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 | UNITED STATES l)F AJ 
 
WILLIAM WHEELER HUBBELL, 
 Counsellor at Law, Scientific and Military Engineer, 
 
 Inventor and Patentee of the Thunderbolt Shell, 
 (U. S. Service Shell and Fuze.) 
 
THE WAY 
 
 TO SECURE 
 
 PEACE AND ESTABLISH UNITY 
 
 E N 
 
 j 
 
 WILLIAM WHEELER HUBBELL, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 ■i ".-i rl i-iii and true to the Constitution, and amend it in the manner it provides. Let tbere be 
 no change by usurpation. 
 
 |m to % f uWit $»«?. 
 
 Price fifteen cents. <yP^ 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 1863. 
 

 Entered according to the Act of Congress in the Clerk's Office of the District Court, 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
THE WAY 
 
 TO SECURE 
 
 PEACE' AND ESTABLISH UNITY 
 
 ONE NATION. 
 
 To the Union, or Patriotic Citizens of the United 
 States of America: 
 
 I propose to address you — in fact every patriotic citizen — on 
 the most vital of all subjects at present to the welfare of this 
 country : That is — The determination of the true basis on which 
 to restore and strengthen the Union, or Nation, of the United 
 States, with its Popular Constitutional Government. 
 
 In presenting this basis, I shall use as few words as possible, 
 consistent with an understanding of the propositions. 
 
 In contemplating the subject, the following truths will be 
 borne in mind ; their recognition is essential to calm the turbu- 
 lent passions of the hour, and prevent errors of judgment. 
 
 First. A truly great government is never weakened nor dis- 
 honored by a readiness at any and all times to fulfil the duties for 
 which it was created. 
 
That governments are established for Protection, and to 
 promote peace: and not for war. War is only an incident for self 
 defence and peace, particularly with a popular or republican 
 government. 
 
 Civil war is both destructive of the prosperous elements of 
 civilization and of popular government ; and tends to a des- 
 potism or government of force. 
 
 Popular government rests on the free will of the people; not 
 on duress or force, and in this respect it differs from all other 
 governments. 
 
 Protection, and the exercise of thef?-ee will of the people, are 
 the principal elements in a popular government* Protection 
 extended by the Government ; and in return, the free will of the 
 people to sustain and carry on the government. 
 
 Second. Legal rights in the respective States should be 
 acquiesced in by all the people of all the States through the 
 United States Government. No portion or section of the people 
 have any just right to seek to employ the United States Gov- 
 ernment to jeopardize or disturb legal State rights. The ori- 
 ginal formation of the States, and their admission as States into 
 the Union, implies that the people will so acquiesce by abstain- 
 ing from such interference. Without such acquiescence there 
 can be no permanent Union. And as governments do not rest 
 entirely on individual acquiescence ; but do rest on Constitu- 
 tional embodiments, expressing their determination, as the Su- 
 preme Law of the land or Nation ; the principle of such acqui- 
 escence is the proper subject of specific Constitutional guarantee. 
 
 The legal rights, interests and property of all, as recognized 
 within and by the several States, should be protected by the 
 United States Government. Such was the object of its crea- 
 tion. 
 
 Third. God made Africa for the African: it belongs to him 
 and his descendants by natural right. To the white man he 
 gave other countries, and superior intelligence, and faculties for 
 the establishment of civilized life, first in his own, and after- 
 wards in other countries. And it is a civilized and Christian 
 duty, to gradually restore the African to his native, and still 
 
barbarous country, with the advantages he may be able to ac- 
 quire, for the civilization or improvement of his race. When 
 he has civilized his own, he may have a right to seek to settle 
 other countries, but not before. Thus the white man did. 
 
 Bearing these truths and principles in mind, the Union can 
 be restored and strengthened, essentially on the following basis, 
 as special amendments, or permanent guarantees to the Consti- 
 tution of the United States. They secure National rights, and 
 State rights, and Personal rights. 
 
 It is an unfortunate fact, that the Constitution nowhere re- 
 cognizes the existence of God ; nor the Divine origin of the 
 Holy Bible, the foundation of our civilization. Of the impro- 
 priety of this omission I need say nothing to a civilized people. 
 
 AMENDMENTS PROPOSED TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED 
 STATES, FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF UNITY AND PERMANENT 
 TRANQUILLITY. 
 
 Article 1 — Section 1. All persons have the right peaceably 
 to assemble and worship God according to the dictates of their 
 own conscience. 
 
 Section 2. The use of the public press shall not be ob- 
 structed ; but publications made in one State against the law- 
 ful institutions of another State shall not be allowed. 
 
 Section 3. The right of citizens to free and lawful speech in 
 public assemblies shall not be denied. Access of citizens to the 
 ballot-box shall not be obstructed either by civil or military 
 power. The military shall always be subordinate to the existing 
 judicial authority over citizens. The privilege of the writ of 
 Habeas Corpus shall never be suspended in the presence of the 
 judicial authority. And a declaration of martial law shall aid, 
 but not supersede the civil power over citizens. 
 
 Section 4. The militia of a State or of the United States 
 
6 
 
 shall not be employed to invadethe lawful rights of the people 
 of another State ; but the United States shall not be hereby 
 deprived of the right and power to defend and protect its pro- 
 perty and rights within the limits of any of the States. 
 
 Article 2 — Section 1. Persons held to service or labor for 
 life, in any State under the laws thereof, may be taken into any 
 Territory of the United States, south of latitude thirty-six de- 
 grees thirty minutes, and the right to such service or labor shall 
 not be impaired thereby. And any territorial legislature shall 
 have the exclusive right to make all needful rules and regula- 
 tions for the protection of such right, and of such persons, and 
 for the maintenance and treatment of such persons and their 
 descendants, in their domestic relations. But Congress, or any 
 territorial legislature, shall not have power to impair or abolish 
 such right of service in the said territory, without the consent 
 of all the States which maintain such service. 
 
 Section 2. Involuntary servitude, except for crime, shall not 
 be permanently established within the district set apart for the 
 seat of government of the United States ; but the right of so- 
 journ with persons held to service or labor for life, in such dis- 
 trict, shall not be denied. 
 
