Washington sentinel., 1854-02-25
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10 be sanctioned by the representatives OF the
gentleman's own State in 1886, the first time 1t
came up again.
/ will now go on, and show the gentleman
and the House, when it came up again. ana
when it was finally repudiated by the almost
entire north :,
Mr.. MEACHAM, (interrupting.) ! would
inquire Of the gentleman if the senators from
Vermont did not vote for 1t?
Mr.. STEPHENS. For what?
Mr.. MEACHAM. For the admission OF
Missouri.
Mr.. STEPHENS. I am not speaking ofthe
Senate. but of the House. / have none but
the House records before me. i am dealing
with members in this body, or those who pre-
ceded us here. If the gentleman desires, he
of Vermont on this floor.
The next time anything was said in our le-
gislation about the missouri line of 360 30<''
was on the annexation of Texas That mea-
sure was carried with that line in it, but not
by the northern votes 1t was the SOUTH still
willing to abide it. that carried il then. There
were one hundred and twenty-five northern
votes given on that occasion, Of these, only
fifty-one were for the annexation with this line
established in it; while there were seventy.
four, a large majority, who refused 10 give 1t
their sanction. ] do not mean to say that all
who voted against that measure were opposed
to that line Of settlement. Many Of them had
other reasons. And know full well, for was
here, that Of those 6fty-one northern men who
voted for it, many Of them would not have
voted for the recognition of that line if the
question had come up by itself. But those reso-
lutions of annexation were so presented that
they had to be taken as whole, or not at all. l
allude to this vote, merely because it was the
next time in order when the question came up,
and the vote certainly fails 70 show that the
north, or even majority of them, gave it their
sanction. For that reason only allude to it.
come down now to another step of our pro-
gress, to the period from ls47 to 1850. The
gentleman from Vermont Mr.. MEAcHAM had
q map for illustration, which he exhibited to US.
He pointed out to US the boundary of the Lou
isiana purchase. 1t commenced at the mouth
of the Sabine, ran up that river TO the 32o OF
north latitude; thence due north to the Red
river; thence up that river to the l00o OF west
longitude from Greenwich thence due north
to the Arkansas river, and up that river to the
42o of north latitude, and thence due west to
the south seas or the Pacific ocean By this
map, and his demonstrations from it, it ap-
pears that we had title ceded to us from
France to territory extending to the Pacific
ocean. Well, that of course included Oregon
that is, according to the gentleman's map we
derived title to Oregon under the cession from
France in 1903, and that territory was part Of
the Louisiana purchase. Mr. jefferson so con-
sidered it, and sent Lewis and Clarke to explore
the country.
Well, then, how did the south act towards
this "solemn compact as it is now called, the
line of 360 30/, when we came to organize
territorial government for Oregon in l947
The southern boundary was the 42do of north
latitude, and of course the whole Of it lay north
of 36o 30> At this time lin 1910 we we're in
war with Mexico, and it was well understood
to be the policy of the Administrations acquire
territory from that government which, in all
probability, would, to some extent, be south of
the line 36o 30<. From the votes of the House,
upon what was well known rs the "Wilmot
proviso," the south had just reasons to appre-
hend that it was the fixed determination of
majority of the north to disregard entirely what
is now called the sacred covenant of 1920"
When, therefore, the bill to organize terrific
rial government for Oregon came up in this
House, on the 18th Of January, ls47, Mr.. Burt
of South Carolina, to take the sense Of the
north directly upon the question Of abiding by
this line of 36o 30> moved, as an amendment
to that clause in the bill which excluded sla.
very forever from the Territory, these words:
-" inasmuch as the whole of said Territory lies
north OF 800 30 north latitude known as the line
OF the Missouri compromise"
The object of this amendment was to put a
direct test to the north, whether they intended
to recognise the principle upon which the con-
trorersy on the subject Of slavery in the Terri.
tories was disposed of in 1920. or not Sir the
north understood the question fully and clearly,
and they met it promptly. Their response was,
that they did not. Here is the vote upon this
question: there we're in this House then 80
votes for Mr.. Burt's amendment, and ll3
against it! Of these noes, every man was from
the north. Every southern man in the House
voted for it. And of the 80 who voted to ad-
here to the principle of that adjustment, not as
something too sacred to be touched, but for the
sake of peace and quiet there were, / believe,
but six from the whole north; they were
Douglas and Robert Smith, from Illinois; Cum
ningham and Parish from Ohio; Charles J.
Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania; and Hastings, Of
Iowa. Every man from Vermont and New
York voted against it.
In the face of this record, the gentleman
from Vermont Mr.. MEAcHAaI and the gentle
man from New York, Mr. FEsToS,l in their
places upon this floor, two days ago, declared
that this Missouri compromise" had met the
approval of the north for thirty years. The
south, in this instance, proposed it unanimous
ly as "peace offering" and it was almost as
unanimously rejected by the north Honor
| think the gentleman said. They rejected il
over territory to which we derived title by the
very cession alluded to in the act of 1920. And
so thoroughly opposed were they to giving il
their approval, and SO bent upon its total abro-
cation, that they refused to affirm the principle
when they got all by the affirmation. Honor, =
indeed! But, sir, to proceed. This bill was
defeated in the Senate. believe. 1t did not
become a law. The question came up again in
l84s. Another bill was brought forward to
establish territorial government for Oregon.
The Senate put in the following amendment
That the line of 36o 30 of north latitude.
known as the Missouri compromise line as defined
by the eighth section OF an act entitled An act 10
authorize the people of the Missouri Territory 10
form constitution and Stale government and for
the admission of such State into the Union on an
equal footing with the original States and 10 nro-
hbn slavery in certain Territories apnroved
March g. 1890, be and the same is hereby declared
10 extend 10 the Pacific ocean; and the said
eighth section, together with the compromise .
therein effected, is hereby revived and declared 10
be in full force and binding for the future orpani
IL