The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-06-06

stitutionaly legislate in favor Of slavery So fai
| admit, our fathers compromised the freedom Q
the black race and involved the free States in tn
political obligation to uphold slavery. Beyon
these express compromises, they did not 60, no
design to 20. They yielded thus much TO tn
South, under the impelling desire for union, be
lieving that the powers Of the Government, will
the exceptions expressly made, would be active
ly and perpetuslly e1erted on the side Of free
dom, J" and that slavery would gradually cease u
exist in the country ! do not speak Of this a
matter of conjecture. As early as l774, MIR. JEFF
ferson declared that the abolition Of domestic
slavery is the greatest object Of desire in these
colonies;D and the opinion was then common
throughout the country that this object could b.
attained by disseminating the importation Of slaves
gress OF inns year, ana popular mOSetAenNs IN IN
the colonies, about this time, evinced Q very de-
cided determination TO carry into practice this
non importation policy This presume, will be
denied by no one. Our revolutionary struggle
commenced soon afterwards; and, basing its JUS
LITIGATION upon the inalienable rights Of man, it
could not fail to give impulse TO the spirit Of
liberty favorable to the abolition Of slavery In
the colonies. After the war WAS over, MIR Jeffer
son himself declared that such had been it's ten
dency Indeed, our fathers could not avoid see
Declaration OF independence, and their own ex-
ample in resisting the tyranny Of Britain. In
1887 the Federal Constitution was framed, and 1t
is noteworthy fact that the word slaps is not 10
be found in it. According TO Mr.. Madison, this
WORT was studiously omitted, to avoid the appear
ance of a sanction, by the Federal Government
Of the idea "that there could be property in man :
This circumstance, IL seems 10 me is very sgnih-
can't The Constitution is 20 guardedly framed,
that, were slavery at any moment to cease to ex-
list, scarcely clause or a word would require to
be changed. Who does not see in this, that
whilst our fathers were framing Constitution
that to last for ages the idea stood out papa-
biz before. thair minds. that the days Of slavery
were numbered7 Be it remembered, TOO, that
at the time the Constitution was adopted slavery
had already been abolished, or measures had been
taken for its abolition in seven Of the thirteen col
ones; and at the very time the Convention which
formed the Constitution was in session, maturing
its provisions, the Congress of the Confederation
was sitting at New York, enacting the celebrated
Ordinance by which territory enough for five
large States was forever consecrated to freedom
Every inch of soil which the Government then
owned was, by this Ordinance made free, and q
preponderance secured in favor Of the North OF
twelve non-s veholding to only six slaveholding
States Thus we see, that the time the Govern
ment was about to enter upon its career, and to
exemplify the spirit of Its founders, slavery was
receding power, a decaying interest aperishing
Institution. Not chains and stripes but freedom,
was the dominant idea, the great thought of our
fathers. They would have been astounded at the
suggestion that slavery was to be perpetuated in
this country, as the source of all blessings, and
lauded as "the cornerstone Of our republican
edifcen II was among them and had been
forced upon them by the mother country and
not being able Immediately to get rid of it, it was
to be tolerated and endured, till measures could be
taken for its final extirpation from the land.
And If they regarded IL as curse and did not
expect it to be perpetuated where it then existed,
much less did they imagine that 1t was to be car
red into new regions under the sanction of the
Government Of their formation, and become the
great central power and all-absorbing interest of
the nation Sir, the thought is monstrous, that
the Northern States, when reluctantly agreeing
TO those compromises by which slavery received a
syslissa. sspposs in the old States intended shss
nitely extended over the American continent
Let It be borne in mind, also, as corroboratinp
the view under consideration, that the founder,
Of our Government had no expectation that tn,
boundaries of the United States, as established
by the treaty Of 1888, would ever be enlarged
There Is not one syllable Of evidence, either in
the Constitution itself or the history of it's for
nation to justify the idea that the acquisition Of
foreign territory was contemplated. This has
been admitted by distinguished Sorthern gentle.
men in this Hail. and in the other end Of the
Capitol Mr. Jefferson seems to have entertained
this view for he questioned the power of the ma
ton to annex foreign territory without an amend
ment of the Constitution. deduce from this the
obvious and inevitable conclusion, that the Con-
stitution was made for the Unped States as then
bounded. and that the compromises on the subject
of slavery, to which the Northern States assented,
had reference alone to the slavery Of the thtn
slayeholding States the slavery that was dwn-
ding and perishing under the weight OF its own
acknowledged evils; the slavery that our fathers
prevented from spreading into the only territory
then belonging to the Government; the slavery
that was almost universally expected, at no very
distant day, TO be swept from the Republic. The
adoption of the Wilmot Proviso, therefore, would
be in harmony with the Constitution. with the
views and expectations of the people at the time
of its formation, and with the Declaration Of In
dependence, on which our fathers planted them
selves In their struggle against foreign yoke. 1t
il impossible to escape this conclusion without
contradicting the truth Of history, and branding
the founders of the Government as bypocrites
who. after having paraded the rights Of man be-
fore the world, and achieved their own freedom,
deliberately went to work to found an empire of
slaves. And yet Southern gentlemen speak of
the restriction Of slavery as an aggression upon
their rights! What makes this charge look still
worse Is the fact, that the supreme power of legis
lston by Congress over the Territories Of the
Government has been uniformly exercised from
its beginning till the year ls4s, and acquiesced
In nv Ali It's departments The power in ques-
of restricting slavery--was exercised
In 1887 II was exercised in 1920 II was exer-
cised In the passage of the resolutions anneying
Texas in ls45 and in It's most Objectionable form
and II was again exercised In lS46, with the
sanction of a slaveholdipg President. And still
we are told that the passage Of the Proviso would
be such an intolerable outrage as to justify the
dissolution Of the Union
Mr.. Chairman, have now briefly noticed most
of the alleged aggressions Of the North The
historical facts have brought forward, bearing
upon the question Of Misrepresentation, have
been often presented butthey cannot be too often
repeated, or too carefully remembered, In the
present crisis Sir, II II As true ut this day ~ At
any former period Of our history, that "a fire.
auent recurrence TO first principles IL absolutely
necessary TO preserve the blessings Of liberty
II my time would allow, would turn now to
the other side Of the picture and contemplate that
policy and some Of those scts by which slavery,
instead Of wearing out its life within It's original
limits, has been trnnsplanted into new regions,
fostered by the Government as Q great national
interest, and interviewer with the whole fabric Of
its policy. would refer to the cessions Of North
Carolina and Georgia, out Of which three slave
States were carved, and from time to time admit
ted into the Union, by the aid Of Northern votes,
In violation of the faith upon which II had been
the like admission Of three large
slaveholdiDg States from the territory Of Louisi-
ana the acquisition and admission Of Florida, In
obedience to the demands Of the slsveholding In
terest the annexation Of slaveholding Texas, by
the help Of Northern votes containing territory
enough for Ave or six large States the existence,
in the District Of Colnmbis, Of slavery and the
infamous traffic In slaves for nearly half cen.
fury, by the permission Of the free States, and
the present disposition to tolerate these curses
still longer the pAxment Of large Sums Of money