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SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES. 
 
 
 y . i SPEECH 
 
 HON. A? wYyENABLE, OF N. VA Rl ) L f \ \ . 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JUNE I, 1848, 
 
 In Committee of the Whole, upon the power of Congress to legislati 
 
 Slavery in the Territorit t, 
 
 $/ 
 
 Mr. VENABLE said s 
 
 Mr. Chairman : The extent to which Congress 
 may exercise legislative authority over the Ter- 
 ritories of the United States, lias become a subject 
 of most absorbing interest. It is felt to be so in 
 every portion of our county — has been the source 
 of deep feeling and agitating debate, and will con- 
 tinue to excite and disturb the repose of the coun- 
 try until definite action shall fix a conclusion for 
 the popular mind. I am not one of those who 
 believe that evil must grow out of full and fair dis- 
 cussion amongst statesmen, on great constitutional 
 Questions involving our rights; nor shall I be 
 eterred from a thorough investigation, by a 
 clamor about abstractions, often raised to prevent 
 the analysis of the principles which are contained 
 in an important line of policy. Every fundamental 
 truth is an abstraction, and he only is a great 
 statesman who can first analyze a question, and 
 then, by his mental balance, weigh the result of the 
 operation, and ascertain the proper force and value 
 of the elements which compose it. Facts often 
 mislead us, because we assign wrong causes for 
 their existence; and when this is done, the most 
 plausible array of facts, the most ingenious deduc- 
 tions therefrom, are delusive, for the same reason. 
 Truth reduced to its elementary principles, affords 
 the only safe guide to investigation, and the only 
 satisfactory conclusions are those which are formed 
 from such a development. 
 
 This subject, Mr. Chairman, has become one of 
 great practical importance, and I avail myself of 
 this occasion to present my views to the commit- 
 tee and the country — to assert the rights of my 
 constituents and the State which I in part repre- 
 sent, to the common property of all the people of 
 all the States. A convention recently held at 
 Raleigh , speaking the sentiments of the Democracy 
 of North Carolina, most distinctly asserted their 
 opposition to the doctrines recently made promi- 
 nent, by their tendency to restrict the occupation 
 of the territorial possessions of the United States 
 to those citizens who reside in States where sla- 
 very does not exist. The clear and temperate but 
 decided manner in which their determination to 
 resist such opinions is expressed, admonish me of 
 the propriety of urging their wishes upon this 
 House; whilst I assure you that their conclu- 
 sions are not referable to impetuosity in action, 
 nor have they been rash in their adoption. Their 
 history is that of a quiet, reflecting people, never 
 
 Printed at die Congressional Globe Office^ 
 
 in vol v< 'I in tl i high party irapuli i 
 
 tient of wrong*, when ih< 
 
 in the fundanx ntal 
 
 to tl i i '.mm and the < lonstitutii 
 
 u here prudi nee or 1 i 
 
 them, but never v. tiling toabai a sir prin- 
 
 . their right . 
 
 iota should, I 
 lighteni d si it) in tni hip, and the high f 
 
 justice which should chs 
 citizens who were called 
 raon country, would accord to then wl 
 due, and remedy or n 
 plaint. 
 
 In asking the indulgence of the committee whilst 
 1 i odeavor to argue this qt 
 that I may be believed when 1 di i tare thai my par- 
 pose is no) to agitate but to compose — to ; 
 on the waters which have been troubled — to pre- 
 sent no useless and distracting i 
 our friends in the North and '\Y. st in a false posi- 
 tion before their constituent!. V\ > sacri- 
 fices of the kind; we only ask for the guarantee* 
 of the Constitution; and we feel assured that wc 
 shall not ask in vain. I trust, sir, that I shall be 
 able to present such a view of this question, that 
 all of us may at least acquiesce in taking a i 
 which secures the honor of all, and does equal 
 justice to all; that a good understanding 
 established, and peace and good-will be restored 
 to our deliberations. The heirs of a common in- 
 heritance, won by the sacrifices and the I 
 our ancestors, or accumulated by the progress of 
 our own greatness, should never di 
 their high station to wrangle about the partition, 
 or permit folly to estrange those who ought to be 
 bound together by the most sacred bonds. 
 
 With this view, sir, I declare that we arc con- 
 tent to abide the Missouri compromise; not that 
 we believe that Congress had any right to annex 
 any such conditidii, or to enact any such last ; but 
 the compromise having been made and arquicsccd 
 in for near thirty years, there is no purpo 
 tained by any southern statesman to disturb it 
 now. If this compromise would adjust this diilcr- 
 ence, if it would compose this trouble, we are 
 content to abide it, and the renewal of its op* i 
 
 recognized by the laws admitl I nto the 
 
 Union, and adjusting its territorial limits. I 
 this, and entering our protest as to lhe| 
 Congress to make the compromise, we sn. 
 
