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 Copyl SPEECH 
 
 HENRY CLAY, OF KENTUCKY, 
 
 CERTAIN RESOLUTIONS OFFERED TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED 
 STATES, IN DECEMBER, 1S37, 
 
 BY MR. CALHOUN, OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 
 
 INVOLVING 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION 
 OF THE UNITED STATES ; 
 
 THE SUBJECT OF THE 
 ABOIjITION of SI.AVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COIiUMBIA 
 
 AND THE TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES; 
 
 THE RIGHT OF PETITION ON THAT SUBJECT. 
 
 Delivered in the Senate U. S., January 9, 1838. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 PRINTED BV GALEvS AND SEATON. 
 
 1838. 
 
N 
 
 ^ SPEECH. 
 
 The question being on the adoption of tlie first of the two following 
 resolutions, in the series presented by Mr. Calhoun, to wit : 
 
 "Resolved, That the intermeddling of any State or States, or their citizens, to 
 abolish slavery in this District, or any of the Territories, on the ground, or un- 
 der the pretext, that it is immoral or sinful, or the passage of any act or meas- 
 ure of Congress, with that view, would be a direct and dangerous attack on the 
 institutions of all the slaveholding States. 
 
 "Resolved, That the union of these States rests on an equality of rights and ad- 
 vantages among its members ; and that whatever destroys that equality tends to 
 destroy the Union itself; and that it is the solemn duty of all, and more especial- 
 ly of this body, which represents the States in their corporate capacity, to resist 
 all attempts to discriminate between the States in extending the benefits of the 
 Government to the several portions of the Union ; and that to refuse to extend to 
 the southern and western States any advantage which would tend to strengthen 
 or render them more secure, or increase their limits or population by the annex- 
 ation of new territory or States, on the assumption, or under the pretext, that 
 the Institution of slavery, as it exists among them, is immoral or sinful, or other- 
 wise obnoxious, would be contrary to that equality of rights and advantages 
 which the constitution was intended to secure alike to all the members of the 
 Union, and would, in effect, disfranchise the slaveholding States, withholding 
 from them the advantages, while it subjected them to the burdens, of the Gov- 
 ernment." 
 
 Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, rose to say a {evi words. He said that he 
 could vote for neither the fifth nor sixth resolution, in the shape 
 in which they were presented by the Senator from South Carolina. 
 Although he had risen to state his objections particularly to the fifth, now 
 that he was up, he would make some general observations on the whole 
 subject of the series of resolutions. 
 
 T have voted, (continued Mr. C.) without hesitation, for the first reso- 
 lutions offered by that Senator, after they were modified or amended, 
 not from any confidence which I have in their healing virtues. I have 
 voted for them as abstract propositions, and in the sense in which I un- 
 
derstand then? , that is, iii the plain natural sense which their language- 
 imports. With respect to the point, so much insisted upon in this debate* 
 and which had produced great controversy in former times, whether the 
 constitution is to be regarded as the work of the people of the United 
 States collectively, or of the separate States composing the Confederacy^ 
 i have always thought that more importance is attached to it than it de- 
 serves. Whether formed in the one mode or the other, the powers grant- 
 ed in the constitution, and its true interpretation, are exactly the same. 
 The real question in considering the instrument is, not how the constitu- 
 tion was made, but what is it, as it is? What arc the powers delegated 
 by it, the powers necessary and proper to carry into effect the delegated 
 powers, its prohibitions ? What, in short, is the sum of its whole pow- 
 ers? I have always understood, according to historical fact, that the 
 constitution was framed by a Convention, composed of delegates ap- 
 pointed by the Legislatures of the several States ; and that after it was 
 adopted, it was submitted to Conventions of Delegates, chosen by the 
 people of the several States, each acting separately by and for itself; 
 and, being ratified by the Conventions of a sufficient number, it became 
 ♦he constitution of the United States, or, in its own language, of the peo- 
 ple of the United States. 
 
