REMARKS MADE IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE 10TH OF JANUARY,
1838, UPON A RESOLUTION MOVED BY MR. CLAY AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE
RESOLUTION OFFERED BY MR. CALHOUN ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY IN THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
[On the 27th of December, 1837, a series of resolutions was moved in the
Senate by Mr. Calhoun, on the subject of slavery. The fifth of the
series was expressed in the following terms:--
"_Resolved_, That the intermeddling of any State, or States, or their
citizens, to abolish slavery in this District, or any of the
Territories, on the ground, or under the pretext, that it is immoral or
sinful, or the passage of any act or measure of Congress with that view,
would be a direct and dangerous attack on the institutions of all the
slave-holding States."
These resolutions were taken up for discussion on several successive
days. On the 10th of January, 1838, Mr. Clay moved the following
resolution, as a substitute for the fifth of Mr. Calhoun's series:--
"_Resolved_, That the interference, by the citizens of any of the
States, with the view to the abolition of slavery in this District, is
endangering the rights and security of the people of the District; and
that any act or measure of Congress, designed to abolish slavery in this
District, would be a violation of the faith implied in the cessions by
the States of Virginia and Maryland, a just cause of alarm to the people
of the slave-holding States, and have a direct and inevitable tendency
to disturb and endanger the Union."
On the subject of this amendment, Mr. Webster addressed the Senate as
follows.]
Mr. President,--I cannot concur in this resolution. I do not know any
matter of fact, or any ground of argument, on which this affirmation of
plighted faith can be sustained. I see nothing by which Congress has
tied up its hands, either directly or indirectly, so as to put its clear
constitutional power beyond the exercise of its own discretion. I have
carefully examined the acts of cession by the States, the act of
Congress, the proceedings and history of the times, and I find nothing
to lead me to doubt that it was the intention of all parties to leave
this, like other subjects belonging to legislation for the ceded
territory, entirely to the discretion and wisdom of Congress. The words
of the Constitution are clear and plain. None could be clearer or
plainer. Congress, by that instrument, has power to exercise exclusive
jurisdiction over the ceded territory, in all cases whatsoever. The acts
of cession contain no limitation, condition, or qualification whatever,
except that, out of abundant caution, there is inserted a _proviso_ that
nothing in the acts contained shall be construed to vest in the United
States any right of property in the soil, so as to affect the rights of
individuals therein, otherwise than as such individuals might themselves
transfer their right of soil to the United States. The acts of cession
declare, that the tract of country "is for ever ceded and relinquished
to Congress and to the government of the United States, in full and
absolute right and exclusive jurisdiction, as well of soil as of persons
residing or to reside therein, pursuant to the tenor and effect of the
eighth section of the first article of the Constitution of the United
States."
Now, that section, to which reference is thus expressly made in these
deeds of cession, declares, that Congress shall have power "to exercise
exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over such district, not
exceeding ten miles square, as may, by cession of particular States and
the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of the United
States."
Nothing, therefore, as it seems to me, can be clearer, than that the
States making the cession expected Congress to exercise over the
District precisely that power, and neither more nor less, which the
Constitution had conferred upon it. I do not know how the provision, or
the intention, either of the Constitution in granting the power, or of
the States in making the cession, could be expressed in a manner more
absolutely free from all doubt or ambiguity.
I see, therefore, nothing in the act of cession, and nothing in the
Constitution, and nothing in the history of this transaction, and
nothing in any other transaction, implying any limitation upon the
authority of Congress.
If the assertion contained in this resolution be true, a very strange
result, as it seems to me, must follow. The resolution affirms that the
faith of Congress is pledged, indefinitely. It makes no limitation of
time or circumstance. If this be so, then it is an obligation that binds
us for ever, as much as if it were one of the prohibitions of the
Constitution itself. And at all times hereafter, even if, in the course
of their history, availing themselves of events, or changing their views
of policy, the States themselves should make provision for the
emancipation of their slaves, the existing state of things could not be
changed, nevertheless, in this District. It does really seem to me,
that, if this resolution, in its terms, be true, though slavery in every
other part of the world may be abolished, yet in the metropolis of this
great republic it is established in perpetuity. This appears to me to be
the result of the doctrine of plighted faith, as stated in the
resolution.
In reply to Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Webster
said:--#/
The words of the resolution speak for themselves. They require no
comment. They express an unlimited plighted faith. The honorable member
will so see if he will look at those words. The gentleman asks whether
those who made the cession could have expected that Congress would ever
exercise such a power. To this I answer, that I see no reason to doubt
that the parties to the cession were as willing to leave this as to
leave other powers to the discretion of Congress. I see not the
slightest evidence of any especial fear, or any especial care or
concern, on the part of the ceding States, in regard to this particular
part of the jurisdiction ceded to Congress. And I think I can ask, on
the other side, a very important question for the consideration of the
gentleman himself, and for that of the Senate and the country; and that
is, Would Congress have accepted the cession with any such restraint
upon its constitutional power, either express or understood to be
implied? I think not. Looking back to the state of things then existing,
and especially to what Congress had so recently done, when it accepted
the cession of the Northwestern Territory, I entertain no doubt whatever
that Congress would have refused the cession altogether, if offered with
any condition or understanding that its constitutional authority to
exercise exclusive legislation over the District in all cases whatsoever
should be abridged.
