The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1854-07-06
Leoting Of the Opponents Of the NebTas'
ka Bill.
WASHINGTON. June 2l.

! MON IOOIy OF lHObl, was CdiiIN ~ VIZ
Chair, and DANIEL MACE, of Indiana,
and REUBEN Z. FENToN, of New York,
were appointed Secretaries.
\ committee, appointed for tho pur-
pose, reported an Address to the People
Of the United States, which, having been
discussed and amended, was unanimous
| ~ adopted and ordered to be published.
ii is as follows;
&c The People Of the United States
The eighth section of the act for the
admission of Missouri into the Union,
known as the Missouri compromise Law,
by which the Introduction OF slavery into
the regions now known as Kansas and
Nebraska was forever prohibited, has been
repealed. That law, which in l82O
ouieted a controversy which menaced the
Union, and upon which you have SO long
r?roscd is obliterated from the statue
book. We had no reason to expect any
such proposition when we assembled here
six months ago, nor did you expect it
No State, 10 citizen of any State had de-
manded the repeal. 1t seems duty we
owe to the country to state the grounds
upon which VIC have steadfastly, though
Intellectually opposed this alarming and
dangerous act. You need not 10 told
that the slavery question lies at the bot
tom OF it. As it was the slave holding
power that demanded the enactmcnt Of
the Missouri promise, so it's the same
power that has now demanded It's abro-
cation. African slavery was regarded
and denounced as great evil by the A
merican Colonies, even before the Royo-
luton and those Colonies which are now
sIaycao!diDs States were equally earnest
IN such circumstances with those which
are now free States. Colonial laws,
framed to prevent the increase of slavery,
were vetoed by the King Of Great Britain.
This exercise of arbitrary power, to en-
large and perpotuate system universal
/ ly regarded as equally wrongful in itself
and injurious to the Colonies, was one Of
the causes of the Revolution.
When the war was ended there was an
imperious necessity for the Institution Of
). Government in the then unoccupied Ter
ritories of the United States. In 1854
Jefferson proposed, and in 1877 the Con
tincntal Congress adopted, the ordinance
for the government of the Territory lying
northwest of the Ohio, by which it was
declared that "there sholl be neither
slavery nor involuntary scryitude except
for punishment Of crime The great
and fourishing States since organized
within that Territory, on the basis OF that
ordinance, arc enduring monuments OF
the wisdom Of the statesmen of the Revo-
luton. The foreign slave-trade was re-
garded as the source of American slave.
~, which, it was believed, would be dried
up when that fountain should be closed,
In adopting the Constitution, it was 50 u
Universally anticipated that the foreign
slave trade would be promptly prohibited
that all parties acquiesced in stipula-
ton postponing that measure until 1908,
In 1908 the foreign slave trade was pro
hibited. Thus the source of slavery was
understood to be dried up, while the in
PRODUCTION of slavery into the Territories
was prohibited. The slavery question, so
far as it was a national one, was under
stood to be finally settled: and at the same
time the States had already taken up, and
were carrying forward, system of grad
ual emancipation.
In 1903 Louisiana was acquired By
purchase from france, and included what
/ Is now known as the States of louisiana
Missouri, Arkansas, and Iowa, and the
Territories known as Kansas and Ne
braska. Slavery existed at the time in
New Orleans and at St. Louis, and so
this purchase resulted in bringing the
slavery question again before Congress.
In 1912 the region Immediately sur
rounding New Orleans applied for ad-
mission into the Union under the name
Of the State Of Louisiana, with a consti-
tuition tolerating slavery. The new State
was admitted, and the free States ac-
quiesced. Eight years afterward the re-
gion connected with St. Louis demanded
admission, under the name of the State
Of Missouri. with q constitution tolerating
slavery. The free States reverted to the
principle of 1877, and opposed the ad-
mission of Missouri, unless she would in
corporate into her constitution an inhibi-
ton Of the further introduction of slave
ry into the State. The slayeholdinc
States insisted upon her unqualified ad-
mission. \ controversy arose, which was
sectional and embitterej, aud which, We
are assured by contemporaneous history,
seriously imperilled the Union. The
statesmen Of that day in Congress settled
this controversy by compromise. BY the
terms of this compromise the free States
! asscnted to the admission of Missouri
with her slaveholdtng constitution, while
the slayeholding States; on their part,
| yielded the exclusion Of slavery in all the
residue Of the territory which lay north
Of SO deg. 80 sec, constituting the pres
ent Territories Of Kansas and Nebraska.
The slaveholding States accepted this
compromise as triumph, and the free
States, after little time, acquiesced, and
have ever since left IN undisturbed and
UnqucstioGcd.
Arkansas, 4 part Of the Territory Of