 The series of resolutions under consideraliorv has been introduced by 
 the Senator from South Carolina, after he and other Senators from the 
 South had deprecated discussion on the delicate subject to which they 
 relate. They have occasioned much discussion, in which hitherto I have- 
 not participated. I hope that the tendency of the resolutions may be 
 to allay the excitement which unhappily prevails, in respect to the aboli- 
 tion of slavery ; but I confess, Mr. President, that, taken altogether, and 
 in connexion with other circumstances, and especially considering the 
 manner in which tlieir author has pressed them on the Senate, I fear that 
 they will have the opposite efiect ; and particularly at tfie North, that 
 they may increase and exasperate, instead of diminishing and assuaging 
 the existing irritation. I apprehend that they will only aerve to furnish 
 new texts for fresh commentary and further divisions. And I cannot 
 but regard the unnecessary combination of the subject of abolition with 
 that alien and the most exciting of all subjects at the present period, the 
 annexation of Texas to the United States, in the same series of resolu- 
 tions, as peculiarly unfortunate. I know that Texas is not specially 
 mentioned in the last resolution, but the counuy will understand the in- 
 tention and allusion of the resolution as distinctly as if it had been ex- 
 pressly designated. It cannot be forgotten that, immediately after the 
 tidings of the memorable battle of San Jacinto reached this city, the 
 
Senator from South Carolina [Mr. Calhoun] expressed in the Senate 
 his opinion that the independence of Texas ought immediately to be rec" 
 ognised, and his wish that, before the adjournment of Congress, it should 
 be annexed to the United States. A resolution now lies upon the table 
 of the Senate, introduced by the other Senator from South Carolina, 
 [Mr. Prestox,] proposing a contingent annexation of it to the United 
 States. When these facts are borne in mind, will not all understand the 
 last resolution, although abstract in form, as intended to commit the Sen- 
 ate, in advance, to the annexation ? Our purpose, our anxious aim, 
 should be to compose the North, to arrest the progress of the spirit of ab-| 
 olition, and to give strength and confidence to the numerous friends of 
 the Union in that quarter. Is it, then, wise and discreet to blend these 
 two unhappy causes of agitation together? Had we not better keep 
 them separate and distinct, and act on the prudent maxim, that sufikient 
 for the day is the evil thereof? 
 
 The Senator from South Carolina has oftered his resolutions, he tells 
 us, to revive and rally the State rights [arty. But I cannot think that 
 the slaveholding States ought to consent to place their peculiar interests 
 in the exchisire safe-keeping of any one party, however correct some of 
 us may believe its principles to be. Are not the clear, undoubted, ac- 
 knowledged guarantees in the constitution of those interests far above 
 and superior to any security which can be derived from the pirticular 
 tenets of any party 1 Parties rise up and go down, but the constitu- 
 tion remains a perpetual and sure bulwark against all attacks upon the 
 rights of the slaveholding States, from whatever quarter they may pro- 
 ceed. No, sir, do not let us put our trust in any party exclusively ; let 
 us invoke the united guardianship of all — the Whigs, the Democratic 
 party, the Republican party, the Jackson Van Buren party, the Federal 
 party, the Union party, the Nullifiers, and the Locofocos — all, in pre- 
 serving the inviolability of the constitution, and protecting against every en- 
 croachment delicate and momentous interests, which cannot be seriously 
 touched without endangering the stability of our entire political fabric. 
 
 We want in the slaveholding States nothing done here to stimulate our 
 vigilance, or to unite us upon the subject of our present deliberations. 
 We may differ there in the degree of sensibility which we display ; but 
 we are all firmly and unanimously resolved to defend and maintain our 
 rights at all hazards. And, should the hour of trial ever come, those who 
 appear now the least agitated will not be behind those who are foremost 
 and loudest in proclaiming the existence of danger. The object of the 
 Senate should be to allay excitement, quiet the public mind, and check 
 the progress of the spirit of abolition at the North; and, above all. 
 
