The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-04-22

garded, that in my State, not only has the Con-
stitution always been submitted to the people
for ratification but by its provisions nc revision
or alteration of that instrument can pc mace,
unless the same shall be laid before the people,
and approved by tsee-fhrds of the quaiihed rsters
present and voting on the subject. Let the peo-
pie of that and other States Of this Union, who
have so zealously guarded their own rights, see
whittier this country is tending, under the rule
of false and spurious Democracy" ~.
Mr.. Chairman, It has always been contended by
the Democratic leaders and presses at the North,
that Kansas would be free State, and that it
never could, in any event, come into tile Union
as slave State. f,p ,-ae
To show how this was understood in my own
State, quote an editorial article from the NsW
Hampshire Patriot of October l8, 1854:
"The Wing and Abolition sgitsiors are constantly de.
clarng that slaves being carried into Kansas and
Nebraska by hundreds. This 10 undoubtedly false for
have been carried there and this l. likely be the
from the fact that srey sovs eessd there bseo'r m lag
The moment he SCI: bis foot upon me soil Of either
probable that the OF slaves will run the great
risk involved in carrying them where they VIII oe now
free in the hope that subsequent legislation VIII give
them the power 10 hold them slaves. All admit that
there law tolersng Slavery in these Territories
doctrine well established that Slavery exist only
by positive law-that, without positive law permitting
il, Slavery more exist lhan man can Dreaihe
slave can be legally held in Kansas or Nebraska
shins sIsveT Thai this is the law, we have boh the
decisions ofthe highest courts and judges In the land ad
the opinions Of the most eminent statesmen. We win
quote fe of hese DECISIONS since Abolition aud Wing
editors laborng zealously TO make the people be-
| iieve that this is not the settled doctrine"
The Patriot then quotes long list of judicial
decisions in support of this position.
But, sir as | have said, this old doctrine that
Slavery is local-the creature Of positive law, and
of no validity beyond the range Of that law-and
which had been 30 decided by long series of
judicial decisions, from that Of the famous Som
mersett case in England down to that of the case
of Prigg The State of Pennsylvania, decided by
the Supreme Court Of the United States in this
country, has now been repudiated and overturned,
and the dogma of Mr.. Calhoun, that Slavery can 60
anywhere by virtue Of the Constitution, has been
set up in its place. When this doctrine was first
preached in the Senate it was secuted by Mr..
Clay, Mr.. Webster, and other leading minds of
the nation but to-day il is the test question in
the "Democratie :" creed of this country In
1854, Mr.. Toombs commended, in q speech in the
Senate, that Slavery was NATIONAL institution
and 30 far as the President 90 in declarations
to that effect, far as the Democratic party can
go in its leading measure-the admission of Kan
sas under the Lecompton Constitution-Slavery
is to-day as completely nationalized as are the
great fundamental principles of Liberty and Re-
publicanism, which have so long been our pride
| and boast
| In the last Presidential campaign, it was said
everywhere at the North that Kansas would be a
free State, and the Democratic war-cry then was,
" Buchanan, Breckinridge. and Free Kansas"
How these pledges have been redeemed, let the
President himself answer by the extract from his
message in which he says that Kansas is as much
slave State to-day Georgia or South Carolina"
Again, in his celebrated New Haven letter, he
says "Slarery ezsted at that period and still erists
in Ransas, under the Constitut;on of the United
States. This point has been at last finally decided
By the highest tri6unGl knoion to opr laps Hon. IL
could haze ever been seriousy doubted, mystery"
And, in his annual message, he says
Should the Constitution without Slavery be adopted
by the votes Of the majority, the rights OF property in
now IN the Territory are reserved The number OF
these IS very small but n ~ greater the provision
would be equally just and reasonable These slaves
brought into the Territory under Constitution
the United States and the property OF their
This point has length been finally decid by the
highest judicial tribunal of the country-snd this upon
plain principle that when eomederacy OF sovereign
States acquire Territory at their joint expense
both equality and JUS ice demand that the citizens Of
and all of them shall have the right TO take into it what
ever is recognised properly by the Constiiu
ton TO have summarily conhscsied the property in
gross injustice and contrary 10 the practice of the
older States of the Union which have abolished Slavery
| No matter if the number of slaves in Kansas
were much greater than it really is, the President
says the principle would still be the same And
the right claimed u.s. that the STAKEHOLDER may take
his slaves in the same way that man may take
his horse or his or, go into any Territory which
the United States may now have, or may hereafter
acquire, and there hold them as property under
| the Constitution and, further, that when the
people of the Territory come to form State
Constitution, they have no power to touch the
existing relation Of master and slavel This is
the legitimate deduction from the doctrine of the
message. Sir, if this be so, the question is al
ready settled, and there never can be another
free State added to this Union
| And this doctrine reaches its eliminating point
in the seventh article of this Lecompton contri-
vance, which provides as follows:
SEC J. The night of property before and hi CHER than
constitutional sanction and the night fhe
such slave ard its is the same and as
iuvoable the right of the Of any property what
| ever"
And this, sir, is the doctrine which the Demo-
cratic party to-day put forth as test of party
fidelity. We shall see what the people Of the
free States, when they come to pass upon it, will
have TO say in reference to this doctrine, and of
| the Administration which sustans it.
| Sir, on the 18th day of July, 1856, in a speech
which had the honor to make on this aoor,
| endeavored to prove that the evident tendency
| of the Democratic party was TO the abandonment
of the doctrine of popular sovereignty" and
ventured to predict, that If the doctrines put
| forth by certain Southern leaders were endorsed
by the American people in the election of Mr..
Buchanan, that there would be decision of the
Supreme Court sanctonng the Calhoun doctrine
that Slavery, under the Constitution, could, ipso
faeo, go into any of the Territories, and be pro-
tected there and that this would be an article
in the Democratic creed.
The day but one after the Inauguration of
President Buchanan, bred Scott was decided /;
and the position of the party to-day, on this Lee
| compton Constitution, veri6es but too well the
other part of the prediction.
| And sir, if the Administration, in this gross
and violent outrage upon their rights, is sane
TONED and sustained by the American people, |
will venture another prediction: that when the
| Lennon case, now before the courts in New York
| shall ind its way to the same tribunal which
decided bred Scott, Slavery, by virtue of it, will
be planted in every free State of the Union.
That this statement, Mr. Chairman, is no mere
ougoear, with no foundation on which to base
II, and as additional evidence tending to show
| which way the Democratic" current is drifting
in this particular, quote from an article in the
Washington Union Of November II, 1857 but a
few days before the Presidents message was
| sent to Congress. The quotation which | have
made from the message contains in effect. though
expressed in terms little more ambiguous. the
same sentiments which are more boldly avowe
in this article from the Government organ:
L q S,,,. Jo,..
iohsh organic Otherwise schieh p,ohib citizen Of on,
State en seing ansaAtr, and bringing starr prop
riy iciih Ass and especially declaring orsd ar
drect violations Of The original intention Of Gorennen
,caieh before he y,oteess, Of person and prop
efy and Of the Consiisssfion of the Upd States
ognises properly slarss declares thai H., citizens
zach State haA be srsd ~ lhs priraeges and
ies Of citizens The sererai States among The
Of ich ieh IS ps protection Of person and properly
What Is recognised properly by the Const ution
the United States by provision which applies equally
10 all the States has nahensbe right be projected
in all n. States =