The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1856-12-13
States or Of their citizens. Still. when si,e

nOninal restriction OF this Failure, already
dead letter In law, was repealed by thu. last
Congress, in clause of the act organj, ,;no tho
Territories of Kansas and NebrasF, tha3 , ro1
peal was made the occasion of ,. wide snread
and dangerous agitation.
It was alleged that the.o, ,.;e;nal enactment
being compact Of PERI .etual moral oblica.
ton, Its repeal constitv ted an odious breach
OF faith; An act of Congress while it is un-
repealed, more esp ,cially if it be unconstitu-
u. wand IN the judgment of those pub
nc iuhctlonso'es, whose duty it is to pro-
hounce on t.iat point, is undoubtedly binding
On the conscience of each good citizen of the
hePuohc; but in what sense can it be assert
eo tnat the enactment in question was in
vested with perpetuity, and entitled to re-
spect Solemn compact? Between whom
was The compact no distinct contending
power OF the government-in separate sec
TONS OF the Union, treating as such entered
in the treaty stipulated on the subject.
1t was mere clause of an act of Congress,
and like any other controverted matter OF
legislation received it's final shape and was
passed by compromise of conflicting opinions
or sentiments, of the members of Congress ;
but If 1t had moral authority over mems con-
sciences, to whom did this authority attach
Not to those of the North who had repeat
eddy refused to confirm it by the extension
end who had seduously striven to establish
other and incompatible relations upon the
subject, and if, as it appears, the supposed
compact had no obligatory force, as to the
North, OF course, it could not have had any
to the South, for all such compacts must be
mutual, and of reciprocal obligations.
1t has not frequently happened that law
givers with undue estimation Of the value of
the services they give, or in the view. of i'm
parting to 1T peculiar strength, make it per-
petual in terms, but they cannot thus bind
tie conscience, the judgment and the will
Of those who may succeed them, invested
with similar responsibilities and clothed
with equal authority. More careful in
vestigation may prove the law unsound in
principle, experience may show it TO be i'm
perfect in detail and improbable in execu-
ton and then both reason and right COM
bine not merely to justify but to require its
repeal.
The Constitution, supreme as it is over
all the departments of the Government,
legislative, executive and judicial, is open
to amendment by its very terms, and Con-
gress or the States may in their discretion
| PiOpOSC ~ itS SOlctllu COIlDdCt.
though it is in truth between the sovereign
States of the Union. In the present in
stance a political enactment which had
ceased to have legal power or authority OF
any kind was repealed. The position as
sumed that Congress had no moral right tc
enact such repeal was strange enough to
and sngularly so in view of the fact that
the argument came from those who openly
refused obedience to existing laws of the
land haqing the same popular designations
and quality as compromise acts; nay more
uncquivocally disregarded and condemned
the most positive and obligatory injunctions
of the Constitution itself, and sought by
every means within their reach to deprive a
poetion Of their fellow citizens of the equal
enjoyment of those rights and privileges
guaranteed alike to all by the fundamental
compact Of our Union.
The argument against the repeal of the
statute line in question was accompanied by
another congcnial character, and equally witt
the former destitute of foundation in reason
and truth. 1t was imputed that the measure
originated in the conception of attending the
limits of slave labor beyond those previously
assigned to it. and that such was its natural
as well as intended effect and those baseless
assumptions were m de in the Northern
States ground Of unceasing assault upon
constitutional right. The repeal, in terms
of statute which was already obsolete and
null, for unconstutionality could have no in
1uence to obstruct or promote the propaga-
ton of conflicting views eff political or social
institutions.
When the act organizing the Territories oil
Kansas and Nebraska was passed, the lnher-
ent effect upon that portion of the public
d main thus opened to legal settlement, was
to admit settlers from all the States of the
Union alike, each with his convictions OF
public policy and private interest, there he
found in their discretion subject to
such limitations as the Constitution
and acts of Congress might pre-
scribe new States hereafter to be admitted
into the Union-it was free field open alike
to Whether the statute of assumed re-
striction was repealed or not, that repeal
did not open free competition of the diverse
opinions and domestic institutions, a field
which without such repeal would have been
closed against them. 1t found that field Of
competition already open in fact and in law
All the repeal did was to relieve the statute
book of an Objectionable enactment uncon-
stitutional in effect, and injurious
in terms to large portion OF
the States. Is it the fact that in all the I'm,
settled regions of the United States, if emf
grafton be left free to act in this respect for
itself, without legal prohibitions on either
side, slave labor will spontaneously 90 every
where in preference to free labor? Is it the
fact that the peculiar domestic institutions Of
the Southern States possesses relatively Sc
much OF vigor that wheresover an avenue is
freely open to all the world, they will pene-
trate to the exclusion of those of the North
ern States?
Is it the fact that the former enjoy compared
with the latter such irresistaby superior vital
lty, independent Of climate, SOIL and all other
accidental circumstances as to be able to pro-
duce the supposed result in spite of The assum-
ed moral and natural obstacles to it's accom-
pllshment, and Of the more numerous popula-
ton OF the Northern States? The argument
OF those who advocate the enactment of new
laws and restrictions, and condemn the repeal
of old ones. in effect aver that their particular
views of government have no self extending or
self-sustaining power of their own, and will 90
nowhere else forced by act of Congress- And
if Congress do but pause for a moment in the
policy of stern coercion, if it venture to try
the experiment of leaving men to Judge for
themselves what institutions will best suit rhem.
if it be not strained up to the perpetual legis-
lative eXertion on this point. If Congress pro-
coed thus to act in the very spirit of Liberty.
it is at once charged with aiming to extend
Slave Labor into all the new Territories of the
United States.
Of course these imputations of the inten-
tons OF Congress in this respect, conceived