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diff --git a/15393.txt b/15393.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5bc4cf --- /dev/null +++ b/15393.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6686 @@ +Project Gutenberg's American Eloquence, Volume III. (of 4), by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: American Eloquence, Volume III. (of 4) + Studies In American Political History (1897) + +Author: Various + +Release Date: March 17, 2005 [EBook #15393] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN ELOQUENCE, III. *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +AMERICAN ELOQUENCE + + +STUDIES IN AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY + + + +Edited with Introduction by Alexander Johnston + +Reedited by James Albert Woodburn + + + +Volume III. (of 4) + +V. --THE ANTI-SLAVERY STRUGGLE (Continued from Vol. II.) +VI.--SECESSION. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + INTRODUCTION + + + SALMON PORTLAND CHASE On The Kansas-Nebraska Bill + --United States Senate, February 3, 1854. + + EDWARD EVERETT On The Kansas-Nebraska Bill + --United States Senate, February 8, 1854. + + STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS On The Kansas-Nebraska Bill + --United States Senate, March 3, 1854. + + CHARLES SUMNER On The Crime Against Kansas + --United States Senate, May 20, 1856. + + PRESTON S. BROOKS On The Sumner Assault + --House Of Representatives, July 14, 1856. + + JUDAH P. BENJAMIN On The Property Doctrine And Slavery In The + Territories --United States Senate, March 11, 1858. + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN On The Dred Scott Decision + --Springfield, Ills., June 26, 1857. + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN On His Nomination To The United States Senate + --At The Republican State Convention, June 16,1858. + + THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE + DOUGLAS In Reply To Lincoln--Freeport, Ills., August 27, 1858. + + WILLIAM H. SEWARD + On The Irrepressible Conflict--Rochester, N. Y., October 25, 1858. + + +VI.-SECESSION. + + JOHN PARKER HALE On Secession; Moderate Republican Opinion + --United States Senate, December 5, 1860. + + ALFRED IVERSON On Secession; Secessionist Opinion + --United States Senate, December 5, 1860. + + BENJAMIN WADE On Secession, And The State Of The Union; Radical + Republican Opinion--United States Senate, December 17, 1860. + + JOHN JORDON CRITTENDEN On The Crittenden Compromise; Border State + Unionist Opinion--United States Senate, December 18, 1860. + + ROBERT TOOMBS On Secession; Secessionist Opinion + --United States Senate, January 7, 1861. + + SAMUEL SULLIVAN COX On Secession; Douglas Democratic Opinion + --House Of Representatives, January 14, 1861. + + JEFFERSON DAVIS On Withdrawal From The Union; Secessionist Opinion + --United States Senate, January 21, 1861. + + + +LIST OF PORTRAITS + + WILLIAM H. SEWARD -- Frontispiece From a photograph. + + SALMON P. CHASE -- From a daguerreotype, engraved by F. E. JONES. + + EDWARD EVERETT -- From a painting by R. M. STAIGG. + + STEPHEN A. DOUGLASS -- From a steel engraving. + + JEFFERSON DAVIS -- From a photograph. + + + + +INTRODUCTION TO THE REVISED VOLUME. + + +The third volume of the American Eloquence is devoted to the +continuation of the slavery controversy and to the progress of the +secession movement which culminated in civil war. + +To the speeches of the former edition of the volume have been added: +Everett on the Nebraska bill; Benjamin on the Property Doctrine and +Slavery in the Territories; Lincoln on the Dred Scott Decision; Wade +on Secession and the State of the Union; Crittenden on the Crittenden +Compromise; and Jefferson Davis's notable speech in which he took leave +of the United State Senate, in January, 1861. + +Judged by its political consequences no piece of legislation in American +history is of greater historical importance than the Kansas-Nebraska +bill. By that act the Missouri Compromise was repealed and the final +conflict entered upon with the slave power. In addition to the speeches +of Douglas and Chase, representing the best word on the opposing sides +of the famous Nebraska controversy, the new volume includes the notable +contribution by Edward Everett to the Congressional debates on that +subject. Besides being an orator of high rank and of literary renown, +Everett represented a distinct body of political opinion. As a +conservative Whig he voiced the sentiment of the great body of the +followers of Webster and Clay who had helped to establish the Compromise +of 1850 and who wished to leave that settlement undisturbed. The student +of the Congressional struggles of 1854 will be led by a speech like that +of Everett to appreciate that moderate and conservative spirit toward +slavery which would not persist in any anti-slavery action having a +tendency to disturb the harmony of the Union. That this conservative +opinion looked upon the repeal of the Missouri Compromise as an act of +aggression in the interest of slavery is indicated by Everett's speech, +and this gives the speech its historic significance. + +Judah P. Benjamin may be said to have been the ablest legal defender of +slavery in public life during the decade of 1850-60. His speech on +the right of property in slaves and the right of slavery to national +protection in the territories was probably the ablest on that side of +the controversy. Lincoln's speech on the Dred Scott Decision has been +substituted for one by John C. Breckinridge on the same subject; this +will serve to bring into his true proportions this great leader of the +combined anti-slavery forces. No voice, in the beginnings of secession +and disunion, could better reflect the positive and uncompromising +Republicanism of the Northwest than that of Wade. The speech from him +which we have appropriated is in many ways worthy of the attention of +the historical student. + +We may look to Crittenden as the best expositor of the Crittenden +Compromise, the leading attempt at compromise and conciliation in the +memorable session of Congress of 1860-61. Crittenden's subject and +personality add historical prominence to his speech. The Crittenden +Compromise would probably have been accepted by Southern leaders like +Davis and Toombs if it had been acceptable to the Republican leaders +of the North. The failure of that Compromise made disunion and war +inevitable. Jefferson Davis' memorable farewell to the Senate, following +the assured failure of compromise, seems a fitting close to the period +of our history which brings us to the eve of the Civil War. + +The introduction of Professor Johnston on "Secession" is retained as +originally prepared. A study of the speeches, with this introduction +and the appended notes, will give a fair idea of the political issues +dividing the country in the important years immediately preceding the +war. Limitations of space prevent the publication of the full speeches +from the exhaustive Congressional debates, but in several instances +where it has seemed especially desirable omissions from the former +volume have been supplied with the purpose of more fully representing +the subjects and the speakers. To the reader who is interested in +historical politics in America these productions of great political +leaders need no recommendation from the editor. + +J. A. W. + + + + +SALMON PORTLAND CHASE, + +OF OHIO. (BORN 1808, DIED 1873.) + +ON THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL; SENATE, + +FEBRUARY 3, 1854. + + +The bill for the organization of the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas +being under consideration--Mr. CHASE submitted the following amendment: + +Strike out from section 14 the words "was superseded by the principles +of the legislation of 1850, commonly called the compromise measures, and; +so that the clause will read: + +"That the Constitution, and all laws of the United States which are not +locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the +said Territory of Nebraska as elsewhere within the United States, except +the eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri +into the Union, approved March 6, 1820, which is hereby declared +inoperative." + + +Mr. CHASE said: + +Mr. President, I had occasion, a few days ago to expose the utter +groundlessness of the personal charges made by the Senator from Illinois +(Mr. Douglas) against myself and the other signers of the Independent +Democratic Appeal. I now move to strike from this bill a statement +which I will to-day demonstrate to be without any foundation in fact +or history. I intend afterward to move to strike out the whole clause +annulling the Missouri prohibition. + +I enter into this debate, Mr. President, in no spirit of personal +unkindness. The issue is too grave and too momentous for the indulgence +of such feelings. I see the great question before me, and that question +only. + +Sir, these crowded galleries, these thronged lobbies, this full +attendance of the Senate, prove the deep, transcendent interest of the +theme. + +A few days only have elapsed since the Congress of the United States +assembled in this Capitol. Then no agitation seemed to disturb the +political elements. Two of the great political parties of the country, +in their national conventions, had announced that slavery agitation was +at an end, and that henceforth that subject was not to be discussed in +Congress or out of Congress. The President, in his annual message, had +referred to this state of opinion, and had declared his fixed purpose to +maintain, as far as any responsibility attached to him, the quiet of the +country. Let me read a brief extract from that message: + +"It is no part of my purpose to give prominence to any subject which may +properly be regarded as set at rest by the deliberate judgment of the +people. But while the present is bright with promise, and the future +full of demand and inducement for the exercise of active intelligence, +the past can never be without useful lessons of admonition and +instruction. If its dangers serve not as beacons, they will evidently +fail to fulfil the object of a wise design. When the grave shall have +closed over all those who are now endeavoring to meet the obligations of +duty, the year 1850 will be recurred to as a period filled with anxious +apprehension. A successful war had just terminated. Peace brought with +it a vast augmentation of territory. Disturbing questions arose, bearing +upon the domestic institutions of one portion of the Confederacy, and +involving the constitutional rights of the States. But, notwithstanding +differences of opinion and sentiment, which then existed in relation +to details and specific provisions, the acquiescence of distinguished +citizens, whose devotion to the Union can never be doubted, had given +renewed vigor to our institutions, and restored a sense of repose and +security to the public mind throughout the Confederacy. That this repose +is to suffer no shock during my official term, if I have power to avert +it, those who placed me here may be assured." + +The agreement of the two old political parties, thus referred to by the +Chief Magistrate of the country, was complete, and a large majority of +the American people seemed to acquiesce in the legislation of which he +spoke. + +A few of us, indeed, doubted the accuracy of these statements, and the +permanency of this repose. We never believed that the acts of 1850 would +prove to be a permanent adjustment of the slavery question. We believed +no permanent adjustment of that question possible except by a return to +that original policy of the fathers of the Republic, by which slavery +was restricted within State limits, and freedom, without exception or +limitation, was intended to be secured to every person outside of State +limits and under the exclusive jurisdiction of the General Government. + +But, sir, we only represented a small, though vigorous and growing, +party in the country. Our number was small in Congress. By some we were +regarded as visionaries--by some as factionists; while almost all agreed +in pronouncing us mistaken. + +And so, sir, the country was at peace. As the eye swept the entire +circumference of the horizon and upward to mid-heaven not a cloud +appeared; to common observation there was no mist or stain upon the +clearness of the sky. + +But suddenly all is changed. Rattling thunder breaks from the cloudless +firmament. The storm bursts forth in fury. Warring winds rush into +conflict. + + "_Eurus, Notusque ruunt, creberque procellis Africus_." + +Yes, sir, "_creber procellis Africus_"--the South wind thick with storm. +And now we find ourselves in the midst of an agitation, the end and +issue of which no man can foresee. + +Now, sir, who is responsible for this renewal of strife and controversy? +Not we, for we have introduced no question of territorial slavery into +Congress--not we who are denounced as agitators and factionists. No, +sir: the quietists and the finalists have become agitators; they who +told us that all agitation was quieted, and that the resolutions of the +political conventions put a final period to the discussion of slavery. + +This will not escape the observation of the country. It is Slavery that +renews the strife. It is Slavery that again wants room. It is Slavery, +with its insatiate demands for more slave territory and more slave +States. + +And what does Slavery ask for now? Why, sir, it demands that a +time-honored and sacred compact shall be rescinded--a compact which has +endured through a whole generation--a compact which has been +universally regarded as inviolable, North and South--a compact, the +constitutionality of which few have doubted, and by which all have +consented to abide. + +It will not answer to violate such a compact without a pretext. Some +plausible ground must be discovered or invented for such an act; and +such a ground is supposed to be found in the doctrine which was advanced +the other day by the Senator from Illinois, that the compromise acts of +1850 "superseded "the prohibition of slavery north of 36 deg. 30', in the +act preparatory for the admission of Missouri. Ay,sir, "superseded" is +the phrase--"superseded by the principles of the legislation of 1850, +commonly called the compromise measures." + +It is against this statement, untrue in fact, and without foundation in +history, that the amendment which I have proposed is directed. + +Sir, this is a novel idea. At the time when these measures were before +Congress in 1850, when the questions involved in them were discussed +from day to day, from week to week, and from month to month, in this +Senate chamber, who ever heard that the Missouri prohibition was to be +superseded? What man, at what time, in what speech, ever suggested the +idea that the acts of that year were to affect the Missouri compromise? +The Senator from Illinois the other day invoked the authority of Henry +Clay--that departed statesman, in respect to whom, whatever may be the +differences of political opinion, none question that, among the great +men of this country, he stood proudly eminent. Did he, in the report +made by him as the chairman of the Committee of Thirteen, or in any +speech in support of the compromise acts, or in any conversation in the +committee, or out of the committee, ever even hint at this doctrine of +supersedure? Did any supporter or any opponent of the compromise +acts ever vindicate or condemn them on the ground that the Missouri +prohibition would be affected by them? Well, sir, the compromise acts +were passed. They were denounced North, and they were denounced South. +Did any defender of them at the South ever justify his support of them +upon the ground that the South had obtained through them the repeal of +the Missouri prohibition? Did any objector to them at the North ever +even suggest as a ground of condemnation that that prohibition was swept +away by them? No, sir! No man, North or South, during the whole of +the discussion of those acts here, or in that other discussion which +followed their enactment throughout the country, ever intimated any such +opinion. + +Now, sir, let us come to the last session of Congress. A Nebraska bill +passed the House and came to the Senate, and was reported from the +Committee on Territories by the Senator from Illinois, as its chairman. +Was there any provision in it which even squinted toward this notion of +repeal by supersedure? Why, sir, Southern gentlemen opposed it on +the very ground that it left the Territory under the operation of the +Missouri prohibition. The Senator from Illinois made a speech in defence +of it. Did he invoke Southern support upon the ground that it superseded +the Missouri prohibition? Not at all. Was it opposed or vindicated +by anybody on any such ground? Every Senator knows the contrary. The +Senator from Missouri (Mr. Atchison), now the President of this body, +made a speech upon the bill, in which he distinctly declared that the +Missouri prohibition was not repealed, and could not be repealed. + +I will send this speech to the Secretary, and ask him to read the +paragraphs marked. The Secretary read as follows: + +"I will now state to the Senate the views which induced me to oppose +this proposition in the early part of this session. + +"I had two objections to it. One was that the Indian title in that +Territory had not been extinguished, or, at least, a very small portion +of it had been. Another was the Missouri compromise, or, as it is +commonly called, the slavery restriction. It was my opinion at that +time--and I am not now very clear on that subject--that the law of +Congress, when the State of Missouri was admitted into the Union, +excluding slavery from the Territory of Louisiana north of 36 deg. 30', +would be enforced in that Territory unless it was specially rescinded, +and whether that law was in accordance with the Constitution of the +United States or not, it would do its work, and that work would be to +preclude slave-holders from going into that Territory. But when I came +to look into that question, I found that there was no prospect, no +hope, of a repeal of the Missouri compromise excluding slavery from that +Territory. Now, sir, I am free to admit, that at this moment, at this +hour, and for all time to come, I should oppose the organization or +the settlement of that Territory unless my constituents, and +the constituents of the whole South--of the slave States of the +Union,--could go into it upon the same footing, with equal rights and +equal privileges, carrying that species of property with them as other +people of this Union. Yes, sir, I acknowledge that that would have +governed me, but I have no hope that the restriction will ever be +repealed. + +"I have always been of opinion that the first great error committed +in the political history of this country was the ordinance of 1787, +rendering the Northwest Territory free territory. The next great error +was the Missouri compromise. But they are both irremediable. There is no +remedy for them. We must submit to them. I am prepared to do it. It is +evident that the Missouri compromise cannot be re-pealed. So far as that +question is concerned, we might as well agree to the admission of this +Territory now as next year, or five or ten years hence."--_Congressional +Globe_, Second Session, 32d Cong., vol. xxvi., page 1113. + +That, sir, is the speech of the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Atchison), +whose authority, I think, must go for something upon this question. What +does he say? "When I came to look into that question"--of the possible +repeal of the Missouri prohibition--that was the question he was looking +into--"I found that there was no prospect, no hope, of a repeal of the +Missouri compromise excluding slavery from that Territory." And yet, +sir, at that very moment, according to this new doctrine of the Senator +from Illinois, it had been repealed three years! + +Well, the Senator from Missouri said further, that if he thought it +possible to oppose this restriction successfully, he never would consent +to the organization of the territory until it was rescinded. But, said +he, "I acknowledge that I have no hope that the restriction will ever be +repealed." Then he made some complaint, as other Southern gentlemen have +frequently done, of the ordinance of 1787, and the Missouri prohibition; +but went on to say: "They are both irremediable; there is no remedy for +them; we must submit to them; I am prepared to do it; it is evident that +the Missouri compromise cannot be repealed." + +Now, sir, when was this said? It was on the morning of the 4th of March, +just before the close of the last session, when that Nebraska bill, +reported by the Senator from Illinois, which proposed no repeal, and +suggested no supersedure, was under discussion. I think, sir, that all +this shows pretty clearly that up to the very close of the last session +of Congress nobody had ever thought of a repeal by supersedure. Then +what took place at the commencement of the present session? The Senator +from Iowa, early in December, introduced a bill for the organization +of the Territory of Nebraska. I believe it was the same bill which was +under discussion here at the last session, line for line, word for word. +If I am wrong, the Senator will correct me. + +Did the Senator from Iowa, then, entertain the idea that the Missouri +prohibition had been superseded? No, sir, neither he nor any other man +here, so far as could be judged from any discussion, or statement, or +remark, had received this notion. + +Well, on the 4th day of January, the Committee on Territories, through +their chairman, the Senator from Illinois, made a report on the +territorial organization of Nebraska; and that report was accompanied by +a bill. Now, sir, on that 4th day of January, just thirty days ago, did +the Committee on Territories entertain the opinion that the compromise +acts of 1850 superseded the Missouri prohibition? If they did, they were +very careful to keep it to themselves. We will judge the committee by +their own report. What do they say in that? In the first place they +describe the character of the controversy, in respect to the Territories +acquired from Mexico. They say that some believed that a Mexican law +prohibiting slavery was in force there, while others claimed that the +Mexican law became inoperative at the moment of acquisition, and that +slave-holders could take their slaves into the Territory and hold +them there under the provisions of the Constitution. The Territorial +Compromise acts, as the committee tell us, steered clear of these +questions. They simply provided that the States organized out of these +Territories might come in with or without slavery, as they should elect, +but did not affect the question whether slaves could or could not be +introduced before the organization of State governments. That question +was left entirely to judicial decision. + +Well, sir, what did the committee propose to do with the Nebraska +Territory? In respect to that, as in respect to the Mexican Territory, +differences of opinion exist in relation to the introduction of slaves. +There are Southern gentlemen who contend that notwithstanding the +Missouri prohibition, they can take their slaves into the territory +covered by it, and hold them there by virtue of the Constitution. On the +other hand the great majority of the American people, North and South, +believe the Missouri prohibition to be constitutional and effectual. +Now, what did the committee pro-pose? Did they propose to repeal the +prohibition? Did they suggest that it had been superseded? Did they +advance any idea of that kind? No, sir. This is their language: + +"Under this section, as in the case of the Mexican law in New Mexico +and Utah, it is a disputed point whether slavery is prohibited in the +Nebraska country by valid enactment. The decision of this question +involves the constitutional power of Congress to pass laws prescribing +and regulating the domestic institutions of the various Territories +of the Union. In the opinion of those eminent statesmen who hold that +Congress is invested with no rightful authority to legislate upon the +subject of slavery in the Territories, the eighth section of the act +preparatory to the admission of Missouri is null and void, while the +prevailing sentiment in a large portion of the Union sustains the +doctrine that the Constitution of the United States secures to every +citizen an inalienable right to move into any of the Territories with +his property, of whatever kind and description, and to hold and +enjoy the same under the sanction of law. Your committee do not +feel themselves called upon to enter into the discussion of these +controverted questions. They involve the same grave issues which +produced the agitation, the sectional strife, and the fearful struggle +of 1850." + +This language will bear repetition: + +"Your committee do not feel themselves called upon to enter into the +discussion of these controverted questions. They involve the same grave +issues which produced the agitation, the sectional strife, and the +fearful struggle of 1850." + +And they go on to say: + +"Congress deemed it wise and prudent to refrain from deciding the +matters in controversy then, either by affirming or repealing the +Mexican laws, or by an act declaratory of the true intent of the +Constitution and the extent of the protection afforded by it to slave +property in the Territories; so your committee are not prepared now +to recommend a departure from the course pursued on that memorable +occasion, either by affirming or repealing the eighth section of +the Missouri act, or by any act declaratory of the meaning of the +Constitution in respect to the legal points in dispute." + +Mr. President, here are very remarkable facts. The Committee on +Territories declared that it was not wise, that it was not prudent, that +it was not right, to renew the old controversy, and to arouse agitation. +They declared that they would abstain from any recommendation of a +repeal of the prohibition, or of any provision declaratory of the +construction of the Constitution in respect to the legal points in +dispute. + +Mr. President, I am not one of those who suppose that the question +between Mexican law and the slave-holding claims was avoided in the +Utah and New Mexico Act; nor do I think that the introduction into the +Nebraska bill of the provisions of those acts in respect to slavery +would leave the question between the Missouri prohibition and the same +slave-holding claims entirely unaffected.' I am of a very different +opinion. But I am dealing now with the report of the Senator from +Illinois, as chairman of the committee, and I show, beyond all +controversy, that that report gave no countenance whatever to the +doctrine of repeal by supersedure. + +Well, sir, the bill reported by the committee was printed in the +Washington Sentinel on Saturday, January 7th. It contained twenty +sections; no more, no less. It contained no provisions in respect to +slavery, except those in the Utah and New Mexico bills. It left those +provisions to speak for themselves. This was in harmony with the report +of the committee. On the 10th of January--on Tuesday--the act appeared +again in the Sentinel; but it had grown longer during the interval. +It appeared now with twenty-one sections. There was a statement in +the paper that the twenty-first section had been omitted by a clerical +error. + +But, sir, it is a singular fact that this twenty-first section is +entirely out of harmony with the committee's report. It undertakes to +determine the effect of the provision in the Utah and New Mexico bills. +It declares, among other things, that all questions pertaining +to slavery in the Territories, and in the new States to be formed +therefrom, are to be left to the decision of the people residing +therein, through their appropriate representatives. This provision, in +effect, repealed the Missouri prohibition, which the committee, in their +report, declared ought not to be done. Is it possible, sir, that this +was a mere clerical error? May it not be that this twenty-first section +was the fruit of some Sunday work, between Saturday the 7th, and Tuesday +the 10th? + +But, sir, the addition of this section, it seems, did not help the bill. +It did not, I suppose, meet the approbation of Southern gentlemen, +who contended that they have a right to take their slaves into the +Territories, notwithstanding any prohibition, either by Congress or by a +Territorial Legislature. I dare say it was found that the votes of these +gentlemen could not be had for the bill with that clause in it. It was +not enough that the committee had abandoned their report, and added +this twenty-first section, in direct contravention of its reasonings and +principles. The twenty-first section itself must be abandoned, and the +repeal of the Missouri prohibition placed in a shape which would not +deny the slave-holding claim. + +The Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Dixon), on the 16th of January, submitted +an amendment which came square up to repeal, and to the claim. That +amendment, probably, produced some fluttering and some consultation. It +met the views of Southern Senators, and probably determined the shape +which the bill has finally assumed. Of the various mutations which it +has undergone, I can hardly be mistaken in attributing the last to the +amendment of the Senator from Kentucky. That there is no effect without +a cause, is among our earliest lessons in physical philosophy, and I +know of no causes which will account for the remarkable changes which +the bill underwent after the 16th of January, other than that amendment, +and the determination of Southern Senators to support it, and to +vote against any provision recognizing the right of any Territorial +Legislature to prohibit the introduction of slavery. + +It was just seven days, Mr. President, after the Senator from Kentucky +had offered his amendment, that a fresh amendment was reported from the +Committee on Territories, in the shape of a new bill, enlarged to forty +sections. This new bill cuts off from the proposed Territory half +a degree of latitude on the south, and divides the residue into +two Territories--the southern Territory of Kansas, and the northern +Territory of Nebraska. It applies to each all the provisions of the +Utah and New Mexico bills; it rejects entirely the twenty-first +clerical-error section, and abrogates the Missouri prohibition by the +very singular provision, which I will read: + +"The Constitution and all laws of the United States which are not +locally inapplicable shall have the same force and effect within the +said Territory of Nebraska as elsewhere within the United States, except +the eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri +into the Union, approved March 6, 1820, which was superseded by the +principles of the legislation of 1850, commonly called the compromise +measures, and is therefore declared inoperative." + +Doubtless, Mr. President, this provision operates as a repeal of the +prohibition. The Senator from Kentucky was right when he said it was in +effect the equivalent of his amendment. Those who are willing to break +up and destroy the old compact of 1820 can vote for this bill with full +assurance that such will be its effect. But I appeal to them not to +vote for this supersedure clause. I ask them not to incorporate into +the legislation of the country a declaration which every one knows to be +wholly untrue. + +I have said that this doctrine of supersedure is new. I have now proved +that it is a plant of but ten days' growth. It was never seen or heard +of until the 23d day of January, 1854. It was upon that day that this +tree of Upas was planted; we already see its poison fruits. * * * + +The truth is, that the compromise acts of 1850 were not intended to +introduce any principles of territorial organization applicable to any +other Territory except that covered by them. The professed object of +the friends of the compromise acts was to compose the whole slavery +agitation. There were various matters of complaint. The non-surrender +of fugitives from service was one. The existence of slavery and the +slave-trade here in this District and elsewhere, under the exclusive +jurisdiction of Congress, was another. The apprehended introduction of +slavery into the Territories furnished other grounds of controversy. +The slave States complained of the free States, and the free States +complained of the slave States. It was supposed by some that this whole +agitation might be stayed, and finally put at rest by skilfully adjusted +legislation. So, sir, we had the omnibus bill, and its appendages the +fugitive-slave bill and the District slave-trade suppression bill. +To please the North--to please the free States--California was to be +admitted, and the slave depots here in the District were to be broken +up. To please the slave States, a stringent fugitive-slave act was to +be passed, and slavery was to have a chance to get into the new +Territories. The support of the Senators and Representatives from +Texas was to be gained by a liberal adjustment of boundary, and by the +assumption of a large portion of their State debt. The general result +contemplated was a complete and final adjustment of all questions +relating to slavery. The acts passed. A number of the friends of the +acts signed a compact pledging themselves to support no man for any +office who would in any way renew the agitation. The country was +required to acquiesce in the settlement as an absolute finality. No man +concerned in carrying those measures through Congress, and least of all +the distinguished man whose efforts mainly contributed to their success, +ever imagined that in the Territorial acts, which formed a part of the +series, they were planting the germs of a new agitation. Indeed, I have +proved that one of these acts contained an express stipulation which +precludes the revival of the agitation in the form in which it is now +thrust upon the country, without manifest disregard of the provisions of +those acts themselves. + +I have thus proved beyond controversy that the averment of the bill, +which my amendment proposes to strike out, is untrue. Senators, will you +unite in a statement which you know to be contradicted by the history of +the country? Will you incorporate into a public statute an affirmation +which is contradicted by every event which attended or followed the +adoption of the compromise acts? Will you here, acting under your high +responsibility as Senators of the States, assert as a fact, by a solemn +vote, that which the personal recollection of every Senator who was here +during the discussion of those compromise acts disproves? I will not +believe it until I see it. If you wish to break up the time-honored +compact embodied in the Missouri compromise, transferred into the joint +resolution for the annexation of Texas, preserved and affirmed by these +compromise acts themselves, do it openly--do it boldly. Repeal the +Missouri prohibition. Repeal it by a direct vote. Do not repeal it by +indirection. Do not "declare" it "inoperative," "because superseded by +the principles of the legislation of 1850." + +Mr. President, three great eras have marked the history of this country +in respect to slavery. The first may be characterized as the Era of +ENFRANCHISEMENT. It commenced with the earliest struggles for national +independence. The spirit which inspired it animated the hearts and +prompted the efforts of Washington, of Jefferson, of Patrick Henry, of +Wythe, of Adams, of Jay, of Hamilton, of Morris--in short, of all the +great men of our early history. All these hoped for, all these labored +for, all these believed in, the final deliverance of the country +from the curse of slavery. That spirit burned in the Declaration of +Independence, and inspired the provisions of the Constitution, and the +Ordinance of 1787. Under its influence, when in full vigor, State after +State provided for the emancipation of the slaves within their limits, +prior to the adoption of the Constitution. Under its feebler influence +at a later period, and during the administration of Mr. Jefferson, the +importation of slaves was prohibited into Mississippi and Louisiana, in +the faint hope that those Territories might finally become free States. +Gradually that spirit ceased to influence our public councils, and lost +its control over the American heart and the American policy. Another +era succeeded, but by such imperceptible gradations that the lines which +separate the two cannot be traced with absolute precision. The facts of +the two eras meet and mingle as the currents of confluent streams mix +so imperceptibly that the observer cannot fix the spot where the meeting +waters blend. + +This second era was the Era of CONSERVATISM. Its great maxim was to +preserve the existing condition. Men said: Let things remain as they +are; let slavery stand where it is; exclude it where it is not; refrain +from disturbing the public quiet by agitation; adjust all difficulties +that arise, not by the application of principles, but by compromises. + +It was during this period that the Senator tells us that slavery was +maintained in Illinois, both while a Territory and after it became a +State, in despite of the provisions of the ordinance. It is true, sir, +that the slaves held in the Illinois country, under the French law, +were not regarded as absolutely emancipated by the provisions of the +ordinance. But full effect was given to the ordinance in excluding +the introduction of slaves, and thus the Territory was preserved +from eventually becoming a slave State. The few slave-holders in +the Territory of Indiana, which then included Illinois, succeeded in +obtaining such an ascendency in its affairs, that repeated applications +were made not merely by conventions of delegates, but by the Territorial +Legislature itself, for a suspension of the clause in the ordinance +prohibiting slavery. These applications were reported upon by John +Randolph, of Virginia, in the House, and by Mr. Franklin in the Senate. +Both the reports were against suspension. The grounds stated by Randolph +are specially worthy of being considered now. They are thus stated in +the report: + +"That the committee deem it highly dangerous and inexpedient to impair +a provision wisely calculated to promote the happiness and prosperity +of the Northwestern country, and to give strength and security to that +extensive frontier. In the salutary operation of this sagacious and +benevolent restraint, it is believed that the inhabitants of Indiana +will, at no very distant day, find ample remuneration for a temporary +privation of labor and of emigration." + +Sir, these reports, made in 1803 and 1807, and the action of Congress +upon them, in conformity with their recommendation, saved Illinois, and +perhaps Indiana, from becoming slave States. When the people of Illinois +formed their State constitution, they incorporated into it a section +providing that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall hereafter +be introduced into this State. The constitution made provision for the +continued service of the few persons who were originally held as slaves, +and then bound to service under the Territorial laws, and for the +freedom of their children, and thus secured the final extinction of +slavery. The Senator thinks that this result is not attributable to the +ordinance. I differ from him. But for the ordinance, I have no doubt +slavery would have been introduced into Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio. +It is something to the credit of the Era of Conservatism, uniting its +influences with those of the expiring Era of Enfranchisement, that it +maintained the ordinance of 1787 in the Northwest. + +The Era of CONSERVATISM passed, also by imperceptible gradations, into +the Era of SLAVERY PROPAGANDISM. Under the influences of this new spirit +we opened the whole territory acquired from Mexico, except California, +to the ingress of slavery. Every foot of it was covered by a Mexican +prohibition; and yet, by the legislation of 1850, we consented to expose +it to the introduction of slaves. Some, I believe, have actually been +carried into Utah and New Mexico. They may be few, perhaps, but a few +are enough to affect materially the probable character of their future +governments. Under the evil influences of the same spirit, we are now +called upon to reverse the original policy of the Republic; to support +even a solemn compact of the conservative period, and open Nebraska to +slavery. + +Sir, I believe that we are upon the verge of another era. That era will +be the Era of REACTION. The introduction of this question here, and its +discussion, will greatly hasten its advent. We, who insist upon the +denationalization of slavery, and upon the absolute divorce of the +General Government from all connection with it, will stand with the men +who favored the compromise acts, and who yet wish to adhere to them, +in their letter and in their spirit, against the repeal of the Missouri +prohibition. But you may pass it here. You may send it to the other +House. It may become a law. But its effect will be to satisfy all +thinking men that no compromises with slavery will endure, except so +long as they serve the interests of slavery; and that there is no safe +and honorable ground for non-slaveholders to stand upon, except that +of restricting slavery within State limits, and excluding it absolutely +from the whole sphere of Federal jurisdiction. The old questions between +political parties are at rest. No great question so thoroughly possesses +the public mind as this of slavery. This discussion will hasten the +inevitable reorganization of parties upon the new issues which our +circumstances suggest. It will light up a fire in the country which may, +perhaps, consume those who kindle it. * * * + + + + +EDWARD EVERETT, + +OF MASSACHUSETTS. + +(BORN 1794, DIED 1865.) + +ON THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL; + +SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 8, 1854 + + +I will not take up the time of the Senate by going over the somewhat +embarrassing and perplexed history of the bill, from its first entry +into the Senate until the present time. I will take it as it now stands, +as it is printed on our tables, and with the amendment which was offered +by the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) yesterday, and which, iI +suppose, is now printed, and on our tables; and I will state, as briefly +as I can, the difficulties which I have found in giving my support to +this bill, either as it stands, or as it will stand when the amendment +shall be adopted. My chief objections are to the provisions on the +subject of slavery, and especially to the exception which is contained +in the 14th section, in the following words: + +"Except the 8th section of the act preparatory to the admission of +Missouri into the Union, approved March 6, 1820, which was superseded +by the principles of the legislation of 1850, commonly called the +compromise measures, and is hereby declared inoperative." + +On the day before yesterday the chairman of the Committee on Territories +proposed to change the words "superseded by" to "inconsistent with," +as expressing more distinctly all that he meant to convey by that +impression. Yesterday, however, he brought in an amendment drawn up with +great skill and care, on notice given the day before, which is to strike +out the words "which was superseded by the principles of the legislation +of 1850, commonly called the compromise measures, and is hereby declared +inoperative," and to insert in lieu of them the following: + +"Which being inconsistent with the principle of non-intervention by +Congress with slavery in the States and Territories, as recognized by +the legislation of 1850, commonly called the compromise measures, is +hereby declared inoperative and void; it being the true intent and +meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or +State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof +perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their +own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." + + * * * * * + +Now, sir, I think, in the first place, that the language of this +proposed enactment, being obscure, is of somewhat doubtful import, and +for that reason, unsatisfactory. I should have preferred a little more +directness. What is the condition of an enactment which is declared by a +subsequent act of Congress to be "inoperative and void?" Does it remain +in force? I take it, not. That would be a contradiction in terms, to say +that an enactment which had been declared by act of Congress inoperative +and void is still in force. Then, if it is not in force, if it is not +only inoperative and void, as it is to be declared, but is not in force, +it is of course repealed. If it is to be repealed, why not say so? +I think it would have been more direct and more parliamentary to say +"shall be and is hereby repealed." Then we should know precisely, so far +as legal and technical terms go, what the amount of this new legislative +provision is. + +If the form is somewhat objectionable, I think the substance is still +more so. The amendment is to strike out the words "which was superseded +by," and to insert a provision that the act of 1820 is inconsistent +with the principle of congressional non-intervention, and is therefore +inoperative and void. I do not quite understand how much is conveyed +in this language. The Missouri restriction of 1820, it is said, is +inconsistent with the principle of the legislation of 1850. If anything +more is meant by "the principle" of the legislation of 1850, than the +measures which were adopted at that time in reference to the territories +of New Mexico and Utah--for I may assume that those are the legislative +measures referred to--if anything more is meant than that a certain +measure was adopted, and enacted in reference to those territories, I +take issue on that point. I do not know that it could be proved that, +even in reference to those territories, a principle was enacted at all. +A certain measure, or, if you please, a course of measures, was enacted +in reference to the Territories of New Mexico and Utah; but I do not +know that you can call this enacting a principle. It is certainly +not enacting a principle which is to carry with it a rule for other +Territories lying in other parts of the country, and in a different +legal position. As to the principle of non-intervention on the part +of Congress in the question of slavery, I do not find that, either as +principle or as measure, it was enacted in those territorial bills of +1850. I do not, unless I have greatly misread them, find that there is +anything at all which comes up to that. Every legislative act of those +territorial governments must come before Congress for allowance or +disallowance, and under those bills without repealing them, without +departing from them in the slightest degree, it would be competent for +Congress to-morrow to pass any law on that subject. + +How then can it be said that the principle of non-intervention on the +part of Congress in the subject of slavery was enacted and established +by the compromise measures of 1850? But, whether that be so or not, how +can you find, in a simple measure applying in terms to these individual +Territories, and to them alone, a rule which is to govern all other +Territories with a retrospective and with a prospective action? Is +it not a mere begging of the question to say that those compromise +measures, adopted in this specific case, amount to such a general rule? + +But, let us try it in a parallel case. In the earlier land legislation +of the United States, it was customary, without exception, when a +Territory became a State, to require that there should be a stipulation +in their State constitution that the public lands sold within their +borders should be exempted from taxation for five years after the sale. +This, I believe, continued to be the uniform practice down to the year +1820, when the State of Missouri was admitted. She was admitted under +the stipulation. If I mistake not, the next State which was admitted +into the Union--but it is not important whether it was the next or +not--came in without that stipulation, and they were left free to tax +the public lands the moment when they were sold. Here was a principle; +as much a principle as it is contended was established in the Utah and +New Mexico territorial bill; but did any one suppose that it acted upon +the other Territories? I believe the whole system is now abolished under +the operation of general laws, and the influence of that example may +have led to the change. But, until it was made by legislation, the mere +fact that public lands sold in Arkansas were immediately subject to +taxation, could not alter the law in regard to the public lands sold in +Missouri, or in any other to where they were they were exempt. + +There is a case equally analogous to the very matter we are now +considering--the prohibition or permission of slavery. The ordinance of +1787 prohibited slavery in the territory northwest of the Ohio. In 1790 +Congress passed an act accepting the cession which the State of North +Carolina had made of the western part of her territory, with the +proviso, that in reference to the territory thus ceded Congress should +pass no laws "tending to the emancipation of the slaves." Here was a +precisely parallel case. Here was a territory in which, in 1787, slavery +was prohibited. Here was a territory ceded by North Carolina, which +became the territory of the United States south of the Ohio, in +reference to which it was stipulated with North Carolina, that Congress +should pass no laws tending to the emancipation of slaves. But I believe +it never occurred to any one that the legislation of 1790 acted back +upon the ordinance of 1787, or furnished a rule by which any effect +could be produced upon the state of things existing under that +ordinance, in the territory to which it applied. + +I certainly intend to do the distinguished chairman of the committee +no injustice; and I am not sure that I fully comprehend his argument in +this respect; but I think his report sustains the view which I now take +of the subject: that is, that the legislation of 1850 did not establish +a principle which was designed to have any such effect as he intimates. +That report states how matters stood in those new Mexican territories. +It was alleged on the one hand that by the Mexican _lex loci_ slavery +was prohibited. On the other hand that was denied, and it was maintained +that the Constitution of the United States secures to every citizen the +right to go there and take with him any property recognized as such +by any of the States of the Union. The report considers that a similar +state of things now exists in Nebraska--that the validity of the eighth +section of the Missouri Act, by which slavery is prohibited in that +Territory, is doubtful, and that it is maintained by many distinguished +statesmen that Congress has no power to legislate on the subject. +Then, in this state of the controversy, the report maintains that +the legislation of Congress in 1850 did not undertake to decide these +questions. Surely, if they did not undertake to decide them, they could +not settle the principle which is at stake in them; and, unless they did +decide them, the measures then adopted must be considered as specific +measures, relating only to those case and not establishing a principle +of general operation. This seems to me to be as direct and conclusive as +anything can be. + +At all events, these are not impressions which are put forth by me under +the exigencies of the present debate or of the present occasion. I have +never entertained any other opinion. I was called upon for a particular +purpose, of a literary nature, to which I will presently allude more +distinctly, shortly after the close of the session of 1850, to draw up a +narrative of the events that had taken place relative to the passage of +the compromise measures of that year. I had not, I own, the best sources +of information. I was not a member of Congress, and had not heard +the debates, which is almost indispensable to come to a thorough +understanding of questions of this nature; but I inquired of those who +had heard them, I read the reports, and I had an opportunity of personal +intercourse with some who had taken a prominent part in all those +measures. I never formed the idea--I never received the intimation until +I got it from this report of the committee--that those measures were +intended to have any effect beyond the Territories of Utah and New +Mexico, for which they were enacted. I cannot but think that if it +was intended that they should have any larger application, if it was +intended that they should furnish the rule which is now supposed, it +would have been a fact as notorious as the light of day. + + * * * * * + +And now, sir, having alluded to the speech of Mr. Webster, of the 7th +March, 1850, allow me to dwell upon it for a moment. I was in a position +the next year--having been requested by that great and lamented man to +superintend the publication of his works--to know very particularly the +comparative estimate which he placed upon his own parliamentary efforts. +He told me more than once that he thought his second speech on Foot's +resolution was that in which he had best succeeded as a senatorial +effort, and as a specimen of parliamentary dialectics; but he added, +with an emotion which even he was unable to suppress, "The speech of the +7th of March, 1850, much as I have been reviled for it, when I am dead, +will be allowed to be of the greatest importance to the country." Sir, +he took the greatest interest in that speech. He wished it to go forth +with a specific title; and, after considerable deliberation, it was +called, by his own direction, "A Speech for the Constitution and the +Union." He inscribed it to the people of Massachusetts, in a dedication +of the most emphatic tenderness, and he prefixed to it that motto--which +you all remember--from Livy, the most appropriate and felicitous +quotation, perhaps, that was ever made: "True things rather than +pleasant things"--_Vera progratis:_ and with that he sent it forth to +the world. + +In that speech his gigantic intellect brought together all that it +could gather from the law of nature, from the Constitution of the United +States, from our past legislation, and from the physical features of +the region, to strengthen him in that plan of conciliation and peace, +in which he feared that he might not carry along with him the public +sentiment of the whole of that, portion of the country which he +particularly represented here. At its close, when he dilated upon the +disastrous effects of separation, he rose to a strain of impassioned +eloquence which had never been surpassed within these walls. Every +topic, every argument, every fact, was brought to bear upon the point; +and he felt that all his vast popularity was at stake on the issue. Let +me commend to the attention of Senators, and let me ask them to consider +what weight is due to the authority of such a man, speaking under such +circumstances, and on such an occasion, when he tells you that +the condition of every foot of land in the country, for slavery or +non-slavery, is fixed by some irrepealable law. And you are now about +to repeal the principal law which ascertained and fixed that condition. +And, sir, if the Senate will take any heed of the opinion of one so +humble as myself, I will say that I believe Mr. Webster, in that speech, +went to the very verge of the public sentiment in the non-slaveholding +States, and that to have gone a hair's-breadth further, would have been +a step too bold even for his great weight of character. + + * * * * * + +I conclude, therefore, sir, that the compromise measures of 1850 ended +where they began, with the Territories of Utah and New Mexico, to +which they specifically referred; at any rate, that they established +no principle which was to govern in other cases; that they had no +prospective action to the organization of territories in all future +time; and certainly no retrospective action upon lands subject to the +restriction of 1820, and to the positive enactment that you now propose +to declare inoperative and void. + +I trust that nothing which I have now said will be taken in derogation +of the compromises of 1850. I adhere to them; I stand by them. I do so +for many reasons. One is respect for the memory of the great men who +were the authors of them--lights and ornaments of the country, but now +taken from its service. I would not so soon, if it were in my power, +undo their work, if for no other reason. But beside this, I am one of +those--I am not ashamed to avow it--who believed at that time, and who +still believe, that at that period the union of these States was in +great danger, and that the adoption of the compromise measures of 1850 +contributed materially to avert that danger; and therefore, sir, I +say, as well out of respect to the memory of the great men who were the +authors of them, as to the healing effect of the measures themselves, +I would adhere to them. They are not perfect. I suppose that nobody, +either North or South, thinks them perfect. They contain some provisions +not satisfactory to the South, and other provisions contrary to the +public sentiment of the North; but I believed at the time they were +the wisest, the best, the most effective measures which, under the +circumstances, could be adopted. But you do not strengthen them, you do +not show your respect for them, by giving them an application which they +were never intended to bear. + + * * * * * + +A single word, sir, in respect to this supposed principle of +non-intervention on the part of Congress in the subject of slavery in +the territories. I confess I am surprised to find this brought forward, +and stated with so much confidence, as an established principle of the +Government. I know that distinguished gentlemen hold the opinion. The +very distinguished Senator from Michigan (Mr. Cass) holds it, and has +propounded it; and I pay all due respect and deference to his authority, +which I conceive to be very high. But I was not aware that any such +principle was considered a settled principle of the territorial policy +of this country. Why, sir, from the first enactment in 1789, down to the +bill before us, there is no such principle in our legislation. As far as +I can see it would be perfectly competent even now for Congress to pass +any law that they pleased on the subject in the Territories under this +bill. But however that may be, even by this bill, there is not a law +which the Territories can pass admitting or excluding slavery, which it +is of in the power of this Congress to disallow the next day. This +is not a mere _brutum fulmen_. It is not an unexpected power. Your +statute-book shows case after case. I believe, in reference to a +single Territory, that there have been fifteen or twenty cases where +territorial legislation has been disallowed by Congress. How, then, can +it be said that this principle of non-intervention in the government of +the Territories is now to be recognized as an established principle in +the public policy of the Congress of the United States? + +Do gentlemen recollect the terms, almost of disdain, with which this +supposed established principle of our constitutional policy is treated +in that last valedictory speech of Mr. Calhoun, which, unable to +pronounce it himself, he was obliged to give to the Senate through the +medium of his friend, the Senator from Virginia. He reminded the Senate +that the occupants of a Territory were not even called the people--but +simply the inhabitants--till they were allowed by Congress to call a +convention and form a State constitution. + + * * * * * + +A word more, sir, and I have done. With reference to the great question +of slavery--that terrible question--the only one on which the North and +South of this great Republic differ irreconcilably--I have not, on this +occasion, a word to say. My humble career is drawing near its close, +and I shall end it as I began, with using no other words on that subject +than those of moderation, conciliation, and harmony between the two +great sections of the country. I blame no one who differs from me in +this respect. I allot to others, what I claim for myself, the credit of +honesty and purity of motive. But for my own part, the rule of my life, +as far as circumstances have enabled me to act up to it, has been, to +say nothing that would tend to kindle unkind feeling on this subject. I +have never known men on this, or any other subject, to be convinced by +harsh epithets or denunciation. + +I believe the union of these States is the greatest possible +blessing--that it comprises within itself all other blessings, +political, national, and social; and I trust that my eyes may close long +before the day shall come--if it ever shall come--when that Union shall +be at an end. Sir, I share the opinions and the sentiments of the part +of the country where I was born and educated, where my ashes will be +laid, and where my children will succeed me. But in relation to my +fellow-citizens in other parts of the country, I will treat their +constitutional and their legal rights with respect, and their characters +and their feelings with tenderness. I believe them to be as good +Christians, as good patriots, as good men, as we are, and I claim that +we, in our turn, are as good as they. + +I rejoiced to hear my friend from Kentucky, (Mr. Dixon), if he will +allow me to call him so--I concur most heartily in the sentiment--utter +the opinion that a wise and gracious Providence, in his own good time, +will find the ways and the channels to remove from the land what I +consider this great evil, but I do not expect that what has been done in +three centuries and a half is to be undone in a day or a year, or a few +years; and I believe that, in the mean time, the desired end will be +retarded rather than promoted by passionate sectional agitation. I +believe, further, that the fate of the great and interesting continent +in the elder world, Africa, is closely intertwined and wrapped up with +the fortunes of her children in all the parts of the earth to which they +have been dispersed, and that at some future time, which is already +in fact beginning, they will go back to the land of their fathers, the +voluntary missionaries of Civilization and Christianity; and finally, +sir, I doubt not that in His own good time the Ruler of all will +vindicate the most glorious of His prerogatives, "From seeming evil +still educing good." + + + + +STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS, + +OF ILLINOIS. (BORN 1813, DIED 1861.) + +ON THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL; + +SENATE, MARCH 3, 1854. + + +It has been urged in debate that there is no necessity for these +Territorial organizations; and I have been called upon to point out any +public and national considerations which require action at this time. +Senators seem to forget that our immense and valuable possessions on the +Pacific are separated from the States and organized Territories on this +side of the Rocky Mountains by a vast wilderness, filled by hostile +savages--that nearly a hundred thousand emigrants pass through this +barbarous wilderness every year, on their way to California +and Oregon--that these emigrants are American citizens, our own +constituents, who are entitled to the protection of law and government, +and that they are left to make their way, as best they may, without the +protection or aid of law or government. The United States mails for New +Mexico and Utah, and official communications between this Government and +the authorities of those Territories, are required to be carried over +these wild plains, and through the gorges of the mountains, where you +have made no provisions for roads, bridges, or ferries to facilitate +travel, or forts or other means of safety to protect life. As often as I +have brought forward and urged the adoption of measures to remedy these +evils, and afford security against the damages to which our people are +constantly exposed, they have been promptly voted down as not being +of sufficient importance to command the favorable consideration of +Congress. Now, when I propose to organize the Territories, and allow +the people to do for themselves what you have so often refused to do for +them, I am told that there are not white inhabitants enough permanently +settled in the country to require and sustain a government. True; there +is not a very large population there, for the very reason that your +Indian code and intercourse laws exclude the settlers, and forbid their +remaining there to cultivate the soil. You refuse to throw the +country open to settlers, and then object to the organization of the +Territories, upon the ground that there is not a sufficient number of +inhabitants. * * * + +I will now proceed to the consideration of the great principle involved +in the bill, without omitting, however, to notice some of those +extraneous matters which have been brought into this discussion with the +view of producing another anti-slavery agitation. We have been told by +nearly every Senator who has spoken in opposition to this bill, that +at the time of its introduction the people were in a state of profound +quiet and repose, that the anti-slavery agitation had entirely ceased, +and that the whole country was acquiescing cheerfully and cordially +in the compromise measures of 1850 as a final adjustment of this vexed +question. Sir, it is truly refreshing to hear Senators, who contested +every inch of ground in opposition to those measures, when they were +under discussion, who predicted all manner of evils and calamities from +their adoption, and who raised the cry of appeal, and even resistance, +to their execution, after they had become the laws of the land--I say it +is really refreshing to hear these same Senators now bear their united +testimony to the wisdom of those measures, and to the patriotic +motives which induced us to pass them in defiance of their threats and +resistance, and to their beneficial effects in restoring peace, harmony, +and fraternity to a distracted country. These are precious confessions +from the lips of those who stand pledged never to assent to the +propriety of those measures, and to make war upon them, so long as +they shall remain upon the statute-book. I well understand that these +confessions are now made, not with the view of yielding their assent to +the propriety of carrying those enactments into faithful execution, but +for the purpose of having a pretext for charging upon me, as the author +of this bill, the responsibility of an agitation which they are striving +to produce. They say that I, and not they, have revived the agitation. +What have I done to render me obnoxious to this charge? They say that I +wrote and introduced this Nebraska bill. That is true; but I was not a +volunteer in the transaction. The Senate, by a unanimous vote, +appointed me chairman of the Territorial Committee, and associated five +intelligent and patriotic Senators with me, and thus made it our duty +to take charge of all Territorial business. In like manner, and with the +concurrence of these complaining Senators, the Senate referred to us a +distinct proposition to organize this Nebraska Territory, and required +us to report specifically upon the question. I repeat, then, we were not +volunteers in this business. The duty was imposed upon us by the +Senate. We were not unmindful of the delicacy and responsibility of the +position. We were aware that, from 1820 to 1850, the abolition doctrine +of Congressional interference with slavery in the Territories and new +States had so far prevailed as to keep up an incessant slavery agitation +in Congress, and throughout the country, whenever any new Territory was +to be acquired or organized. We were also aware that, in 1850, the right +of the people to decide this question for themselves, subject only +to the Constitution, was submitted for the doctrine of Congressional +intervention. This first question, therefore, which the committee were +called upon to decide, and indeed the only question of any material +importance in framing this bill, was this: Shall we adhere to and carry +out the principle recognized by the compromise measures of 1850, +or shall we go back to the old exploded doctrine of Congressional +interference, as established in 1820, in a large portion of the country, +and which it was the object of the Wilmot proviso to give a universal +application, not only to all the territory which we then possessed, but +all which we might hereafter acquire? There are no alternatives. We +were compelled to frame the bill upon the one or the other of these two +principles. The doctrine of 1820 or the doctrine of 1850 must prevail. +In the discharge of the duty imposed upon us by the Senate, the +committee could not hesitate upon this point, whether we consulted our +own individual opinions and principles, or those which were known to be +entertained and boldly avowed by a large majority of the Senate. The two +great political parties of the country stood solemnly pledged before the +world to adhere to the compromise measures of 1850, "in principle and +substance." A large majority of the Senate--indeed, every member of the +body, I believe, except the two avowed Abolitionists (Mr. Chase and Mr. +Sumner)--profess to belong to one or the other of these parties, and +hence were supposed to be under a high moral obligation to carry out +"the principle and substance" of those measures in all new Territorial +organizations. The report of the committee was in accordance with +this obligation. I am arraigned, therefore, for having endeavored to +represent the opinions and principles of the Senate truly--for having +performed my duty in conformity with parliamentary law--for having been +faithful to the trust imposed in me by the Senate. Let the vote +this night determine whether I have thus faithfully represented your +opinions. When a majority of the Senate shall have passed the bill--when +the majority of the States shall have endorsed it through their +representatives upon this floor--when a majority of the South and a +majority of the North shall have sanctioned it--when a majority of the +Whig party and a majority of the Democratic party shall have voted for +it--when each of these propositions shall be demonstrated by the vote +this night on the final passage of the bill, I shall be willing to +submit the question to the country, whether, as the organ of the +committee, I performed my duty in the report and bill which have called +down upon my head so much denunciation and abuse. + +Mr. President, the opponents of this measure have had much to say about +the mutations and modifications which this bill has undergone since it +was first introduced by myself, and about the alleged departure of the +bill, in its present form, from the principle laid down in the original +report of the committee as a rule of action in all future Territorial +organizations. Fortunately there is no necessity, even if your patience +would tolerate such a course of argument at this late hour of the night, +for me to examine these speeches in detail, and reply to each charge +separately. Each speaker seems to have followed faithfully in the +footsteps of his leader in the path marked out by the Abolition +confederates in their manifesto, which I took occasion to expose on a +former occasion. You have seen them on their winding way, meandering +the narrow and crooked path in Indian file, each treading close upon the +heels of the other, and neither venturing to take a step to the right or +left, or to occupy one inch of ground which did not bear the footprint +of the Abolition champion. To answer one, therefore, is to answer the +whole. The statement to which they seem to attach the most importance, +and which they have repeated oftener, perhaps, than any other, is, that, +pending the compromise measures of 1850, no man in or out of Congress +ever dreamed of abrogating the Missouri compromise; that from that +period down to the present session nobody supposed that its validity had +been impaired, or any thing done which endered it obligatory upon us to +make it inoperative hereafter; that at the time of submitting the report +and bill to the Senate, on the fourth of January last, neither I nor any +member of the committee ever thought of such a thing; and that we could +never be brought to the point of abrogating the eighth section of +the Missouri act until after the Senator from Kentucky introduced his +amendment to my bill. + +Mr. President, before I proceed to expose the many misrepresentations +contained in this complicated charge, I must call the attention of +the Senate to the false issue which these gentlemen are endeavoring to +impose upon the country, for the purpose of diverting public attention +from the real issue contained in the bill. They wish to have the people +believe that the abrogation of what they call the Missouri compromise +was the main object and aim of the bill, and that the only question +involved is, whether the prohibition of slavery north of 36 deg. 30' +shall be repealed or not? That which is a mere incident they choose to +consider the principle. They make war on the means by which we propose to +accomplish an object, instead of openly resisting the object itself. +The principle which we propose to carry into effect by the bill is this: +That Congress shall neither legislate slavery into any Territories +or State, nor out of the same; but the people shall be left free to +regulate their domestic concerns in their own way, subject only to the +Constitution of the United States. + +In order to carry this principle into practical operation, it becomes +necessary to remove whatever legal obstacles might be found in the way +of its free exercise. It is only for the purpose of carrying out this +great fundamental principle of self-government that the bill renders the +eighth section of the Missouri act inoperative and void. + +Now, let me ask, will these Senators who have arraigned me, or any one +of them, have the assurance to rise in his place and declare that this +great principle was never thought of or advocated as applicable to +Territorial bills, in 1850; that from that session until the present, +nobody ever thought of incorporating this principle in all new +Territorial organizations; that the Committee on Territories did not +recommend it in their report; and that it required the amendment of the +Senator from Kentucky to bring us up to that point? Will any one of my +accusers dare to make this issue, and let it be tried by the record? I +will begin with the compromises of 1850, Any Senator who will take the +trouble to examine our journals, will find that on the 25th of March +of that year I reported from the Committee on Territories two bills +including the following measures; the admission of California, a +Territorial government for New Mexico, and the adjustment of the Texas +boundary. These bills proposed to leave the people of Utah and New +Mexico free to decide the slavery question for themselves, in the +precise language of the Nebraska bill now under discussion. A few weeks +afterward the committee of thirteen took those two bills and put a wafer +between them, and reported them back to the Senate as one bill, +with some slight amendments. One of these amendments was, that the +Territorial Legislatures should not legislate upon the subject of +African slavery. I objected to that provision upon the ground that it +subverted the great principle of self-government upon which the bill had +been originally framed by the Territorial Committee. On the first trial, +the Senate refused to strike it out, but subsequently did so, after full +debate, in order to establish that principle as the rule of action in +Territorial organizations. * * * But my accusers attempt to raise up a +false issue, and thereby divert public attention from the real one, by +the cry that the Missouri compromise is to be repealed or violated by +the passage of this bill. Well, if the eighth section of the Missouri +act, which attempted to fix the destinies of future generations in those +Territories for all time to come, in utter disregard of the rights and +wishes of the people when they should be received into the Union as +States, be inconsistent with the great principles of self-government +and the Constitution of the United States. it ought to be abrogated. +The legislation of 1850 abrogated the Missouri compromise, so far as the +country embraced within the limits of Utah and New Mexico was covered +by the slavery restriction. It is true, that those acts did not in +terms and by name repeal the act of 1820, as originally adopted, or as +extended by the resolutions annexing Texas in 1845, any more than the +report of the Committee on Territories proposed to repeal the same acts +this session. But the acts of 1850 did authorize the people of those +Territories to exercise "all rightful powers of legislation consistent +with the Constitution," not excepting the question of slavery; and did +provide that, when those Territories should be admitted into the Union, +they should be received with or without slavery as the people thereof +might determine at the date of their admission. These provisions were +in direct conflict with a clause in the former enactment, declaring that +slavery should be forever prohibited in any portion of said Territories, +and hence rendered such clause inoperative and void to the extent of +such conflict. This was an inevitable consequence, resulting from the +provisions in those acts, which gave the people the right to decide the +slavery question for themselves, in conformity with the Constitution. +It was not necessary to go further and declare that certain previous +enactments, which were incompatible with the exercise of the powers +conferred in the bills, are hereby repealed. The very act of +granting those powers and rights has the legal effect of removing all +obstructions to the exercise of them by the people, as prescribed +in those Territorial bills. Following that example, the Committee on +Territories did not consider it necessary to declare the eighth section +of the Missouri act repealed. We were content to organize Nebraska in +the precise language of the Utah and New Mexico bills. Our object was +to leave the people entirely free to form and regulate their domestic +institutions and internal concerns in their own way, under the +Constitution; and we deemed it wise to accomplish that object in the +exact terms in which the same thing had been done in Utah and New Mexico +by the acts of 1850. This was the principle upon which the committee +voted; and our bill was supposed, and is now believed, to have been in +accordance with it. When doubts were raised whether the bill did fully +carry out the principle laid down in the report, amendments were made +from time to time, in order to avoid all misconstruction, and make the +true intent of the act more explicit. The last of these amendments was +adopted yesterday, on the motion of the distinguished Senator from +North Carolina (Mr. Badger), in regard to the revival of any laws or +regulations which may have existed prior to 1820. That amendment was not +intended to change the legal effect of the bill. Its object was to repel +the slander which had been propagated by the enemies of the measure in +the North--that the Southern supporters of the bill desired to legislate +slavery into these Territories. The South denies the right of Congress +either to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, or out of any +Territory or State. Non-intervention by Congress with slavery in +the States or Territories is the doctrine of the bill, and all the +amendments which have been agreed to have been made with the view of +removing all doubt and cavil as to the true meaning and object of the +measure. * * * + +Well, sir, what is this Missouri compromise, of which we have heard +so much of late? It has been read so often that it is not necessary +to occupy the time of the Senate in reading it again. It was an act of +Congress, passed on the 6th of March, 1820, to authorize the people of +Missouri to form a constitution and a State government, preparatory to +the admission of such State into the Union. The first section provided +that Missouri should be received into the Union "on an equal footing +with the original States in all respects whatsoever." The last and +eighth section provided that slavery should be "forever prohibited" in +all the territory which had been acquired from France north of 36 deg. 30', +and not included within the limits of the State of Missouri. There +is nothing in the terms of the law that purports to be a compact, +or indicates that it was any thing more than an ordinary act of +legislation. To prove that it was more than it purports to be on its +face, gentlemen must produce other evidence, and prove that there was +such an understanding as to create a moral obligation in the nature of a +compact. Have they shown it? + +Now, if this was a compact, let us see how it was entered into. The bill +originated in the House of Representatives, and passed that body without +a Southern vote in its favor. It is proper to remark, however, that it +did not at that time contain the eighth section, prohibiting slavery in +the Territories; but in lieu of it, contained a provision prohibiting +slavery in the proposed State of Missouri. In the Senate, the clause +prohibiting slavery in the State was stricken out, and the eighth +section added to the end of the bill, by the terms of which slavery was +to be forever prohibited in the territory not embraced in the State of +Missouri north of 36 deg. 30'. The vote on adding this section stood in the +Senate, 34 in the affirmative, and 10 in the negative. Of the Northern +Senators, 20 voted for it, and 2 against it. On the question of ordering +the bill to a third reading as amended, which was the test vote on its +passage, the vote stood 24 yeas and 20 nays. Of the Northern Senators, +4 only voted in the affirmative, and 18 in the negative. Thus it will be +seen that if it was intended to be a compact, the North never agreed to +it. The Northern Senators voted to insert the prohibition of slavery in +the Territories; and then, in the proportion of more than four to one, +voted against the passage of the bill. The North, therefore, never +signed the compact, never consented to it, never agreed to be bound by +it. This fact becomes very important in vindicating the character of the +North for repudiating this alleged compromise a few months afterward. +The act was approved and became a law on the 6th of March, 1820. In the +summer of that year, the people of Missouri formed a constitution and +State government preparatory to admission into the Union in conformity +with the act. At the next session of Congress the Senate passed a joint +resolution declaring Missouri to be one of the States of the Union, on +an equal footing with the original States. This resolution was sent to +the House of Representatives, where it was rejected by Northern votes, +and thus Missouri was voted out of the Union, instead of being received +into the Union under the act of the 6th of March, 1820, now known as the +Missouri compromise. Now, sir, what becomes of our plighted faith, if +the act of the 6th of March, 1820, was a solemn compact, as we are now +told? They have all rung the changes upon it, that it was a sacred and +irrevocable compact, binding in honor, in conscience, and morals, which +could not be violated or repudiated without perfidy and dishonor! * * * +Sir, if this was a compact, what must be thought of those who violated +it almost immediately after it was formed? I say it is a calumny upon +the North to say that it was a compact. I should feel a flush of +shame upon my cheek, as a Northern man, if I were to say that it was a +compact, and that the section of the country to which I belong received +the consideration, and then repudiated the obligation in eleven months +after it was entered into. I deny that it was a compact, in any sense +of the term. But if it was, the record proves that faith was not +observed--that the contract was never carried into effect--that after +the North had procured the passage of the act prohibiting slavery in the +Territories, with a majority in the House large enough to prevent its +repeal, Missouri was refused admission into the Union as a slave-holding +State, in conformity with the act of March 6, 1820. If the proposition +be correct, as contended for by the opponents of this bill--that +there was a solemn compact between the North and the South that, in +consideration of the prohibition of slavery in the Territories, Missouri +was to be admitted into the Union, in conformity with the act of +1820--that compact was repudiated by the North, and rescinded by the +joint action of the two parties within twelve months from its date. +Missouri was never admitted under the act of the 6th of March, 1820. She +was refused admission under that act. She was voted out of the Union +by Northern votes, notwithstanding the stipulation that she should +be received; and, in consequence of these facts, a new compromise was +rendered necessary, by the terms of which Missouri was to be admitted +into the Union conditionally--admitted on a condition not embraced in +the act of 1820, and, in addition, to a full compliance with all the +provisions of said act. If, then, the act of 1820, by the eighth section +of which slavery was prohibited in Missouri, was a compact, it is clear +to the comprehension of every fair-minded man that the refusal of +the North to admit Missouri, in compliance with its stipulations, and +without further conditions, imposes upon us a high, moral obligation to +remove the prohibition of slavery in the Territories, since it has been +shown to have been procured upon a condition never performed. * * * + +Mr. President, I did not wish to refer to these things. I did not +understand them fully in all their bearings at the time I made my first +speech on this subject; and, so far as I was familiar with them, I made +as little reference to them as was consistent with my duty; because it +was a mortifying reflection to me, as a Northern man, that we had not +been able, in consequence of the abolition excitement at the time, to +avoid the appearance of bad faith in the observance of legislation, +which has been denominated a compromise. There were a few men then, as +there are now, who had the moral courage to perform their duty to the +country and the Constitution, regardless of consequences personal to +themselves. There were ten Northern men who dared to perform their duty +by voting to admit Missouri into the Union on an equal footing with the +original States, and with no other restriction than that imposed by the +Constitution. I am aware that they were abused and denounced as we are +now--that they were branded as dough-faces--traitors to freedom, and to +the section of country whence they came. * * * + +I think I have shown that if the act of 1820, called the Missouri +compromise, was a compact, it was violated and repudiated by a solemn +vote of the House of Representatives in 1821, within eleven months after +it was adopted. It was repudiated by the North by a majority vote, and +that repudiation was so complete and successful as to compel Missouri to +make a new compromise, and she was brought into the Union under the new +compromise of 1821, and not under the act of 1820. This reminds me of +another point made in nearly all the speeches against this bill, and, if +I recollect right, was alluded to in the abolition manifesto; to which, +I regret to say, I had occasion to refer so often. I refer to the +significant hint that Mr. Clay was dead before any one dared to bring +forward a proposition to undo the greatest work of his hands. The +Senator from New York (Mr. Seward) has seized upon this insinuation and +elaborated, perhaps, more fully than his compeers; and now the Abolition +press, suddenly, and, as if by miraculous conversion, teems with +eulogies upon Mr. Clay and his Missouri compromise of 1820. + +Now, Mr. President, does not each of these Senators know that Mr. +Clay was not the author of the act of 1820? Do they not know that he +disclaimed it in 1850 in this body? Do they not know that the Missouri +restriction did not originate in the House, of which he was a member? Do +they not know that Mr. Clay never came into the Missouri controversy as +a compromiser until after the compromise of 1820 was repudiated, and it +became necessary to make another? I dislike to be compelled to repeat +what I have conclusively proven, that the compromise which Mr. Clay +effected was the act of 1821, under which Missouri came into the Union, +and not the act of 1820. Mr. Clay made that compromise after you had +repudiated the first one. How, then, dare you call upon the spirit of +that great and gallant statesman to sanction your charge of bad faith +against the South on this question? * * * + +Now, Mr. President, as I have been doing justice to Mr. Clay on this +question, perhaps I may as well do justice to another great man, who +was associated with him in carrying through the great measures of 1850, +which mortified the Senator from New York so much, because they defeated +his purpose of carrying on the agitation. I allude to Mr. Webster. The +authority of his great name has been quoted for the purpose of proving +that he regarded the Missouri act as a compact, an irrepealable compact. +Evidently the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Everett) +supposed he was doing Mr. Webster entire justice when he quoted the +passage which he read from Mr. Webster's speech of the 7th of March, +1850, when he said that he stood upon the position that every part +of the American continent was fixed for freedom or for slavery by +irrepealable law. The Senator says that by the expression "irrepealable +law," Mr. Webster meant to include the compromise of 1820. Now, I will +show that that was not Mr. Webster's meaning--that he was never +guilty of the mistake of saying that the Missouri act of 1820 was an +irrepealable law. Mr. Webster said in that speech that every foot of +territory in the United States was fixed as to its character for freedom +or slavery by an irrepealable law. He then inquired if it was not so +in regard to Texas? He went on to prove that it was; because, he said, +there was a compact in express terms between Texas and the United +States. He said the parties were capable of contracting and that there +was a valuable consideration; and hence, he contended, that in that case +there was a contract binding in honor and morals and law; and that it +was irrepealable without a breach of faith. + +He went on to say: + +"Now, as to California and New Mexico, I hold slavery to be excluded +from these Territories by a law even superior to that which admits +and sanctions it in Texas--I mean the law of nature--of physical +geography--the law of the formation of the earth." + +That was the irrepealable law which he said prohibited slavery in +the Territories of Utah and New Mexico. He went on to speak of the +prohibition of slavery in Oregon, and he said it was an "entirely +useless and, in that connection, senseless proviso." + +He went further, and said: + +"That the whole territory of the States of the United States, or in the +newly-acquired territory of the United States, has a fixed and settled +character, now fixed and settled by law, which cannot be repealed in +the case of Texas without a violation of public faith, and cannot be +repealed by any human power in regard to California or New Mexico; that, +under one or other of these laws, every foot of territory in the States +or in the Territories has now received a fixed and decided character." + +What irrepealable laws? One or the other of those which he had stated. +One was the Texas compact; the other, the law of nature and physical +geography; and he contended that one or the other fixed the character +of the whole American continent for freedom or for slavery. He never +alluded to the Missouri compromise, unless it was by the allusion to +the Wilmot proviso in the Oregon bill, and therein said it was a useless +and, in that connection, senseless thing. Why was it a useless and +senseless thing? Because it was reenacting the law of God; because +slavery had already been prohibited by physical geography. Sir, that was +the meaning of Mr. Webster's speech. * * * + +Mr. President, I have occupied a good deal of time in exposing the cant +of these gentlemen about the sanctity of the Missouri compromise, and +the dishonor attached to the violation of plighted faith. I have exposed +these matters in order to show that the object of these men is to +withdraw from public attention the real principle involved in the bill. +They well know that the abrogation of the Missouri compromise is the +incident and not the principle of the bill. They well understand that +the report of the committee and the bill propose to establish the +principle in all Territorial organizations, that the question of slavery +shall be referred to the people to regulate for themselves, and that +such legislation should be had as was necessary to remove all legal +obstructions to the free exercise of this right by the people. The +eighth section of the Missouri act standing in the way of this great +principle must be rendered inoperative and void, whether expressly +repealed or not, in order to give the people the power of regulating +their own domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the +Constitution. + +Now, sir, if these gentlemen have entire confidence in the correctness +of their own position, why do they not meet the issue boldly and +fairly, and controvert the soundness of this great principle of popular +sovereignty in obedience to the Constitution? They know full well that +this was the principle upon which the colonies separated from the crown +of Great Britain, the principle upon which the battles of the Revolution +were fought, and the principle upon which our republican system was +founded. They cannot be ignorant of the fact that the Revolution grew +out of the assertion of the right on the part of the imperial Government +to interfere with the internal affairs and domestic concerns of the +colonies. * * * + +The Declaration of Independence had its origin in the violation of that +great fundamental principle which secured to the colonies the right to +regulate their own domestic affairs in their own way; and the Revolution +resulted in the triumph of that principle, and the recognition of the +right asserted by it. Abolitionism proposes to destroy the right and +extinguish the principle for which our forefathers waged a seven years' +bloody war, and upon which our whole system of free government is +founded. They not only deny the application of this principle to the +Territories, but insist upon fastening the prohibition upon all the +States to be formed out of those Territories. Therefore, the doctrine +of the Abolitionists--the doctrine of the opponents of the Nebraska +and Kansas bill, and the advocates of the Missouri restriction--demands +Congressional interference with slavery not only in the