strengthen the well-disposed, and to give no advantage to agitators. It 
 was with that view I have inquired of northern Senators, charged with 
 the presentation of abolition petitions, whether the spirit of abolitionism 
 was spreading ; and, if so, what was the cause 1 Their answer was, that 
 it was increasing; and that the cause was the impression which the abo- 
 litionists had been able to make on the northern mind, thai the constitu- 
 tional right of petition was denied them by the two Houses of Congress. 
 This statement is corroborated and confirmed by information which has 
 reached me through a variety of channels. Many who are not abolition- 
 ists are induced to join them, because they believe the right of petition 
 has been practically denied. On this subject allow me to read an extract 
 from a letter (the perusal of the whole letter is at the service of any Sen- 
 ator) which I have lately received, addressed to me by a highly intelli- 
 gent and patriotic gentleman in Rhode Island. [Here Mr. Clay read 
 the following extract :] 
 
 " I have been so much gratified with your remarks in relation to the cause of 
 the increase of the abolitionists in the North, that 1 thought it might do soitie 
 good, and at least relieve my own mind, if I stated to you what we think on the 
 subject here. There is no doubt but that the abolitionists are recruiting hefe, 
 by the artful mode in which they turn to their account the spirit or sensitiveness 
 manifested by the southern members on the subject of slavery ; and they are en- 
 couraged, also, to greater efforts, because they think they see in all this a proof 
 that the work of agitation is thus begun in the South, and that the leaven will 
 work until the whole lump is leavened. If the petitions for the abolition of 
 slavery in the District of Columbia had been duly received and considered as 
 other petitions would have been, 1 have no doubt this agitating subject, if not 
 put entirely at rest, at least would not now have been so connected with tlie sa- 
 cred right of petition as to enable it to produce the effect it now does amongst us. 
 
 " At our last election f<ir members of Congress, letters were sent from the 
 secretary of the anti-slavery society to each of the candidates, requiring of them 
 a communication of their sentiments on the right of Congress to abolish slavery 
 111 the District of Columbia, and the right o( petition to Congress on this subject, 
 liach candidate answered (except one) in such a way as that he might have con- 
 sistently received the votes of the abolitionists. If the simple question had been 
 upon the expediency of abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, these 
 pentlemen would probably have all answered in the negative. You see, there- 
 fore, how this question is brought to bear on the people, and through them on 
 the members of Congress ^ and we, who feel opposed to the whole of this anti- 
 slavery machinery, find ourselves deprived of the power of doing any thing ef- 
 fectively by the impohtic zeal of southern gentlemen. To them, therefore, I 
 would appeal, (unless, in truth, they are desirous of abandoning the Union,) that 
 they would so let their moderation be known unto all men, that the fanatics of 
 the North (as they choose to call them) may be put in the wrong before the 
 whole people, so that their own friends here may have some ground to stand 
 upon. 
 
" 1 look forward with great apprehension to the time when the North and the 
 South shall he wianwiously divided with that zeal which may urge each to action 
 on the subject of shivery. The Union will not only then be dissolved, but the 
 people on both sides so exasperated, that a furious fanatical anti-slavery and pro- 
 slavery war will be inevitable. Men enough will be found to seek to ride upon 
 the whirlwind and direct the storm in the North as well as the South, and the 
 Union and the spirit of republicanism will expire together amidst the throes 
 and convulsions which will cover our now beautiful land with desolation. Does 
 the chivalry of the South desire to point its lance at the breasts of the northern 
 fanatics ? When was chivalry a match for fanaticism ! Let the crusades — let the 
 success of Cromwell answer. When men already begin to court death in the 
 cause of anti-slavery, as giving them the crown of martyrdom, (I allude to Love- 
 joy, and we understand that another has already offered himself to share the 
 same fate,) what may we not expect when patriotism shall arm in such a cause, 
 and it shall become identified not merely with the liberty of the African, but 
 our own liberty and prosperity ! And is it not well to look around us before we 
 urge each other to this dread precipice ' If there is nothing due to those men 
 at the North who are lighting up this flame, is there nothing due to those who 
 are endeavoring or are desirous to extinguish it ? Is there nothing due to our 
 common country — to the civilized world — that this light among the nations 
 shonld not be extinguished, and extinguislied in blood '' Mr. Calhoun is reported 
 as having spoken 'with contempt of the idea of arguing this question with the abo- 
 iitio7iists by means of a report from a committee.' I ask him not so to argue with 
 them ; but I ask liim so to argue with those who are not already with these men, 
 as to prevent their enlisting under their sable binners. But if there are any men 
 at the South who think as some of our northern men thought in former days, that 
 our country is ' too big for union,' and ' that federalism is founded in mistake,' (the 
 sentiments of Fisher Ames, published by his friends,) to them t have nothing to 
 say, and of them I have nothing to hope, but that they will add fuel to the flames 
 until their own people may be ready to trample upon that constitution under 
 which we have so long prospered as a people, and which, if administered in it» 
 true spirit, will ensure domestic tranquillity, promote the general welfare, and (in 
 the language of its preamble) • secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 
 our posterity.' 
 
