Ayman Rouf Gr.10
The Jefferson Davis Resolutions
On February 2nd in 1860, Senator Jefferson Davis published 6 resolutions regarding the slavery, and rights of individual states and US territories. His goal was to set up a framework that would encourage the creation of laws that would allow for peaceful compromise between the differing views of the American people. Below is a brief summary of the resolutions he submitted that day.
Resolution One - Any "intermeddling" by any one or more states with the domestic affairs of another in the interest of disrupting them is in "violation of the Constitution" and "serves to weaken and destroy the Union itself."
Resolution Two - Slavery is important to the economy of the south, and no matter how non-slaveholding states may feel, there is no justification for any attack on slavery. All such attacks are a "manifest violation of the mutual and solemn pledges to protect and defend each other, given by the States, respectively, on entering into the constitutional compact which formed the Union."
Resolution Three - The Union rests on the equality of rights among its members, and "it is the duty of the Senate... to resist all attempts to discriminate... [or] give advantages to the citizens of one State which are not equally secured to those of every other State."
Resolution Four - Neither Congress or Territorial Legislature can deny a person's right to bring their slaves into the territories, and it is the Federal Government's job to provide needful protection to that person's slaver property. "If experience should at any time prove that the judiciary does not possess power to insure adequate protection, it will then become the duty of Congress to supply such deficiency."
Resolution Five - When a territory forms a constitution to become a state, it will decide for itself whether or not it will allow slavery when it drafts its state constitution. If Congress allows them to become a state, "they shall be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission."
Resolution Six - The Constitution is one of the main reasons the Union exists in peace, and the Fugitive Slave Laws of 1793 and 1850 "have unquestionable claim to the respect and observance of all who enjoy the benefits of our compact of Union." Any attempt by any state legislature to counter these laws is revolutionary, and rebellious behavior which will eventually lead to the state having to decide for itself "the proper mode and measure of redress."
