The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-01-29
WASHINGTON. d. c..
TEE EQUALITY OF AL, THE BASIS OF THE
CONSTITUTION.
SPEECH OF HON JOHN A. BINGHAM,
or Ohio,
On the Presidents Message.

Inc Presidents Annual Message being under consia.
sraiion, on motion to refer and print
Mr.. BINGHAM said:
Mr. SPEAKER: The Presidents message, now
under consideration, abounds In sentiments
subversive of the Constitution, and sanctions
and defends policy destructive of the public
peace, and injurious to the public interests
And yet the President complains of agitation.
his friend and advocate, the gentleman from
Georgia, Mr.. STEPHENS repeats this com.
plant, and cries, "a gitationl +" /" agitation ~
There has been agitation, general and uni
verssl, amongst the people. 1t still continues
and not without cause. The President, In nv
judgment, has abused the high trusts commit.
ted TO him hence the 0gitation, and that "cry
OF alarm among the people, of which he com.
plains. 1t IS right, sir, that the people raise
the "cry of alarm; it is right that they
Ggitdfe for the correction of abuses committed
by their agents and representatives. / believe.
with Burke, "where there is abuse there ought
to be clazzor; because it is better to have our
slnmber broken by the FIRE bell, than to per.
ish amidst the flames"
The President In this message, under cover
of cunning device of words, advances the
monstrous proposition that the several States
OF this mon, as States, have q constitutional
and imprescriptiLle right to traffic in slaves,
not only within their respective limits, but
throughout the national Territories. Having
inaugurated this policy in Kansas, by which
that Inflated Territory has been subjected to
an absolute tyranny; by which its soil has
been cursed with the manacled foot of the
bondman, and stained with the blood of muir.
der and assassination; the President, with an
audacity unparalleled, deprecates agitation,
and demands acqa;escence in this policy as
the test OF fidelity 10 the Constitution aad the
Union To enforce this acquiescence as q
duty. the President undertakes a defence OF
the repeal of what he terms "the statute re-
striciion upon the institution of new States,
and an exposition Of the principles Of the Con-
stiiution and Of the rights of the States under
it. OF The repeal OF the "statute restriction,
by the Kansas Nebraska act Of 1854, he says
Congress legislated upon the subject in
such terms as were most consonant with the
principle Of popular sovereignty which un
derlies our Government. Ii could not have
legislated otherwise, without doing violence
to another great principle of our institutions
the imprescriptitIe right Of equality Of The
several States"
This " statute restriction upon the institution
of new States" which was repealed the Pres
dent tells US was violative Of the imprescrip,
bic right Of equality of the several States 1t i.
not the right of the neo States that this statute
restriction invaded, for they were not in being
but the impreseriPtible right Of equality Of hc
sererol States
What was this statute restriction, the repeal
of which the President thus attempts to defend
and why WAS it originally enacted? 1t was
the restriction imposed upon the extension Of
Slavery, by the eighth section of the act o.
1920, commonly called the Missouri Compro
mise; and which forever excluded Slavery
Otherwise than in punishment of crime) from
all that part Of the Louisiana Territory lying
west of the western boundary of the Safe O
Missouri, ard north of 360 30 north latitude
This prohibition in its terms perpetual
The motives which prompted its enactment arc
apparent. The Congress which enacted j
doubtless felt, and knew, that Slavery was sub
versve of the ends of all free government .
violation Of justice and OF the rights of the en-
shaved, and contrary 10 the spirit OF our free
Constitution they also knew that, ia the wrong
In which this institution has IFS Inception there
was no law to restrain the enslavement of al
classes and races of men that the brute force
by which the inherent ri hts Of the black race
had for centuries been cloven down. was mo-
likely to be restrained from inflic:ing Ike cru
elites and expressions upon the white race
that the violence in which this system live,
and has its being, is deaf alike to the voice o
Justice and the cry of the oppressed, whether
African or all American. Hence the origin
of that enactment. Il was humane, polite
and Just.
But, sir, it was repealed, we are told, in or
der 10 maintain inviolate the imprescriptibI,
right Of equality Of the several States" Al
imprescripable right Of equality in what? II
the bones and sinews and souls of men Ant
this right, the President tells us, is imprescript
ible-nct to be forfeited bv non-user, nor to b.
restrained by Congressional enactment, and co
extensive with the national Territories. Tn,
President further tells that this right ais
. great principle of our institutions-a conSti
tutiOnal tight of each and all of the States o
the Union, as States, which the people, b,
6 their recent political action, have sanctioned
sand announced"
II all this be true, what a mockery for th,
President TO tell us, as he does tell us, in TIL
very next line of this message, that the peop
have thus proclaimed their unalterable an
devoted attachment TO the Constitution, q
the safeguard of the rights Of all, and as tn
'spirit OF the liberty OF the Republic" Tn
spirit OF the liberty of the Republic! TO enslav
men throughout the national jurisdiction 4
cast fetter upon the human soul to inter
pose the dark shadow of oppression between
man end has Maker Sir, this is not the spri
of that liberty which God gave to man, whe.
He breathed into him the breath of life. '"hi
is not the spirit of that liberty, one hour q
which, ais worth a whole eternity of bond
age" This is not the spirit of that liberty, 70
which Hampden and Sidney died, and for de
fencing which, Milton was hunted and perse
cuted Ia his blindness. This is not the spiri
of that liberty, for which the great apostles c
our raoe-men of whom the world nc
wortby-suifered hunger and thurst, cold an
nakedness, and endured, without fear and with
he iser n hSfa tho soorl 4
power, the gloom OF the dungeon, the tortur
of the wheel, the agony OF the tagot, tia
ipnominy OF the scaifoid and the cross.
/ shall not stop 10 inquire, whether the Pre-
ident has not uttered hagitious libel upo
the American people by his announcement
that they have sanctioned this alleged right
enslaye men the constitutional right
each and all of the States, as States, AS Ill
snirit of the liberty Of the Repubs-" Tne
vill answer 10 that charge themselves, ar
with more potency than any man can answ'
for them.
Is it true, that this alleged imprescripib
right of the several States Is great princip
If our institutions, sanctioned by the Consti,
ton. ard upheld by the national arm? 1t tn
he true. il affords the reason of the President
assertion, in his message of last year, that II
attempt by Congressional enactment TO pr
hibit Slavery in the Territories recently a
ouired from Mexico, was 1.-The endeayor
force the IDEAS of internal policy entertaine
in particular States, upon allied independe
States"
With these instructions of the Preside
upon the "theory of our Government" v
can understand why it is that the Southel
States deny the right or power of Congress
exclude Slavery from the Territories; viii
distinguished Representatives of the South d