the distinct prohibition of slavery in Territorial organizations,
and also by the extreme slavery Whigs, who desired them admitted as
Territories without any expression on slavery, believing that slaves
could be taken into any Territory south of the Missouri Compromise line
unless prohibited by the organic law. Clay had returned to the Senate,
and being neither more nor less than human, he had little inclination
to harmonize with an accidental Whig President who filled the position
to which Clay felt he was justly entitled. As opposed to the policy
of the President, Clay came in as pacificator and proposed what then
became known, and what have since been known as the Compromise Measures
of 1850. It is doubtful whether either the administration or the Clay
Compromise policy could have been successful had the President lived.
Certainly the Compromise bill would have failed, but it is uncertain
whether the administration could have wielded sufficient power to carry
its policy through Congress. Its policy was a negative one, postponing
the slave issue in the new acquisitions until the people could act in
their sovereign capacity in the creation of States.
President Taylor died July 9, 1850, and Millard Fillmore became
President by virtue of his office as Vice-President. Taylor’s death
changed the political purposes of the administration in the earnest
struggle then in Congress to meet the question of slavery in the newly
acquired territory. Fillmore, like nearly all Vice-Presidents, was not
in harmony with the President, and when he became President himself he
reversed the policy of the administration.
It was on this issue that Webster wrecked himself. He was in the
confidence of the Taylor administration, and was chosen to be
the champion of its policy for meeting the slavery issue in the
Territories. He personally conferred with the Cabinet forty-eight hours
before he delivered his memorable seventh-of-March speech, in which
he cast his lot with Clay and the pro-slavery wing of the party, and
neither the President nor any Cabinet officer had any notice of his
purpose to change until they were astounded by hearing the views he
expressed in his speech. William M. Meredith, of Philadelphia, was
then Secretary of the Treasury, and he was so much offended by what he
regarded as Webster’s perfidy that he never spoke to him thereafter.
Fillmore was the second Vice-President who had succeeded to the
Presidency by the death of the President, and, like Tyler, he reversed
the policy of the party, and estranged the Whigs of the North very
generally from him. After he became President the Compromise Measures
were revived, and Clay made the last great battle of his life as
pacificator. With the power of the administration added, the Clay
Compromise Measures passed both branches of Congress, and were
promptly approved by the President. They declared, first, against the
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia; second, in favor
of the admission of California as a Free State; third, in favor of a
severely stringent Fugitive Slave law; fourth, for the payment to Texas
of $10,000,000 for yielding her claims to New Mexico, and fifth, in
favor of the admission of Utah and New Mexico as Territories without
restrictions as to slavery.
The passage of the Compromise Measures practically united the
Democratic party, as the friends of slavery extension had won a
substantial triumph, and the Democrats of the North were generally
in harmony with that policy, but it greatly weakened the Whigs in
the North without strengthening them in the South, and Fillmore, and
Webster, then Secretary of State, became rival candidates for the Whig
nomination, while the anti-Compromise or antislavery element of the
Whigs united on General Scott.
When the Democratic National Convention met at Baltimore, June 1, 1852,
the leaders were entirely confident of electing their candidates. John
W. Davis, of Indiana, was made President, and the two-thirds rule
reaffirmed. The sessions of the convention were protracted, lasting six
days, but there was little angry dispute as to either candidates or
measures. There were 49 ballots for President, Cass and Buchanan being
the leading competitors at the start. The Virginia delegation, that was
always potential in Democratic conventions, had become weary of the
hopeless contest between the candidates, and on the 35th ballot cast a
solid vote for Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, whose name had not
up to that time been before the convention. The friends of Cass made
an earnest rally, but were unable to concentrate sufficient strength
to approach the two-thirds vote, and Marcy finally loomed up as the
leading competitor of Pierce. The following table gives the detail vote
on each ballot:
════════╤═════╤═════════╤════════╤══════╤═══════╤════════╤══════╤═════╤══════════╤═══════
BALLOTS.│Cass.│Buchanan.│Douglas.│Marcy.│Butler.│Houston.│Dodge.│Lane.│Dickinson.│Pierce.