 Article 3. When any Territory of the United States shall 
 have a population equal to the ratio of representation for one 
 member of Congress, and the people shall have formed a Con- 
 stitution for a republican form of government, it shall be admit- 
 ted as a State into the Union, on an equal footing with the 
 other States ; and the people may in the Constitution for such 
 State, either prohibit or sustain the right to labor or service, 
 and alter or amend the Constitution at their will. But no 
 State north of latitude thirty six degrees thirty minutes, shall 
 establish a permanent right to service or labor for life, except 
 as a punishment for crime. 
 
 Article 4 — Section 1. The present right of representation 
 in Section 2, Article 1, of this Constitution, shall not be 
 altered without the consent of all the States maintaining the 
 right to service or labor for life. 
 
 Section 2. The regulation of the right to labor or service in 
 any of the States, is hereby recognized to be exclusively the 
 right of each State within its own limits ; and this Constitution 
 
shall not be altered or amended to impair this right of each 
 State without its consent. Provided : This article shall not be 
 construed to absolve the United States Government from ren- 
 dering assistance to suppress insurrections or domestic violence, 
 as provided in Section 4, Article 4, of this Constitution. 
 
 Article 5. No State shall pass any law in any way interfer- 
 ing with or obstructing the recovery of fugitives from justice, 
 or from labor or service, or any law of Congress made under 
 Article 4, Section 2, of this Constitution ; and all laws in vio- 
 lation of this article, may be declared void by the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, at the suit of any State. 
 
 Article 6. As a permanent right of comity between the 
 several States south of latitude thirty-six degrees, thirty min- 
 utes, the right of transit with persons held to labor or service 
 for life, or for years, from one State through another, shall not 
 be interfered with, without the consent of all the States main- 
 taining such service. 
 
 Article 7. Whenever any State within the United States, 
 shall grant by law to citizens of other States, the right of 
 sojourn for a limited period with persons held to service or 
 labor, if such persons escape, they shall be subject to recovery 
 as fugitives, and returned to the State from which they were 
 brought. 
 
 Article 8. The traffic in slaves with Africa is hereby for- 
 ever prohibited, on pain of death, and the forfeiture of all the 
 rights and property of persons engaged therein. And the de- 
 scendants of Africans shall not be made citizens ; but no free 
 State shall deny to such persons when free, a right of residence. 
 
 Article 9. Persons held to service or labor for life, under 
 the laws of any State or Territory, shall not be taken into any 
 Territory of the United States, while in a territorial condition, 
 north of latitude thirty six degrees, thirty minutes. 
 
 Article 10. Alleged fugitives from labor or service, on re- 
 quest, shall have a trial by jury at the place to which they may 
 be returned. 
 
 Section 2. All alleged fugitives charged with crime com- 
 mitted in violation of the laws of the State from which they 
 fled, shall, on demand, be returned to such State, and shall 
 have the right of trial by jury, and if such person claims 
 
8 
 
 to be a citizen of another State, shall have a right of appeal, 
 or of writ of error to the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 Article 11. Citizens of any State sojourning in another 
 State, shall not be subject to violence or punishment, nor in- 
 jured in their persons or property, without trial by jury and 
 due process of law. And shall have a right of appeal or writ 
 of error to the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 Article 12. All acts of any inhabitant of the United Stares, 
 tending to incite persons held to service or labor, to insurrec- 
 tion or acts of domestic violence, or to abscond, shall be con- 
 sidered and prohibited as contrary to law, and a penal offence ; 
 and all the courts of the United States shall be open to sup- 
 press and punish such offences, at the suit of any citizen of the 
 United States, or the suit of any State. 
 
 Article 13 — Section 1. All conspiracies in any State, to in- 
 terfere with lawful rights in any other State, or against the 
 United States, shall be suppressed. 
 
 Section 2. No State, or the people thereof, shall withdraw 
 from this Nation, or Union, without the consent of three-fourths 
 of all the States, expressed by an amendment proposed and rati- 
 fied in the manner provided in Article V. of the Constitution. 
 
 Article 14 — Section 1. Whenever any State wherein in- 
 voluntary servitude is recognized or allowed, and adjoining any 
 State wherein such servitude is forbidden, shall propose to 
 abolish such servitude, and apply for pecuniary relief, the Con- 
 gress may grant such relief, not exceeding one hundred dollars 
 for each person liberated. But Congress shall not propose such 
 abolishment or relief to any State. 
 
 Section 2. Congress may assist free persons of African de- 
 scent to emigrate and civilize Africa. 
 
 Article 15. Duties on imports may be imposed for revenue ; 
 but shall not be excessive, or prohibitory, in amount. 
 
 x\rticle 16. Congress may authorize the issue of bills of 
 credit, and make the same a legal tender in payment of debts, 
 public and private ; but such issue shall not exceed the rate of 
 twenty dollars for each white inhabitant of the United States. 
 
 Article 17. The Constitution of the United States, and its 
 Amendments, are hereby declared to constitute the People of 
 the United States, One Nation, and are the supreme law of the 
 
land, together with all laws made to carry them into effect. 
 And all other powers not prohibited to the States, are inherent 
 in and reserved, to be exercised by the States, or the people 
 thereof, respectively. 
 
 Article 18. All material of war, and debts, or obligations, 
 incurred in relation thereto, by any of the States, separately 
 or together, may be ascertained, and assumed, or disposed of, 
 on equitable principles, by the Congress of the United States. 
 
 Article 19. The Articles, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, 
 Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, 
 and Nineteen, of these Amendments, or either of them, shall 
 not be altered, except by the consent of all the States which 
 maintain service or labor for life. 
 