Territories, but +in all the new States to be formed therefrom. It is the same doctrine, +when applied to the Territories and new States of this Union, which the +British Government attempted to enforce by the sword upon the American +colonies. It is this fundamental principle of self-government which +constitutes the distinguishing feature of the Nebraska bill. The +opponents of the principle are consistent in opposing the bill. I do +not blame them for their opposition. I only ask them to meet the +issue fairly and openly, by acknowledging that they are opposed to the +principle which it is the object of the bill to carry into operation. +It seems that there is no power on earth, no intellectual power, no +mechanical power, that can bring them to a fair discussion of the true +issue. If they hope to delude the people and escape detection for any +considerable length of time under the catch-words "Missouri compromise" +and "faith of compacts," they will find that the people of this country +have more penetration and intelligence than they have given them credit +for. + +Mr. President, there is an important fact connected with this slavery +regulation, which should never be lost sight of. It has always arisen +from one and the same cause. Whenever that cause has been removed, +the agitation has ceased; and whenever the cause has been renewed, the +agitation has sprung into existence. That cause is, and ever has been, +the attempt on the part of Congress to interfere with the question of +slavery in the Territories and new States formed therefrom. Is it not +wise then to confine our action within the sphere of our legitimate +duties, and leave this vexed question to take care of itself in each +State and Territory, according to the wishes of the people thereof, in +conformity to the forms, and in subjection to the provisions, of the +Constitution? + +The opponents of the bill tell us that agitation is no part of their +policy; that their great desire is peace and harmony; and they complain +bitterly that I should have disturbed the repose of the country by the +introduction of this measure! Let me ask these professed friends of +peace, and avowed enemies of agitation, how the issue could have been +avoided. They tell me that I should have let the question alone; +that is, that I should have left Nebraska unorganized, the people +unprotected, and the Indian barrier in existence, until the swelling +tide of emigration should burst through, and accomplish by violence what +it is the part of wisdom and statesmanship to direct and regulate by +law. How long could you have postponed action with safety? How long +could you maintain that Indian barrier, and restrain the onward march of +civilization, Christianity, and free government by a barbarian wall? Do +you suppose that you could keep that vast country a howling wilderness +in all time to come, roamed over by hostile savages, cutting off all +safe communication between our Atlantic and Pacific possessions? I tell +you that the time for action has come, and cannot be postponed. It is +a case in which the "let-alone" policy would precipitate a crisis which +must inevitably result in violence, anarchy, and strife. + +You cannot fix bounds to the onward march of this great and growing +country. You cannot fetter the limbs of the young giant. He will burst +all your chains. He will expand, and grow, and increase, and extend +civilization, Christianity, and liberal principles. Then, sir, if you +cannot check the growth of the country in that direction, is it not the +part of wisdom to look the danger in the face, and provide for an event +which you cannot avoid? I tell you, sir, you must provide for lines of +continuous settlement from the Mississippi valley to the Pacific ocean. +And in making this provision, you must decide upon what principles the +Territories shall be organized; in other words, whether the people shall +be allowed to regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, +according to the provisions of this bill, or whether the opposite +doctrine of Congressional interference is to prevail. Postpone it, +if you will; but whenever you do act, this question must be met and +decided. + +The Missouri compromise was interference; the compromise of 1850 was +non-interference, leaving the people to exercise their rights under the +Constitution. The Committee on Territories were compelled to act on this +subject. I, as their chairman, was bound to meet the question. I chose +to take the responsibility regardless of consequences personal to +myself. I should have done the same thing last year, if there had been +time; but we know, considering the late period at which the bill +then reached us from the House, that there was not sufficient time to +consider the question fully, and to prepare a report upon the subject. + +I was, therefore, persuaded by my friends to allow the bill to be +reported to the Senate, in order that such action might be taken as +should be deemed wise and proper. The bill was never taken up for +action--the last night of the session having been exhausted in debate on +a motion to take up the bill. This session, the measure was introduced +by my friend from Iowa (Mr. Dodge), and referred to the Territorial +Committee during the first week of the session. We have abundance of +time to consider the subject; it is a matter of pressing necessity, +and there was no excuse for not meeting it directly and fairly. We were +compelled to take our position upon the doctrine either of intervention +or non-intervention. We chose the latter for two reasons: first, because +we believed that the principle was right; and, second, because it was +the principle adopted in 1850, to which the two great political parties +of the country were solemnly pledged. + +There is another reason why I desire to see this principle recognized as +a rule of action in all time to come. It will have the effect to destroy +all sectional parties and sectional agitations. If, in the language of +the report of the committee, you withdraw the slavery question from +the halls of Congress and the political arena, and commit it to the +arbitrament of those who are immediately interested in and alone +responsible for its consequences, there is nothing left out of which +sectional parties can be organized. It never was done, and never can +be done on the bank, tariff, distribution, or any party issue which has +existed, or may exist, after this slavery question is withdrawn from +politics. On every other political question these have always supporters +and opponents in every portion of the Union--in each State, county, +village, and neighborhood--residing together in harmony and good +fellowship, and combating each other's opinions and correcting each +other's errors in a spirit of kindness and friendship. These differences +of opinion between neighbors and friends, and the discussions that grow +out of them, and the sympathy which each feels with the advocates of +his own opinions in every portion of this widespread Republic, add +an overwhelming and irresistible moral weight to the strength of +the Confederacy. Affection for the Union can never be alienated or +diminished by any other party issues than those which are joined upon +sectional or geographical lines. When the people of the North shall +all be rallied under one banner, and the whole South marshalled under +another banner, and each section excited to frenzy and madness by +hostility to the institutions of the other, then the patriot may well +tremble for the perpetuity of the Union. Withdraw the slavery question +from the political arena, and remove it to the States and Territories, +each to decide for itself, such a catastrophe can never happen. Then +you will never be able to tell, by any Senator's vote for or against any +measure, from what State or section of the Union he comes. + +Why, then, can we not withdraw this vexed question from politics? Why +can we not adopt the principle of this bill as a rule of action in all +new Territorial organizations? Why can we not deprive these agitators of +their vocation and render it impossible for Senators to come here upon +bargains on the slavery question? I believe that the peace, the harmony, +and perpetuity of the Union require us to go back to the doctrines of +the Revolution, to the principles of the Constitution, to the principles +of the Compromise of 1850, and leave the people, under the Constitution, +to do as they may see proper in respect to their own internal affairs. + +Mr. President, I have not brought this question forward as a Northern +man or as a Southern man. I am unwilling to recognize such divisions +and distinctions. I have brought it forward as an American Senator, +representing a State which is true to this principle, and which has +approved of my action in respect to the Nebraska bill. I have brought it +forward not as an act of justice to the South more than to the North. I +have presented it especially as an act of justice to the people of those +Territories and of the States to be formed therefrom, now and in all +time to come. I have nothing to say about Northern rights or Southern +rights. I know of no such divisions or distinctions under the +Constitution. The bill does equal and exact justice to the whole Union, +and every part of it; it violates the right of no State or Territory; +but places each on a perfect equality, and leaves the people thereof to +the free enjoyment of all their rights under the Constitution. + +Now, sir, I wish to say to our Southern friends that if they desire to +see this great principle carried out, now is their time to rally around +it, to cherish it, preserve it, make it the rule of action in all future +time. If they fail to do it now, and thereby allow the doctrine of +interference to prevail, upon their heads the consequences of that +interference must rest. To our Northern friends, on the other hand, +I desire to say, that from this day henceforward they must rebuke the +slander which has been uttered against the South, that they desire to +legislate slavery into the Territories. The South has vindicated her +sincerity, her honor, on that point by bringing forward a provision +negativing, in express terms, any such effect as a result of this bill. +I am rejoiced to know that while the proposition to abrogate the eighth +section of the Missouri act comes from a free State, the proposition to +negative the conclusion that slavery is thereby introduced, comes from +a slave-holding State. Thus, both sides furnish conclusive evidence that +they go for the principle, and the principle only, and desire to take no +advantage of any possible misconstruction. + +Mr. President, I feel that I owe an apology to the Senate for having +occupied their attention so long, and a still greater apology for having +discussed the question in such an incoherent and desultory manner. But +I could not forbear to claim the right of closing this debate. I thought +gentlemen would recognize its propriety when they saw the manner +in which I was assailed and misrepresented in the course of this +discussion, and especially by assaults still more disreputable in some +portions of the country. These assaults have had no other effect upon me +than to give me courage and energy for a still more resolute discharge +of duty. I say frankly that, in my opinion, this measure will be as +popular at the North as at the South, when its provisions and principles +shall have been fully developed, and become well understood. The people +at the North are attached to the principles of self-government, and +you cannot convince them that that is self-government which deprives a +people of the right of legislating for themselves, and compels them to +receive laws which are forced upon them by a Legislature in which they +are not represented. We are willing to stand upon this great principle +of self-government every-where; and it is to us a proud reflection that, +in this whole discussion, no friend of the bill has urged an argument +in its favor which could not be used with the same propriety in a free +State as in a slave State, and vice versed. No enemy of the bill has +used an argument which would bear repetition one mile across Mason and +Dixon's line. Our opponents have dealt entirely in sectional appeals. +The friends of the bill have discussed a great principle of universal +application, which can be sustained by the same reasons, and the same +arguments, in every time and in every corner of the Union. + + + + +CHARLES SUMNER, + +OF MASSACHUSETTS.' (BORN 1811, DIED 1874.) + +ON THE CRIME AGAINST KANSAS; + +SENATE, MAY 19-20, 1856. + + +MR. PRESIDENT: + +You are now called to redress a great transgression. Seldom in the +history of nations has such a question been presented. Tariffs, Army +bills, Navy bills, Land bills, are important, and justly occupy your +care; but these all belong to the course of ordinary legislation. As +means and instruments only, they are necessarily subordinate to the +conservation of government itself. Grant them or deny them, in greater +or less degree, and you will inflict no shock. The machinery of +government will continue to move. The State will not cease to exist. Far +otherwise is it with the eminent question now before you, involving, as +it does, Liberty in a broad territory, and also involving the peace of +the whole country, with our good name in history forever more. + +Take down your map, sir, and you will find that the Territory of Kansas, +more than any other region, occupies the middle spot of North America, +equally distant from the Atlantic on the east, and the Pacific on the +west; from the frozen waters of Hudson's Bay on the north, and the tepid +Gulf Stream on the south, constituting the precise territorial centre of +the whole vast continent. To such advantages of situation, on the very +highway between two oceans, are added a soil of unsurpassed richness, +and a fascinating, undulating beauty of surface, with a health-giving +climate, calculated to nurture a powerful and generous people, worthy +to be a central pivot of American institutions. A few short months only +have passed since this spacious and mediterranean country was open only +to the savage who ran wild in its woods and prairies; and now it has +already drawn to its bosom a population of freemen larger than Athens +crowded within her historic gates, when her sons, under Miltiades, +won liberty for man-kind on the field of Marathon; more than Sparta +contained when she ruled Greece, and sent forth her devoted children, +quickened by a mother's benediction, to return with their shields, or on +them; more than Rome gathered on her seven hills, when, under her kings, +she commenced that sovereign sway, which afterward embraced the +whole earth; more than London held, when, on the fields of Crecy +and Agincourt, the English banner was carried victoriously over the +chivalrous hosts of France. + +Against this Territory, thus fortunate in position and population, a +crime has been committed, which is without example in the records of +the past. Not in plundered provinces or in the cruelties of selfish +governors will you find its parallel; and yet there is an ancient +instance, which may show at least the path of justice. In the terrible +impeachment by which the great Roman orator has blasted through all +time the name of Verres, amidst charges of robbery and sacrilege, the +enormity which most aroused the indignant voice of his accuser, and +which still stands forth with strongest distinctness, arresting the +sympathetic indignation of all who read the story, is, that away in +Sicily he had scourged a citizen of Rome--that the cry, "I am a Roman +citizen," had been interposed in vain against the lash of the tyrant +governor. Other charges were, that he had carried away productions of +art, and that he had violated the sacred shrines. It was in the presence +of the Roman Senate that this arraignment proceeded; in a temple of +the Forum; amidst crowds--such as no orator had ever before drawn +together--thronging the porticos and colonnades, even clinging to +the house-tops and neighboring slopes--and under the anxious gaze of +witnesses summoned from the scene of crime. But an audience grander +far--of higher dignity--of more various people, and of wider +intelligence--the countless multitude of succeeding generations, in +every land, where eloquence has been studied, or where the Roman name +has been recognized,--has listened to the accusation, and throbbed with +condemnation of the criminal. Sir, speaking in an age of light, and a +land of constitutional liberty, where the safeguards of elections are +justly placed among the highest triumphs of civilization, I fearlessly +assert that the wrongs of much-abused Sicily, thus memorable in history, +were small by the side of the wrongs of Kansas, where the very shrines +of popular institutions, more sacred than any heathen altar, have been +desecrated; where the ballot-box, more precious than any work, in ivory +or marble, from the cunning hand of art, has been plundered; and where +the cry, "I am an American citizen," has been interposed in vain against +outrage of every kind, even upon life itself. Are you against sacrilege? +I present it for your execration. Are you against;robbery? I hold it up +to your scorn. Are you for the protection of American citizens? I show +you how their dearest rights have been cloven down, while a Tyrannical +Usurpation has sought to install itself on their very necks! + +But the wickedness which I now begin to expose is immeasurably +aggravated by the motive which prompted it. Not in any common lust for +power did this uncommon tragedy have its origin. It is the rape of a +virgin Territory, compelling it to the hateful embrace of Slavery; and +it may be clearly traced to a depraved longing for a new slave State, +the hideous off-spring of such a crime, in the hope of adding to the +power of slavery in the National Government. Yes, sir, when the whole +world, alike Christian and Turk, is rising up to condemn this wrong, and +to make it a hissing to the nations, here in our Republic, force--ay, +sir, FORCE--has been openly employed in compelling Kansas to this +pollution, and all for the sake of political power. There is the simple +fact, which you will in vain attempt to deny, but which in itself +presents an essential wickedness that makes other public crimes seem +like public virtues. + +But this enormity, vast beyond comparison, swells to dimensions of +wickedness which the imagination toils in vain to grasp, when it is +understood that for this purpose are hazarded the horrors of intestine +feud not only in this distant Territory, but everywhere throughout the +country. Already the muster has begun. The strife is no longer local, +but national. Even now, while I speak, portents hang on all the arches +of the horizon threatening to darken the broad land, which already +yawns with the mutterings of civil war. The fury of the propagandists of +Slavery, and the calm determination of their opponents, are now diffused +from the distant Territory over widespread communities, and the +whole country, in all its extent--marshalling hostile divisions, and +foreshadowing a strife which, unless happily averted by the triumph +of Freedom, will become war--fratricidal, parricidal war--with an +accumulated wickedness beyond the wickedness of any war in human annals; +justly provoking the avenging judgment of Providence and the avenging +pen of history, and constituting a strife, in the language of the +ancient writer, more than foreign, more than social, more than civil; +but something compounded of all these strifes, and in itself more than +war; _sal potius commune quoddam ex omnibus, et plus quam bellum_. + +Such is the crime which you are to judge. But the criminal also must be +dragged into day, that you may see and measure the power by which all +this wrong is sustained. From no common source could it proceed. In +its perpetration was needed a spirit of vaulting ambition which would +hesitate at nothing; a hardihood of purpose which was insensible to the +judgment of mankind; a madness for Slavery which would disregard the +Constitution, the laws, and all the great examples of our history; +also a consciousness of power such as comes from the habit of power; +a combination of energies found only in a hundred arms directed by +a hundred eyes; a control of public opinion through venal pens and a +prostituted press; an ability to subsidize crowds in every vocation +of life--the politician with his local importance, the lawyer with his +subtle tongue, and even the authority of the judge on the bench; and +a familiar use of men in places high and low, so that none, from the +President to the lowest border postmaster, should decline to be its +tool; all these things and more were needed, and they were found in +the slave power of our Republic. There, sir, stands the criminal, +all unmasked before you--heartless, grasping, and tyrannical--with an +audacity beyond that of Verres, a subtlety beyond that of Machiavel, a +meanness beyond that of Bacon, and an ability beyond that of Hastings. +Justice to Kansas can be secured only by the prostration of this +influence; for this the power behind--greater than any President--which +succors and sustains the crime. Nay, the proceedings I now arraign +derive their fearful consequences only from this connection. + +In now opening this great matter, I am not insensible to the austere +demands of the occasion; but the dependence of the crime against Kansas +upon the slave power is so peculiar and important, that I trust to be +pardoned while I impress it with an illustration, which to some may +seem trivial. It is related in Northern mythology that the god of Force, +visiting an enchanted region, was challenged by his royal entertainer to +what seemed an humble feat of strength--merely, sir, to lift a cat from +the ground. The god smiled at the challenge, and, calmly placing his +hand under the belly of the animal, with superhuman strength strove, +while the back of the feline monster arched far up-ward, even beyond +reach, and one paw actually forsook the earth, until at last the +discomfited divinity desisted; but he was little surprised at his +defeat when he learned that this creature, which seemed to be a cat, and +nothing more, was not merely a cat, but that it belonged to and was a +part of the great Terrestrial Serpent, which, in its innumerable folds, +encircled the whole globe. Even so the creature, whose paws are now +fastened upon Kansas, whatever it may seem to be, constitutes in reality +a part of the slave power, which, in its loathsome folds, is now +coiled about the whole land. Thus do I expose the extent of the present +contest, where we encounter not merely local resistance, but also the +unconquered sustaining arm behind. But out of the vastness of the crime +attempted, with all its woe and shame, I derive a well-founded assurance +of a commensurate vastness of effort against it by the aroused masses of +the country, determined not only to vindicate Right against Wrong, +but to redeem the Republic from the thraldom of that Oligarchy which +prompts, directs, and concentrates the distant wrong. + +Such is the crime, and such the criminal, which it is my duty in this +debate to expose, and, by the blessing of God, this duty shall be done +completely to the end. * * *' + +But, before entering upon the argument, I must say something of a +general character, particularly in response to what has fallen from +Senators who have raised themselves to eminence on this floor in +championship of human wrongs. I mean the Senator from South Carolina +(Mr. Butler), and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas), who, though +unlike as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, yet, like this couple, sally +forth together in the same adventure. I regret much to miss the elder +Senator from his seat; but the cause, against which he has run a +tilt, with such activity of animosity, demands that the opportunity of +exposing him should not be lost; and it is for the cause that I speak. +The Senator from South Carolina has read many books of chivalry, and +believes himself a chivalrous knight, with sentiments of honor and +courage. Of course he has chosen a mistress to whom he has made his +vows, and who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though +polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight--I mean the +harlot, Slavery. For her, his tongue is always profuse in words. Let her +be impeached in character, or any proposition made to shut her out +from the extension of her wantonness, and no extravagance of manner or +hardihood of assertion is then too great for this Senator. The frenzy +of Don Quixote, in behalf of his wench, Dulcinea del Toboso, is all +surpassed. The asserted rights of Slavery, which shock equality of all +kinds, are cloaked by a fantastic claim of equality. If the slave States +cannot enjoy what, in mockery of the great fathers of the Republic, he +misnames equality under the Constitution--in other words, the full power +in the National Territories to compel fellow-men to unpaid toil, to +separate husband and wife, and to sell little children at the auction +block--then, sir, the chivalric Senator will conduct the State of South +Carolina out of the Union! Heroic knight! Exalted Senator! A second +Moses come for a second exodus!! + +But not content with this poor menace, which we have been twice told was +"measured," the Senator in the unrestrained chivalry of his nature, has +undertaken to apply opprobrious words to those who differ from him on +this floor. He calls them "sectional and fanatical;" and opposition to +the usurpation in Kansas he denounces as "an uncalculating fanaticism." +To be sure these charges lack all grace of originality, and all +sentiment of truth; but the adventurous Senator does not hesitate. He +is the uncompromising, unblushing representative on this floor of a +flagrant sectionalism, which now domineers over the Republic, and yet +with a ludicrous ignorance of his own position--unable to see himself +as others see him--or with an effrontery which even his white head ought +not to protect from rebuke, he applies to those here who resist his +sectionalism the very epithet which designates himself. The men who +strive to bring back the Government to its original policy, when Freedom +and not Slavery was sectional, he arraigns as sectional. This will not +do. It involves too great a perversion of terms. I tell that Senator +that it is to himself, and to the "organization" of which he is the +"committed advocate," that this epithet belongs. I now fasten it upon +them. For myself, I care little for names; but since the question has +been raised here, I affirm that the Republican party of the Union is in +no just sense sectional, but, more than any other party, national; +and that it now goes forth to dislodge from the high places of the +Government the tyrannical sectionalism of which the Senator from South +Carolina is one of the maddest zealots. * * * + +As the Senator from South Carolina, is the Don Quixote, the Senator from +Illinois (Mr. Douglas) is the Squire of Slavery, its very Sancho Panza, +ready to do all its humiliating offices. This Senator, in his labored +address, vindicating his labored report--piling one mass of elaborate +error upon another mass--constrained himself, as you will remember, to +unfamiliar decencies of speech. Of that address I have nothing to say +at this moment, though before I sit down I shall show something of its +fallacies. But I go back now to an earlier occasion, when, true to his +native impulses, he threw into this discussion, "for a charm of powerful +trouble," personalities most discreditable to this body. I will not stop +to repel the imputations which he cast upon myself; but I mention them +to remind you of the "sweltered venom sleeping got," which, with other +poisoned ingredients, he cast into the caldron of this debate. Of other +things I speak. Standing on this floor, the Senator issued his rescript, +requiring submission to the Usurped Power of Kansas; and this was +accompanied by a manner--all his own--such as befits the tyrannical +threat. Very well. Let the Senator try. I tell him now that he cannot +enforce any such submission. The Senator, with the slave power at his +back, is strong; but he is not strong enough for this purpose. He is +bold. He shrinks from nothing. Like Danton, he may cry, "l'audace! +l'audace! toujours l'au-dace!" but even his audacity cannot compass this +work. The Senator copies the British officer who, with boastful swagger, +said that with the hilt of his sword he would cram the "stamps" down the +throats of the American people, and he will meet a similar failure. He +may convulse this country with a civil feud. Like the ancient madman, he +may set fire to this Temple of Constitutional Liberty, grander than +the Ephesian dome; but he cannot enforce obedience to that Tyrannical +Usurpation. + +The Senator dreams that he can subdue the North. He disclaims the open +threat, but his conduct still implies it. How little that Senator knows +himself or the strength of the cause which he persecutes! He is but a +mortal man; against him is an immortal principle. With finite power he +wrestles with the infinite, and he must fall. Against him are stronger +battalions than any marshalled by mortal arm--the inborn, ineradicable, +invincible sentiments of the human heart; against him is nature in all +her subtle forces; against him is God. Let him try to subdue these. * * * + +With regret, I come again upon the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. +Butler), who, omnipresent in this debate, overflowed with rage at the +simple suggestion that Kansas had applied for admission as a State; +and, with incoherent phrases, discharged the loose expectoration of his +speech, now upon her representative, and then upon her people. There was +no extravagance of the ancient parliamentary debate, which he did not +repeat; nor was there any possible deviation from truth which he did not +make, with so much of passion, I am glad to add, as to save him from +the suspicion of intentional aberration. But the Senator touches +nothing which he does not disfigure--with error, sometimes of principle, +sometimes of fact. He shows an incapacity of accuracy, whether in +stating the Constitution, or in stating the law, whether in the details +of statistics or the diversions of scholarship. He cannot ope his mouth, +but out there flies a blunder. Surely he ought to be familiar with the +life of Franklin; and yet he referred to this household character, while +acting as agent of our fathers in England, as above suspicion; and this +was done that he might give point to a false contrast with the agent of +Kansas--not knowing that, however they may differ in genius and fame, in +this experience they are alike: that Franklin, when entrusted with the +petition of Massachusetts Bay, was assaulted by a foul-mouthed speaker, +where he could not be heard in defence, and denounced as a "thief," even +as the agent of Kansas has been assaulted on this floor, and denounced +as a "forger." And let not the vanity of the Senator be inspired by +the parallel with the British statesman of that day; for it is only in +hostility to Freedom that any parallel can be recognized. + +But it is against the people of Kansas that the sensibilities of the +Senator are particularly aroused. Coming, as he announces, "from a +State"--ay, sir, from South Carolina--he turns with lordly disgust from +this newly-formed community, which he will not recognize even as a "body +politic." Pray, sir, by what title does he indulge in this egotism? Has +he read the history of "the State" which he represents? He cannot +surely have forgotten its shameful imbecility from Slavery, confessed +throughout the Revolution, followed by its more shameful assumptions for +Slavery since. He cannot have forgotten its wretched persistence in +the slave-trade as the very apple of its eye, and the condition of its +participation in the Union. He cannot have forgotten its constitution, +which is Republican only in name, confirming power in the hands of the +few, and founding the qualifications of its legislators on "a settled +freehold estate and ten negroes." And yet the Senator, to whom that +"State" has in part committed the guardianship of its good name, instead +of moving, with backward treading steps, to cover its nakedness, rushes +forward in the very ecstasy of madness, to expose it by provoking a +comparison with Kansas. South Carolina is old; Kansas is young. South +Carolina counts by centuries; where Kansas counts by years. But a +beneficent example may be born in a day; and I venture to say, that +against the two centuries of the older "State," may be already set +the two years of trial, evolving corresponding virtue, in the younger +community. In the one, is the long wail of Slavery; in the other, the +hymns of Freedom. And if we glance at special achievements, it will +be difficult to find any thing in the history of South Carolina which +presents so much of heroic spirit in an heroic cause as appears in that +repulse of the Missouri invaders by the beleaguered town of Lawrence, +where even the women gave their effective efforts to Freedom. The +matrons of Rome, who poured their jewels into the treasury for the +public defence--the wives of Prussia, who, with delicate fingers, +clothed their defenders against French invasion--the mothers of our +own Revolution, who sent forth their sons, covered with prayers and +blessings, to combat for human rights, did nothing of self-sacrifice +truer than did these women on this occasion. Were the whole history of +South Carolina blotted out of existence, from its very beginning down to +the day of the last election of the Senator to his present seat on this +floor, civilization might lose--I do not say how little; but surely +less than it has already gained by the example of Kansas, in its valiant +struggle against oppression, and in the development of a new science +of emigration. Already, in Lawrence alone, there are newspapers and +schools, including a High School, and throughout this infant Territory +there is more mature scholarship far, in proportion to its inhabitants, +than in all South Carolina. Ah, sir, I tell the Senator that Kansas, +welcomed as a free State, will be a "ministering angel" to the Republic, +when South Carolina, in the cloak of darkness which she hugs, "lies +howling." + +The Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) naturally joins the Senator from +South Carolina in this warfare, and gives to it the superior intensity +of his nature. He thinks that the National Government has not completely +proved its power, as it has never hanged a traitor; but, if the occasion +requires, he hopes there will be no hesitation; and this threat is +directed at Kansas, and even at the friends of Kansas throughout the +country. Again occurs the parallel with the struggle of our fathers, +and I borrow the language of Patrick Henry, when, to the cry from the +Senator, of "treason," "treason," I reply, "if this be treason, make +the most of it." Sir, it is easy to call names; but I beg to tell the +Senator that if the word "traitor" is in any way applicable to those +who refuse submission to a Tyrannical Usurpation, whether in Kansas or +elsewhere, then must some new word, of deeper color, be invented, to +designate those mad spirits who could endanger and degrade the Republic, +while they betray all the cherished sentiments of the fathers and the +spirit of the Constitution, in order to give new spread to Slavery. Let +the Senator proceed. It will not be the first time in history, that a +scaffold erected for punishment has become a pedestal of honor. Out of +death comes life, and the "traitor" whom he blindly executes will live +immortal in the cause. + + "For Humanity sweeps onward; where to-day the martyr stands, + On the morrow crouches Judas, with the silver in his hands; + While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return, + To glean up the scattered ashes into History's golden urn." + +Among these hostile Senators, there is yet another, with all the +prejudices of the Senator from South Carolina, but without his generous +impulses, who, on account of his character before the country, and the +rancor of his opposition, deserves to be named. I mean the Senator from +Virginia (Mr. Mason), who, as the author of the Fugitive-Slave bill, has +associated himself with a special act of inhumanity and tyranny. Of him +I shall say little, for he has said little in this debate, though within +that little was compressed the bitterness of a life absorbed in the +support of Slavery. He holds the commission of Virginia; but he does not +represent that early Virginia, so dear to our hearts, which gave to us +the pen of Jefferson, by which the equality of men was declared, and +the sword of Washington, by which Independence was secured; but he +represents that other Virginia, from which Washington and Jefferson +now avert their faces, where human beings are bred as cattle for the +shambles, and where a dungeon rewards the pious matron who teaches +little children to relieve their bondage by reading the Book of Life. +It is proper that such a Senator, representing such a State, should rail +against free Kansas. + +Senators such as these are the natural enemies of Kansas, and I +introduce them with reluctance, simply that the country may understand +the character of the hostility which must be overcome. Arrayed with +them, of course, are all who unite, under any pretext or apology, in +the propagandism of human Slavery. To such, indeed, the time-honored +safeguards of popular rights can be a name only, and nothing more. What +are trial by jury, habeas corpus, the ballot-box, the right of petition, +the liberty of Kansas, your liberty, sir, or mine, to one who lends +himself, not merely to the support at home, but to the propagandism +abroad, of that preposterous wrong, which denies even the right of a +man to himself! Such a cause can be maintained only by a practical +subversion of all rights. It is, therefore, merely according to reason +that its partisans should uphold the Usurpation in Kansas. + +To overthrow this Usurpation is now the special, importunate duty of +Congress, admitting of no hesitation or postponement. To this end it +must lift itself from the cabals of candidates, the machinations of +party, and the low level of vulgar strife. It must turn from that Slave +Oligarchy which now controls the Republic, and refuse to be its tool. +Let its power be stretched forth toward this distant Territory, not to +bind, but to unbind; not for the oppression of the weak, but for the +subversion of the tyrannical; not for the prop and maintenance of a +revolting Usurpation, but for the confirmation of Liberty. + + "These are imperial arts and worthy thee!" + +Let it now take its stand between the living and dead, and cause this +plague to be stayed. All this it can do; and if the interests of Slavery +did not oppose, all this it would do at once, in reverent regard for +justice, law, and order, driving away all the alarms of war; nor would +it dare to brave the shame and punishment of this great refusal. But the +slave power dares anything; and it can be conquered only by the united +masses of the people. From Congress to the People I appeal. * * * + +The contest, which, beginning in Kansas, has reached us, will soon be +transferred from Congress to a broader stage, where every citizen will +be not only spectator, but actor; and to their judgment I confidently +appeal. To the People, now on the eve of exercising the electoral +franchise, in choosing a Chief Magistrate of the Republic, I appeal, to +vindicate the electoral franchise in Kansas. Let the ballot-box of +the Union, with multitudinous might, protect the ballot-box in that +Territory. Let the voters everywhere, while rejoicing in their own +rights, help to guard the equal rights of distant fellow-citizens; that +the shrines of popular institutions, now desecrated, may be sanctified +anew; that the ballot-box, now plundered, may be restored; and that the +cry, "I am an American citizen," may not be sent forth in vain against +outrage of every kind. In just regard for free labor in that Territory, +which it is sought to blast by unwelcome association with slave labor; +in Christian sympathy with the slave, whom it is proposed to task +and sell there; in stern condemnation of the crime which has been +consummated on that beautiful soil; in rescue of fellow-citizens now +subjugated to a Tyrannical Usurpation; in dutiful respect for the early +fathers, whose aspirations are now ignobly thwarted; in the name of the +Constitution, which has been outraged--of the laws trampled down--of +Justice banished--of Humanity degraded--of Peace destroyed--of Freedom +crushed to earth; and, in the name of the Heavenly Father, whose service +is perfect Freedom, I make this last appeal. + + +May 20, 1856. + +MR. DOUGLAS:--I shall not detain the Senate by a detailed reply to the +speech of the Senator from Massachusetts. Indeed, I should not deem it +necessary to say one word, but for the personalities in which he has +indulged, evincing a depth of malignity that issued from every sentence, +making it a matter of self-respect with me to repel the assaults which +have been made. + +As to the argument, we have heard it all before. Not a position, not a +fact, not an argument has he used, which has not been employed on the +same side of the chamber, and replied to by me twice. I shall not follow +him, therefore, because it would only be repeating the same answer which +I have twice before given to each of his positions. He seems to get up +a speech as in Yankee land they get up a bedquilt. They take all the old +calico dresses of various colors, that have been in the house from +the days of their grandmothers, and invite the young ladies of the +neighborhood in the afternoon, and the young men to meet them at a dance +in the evening. They cut up these pieces of old dresses and make pretty +figures, and boast of what beautiful ornamental work they have made, +although there was not a new piece of material in the whole quilt. Thus +it is with the speech which we have had re-hashed here to-day, in regard +to matters of fact, matters of law, and matters of argument--every thing +but the personal assaults and the malignity. * * * + +His endeavor seems to be an attempt to whistle to keep up his courage +by defiant assaults upon us all. I am in doubt as to what can be his +object. He has not hesitated to charge three fourths of the Senate with +fraud, with swindling, with crime, with infamy, at least one hundred +times over in his speech. Is it his object to provoke some of us to kick +him as we would a dog in the street, that he may get sympathy upon the +just chastisement? What is the object of this denunciation against the +body of which we are members? A hundred times he has called the Nebraska +bill a "swindle," an act of crime, an act of infamy, and each time +went on to illustrate the complicity of each man who voted for it in +perpetrating the crime. He has brought it home as a personal charge to +those who passed the Nebraska bill, that they were guilty of a crime +which deserved the just indignation of heaven, and should make them +infamous among men. + +Who are the Senators thus arraigned? He does me the honor to make me the +chief. It was my good luck to have such a position in this body as to +enable me to be the author of a great, wise measure, which the Senate +has approved, and the country will endorse. That measure was sustained +by about three fourths of all the members of the Senate. It was +sustained by a majority of the Democrats and a majority of the Whigs +in this body. It was sustained by a majority of Senators from the +slave-holding States, and a majority of Senators from the free States. +The Senator, by his charge of crime, then, stultifies three fourths +of the whole body, a majority of the North, nearly the whole South, a +majority of Whigs, and a majority of Democrats here. He says they are +infamous. If he so believed, who could suppose that he would ever show +his face among such a body of men? How dare he approach one of those +gentlemen to give him his hand after that act? If he felt the courtesies +between men he would not do it. He would deserve to have himself spit in +the face for doing so. * * * + +The attack of the Senator from Massachusetts now is not on me alone. +Even the courteous and the accomplished Senator from South Carolina (Mr. +Butler) could not be passed by in his absence. + +MR. MASON:--Advantage was taken of it. + +MR. DOUGLAS:--It is suggested that advantage is taken of his absence. +I think that this is a mistake. I think the speech was written and +practised, and the gestures fixed; and, if that part had been stricken +out the Senator would not have known how to repeat the speech. All that +tirade of abuse must be brought down on the head of the venerable, the +courteous, and the distinguished Senator from South Carolina. I shall +not defend that gentleman here. Every Senator who knows him loves him. +The Senator from Massachusetts may take every charge made against him in +his speech, and may verify by his oath, and by the oath of every one +of his confederates, and there is not an honest man in this chamber who +will not repel it as a slander. Your oaths cannot make a Senator feel +that it was not an outrage to assail that honorable gentleman in the +terms in which he has been attacked. He, however, will be here in due +time to speak for himself, and to act for himself too. I know what will +happen. The Senator from Massachusetts will go to him, whisper a secret +apology in his ear, and ask him to accept that as satisfaction for a +public outrage on his character! I know the Senator from Massachusetts +is in the habit of doing those things. I have had some experience of his +skill in that respect. * * * + +Why these attacks on individuals by name, and two thirds of the Senate +collectively? Is it the object to drive men here to dissolve social +relations with political opponents? Is it to turn the Senate into a bear +garden, where Senators cannot associate on terms which ought to prevail +between gentlemen? These attacks are heaped upon me by man after man. +When I repel them, it is intimated that I show some feeling on the +subject. Sir, God grant that when I denounce an act of infamy I shall do +it with feeling, and do it under the sudden impulses of feeling, instead +of sitting up at night writing out my denunciation of a man whom I +hate, copying it, having it printed, punctuating the proof-sheets, and +repeating it before the glass, in order to give refinement to insult, +which is only pardonable when it is the outburst of a just indignation. + +Mr. President, I shall not occupy the time of the Senate. I dislike to +be forced to repel these attacks upon myself, which seem to be repeated +on every occasion. It appears that gentlemen on the other side of the +chamber think they would not be doing justice to their cause if they did +not make myself a personal object of bitter denunciation and malignity. +I hope that the debate on this bill may be brought to a close at as +early a day as possible. I shall do no more in these side discussions +than vindicate myself and repel unjust attacks, but I shall ask the +Senate to permit me to close the debate, when it shall close, in a calm, +kind summary of the whole question, avoiding personalities. + + +MR. SUMNER: Mr. President, To the Senator from Illinois, I should +willingly leave the privilege of the common scold--the last word; but I +will not leave to him, in any discussion with me, the last argument, or +the last semblance of