Court, M: Report No; 41 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Report No; 41

The great objection which your committee have to make to the decision of the court, in this 1nstance, is that the rule of ao tion here pointed out has 'been overlooked 'or disregarded. Hence the confined View taken of one particular clause of the Constitution, unfavorable to the principles of liberty, is made not simply to Con¿ict with the construction of all the other clauses in it which secure to the people the blessmgs it ought to confer, but, in its practical effect, to ride over them all. It overturns, also, the great barriers in the declaration of rights of many of the separate States, which protect the citizen and guarantee his personal safety. And, above all, it proclaims to the world the startling truth, that the continuance of bondage to the slave is of more worth to the mind of Americans than the continuance of liberty to the freeman.' For'the question which your committee are now to cons1der, 1s not simply whether a slave shall be recovered after his escape from his master into territories where slavery is riot recognized, but whether a freeman shall be enslaved, beyond the possibility of escape, at the mere volition of a town or county magistrate. It is the danger of the freeman which. Calls for thernoét attentive consideration. The execution of -the' clause of the constitution for the delivery of slaves, would not, perhaps, be a legitimate ground for State interference, or State discussion, if it did not so happen that it was liable to overstep its appr0pr1ate sphere, and deprive a class of men of certain rights, in the enjoyment of which it is the bounden duty of the State to protect them.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.