 METHOD OF PROCEDURE UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 That the President of the United States shall forthwith con- 
 vene Congress to propose such measures. That the Congress 
 shall propose the Amendments to the States, and propose that 
 the Legislatures of the several States be convened to consider 
 and ratify the same. And that Congress at the same time 
 alternatively direct and propose, that if within sixty days six- 
 teen of the States now represented in the Senate of the United 
 States, shall not ratify the same, the President shall forthwith 
 issue his Proclamation requesting the people of the several States, 
 on the thirtieth day thereafter, to elect delegates to form a Con- 
 vention in each State, to assemble within twenty days at their re- 
 spective State Capitals, and ratify or reject the same, and that 
 the States not represented in the United States Senate, be re- 
 quested to ratify or reject the same within ninety days there- 
 after. 
 
 That if the present President and Congress will not propose 
 such measures, they, or such as may be approved, be still ad- 
 hered to permanently, and made the National Platform of the 
 Democratic party for the election of a President and Con- 
 gress, and State Conventions, Governors and Legislatures, 
 
10 
 
 which will propose, and act, and ratify the same, that peace 
 and prosperity, union and nationality may once more bless our 
 Country. 
 
 In tendering such guarantees, let it be distinctly understood 
 that they are open to suggestions, and are made as between 
 sovereign States on an equal footing, and in the manner and 
 form as directed by the Constitution, with the unalterable de- 
 termination that the Union shall be maintained. The Southern 
 States will understand the meaning of this language without 
 any threats, which would, of course, be repugnant to them as 
 sovereign States, and not proper on such an occasion. The 
 army and navy should, however, be kept in complete effec- 
 tive condition for any national purposes, and retain all their 
 positions. 
 
 These propositions are written full and clear, to. avoid the 
 conflict of legislation on these subjects in Congress as far as 
 possible, and establish a permanent law, until slavery shall 
 become extinguished, by the slow, but sure application of those 
 natural principles of interest, personal and national, which 
 govern the order and economy of labor as compared with pro- 
 duction ; and this is purely a question of practice, and not of 
 politics. 
 
 Consider these amendments or guarantees well ; all who 
 would restore and strengthen the Union ; all who desire to 
 continue a constitutional, popular government ; and who are 
 opposed to a despotism or a government of force. They 
 secure the Northern citizen as well as the Southern in his 
 rights. Remember that as a matter of fact, States are now 
 arrayed in war against States. The differences are not irre- 
 concilable with a popular constitutional government ; they are 
 perfectly under control and within its sphere. The pen pro- 
 perly wielded is mightier than the sword, or than " thunder- 
 bolt shells," and flashing artillery; they convince of nothing 
 but the science and destructive power of man. The pen is the 
 arbiter of peace and good-will. 
 
 As to the changes occurring, and likely to occur, in relation 
 to the voluntary, and involuntary or slave labor of the country ; 
 the principle of relief or compensation, coupled with civilized 
 colonization of the African, substantially as originated by Abra- 
 
11 
 
 ham Lincoln, is at once Christian like, patriotic and just ; and 
 better to operate gradually as here specified, and together with 
 the establishment of a geographical, or the Missouri compromise 
 line, which I with many others urged at an early day. But the 
 change must be voluntary, not one of coercion. 
 
 Extensive and well settled systems of labor, slave labor par- 
 ticularly, the result of years of practice and tuition, of a natu- 
 rally barbaric race of people, still barbaric to the lowest degree 
 in their native country, though the most luxuriant in the world, 
 cannot be rapidly disturbed, without convulsing the commercial, 
 agricultural, and manufacturing interests, with which its pro- 
 ductions are intimately interwoven. To suddenly free the slaves, 
 and thus relieve them of their accustomed order and system of 
 labor, would produce a civil convulsion and anarchy, such as 
 the world has never witnessed. They would become adventu- 
 rous and uncontrollable in the South, and would also overrun 
 the Northern States. This would result in a guerilla war of 
 extermination of the blacks, or else their reduction and sub- 
 mission again to a servile condition. 'Tis better, far better for 
 them, for this nation, and for the world, to be content to gradu- 
 ally colonize them in Africa, to civilize their own race in their 
 native and rightful country, and thus stop slavery there at its 
 fountain head, than to suddenly free them, in this the country 
 of their servitude to another race of men. 
 
 Besides, it is not fairly within the civil rights or powers of 
 the Federal Government to free slaves within the States or the 
 Territories of the United States ; though it is within its power 
 to free them within the District of Columbia (as has been done,) 
 in which it has expressly by the Constitution, the right " to 
 exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever ;" and " to 
 exercise like authority, over all places purchased by the consent 
 of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for 
 the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other 
 needful buildings." 
 
 It should be here observed, that the " like authority'' is not 
 given over the "Territories" of the United States; but very 
 different language is used in Article IV., Section 4, respecting 
 the " Territory or other property belonging to the United 
 
12 
 
 States;" it is simply a power "to dispose of and make all 
 needful rules and regulations." 
 
 "Needful rules and regulations" does not mean a right to 
 legislate away or exclude the rights of citizens of all or any of 
 the States from the Territory. It means simply " needful rules 
 and regulations" to protect citizens of the States in their respec- 
 tive State rights, in common in the Territory. 
 
 To illustrate: Both bodies corporate and politic have the 
 right to make " needful rules and regulations," but that does 
 not give a legislative power to divest legal rights, nor to alter 
 their charters, or constitutions. The "rules and regulations" 
 must always be to protect existing rights, under and in accord- 
 ance with the charters or constitutions. The Southern States 
 have a legal right to this protection in the Territory, and only 
 when the Territory becomes a sovereign State it has the power 
 to exclude slavery. If this protection be denied to the South- 
 ern States in the Territories, the Federal Government, which 
 holds the territorial lands in trust only for the use and benefit 
 of the people, denies to them that protection which it is the 
 duty of the Government to grant ; and fails to fulfil the func- 
 tions which every citizen has a right to demand from the Gov- 
 ernment ; that is, the protection of existing rights in everything 
 or person he can carry with him, into the Territories. 
 
 To give such protection, governments are constituted. 
 
 The Federal Government at Washington, has not fairly a 
 legal power or right to exclude any transferable state-right from 
 the Territories, and in this particular the complaints of the 
 South, of interference, are legally just, however much I or any 
 one else may be opposed to slavery in a moral sense. It is not 
 properly a political subject, as it is not a question of policy. 
 It is a question of right and constitutional law, and binding upon 
 the Government. 
 