 •' On this subject may we be advised by the wisdom of Washington in his fare- 
 well address, and may • these counsels of an old and affectionate friend' (to use 
 his own words) 'control the current of the passions, and prevent our nation from 
 running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations.' May they 
 • moderate the fury of party spirit, and guard against the impostures of pretend- 
 ed patriolism.* 
 
 "1 have taken the liberty of writing you, currentt cala/no, this long letter ; my 
 object is my best apology. We are bound together by a common interest; and, 
 whilst so much is doing to ahenate us from each other, shall no voice be heard 
 preaching peate, union, and concord "' 
 
 I could not ofler you, sir, any argument so good as that which is so 
 feelingly and eloquently enforced in the extract which I have just read. 
 
8 
 
 It is well known to the Senate that 1 have constantly entertained the 
 opinion that the best way to check the spirit of abolition was to receive, 
 respectfully, and refer these petitions to the proper committee. That 
 would be the Committee for the District of Columbia ; one now, and 
 which probably has been, ever since the commencement of the Govern- 
 ment, so constituted as to comprise a majority of members from the 
 slaveholding States. If they were thus referred, silently referred, as has 
 been the practice during a great part of the period of the existence of the 
 Government, there would be no agitation fomented here, no ground for 
 asserting that the sacred right of petition had been violated. 
 
 The people may attempt to exercise that right in three different 
 descriptions of cases : 1st. In instances where Congress manifestly does 
 not possess the constitutional power to grant the relief prayed for. In 
 these, the petition may be rejected instantly, without reference and with- 
 out debate, and no just cause of complaint would exist. 2d. In cases 
 where the constitutional power, the exercise of which is invoked, is con- 
 troverted, doubtful, or uncertain. In these, a reference of the petition 
 may be necessary to examine into the existence of the power, as well as 
 into the expediency of exercising it. Of this controverted nature is the 
 legislative power of Congress in this District. No one would contend 
 that a petition to establish a Bank of the United States should be 
 instantly rejected, without debate and without reference, upon the 
 sole ground that a large portion of the Senate should think it unconstitu- 
 tional. Other examples of contested powers may be easily conceived. 
 And, 3dly. In cases where the power is incontestably possessed by Con- 
 gress to grant the redress prayed for. In the last two descriptions of 
 cases, I think that Congress is bound attentively to receive the petitions, 
 and respectfully to dispose of them. A Government which, like ours, is 
 the Government of the people, should be parentally administered, so as 
 not only to do right, but, as far as possible, to give general satisfaction. 
 
