censors over them? This Mr. S. thought, was going far beyond the limits of their duty. While he would cheerfully oppose any unconstitutional interference with the institutions of the States, he would at the same time avoid expressing any opinions adverse to the right of the people to discuss such subjects as were properly open to them. Mr. PIERCE, of New Hampshire, said: The District of Columbia was now emphatically the battle-field of the abolitionists, and the resolution immediately under consideration, with, perhaps, some modifications in phraseology, would present the true issue here and to the country. If the grave objections suggested on the other side were sustained by an examination of the resolutions themselves, or a course of sound argumentation, they would insure my opposition. What are they? The first that reached my ear was, that they contain latent nullification. I have waited to hear the particular resolution, sentence or phrase pointed out in which this heresy is supposed to be concealed, and I have waited in vain. Having, then, assertion on one side, and what appears to me to be the plain reading of the resolutions and the frank and unqualified declaration of the mover on the other, I must be excused if I do not take the alarm. We have next eloquent disquisitions upon the liberty of speech and the freedom of the press. To every sentiment uttered upon these subjects I yield my cordial assent; but why introduced on this particular occasion, I have been at a loss to determine. Would any man here abridge the liberty of speech, or assail the freedom of the press? I take it not. Is there any thing in the resolutions to sanction an| invasion of either? Not a syllable. That these are privileges most dear to every American, is freely admitted by all. Why such a variety of changes have been rung upon them in this debate, others may determine. But it is further urged against the resolutions, that they are mere abstractions. Sir, it is quite immaterial what name you apply to them; sufficient is it that they meet the case, that they encounter the Abolitionist upon sound and tenable ground, and furnish a conclusive answer to his importunities. To say that the petitions refer only to this District, and that the principles asserted in the preceding resolutions are consequently without application, is perfectly idle. It is impossible to read a single number of the leading Abolition periodicals, without perceiving that their object reaches far beyond this District, and stops at no point short of general emancipation in the States. And yet, sir, I suspect that you would find few intelligent Abolitionists, who would assert that Congress has the constitutional power to interfere with slavery in the States; but admitting the want of power here, they hold it to be their duty, as individuals, to persevere in the cause. Regarding the institution of slavery [25TH CONG. as morally wrong, or sinful, if you please, they consider themselves, as citizens of the Union, responsible for its continuance, wherever it may exist within our borders. This feeling has its origin, to some extent, in a misapprehension of the structure of our Government, and this error the preceding resolutions are calculated to correct. They assert, in effect, that the citizen of New Hampshire is no more responsible, morally or politically, for the exist ence and continuance of this domestic institu tion in Virginia or Maryland, than he would be for the existence of any similar institutions in France or Persia. Now, let these doctrines be universally understood and admitted, and you take one great step toward satisfying the consciences of honest, but misguided people, in one section of the country, and quieting the irritation, for which there has been too much cause, in the other. This we have attempted to do. We are bound to go further, and frankly to declare to these petitioners, that so long as slavery shall continue in Virginia and Maryland, it is vain for them to expect its abolition here; that we are forbidden to legislate upon this subject, under existing circumstances, by obligations hardly inferior to the constitution itself; that Congress cannot abolish slavery in this District, against the wishes of the inhabitants, without a gross breach of public faith, and an outrageous infraction of private rights. At the time the cession was made, domestic slavery existed in the States of Maryland and Virginia: it still exists there; and it has also existed here from that day to this. Now, how is it possible to mistake what must have been the understanding of both parties at the time? No man, it strikes me, can doubt for a moment, who will regard, without prejudice, the relative position of this "ten miles square," the objects of the cession, and the manifest interests of the States making it. Who can believe that these patriotic States would have parted with their territory, if they could have supposed that the rights and property of their citizens, living upon it, were to be invaded, against their consent, and in defiance of their remonstrances? I have no hesitation in saying that I consider slavery a social and political evil, and most sincerely wish that it had no existence upon the face of the earth; but it is perfectly immaterial how it may be regarded, either by you or myself; it is not for us to sit in judgment, and deter mine whether the rights secured to the different States by the constitution are blessings or otherwise; it is sufficient for the argument that they are rights, which the inhabitants do not choose to relinquish. Mr. CRITTENDEN, of Kentucky, rose. He said that, if the object of these resolutions was to produce peace and allay excitement, it appeared to him that they were not very likely to accomplish such an object. More vague and general abstractions than they were could hardly have been brought forward, and they 2D SESS.] Mr. Calhoun's Resolutions. [JANUARY, 1838. were more calculated to produce agitation, and | in the same breath tell us that the disease is so stir up discontent and bad blood, than