 On the other hand, the Secession doctrine of the South, now 
 in rebellion, is equally unlawful, and repugnant to a sense of 
 justice and nationality. The Union, if it rested on the mere 
 pleasure for the time of each State would be no Union, no Gov- 
 ernment at all. The two wrongs, namely : Interference with 
 legal State Rights as to Slavery in the Territories, and the 
 Secession Acts, which have resulted in war, do not make a 
 
13 
 
 right. A conquest on either side will not establish a right, nor 
 produce any permanent settlement for the prosperity of the 
 country. To separate, would lay the foundation for perpetual 
 strife ; or without a natural division, the two sections would 
 tend to adhere, and reunite by the mutual and natural attraction 
 of race, kindred, interest, and territory. 
 
 Why not settle this matter on this latter basis at once, by 
 making the Constitution clear and express ? The South will 
 accept it when tendered in a Constitutional and positive man- 
 ner. The North will be satisfied ; and the Union will both be 
 strengthened and restored, and we shall have a permanent 
 Nation. 
 
 Blood enough has been shed to satisfy the most credulous, that 
 the truth I expressed in connection with very similar proposi- 
 tions in January, 1861 : " That the Union could never be cemented 
 with blood and the bayonet," was a truth which always must apply 
 to a government founded on the free will of the people ; and it 
 applies with great force in this country, with its immense terri- 
 torial limits, and variety of climate, which necessarily greatly 
 embarasses military operations of one section against another. 
 No man has greater facilities for appreciating the power of the 
 enginery of war developed, and which may be developed, than 
 myself; but I cannot conclude that it will maintain the Union 
 founded on Popular will. 
 
 The Constitution made protective and satisfactory to all sec- 
 tions or States, expressly on its face, by permanent guarantees, 
 is the only remedy, and safe bond of perpetuity of the Union 
 or Nation. 
 
 Military proclamations, founded on the plea of "military 
 necessity," and intended to have a legal civil effect, to free the 
 slaves, are both impolitic and unlawful, however patriotic and 
 well intended they may be : they give the appearance of an exces- 
 sive or impetuous haste, simply to free the slaves, right or wrong. 
 I know that the position of his Excellency, the President, is 
 practically a very embarrassing one. It is easy to discover 
 faults, but not so easy to lead a nation on great and momen- 
 tous occasions ; and hence I do not mean to censure. But such 
 Proclamations can have no lawful effect beyond the actual lines, 
 and actual custody of the army or military power ; and if in- 
 
14 
 
 tended to have a civil effect, or effect beyond the military cus- 
 tody, under such a plea "military necessity," might be fairly con- 
 sidered an express admission or declaration of military weakness. 
 
 Protection is the vital function or duty of this Government. 
 
 Plain truths, calmly and fully considered, are elements of 
 the greatest strength and importance to the country. 
 
 The extension of this protection, both civil and military, to 
 the Border States at an early day, would be an act of justice to 
 them, and would also disarm the rebellion in the South, and 
 those in arms would disperse, satisfied with such guarantees, 
 and return to their allegiance. 
 
 The Confiscation Act of the Thirty-seventh Congress, should 
 be repealed : the aim of the Government should be to heal ani- 
 mosities, not to sow the seed of discord and perpetual hostility ; 
 which that act inevitably does. The Proclamation of Emanci- 
 pation should be limited to the actual lines of the army, and 
 the positive custody of the persons to be freed under it, as 
 prisoners of war and rights of the enemy, captured and set free. 
 
 I have not dealt in vague words or abstract theories about the 
 settlement of our difficulties. The proposed amendments give a 
 distinct form ; the Constitution directs the mode; we have only 
 to follow its directions. With these amendments made to the 
 Constitution, the domestic security of the South would be 
 expressly guaranteed and made certain. Though few in num- 
 ber, the Slave States would feel safe, and the arbiters of their 
 own social condition and system of labor. And under the 
 principles of self-interest, governing the economy of labor and 
 production, and the operation of protection, payment and colo- 
 nization, before embodied in form in the Amendments, involun- 
 tary servitude will gradually and entirely disappear from this 
 continent, and Africa be permanently civilized to the utmost 
 practicable extent, with her own people, and without any injury 
 to the industrial interests of this country ; but with great ad- 
 vantage in fact to the material wealth of the whole world. 
 
 I, of course, am aware that slavery in the abstract, is incon- 
 sistent with the avowed principles of this Free or Popular Gov- 
 ernment, and could not originally be created under it as a 
 National institution ; but I can go no further. It must be con- 
 sidered in its true light, as an absolute old State right. Such 
 
15 
 
 it was before, and such it is under the Constitution. The exist- 
 ence of slavery as a legal right in the States, was antecedent 
 to that of the Federal Government ; and the Constitution of 
 the United States, in obedience to that fact, three times re- 
 cognizes its existence as a legal right in the States ; first, in 
 the three-fifths representation; second, in the restoration of 
 fugitives ; third, in the absolute State Right of importation 
 prior to 1808. The right in the slave is simply a right to 
 the labor or service, and to the custody of the person so far as 
 that is necessary. This right of custody is what the Constitu- 
 tion recognizes : the right to the service or labour, and the cus- 
 tody for such purpose, is the extent of the property. There is 
 no absolute right of property over the person or life ; mal-treat- 
 ment of the slave is punishable ; and reasonable care is exacted, 
 both medical, and as to labor and provisions, shelter and cloth- 
 ing, by all of the Southern States, notwithstanding all the 
 novels and fictitious stories to the contrary. The necessi- 
 ties, tastes and uses for its continuance, or abolishment, in 
 different parts of the country have greatly varied since the for- 
 mation of our Federal Government. But nevertheless the legal 
 and equitable State rights concerning it under the Federal 
 Government have not varied one particle. 
 
