J E 423 
 .G45 
 Copy I 
 
^C eccco 
 
 < ^c ccc<:c 
 C CC ccc 
 
 
 CC c c ccc 
 •^«^.^ ccce 
 
 G c <rcc 
 
 ^cccoc 
 
 ccc ccc 
 
 : c re C^l. 
 
 C-'CCC,.. 
 
 C CCccC CC. 
 .C <^ 'C<LC« 
 
 ••c crx.c<33c: 
 
 tc cocccj;^' 
 
 <£x; Ci:;cc CC?* 
 
 CCC CCasC ccck. . 
 
 cccc^cccsrcz^ 
 
 "VSCT'CC C < •OkcC 
 
 eCCCC CC-'O 
 
 ace re c^>X4 
 rcc^ CC CC c" 
 
 .e CC<' 
 /'C.CC^ ^<( 
 
 
 /;^iucsic 
 
 C CCC 
 
 ccco 
 
 zee <^'^ c <%c 
 
 ^ <f c c:a 
 
 ;:^c c^ c:.cic 
 
 ''(r' <SCv. "<CCC(^ 
 
 < <rcc ceco 
 > ( €^ic< c:cv 
 ^.fc^icc c:c-(s 
 
 ^"'C^^CC C<^'^ _ 
 
 eQ CC c c?^^: 
 ji<(^.^L-c c^<<: 
 
 e'<^c c. c CC_ CS^C CC 
 
 ^cc^^c ^^ crc <^. 
 
 ^^R ^ .^^ :^^ c^^^(g 
 
 ^ C c Cx 
 
 ^C^C CCC 
 
 .<^c ccc^ 
 ^^^ccc 
 
 ^: CCjC^ 
 
 :c c<ecf 
 
 it' c^ 
 c c^' 
 
 :.vc^o^ 
 
 <c;<cc: <&.-c<£<g 
 
 ccoc c^C_ c 
 
 ' ^C <r^c<^^ c e:<:(C cmc,. .^ f^^ec< 
 
 IC(C CCCi 
 
 
 Cd 
 
 CC 
 
 jrc 
 „cc 
 i:c< 
 cc 
 
 •■%,». ^.-sv-Sfc---*.-*.*' -*■■■»."•»-*• 
 
 ?LlBRARY0FCON(iK'ESS.# 
 
 . <gc CflCC 
 
 •c cr^cc^c^ccc:' c/^:ci 
 
 V C'C- c c^d.<LCK: 
 
 :>" c e -<: c<«s:^.c cos 
 
 c c c ccr^ "^^ 
 
 ^^e ■ C C' cc^ 
 
 ^ c c C <f'CC C <^ 
 
 'CC CC'C^ c <c 
 
 t?c <JE*^C ^'^e c ^<^ c. <^ 
 ttc <mC CCC c ^<r^ c ^. 
 
 ^c«^-C-e^cC C. C C -v.c ^v 
 
 c 
 
 CCC 
 
 i^ 
 
 CC<i 
 
 ^C 
 
 .ccc< 
 
 ^c 
 
 CCC< 
 
 ^ 
 
 03; 
 
 
 
 r< 
 
 .. (C< 
 
 
 '• CO 
 
 
 p^ '< 
 
 
 t.c 
 
 3 
 
 F i 
 
<rccc<c ^^ '^"^ ' 
 
 ?cc c: cc c: _, 
 
 xrccccc ^c ' 
 
 icxi.'SE 
 
 
 
 c<:.< 
 
 
 In. 
 
 ccxr c 
 
 
 
 XX c^ 
 
 SI 
 
 <C.CI cc. C^ ^CCOc£-<^ 
 
 cccc:>'^c 
 
 CC€' 
 
 
 OC<si cs 
 
 <^ <:^ 
 
 '^.C €CCCCiC C^^ C_ Sl^^CiC CCCCC "^..^^^C 
 
 <rcc^^cc!cc^ 5 
 
 C^ C CCiC <^C 
 ^T< C CCC ^C 
 <i. C CCC <g^ 
 
 Lc; ' <: cxx <src 
 :CcC <CC<SC' 
 
 <c ^-<: CCC <^c 
 C .cc CCC <cc 
 XcCC^CC^<iCC' ^ 
 
 LCC^ C CcsC^QC ^^C 
 ..c.:c c V CLCC^C CC,(- 
 
 re cc 
 
 ^c cc c«<c^-^ ^. 
 
 
 
 CC( C ^> V >^ 
 
 axccc( c c c 
 
 cC ^\ 
 
 .C c=- 
 
 cC c^ 
 
 vc ■ '^ 
 
 c^ c c 
 
 ^c< 
 
 OCC c 
 
 v^-1 
 
 V c <1^-^ « 
 
 _ CcCCCC 
 
 cc C_ CCC c xc^Tcccccc 
 
 "cc C CCL c <C^CCCC'<X 
 
 CiC c c<L c cc tlC(C <X 
 
 _.CC C C<I C ^CC ^: C(C cc 
 
 . cc c cc_ c <c: <^tccc- cc 
 
 ^C.C C^c cccC^JicC a 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 SCICC 
 VS *ccc. 
 
 cc«r 
 
 .CCcC 
 cc C C 
 
 xcc c 
 
 ^( c, c.C^ CI 
 
 Ci}^r c^^ 
 Cc< Cv ■ c 
 
 c-^ c^ cC 
 <crc( c: -cC. 
 
 cccc: 
 
 :c 
 
 ccc:c cc- 
 
 Cq^C fCC 
 rcCCC*^ -<X.' 
 
 '«€<. CCC 
 
 CCC CCC < 
 ro xC 
 

 OUR DOMESTIC POLICY. 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. J. K. GIDDINGS, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 REFERENCE OE TPIE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. 
 
 Made, December 9, 1850, in Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, 
 
 Mr. GiDDiNfts said, that from the commence- 
 ment of the Government, it had been the practice 
 to discuss the political character of the President's 
 Message, on motion to refer it to the several ap- 
 propriate committees. 
 
 I am ("^aid he) the more anxious to avail myself 
 of the present occiision to speak of that portion 
 which relates to our domestic policy, in conse- 
 quence of the rumors which inform us that the 
 present Fugitive Liw is not to be repealed or dis- 
 cussed at this session of Congress. That portion 
 of the Message which relates to our domestic pol- 
 icy will be reid with great interest throughout 
 the country ; and while I agree with a portion of 
 the Message, there are embraced in it some mat- 
 ters which I am unwilling should go to the coun- 
 try tacitly endorsed by my silence. 
 
 For the frankness and candor with which the 
 President avows his positions upon the most in- 
 teresting questions now agitating the public mind, 
 I tender hira my thanks. It was due to himself, 
 to his political friends, and to the country, that 
 his views on these questions should be distinctly 
 avowed ; that the nation should understand dis- 
 tinctly whether be is for or ai:f;i,ist this Fugitive 
 Law, now so odious throughout the free States. 
 
 Before I go farther, I wish to say. that I heartily 
 .approve the doctrine which the President lays 
 Sown respecting the exercise of his veto power. I 
 regard it as the doctrine of the Constitution. It 
 is true, however, that it overthrows and wholly 
 discards the avowed policy of the party which 
 elected him. That party avowed its doctrine to 
 be. that the veto power should never be exercised, 
 except when the bill presented for the President's 
 approval was clenrhj unconstitutionaL 
 
 This doctrine the President repudiates, and 
 goes as far in the support of that prerogative as 
 Jack,*on, or Tyler, or Polk. I approve this inde- 
 pendence, this casting aside the trammels of party. 
 I am now curious to see how many of those friends 
 will turn round and go with the President in this 
 change of doctrine. 
 
