Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/519

 Union, unless said territory shall stipulate ami agree that 'the further introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude, except for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be prohibited; and that all children born within the said territory, after its admission into the Union as a state, shall be free, but may be held to service until the age of twenty-five years.'

"Resolved, That the governor be, and he is hereby requested to cause a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolution to be transmitted to each of the senators and representatives of this state in the congress of the United States."

In the senate of the United States, early in 1820, Mr. Van Dyke communicated the following resolutions of the legislature of the state of Delaware, which were read:

"Resolved, by the senate and house of representatives of the state of Delaware, in general assembly met, That it is, in the opinion of this general assembly, the constitutional right of the United States, in congress assembled, to enact and establish, as one of the conditions for the admission of a new state into the Union, a provision which shall effectually prevent the further introduction of slavery into such state; and that a due regard to the true interests of such state, as well as of the other states, require the same should be done.

"Resolved, That a copy of the above and foregoing resolution be transmitted, by the speaker of the senate, to each of the senators and representatives from this state in the congress of the United States."

In senate, January 24th, 1820, Mr. Logan communicated the following preamble and resolutions of the legislature of the state of Kentucky, which were read:

", The constitution of the United States provides for the admission of new states into the Union, and it is just and proper that all such states should be established upon the footing of original states, with a view to the preservation of state sovereignty, the prosperity of such new state, and the good of their citizens; and whereas, successful attempts have been heretofore made, and are now making, to prevent the people of the territory of Missouri from being admitted into the Union as a state, unless trammeled by rules and regulations which do not exist in the original states, particularly in relation to the toleration of slavery.

", also, if congress can thus trammel or control the powers of a territory in the formation of a state government, that body may, on the same principle, reduce its powers to little more than those possessed by the people of the District of Columbia; and whilst professing to make it a sovereign state, may bind it in perpetual vassalage, and reduce it to the condition of a province; such state must necessarily become the dependent of congress, asking such powers, and not the independent state, demanding rights. And whereas, it is necessary, in preserving the state sovereignties in their present rights, that no new state should be subjected to this restriction, any more than an old one, and that there can be no reason or justice why it should not be entitled to the same privileges, when it is bound to bear all the burdens and taxes laid upon it by congress.