566 



PEACE CONFERENCE. 



States, and thus heal the divisions existing 

 through the country. 



The regular order of business was com- 

 menced by a motion on the part of James 

 Guthrie, of Kentucky, that the following reso- 

 lution be adopted : 



Resolved, That a committee of one from each State 

 be appointed by the Commissioners thereof, to be 

 nominated to the President, and to be appointed by 

 him, to whom shall be referred the resolutions of the 

 State of Virginia, and the other States represented. 

 and all propositions for the adjustment of existing di 

 ficult ies between States, with authority to report what 

 they may deem right, necessary, and proper to restore 

 harmony and preserve the Union, and that they report 

 on or before Friday. 



The committee appointed under this resolu- 

 tion was composed of the following delegates : 



New Hampshire, Asa Fowler; Vermont, Hiland 

 Hall ; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Sam- 

 uel Ames ; Connecticut, Roger S. Baldwin ; New Jer- 

 sey, Peter D. Vroom ; Pennsylvania, Thomas White ; 

 Delaware, Daniel M. Bates; North Carolina, Thomas 

 Ruffin ; Kentucky, James Guthrie ; Ohio, Thomas 

 Ewing ; Indiana, Caleb B. Smith ; Illinois, Stephen T. 

 Logan ; Iowa, James Harlan ; Maryland, Reverdy 

 Johnson ; Virginia, James A. Seddon ; Missouri, A. W. 

 Doniphan ; Tennessee, F. K. Zollicoffer ; New York, 

 David Dudley Field ; Massachusetts, Francis B. Crovvu- 

 inshield ; Maine, Lot M. Morrell. 



On the 15th of February, the committee laid 

 before the Convention a report and the follow- 

 ing amendments to the Constitution : 



ARTICLE 1. In all the territory of the United States, not 

 embraced within the limits of the Cherokee treaty grant, 

 north of a line from east to west on the parallel of 3t> de- 

 grees 30 minutes north latitude, involuntary servitude, 

 except in punishment of crime, is prohibited whilst it 

 shall be under a Territorial Government; and in all the 

 territory south of said line, the status of persons owing 

 service or labor as it now exists shall not be changed 

 by law whilst such territory shall be under a Territorial 

 Government; and neither Congress nor the Territorial 

 Government shall have power to hinder or prevent the 

 taking to said territory of persons held to labor or in- 

 voluntary service, within the United States, according 

 to the laws or usages of the State from which such per- 

 sons may be taken, nor to impair the rights arising 

 out of said relations, which shall be subject to judicial 

 cognizance in the Federal Courts, according to the 

 common law ; and when any territory north or south 

 of said line, within such boundary as Congress may 

 prescribe, shall contain a population required for a 

 member of Congress, according to the then Federal 

 ratio of representation, it shall, if its form of govern- 

 ment be republican, be admitted into the Union on an 

 equal footing with the original States, with or without 

 involuntary service or labor, as the constitution of 

 such new State may provide. 



ART. 2. Territory shall not be acquired by the United 

 States, unless by treaty ; nor, except for naval and 

 commercial stations and depots, unless such treaty 

 shall be ratified by four-fifths of all members of the 

 Senate. 



ART. 3. Neither the Constitution, nor any amend- 

 ment thereof, shall be construed to give Congress 

 power to regulate, abolish, or control, within any State 

 or territory of the United States, the relation estab- 

 lished or recognized by the laws thereof touching per- 

 sons bound to labor or involuntary service therein, 

 nor to interfere with or abolish involuntary service in 

 the District of Columbia without the consent of Mary- 

 land and without the consent of the owners, or making 

 the owners who do not consent just compensation ; nor 

 the power to interfere with or prohibit representatives 

 and others from bringing with them to the city of 



Washington, retaining, and taking away, persons so 

 bound to labor; nor the power to interfere with or 

 abolish involuntary service in places under the exclu- 

 sive jurisdiction of the United States within those 

 States and Territories where the same is established 

 or recognized ; nor the power to prohibit the removal 

 or transportation, by land, sea, or river, of persons 

 held to labor or involuntary service in any State or 

 Territory of the United States to any other State or 

 Territory thereof where it is established or recognized 

 by law or usage ; and the right during transportation 

 of touching at ports, shores, and landings, and of land- 

 ing in case of distress, shall exist. Nor shall Congress 

 have power to authorize any higher rate of taxation 

 on persons bound to labor than on land. 



ART. 4. The third paragraph of the second section 

 of the fourth article of the Constitution shall not be 

 construed to prevent any of the States, by appropriate 

 legislation, and through the action of their judicial and 

 ministerial officers, from enforcing the delivery of fu- 

 gitives from labor to the person to whom such service 

 or labor is due. 



ART. 5. The foreign slave trade and the importation 

 of slaves into the United States and their Territories, 

 from places beyond the present limits thereof, are for- 

 ever prohibited. 



ART. 6. The first, second, third, and fifth articles, 

 together with this article, of these amendments, and 

 the third paragraph of the second section of the first 

 article of the Constitution, and the third paragraph of 

 the second section of the fourth article thereof, shall 

 not be amended or abolished without the consent of all 

 the States. 



ART. 7. Congress shall provide by law that the 

 United States shall pay to the owner the full value of 

 his fugitive from labor, in all cases where the marshal 

 or other officer, whose duty it was to arrest snch fugi- 

 tive, was prevented from so doing by violence or intimi- 

 dation, or when, after arrest, such fugitive was rescued 

 by force, and the owner thereby prevented and ob- 

 structed in the pursuit of his remedy for the recovery 

 of such fugitive. 



Two or three members of the committee sub- 

 mitted individual reports, as Mr. Baldwin, of 

 Connecticut, Mr. Seddon, of Virginia. Mr. 

 "Wickliffe, of Kentucky, presented a preamble 

 and resolutions, and Mr. Tuck, of New Hamp- 

 shire, offered an address and resolutions. Sub- 

 sequently the report of the committee was taken 

 up by sections, and each discussed and amended 

 until the entire report was thus revised. This 

 occupied the Convention until the afternoon 

 session of the 26th, when Mr. Outline moved 

 the adoption of the first section. It had been 

 so modified as to read as follows: 



SECTION 1. In all the present territory of the United 

 States, north of the parallel of thirty-six degrees and 

 thirty minutes of north latitude, involuntary servitude, 

 except in punishment of crime, is prohibited. In all 

 the present territory south of that line, the status of 

 persons held to involuntary service or labor, as it now 

 exists, shall not be changed ; nor shall any law be 

 passed by Congress or the Territorial Legislature to 

 hinder or prevent the taking of such persons from any 

 of the States of this Union to said territory, nor to im- 

 pair the rights arising from said relation ; but the same 

 shall be subject to judicial cognizance in the Federal 

 Courts, according to the course of the common law. 

 When any territory north or south of said line, within 

 such boundary as Congress may prescribe, shall con- 

 tain a population equal to that required for a member 

 of Congress, it shall, if its form of government be re- 

 publican, be admitted into the Union on an equal foot- 

 ing with the original States, with or without involun- 

 tary servitude as the constitution of such State may 

 provide. 