 But. by looking at the latter part of the Mes- 
 sage, it becomes evident that the President in- 
 tends the country shall understand that he will 
 veto any bill for the repeal of this Fugitive Law. 
 To do that, while h .Iding to the doctrines on 
 which he was elected, would have been palpably 
 inconsistent. In order, therefore, to make a show 
 of consistency, he must first repudiate this impor- 
 tant doctrine of his party. As to the morality of 
 this decaption, I forbear to make any remarks. 
 
 The boldness with which the President avows 
 his friendship to the Fugitive Law, is aot only 
 BucU & Blauchard, Printers. 
 
 commendable, but should entitle him to the thanks 
 of the whole North, as well as of the whole South. 
 
 When the vote was taken upon that bill, there 
 was found north of Mason and Dixon's line only 
 three Mlii^s in this body who possessed the moral 
 courage to meet the odium of voting for its pas- 
 sage. From the day of that vote, until the read- 
 ing of this Message, the Whig press of the North, 
 with nearly unanimous voice, repeated and re- 
 iterated this fact, in order to exonerate their party 
 from the odium of that measure, and to place the 
 responsibility of its enactments upon their politi- 
 cal opponents. The Message meets and exposes 
 this unmanly subterfuge, and boldly defies the 
 odium attached to this measure. A short time 
 will determine how many Northern Whigs will 
 now face about at the bidding of the Executive, 
 and shire with him the unenviable fame of sus- 
 taining and continuing an enactment which is a 
 libel upon all that is called Law. These chins^es, 
 sir, may prove inconvenient to the youngf r mem- 
 bers of the party — to those who have had but lit- 
 tle experience ; but to those who have been ac- 
 customed to follow the 1-aders of that party, these 
 political summersets must have become familiar. 
 
 Most of our Whig editors of the North have 
 assured their readers that the feelings, and con- 
 science, and judgment of the President were op- 
 posed to this Fugitive Law. This Message will 
 teach them that he thinks his own thoughts, and 
 speaks his own wishes, and acts upon his own 
 ju.igment : and that it is for them to turn round 
 and swallow their words, and go in ibr a continu- 
 ance of this law, which they have so loudly de- 
 nounced, or they will be read out of the party. 
 
 Sir, had the President avowed his desire for the 
 passage of this Law, prior to his election in 1S4S, 
 how many votes, think you, he would have re- 
 ceived in the free States ? I think they would 
 have been few. At that time, he was represented 
 as a friend of Freedom, a supporter of Northern 
 rights, and devoted to the Cause of Humanity. 
 Upon these principles he was sustained in the 
 North. But no sooner were the clods adjusted 
 upon the grave of his predecessor, than we were 
 informed that he had abandoned every doctrir.e 
 in relation to Slavery which his party had main- 
 tained pending his election. He adopted the en- 
 tire programme of measures announced in the 
 Senate by the present Secretary of Stute, on the 
 7th of March last. His influence was exerted 
 for the delivery of some fifty thousand square 
 miles of free territory to Texas and to Slavery — to 
 pay Texas ten million dollars, to hire her to ab- 
 stain from driving our army from our westeia 
 
--^sij^^ % rr^-'-rv:, y* 
 
 «s 
 
 ^.-.-..^.^^tectjtofy, and froth dissolving the Union. He was mon sense of mankind. While the Southern mea 
 ^ ^ n /aver of the nagsige of laws to organize Gov- are thus seizing Northern freemen, enslaving and 
 ^.jl^Cexsnments in our Territories, without excluding brutalizing them, they turn round and Gallon us to 
 
 Slavery j and he was in favor of this Fugitive 
 Law. 
 
 No man had ever come into the Presidential 
 Chair, who so unceremoniously cast aside and re- 
 pudiated the important pledges of his friends and 
 his party. No public man of high standing, from 
 the free States, has so suddenly and so boldly 
 abjured the Cause of Freedom, and, before the 
 world, pledged fealty to the Slave power, saving 
 and excepting his Secretary of State, whose coun- 
 sels he appears to have adopted. , 
 
 Eut in this boldness, the manly frankness with 
 which the President announc 's this change of 
 position, and tacitly calls upon his former friends 
 to follow him, may teach us the propriety of here- 
 after understanding the principles of our Presi- 
 dential candidates //^fore we vote for them, rather 
 than undergo the mortification of those party 
 changes and couutermarchings. The public will 
 watch with much interest to see how many of his 
 party frien:ls will change their position, in order 
 to stand with him in favor of this Fugitive Law, 
 and of Slavery. 
 
 The Piesident informs us that the Constitution 
 has made it his duty to '• ta^s car'; that the Jnics he 
 faithfully exfXiitedP All are aware that such is 
 made his duty. But how has he performed it ? He 
 has seen the mails violated in South Carolina and 
 other States, robbed of newspapers which do not 
 suit the taste of their people, and the laws of Con- 
 gress held in contempt and trampled upon. This 
 is done by his own officers, who hold their ap- 
 pointments at his will ; but, sir, has he ousted 
 such men from office ? We have yet to learu that 
 he has even reproved them, much less has he hint- 
 ed at these things in this Message. He sees the 
 free colored citizens of New England, and indeed 
 of nearly all the free States, seized, imprisoned, 
 and sold into bondage, by Southern men. He is 
 aware that hundreds and pt^rhaps thousands of 
 free boru Northern citizens now pine in South- 
 ern chains: he witnesses this transcendent out- 
 rage upon the Laws, upon the Constitution, and 
 upon Humanity, in perfect silence ; he does not 
 even hint at their existence. He has seen the 
 agents of Massachusetts driven by mob violence 
 from South Ca/olina and Louisiana, whfn sent 
 
 leave our employments, give chase, and arrest and 
 return their fugitive slaves. While violating our 
 National Compact in its most vital features, they 
 ask us not merely to observe and keep our stipu- 
 lations, but to go far beyond our covenants to up- 
 hold their slavery. Now, sir, these Southern men 
 have no claim whatever on us to observe the com- 
 pact, while they disregard and ti-ample upon it. 
 Such are the dictates of Law, and of justice, and 
 of the Common Sense of Mankind. A compliance 
 with such demand would constitute us the mere 
 subsidiaries, the appendages, of Southern slavery. 
 This feeling has thus far been suppressed by our 
 intelligent people, hoping that Congress would 
 relieve them from the position in which they have 
 long been placed. If this Fugitive Law be kept 
 in force, and Congress shall exert its power and 
 influence to degrade our people, I, sir, will not 
 predict the consequences. They may be read in 
 our p.nst history. One thing may be regarded as 
 admitted truth — while Ohio Freemen are held in 
 Southern chains, the people of the northern por- 
 tion of that State will not arrest, nor return, fugi- 
 tive slaves. I speak for no other portion of the 
 country. Eut tlie South and the North, the East 
 and the West, may understand, that, while the 
 inhabitants of our State shall be held in slavery, 
 (and there are many there.) few, tery ftic, slaves 
 will return to bondage from that section of coun- 
 try where I reside. 
 
