REMARKS

Mr. Thppan, of Ohio, on Abolition Petitions, delivered in Senate, Feb
ruary 4, 1840.

Mr. Tappan addressed the Senate as follows :
Mr. President : I hold in my hand a number of petitions, purporting
to be signed by inhabitants of Harrison county, in the State of Ohio, pray
ing Congress>to abolish slavery and the slave trade in the District of Co
lumbia. These petitions are signed by both males and females, in the
proportion of'-afoout two thirds of the former, and one third of the latter.
It is the constitutional right of every American citizen to petition Congress
for a rrdress of grievances ; and I may say here, that whenever any citizen
of Ohio shall complain of any grievance, under which he may be suffering,
within the constitutional competency of this Government to remove, it will
give me ,great pleasure to present the case to this body, and to be instru
mental in removing the grievance complained of.
These petitioners do not, however, set forth what particular grievance
the existence of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia is
to them, how they are injuriously affected by it, nor why and wherefore it
should be abolished. I am left to suppose, therefore, that the interest the
petitioners feel in this matter is not a particular interest, arising from any
connexion with the subject matter prayed for, not a grievance to them
specially, but that they suppose the existence of slavery and the slave trade
here is a grievance of a general and national kind, which they, with all
other American citizens, have a right to petition Congress to remove. I am
very far from questioning the right of any citizen of this Union to petition
Congress, or their right to instruct their Representatives here as to such
legislation for this District, as will, in their opinion, best promote the general
interest of the whole Confederacy; but I mark the fact, that the petitioners
were not agreed upon the nature, extent, and bearing of the supposed
grievances they pray to have redressed, and were not prepared to assign
any reason for their removal, as evidence that they had no particular cause
of complaint in the existence of slavery here. Living at the distance of
some hundred miles from the District, in a remote State of the Union, and
having little or no intercourse with it, it is not to be presumed that they
should be as competent to judge what legislation would best promote the
prosperity and happiness of the people here, as the citizens of the District
themselves, who are to be more immediately affected by such legislation.
The petitioners have, indeed, no right to interpose their wishes, or will, as
to such interests as are peculiar to the population of the District, and have
no bearing on the general interests of the Union. This, it may be pre
sumed, is well known to and understood by them, and therefore the con
clusion I have come to, that the petitioners have no particular interest in
this matter, and have no claims to a 'hearing on that account, is sufficiently
evident. I have no doubt but that the Constitution, by giving to Congress the
power " to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever" over this
District, has given Congress the power to abolish slavery and the slave

