Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2): or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850Benton, Thomas Hart
History
Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2): or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850
Benton, Thomas Hart
United States -- Politics and government -- 1815-1861
"_Resolved_, That any attempt of Congress to abolish slavery
in any territory of the United States in which it exists would
create serious alarm and just apprehension in the States
sustaining that domestic institution, and would be a violation
of good faith towards the inhabitants of any such territory who
have been permitted to settle with, and hold, slaves therein;
because the people of any such territory have not asked for
the abolition of slavery therein; and because, when any such
territory shall be admitted into the Union as a State, the
people thereof shall be entitled to decide that question
exclusively for themselves."
And the vote upon it was--
"YEAS--Messrs. Allen, Bayard, Benton, Black, Brown, Buchanan,
Calhoun, Clay, of Alabama, Clay, of Kentucky, Crittenden, Cuthbert,
Fulton, Grundy, Hubbard, King, Lumpkin, Lyon, Merrick, Nicholas,
Niles, Norvell, Franklin Pierce, Preston, Rives, Roane, Robinson,
Sevier, Smith, of Connecticut, Strange, Tipton, Walker, White,
Williams, Wright, and Young.
"NAYS--Messrs. Thomas Clayton, Davis, Knight, McKean, Prentiss,
Robbins, Smith, of Indiana, Swift, and Webster."
The few senators who voted against both resolutions chiefly
did so for reasons wholly unconnected with their merits; some
because opposed to any declarations on the subject, as abstract
and inoperative; others because they dissented from the reasons
expressed, and preferred others: and the senators from Delaware (a
slave State) because they had a nullification odor about them, as
first introduced. Mr. Calhoun voted for both, not in preference to
his own, but as agreeing to them after they had been preferred by
the Senate; and so gave his recorded assent to the doctrines they
contained. Both admit the constitutional power of Congress over
the existence of slavery both in the district and the territories,
but deprecate its abolition where it existed for reasons of high
expediency: and in this view it is believed nearly the entire
Senate concurred; and quite the entire Senate on the constitutional
point--there being no reference to that point in any part of the
debates. Mr. Webster probably spoke the sentiments of most of those
voting with him, as well as his own, when he said:
"If the resolutions set forth that all domestic institutions,
except so far as the constitution might interfere, and any
intermeddling therewith by a State or individual, was contrary
to the spirit of the confederacy, and was thereby illegal and
unjust, he would give them his hearty and cheerful support; and
would do so still if the senator from South Carolina would
consent to such an amendment; but in their present form he must
give his vote against them."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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