HARVARD COUFOS FIBRARY THE ALOUEST OF 1918 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, BY J. S. REDFIELD, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ne C. C. SAVAGE, STEREOTYPER, 13 CHAMBERS ST., NEW YORK. PREFACE. THE importance of the NEBRASKA QUESTION, and the all-absorbing interest of the public in relation to it, will be deemed sufficient reasons for the appearance of this pamphlet. The enactment of the Missouri Compromise in 1820 did not excite a deeper or more general feeling among the people than does its threatened repeal in 1854. A generation, almost, has passed away since the first event took place, and its unwritten history is nearly forgotten. The proposed organization of the Territories of NEBRASKA and KANSAS has reopened the whole subject. The admission of Missouri, the annexation of Texas, the organization of Oregon Territory, the Compromise Acts of 1850, and the NEBRASKA-KANSAS Bills, form a chain of great events whose histories are indissolubly interwoven. One object of this publication is to present a brief but intelligible sketch of these earlier transactions, in connection with the recent debate in the Senate of the United States, on the "Nebraska Question," as it has been termed. This question, as is well known, involves not only the organization of the Territories, but the greater subjects of Indian treaties, and Slavery extension. Nearly all the Speeches which had been made in the Senate, on the NEBRASKA Bill, by its friends and opponents, at the time this pamphlet went to press, are contained in its pages. The reader has thus before him the whole subject fairly stated and fully discussed. THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. IN 1818 the Legislature of the Territory of | Several unsuccessful efforts were made to sepaMissouri, resolved to petition Congress for ad-rate the two propositions. A motion of Mr. Romission into the Union as a State, and on the berts, of Pa., to that effect, was lost 18 to 25. 18th of December, of that year, the petition | On another day, a similar motion was defeated, was received by Congress. The Missouri bill coming up in the House, a motion was made by Mr. Taylor to postpone, was lost 87 to 88. Mr. Taylor, of New York, moved and advocated the prohibition clause, in the House, and Mr. Holmes, of Maine, opposed it. A motion to exclude slavery from Missouri was lost in the Senate, by a vote of 16 to 27. AYES-Messrs. Morrill of N. H., Mellen, and Otis, of Mass., Dana of Ct., Burrill of R. I., Tichenor of Vt., King and Sandford of N. Y., Dickerson and Wilson of N. J., Lowrie and Roberts of Pa., Ruggles and Trimble of Ohio, Noble and Taylor of Indiana. 21 to 23. On the 18th of January, 1820, Mr. Passing over the preliminary and incidental Thomas, of Illinois, introduced in the Senate proceedings and debates, we come to the main the celebrated slavery prohibition, whereby slaquestion, which was a proposition made on the very was to be for ever excluded from all terri19th of February, 1819, in the form of an tory north of 36° 30', north latitude. After an amendment, in these words:" That the fur- exciting debate the matter was referred to a sether introduction of slavery, or involuntary ser-lect committee-Messrs. Thomas, Burrill, Johnvitude, be prohibited," &c., in the embryo state. son, Palmer, and Pleasants. This amendment received 87 votes against 76, in the House. On the 15th of March, James Tallmadge, of New York, moved an amendment, embracing the above restriction with this addition," All children born within said state after the admission thereof, shall be free at the age of 25 years." Adopted: ayes, 79; nays, 67. The Senate struck, out this amendment when the bill came before that body, by a vote of 22 to 16. But the House refused to agree. For concurring, 70; against it, 78. The Senate again took up the subject, and voted to adhere to their former decision, and sent a message to the House to that effect. The House was equally obstinate, and on the final vote stood, for adhering to their restriction 78 to 66. Mr. Tallmadge vigorously sustained his amendment throughout the whole controversy. The adherence of the two Houses to their own antagonistic positions precluded any further