Volume II Part 13 (1/2)

The Thirty-first Congress was three weeks attempting an organization, and at last effected it by the election of a Southerner to the Speakers.h.i.+p, the Hon. Howell Cobb, of Georgia. President Zachary Taylor had called the attention of Congress to the admission of California and New Mexico into the Union, in his message to that body upon its a.s.sembling. On the 4th of January, 1850, Gen. Sam. Houston, United States Senator from Texas, submitted the following proposition to the Senate:

”WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States, possessing only a delegated authority, has no power over the subject of negro slavery within the limits of the United States, either to prohibit or to interfere with it in the States, territories, or districts, where, by munic.i.p.al law, it now exists, or to establish it in any State or territory where it does not exist; but as an a.s.surance and guarantee to promote harmony, quiet apprehension, and remove sectional prejudice, which by possibility might impair or weaken love and devotion to the Union in any part of the country, it is hereby

”_Resolved_, That, as the people in territories have the same inherent rights of self-government as the people in the States, if, in the exercise of such inherent rights, the people in the newly acquired territories, by the annexation of Texas and the acquisition of California and New Mexico, south of the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes of north lat.i.tude, extending to the Pacific Ocean, shall establish negro slavery in the formation of their State governments, it shall be deemed no objection to their admission as a State or States into the Union, in accordance with the Const.i.tution of the United States.”

On the 29th of January, Henry Clay, of Kentucky, submitted to the United States Senate the following propositions looking toward an amicable adjustment of the entire slavery question:

”1. _Resolved_, That California, with suitable boundaries, ought, upon her application, to be admitted as one of the States of this Union, without the imposition by Congress of any restriction in respect to the exclusion or introduction of slavery within those boundaries.

”2. _Resolved_, That as slavery does not exist by law, and is not likely to be introduced into any of the territory acquired by the United States from the republic of Mexico, it is inexpedient for Congress to provide by law either for its introduction into, or exclusion from, any part of the said territory; and that appropriate territorial governments ought to be established by Congress in all the said territory not a.s.signed as within the boundaries of the proposed State of California, without the adoption of any restriction or condition on the subject of slavery.

”3. _Resolved_, That the western boundary of the State of Texas ought to be fixed on the Rio del Norte, commencing one marine league from its mouth, and running up that river to the southern line of New Mexico, thence with that line eastwardly, and so continuing in the same direction to the line as established between the United States and Spain, excluding any portion of New Mexico, whether lying on the east or west of that river.

”4. _Resolved_, That it be proposed to the State of Texas, that the United States will provide for the payment of all that portion of the legitimate and _bona-fide_ public debt of that State contracted prior to its annexation to the United States, and for which the duties on foreign imports were pledged by the said State to its creditors, not exceeding the sum of---- dollars, in consideration of the said duties so pledged having been no longer applicable to that object after the said annexation, but having thenceforward become payable to the United States; and upon the condition, also, that the said State of Texas shall, by some solemn and authentic act of her Legislature, or of a convention, relinquish to the United States any claim which she has to any part of New Mexico.

”5. _Resolved_, That it is inexpedient to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia whilst that inst.i.tution continues to exist in the State of Maryland, without the consent of that State, without the consent of the people of the District, and without just compensation to the owners of slaves within the District.

”6. _But Resolved_, That it is expedient to prohibit within the District, the slave-trade in slaves brought into it from States or places beyond the limits of the District, either to be sold therein as merchandise, or to be transported to other markets without the District of Columbia.

”7. _Resolved_, That more effectual provision ought to be made by law, according to the requirement of the Const.i.tution, for the rest.i.tution and delivery of persons bound to service or labor in any State, who may escape into any other State or territory in the Union. And

”8. _Resolved_, That Congress has no power to prohibit or obstruct the trade in slaves between the slave-holding States, but that the admission or exclusion of slaves brought from one into another of them, depends exclusively upon their own particular laws.”

Senator Bell, of Tennessee, offered a series of resolutions on the same question on the 28th of February, containing nine resolves. As usual, on all propositions respecting slavery, the debate was protracted, earnest, and able. The Clay resolutions attracted most attention. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, said:

”Sir, we are called upon to receive this as a measure of compromise! As a measure in which we of the minority are to receive nothing. A measure of compromise! I look upon it as but a modest mode of taking that, the claim to which has been more boldly a.s.serted by others; and, that I may be understood upon this question, and that my position may go forth to the country in the same columns that convey the sentiments of the Senator from Kentucky, I here a.s.sert, that never will I take less than the Missouri compromise line extended to the Pacific Ocean, with the specific recognition of the right to hold slaves in the territory below that line; and that, before such territories are admitted into the Union as States, slaves may be taken there from any of the United States at the option of the owners. I can never consent to give additional power to a majority to commit further aggressions upon the minority in this Union, and will never consent to any proposition which will have such a tendency, without a full guaranty or counteracting measure is connected with it.”

A number of very able speeches were made on the resolutions of Mr.

Clay, but the most characteristic one--the one most thoroughly representing the sentiment of the South--was made by John C. Calhoun.

