Mr. President,--I wish to speak to-day, not as a Massachusetts man, nor
as a Northern man, but as an American, and a member of the Senate of the
United States. It is fortunate that there is a Senate of the United
States; a body not yet moved from its propriety, not lost to a just
sense of its own dignity and its own high responsibilities, and a body
to which the country looks, with confidence, for wise, moderate,
patriotic, and healing counsels. It is not to be denied that we live in
the midst of strong agitations, and are surrounded by very considerable
dangers to our institutions and government. The imprisoned winds are let
loose. The East, the North, and the stormy South combine to throw the
whole sea into commotion, to toss its billows to the skies, and disclose
its profoundest depths. I do not affect to regard myself, Mr. President,
as holding, or as fit to hold, the helm in this combat with the
political elements; but I have a duty to perform, and I mean to perform
it with fidelity, not without a sense of existing dangers, but not
without hope. I have a part to act, not for my own security or safety,
for I am looking out for no fragment upon which to float away from the
wreck, if wreck there must be, but for the good of the whole, and the
preservation of all; and there is that which will keep me to my duty
during this struggle, whether the sun and the stars shall appear, or
shall not appear, for many days. I speak to-day for the preservation of
the Union. "Hear me for my cause." I speak to-day, out of a solicitous
and anxious heart, for the restoration to the country of that quiet and
that harmony which make the blessings of this Union so rich, and so dear
to us all. These are the topics that I propose to myself to discuss;
these are the motives, and the sole motives, that influence me in the
wish to communicate my opinions to the Senate and the country; and if I
can do any thing, however little, for the promotion of these ends, I
shall have accomplished all that I expect.
Mr. President, it may not be amiss to recur very briefly to the events
which, equally sudden and extraordinary, have brought the country into
its present political condition. In May, 1846, the United States
declared war against Mexico. Our armies, then on the frontiers, entered
the provinces of that republic, met and defeated all her troops,
penetrated her mountain passes, and occupied her capital. The marine
force of the United States took possession of her forts and her towns,
on the Atlantic and on the Pacific. In less than two years a treaty was
negotiated, by which Mexico ceded to the United States a vast territory,
extending seven or eight hundred miles along the shores of the Pacific,
and reaching back over the mountains, and across the desert, until it
joins the frontier of the State of Texas. It so happened, in the
distracted and feeble condition of the Mexican government, that, before
the declaration of war by the United States against Mexico had become
known in California, the people of California, under the lead of
American officers, overthrew the existing Mexican provincial government,
and raised an independent flag. When the news arrived at San Francisco
that war had been declared by the United States against Mexico, this
independent flag was pulled down, and the stars and stripes of this
Union hoisted in its stead. So, Sir, before the war was over, the forces
of the United States, military and naval, had possession of San
Francisco and Upper California, and a great rush of emigrants from
various parts of the world took place into California in 1846 and 1847.
But now behold another wonder.
In January of 1848, a party of Mormons made a discovery of an
extraordinarily rich mine of gold, or rather of a great quantity of
gold, hardly proper to be called a mine, for it was spread near the
surface, on the lower part of the south, or American, branch of the
Sacramento. They attempted to conceal their discovery for some time; but
soon another discovery of gold, perhaps of greater importance, was made,
on another part of the American branch of the Sacramento, and near
Sutter's Fort, as it is called. The fame of these discoveries spread far
and wide. They inflamed more and more the spirit of emigration towards
California, which had already been excited; and adventurers crowded into
the country by hundreds, and flocked towards the Bay of San Francisco.
This, as I have said, took place in the winter and spring of 1848. The
digging commenced in the spring of that year, and from that time to this
the work of searching for gold has been prosecuted with a success not
heretofore known in the history of this globe. You recollect, Sir, how
incredulous at first the American public was at the accounts which
reached us of these discoveries but we all know, now, that these
accounts received, and continue to receive, daily confirmation, and down
to the present moment I suppose the assurance is as strong, after the
experience of these several months, of the existence of deposits of gold
apparently inexhaustible in the regions near San Francisco, in
California, as it was at any period of the earlier dates of the
accounts.
It so happened, Sir, that although, after the return of peace, it became
a very important subject for legislative consideration and legislative
decision to provide a proper territorial government for California, yet
differences of opinion between the two houses of Congress prevented the
establishment of any such territorial government at the last session.
Under this state of things, the inhabitants of California, already
amounting to a considerable number, thought it to be their duty, in the
summer of last year, to establish a local government. Under the
proclamation of General Riley, the people chose delegates to a
convention, and that convention met at Monterey. It formed a
constitution for the State of California, which, being referred to the
people, was adopted by them in their primary assemblages. Desirous of
immediate connection with the United States, its Senators were appointed
and Representatives chosen, who have come hither, bringing with them the
authentic constitution of the State of California; and they now present
themselves, asking, in behalf of their constituents, that it may be
admitted into this Union as one of the United States. This constitution,
Sir, contains an express prohibition of slavery, or involuntary
servitude, in the State of California. It is said, and I suppose truly,
that, of the members who composed that convention, some sixteen were
natives of, and had been residents in, the slave-holding States, about
twenty-two were from the non-slaveholding States, and the remaining ten
members were either native Californians or old settlers in that country.
This prohibition of slavery, it is said, was inserted with entire
unanimity.
