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Resolutions passed by the General Assembly of 1835 1835 119 (1835)

handle is hein.slavery/ssactsnc0175 and id is 1 raw text is: RESOLUTIlONS, Passed by the General Assemibly of 1835. WHfurEREAs, the proceedings of certain persons in the middle and eastern Stales during the! past summer, have furnished clear proof of a determination to promote, byl meanis the most uijustiliable and iniquitous, the abolition of Slavery in the States of the Uning, in whtch it now exists; and whereas, as well from the wealth, number, and assiduity of the persons engaged in this criminal purpose, as front the means they have resorted to, to accotmplish their des:gns, serious fears are entertained tlIat our property, the peice of' our country, ani the Union of the Statel, may be endanger thereby-this General Assenibly f',el called upon by a just regard for the interest and happiness of the good people of this State. anid of tite other States similarly situated, as well'as by an anxions solicitude lor the preservation of the Union, which at present so happaly un ites till the States into one confederated people, to declare the opinions, and set forth the purposes of the people of this State, in language at once firm, clear, decided, and temperate. . When the American Colonies first united for their protection from the encroachments up. an their rights and privileges. inale by the King and Parliament of Great Britain, they us. sumed the character of sovereign and independent States-they united under ani orgatiza. tion which was in strictness, a league-leaving the direct power of operating upon the citix- ens of each State, with its own constituted authorities ; and when the present constitution was adopted, thongh to all general purposes it constituted the peoplc of the States one pnu- ple, with one government, having a direct legislative, judicial, and executive authority over the citizens, yet it declared by a specific enumeration, the powers intended to be grarted to tllt government, and expressly declared, out of abundant caution that the powers not grant-. ed belonged to the States respectively, or to the people. At the time when this constitution was adopted, as well as at the time when the confederation was fotmed, each of tMe States recognized the right of its citizens to hold slaves. The constitution contains no grant of a 1bover to any departmert of the government to control the people of any State in regard to its domesttc insuitutions-certainly not in regard to that now in question. !t is clear, thic. fore, that the whole power of regulating this subject within the State of NorthCarolina. is ves- ted now in the anthorities of this Strte, as fully as ott the day the Independence if* the States was teclared ; for though iuch diferencc of opinion has existed as to the principle upon which tile grants af power in the Constitution are to be interpreted, no one has ever had the icinerity to assert, that the General Government may assume a power which is not granted in terms, aind is not necessary as an Incident to the proper exercise of a granted pouwer. We have, therefore, an undoubtel right to regulate slavery aimongst ourselves, according to our own views of justice and expedietncy-to continue, or abolish-to modify or miitigate it in any form and any extent, without reference to any earthly authority, and solely respon- sible to otr own consciences and the judgment of the Governor of the Universe. No other Slate, and no portion of the peopte of any otmb'r State, can claim to interlfre in the mnatter, either by authority, advice, or persuasion; and such an ateilpit. from Whatever quarter it anay come, must ever be met by us with distrust, and repelled with intdignation. Upon the other States of the Union, our claim is clear and well foundel. If they wver? foreign States, it would be n violation of national law in theur, either to set on to. t themselv's, or permit their own subjects to iet on fnioi, any project Ole object or tendency of which would he 5to disturb hunr peace by arraying one portion ot siciety against another. The constitution which unites us, and by %irtie of which we have ceased to be foreign States in regard to each other, and have become bound in the closest Union and the most intimate relationis for the pionution of the common defence anid general welfare, cannot ie supposed tq have lessened our mutual obligations, at to have made an act harmless which would have been gross wrong had we continued in respect to each other as we now are in respect to other nations, in war enemies, and only in pence friends. It s evident, on the contrary. that every duty of friendship towards each other which before existed, Is by our Uniou heighteied in its obligation, and efutreed by motives the most exalted and endearing. Wh'lint- ever institution or state of society we think proper to establish or permit, is by no other Stite to be disturbed or questioned. We enter not into the inquiry, whether such institution be deemed by another State just or expedient. 11 is sulficient that we thikl proper to allow it. To protect us from attempts it disturb What we allow, and they approve, would lie to sup- port not our institutions, httt their own opinions,-to exercise a supervising power over our legislation, and to insult tus with a claim of superiority in the very offer to discharge the duty which our relations authorise us to reqpire. As our right is indisputabic, to regulate exclu, sively, according to our own naotion, the interior reliltions of our own people, the duty of proe Digitized from Best Copy Available

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