Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1859-11-30
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SENATOR DOUGLAS AND JUDGE BLACK.
= So mo. AZ
Nh, Ep,1oR: -Hsving established the propesiton.
,s No conceive, that there Is no power under the
federal constitution enabling Congress to confer
Is citizenship upon . $. free negro" We dedeos
thereom not only the Peesliar structure Of our po
tical "organis" but 10 chose the door to the long
array of analogcal reasoning which the Senator ps
rades from the colonial history Of the country.
II goes further: Il reeonciles the seeming inco0-
sistency involved in tho admitted proposition "that
Congress has nothing to do with slavery IN the Ter
ritories with what We now afhrm-that II Is new
erheless the bounden duty Of Congress to nterpose
and protect the master in the maintenance o. recog
nized rights
While the first Is admitted a an undeniable pro-
poson, the second traces its paternity to the "or-
eanism itself; and in claiming Proteet'o" to the
nstitution Of slavery We claim it not As primary
independent exercise Of constitutional power not rs
creating or establishing slavery 'per Sc but as In
eidentGl, greoiag ost Of and proceeding from the
exercise Of the main poDer-the Obligation to pro.
and assented to by soveregns in common, can never
be surrendered BY the South even though the sacr-
flee be the Government itself, no matter what the
etets of the obligation may be in pepstaating the
institution Of slavery.
Yes, viewed in this light it is . continued guar.
antee to the States and to the people Of the Terri
ries, that the same condition Of things shalt remain
SO long as the respective States, and they alone,
shall see proper.
Can it be supposed for one moment, (even by the
free sellers theInselves that anything else was in
tended by those who made the constitution: Is not
this view in the most perfect accordance with that
provision of the instrument ITSELF basng represen-
tation upon the three-ffth principle! Did not this
look forward to the admission of States with that
species of population (held in su1jection) and ex
pressly allow them . representation upon the floor
of Congress! Was not that guarantee that the
same condition, the same States" should remain
in tact uninterfered with by any other than the
high contracting parties themselves? Certainly 1t
was, and he who denies it knows but little of the
theory of the practical operations Of the federal
government
This view is strengthened also by the contempt
raneous history of the country, as well IS by the
recorded admission Of the principal Author of the
"Federalist" by Alex. Hamilton himself-who ad-
mitted in the New York convention that but for the
threefth principle in federal legislation, the south
ern States neuer could haze entered the Union
Now, can it be conceived, that when even repre-.
sentation was . sine qua non that they ever would
have agreed to live under constitution giving to
Congress no power to protect slaves property?
The thing is preposterous and perfectly absurd and
yet the whole drift of Senator Douglass argument
is to show that there is restraining power las to
Slavery upon the "hostile legislation of the Ter
ritories, and this he attempts to prove:-FSrst by
the assertion, that with slavery Congress has moth
ing to d. directly indirectly, (Which in restrict
ed sense we admit } and, secondly, by drawing .
comparison, and making sameness of political
rights to attach to the Territories did to the Colo
Mes prior to the organization Of the federal gov
eminent
When the Senator Strengthened his position by
such analogical reasoning this it was in the first
place, incumbent upon him to show that there ,ras
an analogy; otherwise, his deductions were mad
mssible To prove that, so far from there being
any resemblance, but that there was, on the con-
trary, an entire dissimiarity, VIC will enumerate
few particulars.
The Colonies, when they asserted certain rights,
as being inherent and belonging to their birhrght
0ike the Territories) belonged to the government;
but when those rights were refused by the British
parliament and they attempted to carry them out
they formally declared . separation from that gov
ernment and appealed to the God of Battles and as
SUCH in the estimation of the crown became dsloyal
subjects Not SO with the squatter sovereignty
doctrine of the Senator. He it is true claims his
doctrine as inherent and when he attempts to carry
it out he appeals neither to the Supreme Court to
the Constitution, and still less to the God of Battles
but all the time processes loyalty to the whole
They maintained that what was denied them was
guaranteed by the British Constitution but Senator
Douglas af6rns that the power he claims is q sur
plusage of rights, not affected by the American
Constitution. They threw off all governmental re-
straint, and enforced theirs by the sword, while he
claims the exercise Of his in open defiance Of the
highest judicial decisions, and processes loyalty all
the time.
If there be any resemblance here, we have failed
tn = 9TH kh~v, If.
that the actors are, in both instances, men.
We fault not the Senator in falling to show a re-
semblance in the circumstances that led to the
American revolution with the present rights now
claimed by the territories for the truth is that no
such resemblance exists; but we do fault him, and
seriously fault him, for the logged pertnacity with
which he holds on to position which has been SO
completely demolished by Judge Black
The Senator seems entirely to overlook the true
theory Of the government under which he lives and
in his present zeal for Democracy in the abstract
has forgotten the only true and real Democracy, OF
which, hitherto, he has been such an able advocate
Democracy regulated by law and recognizing re.
straint without which liberty would be lic.ntious.
ness, and individual security an utopian vision.
That our government is peculiar, and ia some Of
ITS features has no prototype is fact which history
When or where was there ever government in
which there was restriction IS to the power Of
naturalization! None can Be shown either in an.
Gent or modern history, and yet we think that We
nave proven that Congress cannot confer "citizen
ship" either upon an Indian or free negro.
When or where has birth, af ITSELF been denied
the privileges and immunities" Of citizenship
Nowhere else but with Us, and this disqualification
is traced directly to the Constitution.
1t is true that "castes" do exist hut thew hay.
been established, have been created by the govern
ment referred to but not 80 with ua The federa
Constitution neither estabahes or creates any eivi
distinction, but merely leaves that degradation
which attaches to color, in the same condition r
(which it found it-fee If free, and slave II slave
It did not BY its operation, brutal.e the African
and then aege this brutality q the reason for hi
exclusion as Sst found him morally and intellectual
~ deoased-an inferior raee-and that infsriorit,
was the cause Of Ais exclusion. Yea thew foun'
caste distinguished BY color, and degradation .,
staching thereto, and knowing that tho Leopan
could not ch,nge his OF tie Ethiopian his :La
they wisely left hath cause and elset in the hand
% Him who fashions Ill things after the counsels
HIS own viii, and chat win not arbitrary csnr;es
sa regulated and controlled, az the expression b
allowable With IN eye single to the good Of the hu