Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1860-12-14

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mediate dissolution Of the Union. 1t is trl
that the Territorial Legislature Of Kansas, ,
the 23d of February, 1860, passed in gre
haste an act, over the veto of the Governe
declaring that slavery lis, and shall be, 70
ever prohibited in this Territory" Such I
act, however, plainly violating tho ri shts
property secured by the Oonsti .ution, W
surely be declared void By the Judiciar
whenever it shall be presented in Regal forn
Only three days after my Inauguration, Il
Supreme Court of the United States solemn
adjudged that this power did not exist in
territorial legislature. Yet such has been Il
factious temper of TIE times that the corree
ness Of this decision has bsen extensively ia
pugned before The people, and the questio
h@S given rise to angry political cCnt1ic
throughout the country. Those who hay
appea. ed from this judgment of our highe,
constitutional tribunal to popular ~ssslhbiis
would, if they could, invest teiritoriAt legil
lature with power to, annul the sacred right
lofproperty. This power Congress is expressl
forbidden by the Federal Constitution to 81
ercise. Every State Legislature in the Unio
| is forbidden by it's Constitution TO exercise il
1t cannot be exercised in any State except b,
the people in their highest sovereigneap
when fraIningsor. amending thei9 State Con
stitution. In ike manner, it N&o6ly b
exercised 9sy thtkaeople of Ta3ry repre-
kwnteci il arcony y9ntion Of dclssase for tn
purpose of framing Constitution preparator,
70 admission as State into the Union. Then
and, not until then, are they invested will
power to decide the question whether SLAYER,
shall or shall not exist within their limits
This is an act Of sovereign authority, and no
of subordinate territorial legislation. Wer'
it otherwise, then, indeed, would the equality
Of the States in the Territories be destroyed
and the right of property in slaves would de
pend, not upon the guarantees Of the Consti
tuition, but upon the shifting majorities of ar
irresponsible territorial legislature. Such &
doctrine, from its intrinsic unsoundness, can
not long influence any considerable portion o.
our people, much less can it afford gooC
reason for dissolution of the Union.
The most palpable violations of constitu
tional duty which have yet been committed
consist in the acts of different State Legisla
lures to defeat the execution Of the Fugitive
Slave Law. 1t ought to lie remembered
however, that ior these acts neither Congress
nor any President can justly be held respons.
ible. Having been passed in violation of the
Federal Constitution, they are therefore null
and void. All the courts, both State and ma
tional, before whom the question has arisen,
have from the beginning declared the Fugitive
Slave Law to be constitutional. The single
exception is that of State court in Wiscon-
sin; and this has not only been reversed by
the proper appellate tribunal, but has met
with such universal reprobation that there
can be no danger from it as precedent. The
validity of this law has been established over
and over again by tie Supreme Court of the
United States with perfect unanimity. 1t is
founded upon an express provision of the
Constitution, requiring that fugitive slaves
who escape from service in one State to an
other shall be delivered up'' to their masters.
Without this provision, it is well known
historical fact that the Constitution itself
could never have been adopted by the Con-
vention.
In one form or other, under the acts of
1898 and 1850, both being substantially the
same, the Fugitive Slave Law has. been the
law Of the land from the days of Washington
until the present moment. Here, then, a
clear case is presented, in which it wi be the
duty of the next President, as it has been my
own, to act with vigor in executing this su-
preme Law against the conflicting enactments
of State Legislatures. Should he fail in the
performance of this high duty, he will then
have manifested disregard Of the Constitu-
ton and laws, to the grest injury OF the peo-
pie of nearly one-half of the States of the
Union. But are we to presume in advance
that he will thus violate his duty? This
would be at war with every principle of JUS
tce and of Christian charity. Let US wait tor
the overt act. The Fugitive Slave Law has
been carried into execution in every contested
case since the commencement of the present
though often, it is to be re-
gretted, with great loss and inconvenience to
the master, and with considerable expense to
the Government. Let US trust that the State
Legislatures will repeal their unconstitutional
and obnoxious enactments. Unless this shall
be done without any necessary delay, it is
for any human power to save the
Union.
The Southern States, standing on the basis
of the Constitution, have right to demand
this act of justice from the States of the North.
Should it be refused, then the Constitution,
to which all the States are parties. will have
been willfully violated by one portion of them
in provision essential to the domestic secu.
rity and happiness of the remainder. In tha,
event, the injured States, after having first
used all peaceful and constitutional means to
obtain REDRESS, would be justified in revolu-
tionary resistance to the Government of the
Union.
1 have purposely confined my remarks to
revolutionary resistance, because it has been
claimed, within the last few years, that any
State, whenever this shall be its sovereign
will and pleasure, may secede from the Union
in accordance with the Constitution, ano
without any violation of the constitutional
rights of the other members of the Confeder
acy. That, as each became parties to tht
Union by the vote of its own people assembled
in Convention, so any one of them may retire
from the Union in similar manner by the
vote of such Convention.
In order to justify secession as constitu
tional remedy it must be on the principle
that the Federal Government is mere vol
untary association of States, to be dissolved
at pleasure by any one of the contracting
parties. If this be so, the Confederacy is I
rope of sand, 70 be penetrated and dissolved
by the first adverse wave of public opinion
in any OF the States. In this manner ou
thirty-three States may resolve themselve
into as many petty, jarring, and hostil
republics, each one retiring from the Union
without responsibility, wheneverany suddcl
excitement might impel them to such
course. By this process Union might b
entirely broken into fragments in fe1
weeks, which cost our forefathers man
years of toll, privation, and blood to estat
lish.
Such principle is wholly inconsisten
with the history as well as the character Q
the Federal Constitution. After it wa
framed, with the greatest deliberation an
care, it was submitted to conventions of tn
people of the several States for ratification
It's provisions were discussed at length i
these bodies, composed of the first men 6
the country. Its opponents oontended tbs
it conferred powers upon the Federal Co
ernment dangerous to the rights of tt
States, while Its advocates maintained th'
under q fair construction of the instrume,