It is this circumstance, Sir, the prohibition of slavery, which has
contributed to raise, I do not say it has wholly raised, the dispute as
to the propriety of the admission of California into the Union under
this constitution. It is not to be denied, Mr. President, nobody thinks
of denying, that, whatever reasons were assigned at the commencement of
the late war with Mexico, it was prosecuted for the purpose of the
acquisition of territory, and under the alleged argument that the
cession of territory was the only form in which proper compensation
could be obtained by the United States, from Mexico, for the various
claims and demands which the people of this country had against that
government. At any rate, it will be found that President Polk's message,
at the commencement of the session of December, 1847, avowed that the
war was to be prosecuted until some acquisition of territory should be
made. As the acquisition was to be south of the line of the United
States, in warm climates and countries, it was naturally, I suppose,
expected by the South, that whatever acquisitions were made in that
region would be added to the slave-holding portion of the United States.
Very little of accurate information was possessed of the real physical
character, either of California or New Mexico, and events have not
turned out as was expected. Both California and New Mexico are likely to
come in as free States; and therefore some degree of disappointment and
surprise has resulted. In other words, it is obvious that the question
which has so long harassed the country, and at some times very seriously
alarmed the minds of wise and good men, has come upon us for a fresh
discussion,--the question of slavery in these United States.
Now, Sir, I propose, perhaps at the expense of some detail and
consequent detention of the Senate, to review historically this
question, which, partly in consequence of its own importance, and
partly, perhaps mostly, in consequence of the manner in which it has
been discussed in different portions of the country, has been a source
of so much alienation and unkind feeling between them.
We all know, Sir, that slavery has existed in the world from time
immemorial. There was slavery, in the earliest periods of history, among
the Oriental nations. There was slavery among the Jews; the theocratic
government of that people issued no injunction against it. There was
slavery among the Greeks; and the ingenious philosophy of the Greeks
found, or sought to find, a justification for it exactly upon the
grounds which have been assumed for such a justification in this
country; that is, a natural and original difference among the races of
mankind, and the inferiority of the black or colored race to the white.
The Greeks justified their system of slavery upon that idea, precisely.
They held the African and some of the Asiatic tribes to be inferior to
the white race; but they did not show, I think, by any close process of
logic, that, if this were true, the more intelligent and the stronger
had therefore a right to subjugate the weaker.
The more manly philosophy and jurisprudence of the Romans placed the
justification of slavery on entirely different grounds. The Roman
jurists, from the first and down to the fall of the empire, admitted
that slavery was against the natural law, by which, as they maintained,
all men, of whatsoever clime, color, or capacity, were equal; but they
justified slavery, first, upon the ground and authority of the law of
nations, arguing, and arguing truly, that at that day the conventional
law of nations admitted that captives in war, whose lives, according to
the notions of the times, were at the absolute disposal of the captors,
might, in exchange for exemption from death, be made slaves for life,
and that such servitude might descend to their posterity. The jurists of
Rome also maintained, that, by the civil law, there might be servitude
or slavery, personal and hereditary; first, by the voluntary act of an
individual, who might sell himself into slavery; secondly, by his being
reduced into a state of slavery by his creditors, in satisfaction of his
debts; and, thirdly, by being placed in a state of servitude or slavery
for crime. At the introduction of Christianity, the Roman world was full
of slaves, and I suppose there is to be found no injunction against that
relation between man and man in the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ or of any of his Apostles. The object of the instruction imparted
to mankind by the Founder of Christianity was to touch the heart, purify
the soul, and improve the lives of individual men. That object went
directly to the first fountain of all the political and social relations
of the human race, as well as of all true religious feeling, the
individual heart and mind of man.
Now, Sir, upon the general nature and influence of slavery there exists
a wide difference of opinion between the northern portion of this
country and the southern. It is said on the one side, that, although not
the subject of any injunction or direct prohibition in the New
Testament, slavery is a wrong; that it is founded merely in the right of
the strongest; and that it is an oppression, like unjust wars, like all
those conflicts by which a powerful nation subjects a weaker to its
will; and that, in its nature, whatever may be said of it in the
modifications which have taken place, it is not according to the meek
spirit of the Gospel. It is not "kindly affectioned"; it does not "seek
another's, and not its own"; it does not "let the oppressed go free."
These are sentiments that are cherished, and of late with greatly
augmented force, among the people of the Northern States. They have
taken hold of the religious sentiment of that part of the country, as
they have, more or less, taken hold of the religious feelings of a
considerable portion of mankind. The South, upon the other side, having
been accustomed to this relation between the two races all their lives,
from their birth, having been taught, in general, to treat the subjects
of this bondage with care and kindness, and I believe, in general,
feeling great kindness for them, have not taken the view of the subject
which I have mentioned. There are thousands of religious men, with
consciences as tender as any of their brethren at the North, who do not
see the unlawfulness of slavery; and there are more thousands, perhaps,
that, whatsoever they may think of it in its origin, and as a matter
depending upon natural right, yet take things as they are, and, finding
slavery to be an established relation of the society in which they live,
can see no way in which, let their opinions on the abstract question be
what they may, it is in the power of the present generation to relieve
themselves from this relation. And candor obliges me to say, that I
believe they are just as conscientious, many of them, and the religious
people, all of them, as they are at the North who hold different
opinions.
