St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1860-02-23
states, and violativc of the rights Of
sister States. The Senator said

: sister States. The Senator said
Mr.. President, hold in my hand
copies and abstracts of laws and res.
olutions of nine States of this Union,
all OF which have been adopted with
the direct intent to abrogatc and an.
nul this plain provision of the Consti.
tuition. These laws were passed by
the Abolitionists, now called the Re
publican party of the United States
All of them display the scicnter, the
corrupt knowledge of those who pas.
sed chem, of the crimes they were
committing. Their very efforts to
hide, to conceal their purpose, demon
stratc their criminal intent"
Surely, Mr.. President these are vc-
ry severe charges and he who utters
them ought to be confident that the
persons to whom he seeks to apply
them are justly entitled to receive
that application. He then went Oh to
say:
" Their objects are sometimes
sought to be accomplished by resolu-
tions proclaiming a higher law as
the guide to plant judicial interpreta-
tion. In other cases they are sought
to be accomplished by habeas corpus
acts, by writs of mandamus, intended
to transfer cases from the Judgment
of honest men to the decision of Re-
publicans but the bOlder. criminals
have squarely met the question, and
annullcd the Constitution by means
of what are called personal liberty
acts. Maine, New Hampshire, Yer
mont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, Michigan, Wisconsin and
Iowa, have all sought to accomplish
these results, in the one or the other
of the modes which | have dcscrib-
! cd"
The Senator sets out with the dec
laration that he has abstracts and
statements of the laws from nine
States, and enumeratcs as those nine
States the six New England States
and the three new Western States of
Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa. 1t
is true that the Senator, in another
place, seems to contradict his own
statement in this regard for in the
collvquy which he carried on with the
Senator from Connecticut Mr. Foster
in regard to the local law of that
State, he stated, speaking Of that
| law:
Many acts Of your co-conspirators
exceed it III boldness none in mean
ness and infamy. l have already de-
scribcd it. and leave it to you to de-
fcnd. 1t does furtivcly and clandcs-
timely what the New York bill did op-
enly. 1t does not require of its sup
porters TO gulp down wholesale PERU
ry, like the New York bill, but it did
require them TO do the same thing in
a more indirect manner. l have not
the Wisconsin and Iowa laws before
me. | am informed they are of the
same character, purpose and intent"
The same character and purpose
and intent of the law of Connecticut,
he means. Then again, further on,
the Senator says:
Now, sir, have shown you what
has been done OH this question by
these nine States"
The nine States enumerated before
the six New England States and the
States Of Michigan, Wisconsin and
Iowa. Again he states:
Whenever the Republicans have
had power, Notwithstanding their sa-
cred oaths to maintain the Constitu-
ton, they have proved false to it, and
have perpctratcd these crimes"
Now, Mr.. President, it is true, in
point Of fact, that the Republican
party have been in possession of the
government of the State Of Iowa dur
ing the last five years and upwards.
They have had the unlimited control
Of the government Of that State in
every one Of its departments. They
have had u succession of Governors
of that political party. They have
had all the judicial tribunals, with
very few exceptions and all the
judges of the Supreme Court have be-
longcd to that party. Their MAORI
ties in the House of Representatives
and in the Senate Of the State have
been predominating, almost two to
one, during four successive Lcgisla-
tive Assemblies. But it is not true
in point of fact, that the General As
scmbly of that State has ever passed
any law in violation Of the Constitu-
tion of the United States, in regard to
the fugitive slave law, or in regard
to any other act of Congress. No
law has been passed by that State,
either since it has been under the
domination of the Republican party or
before it came under their control,
that contravenes in the remotest de-
gree any of the rights of any of the
sister States, or interferes in the re-
motcst degree with the relation of
master and slave, or master and SER
want.
Sir have not risen for the purpose
of making this explanation because l
am disposed to condemn or censure or
approve the acts of this kind that
have been passed by other States. ]
have no Judgment to pronounce upon
that subject. have no criticism to
make on that species of legislation
1t is no part of my business, as l un
derstand it, to sit here and arraign
the action Of sovereign States Of this
Union in regard to their local laws,
whether they may be as Objectionable
as are the laws of Louisiana and
South Carolina to Senators like the
Senator from Massachusetts, or wheth-
er they are as Objectionable as are the
laws of Massachusetts and Connccti-
cut to the Senator from Georgia, and
others who act and feel with him
That is not my business. But am
not disposed to let the State of my
adoption, where l have the happiness
to reside and which | have the honol
here to represent, have either the Slo
ry OF the whichever way
they may be regarded by Senator'S
of passing any law on this floor which