 It has been argued that, when a petition is once put in the possession 
 of the Senate, the right of petition has been practically enjoyed ; and 
 that the Senate may reject it instantly, refer it, lay it upon the table, or 
 dispose of it as may be thought proper. Undoubtedly this is true ; but 
 in the great business of human life, public and private, the manner in 
 which it is transacted is often as important, sometimes more important, 
 than what is done or refused. And a wise Government should be par- 
 ticularly careful not to wound or inflame popular sensibility on subjects 
 respecting which large masses choose to exercise the constitutional right 
 of petition. The course which the Senate has pursued, in regard to these 
 abolition petitions, for about two years past, is this : a Senator states 
 
9 
 
 from his place that he is charged with the presentation of one of them, 
 and moves that it be received. Another Senator thereupon rises, and 
 moves that the motion to receive the petition be laid upon the table ; 
 and the Senate accordingly orders the motion to receive the petition to 
 be laid upon the table ; and thus the petition is not received in a parlia- 
 mentary sense. The Senate does not decide the question of its reception. 
 
 This coarse I have always thought unfortunate. It is unsatisfactory. 
 The petitioners feel that they have been neglected, and they allege that 
 the right of petition has been denied. But it has been contended that 
 these petitioners are mad and reckless fanatics, and it has been indig- 
 nantly asked whether they merit respectful treatment. Mr. President, 
 my observation and experience in life have taught me, that when we 
 are addressed or assailed, our conduct should not be regulated by the 
 harsh, vituperative, or fanatical language, or the condition, whatever it 
 may be, of those who approach us, b«t by the standard of our own re- 
 spectability, standing, and character in life. And, in regard to these 
 petitions, the question should not be so much what do the petitioners 
 deserve, as what is due from the calm, elevated, dignified, august char- 
 acter of the Senate of the United States? These petitioners, misguided 
 as they are, and highly mischievous as I believe the tendency of their 
 proceedings to be, are a part of the people of the United States, and our 
 constituents. Shall we allow ourselves to be rash, to be moved by anger, 
 or transported by rage, because fanatics, as they are called, or thought- 
 less men and women, present petitions to accomplish an object which, 
 if seriously entertained, would justly excite profound alarm? 
 
 The mode of disposing of these petitions which the Senate has lately 
 pursued has certainly not produced the tranquillizing effect so anxiously 
 desired. It has, on the contrary, aggravated, and I fear will continue to 
 aggravate, the disease. The abolitionists have not diminished, but in- 
 creased, and increased, as the most satisfactory information assures us, 
 because they have been able to persuade many that the right of petition 
 is invaded and has been denied. And many who are not abolitionists 
 now unite with them merely to assert and maintain the right of petition. 
 It is to be seriously apprehended that co-operation for one purpose may 
 ultimately lead to co-operation for other purposes, not within the original 
 contemplation of the parties. If the Senate, by persisting in its recent 
 course, enable the abolitionists to derive succor from new allies ; and if 
 we should also unhappily place in their hands an additional instrument, 
 by unnecessarily coupling the annexation of Texas with the subject of 
 abolition in the same series of resolutions, then, indeed, there will be 
 too much reason to apprehend that the North, at no distant day, will be 
 united as one man. 
 
10 
 
 It appears to mo, sir, that uliat becomes us is to keep the abolitionists 
 separate and distinct from all other classes, standing out in bold and 
 prominent relief; and the subject of abolition separate and distinct froro 
 the right of petition, from Texas, and from all other subjects. Let them 
 stand alone, unmixed with the rest of the community, without the general 
 sympathy, and exposed to the overwhelming force of the united opinion 
 of all who desire the peace, the harmony, and the union of this Confed- 
 eracy. I would receive, respectfully receive, their petitions, refer them, 
 and occasionally present calm, dispassionate, and argumentative reports 
 against thtm. This is the manner in which petitions for abolition were 
 received in the first Congress, upon the recommendation of Mr. Madison ; 
 and that in wliich they were ever afterwards received, until the practice 
 was changed about two years ago. What is there in the mere fact of 
 the reception of a petition to create alarm 1 Or in its subsequent ref- 
 erence, especially to a committee known to be hostile to its object? 
 