The honorable Senator from South Carolina[1] the other day alluded to
the separation of that great religious community, the Methodist
Episcopal Church. That separation was brought about by differences of
opinion upon this particular subject of slavery. I felt great concern,
as that dispute went on, about the result. I was in hopes that the
difference of opinion might be adjusted, because I looked upon that
religious denomination as one of the great props of religion and morals
throughout the whole country, from Maine to Georgia, and westward to our
utmost western boundary. The result was against my wishes and against my
hopes. I have read all their proceedings and all their arguments; but I
have never yet been able to come to the conclusion that there was any
real ground for that separation; in other words, that any good could be
produced by that separation. I must say I think there was some want of
candor and charity. Sir, when a question of this kind seizes on the
religious sentiments of mankind, and comes to be discussed in religious
assemblies of the clergy and laity, there is always to be expected, or
always to be feared, a great degree of excitement. It is in the nature
of man, manifested by his whole history, that religious disputes are apt
to become warm in proportion to the strength of the convictions which
men entertain of the magnitude of the questions at issue. In all such
disputes, there will sometimes be found men with whom every thing is
absolute; absolutely wrong, or absolutely right. They see the right
clearly; they think others ought so to see it, and they are disposed to
establish a broad line, of distinction between what is right and what is
wrong. They are not seldom willing to establish that line upon their own
convictions of truth and justice; and are ready to mark and guard it by
placing along it a series of dogmas, as lines of boundary on the earth's
surface are marked by posts and stones. There are men who, with clear
perceptions, as they think, of their own duty, do not see how too eager
a pursuit of one duty may involve them in the violation of others, or
how too warm an embracement of one truth may lead to a disregard of
other truths equally important. As I heard it stated strongly, not many
days ago, these persons are disposed to mount upon some particular duty,
as upon a war-horse, and to drive furiously on and upon and over all
other duties that may stand in the way. There are men who, in reference
to disputes of that sort, are of opinion that human duties may be
ascertained with the exactness of mathematics. They deal with morals as
with mathematics; and they think what is right may be distinguished from
what is wrong with the precision of an algebraic equation. They have,
therefore, none too much charity towards others who differ from them.
They are apt, too, to think that nothing is good but what is perfect,
and that there are no compromises or modifications to be made in
consideration of difference of opinion or in deference to other men's
judgment. If their perspicacious vision enables them to detect a spot on
the face of the sun, they think that a good reason why the sun should be
struck down from heaven. They prefer the chance of running into utter
darkness to living in heavenly light, if that heavenly light be not
absolutely without any imperfection. There are impatient men; too
impatient always to give heed to the admonition of St. Paul, that we are
not to "do evil that good may come"; too impatient to wait for the slow
progress of moral causes in the improvement of mankind. They do not
remember that the doctrines and the miracles of Jesus Christ have, in
eighteen hundred years, converted only a small portion of the human
race; and among the nations that are converted to Christianity, they
forget how many vices and crimes, public and private, still prevail, and
that many of them, public crimes especially, which are so clearly
offences against the Christian religion, pass without exciting
particular indignation. Thus wars are waged, and unjust wars. I do not
deny that there may be just wars. There certainly are; but it was the
remark of an eminent person, not many years ago, on the other side of
the Atlantic, that it is one of the greatest reproaches to human nature
that wars are sometimes just. The defence of nations sometimes causes a
just war against the injustice of other nations. In this state of
sentiment upon the general nature of slavery lies the cause of a great
part of those unhappy divisions, exasperations, and reproaches which
find vent and support in different parts of the Union.
But we must view things as they are. Slavery does exist in the United
States. It did exist in the States before the adoption of this
Constitution, and at that time. Let us, therefore, consider for a moment
what was the state of sentiment, North and South, in regard to slavery,
at the time this Constitution was adopted. A remarkable change has taken
place since; but what did the wise and great men of all parts of the
country think of slavery then? In what estimation did they hold it at
the time when this Constitution was adopted? It will be found, Sir, if
we will carry ourselves by historical research back to that day, and
ascertain men's opinions by authentic records still existing among us,
that there was then no diversity of opinion between the North and the
South upon the subject of slavery. It will be found that both parts of
the country held it equally an evil,--a moral and political evil. It
will not be found that, either at the North or at the South, there was
much, though there was some, invective against slavery as inhuman and
cruel. The great ground of objection to it was political; that it
weakened the social fabric; that, taking the place of free labor,
society became less strong and labor less productive; and therefore we
find from all the eminent men of the time the clearest expression of
their opinion that slavery is an evil. They ascribed its existence here,
not without truth, and not without some acerbity of temper and force of
language, to the injurious policy of the mother country, who, to favor
the navigator, had entailed these evils upon the Colonies. I need hardly
refer, Sir, particularly to the publications of the day. They are
matters of history on the record. The eminent men, the most eminent men,
and nearly all the conspicuous politicians of the South, held the same
sentiments,--that slavery was an evil, a blight, a scourge, and a curse.
There are no terms of reprobation of slavery so vehement in the North at
that day as in the South. The North was not so much excited against it
as the South; and the reason is, I suppose, that there was much less of
it at the North, and the people did not see, or think they saw, the
evils so prominently as they were seen, or thought to be seen, at the
South.
