Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1858-03-19

Second. That whereas, heretofore
the National Government favored thi
change Of balance from the slave Sta ties
it has now reversed this policy, ant
opposes the change.
Third. That national Intervention il
the Territories in favor sf slave labol
and slave States, is opposed to the ma
tural. social, and moral developments O.
the Republic.
1t seems almost unnecessary to
demonstrate the first of these PROPOSE
tions. In the beginning, there were
twelve slave States, and only one that
was free. Now, six of those twelve
have become free and there are six.
teen free States. the three candidates
now here, Kansas ,Miuncsota.and Oregon
shall be admitted as free States, then
there vii! 5e nineteen free States, to
fifteen slave States. Originally. there
were twcnty-four Senators of slave
States, and only two of free State
now, there are thirty-two Senators oi
free States, and thirty of slave States
In the FIRST Constitutional Congress,
the slave States had Gfty-seven Re
prescntatiyes. and the one free State
had only eight; now, the free States
have one hundred ard :or.y-i iour Re-
prescntatives, while the slave States
have only ninety. These changes have
happened in period during which the
slave States have almost uninterrupedly y
exercised paramount influence in the
Government, ana Notwithstanding the
Constitution itself has opposed we'll
known checks to the representation Of
free States. I assume. therefore, the
truth Of my first proposition.
| suggested, ,sir,a second circumstance,
namely That whereas, in the earlier
age Of the Republic. the National Gov
ernmcnt favored this change, yet it has
since altogether reversed that policy.
and it now opposes the change. do
not claim that heretofore the National
Government always, or even habitually.
intervened in the Territories ii favor OF
the free States, bnt only that such in
.tervention prcponderatcd. While Slav-
erv existed in all of the States but one,
at the beginning, yet it WIS far less
intense in the Northern than in some
of the Southcra States. III of the
former contemplated an early e;nancipa-
ton. The fathers seem not to have
anticipated an enlar5 cement Of the
national territory consequently, they
expected that az .hc new States to
be thereafter admitted would be organiz-
cd upon subdivisions of the then existing
national domain. That domain lay
behind the thirteen States, and stretched
from the Lakes to .he Gulf, and was
bounded westward by the Mississippi
1t was naturally divided by the Ohio
river, and the Northwest Territory and
the Southwest Territory were organized
then. that the new States to be admitted
would ultimately overbalance the thir-
teen original ones. They were, however,
mainly to be yet planted and maturcd
in the desert, with the agency Of human
labor.
The fathers knew only of two kinds of Ia
Dor, the sumo which now exist among our
srlycs-namrly, the labor of African slaves
and the labo- Of lreemen The former then
pycdominated in this country, as it did
throughout the continent. A confessed de
icicncy Of slave labor could be Supplied only
by domestic increase, and by continuance Of
the then existing importation from Africa
The supply of free labor depended on domcs-
tic increase, and voluntary immigration
from Europe Settlements which had thur
etrlv tlkcu on a iree-labor character or a
slayc-l lbor character. were already maturing
in those parts Of old States which were to be
ultimately detached and formed into new
States. When new States of this class werl
Organized, they were admitted promptly, ei-
thcr as free Slates or Slave States without
objection. Thus Ferm snt, a free State, wa.
alatttd in l79l; Kentucky, slave State il
l7g2; and / nnessco, also slave State. ir
1896. Five new States were conteml lated
t. be erected il the Northwest Territory
Practically it WAS unoccupi ii, and thersforC
on,n to Labor of either kind. The one kline
u the other, in the absence of any anticipa
ted cmul .tlon, would predominato, just al
Congress should int ,rvenc to favor it. Con
gress interviewed iu favor of free labor. Thi
indue /, w.tS an act Of the Continental Con
grrss, but it was confirmed by the first Con
stitutional Congress. Tho fathers simultane
ouslv adopted three other measures of less dl
rect Intervention. First, they initiated \
l7S0, and complrted in 1908, the absolute
suppression Of the African slave trade Sec
ondly, they organized systems of foraign com
mcrcc and navigation, which stimulated vo!
untary emigration from Europe. Thirdly
they establish I'd ar easy, simple, and uniform
process of naturllizatich. The change o
the balance Of power from the slave States t.
the free Stltas, which we are now witnessing
is due chiefly to those four early measure
of national Intervention in favor of free la
hor 1t wonld have takcn place much soon
cr, if the borders Of the Republic had re
mained unchanged The purchase of Louis
ana and the acquisition of Florida, however
wore transactions resulting from high politi
zeal necessities, in disregard Of the questio
between free labor and slave labor. In nd
Initring the new State Of Louisiana, whic
was orranizea ON the slave labor settlement
of New Orleans, Congress practiced the sam
neutrality which it had heretofore exercise
in the States of Kentucky and Tennessee
/ NJ serious dispute arose until 1916, whe
/ Missouri, organized within the former pro-
iacc of louisiana, upon u slave labor setti
m,nt in st. Louis, applied for admission
a slave State, and Arkansas was manifest
preparing to appear soon in the same cha
actcr Tho balance OF power between Il
slave States and the freeStatcs was alreat
reduced to an equilibrium, and the elev'
free States had an equal representation wi