He said:

”The Union was in danger. The cause of this danger was the discontent at the South. And what was the cause of this discontent? It was found in the belief which prevailed among them that they could not, consistently with honor and safety, remain in the Union. And what had caused this belief? One of the causes was the long-continued agitation of the slave question at the North, and the many aggressions they had made on the rights of the South. But the primary cause was in the fact, that the equilibrium between the two sections at the time of the adoption of the Const.i.tution had been destroyed. The first of the series of acts by which this had been done, was the ordinance of 1787, by which the South had been excluded from all the northwestern region. The next was the Missouri compromise, excluding them from all the Louisiana territory north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, except the State of Missouri,--in all 1,238,025 square miles, leaving to the South the southern portion of the original Louisiana territory, with Florida, to which had since been added the territory acquired with Texas,--making in all but 609,023 miles. And now the North was endeavoring to appropriate to herself the territory recently acquired from Mexico, adding 526,078 miles to the territory from which the South was, if possible, to be excluded. Another cause of the destruction of this equilibrium was our system of revenue (the tariff), the duties falling mainly upon the Southern portion of the Union, as being the greatest exporting States, while more than a due proportion of the revenue had been disbursed at the North.

”But while these measures were destroying the equilibrium between the two sections, the action of the government was leading to a radical change in its character. It was maintained that the government itself had the right to decide, in the last resort, as to the extent of its powers, and to resort to force to maintain the power it claimed. The doctrines of General Jackson's proclamation, subsequently a.s.serted and maintained by Mr.

Madison, the leading framer and expounder of the Const.i.tution, were the doctrines which, if carried out, would change the character of the government from a federal republic, as it came from the hands of its framers, into a great national consolidated democracy.”

Mr. Calhoun also spoke of the anti-slavery agitation, which, if not arrested, would destroy the Union; and he pa.s.sed a censure upon Congress for receiving abolition pet.i.tions. Had Congress in the beginning adopted the course which he had advocated, which was to refuse to take jurisdiction, by the united voice of all parties, the agitation would have been prevented. He charged the North with false professions of devotion to the Union, and with having violated the Const.i.tution. Acts had been pa.s.sed in Northern States to set aside and annul the clause of the slavery question, with the avowed purpose of abolis.h.i.+ng slavery in the States, which was another violation of the Const.i.tution. And during the fifteen years of this agitation, in not a single instance had the people of the North denounced these agitators.

How then could their professions of devotion to the Union be sincere?

Mr. Calhoun disapproved both the plan of Mr. Clay and that of President Taylor, as incapable of saving the Union. He would pa.s.s by the former without remark, as Mr. Clay had been replied to by several Senators. The Executive plan could not save the Union, because it could not satisfy the South that it could safely or honorably remain in the Union. It was a modification of the Wilmot proviso, proposing to effect the same object, the exclusion of the South from the new territory. The Executive proviso was more objectionable than the Wilmot. Both inflicted a dangerous wound upon the Const.i.tution, by depriving the Southern States of equal rights as joint partners in these territories; but the former inflicted others equally great. It claimed for the inhabitants the right to legislate for the territories, which belonged to Congress. The a.s.sumption of this right was utterly unfounded, unconst.i.tutional, and without example. Under this a.s.sumed right, the people of California had formed a const.i.tution and a State government, and appointed Senators and Representatives. If the people as adventurers had conquered the territory and established their independence, the sovereignty of the country would have been vested in them. In that case they would have had the right to form a State government, and afterward they might have applied to Congress for admission into the Union. But the United States had conquered and acquired California; therefore, to them belonged the sovereignty and the powers of government over the territory. Michigan was the first case of departure from the uniform rule of acting. Hers, however, was a slight departure from established usage. The ordinance of 1787 secured to her the right of becoming a State when she should have 60,000 inhabitants. Congress delayed taking the census. The people became impatient; and after her population had increased to twice that number, they formed a const.i.tution without waiting for the taking of the census; and Congress waived the omission, as there was no doubt of the requisite number of inhabitants. In other cases there had existed territorial governments.

Having shown how the Union could not be saved, he then proceeded to answer the question how it could be saved. There was but one way certain. Justice must be done to the South, by a full and final settlement of all the questions at issue. The North must concede to the South an equal right to the acquired territory, and fulfil the stipulations respecting fugitive slaves; must cease to agitate the slave question, and join in an amendment of the Const.i.tution, restoring to the South the power she possessed of protecting herself, before the equilibrium between the two sections had been destroyed by the action of the government.

Here was a clear statement of the position and feelings of the South respecting slavery. The ordinance of 1787 and the Missouri compromise of 1820 ”were destroying the equilibrium between the _two sections_!”

And the anti-slavery agitation, ”if not arrested, would destroy the Union!” The sophistry of Calhoun sought a reasonable excuse for the South to dissolve the Union. In a speech of his, written during a spell of sickness, and read by Mr. Mason, of Virginia, he referred to Was.h.i.+ngton as ”the ill.u.s.trious Southerner.” When it was read in the Senate Mr. Ca.s.s said:

”Our Was.h.i.+ngton--the Was.h.i.+ngton of our whole country--receives in this Senate the epithet of 'Southerner,' as if that great man, whose distinguished characteristic was his attachment to his country, and his whole country, who was so well known, and who, more than any one, deprecated all sectional feeling and all sectional action, loved Georgia better than he loved New Hamps.h.i.+re, because he happened to be born on the southern bank of the Potomac. I repeat, sir, that I heard with great pain that expression from the distinguished Senator from South Carolina.”

There was certainly no ground for reasonable complaint on the part of the South. From the convention that framed the Federal Const.i.tution, through all Congressional struggle, and in national politics as well, the South had secured nearly all measures asked for. And the discussion in Congress at this time was intended to divert attention from the real object of the South. Another fugitive-slave law was demanded by the South, and the Northern members voted them the right to hunt slaves upon free soil. The law pa.s.sed, and was approved on the 18th of September, 1850.