334 



CONGRESS, U. S. 



oppression from our history, they should go 

 thus far and no farther. The Supreme Court 

 will find out ere long how much that has ef- 

 fected. Whether it has done more to wipe out 

 the controversies that they wanted to crush out, 

 or to obliterate whatever of respect there was 

 remaining in the public heart for themselves, 

 they will find out before the issue is settled. 



" But, sir, while by this decision the Territo- 

 ries of the United States were taken theoret- 

 ically from the management of the Federal 

 Government, I believe, though I never read 

 the Dred Scott decision in reference to that 

 particular view of it, it did not go to the ex- 

 tent of saying that Congress had no constitu- 

 tional power to legislate in the District of Co- 

 lumbia. But, sir, that is left to us. Over this 

 little spot of ten miles square, or what there is 

 left of it after the retrocession of the part ceded 

 by Virginia, we have confessedly the right of 

 legislation ; and here in our midst, and by pur 

 laws, the system of human slavery exists, and 

 we are called upon to-day to abolish it, to re- 

 peal the laws upon which it rests, and to the 

 most limited extent to try what will be the 

 effect of emancipation upon the few slaves that 

 are in this District." 



Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, followed in sup- 

 port of the bill. He moved to amend the 

 amendment, so as to make it read : 



And be U further enacted, That the sum of $100,000, 

 out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appro- 

 priated, shall be expended under the direction of the 

 President of the United States to aid in the colonization 

 and settlement of such free people of African descent 

 now residing in said District as may desire to emigrate 

 to the republics of Hayti or Liberia, or such other 

 country beyond the limits of the United States as the 

 President may determine. 



He said: "The negro question involves 

 more than the question of voluntary or invol- 

 untary servitude. I am not satisfied without 

 an answer to the whole question. Jefferson 

 gives it in these words : 



Nothing is more certainly written in the book of 

 fate than that these people are to be free ; nor is it less 

 certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in 

 the same Government. Nature, habit, and opinion 

 have drawn indelible lines of distinction between them. 

 It is still in our power to direct the process of emanci- 

 pation and deportation peaceably, and in such slow de- 

 gree as that the evil will wear off insensibly, and their 

 places be, poripatsu, filled up with free white laborers. 

 If, on the contrary, it is left to force itself on, human 

 nature must shudder at the prospects held up. 



" Mr. President, in the temperate zone, the 

 Caucasian race has always been dominant, and 

 always will be. In the torrid zone the colored 

 man dominates, and will forever. No laws of 

 Congress or any other legislative power can 

 reverse this great law stamped upon the earth 

 and upon the constitution of man. Poets may 

 dream otherwise ; unwise philanthropy may 

 hope to make it otherwise ; but it cannot be 

 done. The Creator has written it upon the 

 earth and upon the race." 



Mr. Doolittle then examined the condition 

 of the West India Islands the relations of the 



white and black races the solution of the 

 negro question, and said: "Mr. President, 

 while I would connect the action of this Gov- 

 ernment in emancipating the slaves in this Dis- 

 trict with the idea of colonization, I would 

 make it, not compulsory, but voluntary emigra- 

 tion. I would embrace those only who by 

 their own free consent are willing to go from 

 this District to Hayti, Liberia, or elsewhere. I 

 am not in favor of the amendment as proposed 

 by the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Davis), to 

 compel the colonization of all who may be 

 set free under this bill. Upon this point I de- 

 sire not to be misunderstood. I would make 

 this colonization voluntary ; upon their own 

 free consent. I would hold out inducements 

 which might lead them to go, and not compel 

 them by force of arms. For that purpose I 

 have offered my amendment." 

 . Mr. Willey, of Virginia, followed in opposi- 

 tion to the bill, saying: "Mr. President, the 

 question which I wish to discuss is : Is it wise 

 or expedient, under existing circumstances, and 

 at this time, to pass this bill ? Sir, this bill is 

 a part of a series of measures, already initiat- 

 ed, all looking to the same ultimate result the 

 universal abolition of slavery by Congress. 

 This bill and the bill of the Senator from Illi- 

 nois (Mr. Trunibull), for the confiscation of 

 property in the seceded States, r.rtd the resolu- 

 tions introduced by the Senator from Massa- 

 chusetts (Mr. Sumner) some weeks ago, con- 

 template the same purpose unconditional, 

 immediate, and universal emancipation. It is 

 to the consequences which must inevitably 

 result from these measures, if adopted, to 

 which I solicit the attention of the Senate. 

 These consequences, in my judgment, involve 

 the lives of thousands of my fellow citizens, 

 and the happiness of all the loyal people of all 

 the border slaveholding States. Perhaps I 

 should be justified in saying that they involved 

 in most serious peril the restoration of the 

 Union and the Constitution. 



" Sir, the agitation of these questions under 

 existing circumstances, must be positively mis- 

 chievous. Will it not create strife and divi- 

 sions here? Will it not disturb the country? 

 Above all, will it not afford aid and comfort to 

 the enemy ? I am sure it will. It will be used 

 by the leaders of the rebellion to 'fire the 

 Southern heart.' The people of the South have 

 been taught to believe that the object and de- 

 sign of the Republican party was to abolish 

 slavery in all the States. These propositions 

 will be seized upon as evidence of this inten- 

 tion. They will say, "Look at their unconsti- 

 tutional confiscation laws, making no safe or 

 practical discrimination between Union men 

 and secessionists.. Look at the bill to abolish 

 slavery in the District of Columbia ; it is a step- 

 ping stone to further encroachments.' Especial- 

 ly will they point to the sweeping resolutions of 

 the great apostle of abolition, the Senator from 

 Massachusetts (Mr. Sumner), which, by one 

 dash of the pen, deprives every Southern man 