action at that time, and the bill was lost. At the next session, Mr. Taylor, of New York, moved the following resolution:-"Resolved, That a committee be appointed with instructions to report a bill prohibiting the further admission of Slaves into the Territories of the United States, west of the Mississippi.", This resolution was post-s. C., Macon of N. C., Noble of Ind., Pleasants of Virginia, NAYS-Messrs. Barbour of Va., Elliott of Ga., Gaillard of poned on the 28th December, 1820, by a vote Smith of S. C., Taylor of Ind., Walker of Ga., Williams of of 82 to 62. Mr. Taylor remarked in the de- Mass. bate that, he knew of no one who doubted the Mr. Thomas's amendment reads as follows: constitutional power of Congress to make the "And be it further enacted, That in all that terriprohibition. At the commencement of this ses-tory ceded by France to the United States, under the sion, a bill was introduced for the admission of name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six deMaine into the Union, which passed the House. grees thirty minutes north latitude, excepting only A section providing for the admission of Mis- the State contemplated by this act, slavery and invosuch part thereof as is included within the limits of souri, also, was tacked to this bill, by the Senate. luntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of Ct., Palmer of Vt., Vandyke of Del., Lloyd and Pinkney NAYS-Messrs. Parrott of N. H., Hunter of R. I,, Lanman of Md., Barbour and Pleasants of Va., Macon and Stokes of N. C., Gaillard and Smith of S. C. Elliott and Walker of Ga., Johnson and Logan of Ky., Eaton and Williams of Tenn., Brown and Johnson of La., Leake and Williams of Miss., Edwards and Thomas of Ills., King and Walker of Alabama. On the 17th of February, Mr. Thomas's amendment (the slavery prohibition) was adopted by the Senate. Ayes 34; nays 10. AYES-Messrs. Brown, Burrill, Dana, Dickerson, Eaton, of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is hereby for ever prohibited: Provided, always, That any person escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any State or Territory of the United Sates, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service, as aforesaid." This amendment, was also moved in the House, by Mr. Storrs of New York. After an ineffectual motion by Mr. Trimble, of Kentucky, to bring the north line of the State of Missouri about half a degree south of the line proposed, with a view to give Missouri a share of the fine valley at the Des Moines, the question was taken on ordering the bill, as amended, to be engrossed and read a third time by the following vote: AYES-Messrs. Barbour, Brown, Eaton, Edwards, Elliott, Galliard, Horsey, Hunter, Johnson of Kentucky, Johnson of Louisiana, King of Ala., Leake, Lloyd, Parrott, Pink ney, Pleasants, Stokes. Thomas, Van Dyke, Walker of Ala. Walker of Georgia, Williams of Mississippi, Williams of Tennessee-24. New York, Hardin, Hazard, Hemphill, Hendricks, Herrick, Hibshman, Hiester, Hill, Holmes, Hostetter, Kendall, Kent, Kinsley, Kinsey, Lathrop, Little, Lincoln, Linn, Liver more, Lowndes, Lyman, Maclay, McCreary, McLane of Delaware, McLean of Kentucky, Mallary. Marchand, Mason, Meigs, Mercer, R. Moore, S. Moore, Monell, Morton, Moseley, Murray, Nelson of Mass., Nelson of Virginia, Parker of Mass. Patterson, Philson, Pitcher, Plumer, Quarles, Rankin, Rich, Richards, Richmond, Ringgold, Robertson, Rogers, Ross, Russ, Sampson, Sergeant, Settle, Shaw, Silsbee, Sloan, Smith of New Jersey, Smith of Maryland, Smith of North Carolina, Southard, Stevens, Storrs, Street, Strong of Vermont, Strong of New York, Strother, Tarr, Taylor, Tomlinson, Tomkins, Tracy, Trimble, Tucker of South Carolina, Upham, Van Renssellaer, Wallace, Warfield, Wendover, Williams of North Carolina, Wood-134. Against it:-Messrs. Abbot, Adams, Alexander, Allen of Mass., Archer of Virginia, Barbour, Buffum, Burton, Burwell, Butler of Louisiana, Cobb, Edwards of North Carolina, Ervin, Folger, Garnet, Gross of New York, Hall of North Carolina, Hooks, Johnson, Jones of Virginia, Jones Parker of Virginia, Pinckney, Pindall, Randolph, Reed, of Tennessee, McCoy, Metcalf, Neale, Newton, Overstreet, Rhea, Simkins, Slocumb, B. Smith of