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II 
SPEECH OF MIR. SEWARD.
Mr. PRESIDENT  Eight years ago, we slew the
Wilmot Proviso in the Senate Chamber, and
buried it with triumphal demonstrations under
the floors of the Capitol. Four years later, we
exploded altogether the time-honored system of
governing the Territories by Federal rules and
regulations, and published and proclaimed in its
stead a new gospel of popular sovereignty, whose
ways, like those of wisdom, were to be ways of
pleasantness, and all of whose paths were supIosed to be flowery paths of peace.  Nevertheless, the question whether there shall be Slavery
or no Slavery in the Territories, is again the stirring passage of the day.  The restless Proviso
lhas burst the cerements of the grave, and, striking
hands here in our very presence with the gentle
spirit of popular sovereignty run mad, is seen
raigingo freely in our  halls,  scattering dismay
among the Administration benches in both
Houses of Congress. Thus an old and unwelcome lesson is read to us anew. The question
of Slavery in the Federal Territories, which are
the nurseries of future States, independently of
all its moral and humane elements, involves a
dynastical struggle of'two antagonistical systems, the labor of slaves and. the labor of freemen, for mastery in the' Federal Union. One of
these systems partakes of an aristocratic characer; the other is purely democratic.  Each one
of the existing States has staked, or it will ultimately stake, not only its internal welfare, but
also its influence in the Federal councils, on the
decision of that contest. Such a struggle is,not
to be arrested, quelled, or reconciled, by temporary expedients or compromises.
Mr. President, I always engage reluctantly in
these discussions, which awaken passion just in
the degree that their importance demands the
impartial umpirage of reason.  This reluctance
deepens now, when I look around me, and count
the able contestants who have newly entered the
lists on either side, and shadowy forms of many
great and honored statesmen who once were eloquent in these disputes, but whose tongues have
since become stringless instruments, rise up
before me. It is, however, a maxim in military
cience, that in preparation for war, every one
5hould think is if the last event depended on his
,ounsel, and in every great battle each one
;hould fight as if he were the only champion.
rhe principle, perhaps is equally sound in politi
cal affairs. If it be possible, I,shall perform my
present duty in such a way as to wound no just
sensibilities.  I must, however, review  the ac tion of Presidents, Senates, and Congresses. I
do indeed, with all my heart, reject the instruc tion given by the Italian master of political sci ence, which teaches that all men are bad by na ture, and that they will not fail to show this de pravity whenever they have a fair opportunity.
But jealousy of executive power is a high, prac tical virtue in Republics; and we shall find it hard
to deny the justice of the character of free legis lative bodies, which Charles James Fox drew,
when he said'that the British House of Com mons, of which he was at the moment equally an
ornament and an idol, like every other popular
assembly, must be viewed as a mass of men capable of too much attachment and too much animosity, capable of being bI d -bwk and
even wicked motives, and liable to be governeA.
by ministerial influence, by caprice, and by corruption.
Mr. President, I propose to inquire, in the first
place, why the question before us is attended by
real or apparent dangers.
I think our apprehensions are in part due to
the intrinsic importance of the transaction concerned. Whenever we add a new column to
the Federal colonnade, we need to lay its foundations so firmly, to shape its shaft with such
just proportions, to poise it with such exactness, and to adjust its connections with the existing structure so carefully, that instead of falling prematurely, and dragging other and venerable columns with it to the ground, it may
stand erect forever, increasing the grandeur and
the stability of the whole massive and imperial
fabric. Still, the admission of a new State is
not necessarily or even customarily attended by
either embarrassments or alarms. We have
already admitted eighteen new States without
serious commotione, except in the cases of Missouri, Texas, and California.  We are even now
admitting two others, Minnesota and Oregon;
and these transactions go on so smoothly, that
only close observers are aware that we are thus
consolidating our dominion on the shores of Lake
Superior, and almost at the gates of the Arctic
ocean.
It is manifest that the apprehended difficulties'
in the present case have some  relation to the
288543 
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dispute  concerning  Slavery, which  is raging
within the Territory of Kansas.  Yet it must be
remembered that nine of the new States which
have been admitted, expressly established Slavery, or tolerated it, and nine of them forbade
it.  The excitement, therefore, is due to peculiar
circumstances. I think there are three of them,
namely:
First. That whereas, in the beginning, the ascendency of the slave States was absolute, it is
now being reversed.
Second. That whereas, heretofore, the National
Government favored this change of balance from
the slave States to the free States, it has now
reversed this policy, and opposes the change.
Third. That national intervention in the Terrtories in favor of slave labor and slave States,
is opposed to the natural, social, and moral developments of the Republic.
It seems almost unnecessary to demonstrate
the first of these propositions.  In the beginning,
there were twelve slave States, and only one that
was free.  Now, six of those twelve have become
free; and there are sixteen free States to fifteen
slave States.  If the three candidates now here,
Kansas, Minnesota, and Oregon, shall be admitted
as free States, then there will be nineteen free
States to fifteen slave States.  Originally, there
were twenty-four Senators- of slave States, and
only two of a free State; now, there are thirtytwo  Senators  of free  States,  and  thirty of
slave States.  In the first Constitutional Coingress, the slave States had fifty-seven Representatives, and the one free State had only eight; now,
the free States have one hundred and forty-four
Representatives, while the slave States have only
ninety.  These changes have happenedin a period
during which the slave States have almost uninterruptedly exercised paramount influence in the
Government, and notwithstanding the Constitution itself has opposed well-known checks to
the relative increase of representation of free
States.  I assume, therefore, the truth of my first
proposition.
I suggested, sir, a second circumstance, namely: That whereas, in the earlier age of the Republic, the National Government favored this
change, yet it has since altogether reversed that
policy, and it now opposes the change.  I do not
claim that heretofore the National Government always, or even habitually, intervened in the Territories in favor of the free States, but only that such
intervention preponderated.  While Slavery existed in all of the States but one, at the beginning, yet it was far less intense in the Northern
than in some of the Southern States.  All of
the former contemplated an early emancipation.
The fathers seem not to have anticipated  an
enlargement of the national territory.  Consequently, they expected that all the new States to
be thereafter admitted would be organized upon
subdivisions of the then existing States, or upon
divisions of the then existing national domain.
That domain lay behind the thirteen States, and
stretched from the Lakes to the Gulf, and was
bounded westward by the Mississippi.  It was
naturally divided by the Ohio river, and the
Northwest Territory and the Southwest Territory
were  or ganized on that division.  It was foreseen,
even then, that the new States to b       e admitted
would ultimately overbalance the thirteen original ones. They were,   however, mainly t o  be yet
planted and matured in the desert, with the
agency of human labor.
The fathers  knew only of two kinds of    labor,
the same which now exist among ourselvesnamely, the labor of African slaves and the
labor of freemen. The former then predominated in this country, as it did t-hroughout the
continent. A confessed deficiency of slave labor
could be supplied only by domestic increase, and
by continuance of the then existing importation
from Africa. The supply of free labor depended
on domestic increase, and a voluntary immigration from Europe. Settlements, which had thus
early taken on a free-labor character or a slavelabor character, were'already maturing in those
parts of old States which were to be ultimately
d etached and forme d into new Stat es. When
new States of this class were organized, they
were admitted promptly, either as free States or
as slave States, without objection. Thus Vermont, a free State, was admitted in 1791; Ken tuckv, a slave State, in 1792; and Tennessee,
also a slave State, in 1796. Five new States
were contemplated to be erected in the Northwest Territory.  Practically it was unoccupied,
and therefore open to labor of either kind. The
one kind or the other. in the absence of any anticipated emulation, would predominate, just
as Congress should intervene to favor it. Congress intervened in favor of free labor. This,
indeed, was an act of the Continental Congress,
but it was confirmed by the first Constitutional
Congress. The fathers simultaneously adopted
three other measures of less direct intervention.
First, they initiated in 1789, and completed in
1808, the absolute suppression of the African
slave trade. Secondly,,they organized systems
of  foreign  commerce  and navigation, which
stimulated voluntary immigration from Europe.
