CONGRESS, U. S. 



173 



sioner to return the slave to the master, as he 

 thereby obtained the larger fee of ten dollars 

 instead of the smaller one of five dollars. I 

 have said, let the fee be the same in both 

 cases. 



'I have understood furthermore, sir, that 

 inasmuch as the fifth section of that jaw was 

 worded somewhat vaguely, its general terms 

 had admitted of the construction in the North- 

 ern States that all the citizens were required, 

 upon the summons of the marshal, to go with 

 him to hunt up, as they express it, and arrest 

 the slave ; and this is regarded as obnoxious. 

 They have said, ' in the Southern States you 

 make no such requisition on the citizen ; ' nor 

 do we, sir. The section, construed according 

 to the intention of the framers of it, I suppose, 

 only intended that the marshal should have the 

 same right in the execution of process for the 

 arrest of a slave that he has in all other cases 

 of process that he is required to execute to 

 call on the posse comitatus for assistance where 

 he is resisted in the execution of his duty ; or 

 where, having executed his duty by the arrest, 

 au attempt is made to rescue the slave. I pro- 

 pose such an amendment as will obviate this 

 difficulty and limit the right of the master and 

 the duty of the citizen to cases where, as in re- 

 gard to all other process, persons may be called 

 upon to assist in resisting opposition to the exe- 

 cution of the laws. 



" I have provided further, sir, that the amend- 

 ments to the Constitution which I here propose, 

 and certain other provisions of the Constitution 

 itself, shah 1 be unalterable, thereby forming a 

 permanent and unchangeable basis for peace 

 and tranquillity among the people. Among the 

 provisions in the present Constitution, which I 

 have by amendment proposed to render unal- 

 terable, is that provision in the first article of 

 the Constitution which provides the rule for 

 representation, including in the computation 

 three-fifths of the slaves. That is to be ren- 

 dered unchangeable. Another is the provision 

 for the delivery of fugitive slaves. That is to 

 be rendered unchangeable." 



These views were urged by considerations 

 of the importance of the Union and the com- 

 parative trifle required to be sacrificed. He 

 said, "Is it not the cheapest price at which 

 such a blessing as this Union was ever pur- 

 chased i ' 



The question on printing the resolutions was 

 reached with difficulty, in consequence of the 

 calls for the special order on the part of some, 

 and the desire to make remarks on the reso- 

 lutions by others. Their reception appeared 

 ominous of their ultimate fate. They were 

 known as the ''Compromise Measures''* pro- 



* The following are the joint resolutions as proposed by 

 Mr. Crittenden : 



A joint resolution (S. Xo. 50) proposing certain amendments 



to the Constitution of the United States. 

 Whereas serious and alarming dissensions have arisen be- 

 tween the Northern and Southern States, concerning the 

 rights and security of the rights of the slaveholding States, 



posed by Mr. Crittenden, and attracted much 

 attention among the people of the central 

 States, and were approved by several legis- 

 lative bodies. It is not too much to say, that 

 with some slight amendments this plan would 



and especially their rights in the common territory of the 

 United States ; and whereas it is eminently desirable and 

 proper that these dissensions, which now threaten the very 

 existence of this Union, should be permanently quieted and 

 settled by constitutional provisions, which shall do equal 

 justice to all sections, and thereby restore to the people that 

 peace and good-will which ought to prevail between all the 

 citizens of the United States : Therefore, 



Resetted by the /Senate and House of Representatire of 

 the United States of America, in Congress assembled, (two- 

 thirds of both Houses concurring.) That the following arti- 

 cles be, and are hereby, proposed and submitted as amend- 

 ments to the Constitution of the United States, which shall 

 be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of said Consti- 

 tution, when ratified by conventions of three-fourths of the 

 several States : 



ARTICLE 1. In all the territory of the United States now 

 held, or hereafter acquired, situate north of latitude 36 SO*, 

 slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for 

 crime, is prohibited while such territory shall remain under 

 territorial government. In all the territory south of said 

 line of latitude, slavery of the African race is hereby recog- 

 nized as existing, and shall not be interfered with by Con- 

 gress, but shall be protected as property by all the depart- 

 ments of the territorial government during its continuance. 

 And when any territory, north or south of said line, within 

 such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, shall contain 

 the population requisite for a member of Congress according 

 to the then Federal ratio of representation of the people of 

 the United States, it shall, if its form of government be re- 

 publican, be admitted into the Union, on an equal footing 

 with the original States, with or without slavery, as the con- 

 stitution of such new State may provide. 



AST. 2. Congress shall have no power to abolish sla- 

 very in places under its exclusive jurisdiction, and situate 

 within the limits of States that permit the holding of 

 slaves, 



AET. 3. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery 

 within the District of Columbia, so long as it exists in the 

 adjoining States of Virginia and Maryland, or either, nor 

 without the consent of the inhabitants, nor without just 

 compensation first made to such owners of slaves as do not 

 consent to such abolishment. Xor shall Congress at any 

 time prohibit officers of the Federal Government, or mem- 

 bers of Congress, whose duties require them to be in s-.rM 

 district, from bringing with them their slaves, and holding 

 them as such during the time their duties may require them 

 to remain there, and afterwards taking them from the dis- 

 trict. 



AET. 4. Consress shall have no power to prohibit or hin- 

 der the transportation of slaves from one State to another, 

 or to a territory in which slaves- are by law permitted to be 

 held, whether that transportation be by land, navigable 

 rivers, or by the sea. 



ABT. 5. That, in addition to the provisions of the third 

 paragraph of the second section of the fourth article of the 

 Constitution of the United States^ongress shall have power 

 to provide by law, and it shall oe its duty so to provide, 

 that the United States shall pay to the owner who shall 

 apply for it, the full value of his" fugitive slave in all cases 

 when the marshal or other officer whose duty it was to ar- 

 rest said fugitive was prevented from so doing by violence 

 or intimidation ; or when, after arrest, said fugitive was res- 

 cued by force, and the owner thereby prevented and ob- 

 structed in the pursuit of his remedy for the recovery of his 

 fugitive slave under the said clause of the Constitution and 

 the laws made in pursuance thereof. And in all such cases, 

 when the United States shall pay for such fugitive, they 

 shall have the right, in their own name, to sue the county in 

 which said violence, intimidation, or rescue was committed, 

 and to recover from it, with interest and damages, the 

 amount paid by, them for said fugitive slave. And the said 

 county, after it has paid said amount to the United States, 

 may, for its indemnity, sue and recover from the wrong- 

 doers or rescuers by whom the owner was prevented from 

 the recovery of his fugitive slave, in like manner as the 

 owner himself might have sued and recovered. 



ART. 6. No future amendment of the Constitution shall 

 affect the five preceding articles; nor the third paragraph 

 of the second section of Ihe first article of the Constitution; 

 nor the third paragraph of the second section of the fourth 

 article of said Constitution ; and no amendment shall be 

 made to the Constitution which shall authorize or give to 

 Congress any powr to abolish or interfere with slavery in 



