THE ANTI-SLAVERY EXAMINER PART 2 OF 4 BY The American Anti-Slavery Society 1838 No. 5. THE CHATTEL PRINCIPLE THE ABHORRENCE OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES; OR NO REFUGE FOR AMERICAN SLAVERY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. No. 6. NARRATIVE OF JAMES WILLIAMS, AN AMERICAN SLAVE. No. 7. EMANCIPATION IN THE WEST INDIES. No. 8. CORRESPONDENCE, BETWEEN THE HON. F.H. ELMORE, ONE OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA DELEGATION IN CONGRESS, AND JAMES G. BIRNEY, ONE OF THE SECRETARIES OF THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. No. 9. LETTER OF GERRIT SMITH, TO HON. HENRY CLAY. No. 10. EMANCIPATION In The WEST INDIES, IN 1838. * * * * * NO. 5 THE ANTI-SLAVERY EXAMINER * * * * * THE POWER OF CONGRESS OVER THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. * * * * * ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NEW-YORK EVENING POST, UNDER THE SIGNATURE OF "WYTHE." * * * * * WITH ADDITIONS BY THE AUTHOR. FOURTH EDITION. * * * * * NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, No. 143 NASSAU STREET. 1838. * * * * * This No. contains 3-1/2 sheets.--Postage, under 100 miles, 6 cts. over 100, 10 cts. POWER OF CONGRESS OVER THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. A civilized community presupposes a government of law. If that government be a republic, its citizens are the sole _sources_, as well as the _subjects_ of its power. Its constitution is their bill of directions to their own agents--a grant authorizing the exercise of certain powers, and prohibiting that of others. In the Constitution of the United States, whatever else may be obscure, the clause granting power to Congress over the Federal District may well defy misconstruction. Art. 1, Sec. 8, Clause 18: "The Congress shall have power to exercise exclusive legislation, _in all cases whatsoever_, over such District." Congress may make laws for the District "in all _cases_," not of all _kinds_. The grant respects the _subjects_ of legislation, _not_ the moral nature of the laws. The law-making power every where, is subject to _moral_ restrictions, whether limited by constitutions or not. No legislature can authorize murder, nor make honesty penal, nor virtue a crime, nor exact impossibilities. In these and similar respects, the power of Congress is held in check by principles existing in the nature of things, not imposed by the Constitution, but presupposed and assumed by it. The power of Congress over the District is restricted only by those principles that limit ordinary legislation, and, in some respects, it has even wider scope.