Thirdly, they established an easy, simple, and
uniform process of naturalization. The change
of the balance of power from the slave States
to the free States, which we are now witnessing, is due chiefly to those four early measures
of national intervention in favor of free labor.
It would have taken place much sooner, if the
borders of the Republic had remained unchanged. The purchase of Louisiana and the
acquisition of Florida, however, were transactions resulting from high political necessities, in
disregard of the question between free labor and
slave labor.   In admitting the  new State of
Louisiana, which was organized on the slavelabor settlement of New Orleans, Congress practiced the same neutrality which it had before
exercised in the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. No serious dispute arose until 1819. when
Missouri, organized within the former province of
Louisiana, upon a slave-labor settlement in St.
Louis, applied for admission as a slave State, and
Arkansas. was manifestly preparing to appear
soon in the same character. The balance of
power between the slave States and the free
States was alreadytreduced to.an equilibrium, 
and the eleven free States had an equal repre- sisted on their abrogation.  The free States mainsentation with the eleven slave States in the  tained them, and demanded their confirmation
Senate of the United States.  The slave States  through the enactment of the Wilmot Proviso.
unanimously insisted on an unqualified admis- The slave States and the free States were yet in
sion of Missouri.   The free States, with less  equilibr;um.   The controversy continued here
unanimity, demanded that the new State should  two vears.  The settlers of the new Territories
renounce Slavery.  The controversy seemed to became impatient, and precipitated  a solution of
shake the Un on to its foundations, and it was  the question.  They  organized new free States
termninated by a compromise.  Missouri was ad- in California and New Mexico. The  Mormons
mitted as a slave State.  Arkansas, rather by  also framed a Government in Utah.  Congress,,
implication than by express agreement, was to after a bewildering excitement, determined the
be admitted, and it was afterwards admitted, as -matter by  another compromise.   It admitted
a slave State.  On the other hand, Slavery was  California a free State, dismembered New Mexico,
forever prohibited in all that part of the old transferring a large district free from Slavery to
province of Louisiana yet remaining  unoccu- Texas, whose laws carried Slavery over it, and
pied, which lay north of the parallel of 36~ 30/ subjected the residue to a Territorial Governnorth latitude.  The reservation for free labor  ment, as it also subjected Utah, and stipulated
included the immense region now known  as that the future  States-to be organized in those
the Territories of Kansas  and Nebraska,  and Territories should  be admitted  either  as free
seemed ample,for eight, ten, or more frew States.  States or as slave States, as they should elect.   I
The severity of the struggle and the conditions  pass over the portions of this arrangement which
of the compromise indicated very plainly, how-  did not bear directly on the point in conflict.
ever, that the vigor of national intervention in The Federal Government presented this comprofavor of free labor and free States was exhausted.  mise to the people, as a comprehensive, final, and
Still, the existing statutes were adequate to se- perpetual adjustment of all then existing and all
cure an ultimate ascendency of the free, States.   future questions having any relation to the sub  The policyofinterventioninfavorofslavelabor  ject of Slavery within the Territories or elseand slave States began with the further removal  where.  The country accepted it with that proof the borders of the Republic.   I cheerfully  verbial facility which free States practice, when
admit that this policy has not been persistent or time brings on a stern conflict which popular
exclusive, and claim only that it has been and passions provoke, and at a distance defy.  This
yet is predominant.  I am  not now to deplore halcyon peace, however, had not ceased to be celthe annexation of Texas.  I remark simply that  ebrated, when  new-born necessities of trade
it was a bold measure, of doubtful constitution- travel, and labor, required  an  opening of the
ality, distinctly adopted as an act of intervention  region in the old province of Louisiao north of
in favor of slave labor, and made or intended to  36~ 30', which had been reserved in 1820, and
be made most effective by the stiptulation that dedicated to free labor and free States.   The old
the new State of Texas may hereafter be divided question was revived in regard to that Territorv,
and so reorganized as to constitute five slave and took the narrow name of the Kansas quesStates.  This great act cast a long shadow before  tion, just as the stream which Lake Superior
it-a shadow which perplexed the people of the  discharges, now contracting itself into rivers and
free States.  It was then that a feeble social precipitating itself down rapids and cataracts,
movement, which aimed by moral persuasion at  and  now spreading out its waters into broad
the manumission of slaves, gave place to political seas, assumes a new name with every change o.
organizations, which have ever since gone on in- form, but continues nevertheless the same macreasing in magnitude and energy, directed against jestic and irresistible flood under every change,
afurther extension of Slavery in the United States.  increasing in depth and in volume until it loses
The war between the United States and Mexico, itself in the all-absorbing ocean.
and the acquisition of the Mexican provinces of    No one had ever said or even thought that the
New Mexico and Upper California, the fruits of  law of Freedom in this region could be repealed,
that war, were so immediately and directly con- impaired, or evaded.   Its constitutionality had
sequences of the annexation of Texas, that all indeed been questioned at the time of its enactof those transactions in fact may be regarded as ment; but this, with all other objections, had
constituting one act of intervention in favor of been surrendered as part of the compromise.   It
slave labor and slave States. The field of the strife was regarded as bearing the sanctioni of the pubbetween the two  systems had become widely  lie faith, as it certainly had those of time and
enlarged.  Indeed, it was now continental.   The  acquiescence.  But the  silaveholding people of
amazing mineral wealth of California stimulated  Missouri looked across the border, into Kansas,
settlement there into a rapidity like that of vere- anda coveted the land.  The slave States could
tat,on.  The Mexican laws which prevailed in not fail to sympathize with them.  It seemed as
the newly-acquired Territories dedicated them to  if no organization of Government could be effect free labor, and thus the astounding question  ed in the Territory.  The Senator from Illinois
arose for the first time, whether the United States [~{r. DouciL. ] projected a scheme. Under his
of America, whose Constitution was based on thl  vigorouis leading, Congress created two Territe principle of the political equality of all me?I ries~Nebraska and Kansas.  The former  (the
would blight and cursi with Slavery a enuq,_uered more  northern ot;e) might, it was supposed, be
land which enjoyed uniliversal Freedom. The'!Gve le,,iie,! Oithll't Sl e vry, >nd bec(ome a free State
States denied the obligation of these laws,'-nd in-. o:,r sav:'>'! fise;',t,ates.  The latter (tie southern
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one) was accessible to the slave States, bordered  States from which they had come, to sell their
on one of them, and was regarded as containing  new acquisitions, or to return anrd resume them,
a region inviting to slaveholders.  So it might be as circuimstances should render one course or the
settled by them, and become one or more  lave  other eT)ednt. They left armed men in the
States.  Thus indirectiv a further compromise Territory to keep w'.tch and guard(l, and to sum might be effected, if the Missouri prohibition of  mnon external aid, either to vote or to fight, Ias
1820 should be abrogated. Congress abrogated it,  should be found necessary.  They were fortified
with the special and effective co-operation of the  by the favor of the Adimiinistration, and assumned
President, and thus the National Government  to act with its aull+hority.  Intolerant of debate,
directly intervened in favor of slave labor.  Loud  and defiant, they lhurried on the elections which
remonstrances against the measure on the ground  were to be so perverted that an usurpation
of its violation of the national faith were silenced should  be  established.  They rang out their
by clamorous avowals of a discovery that Con- summons when the appointed time came,  and
gress had never had any right to intervene in the  armed bands of partisans, from States near and
Territories for or against Slavery, but that the  remote, invaded and entered the Territory, with
citizens of the Uiiited States residing within a banners, ammunition, provisions, and forage, and
Territory had, like the people of every State, encamped around the polls.   They  seized the
exclusive authority and jurisdiction over Slavery, b.llot-boxes, replaced the judges  of elections
as one of the domestic relations.  The Kansas-  with partisans of their own, drove away their
Nebraska act only recognised and affirmed this opponents, filled the boxes with as many votes
right as it was said.  The theory was not indeed  as thie exi,ecties demanded, and, leasing the renew  but a vagrant one, which had for some time  stilts to be returned by reliable hands,  thev
gone about seeking among political parties the  marched back a.::lin to their distant homes, to
ch.rity of adoption, under the name of Squatter celebrate the conquest, and exult in the prospect
Sovereignty.  It was now brought to the font,  of the establishment of Slavery upon the soil
and baptized with the more attractive appellation  so lon,  consecrated  to Freedom.  Thus, in a
of Popular Sovereignty.  It was idle for a time  single day, they became parents of a State withto say that, under the Missouri prohibition, free- out affection for it, and childless again without
men in the Territory had all the rights which  bereavement.  In this first hour Of trial, the new