Then, Sir, when this Constitution was framed, this was the light in
which the Federal Convention viewed it. That body reflected the judgment
and sentiments of the great men of the South. A member of the other
house, whom I have not the honor to know, has, in a recent speech,
collected extracts from these public documents. They prove the truth of
what I am saying, and the question then was, how to deal with it, and
how to deal with it as an evil. They came to this general result. They
thought that slavery could not be continued in the country if the
importation of slaves were made to cease, and therefore they provided
that, after a certain period, the importation might be prevented by the
act of the new government. The period of twenty years was proposed by
some gentleman from the North, I think, and many members of the
Convention from the South opposed it as being too long. Mr. Madison
especially was somewhat warm against it. He said it would bring too much
of this mischief into the country to allow the importation of slaves for
such a period. Because we must take along with us, in the whole of this
discussion, when we are considering the sentiments and opinions in which
the constitutional provision originated, that the conviction of all men
was, that, if the importation of slaves ceased, the white race would
multiply faster than the black race, and that slavery would therefore
gradually wear out and expire. It may not be improper here to allude to
that, I had almost said, celebrated opinion of Mr. Madison. You observe,
Sir, that the term _slave_, or _slavery_, is not used in the
Constitution. The Constitution does not require that "fugitive slaves"
shall be delivered up. It requires that persons held to service in one
State, and escaping into another, shall be delivered up. Mr. Madison
opposed the introduction of the term _slave_, or _slavery_, into the
Constitution; for he said that he did not wish to see it recognized by
the Constitution of the United States of America that there could be
property in men.
Now, Sir, all this took place in the Convention in 1787; but connected
with this, concurrent and contemporaneous, is another important
transaction, not sufficiently attended to. The Convention for framing
this Constitution assembled in Philadelphia in May, and sat until
September, 1787. During all that time the Congress of the United States
was in session at New York. It was a matter of design, as we know, that
the Convention should not assemble in the same city where Congress was
holding its sessions. Almost all the public men of the country,
therefore, of distinction and eminence, were in one or the other of
these two assemblies; and I think it happened, in some instances, that
the same gentlemen were members of both bodies. If I mistake not, such
was the case with Mr. Rufus King, then a member of Congress from
Massachusetts. Now, at the very time when the Convention in Philadelphia
was framing this Constitution, the Congress in New York was framing the
Ordinance of 1787, for the organization and government of the territory
northwest of the Ohio. They passed that Ordinance on the 13th of July,
1787, at New York, the very month, perhaps the very day, on which these
questions about the importation of slaves and the character of slavery
were debated in the Convention at Philadelphia. So far as we can now
learn, there was a perfect concurrence of opinion between these two
bodies; and it resulted in this Ordinance of 1787, excluding slavery
from all the territory over which the Congress of the United States had
jurisdiction, and that was all the territory northwest of the Ohio.
Three years before, Virginia and other States had made a cession of that
great territory to the United States; and a most munificent act it was.
I never reflect upon it without a disposition to do honor and justice,
and justice would be the highest honor, to Virginia, for the cession of
her northwestern territory. I will say, Sir, it is one of her fairest
claims to the respect and gratitude of the country, and that, perhaps,
it is only second to that other claim which belongs to her,--that from
her counsels, and from the intelligence and patriotism of her leading
statesmen, proceeded the first idea put into practice of the formation
of a general constitution of the United States. The Ordinance of 1787
applied to the whole territory over which the Congress of the United
States had jurisdiction. It was adopted two years before the
Constitution of the United States went into operation; because the
Ordinance took effect immediately on its passage, while the Constitution
of the United States, having been framed, was to be sent to the States
to be adopted by their conventions; and then a government was to be
organized under it. This Ordinance, then, was in operation and force
when the Constitution was adopted, and the government put in motion, in
April, 1789.
Mr. President, three things are quite clear as historical truths. One
is, that there was an expectation that, on the ceasing of the
importation of slaves from Africa, slavery would begin to run out here.
That was hoped and expected. Another is, that, as far as there was any
power in Congress to prevent the spread of slavery in the United States,
that power was executed in the most absolute manner, and to the fullest
extent. An honorable member,[2] whose health does not allow him to be
here to-day--
A SENATOR. He is here.
I am very happy to hear that he is; may he long be here, and in the
enjoyment of health to serve his country! The honorable member said, the
other day, that he considered this Ordinance as the first in the series
of measures calculated to enfeeble the South, and deprive them of their
just participation in the benefits and privileges of this government. He
says, very properly, that it was enacted under the old Confederation,
and before this Constitution went into effect; but my present purpose is
only to say, Mr. President, that it was established with the entire and
unanimous concurrence of the whole South. Why, there it stands! The vote
of every State in the Union was unanimous in favor of the Ordinance,
with the exception of a single individual vote, and that individual vote
was given by a Northern man. This Ordinance prohibiting slavery for ever
northwest of the Ohio has the hand and seal of every Southern member in
Congress. It was therefore no aggression of the North on the South. The
other and third clear historical truth is, that the Convention meant to
leave slavery in the States as they found it, entirely under the
authority and control of the States themselves.
