Page:The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper, 1838.djvu/183

Rh the present state of the country, to attempt to propose an amendment of the constitution, to abolish slavery altogether, as it would infallibly fail, thereby raising an irritating question without an object.

ON SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Congress having all power to legislate for the District of Columbia, there can be no reasonable doubt of its power to legislate on slavery, as well as any other interest, under the limits of the constitution. A plausible question might even be raised whether the ordinary restrictions of the constitution apply at all to the legislation of the District, and whether the powers of congress over this particular portion of the country, are not as absolute as the powers of parliament in Great Britain.

Still the legislation for the District, in principle, depends on that general rule which ought to guide all just legislators. To pretend that a member of congress from Vermont, or a member of congress from Louisiana, is to respect the opinions of his own immediate constituents, in legislating especially for the District of Columbia, is like pretending that the emperor of Austria, who is equally sovereign of both countries, should consult the interests of the people of the kingdom of Bohemia, in establishing laws for the kingdom of Hungary. The relation between the constituent of the member and the District, is altogether anomalous, and, on no just principle, can be made to extend to this absolute control.