The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-02-15


of foreign commerce; and if so, it ma,
for the like reason be prohibited sine,
that period between the States Com
;ncrce in slaves. since the year 1908, be
ing as much subject to the regulation o
Congress as any other commerce, if i
should see fit to enact that 10 slave
should ever be sold from one State t.
another, it is not perceived how its con
stitutional right to make such provision
could be questioned. 1t would seem t.
be too plain to be questioned that Con
gress did possess the power before The
year ls0S, to prohibit the migration Of
importation Of slaves into the territories
land in point of fact it exercised tina
powcr) as we'll as in any ncw State ant
that its authority, after that year, nigh
be fully exercised to prevent the mi
grafton or importation of slaves into an,
of the old States. And if it may pro
hiblt new States from importing slaves il
may surely. as we humbly submit make
it a condition of the admission of sucl
States into the Union. that they shall
never import them In relation. too, to
its own Territories, Congress possesses a
more extensive authority, and may. in
various other ways, effect the object, 1t
might. for example, make it all express
condition of its grants of the soil, that
its owners shall never hold slaves; aud
thus prevent the possession of slaves
from ever being connected With the OWL
ership of the soil
AS corroborativc Of the views which
have been already suggested. the me-
morialists would respectfully call the at
tention of Congress- to the history of
the national legislation, urderthc Confed-
Grafton us well as under the present Con
stitution on this interesting subject Tn
less the memorialsts greatly mistake. it
will demonstrate the sense Of the nation
at every period Of its legislation to have
been, that the prohibition Of Slavery was
no infringement of any just rights be-
| longing to free States,aud was 10, in com
patible with the enjoyments of all the
rights and immunitios which an adlnis-
sion into the Union was SUPPOSED to con
fer.
The mcmorialists, after this general
survey. would respectfully ask the at
t;ntion Of Congress to the state Of the
question of the right of Congress to PRO.
bibit Slavery in that part of the former
Territory of Louisiana, which now forms
the Missouri Territory. Louisiana was
purchased of France by the Treaty Of
the 30th April, 1903. The third article
of that Treaty is as follows The in
habitants Of the cedcd Territory shah
be Incorporated into the Union Of the
United States, and admitted as soon as
possible. 0cc0rdtHg 10 tic piiHciplcS of
'Mc ftdcr0/ ConMUHtioa, to the enjoy.
'ment Of all the riohtS. dtir0Htagcs and
| imni"niticS ofthe citizens If tie EnH-
'cd .N0tcS; ard in the mean time tley
shall be maintained and protected in
the free enjoyment OF their Ii bcrty.
property, and tic religion which they
profess
although the language of this ort-
Gle is not very precise or accurate, tie
memorialists conceive that its real i'm.
port aud intent cannot be mistaken. The
first clause provides for the admission of
the ceded Territory into the Union. and
the succeeding clause shows this must
be 0cco,di"9 10 the principles Of tile
Eulc/oI Constitution i; ard h,S rc,y
q"d/!fcuti0A necessarily crclHdcS tie
uc0 Lh0t CODgrtsS Wclc nat 10 be at
Mery 10 impose any coHdifionS uJ0n
S"ch alniiSSi0n which mcre consistent
withHc principIcS ofthot Constitution.
and "htch lint been ar mjght justly lc
applet 10 othcr Hc,e states. The Ian.
guagc is not By any means so pointed as
that Of the Resolve of l7eO. and vet
it has been seen that Il at Resolve was
never supposed to inhibit the authority
OF Congress, as to the introduction Of
Slavery. And it is clear upon the
plainest rule of construction. that in the
absence Of all restrictive language. II
clause, merely providing for the admis
SION Of Il Territory into the Union, must
he construed to authorize an admission
IN the manner. and upon the terms which
the Constitution itself would Justify
This construction derives additional sup.
port from the next clause The inhaLi
tants shall be admitted as soon as pos
sible. according to the principles Of the
Federal Constitution. to the endowment
of all the ri2hfS, adrontoacS and i'm
.mW0iiics Of citizens Of the T'niied
Matcs.' The rights, advantages and
lmmunitics here spoken of must. from
the very force of the terms of the clause.
be such as are recognized or commune
Gated by the Constitution Of the United
States such as are common 80 all citi-
zcnS. aud are uniform throughout the
United States The clause cannot be
re erred to rights. advantages and immu-
mites, derived exclusively from the
State Government, for these do not de.
pend upon the Federal Constitution.
Besides, it would be impossible that all
the rights, advantages and immunitios
Of citizens of the different States could
be at the same time enjoyed by the
same persons, These rights are differ.
ent in different States a right exists
IN one State which is denied in others
or is repugnant to other rights enjoyed
in others In Some Of the States. a
frceholdcr alone is entitled to vote in
elections; in some qualification of per
sonal property is sufficient and in 9th
ers age and freedom are the sole qualiG-
cations Of electors. In some States no
citizen is permitted to hold slaves in
others he possesses that power absolute,
ly in others it is limited. The obvi-
Gus meaning therefore, of the clause is.
that the rights derived under the Fed
eral Constitution shall be enjoyed by
the inhabitants Of Louisiana in the same
| mannnr Is LIZ tLn ciIiznna oE IL.