The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1856-05-16
Henry Clay ON the Nationality of
SLAVERY.

slavery.
We have proclaimed all the time that we
stand as Republicans on precisely the same
platform rs to Slavery that we occupied as
Wings, and we have time and again quoted
! the resolutions Of the Wing party in State
/ Conventions to sustain our position. We
have also asserted from time to time that
we advocate no doctrine upon this subject
which we cannot sustain By the recorded tes-
timonv Of the great statesmen Of the old
Wing party. In recent issue we quoted
/ from Webster to show that Slavery was a
i local, sectional institution, and that it re-
+ CURED positive legal enactment to turn a
human being into o mere thing to barter
and sell
We now quote from Henry Clay's speech
delivered in 1850, on the admission of Cal
ifornia, to the same purport:
Gin my opinion, therefore. the supposition
that the Constitution of the United States
carries Slavery into California, supposng
her not TO be State, IS an assumption total
~ untoarranted by the Constitution. Why,
if the Constitution gave the privilege, 1T
would be incompetent, for California to
adopt the provision which she has in her Con-
stitution. The Constitution of the United
States, being supreme. no State could pass
an enactment in contravention of the Con-
stituton. NY rules for interpreting the
Constitution Of the United States are the
good old rules of '9S, '99. | have never in
my life deviated from those rules and what
are they? The Constitution is an aggregate
4 pf caHaH No ia yrnnlp1
cept when it is expressly delegated or when
it is necessary or proper to carry it into eff
feet as delegated power and if in any an
stance the poioer to carry slaves into the ter
ritories as guaranteed 10 you By the Consti-
tuition, or IS an incident necessary to the
carrying out Of any other potcer al IS del
egdted IN the Constitution, have been un-
able to perceive it amidst all the vicssitudes
Of public life and amidst all the changes and
turns of party. never in my life have de-
waited from those great fundamental, and |
think indisputably true principles, of inter
pretlng the Constitution of the United States.
Take these principles to be true, and where
is the power Can any one point 1t out TO
me? What gives you a right to carry your
slaves to California ? Where is the deegat-
ed power to which it attaches as necessary
implication 1t is nowhere to be found.
You must resort to some such general prin-
ciple as the Federalists did IN the early his
tory Of this country, when they contended
for the doctrine of general welfare. But
you cannot put your finger upon any part
of the Constitution which conveys the right
or the power to carry slaves from one OF
the States of the Union TO any territory OF
the United States. Mr.. President, you viii
remark that am expressing IN opinion up
on the power, the constitutional right. do
not go into the question of how the powers
of Government are to be exercised or applied
IN the course of administration. That is
distinct question. am arguing the ques-
ton of Constitutional Power. Nor, sir, can
| admit for single moment, that there is any
separate or distinct right upon the part of
States or individual members Of the State,
or any portion Of the people of the United
States TO carry slaves into the Territories,
under the idea that those Territories are held
IN common between the several States"
But Slavery is in Kansas. 1t is there by
force of the Constitution and the equal right
of all the States to the Territories, and the
common right Of the citizens of all the
States to carry their property to the Terrific
ries, according to the Pierce Pro Slavery
party. The leaders of that party maintain
that it is there constitutionally, and they de-
nouncc all who deny that doctrine as Abo-
litionists, disunionists and traitors. Henry
Clay himself comes within the range of
their denunciations, and Notwithstanding
their crocodile tears, they war upon his mem
DRY and his principles as fercely now as when
he was alive.