Year: 1860

A. IuutCdlOnS tlldL no pIOOdDILlly eAiSGS OI Gli'


passage of such an act by a majority 0


both Houses, either in the present or the


next Congress. Surely under these crcum


stances we ought to be restrained from pres
! ent action, by the precept of him who
spake as never man spoke, that q sufficient


unto the day is the evil thereof" The
I day of evil may never come unless we shall
| rashly bring it upon ourselves. 1t is alleg-
ed as one cause for immediate secession
that the Southern States are denied equal
rights with the other States in the common


territories. But by what authority are


these denied? Not by Congress, which has


never passed, and | believe never will pass,
any act to exclude slavery from these terri


tories and certainly not by the Supreme


Court, which has sOemnly declared that


slaves are property, and like all other prop


erty, their owners have a right to take them


into the common territories and hold them


there under the protection of the Constitu-


ton. So far then AS Congress is con-


cerned, the objection is not to anything


they have already done, but to what they


may do hereafter. 1t will surely be admit


tea that this apprehension Of future danger


is no good reason for an immediate dissou-


ton of the Union.


1t is true that the Territorial Legislature


of Kansas on the 23d Of February, 1860,


passed in great haste an act over the veto


of the Governor, declaring that slavery is,
and shall be forever prohibited in the terri


tory. Such an act, however, plainly violat-
ing the rights Of property secured by the
Constitution, will surely he declared void
by the Judiciary whenever it shall be pre-
sented in legal form. Only three days af-
ter my Inauguration, the Supreme Court of
the United States sOlemnly adjudged that
this power did not exist in n Territorial


Legislature. Yet such has been the factious
temper of the times, that the correctness of
this decision has been extensively impugn-
ed before the people, and the question has
given rise to angry political conflict through
out the country. Those who li;ive appealed
from this judgment Of our highest Consti-
tntiOnal tribunal to popular assemblies,
islatures with power to annul the sacred
rights of property. This power Congress is
expressly forbidden by the Federal Consti-
tuition to exercise. Every State legislature
in the Union, is forbidden by its own Con-
stitutiOn to exercise it. 1t can not be eXer-
cised in any State, except by the people in
their highest sovereign capacity, when franz
ing or amending their State Con-
stitutlOn. In like manner, it can only
be exercised by the people of the Ter
ritory represented in convention
OF delegates for the purpose of framing
a constitution, PREDATORY to admission
State into the Union. Then, and not until
then, are they invested with power to de-
eide the question whether slavery shall or
shall not exist within their limits. This is
an act of sovereign authority, and not of
subordinate Territorial Legislation. Were
it otherwise, then, indeed would the equal
ity of the States in the Territories be de-
stroyed, and the rights of property in slaves
would depe i'd not upon the guarantees of
the Constitution, but upon the shifting ma


Orties of an irresponsible Territorial Leg
islature. Such doctrine from its intrin-
sic unSOunduess, cannot long influence any
portion of our people, much less can 1t at
ford good reason for a dissolution Of the
Union. The most palpable violations Of
constitutional duty which have yet been
committed consist in the acts of different
State Legislatures to defeat the execution Of
the Fugitive Slave Law. 1t ought to be
however, that for these acts
neither Congress nor any President can be
justly held responsible having been passed
in violation of the Federal Constitution,
they are therefore null and void. All the
Courts, both State and National before
whom the question has arisen, have, from
the beginning, declared the Fugitive Slave
Law to be constitutional The single excep-
ton is that of a State Court in Wisconsin,
and this has not only been reversed by
the proper appellate tribunal, hat has met
with such universal reprohation that there
can be no danger from it as precedent
The validity of this law has been established
over and over again by the Supreme Conrt
of the United States with perfect unanimity.
1t is founded upon an express provisio OF
the Constitution, requiring that fugitive
slaves who escape from service in one State
to another shall be delivered up to their
masters Without this provision, it is a
well-known historical fact that the Consti-
tuition itself could never have been adopted
by the Convention. In one form or anOth-
er under the acts of 1913 OF $50, both be
ing substantially the same, the Fugitive
Slave Law has been the law of the land
from the days of Washington until the pres
ent moment. Here then, clear case is pre-
sented in which 1t will be the duty of the
next President, as it has been my own, to
act with vigor in executing this supreme
law against the conflicting enactments of
State Legislatures. Should he fail in the
performance of this high duty, he will then
have manifested a disregard Of the COnsti-
tuition and laws to the great injury of the
people of nearly one-half of the States OF
the Union. But are We to presume in adj
vance that he will thus violate his duty ?
This would be at war with every principle
of justice-Cf Christian charity. Let US wait
for the overt act.


The Fugitive Slave Law has been carried
into execution in every contested case since
the commencement of the present admins
tration, though often, it is to be regretted,
with great 10th and Inconvenience and with
considerable expense to the Government
Let US trust that the State Legislatures
will repeal their unconstitutional and OBJ
noxious enactments unless this shall be
done without unnecessary delay it is impOs-
sible for any human power to save the
Union. The Southern States, standing on
the basis of the Constitution, have a right
to demand this act of justice from the States
of the North. Should it be refused them,
the Constitution, to which all the States are
parties, will have been wilfulIy violated by
one portion of them, in a provision essential
to the domestic security and happiness of