This was the state of things, Sir, and this the state of opinion, under
which those very important matters were arranged, and those three
important things done; that is, the establishment of the Constitution of
the United States with a recognition of slavery as it existed in the
States; the establishment of the ordinance for the government of the
Northwestern Territory, prohibiting, to the full extent of all territory
owned by the United States, the introduction of slavery into that
territory, while leaving to the States all power over slavery in their
own limits; and creating a power, in the new government, to put an end
to the importation of slaves, after a limited period. There was entire
coincidence and concurrence of sentiment between the North and the
South, upon all these questions, at the period of the adoption of the
Constitution. But opinions, Sir, have changed, greatly changed; changed
North and changed South. Slavery is not regarded in the South now as it
was then. I see an honorable member of this body paying me the honor of
listening to my remarks;[3] he brings to my mind, Sir, freshly and
vividly, what I have learned of his great ancestor, so much
distinguished in his day and generation, so worthy to be succeeded by so
worthy a grandson, and of the sentiments he expressed in the Convention
in Philadelphia.[4]
Here we may pause. There was, if not an entire unanimity, a general
concurrence of sentiment running through the whole community, and
especially entertained by the eminent men of all parts of the country.
But soon a change began, at the North and the South, and a difference of
opinion showed itself; the North growing much more warm and strong
against slavery, and the South growing much more warm and strong in its
support. Sir, there is no generation of mankind whose opinions are not
subject to be influenced by what appear to them to be their present
emergent and exigent interests. I impute to the South no particularly
selfish view in the change which has come over her. I impute to her
certainly no dishonest view. All that has happened has been natural. It
has followed those causes which always influence the human mind and
operate upon it. What, then, have been the causes which have created so
new a feeling in favor of slavery in the South, which have changed the
whole nomenclature of the South on that subject, so that, from being
thought and described in the terms I have mentioned and will not repeat,
it has now become an institution, a cherished institution, in that
quarter; no evil, no scourge, but a great religious, social, and moral
blessing, as I think I have heard it latterly spoken of? I suppose this,
Sir, is owing to the rapid growth and sudden extension of the COTTON
plantations of the South. So far as any motive consistent with honor,
justice, and general judgment could act, it was the COTTON interest that
gave a new desire to promote slavery, to spread it, and to use its
labor. I again say that this change was produced by causes which must
always produce like effects. The whole interest of the South became
connected, more or less, with the extension of slavery. If we look back
to the history of the commerce of this country in the early years of
this government, what were our exports? Cotton was hardly, or but to a
very limited extent, known. In 1791 the first parcel of cotton of the
growth of the United States was exported, and amounted only to 19,200
pounds.[5] It has gone on increasing rapidly, until the whole crop may
now, perhaps, in a season of great product and high prices, amount to a
hundred millions of dollars. In the years I have mentioned, there was
more of wax, more of indigo, more of rice, more of almost every article
of export from the South, than of cotton. When Mr. Jay negotiated the
treaty of 1794 with England, it is evident from the twelfth article of
the treaty, which was suspended by the Senate, that he did not know that
cotton was exported at all from the United States.
Well, Sir, we know what followed. The age of cotton became the golden
age of our Southern brethren. It gratified their desire for improvement
and accumulation, at the same time that it excited it. The desire grew
by what it fed upon, and there soon came to be an eagerness for other
territory, a new area or new areas for the cultivation of the cotton
crop; and measures leading to this result were brought about rapidly,
one after another, under the lead of Southern men at the head of the
government, they having a majority in both branches of Congress to
accomplish their ends. The honorable member from South Carolina[6]
observed that there has been a majority all along in favor of the North.
If that be true, Sir, the North has acted either very liberally and
kindly, or very weakly; for they never exercised that majority
efficiently five times in the history of the government, when a division
or trial of strength arose. Never. Whether they were outgeneralled, or
whether it was owing to other causes, I shall not stop to consider; but
no man acquainted with the history of the Union can deny that the
general lead in the politics of the country, for three fourths of the
period that has elapsed since the adoption of the Constitution, has been
a Southern lead.
In 1802, in pursuit of the idea of opening a new cotton region, the
United States obtained a cession from Georgia of the whole of her
western territory, now embracing the rich and growing States of Alabama
and Mississippi. In 1803 Louisiana was purchased from France, out of
which the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri have been framed,
as slave-holding States. In 1819 the cession of Florida was made,
bringing in another region adapted to cultivation by slaves. Sir, the
honorable member from South Carolina thought he saw in certain
operations of the government, such as the manner of collecting the
revenue, and the tendency of measures calculated to promote emigration
into the country, what accounts for the more rapid growth of the North
than the South. He ascribes that more rapid growth, not to the operation
of time, but to the system of government and administration established
under this Constitution. That is matter of opinion. To a certain extent
it may be true; but it does seem to me that, if any operation of the
government can be shown in any degree to have promoted the population,
and growth, and wealth of the North, it is much more sure that there are
sundry important and distinct operations of the government, about which
no man can doubt, tending to promote, and which absolutely have
promoted, the increase of the slave interest and the slave territory of
the South. It was not time that brought in Louisiana; it was the act of
men. It was not time that brought in Florida; it was the act of men. And
lastly, Sir, to complete those acts of legislation which have
contributed so much to enlarge the area of the institution of slavery,
Texas, great and vast and illimitable Texas, was added to the Union as a
slave State in 1845; and that, Sir, pretty much closed the whole
chapter, and settled the whole account.
