1 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2019
    1. it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to givelegal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States.

      The notes at the top of this page claim that, "nothing in the document claimed that the government had the power to eliminate slavery where it already existed." However, this quote and many others claim that the republican party thought that slavery was abhorrent and ought not to exist in the first place. The practice is utterly unconstitutional. This quote explicitly states that congress should, by any legislation necessary, end slavery in the United states and prevent new territories from joining the union as slave states.