1856, and were barely defeated; they entered the Presidential contest again, in 1860, and succeeded.
The prohibition of slavery in the territories, hostility to it everywhere, the equality of the black and white races, disregard of all constitutional guarrantees in its favor, were boldly proclaimed by its leaders, and applauded by its followers.
With these principles on their banners and these utterances on their lips, the majority of the people of the North demand, that we shall receive them as our rulers.
The prohibition of slavery in the territories is the cardinal principle of this organization.
For forty years this question had been considered, and debated in the halls of Congress, before the people, by the press, and before the tribunals of justice. The majority of the people of the North in 1860, decided it in their own favor. We refuse to submit to that judgment, and in vindication of our refusal, we offer the constitution of our country, and point to the total absence of any express power to exclude us; we offer the practice of our government, for the first thirty years of its existence, in complete refutation of the position that any such power is either necessary or proper to the execution of any other power in relation to the territories. We offer the judgment of a large minority of the people of the North, amounting to more than one-third who united with the unanimous voice of the South against this usurpation; and finally, we offer the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest judicial tribunal of our country in our favor. This evidence ought to be conclusive, that we have never surrendered this right; the conduct of our adversaries admonishes us that if we had surrendered it, it is time to resume it.
The faithless conduct of our adversaries, is not confined to such acts as might aggrandize themselves or their section of the Union; they are content, if they can only injure us. The constitution declares, that persons charged with crimes in one State and fleeing to another, shall be delivered up on the demand of the Executive authority of the State from which they may flee, to be tried in the jurisdiction where the crime was committed. It would appear difficult to employ language freer from ambiguity; yet, for above