────────┼─────┼─────────┼────────┼──────┼───────┼────────┼──────┼─────┼──────────┼───────
1 │ 116 │ 93 │ 20 │ 27 │ 2 │ 8 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
2 │ 118 │ 95 │ 23 │ 27 │ 1 │ 6 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
3 │ 119 │ 94 │ 21 │ 26 │ 1 │ 7 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
4 │ 115 │ 89 │ 31 │ 25 │ 1 │ 7 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
5 │ 114 │ 88 │ 34 │ 26 │ 1 │ 8 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
6 │ 114 │ 88 │ 34 │ 26 │ 1 │ 8 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
7 │ 113 │ 88 │ 34 │ 26 │ 1 │ 9 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
8 │ 113 │ 88 │ 34 │ 26 │ 1 │ 9 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
9 │ 112 │ 87 │ 39 │ 27 │ 1 │ 8 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
10 │ 111 │ 86 │ 40 │ 27 │ 1 │ 8 │ ―― │ 14 │ 1 │ ――
11 │ 101 │ 87 │ 50 │ 27 │ 1 │ 8 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
12 │ 98 │ 88 │ 51 │ 27 │ 1 │ 9 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
13 │ 98 │ 88 │ 51 │ 26 │ 1 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
14 │ 99 │ 87 │ 51 │ 26 │ 1 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
15 │ 99 │ 87 │ 51 │ 26 │ 1 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
16 │ 99 │ 87 │ 51 │ 26 │ 1 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
17 │ 99 │ 87 │ 50 │ 26 │ 1 │ 11 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
18 │ 96 │ 85 │ 56 │ 25 │ 1 │ 11 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
19 │ 89 │ 85 │ 63 │ 26 │ 1 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
20 │ 81 │ 92 │ 64 │ 26 │ 1 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
21 │ 60 │ 102 │ 64 │ 26 │ 13 │ 9 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
22 │ 53 │ 104 │ 77 │ 26 │ 15 │ 9 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
23 │ 37 │ 103 │ 78 │ 26 │ 19 │ 11 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
24 │ 33 │ 103 │ 80 │ 26 │ 23 │ 9 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
25 │ 34 │ 101 │ 81 │ 26 │ 24 │ 9 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
26 │ 33 │ 101 │ 80 │ 26 │ 24 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
27 │ 32 │ 98 │ 85 │ 26 │ 24 │ 9 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
28 │ 28 │ 96 │ 88 │ 26 │ 25 │ 11 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
29 │ 27 │ 93 │ 91 │ 26 │ 25 │ 12 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
30 │ 33 │ 91 │ 92 │ 26 │ 20 │ 12 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ――
31 │ 64 │ 79 │ 92 │ 26 │ 16 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ――
32 │ 98 │ 74 │ 80 │ 26 │ 1 │ 8 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ――
33 │ 123 │ 72 │ 60 │ 25 │ 2 │ 6 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ――
34 │ 130 │ 49 │ 53 │ 23 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 16 │ ――
35 │ 131 │ 39 │ 52 │ 44 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 15
36 │ 122 │ 28 │ 43 │ 58 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 30
37 │ 120 │ 28 │ 37 │ 70 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29
38 │ 107 │ 28 │ 33 │ 84 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29
39 │ 106 │ 28 │ 33 │ 85 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29
40 │ 106 │ 27 │ 33 │ 85 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29
41 │ 107 │ 27 │ 33 │ 85 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29
42 │ 101 │ 27 │ 33 │ 91 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29
43 │ 101 │ 27 │ 33 │ 91 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29
44 │ 101 │ 27 │ 33 │ 91 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29
45 │ 96 │ 27 │ 32 │ 97 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29
46 │ 78 │ 28 │ 32 │ 97 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 44
47 │ 75 │ 28 │ 33 │ 95 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 49
48 │ 73 │ 28 │ 33 │ 90 │ 1 │ 6 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 55
49 │ 2 │ ―― │ 2 │ ―― │ 2 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 282
════════╧═════╧═════════╧════════╧══════╧═══════╧════════╧══════╧═════╧══════════╧═══════
Two ballots were had for Vice-President, the first resulting as follows:
Wm. R. King, Ala. 126
Gideon J. Pillow, Tenn. 25
D. R. Atchison, Mo. 25
T. J. Rusk, Texas 12
Jefferson Davis, Miss. 2
Wm. O. Butler, Ky. 27
Robert Strange, N. C. 23
S. U. Downs, La. 30
J. B. Weller, Cal. 28
Howell Cobb, Ga. 2
The 2d ballot ended with the unanimous nomination of Mr. King.
The party platform was precisely that of 1848, all embodied in full
text, with two new resolutions added on the subject of slavery
and additional resolutions relating to other national issues. The
Democratic platform of 1852, therefore, embraced all the previous
Democratic platforms with the following added:
_Resolved_, That the foregoing proposition covers, and is intended
to embrace, the whole subject of slavery agitated in Congress; and
therefore the Democratic party of the Union, standing on this national
platform, will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the acts
known as the “Compromise” Measures settled by the last Congress—the
act for reclaiming fugitives from service or labor included; which
act, being designed to carry out an express provision of the
Constitution, cannot with fidelity thereto be repealed, nor so changed
as to destroy or impair its efficiency.