 The principles of law and equity, which must have been un- 
 derstood when the Constitution was formed, never change. 
 They are alike potent to protect the weakest man though he 
 stood alone, as they are to protect the most numerous com- 
 munity or majority. Such is the object of the establishment 
 of constitutional government. 
 
 With a constitutional government, the majority in power may 
 shape matters of policy under and in accordance with the Con- 
 stitution. But never to override, and substitute political facts, 
 for and in place of the Constitution. Such an act would con- 
 vert the government into a political government ; and it then 
 necessarily ceases to have the stability, and permanent charac- 
 ter of a constitutional government, and begins to approach 
 anarchy, or an accidental condition, liable to change with every 
 election, and to produce sudden convulsions and revolutions. 
 
 The act of the late (the 37th) Congress, prohibiting Slavery 
 in all the Territories, however humane in the abstract, and well 
 
16 
 
 meant it may be, is in fact, the substitution of a political gov- 
 ernment for and in place of the constitutional government. 
 No such act is authorized by the Constitution. 
 
 In the propositions for an amendment of the Constitution 
 herein expressed, this subject is made a specific constitutional 
 matter, prohibiting it North, and protecting it South of latitude 
 36° 30', subject to State sovereignty, which entirely removes 
 it from Congress and the national political arena. 
 
 As to Slavery compared with Polygamy, it may be remarked, 
 that, a legal right existing anterior to the Federal Government, 
 and recognized by it, such as Slavery, though not " Slavery" in 
 the ancient sense ; but involuntary servitude regulated by State 
 laws, definino; the rio-hts and duties both of the master and the 
 servant or slave, as exists in the South, stands on a very dif- 
 ferent footing from that new domestic relation in Utah Terri- 
 tory, "Polygamy," which has been set up, de novo, without the 
 sanction of any State, or the United States. Polygamy can- 
 not be maintained in a Territory as a State right, for no State 
 exists, and none will be admitted tolerating it. It cannot 
 therefore be set up as a legal right under the Government, nor 
 under the proposed articles of amendment. 
 
 Patriotic citizens who would save and strengthen the Union, 
 must look to the legal and equitable principles existing at the time 
 the Constitution was formed, and not to their sectional or indi- 
 vidual tastes or preferences. No government that man could 
 erect would stand or endure upon any other basis. The sense 
 of the Constitution must comprehend the whole nation, not 
 simply a sectional portion ; it must include the whole people of 
 the States and all their State rights ; not simply the rights 
 and views of one section as concerning themselves, and their 
 tastes, habits, and the physical facts with which they are sur- 
 rounded. The political condition of affairs, and the civil and 
 social state of society as it now exists, and special provisions 
 in the Constitution to regulate the subject, were not definitely 
 anticipated by the framers of the Constitution, for the manifest 
 reason, that the immediate certain causes for them did not 
 exist, and they were not clearly indicated. Though the wisdom 
 of our forefathers was such, that there is nothing prohibitory 
 in the Constitution, nor inconsistent with the principles involved 
 
17 
 
 in these sections embodied herein (from 1 to 19); and they pro- 
 vided a manner of amending the Constitution, which fact 
 implies that it might need amendment. 
 
 The amendments proposed are the true natural result of the 
 Constitution, pursuing the principles on which it is based ; and 
 the Patriots of '76 have left something for us to do, in our day 
 and generation, in pursuit of the principles they established, 
 and in accordance with the physical, social and political facts, 
 existing at the present time. 
 
 The power of amendment is given in the Constitution in the 
 following words : 
 
 "Article 5. Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses 
 shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Con- 
 stitution, or, on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds 
 of the several States, shall call a convention for proposing 
 amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents 
 and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the 
 Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by con- 
 ventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode 
 of ratification may be proposed by Congress : provided that no 
 amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner affect the first 
 and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first Article ; and 
 that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its 
 equal suffrage in the Senate." 
 
 As to the provisos. The first prevented the prohibition of 
 the importation of African slaves prior to the year 1808, and 
 therefore the Constitution sanctioned their introduction by the 
 States up to that time. The first clause of the ninth Section, 
 Article 1, says, " The migration, or importation, of such persons 
 as any of the States now existing, shall think proper to admit, 
 shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one 
 thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax, or duty, may be 
 imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each 
 person." The fourth clause is, "No capitation, or other direct 
 tax, shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumera- 
 tion hereinbefore directed to be taken." 
 
 The subject last referred to in the proviso, is contained in the 
 first clause of Section 3, of Article 1, of the Constitution, in 
 
13 
 
 these words : " The Senate of the United States shall be com- 
 posed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legis- 
 lature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one 
 vote." 
 
 The Constitution therefore directs a clear mode of amend- 
 ment, with two restrictive provisos. 
 
 No citizen at all acquainted with the history of this country, 
 can for a moment doubt, that in the first clause of Section 9, 
 the words, " the migration, or importation, of such persons as 
 any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit," 
 admits in substance the importation of African slaves, which was 
 then carried on. Freemen emigrated — slaves were imported. 
 
 And as to the restriction preventing any change in the re- 
 presentation in the Senate, it is now a notorious fact, that under 
 this clause the New England States of Maine, New Hampshire 
 and Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, 
 whose interests and policy are almost identical, have a repre- 
 sentation of twelve Senators, which is now, and is destined to 
 be, a greater representation in proportion to their population, 
 than that of the larger States of New York, Pennsylvania and 
 Ohio, and other rapidly increasing States. But this right of 
 representation is permanently guaranteed to them, on the ground 
 of State rights. The principle of State Rights is no new doc- 
 trine in the Constitution ; special guarantees in its favor are as 
 old as the instrument itself, and the New England States, there- 
 fore, should be equally liberal, and guarantee to the Southern 
 States their peculiar State rights, although the abstract morale 
 of it may not exactly agree with the religious views of New 
 England. With the expediency and practice of it, in a Southern 
 climate, and for Southern staples, New England and the other 
 States have legally nothing to do; it is a matter of domestic 
 economy, resting with the States choosing to exercise it. 
 