freemen  could desire-perfect freedom to do  system of popular sovereignty signally failedeverything but establish Slavery.  Popular Sov-  failed because it is impossible to organize, by
ereignty offered the indulgence of a taste of the  one single act, in one day,  a community perfruit of the tree of the knowledge of evil as well  fectly free, perfectly sovereign, and perfectly con-as of good-a more perfectfreedom. Insomuch as  stituted, out of elements  unassimilated, unarthe proposition seemed to come from a free State, ranged, and uncomposed.  Free labor rightfully
the stave States could not resist its seductions,  won the day.  Slave labor wrested the victory
although sagacious men saw that they were de-  to itself by fraud and violence. Instead of a free
lusive.  Consequently, a small and ineffectual republican Government in the Territory, such
stream of slave labor was at once forced into Kan-  as popular sovereignty had promised, there was
sas, engineered by a large number of politicians, then and thenceforth a hateful usurpation.  This
advocates at once of Slavery and of the Federal  usurpation proceeded without delay and without
Administration, who proceeded with great haste  compunction  to disfranchise  the  people.   It
to prepare the means so to carry the first elec- transferred the slave code of Missouri to Kansas
tious as to obtain the laws necessary for the  without stopping in all cases to substitute  the
protection of Slavery.  It is one thing, however.  name of the new Territory for that of the old
to expunge statutes from a national code, and quite  State.  It practically suspended popular elections
another to subvert ai national institution, even  for three  years-the usurping Legislature  asthough it be only a monument of Freedom loca- signing that term for its own members, while
ted in the desert.  Nebraska was resigned to free it committed  all subordinate trusts to agents
'abor without a struggle, and Kanses became a appointed by itself.  It barred thl)e courts and the
theatre of the first actual national conficbt be-  junies to its adversaries by test oaths, and made it
tween slaveholding and free-labor iminigrants,  a crime to think what one pleased, and to write
met face to face, to organize through the ma-  and print what one thought. It borrowed all the
chinery of republican action, a  civil community.  enginery of tyranny, but the torture, from the
The parties differed as widely in their appoint- practice of the Stuarts.  The party of free labor
ments, colnduct, and bearing, as in their princi- appealed to the Governor (Reeder) to correct the
ples.  The free laborers came into the Territory false election returns.  Ie intervened, but inefwith money, horses, cattle, implements, and en-  fectually, aled yet even for that intervention was
gises, with energies concentrated by associttion I den (outned by the Administration organs, and
and strengthened by the recognition of some  of after long' and unacceptable explanations, he M as
the States.  Thev marked  out farms, and sites removed from office by the President.   The new
for mills, towns, and cities, and proceeded at fovernor (Shannon) sustained for a while the
once to build to plough and to sow.  They pro- usor'patioo, but failed to effect the subjugation
posed to debate, to discuss, to oranizai   pe.eace-  of the people, althoiugbh he organized as a militia
fully, and to vote, and to abide tee canvass.          armed partisan baud of adventurers who  had
The slave-labor party entered the Territory ir- intruded theimselves into the Territory to force
regularly, staked out pousessions, marked them,  Slaxve:r:y uon  the people.  With  the active coand then, in most instances, withdrew to the  opera. tion of this baud, the party of slave labor 
disarmed the Free State emaigrants who had now  tution into effect by surprise and fraud.  The
learned the necessty of being, prepared for self- Governor insisted on this provision, and demanddefence, on the borders of the Territory, and on  ed of the President of the United States the rethe distant roads and rivers which led into it. moval of a partial and tyrannical judge.  He
They destroyed a bridge that free-labor men used failed to gain either mdasure, and incurred the
in their way to the seat of Government, sacked  displeasure of the usurpation by seeking them.
a hotel where they lodged, and broke up and He fle(d from the Territory. The Free State party
cast into the river a press which was the organ  stood aloof from the polls, and a canvass showed
of their cause.                                   that some 2,300, less than a third of the people
The people of Kansas, thus deprived, not mere- of the Territory, had sanctioned the call of a
ly of self-government, but even of peace, tran-  Convention, while the presence of the army
quillity, and security, fell back on the inalienable  alone held the Territory under a forced truce.
revolutionary right of voluntary reorganization.    At this juncture, the new Federal AdministraThey determined, however, with admirable tem-  tion came in, under a President who had obtained
per, judgment, and loyalty, to conduct their pro-  success by the intervention at the polls of a third
ceedings for this purpose in deference and sub-  party-an ephemeral organization, built upon a
ordination to the authority of the Federal Union, foreign  and frivolous issue, which  had just
and according to the line of safe precedents.     strength enough and life enough to give to a Pro  After due elections, open to all the inhabitants  Slavery party the aid required to produce that unof the Territory, they organized provisionally a toward result.  The new President, under a show
State Government at Topeka; and by the hands  of moderation, masked a more effectual interrenof provisional Senators, and a provisional Repre-  tion than that of his predecessor, in favor of
sentative, they submitted their Constitution to  slave labor and a slave State.  Before coming
Congress, and prayed to be admitted as a free into office, he approached or was approached by
State into the Federal Union.  The Federal an- the Supreme Court of the United States.   On
thorities lent no aid to this movemient, but, on their docket was, through some chance or dethe contrary, the President and Senate contempt-  sign, an action which an obscure negro man in
nously rejected it, and denounced it as treason,  Missouri had brought for his freedom against his
and all its actors and abettors fs disloyal to the  reputed master.  The Court had arrived at the
Union.  An army was dispatched into the Terri- conclusion, on solemn argument, that insomuch
tory, intended indeed to preserve peace, but at  as this unfortunate negro had, through someigno the same time to obey and sustain the usurpa-  rance or chicane in special pleading, admitted
tion.   The provisional Legislature, which had  what could not have been proved, that he had
met to confer, and to adopt further means to urge  descended  from some African  who had once
the prayers of the people upon Congress, were  been held in bondage,.tkat therefore he  was
dispersed by the army, and the State officers not, in view of the Constitution, a  citizen of
provisionally elected, who  had committed  no  the United States, and therefore could not im criminal act, were arrested, indicted, and held  plead the reputed master in the Federal courts;
in the Federal camp as State prisoners.  Never-  and on this ground the Supremne Court were
theless, the people of Kainsas did not acquiesce.  prepared to dismiss the action, for want ofjeiris The usurpation remained a barren authority, de-  diction over the suitor's person.  This decision,
fled, derided, and despised.                      certainly as repugnant to the Declaration of In   A  national election was  now  approaching. dependence and to the spirit of the Constitu Excitement witlhin and sympathies without the  tion, as to the instincts of humanity, never Territory must be allayed.  Governor Shannon  theless would be one which would exhaust all
was removed, and iAir. Gea,ry was appointed his the power of the tribunal, and exclude  con successor. He exacted submission to the statutes  sideration of all other questions that had been
of the usurpation, hut pr:omised equality in their raised upon the record.  The counsel who had
administration.  He induced a repeal of some of appeared for the negro had volunteered from
those statutes which were most obviously uncon-  motives of charity, and, ignorant of course of
stitutional, and declared an amnesty for political the -disposition which was to be made of the
offences.  He persuaded the Legislature of the  cause, had argued that his client had been freed
usurpation to ordain a call for a Convention at  from Slavery by operation -of the Missouri pro Lecompton, to form a Cons,titution, if the measure  hibition of 1820.  The opposing counsel, paid by
should be approved by a popular vote at an the-defending slaveholder,-had insisted, in reply,
election to be held for that purpose.  To vote at that that famous statute was unconstitutional.
such an election was to recognise and tolerate The mock debate had been heard in the Chamber
the usurpation, as well as to submit to dis- ofthe Court in the basement of the Capitol,in the
franchising laws,  and  to hazard  a renewal  presence of the curious  visiters at the seat of
of the frauds and violence by which the usurp-  Government, whom the dullness of a judicial in  ation had been established.   On  no account  vestigation could not disgust. The Court did not
would the Legislature agree that the projected  hesitate to please the incoming President,  by
Constitution should be submitted to the people, seizing this extraneous and idle forensic discus  after it should have been perfected by the Con- sion, and converting it ilto an occasion for pro  vention. The refusal of this just measure, so nouncing an opinion that the Missouri prohibi  aecessary to the public security in case of sur- tion was void, and that, by force of the Consti  prise and fraud, was a confession of the.purpose tution, Slavery existed, with all the elements of
on the part of the usurpation to carry a Consti-, property in man over man, in all the Territories
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have had to remain in bondage, unrelieved, be   cause the Missouri prohibition violates rights of
general property involved in Slavery, paramount
to the authority of Congress.  A few days later,
copies of this opinion  were multiplied  by the
Senate's press, and scattered in the name of the
Senate broadcast over the land, and their publi  cation has not yet been disowned by the Senate.
