A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention: For Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, Held at Washington, D.C., in February, A.D. 1861Chittenden, L. E. (Lucius Eugene)
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A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention: For Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, Held at Washington, D.C., in February, A.D. 1861
Chittenden, L. E. (Lucius Eugene)
Conference Convention (1861 : Washington, D.C.); United States -- Politics and government -- 1857-1861
Mr. BALDWIN:--I have not been able to concur in opinion with those
members of the committee who have presented the propositions just
submitted. I do not deem them fair or equitable to the Free States,
nor do I think they are likely to secure approval in those States. As
one member of the minority, I have drawn up a report embodying my own
views and perhaps those of some of my colleagues, which I now present
for the consideration of the Conference:
MR. BALDWIN'S MINORITY REPORT.
The undersigned, one of the minority of the committee of one
from each State, to whom was referred the consideration of
the resolutions of the State of Virginia, and the other
States represented, and all propositions for the adjustment
of existing differences between the States, with authority
to report what they deem right, necessary, and proper to
restore harmony and preserve the Union, and report thereon,
entered upon the duties of the committee with an anxious
desire that they might be able to unite in the
recommendation of some plan which, on due deliberation,
should seem best adapted to maintain the dignity and
authority of the Government of the United States, and at the
same time secure to the people of every section that perfect
equality of right to which they are entitled.
Convened, as we are, on the invitation of the Governor of
Virginia, in pursuance of the resolutions of the General
Assembly of that State, with an accompanying expression of
the deliberate opinion of that body that, unless the unhappy
controversy which now divides the States shall be
satisfactorily adjusted, a permanent dissolution of the
Union is inevitable; and, being earnestly desirous of an
adjustment thereof, in concurrence with Virginia, in the
spirit in which the Constitution was originally formed, and
consistently with its principles, so as to afford to the
people of all the States adequate security for all their
rights, the attention of the undersigned was necessarily led
to the consideration of the extent and equality of our
powers, and to the propriety and expediency, under existing
circumstances, of a recommendation by this Conference
Convention of any specific action by Congress, whether of
ordinary legislation, or in reference to constitutional
amendments to be proposed by Congress on its own
responsibility to the States.
A portion of the members of this Convention are delegated by
the Legislatures of their respective States, and are
required to act under their supervision and control, while
others are the representatives only of the Executives of
their States, and, having no opportunity of consulting the
immediate representatives of the people, can only act on
their individual responsibility.
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