M5 
 
 fellow-citizens of the nonslaveholding States, We 
 have made lanre concessions; we have given up a 
 large territory, to which our slaveholders cannot 
 remove; we have consented to make it exclusively 
 yours; whilst wc have placed no restriction to 
 prevent you from the occupation of the territories 
 to which we arc permitted to come. This conces- 
 sion abridges our rights, without the promise of a 
 consideration; it enlarges yours, witEout any equiv- 
 alent bem- paid by you;yet, for peace, harmony, 
 and good-will, we have acquiesced, and will con- 
 tinue to acquiesce: and are now willing that the 
 same parallel of latitude may be recognized until 
 the Pacific shore, if that is the last conces- 
 sion which shall be demanded. And here let me 
 ask gentlemen, When, in the history of our national 
 . did any southern statesman invade the 
 institutions of the North? When were demands 
 made for peculiar or exclusive privileges, from 
 which any other citizens of our common country 
 •were excluded? If this be true, we ask that the 
 f doctrine of the Wilmot proviso be with- 
 drawn from the Oregon bill; that this obstruction 
 be removed from the progress of that measure. 
 The whole country is above the parallel of 36° 30', 
 and is within the spirit and meaning of the Mis- 
 souri compromise. Why do they seek to annex 
 this feature to the bill? Is it to obtain another 
 precedent — to shake the chains in our faces, and 
 teach the South the humiliating truth that they are 
 powerless whenever a bare majority of votes can be 
 obtained here? Can any good result from this 
 policy, either in the advance of national prosperity 
 or the cultivation of kind and patriotic feelings in 
 nnr great family? Permit me, sir, to say, with 
 all respect, that in such a work as this, demagogues 
 find their proper occupation, agitators their appro- 
 priate employment. The petty politician, whose 
 horizon is circumscribed by the events of a single 
 campaign, whose little heart is filled to overflowing 
 with but small success, may labor in such a cause 
 with ardor and with zeal; but the elevated states- 
 man, the high-souled patriot, whose enterprise is 
 his country's glory, whose vision, extending to fu- 
 ture ages, "looks through the vista, and realizes all 
 of happiness, prosperity, and renown, which union, 
 and love, and concert among his countrymen shall 
 secure, will frown upon the first effort to mar the 
 harmony and destroy the confidence of his coun- 
 trymen in each other. His reward will be rich: 
 it will be the gratitude of posterity. I trust, sir, 
 that the Oregon bill will be passed; that it will not 
 be delayed by this unnecessary proviso; that the 
 cry of distress, which reaches us from the miseries 
 of ravage warfare, may be forever hushed, by 
 sending promptly a territorial government and a 
 military force to their immediate relief. 
 
 I have said thus much, sir, in passing, in rela- 
 tion t'> the M issouri compromise and its legitimate 
 results, as tendering one platforrrton which we all 
 can stand, both North and South: the South, in- 
 deed, shorn of some of her privileges, but willing 
 to concede them for tranquillity and repose; yield- 
 ing, but with a ■proteslando; acquiescing in, but not 
 means, or acknowledging the right 
 Put, sir, the consummation of a peace. 
 with M which, I suppose, may now be con- 
 
 | presents this question in an 
 uteri ling and practical position before us, involv- 
 ing : rtant results, and leading directly to 
 
 the development of the policy to be adopted in- 
 flation to the Territories of the United States. 
 We are called upon to meet the question directly, 
 and to decide whether the Wilmot proviso shall be 
 brought to bear upon the territorial acquisitions 
 of the Mexican war, or in what other manner this 
 vexed question is to be settled. 
 
 And here, sir, permit me to say, that I adopt the 
 doctrine of non-intervention on the part of Con- 
 gress in its fullest extent. As I deny the right of 
 Congress to legislate slavery into existence in any 
 Territory of the United States, so I also deny the 
 right to forbid it. I adopt the language of the reso- 
 lution of the late Baltimore Convention, as meeting 
 my approbation: "That all efforts of the abolition- 
 ' ists, or others, to induce Congress to interfere with 
 ' questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps thereto, 
 ' are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dan- 
 ' gerous consequences, and that all such efforts have an 
 ' inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the 
 ' people, and to endanger the stability and permanence 
 ' of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by 
 ' any friend of our political institutions:" Language 
 which most strikingly illustrates the folly, as well 
 as the deplorable consequences, of assuming the 
 right of Congress to interfere with this relation,— -a 
 declaration which, if adopted and sustained in 
 good faith, in all its intent and meaning, must for- 
 ever remove from all our deliberation and inter- 
 course this exasperating difficulty. If the right of 
 Congress to legislate in the premises be granted, 
 then the whole question is settled. There is no 
 limit but their discretion, no safety but the clem- 
 ency of a majority. But, sir, the framers of that 
 instrument were wise men, whose profound sagaci- 
 ty and immaculate virtue, combined with a patriot- 
 ism unsurpassed in all human history, qualified 
 them to guard the infancy of the nation which sprung 
 into existence by their prowess, as well as to pro- 
 vide for the development of that greatness which 
 they distinctly foresaw. No aspect of the future 
 escaped their observation, no contingency which 
 might arise wa3 omitted in their provisions; and 
 it is to this Constitution that we refer to adjust 
 this question and fix the principles on which, I 
 trust, we may all agree. 
 
