of the service required of our troops have fur
l-dished additional evidence of their courage,
zeal, and capacity to meet any requisition which
their country may make upon them. For the
details of the military operations, the distribu
tion of the troops, and additional provisions re
quired for the military service, I refer to the
report of the Secretary of War and the accom
panying documents.
Experience, gathered from events since my
last annual message, has but served to confirm
the opinion then expressed of, the propriety of
making provision, by a retired list, for disabled
officers, and for increased compensation to the
officers retained on the list for active duty. All
the reasons which existed, when these measures
were recommended on former occasions, con
tinuo without modification, except so far as cir
cumstances have given to some of them addi
tional force.
The recommendations, heretofore made for a
partial reorganization of the army, are also re
newed. The thorough elementary education
given to those officers, who commence their
service with the grade of cadet, qualifies them,
to a considerable extent, to perforni: the duties
of every arm of the service; but to give the
highest efficiency to nrtillery, requires the prac
tice and 87:Jecial study* of many years; and it
is not, therefore, believed to be advisable to
maintain, in time of peace, a larger force of
that arm than can be usually employed in the
duties appertaining to the service of field and
beige artillery. The duties of the staff in
all its various branches belong to the movements
of troops, and the efficiency of an army in the
field would materially depend upon the ability
with which those duties are discharged. It is
not, as in the case of the artillery, a speciality,
but requires, also, an intimate knowledge of the
duties of an officer of the line, and it is not
. doubted that, to complete the education of an
Officer for either the line or the general staff, it
is desirable that he shall have served in both.
With this view, it was recommended on a for
mer occasion that the duties of the staff should
be mainly performed by details from the line;
md, with conviction of the advantages which
would result from bush a change, it is again
presented for . the consideration of Congress.
ME
T'he report of the Secretary of the iiavy,
herewith submitted, exhibits in full the naval
_operations of the past year, together with the
_present condition of the service, and it makes
.suggestions of further legislation, to which
your attention is invited.
The construction of the six steam frigates,
for which appropriations were made by the last
Congress, has proceeded in the most satisfac
tory manner, and with such expedition; as to
warrant the belief th — at they will be ready for
service early in the coming spring. Important
as this addition to our naval force is, it still re
iiiains inadequate to the contingent exigencies of
the protection of the extensive sea coast and
vast commercial interests of the United States.
In view of this fact, and of the acknowledged
wisdom of the policy of a gradual and system
atic increase of the navy, an appropriation is
recommended for the construction of six steam
sloops-of-war.
In regard to the steps taken in execution of
the act of Congress to promote the efficiency of
the navy, it is unnecessary for me to say more
than to express entire concurrence in the obser
vations on that subject presented by the Secre
tary in his report.
POST OPFICT?
It will be. perceived, by the report of the
Postmaster General, that the gross expenditure
bf the department for the last fiscal year was
nine million nine hundred and sixty-eight
thousand three hundred and forty-two dollars,
and the gross receipts seven million three hun
dred and forty-two thorisand one hundred and
thirty-sit dollars, making an excess of expendi
ture over receipts of two million six hundred
and twenty-six thousand two hundred and six
dollars; and that the cost of mail transporta
tion during that year was six hundred and
seventy-four thousand' nine hundred and fifty
tivo dollars greater than the previous year.—
Much of the heavy expenditures, to which the
treasury is thns subjected, is to be ascribed to
the large quantity of printed matter conveyed
by the mails, either franked- or liable to no
postage by law, or to very low rates of postage
compared with that Charged on letters and to
the great cost of mail service on railroads and
'by ocean steamers. The suggestions of the
Postmaster General on the subjeot deserve the
consideration or Congress.
f~r~i~ioa
The report of the Secretary of the Interior
will engage your attention, as well for useful
suggestions it contains, as for the interest and
importance of the subjects to which they refer.
