Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1861-03-26
Proposed Constitutional Amendments.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL
RELATIONS.
Mr.. Conrad, of Frederick, asked and obtained
leave to offer the following report from the
Committee on Federal Relations:
The Committee on Federal Relations have.
according to order, had under consideration sun
dry resolutions to them referred, and amend
ments proposed to the Federal Constitution, and
beg leave to report the following amendments to
be proposed to the Constitution of the United
States to be appended to their former report.
ARTICLE XII, S l. In all the present territory
of the United States, North of the parallel of Sc
degrees and 80 minutes of North latitude, invol-
untary servitude, except in punishment of crime,
is prohibited. In all the present territory South
of that line involuntary servitude, as it now ex-
lists, shall remain, and shall not be changed; nor
shall any law be passed by Congress or the Ter
ritorial Legislature to hinder or prevent the tax
ing of persons held to service or labor from any
OF the States of this Union to said territory nor
to impair the rights arising from said relation
nor shall said rights be in any manner affected
by any pre-existing law of Mexico; but the same
shall be subject TO judicial cognizance in the Fed
| eral Courts, according to the remedies and the
practice Of the common law. When any Terri
tory North or South of said line, within such
boundary as Congress may pfsScribe, shall con-
tain population equal to that required for a
member of Congress, it shall, If its form of Gov
ernment be Republican, be admitted into the
Union on an equal footing with the original
States, with or without involuntary servitude,
as such Constitution OF the State may provide.
In all territory which may hereafter be acqired
| by the United States, involuntary servitude is
prohibited, except for crime, North of the lati-
| tade of 36 degrees and 80 minutes, but shall not
| be prohibited by Congress or any Territorial
Legislature South of said line.
50. No territory shall be acquired by the o.
| nlted States, except by discovery and for naval
and commercial stations, depots, and transit
routes, without the concurrence of a majority of
all the Senators from States which allow invol-
| untary servltude, and majority of all the SEN
| ators from States which prohibit that relation !;
nor shall territory be acquired by treaty, unless
| the votes OF majority of the Senators from each
class OF States herein before mentioned be cast
as part of the third majority necessary to
the ratification of such treaty.
| So. Neither the Constitution, nor any amend
ment thereof, shall be construed to give Con-
gress power to legslate concerning involuntary
fservitude in any State or Territory wherein the
same is acknowledged, or may exist, by the laws
thereof; nor TO interfere with, or abolish, the
same in the District of Columbia, without the
consent of Maryland and Virginia, and without
the consent OF the owners, or making the own
| ers, who 90 not consent, just compensation !;
nor the power to interfere with, or prohibit re-
presentatives and others from bringing with them
to the District Of Columbia, retaining and taking
| away, persons so held to labor or service; nor
the power to interfere with, or abolish, invoun-
tary service in places under the exclusive juris-
diction of the United States within those States
and Territories where the same is established or
Recognized; nor the power to prohibit the re-
| moval or transportation, by land or water, of
persons held to labor, or involuntary service, in
| any State or Territory of the United States to
any other State or Territory thereof where it is
established or recognized by law or usage; and
| the rlght-during transportation by sea or river
| of touching at ports, shores and landings, and
landing in case OF need, shall exist; but not the
right OF sojourn or sale in any State or Territory
against the laws thereof; nor shall Congress
| bave power to authorize any higher rate of tax
| alton on persons held to labor or service than
on land. The bringing into the District of Co.
lumbia persons held to labor or service for sale.
or placing them 10 depots to be afterwards trans
ferred to other places for sale as merchandise, is
prohibited.
! 81. The third paragraph of the second section
OF the fourth article OF the Constitution shall
not be construed to prevent any of the States,
Wy approprlaCo legiSlalOn, ana through the &C
ton of their judicial and ministerial officers,
from enforcing the delivery of fngitives from la.
Dor to the person to whom such service or labor
is due.
| S5. The importation of slaves, Coolies, or per-
sons held to service or labor, into the United
States and the Territories, from places beyond
the limits thereof, is hereby forever prohibited.
S6. Congress shall provide by law that the
United States shall pay to the owner the full
value Of his fugitive from labor, in all cases
where the Marshal, or other officer, whose duty it
was to arrest such fugitive, was prevented from
SO doing by intimidation from mobs or riotous
assembages, or by violence, or when, after ar
rest, such fugitive was rescued by like intimida-
tion, or violence, and the owner thereby de-
prived of the same.
ST. The elective franchise and the right to
hold Office, whether Federal or Territorial, shall
not be exercised by persons who are Of the At
rican race.
So. No one of these amendments, nor the
third paragraph of the second section of the first
article of the Constitution, nor the third para
graph of the second section of the fourth ar
article thereof, shall be amended or abolished
without the consent of all the States.
| The report was referred to the Committee OF
| the Whole and ordered to be printed.