it. He has crowned the audacity of this debate by +venturing to rise here and calumniate me. He said that I came here, took +an oath to support the Constitution, and yet determined not to support a +particular clause in that Constitution. To that statement I give, to his +face, the flattest denial. When it was made on a former occasion on this +floor by the absent Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Butler), I then +repelled it. I will read from the debate of the 28th of June, 1854, as +published in the Globe, to show what I said in response to that calumny +when pressed at that hour. Here is what I said to the Senator from South +Carolina: + +"This Senator was disturbed, when to his inquiry, personally, pointedly, +and vehemently addressed to me, whether I would join in returning a +fellow-man to slavery? I exclaimed, 'Is thy servant a dog, that he +should do this thing?'" + +You will observe that the inquiry of the Senator from South Carolina, +was whether I would join in returning a fellow-man to slavery. It was +not whether I would support any clause of the Constitution of the United +States--far from that. * * * + +Sir, this is the Senate of the United States, an important body, under +the Constitution, with great powers. Its members are justly supposed, +from age, to be above the intemperance of youth, and from character to +be above the gusts of vulgarity. They are supposed to have something of +wisdom, and something of that candor which is the handmaid of wisdom. +Let the Senator bear these things in mind, and let him remember +hereafter that the bowie-knife and bludgeon are not the proper emblems +of Senatorial debate. Let him remember that the swagger of Bob Acres and +the ferocity of the Malay cannot add dignity to this body. The +Senator has gone on to infuse into his speech the venom which has been +sweltering for months--ay, for years; and he has alleged facts that +are entirely without foundation, in order to heap upon me some personal +obloquy. I will not go into the details which have flowed out so +naturally from his tongue. I only brand them to his face as false. I +say, also, to that Senator, and I wish him to bear it in mind, that no +person with the upright form of man can be allowed--(Hesitation.) + +MR. DOUGLAS:--Say it. + +MR. SUMNER:--I will say it--no person with the upright form of man can +be allowed, without violation to all decency, to switch out from his +tongue the perpetual stench of offensive personality. Sir, that is not +a proper weapon of debate, at least, on this floor. The noisome, squat, +and nameless animal, to which I now refer, is not a proper model for an +American Senator. Will the Senator from Illinois take notice? + +MR. DOUGLAS:--I will; and therefore will not imitate you, sir. + +MR. SUMNER:--I did not hear the Senator. + +MR. DOUGLAS:--I said if that be the case I would certainly never imitate +you in that capacity, recognizing the force of the illustration. + +MR. SUMNER:--Mr. President, again the Senator has switched his tongue, +and again he fills the Senate with its offensive odor. * * * + +MR. DOUGLAS:--I am not going to pursue this subject further. I will only +say that a man who has been branded by me in the Senate, and convicted +by the Senate of falsehood, cannot use language requiring a reply, and +therefore I have nothing more to say. + + + + +PRESTON S. BROOKS, + +OF SOUTH CAROLINA. (BORN 1819, DIED 1857.) + +ON THE SUMNER ASSAULT; + +HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JULY 14, 1856. + + +MR. SPEAKER: + +Some time since a Senator from Massachusetts allowed himself, in an +elaborately prepared speech, to offer a gross insult to my State, and to +a venerable friend, who is my State representative, and who was absent +at the time. + +Not content with that, he published to the world, and circulated +extensively, this uncalled-for libel on my State and my blood. Whatever +insults my State insults me. Her history and character have commanded my +pious veneration; and in her defence I hope I shall always be prepared, +humbly and modestly, to perform the duty of a son. I should have +forfeited my own self-respect, and perhaps the good opinion of my +countrymen, if I had failed to resent such an injury by calling the +offender in question to a personal account. It was a personal affair, +and in taking redress into my own hands I meant no disrespect to the +Senate of the United States or to this House. Nor, sir, did I design +insult or disrespect to the State of Massachusetts. I was aware of the +personal responsibilities I incurred, and was willing to meet them. I +knew, too, that I was amenable to the laws of the country, which afford +the same protection to all, whether they be members of Congress or +private citizens. I did not, and do not now believe, that I could be +properly punished, not only in a court of law, but here also, at the +pleasure and discretion of the House. I did not then, and do not now, +believe that the spirit of American freemen would tolerate slander in +high places, and permit a member of Congress to publish and circulate a +libel on another, and then call upon either House to protect him against +the personal responsibilities which he had thus incurred. + +But if I had committed a breach of privilege, it was the privilege of +the Senate, and not of this House, which was violated. I was answerable +there, and not here. They had no right, as it seems to me, to +prosecute me in these Halls, nor have you the right in law or under +the Constitution, as I respectfully submit, to take jurisdiction over +offences committed against them. The Constitution does not justify them +in making such a request, nor this House in granting it. If, unhappily, +the day should ever come when sectional or party feeling should run so +high as to control all other considerations of public duty or justice, +how easy it will be to use such precedents for the excuse of arbitrary +power, in either House, to expel members of the minority who may have +rendered themselves obnoxious to the prevailing spirit in the House to +which they belong. + +Matters may go smoothly enough when one House asks the other to punish +a member who is offensive to a majority of its own body; but how will it +be when, upon a pretence of insulted dignity, demands are made of +this House to expel a member who happens to run counter to its party +predilections, or other demands which it may not be so agreeable to +grant? It could never have been designed by the Constitution of the +United States to expose the two Houses to such temptations to collision, +or to extend so far the discretionary power which was given to either +House to punish its own members for the violation of its rules and +orders. Discretion has been said to be the law of the tyrant, and when +exercised under the color of the law, and under the influence of party +dictation, it may and will become a terrible and insufferable despotism. + +This House, however, it would seem, from the unmistakable tendency of +its proceedings, takes a different view from that which I deliberately +entertain in common with many others. + +So far as public interests or constitutional rights are involved, I have +now exhausted my means of defence. I may, then, be allowed to take a +more personal view of the question at issue. The further prosecution of +this subject, in the shape it has now assumed, may not only involve my +friends, but the House itself, in agitations which might be unhappy +in their consequences to the country. If these consequences could be +confined to myself individually, I think I am prepared and ready to meet +them, here or elsewhere; and when I use this language I mean what I say. +But others must not suffer for me. I have felt more on account of my two +friends who have been implicated,than for myself, for they have proven +that "there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." I will +not constrain gentlemen to assume a responsibility on my account, which +possibly they would not run on their own. + +Sir, I cannot, on any own account, assume the responsibility, in the +face of the American people, of commencing a line of conduct which in my +heart of hearts I believe would result in subverting the foundations of +this Government, and in drenching this Hall in blood. No act of mine, +on my personal account, shall inaugurate revolution; but when you, +Mr. Speaker, return to your own home, and hear the people of the great +North--and they are a great people--speak of me as a bad man, you will +do me the justice to say that a blow struck by me at this time would +be followed by revolution--and this I know. (Applause and hisses in the +gallery.) + +Mr. Brooks (resuming):--If I desired to kill the Senator, why did not I +do it? You all admit that I had him in my power. Let me tell the member +from New Jersey that it was expressly to avoid taking life that I used +an ordinary cane, presented to me by a friend in Baltimore, nearly three +months before its application to the "bare head" of the Massachusetts +Senator. I went to work very deliberately, as I am charged--and this +is admitted,--and speculated somewhat as to whether I should employ a +horsewhip or a cowhide; but knowing that the Senator was my superior +in strength, it occurred to me that he might wrest it from my hand, and +then--for I never attempt anything I do not perform--I might have been +compelled to do that which I would have regretted the balance of my +natural life. + +The question has been asked in certain newspapers, why I did not invite +the Senator to personal combat in the mode usually adopted. Well, sir, +as I desire the whole truth to be known about the matter, I will for +once notice a newspaper article on the floor of the House, and answer +here. + +My answer is, that the Senator would not accept a message; and having +formed the unalterable determination to punish him, I believed that the +offence of "sending a hostile message," superadded to the indictment +for assault and battery, would subject me to legal penalties more severe +than would be imposed for a simple assault and battery. That is my +answer. + +Now, Mr. Speaker, I have nearly finished what I intended to say. If +my opponents, who have pursued me with unparalleled bitterness, are +satisfied with the present condition of this affair, I am. I return +my thanks to my friends, and especially to those who are from +nonslave-owning States, who have magnanimously sustained me, and felt +that it was a higher honor to themselves to be just in their judgment +of a gentleman than to be a member of Congress for life. In taking my +leave, I feel that it is proper that I should say that I believe that +some of the votes that have been cast against me have been extorted by +an outside pressure at home, and that their votes do not express the +feelings or opinions of the members who gave them. + +To such of these as have given their votes and made their speeches +on the constitutional principles involved, and without indulging in +personal vilification, I owe my respect. But, sir, they have written me +down upon the history of the country as worthy of expulsion, and in no +unkindness I must tell them that for all future time my self-respect +requires that I shall pass them as strangers. + +And now, Mr. Speaker, I announce to you and to this House, that I am no +longer a member of the Thirty-Fourth Congress. + +(Mr. Brooks then walked out of the House of Representatives.) + + + + +JUDAH P. BENJAMIN, + +OF LOUISIANA. (BORN 1811, DIED 1864.) + +ON THE PROPERTY DOCTRINE, OR THE RIGHT OF PROPERTY IN SLAVES; + +SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 11, 1858. + + +MR. PRESIDENT, the whole subject of slavery, so far as it is involved +in the issue now before the country, is narrowed down at last to a +controversy on the solitary point, whether it be competent for the +Congress of the United States, directly or indirectly, to exclude +slavery from the Territories of the Union. The Supreme Court of the +United States have given a negative answer to this proposition, and +it shall be my first effort to support that negation by argument, +independently of the authority of the decision. + +It seems to me that the radical, fundamental error which underlies the +argument in affirmation of this power, is the assumption that slavery +is the creature of the statute law of the several States where it is +established; that it has no existence outside of the limits of those +States; that slaves are not property beyond those limits; and +that property in slaves is neither recognized nor protected by +the Constitution of the United States, nor by international law. I +controvert all these propositions, and shall proceed at once to my +argument. + +Mr. President, the thirteen colonies, which on the 4th of July, 1776, +asserted their independence, were British colonies, governed by British +laws. Our ancestors in their emigration to this country brought with +them the common law of England as their birthright. They adopted its +principles for their government so far as it was not incompatible with +the peculiarities of their situation in a rude and unsettled country. +Great Britain then having the sovereignty over the colonies, possessed +undoubted power to regulate their institutions, to control their +commerce, and to give laws to their intercourse, both with the mother +and the other nations of the earth. If I can show, as I hope to be able +to establish to the satisfaction of the Senate, that the nation thus +exercising sovereign power over these thirteen colonies did establish +slavery in them, did maintain and protect the institution, did originate +and carry on the slave trade, did support and foster that trade, that +it forbade the colonies permission either to emancipate or export their +slaves, that it prohibited them from inaugurating any legislation in +diminution or discouragement of the institution--nay, sir, more, if, at +the date of our Revolution I can show that African slavery existed in +England as it did on this continent, if I can show that slaves were sold +upon the slave mart, in the Exchange and other public places of resort +in the city of London as they were on this continent, then I shall not +hazard too much in the assertion that slavery was the common law of the +thirteen States of the Confederacy at the time they burst the bonds that +united them to the mother country. + + * * * * * + +This legislation, Mr. President, as I have said before, emanating from +the mother country, fixed the institution upon the colonies. They could +not resist it. All their right was limited to petition, to remonstrance, +and to attempts at legislation at home to diminish the evil. Every +such attempt was sternly repressed by the British Crown. In 1760, South +Carolina passed an act prohibiting the further importation of African +slaves. The act was rejected by the Crown; the Governor was reprimanded; +and a circular was sent to all the Governors of all the colonies, +warning them against presuming to countenance such legislation. In +1765, a similar bill was twice read in the Assembly of Jamaica. The news +reached Great Britain before its final passage. Instructions were sent +out to the royal Governor; he called the House of Assembly before him, +communicated his instructions, and forbade any further progress of the +bill. In 1774, in spite of this discountenancing action of the mother +Government, two bills passed the Legislative Assembly of Jamaica; and +the Earl of Dartmouth, then Secretary of State, wrote to Sir Basil +Keith, the Governor of the colony, that "these measures had created +alarm to the merchants of Great Britain engaged in that branch of +commerce;" and forbidding him, "on pain of removal from his Government, +to assent to such laws." + +Finally, in 1775--mark the date--1775--after the revolutionary struggle +had commenced, whilst the Continental Congress was in session, after +armies had been levied, after Crown Point and Ticonderoga had been taken +possession of by the insurgent colonists, and after the first blood +shed in the Revolution had reddened the spring sod upon the green at +Lexington, this same Earl of Dartmouth, in remonstrance from the agent +of the colonies, replied: + +"We cannot allow the colonies to check or discourage in any degree a +traffic so beneficial to the nation." + +I say, then, that down to the very moment when our independence was won, +slavery, by the statute law of England, was the common law of the old +thirteen colonies. But, sir, my task does not end here. I desire to show +you that by her jurisprudence, that by the decisions of her judges, and +the answers of her lawyers to questions from the Crown and from public +bodies, this same institution was declared to be recognized by the +common law of England; and slaves were declared to be, in their +language, merchandise, chattels, just as much private property as any +other merchandise or any other chattel. + +A short time prior to the year 1713, a contract had been formed between +Spain and a certain company, called the Royal Guinea Company, that had +been established in France. This contract was technically called in +those days an _assiento_. By the treaty of Utrecht of the 11th of April, +1713, Great Britain, through her diplomatists, obtained a transfer of +that contract. She yielded considerations for it. The obtaining of that +contract was greeted in England with shouts of joy. It was considered +a triumph of diplomacy. It was followed in the month of May, 1713, by a +new contract in form, by which the British Government undertook, for +the term of thirty years then next to come, to transport annually +4800 slaves to the Spanish American colonies, at a fixed price. Almost +immediately after this new contract, a question arose in the English +Council as to what was the true legal character of the slaves thus to be +exported to the Spanish American colonies; and, according to the forms +of the British constitution, the question was submitted by the Crown in +council to the twelve judges of England. I have their answer here; it is +in these words: + +"In pursuance of His Majesty's order in council, hereunto annexed, we do +humbly certify our opinion to be that negroes are merchandise." + +Signed by Lord Chief-Justice Holt, Judge Pollexfen, and eight other +judges of England. + +Mr. Mason. What is the date of that? + +Mr. Benjamin. It was immediately after the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713. +Very soon afterwards the nascent spirit of fanaticism began to obtain +a foothold in England; and although large numbers of negro slaves were +owned in Great Britain, and, as I said before, were daily sold on the +public exchange in Lon-don, questions arose as to the right of the +owners to retain property in their slaves; and the merchants of London, +alarmed, submitted the question to Sir Philip Yorke, who afterwards +became Lord Hardwicke, and to Lord Talbot, who were then the solicitor +and attorney-general of the kingdom. The question was propounded to +them, "What are the rights of a British owner of a slave in England?" +and this is the answer of those two legal functionaries. They certified +that "a slave coming from the West Indies to England with or without his +master, doth not become free; and his master's property in him is not +thereby determined nor varied, and the master may legally compel him to +return to the plantations." + +And, in 1749, the same question again came up before Sir Philip Yorke, +then Lord Chancellor of England, under the title of Lord Hardwicke, and, +by a decree in chancery in the case before him, he affirmed the doctrine +which he had uttered when he was attorney-general of Great Britain. + +Things thus stood in England until the year 1771, when the spirit +of fanaticism, to which I have adverted, acquiring strength, finally +operated upon Lord Mansfield, who, by a judgment rendered in a case +known as the celebrated Sommersett case, subverted the common law of +England by judicial legislation, as I shall prove in an instant. I say +it not on my own authority. I would not be so presumptuous. The Senator +from Maine (Mr. Fessenden) need not smile at my statement. I will give +him higher authority than anything I can dare assert. I say that in 1771 +Lord Mansfield subverted the common law of England in the Sommersett +case, and decided, not that a slave carried to England from the West +Indies by his master thereby became free, but that by the law of +England, if the slave resisted the master, there was no remedy by which +the master could exercise his control; that the colonial legislation +which afforded the master means of controlling his property had no +authority in England, and that England by her laws had provided no +substitute for that authority. That was what Lord Mansfield decided. +I say this was judicial legislation. I say it subverted the entire +previous jurisprudence of Great Britain. I have just adverted to the +authorities for that position. Lord Mansfield felt it. The case was +argued before him over and over again, and he begged the parties to +compromise. They said they would not. "Why," said he, "I have known +six of these cases already, and in five out of the six there was a +compromise; you had better compromise this matter"; but the parties said +no, they would stand on the law; and then, after holding the case up +two terms, Lord Mansfield mustered up courage to say just what I have +asserted to be his decision; that there was no law in England affording +the master control over his slave; and that therefore the master's +putting him on board of a vessel in irons, being unsupported by +authority derived from English law, and the colonial law not being in +force in England, he would discharge the slave from custody on _habeas +corpus_, and leave the master to his remedy as best he could find one. + +Mr. Fessenden. Decided so unwillingly. + +Mr. Benjamin. The gentleman is right--very unwillingly. He was driven +to the decision by the paramount power which is now perverting the +principles, and obscuring the judgment of the people of the North; and +of which I must say there is no more striking example to be found than +its effect on the clear and logical intellect of my friend from Maine. + +Mr. President, I make these charges in relation to that judgment, +because in them I am supported by an intellect greater than Mansfield's; +by a judge of resplendent genius and consummate learning; one who, in +all questions of international law, on all subjects not dependent upon +the peculiar municipal technical common law of England, has won for +himself the proudest name in the annals of her jurisprudence--the +gentleman knows well that I refer to Lord Stowell. As late as 1827, +twenty years after Great Britain had abolished the slave trade, six +years before she was brought to the point of confiscating the property +of her colonies which she had forced them to buy, a case was brought +before that celebrated judge; a case known to all lawyers by the name of +the slave Grace. It was pretended in the argument that the slave Grace +was free, because she had been carried to England, and it was said, +under the authority of Lord Mansfield's decision in the Sommersett +case, that, having once breathed English air, she was free; that the +atmosphere of that favored kingdom was too pure to be breathed by a +slave. Lord Stowell, in answering that legal argument, said that after +painful and laborious research into historical records, he did not find +anything touching the peculiar fitness of the English atmosphere for +respiration during the ten centuries that slaves had lived in England. + + * * * * * + +After that decision had been rendered, Lord Stowell, who was at that +time in correspondence with Judge Story, sent him a copy of it, and +wrote to him upon the subject of his judgment. No man will doubt the +anti-slavery feelings and proclivities of Judge Story. He was asked to +take the decision into consideration and give his opinion about it. Here +is his answer: + +"I have read, with great attention, your judgment in the slave case. +Upon the fullest consideration which I have been able to give the +subject, I entirely concur in your views. If I had been called upon to +pronounce a judgment in a like case, I should have certainly arrived at +the same result." + +That was the opinion of Judge Story in 1827; but, sir, whilst +contending, as I here contend, as a proposition, based in history, +maintained by legislation, supported by judicial authority of the +greatest weight, that slavery, as an institution, was protected by +the common law of these colonies at the date of the Declaration of +Independence, I go further, though not necessary to my argument, and +declare that it was the common law of North and South America alike. + + * * * * * + +Thus, Mr. President, I say that even if we admit for the moment that +the common law of the nations which colonized this continent, the +institution of slavery at the time of our independence, was dying away +by the manumissions either gratuitous or for a price of those who +held the people as slaves, yet, so far as the continent of America was +concerned, North and South, there did not breathe a being who did +not know that a negro, under the common law of the continent, was +merchandise, was property, was a slave, and that he could only extricate +himself from that status, stamped upon him by the common law of the +country, by positive proof of manumission. No man was bound to show +title to his negro slave. The slave was bound to show manumission under +which he had acquired his freedom, by the common law of every colony. +Why, sir, can any man doubt, is there a gentleman here, even the Senator +from Maine, who doubts that if, after the Revolution, the different +States of this Union had not passed laws upon the subject to abolish +slavery, to subvert this common law of the continent, every one of these +States would be slave States yet? How came they free States? Did not +they have this institution of slavery imprinted upon them by the power +of the mother country? How did they get rid of it? All, all must admit +that they had to pass positive acts of legislation to accomplish this +purpose. Without that legislation they would still be slave States. +What, then, becomes of the pretext that slavery only exists in those +States where it was established by positive legislation, that it has +no inherent vitality out of those States, and that slaves are not +considered as property by the Constitution of the United States? + +When the delegates of the several colonies which had thus asserted their +independence of the British Crown met in convention, the decision of +Lord Mansfield in the Sommersett case was recent, was known to all. At +the same time, a number of the northern colonies had taken incipient +steps for the emancipation of their slaves. Here permit me to say, sir, +that, with a prudent regard to what the Senator from Maine (Mr. Hamlin) +yesterday called the "sensitive pocket-nerve," they all made these +provisions prospective. Slavery was to be abolished after a certain +future time--just enough time to give their citizens convenient +opportunity for selling the slaves to southern planters, putting the +money in their pockets, and then sending to us here, on this floor, +representatives who flaunt in robes of sanctimonious holiness; who make +parade of a cheap philanthropy, exercised at our expense; and who say +to all men: "Look ye now, how holy, how pure we are; you are polluted by +the touch of slavery; we are free from it." + + * * * * * + +Now, sir, because the Supreme Court of the United States says--what +is patent to every man who reads the Constitution of the United +States--that it does guaranty property in slaves,it has been attacked +with vituperation here, on this floor, by Senators on all sides. Some +have abstained from any indecent, insulting remarks in relation to the +Court. Some have confined themselves to calm and legitimate argument. To +them I am about to reply. To the others, I shall have something to say a +little later. What says the Senator from Maine (Mr. Fessenden)? He says: + +"Had the result of that election been otherwise, and had not the +(Democratic) party triumphed on the dogma which they had thus +introduced, we should never have heard of a doctrine so utterly at +variance with all truth; so utterly destitute of all legal logic; so +founded on error, and unsupported by anything like argument, as is the +opinion of the Supreme Court." + +He says, further: + +"I should like, if I had time, to attempt to demonstrate the fallacy +of that opinion. I have examined the view of the Supreme Court of the +United States on the question of the power of the Constitution to carry +slavery into free territory belonging to the United States, and I tell +you that I believe any tolerably respectable lawyer in the United States +can show, beyond all question, to any fair and unprejudiced mind, that +the decision has nothing to stand upon except assumption, and bad logic +from the assumptions made. The main proposition on which that decision +is founded, the corner-stone of it, without which it is nothing, without +which it fails entirely to satisfy the mind of any man, is this: that +the Constitution of the United States recognizes property in slaves, +and protects it as such. I deny it. It neither recognizes slaves as +property, nor does it protect slaves as property." + +The Senator here, you see, says that the whole decision is based on +that assumption, which is false. He says that the Constitution does +not recognize slaves as property, nor protect them as property, and his +reasoning, a little further on, is somewhat curious. He says: + +"On what do they found the assertion that the Constitution recognizes +slavery as property? On the provision of the Constitution by which +Congress is prohibited from passing a law to prevent the African +slave trade for twenty years; and therefore they say the Constitution +recognizes slaves as property." + +I should think that was a pretty fair recognition of it. On this point +the gentleman declares: + +"Will not anybody see that this constitutional provision, if it works +one way, must work the other? If, by allowing the slave trade for twenty +years, we recognize slaves as property, when we say that at the end of +twenty years we will cease to allow it, or may cease to do so, is not +that denying them to be property after that period elapses?" + +That is the argument. Nothing but my respect for the logical intellect +of the Senator from Maine could make me treat this argument as serious, +and nothing but having heard it myself would make me believe that he +ever uttered it. What, sir! The Constitution of our country says to the +South, "you shall count as the basis of your representation five slaves +as being three white men; you may be protected in the natural increase +of your slaves; nay, more, as a matter of compromise you may increase +their number if you choose, for twenty years, by importation; when these +twenty years are out, you shall stop." The Supreme Court of the United +States says, "well; is not this a recognition of slavery, of property +in slaves?" "Oh, no," says the gentleman, "the rule must work both +ways; there is a converse to the proposition." Now, sir, to an +ordinary, uninstructed intellect, it would seem that the converse of the +proposition was simply that at the end of twenty years you should not +any longer increase your numbers by importation; but the gentleman says +the converse of the proposition is that at the end of the twenty years, +after you have, under the guarantee of the Constitution, been adding by +importation to the previous number of your slaves, then all those that +you had before, and all those that, under that Constitution, you have +imported, cease to be recognized as property by the Constitution, and +on this proposition he assails the Supreme Court of the United States--a +proposition which he says will occur to anybody. + +Mr. Fessenden. Will the Senator allow me? + +Mr. Benjamin. I should be very glad to enter into this debate now, but I +fear it is so late that I shall not be able to get through to-day. + +Mr. Fessenden. I suppose it is of no consequence. + +Mr. Benjamin. What says the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Collamer), who +also went into this examination somewhat extensively. I read from his +printed speech: + +"I do not say that slaves are never property. I do not say that they +are, or are not. Within the limits of a State which declares them to be +property, they are property, because they are within the jurisdiction of +that government which makes the declaration; but I should wish to speak +of it in the light of a member of the United States Senate, and in the +language of the United States Constitution. If this be property in the +States, what is the nature and extent of it? I insist that the Supreme +Court has often decided, and everybody has understood, that slavery is +a local institution, existing by force of State law; and of course that +law can give it no possible character beyond the limits of that State." +I shall no doubt find the idea better expressed in the opinion of Judge +Nelson, in this same Dred Scott decision. I prefer to read his language. + + * * * * * + +"Here is the law; and under it exists the law of slavery in the +different States. By virtue of this very principle it cannot extend +one inch beyond its own territorial limits. A State cannot regulate +the relation of master and slave, of owner and property, the manner and +title of descent, or anything else, one inch beyond its territory. Then +you cannot, by virtue of the law of slavery, if it makes slaves property +in a State, if you please, move that property out of the State. It ends +whenever you pass from that State. You may pass into another State that +has a like law; and if you do, you hold it by virtue of that law; but +the moment you pass beyond the limits of the slaveholding States, all +title to the property called property in slaves, there ends. Under such +a law slaves cannot be carried as property into the Territories, or +anywhere else beyond the States authorizing it. It is not property +anywhere else. If the Constitution of the United States gives any other +and further character than this to slave property, let us acknowledge it +fairly and end all strife about it. If it does not, I ask in all candor, +that men on the other side shall say so, and let this point be +settled. What is the point we are to inquire into? It is this: does +the Constitution of the United States make slaves property beyond the +jurisdiction of the States authorizing slavery? If it only acknowledges +them as property within that jurisdiction, it has not extended the +property one inch beyond the State line; but if, as the Supreme Court +seems to say, it does recognize and protect them as property further +than State limits, and more than the State laws do, then, indeed, it +becomes like other property. The Supreme Court rests this claim upon +this clause of the Constitution: 'No person held to service or labor in +one State, under the laws thereof, shall, in consequence of any law or +regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor; but shall +be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may +be due.' Now the question is, does that guaranty it? Does that make +it the same as other property? The very fact that this clause makes +provision on the subject of persons bound to service, shows that the +framers of the Constitution did not regard it as other property. It +was a thing that needed some provision; other property did not. The +insertion of such a provision shows that it was not regarded as other +property. If a man's horse stray from Delaware into Pennsylvania, he can +go and get it. Is there any provision in the Constitution for it? No. +How came this to be there, if a slave is property? If it is the same as +other property, why have any provision about it?'" + +It will undoubtedly have struck any person, in hearing this passage read +from the speech of the Senator from Vermont, whom I regret not to see +in his seat to-day, that the whole argument, ingeniously as it is put, +rests upon this fallacy--if I may say so with due respect to him--that +a man cannot have title in property wherever the law does not give him +a remedy or process for the assertion of his title; or, in other words, +his whole argument rests upon the old confusion of ideas which considers +a man's right and his remedy to be one and the same thing. I have +already shown to you, by the passages I have cited from the opinions of +Lord Stowell and of Judge Story, how they regard this subject. They say +that the slave who goes to England, or goes to Massachusetts, from a +slave State, is still a slave, that he is still his master's property; +but that his master has lost control over him, not by reason of the +cessation of his property, but because those States grant no remedy to +the master by which he can exercise his control. + +There are numerous illustrations upon this point--illustrations +furnished by the copyright laws, illustrations furnished by patent laws. +Let us take a case, one that appeals to us all. There lives now a man +in England who from time to time sings to the enchanted ear of the +civilized world strains of such melody that the charmed senses seem to +abandon the grosser regions of earth, and to rise to purer and serener +regions above. God has created that man a poet. His inspiration is his; +his songs are his by right divine; they are his property so recognized +by human law; yet here in these United States men steal Tennyson's works +and sell his property for their profit; and this because, in spite of +the violated conscience of the nation, we refuse to give him protection +for his property. Examine your Constitution; are slaves the only species +of property there recognized as requiring peculiar protection? Sir, the +inventive genius of our brethren of the North is a source of vast wealth +to them and vast benefit to the nation. I saw a short time ago in one of +the New York journals, that the estimated value of a few of the patents +now before us in this Capital for renewal, was $40,000,000. I cannot +believe that the entire capital, invested in inventions of this +character in the United States can fall short of one hundred and fifty +or two hundred million dollars. On what protection does this vast +property rest? Just upon that same constitutional protection which gives +a remedy to the slave owner when his property is, also found outside of +the limits of the State in which he lives. + +Without this protection, what would be the condition of the northern +inventor? Why, sir, the Vermont inventor protected by his own law would +come to Massachusetts, and there say to the pirate who had stolen his +property, "Render me up my property or pay me value for its use." The +Senator from Vermont would receive for answer, if he were the counsel of +the Vermont inventor, "Sir, if you want protection for your property go +to your own State; property is governed by the laws of the State within +whose jurisdiction it is found; you have no property in your invention +outside of the limits of your State; you cannot go an inch beyond it." +Would not this be so? Does not every man see at once that the right +of the inventor to his discovery, that the right of the poet to his +inspiration, depends upon those principles of eternal justice which God +has implanted in the heart of man, and that wherever he cannot exercise +them it is because man, faithless to the trust that he has received from +God, denies them the protection to which they are entitled?' + +Sir, follow out the illustration which the Senator from Vermont himself +has given; take his very case of the Delaware owner of a horse riding +him across the line into Pennsylvania. The Senator says: "Now, you +see that slaves are not property like other property; if slaves were +property like other property, why have you this special clause in your +Constitution to protect a slave? You have no clause to protect the +horse, because horses are recognized as property everywhere." Mr. +President, the same fallacy lurks at the bottom of this argument, as of +all the rest. Let Pennsylvania exercise her undoubted jurisdiction over +persons and things within her own boundary; let her do as she has +a perfect right to do--declare that hereafter, within the State of +Pennsylvania, there shall be no property in horses, and that no man +shall maintain a suit in her courts for the recovery of property in a +horse; and where will your horse-owner be then? Just where the English +poet is now; just where the slaveholder and the inventor would be if the +Constitution, foreseeing a difference of opinion in relation to rights +in these subject-matters, had not provided the remedy in relation to +such property as might easily be plundered. Slaves, if you please, are +not property like other property in this: that you can easily rob us of +them; but as to the right in them, that man has to overthrow the +whole history of the world, he has to overthrow every treatise on +jurisprudence, he has to ignore the common sentiment of mankind, he has +to repudiate the authority of all that is considered sacred with man, +ere he can reach the conclusion that the person who owns a slave, in +a country where slavery has been established for ages, has no other +property in that slave than the mere title which is given by the statute +law of the land where it is found. * * * + + + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN, + +OF ILLINOIS. (BORN 1809, DIED 1865.) + +ON THE DRED SCOTT DECISION, + +SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, JUNE 26, 1857. + + +And now as to the Dred Scott decision. That decision declares two +propositions--first, that a negro cannot sue in the United States +courts; and secondly, that Congress cannot prohibit slavery in the +Territories. It was made by a divided court--dividing differently on +the different points. Judge Douglas does not discuss the merits of the +decision, and in that respect I shall follow his example, believing I +could no more improve on McLean and Curtis than he could on Taney. + +He denounces all who question the correctness of that decision, as +offering violent resistance to it. But who resists it? Who has, in spite +of the decision, declared Dred Scott free, and resisted the authority of +his master over him? + +Judicial decisions have two uses,--first, to absolutely determine the +case decided; and secondly, to indicate to the public how other similar +cases will be decided when they arise. For the latter use they are +called "precedents" and "authorities." + +We believe as much as Judge Douglas (perhaps more) in obedience to, +and respect for, the judicial department of government. We think its +decisions on constitutional questions, when fully settled, should +control not only the particular cases decided, but the general policy +of the country, subject to be disturbed only by amendments to the +Constitution as provided in that instrument itself. More than this would +be revolution. But we think the Dred Scott decision is erroneous. We +know the court that made it has often overruled its own decisions, +and we shall do what we can to have it to overrule this. We offer no +resistance to it. + +Judicial decisions are of greater or less authority as precedents +according to circumstances. That this should be so accords both with +common sense and the customary understanding of the legal profession. + +If this important decision had been made by the unanimous concurrence +of the judges, and without any apparent partisan bias, and in accordance +with legal public expectation and with the steady practice of the +departments throughout our history, and had been in no part based on +assumed historical facts which are not really true; or, if wanting in +some of these, it had been before the court more than once, and had +there been affirmed and reaffirmed through a course of years, it then +might be, perhaps would be, factious, nay, even revolutionary, not to +acquiesce in it as a precedent. + +But when, as is true, we find it wanting in all these claims to the +public confidence, it is not factious, it is not even disrespectful, to +treat it as not having yet quite established a settled doctrine for the +country. But Judge Douglas considers this view awful. Hear him: + +"The courts are the tribunals prescribed by the Constitution and created +by the authority of the people to determine, expound, and enforce the +law. Hence, whoever resists the final decision of the highest +judicial tribunal aims a deadly blow at our whole republican system of +government--a blow which, if successful, would place all our rights +and liberties at the mercy of passion, anarchy, and violence. I repeat, +therefore, that if resistance to the decisions of the Supreme Court of +the United States, in a matter like the points decided in the Dred Scott +case, clearly within their jurisdiction as defined by the Constitution, +shall be forced upon the country as a political issue, it will become +a distinct and naked issue between the friends and enemies of the +Constitution--the friends and the enemies of the supremacy of the laws." + +I have said, in substance, that the Dred Scott decision was in part +based on assumed historical facts which were not really true, and I +ought not to leave the subject without giving some reasons for saying +this; I therefore give an instance or two, which I think fully sustain +me. Chief-Justice Taney, in delivering the opinion of the majority of +the court, insists at great length that the negroes were no part of the +people who made, or for whom was made, the Declaration of Independence, +or the Constitution of the United States. + +On the contrary, Judge Curtis, in his dissenting opinion, shows that in +five of the then thirteen States--to wit, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, +New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina--free negroes were voters, +and in proportion to their numbers had the same part in making the +Constitution that the white people had. He shows this with so much +particularity as to leave no doubt of its truth; and as a sort of +conclusion on that point, holds the following language: + +"The Constitution was ordained and established by the people of the +United States, through the action in each State, of those persons who +were qualified by its laws to act thereon in behalf of themselves and +all other citizens of the State. In some of the States, as we have seen, +colored persons were among those qualified by law to act on the subject. +These colored persons were not only included in the body of 'the +people of the United States' by whom the Constitution was ordained and +established; but in at least five of the States they had the power to +act, and doubtless, did act, by their suffrages, upon the question of +its adoption." + +Again, Chief-Justice Taney says: + +"It is difficult at this day to realize the state of public opinion, in +relation to that unfortunate race which prevailed in the civilized and +enlightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of +Independence, and when the Constitution of the United States was framed +and adopted." + +And again, after quoting from the Declaration, he says: + +"The general words above quoted would seem to include the whole human +family, and if they were used in a similar instrument at this day, +would be so understood." + +In these the Chief-Justice does not directly assert, but plainly +assumes, as a fact, that the public estimate of the black man is more +favorable now than it was in the days of the Revolution. This assumption +is a mistake. In some trifling particulars the