Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1856-04-30

Ieff5lOE1& ~ ~ ~ NNac RS0HfAen en1E-
led - seaasH y loss - Iacospo into she !
~. ). 3 M
Bat I'd this mass Of ccnsecutye egslxtion, ex-
ceps she ars d fs.p, i ixnofed BY the President
He tells Us ii ii this provision Of the Ordinance
fSS- ceased 10 remain as IAw, being cbxoisaefs
sNa<rsedxd by tie GonafifHfsos- Il Is unfortunate
tor tie correctness of this statement, that The
states at Large of tie United STATES have been
published from session to session by authority OF
Congress, aud scattered broadcast over these
sstafes il Il unfortunate Tor its credence, that
50 mary millions OF the freemen OF this Republic
can read plain English.
HAT the honorable Senator from Georgia
takes precisely the opposite tack. He denies the
position OF the PRESIDENT. and says that This 0ri
nance
sPurported on lis face to be perpetual CONF
pact between the State OF Virginia, the people
OF the Territories, and the :fen Government OF
the United States The division OF that Terrific
r. was provided for in the Ordinance; at each
division, the whole oftfe Ordinance was applied
10 each Of its parts. Congress did not assert or
exercise the right 10 alter a compact entered in
to with the former Government, tthe old Confed-
Grafton ] but gave its assent TO the Government
aiready established and provided for in the COM
pact If the original compact was void for want
OF power IN the old Government to make il, ms
Mr. Madison supposed, Congress may not have
been bound to accept i- it certainly had no
power to alter IL.
The honorable. Senator from Georgia arrives
at an erroneous conArsion, only because his
premises are untrue. This Ordinance does not
purport on its face to be compact between FIR
gina and the people of the Territories and the
United States, but compact between the origi-
nal States and the people and States in the said
aon its face nor were the people and States in
said Territories contracting parties. There we're
no States in the said Territory; the people had
no organization; they had no power to bargain
until after the Ordinance was passed; and the
Ordinance bears the signature Of no representa-
| tive of Virginia, nor OF the Territory-and ONO
one but "WiiIi,m Grayson, chairman OF Con
| gress, and ..Charles Thompson, Secretary" In
| other words, it was a la~ of the United States,
| passed in the usual form, containing solemn
declaration OF the future policy of the Govern
ment Oil the subject OF Slavery in the Territories.
| II was no more irrepealable than the Missouri
moral elements of a perpetual covenant; but,
illegally, ''it was mere law of Congress- and
| that too, of Congress under the Confederation,
| with fewer elements Of sovereignty, with less
power to bind tie individual States, than is now
possessed by Congr, IS under the Constitution.
| Hence, II Congress had the power to repeal the
Missouri Compromise, which literally means an
agreement, bargain, a compact" it had e
power to repeal the Compromise OF 1857. They
were both declaratory acts OF gress-nothing
more. The veracity and honor Of the nation
were at stake. Size had solemny declared that
Slavery should not be permitted IN the Northwest
Territory; and that in the Louisiana Territory
north OF 81 deg. 81 min Slavery should be for.
! eper prohibited. This was the voice oil the SUI
| premc power of the United States, spoken in
| The presence OF the enlightened nations of the
earth. But il was "a nude compact'-it bound
4 no one but herself If she chose to violate her
pl,.hted faith with herown citizens, aud to stand
I n giant liar among the nations, she doubtless
had the power.