 Sir, suppose a man born among us, educated in 
 our schools, baptised in our churches, professing 
 our religion, but who has been seized and held 
 in Southern slavery, should make his escape, and 
 revisit the scenes of his birth and childhood : but, 
 while quietly and peaceably among us, the baying 
 of human bloodhounds should be heard upon his 
 track, and the whole army of slave-catchers, in- 
 cluding certain high dignitaries who procured the 
 passage of the Fugitive Law, should be seen com- 
 ing in hot pursuit, with handcuffs, and chains, and 
 fetters, prepared and clanking in their hands — 
 do you, sir, think they would tak^; him, and fetter 
 him, in the presence of our people. ;=,nd drag him 
 back to a land of sighs and tears? Sir, if the 
 President, or members of this body, or that class 
 of clergymen who are preaching that obedience to 
 
 there to sustain the legal rights of the citizens of this law is a religious duty, believe this can be 
 
 that State now held in slavery. He knew that 
 no Northern State nor individual could rescue 
 those citizens from the chains of servitude. Upon 
 outrages, more aggravated thun any that have 
 ever occurred under this Government, he makes 
 no comment. Sir, the House and the country 
 must see that the only sympathy exhibited in the 
 Message is for Slavtry — he has none for Freedom. 
 He recommends us not to repeal the Fugitive Law, 
 but recommends no law to sustain the liberties of 
 our own people, or to redeem those freemen who 
 mourn in Southern bondage; still he assures us 
 that, "in our domestic policy, the Constitution 
 shall be his guide,-' and that "he regnnU all its 
 provisions as cjually bindingJ' That this declara- 
 tion is entirely erroneous is too obvious to require 
 further exposure. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, our opposition to the Fugitive 
 Law is bastd upon the soundest principles of eth 
 
 done, they had better study the character of our 
 population more thoroughly. 
 
 Under that law, such cases may frequently oc- 
 cur; and whether there be a neighborhood north 
 of Mason and Dixon's line, where such a freeman 
 can be taken back to a land of whips and chains, 
 I leave for others to judge ; I will not argue the 
 point. 
 
 Eut the President is not satisfied with quoting 
 the words of the Constitution ; he closes the par- 
 agraph with the following sentence: 
 
 " You^ gentlemen, and the country, may be as- 
 sured, that to tilt utmost of my ability, and to the eztent 
 of the power vested in me, I shall at all times, and in 
 all places, talce care that the laivs he faithfully exe- 
 cuted? 
 
 This language is understood by the House and 
 by the country. No one can mistake its import. 
 It is the language of menace — of intimidation. He 
 
 iC3 and of law, as well as the dictates of the com- distinctly avows that, " to the extent of the power 
 
■s vested in kim, h". mill see '' this infamous law exe- 
 "^^ cuted. The power of the army and the navy is 
 ^ Tested in the President. This power he assures 
 ^ us will be used to shoot down Northern freemen, 
 0*^if necessary to enforce this law. This attempt at 
 tJ menace is unworthy of the President. It is un- 
 . 'becoming his station. 1 feel pained while con- 
 ■' templating the position in which the President 
 • has thus placed himself No language could have 
 ^ been more destructive to his influence. This 
 taunting menvice should never have been address- 
 ed to freemen — to men who understand the Con- 
 stitution and know their rights. I have shown 
 some reasons why our people of Northern Ohio 
 will not ohtij that law. The President may speak 
 to them of the ^^ power v.itttil in him'' — of the 
 army and navy ; and he may tell them that he 
 will use the whole military power of the nation at 
 all li/ms and in all placts to enforce this detestable 
 law: but, sir, they will hurl back defiance both 
 at him and his army. He may senl his troops — 
 his Swiss guards of slavery; he may put all the 
 machines of hum*n butchery in operation; he 
 may drench our free land with blood ; he may 
 entitle hin;self to the appellation of a second 
 " Haynau ;"' but he will ntcer comp':! fh':?)i to oh'-.y 
 that law. They will govern themselves. They 
 wiil obey every constitutional enactment; but 
 they will discard and repudiate this Fugitive bill. 
 1 speak what I feel before God and man. I speak 
 what every enlightened statesman must feel and 
 admit, when I' say that no free, enlightened, and 
 independent people ever was, or ever will be. gov- 
 erned by the bayonet and the sword. No, sir. I 
 will say to the President with all kindness, but 
 with unhesitating confidence, our fopU wiU never 
 be compelled oy the bayonet or the cimton.! or in any 
 other maiiMr. to lend any aid or assistance in execut- 
 ing that ii'fiinions law; nor will they obey it. 
 The President should have learned ere this that 
 public scDtiment, with an enlightened and pa- 
 triotic people, is stronger than armies or navies ; 
 that he himself is but the creature of the people's 
 wiil — their servant — elected to execute their pur- 
 poses. In the enactmeut of this law. their feel- 
 ings were not consulted, their honor was disre- 
 garded, and their wishes were treated with scorn. 
 Sir, a large portion of the Northern people were 
 not represented in this body at the pass.igeof that 
 law. Their servants fled from this Hall, and left 
 the interests, the rights, and the honor of their 
 constituents to be disposed of hj slaveholders and 
 their obsequious allies. This law •• was conceived 
 in sin,'" and literally '• brought forth in iniquity."' 
 It is due to our Southern friends that we should 
 inform them distinctly that the law cannot ■auA will 
 not be enforced. Our people, sir, know what con- 
 stitutes law. This enactment 1 chII a law merely 
 for convenience, because our language furnishes 
 no proper term in which to characterize it. It 
 h-is the form, but is entirely destitute of the 
 spirit — the essence of law. It command.'! the per- 
 petration of crimes,' which no human enactment 
 can justify. In passing it, Congress overstepped 
 the limits of civil government, and attempted to 
 usurp powers which belong only to God. In this 
 attempt to involve our people in crimes forbidden 
 by inspiration, by every impulse of humanity, 
 and to command one portion of the people to 
 ■wage a war upon another. Congress was guilty of 
 tyranny unexampled. This enactment is beyond 
 
 the power, outside of the duties, of human gov- 
 ernment , it imposes no obligation to commit the 
 crimes it commands, it can justify no one for com-, 
 mitting them. For this reason, the people n-ill 
 not ohty it. Nor is this doctrine new, either in 
 theory or in practice. In every Stute of the 
 Union statutes have been enacted which never 
 have been and never co'dd be enforced. They 
 are so opposed to the public sense of justice and 
 propriety, that they remain a dead letter from 
 the day of their enactment. Congress has enacted 
 many such laws, which no President ever could or 
 ever will enforce. This Fugitive Law must be re- 
 pealed, or. if it remain unrepealed, it will remain 
 a dead letter. Of the fifteen thous.md fugitives 
 in the free States, probably not ten have been re- 
 turned to bondage, and I doubt whether ten more 
 will ever be returned. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I now wish to call the attention 
 of the House to the assertion of an important 
 principle in which i most heartily concur. The 
 President soys : 
 
 " Every citizen who truly loves the Constitu- 
 tion, and desires the continuance of its existence 
 and its blessings, will resolutely and firmly resist 
 any interference in those domestic afl^'airs, which 
 the Constitution has clearly and unequivocally 
 left to the exclusive authority of the States.'' 
 