_Resolved_, That the Democratic party will resist all attempts at
renewing in Congress, or out of it, the agitation of the slavery
question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made.
Then follow the resolutions in former platforms respecting the
distribution of the proceeds of land sales, that respecting the veto
power, and these additions:
_Resolved_, That the Democratic party will faithfully abide by
and uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia
resolutions of 1792 and 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to
the Virginia Legislature in 1799; that it adopts those principles as
constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and
is resolved to carry them out in their obvious meaning and import.
_Resolved_, That the war with Mexico, upon all the principles of
patriotism and the law of nations, was a just and necessary war on our
part in which no American citizen should have shown himself opposed
to his country, and neither morally nor physically, by word or deed,
given aid and comfort to the enemy.
_Resolved_, That we rejoice at the restoration of friendly relations
with our sister republic of Mexico, and earnestly desire for her
all the blessings and prosperity which we enjoy under republican
institutions, and we congratulate the American people on the results
of that war, which have so manifestly justified the policy and conduct
of the Democratic party, and insured to the United States indemnity
for the past and security for the future.
_Resolved_, That, in view of the condition of popular institutions
in the Old World, a high and sacred duty is devolved, with increased
responsibility, upon the Democracy of this country, as the party of
the people, to uphold and maintain the rights of every State, and
thereby the union of States, and to sustain and advance among them
constitutional liberty, by continuing to resist all monopolies and
exclusive legislation for the benefit of the few at the expense of the
many, and by a vigilant and constant adherence to those principles
and compromises of the Constitution which are broad enough and strong
enough to embrace and uphold the Union as it is, and the Union as it
should be, in the full expansion of the energies and capacity of this
great and progressive people.
The nomination of Pierce was received very generally by the Democrats
with great enthusiasm. The spirit of young Democracy had grown up in
the party and become very formidable. The _Democratic Review_, the
monthly organ of Democracy, had been reorganized with an able and most
aggressive staff devoted to the overthrow of “old fogyism” in the
party, and when Pierce was nominated the boys who do the shouting were
almost wholly in sympathy with the young Democracy, and the old-timers
had to fall in the rear of the procession. With the Democratic party
united on candidates who were free from factional complication, and
with the Compromise Measures, on which they could unite both the
North and South, they started in the contest with every advantage and
maintained it until election day, when the Whig party suffered its
Waterloo.
The Whig convention met in Baltimore on the 16th of June with every
State represented, and John G. Chapman, of Maryland, was made the
presiding officer. The Southern delegates fortified themselves before
the meeting of the convention by a caucus declaration of the party
platform, and it was an open secret that if the convention accepted
the platform, enough Southern men would support Scott to give him
the nomination. They knew that Fillmore could not be elected, and
that Webster was even weaker than Fillmore, and they were willing to
accept Scott, who was the candidate of the antislavery element of the
party, if the Compromise Measures were squarely affirmed by the party
convention, while Scott was willing to accept the nomination with any
platform the convention might formulate. Fillmore had carried the
Compromise Measures and forced the Whigs to accept them in the party
platform, but the insincerity of that expression was manifested by
the refusal to nominate Fillmore, and by the nomination of Scott, who
represented the anti-Compromise Whigs of the country. There were 53
ballots for President, but during the long struggle there was little
exhibition of ill-temper. Scott started with 131 to 133 for Fillmore
and 29 for Webster, and ended with 159 for Scott to 112 for Fillmore
and 21 for Webster. The following table presents the ballots in detail:
═════════╤════════╤═══════════╤═════════
BALLOTS. │ Scott. │ Fillmore. │ Webster.
