Red Wing sentinel. [volume] (Red Wing, M.T. [i.e. Minn.]) 1855-1861, 1860-01-07

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guilty of the States Now, emigrants from
the North and the South, the East and the
West, will meet in the Territories on commo,
platform, having brought with them tha,
species Of property best adapted, in their owl
opinion, to promote their welfare. From
natural causes The slavery question will in eacl
case soon virtually settle itself-and before the
Territory is prepared for admission as State
into the Union this decision, one way or tn.
other, will have been q foregonc conclusion
Meanwhile the settlement Of the new Territory
will proceed without serious interruption, and
its progress and prosperity will not be endan
gered or retarded hy violent political struggles
When in the progress Of events the inhab;t
ants of any Territory shall have reached thu
number required to form State, they viii
then proceed, in regular manner, and in the
exercise Of the rights of popular sovereignty
to form constitution preparatory to admisso,
into the Union. After this has been done, to
employ the language of the Kansas aud Ne
braska act, they "shall be received into the
Union with OF without slavery, es their consti
tuition may prescribe at the time Of thci'
admission. This sound principle has happily
been recognized, in some form or other, by All
almost unanimous vote Of both houses Of the
last Congress. -..-. ....
All lawful means at my command have been
employed, and shall continue to be employed
to execute the laws against the African slave
trade. After most careful and rigorous
examination of our coasts and thorough
investigation Of the subject we have not been
able to discover that any slaves have beer
imported into the United States except the
hs, th>
three and four hundred. Those engaged iu
this unlawful enterprise have been vigorously
prosecuted; but not with US much success as
their crimes have deserved. A number ol
them are still under prosecution.
Our history proves that the fathers of the
republic. in advance of all other nations, con.
demned the African slave trade. 1t was not.
withstanding, deemed expedient by the trainers
of the Constitution to ueprive Congress Of the
power to prohibit the migration or importa.
ton Of such persons US any Of the States now
existing shall think proper to admit" prior to
The year one thousand eight hundred and eight.
1t will be seen that this restriction on the
power of Congress was cunf'Ied to such States
only as might think proper to admit the i'm.
)urtatlcn of slaves 1t did not extend to other
States or to the trade carried on abroad.
Accordingly, we i"d that so early US the 22d
|of March, 1894, Congress passed an nc,
imposing severe penalties and pnnish,ncnts
upon citizens and residents of the United
States who should engage in this trade between
foreign nations. The provisions of this nc,
were extended aud enforced by the act OF l0tlI
May, 1900.
Again: the States themselves had clca,
right 10 waive the constitutional privilege in.
tended tor their benefit, and 10 prohibit, b.,
theis own laws, this trade at any time they
thought proper previous to 1908. Several O
them exercised this right before that period
aud among them some containing the creates,
number Of slaves. This gave to Congress the
Immediate power to act iu regard to all such
States, because they themselves had removed
the constitutional barrier. Congress according
ly passed an act on the 26th of February, 1903
Ito prevent the importation of certain per:
sons into certain States where, by the law.
thereof their admission is prohibited" Ii
this manner the importation of African slaves
,nto the United States was, to a great extent
prohibited some years in advance Of 1908.
AS the year 1903 approached, Congress de
termlned not to sul1er this trade to exist, ever
for a single day, after they had the power tt
abolish it. Ou the I'd Of March, 1907, the;
passed an act to take effect " from and afte
the LIST day OF January, l808,' prohibiting
the importation Of African slaves into tn
}! United States. This was followed by subst
iqncnt acts Of similar character, to which
need not specially refer. Such were the pri,,
lc'ples aud such the practice of our ancestor
more thau City Jears axo in rogard to the Al
|rican slave trade. -sg,.4 afs.
! 1t did not occur to the revercd patriots VIII,
had beer delegates to the convention, and a!
terwards became members of Congress, tina
in passing these laws they had violated tn
Constitution which they had framed with 81
much care and deiberation. They supposed
that to prohibit Congress, in express terms
from exercising special power before an ap
pointed day, necessarily involved the right t,
lexercise this power after that day had arrived
4 Ii this were not the case, the trainers Of TIN
Constitution had expended much labor in vain
Had they imagined that Congress woul.
possess no power to prohibit the trade ethe
before or after 1908, they would not har
taken SO much care to protect the State
: lagailst the exercise of this power before tha
|period. Nay more, they would not have Ut
tachcd such vast Importance 10 this provision
las to have excluded it from the possibility q
future repeal or amendment to which othe
portions Of the Constitution were exposed
1t would then have been wholly unnecessar.
. to engraft OIL the 9Th article Of the Cons,itu
ton, prescribing the mode Of its own futur
amendment, the proviso. = that no a,nendme,'
which may be nude prior to the year l80
shall in no manner affect" the provision in tn
Constitution securing to the States the righ
to admit the importation Of African slave
previous to that period.
5 According to the adverse construction th
clause itself, on which SO much care and dis
cussion had been employed by themembers q
the convention, was an absolute null,ty frol
the beginning, and all that has since been don
; under it mere usurpation.
1t was well and wise to confer this powe
4 on Congress, because, had it been left to th
States its efficient exercise would have bee
: impossible In that event any one Stat
could haze effectually continued the trade nc
'olly for itself but ct sll The other saye State
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