The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-05-01
Slavery, and not simply to prevent its establish

Slavery, and not simply to prevent its establish
ment
In the acquisition of Louisiana in 1908. and o.
the Floridas in 1919, the jurisdiction of the Uni.
ted States was extended over vast territories In
which Slavery then existed by virtue of French
and Spanish laws. The right of the people to
hold slaves in these provinces, it was supposed
had become vested, and was not unsettled by
the treaties conveying them to our Government
Hence, Slavery was silently suffered to exist in
that part of these Territories in the actual occu-
pancy of slave property. Congress enacted no
law on the subject. Here il was neither approved
nor discarded. But in the enactment of the
Missouri Compromise, in the year 1920, Congress
provided that neither Slavery nor involuntary
seryitude should be permitted north oil
thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes. The prin-
ciples of the Ordinance of 1887 were extended
over the territories now embraced within the
limits of Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas and Nebras-
ka-then mostly uninhabited. From the history
of these transactions the conclusion is rresisti-
BILE, that Congress intended that all of the i'm
mense territories coded by France and Spain to
this Government, not in the occupancy of slave
holding communities, should remain forever free
and here our Territorial policy again rested for
about quarter of a century.
In the "joint resolution" passed by Congress
in the year lS45, :" for annexing Texas to the
United States" it was provided that
"New States of convenient size, not exceeding
four in number, in addition to said State of Texas
and having sufficient populations, may hereafter
and by the consent of said States, be formed out
of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled
to admission under the provisions of the Federal
Constitution. And such States as may be formed
out of that portion of said territory lying south
of go 3I north latitude commonly known as
the Missouri Compromise line shall be admitted
into the Union with or without Slavery, as the
people of each State asking admission may
desire. And in such State or States as shall be
formed out of said territory north Of said
Missouri Compromise line Slavery or involun-
tary servitude Except for crime) shall be pro
hibited." o.
In the event Of the division of this vast domain
of Texas, it was provided that one or more OF
these four States should be absolutely free,
and that all the remaining States thus formed
might be admitted free States should the people
desire it. And here again the subject rested until
the year 1850.
But in the adjustment of the difficulties grow
ing out of the acquisition Of large territories from
Mexico, trophies of war, Territorial Govern
ments were established for Utah and New Mexico,
with a conditional provision for each:
"That when admitted as State the said Ter
ritory, or any portion of the same, shall be re-
ceved into the Union with or without Slavery,
as their Constitution may prescribe at the time
of their admission"
Here, for the first time, the Territorial policy of
the Government, settled and uniform for nearly
three quarters of a century, was changed. All
the machinery of the ship of State here began to
revolve in a different direction. The Northwest
Territory, now embraced within the limits of five
large and powerful States, originally Stare
territory, by virtue of the laws of Virginia, land
other slave States cedng il to the Union, as much
so the Territory of Kentucky, once held as
part of her domnons. But by the Ordinance of
1897, it was all dedicated to Freedom.
The territory now embraced within the limits
of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Kansas, was
doubtless Stare territory, by virtue of French and
Spanish laws. But by the enactment of the Mis-
souri, Compromise it was dedicated to Freedom.
All the vast domain of Texas was, without dis
pute, slave territory, by virtue of her own laws,
enacted and enforced during her nationality. But,
by the legislation Of Congress admitting her into
the Union, large part of this, too, is prospect
lively dedicated to Freedom. Bat the Territories
of New Mexico and Utah were, by virtue of
Mexican laws, ABSOLUTELY FREE, when, by the
legislation of the Congress of the United States,
they were thrown open to Slavery.
But this reyulsion in the Territorial policy OF
the Government in 1850; this conditional CONVEX
sion of free territory to the uses of Slavery, in
NlOAlion Oh tue setllcu pOlicy Oh the country,
growing out Of what had been supposed to be I" the
compromises of the Constitutions" and in viola
ton of the moral feelings and clear convictions of
right of an overwhelming majority of the Amer
lean people, secured, not by denying the power
of Congress to exclude Slavery, but in the name
of concession and compromise, and as condition
for the admission of California ,rithout ,SiGrery
although previously free by force of Mexican laws
and by virtue of her Consultation at the time
- L II
ment of laws for the modification of the boundary
of the State of Texas, the abolition of the stare
trade in the District of Columbia, and the return
of fugitves from labor.
The passage of these organic laws for Utah
and New Mexico completed the settlement of the
question of Slavery in all the Territories of the
United States. Slavery was not prohibited in Utah
and New Mexico by the laws of Congress; but
in all that vast region, including Minnesota, Kan
sas, Nebraska, Oregon, and Washington, Slavery
soas still prohibited. This adjustment obtained
through the influence of such men as Clay and
Webster-now passed to their final reward-and
men that zee around me, with the legislative ex-
perience of half century browning their brows,
said to be final. Reposing confidence in the
wisdom and patriotism of statesmen who had
stood firmly by their country's flag and the Con-
stitution during the darkest hours of our national
hstory-who had been defenders of their homes
and their rights while the majority of them were
still in their mothers arms, the people peaceably,
though in many instances restlessly and reluc-
family, acquiesced in this supposed " finality"
The admission of Slavery into Utah and New
Mexico not claimed as a constitutional right;
it was asked as an element of compromise. No
one is sufficiently reckless to pretend that the
Compromise Measures of $50 could have received
the approval of Congress, much less of the peo-
pie, with the understanding that this enactment
opened all the Territories Of the Union to the oc-
cupancy of slaveholding communities.
In support of the proposition stated I desire
in the second place, to cite the legislation of Con-
gress in the organization of Territorial Govern
ments and in the admission of States formed out
of territory previously free.
From these citations q remark in passing) it
will be seen that the President is in error when
he says, in his annual message, in relation to the
prohibition of Slavery in the Northwest Territory
by the Ordinance of 1881, that
"Subsequent to the Constitution, this provision
ceased TO remain as a law, for its operation was
absolutely superseded by the Constitution"
In the year 1889, the very first Congress con-
vened under, the provisions of the Constitution
passed law transferring certain duties imposed
by this Ordinance on Congress to the President o.
the United States, las is expressly stated In the
preamble to this law:)
/" In order that the Ordinance of the United
States in Congress assembled for the govern.
ment of the Territory northwest of the river Ohio
may continue to have full effect ~ Statutes a,
Large, vol. l, p. 5O.)
In the year 1900, Congress declared, in the or.
ganic law OF the Territory of Indiana,
That there shall be established within sale
Territory Government in all respects similar tc
that provided by the Ordinance of Congress pass
ed on the 18th day of july 1877 for the govern
ment of the Territory of the United States north
west of the river Ohio; and the inhabitant.
shall be entitled to and enjoy all and singular
the rights. nriyilenes- and adyantaoes aranta1