condition of that race +has been ameliorated; but as a whole, in this country, the change +between then and now is decidedly the other way; and their ultimate +destiny has never appeared so hopeless as in the last three or four +years. In two of the five States--New Jersey and North Carolina--that +then gave the free negro the right of voting, the right has since been +taken away, and in the third--New York--it has been greatly abridged; +while it has not been extended, so far as I know, to a single additional +State, though the number of the States has more than doubled. In those +days, as I understand, masters could, at their own pleasure, emancipate +their slaves; but since then such legal restraints have been made +upon emancipation as to amount almost to prohibition. In those days +legislatures held the unquestioned power to abolish slavery in their +respective States, but now it is becoming quite fashionable for State +constitutions to withhold that power from the legislatures. In those +days, by common consent, the spread of the black man's bondage to the +new countries was prohibited, but now Congress decides that it will not +continue the prohibition, and the Supreme Court decides that it could +not if it would. In those days our Declaration of Independence was held +sacred by all, and thought to include all; but now, to aid in making the +bondage of the negro universal and eternal, it is assailed and sneered +at and construed, and hawked at and torn, till, if its framers could +rise from their graves, they could not at all recognize it. All the +powers of earth seem rapidly combining against him. Mammon is after him, +ambition follows, philosophy follows, and the theology of the day is +fast joining the cry. They have him in his prison-house; they have +searched his person, and left no prying instrument with him. One after +another they have closed the heavy iron doors upon him; and now they +have him, as it were, bolted in with a lock of a hundred keys, which can +never be unlocked without the concurrence of every key--the keys in +the hands of a hundred different men, and they scattered to a hundred +different and distant places; and they stand musing as to what +invention, in all the dominions of mind and matter, can be produced to +make the impossibility of his escape more complete than it is. + +It is grossly incorrect to say or assume that the public estimate of the +negro is more favorable now than it was at the origin of the government. + +Three years and a half ago, Judge Douglas brought forward his famous +Nebraska bill. The country was at once in a blaze. He scorned all +opposition, and carried it through Congress. Since then he has seen +himself superseded in a presidential nomination by one indorsing the +general doctrine of his measure, but at the same time standing clear +of the odium of its untimely agitation and its gross breach of national +faith; and he has seen that successful rival constitutionally elected, +not by the strength of friends, but by the division of adversaries, +being in a popular minority of nearly four hundred thousand votes. +He has seen his chief aids in his own State, Shields and Richardson, +politically speaking, successively tried, convicted, and executed, for +an offense not their own, but his. And now he sees his own case standing +next on the docket for trial. + +There is a natural disgust in the minds of nearly all white people at +the idea of an indiscriminate amalgamation of the white and black races; +and Judge Douglas evidently is basing his chief hope upon the chances of +his being able to appropriate the benefit of this disgust to himself. +If he can, by much drumming and repeating, fasten the odium of that idea +upon his adversaries, he thinks he can struggle through the storm. He +therefore clings to this hope, as a drowning man to the last plank. +He makes an occasion for lugging it in from the opposition to the Dred +Scott decision. He finds the Republicans insisting that the Declaration +of Independence includes all men, black as well as white, and forthwith +he boldly denies that it includes negroes at all, and proceeds to argue +gravely that all who contend it does, do so only because they want to +vote, and eat, and sleep, and marry with negroes. He will have it that +they cannot be consistent else. Now I protest against the counterfeit +logic which concludes that, because I do not want a black woman for a +slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. I need not have her for +either. I can just leave her alone. In some respects she certainly is +not my equal; but in her natural right to eat the bread she earns with +her own hands without asking leave of any one else, she is my equal, and +the equal of all others. + +Chief-Justice Taney, in his opinion in the Dred Scott case, admits that +the language of the Declaration is broad enough to include the whole +human family, but he and Judge Douglas argue that the authors of that +instrument did not intend to include negroes, by the fact that they did +not at once actually place them on an equality with the whites. Now this +grave argument comes to just nothing at all, by the other fact that they +did not at once, or ever afterward, actually place all white people on +an equality with one another. And this is the staple argument of both +the Chief-Justice and the Senator for doing this obvious violence to the +plain, unmistakable language of the Declaration. + +I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all +men, but they did not intend to declare all men equal in all respects. +They did not mean to say all were equal in color, size, intellect, +moral developments, or social capacity. They defined with tolerable +distinctness in what respects they did consider all men created +equal--equal with "certain inalienable rights, among which are life, +liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This they said, and this they +meant. They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth that all were +then actually enjoying that equality, nor yet that they were about to +confer it immediately upon them. In fact, they had no power to confer +such a boon. They meant simply to declare the right, so that enforcement +of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. + +They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should be +familiar to all, and revered by all; constantly looked to, constantly +labored for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly +approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its +influence and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people +of all colors everywhere. The assertion that "all men are created equal" +was of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain; +and it was placed in the Declaration not for that, but for future use. +Its authors meant it to be--as, thank God, it is now proving itself--a +stumbling-block to all those who in after times might seek to turn a +free people back into the hateful paths of despotism. They knew the +proneness of prosperity to breed tyrants, and they meant when such +should reappear in this fair land and commence their vocation, they +should find left for them at least one hard nut to crack. + +I have now briefly expressed my view of the meaning and object of that +part of the Declaration of Independence which declares that "all men are +created equal." + +Now let us hear Judge Douglas's view of the same subject as I find it in +the printed report of his late speech. Here it is: + +"No man can vindicate the character, motives, and conduct of the signers +of the Declaration of Independence, except upon the hypothesis that +they referred to the white race alone, and not to the African, when they +declared all men to have been created equal; that they were speaking of +British subjects on this continent being equal to British subjects +born and residing in Great Britain; that they were entitled to the same +inalienable rights, and among them were enumerated life, liberty, and +the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration was adopted for the purpose +of justifying the colonists in the eyes of the civilized world in +withdrawing their allegiance from the British crown, and dissolving +their connection with the mother country." + +My good friends, read that carefully over in some leisure hour, and +ponder well upon it; see what a mere wreck--mangled ruin--it makes of +our once glorious Declaration. + +"They were speaking of British subjects on this continent being equal to +British subjects born and residing in Great Britain." Why, according +to this, not only negroes but white people outside of Great Britain and +America were not spoken of in that instrument. The English, Irish, and +Scotch, along with white Americans, were included, to be sure, but the +French, Germans, and other white people of the world are all gone to pot +along with the Judge's inferior races. + +I had thought the Declaration promised something better than the +condition of British subjects; but no, it only meant that we should be +equal to them in their own oppressed and unequal condition. According to +that, it gave no promise that, having kicked off the king and lords of +Great Britain, we should not at once be saddled with a king and lords of +our own. + +I had thought the Declaration contemplated the progressive improvement +in the condition of all men everywhere; but no, it merely "was adopted +for the purpose of justifying the colonists in the eyes of the civilized +world, in withdrawing their allegiance from the British crown, and +dissolving their connection with the mother country." Why, that object +having been effected some eighty years ago, the Declaration is of +no practical use now--mere rubbish--old wadding left to rot on the +battle-field after the victory is won. + +I understand you are preparing to celebrate the "Fourth," to-morrow +week. What for? The doings of that day had no reference to the present; +and quite half of you are not even descendants of those who were +referred to at that day. But I suppose you will celebrate, and will even +go so far as to read the Declaration. Suppose, after you read it once +in the old-fashioned way, you read it once more with Judge Douglas's +version. It will then run thus: "We hold these truths to be +self-evident, that all British subjects who were on this continent +eighty-one years ago, were created equal to all British subjects born +and then residing in Great Britain." + +And now I appeal to all--to Democrats as well as others--are you really +willing that the Declaration shall thus be frittered away?--thus left +no more, at most, than an interesting memorial of the dead past?--thus +shorn of its vitality and practical value, and left without the germ or +even the suggestion of the individual rights of man in it? + + + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN, + +OF ILLINOIS. (BORN 1809, DIED 1865.) + +ON HIS NOMINATION TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE, + +AT THE REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION, SPRINGFIELD, ILLS., JUNE 16, 1858. + + +MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION: + +If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we +could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into +the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object, and +confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the +operation of that policy, that agitation not only has not ceased, but +has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a +crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against +itself cannot stand." I believe this Government cannot endure +permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be +dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect that +it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the +other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of +it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it +is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it +forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as +well as new, North as well as South. Have we no tendency to the latter +condition? Let any one who doubts carefully contemplate that now almost +complete legal combination piece of machinery, so to speak--compounded +of the Nebraska doctrine and the Dred Scott decision. Let him consider +not only what work the machinery is adapted to do, and how well adapted, +but also let him study the history of its construction, and trace, if +he can, or rather fail, if he can, to trace the evidences of design and +concert of action among its chief architects from the beginning. + +The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the +States by State constitutions, and from most of the national territory +by Congressional prohibition. Four days later commenced the struggle +which ended in repealing that Congressional prohibition. This opened all +the national territory to slavery, and was the first point gained. But, +so far, Congress only had acted, and an indorsement, by the people, real +or apparent, was indispensable, to save the point already gained and +give chance for more. This necessity had not been overlooked, but had +been provided for, as well as might be, in the notable argument +of "squatter sovereignty," otherwise called "sacred right of +self-government";--which latter phrase though expressive of the only +rightful basis of any government, was so perverted in this attempted use +of it as to amount to just this: That, if any one man choose to enslave +another, no third man shall be allowed to object. That argument was +incorporated with the Nebraska bill itself, in the language which +follows: "It being the true intent and meaning of this act, not to +legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it +therefrom; but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and +regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to +the Constitution of the United States." Then opened the roar of loose +declamation in favor of "squatter sovereignty," and "sacred right of +self-government." "But," said opposition members, "let us amend the bill +so as to expressly declare that the people of the Territory may exclude +slavery." "Not we," said the friends of the measure; and down they voted +the amendment. + +While the Nebraska bill was passing through Congress, a law-case, +involving the question of a negro's freedom, by reason of his owner +having voluntarily taken him first into a free State, and then into a +Territory covered by the Congressional prohibition, and held him as a +slave for a long time in each, was passing through the United States +Circuit Court for the District of Missouri; and both Nebraska bill and +lawsuit were brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The +negro's name was Dred Scott, which name now designates the decision +finally made in the case. Before the then next Presidential election, +the law-case came to, and was argued in, the Supreme Court of the United +States; but the decision of it was deferred until after the election. +Still, before the election, Senator Trumbull, on the floor of the +Senate, requested the leading advocate of the Nebraska bill to state his +opinion whether the people of a Territory can constitutionally exclude +slavery from their limits; and the latter answers: "That is a question +for the Supreme Court." + +The election came, Mr. Buchanan was elected, and the indorsement, such +as it was, secured. That was the second point gained. The indorsement, +however, fell short of a clear popular majority by nearly four hundred +thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly reliable and +satisfactory. The outgoing President, in his last annual message, as +impressively as possible, echoed back upon the people the weight and +authority of the indorsement. The Supreme Court met again, did not +announce their decision, but ordered a re-argument. The Presidential +inauguration came, and still no decision of the court; but the incoming +President, in his inaugural address, fervently exhorted the people to +abide by the forthcoming decision, whatever it might be. Then, in a few +days, came the decision. The reputed author of the Nebraska bill finds +an early occasion to make a speech at this capital, indorsing the Dred +Scott decision, and vehemently denouncing all opposition to it. The +new President, too, seizes the early occasion of the Silliman letter +to indorse and strongly construe that decision, and to express his +astonishment that any different view had ever been entertained. + +At length a squabble springs up between the President and the author of +the Nebraska bill, on the mere question of fact, whether the Lecompton +constitution was, or was not, in any just sense, made by the people of +Kansas; and in that quarrel the latter declares that all he wants is a +fair vote for the people, and that he cares not whether slavery be voted +down or voted up.' I do not understand his declaration, that he cares +not whether slavery be voted _down_ or voted _up_, to be intended by him +other than as an apt definition of the policy he would impress upon +the public mind--the principle for which he declares he has suffered so +much, and is ready to suffer to the end. And well may he cling to that +principle. If he has any parental feeling, well may he cling to it. +That principle is the only shred left of his original Nebraska doctrine. +Under the Dred Scott decision, squatter sovereignty squatted out of +existence--tumbled down like temporary scaffolding--like the mould +at the foundry, served through one blast, and fell back into loose +sand,--helped to carry an election, and then was kicked to the winds. +His late joint struggle with the Republicans against the Lecompton +constitution involves nothing of the original Nebraska doctrine. That +struggle was made on a point--the right of a people to make their own +constitution--upon which he and the Republicans have never differed. + +The several points of the Dred Scott decision, in connection with +Senator Douglas's "care-not" policy, constitute the piece of machinery +in its present state of advancement. This was the third point gained. +The working points of that machinery are: (1) That no negro slave, +imported as such from Africa, and no descendant of such slave, can ever +be a citizen of any State, in the sense of that term as used in the +Constitution of the United States. This point is made in order to +deprive the negro, in every possible event, of the benefit of that +provision of the United States Constitution, which declares that +"the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and +immunities of citizens in the several States." (2) That, "subject to the +Constitution of the United States," neither Congress nor a Territorial +Legislature can exclude slavery from any United States Territory. This +point is made in order that individual men may fill up the Territories +with slaves, without danger of losing them as property, and thus to +enhance the chances of permanency to the institution through all the +future. (3) That whether the holding a negro in actual slavery in a free +State makes him free, as against the holder, the United States courts +will not decide, but will leave to be decided by the courts of any slave +State the negro may be forced into by the master. This point is made, +not to be pressed immediately; but, if acquiesced in for a while, and +apparently indorsed by the people at an election, then to sustain the +logical conclusion that what Dred Scott's master might lawfully do with +Dred Scott, in the State of Illinois, every other master may lawfully do +with any other one or one thousand slaves, in Illinois, or in any other +free State. + +Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska +doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinion, +at least Northern public opinion, not to care whether slavery is voted +down or voted up. This shows exactly where we now are, and partially, +also, whither we are tending. + +It will throw additional light on the latter to go back, and run the +mind over the string of historical facts already stated. Several things +will now appear less dark and mysterious than they did when they were +transpiring. The people were to be left "perfectly free," "subject only +to the Constitution." What the Constitution had to do with it, outsiders +could not then see. Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche +for the Dred Scott decision to come in afterward, and declare the +perfect freedom of the people to be just no freedom at all. Why was +the amendment expressly declaring the right of the people voted down? +Plainly enough now, the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for +the Dred Scott decision. Why was the court decision held up? Why even +a Senator's individual opinion withheld till after the Presidential +election? Plainly enough now: the speaking out then would have damaged +the "perfectly free" argument upon which the election was to be carried. +Why the outgoing President's felicitation on the indorsement? Why the +delay of a re-argument? Why the incoming President's advance exhortation +in favor of the decision? These things look like the cautious patting +and petting of a spirited horse preparatory to mounting him, when it +is dreaded that he may give the rider a fall. And why the hasty after +indorsement of the decision by the President and others? + +We cannot absolutely know that all these exact adaptations are the +result of preconcert. But when we see a lot of framed timbers, different +portions of which we know have been gotten out at different times and +places, and by different workmen--Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James, +for instance,--and when we see these timbers joined together, and see +that they exactly make the frame of a house or a mill, all the tenons +and mortices exactly fitting, and all the lengths and proportions of the +different pieces exactly adapted to their respective places, and not +a piece too many or too few--not omitting even scaffolding,--or, if a +single piece be lacking, we see the place in the frame exactly fitted +and prepared yet to bring such piece in,--in such a case, we find it +impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James +all understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a +common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was struck. + +It should not be overlooked that, by the Nebraska bill, the people of a +State, as well as Territory, were to be left "perfectly free," "subject +only to the Constitution." Why mention a State? They were legislating +for Territories, and not for or about States. Certainly, the people of +a State are and ought to be subject to the Constitution of the United +States; but why is mention of this lugged into this merely Territorial +law? Why are the people of a Territory and the people of a State therein +lumped together, and their relation to the Constitution therein +treated as being precisely the same? While the opinion of the court, by +Chief-Justice Taney, in the Dred Scott case, and the separate opinions +of all the concurring judges, expressly declare that the Constitution of +the United States permits neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature +to exclude slavery from any United States Territory, they all omit to +declare whether or not the same Constitution permits a State, or the +people of a State, to exclude it. Possibly, this is a mere omission; but +who can be quite sure, if McLean or Curtis had sought to get into the +opinion a declaration of unlimited power in the people of a State to +exclude slavery from their limits, just as Chase and Mace sought to +get such declaration, in behalf of the people of a territory, into the +Nebraska bill--I ask, who can be quite sure that it would not have been +voted down in the one case as it had been in the other? The nearest +approach to the point of declaring the power of a State over slavery is +made by Judge Nelson. He approaches it more than once, using the +precise idea, and almost the language, too, of the Nebraska act. On +one occasion, his exact language is: "Except in cases when the power +is restrained by the Constitution of the United States, the law of the +State is supreme over the subjects of slavery within its jurisdiction." +In what cases the power of the States is so restrained by the United +States Constitution is left an open question, precisely as the same +question, as to the restraint on the power of the Territories, was +left open in the Nebraska act. Put this and that together, and we have +another nice little niche, which we may, ere long, see filled with +another Supreme Court decision, declaring that the Constitution of +the United States does not permit a State to exclude slavery from its +limits. And this may especially be expected if the doctrine of "care not +whether slavery be voted down or voted up," shall gain upon the public +mind sufficiently to give promise that such a decision can be maintained +when made. + +Such a decision is all that slavery now lacks of being alike lawful in +all the States. Welcome or unwelcome, such decision is probably coming, +and will soon be upon us, unless the power of the present political +dynasty shall be met and overthrown. We shall lie down pleasantly +dreaming that the people of Missouri are on the verge of making their +State free, and we shall awake to the reality, instead, that the Supreme +Court has made Illinois a slave State. To meet and overthrow +that dynasty is the work before all those who would prevent that +consummation. That is what we have to do. How can we best do it? + +There are those who denounce us openly to their own friends, and yet +whisper us softly that Senator Douglas is the aptest instrument there +is with which to effect that object. They wish us to infer all, from +the fact that he now has a little quarrel with the present head of the +dynasty; and that he has regularly voted with us on a single point, upon +which he and we have never differed. They remind us that he is a +great man, and that the largest of us are very small ones. Let this be +granted. "But a living dog is better than a dead lion." Judge Douglas, +if not a dead lion, for this work, is at least a caged and toothless +one. How can he oppose the advances of slavery? He don't care anything +about it. His avowed mission is impressing the "public heart" to +care nothing about it. A leading Douglas Democratic newspaper thinks +Douglas's superior talent will be needed to resist the revival of the +African slave-trade. Does Douglas believe an effort to revive that trade +is approaching? He has not said so. Does he really think so? But if it +is, how can he resist it? For years he has labored to prove it a sacred +right of white men to take negro slaves into the new Territories. Can he +possibly show that it is less a sacred right to buy them where they can +be bought cheapest? And unquestionably they can be bought cheaper in +Africa than in Virginia. He has done all in his power to reduce the +whole question of slavery to one of a mere right of property; and as +such, how can he oppose the foreign slave-trade? How can he refuse that +trade in that "property" shall be "perfectly free," unless he does it +as a protection to the home production? And as the home producers will +probably ask the protection, he will be wholly without a ground of +opposition. Senator Douglas holds, we know, that a man may rightfully be +wiser to-day than he was yesterday--that he may rightfully change when +he finds himself wrong. But can we, for that reason, run ahead, and +infer that he will make any particular change, of which he himself has +given no intimation? Can we safely base our action upon any such vague +inference? Now, as ever, I wish not to misrepresent Judge Douglas's +position, question his motives, or do aught that can be personally +offensive to him. Whenever, if ever, he and we can come together on +principle, so that our cause may have assistance from his great ability, +I hope to have interposed no adventitious obstacle. But, clearly, he is +not now with us--he does not pretend to be, he does not promise ever to +be. + +Our cause, then, must be entrusted to, and conducted by its own +undoubted friends--those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the +work--who do care for the result. Two years ago the Republicans of the +nation mustered over thirteen hundred thousand strong. We did this under +the single impulse of resistance to a common danger. With every external +circumstance against us, of strange, discordant, and even hostile +elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought the +battle through, under the constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and +pampered enemy. Did we brave all then, to falter now?--now, when that +same enemy is wavering, dissevered, and belligerent! The result is not +doubtful. We shall not fail--if we stand firm, we shall not fail. Wise +counsels may accelerate, or mistakes delay it; but, sooner or later, the +victory is sure to come. + + + + +STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS, + +OF ILLINOIS. (BORN 1813, DIED 1861.) + +IN REPLY TO MR. LINCOLN; + +FREEPORT, ILLS., AUGUST 27, 1858. + + +LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: + +I am glad that at last I have brought Mr. Lincoln to the conclusion +that he had better define his position on certain political questions +to which I called his attention at Ottawa. * * * In a few moments I +will proceed to review the answers which he has given to these +interrogatories; but, in order to relieve his anxiety, I will first +respond to those which he has presented to me. Mark you, he has not +presented interrogatories which have ever received the sanction of the +party with which I am acting, and hence he has no other foundation for +them than his own curiosity. + +First he desires to know, if the people of Kansas shall form a +constitution by means entirely proper and unobjectionable, and ask +admission as a State, before they have the requisite population for a +member of Congress, whether I will vote for that admission. Well, now, +I regret exceedingly that he did not answer that interrogatory himself +before he put it to me, in order that we might understand, and not +be left to infer, on which side he is. Mr. Trumbull, during the last +session of Congress, voted from the beginning to the end against the +admission of Oregon, although a free State, because she had not the +requisite population for a member of Congress. Mr. Trumbull would not +consent, under any circumstances, to let a State, free or slave, come +into the Union until it had the requisite population. As Mr. Trumbull is +in the field fighting for Mr. Lincoln, I would like to have Mr. Lincoln +answer his own question and tell me whether he is fighting Trumbull on +that issue or not. But I will answer his question. * * * Either Kansas +must come in as a free State, with whatever population she may have, or +the rule must be applied to all the other Territories alike. I therefore +answer at once that, it having been decided that Kansas has people +enough for a slave State, I hold that she has enough for a free State. +I hope Mr. Lincoln is satisfied with my answer; and now I would like to +get his answer to his own interrogatory--whether or not he will vote +to admit Kansas before she has the requisite population. I want to +know whether he will vote to admit Oregon before that Territory has the +requisite population. Mr. Trumbull will not, and the same reason that +commits Mr. Trumbull against the admission of Oregon commits him against +Kansas, even if she should apply for admission as a free State. If there +is any sincerity, any truth, in the argument of Mr. Trumbull in the +Senate against the admission of Oregon, because she had not 93,420 +people, although her population was larger than that of Kansas, he +stands pledged against the admission of both Oregon and Kansas until +they have 93,420 inhabitants. I would like Mr. Lincoln to answer this +question. I would like him to take his own medicine. If he differs +with Mr. Trumbull, let him answer his argument against the admission of +Oregon, instead of poking questions at me. + +The next question propounded to me by Mr. Lincoln is, Can the people of +the Territory in any lawful way, against the wishes of any citizen +of the United States, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the +formation of a State Constitution? I answer emphatically, as Mr. Lincoln +has heard me answer a hundred times from every stump in Illinois, that +in my opinion the people of a Territory can, by lawful means, +exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a State +Constitution. Mr. Lincoln knew that I had answered that question over +and over again. He heard me argue the Nebraska bill on that principle +all over the State in 1854, in 1855, and in 1856; and he has no excuse +for pretending to be in doubt as to my position on that question. It +matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the +abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into a Territory +under the Constitution; the people have the lawful means to introduce it +or exclude it as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist +a day or an hour anywhere unless it is supported by local police +regulations. Those police regulations can only be established by the +local Legislature; and, if the people are opposed to slavery, they will +elect representatives to that body who will by unfriendly legislation +effectually prevent the introduction of it into their midst. If, on the +contrary, they are for it, their legislation will favor its extension. +Hence, no matter what the decision of the Supreme Court may be on +that abstract question, still the right of the people to make a slave +Territory or a free Territory is perfect and complete under the Nebraska +bill. I hope Mr. Lincoln deems my answer satisfactory on that point. + +In this connection, I will notice the charge which he has introduced +in relation to Mr. Chase's amendment. I thought that I had chased that +amendment out of Mr. Lincoln's brain at Ottawa; but it seems that it +still haunts his imagination, and that he is not yet satisfied. I had +supposed that he would be ashamed to press that question further. He is +a lawyer, and has been a member of Congress, and has occupied his time +and amused you by telling you about parliamentary proceedings. He ought +to have known better than to try to palm off his miserable impositions +upon this intelligent audience. The Nebraska bill provided that the +legislative power and authority of the said Territory should extend to +all rightful subjects of legislation, consistent with the organic act +and the Constitution of the United States. It did not make any exception +as to slavery, but gave all the power that it was possible for Congress +to give, without violating the Constitution, to the Territorial +Legislature, with no exception or limitation on the subject of slavery +at all. The language of that bill, which I have quoted, gave the +full power and the fuller authority over the subject of slavery, +affirmatively and negatively, to introduce it or exclude it, so far as +the Constitution of the United States would permit. What more could Mr. +Chase give by his amendment? Nothing! He offered his amendment for +the identical purpose for which Mr. Lincoln is using it, to enable +demagogues in the country to try and deceive the people. His amendment +was to this effect. It provided that the Legislature should have power +to exclude slavery; and General Cass suggested: "Why not give the power +to introduce as well as to exclude?" The answer was--they have the power +already in the bill to do both. Chase was afraid his amendment would be +adopted if he put the alternative proposition, and so made it fair both +ways, and would not yield. He offered it for the purpose of having it +rejected. He offered it, as he has himself avowed over and over again, +simply to make capital out of it for the stump. He expected that it +would be capital for small politicians in the country, and that they +would make an effort to deceive the people with it; and he was not +mistaken, for Lincoln is carrying out the plan admirably. * * * + +The third question which Mr. Lincoln presented is--If the Supreme Court +of the United States shall decide that a State of this Union cannot +exclude slavery from its own limits, will I submit to it? I am amazed +that Mr. Lincoln should ask such a question. Mr. Lincoln's object is to +cast an imputation upon the Supreme Court. He knows that there never was +but one man in America, claiming any degree of intelligence or decency, +who ever for a moment pretended such a thing. It is true that the +_Washington Union_, in an article published on the 17th of last +December, did put forth that doctrine, and I denounced the article on +the floor of the Senate. * * * Lincoln's friends, Trumbull, and Seward, +and Hale, and Wilson, and the whole Black Republican side of the Senate +were silent. They left it to me to denounce it. And what was the +reply made to me on that occasion? Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, got up and +undertook to lecture me on the ground that I ought not to have deemed +the article worthy of notice, and ought not to have replied to it; that +there was not one man, woman, or child south of the Potomac, in any +slave State, who did not repudiate any such pretension. Mr. Lincoln +knows that reply was made on the spot, and yet now he asks this +question! He might as well ask me--Suppose Mr. Lincoln should steal a +horse, would I sanction it; and it would be as genteel in me to ask him, +in the event he stole a horse, what ought to be done with him. He casts +an imputation upon the Supreme Court of the United States, by supposing +that they would violate the Constitution of the United States. I tell +him that such a thing is not possible. It would be an act of moral +treason that no man on the bench could ever descend to. Mr. Lincoln +himself would never, in his partisan feelings, so far forget what was +right as to be guilty of such an act. + +The fourth question of Mr. Lincoln is--Are you in favor of acquiring +additional territory in disregard as to how such acquisition may affect +the Union on the slavery question? This question is very ingeniously and +cunningly put. The Black Republican crowd lays it down expressly that +under no circumstances shall we acquire any more territory unless +slavery is first prohibited in the country. I ask Mr. Lincoln whether he +is in favor of that proposition? Are you opposed to the acquisition +of any more territory, under any circumstances, unless slavery is +prohibited in it? That he does not like to answer. When I ask him +whether he stands up to that article in the platform of his party, he +turns, Yankee fashion, and, without answering it, asks me whether I am +in favor of acquiring territory without regard to how it may affect +the Union on the slavery question. I answer that, whenever it becomes +necessary, in our growth and progress, to acquire more territory, I am +in favor of it without reference to the question of slavery, and when +we have acquired it, I will leave the people free to do as they please, +either to make it slave or free territory, as they prefer. It is idle +to tell me or you that we have territory enough. * * * With our natural +increase, growing with a rapidity unknown in any other part of the +globe, with the tide of emigration that is fleeing from despotism in the +old world to seek refuge in our own, there is a constant torrent pouring +into this country that requires more land, more territory upon which +to settle; and just as fast as our interest and our destiny require +additional territory in the North, in the South, or in the islands of +the ocean, I am for it, and, when we acquire it, will leave the people, +according to the Nebraska bill, free to do as they please on the subject +of slavery and every other question. + +I trust now that Mr. Lincoln will deem him-self answered on his four +points. He racked his brain so much in devising these four questions +that he exhausted himself, and had not strength enough to invent the +others. As soon as he is able to hold a council with his advisers, +Love-joy, Farnsworth, and Fred Douglas, he will frame and propound +others ("Good," "good!"). You Black Republicans who say "good," I have +no doubt, think that they are all good men. I have reason to recollect +that some people in this country think that Fred Douglas is a very good +man. The last time I came here to make a speech, while talking from +a stand to you, people of Freeport, as I am doing to-day, I saw a +carriage, and a magnificent one it was, drive up and take a position on +the outside of the crowd; a beautiful young lady was sitting on the box +seat, whilst Fred Douglas and her mother reclined inside, and the owner +of the carriage acted as driver. I saw this in your own town. ("What +of it?") All I have to say of it is this, that if you Black Republicans +think that the negro ought to be on a social equality with your wives +and daughters, and ride in a carriage with your wife, whilst you drive +the team, you have a perfect right to do so. I am told that one of Fred +Douglas' kinsmen, another rich black negro, is now travelling in this +part of the State making speeches for his friend Lincoln as the champion +of black men. ("What have you to say against it?") All I have to say on +that subject is, that those of you who believe that the negro is your +equal, and ought to be on an equality with you socially, politically, +and legally, have a right to entertain those opinions, and of course +will vote for Mr. Lincoln. + + + + +WM. H. SEWARD, + +OF NEW YORK. (BORN 1801, DIED 1872.) + +ON THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT; + +ROCHESTER, OCTOBER 25, 1858. + + +THE unmistakable outbreaks of zeal which occur all around me, show that +you are earnest men--and such a man am I. Let us therefore, at least +for a time, pass all secondary and collateral questions, whether of a +personal or of a general nature, and consider the main subject of the +present canvass. The Democratic party, or, to speak more accurately, the +party which wears that attractive name--is in possession of the Federal +Government. The Republicans propose to dislodge that party, and dismiss +it from its high trust. + +The main subject, then, is, whether the Democratic party deserves to +retain the confidence of the American people. In attempting to prove +it unworthy, I think that I am not actuated by prejudices against that +party, or by pre-possessions in favor of its adversary; for I have +learned, by some experience, that virtue and patriotism, vice and +selfishness, are found in all parties, and that they differ less in +their motives than in the policies they pursue. + +Our country is a theatre, which exhibits, in full operation, two +radically different political systems; the one resting on the basis of +servile or slave labor, the other on voluntary labor of freemen. The +laborers who are enslaved are all negroes, or persons more or less +purely of African derivation. But this is only accidental. The principle +of the system is, that labor in every society, by whomsoever performed, +is necessarily unintellectual, grovelling and base; and that the +laborer, equally for his own good and for the welfare of the State, +ought to be enslaved. The white laboring man, whether native or +foreigner, is not enslaved, only because he cannot, as yet, be reduced +to bondage. + +You need not be told now that the slave system is the older of the two, +and that once it was universal. The emancipation of our own ancestors, +Caucasians and Europeans as they were, hardly dates beyond a period of +five hundred years. The great melioration of human society which modern +times exhibit, is mainly due to the incomplete substitution of the +system of voluntary labor for the one of servile labor, which has +already taken place. This African slave system is one which, in its +origin and in its growth, has been altogether foreign from the habits +of the races which colonized these States, and established civilization +here. It was introduced on this continent as an engine of conquest, and +for the establishment of monarchical power, by the Portuguese and the +Spaniards, and was rapidly extended by them all over South America, +Central America, Louisiana, and Mexico. Its legitimate fruits are seen +in the poverty, imbecility, and anarchy which now pervade all Portuguese +and Spanish America. The free-labor system is of German extraction, and +it was established in our country by emigrants from Sweden, Holland, +Germany, Great Britain and Ireland. We justly ascribe to its influences +the strength, wealth, greatness, intelligence, and freedom, which the +whole American people now enjoy. One of the chief elements of the value +of human life is freedom in the pursuit of happiness. The slave system +is not only intolerable, unjust, and inhuman, toward the laborer, whom, +only because he is a laborer, it loads down with chains and converts +into merchandise, but is scarcely less severe upon the freeman, to whom, +only because he is a laborer from necessity, it denies facilities for +employment, and whom it expels from the community because it cannot +enslave and convert into merchandise also. It is necessarily improvident +and ruinous, because, as a general truth, communities prosper and +flourish, or droop and decline, in just the degree that they practise +or neglect to practise the primary duties of justice and humanity. +The free-labor system conforms to the divine law of equality, which is +written in the hearts and consciences of man, and therefore is always +and everywhere beneficent. + +The slave system is one of constant danger, distrust, suspicion, and +watchfulness. It debases those whose toil alone can produce wealth and +resources for defence, to the lowest degree of which human nature is +capable, to guard against mutiny and insurrection, and thus wastes +energies which otherwise might be employed in national development and +aggrandizement. + +The free-labor system educates all alike, and by opening all the fields +of industrial employment and all the departments of authority, to the +unchecked and equal rivalry of all classes of men, at once secures +universal contentment, and brings into the highest possible activity all +the physical, moral, and social energies of the whole state. In states +where the slave system prevails, the masters, directly or indirectly, +secure all political power, and constitute a ruling aristocracy. +In states where the free-labor system prevails, universal suffrage +necessarily obtains, and the state inevitably becomes, sooner or later, +a republic or democracy. + +Russia yet maintains slavery, and is a despotism. Most of the other +European states have abolished slavery, and adopted the system of free +labor. It was the antagonistic political tendencies of the two systems +which the first Napoleon was contemplating when he predicted that Europe +would ultimately be either all Cossack or all republican. Never did +human sagacity utter a more pregnant truth. The two systems are at once +perceived to be incongruous. But they are more than incongruous--they +are incompatible. They never have permanently existed together in +one country, and they never can. It would be easy to demonstrate this +impossibility, from the irreconcilable contrast between their great +principles and characteristics. But the experience of mankind has +conclusively established it. Slavery, as I have already intimated, +existed in every state in Europe. Free labor has