─────────┼────────┼───────────┼─────────
1 │ 131 │ 133 │ 29
2 │ 133 │ 131 │ 29
3 │ 133 │ 131 │ 29
4 │ 134 │ 130 │ 29
5 │ 130 │ 133 │ 30
6 │ 133 │ 131 │ 29
7 │ 131 │ 133 │ 28
8 │ 133 │ 131 │ 28
9 │ 133 │ 133 │ 29
10 │ 135 │ 130 │ 29
11 │ 134 │ 131 │ 28
12 │ 134 │ 130 │ 28
13 │ 134 │ 130 │ 28
14 │ 133 │ 130 │ 29
15 │ 133 │ 130 │ 29
16 │ 135 │ 129 │ 28
17 │ 132 │ 131 │ 29
18 │ 132 │ 131 │ 28
19 │ 132 │ 131 │ 29
20 │ 132 │ 131 │ 29
21 │ 133 │ 131 │ 28
22 │ 132 │ 130 │ 30
23 │ 132 │ 130 │ 30
24 │ 133 │ 129 │ 30
25 │ 133 │ 128 │ 31
26 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30
27 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30
28 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30
29 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30
30 │ 134 │ 128 │ 29
31 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30
32 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30
33 │ 134 │ 128 │ 29
34 │ 134 │ 126 │ 28
35 │ 134 │ 128 │ 28
36 │ 136 │ 127 │ 28
37 │ 133 │ 128 │ 28
38 │ 136 │ 127 │ 29
39 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30
40 │ 132 │ 129 │ 32
41 │ 132 │ 129 │ 32
42 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30
43 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30
44 │ 133 │ 129 │ 30
45 │ 133 │ 127 │ 32
46 │ 134 │ 127 │ 31
47 │ 135 │ 129 │ 29
48 │ 137 │ 124 │ 30
49 │ 139 │ 122 │ 30
50 │ 142 │ 122 │ 28
51 │ 142 │ 120 │ 29
52 │ 146 │ 119 │ 27
53 │ 159 │ 112 │ 21
Necessary to choose, 147
════════════════════════════════════════
The nomination of Scott was made unanimous, and William A. Graham,
of North Carolina, who was Secretary of the Navy under the Fillmore
administration, was given a unanimous nomination for Vice-President on
the 2d ballot. The following platform was adopted without opposition,
excepting as to the eighth and last, affirming the new and stringent
Fugitive Slave law. After an earnest debate it was adopted by a vote
of 212 to 70. Many of the friends of General Scott voted for that
resolution from considerations of expediency. General Scott in his
letter of acceptance broadly affirmed the platform in its entirety.
The Whigs of the United States, in convention assembled, adhering
to the great conservative principles by which they are controlled
and governed, and now, as ever, relying upon the intelligence of
the American people, with an abiding confidence in their capacity
for self-government, and their devotion to the Constitution and the
Union, do proclaim the following as the political sentiments and
determination for the establishment and maintenance of which their
national organization as a party was effected:
_First._ The Government of the United States is of a limited
character, and it is confined to the exercise of powers expressly
granted by the Constitution, and such as may be necessary and proper
for carrying the granted powers into full execution, and that powers
not granted or necessarily implied are reserved to the States
respectively and to the people.
_Second._ The State governments should be held secure to their
reserved rights, and the General Government sustained on its
constitutional powers, and that the Union should be revered and
watched over as the palladium of our liberties.
_Third._ That while struggling freedom everywhere enlists the warmest
sympathy of the Whig party, we still adhere to the doctrines of the
Father of his Country, as announced in his Farewell Address, of
keeping ourselves free from all entangling alliances with foreign
countries, and of never quitting our own to stand upon foreign ground;
that our mission as a republic is not to propagate our opinions, or
impose on other countries our forms of government by artifice or
force; but to teach by example, and show by our success, moderation
and justice, the blessings of self-government and the advantage of
free institutions.
_Fourth._ That, as the people make and control the Government, they
should obey its Constitution, laws, and treaties, as they would retain
their self-respect and the respect which they claim and will enforce
from foreign powers.
_Fifth._ That the Government should be conducted on principles of the
strictest economy; and revenue sufficient for the expenses thereof, in
time of peace, ought to be mainly derived from a duty on imports, and
not from direct taxes; and in laying such duties sound policy requires
a just discrimination, and protection from fraud by specific duties,
when practicable, whereby suitable encouragement may be afforded to
American industry, equally to all classes and to all portions of the
country.
_Sixth._ The Constitution vests in Congress the power to open and
repair harbors, and remove obstructions from navigable rivers,
whenever such improvements are necessary for the common defence and
for the protection and facility of commerce with foreign nations or
among the States—said improvements being in every instance national
and general in their character.
_Seventh._ The Federal and State governments are parts of one system,
alike necessary for the common prosperity, peace and security, and
ought to be regarded alike with a cordial, habitual, and immovable
attachment. Respect for the authority of each, and acquiescence in
the just constitutional measures of each, are duties required by the
plainest considerations of national, State and individual welfare.
