.H5 
 
Glass 
 
 Book_±li 
 
SPEECH 
 
 
 OF NEW YORK, 
 
 RESTRICTION OF SLAVERY 
 
 IN MISSOURI. 
 
 HEIIVEBED is the HOISE of nEPnESEXTATIVES OF THE 
 UyiTED STATES, JANUAIIT 25, 1820. 
 
 Mr. Chairman : I assure the commiltee ihat I 
 shall not detain them long by my observations 
 upon this question ; nor should I now undertake 
 to consume the fifteen or twenty minutes which I 
 shall allot to myself, if it was not for the somewhat 
 peculiar situation in which I am placed. 
 
 It is well known, that the Legislature of the 
 respectable state which I have the honor in part 
 to represent, has requested the Representatives 
 of that state, upon tliis floor, to vote for the re- 
 striction upon Missouri now under consideration. 
 
 I have examined attentively the mass of argu- 
 ment which has been so laboriously accumulated 
 on this question ; and never, perhaps, was there 
 on any occasion so much exhausted as on this. 
 But, sir, I freely own that I cannot, in conscience 
 or judgment, consent to impose this i estriction 
 upon Missouri. 
 
 There is a wonderful singulaiity in the present 
 
 controversy, which destroys all confidence in the 
 
 weight and value of that process of mind which 
 
 we so proudly dignify with the title of reasoning 
 
 1 
 
■ .'7 s 
 
 2 
 
 Sir, I never yet knew that reason'-and logic were 
 to be found on this side or that, of a parallel of 
 latitude or longitude. What is the fact in this 
 case ? Why, sir, the parallel of latitude of 39 
 degrees almost precisely marks the division be- 
 tween the reason and argument of the North and 
 South. That line of demarkation separates the 
 slave Iwlding from the non slave holding states. 
 On the soutli side of that line we find the climate 
 and soil adapted to slaves, and there are the 
 slaves. On the north side of that line, we discov- 
 er that the soil and climate require no slaves, 
 and therefore few or no slaves are found. What, 
 sir, is it possible, then, that one half of us can be 
 rationally and argumentatively on one side of a 
 parallel of latitude, and the other half of us upon 
 the other ? I did believe that the tiuths of philo- 
 sophy, that reason, that the principia of Newton 
 were the same in every latitude, in every climate, 
 and on every soil of this globe. Sir, there must 
 be some mistake among us upon this occasion, 
 and from the reflections which 1 have made, I 
 think I caii point it out. 
 
 It is now at least twenty years, that I have with 
 some pain and apprehension, rersarked the in- 
 creasing spirit of local and sectional envy and 
 dislike between the North and South. A contin- 
 ued series of sarcasm upon each other's circum- 
 stances, modes of living, and manners, so foolish- 
 ly persevered in, has produced at length, that 
 keen controversy which now enlists us in masses 
 against each other, on the opposite sides of a 
 line of latitude. Gentlemen may dignify it by 
 whatever titles they please They may flatter 
 themselves that all is logic, reason, pure reason. 
 But certain I ana, that it is neitlier more norless 
 than sectional feeling. Feeling, sir, however 
 gravely dignified, has brought us in hostility to 
 this singular line of combat, and tve, who are, 
 you know, sir, " but children of a larger growth," 
 are now most aptly comparable to those celebrat- 
 ed and eternal factions of Up Town and Down 
 Town Boys I put this observation to every one 
 
who hears me, wiih the wish iluU he may apply 
 his own recollections and reflections to it. Gen- 
 tlemen may exhaust all their arguments, all their 
 eloquence upon the question before us; they may 
 pour out every flower of rhetoric upon il — but, 
 sir, I view their labors as wholly vain, and I fear 
 that their flowers will be found to be the most 
 deleterious and most poisonous in the whole 
 range of botany. They poison national affection. 
 Reason divided by parallels of latitude ! Why, 
 sir, it is easy for prejudice and malevolence, by 
 aid of ingenuity, to erect ati eternal impenetrable 
 wall of brass between tke north and south at tho 
 latitude of thirty-nine degrees 1 But, in the view 
 of reason, there is no other line between them 
 than that celestial arc of ihhty-nine degrees 
 which offers no barrier to the march of liberal 
 and rational men. Is it forgotten that the en- 
 lightened high priest, the arch-bisliop of one 
 belligerent goes to the temple of the Almighty 
 and chaunts " Te Deum laudanius," for the vic- 
 tory obtained by his country, with carnage and 
 devastation, over the enemy, while the arch- 
 bishop of the other belligerent is at the same 
 lime entering the house of God, and singing also 
 " Te Deum laudainus pro victoria," upon the 
 other side of the line, the creek, or tlie river? 
 We who know these things should profit by our 
 knowledge, learn liberality, and practise it It 
 is true, and I glory in the knowledge of the truth, 
 that in matters of religion this country has, in its 
 constitutions, attained a high point of reason and 
 liberality. Men, after forty or sixty centuries of 
 religious intolerance, here, at last, may worship 
 the Creator in their own way. What a privilege ! 
 how dearly acquired ! how much to be prized I 
 It fills us with astonishment, when we reflect how 
 hard it is for us to refrain from forcing by power 
 our opinions upon our brother men ! how readily 
 each individual imagines that the light is alone 
 in his own breast, and how enthusiastically he 
 engages in propagating it among mankind by all 
 
possible means, fancying, dreaming that he is a 
 prophet, a vice-gerent of Ahnighty God. 
 