 This, Mr. Chairman, is the doctrine of the Con- 
 stitution, the doctrine of its framers. It is the 
 doctrine of the Free-Soilers. If there be any one 
 feature in the Constitution, which the whole his- 
 tory of ats adoption has made plain, it is that sla- 
 very is a S'cte institution, ov'.r which C<)n.<;ress has 
 no control — with which this Federal Government 
 has no legitini'ite powers to intir/ere. Yfle, sir, of the 
 North, will not be constrained, even by your Fu- 
 gitive Law, to interfere with it. The slavery of 
 Virginia belongs to her. If she possess the power 
 and the disposition to uphold it, we cannot put it 
 down or abolish it. If she sees fit to abolish it, 
 we have no power to interfere to su.-tain it. 
 
 I have often defined the views of an!i-slavery 
 men and of Free-Soilers on this subject — others 
 have often done it ; yet we are misapprehended 
 and constantly misrepresented. That clause of 
 the Message now under consideration was intend- 
 ed to impute to us a purpose, a desire, to interfere 
 with Southern slavery. That iden. false and 
 unfounded, has been asserted and reiterated for 
 years. The President should have been better 
 informed. For the hundredth time I repeat that 
 Congress nor this Federal Government have any 
 more power to interfere with the slavery of the 
 Southern Si.-ites than they have with the serfdom 
 of Russia. The slave States hold their '• peculiar 
 institution "' as independently of this Government 
 as Prussia holds her serfs. Again, sir, this Gov- 
 ernment possesses no more right to involve the 
 people of the North in the support of Southern 
 slavery, than it has to involve us in the support 
 of PLUSsian serfdom. Congress possesses no more 
 power nor right to make us the catchers of South- 
 ern slaves, than of Russian serfs. 
 
 These were the views and feelings of those who 
 framed the Constitution. They never -dreamed 
 of making us the catchpolls for Southern slave- 
 hunters. 
 
 Nothing could have been further from the 
 thoughts of those who framed the Constitution. 
 In that Convention. Mr. Gouverneur Morris said 
 
that '■'•he nev^r would concur hi iipltoliliii^ doyneatic 
 jlaveryP So say 1, and so say our people of the 
 Ivorth. We never will concur in upholding that 
 institution. Mr. Morris added : '• It is a wfarious 
 in<tiiu>ion. It was the curse of Heaven upon the 
 'States in which it existed."' 
 
 So we say. It is a curse upon those States, but 
 the curse is thnrs^ not ours, and we will not share 
 in it. Your fugitive law shall not compel ns to 
 share in it. Our fathers would not consent to be 
 involved in its crimes — we will not. 
 
 Mr. Gerry of Massachusetts said : " While we 
 have nothing to do with slavery in the States, we 
 should be careful to lend no sanction to it." Sir, 
 we will lend no sanction to it, nor shall your fu- 
 gitive law compel us to sanction it. Mr. Dickin- 
 son " thought it a proper subject for the General 
 Government to interfere with, as it pffrcf^d onr n.a- 
 tioial //cjipiiitss.'' But Southern members resisted 
 this proposition. They would give to the Federal 
 Government no powers to interfere with slavery, 
 for any purpose. 
 
 But 1 desire to come more directly to the clause 
 relating to fuoritive slaves. When the committee 
 reported the draft of a Constitution, it contained 
 the clause for the arrest a7id return of fugitives 
 from justice, as it now stands. They were to be 
 delivered up by the Executive of the State to 
 which they should flee; and this was to be done, 
 also, at the expense of such State. While this 
 report was under consideration, Messrs. Butler 
 and Pinckney of South Carolina moved to amend 
 it so as to '■'• rffjuire fugitives^ slaves, and servants^ to 
 he delivtr'.d vp iike criminals?^ 
 
 Mr. Wilson of Pennsylvania said '• This would 
 oblige the Executive to do it at the public e-xpenseP 
 
 Mr. Sherman of Connecticut '-saw no more 
 propriety in the public seizing and surrendering 
 a fugitive slxve or servant than a korseP And on 
 these suggestions Mr. Butler withdrew his prop- 
 osition. These f.icts were recorded by Mr. Mad- 
 ison ; and no stronger evidence could have been 
 left of the intention of the framers of the Consti- 
 tution to save the freemen of the North from all 
 expense, and guilt, and disgrace, of arresting fu- 
 gitive slaves. The clause for the return of fugi- 
 tive slaves, as it now stands, was subsequently 
 adopted, with the concurrence of Mr. Wilson and 
 of Mr. Sherman. It provides, that the State to 
 ■which the sl&ve flees shall not, by any law or 
 regulation, release him from labor. " Non-inter- 
 ference," between the master and slave, was their 
 intention, their ulterior design. The last mem- 
 ber of the sentence says of the slave, he " shall be 
 delivered up on claim of the person to n-liom such ser- 
 vice or labor may he dueP This language has been 
 understood by some as rendering action necessary 
 on the part of the people of the State to which 
 the slave may have fled. This construction is 
 opposed to the whole spirit of the Constitution. 
 Every reader will see at once that such obligation 
 is not imposed upon the Governor, nor upon the 
 people of the State, nor upon any individual. 
 The Supreme Court has given a cc«struction to 
 this languiige which is in accordance with the in- 
 tention and cl)ject of the framers of the Constitu- 
 tion. We are to deliver up the fugitive slave as 
 we deliver up our friends to the civil oihcer. We 
 are bound to permit the master to arrest and carry 
 back the slave, in the same manner that we permit 
 the civil oflicer to seize our friends, under process, 
 and take them to prison. 
 
 And such was the law of 179.'"1 It followed the- 
 Constitution. It saved the master from inter- 
 ruption while pursuing his slave. It provided 
 lines and penalties against any person who, dis- 
 obeying the constitutional compact, should secrete 
 or defend or rescue the slave. There the law of 
 1793stopped. Itwentno farther. It gave the master 
 no process under the seal of your courts, by which 
 to arrest hi.s slave. It commanded no officer of this 
 Government to aid the master in making such ar- 
 rest. No powers of this Government were prosti- 
 tuted to such degrading purposes. " Nun-iidir- 
 ference'"' between the master and slave was the rule 
 by which that whole law was framed. And it is 
 to the honor of the Supreme Court that, in their 
 construction of the Constitution and of the law, 
 they have carried out this view. They have 
 adopted the very idea of Mr. Wilson and Mr. 
 Sherman. They declare the right of the master 
 to recapture his slave to be the same as his right 
 to take his property which strays into a free State. 
 They construe our duties, to deliver vp the fugi- 
 tive slave, to be the same as to deliver up the stray 
 horse. If the horse or the slave come among us, 
 we permit the owner or master to take him. But 
 in neither case can the owner or master call on 
 us to catch the slave or the horse. 
 
 Neither the law of 1793, nor the Constitution, 
 contemplated the organization of Northern free- 
 men into a constabulary force for catching ne- 
 groes. Nor did it give the master a guard and 
 assistance to carry back his slave at the expense 
 of the nation. Such provisions could never have 
 been approved by Washington, who signed the 
 law of 1793, nor by his associates who had aided 
 in framing the Constitution, and who also voted 
 for that law. They understood their constitu- 
 tional duties. 
 
 All who read this message must see that the 
 only interference with slavery which the President 
 professes to deprecate, is that which tends to 
 loosen the chains of bondage; he appears to have 
 no objection to that interference which rivets 
 them closer. Could he have believed that the 
 intelligent freemen of the North would fail to de- 
 tect the palpable contradiction between that por- 
 tion of the Message which deprecates interference 
 with slavery, and that which urges the continu- 
 ance of this law, which wms enacted for the very 
 purpose of interfering in support of that institu- 
 tion? 
 
