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Show 20 . . d ·t hould not be di•turbed, who adopted it,. agreed .that, as far a~ lat~~:~tr~a~J~nts there is no doubt. or interfe red ~ntl~ by the neu ~e~e~. tes recogniz~8 it as an existing fa ct, The Constltu taon of the ntte . t~ b"tants of the Southern States. I an existing relation be_twe.en ,!h~ Ill a \i,at term is not applicable to it ; do not c all it an ." in sutuuon, . eca ~~:Uii shm e n t. I have been here so for that seems to tmply a volunt<t.ry e . matter of reproac h to England , long that when I first came here ~~;~a~~len entailed upon the colon i~s by the mother cou_ntry , th at slavery , . is now cons ide red a chen shed her' agaiwst the ar consent, and t hat "t'cll\ not say an e nta iled evil, but. an H institu tion," was then :egarded as, li: J of the mother country ag:.uu~t e nt ailment on the colollles t~y the lo ~n the Constitution. The Const~their wishes. At ~ny r ~e, It sta:~e~~~~nto operation in I 78H: W~len It lu tion was adopted Ill J7 ... 8, and untr was this: slavery ex isted ,II~ thr. was adopted, the state of the co y ~ xte nt of unoccupied te rntory, Southern States; the re \~as ~ very l a~gestood W'lS destined to be formed the whole Nortln~est, wlllch ,dlt wras i~~d ~~l at nd sl ~very should exist in this into States i and It was then ete mt f inference from the history of the te rri tory. I g a ~ h er now, as a mat e r~ t the prevailing moti ves w i ~ h the time, anrl the hl~tory of t~le deba~ei~io\J ~f the ex istence of Slave ry Ill t~e North filr agreemg to ~~~-'s r~c~; resentatio n to those States, fo~ u_d~d Ill Southern States, and gntng d p I losit ion th ·tt no acquJstuon of part upon the ir slaves, wns r~ste on tl ~ts ~:~ on the S~ u t he rn frontier of te rritory wonld be made to. arm new : , h i ~ pl ain th at taking: the t~is cou ntry' e~llter by ce~ston h~r r~~~d~ew il y th e slave re'p~esentatiou was history of the tune!,~;. toget ;r' ~ tl vest T e rritory was destmed by the orallowed , was that smce l_ e o~b~d looked to any acqui ~ i t i n n by con· d inance to h~ free, and smce_ n f 1 ve S tates at the South , there was an qu est or cess Jon for the creallol~l o t s ~u ff,•r slavery where it did ex.ist, and in sistin g on the part of ~~le Soutll o r"n ciPtes and prov isions of 1he Conto be re presented accor . tng to I" ~~ t pd I I y the;e two considerations i first, sti tut ion, in a~m u ch us tt I was n_m t~ .;e rritories · and seco nd , that the re that the re was to Le n? _s av~ry ~~~ tlle •tcqui sitio;J of any new territory. was not the least antiCip ation ~ le d· tl t to be the purpose of the And now, sir, I am one_ who, ~Ill e rst an mg la Con!< titut ion,mean to a.b ul_e by ll. II ·I ly which I mean to abide; and There is another pn nc lpl~, equa y ~ ea ~ , \1 st Congress when appealed that is, th at in the Con ~e_nllon , and ,t \,f~~ rin the hi storY of this gorern to on the oubjecl by pe ti tions, and t d ' . ~ th at Sla\"ery in the S tates in ment, i ~ w~~ an? has ~een ~ co n e~( ~t r;l~egul;tion< exci:J sive ly, and th~t which It dtd extst, wa~ a lll<tller o a . right to inte rfe re with Jl. Congress had not the l eas~ P<;Hver over It , or d" turh the relations The refore, l say thnt all ag lt au ons and ~u~_mp~~ \~ t~se slave S tate8, are between_ m ~ster ~nd sl<~ve, by _persons ~~e it~llm o inion , produ ctive of unconstttullonal tn th e ~r spmt, and '. y P f them. The man· nothing but ev il and mischief. T counten.mce none ~. e xi sts are to ncr in which the gove~nments of tl_ldose. ~tatE>~n'~~~r~l~!irve;!sponsil;ility to re ulate it is for th e ir own consl er.l IOn , . "t and ·ustice th~ir const'ituents, to the general laws ofhpropnet~, h_umga~r~~ •a fe~ling of and to God. Associations formed else_w e re, spnngm . . nor ri rht humanity' or any other cause, h ave nothm ~ whatever to do With ',~; from ~e, to interfere with it. They have ~ e ~er rece ived an~ en co u~~1~ m~ut to delay and they ne,·er will. In my opm_Jon they have one noed a~ I understand and defeat their own professed