The aggregate amount of public land gold
ddring the last fiscal year, located with military
scrip or land warrants, taken up under grants
for roads, and selected as swamp lands by
States, is twenty-four million five hundred and
fifty-seven thousand four hundred and nine
acres; of which the portion sold was fifteen
million seven hundred and twenty-nine thou
sand five hundred and twenty-four acres, yield
ing in receipts the sum of eleven million four
hundred and eighty-five thousand three hun
dred and eighty dollars. In the same period of
time, eight million seven hundred and twenty
three thousand eight hundred and fifty-four
acres have been surveyed; but, in considera
tion of the quantity already subject to entry,
ne additional tracts have been brought into
market.
The peculiar relation of the general govern
inent.to the District of Columbia, renders it pro
per to commend to your care not Only its mate
rial, but also its moral interests, including edu
cation,
more especially in those parts of the
district outside of the cities of Washington and
Georgetown.
The commissioners appointed to revise and
codify the laws of the District, have made such
progress in the performance of their task, as to
insure its completion in the time prescribed by
the act of Congress.
Information has recently been received, that
the peace of the settlements in the territories of
Oregon and Washington is disturbed by hostili
ties on the part of the Indians, with indications
of extensive combinations of a hostile character
among the tribes in that quarter, the more se
rious in their possible effect by reason of the
undetermined foregin interest existing in those
Territories, to which your attention has already
been especially invited. Efficient measures
have been taken, which, it is believed, will re
store quiet, and afford protection to our citizens.
In the territory of Kansas, there have been
ursjudiclal.n caseonly - 'b©7f76) — ifriatrolifirTe e-
ral law, or of organized resistance to territo
rial law, assuming the character of insurrection,
which, if it should occur, it would be my duty
to promptly overcome and suppress, I cherish
the hope, however, that the occurrence of any
such untoward event will be prevented by the
sound sense of the people of the territory,
who, by its organic law, possessing the right
to determine their own domestic institutions,
are entitled, while deporting themselves peace
fully, to the free exercise of that right, and
must be protected in the .enjoyment of it, with
out interference on the part of the citizens of
any of the States.
- The southern boundary line of this Territory
has never boon surveyed and established. The
rapidly-extending settlements in that region, and
the fact that the main route between Independ
eneep in the State of Missouri, and New Mexico,
is contigions to this line.. suggest the wobahiri--
ty: !Embarrassing questions- or , juriediction •
may tionsecluently arise. . For these and other
considerations; I commend • the subject to your
early attention.
CONSTITUTIONAL THEORY OT THE GOVERNMENT
..I..have thus passed in review the general state
of the Union, including such particular concerns
of the federal government, whether of domestic
flr foreign relation, as it appeared to me desira
ble and useful to bring to the special notice of
Congress. Unlike the great states of Europe and
Asia, and many of those of America, these Uni
ted States are: wasting their strength neither in
foreign war nor domestic strife. Whatever of
discontent or public dissatisfaction exists, is at
trihntahle tp the imperfections of human nature,
or is incident to 41 governments, however per
fect, which human wisdom can devise. such sub
jects of political agitation, as occupy the public
mind, consist, to a great extent, of exaggeration
of inevitable evils, or over zeal in social improve
ment, or mere imagination of grievance, having
but remote connexion with any of the constitu
tional functions or duties of the federal govern
ment. To whatever extent these questions ex
hibit a tendency menacing to the stability of the
4oNitit4tion, or the integrity of the Union, and
no farther, they demand the consideration of 2 the
Executive, and require to be presented by him
to Congress.
