The Constitutional and Political History of the United States: 1850-1854. Compromise of 1850. Kansas-Nebraska bill

peal of the Missouri Compromise was a Free Offer of the North.-
Attitude and Declarations of the South.-The Richmond Examiner.-
Divided Sentiment South.-The Bill a Base Breach of Faith.-Direct
Consequences of the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise.--The
Breach with the Principle of the Compromise Policy the Work of a
Few Demagogues.--Douglas and his Associates promise Eternal Peace
as the Fruit of the Bill.--Non-Interference and Squatter Sovereignty.
-The Equity Argument. - Absurdity of Squatter Sovereignty.—
Squatter Sovereignty and State Sovereignty.- Non-Intervention
Means Intervention in Favor of Slavery.-The Fundamental Principle
of Territorial Legislation hitherto set aside.--" Amphibious" Char-
acter of Kansas-Nebraska -Chase's amendment of the 15th of Febru
ary.-Intentional Ambiguity of the Bill.-Southern Friends of the
Bill absolutely reject Squatter Sovereignty-Intentional Deception
of the People.-The Great Principle of the Bill a Conscious and Con-
certed Fraud.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL. THE STRUGGLE..

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Southern Friends of the Bill state that no "Principle" was to be
Established.-Answer of the Vox Populi to the Promises of the
Politicians. The Bill Passed by the Senate.-The Protest of the
New England Clergy.-A New Era Approaching. The Agitation
Among the People.-Its Effect on Douglas.-The Legislatures of the
Free States.-Effects of the Bill in New York.-Announcement of
the Washington Union.--The Ethical Element of the Question.-The
Irish and the Germans.-The Americans of the Free States.--Adoption
of Cutting's Motion.-Triumph of Douglas and his Associates of the
8th of May.-The Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company.-English's
Declaration.-The Southern Standard on the Re-introduction of the
African Slave Trade.-Richardson moves the Previous Question and
is Defeated. Declarations of the Washington Union and of Richard-
son.-Manœuvre of Alexander H. Stephens.-Adoption of the Bill.→
The Clayton Amendment.-Petit's Warning.-The Senate Drops the
Clayton Amendment and the Bill becomes a Law.-The Opposition
Announces the Continuance of the Struggle.--Programme of the New
York Tribune.--The Formation of a New Party Begun.--Ominous
Consequences of the Victory.

COMPROMISE OF 1850

ΤΟ

KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL.

CHAPTER I.

DECEPTIVE TRIUMPH OF THE COMPROMISE POLICY.

The American people have frequently, and with just pride, called attention to the fact, that death has repeatedly and suddenly carried off the chosen chief of the republic, at a highly critical moment, without producing the least disturbance in the working of the gigantic political machinery of the country. Without meeting the least resistance from any quarter, the vice-president has always stepped to the helm of state, and everything has gone its accustomed way, although chance has had it, that, in every instance, there have been great differences in the opinions of the deceased president and his constitutional successor, on the dominant questions of the day. This has, naturally, led to conflicts within the party in power, that is between the executive and congress; but these difficulties have always been settled, in a constitutional way, precisely as if they had been fought out with the president elect himself. These facts are a proof to what

extent the principle of unconditional submission to the law has become part of the flesh and blood of the American people, a proof all the more cogent, as since the retirement of Washington from the stage of politics, the presidential elections have always been-and, indeed, it could not have been otherwise the acme of party struggles. The presidential elections have frequently caused anxious minds to inquire, whether the structure of the federal republic was strong enough to stand the pressure of party passion, but the transition of the executive power from the president to the vice president never gave rise to such fears.

The struggles about the compromise of 1850 might readily have taken another course, and one materially dif ferent. They certainly would have been incomparably harder, if the contest on the slavery question had been further complicated by an immediately approaching presidential election. The period of calm which, so far as a presidential campaign was concerned, the people enjoyed and were to enjoy for some time, contributed, probably, more than anything else, to make the confident assurances of those who brought about the compromise, appear sufficiently justified, in the near future, to allow the people, far and wide, to lull themselves into an ominous security, which grew greater from day to day. People had time to think; and the longer they thought, the greater became the desire for peace on both sides. The compromise had not even endeavored to reconcile opposite views and interests, to say nothing of its having effected such a reconciliation; but the agitation of the two extreme camps broke powerlessly against the resolution of the great majority, to act as if the difference of principles had been set aside or settled. The truth is, it was only the force of inertia which brought the expectations of the extremes to naught.

THE NASHVILLE CONVENTION.

Spite of momentary failure, the history of their agitation showed that the future belonged to them. The completer and more powerful the triumph of the compromise was, the more plainly it appeared that it had no secure foundation.

The Union savers were not left long in doubt as to whether the denunciation of the compromise, on the part of the southern hotspurs, had found a powerful enough echo in a large part of the southern states, to encourage the leaders to a strong and persistent revolt against that work of peace. On the 14th of November, 1850, the Nashville convention had come together again. The number of those who participated in it was not large enough to encourage it to act the challenger. The report and the resolutions which were adopted on the 19th of November, were, therefore, much more moderate than had been intended at first. True, the report directly declared the right of secession. The resolutions, on the other hand, clothed the same claim in a less repulsive form, saying that the states were authorized, when they considered it best, to resume the power they had conferred on the federal government. They, at the same time, laid stress on this, that only attachment to the Union had given rise to the convention, and that its sole object was the salvation of the Union. But it was likewise declared that all the evils anticipated by the south had been realized by the compromise. Hence, the whole south was

Virginia had 1, Georgia 11, Florida 4, Mississippi 8, South Carolina 16, Tennessee 14 representatives. I do not know the number of delegates from Alabama. None of the other slave states were represented.

2 When the north by its violations of the constitution endangers the peace and existence of the slave states, "we have a right, as states, there being no common arbiter, to secede." N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 27, 1850; Cluskey, Political Text Book, pp. 534, 535.

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The Constitutional and Political History of the United States: 1850-1854 ...