Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/300

 240 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI in the constitutiou or law of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. And although this general assembly do most solemnly declare that the Congress of the United States have no constittuional power to annex any condi- tion to the admission of this state into the fed- eral Union, and that this general assembly have no power to change the operation of the constitution of this state, except in the mode prescribed in the constitution itself, neverthe- less, as the Congress of the United States has desired this general assembly to declare the assent of this state to said fundamental condi- tion, and forasmuch as such declaration will neither restrain nor enlarge, limit nor extend, the operation of the constitution of the United States or of this state; but the said constitu- tiou will remain in all respects as if the said resolution had never passed, and the desired declaration was never made ; and because such declaration will not divest any power or change the duties of any of the constitutional authorities of this state or of the United States, nor impair the rights of the people of this state, or impose any additional obligation upon them, but may promote an earlier en- joyment of their vested federal rights, and this state being, moreover, determined to give to her sister states and to the world the most unequivocal proof of her desire to promote the peace and harmony of the Union, there- fore "Be it enacted and declared by the general assembty of the state of IMissouri, and it is hereby solemnly and publicly enacted and de- clared. That this state has assented and does assent that the fourth clause of the twenty- sixth section of the third article of the consti- tution of this state shall never be construed to authorize the passage of anj^ law-, and that no law shall be passed in conformity thereto, by which any citizen, of either of the United States, shall be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities to which such citizens are entitled under the constitution of the United States." This act was transmitted to the president who, on August 10, 1821, made a proclama- tion announcing the admission of Missouri into the Union. It is evident that this is one of the most remarkable transactions ever made by a leg- islative body. The whole matter of the con- troversy over the admission of Missouri is a striking evidence of the terrible passion that stirred the minds of men over the question of slavery. Prejudices were so strong they seemed to have blinded men's eyes to some very obvious things. The first of these compromises which is dis- tinctly known as the Missouri Compromise, whose author was Honorable Jesse B. Thomas, provided that the people of the state should be left free to organize a state government, without any restriction as to their action con- cerning slaver_y. It was well known at the time that, in all human probability, the con- stitution so formed would permit the holding of slaves and in return for this permission, if it may be so considered, the friends of slavery agreed to the exclusion of it from all the vast domain of the Louisiana Purchase north of the parallel of 36 degrees and 30 minutes. It can hardly be called a compromise, for the friends of slavery conceded practically every- thing and gained nothing. Under the terms of this act the people of the state framed a constitution which allowed slavery, and presented it to Congress, in the full expectation that the state would be ad- mitted. Thej' found themselves opposed by a large number of their original opponents ; this time on the ground that one article in their