CONGRESS, U. 8. 



315 



operate with the State of Missouri or with any 

 other State in promoting the gradual abolish- 

 ment of slavery. The immediate emancipation 

 of the slaves of Missouri is a matter of compara- 

 tively little moment. Whether those who are 

 now slaves there, held as such under the local 

 laws, shall continue to serve as slaves for life, 

 is an important matter to them ; but to the 

 fate of this nation it is of comparatively little 

 importance. I believe, however, that the con- 

 dition of slavery as a fixed and permanent 

 relation in Missouri tends to keep up civil war 

 in that State, and that the very moment she 

 enters upon the path of gradual emancipation 

 all her sympathies and all her interests will be 

 opposed to the present rebellion, and in favor 

 of the preservation of the Union." 



Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, in opposition to the 

 measure, said : " I would not throw a straw 

 in the road of the people of Missouri, if it is 

 the will of the people of that State to abolish 

 slavery within its limits either TIOW or at a 

 future day; but I am unable to find in the 

 Constitution of the United States any author- 

 ity for Congress interfering with that institu- 

 tion, or making an appropriation to aid any 

 State for the purpose of emancipation. I shall, 

 therefore, vote against any bill in any form 

 whatever which proposes an appropriation of 

 the money of the Federal Government for the 

 purpose of securing the emancipation of the 

 slaves in a State. 



" As regards my own State, all that I claim 

 for her is the right which in past time has been 

 accorded to the other States of this Union that 

 were slaveholding States when the Constitution 

 was adopted. 



" We ask not from the Federal Government 

 a dollar in relation to the question ; but we ask 

 that it shall not violate the Constitution of the 

 United States by attempting to interfere with 

 the domestic institutions of the State, either 

 directly or indirectly. Whenever the people 

 of Delaware determine that their interest, or 

 their sympathy, if you please, or their moral 

 sense, renders it proper that they should put 

 an end to the -institution within the State, they 

 will do so ; and let me say it is not the value 

 of the slave property in the State that deter- 

 mines that question in their judgment ; nor is 

 there really any slaveholding interest in the 

 State that has any power whatever to sway 

 its political destinies ; but it is other consider- 

 ations that affect them. What they claim is, 

 that they are the best judges of the time and 

 mode in which they shall act on the subject, 

 and that the same right belongs to them that 

 has been accorded to other States non-inter- 

 ference on the part of the Federal Government 

 with the action of the States in relation to their 

 own peculiar institutions." 



Mr. Howard, of Michigan, regarded the meas- 

 ure as constitutional. He thus expressed his 

 views: "I like the amendment reported from 

 the Committee on the Judiciary, and shall 

 vote for it with pleasure. The scheme of that 



amendment is to authorize the Government of 

 the United States to issue $20,000,000 in the 

 bonds of the United States, to be delivered 

 over to the State of Missouri to aid her in 

 bringing about the emancipation of her slaves. 

 The State authorities are authorized by this 

 bill invited, perhaps, would be the more prop- 

 er term to take steps for the emancipation of 

 the slaves in that State. Naturally, the first 

 question which arises is, whether it is author- 

 ized by the Constitution of the United States ; 

 and upon this question, I understand the learn- 

 ed senator from Delaware (Mr. Bayard) to ex- 

 press it as his opinion that Congress is not 

 clothed with competent authority under the 

 Constitution to pass this bill, for the reason 

 that Congress, as he insists, has no authority 

 whatever to interfere or intermeddle with the 

 so-called institution of slavery in any of the 

 States. 



" Mr. President, have we a right to use all 

 the means which are reasonable, necessary, 

 and proper to put an end to the civil war now 

 raging in the State of Missouri ? Have we a 

 right to suppress the insurrection in that State? 

 Have we a right to bring about a perfect qui- 

 etude and pacification of the people within the 

 limits of that State, now agitated by the rebel- 

 lion ? Have we a right to take means and to 

 use instruments, not in themselves absurd or 

 unreasonable, to insure this most desirable re- 

 sult? It appears to me that there cannot be 

 any doubt upon this point. Congress certainly 

 has the power to suppress insurrection : it has 

 a right to protect, secure, and perpetuate the 

 public tranquillity, and, to this end, to use the 

 means which are natural and reasonable, adapt- 

 ed to the end. I discover nothing in the Con- 

 stitution itself against it." 



Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, advocated im- 

 mediate emancipation for the following rea- 

 sons : " I will state the reason especially why 

 I wish this emancipation policy in this State 

 closed now. I believe that the cause of this 

 country is to triumph; that this foul slave- 

 holders' rebellion, brought upon this country 

 without any cause whatever, will be put down ; 

 but I do not believe when it goes down that 

 the dark spirit that made this rebellion will go 

 down with it. I expect to see these chambers 

 filled again not by the leading traitors who 

 plotted treason here, who plunged this country 

 into the fire and blood of revolution but I do 

 expect to see many of their disciples here who 

 have followed them, who have sustained this 

 rebellion ; and I expect to see in these cham- 

 bers and in this Government again not per- 

 manently, but temporarily a large class of 

 men who have been the obedient followers of 

 the men who are now in revolt, or who sym- 

 pathize more or less to-day with rebels in arms. 



"Here is a proposition to extend this time 

 from 1876 to 1885, twenty-two years. We are 

 to give $10,000,000 of our money, and they 

 are to have their slaves for twenty-two years. 

 When twenty years have passed away, they 



