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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



the Senator from Massachusetts which he draws 

 from the fact, as he alleges it to be, that the 

 negroes have proved themselves to be good 

 soldiers in th'e field ; nor do I think the question 

 of humanity toward the family arises upon this 

 particular motion. 



" The question is, ought this resolution to be 

 referred to the Committee on the Judiciary? 

 I think it should go there. I am not able to see 

 how, under the Constitution of the United 

 States, Congress can free the servant who is 

 held to servitude by the laws of a State. I do 

 not understand that Congress has ever done 

 that, and in former days it was not claimed by 

 any of the statesmen who peculiarly held the 

 confidence of the country. This particular 

 question, whether we have the constitutional 

 power to pass the resolution ought not to be 

 considered by the Military Committee. The 

 Senator says this measure has been considered 

 by that committee some three times. That 

 jcmmittee is not the organ of this body to 

 bring before the body information upon a ques- 

 tion of constitutional power. That information 

 we expect to derive through the labors of the 

 Judiciary Committee." 



Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, followed in favor of 

 the reference. He said : " The Senator, by this 

 resolution, proposes to free the wives and chil- 

 dren of those who have enlisted in the army 

 heretofore, as well as those who may hereafter 

 enlist in the array, and he has entitled the res- 

 olution 'A resolution to encourage enlistments.' 

 You certainly would not encourage enlistments 

 so far as those persons are in the army of the 

 United States, and the larger portion of the 

 negroes in the border States able to bear arms 

 are already in the army. The passage of this 

 resolution could not encourage those persons to 

 go into the army. But it proceeds to emanci- 

 pate and set free the wives and the children of 

 those who are already in the army. Where is 

 the power, under the Constitution, to do that ? 

 You admit that in those States where they are 

 they are property. Has this Congress any power 

 by a legislative enactment to divest a citizen of 

 any State of this Union of his property ? Cer- 

 tainly not, except upon one contingency, and 

 that is when it is required for the public use, 

 and making compensation for it. If you take 

 private property for public use, you must make 

 compensation for it first. That is the Constitu- 

 tion of your country. "When Congress passed 

 the bill to enlist those persons in, the army, the 

 bill was accompanied with a provision pretend- 

 ing to make some compensation, indicating a 

 commission that should give to their masters, 

 in certain cases, not over $300, and $100 in 

 other cases. Meagre and insignificant as was 

 the compensation held out to the country in that 

 bill, no compensation has ever yet been made. 



" But, sir, this proposition does not provide 

 for any compensation at all. The other, I ad- 

 mit, was a mere bagatelle, providing for the 

 payment of an insignificant amount (which the 

 Government has never paid, within my knowl- 



edge), for the purpose of quieting the consciences 

 of Senators who might vote for it. But I ask 

 Senators if there is any power in this Congress 

 to take private property without making just 

 compensation therefor ? There certainly is not, 

 unless your Constitution is a dead letter ; and. 

 Senators, if you pass this measure, you will have 

 to do it by walking over the plain provisions 

 of the Constitution of your country. 



" The Senator from Massachusetts cannot saj 

 that so far as these persons are in the service 

 this is a measure encouraging enlistments, be- 

 cause they are already in the service ; and in 

 my State the husbands and fathers of four-fifths 

 of those whom it is proposed to emancipate by 

 this resolution are already in the army. You 

 do not propose to give one shilling of compen- 

 sation. Senators, if you pass this resolution, in 

 my humble judgment those who vote for it will 

 be faithless to the Constitution of their country. 

 I verily believe that all the woes that are now 

 upon us have arisen because the people and the 

 politicians have been faithless to the fundamen- 

 tal law of the land." 



Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, followed on the same 

 side, saying : " The great and principal effect 

 of this resolution would be in Kentucky, and 

 upon her people I presume it is so intended. In 

 1860 we had two hundred and twenty-five 

 thousand four hundred and eighty-three slaves 

 in that State. In my own county we had six 

 thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven. I 

 have no doubt from the number of enlistments 

 that have been made from the slaves of Ken- 

 tucky that three-fourths of that population fit 

 for military service are now in the army or 

 some employment of the United States. That 

 such is the proportion in my own county I do 

 not entertain a doubt. The military portion of 

 that population in the county of Bourbon was 

 something the rise of six hundred before any 

 of them were recruited. By actual enumera- 

 tion about six hundred of her slaves have already 

 attached themselves .to the army. They were 

 recruited without any regard to order, form, or 

 principle. The whole object seemed to be to 

 demoralize the institution, and to get every slave 

 man who could be seduced to join the service 

 by any mode of operation whatever, to do so. 

 They sent their recruiting agents, foreigners 

 principally, mostly Dutchmen, all over the 

 county, and pretty well over the State. They 

 received and enrolled every slave negro who 

 could be inveigled to give his consent. Some 

 that were over age and some that were not 

 proper military material because of disease, and 

 females disguised in male clothes, were admit- 

 ted. At least three-fourths of the slaves suited 

 for military service in that county have already 

 attached themselves to the army. They have 

 enlisted, and they now belong to the armies of 

 the United States, as much so as if their wives 

 and children were declared to be free. Pass 

 this measure, and its application would not be 

 to one-fourth of the male slave population of 

 Bourbon, or, I believe, of the State of Kentucky 