 But it is said that these fanatics are beyond the reach of any argument; 
 and it is triumphantly asked. Will you condescend to argue with such 
 deluded persons? Yes! I say, yes. To preserve these admirable in- 
 stitutions of ours and this glorious Union from the possibility of all 
 danger, I would argue with any one, with lunatics themselves, in their 
 lucid intervals, and argue again and again. It is not, however, to recall 
 alone the abolitionists to a sense of peace and duty, that these appeals to 
 the reason, the judgment, and the patriotism of the country should be 
 sent forth from these halls. They would address themselves, with pow- 
 erful eflect, to all that, vastly the largest, portion of the northern com- 
 munity who are uninfected by abolitionism. When has Congress 
 unsuccessfully appealed to the intelligence, the patriotism, and the valor 
 of the American people? In such a cause we should never tire nor 
 despair. 
 
 Mr. President, 1 have no apprehension, not the smallest, for the safety 
 of the Union, from any state of things which now exists. I will not 
 answer for consequences which may ensue from harsh and opprobrious 
 language, and from indiscretion and rashness on the part of individual* 
 or of Cengress, here or elsewhere. We allow ourselves to speak too 
 frequently, and with too much levity, of a separation of this Union. It 
 is a terrible word, to which our ears should not be familiarized. I desire 
 to see in continued safety and prosperity this Union, and no other union. 
 I go for this Union as it is, one and indivisible, without diminution. I 
 will neither voluntarily leave it, nor be driven out of it by force. Here, 
 in my place, I shall contend for all the rights of the State which has sent 
 me here. 1 shall contend for them with undoubting confidence, and in 
 
11 
 
 all the security which the Union confers, under all the high sanction 
 which the guarantees of the constitution afford, and with the perfect con- 
 viction that they are safer in the Union than they would be out of the 
 Union. I am opposed to all separate confederacies and to all sectional 
 conventions. No state of actual danger exists to render them expedient, 
 or to justify deliberation about them. This Union, this Government, 
 has done nothing, nothing whatever, to excite the smallest alarm. It 
 will do nothing : but if it should ; if, contrary to all human probability, 
 the rights and the security of the slaveholding States shall be assailed by 
 any authoritative act emanating from this Capitol, a state of things for- 
 resistance, forcible resistance, will then occur. It will be time enough » 
 then to act. INo man in full health will take medicine because he may| 
 be sick, amputate a perfectly sound limb because it may be probably 
 hereafter fractured or seized with gangrene, or perpetrate suicide because 
 death is his ultimate and inevitable doom. When that fatal day shall come, 
 if it ever do come, when the slaveholding States have to defend, by force, 
 their rights, the State whose servant I am will rush to battle, as she always 
 has done, with her accustomed ardor, and with gallantry unsurpassed by 
 that of any other State. And those States and their citizens will be 
 found to sustain these rights with most vigor and success, who, unmoved 
 by false alarms or imaginary or aggravated dangers, with a firm and 
 fixed purpose of soul, stand prepared, in every real exigency, to vindicate 
 them at every extremity. 
 
 Having, Mr. President, said so much on the general subject, with the 
 permission of the Senate, I will read certain resolutions which I have 
 prepared, embracing the whole ground occupied by any of the petitions 
 in respect to domestic slavery in the United States. They are the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 Resolved^ That the institution of domestic slavery, as now existing in many of 
 the States of this Confederacy, is subject to the exclusive power and control of 
 those States respectively ; and that no other State, nor the people of any other 
 State, nor Congress, possess, or can rightfully exercise, any power or authority 
 whatever to interfere in any manner therewith. 
 
 Resolved, That if any citizens of the United States, regardless of the spirit of 
 peace, harmony, and union, which should ever animate the various members of 
 the Confederacy, and their respective citizens, shall present to the Senate any 
 petitions touching the abolition of slavery in any of the States in which it exists, 
 hU such petitions shall be instantly rejected, witliout debate, and without further 
 or other proceedings thereon, as relating to an object palpably beyond the scope 
 of the constitutional power of Congress. 
 