That closed the whole chapter and settled the whole account, because the
annexation of Texas, upon the conditions and under the guaranties upon
which she was admitted, did not leave within the control of this
government an acre of land, capable of being cultivated by slave labor,
between this Capitol and the Rio Grande or the Nueces, or whatever is
the proper boundary of Texas; not an acre. From that moment, the whole
country, from this place to the western boundary of Texas, was fixed,
pledged, fastened, decided, to be slave territory for ever, by the
solemn guaranties of law. And I now say, Sir, as the proposition upon
which I stand this day, and upon the truth and firmness of which I
intend to act until it is overthrown, that there is not at this moment
within the United States, or any territory of the United States, a
single foot of land, the character of which, in regard to its being free
territory or slave territory, is not fixed by some law, and some
irrepealable law, beyond the power of the action of the government. Is
it not so with respect to Texas? It is most manifestly so. The honorable
member from South Carolina, at the time of the admission of Texas, held
an important post in the executive department of the government; he was
Secretary of State. Another eminent person of great activity and
adroitness in affairs, I mean the late Secretary of the Treasury,[7] was
a conspicuous member of this body, and took the lead in the business of
annexation, in co-operation with the Secretary of State; and I must say
that they did their business faithfully and thoroughly; there was no
botch left in it. They rounded it off, and made as close joiner-work as
ever was exhibited. Resolutions of annexation were brought into
Congress, fitly joined together, compact, efficient, conclusive upon the
great object which they had in view, and those resolutions passed.
Allow me to read a part of these resolutions. It is the third clause of
the second section of the resolution of the 1st of March, 1845, for the
admission of Texas, which applies to this part of the case. That clause
is as follows:--
"New States, of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in
addition to said State of Texas, and having sufficient population,
may hereafter, by the consent of said State, he formed out of the
territory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the
provisions of the Federal Constitution. And such States as may be
formed out of that portion of said territory lying south of
thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, commonly known as
the Missouri Compromise line, shall be admitted into the Union with
or without slavery, as the people of each State asking admission
may desire; and in such State or States as shall be formed out of
said territory north of said Missouri Compromise line, slavery or
involuntary servitude (except for crime) shall be prohibited."
Now what is here stipulated, enacted, and secured? It is, that all Texas
south of 36° 30', which is nearly the whole of it, shall be admitted
into the Union as a slave State. It was a slave State, and therefore
came in as a slave State; and the guaranty is, that new States shall be
made out of it, to the number of four, in addition to the State then in
existence and admitted at that time by these resolutions, and that such
States as are formed out of that portion of Texas lying south of 36° 30'
may come in as slave States. I know no form of legislation which can
strengthen this. I know no mode of recognition that can add a tittle of
weight to it. I listened respectfully to the resolutions of my honorable
friend from Tennessee.[8] He proposed to recognize that stipulation with
Texas. But any additional recognition would weaken the force of it;
because it stands here on the ground of a contract, a thing done for a
consideration. It is a law founded on a contract with Texas, and
designed to carry that contract into effect. A recognition now, founded
not on any consideration, or any contract, would not be so strong as it
now stands on the face of the resolution. I know no way, I candidly
confess, in which this government, acting in good faith, as I trust it
always will, can relieve itself from that stipulation and pledge, by any
honest course of legislation whatever. And therefore I say again, that,
so far as Texas is concerned, in the whole of that State south of 36°
30', which, I suppose, embraces all the territory capable of slave
cultivation, there is no land, not an acre, the character of which is
not established by law; a law which cannot be repealed without the
violation of a contract, and plain disregard of the public faith.
I hope, Sir, it is now apparent that my proposition, so far as it
respects Texas, has been maintained, and that the provision in this
article is clear and absolute; and it has been well suggested by my
friend from Rhode Island,[9] that that part of Texas which lies north of
36° 30' of north latitude, and which may be formed into free States, is
dependent, in like manner, upon the consent of Texas, herself a slave
State.
Now, Sir, how came this? How came it to pass that within these walls,
where it is said by the honorable member from South Carolina that the
free States have always had a majority, this resolution of annexation,
such as I have described it, obtained a majority in both houses of
Congress? Sir, it obtained that majority by the great number of Northern
votes added to the entire Southern vote, or at least nearly the whole of
the Southern vote. The aggregate was made up of Northern and Southern
votes. In the House of Representatives there were about eighty Southern
votes and about fifty Northern votes for the admission of Texas. In the
Senate the vote for the admission of Texas was twenty-seven, and
twenty-five against it; and of those twenty-seven votes, constituting
the majority, no less than thirteen came from the free States, and four
of them were from New England. The whole of these thirteen Senators,
constituting within a fraction, you see, one half of all the votes in
this body for the admission of this immeasurable extent of slave
territory, were sent here by free States.
Sir, there is not so remarkable a chapter in our history of political
events, political parties, and political men as is afforded by this
admission of a new slave-holding territory, so vast that a bird cannot
fly over it in a week. New England, as I have said, with some of her own
votes, supported this measure. Three fourths of the votes of
liberty-loving Connecticut were given for it in the other house, and one
half here. There was one vote for it from Maine, but, I am happy to say,
not the vote of the honorable member who addressed the Senate the day
before yesterday,[10] and who was then a Representative from Maine in
the House of Representatives; but there was one vote from Maine, ay, and
there was one vote for it from Massachusetts, given by a gentleman then
representing, and now living in, the district in which the prevalence of
Free Soil sentiment for a couple of years or so has defeated the choice
of any member to represent it in Congress. Sir, that body of Northern
and Eastern men who gave those votes at that time are now seen taking
upon themselves, in the nomenclature of politics, the appellation of the
Northern Democracy. They undertook to wield the destinies of this
empire, if I may give that name to a republic, and their policy was, and
they persisted in it, to bring into this country and under this
government all the territory they could. They did it, in the case of
Texas, under pledges, absolute pledges, to the slave interest, and they
afterwards lent their aid in bringing in these new conquests, to take
their chance for slavery or freedom. My honorable friend from
Georgia,[11] in March, 1847, moved the Senate to declare that the war
ought not to be prosecuted for the conquest of Territory, or for the
dismemberment of Mexico. The whole of the Northern Democracy voted
against it. He did not get a vote from them. It suited the patriotic and
elevated sentiments of the Northern Democracy to bring in a world from
among the mountains and valleys of California and New Mexico, or any
other part of Mexico, and then quarrel about it; to bring it in, and
then endeavor to put upon it the saving grace of the Wilmot Proviso.