 The extent of legislative power over the terri- 
 tories of the United States, which may be consti- 
 tutionally exercised by Congress, is to be found 
 in the third section of the fourth article of the Con- 
 stitution, which provides that " Congress shall 
 ' have power to dispose of and make all needful 
 • rules and regulations respecting the territory and 
 « other property of the United States; and noth- 
 ' ing in this Constitution shall be so construed as 
 ' to°prejudice the claims of the United States or 
 ' of any particular State. " The clear and unques- 
 tionable meaning of which must be, that territory 
 is regarded as property, and the rules and regula- 
 tions referred to are such as shall be necessary to 
 make the territories and other property available. 
 Any rule not needful for this purpose is contrary 
 to the intent and meaning of the provision. No 
 person can suppose that the words " dispose of" 
 can have any meaning by which Congress shall 
 have power to waste, to cede away, or otherwise 
 render the territories of the United States unavail- 
 able for the great purpose of supplying the national 
 treasury and ministering to the wants of the peo- 
 ple of the United States. Any other construction 
 
8 
 
 •N*of tliost' words illicit tiansi". r iii,- treaty n 
 
 v power to Congress, and rife nutboi 
 
 iy the public domain. It is true, the! Lhepowei 
 to acquire territory implies the powei 
 it when acquired; hut it is also true, J. 
 government must be in accordance with thi C 
 stitution. I!iii<' >es not acquire territory . 
 
 I'lir people of the United States acquir it, and hav< 
 the right to govern it, ami have limiti ■ . I 
 as their trustee, in the name of Government, 
 Constitution. Congress could have no pOM 
 establish religion or to create titles <>C nobility in 
 the territories, because expressly denied by tin- 
 Constitution; and when the laws of th>- United 
 States are extended over a territory, il m 
 understood that the Constitution and I 
 extended, and that nothing repugnant to thi 
 stitution can be in force as a law. 1 know thai it 
 is asserted, and that by southern statesmen, that 
 
 Congress has unlimited power of legislat <>\> r 
 
 the territories; but it" this lie true, then Coi 
 may, by law, commit the, entire govt rnmenl of the 
 persons and property in the territories to the will 
 of a single individual, and thus present the anuii- 
 aly of a despotism created and sustained by the 
 Constitution itself, — a conclusion so monstrous as 
 only to require the annunciation to carry home thi 
 conviction of its fallacy to every mind. (See note 
 A, Appendix.) There can be no doubt of this 
 
 E reposition, that whatever was property when the 
 'ederal Government came into existence, under 
 our Constitution, so far as that Government is con- 
 cerned, must ever remain property. The States, 
 as sovereigns, alone can alter the rights of things 
 within their own jurisdiction, and that by virtue 
 of their sovereignty. The Federal Government is 
 therefore bound to consider as property all that 
 was so considered at its adoption, and the Consti- 
 tution guaranties the enjoyment of that property 
 in tranquillity and security to all the holders, so fat- 
 as the laws of the United States are operative in 
 the premises. And this is true whenever that pro- 
 perty is placed under the jurisdiction of the laws 
 of the United States. Now, the territories are the 
 public domain, the common property of all the citi- 
 zens of all the States — acquired by the expenditure 
 of the common purse, or purchased by the valor of 
 our people, without reference to geographical dis- 
 tinctions, or domestic municipal regulations. It 
 follows, then, that in the territories of the United 
 States, even before an organized government is in- 
 stituted, the Constitution and laws recognize the 
 right of property; for none can for a moment as- 
 sume that the territories of the United States arc 
 without law-, or that it is necessary that a tempor- 
 ary government should exist to bring them undt r 
 the operation of law. (See note B.) The Govern- 
 ment is bound to protect them from invasion and 
 injury, because they are the property of the United 
 States. Then the question arises — what is the 
 effect of the organization of a territorial govern- 
 ment upon the rights of property amongst the in- 
 habitants of the territory so placed under organic 
 law? If the previous reasoning be cornet, 
 such organization all the citizens of the I 
 States had an equal right to go into the terril 
 and carry with them those subjects n 
 property by the Constitution. If tl 
 either weakened or destroyed, it must I,,- from the 
 effect of territorial organization. In order to give 
 
 (llAt rib' *, lh.it • 
 
 the atti 
 
 ana • . 
 
 Willi 
 
 the 
 
 thus dl 
 ' 
 
 I . 
 had a right t" ro w»th their pi 
 li ■ domain i 
 
 regard< d I . 
 
 that .; 
 
 |i<> v, ers which it 
 
 dtution. It" I 
 povt er, then no . 
 habUamotn terril 
 
 to cither party. 
 
 It has I • 
 
 territorial l< 
 
 i 
 
 ■ 
 
 the faith of thi 
 
 cisi d othi r a ' 
 
 I ' 
 proved but that the territoi 
 Congn - 
 wei-i- not authorize i to do. 1 
 
 poration is one of ih 
 
 for it is creating 
 
 with the rights of ,-i I 
 
 of w hich this | 
 
 • 
 
 habitants, the pow< 
 
 and th.it by the ap| 
 
 territorial legislature, ' 
 
 tion, charters hank, w in. h i; ••■■ i 
 
 by its own action. 1 1 : 
 
 tory upon r. faith an I 
 
 gallon uppn tin- : - ■'• has 
 
 their power in '. 
 argument d< rived fro 
 tie- in ixin . 
 