2
trade here whenever the- people of the District ask, or the safety of the
whole Union requires it. Congress, as the constitutional legislature of this
District, have, in my judgment, a twofold duty to perform— first, as the
Representatives of the District, not elected and chosen by the people of the
District, but made by the Constitution the only law-making power for it,
and thereby its constitutional Representatives : second, as the Representa
tives of the whole nation. In the former capacity, the power of Congress
extending "to all cases whatsoever," seems limited only by those great
principles of equality and justice which lay at the foundation of all our
legislation ; in the latter they can exercise no powers but such as are ex
pressly delegated to thenl, or such as are clearly necessary to carry into
effect the powers so expressly granted. The principles adverted to, require
of American legislators that they should make the happiness of the people
the end and aim of all their enactments. In their first capacity, therefore,
as the legislature of the District, they are bound to consult the will and
wishes of the District, in all matters which concern its inhabitants only. I
conceive that the will of the people here should be the governing rule for
the action of Congress, in all matters of strictly local concern ; unless that
will demanded something which would be injurious to the general welfare.
The reason why the framers of the Constitution gave to Congress^ and not
o a local legislature, the power of legislation over the District, was proba
bly to prevent the possibility of any law being passed here, which might
militate against the general interest of the Confederacy ; and not to free
Congress from the high moral obligation, incumbent on it as the legisla
ture of the District, to consult the wishes of the people of the District, and
form its laws, so as best to promote their welfare and happiness.
But the people of the District are silent on this subject ; they ask for no
change in their domestic policy : they have heretofore remonstrated against
any action by Congress on their right to'hold slaves, and would probably
again remonstrate, if they apprehended any danger of such action. They
hold that they have a clearly legal and rightful property in and to their
slaves ; that the Constitution of the United States protects them in the en
joyment of such right. Now, whatever may be the opinion of the peti
tioners as to the right, abstractedly considered, of men to hold human beings
as property, this question was settled before the Constitution was formed —
before this ten miles square was ceded to the Union ; and Congress, as le
gislators of the Union, have no power over it.
Next to the people of this District, those more immediately interested are
the States who ceded this Territory to the United States. The cession was
made by Maryland and Virginia, when," as" now, both those States held
slaves ; and their right to this species of property was nowhere questioned.
It may fairly be supposed, that when the cession was made, it was not im
agined by any one that slavery would, or could be abolished here, until it
should be abolished in those States. Had such an event been thought
probable, the able men who guided the counsels of those States would have
guarded against an event so very threatening to their security and repose.
But these States are not alone in regarding trie measures prayed for by the
petitioners as hostile to their interests ; all the States in which slavery is
held lawful, consider the agitation of this question as full of danger, and
the attempt to abolish slavery here, but as a first step in an unjust and un
constitutional interference with their rights. If, then, Congress has the
power to legislate for this District on this subject, as I hojd they clearly
have such power, they have no right to exercise this power against the wil{

of the inhabitants of the District; against the will of thos*e who ceded the
District to the tjnion ; and against the will of the other slaveholding States ;
unless, indeed, the safety of the whole Union imperiously demands such
legislation of us.
Wheuthis confederacy of States was formed, and even when the Consti
tution of the United States was adopted, most of the States held slaves.
The laws of all (excep't, perhaps, Massachusetts) recognised the lawfulness
of domestic slavery. Since that time, many of the States have entirely,
and some others partially, abolished it ; and it seems to me that it is, and has
long been, in a^radunl course of extinction. It is, however, an institu-
ticn of the State Governments, a matter of mere State regulation,1 with
which, as it exists in, or may be repulated by, the States, the Government of
the United States, having nothing to do directly, should abstain from inter-
fering indirectly. ,
Such^Mr. President, is my view of the subject, as it respects the power
and duties ^pf Congress ; but there is another view which it is my duty tp
state. I am here as one of the representatives of a sovereign State, meet
ing with the representatives of twenty-five other equally sovereign and in
dependent States, to exercise with my friend and colleague those strictly
limited powers which have been conferred on the General Government,
and bound by every principle of duty, of honor, and of inclination, to
obey the will of the State, whose servant I am.
The State I in part represent, is one of the first in this Union in all the
elements of political power; it is not second to any in its entire devotion
to those principles of equality and justice, which are the professed founda
tion of our social institutions ; to none in her firm attachment to the union
of the States. She would not permit any interference on the part of other
States or societies with her institutions, unless addressed directly to her
friendly consideration by those who might consider themselves aggrieved
by them; nor would she interfere with the law,s and regulations of other.
States, or justify her citizens in doing so, under any other circumstances.
Slavery is an institution not only interdicted by the fundamental laws of
Ohio, but it is entirely contrary to the genius and habits of her people. If
petitions were to be presented here, praying some action of Congress
which would, though but indirectly and remotely, tend to establish slavery
in Ohio, or which her citizens believed would have that tendency, such a
measure could not but be regarded as one of hostility to Ohio by her repre
sentatives here; and hostility, too,, not" from an individual Senator, but
from a co-State; for Senators, being representatives of sovereign States,
cannot be presumed to act from themselves merely, but only by authority
of the State, whose agents they are. Ohio might, and probably would,
treat all such demonstrations with scorn and contempt; but if persisted in,
and followed up from year to year, evincing a settled determination to com
pel a change, she cpuld not but regard the States, whose representatives
here promoted such attacks upon her, as unfriendly towards her.
Ohio will do unto others as she claims that they should do; to her ; as she
will not permit any interference with her own institutions, so she will not
permit her servants to interfere with the institutions of other States. I
Lknow her will upon this matter; it is clear and unequivocal. Resolutions
!of her assembly have repeatedly declared her sentiments upon the subject-
matter of these petitions, and her'decided opinion that the attempt: making
by these petitioners "is hostile to the spirh;.pf the Constitution, and destruc
tive of the harmony of the Union ;" and a recent more numerous assemblage