There were two eminent and highly respectable gentlemen from the North
and East, then leading gentlemen in the Senate, (I refer, and I do so
with entire respect, for I entertain for both of those gentlemen, in
general, high regard, to Mr. Dix of New York and Mr. Niles of
Connecticut,) who both voted for the admission of Texas. They would not
have that vote any other way than as it stood; and they would have it as
it did stand. I speak of the vote upon the annexation of Texas. Those
two gentlemen would have the resolution of annexation just as it is,
without amendment; and they voted for it just as it is, and their eyes
were all open to its true character. The honorable member from South
Carolina who addressed us the other day was then Secretary of State. His
correspondence with Mr. Murphy, the Chargé d'Affaires of the United
States in Texas, had been published. That correspondence was all before
those gentlemen, and the Secretary had the boldness and candor to avow
in that correspondence, that the great object sought by the annexation
of Texas was to strengthen the slave interest of the South. Why, Sir,
he said so in so many words--
MR. CALHOUN. Will the honorable Senator permit me to interrupt him
for a moment?
Certainly.
MR. CALHOUN. I am very reluctant to interrupt the honorable
gentleman; but, upon a point of so much importance, I deem it right
to put myself _rectus in curia_. I did not put it upon the ground
assumed by the Senator. I put it upon this ground: that Great
Britain had announced to this country, in so many words, that her
object was to abolish slavery in Texas, and, through Texas, to
accomplish the abolition of slavery in the United States and the
world. The ground I put it on was, that it would make an exposed
frontier, and, if Great Britain succeeded in her object, it would
be impossible that that frontier could be secured against the
aggressions of the Abolitionists; and that this government was
bound, under the guaranties of the Constitution, to protect us
against such a state of things.
That comes, I suppose, Sir, to exactly the same thing. It was, that
Texas must be obtained for the security of the slave interest of the
South.
MR. CALHOUN. Another view is very distinctly given.
That was the object set forth in the correspondence of a worthy
gentleman not now living,[12] who preceded the honorable member from
South Carolina in the Department of State. There repose on the files of
the Department, as I have occasion to know, strong letters from Mr.
Upshur to the United States Minister in England, and I believe there are
some to the same Minister from the honorable Senator himself, asserting
to this effect the sentiments of this government; namely, that Great
Britain was expected not to interfere to take Texas out of the hands of
its then existing government and make it a free country. But my
argument, my suggestion, is this: that those gentlemen who composed the
Northern Democracy when Texas was brought into the Union saw clearly
that it was brought in as a slave country, and brought in for the
purpose of being maintained as slave territory, to the Greek Kalends. I
rather think the honorable gentleman who was then Secretary of State
might, in some of his correspondence with Mr. Murphy, have suggested
that it was not expedient to say too much about this object, lest it
should create some alarm. At any rate, Mr. Murphy wrote to him that
England was anxious to get rid of the constitution of Texas, because it
was a constitution establishing slavery; and that what the United States
had to do was to aid the people of Texas in upholding their
constitution; but that nothing should be said which should offend the
fanatical men of the North. But, Sir, the honorable member did avow this
object himself, openly, boldly, and manfully; he did not disguise his
conduct or his motives.
MR. CALHOUN. Never, never.
What he means he is very apt to say.
MR. CALHOUN. Always, always.
And I honor him for it.
This admission of Texas was in 1845. Then in 1847, _flagrante bello_
between the United States and Mexico, the proposition I have mentioned
was brought forward by my friend from Georgia, and the Northern
Democracy voted steadily against it. Their remedy was to apply to the
acquisitions, after they should come in, the Wilmot Proviso. What
follows? These two gentlemen,[13] worthy and honorable and influential
men, (and if they had not been they could not have carried the measure,)
these two gentlemen, members of this body, brought in Texas, and by
their votes they also prevented the passage of the resolution of the
honorable member from Georgia, and then they went home and took the
lead in the Free Soil party. And there they stand, Sir! They leave us
here, bound in honor and conscience by the resolutions of annexation;
they leave us here, to take the odium of fulfilling the obligations in
favor of slavery which they voted us into, or else the greater odium of
violating those obligations, while they are at home making capital and
rousing speeches for free soil and no slavery. And therefore I say, Sir,
that there is not a chapter in our history, respecting public measures
and public men, more full of what would create surprise, more full of
what does create in my mind, extreme mortification, than that of the
conduct of the Northern Democracy on this subject.