to do any fearful, so far gone, so alarming, so terrific, good whatever. Such, he knew, was the gen- that his very remedy which he offers is good eral opinion of Southern men, few of whom, for nothing! however they assented to the abstractions, ap- So far it appeared to Mr. C. that Mr. CALproved of this method of agitating the subject. HOUN's course was not calculated to heal, or to He was quite at a loss to comprehend what good produce peace, though such he professed were such resolutions could effect; there was nothing his objects. There was again another argupractical in them; they were in the air, aërial, ment on which he rested, which also appeared unbusiness-like, theoretical abstractions, only to Mr. CRITTENDEN calculated to produce concalculated to agitate, and to bring the rights fidence in the Abolitionists, and alarm in the of the South to trial, to bring them up for dis- South, and all the friends of the South; calcussion, to create difference and discord on culated, he thought, if it were not exposed and abstract questions among those who all agreed avoided, to add thickly to the ranks of abolion the one practical point, viz: that the rights tionism, and to weaken the ranks of the South, of the South must be preserved. He would by forcing out many of its warmest and most not say that they were the work of abolition- ardent friends and supporters. The argument ism, but of this he was certain, that such a was though not of course so plainly and mode of bringing the South to trial, and put- openly expressed-that there could be no conting up her rights to be disputed, by drawing fidence in any opposition to abolitionism, unless out theories on which no two men could abso- it came from Mr. CALHOUN and his party! lutely agree, was most eminently calculated to unless it came from the State rights party! aid, and no doubt would greatly aid, the aboli- And, therefore, the necessary consequence tionists. The mover of these resolutions relies which follows is, that unless the whole counmainly upon two points to carry the Senate try shall follow the gentleman, and range with him: first, he reiterates, over and over themselves behind him in his party, there can again, the trite theme and cry of "danger to be no preservation of the Union, there can be the Union;" and next, that, if he is not fol- no available opposition to abolitionism! Such lowed in this movement, he urges the inevi- a mode of acting and reasoning upon the subtable consequence of the "destruction of the ject appeared to Mr. C. as making a stalking Union." horse, a tool, of abolitionism, to serve as a mean, and as an instrument of promoting personal views and party ambition, under the pretence of infinite good to the country. Mr. C. thought it possible the gentleman might be mistaken. It possibly might not be exactly true that, to save the Union, it was necessary to follow him. On the contrary, some were of opinion, and he for one was much inclined to be of the same view, that, to follow the distinguished mover of these resolutions, to pursue the course of irritation, agitation, and intimidation which he chalked out, would be the very best and surest method that could be chalked out, to destroy this great and happy Union. The Senator (Mr. CALHOUN) is daily, and almost twenty times a day, telling us that the disease is great-is terrible-is frightful-is absolutely incurable! But, if it be as he represents, if the disease be incurable, why does he come forward as a physician to heal a disease which he himself declares to us is past all healing? What can possibly be the object of the resolutions, if the evil they propose to assuage is past all cure? What was the use of bringing them forward, if the gentleman is sincere in thinking that no application can be of any benefit to a disease, which he paints every hour of the day as being frightfully removed from all the powers of remedy? Is such language, on the other hand, only intended as a politic method of carrying by force and terror and alarm every trembling vote in his train? Whatever might be the object of the gentleman, it certainly appeared rather strange to him (Mr. CRITTENDEN) that he should bring forward his resolutions as a remedy, and descant most forcibly upon their healing, testing, curing, and sanatory powers, and almost - Mr. PRESTON Suggested to the mover to strike out the words "on the ground or under the pretext that it was immoral or sinful,” and insert " on any pretext whatever." Mr. CALHOUN objected to striking out the words referred to by his colleague; they meet the Abolitionists directly; but would accept as a modification the words he proposed to add. Mr. PRESTON moved further to insert the words "also a violation of the public faith implied in the cession of this District by the States of Virginia and Maryland." Mr. CALHOUN had always been of the opinion that any interference with slavery in this District would not only be a violation of the public faith to the States of Virginia and Maryland, but would also be a direct violation of the 8th amended article of the constitution.* He had not, however, thought proper to assert it, as he knew that there was a majority in the Senate of a different opinion, and as his object was to place the question on no particular portion of the constitution, but on its general character and structure, which he thought was much stronger, and much less liable to be disputed. He would neither object nor assent to the proposed modification. *There must be some error in this reference, as the eighth amended article has no relation to the subject, and merely forbids excessive bail to be required, or excessive fines imposed, or cruel and unusual punishments inflicted: nor does any other article seem to apply to it. JANUARY, 1838.] to. Mr. Calhoun's Resolutions. Mr. PRESTON's second amendment was agreed Mr. CLAY, of Kentucky, said that he could vote for neither the fifth nor sixth resolutions, in the shape in which they were presented by the Senator from South Carolina. I have voted, (continued Mr. C.,) without hesitation, for