CHAPTER XX.

SUBSEQUENT ACTION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT-COLORED PEOPLE-SLAVE TERRITORY-NEW SLAVE STATES-FEDERAL

DISTRICT.

Cession of Georgia and South Carolina-Mississippi Territory-Admission of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi-Missouri-Purchase of Louisiana and Florida-Four more Slave States-Missouri Compromise-Instances of prohibiting Slavery-Government of the Federal District-A great Slave mart-Testimony of a Grand Jury of the District (1802)—Of Judge Morrell (1816)-John Randolph and Alexandria Gaz. (1827)-Petition of Judge Cranch and others (1828)-" Wash. Spectator" (1880)-Insecurity of Northern Citizens-Crandall, Chaplin, &c.

HAVING traced the beginnings of our national declension, we must proceed with the remaining part of the history. The whole might almost be read, by anticipation, from the germ already examined. No subsequent administration, amid all our fluctuations of national policy, has run counter to the proslavery precedent furnished by the first.

The insult to colored citizens, commenced by the naturalization and militia laws, under the administration of Washington, was renewed and extended by the law organizing the Post Office Department, under Mr. Madison, in 1810, providing that "no other than a free WHITE person shall be employed. in carrying the mail of the United States, either as a post rider or driver of a carriage carrying the mail," under a penalty of fifty dollars.-Jay's View, p. 24.

two Virginian Presidents. We may admire much in the one and in the other, but we must be indeed stupid to regard them infallible, or shipwreck our liberties in order to follow them implicitly, or revise or throw away our Bibles and declarations of self-evident truths, in order to avoid seeing their inconsistencies, or in deference to the imaginary and immaculate saintship of either of them.

In 1820, under Mr. Monroe, Congress authorized the WHITE citizens of Washington to elect WHITE city officers! These WHITE officers were authorized "to prescribe the terms on which free negroes and mulattoes may reside in the city," and they exercised this absurd and wicked authority in the very spirit in which was conferred.-Ib. p. 25–26.

SLAVE TERRITORIES AND NEW SLAVE STATES.

Slavery under jurisdiction of Congress, and commencing under the administration of Washington, has been continued ever since. Not only in the District of Columbia has this been done, but in Territories belonging to the United States, has the institution been fostered, preparatory to the admission of them as new Slave States into the Union.

In 1802, Georgia ceded to the United States the country lying between her present western limit and the Mississippi, stipulating that the Ordinance of 1787, in all its provisions, should extend to the ceded territory, "that article only excepted which forbids slavery." This cession was accepted, and the territory placed under a Territorial Government, restricted from all interference with slavery."-Speech of S. P. Chase, U. S. Senate, March 26, 1850.

This was under the administration and with the concurrence of Mr. Jefferson, author of the Notes on Virginia, the Declaration of Independence, and the Ordinance of 1787. This added, in due time, the two Slave States of Mississippi and Alabama, to "our glorious Union !" The former was admitted in 1817, and the latter in 1819, both under the adminis tration of Mr. Monroe.

Thus it appears that since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, in 1789, we have admitted into the Union the four Slave States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, from territory within our original limits; and, except in the case of Kentucky, the National Government has previously protected slavery in them, while exercising authority over them, as territories, previous to their admission into the Union as independent states.

But this is not all. The national resources have been ex

pended to purchase new territory for the erection and admission of new Slave States.

In 1803, we acquired Louisiana by purchase from the French Republic.* There were at that time about forty thousand slaves held within its limits, under the French law. The treaty contained this stipulation:

"The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States; and, in the meantime, they shall be maintained in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion which they profess."-8 Stat. at Large, U. S., 202.

This stipulation, interpreted according to the plain sense of its terms, and carried into practical effect, would have enfranchised every slave in Louisiana; for no one, I apprehend, will venture to affirm that the slaves were not inhabitants. Independently of this stipulation, it was the duty of the Government-even more imperative than in 1787, for since then the whole country south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi had been formed into slave States and slave Territories-to establish freedom as

the fundamental law of the new acquisition. But this duty was not performed. There was some feeble legislation against the introduction of slaves from foreign countries, and of slaves imported since 1798 from the other States; but that was all, and that was useless.-Speech of S. P. Chase, U. S. Senate, March 26, 1850.