Before the Thirteen Colonies became a confed
eration of independent States, they were associ
ated only by community of trans-atlantic origin,
by geographical position, and by the mutual tie
of common dependence on Great Britain. When
that. tie Was sundered, they severally assnmed
the powers and rights of absolute :lelf-g.-.vern
rnent. The municipal and social institutions of
each, its laws of property, and of personal rela
tion, even its political organization, were such
only as each one chose to establish wholly with
out interference from any other. In the lan
guage of the Declaration of Independence, each
State had "full power to levy war, conclude
pence, contract alliances, establish commerce,
and to do all other acts and things which inde
pendent States may of right do." The several
colonies differed in climate, in soil, in natural
productions, in religion, in systems of educa
tion, in legislation, and in the forms of political
administration; and they continued to differ in
these respects when they voluntarily allied them
selves as States to carry on the war of the revo
lution.
The object of that war was to diseuthral the
United Colonies- -from foreign rule, which had
proved to he oppressive, and to separate them
permanently from the mother country : the po
litical result was the foundation of a federal re
public of the free white men of the colonies, con
stituted as they were, in distinct,. and recipro
cally independent, State governments. A s for
the subject races, whether Indian or African,
the wise and brave statesmen of that day, being
engaged in no extravagant scheme of social
change, left them as they were, and thus pre
served themselves' and their posterity-from the
anarchy, and the ever-recurring civil wars, which
have prevailed in other revolutionized European
colonies of Am eri ca.
•
When the confederated States found it conve
nient to modify the conditions of their-associa:-
tion, by giving to the general government direct
access, in some respects, to the people of the
States, instead of .confining it to action on the
States as such, they proceeded to frame the ex
isting constitution, adhering steadily to one guid
ing thought, which was, to delegate only such
power as was necessary and proper to the exe
cution - of specific purposes, or, in other words,
to retain as much as possible, consistently with
those purposes, of the independent powers of the
individual States. For objects of common le
fence and security, they intrusted to the general
government certain carefully defined functions,
leaving all others as the undelegated rights of
the separate independent sovereignties.
Such is the constitutional theory of our gov
ernment, the practical - observance v;r•ift2.l, has
carried us; and us alone, among modern repub
lics, through nearly three generations of time
without the cost of one drop of bloodshed in civil
war. With freedom and concert of action, it has
enabled us to contend successfully on the battle
field against foreign foes, has elevated the feeble
colonies into powerful States, and has raised our
industrial productions, and our commerce, which
transports them, to the level of the richest and
the greatest nations of Europe. And the admi
rable adoption of our political institutions to
their objects, combining local self-government
with aggregate strength, has established the
practicability of a government like ours to cover
a continent with confederate States.
The . Congress 6f the United 'States is, in ef
fect, that congress of sovereignties, which good
men in the Old World have sought for, but could
never attain; and which imparts to Ameriba, an
exemption from the mutable leagues forzommon
action, from the wars, the mutual invasions and
:vague aspirations after the balance of power,
which convulse from time to time the govern
ments of Europe. Our co-operative action rests
in the conditions of permanent confederation
prescribed by the constitution. Our balance of
power is in the separate reserved rights of the
States, and their equal representation 'in the
Senate. That independent sovereignty in every
one of the States, with its reserved rights of lo
cal self government assured to each by their co
equal
power in the Senate, was the fundamen
tal condition of the constitution. Without it the
Union would never have existed. however de
sirous the larger States might be to re-organize
the government so as to give to their population
its proportionate weight in the common coun
sels, they knew it was impossible, unless the
conceded to the smaller ones authority to °sou
cise at least a negative influence on all the meas
ures of the government whether legislative or
executives through their equal representation in
the Senate. Indeed, the larger States them
selves could not have failed to perceive, that the
same power was equally necessary to them, for
the security of their own domestic interests
against the aggregate force of the general gov
ernment. In a word, the original States went
into this permanent league on the agreed prem
ises, of exerting their common strength for the
defence of the whole, and of all its parts; but of
utterly excluding ell capability of reciprocal ag
gression. Each solemnly bound itself to all the
others, neither to undertake, nor permit, any
encroachment upon, or intermeddling with,
another's reserved rights.
