CONGRESS, U. S. 



345 



Fellow Citizens of the Senate 



and House of Representative* : 



The aci entitled " An act for the release of certain 

 persons neld to service or labor in this District of 

 Columbia," has this day been approved and signed. 



I have never doubted the constitutional authority 

 of Congress to abolish slavery in this District ; and I 

 have ever desired to see the national capital freed from 

 the institution in some satisfactory way. Hence there 

 has never been in my mind any question upon the 

 subject except the one of expediency, arising in view 

 of all the circumstances. It there be matters within 

 and about this act which might have taken a course 

 or shape more satisfactory to my judgment, I do not 

 attempt to specify them. I am gratified that the two 

 principles of compensation and colonization are both 

 recognized and practically applied in the act. 



In the matter of compensation, it is provided that 



ring for minors,/*?/ 



persons. I presume this, is an omission by mere 

 oversight, and I recommend that it be supplied by an 

 amendatory or supplemental act. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

 April 16, 1862. 



In the Senate, on the. llth of February, Mr. 

 Sumner offered the following resolutions : 



Resolutions declaratory of the relations between the United 

 State* and the territory once, occupied by certain States, 

 and now usurped by pretended Government*, without 

 constitutional or If gal right. 



Whereas, certain States, rightfully belonging to the 

 Union of the United States, have through their respect- 

 ive governments wickedly undertaken to abjure all 

 those duties by which their connection with the Union 

 was maintained ; to renounce all allegiance to the Con- 

 stitution ; to levy war upon the national Government ; 

 and, for the consummation of this treason, have uncon- 

 stitutionally and unlawfully confederated together, with 

 the declared purpose of putting an end by force to the 

 supremacy of the Constitution within their respective 

 limits ; and whereas this condition of insurrection, or- 

 ganized by pretended governments, openly exists in 

 bouth Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, 

 Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Virginia, 

 except in Eastern Tennessee and Western Virginia, and 

 has been declared by the President of the United States, 

 in a proclamation duly made in conformity with an act 

 of Congress, to exist throughout this territory, with the 

 exceptions already named ; and whereas the extensive 

 territory, thus usurped by these pretended govern- 

 ments and organized into a hostile confederation, be- 

 longs to the United States, as an inseparable part 

 thereof, under the sanctions of the Constitution, to be 

 held in trust for the inhabitants in the present and fu- 

 ture generations, and is so completely interlinked with 

 the Union that it is forever dependent thereupon ; and 

 whereas the Constitution, which is the supreme law of 

 the land, cannot be displaced in its rightful operation 

 within this territory, but must ever continue the su- 

 preme law thereof, notwithstanding the doings of any 

 pretended governments acting singly or in confedera- 

 tion, in order to put an end to its supremacy : there- 

 fore, 



1. Resolved, That any vote of secession or other act 

 by which any State may undertake to put an end to the 

 supremacy of the Constitution within its territory is 

 inoperative and void against the Constitution, and when 

 sustained by force it becomes a practical abdication by 

 the State of all rights under the Constitution, while the 

 treason which it involves still further works an instant 

 forfeiture of all those functions and powers essential to 

 the continued existence of the State as a body politic, 

 so that from that time forward the territory falls under 

 the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, as other terri- 

 tory, and the State being, according to the language 

 of the law , felo-de-se, ceases to exist 



2. Resolved, That any combination of men assuming 

 to act in the place of such State, and attempting to in- 

 snare or coerce the inhabitants thereof into a confeder- 

 ation hostile to the Union, is rebellious, treasonable, 

 and destitute of all moral authority ; and that such 

 combination is a usurpation, incapable of any constitu- 

 tional existence, and utterly lawless, so that everything 

 dependent upon it is without constitutional or legal 

 support. 



3. Resolved, That the termination of a State under 

 the Constitution necessarily causes the termination of 

 those peculiar local institutions which, having no ori- 

 gin in the Constitution or in those natural rights which 

 exist independent of the Constitution, are upheld by 

 the sole and exclusive authority of the State. 



4. Resolved, That slavery being a peculiar local in- 

 stitution, derived from local laws, without any origin 

 in the Constitution or in natural rights, is upheld by 

 the sole and exclusive authority of the State, and must 

 therefore cease to exist legally or constitutionally when 

 the State on which it depends no longer exists; for the 

 incident cannot survive the principal. 



5. Resolved, That in the exercise of its exclusive ju- 

 risdiction over the territory once occupied by the 

 States, it is the duty of Congress to see that the suprem- 

 acy of the Constitution is maintained in its essential 

 principles, so that everywhere in this extensive terri- 

 tory slavery shall cease'to exist practically, as it has 

 already ceased to exist constitutionally or legally. 



6. Resolved, That any recognition of slavery in such 

 territory, or any surrender of slaves under the pretend- 

 ed laws" of the extinct States by any officer of the Unit- 

 ed States, civil or military, is a recognition of the pre- 

 tended governments, to the exclusion of the jurisdic- 

 tion of Congress under the Constitution, and is in the 

 nature of aid and comfort to the rebellion that has been 

 organized. 



7. Resolved, That any such recognition of slavery or 

 surrender of pretended slaves, besides being a recog- 

 nition of the pretended governments, giving them aid 

 and comfort, is a denial of the rights of persons who, 

 by the extinction of the States, have become free, so 

 that, under the Constitution, they cannot again be en- 

 slaved. 



8. Resolved, That allegiance from the inhabitants and 

 protection from the Government, are corresponding 

 obligations, dependent upon each other, so that while 

 the allegiance of every inhabitant of this territory, 

 without distinction of color or class, is due to the 

 United States, and cannot in any way be defeated by 

 the action of any pretended government, or by any pre- 



tinction of color or class ; and it follows that inhabitants 

 held as slaves, whose paramount allegiance is due to 

 the United States, may justly look to the national Gov- 

 ernment for protection. 



9. Resolved, That the duty directly cast upon Con- 

 gress by the extinction of the States" is reinforced by 

 the positive prohibition of the Constitution that " no 

 State shall enter into any confederation," or " without 

 the consent of Congress keep troops or ships-of-war in 

 time of peace or enter into any agreement or compact 

 with another State," or " grant letters of marque and 

 reprisal," or "coin money," or " emit bills of credit," 

 or " without the consent of Congress lay any duties on 

 imports and exports," all of which have been done by 

 these pretended governments, and also by the positive 

 injunction of the Constitution, addressed to the nation, 

 that, "the United States shall guarantee to every State 

 in this Union a republican form of government;" and 

 that in pursuance of this duty cast upon Congress, and 

 further enjoined by the Constitution, Congress will as- 

 sume complete jurisdiction of such vacated territory 

 where sucn unconstitutional and illegal things have 

 been attempted, and will proceed to establish therein 

 republican forms of government under the Constitu- 

 tion ; and in the execution of this trust will provide 

 carefully for the protection of all the inhabitants there- 

 of, for the security of families, the organization of labor, 