_Eighth._ That the series of acts of the Thirty-second Congress,
the act known as the Fugitive Slave law included, are received and
acquiesced in by the Whig party of the United States as a settlement
in principle and substance of the dangerous and exciting questions
which they embrace; and, so far as they are concerned, we will
maintain them, and insist upon their strict enforcement, until time
and experience shall demonstrate the necessity of further legislation
to guard against the evasion of the laws on the one hand and the abuse
of their powers on the other, not impairing their present efficiency;
and we deprecate all further agitation of the question thus settled,
as dangerous to our peace, and will discountenance all efforts to
continue or renew such agitation, whenever, wherever, or however the
attempt may be made; and we will maintain this system as essential to
the nationality of the Whig party and the integrity of the Union.
The Compromise Measures were pressed upon the country as a finality,
and the Democrats, with all of the Southern Whigs and many Northern
Whigs, accepted them as such. Had the Pierce administration permitted
the slave issue to rest on the Compromise Measures, it is probable
that the birth of the Republican party would have been long postponed,
but the repeal of the Missouri Compromise gave fresh vitality to the
slavery dispute and quickened the antislavery sentiment of the country
to the aggressive battle that culminated in the election of Lincoln in
1860.
The Free-Soil Democrats called a national convention to meet at
Pittsburg on the 11th of August, over which Henry Wilson, of
Massachusetts, presided. John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, was nominated
for President, and George W. Julian, of Indiana, for Vice-President
without the formality of a ballot. The following platform was adopted:
Having assembled in national convention as the Democracy of the United
States; united by a common resolve to maintain right against wrong and
freedom against slavery; confiding in the intelligence, patriotism,
and discriminating justice of the American people; putting our trust
in God for the triumph of our cause, and invoking His guidance in our
endeavors to advance it—we now submit to the candid judgment of all
men the following declaration of principles and measures:
1. That governments deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed are instituted among men to secure to all those unalienable
rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness with which they
are endowed by their Creator, and of which none can be deprived by
valid legislation, except for crime.
2. That the true mission of American Democracy is to maintain the
liberties of the people, the sovereignty of the States, and the
perpetuity of the Union, by the impartial application to public
affairs, without sectional discriminations, of the fundamental
principles of human rights, strict justice, and an economical
administration.
3. That the Federal Government is one of limited powers, derived
solely from the Constitution, and the grants of power therein ought
to be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the
Government, and it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful
constitutional powers.
4. That the Constitution of the United States, ordained to form a
more perfect Union, to establish justice, and secure the blessings
of liberty, expressly denies to the General Government all power to
deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process
of law; and, therefore, the Government, having no more power to make a
slave than to make a king, and no more power to establish slavery than
to establish a monarchy, should at once proceed to relieve itself from
all responsibility for the existence of slavery wherever it possesses
constitutional power to legislate for its extinction.
5. That, to the persevering and importunate demand of the slave power
for more Slave States, new Slave Territories, and the nationalization
of slavery, our distinct and final answer is: No more Slave States, no
Slave Territory, no nationalized slavery, and no national legislation
for the extradition of slaves.
6. That slavery is a sin against God and a crime against man, which
no human enactment or usage can make right; and that Christianity,
humanity, and patriotism alike demand its abolition.
7. That the Fugitive Slave act of 1850 is repugnant to the
Constitution, to the principles of the common law, to the spirit
of Christianity, and to the sentiments of the civilized world. We
therefore deny its binding force upon the American people, and demand
its immediate and total repeal.
8. That the doctrine that any human law is a finality, and not subject
to modification or repeal, is not in accordance with the creed of the
founders of our Government, and is dangerous to the liberties of the
people.
9. That the acts of Congress known as the “Compromise” Measures of
1850—by making the admission of a sovereign State contingent upon
the adoption of other measures demanded by the special interest
of slavery; by their omission to guarantee freedom in the Free
Territories; by their attempt to impose unconstitutional limitations
on the power of Congress and the people to admit new States; by their
provisions for the assumption of five millions of the State debt of
Texas, and for the payment of five millions more and the cession of a
large territory to the same State under menace, as an inducement to
the relinquishment of a groundless claim; and by their invasion of the
sovereignty of the States and the liberties of the people, through
the enactment of an unjust, oppressive, and unconstitutional Fugitive
Slave law—are proved to be inconsistent with all the principles and
maxims of Democracy, and wholly inadequate to the settlement of the
questions of which they are claimed to be an adjustment.
10. That no permanent settlement of the slavery question can be looked
for except in the practical recognition of the truth that slavery is
sectional and freedom national; by the total separation of the General
Government from slavery, and the exercise of its legitimate and
constitutional influence on the side of freedom; and by leaving to the
States the whole subject of slavery and the extradition of fugitives
from service.
11. That all men have a natural right to a portion of the soil; and
that, as the use of the soil is indispensable to life, the right of
all men to the soil is as sacred as their right to life itself.