Mr. President, sometimes, when a man is found in a new relation to
things around him and to other men, he says the world has changed, and
that he has not changed. I believe, Sir, that our self-respect leads us
often to make this declaration in regard to ourselves when it is not
exactly true. An individual is more apt to change, perhaps, than all the
world around him. But under the present circumstances, and under the
responsibility which I know I incur by what I am now stating here, I
feel at liberty to recur to the various expressions and statements, made
at various times, of my own opinions and resolutions respecting the
admission of Texas, and all that has followed. Sir, as early as 1836, or
in the early part of 1837, there was conversation and correspondence
between myself and some private friends on this project of annexing
Texas to the United States; and an honorable gentleman with whom I have
had a long acquaintance, a friend of mine, now perhaps in this chamber,
I mean General Hamilton, of South Carolina, was privy to that
correspondence. I had voted for the recognition of Texan independence,
because I believed it to be an existing fact, surprising and astonishing
as it was, and I wished well to the new republic; but I manifested from
the first utter opposition to bringing her, with her slave territory,
into the Union. I happened, in 1837, to make a public address to
political friends in New York, and I then stated my sentiments upon the
subject. It was the first time that I had occasion to advert to it; and
I will ask a friend near me to have the kindness to read an extract from
the speech made by me on that occasion. It was delivered in Niblo's
Saloon, in 1837.
Mr. Greene then read the following extract from the speech of Mr.
Webster to which he referred:--
"Gentlemen, we all see that, by whomsoever possessed, Texas is
likely to be a slave-holding country; and I frankly avow my entire
unwillingness to do any thing that shall extend the slavery of the
African race on this continent, or add other slave-holding States
to the Union. When I say that I regard slavery in itself as a great
moral, social, and political evil, I only use language which has
been adopted by distinguished men, themselves citizens of
slave-holding States. I shall do nothing, therefore, to favor or
encourage its further extension. We have slavery already amongst
us. The Constitution found it in the Union; it recognized it, and
gave it solemn guaranties. To the full extent of these guaranties
we are all bound, in honor, in justice, and by the Constitution.
All the stipulations contained in the Constitution in favor of the
slave-holding States which are already in the Union ought to be
fulfilled, and, so far as depends on me, shall be fulfilled, in the
fulness of their spirit, and to the exactness of their letter.
Slavery, as it exists in the States, is beyond the reach of
Congress. It is a concern of the States themselves; they have never
submitted it to Congress, and Congress has no rightful power over
it. I shall concur, therefore, in no act, no measure, no menace, no
indication of purpose, which shall interfere or threaten to
interfere with the exclusive authority of the several States over
the subject of slavery as it exists within their respective limits.
All this appears to me to be matter of plain and imperative duty.
"But when we come to speak of admitting new States, the subject
assumes an entirely different aspect. Our rights and our duties are
then both different....
"I see, therefore, no political necessity for the annexation of
Texas to the Union; no advantages to be derived from it; and
objections to it of a strong, and, in my judgment, decisive
character."
I have nothing, Sir, to add to, or to take from, those sentiments. That
speech, the Senate will perceive, was made in 1837. The purpose of
immediately annexing Texas at that time was abandoned or postponed; and
it was not revived with any vigor for some years. In the mean time it
happened that I had become a member of the executive administration, and
was for a short period in the Department of State. The annexation of
Texas was a subject of conversation, not confidential, with the
President and heads of departments, as well as with other public men. No
serious attempt was then made, however, to bring it about. I left the
Department of State in May, 1843, and shortly after I learned, though by
means which were no way connected with official information, that a
design had been taken up of bringing Texas, with her slave territory and
population, into this Union. I was in Washington at the time, and
persons are now here who will remember that we had an arranged meeting
for conversation upon it. I went home to Massachusetts and proclaimed
the existence of that purpose, but I could get no audience and but
little attention. Some did not believe it, and some were too much
engaged in their own pursuits to give it any heed. They had gone to
their farms or to their merchandise, and it was impossible to arouse any
feeling in New England, or in Massachusetts, that should combine the two
great political parties against this annexation; and, indeed, there was
no hope of bringing the Northern Democracy into that view, for their
leaning was all the other way. But, Sir, even with Whigs, and leading
Whigs, I am ashamed to say, there was a great indifference towards the
admission of Texas, with slave territory, into this Union.
The project went on. I was then out of Congress. The annexation
resolutions passed on the 1st of March, 1845; the legislature of Texas
complied with the conditions and accepted the guaranties; for the
language of the resolution is, that Texas is to come in "upon the
conditions and under the guaranties herein prescribed." I was returned
to the Senate in March, 1845, and was here in December following, when
the acceptance by Texas of the conditions proposed by Congress was
communicated to us by the President, and an act for the consummation of
the union was laid before the two houses. The connection was then not
completed. A final law, doing the deed of annexation ultimately, had not
been passed; and when it was put upon its final passage here, I
expressed my opposition to it, and recorded my vote in the negative; and
there that vote stands, with the observations that I made upon that
occasion.[14] Nor is this the only occasion on which I have expressed
myself to the same effect. It has happened that, between 1837 and this
time, on various occasions, I have expressed my entire opposition to the
admission of slave States, or the acquisition of new slave territories,
to be added to the United States. I know, Sir, no change in my own
sentiments, or my own purposes, in that respect. I will now ask my
friend from Rhode Island to read another extract from a speech of mine
made at a Whig Convention in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the month of
September, 1847.