Virginia, A. Smyth of Virginia, Swearingen, Terrill, Tucker of Virginia, Tyler, Walker of North Carolina, Williams of Virginia-42. In the Senate it stood 33 Ayes and 11 Nays. Slavery was permitted in Missouri by a vote of 27 to 15 in the Senate, and 90 to 87 in the NOES-Messrs. Burrill, Dana, Dickersen, King of New House. That is, the restriction which originalYork, Lanman, Lowrie, Macon, Mellen, Morril, Noble, Otis, Palmer, Roberts. Ruggles, Sanford, Smith, Taylor, Tichely applied to Missouri was struck out as a comnor, Trimble, Wilson-20. pensation for introducing Mr. Thomas's prohibition upon territory north and west of Missouri. So the bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time. Mr. Macon, of North Carolina, and Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, were the only southern members who voted against this clause. The bill, including both Maine and Missouri, passed the Senate. The House, however, disagreed to the combination of the two States in one bill, 93 to 72. Mr. Thomas's amendment was disagreed to at this time 159 to 18. The whole subject then went to a committee of conference consisting of Senators Thomas Pinkney and Barbour: and Messrs. Holmes, Taylor, Lowndes, Parker, of Mass., and Kinsey, of the House. The result was that the admission of Missouri with Mr. Thomas's amendment was put in a separate bill, to the exclusion of Maine. It passed the House March 1, 1820, by a vote of 91 to 82, and the Senate, March 2, without a division. On a test vote, previous to the final passage of the bill, the House divided on the great question at issue, embodied in Mr. Thomas's and Mr. Storr's amendment, substantially as follows: for the prohibition of slavery, forever, north of 36° 30', 134 to 42 Nays. The main question was taken on concurring with the Senate in inserting in the bill, in lieu of the State restriction, the clause inhibiting slavery in the territory north of 36° 30', north latitude, and was decided in the affirmative, by yeas and nays, as follows: Thus the exciting question was ended for the session, and the bill authorizing the people of Missouri to form a Constitution for a State Government became a law on the 6th of March, 1820. The bill for the admission of Maine became law on the 3d March, 1820, to take effect from the 15th of the same mouth. a [It will be seen that Mr. Clay had no more agency in this compromise than any other member who voted for it. He had earnestly opposed the restriction on Missouri, as had Mr. Randolph, Mr. P. P. Barbour, and Mr. E. Smyth, of Virginia; Mr. Reid, of Georgia; Mr. Pinckney and Mr. Lowndes, of South Carolina; Mr. Baldwin, of Pennsylvania, and other eminent members. In the SENATE the restriction was advocated by Mr. Roberts, of Pennsylvania, Mr. King, of New York, Mr. Otis, of Massachusetts, and other prominent Senators; and it was opposed by Mr. Barbour, of Virginia, Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, Mr. Pinkney of Maryland, and Smith, of South Carolina, and others.] Such is the brief history of the enactment of the so called "Missouri Compromise" whereby slavery was forever excluded from territory lying north of 36° 30' north latitude, and Missouri admitted into the Union without a restriction as to slavery. The debate was long and exciting. One member remarked that "it had all the marks of eternity about it," so slight was For inserting the substitute :-Messrs. Allen of New the prospect of its coming to an end. Public York, Allen of Tenessee, Anderson, Archer of Maryland, Baker, Baldwin, Bateman, Bayly, Beecher, Bloomfield, meetings were held in all the large towns in the Boden, Brevard, Brown, Brush, Bryan, Butler of New Hamp- Union, and the Legislatures of almost all the shire, Campbell, Cannon, Case, Clagett. Clarke, Cocke, States adopted resolutions touching the matter. Cook, Crafts, Crawford, Crowell, Culbreth, Culpepper, Cushman, Cuthbert, Darlington, Davidson, Dennison, De- When Missouri had formed her Constitution witt, Dickinson, Dowse, Earl, Eddy, Edwards of Pennsyl-and came to be admitted into the Union, anovania, Fay, Fisher, Floyd, Foot, Ford, Forest, Fuller, Fulerton, Gross of Pennsylvania, Guyon, Hackley, Hall of ther "distracting question" arose as to whether |