American Slave Trade: Or, An Account of the Manner in which the Slave Dealers take Free People from some of the United States of America, and carry them away, and sell them as Slaves in other of the States; and of the horrible Cruelties practised in the carrying on of this most infamous TrafficTorrey, Jesse, active 1787-1834
History
American Slave Trade: Or, An Account of the Manner in which the Slave Dealers take Free People from some of the United States of America, and carry them away, and sell them as Slaves in other of the States; and of the horrible Cruelties practised in the carrying on of this most infamous Traffic
Torrey, Jesse, active 1787-1834
Slavery -- United States
4. So much for the _Geography_ of the subject. Now, as to the
_Governments_, this is the state of the case. The _United States_ (with
the exception of a small spot to be mentioned by and by) extend from
Canada and New Brunswick, which lie to the North, to the Gulf of Mexico
on the South, seeing that the Floridas are now to make part of this
territory. They extend to the west, from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Pacific Ocean. Great part of this western territory is, as yet, wholly
uninhabited by white people. But, the Country is inhabited more or less
thickly from the North to the South on the side of the Atlantic, and the
space between the utmost points is about seventeen hundred miles. This
territory is divided into _States_, each of which is independent of all
the rest. Each has its Chief Magistrate, its Legislature, its Judiciary,
and its own Code of Laws. It raises its own internal taxes; has its own
Militia; and is, in fact, an independent State, with the following
exceptions; namely, that it has nothing to do, and can have no
particular connexion, with any Foreign Nation; can make no laws with
regard to external commerce; can make neither peace nor war; and is
bound to join the other States in case of war or peace. These matters
are all left to the _Congress_, which is composed of a President, a
Senate, and a House of Representatives. This body manages the affairs of
the whole Country as far as relates to peace and war, and as far as
relates to external Commerce, and to all connexions with Foreign
Nations.
5. So that the Congress can make no Law touching the internal economy
and jurisdiction of any of the States, each of which, may pass what laws
it pleases, so that those laws do not contravene the common compact,
contained in the document, or, act of Congress, usually denominated the
_Constitution of the United States_. Now, that compact does by no means
prohibit the existence of Slavery; but, on the contrary, _expressly
recognises its legality_; and this was one of the _conditions_, upon
which the Union was founded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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