 Sir, we have been now for a long time occu- 
 pied -in this debate, misspending our time and 
 the public money. I feel well assured that the 
 body of the people will judge our conduct right- 
 ly. They are able critics! Yes, sir, even in 
 matlei s of sublime art, even in those works which 
 none can execute, all arc critics ! They deter- 
 mine, at a glance of the eye, what is good and 
 beautiful in architecture, in statuary, in painting, 
 and, what is to them still more easy, what is 
 good in governments and constitutions. They 
 will soon ask us, what is the controversy about? 
 Did you from motives of policy and regard for 
 the welfare of the whites propose to remove the 
 growing black race Irom this cuuntiy ? No. Did 
 you, actuated by humane considerations for the 
 unfortunate slaves, propose to redeem them from 
 their bondage, and restore them to liberty and 
 the land of their fathers? No. What then? 
 Did you propose to draw such lines of restriction 
 around the slave population as would ere long 
 starve them out, and so prevent their becoming 
 dangerous to the whites ? If you did. remember 
 that such is the increasing kindness of the slave 
 holdcisjso ameliorated the condition of the slave, 
 that not one slave, not one child less will be born, 
 and not one can die by starvation. Sir, the truth 
 is,' that nothing has yet been proposed beneficial 
 cither to the wliitc or black race in all this long- 
 drawn debate, (iive me leave to say, sir, that 
 this consideration induced me to introduce the 
 resolution wliich now lies upon the table, devot- 
 ing the public lands to the emancipation and co- 
 lonization of the unfortunate slaves. If we want 
 some object upon which to exhaust our enthusi- 
 asm, here is one woi th it all. Not the subjuga- 
 tion of a people, but the redemption of a nation. 
 VVe are attempting here to legislate ior Mis- 
 souri, without a due attention to the situation, the 
 genius of the people, soil, climate, and all the 
 matters which ought to constitute good law. 
 
The celebrated Montesquieu obtained great and 
 deserved reputation by his essays upon L^Esprit 
 des Loix. It is an admirable cliaracter of hu- 
 man knowledge, one which had not been until his 
 time tolerably known and not now well un<lerstood. 
 Nothing is more difficult than to make good 
 laws, such as will last long and wear well. We 
 sir, with all our knowledge make a dozen for one 
 which well answers its end or perlbnns itsoflice. 
 All Lawyers know, and I pray the particular at- 
 tention of the Lawyers of this house, how readily 
 laws become as we term it obsolete, or as I would 
 phrase it, (like the caps and dresses of the ladies,) 
 become unj'asliionable, how often changed. It is 
 necessary, says Montesquieu, to make laws ex- 
 actly suitable, to tlie genius of the people, to the 
 physical laws of climate. See. to the habits of a 
 people, and to the very moment of time in which 
 the law is made. A law made contrary to the 
 genius and will of a people, to their climate, ha- 
 bits, and circumstances, will never be executed, 
 never was long maintained, and is for a law a mere 
 absurdity. Also, if it is made out of time that is 
 not suitable to the very time in which it is made, 
 it will with the caprice of fashion speedily be- 
 come unfashionable, or as the lawyers say 
 obsolete. 
 
 Sir, it is my intention only to point with an in- 
 dex finger at the chapters which contain as, I be- 
 lieve, the facts and the learning worth reading on 
 this occasion, and by no means to read you the 
 whole chapters themselves. 
 
 I will now sir, point out another chapter which, 
 in my judgment, contains much in relation to this 
 comroversy. 
 
 There is a class of politicians among us, with 
 whom I have, at least in one respect, always dif- 
 fered very widely indeed. This class always 
 holds in doubt and apparent dread the extension 
 of republican government. It has never been 
 able to trust to the discretion and ability of the 
 mass of the people in matters of self government, 
 in constitution making ; from the time of the 
 
building of the celebrated narrow Saybrook Plat- 
 form to this liour. It is, in spite of experience, 
 in dread, of (svery new state and trembles at the. 
 idea of a convention for the purpose of making a 
 constitution ! Sir, I have had some acquaintance 
 these twenty years with the good people of our 
 country, south as well as north, from the man of 
 the south with the rifle on his shoulder to the 
 honest mechanics of the north, and I have acqui- 
 red from this knowledge absolute confidence in 
 the ability of all o" any of them to make a good 
 republican constitution for the government of 
 themselves. I believe there are three millions 
 of the people of the United States that can make 
 unexceptionable republican constitutions, who 
 could not well put a patch upon a shoe ; and 
 that nineteen out of twenty of our agricultural ci- 
 tizens know better the art of constitution-making 
 than the best methods of raising cabbages. This 
 clf.ss of politicians believe implicitly in the doc- 
 trine that men ai e not angels, that they are in- 
 firm.. I agree with them, only differing from theni 
 in this particular, that I believe that infirmity is 
 extended to arid includes them and myself as well 
 as the body of the people. 
 