 I am a« U ■ thi 
 pOW( r of 
 
 win h tim< . I 
 
 I 
 
 a p 
 
 •ii its profit 
 
 lUCh of th- 
 iol us to rentier 
 
 • 
 
 • f land and trans 
 
Ill these organic laws, Congress has repudiated 
 the idea of sovereignty in the Territories, by re- 
 serving the right o( reviewing, and repealing if 
 : jthelawa enacted by the territorial legis- 
 
 When the inhabitants of a Territory ac- 
 cept the organic law with all its conditions, the 
 
 .inn is then organized, and continues until 
 
 it expires, tx vi termini, in the sovereignty of the 
 
 formed oat of said Territory. Now, 
 
 ition of this territorial organization and the 
 us temporary government gave nojws 
 ini cither to this local legislature, the peo- 
 ■" the Territory, or to Congress. The laws of 
 the I 3tates, for the protection of persons and ' 
 
 rty, were extended over them; but it was a 
 rnmenl consistent with and according to the 
 1 -'hution — a government limited by the Con- 
 stitution, and possessing no authority beyond its 
 grants. So that the right to govern is not in this case 
 ji right of absolute sovereignty, but of sovereignty 
 qualified by the provisions of fundamental law. 
 Th. • t he Supreme Court, declaring that 
 
 the right to acquire territory implies the right to 
 govern it when acquired, is predicated upon the 
 tmption that the government to be administered 
 must be according to the Constitution of the Uni- 
 ted States. They sustain rather than conflicts with 
 the conclusion to which 1 have arrived. The ques- 
 tion then arises, at what time does the right accrue, 
 and to whom, to decide upon and fix the domestic 
 institutions and the municipal law of the territories? 
 And who is invested with that authority ? It will be 
 seen, by reference to the same section of the Con- 
 stitution referred to, as controlling the power over 
 territories, that "Congress may admit new States 
 into this Union." A reference to the Madison 
 Papers will enlighten us as to this provision. A 
 proposition was made to authorize Congress to 
 form new States out of the [territories belonging 
 to the United States, which was rejected, and the 
 provision above quoted was adopted. Nothing 
 could have been wiser and more consistent with 
 the principles of the framers of the Constitution. 
 The United States are sovereign States, and the 
 Constitution is a 'compact of sovereign States; 
 and inasmuch as Congress could not confer sov- 
 ereignty upon a Territory, it was left to the peo- 
 ple of the Territory to assert their own sovereignty, 
 and then, as sovereign, come into the Federal 
 Union. They wisely concluded that an act of 
 Con. ! Territory a sovereign State 
 
 would in fact invest it with no attribute of sov- 
 Oty; but that the people of the Territory, at 
 a proper time, being theonlysource of sovereignty, 
 could make the declaration for themselves. Ac- 
 cordingly, whenever a State has been admitted 
 into the Union, it has beet] after their constitution 
 
 has ; I and their sovereignty announced; 
 
 and then, as one of our gloriou.s sisterhood, she 
 
 This power was 
 withheld f~r . . • ■ i C and left with the peo- 
 
 ple. Nor is the Constitution silenl a-; t-> the 
 when this event shall t ike place. The indi- 
 the Coi ■ i o clearly marked, 
 
 . Ii ave no roOm for conjec- 
 | ofthe first article it is 
 
 . idi d thai there shall be an apportionment of 
 representation to population, ami that t ich State 
 
 shall have at l . ■ I .. is dis- 
 
 . '! ■ . .id the 
 
 great Northwestern Territory was soon to be filled 
 with inhabitants — soon to demand admission into 
 the Confederation; and with the forecast which 
 marked all their acts, it was fixed when such a 
 demand might be made, and when it would be the 
 duty of Congress to meet it and to comply. The 
 Constitution was made with reference to the exten- 
 sion of our institutions, and the increase in the 
 number of the States. When, therefore, the mi- 
 nority of the territory shall have ceased — when 
 the residents, who have made their homes upon 
 the public domain, now transferred by sale to the 
 occupants thereof, shall have amounted to a suffi- 
 cient number to give them a right to claim a repre- 
 sentation on this floor — then they have reached a 
 position in their existence on which to assert their 
 sovereignty , by adopting fundamental law for them- 
 selves, fixing their own domestic policy, admitting 
 or excluding slavery, and doing any other thing 
 which is not inconsistent with republican govern- 
 ment. When this constitution is adopted, they 
 have a right to ask, and Congress is bound to ad- 
 mit, the sovereign State into the Confederacy. It 
 cannot be gravely asserted that the sovereignty 
 accrues to the State by the acknowledgment or 
 expression of consent on the part of Congress. 
 As well might the independence of a Government 
 be ascertained by its recognition by other Govern- 
 ments. Independence must exist before it is recog- 
 nized, and sovereignty must spring from its proper 
 source, the action of the people, and its acknowl- 
 edgment by Congress admits its previous exist- 
 ence. (See note C.) 
 
