Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/516

 "Resolved, That our senators be instructed, and our representatives in congress be requested, to oppose the admission, as a state, into the Union, any territory not comprised as aforesaid, without making the prohibition of slavery therein an indispensable condition of admission: therefore,

"Resolved, That measures be taken by the clerks of the senate and assembly of this state, to transmit copies of the preceding resolution to each of our senators and representatives in congress."

The following resolutions of the state of New Jersey were communicated to congress, by Mr. Wilson, of N. J., on the 24th January, 1820:

", A bill is now depending in the congress of the United States, on the application of the people in the territory of Missouri for the admission of that territory as a state into the Union, not containing provisions against slavery in such proposed state, and a question is made upon the right and expediency of such provision.

"The representatives of the people of New Jersey, in the legislative council and general assembly of the said state, now in session, deem it a duty they owe to themselves, their constituents, and posterity, to declare and make known the opinions they hold upon this momentous subject: and,

"1. They do resolve and declare, That the further admission of territories into the Union, without restriction of slavery, would, in their opinion, essentially impair the right of this and other existing states to equal representation in congress (a right at the foundation of the political compact), inasmuch as such newly-admitted slaveholding state would be represented on the basis of their slave population; a concession made at the formation of the constitution in favor of the then existing states, but never stipulated for new states, nor to be inferred from any article or clause in that instrument.

"2. Resolved, That to admit the territory of Missouri as a state into the Union, without prohibiting slavery there, would, in the opinion of the representatives of the people of New Jersey aforesaid, be no less than to sanction this great political and moral evil, furnish the ready means of peopling a vast territory with slaves, and perpetuate all the dangers, crimes, and pernicious effects of domestic bondage.

"3. Resolved, As the opinion of the representatives aforesaid, that inasmuch as no territory has a right to be admitted into the Union, but on the principles of the federal constitution, and only by a law of congress, consenting thereto on the part of the existing states, congress may rightfully, and ought to refuse such law, unless upon the reasonable and just conditions, assented to on the part of the people applying to become one of the states.

"4. Resolved, In the opinion of the representatives aforesaid, that the article of the constitution which restrains congress from prohibiting the migration or importation of slaves, until after the year 1808, does, by necessary implication, admit the general power of congress over the subject of slavery, and concedes to them the right to regulate and restrain such migration and importation after that time, into the existing, or any newly to be created state.

"5. Resolved, As the opinion of the representatives of the people of New