 Could any interference have been more direct 
 and palpable than that which makes it the duty 
 of the deputy marshal or commissioner, under a 
 heavy penalty, to exert his utmost powers to ar- 
 rest the fugitive ' Which gives him authority to 
 call the whole power of the State to assist him ? 
 Which " commands all good citizens to aid and assist 
 in the prompt''' arrest and return of the trembling 
 slave ? This interference the Pre-ident approves. 
 It rivets tighter the chains of bondage, while we 
 are all aware that he disapproved our efforts to 
 exclude slavery from the free territory of New 
 Mexico. But this law goes farther ; it not only 
 attempts to strike down God's law, which com- 
 mands us '-to feed the hungry." but it attempts to 
 convert every freeman of the North into a savage. 
 If a fugitive from oppression reaches my door 
 amid the ragings of the storm, half clad, and be- 
 numbed with cold, fainting, and weary, sick and 
 in distress, and asks to warm himself by my fire, 
 
this law interferes, and forbids me. under heavy 
 pains and penalties, to comply with his request. 
 If I obey the law. I must drive him from my door 
 to perish with hunger and cold. If I receive him 
 to my habitation, warm him by my fire — if I feed 
 him, and give him driuk. and restore him. so that 
 he pursues his journey and escapes, I am subjected, 
 under, this law, to a fine of one thousand dollars 
 and to six months' imprisonment. This law the 
 President npproif.s. and advises ua to coiiiin-te in 
 force. This practice he sustains, and asks us to 
 uphold. I reply, in his own language; '•^ Entry 
 dtizfu mho truly loves the Covstilution will resolutely 
 and firmly resist" the interference which this laro 
 enjoins. 
 
 Sir, our people will continue to feed the hun- 
 gry, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick, and to 
 relieve the oppressed; and no interference of this 
 fugitive law will prevent this compliance with the 
 dictates of our religion, with that law which came 
 from God himself, and which no enactment cf 
 slaveholders and doughfaces can repeal or nullify. 
 I speak for no one but myself and constituents ; 
 others will choose whether to obey God or the 
 oppressors of mankind ; but aa for us, we will obey 
 that higher law of kindness, benevolence, and 
 humanity, which was implanted in the breast of 
 every human being, and written upon the hearts 
 and consciences of mankind, by the finger of our 
 Creator. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, the doctrine of "Non-inter- 
 ference with Slavery," laid down by the Presi- 
 dent, is at war with every provision of this fugi- 
 tive law. If we maintain that doctrine, this law 
 must remain a dead letter upon our statute book. 
 He who sustains this doctrine must disobey the 
 law ; for the Constitution and this law are antago- 
 nisms — at war with each other. If we adhere to 
 one. we must discard the other. My constituents 
 will maintain the Constitution, while they will 
 hold this law in contempt. Sir, from the adoption 
 of the Constitution until lS41,neverwa8 this doc- 
 trine of " non-interference between master and 
 slave" denied by the Executive. At that time, the 
 present Secretary of State, in a correspondence 
 with our Minister at London, substantially 
 avowed it to be the duty of this Government to 
 protect Southern slave-dealers while pursuing 
 their vocation, This dootrine, coming from a 
 Massachusetts man, inspired his successor (Mr. 
 Upshur) to maintain the same principles, while 
 advocating the annexation of Texas in 1843. Up 
 to 1841, 1 repeat that "non-interference between 
 master and slave " was the doctrine of the North 
 and of the South, of Whigs and of Democrats. 
 
 It is true that our slaveholding Presidents at 
 times lent their powers siltntJy to uphold slavery ; 
 but no officer of Government t\eT avon-nd it the 
 duty of Congress, or the Executive, thus to in- 
 terfere, until the present Secretary of State put 
 forth that construction in 184 1. I repeat that, 
 from the day of adopting the Constitution until 
 A. D 1841, the doctrine of '■ non-interference 
 with slavery in the States'' was never denied, to 
 my knowledge, by any public man of this nation ; 
 and no member of this body ever attempted to 
 overthrow it by argument, until the last session 
 of Congress. To the gentleman from Georgia, 
 [Mr. Toombs.] not now in his seat, belongs the 
 honor of being the member of this House who 
 boldly and publicly demanded that the powers 
 
 and energies of this Government should 1 e pros- 
 tituted to the support of slavery. The President 
 and his Cabinet may adopt this new theory — but 
 the People of the North will repudiate it. 
 
 The Message further says ; '• T/i". Inw is the only 
 sure protection cf the ir-.dh, mid the only efficient re- 
 straint npon the stron^^^ This, sir, is said with di- 
 rect reference to this fugitive slave law, to induce 
 the People to execute it. It woul.l seem that the 
 President intended to see how fir h*» could impose 
 upon the intelligence of the public. Sir, what 
 protection docs this law lend to the poor, weak, 
 opprestcd, degraded slave, whose fle.sh has often 
 quivered under the lash of his inhuman owner, 
 whose youth has been spent in labor for another, 
 whose intellect has been nearly blotted out? 
 "When he seeks an asylum in a land of freedom, 
 this worse than barbarous law sends the officers 
 of Government to chase him down — :o carry him 
 back to chains and sutfering. The People are 
 constrained to become his pursuer.^. Famishing 
 and fainting, he drags his weary limbs forward, 
 while the whole power of the Government under 
 the President's command, the army and navy, and 
 all the freemen of the land, are on his track, to 
 drag him back to bondage, under this law. And 
 this law, the President tells us, is the only sure 
 protection to that miserable slave. Does the Presi- 
 dent intend to insult our intelligence? Or did 
 he mean to insert in this grave document a satire 
 upon this barbarous law ? 
 
 Sir, there is not a man in this body, there is 
 not an intelligent man in the free States, but 
 knows, if he delivers a fugitive into the custody 
 of his pursuers, that he will be carried back and 
 sold to the far South ; and, ordinarily, his life 
 will be sacrificed in five years, if employed on the 
 sugar plantations, and in seven years on the cot- 
 ton plantations. The men of the North look up- 
 on this as murder, and would as soon turn out 
 and cut the throat of the defenceless negro as to 
 send him back to be scourged to d^ath. As soon 
 would they do this as comply with a law which 
 violates every principle of huoianity.and consigns 
 the fugitive to a lingering death by a slow torture 
 of five or seven years. The common law holds 
 him who aids in a murder as guiltj' as he who 
 strikes the knife to the heart of the victim. Un- 
 der our law, a man is hanged if he fails to pre- 
 vent a murder when it is plainly within his power 
 to do so. Such a man is held guilty of the act, 
 and he is hanged accordingly. 
 
 And will any one suppose that he who assists 
 in arresting and sending a fugitive slave to tor- 
 ture and death, will be less guilty than he under 
 whose lash the victim expires? 
 
 Sir, I have compared this capture of a fugitive 
 to a common murder. In doing that I do injustice 
 to the common murderer. To c-ipture a slave and 
 send him to the South to die under a torture of 
 five years, is far more criminal than ordinary mur- 
 der, inasmuch as it adds the guilt of torture to 
 the crime of murder. 
 
 Sir. we will not commit this crime. Let me say 
 to the President, no power of Government can 
 compel us to involve ourselves in such guilt. No! 
 The freemen of Ohio will never turn out to chase 
 the jianting fugitive — they will never be meta- 
 morphosed into bloodhounds, to track him to his « 
 hiding-place, and seize and drag him out, and de- 
 liver him to his tormentors. They may be shot 
 
6 
 
 down ; the C'lnnon and bayonet and sword may 
 do their work upon them ; they may drown the 
 fugitives in the blood of freemen ; but never will 
 freemen stoop to the degradation of catching 
 slaves. 
 