Where it was deemed expedient, particular
rights of the States 'were expressly guarantied
by the constitution; but, in all things beside,
these rights were guarded by the limitation of
the powers granted, and by express .reservation
of all powers not granted, in the compact of Un
ion. Thus, the great power of taxation was limi
ted to purposes of common defence and general
welfare, excluding objects appertaining to the
local legislation of the several States ; and those
purposes of general welfare and common defence
were afterwards defined by specific enumeration,
as being matters only of co-relation between the
States themselves, or between them and foreign
governments, which, because of their common
and general nature, could not be left to the sepa
rate control of each State.
Of the circumstances of local condition, inter
est, and rights, in which a portion of the States,
constituting
the
great section of the Union dif
fered from the rest, and from another section,
the. most important was the peculiarity of a
larger relative colored population in the south
ern than in the northern States.
A population of this class, held in subjection,
existed in nearly all the States, but was more
numerous and of more serious concernment in
the South than in the North, on account of natu
ral differences of climate and production and 'it
was foreseen that, for the same reasons, while
this population would diminish, and, sooner or
later, cease to exist, in some States, it might in
crease in others. The peculiar character and
magnitude of this question of local rights, not in
material relations only, but still more in social
ones, caused it to enter into the special stipula
tions of the constitution.
Hence, while the,general government, as well
by the . enumerated powers granted to it, as by
those not enumerated, and therefore refused to
it, was forbidden to touch this matter in the
sense of attack or offence, it was placed under
the general safeguard of the Union, in the sense
of defence against either invasion or domestic
violence, like all other local interestsof the seve
ral States. Each State expressly stipulated, as
bound by his allegiance to the constitution, that
any person, held to service or labor in one State,
escaping into another, should not, in consequence
of any law or regulation thereof, be discharged
from such service or labor, but shoUld be deliv
ered up on claim of the party to whom such ser
vice or labor might be due by the laws of his
State.
Thus, and , thus only, by the reciprocal guar
anty of all the rights of every State ag*inst in
terfereuce on - the part of another, was the pres
ent form of government established by our fa
thers and transmitted to us; and by no other
means is it possible for it to exist. If one State
ceases to respetlt the rights of another, and ob
trusively intermeddlea with its local interests,--
if a portion of the States assume to impose their
institutions on the others, or refuse to fulfil their
obligations to them,—we are no longer united,
friendly States, but distracted, hostile ones,
.with
abundant means of reciprocal injury and mis
chief.
Practically," is immaterial whether aggres
sive interference between the States, or deliber
ate refusal on the part of any of them to comply
with constitutional obligations, arise from er
roneous conviction, or blind predjudice, whether
it be perpetrated by direction or indirection. In
either ease, it is full of threat and of danger to
the durability of the Union.
CONSTITUTION/Li ILELAT/ONS OF SLAVETC.T.
Placed in the office of Chief Magistrate as the
executive agent of the whole country, bound to
take care that the laws be faithfully executed,
and specially enjoined by the constitution to give
information to Congress on the state of the-Un
ion, it would be palpable neglect of duty on my
part to pass over a subject like this, which, be
yondall. things at the present time, vitally con
cerns individual and public security.
It has been matter of painful regret to see
States, s conspicuous for their services iu found
ing this Republic, and equally sharing its ad
yantages, disregard their constitutional obliga
tions to it. Although conscious of their inabil
ity to heal admitted and palpable social evils of
their own, and which .are completely within
their jurisdiction, they engage in the offensive
and hopeless undertaking of reforming the do
mestic institutions of other States wholly be
yond their control and authority. In the vain
pursuit of ends, by them entirely unattainable,
and which they may not legally attempt to com
pass, they peril the very existence of the con
stitution, and all the countless benefits which it
has Conferred, While the people of the south
ern States oottline their attention to their own
affairs, not presuming officiously to intermeddle
with the social institutions of the northern
States, too many of the inhabitants of the lat
ter are permantly organized in associations to
inflict injury on the former, by wrongful acts,
which would be cause of war as between foreign
powets, and only fail to be such in our system,
because perpetrated under cover of the Union.