This, too, was under the administration of Mr. Jefferson. The purchase was, with him, a favorite measure, and it is not known to the writer that he proposed the abolition of the slavery existing there. So strong were his impressions, at one time, that the purchase transcended the Constitutional powers of the Federal Government, that he contemplated recommending an amendment to the Constitution for that special object, but he finally persuaded himself that the people were so desirous of the purchase that the formality of an amendment might be waived!

Then came the cession of Florida by Spain in 1819. The stipulation in the treaty was substantially the same as in the treaty with France;† the

*This was at a cost to the nation of fifteen millions of dollars.

8 U. S. Stat. at Large, 256, as quoted by Mr. Chase.

duty of the Government in respect to the acquisition was the same; and there was the same failure to perform it.

Finally, Texas came in, in 1845, not as a Territory, but as a State.— S. P. Chase, as above.

The purchase of Florida, for the sum of five millions of dollars, was under the administration of Mr. Monroe. The annexation of Texas was under that of Mr. Tyler.

The purchase of Louisiana resulted in the admission of three new Slave States, formed out of the purchased territory, viz: Louisiana, admitted under the administration of Mr. Madison, in 1812; Missouri, (after much debate, and a so called 'compromise ") under Mr. Monroe, in 1821; and Arkansas, under General Jackson, in 1836. Florida was admitted under Mr. Tyler, March 3, 1845.

The dates and the names of the Presidents show the continuity of the policy, during the long lapse of time, and under the successive administrations of the Government.

The contest concerning the admission of Missouri as a slave state, occurred during the Congressional session of 1819-20, and was decided in March, 1820. The proposal for the admission of Missouri, was artfully coupled with a proposal for the admisson of Maine, a free state. It was contended that the one was an equitable balance for the other. But this plea did not satisfy the North. The "compromise consisted in the introduction of a provision that in the future admission of States from the residue of that territory, the line of division between slavery and freedom should be the parallel of 36° 30' North latitude, the northern side of that line being appropriated to freedom. This proposal was resisted manfully for a time, but under a threat of dissolving the Union, it was carried by a small majority in the House. But the vote fixing the conditions of the future admission of a State could not bind a future Congress, so that the "compromise," as usual, gave the South all, and the North nothing. Four new slave states from our original territory, four more from territory acquired by purchase, and one from an

nexation, make nine added in all, to the dominion of slavery, and to the strength of the Slave Power.

It is proper to record here, the instances of Federal legislation of an opposite character.

By the 7th section of the act organizing a Territorial Government for Mississippi, passed in 1798, the importation of slaves into said Territory from any place without the United States, was prohibited under severe penalties. This was ten years before Congress had the power, under the Constitution, to prohibit the importation of slaves into the States.-Speech of Mr. Bingham, of Michigan, in Congress, June 4, 1850, Nat. Era, July 18.

This was under the administration of John Adams.

On the 7th of May, 1800, an act was passed for the organization of a territorial Government for Indiana, and slavery expressly prohibited therein. This act was approved by John Adams.

January 11, 1805, the northern part of Indiana was erected into the territory of Michigan, and slavery prohibited. February 3, 1809, the Territory of Illinois was established, with the like prohibition as to slavery. These two latter acts received the approval and signature of Thomas Jefferson.

On the 20th of April, 1836, Wisconsin was organized as a Territory, and slavery prohibited within its limits. This act was approved by General Jackson.

The Territory of Iowa was established by act of Congress of the 12th of June, 1838, under the administration of Mr. Van Buren; and here also was slavery prohibited.

On the 14th of August, 1848, the Territory of Oregon was organized, which contained the same provision in the memorable and time-honored words, "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude therein, except for the punishment of crime."—Ib.

This was under the administration of Mr. Polk.

These acts concerning Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Oregon, were only in pursuance of the Ordinance of 1787, yet they are so many attestations to the Constitution

This territory, organized in 1798, comprised only a region of country ceded by South Carolina, but was afterwards, in 1804, enlarged, so as to include a part of the country ceded by Georgia in 1802, as stated by Hon. S. P. Chase, in his speech before quoted. This statement will explain an apparent, but not real discrepancy in dates, in the two quotations.