The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1860-03-15

mating political power. 1t thus happen
that we may, for convenience sake, and no
nacurately, call Slave States capital States
and Free States labor States.
So soon as State feels the impulses O
commerce or enterprise, or ambition, it's citi
zcns begin to study the effects of these sys
TENS of capital and labor respectively on it.
intelligence, its virtue, its tranquility, its in
integrity or unity, its defense, its prosperity
its liberty, its happiness, its aggranaizemcnt
and its fame. In other words, the crea
question arises, whether Slavery is moral
social, and political good, or moral, social
and political evil. This i the Slavery aues
ton at home. But there is mutual bono
family and brotherhood between man and
man throughout the world. Nations examin,
freely the political systems of each other
and of all preceding times, accordingly a,
they approve or disapprove of the two systems
of capital and labor respectively, they sane
ton and prosecute, or condemn and prohibit
commerce in men. Thus, in one way OF
another, the Slavery question which so many
among us, who are more willing to rule than
patient in studying the con litions of society
think is merely an accidental or unnecessary
question that might and on ,ht to be settled
and dismissed at once, is, on the contrary, a
worldwide and enduring subject of political
consideration and civil administration. Men
States, and nations entertain it, not volunta.
rily, but because owing to differences of con.
stitutions, condition, or circ instances, they
cannot agree.
The fathers of the Repub''c encountered
it. They even adjusted it 50 that it might
have gwen us much less than our present
disquiet, mad not circumstances afterward
occurred which they, wise as they were, had
not clearly foreseen. Althoush they had
inherited, yet they generally condemned the
proctice of Slavery, and hoped for its discon-
tinuence. They expressed this when they
asserted in the Declaration of Independence,
as fundamental principle Of A nerican soc:-
ETY., that all men are created el.,al, an have
inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pur-
suit of happiness. Each State, however, re-
served to itself exclusive political power oyer
the subject of Slavery, within its own borders.
Nevertheless, it unavoidably presented itself
in their conclusions on bonl Of Federal
Union. The new Government was to be a
representative one. Slaves were capital in
some States, in others capital had no invest
ments in labor. Should those slaves be
represented as capital or as persons, or should
they not be represented or taxed at all ? The
fathers disagreed, debated long, AMI COM
promised at last. Each State they deter
mined. shall have two Senators in Congress.
Three-fifths Of the slaves shall be elsewhere
represented and be taxed aS aSpersons What
should be done if the slave should escape
into labor State? Should the State confess
him to be chattel, and restore him as such,
or might it regard him as person, and har.
Dor and protect him as man? They com.
promised again, and decided that no person
held to labor or service in one State bv the
laws thereof, escaping into another. shall bv
any law or regulation of that State, be dis.
charged from such labor or service, but shall
be delivered up, on claim to the person tc
whom such labor or service shall be due.
Free laborers would immi crate, and slaves
might be imported into the States. The
fathers agreed that Congress mar establish
uniform laws Of naturalization, and it might
prohibit the importation ofpcrsons after SOs
Communities in the south west, detached
from the Southern States, were growing up
in the practice of Slavery to be capital States
New States would soon grow up in the north,
west, while as yet capital stood aloof, and
labor had not lifted the AK to begin there its
endless but benificient task. The fathers
authorized Congress to make all useful rule.
and regulations concerning the management
and disposition of the public lands, and t.
admit new States. So the Constitution
while it does not disturb or affect the system
ofcapital in any State under its own laws
does, at the same tine, recognize every hu
man being when within any exclusive sphere
of Federal jurisdiction, not as capital but as
a person.
What was the action of the fathers in
Congress They admitted the new States
ofthe Southwest as capital States, because i,
was practically impossible to do otherwise
and by the ordinance Of 1887 confirmed in
1880, they provided for the organization and
admission of only lsbor States in the North
west. They directed fugitives from service
to be restored not as chattels, but as persons
They awarded naturalization to Immigrant
free laborers, and they prohibited the trade
in African labor. This disposition of tn,
whole subject was in harmony with the con
dition of society, and, in the main, with tn,
spirit Of the age. The seven North Westerr
States contentedly became labor States by
their own acts. The six southern State,
with equal tranquility and by their own de
termination remained capital States.
| The circumstances which the fathers die
not clearly foresee were two, namely; tn,
reinvigoration Of Slavery consequent on tn
! increased consumption Of cotton, and tn
extension OF the national domain across tn
Mississippi, and these occurred before 1920
The State of Louisiana, formed on slave-hold
ing French settlement, within the newly &C
auired Louisiana Territory had then alread,