It is impossible to present this subject as
truth and the occasion require, without noticing
the reiterated, but groundless :allegation, that
the south has persistently asserted claims and
obtained advantages in the practical adminis
tration 'of the general government, to the preju
dice of the north, and in which the latter has
acquiesced. That is, the States, which either
promote or tolerate attacks on the rights of per
sons and of property in other States, to disguise
their own injustice, pretend or imagine, and
constantly aver, that they, whose constitutional
rights are thus systematically assailed, are
themselves the ...aggressors. At the present
time this imputed aggression, resting, as it does,
only in the vague, declamatory charges of po
litical agitators, resolves itself into misappre
hension, or misinterpretation, of the principles
and facts !of the political organization of the
new Territories of the United States.
What is the voice of history ? When the or
dinance, which provided for the government of
the territory northwest of the river Ohio, and
for its eventual subdivision into new States, was
adopted in the congress of the confederation, it
is not to be supposed that the question Of fu
ture relative power, as between the States which
retained, and those Which did not retain, a nu
merous colored population, escaped notice, or
failed to be considered. And yet the concession
of that vast territory to the interest and opin
ions of the northern States, a territory now the
seat of five among the largest members of the
Union, was, in great measure, the act of the
State of Virginia and of the south.
When Louisiana was acquirid by the United
States, it was an • acquisition not less to the
north than to the south ; for while it was im
portant to the country at the mouth of the river .
Mississippi to become the emporium of the coun
try above it, it also was even more important to
the whole Union to have that emporium; and
although the new province, by reason of its ha
perfct settlement, was mainly regarded as-en
the chilf of Mexico, yet" in fact, it extended to
the opposite boundar;.... , ~,r 13— tx,,,i,-.-tr - States,
with far greater breadth above than below, and
was in territory, as in everything else, equally
at least an accession to the northern States. It
is mere delusion and prejudice, therefore, to
speak of Louisiana as acquisition in the special
interest of the south.
The patriotic and just men, who participated
in that act, were influenced by motives far above
all sectional jealousies. It was in-truth the
great event, which, by completing for us the
possession of the valley of the Mississippi, with
commercial access to the Gulf of Mexico, im
parted unity and strength to the whole confed
eration, and attached together by indissoluble
ties the east and the west, as well as the North
and the south.
As to Florida, that was but the transfer by
Spain to the :United States of territory on the
east side of the river Mississippi, in 3achange
for large territory, which the United States
'transferred to Spain on the west side of that
river, as the entire diplomatic history of the
transaction serves io demonstrate. Moreover,
it was an acquisition demanded by the commer
cial interests and the security of the whole
Union.
In the meantime, the people of the United .
States had grown up to a proper consciousness
of their strength, and in a brief contest with
France, and in a second serious war with Great
Britain, they had bi,. - .. ken off all which remained
of undue reverence for Europe, and emerged
frem the atmosphere of those transatlantic in
fluences which surrounded the infant - Republic,
and had begun to turn their attention to the full
and systematic development of the internal re
sources of the Union.
Among the evanescent controversies of that
period, the most conspicuous was the question
of regulation by Congress of the social. condi
tion of the future States to be founded in the
territory. of Louisiana.
The ordinance for the government of the ter
ritory northwest of the river Ohio bad contained
a provision which prohibited the use of servile
labor therein, subject to the condition of the ex
tradition 01 fugitives from service due in any
other part of the United States. Subsequently
to the adoption of the constitution, this provi
sion ceased to remain as a law ; for its opera
tion as such was absolutely superseded by the
constitution. But the recollection of the fact
excited the zeal of social propagandism in some,
sections of the confederation; and when a second
State, that of Missouri, came to be formed in
the territory of Louisiana, proposition was made
to extend to the latter territory the restriction
originally applied to the country situated be
tween the rivers Ohio and Mississippi.