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of democratic delegates in a State convention than has ever before met in
that State, with but three dissenting voices, adopted the fallowing resolu
tions :
"Resolved, That, in the opinion of this convention, Congress ought not, without the consent
of the people of the District, and of tire Slates of Virginia and Maryland, to abolish slavery in
the District of Columbia ; "arid that the efforts now making for that purpose, by organized
societies in the free Slates, are hostile to the spirit of the Constitution, and destructive to the .
harmony of the Union.
"Resolved, That, slavery beingf a domestic institution recognised by the Constitution of.the
United States, we, as citizens of a free State, have no right to interfere with it ; and that the
organizing of societies and associations in free States, in opposition to the institutions of sister
States, while productive of no good, may be the cause of much mischief; and while such asso
ciations for political purposes ought to be discountenanced by every lover of peace and concord,
no sound democrat will have part or lot with them.
"Resolved, That political abolitionism is but ancient Federalism, under a new guise, and
that the political action of anti-slavery societies is only a device for the overthrow of
democracy." I knowj sir, that these resolutions express the deliberate judgment of the
democracy of Ohio ; as to the sentiments of the opponents of the democratic
party, the Harrisonians, I know less.* Their conduct is open to observa
tion. By that, it is well known that they hold in their fraternal embrace
the entire abolition part of the population of Ohio.
As to the female signers of these petitions, I have a word to say. Nature
seems to have given to the male sex the exclusive powers of Government,
by giving to that sex the physical strength and energy which the exercise
of those powers calls into constant and active exertion. To the female a
more delicate physical organization is given ; and she need not repine that
she has not the iron nerve of her protector, man : he has the storms of life
to encounter; she the calm and sunshine of domestic peace and quiet to
enjoy. Hers is the domestic altar ; there she ministers and commands, in
all the plenitude pf undisputed sway, the fountain of love and blessedness
to all around her ; let her not seek madly to descend from this eminence to
mix with the strife of ambition or the cares of Government; the field of.
politics is not her appropriate arena ; the powers of Government are not
within her cognizance, as they could not be within her knowledge, unless
she neglected higher and holier duties to acquire it. Bound by'-fier asso
ciations, by her education and habits, as the American woman is, to the insti
tutions and laws and manners of her country, let her evidence the soundness
of her principles, by guiding the young minds committed to her maternal
charge, to that same love of liberty and devotion to their country she feels,
and she need not fear but that her sons will correct all the errors of Gov
ernment, as experience shall point them out. For myself, I cannot recog
nise the right of my fair countrywomen to interfere with public affairs.
Whether slavery shall be abolished in the District of Columbia or not, be
longs not to them to say ; much less does it belong to the women of Ohio
to agitate questions of public policy, which their own State Government
has often declared it wrong in her citizens to meddle with.
For these reasons, I decline presenting these petitions to the Senate.
* Harrisonians. — A large meeting of the Whig party at Chillicothe, in Ohio, lately adapted .
the following resolution :
Resolved, By this meeting, that the cause in which we are engaged is the cause of civil I
liberty, and the perpetuity of our happy, but at present deranged institutions. And knowing I
as we do, that political names alone keep many froni our ranks whose hearts are with us, now"
he it known and resolved, from this day forward, that all political names, such as Locofoco,
Democrat, Republican, Whig, &c, be now merged in the general and heart stirring appella
tion of Harrisonians. '