Simultaneously, Dred Scott, who had played the
hand of dummy in this interesting political game,
unwittingly, yet to the complete satisfaction of
his adversary, was voluntarily emancipated; and
thus received from his master, as a reward, the
freedom which the Court had denied  him as a
right.
The new President of the United States, hav  ing organized this formidable judicial battery at
the Capitol, vas nno, ready fo begin his active
denmrnstrations of intervention in the Territory.
aLre occurred, not a new want, but an old one
revived-a Governor for Kansas. Robert J. Walk  er, born and reared in Pennsylvania; a free State,
but long a citizeg and resident of Mississippi, a
slave State, eminent for talent and industry, de  voted to the President and his party, plausible
and persevering, untiring and efficient, seemed
just the man to conduct the fraudulent inchoate
proceedings of the projected Lecompton Conven tion to a conclusion, by dividing the friends of
Free Labor in the Territory, or by casting upon
them the responsibility of defeating their own
favorite policy by impracticability and contu macy.  He wanted for this purpose only an army
and full command of the Executive exchequer of
promises of favor and of threats of punishment.
Frederick P. Stanton, of Tennessee, honorable
and capable, of persuasive address, but honest
ambition, was appointed his Secretary.  The new
agents soon found they had assumed a task that
would tax all their energies and require all their
adroitness.   On the one side, the Slave' Labor
party were determined to circumvent the people,
and secure, through the Lecompton Convention,
a slave State.  On the other, the people were
watchful, and determined not to be circumvented,
and in no  case to submit.  Elections for dele gates to that body were at hand.  The Legisla ture had required a census and registry of voters
to be made by authorities designated by itself,
and this duty had been only partially performed in
cifteen of the thirty-four counties, and altogether
comitted in the other nineteen. The party of Slave
Labor insisted on payment of taxes as a condition of suffrage.  The Free Labor party deemed
the whole proceeding void, by reason of the usurpation practiced, and of the defective arrangements for the election.  They discovered a design
to surprise in the refusal of any guaranty that the
Constitution, when framed, should be submitted
to the people, for their acceptance or rejection,
preparatory to an application under it for the admission of Kansas into the Union.  The Govern-,
or, drawing from the ample treasury of the Executive at his command,  muade due exhibitions
of the army, and threatened the people with
an acceptance of the Lecompton Constitution,
however  obnoxious  to them, if they  should
refuse to vote.  With  these menaces, he judi
of the United States, paramount to any popular
sovereign ty with in the Territories, and even  to
the                         a    uthority of Congress itself.
In th    i s ill-o mened  act, the Supreme   Court for  got its own dignity, which had always been
maintained with just judicial jealousy. They for  got that the province of a court is simply "jus
d&cere," and not at all "jus dare." They forgot,
also, that one " foul sentence does more harm than
many foul examples; for the last do but corrupt
the stream, while the former corrupteth the foun  tain." And they and the President alike forgot
that judicial usurpation is more odious and
intolerable than any other among the manifold
practices of tyranny.
The day of Inauguration came-the first one
among all the celebrations of that great national
pageant that was to be desecrated b~y a coalition
between the Executive and Judicial departments,
to undermine the National Legislature and the
liberties of the people. The President, attended
by the usual lengthened procession, arrived and
took his seat on the portico.  The Supreme Court
attended him there, in robes which yet exacted
public reverence. The people, unaware of the im port of the whisperings carried on between the
President and the ChiefJustice, and imbued with veneration for both, filled the avenues and gar dens far away as the eye -could reach. The Pres ident addressed them in words as bland as those
which the worst of all the Roman Emperors pro nounced when he assumed the purple. He an nounced (vaguely, indeed, but with self-satisfac tion) the forthcoming extra-judicial exposition of
the Constitution, and pledged his submission to it
as authoritative and final. The Chief Justice and
his Associates remained silent. The Senate, too,
were there.-constitutional witnesses of the< trans fer of administration.   They too were silent,
although the promised usurpation was to subvert
the authority over more than half of the empire
which Congress had assumed contemporaneously
with the birth of the nation, and had exercised
without interruption for near seventy years. It
cost the President, under the circumstances, little
exercise of magnanimity now to promise to the
people of Kansas, on whose neck he had, with
the aid of the Supreme Court, hungtthe millstone
of Slavery, a fair trial in their attempt to cast it
oef, and hurl it to the earth, when they should
come to organize a State Government.   Alas!
that even this cheap promise, uttered under such
great solemnities, was only made to be broken!
The pageant ended.  On the 5th of March, the
Judges, without even exchanging their silken
robes for courtiers' gowns, paid their salutations
to the President, in the Executive Palace. Doubtlessly the President received them as graciously
as Charles the First did the Judges who had at
his instance subverted the statutes of English
Liberty. On the 6th of larch, the Supreme Court
dismissed the negro suitor, Dred Scott, to return
to his bondage; and having thus disposed of that
private action for an alleged private wrong, on
the ground of want of jurisdiction in the case,
they proceeded with amusing solemnity to pronounce the opinion, that if they had had such
jurisdiction, still the unfortunate negro would
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ballot "for the Constitution with Slavery,"  or
"for the Constitution with no Slavery;" and it
was  further  provided, that  the  Constitution
should stand entire, if a majority of votes should
be cast for the Constitution with Slavery, while,
on the other hand, if the majority of votes cast
should be "for the Constitution with no Slavery,"
then the existing Slavery should not be disturbed,
but should remain, with its continuance, by the
succession of its unhappy victims by descent
forever.  But even this miserable shadow of a
choice between forms of a slave State Constitu   tion was made to depend on the taking of a test
oath to support  and maintain it in the form
which shouldl be preferred by the majority of
those who should vote on complying with  that
humiliation.  The Governor saw that by conni  ving at this pitiful and wicked juggle he should
both shipwreck his fame and become responsible
for civil war.  He remonstrated, and appealed to
his chief, the President of the United States, to
condemn it.  Denunciations followed him from
the Lecompton party within- the Territory, and
denunciations  no less violent from the slave
States were his greeting at the National Capital.
The President disappointed  his most effective
friend and wisest counsellor.  This present Con  g ress had now assembled.  The President. as if
feartful of delay, forestalled our  attention with
recommendations to overlook the manifest ob jections to the transaction, and to regard the an  ticipated result of this mock election, then not yet
held, as equivalent to an acceptance of the Consti tution by the people of Kansas, alleging that the
refusal of the people to vote either the ballot for
the " Constitution with Slavery," or the false and
deceitful ballot for the "Constitution with no Sla very," would justly be regarded as drawing after
it the consequences of actual;taceptance  and
adoption of the Constitution itself. flis argument
was apologetic, as it lamented that the Constitu tion had not been fairly submitted; and jesuitical,
as it urged that the people might, when once ad mitted as a State, change the Constitution at their
ipleasure, in defiance of the provision which post pones any change seven years.