the first resolutions offered by that Senator, after they were modified or amended, not from any confidence which I have in their healing virtues. With respect to the point so much insisted upon in this debate, and which had produced great controversy in former times, whether the constitution is to be regarded as the work of the people of the United States collectively, or of the separate States composing the Confederacy, I have always thought that more importance is attached to it than it deserves. The real question in considering the instrument is, not how the constitution was made, but what is it, as it is? I have always understood, according to historical fact, that the constitution was framed by a convention, composed of delegates appointed by the Legislatures of the several States; and that after it was adopted, it was submitted to conventions of Delegates, chosen by the people of the several States, each acting separately by and for itself; and, being ratified by the conventions of a sufficient number, it became the Constitution of the United States, or, in its own language, of the people of the United States. The series of resolutions under consideration has been introduced by the Senator from South Carolina, after he and other Senators from the South had deprecated discussion on the delicate subject to which they relate. They have occasioned much discussion, in which hitherto I have not participated. I hope that the tendency of the resolutions may be to allay the excitement which unhappily prevails, in respect to the abolition of slavery; but I confess, Mr. President, that, taken altogether, and in connection with other circumstances, and especially considering the manner in which their author has pressed them on the Senate, I fear that they will have the opposite effect; and particularly at the North, that they may increase and exasperate, instead of diminishing and assuaging the existing irritation. And I cannot but regard the unnecessary combination of the subject of abolition with that alien and the most exciting of all subjects at the present period, the annexation of Texas to the United States, in the same series of resolutions, as peculiarly unfortunate. I know that Texas is not specially mentioned in the last resolution, but the country will understand the intention and allusion. It cannot be forgotten that, immediately after the tidings of the memorable battle of San Jacinto reached this city, the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. CALHOUN) expressed in the Senate his opinion that the independence of Texas ought immediately to be recognized, and his wish that, before the adjournment of Congress, it should be annexed [25TH CONG to the United States. A resolution now lies upon the table of the Senate, introduced by the other Senator from South Carolina, (Mr. PRESTOS,) proposing a contingent annexation of it to the United States. When these facts are borne in mind, will not all understand the last resolution, although abstract in form, as intended to commit the Senate, in advance, to the annexation? Our purpose, our anxious aim, should be to compose the North, to arrest the progress of the spirit of abolition, and to give strength and confidence to the numerous friends of the Union in that quarter. Is it then wise and discreet to blend these two unhappy causes of agitation together? The Senator from South Carolina has offered his resolutions, he tells us, to revive and rally the State rights party. But I cannot think that the slave-holding States ought to consent to place their peculiar interests in the exclusive safe-keeping of any one party, however correct some of us may believe its principles to be Parties rise up and go down, but the constitution remains a perpetual and sure bulwark against all attacks upon the rights of the slaveholding States, from whatever quarter they may proceed. No, sir: do not let us put our trust in any party exclusively; let us invoke the united guardianship of all-the Whigs, the Democratic party, the Republican party, the Jackson Van Buren party, the Federal party, the Union party, the Nullifiers, and the Loca Focos-all, in preserving the inviolability of the constitution, and protecting against every encroachment delicate and momentous inter- . ests, which cannot be seriously touched without endangering the stability of our entire political fabric. We want in the slave-holding States nothing done here to stimulate our vigilance, or to unite us upon the subject of our present deliberations. We may differ there in the degree of sensibility which we display; but we are all firmly and unanimously resolved to defend and maintain our rights at all hazards; and should the hour of trial ever come, those who appear now the least agitated, will not be behind those who are foremost and loudest in proclaiming the exist ence of danger. I have inquired of Northern Senators, charged with the presentation of abolition petitions, whether the spirit of abolitionism was spreading; and, if so, what was the cause. Their answer was, that it was increasing; and that the cause was the impression which the Abolitionists had been able to make on the Northern mind, that the constitutional right of petition was denied them by the two Houses of Congress. The people may attempt to exercise that right of petition in three different descriptions of cases: 1st. In instances where Congress manifestly does not possess the constitutional power to grant the relief prayed for. In these, the petition may be rejected instantly, without reference and without debate, and no just cause of complaint would exist. 