Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-04-06

ing in Philadelphia. In that Confederation
| Congress they acted in relation TO the then
known and then owned territory of the United
States, lying out of and beyond the limits of
the separate States and, in providing Gov
ernment for it, enacted that slavery or invol-
untary servtude, except for crime. should not
there exist; it was entirely forbidden. That
| provision was handed over and duly notified
/ to the convention that was sitting to form the
| Constitution; sitting contemporaneously.-
| They understood that, and il was in no way
disapproved by them. They provided in the
Constitution that Congress should have pow
er "to make all needml rules and regulations"
/ for the disposition Of the territory and other
| property of the United States thus bestow
ing on the new proposed Government the
power Of control over the Territories, and
they Immediately exercised it in the First
/ Congress, by legitimating and adapting the
provisions Of the ordinance of 1887 TO the
then existing form Of government.
There was another thing. They did not
I look upon slavery then as a mere local matter
"a matter Of mere local interest. The ma
tion provided for the Northwest Territory (;
| but that was not all. 1t was then undoubt-
edly the general prevailing opinion that if
4 they cut off the supply of slaves by prohib-
iting the African slave trade, and limited the
extent Of territory in which slavery should
exist, by coninng il to its then existing lin
its, it would finally die out. There is no
doubt that they entered upon that experiment.
/ They vested in Congress the power, after
/ 1908, to which time the extreme southern
States then desired TO continue the trade, to
cut off that foreign supply--to cut off the
African slave trade and they had in the or
dinance Of 1897, the continuance of which
the now Constitution contemplated provis-
ion for limiting the extent OF territory in
which it should prevrl.
| have been charged over and over-I can
remember at least three times, by three differ
ent gentlemen in the Senate, in the progress
Of this discussion-with having said, which
was true that believed the more limited the
extent Of territory to which slavery was con-
fined, the sooner it would come to an end
The honorable Senator from Alabama, Mr..
Clay the honorable Senator from North Car
olina, Mr.. CGngman,) and, | believe, other
gentlemen. have seemed to think that, in ap-
proving Of that sentiment, ! am an Abolition
ist; and one Senator says that is nothing
more nor less than a plan to smoke them out
not very elegant expression Have | en-
tertained any new thought on that subject:
desire 20 call attention for one moment to a
single remark made by the Senator from Vir-
ginia at this session. Mr.. Mason said. on the
23d Of January, speaking of those who made
the Constitution
Il believe this their opinion; their prejudice was
aimed against the foreign slave trade the African say
trade and their belief that by cutting that o sa
very would die out Of itself without any Of abolition
attempted At time show by the recorded opn-
ans of Mr. Madison, that the famous ordinance Of 1851
fr Il prohibited slavery in the territory northwest
Of the ONO, aimed at the African slave trade, and
aimed at that aionei the idea being that they could re-
sr the into which slavery could be introduced from
abroad. they would 10 that extent prevent the impoT
tatian of saecs aud that, when IL was altogether pre-
vented the conditions Of slavery would die Of itself
but they not Aboonists far less within the mean
lag and spirit Of the Aboiiuonist OF the present day
This is the view | wished to present, in
shorter words They entertained the idea that
if the nation would cut off the foreign supply,
and would limit the area into which slavery
was to go, it would die out. am not now
proposing to say how far this idea of theirs
was correct; but l must say that have a
strong desire to play out that play. Let US
go on and carry through the experiment on
which this Government was founded; because
it was under this idea-in the meridian blaze
Of this idea-that our Constitution was franz
ed. 1t was framed by men who entertained
this thought, and it was framed for the pur-
the power to cut off the foreign supply was
vested in Congress, and the limitation in the
Territories was done in the ordinance approy-
cd by Congress.
Mr.. President, is there anything new in the
idea which now con5titutcs the leading fea-
ture of the Republican plattnrm-that is,
keeping slavery out Of the Territories, and
keeping the foreign supply still cut off? One
would suppose, who had come into this body
for the last two or three months, that some
how or other this sentiment, this principle
tins proposed object, was a new and unheard
of aggression that was utterly unexampled
that there was no precedent for it in the Gov
eminent; that it called upon all men, every
where, TO raise their voices in utter exccra-
tion Of the whole Of it, and we have been
called upon, from day to day, instead of pro-
posing to carry out this principle, 20 disband
utterly, throw down our arms, and disperse
as the English said to our fathers upon the
field of Lexington. Sir, there is nothing new
in It at all. 1t was the very framework, it
constituted the great especial element of the
/ Constitution; it was one Of the great leading
purposes Of its formation Gentlemen have
wandered so far and so fast from this princi-
| pie, amid the variety Of dogmas now set up,
one Of them being parent to the other, they
have made large departure, that when
they come to look at the thing in its modern
aspect, men are startled at 1t because it does
violence to their newly invented dogmas, not
because there is anything new or strange in it.
Bat, Mr. President, we acquired other and
further territory than what was owned at the
time the Constitution was formed. We did
not at that time, if you please, properly own
that part of the country which now makes
Mississippi aud Alabama. 1t belonged to
Georgia. Our people claimed-claimed that
the title to large part of it, at least, was in
the United States, and not in Georgia. That
was not merely the part ceded by South Car
ollna. There was another small piece; which
was, the difference Of the line Of Florida as
made by the British treaty, and as practically
run How did the United States arrange the
matter when they acquired more territory
that part which they got from North Carolina
which makes Tennessee, and chat part which
they obtained from France--the Louisiana
purchase: How did they manage under this
same Constitution in relation to the subject
of slavery in that countrys l had occasion
to examine with some care, this very ques-
ton some time since, and presented it in as
brief words as | could in the report which
made in 1856 in relation to the IN kansas diff