The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-01-03

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iered from the rest and from another section, the
most important was the popularity of larger
relauVe colored population in the Southern than
In the Northern States
population of this class, held in subsection,
existed IN nearly all the States, but more nu-
merous and OF more serious concernment in the
south than In the North, on account of natural
dlferences OF climate and production and it was
loreseen that, for the same reasons, while this
population would diminish, and, sooner or later,
cease to exist, in some States it might increase
IN others. The peculiar character and magni-
tude OF this question of local rights not in mate
rial relations only, but still more in social ones,
caused IL 10 enter into the special stpuatlons OF
the Constitution
Hence, while the General Government, as well
by the enumerated powers granted to it, as by
those not enumerated and therefore refused to it,
was forbidden to touch this matter in the sense
OF attack or offence, it was placed under the gen.
| eral safeguard of the Union, in the sense of de-
renee against either invasion domestic vio-
lence ike all other local interests of the several
states. Each State expressly stipulated, as well
Tor Itself as for each and all of its citizens, and
every citizen of each State became sOlemnly
bound by his allegiance to the Constitution, that
any person, held to service or labor in one State
escaping into another should not in consequence
of any law or regulation thereof be discharged
from such service or labor, but sho uld be deliv-
cred up, ON claim of the party to whom such ser
vice or labor might be due, by the laws OF his
State.
Thus, and thus only, by the reciprocal guaran-
ty OF all the rights of every State against inter-
| ference on the part of another, was the present
form OF government established by our fathers,
and transmitted to us and by no other means
is it possible for it to exist If State ceases
to respect the rights of another and obtrusively
| intermediates with its local interests-if portion
OF the States assume to impose their buttons on
a. o1@l,a Al IL
them-we are no longer united, friendly States,
but distracted, hostile ones, with little capacity
left of common advantage, but abundant means
of reciprocal injury and mischief
Practically, it is immaterial whether aggressive
interference between the States or deliberate re-
fusal on the part of any one of them to comply
with constitutional obligations, arise from erro-
neous conviction or blind prejudice, whether it
be perpetrated by direction or indirection. In
either case, it is full of threat and of danger to
the durability of the Union.
CONSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS OF SLAVERY
Placed in the Office of Chief Magistrate as the
executive agent of the whole country bound to
take care that the laws be faithfully executed
and specially enjoined by the Constitution to
give information to Congress on the state of the
Union, it would be palpable neglect of duty on
my part to pass over a subject like this, which,
beyond all things at the present time, vitality
concerns individual and public security
1t has been matter of painful regret to
States conspicuous for their services in founding
this Republic, and equally sharing its advanta-
ges, disregard their constitutional obligations to
it, Although conscious of their inability to heal
admitted and palpabe social evils of their own
and which completely within their jurisdic-
| ton, they engage in the offensive and hopeless
| undertaking of reforming the domestic nstitu-
tons of other States wholly beyond their control
and authority. In the vain, pursuit of ends, by
them entirely unattainable, and which they may
not legally attempt to cornpass they peril the
| very existence of the Constitution and all the
| countless benefits which il has conferred. While
the people of the Southe I'm States confine their
attention to their own affairs not presuming Off
ciousy to intermeddle with the social institutions
| OF the Northern States, too many of the inhabit-
| ants OF the latter are permanently organized in
| associations to inf1ict injury on the former, by
wrongful acts, which would be cause of war
| between foreign Powers, and only fail to be such
| In our system, because perpetrated under cover
| of the Union.
1t is impossible to present this subject truth
and the occasion require, without noticing the
| reiterated brit groundless allegation, that the
| South has persstently asserted claims and OBJ
| tanned advantages in the practical administra-
| ton OF The General Government to the prejudice
| OF the North, and in which the latter has
| quiesc ed. That is, the States which either pro-
mote or tolerate attacks on the rights of persons
and of property in other States, TO disguise their
own injustice, pretend imagine, and constantly
aver, that they, whose constitution ual rights are
thus Systematically assailed are themselves the
| aggressors. At the present time, this imputed
aggression resting, as it does, only in the vague,
declamatory charges of political agi tators, re-
| solves itself into misrepresentation or msinter-
probation, of the principles and facts of the polit
ical organization of the new Territories of the
| United States.
What is the voice of history? When the ordi-
nance which provided for the government of the
Territory northwest of the river Ohio and for its
eventual subdivision into States, was ado pied
in the Congress of the Confederation, it is not to
be supposed that the question of future relati We
power, as between the States which retained an
| those which did not retain, a numerous colore d
population, escaped notice, or failed to be con-
| sldered. And yet the concession of that vast
| Territory to the interests and opinions of tire
| Northern States, Territory the seat of five
among the largest members of the Union, was,
| in great measure, the act of the State of Vir-
| ginia and of the South.
| When Louisiana acquired by the United
States, it was an acquisition not less to the North
than to the South for while it was important to
the country at the mouth of the river 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 settle
| ment was mainly regarded as on the Gulf of Mex
ico yet in fact it extended to the opposite bound
| aries of the United States, with far greater
| breadth above than below, and was in territory,
| as in everything else, equally at least Access
| sion TO the Northern States. 1t is mere deusion
and prejudice, therefore, to speak of Louisiana as
an acquisition in the special interest of the South
The patriotic and just men who participated
| in that act were influenced by motives far above
all sectional jeaousies. 1t was in truth the great
| event which, by completing for us the possession
of the valley of the Mississippi with CONNER
| cial access to the Gulf of Mexico impaired unity
| and strength 10 the whole Confederation and
| attached together by indissoluble ties the East
| and the West, well as the North and the
| South
As to Florida, that was but the transfer by
Spain to the United States of territory on the
east side of the river Mississippi, in exchange for
| large territory, which the United States trans
| ferred to Spain on the west side of that river as
the entire diplomatic history of the transaction
| serves to demonstrate. Moreover, it was an ac-
QUESTION demanded by the commercial interests
| and the security of the whole Union.
In the mean time, the people of the United
| States had grown up to a proper consciousness
of their strength, and in a brief contest with
France, and in a second serious war with Great
! Britain, they had shaken off all which remained
| of undue reverence of Europe, and emerged from
| the atmosphere of those transatlantic influences
| which surrounded the infant Republic and had
| begun to turn their attention to the full and sys-
tematic development 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 condition of
the future States to be founded in the Territory