2d. In cases where 2D SESS.] Mr. Calhoun's Resolutions. [JANUARY, 1838. the constitutional power, the exercise of which | is to keep the Abolitionists separate and distinct is invoked, is controverted, doubtful, or uncertain. In these, a reference of the petition may be necessary to examine into the existence of the power, as well as into the expediency of exercising it. Of this controverted nature is the legislative power of Congress in this District. No one would contend that a petition to establish a Bank of the United States should be instantly rejected, without debate and without reference, upon the sole ground that a large portion of the Senate should think it unconstitutional. And 3d. In cases where the power is incontestably possessed by Congress to grant the redress prayed for. In the two last descriptions of cases, I think that Congress is bound attentively to receive the petitions, and respectfully to dispose of them. from all other classes, standing out in bold and prominent relief; and the subject of abolition separate and distinct from the right of petition, from Texas, and from all other subjects; let them stand alone, unmixed with the rest of the community, without the general sympathy, and exposed to the overwhelming force of the united opinion of all who desire the peace, the harmony, and the union of this Confederacy. I would receive, respectfully receive, their petitions, refer them, and occasionally present calm, dispassionate, and argumentative reports against them. This is the manner in which petitions for abolition were received in the first Congress, upon the recommendation of Mr. Madison; and that in which they were ever afterwards received, until the practice was changed about two years ago. It has been argued that, when a petition is once put in the possession of the Senate, the But it is said that these fanatics are beyond right of petitioning has been practically en- the reach of any argument; and it is triumjoyed; and that the Senate may reject it in- phantly asked, Will you condescend to argue stantly, refer it, lay it upon the table, or dis- with such deluded persons? Yes! I say, yes. pose of it as may be thought proper. Undoubt To preserve these admirable institutions of edly this is true; but in the great business of ours, and this glorious Union from the possihuman life, public and private, the manner in bility of all danger, I would argue with any which it is transacted is often as important, one, with lunatics themselves, in their lucid sometimes more important, than what is done intervals, and argue again and again. It is not, or refused. And a wise Government should however, to call alone the Abolitionists to a be particularly careful not to wound or inflame sense of peace and duty, that these appeals to popular sensibility on subjects respecting which the reason, the judgment, and the patriotism large masses choose to exercise the consti- of the country, should be sent forth from these tutional right of petition. The course which halls. They would address themselves, with the Senate has pursued, in regard to these abo-powerful effect, to all that, vastly the largest, lition petitions, for about two years past, is this: a Senator states from his place that he is charged with the presentation of one of them, and moves that it be received. Another Senator thereupon rises, and moves that the motion to receive the petition be laid upon the table; and the Senate accordingly orders the motion to receive the petition to be laid upon the table; and thus the petition is not received in a parliamentary sense. The Senate does not decide the question of its reception. This course I have always thought unfortunate. It is unsatisfactory. The petitioners feel that they have been neglected, and they allege that the right of petition has been denied. But it has been contended that these petitioners are mad and reckless fanatics, and it has been indignantly asked whether they merit respectful treatment. Mr. President, my observation and experience in life have taught me, that when we are addressed or assailed, our conduct should not be regulated by the harsh, vituperative, or fanatical language, or the condition, whatever it may be, of those who approach us, but by the standard of our own respectability, standing, and character in life. And in regard to these petitions, the question should not be so much what do the petitioners deserve, as what is due from the calm, elevated, dignified, august character of the Senate of the United States? It appears to me, sir, that what becomes us portion of the Northern community who are uninfected by abolitionism. When has Congress unsuccessfully appealed to the intelligence, the patriotism, and the valor of the American people? In such a cause we should never tire nor despair. Mr. President, I have no apprehension, not the smallest, for the safety of the Union, from any state of things which now exists. I will not answer for consequences which may ensue from harsh and opprobrious language, and from indiscretion and rashness on the part of individuals or of Congress, here or elsewhere. We allow ourselves to speak too frequently, and with too much levity, of a separation of this Union. It is a terrible word, to which our ears should not be familiarized. I desire to see in continued safety and prosperity this Union, and no other Union. I go for this Union as it is, one and indivisible, without diminution. I will neither voluntarily leave it, nor be driven out of it by force. Here, in my place, I shall contend for all the rights of the State which has sent me here. I shall contend for them with undoubting confidence, and in all the security which the Union confers, under all the high sanctions which the guarantees of the constitution afford, and with the perfect conviction that they are safer in the Union than they would be out of the Union. I am opposed to all separate confederacies and to all sectional conventions. No state of actual danger exists JANUARY, 1838.] Mr. Calhoun's Resolutions. to render them expedient, or to justify deliberation about them. This Union, this Government, has done nothing, nothing whatever, to excite the smallest alarm. It will do nothing; but if it should; if, contrary to all human probability, the rights and the security of the slaveholding States shall be assailed by any authoritative act emanating from this capitol, a state of things for resistance, forcible resistance, will then occur. It will be time enough then to act. No man in