supplanted it +everywhere except in Russia and Turkey. State necessities developed in +modern times are now obliging even those two nations to encourage and +employ free labor; and already, despotic as they are, we find them +engaged in abolishing slavery. In the United States, slavery came into +collision with free labor at the close of the last century, and fell +before it in New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, +but triumphed over it effectually, and excluded it for a period yet +undetermined, from Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. Indeed, +so incompatible are the two systems, that every new State which is +organized within our ever-extending domain makes its first political act +a choice of the one and the exclusion of the other, even at the cost +of civil war, if necessary. The slave States, without law, at the last +national election, successfully forbade, within their own limits, even +the casting of votes for a candidate for President of the United States +supposed to be favorable to the establishment of the free-labor system +in new States. + +Hitherto, the two systems have existed in different States, but side by +side within the American Union. This has happened because the Union is +a confederation of States. But in another aspect the United States +constitute only one nation. Increase of population, which is filling +the States out to their very borders, together with a new and extended +network of railroads and other avenues, and an internal commerce which +daily becomes more intimate, is rapidly bringing the States into a +higher and more perfect social unity or consolidation. Thus, these +antagonistic systems are continually coming into closer contact, and +collision results. + +Shall I tell you what this collision means? They who think that it is +accidental, unnecessary, the work of interested or fanatical agitators, +and therefore ephemeral, mistake the case altogether. It is an +irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it +means that the United States must and will, sooner or later, become +either entirely a slave-holding nation, or entirely a free-labor nation. +Either the cotton- and rice-fields of South Carolina and the sugar +plantations of Louisiana will ultimately be tilled by free-labor, and +Charleston and New Orleans become marts of legitimate merchandise alone, +or else the rye-fields and wheat-fields of Massachusetts and New York +must again be surrendered by their farmers to slave culture and to the +production of slaves, and Boston and New York become once more markets +for trade in the bodies and souls of men. It is the failure to apprehend +this great truth that induces so many unsuccessful attempts at final +compromises between the slave and free States, and it is the existence +of this great fact that renders all such pretended compromises, when +made, vain and ephemeral. Startling as this saying may appear to you, +fellow-citizens, it is by no means an original or even a modern one. Our +forefathers knew it to be true, and unanimously acted upon it when +they framed the Constitution of the United States. They regarded the +existence of the servile system in so many of the States with sorrow and +shame, which they openly confessed, and they looked upon the collision +between them, which was then just revealing itself, and which we are now +accustomed to deplore, with favor and hope. They knew that one or the +other system must exclusively prevail. + +Unlike too many of those who in modern time invoke their authority, they +had a choice between the two. They preferred the system of free labor, +and they determined to organize the government, and so direct its +activity, that that system should surely and certainly prevail. For this +purpose, and no other, they based the whole structure of the government +broadly on the principle that all men are created equal, and therefore +free--little dreaming that, within the short period of one hundred +years, their descendants would bear to be told by any orator, however +popular, that the utterance of that principle was merely a rhetorical +rhapsody; or by any judge, however venerated, that it was attended by +mental reservation, which rendered it hypocritical and false. By the +ordinance of 1787, they dedicated all of the national domain not yet +polluted by slavery to free labor immediately, thenceforth and forever; +while by the new Constitution and laws they invited foreign free labor +from all lands under the sun, and interdicted the importation of African +slave labor, at all times, in all places, and under all circumstances +whatsoever. It is true that they necessarily and wisely modified this +policy of freedom by leaving it to the several States, affected as they +were by different circumstances, to abolish slavery in their own way and +at their own pleasure, instead of confiding that duty to Congress; and +that they secured to the slave States, while yet retaining the system +of slavery, a three-fifths representation of slaves in the Federal +Government, until they should find themselves able to relinquish it +with safety. But the very nature of these modifications fortifies my +position, that the fathers knew that the two systems could not endure +within the Union, and expected within a short period slavery would +disappear forever. Moreover, in order that these modifications might not +altogether defeat their grand design of a republic maintaining universal +equality, they provided that two thirds of the States might amend the +Constitution. + +It remains to say on this point only one word, to guard against +misapprehension. If these States are to again become universally +slave-holding, I do not pretend to say with what violations of the +Constitution that end shall be accomplished. On the other hand, while I +do confidently believe and hope that my country will yet become a land +of universal freedom, I do not expect that it will be made so otherwise +than through the action of the several States cooperating with the +Federal Government, and all acting in strict conformity with their +respective constitutions. + +The strife and contentions concerning slavery, which gently-disposed +persons so habitually deprecate, are nothing more than the ripening of +the conflict which the fathers themselves not only thus regarded with +favor, but which they may be said to have instituted. + +* * * I know--few, I think, know better than I--the resources and +energies of the Democratic party, which is identical with the slave +power. I do ample justice to its traditional popularity. I know +further--few, I think, know better than I--the difficulties and +disadvantages of organizing a new political force, like the Republican +party, and the obstacles it must encounter in laboring without prestige +and without patronage. But, understanding all this, I know that the +Democratic party must go down, and that the Republican party must rise +into its place. The Democratic party derived its strength, originally, +from its adoption of the principles of equal and exact justice to +all men. So long as it practised this principle faithfully, it was +invulnerable. It became vulnerable when it renounced the principle, +and since that time it has maintained itself, not by virtue of its own +strength, or even of its traditional merits, but because there as +yet had appeared in the political field no other party that had the +conscience and the courage to take up, and avow, and practise the +life-inspiring principle which the Democratic party had surrendered. +At last, the Republican party has appeared. It avows, now, as the +Republican party of 1800 did, in one word, its faith and its works, +"Equal and exact justice to all men." Even when it first entered the +field, only half organized, it struck a blow which only just failed to +secure complete and triumphant victory. In this, its second campaign, it +has already won advantages which render that triumph now both easy and +certain. + +The secret of its assured success lies in that very characteristic +which, in the mouth of scoffers, constitutes its great and lasting +imbecility and reproach. It lies in the fact that it is a party of +one idea; but that is a noble one--an idea that fills and expands all +generous souls; the idea of equality--the equality of all men before +human tribunals and human laws, as they all are equal before the Divine +tribunal and Divine laws. + +I know, and you know, that a revolution has begun. I know, and all the +world knows, that revolutions never go backward. Twenty Senators and a +hundred Representatives proclaim boldly in Congress to-day sentiments +and opinions and principles of freedom which hardly so many men, even +in this free State, dared to utter in their own homes twenty years ago. +While the Government of the United States, under the conduct of the +Democratic party, has been all that time surrendering one plain and +castle after another to slavery, the people of the United States have +been no less steadily and perseveringly gathering together the forces +with which to recover back again all the fields and all the castles +which have been lost, and to confound and overthrow, by one decisive +blow, the betrayers of the Constitution and freedom forever. + + + + + + +VI. -- SECESSION. + + +From the beginning of our history it has been a mooted question whether +we are to consider the United States as a political state or as a +congeries of political states, as a _Bundesstaat_ or as a _Staatenbund_. +The essence of the controversy seems to be contained in the very title +of the republic, one school laying stress on the word United, as the +other does on the word States. The phases of the controversy have been +beyond calculation, and one of its consequences has been a civil war of +tremendous energy and cost in blood and treasure. + +Looking at the facts alone of our history, one would be most apt to +conclude that the United States had been a political state from the +beginning, its form being entirely revolutionary until the final +ratification of the Articles of Confederation in 1781, then under the +very loose and inefficient government of the Articles until 1789, +and thereafter under the very efficient national government of the +Constitution; that, in the final transformation of 1787-9, there were +features which were also decidedly revolutionary; but that there was +no time when any of the colonies had the prospect or the power of +establishing a separate national existence of its own. The facts are +not consistent with the theory that the States ever were independent +political states, in any scientific sense. + +It cannot be said, however, that the actors in the history always had +a clear perception of the facts as they took place. In the teeth of the +facts, our early history presents a great variety of assertions of State +independence by leading men, State Legislatures, or State constitutions, +which still form the basis of the argument for State sovereignty. The +State constitutions declared the State to be sovereign and independent, +even though the framers knew that the existence of the State depended +on the issue of the national struggle against the mother country. The +treaty of 1783 with Great Britain recognized the States separately and +by name as "free, sovereign, and independent," even while it established +national boundaries outside of the States, covering a vast western +territory in which no State would have ventured to forfeit its +interest by setting up a claim to practical freedom, sovereignty, or +independence. All our early history is full of such contradictions +between fact and theory. They are largely obscured by the +undiscriminating use of the word "people." As used now, it usually means +the national people; but many apparently national phrases as to the +"sovereignty of the people," as they were used in 1787-9, would seem +far less national if the phraseology could show the feeling of those +who then used them that the "people" referred to was the people of +the State. In that case the number of the contradictions would be +indefinitely increased; and the phraseology of the Constitution's +preamble, "We, the people of the United States," would not be offered +as a consciously nationalizing phrase of its framers. It is hardly to +be doubted, from the current debates, that the conventions of +Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, Virginia, North +Carolina, and South Carolina, seven of the thirteen States, imagined and +assumed that each ratified the Constitution in 1788--90 by authority of +the State's people alone, by the State's sovereign will; while the facts +show that in each of these conventions a clear majority was coerced +into ratification by a strong minority in its own State, backed by +the unanimous ratifications of the other States. If ratification or +rejection had really been open to voluntary choice, to sovereign will, +the Constitution would never have had a moment's chance of life; so far +from being ratified by nine States as a condition precedent to going +into effect, it would have been summarily rejected by a majority of the +States. In the language of John Adams, the Constitution was "extorted +from the grinding necessities of a reluctant people." The theory of +State sovereignty was successfully contradicted by national necessities. + +The change from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution, +though it could not help antagonizing State sovereignty, was carefully +managed so as to do so as little as possible. As soon as the plans +by which the Federal party, under Hamilton's leadership, proposed to +develop the national features of the Constitution became evident, the +latent State feeling took fire. Its first symptom was the adoption +of the name Republican by the new opposition party which took form in +1792-3 under Jefferson's leadership. Up to this time the States had been +the only means through which Americans had known any thing of republican +government; they had had no share in the government of the mother +country in colonial times, and no efficient national government to take +part in under the Articles of Confederation. The claim of an exclusive +title to the name of Republican does not seem to have been fundamentally +an implication of monarchical tendencies against the Federalists so much +as an implication that they were hostile to the States, the familiar +exponents of republican government. When the Federalist majority in +Congress forced through, in the war excitement against France in 1798, +the Alien and Sedition laws, which practically empowered the President +to suppress all party criticism of and opposition to the dominant party, +the Legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia, in 1798-9, passed series of +resolutions, prepared by Jefferson and Madison respectively, which for +the first time asserted in plain terms the sovereignty of the +States. The two sets of resolutions agreed in the assertion that the +Constitution was a "compact," and that the States were the "parties" +which had formed it. In these two propositions lies the gist of State +sovereignty, of which all its remotest consequences are only natural +developments. If it were true that the States, of their sovereign will, +had formed such a compact; if it were not true that the adoption of +the Constitution was a mere alteration of the form of a political state +already in existence; it would follow, as the Kentucky resolutions +asserted, that each State had the exclusive right to decide for itself +when the compact had been broken, and the mode and measure of redress. +It followed, also, that, if the existence and force of the Constitution +in a State were due solely to the sovereign will of the State, the +sovereign will of the State was competent, on occasion, to oust the +Constitution from the jurisdiction covered by the State. In brief, the +Union was wholly voluntary in its formation and in its continuance; and +each State reserved the unquestionable right to secede, to abandon the +Union, and assume an independent existence whenever due reason, in +the exclusive judgment of the State, should arise. These latter +consequences, not stated in the Kentucky resolutions, and apparently not +contemplated by the Virginia resolutions, were put into complete form by +Professor Tucker, of the University of Virginia, in 1803, in the notes +to his edition of "Blackstone's Commentaries." Thereafter its statements +of American constitutional law controlled the political training of the +South. + +Madison held a modification of the State sovereignty theory, which has +counted among its adherents the mass of the ability and influence +of American authorities on constitutional law. Holding that the +Constitution was a compact, and that the States were the parties to it, +he held that one of the conditions of the compact was the abandonment +of State sovereignty; that the States were sovereign until 1787-8, but +thereafter only members of a political state, the United States. This +seems to have been the ground taken by Webster, in his debates with +Hayne and Calhoun. It was supported by the instances in which the +appearance of a sovereignty in each State was yielded in the fourteen +years before 1787; but, unfortunately for the theory, Calhoun was able +to produce instances exactly parallel after 1787. If the fact that each +State predicated its own sovereignty as an essential part of the steps +preliminary to the convention of 1787 be a sound argument for State +sovereignty before 1787, the fact that each State predicated its +sovereignty as an essential part of the ratification of the Constitution +must be taken as an equally sound argument for State sovereignty under +the Constitution; and it seems difficult, on the Madison theory, to +resist Calhoun's triumphant conclusion that, if the States went into the +convention as sovereign States, they came out of it as sovereign States, +with, of course, the right of secession. Calhoun himself had a sincere +desire to avoid the exercise of the right of secession, and it was as a +substitute for it that he evolved his doctrine of nullification, +which has been placed in the first volume. When it failed in 1833, the +exercise of the right of secession was the only remaining remedy for an +asserted breach of State sovereignty. + +The events which led up to the success of the Republican party in +electing Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency in 1860 are so intimately +connected with the anti-slavery struggle that they have been placed in +the preceding volume. They culminated in the first organized attempt to +put the right of secession to a practical test. The election of +Lincoln, the success of a "sectional party," and the evasion of the +fugitive-slave law through the passage of "personal-liberty laws" by +many of the Northern States, are the leading reasons assigned by South +Carolina for her secession in 1860. These were intelligible reasons, and +were the ones most commonly used to influence the popular vote. But all +the evidence goes to show that the leaders of secession were not so +weak in judgment as to run the hazards of war by reason of "injuries" +so minute as these. Their apprehensions were far broader, if less +calculated to influence a popular vote. In 1789 the proportions of +population and wealth in the two sections were very nearly equal. The +slave system of labor had hung as a clog upon the progress of the South, +preventing the natural development of manufactures and commerce, and +shutting out immigration. As the numerical disproportion between the two +sections increased, Southern leaders ceased to attempt to control the +House of Representatives, contenting themselves with balancing new +Northern with new Southern States, so as to keep an equal vote in the +Senate. Since 1845 this resource had failed. Five free States, Iowa, +Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, and Oregon, had been admitted, with no +new slave States; Kansas was calling almost imperatively for admission; +and there was no hope of another slave State in future. When the +election of 1860 demonstrated that the progress of the antislavery +struggle had united all the free States, it was evident that it was but +a question of time when the Republican party would control both +branches of Congress and the Presidency, and have the power to make laws +according to its own interpretation of the constitutional powers of the +Federal Government. + +The peril to slavery was not only the probable prohibition of the +inter-State slave-trade, though this itself would have been an event +which negro slavery in the South could hardly have long survived. The +more pressing danger lay in the results of such general Republican +success on the Supreme Court. The decision of that Court in the Dred +Scott case had fully sustained every point of the extreme Southern +claims as to the status of slavery in the Territories; it had held that +slaves were property in the view of the Constitution; that Congress +was bound to protect slave-holders in this property right in the +Territories, and, still more, bound not to prohibit slavery or allow a +Territorial Legislature to prohibit slavery in the Territories, and +that the Missouri compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional and void. +The Southern Democrats entered the election of 1860 with this distinct +decision of the highest judicial body of the country to back them. The +Republican party had refused to admit that the decision of the Dred +Scott case was law or binding. Given a Republican majority in both +Houses and a Republican President, there was nothing to hinder the +passage of a law increasing the number of Supreme Court justices to any +desired extent, and the new appointments would certainly be of such +a nature as to make the reversal of the Dred Scott decision an easy +matter. The election of 1860 had brought only a Republican President; +the majority in both Houses was to be against him until 1863 at least. +But the drift in the North and West was too plain to be mistaken, and it +was felt that 1860--would be the last opportunity for the Gulf States +to secede with dignity and with the prestige of the Supreme Court's +support. + +Finally, there seems to have been a strong feeling among the extreme +secessionists, who loved the right of secession for its own sake, that +the accelerating increase in the relative power of the North would soon +make secession, on any grounds, impossible. Unless the right was to be +forfeited by non-user, it must be established by practical exercise, and +at once. + +Until about 1825-9 Presidential electors were chosen in most of the +States by the Legislature. After that period the old practice was kept +up only in South Carolina. On election day of November, 1860, the +South Carolina Legislature was in session for the purpose of choosing +electors, but it continued its session after this duty was performed. As +soon as Lincoln's election was assured, the Legislature called a State +Convention for Dec. 17th, took the preliminary steps toward putting the +State on a war footing, and adjourned. The convention met at the State +capital, adjourned to Charleston, and here, Dec. 20, 1860, passed +unanimously an Ordinance of Secession. By its terms the people of South +Carolina, in convention assembled, repealed the ordinance of May 23, +1788, by which the Constitution had been ratified, and all Acts of the +Legislature ratifying amendments to the Constitution, and declared the +union between the State and other States, under the name of the United +States of America, to be dissolved. By a similar process, similar +ordinances were adopted by the State Conventions of Mississippi (Jan. +9th), Florida (Jan. 10th), Alabama (Jan. 11th), Georgia (Jan. 19th), +Louisiana (Jan. 25th), and Texas (Feb. 1st),--seven States in all. + +Outside of South Carolina, the struggle in the States named turned on +the calling of the convention; and in this matter the opposition was +unexpectedly strong. We have the testimony of Alexander H. Stephens that +the argument most effective in overcoming the opposition to the calling +of a convention was: "We can make better terms out of the Union than in +it." The necessary implication was that secession was not to be final; +that it was only to be a temporary withdrawal until terms of compromise +and security for the fugitive-slave law and for slavery in the +Territories could be extorted from the North and West. The argument soon +proved to be an intentional sham. + +There has always been a difference between the theory of the State +Convention at the North and at the South. At the North, barring a few +very exceptional cases, the rule has been that no action of a State +Convention is valid until confirmed by popular vote. At the South, in +obedience to the strictest application of State sovereignty, the action +of the State Convention was held to be the voice of the people of the +State, which needed no popular ratification. There was, therefore, +no remedy when the State Conventions, after passing the ordinances of +secession, went on to appoint delegates to a Confederate Congress, which +met at Montgomery, Feb. 4, 1861, adopted a provisional constitution +Feb. 8th, and elected a President and Vice-President Feb. 9th. The +conventions ratified the provisional constitution and adjourned, their +real object having been completely accomplished; and the people of +the several seceding States, by the action of their omnipotent State +Conventions, and without their having a word to say about it, found +themselves under a new government, totally irreconcilable with the +jurisdiction of the United States, and necessarily hostile to it. The +only exception was Texas, whose State Convention had been called in +a method so utterly revolutionary that it was felt to be necessary to +condone its defects by a popular vote. + +No declaration had ever been made by any authority that the erection of +such hostile power within the national boundaries of the United +States would be followed by war; such a declaration would hardly seem +necessary. The recognition of the original national boundaries of +the United States had been extorted from Great Britain by successful +warfare. They had been extended by purchase from France and Spain in +1803 and 1819, and again by war from Mexico in 1848. The United States +stood ready to guarantee their integrity by war against all the rest of +the world; was an ordinance of South Carolina, or the election of a _de +facto_ government within Southern borders, likely to receive different +treatment than was given British troops at Bunker Hill, or Santa Anna's +lancers at Buena Vista? Men forgot that the national boundaries had been +so drawn as to include Vermont before Vermont's admission and without +Vermont's consent; that unofficial propositions to divide Rhode Island +between Connecticut and Massachusetts, to embargo commerce with North +Carolina, and demand her share of the Confederation debt, had in 1789-90 +been a sufficient indication that it was easier for a State to get into +the American Union than to get out of it. It was a fact, nevertheless, +that the national power to enforce the integrity of the Union had never +been formally declared; and the mass of men in the South, even though +they denied the expediency, did not deny the right of secession, or +acknowledge the right of coercion by the Federal Government. To reach +the original area of secession with land-forces, it was necessary for +the Federal Government to cross the Border States, whose people in +general were no believers in the right of coercion. The first attempt +to do so extended the secession movement by methods which were far more +openly revolutionary than the original secessions. North Carolina and +Arkansas seceded in orthodox fashion as soon as President Lincoln called +for volunteers after the capture of Fort Sumter. The State governments +of Virginia and Tennessee concluded "military leagues" with the +Confederacy, allowed Confederate troops to take possession of their +States, and then submitted an ordinance of secession to the form of +a popular vote. The State officers of Missouri were chased out of the +State before they could do more than begin this process. In Maryland, +the State government arrayed itself successfully against secession. + +In selecting the representative opinions for this period, all the +marked shades of opinion have been respected, both the Union and the +anti-coercion sentiment of the Border States, the extreme secession +spirit of the Gulf States, and, from the North, the moderate and the +extreme Republican, and the orthodox Democratic, views. The feeling of +the so-called "peace Democrats" of the North differed so little from +those of Toombs or Iverson that it has not seemed advisable to do more +than refer to Vallandigham's speech in opposition to the war, under the +next period. + + + + +JOHN PARKER HALE, + +OF NEW HAMPSHIRE (BORN 1806, DIED 1873.) + +ON SECESSION; MODERATE REPUBLICAN OPINION; + +IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, DECEMBER 5, 1860. + + +MR. PRESIDENT: + +I was very much in hopes when the message was presented that it would be +a document which would commend itself cordially to somebody. I was not +so sanguine about its pleasing myself, but I was in hopes that it would +be one thing or another. I was in hopes that the President would have +looked in the face the crisis in which he says the country is, and that +his message would be either one thing or another. But, sir, I have read +it somewhat carefully. I listened to it as it was read at the desk; and, +if I understand it--and I think I do--it is this: South Carolina has +just cause for seceding from the Union; that is the first proposition. +The second is, that she has no right to secede. The third is, that we +have no right to prevent her from seceding. That is the President's +message, substantially. He goes on to represent this as a great and +powerful country, and that no State has a right to secede from it; but +the power of the country, if I understand the President, consists in +what Dickens makes the English constitution to be--a power to do nothing +at all. + +Now, sir, I think it was incumbent upon the President of the United +States to point out definitely and recommend to Congress some rule +of action, and to tell us what he recommended us to do. But, in my +judgment, he has entirely avoided it. He has failed to look the thing +in the face. He has acted like the ostrich, which hides her head and +thereby thinks to escape danger. Sir, the only way to escape danger +is to look it in the face. I think the country did expect from the +President some exposition of a decided policy; and I confess that, +for one, I was rather indifferent as to what that policy was that he +recommended; but I hoped that it would be something; that it would be +decisive. He has utterly failed in that respect. + +I think we may as well look this matter right clearly in the face; and +I am not going to be long about doing it. I think that this state of +affairs looks to one of two things: it looks to absolute submission, not +on the part of our Southern friends and the Southern States, but of the +North, to the abandonment of their position,--it looks to a surrender +of that popular sentiment which has been uttered through the constituted +forms of the ballot-box, or it looks to open war. We need not shut our +eyes to the fact. It means war, and it means nothing else; and the State +which has put herself in the attitude of secession, so looks upon it. +She has asked no council, she has considered it as a settled question, +and she has armed herself. As I understand the aspect of affairs, +it looks to that, and it looks to nothing else except unconditional +submission on the part of the majority. I did not read the paper--I do +not read many papers--but I understand that there was a remedy suggested +in a paper printed, I think, in this city, and it was that the President +and the Vice-President should be inaugurated (that would be a great +concession!) and then, being inaugurated, they should quietly resign! +Well, sir, I am not entirely certain that that would settle the +question. I think that after the President and Vice-President-elect had +resigned, there would be as much difficulty in settling who was to take +their places as there was in settling it before. + +I do not wish, sir, to say a word that shall increase any irritation; +that shall add any feeling of bitterness to the state of things which +really exists in the country, and I would bear and forbear before I +would say any thing which would add to this bitterness. But I tell you, +sir, the plain, true way is to look this thing in the face--see where we +are. And I avow here--I do not know whether or not I shall be sustained +by those who usually act with me--if the issue which is presented is +that the constitutional will of the public opinion of this country, +expressed through the forms of the Constitution, will not be submitted +to, and war is the alternative, let it come in any form or in any shape. +The Union is dissolved and it cannot be held together as a Union, if +that is the alternative upon which we go into an election. If it is +pre-announced and determined that the voice of the majority, expressed +through the regular and constituted forms of the Constitution, will not +be submitted to, then, sir, this is not a Union of equals; it is a Union +of a dictatorial oligarchy on one side, and a herd of slaves and cowards +on the other. That is it, sir; nothing more, nothing less. * * * + + + + +ALFRED IVERSON, + +OF GEORGIA. (BORN 1798, DIED 1874.) + +ON SECESSION; SECESSIONIST OPINION; + +IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, DECEMBER 5, 1860 + + +I do not rise, Mr. President, for the purpose of entering,at any length +into this discussion, or to defend the President's message, which +has been attacked by the Senator from New Hampshire.* I am not the +mouth-piece of the President. While I do not agree with some portions +of the message, and some of the positions that have been taken by the +President, I do not perceive all the inconsistencies in that document +which the Senator from New Hampshire has thought proper to present. + +It is true, that the President denies the constitutional right of a +State to secede from the Union; while, at the same time, he also states +that this Federal Government has no constitutional right to enforce or +to coerce a State back into the Union which may take upon itself the +responsibility of secession. I do not see any inconsistency in that. +The President may be right when he asserts the fact that no State has a +constitutional right to secede from the Union. I do not myself place the +right of a State to secede from the Union upon constitutional grounds. I +admit that the Constitution has not granted that power to a State. It is +exceedingly doubtful even whether the right has been reserved. Certainly +it has not been reserved in express terms. I therefore do not place +the expected action of any of the Southern States, in the present +contingency, upon the constitutional right of secession; and I am not +prepared to dispute therefore, the, position which the President has +taken upon that point. + +I rather agree with the President that the secession of a State is +an act of revolution taken through that particular means or by that +particular measure. It withdraws from the Federal compact, disclaims any +further allegiance to it, and sets itself up as a separate government, +an independent State. The State does it at its peril, of course, because +it may or may not be cause of war by the remaining States composing the +Federal Government. If they think proper to consider it such an act +of disobedience, or if they consider that the policy of the Federal +Government be such that it cannot submit to this dismemberment, why then +they may or may not make war if they choose upon the seceding States. It +will be a question of course for the Federal Government or the remaining +States to decide for themselves, whether they will permit a State to +go out of the Union, and remain as a separate and independent State, or +whether they will attempt to force her back at the point of the bayonet. +That is a question, I presume, of policy and expediency, which will be +considered by the remaining States composing the Federal Government, +through their organ, the Federal Government, whenever the contingency +arises. + +But, sir, while a State has no power, under the Constitution, conferred +upon it to secede from the Federal Government or from the Union, each +State has the right of revolution, which all admit. Whenever the burdens +of the government under which it acts become so onerous that it cannot +bear them, or if anticipated evil shall be so great that the +State believes it would be better off--even risking the perils of +secession--out of the Union than in it, then that State, in my +opinion, like all people upon earth has the right to exercise the +great fundamental principle of self-preservation, and go out of the +Union--though, of course, at its own peril--and bear the risk of the +consequences. And while no State may have the constitutional right to +secede from the Union, the President may not be wrong when he says the +Federal Government has no power under the Constitution to compel the +State to come back into the Union. It may be a _casus omissus_ in the +Constitution; but I should like to know where the power exists in the +Constitution of the United States to authorize the Federal Government +to coerce a sovereign State. It does not exist in terms, at any rate, in +the Constitution. I do not think there is any inconsistency, therefore, +between the two positions of the President in the message upon these +particular points. + +The only fault I have to find with the message of the President, is the +inconsistency of another portion. He declares that, as the States have +no power to secede, the Federal Government is in fact a consolidated +government; that it is not a voluntary association of States. I deny it. +It was a voluntary association of States. No State was ever forced to +come into the Federal Union. Every State came voluntarily into it. +It was an association, a voluntary association of States; and the +President's position that it is not a voluntary association is, in my +opinion, altogether wrong. + +But whether that be so or not, the President declares and assumes that +this government is a consolidated government to this extent: that all +the laws of the Federal Government are to operate directly upon each +individual of the States, if not upon the States themselves, and must +be enforced; and yet, at the same time, he says that the State which +secedes is not to be coerced. He says that the laws of the United States +must be enforced against every individual of a State. + +Of course, the State is composed of individuals within its limits, +and if you enforce the laws and obligations of the Federal Government +against each and every individual of the State, you enforce them against +a State. While, therefore, he says that a State is not to be coerced, he +declares, in the same breath, his determination to enforce the laws of +the Union, and therefore to coerce the State if a State goes out. There +is the inconsistency, according to my idea, which I do not see how the +President or anybody else can reconcile. That the Federal Government is +to enforce its laws over the seceding State, and yet not coerce her into +obedience, is to me incomprehensible. + +But I did not rise, Mr. President, to discuss these questions in +relation to the message; I rose in behalf of the State that I represent, +as well as other Southern States that are engaged in this movement, to +accept the issue which the Senator from New Hampshire has seen fit to +tender--that is, of war. Sir, the Southern States now moving in this +matter are not doing it without due consideration. We have looked over +the whole field. We believe that the only security for the institution +to which we attach so much importance is secession and a Southern +confederacy. We are satisfied, notwithstanding the disclaimers upon the +part of the Black Republicans to the contrary, that they intend to +use the Federal power, when they get possession of it, to put down and +extinguish the institution of slavery in the Southern States. I do not +intend to enter upon the discussion of that point. That, however, is +my opinion. It is the opinion of a large majority of those with whom I +associate at home, and I believe of the Southern people. Believing that +this is the intention and object, the ultimate aim and design, of the +Republican party, the Abolitionists of the North, we do not intend to +stay in this Union until we shall become so weak that we shall not be +able to resist when the time comes for resistance. Our true policy is +the one which we have made up our minds to follow. Our true policy is to +go out of this Union now, while we have strength to resist any attempt +on the part of the Federal Government to coerce us. * * * + +We intend, Mr. President, to go out peaceably if we can, forcibly if we +must; but I do not believe, with the Senator from New Hampshire, that +there is going to be any war. If five or eight States go out, they will +necessarily draw all the other Southern States after them. That is a +consequence that nothing can prevent. If five or eight States go out +of this Union, I should like to see the man that would propose a +declaration of war against them, or attempt to force them into obedience +to the Federal Government at the point of the bayonet or the sword. + +Sir, there has been a good deal of vaporing on this subject. A great +many threats have been thrown out. I have heard them on this floor, and +upon the floor of the other House of Congress; but I have also perceived +this: they come from those who would be the very last men to attempt +to put their threats into execution. Men talk sometimes about their +eighteen million who are to whip us; and yet we have heard of cases in +which just such men had suffered themselves to be switched in the +face, and trembled like sheep-stealing dogs, expecting to be shot every +minute. These threats generally come from men who would be the last to +execute them. Some of these Northern editors talk about whipping the +Southern States like spaniels. Brave words; but I venture to assert none +of those men would ever volunteer to command an army to be sent down +South to coerce us into obedience to Federal power. * * * + +But, sir, I apprehend that when we go out and form our confederacy--as +I think and hope we shall do very shortly--the Northern States, or the +Federal Government, will see its true policy to be to let us go in peace +and make treaties of commerce and amity with us, from which they will +derive more advantages than from any attempt to coerce us. They cannot +succeed in coercing us. If they allow us to form our government without +difficulty, we shall be very willing to look upon them as a favored +nation and give them all the advantages of commercial and amicable +treaties. I have no doubt that both of us--certainly the Southern +States--would live better, more happily, more prosperously, and with +greater friendship, than we live now in this Union. + +Sir, disguise the fact as you will, there is an enmity between the +Northern and Southern people that is deep and enduring, and you never +can eradicate it--never! Look at the spectacle exhibited on this floor. +How is it? There are the Republican Northern Senators upon that side. +Here are the Southern Senators on this side. How much social intercourse +is there between us? You sit upon your side, silent and gloomy; we sit +upon ours with knit brows and portentous scowls. Yesterday I observed +that there was not a solitary man on that side of the Chamber came over +here even to extend the civilities and courtesies of life; nor did any +of us go over there. Here are two hostile bodies on this floor; and it +is but a type of the feeling that exists between the two sections. We +are enemies as much as if we were hostile States. I believe that the +Northern people hate the South worse than ever the English people hated +France; and I can tell my brethren over there that there is no love lost +upon the part of the South. + +In this state of feeling, divided as we are by interest, by a +geographical feeling, by every thing that makes two people separate and +distinct, I ask why we should remain in the same Union together? We have +not lived in peace; we are not now living in peace. It is not expected +or hoped that we shall ever live in peace. My doctrine is that whenever +even man and wife find that they must quarrel, and cannot live in +peace, they ought to separate; and these two sections--the North and +South--manifesting, as they have done and do now, and probably will ever +manifest, feelings of hostility, separated as they are in interests and +objects, my own opinion is they can never live in peace; and the sooner +they separate the better. + +Sir, these sentiments I have thrown out crudely I confess, and upon the +spur of the occasion. I should not have opened my mouth but that the +Senator from New Hampshire seemed to show a spirit of bravado, as if +he intended to alarm and scare the Southern States into a retreat from +their movements. He says that war is to come, and you had better take +care, therefore. That is the purport of his language; of course those +are not his words; but I understand him very well, and everybody else, +I apprehend, understands him that war is threatened, and therefore the +South had better look out. Sir, I do not believe that there will be any +war; but if war is to come, let it come. We will meet the Senator +from New Hampshire and all the myrmidons of Abolitionism and Black +Republicanism everywhere, upon our own soil; and in the language of a +distinguished member from Ohio in relation to the Mexican War, we will +"welcome you with bloody hands to hospitable graves." + + + + +BENJAMIN WADE, + +OF OHIO, (BORN 1800, DIED 1878.) + +ON SECESSION, AND THE STATE OF THE UNION; REPUBLICAN OPINION; + +SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, DECEMBER 17, 1860. + + +MR. PRESIDENT: + +At a time like this, when there seems to be a wild and unreasoning +excitement in many parts of the country, I certainly have very little +faith in the efficacy of any argument that may be made; but at the +same time, I must say, when I hear it stated by many Senators in this +Chamber, where we all raised our hands to Heaven, and took a solemn oath +to support the Constitution of the United States, that we are on the +eve of a dissolution of this Union, and that the Constitution is to be +trampled under foot--silence under such circumstances seems to me akin +to treason itself. + +I have listened to the complaints on the other side patiently, and with +an ardent desire to ascertain what was the particular difficulty under +which they were laboring. Many of those who have supposed themselves +aggrieved have spoken; but I confess that I am now totally unable to +understand precisely what it is of which they complain. Why, sir, the +party which lately elected their President, and are prospectively to +come into power, have never held an executive office under the General +Government, nor has any individual of them. It is most manifest, +therefore, that the party to which I belong have as yet committed no act +of which anybody can complain. If they have fears as to the course that +we may hereafter pursue, they are mere apprehensions--a bare suspicion; +arising, I fear, out of their unwarrantable prejudices, and nothing +else. + +I wish to ascertain at the outset whether we are