objects. I ~a~e n~w ·:~ttuti~n of the United it, the state of things upon the adoption o t 1e ons I 21 S tales. What has happened siuce1 S ir , it has happened that, above and beyond all co nt emplation or expectation of the orig in al framers of the Consti tution, or the People who adopted it, fo re ign territory ha:s bP.en acquired by cess ion, fi rst from France, and then from Spai n, on ou r Southern fi-onti er. And what has been the result of that ? F ive slave ltoldi ng S tates have been c reated and added to the Union, bringing ten Senators into this body, ( l in clude T exas, whi ch I cousitler in the light of a foreign acquisition also, ) and up to this hour in which I add ress you, not one free Sta te has been admitted to the Union from a ll t his acqui red territory, not one! .Mrl. n ~: Jutlt:N (in his seat)-Yes, Iowa. M1t. Wr.Bs'l'f: n.-Iowa is not yet in the Un ion. Her Senators are not here. W hen she comes in there will be one to fi ve, one free State to five slave, fo rmed out of new terri to ries. Now, it seems st range to me that there should Lie any complaint of inju stice exerc ised by the N orth towa rd the South. Northern \'ales have been necessary, they have been ready, nnd they hnve been rende red to aid the formation of th e~c fi ve new slave holdin g S tates. These are fac ts ; and as the gentlemnn from Geo rgia has ve ry prope rl y put it as a c ase in wh ich we are to present ourselves hefore the world for its judgment , let us now see how \\"C sta nd. I do not rep resent the North. I state my own case; and prese nt the matt,er in th at li £jh t, in whi c h I am willing , as an ind ividual membe r of Congress, to be judgeU by c ivilized humanity. I say, the n, that accorJ ing to true histo ry, th e sla veholding in te rest in this coun try has not been a di::;fa vored interest ; it has not beeu disfavored by the North. The North has conc urred to bring in these five slaveholding States out of ne wly acquired te rritory, which acquisitions we re never at all in the con templ ation of the Convention whic h formed the Constit ution, or of the people when they agreed th at there should be a represe nta tion of three fift hs of the slaves in the then ex isting St ate~. Mr. President, what is the result of this1 \Ve stand here now, at least I do, for one, to say, th at consid ering th at there have been alrea dy fi ve new slaveholtling S tates fOrmed out of newly acqu ired territory, and oue only, at most, non-slaveholdin g State , I do not fee l that I am ca lled on to go farth er ; f do not fee l th e obligation to yie ld more. But ou r fr iends of the South say , You depri ve us of nil our righ ts. \Ve have fought for this territory, and you deny us partic ipat ion in it. Le t us consider this qu estion as it rea lly is; and since the honorable gentlemen from Georg ia proposes to lea ve . the case to th e e nlig htened and impa rti al j udgment of mankin d, and as I ag ree with him that it is a Cllse proper to be considered by the e nli ~ hte n ed part of mankind, let us consider how the matter , in truth , stands. Gentlemen who advocate the case which my honora ble fri end from Georg ia, with so much ability, sustains, declare, th at we inv ade the ir rig hts, that we deprive them of a partic i1-m t ion in th e e njoyment of te rri tories acquired by the common se rvices and common exert ions of all . Is this tru e 1 II ow deprived 1 Of what do we depri ve them 1 Why, they say ~hat we deprive them of th e pri vilege of carry ing their slaves, as slaves, tnto the ne w territories. We ll , sir, what is the amount of th at 1 They say th at in this way we depri ve them of the opportunity of go ing into thts acquired territory with the ir property. The ir " prope rty ?" \Vha t do ~h ey mean by " prope rty ?" 'Ve cert tt inly do not deprive them of the privIlege of going inlo these newly acquired terri to ries with all th at, in the gene ral estim ate of human sociP,ty, in the general, and common, and universal understanding of mankind, is esteemeJ property. Not at all. The |