The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1856-01-11

but abundant means of reciprocal injury aud
mischief
Practically, it is immatcrial whether ag-
gressIve Interference between the States, or
deliberate refusal on the part of any one of
them to comply with constitutional obliga-
tons, arise from erroneous conviction or
blind prejudice, whether 1t be perpetratcd by
direction or indlrection. In either case, II is
full of threat and danger to the durability OF
the Union.
Placed in the Office of Chief Magistrate ~
the executive agent of the whole country,
bound to take care that the laws be faithful
ly executed, and especially enjoned by the
Constitution to give information to Congress
on the state of tnc Union, it would be palpa-
bic peglect of duty on my part to pass over
subject like this. which, beyond all things
at the present time, virtually concerns the
individual and public security.
1t has been matter of painful regret to see
States conspicuous for their scvces IN found.
ing this RepubIicand equally sharing its adj
vantages, disregard their constitutional obi
CATIONS to it. Although conscious of their
inability to herd admitted and palpable social
evils of their own, and which are completely
within their Jurisdiction, they engage in the
offensive and hopeless undertaking of 10.
forming the domestic institutions OF other
States wholly. Beyond their control and
authority.
In thc'van pursuit Of ends,by them entirely
unnnttninablc, andwhch they may not legally
attempt to compass, they peril the very eX.
istence of the Constitution, and all the count
less benefits which it has conferred. While
the people of the Southern States con!ine
their attention 70 their own affairs, not pre-
suming otficioss1y to intermeddlc with the
social Institutions Of the Northern States, too
many of the >hihabltants of the latter are
permanently Organized in associations to in
, tlict injury on the forRer, by wrongful acts,
which would be cause"uf war as between
/ foreign powers, and only fail to be such in our
/ system because perpetratcd under cover ofthc
| Union.
! 1t is impossible to present this subject as
truth and the occasion requires, without no.
ticing the reiterated, but groundless allegation,
that the South has persistently asserted
claims and obtained advantages in the pract-
cal administration of the general government
TO the prejudice of the North, and in which
the latter has acquiesced. That is, the States
| which either promote or tolerate attacks on
the rights of persons and property in other
States, to disguise their own injustice, pretend
or imagine and constantly aver, that they,
whose constitutional rights are thus system
atcally assaulted, are themselves aggressors.
At the present time, this imputed aggression,
resting, Us il does, only in the vague, drclam.
atory charges of political agitators, resolves
itself into misrepresentation or misnterpreta.
ton of the principles and facts of the political
organization of the new Territories of the
| United States.
What is the voice of history! When the
ordinance which provided for the government
of the territory northwest of the river Ohio,
and for its eventual subdivision into new
States, was adopted in the Congress of the
confederation, it is not to be supposed, that
the question OF future relative power, rs be-
tween the States which retained and those
which did not retain numerous colored pop
ulation, escaped notice, or failed to be consid.
cred. And yet the concession of that vast
territory to the interest and opinions of the
Northern States Il territory now the seat of
five among the largest members of the Union,
was in great measure, the act Of the State
virginia.
When Louisiana was acquired by the Uni
ted States it was an acquisition not less to
the North than the South, for while it was
important to the country ut the mouth Of the
| Mississippi to become the emporium of the
country above it, so also it was even more
important to the whole Union to have that
emporium, and although the new province, by
reason Of its imperfect settlement was re.
garded rs on the Gulf of Mexico, yet in fact
! it extended to the opposite boundaries of the
! United States, with far greater breadth above
than below and was in territory, as in every
thing else, equally mere dclusion and prcju-
dice, therefore, to speak of Louisiana as an
acquisition in the special interest Of the
South.
The patriotic and just men who paricipa.
ted in that act, were influenced by motives
above all sectional jealouses. 1t was in truth
the great event, which, by completing for us
the possession OF the valley of the Mississippi,
with commercial access to the Gulf of MeXi.
co, impaired unity and strength to the whole
confederation, and attached together by in.
dissolublc ties East andWes,,as well us North
and South.
AS TO Florida that was but the transfer by
Spain TO the Unite ed States OF the territory on
the east side Of the Mississippi in exchange
for the large territory which the United
States transferred to Spain on the west side
of that river, as the entire diplomatic history
of the transaction serves to demonstrate -
! Moreover, it was nm acquisition demanded BY
| the commercial interests and the security Of
| the whole Union.
In the meantime, the people of the United
States had grown up to proper consciousness
of their strength, and in brief contest with
France, and in n second serious war with
Great Britain, they had shaken off all which
remained of undue reverence for Europe, and
emerged from the atmosphere of those trans
atlantic influences which surrounded the in.
FAINT Republic aud had begun to turn their
attention to the full and systematic develop.
ment of the internal resources of the Union.
Among the evanescent controversies of that
period, the most conspicuous was the question
Of regulation by Congress Of the social con.
dition Of the future States TO be founded in
the territory of Louisiana.
The ordinance for the government of the
territory northwest of the river Ohio, had
contained provision which prohibited the
u'e of servile labor therein, subject to the
feondition of the extradition of fugitives from
service due in any other part of the United
States. Subsequently to the adoption of the
Constitution, this provision ceased to remain
as n law; for its operation as such was abso
lutely superseded by the Constitution. But
the recollection of the fact excited the zeal Of
social propagandism in some sections of the
confederation, and when social State, that
of Missouri, came to be formed in the terrific.
ry of Louisiana, a proposition was made TO
extend to the latter territory the restriction
originally applied to the country situated be.
tween the rivers Ohio and Mississippi.
Most questionable, as was this proposition
in all its constitutional relations, neverthe.
less it received the sanction of Congress with
some slight notifications of line, TO save the
existing rights Of the new State 1t was re.
luctantly acquiesced in by the Southern States
rs q sacrifice to the cause of peace and of tho