Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-01-10

CdlneQ prOVlSlou WHICH PiohlpiIeo eio ooo VI
servile labor therein, subject to the condition
of the extradition of fugitives from service due
in any other part of the United States Subse-
quently to the adoption Of the Constitution,
this provision ceased to remain as law; tor
its operation as such was absolutely superseded
by the Constitution But the recollection OF
the fact excited the zeal of social propagandism
in some sections of the confederation; and,
when second State, that of Missouri, came to
be formed in the territory of Louisiana, propo-
sition was made to extend to the latter terrific
ry the restriction originally applied to the
country situated between the rivers Ohio and
Mississippi
Most unquestionable as was this proposition
in all it's constitutional relations, nevertheless
it received the sanction of Congress, with some
slight notifications of line, to save the existing
rights of the intended new State. 1t was re-
luctantly acquiesced in by Southern States as
sacrifice to the cause of peace and of the
Union, not only of the rights stipulated by the
treaty of Louisiana, but of the principle of
equality among the States guaranteed by the
Constitution. 1t was received by the Northern
States with angry and resentful condemnation
and complaint, because it did not concedc all
which they had exactingly demanded.
Having passed through the forms of legisa-
ture, it took its place in the statute book, STAN
ding open to repeal, like any other act of doubt
full constitutionality, subject to be pronounced
null and void by the courts of law, and possess
ing no possible efficacy to control the rights of
the States, which might thereafter be organized
out of any part of the original territory of
Louisiana. =.
In all this, if any aggressions there were, any
innovation upon pre-existing rights, to which
portion of the Union are they justly charge
able
This controversy passed away with the occa-
sion, nothing surviving it save the dormant
letter of the statute. o.,
But, long afterwards, when, by the proposed
accession of the Republic of Texas, the United
States were to take their next step in territorial
greatness, similar contingency occurred, and
became the occasion for systematized attempts
to intervene in the domestic affairs Of one Sec
ton of the Union, in defiance of their rights as
States, and of the stipulations of the Constitu-
tion. These attempts assumed practical di
reetion, in the shape Of persevering endeavors,
by some of the representatives, in both houses
of Congress, to deprive the Southern States OF
the supposed benefit of the provisions of the
4 act authorizing the organization Of the State Of
Missouri
But the good sense of the people, and the
vital force of the Constitution, triumphed over
sectional prejudice and the political errors of
the day, and the State of Texas returned to
the Union as she was, with social institutions
which her people had chosen for themselves,
and with express agreementby the re-annexing
act, that she should be susceptible of subdivi-
sion into plurality Of States.
Whatever advantage the interests of the
Southern States, as such, gained by this, were
far inferior in results, as they unfolded in the
progress of time, to those which sprang from
previous concessions made by the South.
To every thoughtful friend of the Union-to
the true lovers of their country-to all who
longed and labored for the full success of this
great experiment of republican institutions-it
was cause of graduation that such an opportu-
nity had occurred to illustrate our advancing
power on this continent, and to furnish to the
world additional assurance of the strength and
stability of the Constitution. Who would wish
to see Florida still a European colony? Who
would rejoice to hail Texas as a lone star, in
stead of one in the galaxy of States? Who
does not appreciate the incalculable benefits OF
the acquisition of Louisiana? And yet mar
row views and sectional purposes would incvi-
tably have excluded them from the Union.
But another struggle on the same point en-
sued when our victorious armies returned
from Mexico, and 1t devolved on Congress to
provide for the territories acquired by the
treaty of Gaudaloupc Hidalgo. The great re-
lations of the subject had now become distinct
and clear to the perception Of the public mind,
which appreciated the evils of sectional con-
troversy upon the question of the admission of
new States. In that crisis intense solicitude
pervaded the nation. But the patriotic i'm
pulses of the popular heart, guided by the adj
monitory advice of the Father of his Country,
rose superior to all the difficulties of the incor
poration of new empire into the Union. In
the counscls of Congress there was manifested
extreme antagonism of opinion and action be-
tween some representatives, who sought by the
abusive and unconstitutional employment of
the Legislative powers of the government to in
terfere in the condition of the inchoatc States,
and to impose their own social theories upon
the latter, and other representatives who re-
PEELED the interposition Of the general govern
ment in this respect, and maintained the self
constituting rights of States. In truth, the
thing attempted was, in form alone, action of
the general government, when in reality it was
the cndeavor, by abuse Of Legislative power, to
force the ideas of internal policy, entertained
in particular States, upon allied independent
States Once more the Constitution and Union
triumphcd signally. The new Territories were
organized without restrictions on the disputed
point, and were thus left to judge in that par
ticular for themselves; and the sense of con-
stitutional faith proved vigorous enough in
Congress not only to accomplish this primary
object, but also the incidental and hardly less
important one, of so amending the provisions