/ Bat be this as it may, these legislative prcce-
/ dents are not confined TO subdivisions of the
/ Northwest Territory. They have constantly tol
4 lowed the progress of population inthe free ter
ritory. 1t WIS first applied to Ohio; when the
tide orpopuation rolled across the Miami, it was
applied to Indiana; whenit crosse. the Wabash,
i it was applied to7liiinois when it surged up to
| the northern Likes it was applied to Michigan;
when it Rugged the western shore of of the lakes
! up to the British possessions, and dashed across
| the great Father of Waters, it was applied to
/ Wisconsin, including Iowa and Minnesota, both
Of which f-ere beyond the boundaries of the
! Northwest Territory; and when it ovcrleaped
the Rocky Mountains, this great vertebrsl cot
nmn of the world, it was applied to Oregon and
Washington, bounded by the Pacific Ocean
These consecutive legislative rrecedents, COM
mencing in 1857, and continuing TO 1854, stand
unmpcached and uninipeachabie by any conclu-
sivercasonlng.
observe, in the third place, there az no adrerse
decision of the Supreme Court.
I In 1854, Congress repealed the Missouri Com
promise, OIL the ground its unconstitutional
| ity. The power OF Congress to exclude Slavery
| from the Territories wus then for the first time
| denied.
| The President has also declared these laws to
| be unconstitutional. He says, on the subject of
the organization oil the Territories of Utah and
| New Mexico
Yin the councils of Congress, there were man
Tested extreme differences of opinion and action
between some Represt natives, who desired the
| uncons .itutional employment of the legislative
powers of the Government to interfere in the
| condition OF the inchoate States, and to impose
| their own social theories upon the latter, and
| other Representatives, who repealed the interpo-
stion OF the General Government in this respect,
| and maintained the seli-controllng rights of the
States.
"Once more the Constitution of the United
States triumphed signally; the new Territories
! were organized without restrictions upon the
disputed point, and were thus left to judge in
that particular for themselves"
Those who desired Congress to exclude Slave
ry from the Territories were said SO desire the
| exercise of unconstitutional power" and when
Congress enacts laws throwing open territory,
before Free to the occupancy of Slavery, he tells
us that the Constitution of the Union triumph-
ed sgnally."
But Mr. President, I desire here to inquire
whence the President of the United States deriv-
cd the power to adjudicate the cons,itutionality
! of laws which had previously passed through iii
the usual forms OF Legislalions had supposed
that such adjudicatons more fifty belonged to
another department of the Government The
trainers OF the Constitution originally conferred
this power on the Supreme Court
Under the Constitution, Congress may enact
laws, the courts may adiudicate them, and the
President may execute them These three de-
partments of the Goyernn ent should remain dis
tnct, because their union forms IA despotisn.
But it neither the President nor Congress may
exponnd the laws without t,surpation OF powers
never conferred by the Constitution, inquire Tor
the opinions of the Judiciary on which the dec
larati0ns OF the President and OF Congress are
based For ii these laws were in fact unconsti-
tutional, it would be strangeif none of the
oil the country, Safe or National in all the COM
pitcdteu 's<juufcatOn mat has arisen since fS9,
have had oerasionlo pronounce them void. The
President pr nounces these laws demonstrations
at Senators say they were unconstitutional
Congress repealed the Missouri Comproms be-
GA Use it WAS unconstitutional; Al all who oppos
cd this repeal are denounced AS enemies TO the
Constitution. And yet the courts, the only con-
s.itM'iendt tribunals on earth that have the right
| 10 ,judcate such questions, have never, be-
iieve. even intiinate.l such an opinion!
II i am in error in this, l,,t Old and experienced
Sens. or. here, whose knowledge mus, he perfect
on tiis sas,jrct correct ma. Does one answer?
l hear no reply Then infer there no such
decisions, well authrnsicated of any court OF the
country, State or National. Tllen sir, what be-
comes OF these charges OF treason against the
/ Constitution and the Onion" SO literally fun-
mated against the opponents oil Slavery in kansass
! Before am condemned as enemy OF M, coun
try, rs political traiorto her fundamental law,
| desire to know that some court of competent
Jurisdiction has decided thar my opinions are IN
| conflict with the Constitution.
! will not deiain the Senate with the presenta-
ton OF judicial opinions sustaining the constisu-
ioiaiity of the uniform legislation-of Congress,
which have cited. The honorable Sena tor from
II,