 Suffice it to say, that the same Constitution which guarantees 
 to the small New England States, an equal representation in 
 the Senate with the largest States for all time, upheld the im- 
 portation of the African as a slave by the States, until 
 a. D. 1808, and the right to his service or labor thus acquired 
 and sanctioned, is legally as much entitled to a guarantee of 
 protection, when in a minority, as a State right, as the right to 
 
19 
 
 an equal suffrage in the Senate with larger and more populous 
 States, was originally entitled to a guarantee, to secure this re- 
 presentation in the Senate, when in a minority, in this popular 
 constitutional government. 
 
 The Constitution anticipates amendments and guarantees. 
 Even Washington (Pater Patrice) seemed to apprehend the very 
 difficulty that is now upon us, and in his Farewell Address, 
 used the following language, in estimating the considerations 
 of the Union. He says, 
 
 " These considerations speak a persuasive language to every 
 " reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of 
 " the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there 
 " a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large 
 " a sphere ? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere specu- 
 " lation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to 
 • w hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxi- 
 " liary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, 
 " will afford a happy issue of the experiment. It is well worth 
 " a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious 
 " motives to Union, affecting all parts of our country, while 
 " experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, 
 " there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those 
 •' who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands. 
 
 " In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, 
 " it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should 
 u have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical 
 " discriminations — northern and southern, Atlantic and west- 
 " em; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief 
 " that there is a real difference of local interests and views. 
 " One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within par- 
 • k ticular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and ai?ns of 
 " other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against 
 " the jealousies and heart-burnings which spring from these 
 ■' misrepresentations . They tend to render alien to each other 
 
 " those WHO OUGHT TO BE BOUND TOGETHER BY FRATERNAL 
 " AFFECTION." 
 
 Here is, in substance, an exact anticipation of our present 
 difficulty and its causes, with his advice. Subsequently in the 
 address he says, 
 
20 
 
 " If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modi- 
 " fication of the constitutional powers be in any particular 
 " wrong, let it be collected by an amendment in the way in 
 " which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change 
 " by usurpation ; for though this in one instance may be the 
 " instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which 
 " free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always 
 " greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient 
 " benefit which the use can at any time yield." 
 
 Washington thus anticipates the difficulty in which we are 
 now involved, and points out the way provided by the Constitu- 
 tion as the corrective remedy : " Let it be corrected by an 
 amendment in the way in which the Constitution designates. 
 But let there be no change by usurpation." This is the advice 
 of the Father of our Country. 
 
 Let us show ourselves as capable of self-government in our 
 day, as he and his compatriots, the founders of this nation, 
 were in their day. They gave us the true basis of a Constitu- 
 tion and a manner of amending it. Much was implied by the 
 principles upon which it was based, in the spirit in which it was 
 created. We can make it specific and express to suit existing 
 facts, and both save and strengthen the Union. 
 
 Some persons may say, that they will not compromise with 
 Traitors. Such persons feed their personal objects or pride at 
 the expense of the welfare of their country, and set themselves 
 up in judgment of others, with the nation for their foot-stool. 
 Such is not the spirit of " fraternal affection" in which this Re- 
 public was formed and is to be administered. Kings, Empe- 
 rors may talk in such manner by an assumed divine right, not 
 to deal with men as men, nor with things and circumstances as 
 tliey find them. But the life of a republic is a spirit of mutual 
 interest, compromise and good will amongst and ivith men, sup- 
 ported by the blessing of Almighty God. 
 
 Some persons may say, " let the rebels lay down their arms 
 first, and the other portion of the United States retain their 
 arms, last." Such persons may be sincere ; but they expose 
 themselves to the imputation, that they desire to enforce the 
 Confiscation Acts, and free the slaves by force of the arms re- 
 maining in their hands, rather than a desire to promote the 
 
21 
 
 peace and stability of the nation. Their position is impracti- 
 cable in the nature of things, and is injudicious to say the least. 
 Practically, such a course tends to fix and determine a separa- 
 tion of the States, and not to re-unite them. For whatever 
 words may be used to express the present war, whether " rebel- 
 lion" or "insurrection," the war is, in fact, one of States 
 against States. This the Supreme Court of the United States 
 recognize, and set forth in their decision on the prize cases, to 
 justify seizure and condemnation. But apart from that, it is a 
 palpable fact verified by organized armies supported by regular 
 appropriations ; that the war is one of States against States, the 
 Northern States acting by or through the United States Gov- 
 ernment, and the Southern States acting by or through an or- 
 ganization which they style the Confederate Government. 
 
 If the rebellion was simply within a State, or parts of States, 
 and not with the authority of States in their sovereign capa- 
 city, then the doctrine of submission might be hopeful : But 
 for States to tell States to submit without guarantees, and in 
 the face of confiscation acts, and free proclamations as " military 
 necessity," is a hopeless request. No sovereign State would ever 
 accede to such a demand, under such circumstances. 
 
 Let every true and Union citizen reflect on the foregoing 
 propositions and remarks, and advise or petition the President 
 and Congress, and the authorities of the respective States. 
 They have the opportunity to act before conventions by the 
 people could be elected in each State and assembled. The 
 Border States alone are entitled to the guarantees. 
 
 The President of the United States can convene the Thirty- 
 eighth Congress, and Congress can pass or propose the amend- 
 ments to the States, and propose that the Legislatures may 
 ratify them ; with a proviso, that if the Legislatures shall fail 
 to agree to their ratification by a fixed day, that on a certain 
 day thereafter the people in the several States shall choose 
 delegates for a State convention, in each State, to assemble at 
 a certain time, to consider and act upon the subject of their 
 ratification. Ninety days time would suffice to convene Con- 
 gress, and ratify such measures through the Legislatures of the 
 several States. 
 
 L T pon their adoption by the Northern States, the South would 
 
ratify and confirm them, and the rebellion and its causes and 
 apprehensions would vanish, and a permanent peace be restored. 
 
