Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1860-11-03
Fer the STANDARD.

Fer the Standard
Mr.. EDITOR: Permit me through your widely circu-
lated paper to do something for my beloved coun-
try, on the eve Of the Presidential election Of 1860
which may be the last contest for President IN these
United States Oh God, we on the threshold
of bloody civil war: If so, may the God Of JUS
tice and equality preside over our deStinies-
1t appears to me- Mr.. Editor that many of the
people of the United States don't ike the nature Of
our free institutions if they did there would be no
opposition to the election of John c. Breckenridge,
of kentucky, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, to the
Presidency and Vice Presidency. They are nomi-
mated upon the principle of equality of the States
equal rights the high seas, equal rights al home,
and equal rights in the Territories, the common
property of the United States according 10 the Con-
stitution of the United States.
The father of his country, Gen. Geo. Washington,
was elected President upon precisely these grounds,
which will show by historical reference. The first
thing that will give TO prove my position is the
Ordinance Of 1877, which reads as follows:
THAT when person held to labor in any Of the
United States or either of the Territories the
northwest south of Ohio, under the laws thereof,
shall escape into any other Of the said States or
Territories the person to whom Shch labor is due.
his agent attorney is hereby empowered to seize
arrest such fugitive from labor, and take him or
her before any Judge of the circuit district courts
of the United States, residing or being within the
State, before any magistrate of county, city or
town corporate wherein such seizure arrest shall
be made; ard upon proof to the satifactiOn Of such
Judge magistrate either by oral testimony a!ii
davit taken before and certified by magistrate of
any such State Territory, that the person so
sliced and arrested DOTH under the the laws of the
State or Territory from which he or she fed own
service to the person claiming him her, it shall
be the duty of such judge magistrate to give
certificate thereof to such claimant, his agent
attorney which shall be sufficient warrant for re-
moving the said fugitive from labor to the State
Territory from which he or she fed"
Now, Mr.. Editor, here is the expression in this
ordinance from any of the United States or Terri
tories northwest or south of Ohio" This Of course
would include all the slave States and even Oregon
and the Territory of Utah as being northwest of the
then territory of Ohio. This Ordinance was first
offered to the Congress of Confederation in 1874 10y
Mr.. Thos. Jefferson, the author Of The Declaration
Of Independence, which in first place declares that
all men Tor ctIzens) are born free and equal-hc
being from slave State (Virgins) claiming equal
rights for the protection of slave property in anv Of
the free States Territories northwest or south of
Ohio. 1t was, however, rejected, and remained so
until the Convention met which framed the COnsti-
tuition Of the United States, which was presided
over by Gen Geo. Washington. from Virginia the
owner of over hundred slaves. This Conven-
ton met in 1877. in the city Of Philadelphia in the
old Congress HALL on the corner of 18th and Chest
nut streets. The Congress of Confederation was at
freely carried between the Congress and Conven-
ton when this ordinance in substance was c0urhed
in the Constitution-withOut which no Constitution
could have Teen formed
Here are the clauses in the Constitution of the
United States that contains the substance of the
Ordinance:
Constitution United States. Article 10 section ID
clause LIST: THE citizens Of elch State shall he emit
tied to ali privileges and immunities of citizens in
the several States
Here Mr. Editor. is plain case and an assurance
in the Fundamental law Of the land that no kind Of
property he aienated in title by carrying it into
any of the othcr States; for to make all citizens
equrl in privileges and immGnites you must grant
them to retain title to their property though re-
moved TO different State or Territory from the one
in which the claimant lives. have no doubt the
bred Scott decision Of the Supreme Court of the
United States was partially founded on this clause
Let us suppose case-suppOSe 4 and = wish to
remove to a certain Territory A wishes to carry his
horses with him. wishes to carry his cattle with
him. But the legislature of the Territory has for
hidden the bringing cattle into the TERRITORY can
A and b be equal, If such law PASSED by Terri
torial legislature be constitutional? Which, We
squatter sovereigns or Douglas democrats is the law
TO be obeyed, the fundamental law contained in the
Constitution the law passed bv the snuatters of
the territory? Now, who can deny that if A wish
ed to carry horses and i negroes the cases would
be exactly parallel But there is another clause of
the Constitution Of the United States as it came
from the hands of the fathers of our country that
puts the case forever to rest
Article 1st. section 9th, clause 8, Constitution
of the United States: mo bill Of attener or er most
.tactO Law shall be passed"
An er post .tactO law the Hon. Stephen A. Doug
las and everybody else knows is one that has bear
ing former contracts-that is YOU cannot legis-
late a mans property from him or take it from him
without first paying for II, neither compel him to
sell it. A good thing-a safe guarantee to the
Southern States if we had no Dougas-sovcregn de-
mocrats or abotionists to contend with. Bnt after
commenting on these clauses of the Constitution
OF the United States, who with reasonable sense
could doubt the protection of slave property in the
Territories is constitutional But patriotic fore
fathers have made it still palmer in another clause
in the Constitution of the United States This is
found in Article TO- section 2, clause 8 and reads as
follows:
"NO person held to service or labor in one State,
under the laws thereof escaping into another shall
in consequence Of any law or regulation therein be
discharged from such service or labor but shall be
delivered up on claim of the party to whom such
service or labor is due"
This clause makes the case so plain that all per-
sons of common sense can see that the master does
not forfeit the claim to his property either in any
of the free States or the Territories; but that it is
really beyond any legislative body either National
State or Territorial TO egislate mems property held
under the fundamental law OF the land out OF their
hands.
At the time of the adoption of the Constitution
Of the United States there an ultra abolition
party with which the States right party, afterwards
called the Democratic party, had to compromise.