The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-03-14
EQUIbIBRIUM-H DESTROYED.

"The great and primary cause Of the uniyer-
sal and dangerous discomfort in the South, is to
be found, says MIR. Calhoun " in the fact that the
equilibrium between the two sections Of the Gov
ernment as it stood when the Constitution was
ratified and the Government was put in action,
has been destroyed lie presents the relative
political power of the two sections in 1870, and in
1910 and 1850, as follows:
According to the former, the population of the
United States including Vermont, Kentucky, and
Tennessee, which then were in their incipient
condition of becoming States but were not ac-
tually admitted, amounted to 3,929, 1927. OF this
number, the Northern States had 977 ,S99, and
the Southern, ,952, 072-making difference of
only 25, 1927 in favor of the former States. The
number of States, including Vermont, Kentucky,
and Tennessee, was sixteen of which eight, in
Guiding Vermont, belong to the Northern section,
and eight, including Kentucky and Tennessee, to
the Southern-makipg an equal division Of the
States between the two sections under the first CEN
sus. There wasa small preponderance in the House
of Representatives, and in the electoral college,
in favor of the Northern, owing to the fact that,
according to the provisions of the Constitution,
in estimating Federal numbers five slaves count
but three; but it was too small to affect sensibly
the perfect equilibrium which with that exeep-
ton, existed at the time. Such was the equality
of the two sections when the States composing
them agreed to enter into Federal Union. Since
then, the equilibrium between them has been
greatly disturbed.
According to the last census the aggregate
population Of the United States amounted to
l. ,O63 1857, of which the Northern section con-
tanned 9,72s 900, and the Southern 1884 49,
making a difference, in round numbers, of
100000. The number Of States had increased
from sixteen to twenty-six, making an addition of
ten States In the mean time, the position Of
Delaware had become doubtful as to which sec
tion she properly oelonged. C01sIderIng ner as
neutral, the Northern States will have thirteen
and the Southern States understanding differ
ence in the Senate of two Senators in favor of the
former According to the apportionment under
the census of 1910, there were 223 members Of
the House of Representatives, of whom the North
ern States had 1876. and the Southern States ICON
sidering Delaware as neutral) S7-making diff
ference in favor of the former in the House Of
Representatives of 49, The difference in the
Senate of two members added to this gives to the
North in the electoral college majority of so.
Since the census of 1910, four States have been
added to the Union-lowa, Wisconsin, Florida,
and Texas They leave the difference in the SEN
ate as it stood when the census was taken; but
add two to the side of the North in the House
|
favor of so, and in the electoral college of SO.
1.-THE result of the whole is to give the Northern
section performance in every department of
the Government and thereby concentrate in it
the two elements which constitute the Federal
Government-majority of States, and ma
jority of their population, estimated in Federal
numbers. Whatever section concentrates the
two in itself possesses the control OF the entire
Government
Had this inequality been produced by the OPP
Grafton of natural causes, Mr.. Calhoun says the
South would have no right to complain; but he
assumes that it is the result of the action of the
General Government; directed first, to the ex-
clusion of the South from the common territory
belonging to all the States and secondly to the
imposition of unequal burthens upon the South,
| .hrnnsh the TarlH policy.
MIR. Calhoun perverts facts, and rsasons falla-
ciously. At the time Of the formation of the Con-
stitution, and for several years thereafter, there
were seven Northern and FIVE Southern States,
| 1--WE throw Delaware out of the account as she
rather sympathized with the North,) represented
in the Senate by fourteen Northern and ten
Southern Senator's The equilibrium he talks of
did not then exist, any more than it does now.
There are at this time thirty States, fifteen of
which are free, fifteen slaveholding. Throwing
Delaware out of the account, as belonging prop
erly to neither section, as she is in transition
state, we have thirty Senators from the free
States, twenty-eight from the slaveholding-
nearer an equilibrium in the Senate than at the
time of the formation of the Constitution.
There has been no disturbance of the equilib-
rum, then. so far as the Senate is concerned.
In the House of Representatives it has certainly
been destroyed, but not by the action of the Fed
eral Government.
The area of the Northern States and of the
territory belonging to them at the time Of the
formation Of the Constitution, was l64, 0Sl square
miles By the Ordinance of 1857, passed by the
Congress Of the Confederation, land not by the
present Government the entire territory between
the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers was conse
Grated to freedom and under the provisions of
that Ordinance, five States have been organized
in that territory and admitted into the Union
comprising an area of 239, 345 square miles. So
that, at the time the Constitution was formed the
area of free territory amounted to 400, 426 square
miles. The area of slave territory, including the
territory out of which Kentucky, Tennessee, Ala
bama, and Mississippi have since been formed,
amounted to 1857 square miles
This was the state of things at the date Of the
organization of the present Government. There
was no equilibrium in the matter Of territory
between the two sections, as the North and
Northwestern sections comprised eighteen thou
han ha
ton In 1923, Louisiana was acquired by the
General Government, and in 1sl9-'20, Florida
Out Of these have been organized four large
slave States, and but one free State-the former
numbering 225, PIT square miles, the latter 80, Ola
After these accessions and organizations the rela-
tive amount Of free soil and slave soil, or the COM
parative amount Of area in the free and slave
States in 1910, was rs follows
Free States asa $40 square miles
Slave States 6lO,793 square miles.
Thus by the action Of the General Government
in the year $780, the inequality in the areas of the
two sections in favor of the North, produced by
the Ordinance Of 1897, had been destroyed and an
advantage secured to the Southern or slave
States and Territories, of an $50, 453 square
miles greater than that of the free States and
Territories
On this smaller area, the latter had raised up in
ls4O population 600 greater than that of the
slave States and Territories And yet, in view of
these facts, Mr.. Calhoun ventures TO assert, that
one of the causes Of this great superiority of pop
ulatiou is the action of the General Government
in excluding the South from the common territory
of the Union, (Which has had the effect of ex-
tending vastly the portion allotted to the Northern
portion, and restricting within narrow limits the