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1 John J. Perry, Posting the Books between the North and the South 1 (1860)

handle is hein.slavery/pstbbns0001 and id is 1 raw text is: POSTING THE BOOKS BETWEEN THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. -0 SPEECH OF HON. JOHN J. PERRY, OF MAINE. Delivered in the U, S. House of Representatives, March 7, 1860. -0 The House being in Committee of the Whole In the discussions which have here taken on the state of the Union, and having under con- place, Southern gentlemen have expressed a will- sideration the President's message- ingness to stand'by the Constitution of our com- Mr. PERRY said: mon country, to observe in good faith its obliga- Mr. Chairman, since the adoption of the Ameri- tions and compromises. We, of the North, join can Constitution, our beloved country has been hands with you here. We claim that we are not called upon to pass through several fiery ordeals. only loyal to this great fundamental law, but Our Government was an experiment, and as such that we have been so in all times past. And here it has been put to severe tests and trials, comes the issue to be tried: you charge us with Upon one of these important occasions, when numerous derelictions in duty; we charge them a crisis was apparently upon us, there stood up back upon you. You have arraigned the great a hero, a chieftain, a patriot, clothed with au- Republican party of the Union before the high thority by the American people, and solemnly court of the American people, and charged it declared by the great Eternal: THE UNION, IT with treason to the Constitution; we fling all MUST AND SHALL BE PRESERVED. special pleadings to the winds, join issue upon The illustrious old hero, backed up and sup- the merits, and go to the country. ported by millions of patriotic hearts, rallied What is the Con.ititution ? Is it a mere mere- around the Constitution of our common country, orandum of an agreement, entered into by the and the Union was saved. Since that time, we States of this Union in their sovereign capacity have been travelling on as a nation to glory, great- as States, to be observed or broken at the pleas- ness, and power. ure of any one or more of the high contracting Although we have been increasing in wealth, parties ? Is it a great confederated partnership, extending our borders, developing our vast and in which the several States have agreed to do v aried national resources, diffusing the ineans of business under the firm name of the Union, intelligence and education in every direction, with the right reserved to each and every part- there is an apparent restlessness, a stirring up ner to withdraw at pleasure ? Is it a compact of the bitter waters of sectional strife, in certain or league between the several States, entered localities in this Government. The discordant into and ratified by State sovereignty-simply notes of DISUNION! DSUNIN I have in defiant tones an agreement that can be kept or broken at the grated upon our ears, from the first day that we will of any or either of the parties thereto ? Is took our seats in this Hall, until the present this a fair interpretation of the Constitution ? I time; while upon every Southern breeze there answer most emphatically in the negative. The comes up to the Capitol, from Southern Execu- reasons for this opinion are numerous and tives, Southern Legislatures, Southern Conven- weighty. If this is all there is of the Constitu- tions, and the Southern press, the same unwel- tion, then it need never have been formed. The come threatenings. thirteen original States or Colonies, as far-back At this point the question suggests itself, what as before the Revolution, entered into a corn- has the North done, or left undone, that it should pact; they reduced this compact to writing, and be thus rudely assailed ? And what reason has it is found in the old Articles of Confederation, the South for dealing out these bitter threats framed in 1777. Acting under this compact, the and denunciations against their brethren in the thirteen colonies sent forth to the world and free States ? This question, with its incidental posterity that great rnaqna Charta of Republican connections, I now propose briefly to discuss; principles, the Declaration of Independence. and while I feel called upon to speak plainly, Under this compact, our fathers struggled and and in all frankness, I mean to observe that toiled through, seven long years of revolutionary strict courtesy and gentlemanly bearing which is warfare, and achieved the independence and lib- due from every member upon this floor to his erties of our common country. The preamble to peers. this compact defines the Articles of Confedera- Reproduced with permission from the University of Illinois at Chicago

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