full health will take medicine because he may be sick, amputate a perfectly sound limb, because it may be fractured or seized with gangrene, or perpetrate suicide because death is his ultimate and inevitable doom. And, sir, when that fatal day shall come, if it ever do come, when the slave-holding States have to defend, by force, their rights, the State whose servant I am will rush to battle, as she always has done, with her accustomed ardor, and with gallantry unsurpassed by that of any other State. And those States and their citizens will be found to sustain these rights with most vigor and success, who, unmoved by false alarms or imaginary or aggravated dangers, with a firm and fixed purpose of soul, stand prepared, in every real exigency, to vindicate them at every extremity. Having, Mr. President, said so much on the general subject, with the permission of the Senate, I will read certain resolutions which I have prepared, embracing the whole ground occupied by any of the petitions in respect to domestic slavery in the United States. They are the following: Resolved, That the institution of domestic slavery, as now existing in many of the States of this Confederacy, is subject to the exclusive power and control of those States respectively; and that no other State, nor the people of any other State, nor Congress, possess, or can rightfully exercise, any power or authority whatever to interfere in any manner therewith. Resolved, That if any citizens of the United States, regardless of the spirit of peace, harmony, and union, which should ever animate the various members of the Confederacy, and their respective citizens, shall present to the Senate any petitions touching the abolition of slavery in any of the States in which it exists, all such petitions shall be instantly rejected, without debate, and without further or other proceedings thereon, as relating to an object palpably beyond the scope of the constitutional power of Congress. Resolved, That when the District of Columbia was ceded by the States of Virginia and Maryland to the United States, domestic slavery existed in both of those States, including the ceded territory; and that, as it still continues in both of them, it could not be abolished, within the District, without a violation of that good faith which was implied in the cession, and in the acceptance of the territory, nor, unless compensation were made to the proprietors of slaves, without a manifest infringement of an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, nor without exciting a degree of just alarm and apprehension in the States recognizing slavery, far transcending, in mischievous tendency, any possible benefit which could be accomplished by the abolition. [25TH CONG. Resolved, therefore, That it is the deliberate judg ment of the Senate, that the institution of domestic slavery ought not to be abolished within the District of Columbia; and it earnestly hopes that all sincere friends of the Union, and of harmony and general tranquillity, will cease to agitate this disturbing quesconstrained, from a high sense of duty in respect to But the Senate feels itself, at the same time, the constitutional right of petition, to declare that it holds itself bound to receive and respectfully to treat any petitions, couched in decorous language, which may be presented by citizens of the United States, touching slavery within the District of Columbia. tion. Resolved, therefore, That, upon the presentation of any such petitions, they shall be received, and referred to the appropriate committee. Resolved, That it would be highly inexpedient to abolish slavery in Florida, the only Territory of the United States in which it now exists, because of the serious alarm and just apprehensions which would be thereby excited in the States sustaining that domestic institution; because the people of that Territory have not asked it to be done, and, when admitted as a State into the Union, will be exclusively entitled to decide that question for themselves; and, also, because it would be in violation of a solemn compromise, made at a memorable and critical period in the history of this country, by which, while slavery was prohibited north, it was admitted south of the line of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude. Resolved, That no power is delegated, by the constitution, to Congress, to prohibit, in or between the States tolerating slavery, the sale and removal of such persons as are held in slavery by the laws of those States. Resolved, That, whilst the Senate, with painful regret, has seen the perseverance of certain citizens of the United States in the agitation of the abolition of domestic slavery, thereby creating distrust and discontent and dissatisfaction among the people of the United States, who should ever cherish towards each other fraternal sentiments, it beholds, with the deepest satisfaction, everywhere prevailing an unconquerable attachment to the Union, as the sure bulwark of the safety, liberty, and happiness of the people of the United States. There is nothing abstract or metaphysical in them. They relate to the abolition of slavery in the States, in the District of Columbia, and in Florida, the only Territory of the United States where it exists, and to the sale and removal of slaves in the States whose laws recognize the institution of slavery. They do not seek to renovate any party, nor to place the high interests to which they relate in the exclusive custody of any one party. Resting upon, and sustained by, the constitution, they appeal to the sound discretion, the sober judgment, and the patriotism of all parties. I may not ask the sense of the Senate to be expressed upon each of them; but I shall offer that relating to the District of Columbia, and that to the Territory of Florida, as an amendment to the fifth resolution, submitted by the Senator from South Carolina. I think the charge upon the petitioners of intermeddling with abolition in this District is harsh, and that some less offensive word should be used. The District of |