 When the people of a Territory grow into num- 
 bers sufficient to constitute a State under the Con- 
 stitution, and shall abolish or establish slavery in 
 their constitution, no one has a right to question 
 their authority so to do. I do not invoke the au- 
 thority of Congress to protect slaves as property 
 in the Territories. I ask for no legislation upon 
 the subject. They are already recognized as prop- 
 erty by the Constitution and laws, and the courts 
 afford ample protection to the rights of property. 
 Legal rights must of necessity be decided by the 
 courts. A mere territorial government, owing its 
 existence to an act of Congress, subjecting its laws 
 to the veto of Congress, and leaning for the expenses 
 of its administration upon Congress, can surely lay 
 no claim to the attributes of sovereignty. The 
 Constitution and laws which bind Congress bind 
 them, and they can neither create nor destroy insti- 
 tutions recognized and guarantied by that Consti- 
 tution. If I am asked why any particular point 
 of time should be denoted as that in which a Ter- 
 ritory may acquire and assert the sovereignty of a 
 State, I reply, that the reason is the same as that 
 which confers the right of self-direction and self- 
 control upon an individual who has reached the 
 of twenty-one years. A time must be desig- 
 ited, and that decision must be the result of pru- 
 dence and sound reason. The object of our system 
 is to extend republican institutions - , and when a 
 territory shall have passed theyears of its minority, 
 and acquired a population sufficiently numerous to 
 entitle it to a representative on this floor, it has all 
 the elements of sovereignty, and can perfect it by 
 the proper combination and concentration of those 
 elements. 
 
 But this question is presented in a most practi- 
 cal and important aspect when we consider the 
 
remits of the Mexican war. .V h Mexico an ' I into a 8tate government and 
 
 California are integral portion! of our territory ri idy to perl I i 
 
 by the treaty of peace, which we hare reason tituti 
 
 n has been ratified between the cow tin d, it i thi 
 
 They will require a territorial a i at our people of .<!l the B 
 
 hands, and we are already told by a gentleman •■■ 
 
 from New York, [Mr. Murphy,] that inasmuch ritory on equal term n of any 
 
 as the laws of those provinci sin i ly fi 
 
 very, it cannot exist within their limits without 
 legislative enactments. To sustain this | 
 
 he has refi rred to the opinion of I lord \l 
 
 of our conf( 
 < ;■ ntlemen >mi times ippeai ■ 
 
 tliis subj 
 
 f the soutl S I think ih ' 
 
 in the case of Campbell against Hall, (1 Cowper's thiasurpri when they are ad vis» I 
 
 Reports,) where Lord Mansfield lays down the In all the phases of thii 
 
 doctrine that the laws of a conquered country con- ' shape of I 
 
 Unue in force until they are altered by the con- cannot eain. Ifthi M 
 
 queror; a doctrine which, if taken in its full ex- i<> th( 
 
 tent, seems subversive of all the received principles the elaveholding - ■ 
 
 of the law of conquest, and which, however appli- nothing in return. If the Wilirrm r 
 
 cal>le to the English Government, is totally repug- adopted, all is lost to tl , and a!: t : • 
 
 nant to our institutions and our fundamental law. ritorii 
 
 There can be no civil dominion over any territory the citizens of ftfl if the 
 
 of [the United States, which is not founded upon Other fifteen. Should:' 
 
 the Constitution*. From this source it must eras- as a territorial government is formed, the 
 
 nate, and as soon as either by treaty or by the pie of the territory 
 
 sword a territory is incorporated within the limits lively, the *.\--i\f result will n 
 
 of the United States, the Constitution immediately inasmuch as emigration is much 
 
 attaches to it and is operative upon it, and what- free States than from the othei I 
 
 ever is repugnant to, or subversive of, its provi- should the doctrine that the 
 
 sions must fall before its power. This must be M< rcico ceded to us by the treaty are in lores until 
 
 manifest; for, if otherwise, we might have an estali- repealed I". 
 
 lished religion in those provinces. tory is fon 
 
 press provisions of the Constitution, and the seen- which reco res as propeity. I am sure 
 rity of persons and of property might he utterly that no person can suppose that the southern 
 lost against all the gurantces provided for their pie or then Repr 
 protection. The conquered nation would give law their rights as to admit the proprii 
 to thcirconqucrors, and the result of victory would cessions. I could never, sir, return to my eon- 
 be the subjection of the victors. It is true, that stitnenta after approving of .uh- 
 the laws of nations do recognize the force of all out a deep conviction that I deserved theii 
 laws, even in conquered countries, which are no- and an assurance that I should re< • ive thi if • 
 cessary for peace and tranquillity, until repealed cration. Neither can I be induct 
 or altered by the conquerors. But it is only of any number of OUT fellow- :iti» 
 such laws as are not in conflict with the laws of any portion of the Union, desire such s M 
 the conquering Power. Whenever the laws in Cali- things. A demand so unn 
 fornia and New Mexico conflict with, and are re- eraUon of which would be I • 
 pugnant to, the Constitution of the United States, never I"- m 
 
 that Constitution at once overrides such laws, and others, or prop' • the great objects of 
 
