105
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 184-9
behest, not of my own State alone, but, as I humbly conceive, that of every other State in the Union; and at the same time helping to secure the rights of Oregon, so far as they were involved· in that measure, and aiding to wrest one bone of con- tention from the jaws of Nullification. I have been charged by some underhanded persons, with being in favor of the Wilmot Proviso. That charge I pronounce false. No one is, or can be more opposed to the Wilmot Proviso than I am, and ever have been. This Proviso by its own terms applied alone to territory hereafter to be acquired by treaty, or othe'r- wise; ancl not to that already held by the United States. It had no connection with, or bearing upori. the Oregon Bill, and in guiding my action upon that measure, the Wilmot Proviso had no influence. I regard it as of mischievous tendency, and doubt not that it originated with those who cared more for their own advancement than for the harmony and well-being of the Union. I have never believed that Congress could adopt the Proviso, or that it would be binding upon the States, even in the event of its adoption, without their separate sanction, or general acquiescence. Legislation by Congress on the subject of slavery in the ter- ritories, is in my opinion useless ancf injudicious. The line of demarcation between free and slave States is fixed by the Com- promise. The right of States lying South of that line to be admitted with the institution of slavery, if the people asking such admission require it, cannot be questioned. The spirit of the rule would, in my opinion, be infringed, should Congress by law attempt to exclude the institution from any territory lying south of that line. I assert the principle that Congress has no powe1· to legislate upon the subject of .c;lavery in the States m· te1.,,-itories of this Union. It is an institution exclusively of domestic regulation, subject alone to the control, jurisdiction and authority of the several States-each acting independently for itself. Congress would have the same right to impose slavery upon a state un- willing to receive it, as to exclude it from one desirous of retain- ing it. The adoption or abandonment of the institution, in like manner, refers itself entirely to the choice and opinion of each independent member of the Confederacy. Should New York
Powered by FlippingBook