right; for I tell +gentlemen that, if they can convince me that I am holding any political +principle that is not warranted by the Constitution under which we live, +or that trenches upon their rights, they need not ask me to compromise +it. I will be ever ready to grant redress, and to right myself whenever +I am wrong. No man need approach me with a threat that the Government +under which I live is to be destroyed; because I hope I have now, and +ever shall have, such a sense of justice that, when any man shows +me that I am wrong, I shall be ready to right it without price or +compromise. + +Now, sir, what is it of which gentlemen complain? When I left my home in +the West to come to this place, all was calm, cheerful, and contented. +I heard of no discontent. I apprehended that there was nothing to +interrupt the harmonious course of our legislation. I did not learn +that, since we adjourned from this place at the end of the last session, +there had been any new fact intervening that should at all disturb the +public mind. I do not know that there has been any encroachment upon +the rights of any section of the country since that time; I came here, +therefore, expecting to have a very harmonious session. It is very true, +sir, that the great Republican party which has been organized ever since +you repealed the Missouri Compromise, and who gave you, four years ago, +full warning that their growing strength would probably result as it +has resulted, have carried the late election; but I did not suppose that +would disturb the equanimity of this body. I did suppose that every man +who was observant of the signs of the times might well see that things +would result as they have resulted. Nor do I understand now that +anything growing out of that election is the cause of the present +excitement that pervades the country. + +Why, Mr. President, this is a most singular state of things. Who is it +that is complaining? They that have been in a minority? They that have +been the subjects of an oppressive and aggressive Government? No, sir. +Let us suppose that when the leaders of the old glorious Revolution met +at Philadelphia eighty-four years ago to draw up a bill of indictment +against a wicked King and his ministers, they had been at a loss what +they should set forth as the causes of their complaint. They had +no difficulty in setting them forth so that the great article of +impeachment will go down to all posterity as a full justification of all +the acts they did. But let us suppose that, instead of its being these +old patriots who had met there to dissolve their connection with the +British Government, and to trample their flag under foot, it had +been the ministers of the Crown, the leading members of the British +Parliament, of the dominant party that had ruled Great Britain for +thirty years previous: who would not have branded every man of them as a +traitor? It would be said: "You who have had the Government in your own +hands: you who have been the ministers of the Crown, advising everything +that has been done, set up here that you have been oppressed and +aggrieved by the action of that very Government which you have directed +yourselves." Instead of a sublime revolution, the uprising of an +oppressed people, ready to battle against unequal power for their +rights, it would have been an act of treason. + +How is it with the leaders of this modern revolution? Are they in a +position to complain of the action of this Government for years past? +Why, sir, they have had more than two-thirds of the Senate for many +years past, and until very recently, and have almost that now. You--who +complain, I ought to say--represent but a little more than one-fourth of +the free people of these United States, and yet your counsels prevail, +and have prevailed all along for at least ten years past. In the +Cabinet, in the Senate of the United States, in the Supreme Court, in +every department of the Government, your officers, or those devoted to +you, have been in the majority, and have dictated all the policies of +this Government. Is it not strange, sir, that they who now occupy these +positions should come here and complain that their rights are stricken +down by the action of the Government? + +But what has caused this great excitement that undoubtedly prevails in a +portion of our country? If the newspapers are to be credited, there is +a reign of terror in all the cities and large towns in the southern +portion of this community that looks very much like the reign of terror +in Paris during the French revolution. There are acts of violence that +we read of almost every day, wherein the rights of northern men are +stricken down, where they are sent back with indignities, where they are +scourged, tarred, feathered, and murdered, and no inquiry made as to +the cause. I do not suppose that the regular Government, in times of +excitement like these, is really responsible for such acts. I know that +these outbreaks of passion, these terrible excitements that sometimes +pervade the community, are entirely irrepressible by the law of the +country. I suppose that is the case now; because if these outrages +against northern citizens were really authorized by the State +authorities there, were they a foreign Government, everybody knows, if +it were the strongest Government on earth, we should declare war upon +her in one day. + +But what has caused this great excitement? Sir, I will tell you what I +suppose it is. I do not (and I say it frankly) so much blame the people +of the South; because they believe, and they are led to believe by all +the information that ever comes before them, that we, the dominant party +to-day, who have just seized upon the reins of this Government, are +their mortal enemies, and stand ready to trample their institutions +under foot. They have been told so by our enemies at the North. Their +misfortune, or their fault, is that they have lent a too easy ear to the +insinuations of those who are our mortal enemies, while they would not +hear us. + +Now I wish to inquire, in the first place, honestly, candidly, and +fairly, whether the Southern gentlemen on the other side of the Chamber +that complain so much, have any reasonable grounds for that complaint--I +mean when they are really informed as to our position. + +Northern Democrats have sometimes said that we had personal liberty +bills in some few of the States of the North, which somehow trenched +upon the rights of the South under the fugitive bill to recapture their +runaway slaves; a position that in not more than two or three cases, +so far as I can see, has the slightest foundation in fact; and even if +those where it is most complained of, if the provisions of their law are +really repugnant to that of the United States, they are utterly void, +and the courts would declare them so the moment you brought them up. +Thus it is that I am glad to hear the candor of those gentlemen on the +other side, that they do not complain of these laws. The Senator from +Georgia (Mr. Iverson) himself told us that they had never suffered any +injury, to his knowledge and belief, from those bills, and they cared +nothing about them. The Senator from Virginia (Mr. Mason) said the same +thing; and, I believe, the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Brown). +You all, then, have given up this bone of contention, this matter of +complaint which Northern men have set forth as a grievance more than +anybody else. + +Mr. Mason. Will the Senator indulge me one moment. + +Mr. Wade. Certainly. + +Mr. Mason. I know he does not intend to misrepresent me or other +gentlemen. What I said was, that the repeal of those laws would furnish +no cause of satisfaction to the Southern States. Our opinions of those +laws we gave freely. We said the repeal of those laws would give no +satisfaction. + +Mr. Wade. Mr. President, I do not intend to misrepresent anything. I +understood those gentlemen to suppose that they had not been injured by +them. I understood the Senator from Virginia to believe that they were +enacted in a spirit of hostility to the institutions of the South, and +to object to them not because the acts themselves had done them any +hurt, but because they were really a stamp of degradation upon Southern +men, or something like that--I do not quote his words. The other +Senators that referred to it probably intended to be understood in the +same way; but they did acquit these laws of having done them injury to +their knowledge or belief. + +I do not believe that these laws were, as the Senator supposed, enacted +with a view to exasperate the South, or to put them in a position of +degradation. Why, sir, these laws against kidnapping are as old as the +common law itself, as that Senator well knows. To take a freeman and +forcibly carry him out of the jurisdiction of the State, has ever been, +by all civilized countries, adjudged to be a great crime; and in most of +them, wherever I have understood anything about it, they have penal +laws to punish such an offence. I believe the State of Virginia has one +to-day as stringent in all its provisions as almost any other of which +you complain. I have not looked over the statute-books of the South; but +I do not doubt that there will be found this species of legislation upon +all your statute-books. + +Here let me say, because the subject occurs to me right here, the +Senator from Virginia seemed not so much to point out any specific acts +that Northern people had done injurious to your property as, what he +took to be a dishonor and a degradation. I think I feel as sensitive +upon that subject as any other man. If I know myself, I am the last man +that would be the advocate of any law or any act that would humiliate or +dishonor any section of this country, or any individual in it; and, on +the other hand, let me tell these gentlemen I am exceedingly sensitive +upon that same point, whatever they may think about it. I would +rather sustain an injury than an insult or dishonor; and I would be +as unwilling to inflict it upon others as I would be to submit to it +myself. I never will do either the one or the other if I know it. + + * * * * * + +I know that charges have been made and rung in our ears, and reiterated +over and over again, that we have been unfaithful in the execution of +your fugitive bill. Sir, that law is exceedingly odious to any free +people. It deprives us of all the old guarantees of liberty that the +Anglo-Saxon race everywhere have considered sacred--more sacred than +anything else. + + * * * * * + +Mr. President, the gentleman says, if I understood him, that these +fugitives might be turned over to the authorities of the State from +whence they came. That would be a very poor remedy for a free man in +humble circumstances who was taken under the provisions of this bill in +a summary way, to be carried--where? Where he came from? There is no law +that requires that he should be carried there. Sir, if he is a free man +he may be carried into the market-place anywhere in a slave State; and +what chance has he, a poor, ignorant individual, and a stranger, +of asserting any rights there, even if there were no prejudices or +partialities against him? That would be mere mockery of justice and +nothing else, and the Senator well knows it. Sir, I know that from the +stringent, summary provisions of this bill, free men have been kidnapped +and carried into captivity and sold into everlasting slavery. Will any +man who has a regard to the sovereign rights of the State rise here and +complain that a State shall not make a law to protect her own people +against kidnapping and violent seizures from abroad? Of all men, I +believe those who have made most of these complaints should be the +last to rise and deny the power of a sovereign State to protect her own +citizens against any Federal legislation whatever. These liberty bills, +in my judgment, have been passed, not with a view of degrading the +South, but with an honest purpose of guarding the rights of their own +citizens from unlawful seizures and abductions. I was exceedingly glad +to hear that the Senators on the other side had arisen in their places +and had said that the repeal of those laws would not relieve the case +from the difficulties under which they now labor. + + * * * * * + +Gentlemen, it will be very well for us all to take a view of all the +phases of this controversy before we come to such conclusions as seem to +have been arrived at in some quarters. I make the assertion here that I +do not believe, in the history of the world, there ever was a nation or +a people where a law repugnant to the general feeling was ever executed +with the same faithfulness as has been your most savage and atrocious +fugitive bill in the North. You yourselves can scarcely point out any +case that has come before any northern tribunal in which the law has not +been enforced to the very letter. You ought to know these facts, and you +do know them. You all know that when a law is passed anywhere to bind +any people, who feel, in conscience, or for any other reason, opposed +to its execution, it is not in human nature to enforce it with the same +certainty as a law that meets with the approbation of the great mass of +the citizens. Every rational man understands this, and every candid man +will admit it. Therefore it is that I do not violently impeach you for +your unfaithfulness in the execution of many of your laws. You have in +South Carolina a law by which you take free citizens of Massachusetts +or any other maritime State, who visit the city of Charleston, and lock +them up in jail under the penalty, if they cannot pay the jail-fees, of +eternal slavery staring them in the face--a monstrous law, revolting +to the best feelings of humanity and violently in conflict with +the Constitution of the United States. I do not say this by way of +recrimination; for the excitement pervading the country is now so great +that I do not wish to add a single coal to the flame; but nevertheless I +wish the whole truth to appear. + + * * * * * + +Now, Mr. President, I have shown, I think, that the dominant majority +here have nothing to complain of in the legislation of Congress, or in +the legislation of any of the States, or in the practice of the people +of the North, under the fugitive slave bill, except so far as they say +certain State legislation furnishes some evidence of hostility to their +institutions. And here, sir, I beg to make an observation. I tell the +Senator, and I tell all the Senators, that the Republican party of the +Northern States, so far as I know, and of my own State in particular, +hold the same opinions with regard to this peculiar institution of +yours that are held by all the civilized nations of the world. We do not +differ from the public sentiment of England, of France, of Germany, of +Italy, and every other civilized nation on God's earth; and I tell you +frankly that you never found, and you never will find, a free community +that are in love with your peculiar institution. The Senator from Texas +(Mr. Wigfall) told us the other day that cotton was king, and that by +its influence it would govern all creation. He did not say so in words, +but that was the substance of his remark: that cotton was king, and that +it had its subjects in Europe who dared not rebel against it. Here let +me say to that Senator, in passing, that it turns out that they are +very rebellious subjects, and they are talking very disrespectfully at +present of that king that he spoke of. They defy you to exercise your +power over them. They tell you that they sympathize in this controversy +with what you call the black Republicans. Therefore, I hope that, so +far as Europe is concerned at least, we shall hear no more of this boast +that cotton is king; and that he is going to rule all the civilized +nations of the world, and bring them to his footstool. Sir, it will +never be done. + +But, sir, I wish to inquire whether the Southern people are injured by, +or have any just right to complain of that platform of principles that +we put out, and on which we have elected a President and Vice-President. +I have no concealments to make, and I shall talk to you, my Southern +friends, precisely as I would talk upon the stump on the subject. I tell +you that in that platform we did lay it down that we would, if we had +the power, prohibit slavery from another inch of free territory under +this Government. I stand on that position to-day. I have argued +it probably to half a million people. They stand there, and have +commissioned and enjoined me to stand there forever; and, so help me +God, I will. I say to you frankly, gentlemen, that while we hold this +doctrine, there is no Republican, there is no convention of Republicans, +there is no paper that speaks for them, there is no orator that sets +forth their doctrines, who ever pretends that they have any right in +your States to interfere with your peculiar institution; but, on the +other hand, our authoritative platform repudiates the idea that we have +any right or any intention ever to invade your peculiar institution in +your own States. + +Now, what do you complain of? You are going to break up this Government; +you are going to involve us in war and blood, from a mere suspicion that +we shall justify that which we stand everywhere pledged not to do. +Would you be justified in the eyes of the civilized world in taking +so monstrous a position, and predicating it on a bare, groundless +suspicion? We do not love slavery. Did you not know that before to-day, +before this session commenced? Have you not a perfect confidence that +the civilized world is against you on this subject of loving slavery +or believing that it is the best institution in the world? Why, sir, +everything remains precisely as it was a year ago. No great catastrophe +has occurred. There is no recent occasion to accuse us of anything. +But all at once, when we meet here, a kind of gloom pervades the whole +community and the Senate Chamber. Gentlemen rise and tell us that they +are on the eve of breaking up this Government, that seven or eight +States are going to break off their connection with the Government, +retire from the Union, and set up a hostile government of their own, and +they look imploringly over to us, and say to us: "You can prevent it; we +can do nothing to prevent it; but it all lies with you." Well, sir, what +can we do to prevent it? You have not even condescended to tell us what +you want; but I think I see through the speeches that I have heard from +gentlemen on the other side. If we would give up the verdict of the +people, and take your platform, I do not know but you would be satisfied +with it. I think the Senator from Texas rather intimated, and I think +the Senator from Georgia more than intimated, that if we would take what +is exactly the Charleston platform on which Mr. Breckenridge was placed, +and give up that on which we won our victory, you would grumblingly and +hesitatingly be satisfied. + +Mr. Iverson. I would prefer that the Senator would look over my remarks +before quoting them so confidently. I made no such statement as that. I +did not say that I would be satisfied with any such thing. I would not +be satisfied with it. + +Mr. Wade. I did not say that the Senator said so; but by construction I +gathered that from his speech. I do not know that I was right in it. + +Mr. Iverson. The Senator is altogether wrong in his construction. + +Mr. Wade. Well, sir, I have now found what the Senator said on the other +point to which he called my attention a little while ago. Here it is: + +"Nor do we suppose that there will be any overt acts upon the part of +Mr. Lincoln. For one, I do not dread these overt acts. I do not propose +to wait for them. Why, sir, the power of this Federal Government could +be so exercised against the institution of slavery in the Southern +States, as that, without an overt act, the institution would not last +ten years. We know that, sir; and seeing the storm which is approaching, +although it may be seemingly in the distance, we are determined to seek +our own safety and security before it shall burst upon us and overwhelm +us with its fury, when we are not in a situation to defend ourselves." + +That is what the Senator said. + +Mr. Iverson. Yes; that is what I said. + +Mr. Wade. Well, then, you did not expect that Mr. Lincoln would commit +any overt act against the Constitution--that was not it--you were not +going to wait for that, but were going to proceed on your supposition +that probably he might; and that is the sense of what I said before. + +Well, Mr. President, I have disavowed all intention on the part of the +Republican party to harm a hair of your heads anywhere. We hold to +no doctrine that can possibly work you an inconvenience. We have +been faithful to the execution of all the laws in which you have any +interest, as stands confessed on this floor by your own party, and as is +known to me without their confessions. It is not, then, that Mr. Lincoln +is expected to do any overt act by which you may be injured; you will +not wait for any; but anticipating that the Government may work an +injury, you say you will put an end to it, which means simply, that +you intend either to rule or ruin this Government. That is what your +complaint comes to; nothing else. We do not like your institution, you +say. Well, we never liked it any better than we do now. You might +as well have dissolved the Union at any other period as now, on that +account, for we stand in relation to it precisely as we have ever +stood; that is, repudiating it among ourselves as a matter of policy +and morals, but nevertheless admitting that where it is out of our +jurisdiction, we have no hold upon it, and no designs upon it. + +Then, sir, as there is nothing in the platform on which Mr. Lincoln was +elected of which you complain, I ask, is there anything in the character +of the President-elect of which you ought to complain? Has he not lived +a blameless life? Did he ever transgress any law? Has he ever committed +any violation of duty of which the most scrupulous can complain? Why, +then, your suspicions that he will? I have shown that you have had the +government all the time until, by some misfortune or maladministration, +you brought it to the very verge of destruction, and the wisdom of the +people had discovered that it was high time that the scepter should +depart from you, and be placed in more competent hands; I say that this +being so, you have no constitutional right to complain; especially when +we disavow any intention so to make use of the victory we have won as to +injure you at all. + +This brings me, sir, to the question of compromises. On the first day of +this session, a Senator rose in his place and offered a resolution for +the appointment of a committee to inquire into the evils that exist +between the different sections, and to ascertain what can be done to +settle this great difficulty. That is the proposition substantially. I +tell the Senator that I know of no difficulty; and as to compromises, I +had supposed that we were all agreed that the day of compromises was at +an end. The most solemn compromises we have ever made have been +violated without a whereas. Since I have had a seat in this body, one of +considerable antiquity, that had stood for more than thirty years, was +swept away from your statute-books. When I stood here in the minority +arguing against it; when I asked you to withhold your hand; when I told +you it was a sacred compromise between the sections, and that when it +was removed we should be brought face to face with all that sectional +bitterness that has intervened; when I told you that it was a sacred +compromise which no man should touch with his finger, what was your +reply? That it was a mere act of Congress--nothing more, nothing +less--and that it could be swept away by the same majority that passed +it. That was true in point of fact, and true in point of law; but it +showed the weakness of compromises. Now, sir, I only speak for myself; +and I say that, in view of the manner in which other compromises have +been heretofore treated, I should hardly think any two of the Democratic +party would look each other in the face and say "compromise" without a +smile. (Laughter.) A compromise to be brought about by act of Congress, +after the experience we have had, is absolutely ridiculous. + + * * * * * + +I say, then, that so far as I am concerned, I will yield to no +compromise. I do not come here begging, either. It would be an indignity +to the people that I represent if I were to stand here parleying as to +the rights of the party to which I belong. We have won our right to the +Chief Magistracy of this nation in the way that you have always won your +predominance; and if you are as willing to do justice to others as to +exact it from them, you would never raise an inquiry as to a committee +for compromises. Here I beg, barely for myself, to say one thing more. +Many of you stand in an attitude hostile to this Government; that is to +say, you occupy an attitude where you threaten that, unless we do so and +so, you will go out of this Union and destroy the Government. I say +to you for myself, that, in my private capacity, I never yielded to +anything by way of threat, and in my public capacity I have no right +to yield to any such thing; and therefore I would not entertain a +proposition for any compromise, for, in my judgment, this long, chronic +controversy that has existed between us must be met, and met upon the +principles of the Constitution and laws, and met now. I hope it may be +adjusted to the satisfaction of all; and I know no other way to adjust +it, except that way which is laid down by the Constitution of the United +States. Whenever we go astray from that, we are sure to plunge ourselves +into difficulties. The old Constitution of the United States, although +commonly and frequently in direct opposition to what I could wish, +nevertheless, in my judgment, is the wisest and best constitution +that ever yet organized a free Government; and by its provisions I +am willing, and intend, to stand or fall. Like the Senator from +Mississippi, I ask nothing more. I ask no ingrafting upon it. I ask +nothing to be taken away from it. Under its provisions a nation has +grown faster than any other in the history of the world ever did before +in prosperity, in power, and in all that makes a nation great and +glorious. It has ministered to the advantages of this people; and now +I am unwilling to add or take away anything till I can see much clearer +than I can now that it wants either any addition or lopping off. + + * * * * * + +The Senator from Texas says--it is not exactly his language--we will +force you to an ignominious treaty up in Faneuil Hall. Well, sir, you +may. We know you are brave; we understand your prowess; we want no fight +with you; but, nevertheless, if you drive us to that necessity, we +must use all the powers of this Government to maintain it intact in its +integrity. If we are overthrown, we but share the fate of a thousand +other Governments that have been subverted. If you are the weakest then +you must go to the wall; and that is all there is about it. That is +the condition in which we stand, provided a State sets herself up in +opposition to the General Government. + +I say that is the way it seems to me, as a lawyer. I see no power in the +Constitution to release a Senator from this position. Sir, if there +was any other, if there was an absolute right of secession in the +Constitution of the United States when we stepped up there to take our +oath of office, why was there not an exception in that oath? Why did +it not run "that we would support the Constitution of the United States +unless our State shall secede before our term was out?" Sir, there is +no such immunity. There is no way by which this can be done that I can +conceive of, except it is standing upon the Constitution of the United +States, demanding equal justice for all, and vindicating the old flag +of the Union. We must maintain it, unless we are cloven down by superior +force. + +Well, sir, it may happen that you can make your way out of the Union, +and that, by levying war upon the Government, you may vindicate your +right to independence. If you should do so, I have a policy in my mind. +No man would regret more than myself that any portion of the people of +these United States should think themselves impelled, by grievances or +anything else, to depart out of this Union, and raise a foreign flag and +a hand against the General Government. If there was any just cause +on God's earth that I could see that was within my reach of honorable +release from any such pretended grievance, they should have it; but +they set forth none; I can see none. It is all a matter of prejudice, +superinduced unfortunately, I believe, as I intimated before, more +because you have listened to the enemies of the Republican party and +what they said of us, while, from your intolerance, you have shut out +all light as to what our real principles are. We have been called and +branded in the North and in the South and everywhere else, as John Brown +men, as men hostile to your institutions, as meditating an attack upon +your institutions in your own States--a thing that no Republican ever +dreamed of or ever thought of, but has protested against as often as the +question has been up; but your people believe it. No doubt they believe +it because of the terrible excitement and reign of terror that prevails +there. No doubt they think so, but it arises from false information, +or the want of information--that is all. Their prejudices have been +appealed to until they have become uncontrolled and uncontrollable. + +Well, sir, if it shall be so; if that "glorious Union," as we call it, +under which the Government has so long lived and prospered, is now about +to come to a final end, as perhaps it may, I have been looking around to +see what policy we should adopt; and through that gloom which has been +mentioned on the other side, if you will have it so, I still see a +glorious future for those who stand by the old flag of the nation. + +But, sir, I am for maintaining the Union of these States. I will +sacrifice everything but honor to maintain it. That glorious old flag of +ours, by any act of mine, shall never cease to wave over the integrity +of this Union as it is. But if they will not have it so, in this new, +renovated Government of which I have spoken, the 4th of July, with all +its glorious memories, will never be repealed. The old flag of 1776 +will be in our hands, and shall float over this nation forever; and this +capital, that some gentlemen said would be reserved for the Southern +republic, shall still be the capital. It was laid out by Washington; +it was consecrated by him; and the old flag that he vindicated in the +Revolution shall still float from the Capitol. + +I say, sir, I stand by the Union of these States. Washington and his +compatriots fought for that good old flag. It shall never be hauled +down, but shall be the glory of the Government to which I belong, as +long as my life shall continue. To maintain it, Washington and his +compatriots fought for liberty and the rights of man. And here I will +add that my own father, although but a humble soldier, fought in the +same great cause, and went through hardships and privations sevenfold +worse than death, in order to bequeath it to his children. It is my +inheritance. It was my protector in infancy, and the pride and glory +of my riper years; and, Mr. President, although it may be assailed by +traitors on every side, by the grace of God, under its shadow I will +die. + + + + +JOHN JORDON CRITTENDEN, + +OF KENTUCKY. (BORN 1787, DIED 1863.) + +ON THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE; + +UNITED STATES SENATE, DECEMBER 18, 1860. + + +I am gratified, Mr. President, to see in the various propositions which +have been made, such a universal anxiety to save the country from +the dangerous dissensions which now prevail; and I have, under a very +serious view and without the least ambitious feeling whatever connected +with it, prepared a series of constitutional amendments, which I desire +to offer to the Senate, hoping that they may form, in part at least, +some basis for measures that may settle the controverted questions which +now so much agitate our country. Certainly, sir, I do not propose +now any elaborate discussion of the subject. Before presenting these +resolutions, however, to the Senate, I desire to make a few remarks +explanatory of them, that the Senate may understand their general scope. + +The questions of an alarming character are those which have grown out +of the controversy between the northern and southern sections of our +country in relation to the rights of the slave-holding States in the +Territories of the United States, and in relation to the rights of +the citizens of the latter in their slaves. I have endeavored by these +resolutions to meet all these questions and causes of discontent, and +by amendments to the Constitution of the United States, so that the +settlement, if we happily agree on any, may be permanent, and leave no +cause for future controversy. These resolutions propose, then, in the +first place, in substance, the restoration of the Missouri Compromise, +extending the line throughout the Territories of the United States +to the eastern border of California, recognizing slavery in all the +territory south of that line, and prohibiting slavery in all the +territory north of it; with a provision, however, that when any of those +Territories, north or south, are formed into States, they shall then be +at liberty to exclude or admit slavery as they please; and that, in the +one case or the other, it shall be no objection to their admission into +the Union. In this way, sir, I propose to settle the question, both as +to territory and slavery, so far as it regards the Territories of the +United States. + +I propose, sir, also, that the Constitution be so amended as to declare +that Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in the District +of Columbia so long as slavery exists in the States of Maryland and +Virginia; and that they shall have no power to abolish slavery in any of +the places under their special jurisdiction within the Southern States. + +These are the constitutional amendments which I propose, and embrace the +whole of them in regard to the questions of territory and slavery. There +are other propositions in relation to grievances, and in relation to +controversies, which I suppose are within the jurisdiction of Congress, +and may be removed by the action of Congress. I propose, in regard +to legislative action, that the fugitive slave law, as it is commonly +called, shall be declared by the Senate to be a constitutional act, in +strict pursuance of the Constitution. I propose to declare that it +has been decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to be +constitutional, and that the Southern States are entitled to a faithful +and complete execution of that law, and that no amendment shall be made +hereafter to it which will impair its efficiency. But, thinking that it +would not impair its efficiency, I have proposed amendments to it in two +particulars. I have understood from gentlemen of the North that there +is objection to the provision giving a different fee where the +commissioner decides to deliver the slave to the claimant, from that +which is given where he decides to discharge the alleged slave; the law +declares that in the latter case he shall have but five dollars, while +in the other he shall have ten dollars--twice the amount in one case +than in the other. The reason for this was very obvious. In case he +delivers the servant to his claimant he is required to draw out a +lengthy certificate, stating the principle and substantial grounds on +which his decision rests, and to return him either to the marshal or to +the claimant to remove him to the State from which he escaped. It was +for that reason that a larger fee was given to the commissioner, where +he had the largest service to perform. But, sir, the act being viewed +unfavorably and with great prejudice, in a certain portion of our +country, this was regarded as very obnoxious, because it seemed to give +an inducement to the commissioner to return the slave to the master, as +he thereby obtained the larger fee of ten dollars instead of the smaller +one of five dollars. I have said, let the fee be the same in both cases. + +I have understood, furthermore, sir, that inasmuch as the fifth section +of that law was worded somewhat vaguely, its general terms had admitted +of the construction in the Northern States that all the citizens were +required, upon the summons of the marshal, to go with him to hunt up, +as they express it, and arrest the slave; and this is regarded as +obnoxious. They have said, "in the Southern States you make no such +requisition on the citizen"; nor do we, sir. The section, construed +according to the intention of the framers of it, I suppose, only +intended that the marshal should have the same right in the execution +of process for the arrest of a slave that he has in all other cases of +process that he is required to execute--to call on the _posse comitatus_ +for assistance where he is resisted in the execution of his duty, or +where, having executed his duty by the arrest, an attempt is made to +rescue the slave. I propose such an amendment as will obviate this +difficulty and limit the right of the master and the duty of the citizen +to cases where, as in regard to all other process, persons may be called +upon to assist in resisting opposition to the execution of the laws. + +I have provided further, sir, that the amendment to the Constitution +which I here propose, and certain other provisions of the Constitution +itself, shall be unalterable, thereby forming a permanent and +unchangeable basis for peace and tranquillity among the people. Among +the provisions in the present Constitution, which I have by amendment +proposed to render unalterable, is that provision in the first article +of the Constitution which provides the rule for representation, +including in the computation three-fifths of the slaves. That is to +be rendered unchangeable. Another is the provision for the delivery of +fugitive slaves. That is to be rendered unchangeable. + +And with these provisions, Mr. President, it seems to me we have a solid +foundation upon which we may rest our hopes for the restoration of peace +and good-will among all the States of this Union, and all the people. +I propose,sir, to enter into no particular discussion. I have explained +the general scope and object of my proposition. I have provided further, +which I ought to mention, that, there having been some difficulties +experienced in the courts of the United States in the South in carrying +into execution the laws prohibiting the African slave trade, all +additions and amendments which may be necessary to those laws to render +them effectual should be immediately adopted by Congress, and especially +the provision of those laws which prohibit the importation of African +slaves into the United States. I have further provided it as a +recommendation to all the States of this Union, that whereas laws have +been passed of an unconstitutional character, (and all laws are of +that character which either conflict with the constitutional acts +of Congress, or which in their operation hinder or delay the proper +execution of the acts of Congress,) which laws are null and void, and +yet, though null and void, they have been the source of mischief and +discontent in the country, under the extraordinary circumstances in +which we are placed; I have supposed that it would not be improper or +unbecoming in Congress to recommend to the States, both North and South, +the repeal of all such acts of theirs as were intended to control, or +intended to obstruct the operation of the acts of Congress, or which in +their operation and in their application have been made use of for the +purpose of such hindrance and opposition, and that they will repeal +these laws or make such explanations or corrections of them as to +prevent their being used for any such mischievous purpose. + +I have endeavored to look with impartiality from one end of our country +to the other; I have endeavored to search up what appeared to me to be +the causes of discontent pervading the land; and, as far as I am capable +of doing so, I have endeavored to propose a remedy for them. I am far +from believing that, in the shape in which I present these measures, +they will meet with the acceptance of the Senate. It will be +sufficiently gratifying if, with all the amendments that the superior +knowledge of the Senate may make to them, they shall, to any effectual +extent, quiet the country. + +Mr. President, great dangers surround us. The Union of these States +is dear to the people of the United States. The long experience of its +blessings, the mighty hopes of the future, have made it dear to the +hearts of the American people. Whatever politicians may say, whatever +of dissension may, in the heat of party politics, be created among +our people, when you come down to the question of the existence of the +Constitution, that is a question beyond all politics; that is a question +of life and death. The Constitution and the Union are the life of this +great people--yes, sir, the life of life. We all desire to preserve +them, North and South; that is the universal desire. But some of the +Southern States, smarting under what they conceive to be aggressions of +their Northern brethren and of the Northern States, are not contented to +continue this Union, and are taking steps, formidable steps, towards a +dissolution of the Union, and towards the anarchy and the bloodshed, I +fear, that are to follow. I say, sir, we are in the presence of great +events. We must elevate ourselves to the level of the great occasion. No +party warfare about mere party questions or party measures ought now +to engage our attention. They are left behind; they are as dust in the +balance. The life, the existence of our country, of our Union, is +the mighty question; and we must elevate ourselves to all those +considerations which belong to this high subject. + +I hope, therefore, gentlemen will be disposed to bring the sincerest +spirit of conciliation, the sincerest spirit and desire to adjust all +these difficulties, and to think nothing of any little concessions of +opinions that they may make, if thereby the Constitution and the country +can be preserved. + +The great difficulty here, sir--I know it; I recognize it as the +difficult question, particularly with the gentlemen from the North--is +the admission of this line of division for the territory, and the +recognition of slavery on the one side, and the prohibition of it on the +other. The recognition of slavery on the southern side of that line is +the great difficulty, the great question with them. Now, I beseech you +to think, and you, Mr. President, and all, to think whether, for such +a comparative trifle as that, the Union of this country is to be +sacrificed. Have we realized to ourselves the momentous consequences of +such an event? When has the world seen such an event? This is a mighty +empire. Its existence spreads its influence throughout the civilized +world. Its overthrow will be the greatest shock that civilization and +free government have received; more extensive in its consequences; more +fatal to mankind and to the great principles upon which the liberty of +mankind depends, than the French revolution with all its blood, and with +all its war and violence. And all for what? Upon questions concerning +this line of division between slavery and freedom? Why, Mr. President, +suppose this day all the Southern States, being refused this right; +being refused this partition; being denied this privilege, were to +separate from the Northern States, and do it peacefully, and then were +to come to you peacefully and say, "let there be no war between us; +let us divide fairly the Territories of the United States"; could the +northern section of the country refuse so just a demand? What would you +then give them? What would be the fair proportion? If you allowed them +their fair relative proportion, would you not give them as much as is +now proposed to be assigned on the southern side of that line, and would +they not be at liberty to carry their slaves there, if they pleased? You +would give them the whole of that; and then what would be its fate? + +Is it upon the general principle of humanity, then, that you (addressing +Republican Senators) wish to put an end to slavery, or is it to be urged +by you as a mere topic and point of party controversy to sustain party +power? Surely I give you credit for looking at it upon broader and +more generous principles. Then, in the worst event, after you have +encountered disunion, that greatest of all political calamities to the +people of this country, and the disunionists come, the separating States +come, and demand or take their portion of the Territories, they can +take, and will be entitled to take, all that will now lie on the +southern side of the line which I have proposed. Then they will have +a right to permit slavery to exist in it; and what do you gain for the +cause of anti-slavery? Nothing whatever. Suppose you should refuse their +demand, and claim the whole for yourselves, that would be a flagrant +injustice which you would not be willing that I should suppose would +occur. But if you did, what would be the consequence? A State north and +a State south, and all the States, north and south, would be attempting +to grasp at and seize this territory, and to get all of it that they +could. That would be the struggle, and you would have war; and not +only disunion, but all these fatal consequences would follow from your +refusal now to permit slavery to exist, to recognize it as existing, +on the southern side of the proposed line, while you give to the people +there the right to exclude it when they come to form a State government, +if such should be their will and pleasure. + +Now, gentlemen, in view of this subject, in view of the mighty +consequences, in view of the great events which are present before you, +and of the mighty consequences which are just now to take effect, is +it not better to settle the question by a division upon the line of the +Missouri Compromise? For thirty years we lived quietly and peacefully +under it. Our people, North and South, were accustomed to look at it +as a proper and just line. Can we not do so again? We did it then to +preserve the peace of the country. Now you see this Union in the most +imminent danger. I declare to you that it is my solemn conviction that +unless something be done, and something equivalent to this proposition, +we shall be a separated and divided people in six months from this time. +That is my firm conviction. There is no man here who deplores it more +than I do; but it is my sad and melancholy conviction that that will be +the consequence. I wish you to realize fully the danger. I wish you +to realize fully the consequences which are to follow. You can give +increased stability to this Union; you can give it an existence, a +glorious existence, for great and glorious centuries to come, by now +setting it upon a permanent basis, recognizing what the South considers +as its rights; and this is the greatest of them all; it is that you +should divide the territory by this line, and allow the people south of +it to have slavery when they are admitted into the Union as States, and +to have it during the existence of the territorial government. That is +all. Is it not the cheapest price at which such a blessing as this Union +was ever purchased? You think, perhaps, or