The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-02-16

| put of rest by skillfully adjusted Legislation
So. sir, we had the Omnibus Bill and its APP
pendages, the Fugitive Slave Bill, and the g.
trict Slave Trade Suppression Bill. To please
the North--to please the free States-Cslifor-
MIA was to be admitted, and tho slave depots
here in the District were to be broken up To
please tho slave States a stringent Fugitive
Slave Act was to be passed. and Slavery was
to have q chance to get into thcnew Territories.
| The support Of the Senators and Representa-
tiyes from Texas was to be gained by a liberal
adjustment of boundary and by the assumption
| of q large portion of their State debt. The
general result contemplated was a complete
and final adjustment of oil questions relating
to Slavery The acts passed. A number of
the friends of the acts signed a compact,
Hedging themselves to support no man for any
Office who would in any way renew the agita-
ton. The country was required to acquiescc
in the settlement as an absolute finality.
No man concerned in carrying those measures
through Congress, and least OF all the distin-
guishcd man whose efforts mainly contributed
to their success, ever imagined that in the Ter
ritorial acts which formed part of the series,
they were planting the germs of new agita-
ton Indeed have proved that one of these
acts contained an express stipulation which
precludes the revival of the agitation in the
form in which it is now thrust upon the coun-
try, without manifest disregard of the provis-
IONS of those acts themselves.
have now proved beyond controversy that
the averment of the BILL which my amend
ment proposes to strike cut. is untrue. Sena-
| tors will you unite ia statement which you
know to be contradicted by the history of the
country? Will You incorporate into public
statute an affirmation which is eontradicted
! by every evcht which attended or followed the
| adoption of the Compromise acts Will you
here, acting under your high responsibility as
| Senators of the States, assert as fact, by sol
enn VOTE that which the personal recollection
of every Senator who was here during the dis
cussion of those Compromise acts disproves!
| will not believe it until see it, If you wish
to break up the time-honOred compact en-
bodied in the Missouri Compromise, transferred
| into the JOINT resolution for the annexation of
Texas, preserved and affirmed by these Gem
promise acts themselves, do it ol enly do 1T
boldly. Repeal the Missouri prohibition. Re-
peal it by direct vote Do not repeal it by
indirection. Do not declare" it "inopera-
tive "because superseded by tho principles
Of the legislation IF 1850"
| Mr.. President, three great Eras have marked
the history Of this country, in respect to Sla-
very The first may be characterized as the
| Era of EHFRANCHIsEMENT Ii commenced
with the earliest struggle for national indie
pendence. The spirit which inspired it ami
mated the hearts and prompted the efforts Of
| Washington, of Jefferson, of Patrick Henry, of
Wythe, of Adams, Of Jay, Of Hamilton of Nor
ris; i'll short OF all the great men of our early
history. All these hoped-al these labortd
for-alI these believed in the final dcliverancc
Of the country from the curse of Slavery. That
spirit burned in the Declaration of lndepend-
ence, and inspired the provisions of the Consti-
tuition and of the Ordinance of 1897. Under
It's influence, when in full vigor, State after
State provided for tho emancipation Of the
slaves within their limits, prior to the adoption
Of the Constitution. Under it's fecbler influence
at later period, snd during tho administra-
ton Of Mr. Jefferson, the importation of slaves
was prohibited into Mississippi and Louisiana,
in the faint hope that those Territories might
finally become free States. Gradually that
| spirit ceased to influence our public councils,
and lost its control over the American heart
and the American policy. Another Era sue
ceeded, but by such imPerceptiblc gradations
that the lines which separate the two cannot
be traced with absolute precision. Tho facts
of the two Eras meet and minSle as the cur
rents OF continent streams mix 70 imperceptibly
that the observer cannot tx the spot where
the meeting waters blend.
| This second Era was the Fra Of CONsERvA-
TIsM. It's great maxim was to preserve the ex-
listing condition. Men said, let things remain
sY LET Sn NOT saz XhfEe from Isl
ing the public QUOT by agitation; adjust all
differences that arise, not by tho application of
principles, but by compromises.
| 1t was during this period that the Senator
tells US that Slavery was maintained in Illinois,
both while n Territory and after it became n
State, in despite of the provisions of the Ordi-
nance. It is true, sir, that the slaves held in
the Illinois country, under the French law,
were not regarded az absolutely emancipated
by the provisions Of the Ordinance But full
effect was given TO the Ordinance in excluding
the introduction of slaves and thus the Terri
tory was preserved from eventually becoming a
slave State. The few shareholders in the Ter
ritory of Indiana, which then included Illinois,
succeeded in obtaining such an ascendency in
its affairs, that repeated applications were
made, not merely by conventions of delegates
but by the Territorial Legislature itself for
suspension of the clause in the Ordinance pro-
hibitng Slavery. These applications were re-
ported upon by John Randolph, Of Virginia, in
the House, and by Mr.. Franklin in the Senate
Both the reports were against suspension. The
grounds stated by Randolph are specially wor-
thy of being considered now They are thus
stated in the report:
I" That the committee deem it highly dam
ScrohS anu lticA Icu:ent 10 lnlpair PROVISION
wisely calculated TO promote the happiness and
prosperity Of the Northwestern country and to
give strength and security to that extensive
frontier. In the salutary operation of this
gaciouE and benevolent restraint, it il believed
that the inhabitants OF Indiana will, at no very
distant day, find ample remuneration for tenn
porary privation of labor and of emigration"
Sir; these reports made IN 1903 and 1907,
and the action of Congress upon them, ia con-
formty with their Recommendation, saved Hi
nois, and perhaps Indiana, from becoming
slave States. When the people of Illinois
formed their State Constitution, they incorpo-
rated into it q section providing that neither
Slavery cor involuntary servitude shall be here
alter introduced into this State. The Consti-
tuition made provision for the continued service
OF the few persons who were originally held as
slaves, and then bound TO service under the
Territorial laws, and for the freedom of their
children, and thus secured the final extinction
OF Slavery. The Senator thinks that this result
IL not attributable to tile Ordinance. | differ
from him. But for the Ordinance, have no
doubt Slavery would have been introduced into
Indiana Illinois aud Ohio 1t is something to
the credit of the Fra OF Conservatism, uniting
IDS iDliaences with .hose vi the 'exprihg Era or
Enfranchisemeht that it maintained the Ordi-
nance of 1887 inthe Northwest
The Era Of CONSERVATISM passed, also, by
imperceptible gradatiOns into the Era of SIA-
VERY PRopAGANDIsM Under tie influences
Of this new spirit, we opened tho whole Terri
tory acquired from Mexico, except California,
to the ingress Of Slavery. Every foot of it was
covered by Mexican prohibition and yet, by
the legislation Of 1850 We consented to expose