 Let no man tell me there is not a higher law 
 than this fugitive bill. We feel there is a law of 
 right, a law of justice, of freedom, implanted in 
 the breast of every intelligent human being, that 
 bids him look with scorn upon this miscalled law. 
 
 Sir, 1 was about to make some comparisons, but 
 perhaps they may be regarded as indelicate. I, 
 however, shall not hesitate to speak truth. Dur- 
 ing last summer, two distinguished gentlemen of 
 the same name occupied much of the public atten- 
 tion. One was said to have committed murder, 
 and the other to have procured the passage of this 
 law. One was hanged for his crime; the other, 
 for his eiforts, taken to the Executive Cabinet. 
 One destroyed the life of an individual, the other 
 contributed his influence for the passage of this 
 law, which, if executed, must consign hundreds, 
 perhaps thous^^inds, to premature graves. I, sir, 
 cannot speak for others ; but for myself, I would 
 rather meet my final Judge with the guilt of him 
 who has gone to his last account resting upon my 
 soul, than that of him who sits in yonder Cabinet. 
 Sir, do you, or does any one, conceive that it is 
 less criminal to take the life of one of those fugi- 
 tives than it would be to slay any other individual ? 
 Is not he who gives his voice and influence from 
 yonder Cabinet, for the murder of those people, a^ 
 gailfy as he would be to lend his voice and influ- 
 ence for the murder of others ? kShall men in 
 high stations, from ambitious, from corrupt mo- 
 tives, lend themselvrs to the degradation, the de- 
 struction, of hundreds, nay, thousands, of human 
 beings, and yet be shielded from animadversion by 
 their political position ? Has it come to this, that 
 place and power are to be regarded as exempting 
 their occupants from moral guilt, from responsi- 
 bility both here and hereafter ? 
 
 An idea appears to exist in some minds, that 
 obedience to an act of Congress, however criminal 
 that act may be, cannot involve the person who 
 thus obeys the law in any moral guilt. In other 
 words, they appear to tbink that if under this 
 Fugitive Law they drive the fami.shing slave from 
 their doors to perish with cold and hunger, or if 
 they seize him, place the fetters upon his limbs, 
 and drag him to bondage to be miissacred under 
 the lash, to be murdered by slow torture, they 
 will, when called to their final account, ylead this 
 enactimnt in bar o/'O.'wnipotemt Jt sttce. 
 
 That kind of theology 1 leave to those teach- 
 ers who preach sermons and write pamphlets and 
 newspaper essays in defence of this law — to those 
 divines who hold that we, the memhers of Con- 
 gress, possess the power to step betAveen God and 
 our fellow-creatures, and authorize them to disre- 
 gard His command and to commit crimes at which 
 all the feelings of our nature revolt. Such teach- 
 ings may have been received as orthodox in the 
 tiinth, but they will be rejec'ed in the nimteenth 
 century. 
 
 Why, sir, no man, not even the slaveholders, 
 will deny that the fugitive himself has the same 
 natural and inalienable right to his liberty that 
 either of us possess ; that it is his duty to main- 
 tain and defend that right whenever it shall be 
 in his power to do so : that it is his duty to escape 
 
 if he can ; that if while making his way to a land 
 of freedom the master interpose, and he has no 
 other possible way of escape than to slay his mas- 
 ter, he is bound by every obligation to himself 
 and his oflspring to resort to that extremity. He 
 has no right tamely to surrender up the liberty 
 with which God h:is endowed him, and to con- 
 sign his offspring in all coming time to degrading 
 servitude. Our people so advise the fugitives : 
 and the fugitives are generally armed, and prepared 
 to receive their pursuers; and I am informed that 
 one of them, when hard pressed recently, shot one 
 of those human bloodhounds dead, and wounded 
 another, and then went on his way. Sir, we nil 
 fed tJiat he did right — that 7ve would have clone the 
 same thing had we been in his situation. 
 
 Some months since, there were said to hi fifteen 
 thousand fugitives from labor within the free 
 States, including men, women, and children ; 
 many of them were born and educated among us. 
 These men with their^wlves and their little ones 
 were in the enjoyment of domestic life. Most of 
 them had acquired or were in the way of ob- 
 taining suilicieat real and personal property to 
 insure them the neces.sarie.s, and even mauy of the 
 luxuries, of life. They were educating their chil- 
 dren, nnd becoming intelligent and useful members 
 of community. Many of them belonged to our va- 
 rious churches, and maintained an orderly and 
 Christian deportment. 
 
 Against these inoffensive people, the President 
 and Congress have waged a barbarous and unre- 
 lenting war. We have required our officers and 
 the frtemen of the North, when called on, to seize 
 them ; to drag them from their firesides, their 
 hones, their friends, their schools and churches, 
 their lands, and their flocks and herds ; to sepa- 
 rate husbands and wives, parents and children, 
 and consign them indiscriminately to all the hor- 
 rors of slavery and of the slave trade. I hesitate 
 not to say that for its barbarity that law is un- 
 equalled in the history of civilized legislation. Is 
 there a reflecting man who will pretend that this 
 barbarous enactment imposes upon those })eople 
 any moral duty to obey it? Will preachers of 
 righteousness tell them to submit, to let the slave 
 dealer rivet the chains upon the father, tear the 
 mother from her children, and doom her to a life 
 of wretchedness? Will such preachers advise 
 the daughter peacefnlhj to surrender herself into 
 the hands of slave-hunters, and submit to a life of 
 pollution and shame? And will such men be 
 called promoters of holiness and purity ? I trust 
 there ore few such teachers in this American 
 land. Sir, .ill good men must detest this law. 
 God has no attribute which will permit him to 
 look upon it except with abhorrence. 
 
 Yet the President assures us that it ought not 
 to be repealed ; that it should be kept in force : 
 that these outrages should and ought to continue ; 
 that he regards this law as a final settlement of 
 the slave ([uestion ; and that it is wrong further 
 to agitate the subject. Vain advice. Agitation 
 will never cease until the law ceases. While 
 such crimes are authorized by statuie, the Amer- 
 ican people will not keep silence. 
 
 The President, referring to the bill surrender- 
 ing to Texas and to slavery fifty thousand 
 square miles of free territory, atid paying her trn 
 millions of dollars, and that allowing slavery to 
 be exteiided over ]^qw Mexico and Utah, and 
 
to this Fugitive Law, says : '•' I believed those 
 measures to have been necessary, and required by 
 the circumstiuices and condition of the country" 
 
 I rejoice, Mr. Chairman, thit he has boldly 
 avowed this f.iot. Nearly the whole North be- 
 lieved that he was in heart and conscience oppos- 
 ed to this bill. Almost every Whig press in the 
 North said plainly that the President did not 
 favor this bill, but that he was coerced — that he 
 signed it by compulsion. Th.it it was the Whig 
 doctrine concerning the veto that compelled him 
 to sign it. The President's views are now before 
 the country, and he avows his position tnanfully. 
 He places himself upon this law ; and here I wish 
 to say to the House, that from this time we all 
 know where the President is. He is in favor of con- 
 timij/!^' t//is lam ; he not only places himself there, 
 but his Adminstration and his party must stand 
 or fail by this law. I rejoice at it ! They must 
 sink or swim, live or die, stand or fall, with this 
 enactment. We now know where to find the sup- 
 porters of slavery and the advocates of freedom. 
 Every man throughout the whole country, at the 
 North and South, may now take his position, 
 knowingly, with a hill knowledge of the charac- 
 ter of the party with whom he acts. Those that 
 support this law must consent to obey it and to 
 enforce it, to the letter. 
 
