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424 DOUGLASS' MONTHLY. MARCH, 1861. [[line]] [[a 3 column page with columns separated by vertical lines]] [[column 1]] THE COMPROMISE MEASURES. [[short line]] Below we publish the substance of all the leading plans of compromise which have been brought before Congress: THE BORDER STATE COMPROMISE 1. Recommending the repeal of all the Personal Liberty bills. 2. That the Fugitive Slave Law be amended for the preventing of kidnapping, and so as to provide for the equalization of the Commissioners' fee, &c. 3. That the Constitution be so amended as to prohibit any interference with slavery in the States where it now exists. 4. That Congress shall not abolish slavery in the Southern dockyards, arsenals, &c., nor in the District of Columbia, without the consent of Maryland and the consent of the inhabitants of the District, nor without compensation. 5. That Congress shall not interfere with the inter State slave trade. 6. That there shall be a perpetual prohibition of the African slave trade. 7. That the line of 36° 30 min. shall be run through all the existing territory of the United States; that in all north of that line slavery shall be prohibited, and that south of that line neither Congress nor the Territorial Legislature shall hereafter pass any law abolishing, prohibiting, or in any manner interfering with African slavery; and that when any Territory containing a sufficient population for one member of Congress in any area of 60,000 square miles, shall apply for admission as a State, it shall be admitted, with or without slavery as its Constitution may determine. MR. ETHERIDGE'S COMPROMISE. 1. Congress shall have no power to regulate or control within the States, the relations established or recognized by the law of any State respecting persons held to service of labor. 2. Congress shall have no power to interfere with or abolish the relations recognized by the laws of the District of Columbia respecting persons held to service or labor, without the consent of the States of Maryland and Virginia, and also the consent of the inhabitants of the said District, and without making just compensation in the premises. 4. Congress shall have no power to prohibit the removal or transportation from one State to another of persons held to service or labor. 5. The immigration or importation from abroad of persons held to service or labor for life, or for a term of years, or persons intended to be so held and carried into any of the States, is perpetually prohibited, and Congress shall pass all laws necessary to make said prohibition effective. 6. No Territory beyond the present limits of the Territories of the United States, shall hereafter be acquired or annexed to the U.S., unless the same be done by the concurrent vote of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress, or the same be acquired by treaty by a vote of two-thirds of the Senate. MR. BIGLER'S COMPROMISE. Article 1. That territory held, or that may hereafter be acquired by the United States, shall be divided by a line from east to west, on the parallel of 30° 30 min. north latitude. Article 2. That in all the territory north of said line of latitude, involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime, is prohibited; and in all territory south of said line, involuntary servitude, as it now exists in the States south of Mason and Dixon's line, is hereby recognized, and shall be sustained and protected by all the departments of the territorial governments; and when any territory north and south of said line, within such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, shall contain the population requisite for a member of Congress, according to the then federal ratio of representation of the people of the United States, it shall then be the duty of Congress to admit such Territory into the [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] Union on terms of equality with the original states. THE MISSOURI AND CRITTENDEN COMPROMISES. The following are the points of likeness and unlikeness of the Crittenden resolutions and the compromise of 1820: [[column 2 is split into 2 sub-columns]] [[start sub-column 1]] Missouri Compromise, 1820. §8. That in all that territory ceded by France to the U. States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36° and 30 min. north latitude, not included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act, slavery or involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is hereby forever repealed.- 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 States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor, or service, as aforesaid. [[end sub-column 1]] [[start sub-column 2]] Crittenden Compromise, 1861. 1. In all the territories now or hereafter acquired north of latitude 36° 30 min., slavery or involuntary servitude, except for the punishment of crime, is prohibited; while in all the territory south of that latitude, slavery is hereby recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with by Congress, but shall be protected as property by all departments of the territorial government during its continuance. All the territory north or south of said line, within such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, when it contains a population necessary for a member of Congress, with a Republican form of government shall be admitted into the Union on an equality with the original States, with or without slavery, as the Constitution of the State shall prescribe. 2. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in the States permitting slavery. 3. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia while it exists in Virginia and Maryland, or either; - nor shall Congress at any time prohibit the officers of the government or members of Congress, whose duties [[?]] them to live in the District of Columbia, bringing slaves there, and holding them as such. 4. Congress shall have no power to hinder the transportation of slaves from one State to another, whether by land, navigable rivers, or sea. 5. Congress shall have power by law to pay an owner who shall apply, the full value for a fugitive slave in all cases when the marshal is prevented from discharging his duty by force or rescue made after arrest. - In all such cases the owner shall have power to sue the county in which such violence or rescue was made, and the county shall have the right to sue the individuals who committed the wrong, in the same manner as the owner could sue. 6. No further amendment or amendments shall affect the preceding articles, and Congress shall never have power to interfere with slavery in the States where it is now permitted. [[end sub-column 2]] The last resolution declared that the Southern States have a right to the faithful execution of the laws for the recovery of slaves, and such laws ought not to be repealed or modified so as to impair their efficiency. All laws in conflict with the Fugitive Slave Law, it shall not be deemed improper for Congress to ask the repeal of. The Fugitive Slave Law ought to be so altered as to make the fee of the Commissioner equal, whether he decides for or against the claimant, and the clause authorizing the [[/column 2]] [[column 3]] person holding the warrant to [[?]] on a posse comitatus, to be so as to restrict it to cases where violence or rescue is attempted. The laws for the suppression of the African slave trade ought to be effectually executed. MR. DOUGLAS'S SUBSTITUTE FOR THE CRITTENDEN AMENDMENTS - ARTICLE THIRTEEN. Sec. 1. Congress shall make no laws in respect to domestic servitude in any Territory of the United States; and all Territorial Government shall be formed on the model and in the terms of the organic acts, approved Sept. 9, 1850, called 'The Compromise Measures;' and the validity of all Territorial enactments shall be finally determined by the Supreme Court of the United States, on appeal, or writ of error, from the Territorial Courts; but no new Territory shall be organized until it shall contain 20,000 white inhabitants; nor shall any new State be admitted into the Union until it shall contain the requisite population for a Representative in Congress, according to the Federal ratio of representation. Sec. 2. Congress shall have no power to abolish or interfere with the relation of persons held to service or labor in any State, under the laws thereof; nor in any place under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, and situate within the limits of any State or Territory under whose laws persons are held to service or labor; nor shall Congress have power to abolish or impair the relation of persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia, under the laws in force therein, without the consent of Maryland and Virginia, so long as such relation shall exist in either of those States, under the laws thereof; nor shall Congress have power to interfere with or prevent the removal of persons held to service or labor from one State or Territory to another. Sec. 2. The African slave trade shall be forever suppressed, and it shall be the duty of Congress to make such laws as will effectually prevent the immigration or importation into the United States of persons held to service or labor for life, or for a period of years, or of any person intended to be so held in any State or place within the United States, under any pretense whatever. Sec. 4. The second clause of the second section of the fourth article of the Constitution shall be construed to include all crimes committed within and against the State or place from whence the fugitive fled, whether the acts charged were criminal or not in the place where the fugitive was found. Sec. 5. The elective franchise and the right to hold office, whether Federal, State, Territorial or Municipal, shall not be exercised by persons of the African race, in whole or in part. Sec. 6 The U.S. shall have power to acquire districts of country in Africa or South America, for the colonization, at the expense of the Federal Treasury, of such free negroes and mulattoes as the several States may desire to have removed from within their limits, and from the District of Columbia, and such other places as may be under the jurisdiction of Congress. Sec. 7. Whenever any person held to service or labor, as provided in the third clause of the second section of the fourth article of the Constitution, shall escape, and the marshal or other office, whose duty it may be to arrest such fugitive, shall be prevented from so doing by violence or intimidation; or when, after arrest, such fugitive shall have been rescued by force, Congress shall have power, and it shall be its duty, to provide by law for the payment of the full value of such fugitive to the party to whom such service or labor may be due; and in all cases, when the United States shall pay for such fugitive, they shall have the right, in their own name, to sue the county in which such violence, intimidation or rescue was committed, to recover the amount paid by them with interest and damages; - and the said country, for its indemnity, may sue and recover from the wrong doers or rescuers the amount paid to the United States, together with interest and damages.
Transcription Notes:
Section 7, last column. "and the marshal or other officeR"
