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1 J. Collamer, Speech of Hon. J. Collamer, of Vermont, on Slavery in the Territories 1 (1860)

handle is hein.slavery/spjcolvt0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SPEECH OF 1ION. J. COLLAMER, OF VERMONT, ON SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES. DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 8, 1860. The Senate having resumed the consideration of the following resolutions, sub- mitted by Mr. Baowx on the 18th of January: Resolved, That the Territories are the common property of all the States, and that it is the privi- lege of the citizens of all the States to go into the Territories with every kind or description of pro- perty recognized by the Constitution of the United States and held under the laws of any of the tates1 and that it is the constitutional duty of the law-making power, wherever lodged, and by whomsoever exercised, whether by the Congress or the Territorial Legislature to enact such laws as fay be found necessary for the adequate and sufficient protection of such peoparty. Resotved, That the Committee on Territories be instructed to insert, in any bill they may report for the organization of new Territories, a clause declaring it to be the duty of the Territorial Legis- lature to enact adequate and sufficient laws for the protection of all kinds of property, as above de- scribed, within the limits of the Territory, and that, upon its failure or refusal to do so, it is the ad- mitted duty of Congress to interpose and pass such laws. The question is on the amendment of Mr. WInxaIso4, to strike out all after the word resolved, where it first occurs, and insert the following: That the Territories are the common property of the people of the United States; that Congress - has full power and authority to pass all laws necessary and proper for the government of such Ter- ritories; and that, in the exercise of such power, it is the duty of Congress so to legislate in relation to slavery therein that the interests of free labor may be encouraged and protected in such Terri- tories. Reolved, That the Committee on Territories be instructed to insert in any bill they may report for the organization of new Territories a clause declaring that there shall be neither slavery nor in- voluntary servitude in Such Territories, except in punishment for crime whereof the party has been xittly convicted. Mr. COLLAMER. Mr. President, the resolutions under consideration relate to the condition of slaveryfin the Territories, and propose to provide legislation in re- l tion to that subject, especially legislation to protect and preserve it there. The discussion on this subject, as it was begun and has gone on in the Senate during the progress of this session, has taken a very wide range. I have no fault to find with that; but it seems to me, after all, that we might bring ourselves a little nearer to some practical application of principles. When we consider the condition of our country-I mean of our whole country-the condition of society which exists in It, and the adaptation of our measures to that condition of society, we may bring our- celves to the practical application of some important principles. Now, what is the state of society here? Take our nation, for which we legislate, the whole of which is a proper subject of our consideration, the whole of which is to be considered in m rnsuring out our different degrees of policy, and the measures calculated to advance its interests. No legislation can be valuable, unless upon the whole it is an advantage to the country for which it is made, and we must con- sider She actual condition of that country at the time, in order to see the prattical application of the meaur'ni we are about to pursue. We have, it seems, Mr. 1Presitent, two conditions of society existing in this coun- try-that existing in the slaveholding States and that existing in the non-slavehold- ing States, which I, for brevity, shall call, as they are usually called, the free States. The condition of society in the free States, which include, in round numbers, about Printed by Lemuel Towers, at $1 50 per hundred copies.

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