The Kansas herald of freedom., 1857-08-08

ton. The following Is verbatim copy
from his Annual Message to the Senate
and House of Representatives of Michigan,
delivered at lansing, Jan. !, 1849, and
which, through the kindness Of an II. c.
in that State, we are permitted to copy
from the official document on file at the
Herald of Ffeedona Office. The italics,
at the bottom of the second paragraph. are
ours. otherwise we copy as found IN the
Joint Documents for 1849" to which We
have alluded. 1t will, no doubt, afford
Mr.. Ransom great satisfaction to have the
document to answer, as he viii be ex-
tremely solicitious of showing his pro-
slavery supporters, those who put him IN
nomination, the time when he changed
his views and thought it expedient and
just to extend the institution of slavery
over Territory then free. Partisans show
great alacrity in turning sonersets, but
it is rarely that we find them bringing up
in such shape as Ex-Goy. Ransom has
done. Either Gov. Ransom has changed
his views, or he has not. IF he has not
he is an ultra free soiler, and occupies the
same position we do on the slavery ques-
ton. If he has changed, the party that
sustain him, and have put him in nomina-
ton will wish to know when and where
it was done. We COPY
"The subject of slavery as it exists in
this country is one full of interest and i'm
partanee. If we may apprehend danger
to the permaneDcy of our glorious and be-
loved Union, from any source, we may
look for Its approach through the difficult
ties that surround this momentous and
exciting question. That human slavery
is politically, socially and morally wrong,
no right minded man will question. That
its existence is detrimental to the pros
perity and happiness of any people, is,
in my judgment, equally certain. A
comparative view of the progress in the
acquisition of wealth, in the diffusion of
knowledge, and in the arts of civilization,
in the slave and non-slaveholding States
of this Union, clearly demonstrate that
such is the fact.
The introduction of slavery into the
American colonies under the authority of
the English government, was long and
strenuously resisted by the colonists. The
institution of negro slavery and the toll
Grafton of the African slave-trade, they
charged upon the home government as
among the most fragrant abuses inflicted
upon their infant settlements. At much
later day, Thomas Jefferson, whose hand
first traced the great and eternal truth that
"all men are created equal;;" denomina-
ted slavery "heavy reproach," and other
great and good men, who, like Mr.. Jeffer-
son, were themselves shareholders, have,
pronounced it an unmixed evil. II then,
such be the acknowledged character and ten
denotes Of slavery, should it be suffered to er-
tend single line into Territory nOto .ffrees
The deep and abiding sentiment Of 1sy heart
the deliberate asad settled coRrictio1a of my
judgment allie respond, NO, NEVER.
.'The territory acquired by the United
States in the late treaty with Mexico, is
the common property of the nation, and
by the Constitution it is the declared duty
of Congress to make all needful rules
and regulations respecting it. Arule or
regulation respecting the Territory be-
longing to the United States, can be ad-
Judged 'needfulh only by a majority of
Congress through the usual forms of leg
islation. 1t is from the clause of the
Constitution here referred to, that Con-
gress has ever claimed authority TO leg
islate for the Territories, acquired since
the adoption of that instrument. Under
that provision Congress created Territorial
governments for Louisiana and Florida,
with governor, judges, &c. If Congress
may rightfully create and establish gov
eminent in and over Territory, clothed
with the powers of legislation, appoint
over it retinue of officers, executive and
judicial, may not the same body, declare,
as 'needfui rule and regulation respecting
/ it, that there shall be neither slavery nor
/ involuntary scryitude in the said Terri
tory?
"But if it be admitted, that the power
to prohibit slavery in the free Territory of
the Union, is not expressly given to Con-
gress, still it may be maintained, and l
think successfully, that in relation at least
to Territory acquired by purchase or con-
quest, such power must and does reside
in Congress. That Congress, in behalf of
the nation, has the right and authority
thus to acquire and to hold Territory is
not now controyerted. The right to ac-
quire and hold it, must necessarily be ac-
companied with the power of governing it
also. The power to govern is the inevi-
table result of the sovereignty and domin-
ion acquired by such purchase or conquest.
If Congress has the power to govern such
Territory, it follows as a necessary coRse-
quence that they may annex to its oecu-
pancy, such conditions and regulations as
majority shall deem expedient.
@But we are not left to speculation
alone for solution of this question. One
of the earliest acts of the first Congress
held under the Constitution, in which
were many of its trainers, was one for the
government of the Territory northwest
of the river Ohio, expressly re-enacting
the Ordinance of 1887, and approved by
General Washington, then President of
INC Oultc1 sotstICS, anu WIZ, do you hklCHs
had been the president of the Convention,
which less than two years previously, had
formed the Constitution.
"From that time to the passage of the
act by the present Congress, for the estab-
lishmeDt of a territorial government in
Oregon, the power in question has been
repeatedly exercised. Congress has, dur
ing that period, either expressly or by
implication, recognized their power to pro-
hibit the formation Of slave States, out of
the free territory of the nation in nearly
twenty several enactments, to which at
different times, the sanction of all the
Presidents has been given, excepting the
younger President Adams and President
Tyler. Our own delegation in both branch
es of the present Congress have unitedly
and uniformly acted in accordance with
the view here presented of this subject
and in accordance too, / confidently be-
lieye, with the feelings and opinions of
the great body of the people they repre-
cont