The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-01-26

swell DIV one, tltci pho ~ 80
slaves they then had within their bor-
ders2" y "a z..--E..
In reply to this Mr.. PENDLEToN said:
81 was considering the powers guaran-
teed by the instrument itself, l was
considering only those powers, and ex-
pressly distinguished between the right
of revolution and the right under which
gentlemen claim that they have the
power to make this amendment.
For all purposes of this argument
have only sought to place myself on Inc
Constitution of the United States, ana
not to invoke the authority OF any la"
that is higher than it,"
Mr.. WILSON asked Mr.. PENDLEToN
whether he believed that the States in
their sovereign capacity have the power
toymake portion of the people of the
State slaves2 Mr.. PENDLEToN replied
that the power of State governments was
not the point in discussion, the question
being as to the power reserved Ill the
Compact of confederation to its constlt-
uents, which are the States"
Mr.. boutwell, agreed that the power
to amend the Constitution was limited
power and thought that the limitation
was to be found in the preamble; and
that any amendment which tended ito
form more perfect Union &c, was
within the power granted by the Constl-
tuition. In reply to this Mr.. PENDLEToN
aroued that authority over the status OF
its citizens belonged to each State and
that they could not rightfully be de-
prived of it.
Mr.. GooCH asked whether the trainers
of the Constitution could not have pro-
hibited slavery i'll it originally. Mr.
PENDLEToS replied that they could and
it would have been binding upon the
States that ratified it, but that Il portion
of the States cannot decide the status
of the people Of other States without
express grant from each State. Mr.
GooCH then asked whether by the adop-
ton of the Constitution, the States have
not conferred that power upon the con
stitutional majority. Mr. PENDLEToN
said:
Il think they have not; OF else would
not have been denying the power for the
last half hour. Ihave been oudeaNOllnG
to show that the limitations in the letter
of the Constitution were not the only
limitations upon the power Of amend
ment. And have dove it for the puI-
pose of leading gentlemen of this House
to a conclusion which / am prepared to
take, following the line Of argument
that have done, showing that you can
not, under the power of amendment,
contravcne the letter and spirit of the
that you cannot subvert
repu blcauism; that you cannot destroy |
the liberties Of the States; that you can
not decide the status OF the citizens Of
the States. | would lead them to the
that there is no power on the
part of the Federal Government--On the
part of three-quarters Of the States l in-
tended to say-to adopt the amendment
that is now proposed; and that if you do
it, if you attempt to impose that amend
ment upon the dissenting States by force,
it will he their right To resist you by
force, and to call to their aid all the pow
ers which God and nature have given
them to make that force effective"
We have presented in the extracts
given above, the main points Of Mr.. PEN
DLErON's argument. A running discus
sion was kept up for some time and he
was piled with artful qustions by various |
members by he had Il ready and appro-
pirate answer for each. We regard his |
speech as the ablest that has yet been
made in Congress upon either side of the
question. Other Democrats have urged
hat the amendment was ineXpcdirnt |
md mpolitic at this time, but none of
hem have gone so deeply to the root OF
he matter in controversy and boldly de-
lied its constitutional right.