Copies of the message containing these argu ments were transmitted to the Territory, to con found and dishearten the Free State party, and
obtain a surrender, At the election to be held on
the 21st of December, on the questions submitted
by the Convention. The people, however, were
neither misled nor intimidated. Alarmed by this
act of connivance by the President of the,nited
States with their oppressors, they began to prepare for the last arbitrament of nations. Tho
Secretary, Mr. Stanton, now Governor ad interim,
issued his proclamation, calling the new Territorial Legislature to assemble to provide for preserving the public peace. An Executive spy dispatched information of this proceeding to the
President by telegraph, and instantly Mr. Stanton
ceased to be Secretary and Governor ad interim,
being removed by the President, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate of the United
States. Thus the service of Frederick P. Stanton
came to an abrupt end, but in a manner most honorable to himself. His chief, fir. Walkertwa,~ less
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ciously mingled promiqes of fabulous quantities
of land for the endowm        ent of  roads and educa    tion. He                   d     ispensed with  the tes t oaths and taxes,
l    ame nted the defec ts of ce     nsus and regis      tr         y, and
promis         ed  the rejection of the Constitution, by him   self, by              the President, and by Congress, if         a full,
fkir, and complet         e           submission of the Constitution
s hould not                  be made by   the Convention; and he
obt          aingn ised and published pledges  of such submis   sio       n  by  the party c onventions  wh i ch   nominat         ed
t          he candidates for          de    legates, and even by    an im   p      o    sing number of                   those candidates       themselves.
The people stood aloof,  and refused    to vote. The
army protected        the p  olls. The Slave Labor party
alon e  v oted   and  voted  w ithout legal restraint,
and  so      achieved an easy for             mal success by cast   ing some two thousand ballots.
Just in this conjuncture, however, the term of
three years' service which the usurping Legisla  ture had fixed for its own members expired,
and elections, authorized by itself, were to be
held, for the choice, not only of new members,
but of a Delegate to Congress. While the Le  compton Convention was assembling, the Free
Labor party determined to attend these Terri  torial elections, and contest, through them, for
self-government within the Territory. They put
candidates in nomination, on the express ground
of repudiation of the whole Lecompton proceed  ing. The Lecompton ConventionI prudently ad  journed to a day beyond the elections.  The
parties contended at the ballot-boxes, and the
result was a complete and conclusive triumph of
the Free Labor party. For a moment, this victory,
so important, was jeoparded by the fiaudulent
presentation of spurious and fabricated returns of
elections in almost uninhabited districts, siffi cient to transfer the triumph to the Slave Labor
party, and the Free State party was proceeding to
vindicate it by force. The Governor and Secreta ry detected, proved, and exposed, this atrocious
fraud. The Lecompton Convention denounced
them, and complaints against them poured in
upon the President, from the slaveholding States.
They were doomed from that time. The Presi dent was silent. The Lecompton Convention pro ceeded, and framed a Constitution which de clares Slavery perpetual and irreversible, and
postpones any alteration of its own provisions
until after 1864, by which time they hoped that
Slavery might have gained too deep a hold in the
soil of Kansas to be in danger of teeing uprooted.
All this was easy- bit now came the question
whether the Constitution should be submitted
to the people.   It was confessed that it was
obnoxious to them, and, if submitted, would be
rejected with indignation and contempt.   An
official emissary from Washington is supposed
to have suggested the solution which was adopted. This was a submission in form, but not in
fact. The President of the Convention, without
ay laws to preserve the purity of the franchise
by penalties for its violation, was authorized to
designate his own agents, altogether irrespectively of the Territorial authorities, and with their aid
to hold an election, in which there should be no
vote allowed or receivted, if against the Constitution itself. Each voter was permitted to cast a
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wise and less fortunate.  He resigned.  Petus 
Thrasea (we are informed by Tacitus) had been
often present in the Senate, when the fathers descended to unworthy acts, and did not rise in opposition; but on the occasion when Nero procured from them a decree to celebrate, as a festival, the day on which he had murdered his mother,
Agrippina, Petus left his seat, and walked out
of the chamber-thus by his virtue provoking
fixture vengeance, and yet doing no service to
the cause of Liberty.  Possibly Robert J. Walker
may find a less stern historian.
The new Secretary, Mr. Denver, became Governor of Kansas, the fifth incumbent of that
office appointed within less than four years,
the legal term of one.  Happily, however, for
the honor of the country, three of the recalls
were made on the ground of the virtues of the
parties disgraced.  The Pro-Consuls of the Roma-n provinces were brought back to the Capital
to answer for their crimes.
The proceeding which the late Secretary Stan ton had so wisely instituted, nevertheless, went
on; and it has become, as I trust, the principal
means of rescuing from tyranny the people whom
he governed so briefly and yet so well.  The Le compton Constitution had directed, that on the
4th of January elections should be held to fill
the State offices and the offices of members of the
Legislature and member of Congress, to assume
their trusts when the new State should be ad mitted into the Union. The Legislature of the
Territory now enacted salutary laws for preserv ing the purity of elections in all cases.  It di rected the Lecompton Constitution to be submit ted to a fair vote on that day, the ballots beingt
made to express a consent to the Constitutions,
or a rejection of it, with or without Slavery.  The
Free Labor party debated anxiously on the ques tion, whether, besides voting against that Consti tution, they should, under protest, vote also for
officers to assume the trusts created by it, if Con gress should admit the State under it. After a ma jority had decided that no such votes should be
cast, a minority hastiy hat rejected the decision, and
nominated candidates for those places, to be sup  ported under protest.  The success of the move  ment, made under the, most serious disadvanta  ges. is conclusive evidence of their strength.
While the election held on the 21st of December,
allowing all fraudulent votes, showed some six
thousand majority for the Constitution with Sla  very, over some five hundred votes for the Con  stitution without Slavery, the election on the
4th of January showed an agregate majority
of eleven thousand against the Constitution
itself in any form, with the choice, under pro  test, of a Representative in Congress, and of a,
large majority of all the candidates nominated
by the/Free Labor party for the various Executive
and Legislative trusts under the Lecompton Con  stitut~ion.
The Territorial Legislature has abolished Sla  very by a law to take effect in March, 1858,
though the Lecompton Constitution contains pro  visions anticipating, and designed to defeat, this
great act of justice and humanity. It has organ   ized.a ~ilitia, which stands ready for the defence
~.
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i of the  rights of the people a ga inst  any p ower.
The  President of the  Lecompton Convention  h as
fied the Territory, charged with   an   at te mpt to  procure fraudulent  r eturn s  to re vers e th e a lread y declared results  of tholast election, a nd he  holds
the public in suspense as to his success until
after hi s  arrival at the Ca pital, and the decision
of Congres s o n t he a ccepta nce of the Lecompton
Constitution.  In the  mean time, the Territori al
Legislature has    called  a Convention,  s ubject  tGo
t he popular approval, to be    held in March  next,
and to form a Constitution to be submitted to
t he  peo ple, and, wh en adopted, to be   the organic
law of the    new State of Kansas, subject  to her
admission  into the  Union. The President of the
United State s, h avi ng received the  Lecompton
Constitut;ion, has submitted    it to Con gress,  and in sistin g tha t the  vote taken on the juggle of the Le compton Convention, held o n the 21st  of Decem ber, is legally conclusive  of its acceptance by the
people, and absolute against the fair, d irect, and
unimpeachable rejection of it  by that people,  ma d e
on the 4th of January last, he recommends and
urges   and implores the admission of  Kansas as a
State  into    the  Fede ral U n ion,  uner   that false,
pretended, and spurious  Constituti on.  I r efrain
from any examination of this  e xtraor dinary mes  sa.ge. My recital is less complete than I have
hoped,  if it does not overth row all the President's
arguments in favor of the   acceptance of the    Le compton Constitution   as  an act of th e pe ople of
Kansas, however specious, and without descend  ing to any details. In Congress, those who seek
the admission  of Kansas under th at  Constitution,
str  ive to delay the admission of    Minnes ota, until
their opponents shall    compromise on thatpara  mount question.
,This, Mr. President, is a concise account of the
national intervention in the Territories in favor of
slave labor and slave States since 1820. No
wonder that the question before us excites ap  prehensions and alarms. There is at last a North
side of this Chamber, a North side of the Cham  ber of Representatives, a North side of the -Union,
as well as South sides of all these. Each of
them is watchful, jealous, and resolute. If it be
true, as has so often been asserted, that this Un  ion cannot survive the decision by Congress of a
direct question involving the adoption of a free
State which will establish the ascendency of
free States under the Constitution, and draw
after it the restoration of the influence of Free   dom in the domestic and foreign conduct of thq
Government, then the day of dissolution is at~
hand.
