The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1860-12-11

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clear constitutional right. After all he
is no more than the chief executive off
Ger of the Government
His province is not TO make, but exc
cute its laws, and it is remarkable fact
in our history that, notwithstanding the
repeated efforts of the anti-slayery party,
not single act has ever passed Con
gress, unless we may possibly except
the Missouri Compromise, impairing in
the slightest degree the rights of the
South to their property in slaves. And
it may also be observed Judging from
present indications, that no probability
exists of tie passage of such an act by a
majority of both Houses, either in the
present or the next Congress. Surely
under the circumstances we ought to be
restrained from present action by the
precept of Him who spake as never man
spoke, that " sufficient unto the day is
the evil thereof" The day of evil may
never come unless we shall rashly bring
it upon ourselves. 1t is alleged as one
cause for immediate secession that the
Southern States are denied equal rights
with the other States in common terri
tories. But by what authority are these
denied? Not by Congress, which has
never passed. and believe never will
pass, any act to exclude slavery from
these territories and certainly not by
the Supreme Court which solemnly de-
cided that slaves are property, and, like
all other property, the owners have a
right to take them into common territor-
les and hold them there under the pro-
tectio9 of the Constitution. s. far then
as Congress is concerned, the objection
is not, TO anything they have already
done, but to what they may do hereaf
ter Ii will surely be admitted that this
apprehension of future danger is no
good reason for an immediate dissolution
of the Union.
1t is true that the Territorial Legisla-
ture of Kansas, on the Gath of February,
| 1869, passed in great haste, an act over
the veto Of the Governor declaring that
slavery is, and shall be forever, prohib
tied III the territory, Such an act, how
ever, plainly violating the rights Of pro
porty secured by the Constitution, will
surely be declared void 10y the Judiciary
whenever it shall be presented in gal
form. Only three days after my inaugu-
ration, the Supreme Court of the United
States solemnIy adjudged that this power
did not exist in a Territorial legislature
Yet such has been the iactiou5 temper oil
the times, that the correctness Of this dc.
cison has been extensively impugned be.
| fore the people, and the question has Civ.
en- rise to angry political conflict through
out the country. Those who have APP.
pealed from this judgment Of our high
est Constitutional tribunal to popular as
sembles, would, if they could, invest
Territorial Legislatures with power to
annul the sacred rights Of property. This
power Congress is expressly forbid den
by the Federal Constitution to exercise.
Every State Legislature in the Union is
forbidden by its own constitution TO ex.
ercise it. 1t cannot be exercised in any
State, except by the people in their high
est sovereign capacity, when framing or
amending their State Constitution. In
like manner, it can only be exercised by
the people Of the Territory represented
in convention of delegates for the pur.
pose of framing constitution, prepara
tory to admission as State into the
Union. Then, and not until then, are
they invested with power to decide the
question whether Slavery shall or shall
not exist within their limits This is an
act Of sovereign authority, aud not Of
subordinate territorial leg islalon Were
it otherwise. then indeed would the equal
iJy OF the States in the Territories bede
Stroyed, and the rights of property in
slaves would depend, not upon the guar
autees of the Constitution, but upon the
shifting majorities of an irresponsible
legislature. Such doctrine, from It's
intrinsic unsoundness, cannot long inhu-
ence any portion of our people, much
less can it afford good reason for dis
solution of the Union. The most paIpa-
BILE violations Of constitutional duty which
1 have yet been committed, consist in the
acts of different State Legislatures to de-
feat the execution of the Fugitive Slave
Law 1T ought 10 be remem bered, how
ever, that for these acts neither Congress
nor any President can be Justly held re :
sponsible having been passed in viola
ton of the Federal Constitution, they are
therefore null and void All the Courts,
both State and National, before whom the
question has arisen, have from the be
ginning declared the Fugitive Slave Law
TO be constitutional. The single excep-
ton is that Of State Court in Wiscon-
sin, and this has not only been reversed
by the proper appellate tribunal. but has
met with such universal reprobation that
there can be no danger from it as a pre-
ccdent The validity of this law has
been established over and over again by
the Supreme Court Of the United States
with perfect unanimity. 1t is founded
upon an express provision Of the Const-
tuuon, requiring that fugitive slaves who
escape in service from one State to an
other, shall be delivered up to their mas
ters. Without this provision, il is well
known historical fact that the Constitu-
ton itself could never have been adopted
by the Convention. In one form or 9th
er, under the acts Of 1898 or 1859, both
being substantially the same, the Fugi
i've Slave Law has been the law Of the
land from the days Of Washing ton 10 the