 by the very act of cession or of conquest, becomes the union of I 
 
 the supreme law of the land. (See note D.) The whole of the difficulty in this 
 It would be a monstrous conclusion at which to tion seems to me to be the result of s 
 arrive, that after all the costs and sacrifices of war, has arisen t 
 the population of the conquered territory n. In thi 
 the power to dictate the terms on which their con- 
 querors shall occupy their country. It would be regarded, and a philanlhrO| 
 equally repugnant to the principles of right and foot I 
 justice so to adjust the mailer, thai a 
 
 of the citizens of the United Slates, even the very sir, il Iter of law, 
 
 men whose lives were periled in the war, should Dial rodom G 
 
 be excluded from occupying the land that they had iddulge in the recreation of phi 
 
 won with their swords'. We deny the right of malion, either for their own or •>'• 
 Congress to legislate upon the subject, either to I others. But, 
 extend or to forbid slavery; we ask* t" r i 
 
 latim at the hands of Congress in the premi luch prctenre. I arm. 
 
 neither are we willing that the M pula- for h 
 
 tion, confessedly inferior in all the elements of it ; 
 
 civilization and capacity f. lid institution wl 5 ™Y 
 
 erect a barrier to the emigration of the citizens of birth, i 
 
 fifti i a States of this Republic. No, sir; we invoke institution thi 
 
 neither the aid of Congress to ' 
 
 existence there, nor will wi 
 
 the present population to control it, unless in .1 once dev I 
 
6 
 
 the choice of a residence. 1 Lave never lived, and 
 to livei in any portion of the United 
 States where this institution does not exist™ 
 
 Such, sir, are my opinions. It may be that they 
 ere not the opinions of others. I arraign no man 
 for his taste or his conscientious convictions; but 
 I have said thus much because 1 think all rant 
 
 tarnation on the general subject of slavery 
 out of place, in this discussion. Slaves were re- 
 garded as property at the formation of this Gov- 
 ernment, and have been so regarded by Congress 
 whenevei it was necessary to raise money by a 
 direct tax. Even Mr. Justice McLean, whose au- 
 thority lias !m en invoked to prove that they are not 
 property, belonged to the Congress which passed 
 the direct-tax law, immediately at or about the 
 close of the late war with Great Britain. 1 pre- 
 sume he voteiMfor that law, as there is no evidence 
 to the contrary. Slaves are therein declared to be 
 property, ordered to be treated as such, taxed as 
 such, and the tax declared to be a lien on the slave 
 until paid. The marshal was authorized to sell 
 and convey the slave under a sale for taxes. Slaves 
 are now and ever have been sold by the marshal 
 under executions at the instance of the United 
 States, and no one has questioned the title thus 
 acquired by the purchaser. Whence, then, can 
 ti' power arise, by which Congress may forbid 
 the settlement of any of the citizens of the United 
 States on our common inheritance with that which 
 is recognized as property? 
 
 With what show of justice can discriminations 
 be made in favor of one species of property and 
 against another? or how can a right which looks 
 for its origin to the exercise of State sovereignty, 
 unimpaired by surrender to the General Govern- 
 ment, be brought under the control of Congress? 
 Sir, it is a most serious, a most responsible under- 
 taking, to determine that any portion of our fel- 
 low-citizens are to be excluded from the inherit- 
 ance of their fathers You ask much, indeed, from 
 as, when you require us to consent to see our chil- 
 dren disinherited — to register our approbation of 
 the decree which illegitimates them as American 
 citizens. Much more is asked than will ever be 
 granted. If this reproach is to be upon us, it must 
 never be by our own consent. The broad lands 
 won by our fathers of right belong to us all. The 
 blood which flowed upon the plains of every battle- 
 field from Saratoga to Camden, came from the 
 wounds of patriots who, from the North and South, 
 buckled on their armor to do battle for liberty — 
 wliM.se bold and manly hearts were never under the 
 influence of unpatriotic feelings — who sought no 
 
 local or Bi cl il advantages, but regarded all this 
 
 broad land as a common treasure to enrich them- 
 selves and their posterity. Happily for them, the 
 delusion (if one) lasted long enough to save their 
 from a blush atourdegeneracy. I lap- 
 py was Ins lot, who slept on the field of his glory; 
 thrice happy those who saw in the distance their 
 country's prosperity, and left the world before dis- 
 I distrust threatened to bring distress 
 
 they looked for happiness, and dishonor 
 
 they looked forglory. Let it not be reserved 
 
 for us, now that the family of Siatts has increased 
 
 from thirteen to thirty — when Heaven has rained 
 
 ity upon us in golden showers — when the 
 
 a v. orld struggling for their rights are turned 
 to us witli agonizing anxiety — when the consum- 
 
