Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/497

 all things, equal privileges; the necessary consequence of which was, that every man, in his own state, should have the same rights, privileges, and powers, that any other citizen of the United States had in his own state; otherwise discontent and murmurings would prevail against the general government who had deprived him of the equality.

For example, if the citizens of Pennsylvania, or Virginia, enjoyed the right, in their own state, to decide the question whether they would have slavery or not, the citizens of Missouri, to give them the same privileges, must have the same right to decide whether they would or would not tolerate slavery in their state; if it were otherwise, then the citizens of Pennsylvania and Virginia would have more rights, privileges, and powers in their respective states, than the citizens of Missouri would have in theirs. Mr. Scott said he would make another quotation from the same work he had before been indebted to, which he believed had considerable bearing on this question. "The powers delegated by the proposed constitution to the federal government, are few and defined; those which are to remain in the state governments, are numerous and indefinite; the former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce, with which last the powers of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several states will extend to all the objects, which in the ordinary course of affairs concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the state." The applicability of this doctrine to the question under consideration was so obvious, that he would not detain the house to give examples, but leave it for gentlemen to make the application. He would, however, make one otner reference to the constitution, before he proceeded to speak of the practice under it; in the second section of that instrument it was provided, that "representatives, and direct taxes, shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons." This provision was not restricted to the states then formed, and about to adopt the constitution; but to all those states which might be included within this Union, clearly contemplating the admission of new states thereafter, and providing, that to them, also, should this principle of representation and taxation equally apply. Nor could he subscribe to the construction, that as this part of the constitution was matter of compromise, it was to be limited in its application to the original states only, and not to be extended to all those states that might after its adoption become members of the federal Union; and a practical exposition had been made by congress of this part of the constitution, in the admission of Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi states, all of whom were slaveholding states, and to each of them this principle had been extended.

Mr. Scott believed, that the practice under the constitution had been different from that now contended for by gentlemen; he was unapprised of any