I have thus, Mr. President, arrived at the third
circumstance attending the Kansas question
which I have thought worthy of Consideration,
namely, that the national intervention in the
Territories in favor of slave labor and slave States
is opposed to the material, moral, and social de   velopments of the Republic. The proposition
seems to involve a- paradox, but it is easy to
understand that the checks which the Constitu   tion applies, through prudent caution, to the
relative increase of the representation of' the free
States in the House of Representatives, and es   ~pecia~l in the Senat%, co-operating with the
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differences of temper and political activity be- I into harmony with the Constitution and with the
tween the two classes of States, may direct the  laws of nature. In doing so, we shall not only
Government of the Federal Union in one course,  reassume our own just authority, but we shall re  while the tendencies of the nation itself, popularly  store that high tribunal itself to the position it
regarded, are in a direction exactly opposite.      ought to maintain, since  so many  invaluable
The ease and success which attended the ear- rights of citizens, and even of States themselves,
lier policy of intervention in favor of free labor depend upon its impartiality and its wisdom.
and fiee States, and the resistance which the    Do you tell me that the slave States will not
converse policy of intervention in favor of slave  acquiesce, but will agitate?  Think first whether
labor and slave States encounters, sufficiently es- the free States will acquiesce in a decision that
tablish the existence of the antagonism between  shall not only be unjust, but fraudulent.  True,
the Government and the nation which I have  they will not menace the Republic.  They have
asserted.  A vessel moves quietly and peacefully an easy and simple remedy, namely, to take the
while it descends with the current.  You mark its Government out of unjust and unfaithful hands,
wav by the foam on its track only when it is forced  and commit it to those which  will be just and
against the tide.  I will not dwell on other faithful.  They are ready to do this now.  They
proofs-such as the more rapid growth of the free  want only  a little more  harmony of purpose
States, the ruptures  of ecclesiastical Federal and a little more completeness of organization.
Unions, and the demoralization and disorganiza-  These will result from only the least addition to
tion of political parties.                          the pressure of Slavery upon them.  You are lend    Mr. President, I have shown why it is that the inl  all that is necessary, and even more, in this
Kansas question is attended by difficulties and  very act. But will the slave States agitate? Why?
dangers only by way of preparation for the sub- Because they have  lost at  last  a battle that
mission of my opinions in regard to the manner  they could  not win, unwisely provoked, fought
in which that question ought to be determined  with all the advantages of strategy and in and settled.  I think, with great deference to the  tervrention, and on a field chosen by themselves.
jtudgments of others, that the expedient, peaceful,  What would they gain?  Can they compel Kan
and right way to determine it, is to reverse the ex- sas to adopt Slavery against her will?  Would
isting policy of intervenition in fitvor of slave liabor it be reasonable or just to do it, if they could?
land slave States.  It would be wise to restore the  Was negro servitude ever forced by the sword
1Missouri prohibition of Slavery in Kansas and Ne-  on any people that inherited the blood which cir braska.  There was peace in the Territories and  culates in our veins, and the sentiments which
in the States until that great statute of FreedomiiI make us a free people?  if they will agitate on
'was subverted.  It is true that there were fre- such a ground as this, then how, or when, by
quent debates here on the subject of Slavery, 1 what concessions we can make, will they ever be
and'that there were profound sympathies among I satisfied? Towhat end would they agitate? It can
the people, awakened by or responding  to those  now be only to divide the Union.  Will they not
debates.   But what  was  Congress  instituted  need some firer or more plausible. excuce for a
forbut debate?  What makes the American peo- proposition so despieliatd~'.-ow would they impie to differ from all other nations, but this-that  prove their condition. by drawing down a certain
while among them power enforces silence, here  ruin upon themselves? Would they gain any new
all public questions are referred to debate, free security for Slavery?  Would they not hazard
debate in Congress.  Do you tell me that the Su- securities that are invaluable?  Sir, they who
prene Court of the United States has removed  talk so idly, talk what they do not know themthe foundations of that great statute?  I reply, selves.  No man when cool can promise what he
that they have done no such thing; they could  will do when  he shall be inflamed; no man innot do it.  They heave remanded the negro man  flamed can speak for his actions when time and
Dred Scott to the custody of his master.  With  necessity shall bring reflection.  Much less can
that decree we have nothisg here, at least notlsin,,.  any one speak for States in such emergencies.
now, to do.  This is the extent of the judgmeilt    But, I shall not insist, now, on so radical a
rendered, the extent of any judgment they could  measure as the restoration of the Missouri prorender.  Already the pretended further decision  hibition. I know how difficult it is for power to reis subverted in Kansas.  So it will be in every  linquiish even a pernicious and suicidalpolicy all
free State and in every free Territory of the at once.   We may attain the same result, in this
United States. The Supreme Court, also, can re  particular case of Kansas, without going back so
verse its spurious judgment more easily than wve  far.  Go back only to the ground assumed in 1854
could reconcile the  people to its usurpation. the ground of popular sovereignty.  Happily for
Sir, the Supreme Court of the United States at-  the anthors of that measure, the zealous and enertempts to command the people of the United  getic resistance of abuses practiced under it has
States to accept the principles that one man can| so far been effective that popular sovereignty in
own other men, and that they must guaranty the Kansas may now be made a fact, and Liberty there
inviolability of that false and pernicious property.  may be rescued from danger through its free exThe people of the United States never can, and ereise. Popular sovereignty is an epic of two
they never will, accept principles so unconstitu- parts. Part the first presents Freedom in Kansas
tiooal and so abhorrent. Never, never. Let the lost. Part the second, if you will so consent to
Court recede.  Whether it recede or not, we shall write it, shall be Freedom in Kansas regained.  It
reorganize the Court, and thus reform its pc- is on this ground that I hail the eminent Senator
liticaI sentimen~ts end practices, and bring them from Illinois [Mr. DOUO.AS] and his associates,
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the distinguished Senator from Miichigan, [Mir.
STUART,]  and  the youthful, but most brave
Senator from Californiat [Mr. BRODEPsICE.]  The
late Mr. Clay told us that Providence has many
ways for saving nations.  God  forbid that I
should consent to see Freedom wounded, because
my own lead or even my own agency in saving
it should be rejected.  I will cheerfully co-operate with these new defenders of this sacred cause
in Kansas, and I will award them all due praise,
when we shall have been successful, for their
large share of merit in its deliverance. 
Will you tell me that it is difficult to induce the
Senate and the House of Representatives to take
that short backward step?  On the contrary, the
hardest task that an Executive dictator ever set,
or parliamentary manager ever undertook, is to
prevent this very step from being taken.  Let
the President take off his hand, and the bow,
bent so long, and hcd  te  its tension by so
hard a pressure, will relax, and straighten itself
at once. 
Consider now, if you please, the consequences
of your refusal.  If you attempt to coerce Kansas into the Union, under the Lecompton Constitution, the people of that Territory will resort
to civil war.  You are pledged to put down
that revolution by the sword.  Will the people
listen to your voice amid the thunders of your
cannon?  Let but one drop of the blood of a free
citizen be shed there, by the Federal army, and
the countenance of every representative of a free
State, in either House of Congress, will blanch,
and his tongue will refuse to utter the vote neces sary to sustain the army in the butchery of his
fellow-citizens.
Practically, you have already one intestine and
Territorial war.  A war against Brigham Young
in Utah.  Can yoru carry on two, and confine the
strifewithin the Territories?  Can you win both?
