Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1854-04-20

COuhu OStT 1ht lTctulSu Oi tue INOTtu.-
She was finally. however, admitted into
the sisterhood of States, bu. not until al.
ter the adoption of the Missouri Com
promise act, the eighth section Of which
declares
"That all tha, Territory ceded by
France to the United States, under the
name Of Louisiana, which lies north of
,hirtv-six degrees and thirty minutes OF
north latitude, not included within the
Limits of The State contemplated by this
act, slavery and involuntary servitude,
otherwise than as the punishment of
crimes, shall be and is hereby FOREVER
PROHIBITED"
This act was passed hirty.f four gears
ago, at the instance of the South, and
almost exclusively by southern votes
By that act the admission into the Union
of the Slave State of Missouri was se-
cured, and all of the country purchased
from France north of SO deg. and 30
min. WAS FOREVER dedicated to freedom.
fhe question of the cons,ilutionality of
this 9Th section was submitted by Presi-
den. Monroe to his Cabinet. then com.
posed of John Quincy Adams, John G..
Calhoun, William Ii. Crawford. Saith
Thompson and William Writ, each OF
whom gave a written opinion in its
favor, and from that time until the pres.
ent, il has been regarded as invioiable
az the Constitution itself.
II is now pretended that this prohi5i.
tior of slavery north of the line indicted
Is unconstitutional and void. That Mr..
Douglas aud his friends did not so con-
slider it in ls45, is shown by The amend.
ment he proposed to the joint resolution
admitting Texas into the Union. which
read, sand in such States as shall be
formed out of said territory, north of
SAID Missouri Compromise line, slavery
or involuntary servi,ude, except for
crime, shall be prohibited" That he
did not regard il as unconstitutional in
1913, is shown by his attempt to extend
the Missouri Compromise line TO the
Pacific ocean, and thus apply it to the
country then recently acquired from
Mexico by the treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo. On the 10Th of August, l84S,
he Offered in the Senate the following
proposition ...... ~...
"Tna, The line of SO deg. and 80 min
of north latitude, known as the Missouri
COMPROMISE line, as defined by the
eighth section Of an &C, entitled AN act
to authorize the people Of the Missouri
Territory 10 form constitution and
State government, and for the admission
of such State into the Union on an equal
footing with the original States, and to
prohibit slavery in certain territories, ,
approved March 9th, 1920, be and the
same is hereby declared 10 extend to
the Pacific ocean; and the said eighth
section, together with the compromise
therein effected, is hereby revived and
declared TO be in full force and binding
for the future organization of the Ter
ritories ofthe United States, in the same
sense, and with the same understanding
with which it was originally adopted"
In favor of this proposition. voted
every southern Senator who voted for The
repeal of the Compromise, now in Con.
gress. How could the principle con
tained in the 9Th section of the Missouri
Compromise be constitutional in lS45,
and in 1913. and be unconstitutional
now! And if il has no constitutional
validity, wherefore the necessity or pro-
prie.y of repeating it! Why no. suffer
the Courts to decide the question with
out any legislative interference or con-
slruc,ion!
The unconstitutionality of the prohi-
bition is new discovery. The CON-
mittee of the Senate that reported the
Nebraska bill on the 4th of January last,
did not think OF basing the repeating at
tempt upon any such argument. 1t is
an after ,hough,, designed to cover up a
discontinue on other arguments. Until
the present time, the acts of Territorial
legislatures have been subjec. to revision
by Congress, and nobody ever doubted
the power or the propriety of tina, re-
vision. Congress no power to prohibit
slavery in the Territories! The Con-
slifu,ion expressly declares that "Con-
gress SHALL have power to dispose OF
and make all needful rules and regula-
,ions respecting the Territory OF the
United States" The great expounder
of the Constitution, Mr.. Webster, whose
opinions were regarded by his enemies
even, as Of more than ordinary value.
says
"The power, then OF Congress over
its own territories. by the very terms of
The Constitution is unlimited. 1t may
make all 'needful rules and regulations
as It's own views of policy or expedien-
CIV shall from time to time dictate. IT,,
therefore, in It's judgment it be needful
for the benefito of a territory to enact a
prohibition of Slavery, it would seem to
be as much within its power of legisla.
.ion as any other act of local policy
Its sovereignty being complete and uni.
versal as TO the territory, it may exer-
else oyerit the most ample jurisdiction
in every respect. 1t possesses in This
view all the authority which any State
Legislature possesses over its own ter.
ritory; and if any State Legislature may,
in its discretion, abolish or prohibi,
Slavery within lis own limits. in v,rtue