Washington sentinel., 1854-05-05
rize them by legal enactment to do that which

Witnout such iegisiauon tney had right to do.
Now, SIR, IT man, without right, without title,
claims all my land, and comes upon me with
superior force and elects me from only half Of it.
am to consider this a concession to me by
him, because he, while desiring the whole, takes
but the half? And yet, sir, this is the prin-
ciple of the doctrine advocated by the gentle
man from Louisiana.
i But, Mr.. Chairman, shall contend, and en-
/ deavor to show, that the eighth section of the
act of the 9Th of March, 1920, was unconstitu-
tional and void. And here it is not necessary
| for me to discuss the question of the power of
/ Congress to legislate for the Territories; for
this act does not alone apply to the territory
while in a territorial condition, but says:
/ "That in all that territory ceded by France to
i the United States under the name of Louisiana
which lies north Of 500 30' north latitude, not in
euded within the territory Of the State contem-
plated by this act, slavery involuntary servude
4 otherwise than in the punishment of crimes
whereof the parties shall have been duly convict
ed, shall be and is hereby forever prohibited"
The first paragraph of the third section Of
the fourth article of the Constitution Of the
4 United States is in these words:
"New States may be admitted by the Congress
into the Union"
By this provision of the Constitution, Con-
gress has power to admit new States, but not
to create them. Congress also has power to
Il make feTTttOItUC gOVeTuuueulS, DuL uOG b9tutc
/ governments. II, then, Congress has not pow
| er to make State governments, what power
have we, under the Constitution, to impose
permanent restrictions upon the Territories out
i of which new States are to be formed? To al
low this would be to give Congress the power
/ to mould the domestic institutions of the new
| States, to usurp the sovereignty of the people,
and strike fatal blow at all our republican
institutions That Congress has not this pow
1 er, has again and again been decided by the
Supreme Court Of the United States. And
/ beg leave TO call the attention Of the House to
a few of those decisions.
In the case Of Pollard's lessee Us. Hagan,
4 q Howard's Reports page 2l2,) in which
Judge Mckinley delivered the opinion, of the
court, he says, in speaking Of the cession of the
territory of Alabama to the United States by
the State of Georgia:
"lf an express stipulation had been inserted in
| the agreement granting the municipal right of SOW
ereignty and eminent domain to the United States,
! such stipulation would have been void and inope-
ra,ive, because the United States have no consti-
/ tutiona capacity to exercise municipal jurisdic.
/ ton, sovereignty, or eminent domain within the
limits of State, or elsewhere. except in the cases
in which il is expressly granted"
And, again, he says that
"The right of Alabama, and every other new State,
| to exercise all the powers Of government which
belong TO and may be exercised by the original
| States OF the Union, must be admitted ana remain
unquestioned, except so far as they tempo
rarily deprived Of the control over the public
| lands"
The ST. nc a-iaciple was also decided in the
case of Permo rs. the First Municipality, (3
Howards Reports, p. 589,) in which the court
4 says: Ht9tt
For this provision [of the ordinance]is claimed
the sanction Of an unalterable law Of Congress- and
il is insisted that the city ordinances above have
violated il; and what the force of the ordinance
is north Of the Ohio we do not pretend 10 say,
it is unnecessary for the purposes Of this case
But, as regards the State Of LOUISIANA, it had
further force, after the adoption Of the State con-
stitution, than other acts Of Congress organizing
in part the territorial government of Orleans, and
standing in connexion with the ordinance of l7S7
II is not possible TO maintain that the United
States hold in trust, by force of the ordinance, for
the people Of Louisiana all the great elemental
principles, or any one of them contained in the or
dinance, and secured to the people Of the Orleans
territory during its existence"
And again, in the case Of Strader usGra-
ham, 10 Howards Reports, page 80, in which
| Chief Justice Taney delivered the opinion of
the court, and in which he declared that the
ordinance Of 1871 "ceased to be in force upon
the adoption of the Constitution = and, refer
ring to one Of its provisions, says:
! "Ifthey could be regarded as yet in operation
in the States formed within the limits ofthe North.
western Territory, it would place them in an in
/ feror condition as compared with other States
i and subject their domestic institutions and mun-
cipal regulations 10 the supervision and control OF
this court
4 These decisions establish the point that the
imposition of any such restriction as that i'm.
posed on the louisiana territory, by the eighth
section ofthe act of the 9th of March, 1920, is
unconstitutional and void. If then, it was un-
constitutional, the sooner it is repealed the bet
n IL. H. - nv.I ha hnr
of the country.
But, sir, in order to bolster up this Missouri
restriction of 1920, and to invoke for its main
tenance the power and influence of the name of
Henry Clay, it has been confounded with the
! Missouri compromise of 1921, which is as fol-
lows:
Resolution providing for the admission of Mis-
souri, into the Union on certain conditlon.
Resolred 5y the Senate and Honss of Represensa-
tires of the United States Of America IN Congress
| semJied That Missouri shall be admitted into the
Union on an equal footing with the original States,
4 in all respects whatever, upon the Fundamental
condition that the fourth clause of the twenty
sixth section of the third article of the Constiiu-
tion, submitted on the part of the said State 10
Congress- shall never be construed to authorize
the passage of any law, and that no law shall be
passed in conformity thereto, by which any citizen
of either Of the States in this Union shall be ex-
cluded from the enjoyment OF any OF the privileges
and immunities to which such citizen is entitled
under the Constitution Of the United States: Pro-
rided, That the legislature of the said State by
solemn public act, shall declare the assent of the
said State to the said fundamental condition, and
transmit TO the President of the United States, on
or before the fourth Monday in November next,
, an authentic copy of the said act; upon the re-
ceipt whereof the President by proclamation shall
/ announce the fact whereupon, aud without any
/ further proceeding the part Of Congress The
admission Of the said State into this UEion shaii
: be considered complete.
/! JOHN w. TAYLOR,
a Speaker ofthe House Of Rfpressatat,ves.
? JOHN GAILLARD,
/ Speaker Of the Senate pro tentpoTe.
, nppio'e1 JAMES MONROE.
. ofthis compromise Mr. Clay was the author,
! and of none other relating 70 tne aulnission ol
{ Missouri into the Union. This was compact
: between the general government and the people
/ Of the Missouri Territory. It was contract
! INTO m which the State of Missouri was forced in
order 70 secure her admission into the Union.
u n Al -