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Show 348 ::)LAV.B;H.Y AGl'l'A'l'IO~. prove but the prelude to the . hedding of the blood of 1 . brelu rcn. I adjm·e all the inhabi tan ts of the free S•· tlcn• b I . vatc to re u w uml utscuuntcnam:c by tll eir Ollinion awl tl · . ' . . u lCir ex-ample, mea ures wlllch must Inevitably lc~·td to ~1 . ~ v 1e most cnlm.n ttou' conseqtH'nces. And leL u · ··1 ll , u~, <, OliJJtrnncn aR frierJlls, and u.s l.n·olbers, cherish in unfn.<litw 1110 •11 ·. 1 ' . o lOIJLtc motto . whtch bore our ancestors triullll)h'a ntl•v tl n.o ng1t all tLe tnals of the Revolution as if adhered to 1't 'll • • , ' , WI con-d. u ct tbe1r po. stenty through all that may ' in the d1' spens11• twns of Providence, be reserved for them. CHAPTER XII. TilE AOTTATION IN 1847 AND 1850. IN 184 7, Mr. CnJhoun in troduccd the following Resolution in tho Sennto: '' Rf ·olved, '!"hat it is a fundamental principle in our political ere •d that a people, in framing a Con titntion, have the unconditional right to form and adopt the government which they mny think best calculated to secnre their liberty, prosperity, and hnppine.:-s; ancl that, in conformity thereto, no other condition is impo. rcl by the federnl ConstiLution on a SLate, in order to lJe admiLLe<l iu t.o this Union, except that its Con ·titntion shall be repnblicnn; and that the imposition of any other by Congress would not only be iu violation of tho Constitution, bnt in direct conflict with the principle on which onr poli tiral syRtem rrs ts." Upon this resolut ion :Mr. Calhoun offere<l some highly striking remarks, "Mr. Presiclout : Not only is that propm~i tio n grossly in-consistent with the Constitution, but the oLltcr, whieh undertakes to Rny that no State shall be nl1mittecl into this Union which shall not prohibit by its Constitution the existence of slaves, is eqnally a great outrage against the Constitution of the United States. Sir, I hold it to be a fundamental principle of our political system that the people have a right to establish what government they may think proper for themselves; that every State about to become a member of this Union has a right to form its own govern ment as it plenses; and that, in order to be admitted, there is bnt one qnnlification, and that is, that the government Rhall here- (34.~) |