 mation of our glory and our power as a people can 
 scarcely be conceived by the most vivid imagina- 
 tion — when the obedient lightning coursing along 
 on the wires of communication will ere long place 
 our kindred on the Pacific and Atlantic shores 
 again in the family circle, and carry in a moment 
 the tale of joy or of sorrow over rivers, and forests 
 and prairies, and plains — when distance shall no 
 longer forbid association, and light and knowledge 
 shall make their aggressive advances on darkness 
 and barbarism — when the resources of our terri- 
 tories, developed under the creative energies of our 
 wonderful people, shall, year after year, greet us 
 with the organization of a new State, the introduc- 
 tion of a new sister into the family, bright with all 
 the paraphernalia of virgin sovereignty. Let it not, 
 sir, be reserved for us, in an unworthy struggle 
 for political ascendency, or a more unworthy 
 grasping for exclusive privileges, founded on sec- 
 tional claims, to create and^awaken the elements of 
 a storm, which shall sweep over our bright and 
 happy country, like the angel of destruction, leaving 
 nothing but the wreck of liberty and the ruin of 
 social institutions; which shall show to the world 
 the tomb of liberty, the fragments of its temples; 
 where the friends of our race shall weep, and the 
 enemies of human advancement shall rejoice. No, 
 sir; let a more enlightened policy prevail, a more 
 generous impulse give direction to our measures; 
 let the heaven-bom spirit influence us which in- 
 fluenced the patriarchs, who, ascending to the 
 mountain top, agreed to divide their wealth and 
 divide their territories, the elder giving the younger 
 the choice, for " it was not meet for them to differ, 
 for they were brethren." Let the lines of the Mis- 
 souri compromise extend to the Pacific. Take that 
 invaluable territory, including the richest and the 
 best which the sun shines upon; but leave us our 
 rights, shorn indeed of much of their extent; and 
 although you hold in your hands the sword of the 
 law to exclude us, we will place no obstruction to 
 emigration from your portion of this great Repub- 
 lic. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I present to the committee the 
 resolution of the Baltimore Convention which de- 
 nounces, in the strongest terms, the interference of 
 Congress with the institution of slavery, or even 
 the taking of incipient steps thereto. I offer to 
 our northern and western brethren the Missouri 
 compromise, onerous and exacting as it is upon 
 the South, extending its provisions to the Pacific, 
 including the fine soil, the magnificent harbors, 
 and all the local advantages which nature has ap- 
 propriated to these geographical limits. I admit 
 the right of the inhabitants of the Territories to 
 make their own municipal institutions, whenever 
 they shall reach that amount of population which 
 shall entitle them to a representation on this floor. 
 I shall welcome them, whether forbidding or recog- 
 nizing slavery, into the Union. I am contented 
 to leave the question' in the Territories up to that 
 time, to the learning and the purity of our courts. 
 But I protest against the right of a few habitans 
 of a Territory to exclude the citizens of fifteen 
 States of this Union fi;om the occupancy of the 
 common public domain. I protest against the 
 authority of a law which they may enact which 
 shall override the Constitution, and leave us but 
 the empty name of protection by appeal. I am 
 willing to leave the question whether the laws of 
 
( rracin 
 
 
 
 conquered New Mexico and California shall «-« • 1 1 - 
 
 trol us, lo the courts. I invoke no ■■ on 
 
 the pari of I longn , to protecl i nd, or i" only, 
 
 limit slavery. Batisfied with the guarantees alr< ' 
 
 existing, coeval with tin- Constitution i 
 
 tensive in their operation! in the name of th 
 
 I ask you to keep your hands off of this subject — 
 
 leave it wfoere the Constitution has placed it, and concession « 
 
 we ask no move. We are satisfied, that whilst ii ■ 
 
 the Constitution overrides any law enacted by Co C 
 
 geees which conflicts with its provisions, it will South ■ 
 
 certainly override any law existing in a eonqui 
 
 territory equally repugnant to its n quiremi 
 
 lu the spirit of compromise, m the temper of ment. But the I 
 
 patriots, let us avoid exasperating and unneoe iry lovely I 
 
 contests, and teach those who succeed us that all commonwealths, ! 
 
 tliis magnificent country is their own. Prom tin 
 
 reefs of Florida to the snores of our mighty lakes — ishing, and, unlike 
 
 from the beach lashed by the Atlantic wave lo the n 
 
 broad and tranquil Pacific — from tin' cold regions of the influence of her noonday • 
 
 of the north to tlic soft climate of our southern lion's share Of the I 
 
 boundary, the citizen of this Republic has Ins awardi 
 
 home wherever lie may choose to select it, seenn 
 
 in the enjoyment of his rights, guarantied by a n 
 
 Constitution which is venerated and revered by our rights? And do Southern 
 
 millions of freemen. We, sir, are admonished fii 
 
 that our personal interest, though great, is much their hands? Are we to look, 
 
 smaller than that of thossttse Email k ive behind to 
 
 us. Let us who have enjoyed the mheriuu [Mr. Nim ! 
 
 which our fathers only saw in the distani 
 
 much as that we have ascended higher, have a mon only. I -usy say, 
 
 extended horizon, — let us tell our children, that, Enough ; but lh< l*e satu- 
 
 with counsels calm, wise, patriotic, measures just, fied. Gainin 
 
 and aims true and honest, there is a yet brighter it will never 
 
 and more glorious future for them. 1 speak for modi 
 
 my own Carolina — who first gave utterance to a S 
 
 declaration of independence — whose hardy sons 
 have found wealth, honor, and distinction in all 
 
 the South and West — whose colonists, pem 
 the wilderness, tamed it, and called into life and 
 sovereignty her noble daughter, Tennessee, — for 
 her and her sons I speak, when I declare thai slit- 
 recognizes no authority on the part of Congress or 
 the inhabitants of the Territories to expel them 
 from their common inheritance, the public d 
 
 
 blood of 
 
 by side have they falli n, in the f. ■ 
 
 battle, with ' in the 
 
 Union. \ nd bel 
 
 the clod which coi ■ 
 
 and children are told, 1 
 you; th< 
 
 his relatives and frii 
 Btitutions of their States ditlVr Cr<>: 
 
 She asks no favors but such as all may claim; she contrpl a majority of 1 
 
 seeks no ad vantages but such as intelligence, em 
 and industry will secure. In this noble competition 
 she will contend with her sister States; in the glo- 
 ries of such a victory all will equally partake. 
 