A  wise nation will never provoke more than
one enemy at one time.  I know that you argue
that the Free State men of Kansas are impracti cable, factious, seditious?  Answer me  three
questions: Are they not a majority, and so pro claimed by the people of Kansas?  Is not this
quarrel, for the right of governing themselves,
conceded by the Federal Constitution?  Is the
tyranny of forcing  a hateful Government uWpon
them, less intolerable than three cents implost
on a pound of teat or five cents stamp duty on a
promissory note?  You say that they can change
this Lecompton Constitution when it shall once
have been forced upon them.  Let it be aban doned  now.   What  guaranty  can you  give
against your own intervention to prevent that
fiture change?   What  security can you give
for your own adherence to the construction of
the Constitution which you adopt, from expe diency, to-day?  What better is a Constitution
.than a by-law of a corporation, if it may be forced
on a State to-day, and rejected so-morrow, in
derogation of its own express inhibition?
.f I perceive, lMr: President, that, in the way
of argument, I have  passed already from the
ground of expediency, on which I was standing,
to that of right and justice. Among  all our
refinements of constitutional learning, one prin
*      a
cipte, one fundamental principle, bas been faithIfully preserved, namely: That the new States
must  come  voluntarily into    the Union; they  must
not be forced.:-into it.  "Unite or Die," was the
motto  addressed to the State s in t he time  of the
Revoluti on.   Though  Kan sas should perish, she
cannot be brought into the Union by force.
So long as the States shall come in by free
consent, their admission will be an act of union,
and this will be a Confederacy. Whenever they
shall be brought in by fraud or force, their admission will be an act of consolidation, and the
nation, ceasing to be a Confederacy, will become
in reality an Empire.  All our elementary in struiction is wrong, or else this chance of the
Constitution will subvert the liberties of the
American people.
You Argue the consent of Kansas from docu mentarT proofs, from her forced and partial ae quiescdqgce, under your tyrannical Yule, from elec tions fraudulently conducted, from her own con tumacy, and from your own records, made up
here against her. I answer the whole argument
at once: Kansas protests here, and stands, by
your own confession, in an attitude of rebellion
at home, to resist the annexation which you con tend she is soliciting at your hands.
Sir, if your proofs were a thousand times
stronger, I would not hold the people of Kansas
bound by them. They all are contradicted by
stern feet. A people can be bound by no ac tion conducted in their name, and pretending
to their sanction, unless they enjoy perfect free dom and safety in giving that consent. You have
held the people of Kansas in duress from the
first hour of their attempted organization as a
community. To crown this duress by an act, at
once forcing Slavery on them, which they hate,
and them into a union with you, on terms which
,they abhor, would be but to illustrate anew, and
on a grand scale, the maxim
"Prosperum et felix scebns, virtus vocatur."
Mr. President, it is an occasion for joy and
triumph, when a community that has gathered itself together under circumstances of privation and
exile, and proceeded through a season of Territorial or provincial dependence on distant central
authority, becomes a State, in the full enjoyment
of civil "and religious liberty, and rises into the
dignity of a member of this Imperial Union. But,
in the case of Kansas, her whole Existence has
been, and it yet is, a trial, a tempest, a chaosand now you propose to make her nuptials a
celebration of the funeral of her freedom. The
people pf Kansas are entitled to save that freedom, for they have won it back when it had been
wrested from them by invasion and usurpation.
Sir, you are great and strong. On this continent
there is no Power can resist you.   On any other,
there is hardly a Power that would not reluctantly engage with you-but you can never, never
conquer Kansas. Your power, like' a throne
which is built of pine boards, and covered with
purple, is weakness, except it be defended by a
people confiding in yca, because satisfied that
you are just, and grateful for the freedom that,
under you, they enj'oy.
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organized, and unable to protect itself, still it has
already exchanged, in a large degree, its wars to
make slaves, and  its commerce in slaves,  foi
legitimate agriculture and trade.  All European
States are interested in the civilization of that
continent, and they will not consent that we
shall arrest it. The Christian church  cannot
be  forced back two centuries, and be ma de  t  o
sa n   ct     ion ans miion the African slave trade as a missionary
enterprise.
Every nation has always some ruling idea,
wmlich, however, changes with the several stages
of its development. A ruling idea of the colonies
on this contine nt, two  hund re d years ago, was
labor t o subdue and reclaim nature.   Then African Slavery was seized and employed as an auxiliary, under a seeming necessity. That idea
has ceased forever. It has given place to a new
one. Aggrandizement of the nation, not indeed
as it once was, to make a small State great,
but to make a State already great the greatest of all States.  It still demands labor, but it
is no longer the ignorant labor of barbarians,
but labor perfected by knowledge and skill,
and combination with all the scientific principles
of mechanism. It demands, not the labor of
slaves, which needs to be watched and defended,
but voluntary, enlightened labor, stimulated by
interest,. affection, and ambition.   it needs that
every man shall own the land he tills; that every
head shall be fit for the helmet, and every hand
fit for the sword, and every mind ready and qual.
fled for counsel. To attempt to aggrandize a
country with slaves for its inhabitants, would be
to try to make a large body of empire with feeble
sinews and empty veins.
Mfr. President, the expansion of territ4* to
make slave States will only fail to befa treat
crime, because it is impracticable, and ihez-,fore
will turn out to beagtupedous imbwtility.  A
free republican Government,'!.thir ith
standing all its constitutional checks, cannot
long resist and counteract the progress-of society.  Slavery, wherever and whenever, and in
whatsoever fbrm it exists, is exceptional, local,
and short-lived.'Freedom is the common right,
interest, and ultimate destiny, of all mankind.
All other nations have already abolished, or are
about abolishing, Slavery. Does this fact mean
nothing? All parties in this country-that have
tolerated the extension of Slavery, except one,
has perished for that error already.  That last
one-the Democratic party-is hurrying on, irre.
trievably, toward the same fate. All Administrations that have avbwed this policy have gone
down dishonored for that cause, except the pres.
ent one. A pit deeper and darker still is opening to receive this Administration, because it
sins more deeply than its predecessors.  There
is a meaning in all these facts, which it becopes
us to study well.  The nation has  advanied
-another stage; it has reached the point where
intervention, by the Government, fbor Slaveryr and
slave States, will nlo longer be tolerated. Free
labor has at last apprehended ids rights, its interests, its power, Rand its destiny, and is organi
zing itself to assume the government of the Republic. It will henceforth meet you boldl~ an/d
Sir, in view, once more, of this subject of
Slavery, I submit        that        our  own dignity requires
that we sh           all give over this champerty with
slavehold       ers, w  hich we practice in prescribing
acquiescence           in their rule as a condition of toleration  of  self-government in                              the Territories. We
are  d    efeated  in it.  We may wisely give it up,
and  admit Ka nsas as a free State, since she will
consent to be admitted on      ly in th at charact  er.
Mr. President, if I cou ld at all suppose-i                       t desirable or expedient to enlarge the field of slave
labor,and of slaveholding sway, in                    this Republic, I
sh       ou      ld nevertheless maintain that it is wise to
rel     inquish     the  effort to sustain Slavery in Kans       as.  The question, in reg ard to          th at Ter          ritory,
ha         s rise n from a private one aboutb Slavery as              a
domestic        institution,          to  on e     of Slavery as a
n       ational policy.  At  ev ery           step, you have  been
failing.  Will you,go  on still further, ever con-'
fident, and  yet ev er unsuc      cessful? 
I           b elieve, sit, to ssom    e                         fsint, in  the is hermal
theory.  I think there are regions; o beginIning              at
the North pole,         and                     s tretching southward, where
Sla      very will die ou t soon, if it be planted;  and I
know, too   well,          that  in   the tropis, and             to some
extent northward  of them, Slave ry lives  long,
and is hard to extirpate. But I cannot find a
certain     bound   a ry.  I   am sur     e, however, that 36~
30t.        i      s    t          oo far north.  I think  it is a  movable
boundary, and   th         at ev ery ye ar it advances towards a more southern parallel.