Most questionable as was this proposition in
all its constitutional relations, nevertheless it re
ceived the sanction of Congress, with some slight
modifications of line, to save the existing rights
of the intended new State. It was reluctantly
acquiesced in by southern States as a sacrifice
to the cause of peace and of the Union, not only
of the rights stipulated by the treaty of Louisi
ana, but of the principle of equality among the
States gintrantied by-the constitution. It was
received by the northern States with angry and
resentful condemnation and complaint, because
it did not concede all which they had exactingly
demanded. Having passed through the forms
of legislation, it took its place in the statute
book, standing open to repeal, like any other act
of doubtfid constitutionality, subject to be pro
nounced null and void by the courts of law, and
possessing no possible' efficacy to control the'
rights of the States, which might thereafter bo
organized out of any part of the original terri
tory of Louisiana.
in all this, if any aggression there were, any
innovation upon pre-existing rights, to which
portion of the Union are they justly chargeable?
This controversy passed away with the occa
sion, nothing surviving it save the dormant let
ter of the statute.
But, long afterwards, when, by the proposed
accession of the Republic of Texas, the United
States were to take then• next step in territorial
greatness, a similar contingency occurred, and
became the occasion for systematized attempts
to intervene in the domestic affairs of ono sec
tion of the Union, in defiance of their rights as
States; and of the stipulations of the constitu
tion. These attempts assumed a practical direc
tion, in the shape of persevering endeavors, by
some of the representatives, in both houses of
Congress, to deprive the Southern States of the
supposed benefit of the provisions of the act au
the organization of the State of Mis-
But, tTie gocra _
vital force of the constitution, friiiiffpneetrVes
sectional prejudice, and the political errors of
the day, and the State of Texas returned to the
Union as she was, with social institutions which
her people had chosen for themselves, and with
express agreement, by the re-annexing act, that
she should be susceptible of subdivision into a
plurality of States. .
Whatever advantage the interests of the South
ern States, as such, gained by this, were far in
ferior in results, as they unfolded in the progre.s
of time, to those which sprang from previous
concessions made by the South.
To - every thoughtful friend of the Union,—to
the true lovers of the country,—to all who long
ed and labored for the full success of• this great
experiment of republican institutions,—it was
cause of grUtalatiou - that such an opportunity
had occurred to illustrate our advancing power
on this continent, and to furnish to the w0r1..1
additional assurance of the strength and stabil
ity of the constitution. Who would wish to see
-Florida still a European colony? Who would
rejoice to hail Texas as a .lone star, instead of
one in the galaxy of States ? Who does not ap
preciate the incalculable benefits of the acquisi
tion of Louisiana ? And yet narrow views and
sectional purposes would inevitably have exclu
ded them all from the Union.
j But another struggle on the same point en
sued, who our victorious armies returned from
Mexico, and' it devolved on Congress to provide
for the territories acquired by the treaty of Gua
dalupe Hidalgo. The great relations of the
subject had now become distinct and clear to
the perception of the public mind, which appre
ciated the evils of sectional controversy upon the
question of the admission of new States. In
that crisis intense solicitude pervaded the z nation.
But the patriotic impulses of the popular heart,
guided by the admonitory advice of the Father
of his Country, rose superior to all the difficulties
of the incorporation of a. new empire into the
Coital. In the counsels of Congress there was
raanifested extreme antagonism of opinion and
action between some representatives, who sought
by the abusive and unconstitutional employment
of the legislative powers of the government to
interfere in the condition of the inchoate States,
and to impose their own social theories upon the
latter; and other representatives, who repelled
the interpositicn of the general government in
this respect, and maintained the self-constituting
rights of the States, In truth, the thing at
tempted was, in form 'alone, action of the
general govornment, while in reality it , was the
endeavor, by abue of legislative power, to force
the ideas of internal policy, entertained in par
ticular States, upon allied independent States.
