The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-10-10


termined-so that it is not now matter open to
controversy-that slavery is a local institution
that IA slave is reduced to the condition In which
he is by force-force legslized by the law OF the
State in which slavery exists; and that when the
slave passes beyond the jurisdiction in which that
force is legalized, he ceases to be slave, simply
because the power 10 detain him in slavery does
not accompany him. That is doctrine nelu al
most universally and which has been asserted
throughout the Northern States especially, as one
of the grounds upon which it would be safe TO
! withhold the application of the Wilmot Proviso
| from the Territories The argument has been,
that if the slave passes from the jurisdiction OF
the State in which he is held as such under the
municipal law, into the Territories, he ceases to
| be a slave because there is in them no authority
/ by which he can be held IL hat be true, If that
I be valid argument and yet so legislate as TO
! countenance the right Of the master in or to the
| slave who passes out of State into Territory,
it follows as matter of course that to that extent
we authorize the introduction of slavery into the
| Territories.
! MIR UNpERwooD. Will the Senator yield one
moment? ! wish to call his attention to the Or
y diuddce Of l7s7-
MIR. CHASE, lin his seat) was just coming to
, eSdt.
Mr. UNDERWOOD, (continuing) 4 says
"Thcre shall be no slavery or involuntary ser
vitude in the said Territory, otherwise than in
the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall
| be duly convicted"
But listen TO what follows:
Py0rii,d. also. That any person escaping into
the same from whom labor or service Is lawfully
claimed in any one of the original States, may be
lawfully reclaimed and conveyed back by the per-
son claiming his or her labor as aforesaid"
Now, it is part of that celebrated Ordinance
- anntl On " lHf
contains that provision which the gentleman is SO
anxious to apply to all these cases. think it
ought all to 90 together if it is to go at all. am
opposed to the application Of the first part, and
think the residue ought to be applied
Mr.. CHASE Perhaps as compromises are in
fashion. might make compromise with the Sen
ator. by taking the whole of the Ordinance Pro-
viso together Would he consent to it,
Sir, | was saying, when the gentleman inter-
rupted me- that if we, by our legislation authorize
or continue slavery in Territories where the Con-
stitution by its terms does not carry it. we do, to
: IRst efienf, establish slavery there.
The doctrine of non-intervention has found
much favor with a portion Of the Democratic
party ~ Niain proper limits, and confined to
the States, the doctrine is SQUAD. Its application
| TO the Territories also has been defended in the
| North, upon the ground that slavery cannot go
beyond the jurisdiction of the State which main
|
States have no power to establish slavery; and
therefore that it cannot be introduced into the
! Territories
Now, sir let us act upon some principle. II
slaveholding is right in itself-if the relation
which it establishes is, as some say, relation
founded in the law of Nature like that of husband
and wife, parent and child, guardian and ward
it, also, the Constitution confers the power and
imposes the duty of legislation for its maintenance
| Lat oil Ia
given to the institution which Southern gentle
men, however extreme, claim for it. Their claims
| if these propositions be conceded to them, can
hardly go beyond our duties. But it, on the
other hand, saveholdng is condemned by the law
of Nature, as the decisions, even of the slave
States, declare it is if slavery is local insttu-
| ton, created by State law, and dependent upon
State law for its existence and continuance, let
US act upon this principle as if we believed in it,
| and declare that slavery cannot he extended be-
yond State jurisdiction, and deny to it's support
! the power of the National Government in the Ter
ritories
No one contends that the fugitive-servant
clause of the Constitution applies TO slaves escaped
into Territories If Congress legislates for the
surrender Of such persons, the power TO do 80
must be sought elsewere. The Senator from
| Georgia Mr. BERREN finds it in the power Of
Congress 10 L" make all needfu rules and regula-
of the United States" ! lie claims that this clause
confers On Congress an unlimited power oflegisla-
! ton the Territories. Others maintain that it
| confers no power of legislation at all. The cor
! rect opinion, think lies between these extremes.
Congress has the power of legislation over the
Territories; not an arbitrary, unlimited power,
but one fixed and limited by the general princi-
Piles of the Constitution. Ii does not authorize
Congress TO reduce anybody to slavery or TO au-
. bNr, all in wa IN unU pytp II
did, there is no institution of arbitrary power
which Congress might establish in the Terrific
res deny, then, the existence of the unlimited
power asserted for Congress. OF course do not
admit the inference deduced by the Senator
from Georgia, from its assumed existence
But the Senator from Kentucky MIR. UNDER
WOOD refers to the Ordinance of 1887. A very
slight examination will satisfy any thinking man
that this Ordinance gives no cOuntenance to the
claim of power over this subject now made for
Congress.
The original policy of this Government was
against the extension of slavery The patriots
who framed the Constitution and framed the Or
dinance-cotemp0raneou acts-never anticipated
the reclamation of slaves from Territories, under
the Constitution That instrument stipulated
for the surrender Of servants escaped from one
Il State into another. The Ordinance provided for
the surrender of servants escaped from the original
then existing This provision was confined, it will
be observed TO servants escaped from the original
States. The Constitution and the Ordinance
covered the ground intended to be covered The
Constitution provided for cases of escape from
Il State into a STATE the Ordinance for cases of
escape from an original State into territory north
west Of the Ohio. Escapes from States into other
Territories were left unprovided for, although the
acquisition of other territories was certainly an
| 81. IL 10 oil itoalf
expected at no very remote period and the
last thing that the trainers of the Constitution or
Ordinance would have thought of would have been
provision looking to its perpetuity and indeh-
mite extension The Ordinance, then, affords no
evidence of the existence, and no countenance to
the exercise of any such power as is now in
voked
The Senator from Kentucky also relies on the
act of 1893 rs a cotemporaneous exposition OF the
Constitution, and an authority in favor Of the ex-
istence of the power. That act, indeed, provides
for the surrender of fugitives escaped into Ter
ritories and the exercise Of the power, at so
early period, proves-so runs the argument
its constutionaty. But it must be remembered
that the same Congress by the same act, confer
red judicial power Oh State magistrates, and this
the Supreme Court has decided could not con-
stitutionaly he done, This fact nullihes the
authority of this act as contemporaneous con-
struction of the Constitution. The Congress
which enacted il mistook their power as TO State
magistrates; they might easily mistake their
power as to the Territories.
The provisions relating to fugitives from SER
vice received, in fact, little consideration. The
occasion of the act arose out Of u demand by the
Governor of Pennsylvania upon the Governor of
Virginia for certain fugitives from justice. The
demand was not complied with, and the Govern
or of Pennsylv mia applied to the President who
+, lail the suhipct before ('Onpress ted
upon it. The primary object was to provide for
the extraditon Of fugitives from Justice South
ern gentlemen insisted on coupling with this pro-
xisnn clausca nrnXilina for the surrender of fngi