hopes. I am a planter—a cotton-planter. I am a Southern man and a slaveholder-a kind and a merciful one, I trustand none the worse for being a slaveholder. I say, for one, I would rather meet any extremity upon earth than give up one inch of our equality-one inch of what belongs to us as members of this great republic! What! acknowledged inferiority! The surrender of life is nothing to sinking down into acknowledged inferiority!

I have examined this subject largely-widely. I think I see the future. If we do not stand up as we ought, in my humble opinion, the condition of Ireland is prosperous and happy-the condition of Hindostan is prosperous and happy-the condition of Jamaica is prosperous and happy, compared with what must be that of the Southern States.

Mr. President, I desire that the resolutions which I now send to the table be read.

[The resolutions were read as follows:

"Resolved, That the territories of the United States belong to the several States composing this Union, and are held by them as their joint and common property.

"Resolved, That Congress, as the joint agent and representative of the States of this Union, has no right to make any law, or do any act whatever, that shall directly, or by its effects, make any discrimination between the States of this Union, by which any of them shall be deprived of its full and equal right in any territory of the United States, acquired or to be acquired.

"Resolved, That the enactment of any law, which should directly, or by its effects, deprive the citizens of any of the States of this Union from emigrating, with their property, into any of the territories of the United States, will make such discrimination, and would, therefore, be a violation of the constitution and the rights of the States from which such citizens emigrated, and in derogation of that perfect equality which belongs to them as members of this Union,—and would tend directly to subvert the Union itself.

Resolved, That it is a fundamental principle in our political creed, that a people in forming a constitution have the unconditional right to form and adopt the government which they may think best calculated to

secure their liberty, prosperity, and happiness; and that, in conformity thereto, no other condition is imposed by the Federal Constitution on a State in order to be admitted into this Union, except that its constitution shall be republican; and that the imposition of any other by Congress would not only be in violation of the constitution, but in direct conflict with the principle on which our political system rests."]

I move that the resolutions be printed. I shall move that they be taken up to-morrow; and I do trust that the Senate will give them early attention and an early vote upon the subject.

REMARKS

In reply to Mr. Simmons, on his Resolutions; made in the Senate, February 20th, 1847.

was no

MR. CALHOUN said he desired to make one or two remarks in reply to some portions of the speech of the honorable Senator from Rhode Island. I intend now and hereafter to argue this question with calmness. It is not one to be argued in a spirit of excitement. The Senator from Rhode Island rests his reasons against the resolutions which I have offered,—in the first place, on the fact, that there territory belonging to the United States at the time of the adoption of the constitution, from which slavery was not excluded. Now, whether that be an argument of any or not, I do not, in the first instance, intend to inquire; but what I do intend to say is, that the fact that there was no territory belonging to the United States at that time which did not exclude slavery, reads a lesson to us that we ought never to forget. How did the United States get possession of that magnificent territory between the Mississippi and the Ohio, now swarming with an intelligent and most numerous population? It was by the magnanimous ces

force

sion of the oldest and leading Southern State. It was she that ceded it to the Union, in the spirit of that generosity and patriotism which has ever characterized Virginia, and, let me add, all the Southern States of this Union. Now, how did it happen that Virginia and the other Southern States came to be excluded from that territory? It was by an act of the old Congress, in which the Senator very properly told us that the non-slaveholding States had a majority.

[MR. SIMMONS. Every one of the slaveholding States voted for it.]*

MR. CALHOUN. The non-slaveholding States had a majority, and that Congress passed a law excluding slave-owners from the territory. Virginia was thus deprived of all participation in that magnificent territory, without the slightest authority under the old articles of confederation. It was a palpable violation of that instrument, and was so represented by Mr. Madison himself in "The Federalist," if I do not mistake. It is some time since I looked into it. Now, here we have a warning. I trust that the South never will forget that an act of unlimited generosity, almost without precedent, was converted, through the force of a majority of the non-slaveholding States in the old Congress, into a monopoly of this territory from which Virginia herself was excluded, and all done without authority of the articles of the old confederation, but in violation of them. What has been the consequence ? There have grown up in that territory five States, from which we are not only excluded, but they are made a receptacle, contrary to the constitution,-I am giving facts, solemn facts,-of our fugitive slaves, and are thus made the medium of depriving us of them, directly in violation of the constitution, which provides that all fugitive slaves shall

*Mr. Simmons was in an error. The States were divided in passing the ordinance.

be delivered up on claim of the owner.

Organized com

panies have been formed in Ohio and other States-Illinois, Indiana,

[MR. HANNEGAN, in his seat. No, not Indiana.]

-I was in error, then; but organized companies have been formed at least in Ohio, for the purpose of transporting our slaves into Canada, where they are beyond the reach of this constitutional provision, and expressly with a view of defeating it. They are known to exist, they act openly,— and yet the legislature of that State refrains from any action on the subject. Now, I put it to the candor of the Senator from Rhode Island, and to every other Senator on this floor, if this does not read us a lesson, which we ought long, long to remember?

This has resulted from a violation of the articles of confederation, by passing the ordinance already alluded topassed by a body, in which, we are informed by the Senator, the non-slaveholding States had a majority. It is the natural result of a power exercised by a single body, controlled by a numerical majority, without an antagonizing power in the constitution to counteract it. I care not what the form of the Government is—it is nothing, if the Government be despotic, whether it be in the hands of one, or of a few, or of many men, without limitation. It belongs to the human heart that the power will be abused; and, what is most extraordinary, those abusing it will often not be conscious of the abuse.

I

come to the next ground taken by the Senator from

Rhode Island,-that the United States, at the time of the adoption of the constitution, had no territory from which

slavery

was not excluded. From this fact he concluded, that it was the intention of the framers to exclude slavery from all territories to be acquired. Now I put it to the Senate, is that a legitimate conclusion?

Is there any principle from

which we could infer from a mere naked fact like that, that it was the intention of the framers of the constitution to prevent the slaveholding States from having any participation in any territory thereafter to be acquired, either by purchase or conquest. I confess I can see none.

The next argument relied upon by the Senator is this; that, at that time, there was a certain proportion between the number of non-slaveholding and slaveholding States, which gave the former a majority in the old Congress; and that as they had a majority when the constitution was framed, it was intended that they should maintain it for ever afterwards. I have shown how the power was exercised by the old Congress, while they possessed this majority, in reference to the very question now under consideration; and that it affords us sufficient warning to guard us against a predominance of such a majority in every branch of this Government, as will be the case if we do not resist the aggressive policy of excluding slavery from all the territories of the Union.

But suppose this argument of the Senator to have any force, it is as good for us as it is for him. It would follow that the disproportion which then existed in favor of the non-slaveholding States ought never to be increased, and yet the resolutions adopted by his and other States, propose that we should be excluded hereafter from all the territories of the United States, and that no other slaveholding State should ever again be admitted into the Union.

[MR. SIMMONS. There is no such proposition in the resolution from my State.]

MR. CALHOUN. Well, that is the proposition of other States. If we are to be excluded, what will be the result? Instead of having this disproportion of six to eight, we will have a disproportion of fourteen to twenty-eight! Double, precisely. That will be the end of it. And if ever any portion of Mexico should fall under the authority of the