Once more the constitution and the Union tri
umphed signally. The new Territories were
organized without restrictions on the disputed
point, and were thus left to judge in that par
ticular for themselves; and the sense of consti
tutional faith proved vigorous enough in Congress
not only to accomplish this 'primary object, but
also the incidental and hardly less important
one, of so amending tbo provisions of the statute
for the extradition of fugitives' from service, as
to place that public ditty:under the safe-guard of
the ,:general government, And thus relieve it
from obstacles raised up by the legislation of
some of the States.
Vain declamation regarding the provisions of
law for the extradition of fugitives from service,
with occasional. episodes of frantic effort to ob
struct their execution by riot and murder, con
tinued, for a brief time, to agitate certain local
ities. But the true principle, of leaving each
State and Territory to regulate its own laws of
labor according to its own sense of right and
•expediency, had acquired fast hold of the pub
lic-judgment, to such a degree, that, by common
consent, it was observed in the organization of
the Territory of Washington.
When, more recently, it became requisite to
orga.nize.the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas,
it was the natural and legitimate, if not the in
evitable consequence of previous events and
legislation, that the same great and sound prin
ciple, which had already been applied to Utah
•and New Mexico, should be applied .to them—
that they should stand exempt from the restrit
tions proposed in the.net relative to the State of
Missouri. -. • •
•
These restrictions were, in the estimation of
many thoughtful men,_ null. from the beginning,
unauthorized by the constitution, contrary to
the treaty stipulations for the cession of Louisi
ana, and inconsistent with the , equality of the
States. .
. They had been stripped of all moral authority,
by persistent efforts to procure their_ indirect re-.
peal - through -ccintradictory ...enactments. They
had been practically abrogated .by the legiala
tion attending the organization of. Utah,. New
Mexico and Washington. If anyritalityremainecl
in them, it would have been.
effect, by tbe..urftcr Inc torus
proposed in- the Senate .at the first
session of the last Congress. It was manly and
ingenious, - as, well as patriotic and justi.to do
this directly and plainly, and thus relieve the
statute books of an act, which-might be, of pos
sible future injury, but of no possible future
benefit; and the measure of its repeal was the
final consummation and recognition of the prin
ciple, that no portion of the United States shad
undertake, through assumption of - the powers
of the general government, - to dictate the social •
institutions of any other portion. •
The scope and effect of the language of repeal
were not left in doubt. It was declared, in
terms, to be "the true intent. and-meaning of
this act not to legislate slavery - into any Terri
tory or State; nor to exclude it therefrom, but to
leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and
regulate their domestic institutions in their own
way, subject only to the constitution of • the U.
States." .
The measure could not be withstood upon its
merits alone. It was attacked with violence, on
the false or delusive pretext; that it constituted
a breach of. faith. Never' was objection more
utterly destitute of substantial justification.—
When, before, was it imagined by sensible men,
that a regulative or declaratite statute, whether
enacted ten or forty years ago; is irrepealable—
that an act of Congress is above the Constitu
tion? If, indeed, there were in the facts any
cause to impute bad faith, it .would attach to
those only, who have never ceased, front the•time
of the enactment of - the restrictite provision to
the present day, to 'denounee and to condemn it;
who have constantly refused to complete it by
needful supplementary legislation; who have
spared no exertion to deprive it of moral force;
who have themselves again and again attempted
its repeal by the enactment of incompatible pro
visions; and who, by the inevitable reactionary
effect of their own violence on the subject; awa
kened the country to perception of the true con
stitutional principle, of leaving the matter in
volved to the discretion of the people of the
respective existing or incipient States.
It is not pretended that this principle, or any
other, precludes the possibility of evils in prac
tice, disturbed as political action is liable to be
by human passions. No form of government is
exempt from inconveniences; but in this case
they are the result of the abuse, and not of, the
legitimate exercise, of the powers reserved or
conferred in the organization of a Territory.—
They are not to be charged to the great princi
ple .of popular sovereignity; on the. contrary,
they disappear before the intelligence and patri
otism of the people, exerting through - the ballot
box their peaceful and silent boat irresistible
power.