 There is no lingering doubt, no difficulty, no 
 obscurity^ resting on the party who supports this 
 Administration. All the Whigs throughout the 
 country, (and I speak it with some degree of feel- 
 ing, for I once had the plea,sure of acting with 
 them, when they had principles ; then we avowed 
 and acted ujion the doctrines I have stated to- 
 day) — all the Whigs throughout the country 
 must now feel that their unity is gone. They see 
 that the party has departed from its doctrines and 
 principles, and has descended, step by step, from 
 its former position, until the remnant has literal- 
 ly become a slave-catching party. 
 
 The President informs us that these measures 
 " were adopted in a spirit of conciliation, and for 
 the purpose of conciliation." "I believe," says 
 he, '' that a great majority of our fellow-citizens 
 sympathize in that spirit and that purpose, and 
 in the main approve it." Sir, where does the 
 President find this evidence of approval in the 
 popular mind ? Does he draw h'u conclusions 
 from the result of the elections in Delaware. New 
 Jersey, or Ohio ? 
 
 That third State of the Union has separated 
 itself forever from all men and all parties who 
 would involve our people in the support of sla- 
 very, or degrade them by sustaining your Fugi- 
 tive Law. Does the President find consolation 
 in the voice of the "Peninsular Scate." as lately 
 expressed through the ballot box ? Or can he take 
 pleasure in referring to the election in Wiscon- 
 sin, or when he examines the result of those 
 measures in his own State ? Or has the demon- 
 strations in Massachusetts inspired him with 
 confiienca that the popular mind is in favor of 
 this law ? 
 
 Methinks that ftfl he looks over the newly made 
 graves of his political friends, and counts their 
 number, and reflects upon that political cholera 
 which has cut down so many of his supporters 
 and advocates of this law, he might have doubted 
 its popularity. Many gentlemen in this Hall, 
 •who so boldly stood forth in the pride of their 
 
 political manhood a few months since, and voted 
 for these measures, are now doomed to a speedy 
 departure, and the plnces that now know them, 
 shall know them (politically) no more. To those 
 gentlemen the language of the President can 
 bring but poor consolation. 
 
 The public meetings of the people of all parties 
 throughout the free States, the spirited resolu- 
 tions which they have sent forth, are but feeble 
 manifestations of the popular mind. Throughout 
 the North, where free schools have been encour- 
 aged, and education has become general, where 
 newspapers circulite and intelligence is dissemi- 
 nated, there public sentiment is loud in condem- 
 nation of this li'W. This feeling is increasing and 
 extending, and rolling forward and gaining 
 streuth and impetus, and will continue to do so 
 until that law shall be repealed and numbered 
 among the thing.s that were. 
 
 Sir, if the President will look at the statute 
 lately enacted by the Whigs of Vermont, he will 
 be able clearly to read the '■^ hand writ in g upon the 
 ■h'allP The people have weiched this law in the 
 balance, and it is found wanting. 
 
 Near the close of his Message, the President 
 says : 
 
 " I c'.nnot doubt that the American people, 
 bound together by kindred blood and common 
 traditions, still clierish a paramount regard for 
 the Union of their fathers ; and that they are 
 ready to rebuke any attempt to violate its integ- 
 rity, to disturb the compromises on which it is 
 b;ised, or to resist the laws which have been enact- 
 ed under its authority." 
 
 As to the " Union of our fathers, I venerate it. 
 There is something pleasing and solimn in the 
 recollection of that Union — in the history of its 
 formation, and the difficulties and dangers which 
 surrounded it. But it is now nearly half a centu- 
 ry since that Union ceased to exist. The pros- 
 pect of commercial advantages induced us to aban- 
 don it, and form a new one with Louisiana. Then, 
 sir, we abandoned it, and took Florida to our em- 
 brace. Then, to extend and perpetuate slavery, 
 we abandoned that Union, and brought in slave- 
 holding Texas, assuming her war, and carrying 
 devastation, rapine, and bloodshed, to the heart 
 of Mexico, in order to extend slavery. And, to 
 cap the climax, you have passed this fugitive law, 
 and made the citizens of Ohio and of all the free 
 States the c itchpolls to Texan slave-hunters. 
 
 It is not to be disguised that the people of the 
 free States feel less attachm.ent to Texas than 
 they did to the old thirteen States. We are not 
 bound to them by common traditions. The Mex- 
 icans and Spaniards and other foreigners of that 
 State shared not in the toils nor the dangers of 
 our Revolution, nor in those of our second war of 
 Independence. The arrogant and supercilious 
 manner in which Texas threatened to drive our 
 army from New Mexico, and to dissolve the 
 Union, has not served to strengthen the cords of 
 affection which should have bound us together. 
 
 But neither the President nor any other person 
 will charge the North with disloyalty to the 
 Union. But that portion of the sentence just 
 quoted, which refers to the " attempts to disturb 
 its compromise?," was intended to refer to those 
 political friends with whom I act. 
 
 Sir, those compromises left us entirely free from 
 the support of slavery. By the passage of this 
 
fugitive law, those compromises have been dis- 
 turbed, and thf3 people of the North involved in 
 the degradation and guilt of sustaining slavery ; 
 and, sir, in the language of the Preoident, "they 
 are ready to rebuke'' those who have thus dis- 
 turbed the compromises — and they will rebuke 
 them. Our people, too, will resist by every con- 
 stitutional meuns the execution of that law. 
 
 This practice of attempting to sanctify every 
 enormity in legislation by referring to the '• Union 
 of our fuih'.rsy Yx;\8 become very common among 
 a certain class of politicans; but I did not expect 
 to meet with it in the Message of the President. 
 It does not comport with the dignity of such a 
 paper, it is almost as much out of place as it 
 would be to appeal to the loyalty which our fa- 
 thers anciently bore to the British crown. The 
 Union of our fathers was adopted as the best 
 means of preserviog the liberties, and promo- 
 ting the happiuess of the people. It was abandon- 
 ed for the same purpose. Even our Union with 
 Texas was framed for that avowed object. A ma- 
 jority of Congress thought and believed that it 
 would increase the wealth and the happiness of 
 the people. For the same purpose we waged a 
 war with Mexico, and conquered another vast 
 territory, and brought another State into the 
 Union. The Union now existing will be retained 
 80 long as the great mass of the people shall re- 
 gard it as conducive to their interests and happi- 
 ness. Yet, whenever they shall be convinced that 
 it subserves the cause of oppression, that it has 
 become an instrument for degrading themselves, 
 another revolution will take place, and they will 
 lay it aside, as our fathers did their union with 
 England. They feel as the patriots of that day 
 felt, that " whenever any form of Goverament 
 shall fail to sustain the self-evident truth that all 
 men were created equal, and are eiUkled to the enjoy- 
 ment ofhfe and libtrty^'' it is the right of the peo- 
 ple to lay it aside, and to '-adopt a new form of 
 Government, basing its action upon such princi- 
 ples as shall best promote their interests and hap- 
 piness." 
 
