St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1860-03-15

among us, who are more willing tc
rule than patient in studying the con
dltions of society, think is merely
accidental or unnecessary question
that might and ought to be settled and
dismissed at once, is, on the contrary
a worldwide and enduring subject ol
political consideration and civil ad.
ministration. Men, states, and ma
tions entertain it, not voluntarily, but
because the progress of society con-
tinually brings it into their way. They
divide upon it, not pcrversely, but be-
cause owing to differences of consti-
tuition, condition, or circumstances,
they cannot agree. The fathers Of the
Republic encountered it. They even
adjusted it so that it might have given
us much less than our present disquiet,
had not circumstances afterward oc-
Cured which they, wise as they were,
had not clearly foreseen. Although
they had inherited, yet they generally
condemn the practice of Slavery, and
hoped for its discontinuance. They
Expressed this, when they asserted in
the Declaration of Independence, as
a fundamental principle Of American
society, that all men are created equal,
and have ina,icnablc rights to life, lib
erty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Each State, however, reserved to it.
self exclusive power over the subject
of Slavery, within its own borders.
Nevertheless, it unavoidably present
cd itself in their consultations on a
bond of Federal Union. The new
Government was to be representa-
tive one. Slaves were capital in
some states, in others capital had no
investments in labor. Should those
slaves be represented as capital or as
persons, taxed as capital or as per-
sons, or should they not be represent
cd or taxed at all The fathers dlsa'
agreed, debated long, and compromised
at last. Each State, they determined,
shall have two Senators in Congress.
IThrCe.fifths of the slaves shall be else
where represented and be taxed as
persons. What should be done if the
slave should escape into labor state!
Should that State confess him to be
chattcl, and restore him as such, on
might it regard him as person, and
harbor and protect him as man
They compromised again, and decided
that no person held to labor or service
in one State by the laws thereof, cs
Gaping into another, shall by any law
or regulation of that STATE, be dis
charged from such labor or service
but shall be delivered up on claim It
the person to whom such labor or ser
vice shall be due. Free laborcrs
would immigratc, and slaves might
be imported into States. The fathers
agreed that Congress may establish
uniform laws of naturalization, and II
might prohibit the importation of per
sons after 1908. Communities in the
Southwest, detached from the South
crn States, were growing up in the
practice of Slavery, to be capital
States. New States would soon grow
up in the Northwest, while as yet
capital stood alOoi, and labor had not
lifted the AK to begin there its emdlcss
but bcncficcnt task. The fathers au,
thorizcd Congress to make all nccdtul
rules and regulations concerning the
management and disposition OF the
public lands, and to admit new States
SO the Constitution, whilst it does not
disturb or affect the system OF capital
in slaves, existing in any State under
its own laws, does, at the same time
recognize every human being wheI
within any exclusive sphere of Fed
cral jurisdiction, not as capital but as
a person. What was the action o
the fathers in Congress? They ad
mitted the new States of the South
west as capital States, because it was
practically impossible to do otherwise
and by the ordinance Of lISI, con
tirmed in 1889, they provided for tho
organization and admission of only
labor States in the Northwest. They
directed fugitivcs from service to b,
restored not as chattels, but as per
sons. They awarded naturalization tC
immigrant free laborers, and they pro
hibited the trade in African labor
This disposition of the whole subjec
was in harmony with the condition o
society, and, in the main, with th'
spirit of the age. The seven North
ern States contentcdly became labol
States by their own acts. The Sly
Southern States with equal tranqullll
ty and by their own determination re
manned capital States. The clrcum
stances which the fathers did not clear
ly ioresee We're two, namely: the re
inauguration of Slavery consequent oI
the Increased consumption OF cotton
and the extension of the national do
main across the Mississippi, and these
occurred before 1920. The State o
Louisiana, formed on Il slaveholdlne
French settlement, within the newly
ac luired Luuisianian Territory, haC
then already been admitted INTO The
Union. There yet remained, however
vast region which Included Arkan
sas and Missouri, together with the
then unoccupied and even unnameG
Kansas and Nebraska. Arkansas, {
slavcholding community, was nearly
ready to apply, and Missouri, anothe
y
!, for admission into the Federal Union
The existing Capital States seconded
these applications, and claimed tina
; the whole Louisianian Territory wa
rightfully open to Slavery, and to th'
organization of future Slave States
The labor States maintained that Con
gress had supreme Legislative powe
within the domain, aud could ans
ought to exclude Slavery there.
The question thus opened was on'
which related not at all to Slavery il
: the existing Capital States. 1t was
purely and simply a national question
5 whether the common interest OF The
5 whole Republic required that Arkah
: sas, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska
: should become Capital States, witt
. all the evils and dangers OF Slavery