CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



197 



Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, followed, in oppo- 

 fition t<> the bill, saying: "Mr. President, I re- 

 gard this bill as one of tho most dangerous that 

 was ever introduced into tho Senate of tho 

 United States, or to which tho attention of tho 

 American people was over invited. During tho 

 la^t four or live years I have sat in this cham- 

 ber and witnessed tho introduction of bills into 

 this body which I thought obnoxious to many 

 very grave nn J serious constitutional objections ; 

 but I have never since I have been a member of 

 tho body seen a bill so fraught with danger, so 

 full of mischief, as the bill now under consider- 

 ation. Deeming it to bo of this character, duty 

 to my country, duty to my State, duty to my- 

 self as a man, as a citizen, and as a legislator, 

 duty to my children, and duty to my fellow- 

 citizens everywhere, demands that I should 

 utter my protest against its enactment into a 

 law. Before, however, I proceed to consider it 

 in the light of tho Constitution as it existed 

 previous to the recent amendment, let me no- 

 tice tho basis of authority for it as claimed by 

 tho honorable Senator from Illinois. 



"I presume that honorable Senator would 

 not contend that, independently of tho consti- 

 tutional amendment, Congress had a right to 

 enact this law, although I know that many have 

 claimed powers equally extensive. But from 

 the argument of the honorable Senator, I infer 

 that the sole basis of authority in his judgment 

 for passing the bill is the amendment to the 

 Constitution of tho United States abolishing 

 slavery. If that be so, it is admitted that be- 

 fore the adoption t of that amendment Congress 

 had not the right to enact such a law as this. 

 Let ns consider then for one moment whether 

 tho adoption of that amendment gave to Con- 

 gress such an authority. 



" What was that amendment ? That neither 

 slavery nor involuntary servitude should exist 

 in the United States, except as a punishment 

 for crime whereof the party should have been 

 duly convicted. Now, here is a complete an- 

 swer, in my judgment, to the argument of the 

 honorable Senator, based upon the authority 

 conferred by that amendment. Before and at 

 tho time of the adoption of that amendment tho 

 people of the United States were composed of 

 persons of different races, the two main por- 

 tions of which were white and black; the whites 

 were free; a portion of the black population 

 wero free and a portion were slaves. In the 

 State of Maryland about one-half of the black 

 population were free and one-half slaves. In 

 my own State there were about ten free negroes 

 to one slave. In Kentucky and in most of the 

 slaveholding States there were largo free negro 

 populations, as we supposed. 



" I should like to know whether persona be- 

 longing to tho African race in the State of Mary- 

 land, and the State of Delaware, and the other 

 slaveholding States, who had been emancipated 

 by their owners either by deed or will, or who 

 wero never in bondage, were, at the tints of tho 

 adoption of the constitutional amendment, free 



or slave. Were they not freemen t What was 

 the objection urged by many against the enact* 

 merit of tho fugitive slave law ? It was that 

 under that enactment a freeman a free col- 

 ored man, as they called him ; a free negro, as I 

 uniformly call him might be kidnapped, car- 

 ried far from his home, and reduced to shivery. 

 l!:id the Congress of the United States, previous 

 to the adoption of tho amendment, the power to 

 pass this law, to say that the free negroes in the 

 States of Maryland and Delaware, and the other 

 slaveholding States, or the free negroes all over 

 tho United States, should be the equals of tho 

 white man before tho law, and possess the pow- 

 ers which this bill proposes to confer? Had 

 you the power, before the enactment of the con- 

 stitutional amendment, to pass such a law ? If 

 you had not, did tho passage of that amend- 

 ment, setting free that portion who were in sla- 

 very, and putting them on an equality in refer- 

 ence to their atatut with the free negroes that 

 then existed in tho United States, give you the 

 power to legislate beyond the persons you set 

 free and in reference to the whole negro race in 

 tho United States, a portion of which were freo 

 before ? Is the amendment to the Constitution 

 so potential that if there was but one slave ne- 

 gro in the United States you could, under and 

 by virtue of the clause which says you may carry 

 the amendment into effect by appropriate legis- 

 lation, bestow all the rights which this bill 

 proposes to bestow upon the whole free negro 

 population of the United States ? Sir, it needs 

 but a statement of the facts to show that under 

 the constitutional amendment you have no such 

 power. If you have tho power under it, you 

 had the power before the amendment to do the 

 same thing in reference to that portion of the 

 negro population who were not in a state of 

 slavery but who were free. 



" If the power to pass such an act as this ex- 

 ists anywhere, it must exist in the Constitution 

 as originally framed. Sir, was it ever pretended 

 by any statesman before that that Constitution 

 conferred such a power as this? Look at tho 

 powers enumerated in the Constitution and see 

 whether it is possible for the ingenuity of man 

 to arrive at the conclusion that any such power 

 exists ; for, Mr. President, the Constitution is 

 the bond of agreement according to the terms 

 of which the States agreed to live together, and 

 all the powers which Congress possesses are 

 found in tho eighth section of the first article of 

 the Constitution. They are : 'to lay and col- 

 lect taxes, duties, imposts,' etc., to ' borrow 

 money,' to ' establish uniform rules of natu- 

 ralization,' to 'coin money,' to 'provide for 

 tho punishment of counterfeiting,' to ' estab- 

 lish post-offices,' to 'promote the progress of 

 science and arts,' to * constitute tribunals ' of 

 justice, to ' define and punish piracy,' etc., to 

 ' declare war,' to ' raise and support armies,' 

 to ' provide a navy,' to ' make rules for the gov- 

 erpment and regulation of the land and naval 

 ,' to ' provide for calling forth tho militia,' 

 etc., to 'provide for organizing, arming, and 



