174 



CONGKESS, U. S. 



have been acceptable to a majority of the peo- 

 ple of the United States. 



Mr. Breckinridge, a member of the Senate 

 from the State of Kentucky, said upon the floor 

 of the Senate on the 16th of July, 1861 : " It 

 was stated upon the floor of the Senate by the 

 late Senator from Illinois, and I happened per- 

 sonally to know the fact myself, that the lead- 

 ing statesmen of the lower Southern States 

 were willing to accept the terms of settlement 

 which were proposed by the venerable Senator 

 from Kentucky, my predecessor." 



Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire, had no con- 

 fidence in compromise propositions. He said : 

 " I do not believe, sir, that the remedy is to be 

 sought there. I do not believe that the remedy 

 is to be sought in new constitutional provisions : 

 but in an honest, faithful execution of the things 

 that are already written in the compact and in 



the bond. I am willing, and I hope the State I 

 represent is willing, to look this matter all over 

 fairly, calmly, and dispassionately, and if there 

 be any thing that can be demanded of that 

 State consistent with the dignity that belongs 

 to a free State, and the regard that she owes to 

 the Constitution, I have no doubt that she will 

 render and perform it to the letter and to the 

 spirit. But I say, with all deference, that I 

 think these new compacts and these amend- 

 ments are the mere daubing of the wall with 

 untempered mortar. They are not what is 

 required to sustain the fabric of our Govern- 

 ment. 



" Sir, I do not know that this Congress can do 

 any thing ; but this controversy will not be 

 settled here. It has been well said, it will be 

 done by the States ; but, sir, the enlightened 

 tribunal of the public opinion of Christendom 



any of the States by whose laws it is, or may be, allowed or 

 permitted. 



And whereas, also, besides those causes of dissension em- 

 braced in the foregoing amendments proposed to the Con- 

 stitution of the United States, there are others which come 

 within the jurisdiction of Congress, and may be remedied 

 by its legislative power; and whereas it is the desire of Con- 

 gress, as far as its power will extend, to remove all just cause 

 for the popular discontent and agitation which now disturb 

 the peace of the country, and threaten the stability of ita 

 institutions: Therefore, 



1. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 

 of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

 That the laws now in force for the recovery of fugitive slaves 

 are in strict pursuance of the plan and mandatory provisions 

 of the Constitution, and have been sanctioned as valid and 

 constitutional by the judgment of the Supreme Court of tho 

 United States ; that the slaveholding States are entitled to 

 the faithful observance and execution of those laws, and 

 that they ought not to be repealed, or so modified or changed 

 as to impair their efficiency; and that laws ought to be made 

 for the punishment of those who attempt by rescue of the 

 slave, or other illegal means, to hinder or defeat the due exe- 

 cution of said laws. 



2. That all State laws which conflict with the fugitive 

 slave acts of Congress, or any other constitutional acts of 

 Congress, or which, in their operation, impede, hinder, or 

 delay the free course and due execution of any of said acts, 

 are null and void by the plain provisions of the Constitution 

 of the United States ; yet those State laws, void as they are, 

 have given color to practices, and led to consequences, which 

 have obstructed the due administration and execution of 

 acts of Congress, and especially the acts for the delivery of 

 fugitive slaves, and have thereby contributed much to the 

 discord and commotion now prevailing. Congress, there- 

 fore, in the present perilous juncture, does not deem it im- 

 proper, respectfully and eAnestly to recommend the repeal 

 of those laws to the several States which have enacted them, 

 or such legislative corrections or explanations of them as 

 may prevent their being used or perverted to snch mis- 

 chievous purposes. 



3. That the act of the 18th of September, 1850, commonly 

 called the Fugitive Slave Law, ought to be so amended as 

 to make the fee of the commissioner, mentioned in the 

 eighth section of the act, equal in amount in the cases de- 

 cided by him, whether his decision be in favor of or against 

 the claimant. And to avoid misconstruction, the last clause 

 of the fifth section of said act, which authorizes the person 

 holding a warrant for the arrest or detention of a fugitive 

 lave, to summon to his aid the posse cnmitatus, and which 

 declares it to be the duty of all good citizens to assist him in 

 its execution, ought to be so amended as to* expressly limit 

 the authority and duty to cases in which there shall be re- 

 sistance or danger of resistance or rescue. , 



4. That the laws for the suppression of the African slave 

 trade, and especially those prohibiting the importation of 

 slaves into the United States, ought to be made effectual, and 

 ought to be thoroughly executed ; and all further enact- 

 ments necessary to those ends ought to be promptly made. 



The following substitute was afterward offered to tho 

 preamble of the resolutions by Mr. Crittenden : 

 Whereas the Union is in danger, and owing to the unhappy 



divisions existing in Congress, it would be difficult, if not 

 impossible, for that body to concur in both its branches by 

 the requisite majority so as to enable it either to adopt such 

 measures of legislation, or to recommend to the States such 

 amendments to the Constitution, as are deemed necessary 

 and proper to avert that danger ; and whereas in so great an 

 emergency the opinion and judgment of the people ought 

 to be heard, and would be the best and surest guide to their 

 representatives : Therefore, 



Resolved, That provision ought to be made by law with- 

 out delay for taking the sense of the people and submitting 

 to their vote the following resolutions as the basis for the 

 final and permanent settlement of those disputes that now 

 disturb the peace of the country and threaten the existence 

 of the Union. 



The annexed table, made ont from the report of the Com- 

 missioner of Public Lands, shows that the division of terri- 

 tory proposed by adopting the line of 36 80', would give to 

 both the North and the South a quantity very nearly in 

 proportion to their respective populations to the North 

 1,795,965 square miles for a population of nineteen millions, 

 and to the South 1,203,711 square miles for a population of 

 twelve millions. 