The Senate will observe that I am speaking solely to the point of
plighted faith. Upon other parts of the resolution, and upon many other
things connected with it, I have said nothing. I only resist the
imposition of new obligations, or a new prohibition, not to be found, as
I think, either in the Constitution or any act of Congress. I have said
nothing on the expediency of abolition, immediate or gradual, or the
reasons which ought to weigh with Congress should that question be
proposed. I can, however, well conceive what would, as I think, be a
natural and fair mode of reasoning on such an occasion.
When it is said, for instance, by way of argument, that Congress,
although it have the power, ought not to take a lead in the business of
abolition, considering that the interest which the United States have in
the whole subject is vastly less than that which States have in it, I
can understand the propriety and pertinency of the observation. It is,
as far as it goes, a pertinent and appropriate argument, and I shall
always be ready to give it the full weight belonging to it. When it is
argued that, in a case so vital to the States, the States themselves
should be allowed to maintain their own policy, and that the government
of the United States ought not to do any thing which shall, directly or
indirectly, shake or disturb that policy, this is a line of argument
which I can understand, whatever weight I may be disposed to give to it;
for I have always not only admitted, but insisted, that slavery within
the States is a subject belonging absolutely and exclusively to the
States themselves.
But the present is not an attempt to establish any such course of
reasoning as this. The attempt is to set up a pledge of the public
faith, to do the same office that a constitutional prohibition in terms
would do; that is, to set up a direct bar, precluding all exercise of
the discretion of Congress over the subject. It has been often said, in
this debate, and I believe it is true, that a decided majority of the
Senate do believe that Congress has a clear constitutional power over
slavery in this District. But while this constitutional right is
admitted, it is at the same moment attempted effectually to counteract,
overthrow, and do away with it, by the affirmation of plighted faith, as
asserted in the resolution before us.
Now, I have already said I know of nothing to support this affirmation.
Neither in the acts of cession, nor in the act of Congress accepting it,
nor in any other document, history, publication, or transaction, do I
know of a single fact or suggestion supporting this proposition, or
tending to support it. Nor has any gentleman, so far as I know, pointed
out, or attempted to point out, any such fact, document, transaction, or
other evidence. All is left to the general and repeated statement, that
such a condition must have been intended by the States. Of all this I
see no proof whatever. I see no evidence of any desire on the part of
the States thus to limit the power of Congress, or thus to require a
pledge against its exercise. And, indeed, if this were made out, the
intention of Congress, as well as that of the States, must be inquired
into. Nothing short of a clear and manifest intention of both parties,
proved by proper evidence, can amount to plighted faith. The expectation
or intent of one party, founded on something not provided for nor hinted
at in the transaction itself, cannot plight the faith of the other
party.
In short, I am altogether unable to see any ground for supposing that
either party to the cession had any mental reservation, any unexpressed
expectation, or relied on any implied, but unmentioned and unsuggested
pledge, whatever. By the Constitution, if a district should be ceded to
it for the seat of government, Congress was to have a right, in express
terms, to exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever. The
cession was made and accepted in pursuance of this power. Both parties
knew well what they were doing. Both parties knew that by the cession
the States surrendered all jurisdiction, and Congress acquired all
jurisdiction; and this is the whole transaction.
As to any provision in the acts of cession stipulating for the security
of property, there is none, excepting only what I have already stated;
the condition, namely, that no right of individuals to the soil should
be construed to be transferred, but only the jurisdiction. But, no
doubt, all rights of property ought to be duly respected by Congress,
and all other legislatures.
And since the subject of compensation to the owners of emancipated
slaves has been referred to, I take occasion to say, that if Congress
should think that a wise, just, and politic legislation for this
District required it to make compensation for slaves emancipated here,
it has the same constitutional authority to make such compensation as to
make grants for roads and bridges, almshouses, penitentiaries, and other
similar objects, in the District. A general and absolute power of
legislation carries with it all the necessary and just incidents
belonging to such legislation.
Mr. Clay having made some remarks in reply, Mr. Webster
rejoined:--#/
The honorable member from Kentucky asks the Senate to suppose the
opposite case; to suppose that the seat of government had been fixed in
a free State, Pennsylvania, for example; and that Congress had attempted
to establish slavery in a district over which, as here, it had thus
exclusive legislation. He asks whether, in that case, Congress could
establish slavery in such a place. This mode of changing the question
does not, I think, vary the argument; and I answer, at once, that,
however improbable or improper such an act might be, yet, if the power
were universal, absolute, and without restriction, it might
unquestionably be so exercised. No limitation being expressed or
intimated in the grant itself, or any other proceeding of the parties,
none could be implied.
And in the other cases, of forts, arsenals, and dock-yards, if Congress
has exclusive and absolute legislative power, it must, of course, have
the power, if it could be supposed to be guilty of such folly, whether
proposed to be exercised in a district within a free State, to establish
slavery, or in a district in a slave State, to abolish or regulate it.
If it be a district over which Congress has, as it has in this District,
unlimited power of legislation, it seems to me that whatever would stay
the exercise of this power, in either case, must be drawn from
discretion, from reasons of justice and true policy, from those high
considerations which ought to influence Congress in questions of such
extreme delicacy and importance; and to all these considerations I am
willing, and always shall be willing, I trust, to give full weight. But
I cannot, in conscience, say that the power so clearly conferred on
Congress by the Constitution, as a power to be exercised, like others,
at its own discretion, is immediately taken away again by an implied
faith that it shall not be exercised at all.