The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1855-10-27

makes the State authe r.ty independent and
sovereign in municipal affairs, Slavery being
understood to be purely municipal in it's ma
ture. I'd. That provision which, out of ten
derness to the small States, gives them
in the Senate equal to that of
the largest State Freedom builds great
States Slavery multiplcs small States, and
even dwars great ones. ss
Thus we see that the American slavehol-
ders are privileged class, standing on a
special and permanent foundation and that
they are protected in their advent ages by
the organic laws.
Knight bhcw priori that privileged class
thus established on an exceptionablc princi-
pie, that is wrong in itself and antsgonistic
to the fundamental principle of the govern
ment, must necessarily be dangerous if it be
suffered to expand and aggrandize itself But
unhappi1y we are not left to the necessity of
resoting to speculation on that subject. The
policy of emancipation was set back in this
country during the reaction against revolu-
tionary principles, which necessarily attend
ed the reorganization of government; and it
was set back still more eftectually by the con-
sternation which followed the disastrous fail
nre of tie first republic in France. The priv
LEGGED class promptly availe themselves of the
advants ges which the constitution afforded to
fortify themselves in the federal government.
The last federal acts directed against the priv
ileged Glassware the abolition of foreign slave
trade after 1905 and the eternal prohibition
of Slavery in the broad and then unsettled
region which extends from the north bank of
the Ohio to the eastern shore of the Misss-
sippi. Even the passage of that ordinance
was, by its silence, assumed to imply right
on the part of the privileged class to colonize
with slaves the region lying south of the Ohio
and east of the Mississippi.
Unlocked for events have lent to the priv
ileged class advantages which have more than
counterbalHnced the adverse effects of this
natural legslstion. The invention of the cot
ton-gin which easily separates the seed from
the fiber has made cotton an almost exclusive
agricultural staple in the states of the privi-
legged class and an eminent commercial staple
Of the whole country. The national terrific
ry has necessarily been enlarged from time
to time to accommodate an evergrowing pop
ulation and an ever-increasing commerce
Favored by these circumstances the privileg-
ell class have at the same time found in a
home production of slaves in Maryland and
Virginia and other States compensation
for the loss of the African slate-tTade and
they have not been slothful in unlearning all
the fears and dismissing all the timidity and
Cancellation which marked their conduct du-
: ring and Immediately after the revolutionary
war. The admission of kentucky, Tonnes
see, Mississippi and Alabama as slaveholding
States into the Union seemed unavoidable,
inssmuci, as they were the overgrowth of
some of the old thirteen States; and thus
these new STATS south of the Ohio, balanc-
ing the growing tlee States north Of that riy-
er, served as a sort oe balance between tie
privileged and unprivileged classes which it
was not necessary to disturb. This was the
first final partition Of the unsettled territory
of the United States between those classes
In 1903 France ecdcd to the United States
broad belt stretching along tt western bank
of the Mississippi, from the British posses
sions on the north to the Spanish province Of
Texas on the south. This acquisition which
was equally necessary fer the SAFETY Of the
country and for the uscS of commerce., slim
ulated the desire Of tie privileged class for
en- extension Of THU territory and an ag-
grandizement of their power. New Orleans,
situated practically on the coast Of tic hol'.-
inScolonr and an important commercial mart.
1t lay contiguous to the slavchCliing States.
Under these circumstances, it was without
any resistance soon organized and admitted
to the Union with its ancient laws and Gus
ms CT tolcrating slavery. ST. Louis though
destined to acquire great commercial import
ance, was as yet an inconsiderab.c town,
with few Shareholders and slaves. The Mis-
sissirpi only divided it from the Northwest
Territory which was already consecrated to
freedom. Tie best interests Of the country
required and humanity demanded that the
ordinance Of 1857, should be extended across
the Mississippi. The privileged class, how
ever, took possession of the region around
st. Louis. and made partial settlements low
er down OH the west bank Of the Mississippi
St. Louis and its environs matured as State
in 1919, and demanded admission with slave
~ into the Union. Then, only thirty two
years after The passage of the ordinance of
1877, ahd aftet its unanimous ratification by
the American people, the privileged class
mace common cause with the rev slayeholc-
ing State, and assuming a tone at once bold,
! insolent and mcnacing, they denied the pow
er of Congress, although in the Territories it
was supreme and exclusive, and equally ST.
prone and exclusive in the admission of new
States, to legslate at all against their privi-
leges i'll the Territories, OF to refuse admit
sion to new State, on the ground Of its re-
flsal to surrender or abate those privileges;
and they threatened in che loud voice to sub
vert the Union, if Missouri should be re. ct
ed. The privileged class were then backed
by the Senate of the United States, as they
have been backed on similar occasions since
that time. They were met, however, with firm
ness and dec 81 IN by tie unprvilescd class
, Il, tie !Iouse Of Representatives, and so Mis-
souri, failed then to he ;:;'ii;::ca as slave
State. Tie privileged class resorted to a new
! 70 m of st ategy-the strategy of compron-
! Use. They offered to be satisfied if Missouri
only should be admitted as slave State,
while Congress should prohibit slavery forev
err in all the residue of that part of the Lou
lana purchase which lay north of the paral-
lei of &c ;!0' of north latitude. The terri
tory lying between the parallel and the prov
ince of Texas, and constituting what is now
the State of ARKANSAS, being left by impli-
cation to Slavery. THIS compromise was &C
cepted, and thus diplomacy obtained for the
privileged class immediate advantages which
had been denied to their c1amor and passion.
This compromise, however, could have only
the authority of a repcalable act of Congress,
SO far as the prohibition of Slavery north of
sc degrees 80 minutes was concerned. Wise
and great men contrived extraordinary forms
to bind the faith Of the privileged class to
that perpetual inhibition. They gave to the