 Resolved, That when the District of Columbia was ceded by the States of 
 Virginia and Maryland to the United States, domestic slavery existed in both of 
 
12 
 
 those States, including the ceded territory ; and that, as it still continues in both 
 of them, it could not be abolished, within the District, without a violation of that 
 good faith whicli was implied in the cession, and in the acceptance of the terri- 
 tory, nor, unless compensation were made to the proprietors of slaves, without a 
 manifest infringement of an amendment to the constitution of the United States, 
 nor without exciting a degree of just alarm and apprehension in the States recog- 
 nising slavery, far transcending, in mischievous tendency, any possible benefit 
 which could be accomplished by the abolition. 
 
 Resolved, therefore, That it is the deliberate judgment of the Senate, that the 
 institution of domestic slavery ought not to be abolished within the District of 
 Columbia ; and it earnestly hopes that all sincere friends of the Union and 
 of harmony and general tranquillity will cease to agitate this disturbing ques- 
 tion. But the Senate feels itself, at the same time, constrained, from a high 
 sense of duty in respect to the constitutional right of petition, to declare that it 
 holds itself bound to receive and respectfully to treat any petitions, couched in 
 decorous language, which may be presented by citizens of the United Stales, 
 touching slavery within the District of Columbia. 
 
 Resolved, therefore, That, upon the presentation of any such petitions, they 
 shall be received, and referred to the appropriate committee. 
 
 Resolved, That it would be highly inexpedient to aboUsh slavery in Florida, 
 the only Territory of the United States in which it now exists, because of the 
 serious alarm and just apprehensions which would be thereby excited in the 
 States sustaining that domestic institution ; because the people of that Territory 
 have not asked it to be done, and, when admitted as a State into the Union, will 
 be exclusively entitled to decide that question for themselves ; and, also, because 
 it would be in violation of a solemn compromise, made at a memorable and crit- 
 ical period in the history of this counti-y, by which, while slavery was prohibit 
 ed north, it was admitted south, of the line of thirty-six degrees and thirty min. 
 utes north latitude. 
 
 Resolved, That no power is delegated by the constitution to Congress to pro- 
 hibit, in or between the States tolerating slavery, the sale and removal of such 
 persons as are held in slavery by the laws of those States. 
 
 Resolved, That, whilst the Senate, with painful regret, has seen the perseve- 
 rance of certain citizens of the United States in the agitation of the abolition of 
 domestic slavery, thereby creating distrust, and discontent, and dissatisfaction 
 among the people of the United States, who should ever cherish towards each 
 other fraternal sentiments, it beholds, with the deepest satisfaction, every where 
 prevailing an unconquerable attachment to the Union, as the sure bulwark of 
 the safety, liberty, and happiness of the people of the United States. 
 
 There is nothing abstract or metaphysical in them. They relate to 
 the abolition of slavery in the States, in the District of Columbia, and in 
 Florida, the only Territory of the United States where it exists, and to 
 the sale and removal of slaves in the States whose laws recognise the in 
 slitution of slavery. They cover the whole field, and nothing but the 
 field. They have no ulterior views. They approach the subject in hand, 
 directly, without the necessity of auy interpretation. They do not seek 
 