 We can and should prosecute war when necessary, to defend 
 the Constitution as it stands or may be amended ;. but that is 
 no just reason why we should neglect or fail to fulfil the objects 
 of Government ; that is to protect all within its legal jurisdic- 
 tion, or territorial limits, by specific averments of Constitutional 
 rights. Such declared protection is the primary object of 
 popular constitutional government, and itself is and should be 
 made the great strength and basis of endurance of this nation. 
 
 The proposed Article 16, as an amendment on the subject of 
 the currency, is intended to give express constitutional effect, 
 to essentially the same system of legal tender or lawful paper 
 currency as now established ; but limited within such amount as 
 will, in all reasonable probability, suffice to conduct the business 
 operations throughout the vast extent of territory embraced 
 within the limits of the United States, and supply the Govern- 
 ment even in times of war. The advantage of an uniform cur- 
 rency, readily portable in its character, and of equal value in 
 all places within the United States, cannot for a moment be 
 reasonably doubted. The producer of grain in the far west 
 should receive for the fruit of his labor, a currency which he 
 can readily carry ; and purchase his commodities in the East or 
 South without being subject to onerous discounts, or expenses ; 
 whicH always detract directly from his well earned profits on 
 his grain or other produce. A portable currency is necessary 
 for such a widely extended country as the United States ; and 
 there is no power or authority to create such a currency except 
 it be placed in the United States or general Government. 
 
 The States are prohibited from issuing bills of credit, as well 
 as from coining money. That the United States is at present 
 authorized to issue bills of credit, or paper, except as " secu- 
 rities" in evidence of money borrowed, is, to say the least, 
 exceedingly questionable. Whether legal tender notes convert- 
 able into bonds or securities for money borrowed, are really 
 within the meaning of the Constitution, admits of a doubt, 
 although they are certainly a very ingenious device for the pre- 
 sent relief of the government in time of war. 
 
 My understanding of the Constitution at present, as to issues 
 
23 
 
 of paper, and currency, is, that the United States may borrow 
 money and issue bonds or "securities" as evidences of debt for 
 the money borrowed ; and that the government may coin money, 
 and that coin or money is "currency." The legal tender note 
 of paper is a modern invention, never before known in fact as 
 a borrowing of money, nor as a security for money borrowed. 
 It certainly is not "coin." Coin is a metal possessing intrinsic 
 value, impressed with the insignia of the government to make it 
 currency. 
 
 While the States are prohibited from issuing bills of credit, 
 it will be recollected that this is a restriction only on the original 
 sovereign right of the States, or on the people to authorize the 
 States respectively to issue such bills. But that restriction on 
 the States or people does not confer the right to issue bills of 
 credit, on the United States. All its powers are delegated, and 
 if not delegated in the Federal Constitution, either expressly or 
 by fair implication to carry some express power into effect, not 
 otherwise provided for, it does not possess them ; but they are 
 reserved to the States or the people, unless prohibited ; and if 
 prohibited to the States, they may still, by amendment, be ex- 
 pressly conferred on the United States. 
 
 As the growth of the country is and will be rapid, and the 
 existence of the debt to be represented by five hundred 
 millions, or a less number of legal tender, or notes of currency, 
 is now incurred ; it would not be improper to expressly give a 
 constitutional power, to establish such a currency as a peace 
 measure, for the general civil business purposes of the country. 
 The exigencies of war no doubt justified their issue as a tem- 
 porary measure to "raise and support the Army," "and pro- 
 vide and maintain the Navy." 
 
 In a country of small area, coin might answer every civil 
 purpose ; but in this country, without a more portable currency, 
 the expense of transporting coin, or the rates of exchange, 
 often absorb the profits of labor, and cripple the advancement 
 of industrial pursuits. 
 
 It is against public policy to embarass or absorb the fruits of 
 labor with exchanges, or unproductive expenses or charges. 
 They too often make labor the slave of capital. 
 
 An uniform portable currency tends to relieve labor of this 
 
24 
 
 consuming difficulty, and to make it free to enjoy the full fruits 
 it shall yield. 
 
 As to the relative value of coin, and legal tender notes con- 
 stitutionally issued for civil purposes, — The coin is alloyed 
 and given a fictitious value not redeemable in anything ; but 
 capable only of having a certain amount of gold or silver ex- 
 tracted from it; whilst the legal tender note of the nation 
 secured by the right of taxation, is represented by all the 
 material wealth of the nation, real and personal estate of 
 every kind, including both the gold and the silver, and all the 
 other precious commodities. It is as enduring as the nation 
 itself ; and its issue and possession by citizens, is a pecuniary 
 inducement or ground amongst other material reasons, for up- 
 holding and perpetuating the government. Hence the propriety 
 of such a clause as the Article 16, to be expressly set forth 
 in the Constitution. 
 
 As to the Article 13, Section 2, prohibiting Acts or Ordi 
 nances of Secession : 
 
 Inasmuch as the right has been claimed by the present seced- 
 ing States, it is best to set the matter at rest by an express 
 interdiction of that privilege. There would appear to be, or to 
 have been, a misunderstanding, between the States in ratifying 
 the Constitution, as to its nature in forming one compact nation, 
 or in being only a compact between States, and divisible at 
 pleasure ; for strange to say, but none the less true, Virginia 
 the Mother of States, the home of Washington, in ratifying the 
 Constitution, did so, reservedly or only partially, not abso- 
 lutely ! for she annexed to her Act of ratification a Proviso, 
 that the powers she conferred on the United States, might be 
 withdrawn whenever they were abused ! of which she undoubt- 
 edly intended to be herself the judge. 
 
 This remarkable reservation in her act of ratification, may in 
 a great measure account for her present unfortunate condition, 
 in attempting to exercise what she thus supposed to be a right 
 reserved, to be exercised at her own discretion. Her accept- 
 ance into the Union by the other States, subject to this reser- 
 vation which she made, would at least in fairness furnish at 
 present a reasonable ground for concession and compromise, 
 
25 
 
 and a peaceable adjustment of her present effort to exercise the 
 reservation she thus made. 
 