 Hut, sir, we meet with embarrassments on this 
 subject which arc exceedingly annoying. "We find 
 
 Southern statesmen, surrendering this great isti- 
 
 tutional question, in the admission of the right of 
 Congress to legislate authoritatively and without 
 limit upon the admission of slavery into the Ter- 
 ritories. We find among ourselves those who 
 give up the last hopes of the South, and surrender 
 
 the citadel to the besiegers. Precedent is invoked domain, yield them al 
 to establish the right to disinherit us. The evil liberty. Let their tears of sorrow 
 not only of being disinherited, but the penalty of is of fiunii from them. 
 
 crime, the forfeiture of felony, is fixed upon a . L rich, and I 
 
 and we are required, as suppliants, to ask that as cast not out the childn n not the 
 
 mercy which we should claim as a right A dis- descendai 
 tinguished Senator of my own State, (Mr. Babosr,] em statesm 
 a gentleman of high attainments and extended rep- 
 utation, in a recent speech on the Oregon bill, ad- n the timi 
 mitted the right of Congress to 
 
 exclusion of slavery in the Territories, but placed reckoning. It may be true that "fortune and the 
 the South upon the principle of expediency, and ; South part here— even here do they a'lake bands." 
 
 emigrant from every portion of the world — the 
 convicts, the paupers, the loafers, and thi 
 of all Europe — may come and stand U| 
 lands red with the blood of our i I 
 
 and turn them and their 
 
 may say, It i nd indeed, and a 
 
 your blood, but there is a ■ 
 
 . who have no kii d 
 sympathy with you. Our own child 
 out, and the slran^tr is ailmittal. Sir, I hnil the 
 
 nd fer- 
 tile prairies, and our boundless and unc- 
 
 
s 
 
 We may be regarded as the receding States. We 
 must bear it as we may, but wc will, with digni- 
 fied remonstrance, make continual claim of our 
 rights. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note A. — The proposition that Congress has un- 
 limited power over the Territories has been broadly 
 .asserted by the gentleman from Indiana, [Mr. 
 Pettit,] who, in reply to a question propounded to 
 him by myself, whilst discussing this subject, de- 
 clared that Congress had a right, in the Territories, 
 to establish a hereditary monarchy, an established 
 religion, titles of nobility, and even to sell the in- 
 habitants into slavery; and that there was no limit 
 but the will of the National Legislature in the prem- 
 ises. The most obvious and ample refutation of 
 such a doctrine is to be found in its monstrous re- 
 sults. 
 
 NoteB. — In the case of Loughborough vs. Blake, 
 5 Wheat., 317, Chief Justice Marshall decides that 
 the words directing "taxes, imposts, and excises to 
 be uniform throughout theUnited Slates, "includes, 
 in the terms United States, (as descriptive,) all the 
 Slates and Territories of the United States; and 
 expressly rules, that the power under the Consti- 
 tution to levy taxes, gives Congress the right to 
 levy taxes in the Territories — placing the territory 
 belonging to the United States de facto under its 
 laws, and of course under the Constitution. This' 
 
 case clearly sustains my argument, and enforces 
 my conclusion. If the Territories are out of the 
 United States, and not protected or governed by our 
 fundamental law, then the inhabitants are aliens, 
 and not citizens; a question never yet gravely 
 raised. The case in 6 Cranch, 264, sustains the 
 same principles. The revising power of Congress, 
 under the organic law to Territories, of territorial 
 legislation, springs from the structure of that law 
 accepted by the people of the Territory as a condi 
 tion of their existence under that regulation, and 
 does not grow out of any inherent power in Con- 
 gress. 
 
 Note C. — The case of Missouri affords a stri- 
 king illustration: Missouri adopted her constitution 
 in 1820, and continued a sovereign State, governed 
 by her own laws, and was admitted into the Union 
 by proclamation in 1821, after complying with an 
 offer, made by resolution, on the part of the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States, and accepted by the 
 Legislature of Missouri in her sovereign capacity. 
 (See Statutes at large, 1820, 1821, pages 545, 645.) 
 
 Note D. — Vattel expressly declares, that all the 
 laws and institutions of a conquered country which 
 conflict with the fundamental law of the conquering 
 country, must cease to be operative. He instances 
 a case in which the towns of a conquered country 
 had, previously to the conquest, sent representa- 
 tives to a legislature. After their conquest by a 
 Government which did not admit of representation, 
 he says they must never again think of it. 
 
 14® 
 

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