![handle is hein.slavery/amcprohs0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
Amendment of the Constitution to prohibit Slavery.
SPEECH
HON. GLENNI W. SCOFIELD
Of ]Pennsylvania,
Delivered in the House of Representatives, January 6, 1865,
In reply to the Hon. JAMES BROOKS.
,Mr. SCOFIELD said:
Mr. SPEAKER, I rise to make some observations in reply to the very re-
markable criticiem pronounced by the gentleman from New York [Mr. BRooKsj
on the anti-slavery portion of the President's message.
If the war should end now without a division of the Union, what would be
the status of slavery? It has been abolished.in Maryland by the new consti-
tution; but it is said that the soldiers had no right to vote, and without their
votes the constitution was not adopted. West Virginia has provided for
gradual emancipation but that State, it is alleged, has no legal existence, and
therefore its action is null and void. In the State of Virginia a new constitu-
tion prohibiting slavery has been adopted by the loyal people within the Union
lines; but the constitutionality of this action has been much questioned, even
by anti-slavery men. Missouri has partially abolished slavery, and the con-
vention, soon to assemble there, it is supposed, will dispose of what is left.
In Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana, slavery has been prohibited by
conventions representing the Union people of those States; but it is said that
these conventions were irregularly called, and their action is therefore void.
In Kentucky such slaves as enter the United States Army are freed by act of
Congress; but it is alleged that the act is unconstitutional. Congress has
abolished slavery in the District of Columbia, and prohibited it in all the Ter-
ritories; but it is said the first act is void, without the assent of Maryland and
Virginia, and the latter is in conflict with the dictum of the Supreme Court in
the case of Dred Scott. In all the remainder of the States the slaves were
liberated by the President's proclamation; but that instrument, it is said, is
too just to be legal. Under these several enactments, however, the slaves,
without waiting to test their validity, are leaving their.old masters, forming
new associations, seeking education, earning new homes, learning self-reliance,
and thus erecting barriers to the revival of slavery, stronger than legislation
itself.
It is apparent from this statement that if the confederacy should 'suddenly
collapse, liberating our Union fellow-citizens that are believed to exist in large
nutmbers within its picket lines, we would still have the slavery question, out
of which the whole trouble grew, to be settled and disposed of. It ought to
be equally apparent to all observing persons that there is but ohe way to end
the strife. Slavery in the end must die. It has cost the country too much
suffering and too much patriotic blood, and is in theory an institution too
monstrous, to be permitted to live. The only question is, shall it die-now, by
a constitutional amendment-a single stroke of the axe-or shall it linger in
party warfare through a quarter or half a century of acrimonious debate,
patchwork legislation, and conflicting adjudication ? The people were con-
sulted upon this question last fall, and they have responded in favor of emanci-
pation. I respect their opinion, not because I am a politician, the motive
hinted at in the message, but because experience has taught me to rely upon
the judgment of the unambitious classes. I am reminded that there was a
large minority. True. but the sufferinz consequent upon this terrible war,](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/amcprohs0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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