Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/480

 der of the session. At the next session, on the 13th February, 1819, the house went into committee of the whole, Gen. Smith, of Maryland, in the chair, and took up the Missouri bill, which was considered through that sitting, and also on Monday, the 15th. Gen. Tallmadge, of New York, moved the following amendment:

"And provided that the introduction of slavery, or involuntary servitude, be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party has been duly convicted, and that all children born within the said state, after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be declared free at the age of twenty-five years."

Mr. Fuller, of Massachusetts, said, that in the admission of new states into the Union, he considered that congress had a discretionary power. By the 4th article and 3d section of the constitution, congress are authorized to admit them; but nothing in that section, or in any part of the constitution, enjoins the admission as imperative, under any circumstances. If it were otherwise, he would request gentlemen to point out what were the circumstances or conditions precedent, which being found to exist, congress must admit the new state. All discretion would, in such case, be taken from congress, Mr. Fuller said, and deliberation would be useless. The honorable speaker (Mr. Clay) has said that congress has no right to prescribe any condition whatever to the newly-organized states, but must admit them by a simple act, leaving their sovereignty unrestricted. [Here the speaker explained — he did not intend to be understood in so broad a sense as Mr. Fuller stated.] With the explanation of the honorable gentleman, Mr. Fuller said, I still think his ground as untenable as before. We certainly have a right, and our duty to the nation requires, that we should examine the actual state of things in the proposed state; and, above all, the constitution expressly makes a form of government in the several states a fundamental principle, to be preserved under the sacred guarantee of the national legislature. — [Art. 4, sec 4.] It clearly, therefore, is the duty of congress, before admitting a new sister into the Union, to ascertain that her constitution or form of government is republican. Now, sir, the amendment proposed by the gentleman from New York, Mr. Tallmadge, merely requires that slavery shall be prohibited in Missouri. Does this imply anything more than that its constitution shall be republican? The existence of slavery in any state is, so far, a departure from republican principles. The Declaration of Independence, penned by the illustrious statesman then, and at this time, a citizen of a state which admits slavery, defines the principle on which our national and state constitutions are all professedly founded. The second paragraph of that instrument begins thus: we hold these truths to be self-evident — that all men are created equal — that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life,, and the pursuit of happiness." Since, then, it cannot be denied that slaves are men, it follows that they are, in a purely republican government, born free, and are entitled to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. [Mr. Fuller was here interrupted by several gentlemen, who thought it