CONGRESS, U. 8. 



i 

 319 



the United States of America, which, in the lan- 

 guage of the act, shall be ' irrepealable without 

 the consent of the United States.' The provis- 

 ion of the bill in this behalf is : 



The Government of the United States will, upon the 

 passage by said State of a good and valid act of eman- 

 cipation of all the slaves therein, to take effect within 

 the period hereinafter named, and to be irrepealable un- 

 less with the consent of the United States, apply the 

 Bum of $10,000,000, Ac. 



" Now, Mr. President, what is the provision 

 . of the Constitution in reference to this matter, 

 which renders this bill manifestly, palpably on 

 its face obnoxious to constitutional objection ? 

 "We find that in section ten of the first article 

 of the Constitution are these words : 



No Stale shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or con- 

 federation, grant letters of marque and reprisal, coin 

 money, emit bills of credit, <&c. 



" This is a prohibition not only upon the pow- 

 er of one State to enter into a compact, alliance, 

 confederation, or agreement with another State, 

 but it is a prohibition upon the part of any 

 State from entering into any alliance, compact, 

 or agreement with the General Government 

 of the United States. If a State is prohibited 

 from entering into such a compact with another 

 State, the same words which make that prohibi- 

 tion make it also a prohibition upon the power 

 of the State to enter into any agreement or 

 compact with the United States. 



" But, Mr. President, let us look, in another 

 aspect of the case, at the question of the uncon- 

 stitutionally of this measure. It would be a 

 total destruction of the form of government 

 under which we live. If the State of Missouri 

 can enter into an agreement or compact irre- 

 pealable with the United States that slavery 

 shall not therein exist after the acceptance on 

 the part of Missouri of this act, then it is an 

 agreement on the part of the State of Missouri 

 to surrender the sovereignty of that State, and 

 make the State of Missouri unequal in its rights 

 of sovereignty with the other States of this 

 Union ; and the anomaly would be presented 

 in that case of a union of States, not with equal 

 rights under the Federal Constitution, but States 

 of unequal rights. The State of Maryland, the 

 State of Kentucky, and the other States might 

 then have the complete right of sovereignty 

 over their own domestic institutions, while the 

 State of Missouri, if this act be adopted, would 

 cease to have that right ; and instead of a Gov- 

 ernment of coequal States, you would have a 

 Government of States of unequal power, not 

 equal under the Constitution ; and the whole 

 framework and system of government under 

 which we live would be entirely abrogated by 

 this species of legislation. 



" Carry it out a little farther to its ultimate 

 consequences, and what would be the result ? 

 If the State of Missouri can surrender her 

 sovereignty in reference to the absolute con- 

 trol of her own domestic institutions, she may 

 by compact with the United States for a money 

 consideration also surrender her right of repre- 



sentation upon this floor, and her representa- 

 tion in the other House of Congress. She may 

 also stipulate, if she can do this act, to surren- 

 der every other right which she enjoys under 

 the Federal Constitution, and may even consent 

 to become a province of the other States, and 

 thus work the total destruction of our Federal 

 system of Government. 



" Mr. President, carry it still farther ; if Mis- 

 souri may do this, some other State which may 

 wish to run its hand into the Federal treasury 

 may be bribed to surrender some other right 

 which it has under the Federal Constitution ; 

 and thus, instead of the form of Government 

 under which we live being changed or modified 

 according to the provisions of the Constitution 

 by a convention of all the States, in general 

 convention assembled, you would have each 

 State separately and by itself surrendering up 

 its rights, until you find one great consolidated 

 central Government at the Federal capital, with 

 no such thing as State rights or State sover- 

 eignty in it. I submit, Mr. President, there- 

 fore, that this is the most dangerous act, the 

 most dangerous species of legislation, when 

 viewed in its elements and principles, that 

 has ever been introduced into the Federal 

 Congress. 



" But, sir, am I mistaken in the view which I 

 have presented, that the State of Missouri has 

 no such right as to enter into a compact with 

 the United States irrepealable in its character ? 

 Why, Mr. President, suppose this act shall be 

 passed, and suppose the State of Missouri, by 

 her Legislature, shall assent to it, as is con- 

 templated in the bill ; suppose that she shall 

 agree that it shall be irrepealable ; and carry it 

 farther: suppose that the people of Missouri 

 shall meet in solemn convention, and there 

 declare and make it a provision of their con- 

 stitution that, in consideration of the passage 

 of this act, slavery shall never thereafter be 

 one of the domestic institutions of that State, 

 but shall cease thenceforth and forever to exist 

 in that State, what binding force would there 

 be in such a decree, in such a constitutional 

 provision by the people of Missouri ? Is it not 

 a cardinal principle in our system of govern- 

 ment that the people, in their sovereign capa- 

 city, may, from time to time, change and alter 

 their organic law ? Can a provision incorpor- 

 ated, if you please, into the constitution of the 

 State of Missouri, that slavery shall never 

 thereafter exist in that State, preclude and 

 prevent a future sovereign convention of the 

 people of Missouri from reestablishing slavery 

 within their limits ? If that is not so, then 

 all the lessons of the past have been illusory ; 

 then we have been taught wrong in reference 

 to the principles of free government. A sover- 

 eign convention of the people of Missouri, at 

 any subsequent period, may treat as nought 

 this provision of this act, and may reestab- 

 lish the system of domestic slavery in that 

 State. 



" But, sir, I am not without high authority to 



