Year: 1860

Falls. are too obvious to need argument


Nor does any other interest. or any other


section of the country derive any benefit


from these results. The serious delay from


the obstruction to the transportation Of the


millions of property that annually pass
through the canal. with the excessive tolls
/ -.hposed upon it, inflict most grevlous and


unreasonable tax upon the industry and


enterprise everywhere. that contribute, in


any way. in making up the commerce Of


the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.


The subject, therefore, IS not of mere 10


cal. but Of the highest national import.


The canal being virtually owned by the


United States, although nOminally the prop


erty of private corporation. prevents any


improvement of it without her consent. and


renders State legislation pOwerless for relief.
! cannot but express the hope, that this


important subject may receive the early


and favorable attention of the Legislatures


of the several States bordering upon the


Ohio River, and of the other States interes-


ted in its navigation. and that they will


unite with the Legislature of this State in


urging prompt and liberal appropriations


by Congress for the construction of such
improvements around the Falls as will be


best adapted to the present and future


wants of Western Commerce.


Firmly loyal to the Union of the States
i-reyerenoirgit as the precious legacy from


the Fathers of the Republic-acknowledg-


ing their obligations as sacred to maintain


its integrity. and secure to the people of


every section of the Confederacy the bless
ings it was intended to confer; to defend
the Constitution, which is its bond, and t.


faithfully observe all of its limitations and


authorities, the people of Ohio accord to the
citizens of other States all the political and


social rights which they claim for them


selves. and as they would promptly and


resOlutcly resist any attempt by force. un-


lawful combination or otherwise, to disturb


the enjoyment of their social rights or i'm
peril their social securities, so do they de-


precate and unreservedly condemn any
movement or purpose to invade the rights
or to leopard the peace of the citizens Of
any other State.


But the Union is threatened, and the
Constitution is assailed in the very citideI
of its life-the right of the majority of the
people of the United States to control the
Government being denied; and efforts are
not wanting to defeat the great purpose of
the Government. to extend and perpetuate
the rights of freedom. by degrading the


Union and the Constitution into instru-
ments for the propagandation of human
slavery.


On the subject of slavery. the people of
this State occupy no equivocal position
They reject the modern dogma that slavery
Is essential to Republics, that such system
must fail without it. and that slavery must
be extended and perpetuatcd to extend and
perpetuate our form of government; but in
opposition to it. they have deliberately de-
clare that, in their judgment slavery is a
pernicious wrong. and that patriotism and
humanity unite in demanding their resist
ance to its extension into any free territory
now or that may be owned by the United
States. They deny the binding authority
of the dictum of the Supreme Court of the
United States, asserting right of proper
ty in one man over another. as a funda-
mental principle. and making the Federal
Constitution the instrument of rendering it


universal, as not limited to the reach of the
local power which created the relation of
master and slave; but. on the contrary,
taey declare that the idea that there could be
property in men was expressly excluded
from the Constitution. which contains no
such word as slave or slavery in any of its
provisions, and which in every clause con-
strucd or that can be construed, as refer
ring to slavery, regards it as the creature
of State legislation. and dependent wholly
upon State legislation for its existence and
continuance. They deny that the COnsti-
tuition guarantees to the slaveholding States
any other than their local rights, in con-
nection with the institution of slavery, but
such as it expressly declares: First, That
the foreign slave trade should not be abol-
iShed before 1908; Second, That any law
or regulation which any State might estab- |
lish in favor of freedom should not impair
the legal remedy. supposed at the time of
the adoption of the Constitution to exist by .
common law, for the reception, by legal
process, in such State, of fugitives from Ia /
Dor or service escaping from other States;
and, Third, That three-ffths of all slaves
should be counted in settling the basis of
in the several States. Be-
y0nd these, the trainers Of the Constitution
to make no peculiar concessions to
the slaveholding States. and these were
made because "thcy had a Union of the
States to create, and to their ardent and
minds the voluntary removal O.
slavery by the action of the States them
selves, without Federal interference, seem
ID not only certain, but close at hand. =
The people of Ohio have further declared
that in their opinion, the people of Ter
-itory have no power, under the Constitu-
ion, or from any other legal source. to es-
ablish slavery as one Of their institutions
Turing their Territorial existence; that the
exercise Of such power would be mani
est usurpatiOn Of the individual rights Of
he citizens of the Territory, and utterly I
iubversivc of all true popular sovereignty, ,
which demands, as primary essential con-
lition, the recognition of inalienable per-
;Jnal rights. They insist also that, coup
C | with the power, it is the duty of Con-
Mss to prohibit. by express enactment the
of slavery into any free territory
# the United Statcs-that the exercise of !
his power has been repeatedly approved by :
very department of the State and Nation '
Il Government, and to the universal accept {
lnce of the people, and that Its recognition ;
IS fundamental principle, to be hereafter
exercised whenever occasion may be pre- {
iented is indispensable to restore the SIM !
,licity and purity of the government and i
o carry out the great purposes Of the Con-
ititution as declared in its preamble Ito ;
orm a more perfect union, to establish jus
ice, insure domestic tranquility, promote,
he general welfare and secure the blessings ;
# liberty to ourselves and our posterity. {


Such are the judgments of the people of
Ohio. repeatedly expressed on the subject
If slavery as social and political ques-