The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1850-11-22
THE NASHVILLE CONVENTION

We, tire Delegates assembled from poruoli
of the States OF this contederacy, make this
exposition of the causes which have brought us
torether, and of the rights which the States we
renreseut are entitled to under the compa ct of
Union.
We have amongst us two races, marked by
such distinctions of color, and physical and nor.
al qualities, as forever forbid sleir assocating
together on terms of social equality and equal
political power.
With US the black race have been slaves
from the earliest settlement ofour country, aud
our relations have grown up with the infancy
Of our institutions.
Anything tending to produce change i'll
those relations must end in cenvulsioa, and the
entire ruin of one race or the other
When the Constitution was adopted, this re.
la,ion, as it exists, was expressly recognized
sud guarded in that instrument 1t was great
and vital interest, involving our very existence
.,s IL separate people then as we'll as low.
The different States of this contederacy ac-
seeded &, that compact each one for itself, and
ratified it as States.
If those who are parties to that compact dis
regard its provisions and endanger our peace
and existence by their deliberate and united ac-
ton, we have the right as States to seccde upon
the same principles that we adopted the COM
pact. >,
There being no common arbiter, we hold
this right to be essential to the sovereignty aud
independence of these States in the last resort.
The ultimate object Of those who are urging
on the Federal Government III Its aggressive
policy upon our domestic institutions Is, beyond
all doubt, finally to overthrow them, ana aboi,
ish the existing relations between master and
servant amongst us. We feel authorized to as
sert this from their own declarations, and from
the history of events in this country for the last
few wears, as well rs from the rise and pro-
press of the movement in Great Britain towards
. her West India Colonies.
We, therefore, look to all measures advanced
and positions assumed, relating to slavery IN
the territories, or the States, no matter how re-
mote they may atfirst appear, as bearing direct
ly upon the final issue.
To abolish slavery or the slave trade in the
District of Columbia-to regulate the sale and
transfer of slaves between the States--to ex.
clude shareholders with their property from the
Territories--to admit California under the cir
cumstauces Of the case--we hold to be all parts
of the same system of the measures and suhor-
dinate to the greater end they have finally IN
view, which is openly avowed to be, the total
overthrow of the institution everywhere.
We make no aggressive move. We stand
upon the defensive. We invoke the spirit of
the constitution, and claim its guarantees. Our
riehts-our indeDeudence-the peace and ex-
istence of our families depend upon the issue.
The Federal Government has within
few years acquired, by treaty aud oy triuni
phant war, vast territories. This has been
done BY the councils and by arms Of all, and
the benefits and rights belopg alike and equal
iy to all the States The Federal Government
is but the common agent of the States united,
and represents their conoined sovereignty over
subject matter granted aud defined in the COM
pact, where the State could not act separate.
ly.
The sovereignty it exercises over all acqur-
ed territory, must, in good faith, be exercised
for the equal benefit Of all parties alike. 10
prohibit our citizens from settling there with
the most important part of our property, a.
mounts to our exclusion, and is not only degra-
ding to US as equals, but violates our highest
chartered rights.
These restrictions and prohibitions against
the slaveholding States. woudappear, are be
the fixed and settled policy off the government,
and those States that are hereafter to be admit.
ted into the Federal Union from these exten-
slve territories, will but confirm and increase
the power of the majority; and he knows little
of history who cannot read our destiny in the
future if we fail to do our duty now, as free
and independent people.
We have been harrassed and insulted by
those who ought to have been our brethren,
in their constant agitation Of a subject vital to
US and the peace of our families. We have
been outraged by their gross misrepresentation
of our moral and social habits, and by the
manner in which they have denounced us be-
fore the world We have had our property en-
tced off, ana the means of recovery denied US
by our co-States l., the confederacy. We have
been denied our rights in the territories of the
Union, which We were entitled to as political
equals under the constitution. Our peace has
been endangered by incendiary appeals. The
Union, instead of being considered a fraternal
bond, has been used US the means of striking at
our vital interests
The admission of California, under the cir
cumstances of the case, confirms an unauthor-
lied and revolutionary seizure Of the public do
main, and the exclusion of near one half the
States of the Confederacy from equal rights
A. = LII Il. Il