13 
 
 to renovate any party, nor to place ibc high interests to which they re- 
 late in the exclusive custody of any one party. Resting upon, and sus- 
 tained by, the constitution, they appeal to the sound discretion, the sober 
 judgment, and the patriotism of all parties. I may not ask the sense of 
 the Senate to be expressed upon each of them ; but I shall offer that re- 
 lating to the District of Columbia and that to the Territory of Florida as 
 an amendment to the fifth resolution submitted by the Senator from South 
 Carolina. I think the charge upon the petitioners of intermeddling with 
 abolition in this District is harsh, and that some less oflensive word should 
 be used. The District of Columbia is the seat of the common Govern- 
 ment of the United States. It was ceded for that express purpose. 
 Each State has as much interest in it, and as much right to peti- 
 tion about any thing within it, as any other State, and no more. 
 Nor can I concur with the resolution, in declaring that the abolition of 
 slavery in the District of Columbia would be a direct and dangerous at- 
 tack upon the institution of slavery in the States. I am prepared to 
 say that it would excite " a degree of just alarm and apprehension in the 
 States recognising slavery, far transcending, in mischievous tendency, 
 any possible benefit which could be accomplished by the abolition," 
 or to use any other equivalent language. We can no more say that the 
 abolition of slavery in this District would be a direct attack upon the in- 
 stitution in the States, than we could assert, if any one of the slaveholding 
 States were to abolish slavery within its own limits, that would be a 
 direct attack on the institution in other slaveholding States. Or, that 
 Great Britain, by abolishing slavery in her West India possessions, made 
 a direct attack upon it in the United States. Nor is the case at all al- 
 tered by the motives, whatever they may be, which shall be avowed for 
 abolition. In conclusion, I move the third resolution of the series which 
 I have suggested, as an amendment to the fifth resolution proposed by 
 the Senator from South Carolina. 
 
 [Mr. Buchanan having spoken — ] 
 
 Mr. Clay said that he entirely concurred with Mr. Buchanan, and 
 must express his surprise that Mr. Webster did not view the matter in 
 the same light. There were two objects in the grant of the ten miles 
 square by the States of Virginia and Maryland. The first was to pro- 
 vide a seat for the General Government of the confederacy ; and the 
 second was to invest Congress with such municipal powers of govern- 
 ment as were best adapted to the promotion of the happiness of the 
 people of this District. In every exposition of the powers of the Gene- 
 ral Government, in relation to this District, these two dJflTerent pur- 
 
,,,,^. - COHO.S. 
 
 poses should be kept distinctly in ^ ■ItMl^^^^^^^^^ <•"» 
 
 enjoyment of all the advantages inc \\\|\|\\P^^^^ 8^ ern- 
 
 ment that slavery should be abolishe 8 ®**" -.^mct, nor is it ne- 
 cessary for the happiness of the people here that it should be done. 
 They, who are the party most directly interested, have not petitioned 
 for it, and are known to be adverse to it. 
 
 When the cession of the ten miles square was made by the Stales of 
 Virginia and Maryland, slavery existed in both of those Commonwealths, 
 and in the District. It continues to exist in them all. Can it be con- 
 ceived that either of those States would have made the cession, if it had 
 anticipated that, whilst slavery remained within them, it should have 
 been abolished here, as it were, in their very bosom 1 Can it be con- 
 ceived that, if they had foreseen the possibility of such an exercise of 
 power by Congress, they would not have guarded against it by a 
 suitable condition? Taking, then, the whole circumstances of the case 
 together, I think thnt good faith fairly results from them, imposing an 
 obligation upon Congress to abstain from the exercise of the power. 
 During the period when the question of establishing a seat of Govern- 
 ment was under consideration, various places were thought of, and, 
 amongst others, the river Delaware. Now, let me suppose that Pennsyl- 
 vania had granted ten miles square, including Philadelphia or Harris- 
 burg : would it not have been a violation of good faith for Congress to 
 introduce slavery in the heart of that great Commonwealth, which had 
 abolished it by a memorable act passed during the revolutionary war? 
 It is easy to conceive, both in public and in private life, of the exist- 
 ence of a naked authority to do a thing, which honor, good faith, and 
 fair dealing, forbid to be done. A man endorses a note in bank, to re- 
 new another note in bank. The holder of the note would possess the 
 power to apply it to a different object ; but would it not be a violation of 
 good faiih, if, instead of renewing the note in bank, he were to go to a 
 broker and sell it, appropriate the proceeds to another purpose, leave 
 the original note undischarged, and thereby double the responsibility 
 of the endorser? Whenever slavery shall be abolished in the States of 
 Virginia and Maryland, the motives of its continuation in the District 
 will cease to exist ; and the power possessed by Congress may be then 
 fairly executed, without any violation of that good faith which, I think, 
 now restrains its exercise. 
 
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