Among the resolutions adopted at the meeting was one
calling for the overthrow of Slavery,--“because the supreme
jurisdiction of the National Constitution over all the
territories now occupied by the Rebel States must be held
to be exclusive of the traitorous Rebel authorities therein
established, by virtue of which alone Slavery now therein
exists, and that wherever the Constitution has exclusive
jurisdiction it ordains Liberty and not Slavery.”
These were forwarded to Mr. Sumner by one of the secretaries,
with the following letter.
“I hand herewith a copy of Resolutions adopted, amid the
wildest enthusiasm, and without a breath of dissent, by an
assembly of some three thousand of our prominent citizens,
last evening, at the Cooper Institute Mass Meeting. No
such audience has been convened in this city (except only
the Union Square meeting of last April) since your address
in July, 1860. Nor has so demonstrative a gathering been
seen here since that time. I say this to give you an
idea of the character and popularity of the affair. I
hand the Resolutions to you _for personal presentation
to the President_ (and to _Congress_, if your views are
not opposed to such a course), preferring to secure
their reaching the President through you as a medium of
communication.”
Mr. Sumner had pleasure in presenting them to the President.