 So unbounded is the confidence which I have 
 in these truths, that I have long felt the inspiring 
 belief that our free republican systems of govern- 
 ment will expand, until they cover and embrace 
 this mighty northern conliuenl at least. 
 
 lam surprised to hear Missouri sometimes 
 spoken of as a child of ours ; we are her parents, 
 sometimes a ward; we, the guardian, sometimes 
 as a pupil. Why, sir, I sincerely believe that a 
 man of forty years of age, in Missouri, is as old 
 as any man of forty in the north. I cannot be- 
 lieve that I, or any other man or men, are bet- 
 ter capable of governing Missourians than they 
 are of governing themselves ! They are no 
 more children, or pupils, or wards, than we are. 
 
 I have heard in argument not in this House, 
 but elsewhere, and from high authority, that the 
 power of Congress to admit new states was a uni- 
 versalpropositionjcontaiiiing within it every possi- 
 
ble requisite ; power to admit, reject, motllfy, 
 bargain with, or restrain new states Sir, it s 
 an universal proposiiion of vast extent, that is, 
 it does extend as wide as the uunosl breadth of 
 good sense, and as long as the extreme length 
 of justice, but not further. 
 
 The application of this univeral proposition is 
 st.ch as almost tempts me to nuike another. As, 
 for instance, it is a universal proposiiion, tliat eve- 
 ry instrument or tool in the hands of a man is a 
 thing to work with. This penknife is an instru- 
 ment or tool, therefore I can plough ground with 
 it ! Congress have no power under this univer- 
 sal proposition to make any law contrary to the 
 Esprit des Luix, contrary to the genius and will 
 of a people, to the laws of climate, or, at an im- 
 proper time. Such attempts will be mere ab- 
 surdities — violence will be committed upon the 
 fundamental principles of all law, and can never 
 be executed. 
 
 Our free constitution was made by men who 
 were wise enough to know the danger of section- 
 al divisions. This constitution is no more than 
 a profoundly wise agreement to differ, an agree- 
 ment todifler in matters of small importance, in 
 order that we might not agree to destroy eacho- 
 ther in perpetual wars. If we, sir, shall be 
 unhappily so unwise as to forget thi^, nothing will 
 be left for us and our posterity, but awful com- 
 bats at parallels of latitude, or physical lines ofde- 
 markation. 
 
 Sir, I feel no inclination for my part to exer- 
 cise my small portion of legislative power where 
 it is not called for nor wanted. 1 do not discover 
 any thing in the genius, the will, or the circum- 
 stances of Missouri, that demands my interposi- 
 tion. The) are better able to judge for themselves 
 than I am to judge fjr them IFlien public opinion 
 ill any country asks for legislation, it always fol- 
 lows in obedience to (he call. When the peculiar 
 condition of a country requires a navigation act, or 
 any other important regulation, then it is that le- 
 gislators dream that they have anticipated public 
 
8 
 
 necessity, and glory in their fancied wisdom. 
 When the venerable John Adams, late President 
 of the United States, was asked, who were the 
 founders of the Revolution ? His reply was, re- 
 plete with wisdom, substantially this: — The pub- 
 lic opinion which might be traced as far back as 
 the Puritans, who fled from England to Holland, 
 to escape religious persecution and intolerance, 
 and who came thence to America to be fiee. It 
 was the opinion of women as well as men, which 
 founded our present republican constitution. 
 
 Sir, when circumstances imperiously demand 
 legislation, then in the rear, follows as it ought 
 to do, the act of the legislator. But, I have al- 
 ready attained the limit of time v/hich I propos- 
 ed. I meant no more than to pointat those chap- 
 ters which I deem worth study on the present oc- 
 casion, and which have not been mentioned by 
 other gentlemen in this debate. My fifteen or 
 twenty minutes are almost consumed, 1 have not 
 time to add more than my earnest request, that, 
 gentlemen will seriously consider in the first 
 place, that chapter of human learning which 
 treats of prejudices and sectional feelings, more 
 especially the full history of the factions of the 
 up toivn and dotvn town boys. 
 
 Secondly. — That chapter which treats of the 
 spirit of all law, of the necessity of adapting all 
 legislation to the genius and will of a people, to 
 their physical condition as to climate. Sec. and to 
 the exact point of time for the exercise of legis- 
 lation. 
 
 And lastly, that cjhapter which treats of the 
 best methods of bringing men to agree to differ, 
 of the great benefits of such an agreement, that 
 our glorious constitution is such an agreement, 
 and above all, that part of the cha!pter, which 
 teaches us to avoid the awful, the most horrible 
 evils, which are treated of in the tremendous 
 chapter of fluman War. Mr. Chairman, my a- 
 lotted twenty minutes are consumed ; I have 
 done. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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