The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-12-22

1
Mr.. TRUMBULL. If the Senator from Florida
cannot understand the principles Of the Republic
| can party which have been proclaimed and
published to the world, he is certainly not very
apt scholar and shall almost despair of enlight-
| ening him. Our principles are emblazoned pc
fore the country and published in the platforms
of the party. Did he never read them, or has
he gone on, without reading our principles, and
misunderstanding them?
Mr. YULEE. | have certainly read them
but unfortunately, never understood them.
Mr.. TRUMBULL. Then, if can be the means
of enlightening my friend from Florida as to
any particular part OF our platform that he can
not understand, it will afford me great pleasure
| TO do so.
Mr. WADE. think it will take until morning
to do this, and therefore move that the Senate
do now adjourn.
| The motion was agreed to; and the Senate
adjourned.
DECEMBER 8, 1859.
! Mr. TRUMBULL said:
Mr. President, just before the adjournment of
/ this body yesterday, I was called upon by the
Senator from Florida mr. YULEE] to state Whist
were the principles of the Republican party.
Sir, did suppose that the Senator from Flor
/ ida, and every Senator, could understand, if be
desired to do so, what our principles were. They
/ have been proclaimed by an authoritative Con-
venton of the party in language as plain as it Is
/ in the power of man to employ; and it is only by
/ justification, by misrepresentation of them in
many portions of the country, as | think, that
| the public mind of the South has been excited
against the Republican party. | have brought
| along with me their declaration of principles,
and so far as it relates to the Slavery question,
| will read it; it is brief, and l should like to
know to what portion of it the Senator from
| Florida, any other Senator or individual,
North or South, objects. Here it is
Resor That the maintenance the principles promul-
gated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied
our Republican Institutions and that the Federal Consu
must and shall be preserved"
Does the Senator from Florida understand
that-that the Constitution of the United States,
the rights of the States, and the principles en-
bodied in the Constitution, must and shall be
preserved
Mr.. YULEE. l want to know how you con-
strue the Constitution?
Mr.. TRUMBULL. We will tell you. We say
ourselves how we construe it on the Slavery
question:
" ReSolued That, with our republican fathers, hold it
TO be seeviden truth that all men endowed with the
naenabe right Of life, liberty, and the pursuit Of happi
ness and that the primary object and Interior design Of
Federal Government is TO grant these rights all persons
under its exclusive jurisdiction That republican
fathers when they had abolished Slavery all national
territory, ordained that shall be deprived of life
liberty or property without due process OF law II becomes
against all attempts to voe for the purpose Of estab
fishing Slavery in the Territories OF the United Sates) by
positive legislation prohibiting its existence
therein That we deny the authority Of Congress- OF Ter
rtora Legislature, of any individual association of nd
vduals give legal existence Slavery any Territory
OF the United States while the present Constitution shall be
maintained.
Resolved That the Constitution confers upon Congress
sovereign power the Territories of the United States
their government and that in the exercise of this power
IS both the right and the imperative duty Congress pro-
hb IN the Territories those nrecs Of barbarsm Poyg
amy and Slavery"
That is the whole platform of the Republican
party on the subject of Slavery.
Mr.. SALISBURY. Will the Senator from Il
linois allow me to ask him question?
Mr.. TRUMBULL. Yes, sir.
Mr.. SALISBURY. If it be true, as that last
resolution states, that the Constitution confers
upon Congress sovereign power over the Terri
tories of the United States, for their government
why is it that that power, which the resolution
declares to be sovereign in Congress-by which,
presume, is meant a supreme power, power
which has no superior-is not capable of being
exercised for the establishment of Slavery in
Territory, as well as for the prohibition of Sla.
very in Territory?
Mr.. TRUMBULL. Mr. President, the power
which the Federal Government may exercise
over Territory is sovereign power in its gov
eminent, as we all know and understand, within
the Constitution of the United States. The Con-
stitution of the United States declares that Con-
gress shall pass no law establishing any partc-
ular form of religion or abridgng the freedom of
speech or of the press. | readily admit and so
does the Republican party, that the Congress of
the United States cannot pass law abridging
the freedom of speech in any one of the Terrific
fies. They are expressly prohibited from so
doing. They have the sovereign power over the
Territories, to legislate for them in all matters
within the Constitution of the United States and
the Constitution Of the United States does not
authorize Congress to establish Slavery The
Constitution is based upon this principle 1t
does not establish Slavery at all, but merely
toerates it where it already exists by virtue of
State laws. That is the mea h of the Consti-
tuition of the United States Constitution
of Freedom the word " slaveYnot occurring in
it, and the men who framed the Constitution be-
lieved that in the process of time there would be
no slaves in any portion of the 'Conlederacy, and
one of its principal authors objected to the use
of the word slave" lest future generations
might know that there was Slavery in some of
the States when the Constitution was formed
If you will turn to that clause of the Constitu-
ton relating to the reclamation of fugitive slaves
you will find that it reads, that no person held
TO service or labor in one State, under the laws
thereof" that is, under the laws of the State,
escaping into another, SHALL in consequence of
any law or regulation therein, be discharged
from such service or labor, but shall be delivered
up" There is no provision for the delivering
up of a man who is held to service by any other
than a State law. If held to service by virtue
of the Constitution, that instrument contains no
provision for his return when he escapes from
one State to another. This shows that the fra
mels of the Constitution never contemplated that
person could be held to service, whether as
slave or as an apprentice, except by virtue of
State laws, else the provision for reclamation
would have been general, and not limited to
persons so held. Would the Senator from Del
aware contend that under this clause of the
Constitution, he could reclaim person held as
a slave, by virtue of that instrument, who had
escaped from one State into another2 Suppose
a person comes into the State of Delaware who,
it is contended, is slave, and his alleged owner
comes to reclaim him-would you give him up if
he did not show that he was held as a slave
under the laws of the State from which he es-
! capped 4? If you would not, then, as a matter OF
course, you could not give up person who was
held as a slave in one of the Territories, because
he could not be so held in Territory by virtue
of any State law.
Lest I be misunderstood, will state that
do not mean to say that if there is Slavery in
one of the Territories of the Union, as there was
/ by the acquiescence of Congress in Tennessee
and Kentucky and in tie Southwestern States
| while they were Territories, negro who is held
as slave there, and escapes into any of the
| OIaIes OF the Onloni may not be reclaimed.
hold to no such doctrine. l contend that the
Congress of the United States have sovereign
power over the Territories, to legsIate for them
within the Constitution, and had the right e
provide, as 1t did in the enactment of the ordi-
nance OF 1877 for the Northwestern Territory thai
fugitives who should escape to that Territory
from slaveholding States should be surrendered
up. 1t is by virtue of its sovereign power ovel
the Territories, and not by virtue of the claus,
OF the Constitution relating to the return of fugi
tives from one State to another that CONGRESS