Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1850-04-03
PLAOUEA1INE PARISH OF IBERVlLIE APRIL B. 1850


The great ground Of objection to it was pot cal;
that it weakened the social fabric; that, taking
the place of free labor, society was less strong.
and labor was less productive; and, therefore,
we find from all the em nent men of the time
the cearest expression Of their opinion that
slavery was an evil And they as ribcd it. not
without truth. and not without some acerbty
of temper and force oflanguage, to the injurious
policy of the mother country, who, to favor the
navigator, had entailed these evils upon the
colonies. | need hardly refer, sir, to the pub-
cations of the day. They are matters efhistory
on the record.
X
Then, sir when this constitution was framed,
this was he light which the convention viewed
it. The convention reflected the Judgment ard
sentiments the great men of the south.
member of the House. whom ! have not the
honor to know, in a recent speech has collected
extracts from these public documents. They
prove the truth ofwhat am saying, and the
question then was, how to deal with it, and how
10 deal with it, as an evil! Well, they came to
this general result. They thought that slavery
| could not be continued in the country, if the
importation of slaves were made to cease, and
therefore they provided that after certain
period the importation might be prevented by
the act of the new Government. Twenty years
was proposed by some gentleman, a Northern
gentleman, think, and many of the southern
gentlemen opposed it as being too long. Nj.
Madison especially was something warm
against it. He said it would being too much
of this mischief into the country to allow the
Importation Of slaves for such period. Be-
cause we must take along with us, in the whole
of this discussion, when we are considering the
sentiments and opinions in which this constitu-
tional provision originated, that the conviction
of all men was that if the importation of slaves
ceased, the white race would multiply faster
than the black race, and that slavery would
therefore gradually wear out and expire 1t
may not be improper here to allude to that
had almost said, celebrated opinion of Mr.. Mad
ison. You observe, sir, that the term slave or
slavery is not used in the constitution. The
constitution does not require that 'fugItive
slaves" shah be delivered up. 1t requires that
"persons bound to service in one state, and
escaping into another, shall be delivered up"
Mr. Madison opposed the introduction Of the
term slave or slavery into the constitution; for
he said he did not wish to see it recognized by
the constitution of the United states of Ameri-
ca that there could be property in men. Now,
sir. all this took place at the convention in 1887;
but connected with this-concurrent and con-
1emporaneous-is another important conside-
ration not sufficiently attended to. The con-
vention for framing this constitution assembled
in Philadelphia in May, and sat until September,
1881 During all that time, the Congress of the
United states was in session at New York. 1t
| was matter of dasign, as we know, that the
convention should not assemble in the same
CITY where Congress was holding its sessions.
| Almost all the public men Of the country. there
fore of fdistinction and eminence, were in one or
! the other of these two assemblies: and think it
happened in some instances that the same gen.
| t|cmen were members of both. If | mistake
| not, such was the case of Mr.. Rnfus King, then
a member of Congress from Massachusetts,
and at the same time a member Of the conven-
tion to frame the constitution from that State.
Now, it was in the summer of 1887, the very
time when the convention in Philadelphia was
framing this constitution, that the Congress in
New York was framing the ordinance of 1887
They passed that ordinance on the 18th o1
July, 1887, the very month, perhaps the very
day, on which these questions about the impor
tation of slaves and the character of slavery
were debated in the convention at Philadelphia
And so far as we can now learn, there was :
perfect concurrence of opinion between thes'
respective bodies, and it resulted in this ordi
nance of 1857, excluding slavery as applied Il
all the territory over which the Congress Of th'
United States had jurisdiction, and that was al
the territory northwest of the OHIO. Three year
before, Virginia and other States had made
cessiun of that great territory to the Uni,e'
States. And most magnificent act it was.
never reflect upon it without disposition to d
honor and justice-and justice would be tn
highest honor-to Virginia for that act of ses
sion of her northwestern territory. l will sa
sir, it is one other fairest claims to the respec
and gratitude Of the United States--that pei
hapsit is only second to that other claim whic
attaches to her: that in her counsel and from tn
intelligence and patriotism of her leading states
men, proceeded the first idea put into practic
for the United states. Now, sir, the ordinance Q
1887 applied thus to the whole territory owe
which the Congress of the Unite states had ju
risdiction. It was adopted nearly three years be
fore the constitution Of the United States havin
been framed was to be sent to the states to b
adopted BY their conventions; then govern
ment had to be organized under. This ord
nance, then, was in operation and force whe
the constitution was adopted and this govern
ment put in motion, in April, 1889.
Mr. President, three things are quite clea
a. historical truths. One is, that there was a
expectation that on the ceasing Of the imports
ton of slaves from Africa, slavery would be
gin to run out That was hoped and expected
1 Another is, that as far as there was any powe
in Congress to prevent the spread Of SLAYER
in the United States, that power was execute
in the most absolute manner and to the fulles
extent. An honorable member said the othe
day that he considered this as the first in tn
series of measures calculated to enfeeble til
South and deprive them of their just particips
ton in the benefits and privileges Of this Go,
ernment. He says very properly that it wa
P done under the old confederation and befof
this constitution went into effect; but, my prt
sent purpose is only to- say, Nr. Presiden
that it was done with the entire and unanimou