Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1860-03-14

! UmOn. The new Gnvernm mt was to be
representative one Slaves were capital i
some States. in others chpital had no in
vestnents in labor. Should those slave
b. represented as capital or as persons. tax
ed as capital or as persons. or should the
not be represented or taxed at all! Tn
fathers disagreed. debated long. and com
promised at last. Each State. they deter
mined. shall have two Senators in Congress
Ihne fifths of the slaves shall be clsewhcr
represented and he taxed as persons Wha
should be drne if the slave should escap
into labor State? Should that State con
.e;s him to he chattel. and restore hin
as such, or mi yht it rcguard him as person
and harbOr and protect him as NAM
They compromised again, and decided tina
no person held to labor or service in Ont
State. by the laws Thereof, escaping int,
another. shall fy auy law or regulation o
that State be discharged from such labol
or service. but shall be delivered upon
claim to the person to whom such labor Of
,rvice Shall be due. Free laborers would
immigrate and slaves might be imported
into the States. The fathers agreed thai
Congress may establish uniform laws o
naturalization and it might prohibit tht
importation of persons after 0}. Com
munitics in the ruth-west. detIche | from
the Southern States. were growing mp il
the practice of Slavery to be capital States
New Stat,s 8 would soon grow up in the
Northwest. while as yet capital stood aloof
: nd labor had not lifted the axe to begir
there its endless but bencftent task The
fathers authorized Congress to mike al
neelful rules and regulations conc rnins
the management and disposition of the pub.
lie lands and to admit new States. Sc
the Constitution, while it does not disturb
or affect the system Of capital in slaves. ex
iSting in any State under its own laws
does. at the same time. recognize every hu.
man being when within any exclusive
sphere of FEDERAL juriSdict on. not as capita
but as person. What was the action oI
the fathers in Congress? They admitted
the new States of the Southwest AS capital
States, because it was practically ImpOssi.
bic to do otherwise and by the ordinance
of l757. confirmed in 1889 they provided
for the organization and admission of only
labor States III the Northwest. They d.
rected fugitives from service to be restored
not as chattels. but as persons. They
awarded naturalization t, immigrant free
lhborers, aud they prohibited the trade in
African labor. This disposition of the
whole subject was in harmony with the con
dition of society. and. in the main. with
the spirit of the age. The seven Northern
SttteS contentedly became labor States by
their own act The six Southern States
with equal tranquility and by their own
determination remained capital States -
The circumstances which the fathers did
not clearly foresee were two, viz: the rein
vigOratiOn of slavery consequent on the in
creased consumption of cation. and the ex-
tension of the national domain across the
Mississippi, and these occurred before $50.
The State of LouiSana. formed on a slave
holding French settlement, within the newly
acquired LouisianiIn Territory. had then
already en- admitted into the Union
There yet remained. however. vast regian
which in;lulcl Arkansas aud Missouri. to-
gether with the then unoccupied and even
unnam d Kansas AMI Nebraska. Aikan-
s,ls. slave.ioIding community, was nearly
ready To apply. and Missouri another such
territory. was actually applying for admis-
sian into the Federal Union. The existing
capital States seconded these applications,
and claimel that the whole l.OuiSaniLn
Territory Wis rightfully open to Slavery
and to the organization Of future Slave
StItes. The Labor States maintained that
Congress had Preme legislative power
within the domain. and could and ought
to exclu!e Slavery there The questi..n
thus opened was Que which rel7ted not at
all to Slavery in the existing Capital States.
1t WAS purely and simply national ques-
ton whether the common interest of the
whole Republis required that Arkansa
Missouri. Kansas an! Nebra-kl. should be-
come Capital States with all the evils and
dangers of Slavery. or be labor States with
all the security. benefits and blessings of
freedom. On the decision was suspended
the question. rs WIS thou Iht whether ulti-
m Itely the interior of this new continent
should be an asylum for the oppressed and
the exile. coming year after year and age
after age. voluntarily from every other civ
ilizcd land, as well rs for the children of
misfortune IF our own, or whether thru
the renewal of the African slave trade, those
and luxuriant regions should
be surrendered to the control of capital.
wringing out the fruit of the earth through
the impoverishing toll of negro slaves
That question of 80 was ilentically the
question Of 1860. 80 far as principle and
even the field Of its application was con-
cerncd. Every element Of the controversy
now present entered it then: the rightful-
ness Or the wrongfulncss Of Slavery; its ef-
fccts. present and future; the Constitution
al authority of Congress; the claims of the
States. and of their citizens; the nature of
the Federal Union, whether it is compact
between the States. or an independent Gov
ernment; the springs of its powers. and
the liz lures upon their exercise. All these
We're discussed with zeal and ability which
have never been surpassed. History tells
Us | know not how truly, that the Union
reeled under the vehemence of that great
eblte Patriotism took counsel from pru
dence. and enforce a settlement which has
proved to be- not final one and which. as
is now seen, practically left open all the
great political ISSUES which We're involved.
Missouri and Arkansas We're admitted IS
capital States write labsr obtained. as Il re-
the abridged but yet comprehen
sive field Of Kansas AMI Nejrassa. Now
when the present conditions of the various
parts Of the LouisiAnian Territory are OBJ
>erve,l. aud W. see that capital retains uu-
disputed p1s session OF VII 1t it then obtain
ell. while labor is CONFUSING the country
with 50 hard and so prolon5 gel a struggle to
regain the lost equivalent which WAS then
guaranteed to it under circumstances Of so
great soleinnity, we may well desire not to
be undeccivel if the Missouri Compromise