 But this cry of " danger to the Union" is be- 
 coming understood by the people. " To save the 
 Union," we annexed Texas; " to Sfive the Union," 
 we paid her ten miliions of dollars; " to save the 
 Union," fifty thousand square miles of territory 
 which had be?n consecrated to free<iom by Mex- 
 ico, and conq!^?red by our arms, were delivered 
 over to Texas and to slavery ; '• to save the Union," 
 the people of the free States have been compelled 
 to become slavc-CAtchers : hvA Nve are now told 
 that, " to save the Union," this infamous law must 
 be kept ij force ; " to save the Unicu," we must 
 drive *tbe famisiiiug, weary, fagilive from our 
 doors, or seize h-.u:". and send him back to his pris- 
 on house of boudi.ge. Sir, it has come to this ; the 
 cry of '• dr'.Dger fo the Union" is now resorted to 
 for the purpose, cf jusdfyiug every outrage v.pon 
 the people of the North, which, the Slave Power 
 demands. Under this cry, meetings are called in 
 your commercial cities, and resolutions adopted to 
 '■'•suppress agitali.n among the 'ptopltP And the 
 Secretary of Str.te, and distinguished Senators, 
 
 write letters "io safe ^;,e TJuionP Dinners are eaten, 
 and wine drunk, and speeches made, " to save thf. 
 UnionP For the same purpose, the Secretary of 
 State votes against the candidate of his own par- 
 ty, and a distinguished Senator from a Western 
 State threatens to leave the Whigs, with whom 
 he has acted from early life. 
 
 Sir, this clause of the Message has reference to 
 that new party which is already in process of for- 
 mation, and which is to be based upon the doc- 
 trines of this Message — upon the policy of con- 
 tinuing in force this Fugitive Law — the laws that 
 sustain the slave trade upon our Southern coast, 
 and in this District — and of opposing all efforts 
 to exclude slavery from our Territories and from 
 the District of Columbia. In short, sir, this new 
 party is to oppose all attempts to separate the peo- 
 ple of the free States and this Government from 
 the support of that institution. 
 
 I, sir, rejoice at the prospect of seeing every 
 public man, and every elector of the nation, take 
 his position either for FreedoiU or for Slavery. 
 The President has come out boldly and manfully 
 on the side of oppression, in favor of compelling 
 the people of the North to become the catchers of 
 Southern slaves. He calls on his friends to take 
 po^^ition with him. They will do so. We shall 
 soon have but two political parties. One will con- 
 tend for the emancipation of the free States and 
 this Government from the control of the Slave 
 Power ; to restore vitality to the Constitution ; to 
 give that instrument effect ; to maintain the rights 
 of all the States under it ; to stcure all men under 
 our exclusive jurisdiction in the enjoyment of life, 
 liberty, and happiness. With Mr. Morris, and 
 those who assisted in framing the Constitution, 
 that party " never will concur in upholding domesi.ic 
 slavtryP With Mr. Gerry, "while they have 
 nothing to do with it in the States, they will lend 
 no sanction to it/' With Mr. Sherman, they " can 
 see no more propriety in seizing and surrendering a 
 fugitive slave than a horse?' 
 
 With those framers of the Constitution the 
 party of Freedom will stand. These principles 
 they will maintain and carry out ; they will sepa- 
 rate and purify themselves from the sin and the 
 shame of Slavery ; they will redeem this Govern 
 ment from its support : they will leave it within 
 the States where it exists. The judgment and 
 conscience of the people are with us; they know 
 cur doctrines to be correct. The popiikr heart 
 be.ats for freedom. Party prejudices are giving 
 way. Truth i^^ doing its legitimate work A great 
 political revolution is going forward. No parti- 
 san influence can stay its progress. The history 
 of th'j last few months and years must bear to 
 every reflecting mind a consciousness that the 
 principles of justice, of righteousness, of humani- 
 ty, must triumph. The moral sentiment of the 
 nation demands the repeal of those acts of Con- 
 gress which authorize and enjoin the commission 
 of crimes. Thty n-ill he repealed, and the Govern- 
 ment will be redeemed from its present position; 
 and its laws and influence will be exerted for the 
 benefit, for the elevation of man. 
 
mi^^^j> >:»3>^ ym^ ^i ^ 
 
 ft > jt» j^., ^ . 
 
 ^-$ ?^^^^ 333J33:^>^ 3j> 3> OlDO^^yo:^'^ Jl^ 
 
 35? 
 
 
 
 ? ' ^^ ^^3)3>^' 
 
 )5> » > 
 
 2>3 >0 r>3 3^^ 
 
 
 5^:>:» 
 
 ^3 >!X> 3> 
 
 
 
 >3 :;>>)> 
 
 o:)^ 33>c>^i 
 
 >33.j> j^^2i:> jn 
 
 sf 3f> ^:^ 3>»>^ 
 
 3 i:*3^; 
 
 o5> :3>3j>3j3^^^3> r^^ 
 
 :^-^ 3> 3 J> Aa33> .^ >3 : J3|^ 9:) 
 
 JBie^3> TyO '>3>3-^ :^ - 
 
 »g>3. 3 »> ^ :>^>$- 
 
 ■■>:_> >';^^ 
 ' :> ys '^ 
 
 "■■^ >^ >^ ■> ^^ 
 
 -^^ :> y> :>:> > y j»> 
 ^ ^^ > y^ S> y :> > >> 
 
 ^>.^-^) o :> >'> 3> ->> 
 ? o )r>>3'3 .) :> ^ 
 
 ->?:? i >^y^^^ ^ ■^- - 
 
 o^-^i) v^^ ^ ^ ^ - 
 

 
 
 • 0.3 »;> '^ 
 
 ;^:^,^ ^^ y^ ^--: 
 
 - y:>y >:> ) ^ :> ^r ^^ — 
 
 9)^ T>i> yy y >»^ 3 )» j):> >;^) :>/' 
 t>^^ y j> yy y yify^j y^)) :> y y o >)^ 
 DD jyj) 3> ) :)>» 3:>D 3o -^ ; >! 
 
 
 )>j> >j> „2„ 
 
 > )3> >Ci> y^ 
 
 ):>:> > > :>J 
 
 ^:»^ :)^ 
 
 
 
 yj> y) y 2>:y-^fp)' j> js y> v. my>?J » ■. 
 
 ^ J> >.3 ^3 i>J>>>r>'- :> s> >:> y y) >'-o'~^'^^) •» ,: 
 
 '^j> xy y 3 J )-i>:yjy >yy :> > ;;)i^:>^-> ^:> yy ^ 
 
 y> > vr i> ^ >?-y >>:>^ > ig> j> V :>.- 
 >o :» )> > yy yy-) y 'm> >> '>>r 
 
 v^o yyy y yy> y mrry yf) 
 
 >> o ^v^ )) y-^ ^M^ 3> y^y 
 
 
 
 ' ' ^ y > > > > :?:>3 
 
 
 I.' 3 " 
 
 ^^?>. 
 
 » > »>o 
 
 ' :)^ :> >^.:) 
 
 :>]) :> y^s^ 
 
 :)o > >^>.;> 
 
 "» >• yy> y 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 898 105 4 
 
 '{iJ>>S,1*5iV'3S.'>>..'t ': rJ 
 
 
 
 \i!MP/iPJ^'(WWW"itJ.iWltW 
 
 
 '!^'Mi:'!,-,.;'Vi!ini;:if',:'iy:.r^|i;