But i s            there,just now a  ral w an     t of a new
State for the employment of slave labor? I see
and feel the need of room for  a new State                    t      o be
assig ned to fr     ee         labor, of room for such               a new
State almost every year.  I think I see how it
a rises.   F  re    e whi te m en abound in                 this country,
a nd in Euro       te, and   even in Asia. Economically
spe aking,              their labor is cheap-there is a surplus
of it.  Unlder    imp  roved conditions of society, life.
grows         longer, and men mu ltiply faster.  Wars,
w        hich  sometimes waste them, grow less frequent
and  les         s  d e structive.  Inventio n      is continually
producing machines and engine  s, artificial laborers, crowdin g t        hem  from one field of industry to
inot       here-ever more from the Eastern                           regions of
thi    s           con tinent to the West,  ever more from the
overcrow           ded Eastern c ontinent    to the prairies
and  the wildernsesses  in our own.  But I do not
see    any  such  overflow   ing of  th e  African  slave
population in    this  fountry,   en. whVre it is
unresisted. Free labor                          has been  obstructed   -in
Kansas.  Thneere arenevertneless, 5,000  or 60,000
freemen gatheredth  here   already;v gathered there
w                 ithin four years.  Slave labor has been free to
import                 at         ion.  There  areonly 100 to 200 slaves
there. To settle and occupy a new slave State
anywhere is, par/ paesu, to depopulate old slave
States. Whence,          then, are the supplies of slaves
to comes, and      how?  On ly by reviving               the African
slave trade.  Bat this is forbidden.  Visionaries
dream that the prohibition can be repealed. The
idea is insane. A Republic of thirty millions of
freemen, with a free white laboring population~so
dense as already to crowd on subsistence, to be
brought to import nlegroes from Af~ca to sup~
plant them as cultivators,; and 80 to subject themslIve to staryation Though AMica it jret un
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cessions will now be accepted by the interest of
free labor and free States. tFo myself, I see this
fact, perhaps, the more distinctly now, because
I have so long foreseen  it.  I can  therefore
counsel nothing less than those concessions.   I
know the hazards I incur in taking this position.
I know how men and parties, now earnest, and
zealous, and bold, may yetfall away from me, as
the controversy shall wax warm, and alarms and
dangers, now unlooked  for, shall stare them in
the face, as men and parties, equally earnest,
bold,  and zealous, have done, in like circumstances, before.  But it is the same position I
took in the case of California, eight years ago;
It is the same I maintained  on the great occasion of the organization of Kansas and Nebraska,
four years  ago.  Time  and  added experience
have vindicated it since, and I assume it again, to
be maintlined to the last, with confidence, that
it will be justified, ultimately, by the country
and by the civilized world.   You  may refuse to
yield it now, and for a short period, but your refusal will only animate the f:icnds of Freedomi
with the  courage and the res  olution, and produce the  union am ong  them, which alone    ar e necessti  ary, on their part  to attain the pos ition itself simultaneously with the impendi n  overthrow of the  existing'Federal Administration  and
the constitution-of a new and more  indepe ndent
Congress.
MIr. President, this expansion of the empire of
free white men is to be conducted through the
process of admitting new States, and not other wise. The white man, whether you consent or
not, will make the States to be admitted) and he
will make them all free States. We must admit
them, and admit them all free; otherwise,
they will become independent and foreign States,
constituting a new empire to contend with us for
the continent. To admit them is a simple, easy,
and natural policy. It is not new to us, or
to our times.   It began with  the  voluntary
union of the first thirteen. It has continued
to go ~on, overriding all resistance, ever since.
It will go on Until the ends of the continent
are the borders'of- our Union. Thus we be come co-laborers' with our fathers, and even
with our posterity throughout- many ages.
After times, contemplating the whole vast
structure~ completed and perfected, will for get the dates, and the eras, and the individu alities, of the builders in their successive genera tions. It will be one great Republic, founded by
one body of benefactors. I wonder that  the
President of the United States undervalues the
Kansas question, when it is a part of a transaction
so immense and sublime. Far from sympathizing
with him in his desire to depreciate it, and to be
rid of it, I felicitate myself on my humble rela tion to it, for I know that Heaven cannot grant
noir man desire a more favorable occasion to ac quire fame, than he enjoys who is engaged in
laying the foundations of a great empire; and I:
know, also, that while mankind have often dei fied their benefactors, no nation has ever yet
bestowed honors on the memories of the foumders
of Slavery.
I have always believed, ]gr. President, that.
resolutely here; it         will m ee t  you ev erywhere, in
the Territories        or out of    them,  wherever you may
g                         to textend Slaverry.  It has driven you back in
Calitfornia  and  in Kansas; it will invad    e y ou soon
in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, and
T        exas. It will   meet y ou in A rizo na,         in Central
America, and even   in Cuba. Th e  i     nvasion  wil l b e
not mer    ely harm      less, but beneficent, if you yield
seasonablv toits just and moderated demands. It
pr      oved s    o    in New York, New Jersey, PenIsylvania, and         the    other slave States, which have already yield ed          in that way to    its advances.  You
may,  in      deed, get a start under   or n                  ear the tropics,
and  s      eem safe f or a time, but it wll be only a
s        h    ort             t       ime.  Even there you will found States
onl      y fo r f ree labo r to maintain and occupy. The
interest of the white races demands  the ultimate
emancipation of all men. Whether that consummati       on shall be allowed                          o to take effect, with
n eed   ful a     nd wise precautions against sudden
ch ange  and disaster, or be hurried  on by violence,  is        all that r em ains fo r you to              decide.  For
the failureyof your  sys tem of         so -lave labor throughout the w     nepublic, the   responsibility  will res             t not
on the     agitators y ou c ondemn,  or on   the p ol itical
parties you arraign, or even altogether on yourselve     s, bu t  it will b e   du e  to the  i   nheren t error of
the sys tem itself,  and to the error which thrusts
it f   orward  to  oppo se an  d         resis t   the destiny, not
more   of the African than that                      of the white races.
Th    e  white m     an   needs          this continent to labor
u    pon. His             head is clear, his arm is strong, and
his necessities are fixed. He must and will have
it.  To secure it,          he   will oblige t he'Go vernment
of the United St    at es t    o aba ndon intervention in
favorvf slave labor and slave States, and go
ba_,kiaI'- forty years, and resume the original
policjof Intervention in favor of free labor and
free Slates*. The fall of the ca,stle of San Juan
d'Ulloe det_rmined.the fate of Mexico, although
sore sieges and severe pitched battles intervened
before the capture of the capital of the Aztecs.
The defeats you have encountered in California
and in Kansas determine the fate of the principle
for which you have been contending. It is for
yourselves, not for us, to decide how long and
through what further mortifications and disasters the contest shall be protracted, before Freedom shall enjoy her already assured triumph.
I would have it ended now, and would have the
wounds of society bound up and healed. But this
can be done only in one way. It cannot be dqne
by offering further resistance, nor by any evasion or partial surrender, nor by forcing Kansas
into the Union as a slave State, against her will,
leaving her to cast off Slavery afterwards, as she
best may; nor by compelling Minnesota and Oregon to wait, and wear the humiliating costume
of Territories at the doors of Congress, until the
peolple of Kansas, or their true defenders here,
shall be brought to dishonorable compromises.
It can be done only by the simple and direct admission of the three new States as free States,
without qualification, condition, reservation, or
compromise, and by the abandonment of all further attempts to extend~ Slavery under the Federal Constitution. Y~ou have unwisely pushed
the comtroversy so far~ that only these broad con
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this glorious Federal Constitution of ours is
adapted to the inevitable expansion of the empire
which I have so feebly presented.  It has been
perverted often by misconstruction, and it has
yet to be perverted many times, and widely, hereafter;  but it has inherent strength and vigor
that will cast off all the webs which the everchanging interests of classes may weave around
it.  If it fail us now, it will, however, not be
our fault, but because an inevitable crisis, like
that of youth, or of manhood, is to be encountered by a constitution proved in that case to
be inadequate to the trial.  I am  sure that
no  patriot, who  views  toe subject as I do,
could wish to evade or delay the trial.  By delay we could only extend Slavery, at the most,
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throughout the Atlantic region of the continent.
The Pacific slope is free, and it always must and
will be free. The mountain barriers that separate us from that portion of our empire are quite
enough to alienate us too widely, possibly to separate us too soon. Let us only become all slaveholding States on this side of those barriers, while
only free States are organized and perpetuated on
the other side, and then indeed there will come
a division of the great American family into
two nations, equally ambitious for complete
control over-the continent, and a conflict between them, over which the world will mourn,
as the greatest and last to be retrieved of all
the calamities that have ever befallen the human
race.
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