 It may be said that the present President of the United 
 States, Abraham Lincoln, will not convene Congress, and will 
 not recommend such measures as here announced, because they 
 are repugnant to the positions or enunciations he has already 
 made. In reply I will remark, that, he has said that he would 
 save Slavery if he could save the Union; as well as said that 
 he would destroy Slavery, if he could, if that would save the 
 Union. No doubt the President prefers if he can to abolish 
 Slavery, but as he has made the " Union" paramount in his 
 expressions of attachment to it, it might now reasonably be 
 supposed, that he, the President, may now choose to pursue 
 that high path of duty intimated by Washington, and marked 
 out by the Constitution. And that he will recommend to the 
 Congress, which he has the power to convene at any moment, 
 such amendments for its concurrence, or proposition to the 
 States in accordance with its provisions, as will guarantee to the 
 disaffected States ample protection; which benefit "Protection" 
 is the high attribute and object for which governments are 
 created. 
 
 The issues of the life or the death of the nation are in the 
 President's hands, under his power to convene Congress and 
 recommend such measures, and his authority as Commander-in- 
 Chief of the army and navy. 
 
 When the new Congress shall have proposed amendments, 
 then the Legislatures of the States can ratify them, and the 
 several Governors can convene the Legislatures speedily ; or 
 the Congress can provide that if they cannot agree to ratify 
 them, they shall be referred to conventions in the States, all in 
 accordance with the Constitution, as before stated herein. 
 
 The Northern States are in possession of the United States 
 Government; the presumption amongst nations and men fairly 
 is, that it being in possession, knows the duties it should exer- 
 cise, and the manner of their presentation towards every por- 
 tion of the country. It honors itself by fulfilling to the 
 utmost its high duty to guarantee permanent protection, as 
 well as to defend itself in war. If the President, the Con- 
 gress, and the Legislatures of the States, will consider the 
 
26 
 
 Union and the nation paramount to all other considerations, the 
 provisions existing in the Constitution are ample to settle our 
 present difficulty, and actually strengthen the Union, in less 
 than ninety days. 
 
 In the meantime, military operations should remain in abey- 
 ance ; there should be no invasive or aggressive movements 
 made upon the Southern States. An armistice should be agreed 
 upon as soon as Congress had assembled, or the order of the 
 President to that effect had been issued. And the South 
 should be left free from all threat or coercion, to accept or 
 reject the guarantees, as becomes their sovereign powers and 
 rights as States. 
 
 By pursuing this course, we will have peace, a permanent 
 domestic tranquillity. Our great country will be established as 
 one nation, and eventually Africa will be civilized, and be con- 
 verted by the blessing of God from a barbarous into a Christian 
 country ; the final result of slavery in America. 
 
 The free States of the North need only to follow the direc- 
 tions of the Constitution, and the advice of Washington, and in 
 his spirit. They need not and will not supplicate the South to 
 accept them. The Constitution points out the mode and man- 
 ner of action. It is fully equal to the emergency. 
 
 Neither will the States of the South beg the States of the 
 North for the recognition and security of their sovereign rights, 
 free from political attacks and constant jeopardy. There must 
 be a voluntary spirit of harmony in our Federal Government 
 for it to live, and this is perfectly consistent with separate 
 State powers and rights even on the most diverse subjects. As 
 well might it be expected that planets could be clashing against 
 planets in the solar system, and it survive, as to expect that 
 State rights can clash against State rights in our Federal Gov- 
 ernment, and the Union survive. The one is a physical, the 
 other equally a political, impossibility. Each State must move 
 with its local sovereignty and peculiarity perfect and protected, 
 and the whole of the States can then move in harmony together 
 for national purposes, under the Federal Constitution. 
 
 When the Northern, Middle and Western States entertain a 
 full and just appreciation of the State rights of the South, and 
 
27 
 
 acting under and in accordance with the directions of the Con- 
 stitution of the United States of America, in that spirit which 
 becomes the great and patriotic hearted people of the North 
 and West, voluntarily tender to them, in a Constitutional form, 
 permanent guarantees which will secure to them, as States, the 
 enjoyment of domestic tranquillity with their now peculiar, but 
 once a general, system of labor ; secure even when they become 
 a minority of less than one-fourth of the States, and have no 
 control over the power of amending the Constitution. That it 
 shall not be disturbed by outside or foreign abolition agitation. 
 When these guarantees to a reasonable and practical extent are 
 voluntarily tendered by the national or Union people of the 
 North and great West, as they inevitably should and will be to 
 harmonize our Federal system, then the Southern States, ex- 
 tinguishing their dissoluble confederation of States, will accept 
 and ratify such guarantees. The acts of ratification by the 
 States will be all sufficient for the United States, and we shall 
 have peace, prosperity throughout the land, and a permanent 
 nation, free from any probability of division hereafter. 
 
 This great work, to succeed, must be supported by the Demo- 
 cratic party. Without your co-operation, and that of all patriot 
 citizens, the result cannot be attained. And it is for you to 
 determine whether you will maintain these measures and restore 
 the nation to a new birth, baptized with fire and with blood, as 
 it has been, to take its position as an enduring, self-sustaining 
 and powerful Nation. 
 
 If you falter in this work, the nation is lost. The support 
 of purely Abolitionists cannot be expected. The support of 
 patriotic citizens who make their country and its Constitution 
 paramount to all other considerations, and who reflect rightfully 
 upon the nature of our government, will be obtained; some may 
 err, but it is to be trusted and hoped, that few will misapprehend 
 so vital a subject as the principles of this Federal Government, 
 and of specific guarantees to the minority of States. 
 
 If you persevere in these principles, with a firm reliance on 
 the blessings and assistance of Almighty God, you will suc- 
 ceed and permanently re-establish the prosperity of your 
 country. 
 
 The course you will pursue is the point for you to determine, 
 
28 
 
 and I will now thus briefly leave the subject referring you again 
 to the proposed guarantees, and conclude my remarks with 
 the invocation : Stand firm and true to the Constitution, and 
 amend it in the manner it provides ; let there be no change by 
 usurpation. 
 
 Submitted respectfully, to the People. 
 
 Wm. Wheeler Hubbell. 
 Philadelphia, May 22, 1863. 
 
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