some of you, that there is no +danger, that it will but thunder and pass away. Do not entertain such a +fatal delusion. I tell you it is not so. I tell you that as sure as we +stand here disunion will progress. I fear it may swallow up even old +Kentucky in its vortex--as true a State to the Union as yet exists in +the whole Confederacy--unless something be done; but that you will have +disunion, that anarchy and war will follow it, that all this will take +place in six months, I believe as confidently as I believe in your +presence. I want to satisfy you of the fact. + + * * * * * + +The present exasperation; the present feeling of disunion, is the +result of a long-continued controversy on the subject of slavery and +of territory. I shall not attempt to trace that controversy; it is +unnecessary to the occasion, and might be harmful. In relation to such +controversies, I will say, though, that all the wrong is never on one +side, or all the right on the other. Right and wrong, in this world, +and in all such controversies, are mingled together. I forbear now any +discussion or any reference to the right or wrong of the controversy, +the mere party controversy; but in the progress of party, we now come +to a point where party ceases to deserve consideration, and the +preservation of the Union demands our highest and our greatest +exertions. To preserve the Constitution of the country is the highest +duty of the Senate, the highest duty of Congress--to preserve it and to +perpetuate it, that we may hand down the glories which we have received +to our children and to our posterity, and to generations far beyond us. +We are, Senators, in positions where history is to take notice of the +course we pursue. + +History is to record us. Is it to record that when the destruction of +the Union was imminent; when we saw it tottering to its fall; when we +saw brothers arming their hands for hostility with one another, we stood +quarrelling about points of party politics; about questions which we +attempted to sanctify and to consecrate by appealing to our conscience +as the source of them? Are we to allow such fearful catastrophes to +occur while we stand trifling away our time? While we stand thus, +showing our inferiority to the great and mighty dead, showing our +inferiority to the high positions which we occupy, the country may be +destroyed and ruined; and to the amazement of all the world, the great +Republic may fall prostrate and in ruins, carrying with it the very hope +of that liberty which we have heretofore enjoyed; carrying with it, in +place of the peace we have enjoyed, nothing but revolution and havoc and +anarchy. Shall it be said that we have allowed all these evils to come +upon our country, while we were engaged in the petty and small disputes +and debates to which I have referred? Can it be that our name is to rest +in history with this everlasting stigma and blot upon it? + +Sir, I wish to God it was in my power to preserve this Union by +renouncing or agreeing to give up every conscientious and other opinion. +I might not be able to discard it from my mind; I am under no obligation +to do that. I may retain the opinion, but if I can do so great a good as +to preserve my country and give it peace, and its institutions and its +Union stability, I will forego any action upon my opinions. Well, now, +my friends (addressing the Republican Senators), that is all that is +asked of you. Consider it well, and I do not distrust the result. As +to the rest of this body, the gentlemen from the South, I would say to +them, can you ask more than this? Are you bent on revolution, bent on +disunion. God forbid it. I cannot believe that such madness possesses +the American people. This gives reasonable satisfaction. I can speak +with confidence only of my own State. Old Kentucky will be satisfied +with it, and she will stand by the Union and die by the Union if this +satisfaction be given. Nothing shall seduce her. The clamor of no +revolution, the seductions and temptations of no revolution, will +tempt her to move one step. She has stood always by the side of the +Constitution; she has always been devoted to it, and is this day. Give +her this satisfaction, and I believe all the States of the South that +are not desirous of disunion as a better thing than the Union and the +Constitution, will be satisfied and will adhere to the Union, and +we shall go on again in our great career of national prosperity and +national glory. + +But, sir, it is not necessary for me to speak to you of the consequences +that will follow disunion. Who of us is not proud of the greatness we +have achieved? Disunion and separation destroy that greatness. Once +disunited, we are no longer great. The nations of the earth who +have looked upon you as a formidable Power, and rising to untold and +immeasurable greatness in the future, will scoff at you. Your flag, that +now claims the respect of the world, that protects American property +in every port and harbor of the world, that protects the rights of +your citizens everywhere, what will become of it? What becomes of its +glorious influence? It is gone; and with it the protection of American +citizens and property. To say nothing of the national honor which +it displayed to all the world, the protection of your rights, the +protection of your property abroad is gone with that national flag, +and we are hereafter to conjure and contrive different flags for our +different republics according to the feverish fancies of revolutionary +patriots and disturbers of the peace of the world. No, sir; I want to +follow no such flag. I want to preserve the union of my country. We have +it in our power to do so, and we are responsible if we do not do it. + +I do not despair of the Republic. When I see before me Senators of so +much intelligence and so much patriotism, who have been so honored by +their country, sent here as the guardians of that very union which is +now in question, sent here as the guardians of our national rights, and +as guardians of that national flag, I cannot despair; I cannot despond. +I cannot but believe that they will find some means of reconciling and +adjusting the rights of all parties, by concessions, if necessary, so +as to preserve and give more stability to the country and to its +institutions. + + + + +ROBERT TOOMBS, + +OF GEORGIA. (BORN 1810--DIED 1885.) + +ON SECESSION; SECESSIONIST OPINION; + +IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, JANUARY 7, 1861. + + +MR. PRESIDENT AND SENATORS: + +The success of the Abolitionists and their allies, under the name of the +Republican party, has produced its logical results already. They have +for long years been sowing dragons' teeth, and have finally got a crop +of armed men. The Union, sir, is dissolved. That is an accomplished fact +in the path of this discussion that men may as well heed. One of your +confederates has already, wisely, bravely, boldly, confronted public +danger, and she is only ahead of many of her sisters because of her +greater facility for speedy action. The greater majority of those sister +States, under like circumstances, consider her cause as their cause; and +I charge you in their name to-day, "Touch not Saguntum." It is not only +their cause, but it is a cause which receives the sympathy and will +receive the support of tens and hundreds of thousands of honest +patriotic men in the non-slave-holding States, who have hither-to +maintained constitutional rights, and who respect their oaths, abide by +compacts, and love justice. And while this Congress, this Senate, and +this House of Representatives, are debating the constitutionality and +the expediency of seceding from the Union, and while the perfidious +authors of this mischief are showering down denunciations upon a large +portion of the patriotic men of this country, those brave men are coolly +and calmly voting what you call revolution--ay, sir, doing better than +that: arming to defend it. They appealed to the Constitution, +they appealed to justice, they appealed to fraternity, until the +Constitution, justice, and fraternity were no longer listened to in the +legislative halls of their country, and then, sir, they prepared for the +arbitrament of the sword; and now you see the glittering bayonet, and +you hear the tramp of armed men from your Capitol to the Rio Grande. It +is a sight that gladdens the eyes and cheers the heart of other millions +ready to second them. + +Inasmuch, sir, as I have labored earnestly, honestly, sincerely, with +these men to avert this necessity so long as I deemed it possible, and +inasmuch as I heartily approve their present conduct of resistance, I +deem it my duty to state their case to the Senate, to the country, and +to the civilized world. + +Senators, my countrymen have demanded no new government; they have +demanded no new constitution. Look to their records at home and here +from the beginning of this national strife until its consummation in +the disruption of the empire, and they have not demanded a single thing +except that you shall abide by the Constitution of the United States; +that constitutional rights shall be respected, and that justice shall be +done. Sirs, they have stood by your Constitution; they have stood by +all its requirements; they have performed all its duties unselfishly, +uncalculatingly, disinterestedly, until a party sprang up in this +country which endangered their social system--a party which they +arraign, and which they charge before the American people and all +mankind, with having made proclamation of outlawry against four thousand +millions of their property in the Territories of the United States; with +having put them under the ban of the empire in all the States in which +their institutions exist, outside the protection of Federal laws; with +having aided and abetted insurrection from within and invasion from +without, with the view of subverting those institutions, and desolating +their homes and their firesides. For these causes they have taken up +arms. I shall proceed to vindicate the justice of their demands, the +patriotism of their conduct. I will show the injustice which they suffer +and the rightfulness of their resistance. + +I shall not spend much time on the question that seems to give my +honorable friend (Mr. Crittenden) so much concern--the constitutional +right of a State to secede from this Union. Perhaps he will find out +after a while that it is a fact accomplished. You have got it in +the South pretty much both ways. South Carolina has given it to you +regularly, according to the approved plan. You are getting it just below +there (in Georgia), I believe, irregularly, outside of the law, without +regular action. You can take it either way. You will find armed men to +defend both. I have stated that the discontented States of this +Union have demanded nothing but clear, distinct, unequivocal, +well-acknowledged constitutional rights; rights affirmed by the highest +judicial tribunals of their country; rights older than the Constitution; +rights which are planted upon the immutable principles of natural +justice; rights which have been affirmed by the good and the wise of all +countries, and of all centuries. We demand no power to injure any man. +We demand no right to injure our confederate States. We demand no right +to interfere with their institutions, either by word or deed. We have +no right to disturb their peace, their tranquillity, their security. We +have demanded of them simply, solely--nothing else--to give us equality, +security, and tranquillity. Give us these, and peace restores itself. +Refuse them, and take what you can get. + +I will now read my own demands, acting under my own convictions, and the +universal judgment of my countrymen. They are considered the demands of +an extremist. To hold to a constitutional right now makes one considered +as an extremist--I believe that is the appellation these traitors and +villains, North and South, employ. I accept their reproach rather than +their principles. Accepting their designation of treason and rebellion, +there stands before them as good a traitor, and as good a rebel as ever +descended from revolutionary loins. + +What do the rebels demand? First, "that the people of the United States +shall have an equal right to emigrate and settle in the present or any +future acquired territories, with whatever property they may possess +(including slaves), and be securely protected in its peaceable enjoyment +until such Territory may be admitted as a State into the Union, with or +without slavery, as she may determine, on an equality with all existing +States." That is our territorial demand. We have fought for this +Territory when blood was its price. We have paid for it when gold +was its price. We have not proposed to exclude you, though you have +contributed very little of blood or money. I refer especially to New +England. We demand only to go into those Territories upon terms of +equality with you, as equals in this great Confederacy, to enjoy the +common property of the whole Union, and receive the protection of the +common government, until the Territory is capable of coming into the +Union as a sovereign State, when it may fix its own institutions to suit +itself. + +The second proposition is, "that property in slaves shall be entitled to +the same protection from the Government of the United States, in all of +its departments, everywhere, which the Constitution confers the power +upon it to extend to any other property, provided nothing herein +contained shall be construed to limit or restrain the right now +belonging to every State to prohibit, abolish, or establish and protect +slavery within its limits." We demand of the common government to use +its granted powers to protect our property as well as yours. For this +protection we pay as much as you do. This very property is subject to +taxation. It has been taxed by you and sold by you for taxes. The title +to thousands and tens of thousands of slaves is derived from the United +States. We claim that the Government, while the Constitution recognizes +our property for the purposes of taxation, shall give it the same +protection that it gives yours. Ought it not to be so? You say no. Every +one of you upon the committee said no. Your Senators say no. Your House +of Representatives says no. Throughout the length and breadth of your +conspiracy against the Constitution, there is but one shout of no! This +recognition of this right is the price of my allegiance. Withhold it, +and you do not get my obedience. This is the philosophy of the armed +men who have sprung up in this country. Do you ask me to support a +government that will tax my property; that will plunder me; that +will demand my blood, and will not protect me? I would rather see the +population of my native State laid six feet beneath her sod than they +should support for one hour such a government. Protection is the price +of obedience everywhere, in all countries. It is the only thing that +makes government respectable. Deny it and you cannot have free subjects +or citizens; you may have slaves. + +We demand, in the next place, "that persons committing crimes against +slave property in one State, and fleeing to another, shall be delivered +up in the same manner as persons committing crimes against other +property, and that the laws of the State from which such persons flee +shall be the test of criminality." That is another one of the demands of +an extremist and rebel. The Constitution of the United States, article +four, section two, says: + +"A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who +shall flee from justice and be found in another State, shall, on demand +of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered +up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime." But the +non-slave-holding States, treacherous to their oaths and compacts, have +steadily refused, if the criminal only stole a negro, and that negro was +a slave, to deliver him up. It was refused twice on the requisition of +my own State as long as twenty-two years ago. It was refused by Kent and +by Fairfield, Governors of Maine, and representing, I believe, each +of the then Federal parties. We appealed then to fraternity, but we +submitted; and this constitutional right has been practically a dead +letter from that day to this. The next case came up between us and the +State of New York, when the present senior Senator (Mr. Seward) was +the Governor of that State; and he refused it. Why? He said it was not +against the laws of New York to steal a negro, and therefore he would +not comply with the demand. He made a similar refusal to Virginia. Yet +these are our confederates; these are our sister States! There is +the bargain; there is the compact. You have sworn to it. Both these +Governors swore to it. The Senator from New York swore to it. The +Governor of Ohio swore to it when he was inaugurated. You cannot bind +them by oaths. + +Yet they talk to us of treason; and I suppose they expect to whip +freemen into loving such brethren! They will have a good time in doing +it! + +It is natural we should want this provision of the Constitution carried +out. The Constitution says slaves are property; the Supreme Court says +so; the Constitution says so. The theft of slaves is a crime; they are +a subject-matter of felonious asportation. By the text and letter of the +Constitution you agreed to give them up. You have sworn to do it, and +you have broken your oaths. Of course, those who have done so look out +for pretexts. Nobody expected them do otherwise. I do not think I +ever saw a perjurer, however bald and naked, who could not invent some +pretext to palliate his crime, or who could not, for fifteen shillings, +hire an Old Bailey lawyer to invent some for him. Yet this requirement +of the Constitution is another one of the extreme demands of an +extremist and a rebel. + +The next stipulation is that fugitive slaves shall be surrendered under +the provisions of the fugitive-slave act of 1850, without being entitled +either to a writ of _habeas corpus_, or trial by jury, or other similar +obstructions of legislation, in the State to which he may flee. Here is +the Constitution: + +"No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws +thereof, escaping into an-other, shall, in consequence of any law or +regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall +be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may +be due." + +This language is plain, and everybody understood it the same way for the +first forty years of your government. In 1793, in Washington's time, an +act was passed to carry out this provision. It was adopted unanimously +in the Senate of the United States, and nearly so in the House of +Representatives. Nobody then had invented pretexts to show that the +Constitution did not mean a negro slave. It was clear; it was plain. +Not only the Federal courts, but all the local courts in all the States, +decide that this was a constitutional obligation. How is it now? The +North sought to evade it; following the instincts of their natural +character, they commenced with the fraudulent fiction that fugitives +were entitled to _habeas corpus_, entitled to trial by jury in the State +to which they fled. They pretended to believe that our fugitive slaves +were entitled to more rights than their white citizens; perhaps they +were right, they know one another better than I do. You may charge +a white man with treason, or felony, or other crime, and you do not +require any trial by jury before he is given up; there is nothing to +determine but that he is legally charged with a crime and that he +fled, and then he is to be delivered up upon demand. White people +are delivered up every day in this way; but not slaves. Slaves, black +people, you say, are entitled to trial by jury; and in this way schemes +have been invented to defeat your plain constitutional obligations. * * * + +The next demand made on behalf of the South is, "that Congress shall +pass effective laws for the punishment of all persons in any of the +States who shall in any manner aid and abet invasion or insurrection in +any other State, or commit any other act against the laws of nations, +tending to disturb the tranquillity of the people or government of any +other State." That is a very plain principle. The Constitution of the +United States now requires, and gives Congress express power, to +define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, +and offences against the laws of nations. When the honorable and +distinguished Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) last year introduced +a bill for the purpose of punishing people thus offending under that +clause of the Constitution, Mr. Lincoln, in his speech at New York, +which I have before me, declared that it was a "sedition bill "; his +press and party hooted at it. So far from recognizing the bill as +intended to carry out the Constitution of the United States, it received +their jeers and jibes. The Black Republicans of Massachusetts elected +the admirer and eulogist of John Brown's courage as their governor, and +we may suppose he will throw no impediments in the way of John Brown's +successors. The epithet applied to the bill of the Senator from Illinois +is quoted from a deliberate speech delivered by Lincoln in New York, +for which, it was stated in the journals, according to some resolution +passed by an association of his own party, he was paid a couple of +hundred dollars. The speech should therefore have been deliberate. +Lincoln denounced that bill. He places the stamp of his condemnation +upon a measure intended to promote the peace and security of confederate +States. He is, therefore, an enemy of the human race, and deserves the +execration of all mankind. + +We demand these five propositions. Are they not right? Are they not +just? Take them in detail, and show that they are not warranted by the +Constitution, by the safety of our people, by the principles of eternal +justice. We will pause and consider them; but mark me, we will not let +you decide the question for us. * * * + +Senators, the Constitution is a compact. It contains all our obligations +and the duties of the Federal Government. I am content and have ever +been content to sustain it. While I doubt its perfection, while I do +not believe it was a good compact, and while I never saw the day that I +would have voted for it as a proposition _de novo_, yet I am bound to it +by oath and by that common prudence which would induce men to abide by +established forms rather than to rush into unknown dangers. I have given +to it, and intend to give to it, unfaltering support and allegiance, +but I choose to put that allegiance on the true ground, not on the false +idea that anybody's blood was shed for it. I say that the Constitution +is the whole compact. All the obligations, all the chains that fetter +the limbs of my people, are nominated in the bond, and they wisely +excluded any conclusion against them, by declaring that "the powers not +granted by the Constitution to the United States, or forbidden by it to +the States, belonged to the States respectively or the people." Now I +will try it by that standard; I will subject it to that test. The law +of nature, the law of justice, would say--and it is so expounded by the +publicists--that equal rights in the common property shall be enjoyed. +Even in a monarchy the king cannot prevent the subjects from enjoying +equality in the disposition of the public property. Even in a despotic +government this principle is recognized. It was the blood and the +money of the whole people (says the learned Grotius, and say all the +publicists) which acquired the public property, and therefore it is +not the property of the sovereign. This right of equality being, then, +according to justice and natural equity, a right belonging to all +States, when did we give it up? You say Congress has a right to pass +rules and regulations concerning the Territory and other property of the +United States. Very well. Does that exclude those whose blood and money +paid for it? Does "dispose of" mean to rob the rightful owners? You must +show a better title than that, or a better sword than we have. + +But, you say, try the right. I agree to it. But how? By our judgment? +No, not until the last resort. What then; by yours? No, not until the +same time. How then try it? The South has always said, by the Supreme +Court. But that is in our favor, and Lincoln says he "will not stand that +judgment." Then each must judge for himself of the mode and manner +of redress. But you deny us that privilege, and finally reduce us to +accepting your judgment. The Senator from Kentucky comes to your aid, +and says he can find no constitutional right of secession. Perhaps not; +but the Constitution is not the place to look for State rights. If that +right belongs to independent States, and they did not cede it to the +Federal Government, it is reserved to the States, or to the people. Ask +your new commentator where he gets the right to judge for us. Is it in +the bond? + +The Northern doctrine was, many years ago, that the Supreme Court was +the judge. That was their doctrine in 1800. They denounced Madison +for the report of 1799, on the Virginia resolutions; they denounced +Jefferson for framing the Kentucky resolutions, because they were +presumed to impugn the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United +States; and they declared that that court was made, by the Constitution, +the ultimate and supreme arbiter. That was the universal judgment--the +declaration of every free State in this Union, in answer to the Virginia +resolutions of 1798, or of all who did answer, even including the State +of Delaware, then under Federal control. + +The Supreme Court have decided that, by the Constitution, we have a +right to go to the Territories and be protected there with our property. +You say, we cannot decide the compact for ourselves. Well, can the +Supreme Court decide it for us? Mr. Lincoln says he does not care what +the Supreme Court decides, he will turn us out anyhow. He says this in +his debate with the honorable member from Illinois [Mr. Douglas]. I have +it before me. He said he would vote against the decision of the Supreme +Court. Then you did not accept that arbiter. You will not take my +construction; you will not take the Supreme Court as an arbiter; you +will not take the practice of the government; you will not take the +treaties under Jefferson and Madison; you will not take the opinion of +Madison upon the very question of prohibition in 1820. What, then, will +you take? You will take nothing but your own judgment; that is, you will +not only judge for yourselves, not only discard the court, discard our +construction, discard the practice of the government, but you will drive +us out, simply because you will it. Come and do it! You have sapped the +foundations of society; you have destroyed almost all hope of peace. In +a compact where there is no common arbiter, where the parties finally +decide for themselves, the sword alone at last becomes the real, if not +the constitutional, arbiter. Your party says that you will not take the +decision of the Supreme Court. You said so at Chicago; you said so in +committee; every man of you in both Houses says so. What are you going +to do? You say we shall submit to your construction. We shall do it, +if you can make us; but not otherwise, or in any other manner. That is +settled. You may call it secession, or you may call it revolution; but +there is a big fact standing before you, ready to oppose you--that fact +is, freemen with arms in their hands. The cry of the Union will not +disperse them; we have passed that point; they demand equal rights; you +had better heed the demand. * * * + + + + +SAMUEL SULLIVAN COX, + +OF OHIO. (BORN, 1824-DIED, 1889.) + +ON SECESSION; DOUGLAS DEMOCRATIC OPINION; + +IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 14, 1861. + + +MR. CHAIRMAN: + +I speak from and for the capital of the greatest of the States of the +great West. That potential section is beginning to be appalled at the +colossal strides of revolution. It has immense interests at stake in +this Union, as well from its position as its power and patriotism. We +have had infidelity to the Union before, but never in such a fearful +shape. We had it in the East during the late war with England. Even so +late as the admission of Texas, Massachusetts resolved herself out of +the Union. That resolution has never been repealed, and one would infer, +from much of her conduct, that she did not regard herself as bound by +our covenant. Since 1856, in the North, we have had infidelity to the +Union, more insidious infractions of the Constitution than by +open rebellion. Now, sir, as a consequence, in part, of these very +infractions, we have rebellion itself, open and daring, in terrific +proportions, with dangers so formidable as to seem almost remediless. * +* *' + +I would not exaggerate the fearful consequences of dissolution. It is +the breaking up of a federative Union, but it is not like the breaking +up of society. It is not anarchy. A link may fall from the chain, and +the link may still be perfect, though the chain have lost its length and +its strength. In the uniformity of commercial regulations, in matters +of war and peace, postal arrangements, foreign relations, coinage, +copyrights, tariff, and other Federal and national affairs, this great +government may be broken; but in most of the essential liberties and +rights which government is the agent to establish and protect, the +seceding State has no revolution, and the remaining States can have +none. This arises from that refinement of our polity which makes the +States the basis of our instituted labor. Greece was broken by the +Persian power, but her municipal institutions remained. Hungary lost +her national crown, but her home institutions remain. South Carolina may +preserve her constituted domestic authority, but she must be content to +glimmer obscurely remote rather than shine and revolve in a constellated +band. She even goes out by the ordinance of a so-called sovereign +convention, content to lose by her isolation that youthful, vehement, +exultant, progressive life, which is our NATIONALITY! She foregoes +the hopes, the boasts, the flag, the music, all the emotions, all the +traits, and all the energies which, when combined in our United States, +have won our victories in war and our miracles of national advancement. +Her Governor, Colonel Pickens, in his inaugural, regretfully "looks +back upon the inheritance South Carolina had in the common glories +and triumphant power of this wonderful confederacy, and fails to find +language to express the feelings of the human heart as he turns from the +contemplation." The ties of brotherhood, interest, lineage, and history +are all to be severed. No longer are we to salute a South Carolinian +with the "_idem sententiam de republica_," which makes unity and +nationality. What a prestige and glory are here dimmed and lost in the +contaminated reason of man! + +Can we realize it? Is it a masquerade, to last for a night, or a reality +to be dealt with, with the world's rough passionate handling? It is sad +and bad enough; but let us not over-tax our anxieties about it as yet. +It is not the sanguinary regime of the French revolution; not the rule +of assignats and guillotine; not the cry of "_Vivent les Rouges! A mort +les gendarmes!_" but as yet, I hope I may say, the peaceful attempt +to withdraw from the burdens and benefits of the Republic. Thus it is +unlike every other revolution. Still it is revolution. It may, according +as it is managed, involve consequences more terrific than any revolution +since government began. + +If the Federal Government is to be maintained, its strength must not +be frittered away by conceding the theory of secession. To concede +secession as a right, is to make its pathway one of roses and not of +thorns. I would not make its pathway so easy. If the government has any +strength for its own preservation, the people demand it should be put +forth in its civil and moral forces. Dealing, however, with a sensitive +public sentiment, in which this strength reposes, it must not be rudely +exercised. It should be the iron hand in the glove of velvet. Firmness +should be allied with kindness. Power should assert its own prerogative, +but in the name of law and love. If these elements are not thus blended +in our policy, as the Executive proposes, our government will prove +either a garment of shreds or a coat of mail. We want neither. * * * + +Before we enter upon a career of force, let us exhaust every effort +at peace. Let us seek to excite love in others by the signs of love in +ourselves. Let there be no needless provocation and strife. Let every +reasonable attempt at compromise be considered. Otherwise we have a +terrible alternative. War, in this age and in this country, sir, should +be the _ultima ratio_. Indeed, it may well be questioned whether there +is any reason in it for war. What a war! Endless in its hate, without +truce and without mercy. If it ended ever, it would only be after a +fearful struggle; and then with a heritage of hate which would forever +forbid harmony. * * * + +Small States and great States; new States and old States; slave States +and free States; Atlantic States and Pacific States; gold and silver +States; iron and copper States; grain States and lumber States; river +States and lake States;--all having varied interests and advantages, +would seek superiority in armed strength. Pride, animosity, and glory +would inspire every movement. God shield our country from such a +fulfilment of the prophecy of the revered founders of the Union! Our +struggle would be no short, sharp struggle. Law, and even religion +herself, would become false to their divine purpose. Their voice would +no longer be the voice of God, but of his enemy. Poverty, ignorance, +oppression, and its hand-maid, cowardice, breaking out into merciless +cruelty; slaves false; freemen slaves, and society itself poisoned +at the cradle and dishonored at the grave;--its life, now so full +of blessings, would be gone with the life of a fraternal and united +Statehood. What sacrifice is too great to prevent such a calamity? Is +such a picture overdrawn? Already its outlines appear. What means the +inaugural of Governor Pickens, when he says: "From the position we may +occupy toward the Northern States, as well as from our own internal +structure of society, the government may, from necessity, become +strongly military in its organization"? What mean the minute-men +of Governor Wise? What the Southern boast that they have a rifle or +shot-gun to each family? + +What means the Pittsburgh mob? What this alacrity to save Forts Moultrie +and Pinckney? What means the boast of the Southern men of being the +best-armed people in the world, not counting the two hundred thousand +stand of United States arms stored in Southern arsenals? Already Georgia +has her arsenals, with eighty thousand muskets. What mean these lavish +grants of money by Southern Legislatures to buy more arms? What mean +these rumors of arms and force on the Mississippi? These few facts have +already verified the prophecy of Madison as to a disunited Republic. + +Mr. Speaker, he alone is just to his country, he alone has a mind +unwarped by section, and a memory unparalyzed by fear, who warns against +precipitancy. He who could hurry this nation to the rash wager of +battle is not fit to hold the seat of legislation. What can justify the +breaking up of our institutions into belligerent fractions? Better this +marble Capitol were levelled to the dust; better were this Congress +struck dead in its deliberations; better an immolation of every ambition +and passion which here have met to shake the foundations of society +than the hazard of these consequences! * * * I appeal to Southern men,who +contemplate a step so fraught with hazard and strife, to pause. Clouds +are about us! There is lightning in their frown! Cannot we direct it +harmlessly to the earth? The morning and evening prayer of the people I +speak for in such weakness rises in strength to that Supreme Ruler +who, in noticing the fall of a sparrow, cannot disregard the fall of a +nation, that our States may continue to be as they have been--one; one +in the unreserve of a mingled national being; one as the thought of God +is one! + + + + +JEFFERSON DAVIS, + +OF MISSISSIPPI. (BORN 1808, DIED 1889.) + +ON WITHDRAWAL FROM THE UNION; SECESSIONIST OPINION; + +UNITED STATES SENATE, JANUARY 21, 1861. + + +I rise, Mr. President, for the purpose of announcing to the Senate that +I have satisfactory evidence that the State of Mississippi, by a solemn +ordinance of her people in convention assembled, has declared her +separation from the United States. Under these circumstances, of course +my functions are terminated here. It has seemed to me proper, however, +that I should appear in the Senate to announce that fact to my +associates, and I will say but very little more. The occasion does +not invite me to go into argument, and my physical condition would not +permit me to do so if it were otherwise; and yet it seems to become +me to say something on the part of the State I here represent, on an +occasion so solemn as this. + +It is known to Senators who have served with me here, that I have for +many years advocated, as an essential attribute of State sovereignty, +the right of a State to secede from the Union. Therefore, if I had not +believed there was justifiable cause; if I had thought that Mississippi +was acting without sufficient provocation, or without an existing +necessity, I should still, under my theory of the Government, because of +my allegiance to the State of which I am a citizen, have been bound by +her action. I, however, may be permitted to say that I do think that she +has justifiable cause, and I approve of her act. I conferred with her +people before that act was taken, counselled them then that if the state +of things which they apprehended should exist when the convention met, +they should take the action which they have now adopted. + +I hope none who hear me will confound this expression of mine with +the advocacy of the right of a State to remain in the Union, and to +disregard its constitutional obligations by the nullification of the +law. Such is not my theory. Nullification and secession, so often +confounded, are indeed antagonistic principles. Nullification is a +remedy which it is sought to apply within the Union, and against the +agent of the States. It is only to be justified when the agent has +violated his constitutional obligation, and a State, assuming to judge +for itself, denies the right of the agent thus to act, and appeals +to the other States of the Union for a decision; but when the States +themselves, and when the people of the States, have so acted as to +convince us that they will not regard our constitutional rights, then, +and then for the first time, arises the doctrine of secession in its +practical application. + +A great man who now reposes with his fathers, and who has been often +arraigned for a want of fealty to the Union, advocated the doctrine of +nullification, because it preserved the Union. It was because of his +deep-seated attachment to the Union, his determination to find some +remedy for existing ills short of a severance of the ties which bound +South Carolina to the other States, that Mr. Calhoun advocated the +doctrine of nullification, which he proclaimed to be peaceful, to be +within the limits of State power, not to disturb the Union, but only to +be a means of bringing the agent before the tribunal of the States for +their judgment. + +Secession belongs to a different class of remedies. It is to be +justified upon the basis that the States are sovereign. There was a +time when none denied it. I hope the time may come again, when a better +comprehension of the theory of our Government, and the inalienable +rights of the people of the States, will prevent any one from denying +that each State is a sovereign, and thus may reclaim the grants which it +has made to any agent whomsoever. + +I therefore say I concur in the action of the people of Mississippi, +believing it to be necessary and proper, and should have been bound by +their action if my belief had been otherwise; and this brings me to the +important point which I wish on this last occasion to present to the +Senate. It is by this confounding of nullification and secession that +the name of the great man, whose ashes now mingle with his mother earth, +has been invoked to justify coercion against a seceded State. The phrase +"to execute the laws," was an expression which General Jackson applied +to the case of a State refusing to obey the laws while yet a member of +the Union. That is not the case which is now presented. The laws are to +be executed over the United States, and upon the people of the United +States. They have no relation to any foreign country. It is a perversion +of terms, at least it is a great misapprehension of the case, which +cites that expression for application to a State which has withdrawn +from the Union. You may make war on a foreign State. If it be the +purpose of gentlemen, they may make war against a State which has +withdrawn from the Union; but there are no laws of the United States +to be executed within the limits of a seceded State. A State finding +herself in the condition in which Mississippi has judged she is, in +which her safety requires that she should provide for the maintenance of +her rights out of the Union, surrenders all the benefits (and they are +known to be many), deprives herself of the advantages (they are known +to be great), severs all the ties of affection (and they are close and +enduring) which have bound her to the Union; and thus divesting herself +of every benefit, taking upon herself every burden, she claims to be +exempt from any power to execute the laws of the United States within +her limits. + +I well remember an occasion when Massachusetts was arraigned before the +bar of the Senate, and when then the doctrine of coercion was rife and +to be applied against her because of the rescue of a fugitive slave in +Boston. My opinion then was the same that it is now. Not in a spirit of +egotism, but to show that I am not influenced in my opinion because the +case is my own, I refer to that time and that occasion as containing +the opinion which I then entertained, and on which my present conduct +is based. I then said, if Massachusetts, following her through a stated +line of conduct, chooses to take the last step which separates her from +the Union, it is her right to go, and I will neither vote one dollar or +one man to coerce her back; but will say to her, God speed, in memory +of the kind associations which once existed between her and the other +States. + +It has been a conviction of pressing necessity, it has been a belief +that we are to be deprived in the Union of the rights which our fathers +bequeathed to us, which has brought Mississippi into her present +decision. She has heard proclaimed the theory that all men are created +free and equal, and this made the basis of an attack upon her social +institutions; and the sacred Declaration of Independence has been +invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races. That +Declaration of Independence is to be construed by the circumstances and +purposes for which it was made. The communities were declaring their +independence; the people of those communities were asserting that no man +was born--to use the language of Mr. Jefferson--booted and spurred to +ride over the rest of mankind; that men were created equal--meaning the +men of the political community; that there was no divine right to rule; +that no man inherited the right to govern; that there were no classes by +which power and place descended to families, but that all stations were +equally within the grasp of each member of the body-politic. These were +the great principles they announced; these were the purposes for +which they made their declaration; these were the end to which their +enunciation was directed. They have no reference to the slave; else, how +happened it that among the items of arraignment made against George III. +was that he endeavored to do just what the North had been endeavoring +of late to do--to stir up insurrection among our slaves? Had the +Declaration announced that the negroes were free and equal, how was the +Prince to be arraigned for stirring up insurrection among them? And +how was this to be enumerated among the high crimes which caused the +colonies to sever their connection with the mother country? When our +Constitution was formed, the same idea was rendered more palpable, for +there we find provision made for that very class of persons as property; +they were not put upon the footing of equality with white men--not even +upon that of paupers and convicts; but, so far as representation was +concerned, were discriminated against as a lower caste, only to be +represented in the numerical proportion of three-fifths. + +Then, Senators, we recur to the compact which binds us together; we +recur to the principles upon which our Government was founded; and when +you deny them, and when you deny to us the right to withdraw from a +Government which, thus perverted, threatens to be destructive of our +rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim our +independence, and take the hazard. This is done not in hostility to +others, not to injure any section of the country, not even for our own +pecuniary benefit; but from the high and solemn motive of defending and +protecting the rights we inherited, and which it is our sacred duty to +transmit unshorn to our children. + +I find in myself, perhaps, a type of the general feeling of my +constituents towards yours. I am sure I feel no hostility to you, +Senators from the North. I am sure there is not one of you, whatever +sharp discussion there may have been between us, to whom I cannot now +say, in the presence of my God, I wish you well; and such, I am sure, +is the feeling of the people whom I represent towards those whom you +represent. I therefore feel that I but express their desire when I say +I hope, and they hope, for peaceful relations with you, though we must +part. They may be mutually beneficial to us in the future, as they have +been in the past, if you so will it. The reverse may bring disaster +on every portion of the country; and if you will have it thus, we will +invoke the God of our fathers, who delivered them from the power of the +lion, to protect us from the ravages of the bear; and thus, putting +our trust in God, and in our own firm hearts and strong arms, we will +vindicate the right as best we may. + +In the course of my service here, associated at different times with +a great variety of Senators, I see now around me some with whom I +have served long; there have been points of collision; but whatever of +offense there has been to me, I leave here; I carry with me no hostile +remembrance. Whatever offense I have given which has not been redressed, +or for which satisfaction has not been demanded, I have, Senators, in +this hour of our parting to offer you my apology for any pain which, +in heat of discussion, I have inflicted. I go hence unencumbered of the +remembrance of any injury received, and having discharged the duty of +making the only reparation in my power for any injury offered. + +Mr. President, and Senators, having made the announcement which the +occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains for me to bid you a +final adieu. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's American Eloquence, Volume III. 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