received il, il he had not done so.
1t is proposed TO give this doctrine the most
solemn sanction known TO our political sys-
TEN, by the election of its declared advocate
and supporter to the Presidency. If it re
ceives the proposed sanction of the people Of
the United States, the result cannot be
doubtful. The policy in regard to the ex-
tension of slavery to the territories Of the
United States, into which it has not yet been
introduced, which has existed since the com
mencement Of the government, and the COLI
sequences of which have been so salutary,
must cease, and every act of Congress de.
signed to carry it into effect be defeated by
the veto of the Executive.
The territories now owned by the United
States, and every acquisition Of territory
that may hereafter be made by the Uni
ted States, whether obtained by annexation,
by cession for a valuable consideration or by
conquest, must, as long as this opinion is
concerned, be subject TO the inroads ofslave-
ry.-And this consequence is to be submit
ted to on the assumption that the trainers
of the Constitution, with their attention di-
rected to the subject, and with well under
stood desire to do so, have failed to clothe
Congress with the necessary powers to pre-
vent it. cannot by my vote contribute to
this sanction. Icamnot do so because can
not concur in the opinion which we are call
ed upon to sustain.
Entertaining these views of the Constitu-
ton, could not by my vote contribute to
the proposed sanction of this new principle
in the administration of the Fed, raj Gov
eminent, without, at the same time, avow-
ing myself to be in favor of the extension Of
slavery in the abstract, and this l can new
er do. Those who agree with me in re-
gard to the existence of the power and the
expediency of our exercising it, and can
still bring their minds to dissent from this
conclusion, must have more light upon the
subject, or have greater powers Of discrim-
nation than Ipossess. lido therefore unhes.
itatlngly approve the course you propose TO
pursue, in withholding yourv votes from Gov
ernor Cass, and shall do SO myself. If no
other candidates than those now before the
country are presented, shall not vote for
President. The manner in which our po-
litical brethren of other on-slaveholdine
States shall dispose Of their sutiragcs, il Is
for them TO determine, and with 1t we have
nothing to do. But that they accord with
us in the opinion as TO the existence OF the
power in question, and the eXpediency Of
exercising it whenever the occasion for so
doing arrives, we have the best reason to
know.
The power, the existence Of which is, al;
this late day, denied, is, in my opinion, full
" granted to Congress by the Constitution.
Its language, the circumstances under which
it was adopted, the recorded explanations
which accompanied its formation-the con-
struction it has received from our highest
judicial tribunals, and the very solemn and
repeated conGrmations it has derived from
the measures Of the gCvernment-leave not
the shadow Of doubt in my mind in regard
to the authority of Congress to exercise the
power in question. This is not new opin-
ion on my part, nor the first occasion on
which il has been avowed. While the can
didate of my friends for the Presidency,
distinctly announced my opinion in favor Of
the power of Congress to abolish slavery in
the District of Columbia, although Twas, for
reasons which were then, and are still sat
isfactory to my mind, very decidedly oppo-
sedto its exercise there. The question ofpow-
or is certainly as clear in respect TO the Ter
ritories as it is in regard TO that District ;
and as to the Territories my opinion was al
so made known in still more solemn form,
by giving an executive approval required
by the Constitution, TO the Bill for the or
ganization of the Territorial Government Of
Iowa, which prohibited the init oducticn Ct
slavery into that Territory.
The opinion from which we dissent was
given in the face of, and directly contrary
to the views expressed, in forms the most
solemn and explicit. by all or nearly all the
non-slavcholding States, and we are not at
liberty to suspect the sincerity of those ey-
pressons. Honest and wel-neaning men,
as we know the masses Of cur political
friends in those States to be, a.. incapable
of triiling with so grave a subject.
Our ancestors signalized the commence
mcnt of this glorious government of ours,
by rcscuing from objection to slavery ter
ritory which is now covered by five crest
States, and pecpled by more than four mill
ions of freemen, in the full enjoyment ofev-
cry blessing which industry and good insti-
tutions can oonier.-They did this when
the opinions and conduct Of the world in re
gard to the institution of slavery were very
different from what they are now. They
did so before Great Britain had even COM
menced those gigantic efforts for the sup
preston Of slavery, by which she has great
~ distinguished herself After seventy four
years enjoyment of the sacred and inyalua-
bic right Of government, obtained for us
by the valor and discretion OF our ant cStors,
we, their descendants, are called upon 10
doom, or, if that be too strong q word, 10
expose to the inroad of slavery, a territory
capable of sustaining an equal number Of
new States TO be added to our confederacy
"a territory in great part of which slave
ry has never existed III fact, and from the
residue Of whiohit has been expressly abol-
ished by the existing government.
We are now called upon to do this at a
period when the minds of nearly all man
kind have been penetrated 10y a conviction
of the evils Of slavery, and are united in eff
orts for its suppression-at n moment too,
when the spirit of freedom and reform are
everyw here far more pcrvelen, ,han j, has
ever been, and when our republic stands
proudly forth rs the great examplcr Of the
world in the science of free government.