If the friends of the constitution are'to have
another struggle, its enemies' could not present.
a more acceptable issue, than that of. a State,
whose constitution embraces "a - republican form
of government" being excluded from the Union
because its domestic institutions may not in all
respects comport with the idea of what'is wise
and expedient entertained in some other States.
Fresh from groundless imputations of breach of
faith against others, men will commence the ag
itation of this new question with indubitable vi
olation of an express compact between the inde
pendent sovereign powers of the United States
and of the republic of ' Thies, as well as of the
older and equally solemn compacts; which- as
sure the equality of all the states.
But, deplorable as would be such a violation
of compact in itself, and in all its direct con
sequences, that is the very least of the evils
involved. When sectional agitators shall base
succeeded in forcing on this issue, can their pre . -
tensions fail to be met by counter pretensions?
Will not different States respectively be com
pelled to meet extremes with extremes? And,
if either extreme carry its point, what is that so
fat forth but dissolution of the Union? If a new
State, forfned from the territory of the United
States, be absolutely excluded from admission
therein, that fact of itself constitutes the dis
ruption between it and the other States. Bet
the process of dissolution could not stop there.
Would not a sectional decision, producing such
result by a majority of votes, either northern or
southern, of necessity drive out the oppressed
and aggrieved minority, and place in presence
of each other two irreconcileably hostile confed
erations.
It is necessary to speak thus plainly of pro
jects, the ,offspring of that sectional agitation
now prevailing in some of the States, which are
as impracticable as they are unconstitutional,
and which, if persevered in, must and will end
calamitously. It is either disunion and civil
war, or it is mere angry, idle, aimless disturb
sucel.nf public peace and tranquility.. Disunion
and partiziniiiitarctarignAtesag,_e of fanaticism
our attention, it would be difficult te—VeTiPM
that any considerable portion of - the people of
this enlightened country could have so surren
dered themselves to a fanatieal devotion to the
supposed interests of the relatively few Africans
in the United States, as totally to abandon and
disregard the interests of the twenty-five millions
of Americans—to trample under foot the injunc
tions 'of moral and constitutional obligation—
and to engage in plans - of vindictive hostility
against those who are associated : with them in •
the enjoyment of the common heritage of our
national institutions.
Nor is it hostility against their fellow-citizens
Of one section of the Union alone. The inter
ests; the honor, the duty, the peace, and the
prosperity of the people of all, sections are equally
involved and imperilled in this question. And
are patriotic men in any part of the Union pro
pared, on such an issue, thus madly to invite all
the consequences - of the forfeiture of their coo
stitutional engagements? It is impossible. -The
storm of frenzy and faction must inevitably dash
in vain against the unshaken rocks of the con
stitution. I shall never doubt it. I know that
the Union is stronger a thousand times than all
the wild and chimerical schemes of social change
which are generated, one after another, in the
unstable minds of visionary sophists - and inter
ested agitators. I rely confidently on the pa
triotism of the people, on the•dignity and -self
respect of the States, on the wisdom of Congress,
and above all, on the continued gracious favor
of Almighty God, to maintain, against all ene
mies whether at home or abroad, the sanctitYof
the constitution and the integrity of the Union.
FRANKLIN - PIERCE.
W.Asuraormv, Dec. 31, 18.55.
far"" Overcome evil with good," as the wan
said when he knocked down the burglar with the
family Bible.
te''.Nrover contradict a man who 1.-tuttcr s, i t
only makes matters worse.
re? , .. Punch says - Poverty must be a worazin - -
t's so fond of pinching a person.
BOTANICAL.—' 'The tree is known b.) fruity.'
The only exception to this is the dor,o° ad ' whiLb
.s known by its bark.