The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1855-12-29
Letter From Francis p. Blair.
SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND. }
nooov,,hor 10 1QSS

concur IN the aims of the Association. L
exclude slavery from the Territories of tn
United States, and to rebuke the violation G
the compromises which were made to efec
that exclusion, are, in my opinion, the mos
important movements which have engage,
the public mind since the Revolution.
The extension of slavery over the new
Territories would prove fatal to their pros
perity; but the greatest calamity to be ap
pretended from it is the destruction of tn,
Confederacy, on which the welfare of tn,
whole country reposes. Every conquest o
this element of discord, which has so Otter
threatened the dissolution of the Union, in
creases the danger. Every surrender of the
free States invites invasion.
The cause which your organization is in.
tended to promote may well draw to its sup
port men of all parties. Differences on ques-
tons ofpolicy, on constitutional construction
! of modes of administration, may well be
merged to unite men who believe that moth
ing but concert of action on the part Of those
who would arrest the spread of slavery, can
resist the power of the combination now en-
bodied to make it embrace the continent
from ocean to ocean.
The repeating clause of the Kansas bill is
predicated ON the nullity of the clause in the
Constitution which gives Congress the pow
er to snake regulations respecting the Ter
ritories" of the United States. Yet nothing
is clearer in the history of our government,
than that this phrase, giving power to Con-
gress "to make regulations respecting the
Territories" was meant to give it the power
to exclude slavery from them.
Mr.. Jefferson's resolutions of 1874, declar-
ing "tbat there shall be neither Slavery nor inuoz-
untaay se'vitude in any Of the States" laid off
in the Western territory, was subsequently
renewed in the Congress of 1885, which add
ed, shat this regulation shall be an article of
compact" and it was so voted unanimously
by the delegations Of eight States out of
twelve"
1t was passed by the unanimous votes of
all the States by the Congress of 1887, which
sat contemporaneously with the Convention
for forming the Constitution, and that Con-
stitution gave Congress the power ''to make
regulations respecting the Territories" and
moreover affirmed the validity Of ''the en-
gagements entered into before the adoption
of the Constitution" by the Confederation
one of which engagements was made by
the regulation excluding slavery from the
territories. Thus the Congress of the Con-
federation and the Constitution united in
giving double sanction to the exclusion
Thus first exerted the power of enacting
Mr.. Jefferson's Introduction of slavery in the
Territories then held by the United States,
to which it has previously given an impress
i've sanction by adding, ''this regulation shall
be an article of compact" &C.; and the Con-
vention guaranteed this engagement" en-
tered into under the Confederation, by de-
clarins it ''valid,'' and employed, the same
terms, ."rsgula.ioa Of tile Territories" to trans
NIT the power here eXerted to future Con-
crosses. In the face of this history, and the
letter of the Constitution granting the power
to make whatever regulation it deemed fit
respecting the Territories of the United
States, the authors Of the Kansas and Ne
braska bill deny the constitutionality Of all
the regulations which exclude slavery from
precedents that confirm them, which have
followed in uninterrupted succession from the
foundation of the government.
The other clause in the Constitution, en-
towering Congress to pass laws to prey ent
ter 1903, shows the fixed purpose of the
of this evil The consequence was an inhib-
lClOIl, pIctculS d SOuCU OoIOlilld pldlI-
ter, who has slaves in Cuba, from bringing
them to his home plantation; and to remove
this obstruction to the increase of slavery
within the Union, and open Africa to supply
the demand made by the new act, the Nor
thern nullifers are already called on by their
Southern allies to lend their aid; and GER
tainly those who embrace Mr.. Calhoun's
doctrine, as stated by Mr.. Douglas, that ''ev-
cry citizen has an inalienable right to move
into any of the territories with his property,
of whatever kind or description" the consti-
tuition and compromises Notwithstanding
can hardly refuse it. 1t was on the anneXa-
ton of the Mexican Territories that Mr.
Calhoun asserted this principle to unsettle
the fixed policy of the nation, beginning with
the era of the Declaration of Independence
and he applied it alike to the compromises Of
1920, and 1850. Mr.. Douglas thus sums uI
the position taken, and the result:
"Under this section, as in the case Of til.
Mexican Mao in Neao Merico and Utah, it is q
disputed point whether slavery is prohibited
in the Nebraska country by valid enactment
The decision of this question involves the
constitutional pewer of Congress to pass
laws prescribing and regulating the domestic
institutions of the various Territories of the
Union. In the opinion of those eminent
statesmen who hold that Congress is invest
ed with no rightful authority to legislate up
on the subject of slavery in the Territories
the eighth section of the act preparatory tc
the admission of Missouri is null and void
while the prevailing sentiments in large por'
ton of the Union sustains the doctrine that
the Constitution of the U. S. secure, to eve
ry citizen as inalienaWy right to move into
any Territories with his property, of what
ever kind and description, and to hold and
enjoy the same under the sanction of law
Your committee do not feel themselves call
ed upon to enter into the discussion of these
controverted questions. They involve the
same grave issues which produced the agita
ton, the sectional strife, and the fearful
struggle of 1850"
From this it appears that the compromises
of 1920 and 1850 involved the question o
the validity of the law of Mexico excluding
slavery from the newly -ceded Mexican terri
tory, and the law of our own Congress ex
Guiding it from that north of the line of 81
degrees and 80 minutes. Mr. Douglas Com
mittee Report recommended that as
f "Congress deemed it wise and prudent t.
refrain from deciding the matter in contro
versy, then, either by the affirming or re
pealing the Mexican laws, or by an act de
claratory of the true intent of the Constitu
ton, and the extent of the protection afford
ed by it to slave property in the Territories
so your committee are not prepared nov t.
recommend departure from the course pur
sued on that memorable occasion, either b,
affirming or repeating the eigth section of tn