THE
people of Mississippi in Convention assembled, as expressive of their
deliberate
judgment on the great questions involved in the sectional controversy
between
the slave holding and non—slave holding States of the American Union,
adopt the
following resolutions:
1st. Resolved,
That, in the
opinion of this Convention, the people of Mississippi, in a spirit of
conciliation and compromise, have maturely considered the action of
Congress,
embracing a series of measures for the admission of California as a
State into
the Union, the organization of Territorial Governments for Utah and New
Mexico,
the establishment of the boundary between the latter and the State of
Texas,
the suppression of the Slave Trade in the District of Columbia, and the
extradition of Fugitive Slaves; and connected with them, the rejection
of the
proposition to exclude slavery from the Territories of the United
States, and
to abolish it in the District of Columbia; and whilst they do not
entirely
approve, will abide by it as a permanent adjustment of this sectional
controversy,
so long as the same in all it features shall be faithfully adhered to
and
enforced.
2d. Resolved, That we perceive nothing
in the above recited legislation of the Congress of the United States,
which
should be permitted to disturb the friendly and peaceful “existing
relations
between the Government of the United States and the Government and
people of
the State of Mississippi.”
3d. Therefore, Resolved, That,
in the opinion of this Convention, the people of the State of
Mississippi will
abide by the Union as it is, and by the Constitution of the United
States
without amendment—that they hold the Union secondary in importance only
to the
rights and principles it was designed to perpetuate; that past
associations,
present fruition and future prospects will bind them to it so long as
it
continues to be the safeguard of those rights and principles.
4th. Resolved, further, That, in
the opinion of this Convention, the asserted right of secession from
the Union
on the part of a State or States is utterly unsanctioned by the Federal
Constitution, which was framed to “establish” and not to destroy the
Union of
the States, and that no secession, can, in fact, take place without a
subversion of the Union established, and which will not virtually
amount in its
effects and consequences to a civil revolution.
5th. Resolved, further, That,
whilst in the opinion of this Convention, such are the sentiments and
opinions
of the people of the State of Mississippi, still, violations of the
rights of
the people of the State, may occur, which would amount to intolerable
oppression,
and would justify a resort to measures of resistance, amongst which, in
the opinion
of the Convention, the people of the State have designated the
following:
1st. The interference by Congressional
Legislation with the Institution of Slavery in
the States.
2d. interference with the trade in Slaves
between the States.
3d. Any action of Congress on the subject of
Slavery in the District of Columbia or in places subject to the
jurisdiction of
Congress, incompatible with the safety and domestic tranquility—the
rights and
honor of the slave-holding States.
4th. The refusal by Congress to admit a new
State into the Union on the ground of her tolerating slavery within her
limits.
5th. The passage of any law by Congress
prohibiting slavery in any of the territories.
6th.
The Repeal of the Fugitive
Slave Law, and the neglect or refusal by the General Government, to
enforce the
Constitutional provisions for the reclamation of Fugitive Slaves.
6th. Resolved, Further, That, in
the opinion of this Convention, the people in the recent elections have
been
governed by an abiding confidence that the said adjustment measures of
Congress
would be enforced in good faith in every section of the land.
7th. Resolved, further, That, as
the people of the State of Mississippi, in the opinion of this
Convention,
desire all further agitation of the Slavery question to cease, and have
acted
upon and decided all the foregoing questions, thereby making it the
duty of
this Convention to pass no acts within the purview and spirit of the
law under
which it was called, this Convention deems it unnecessary to refer to
the
people for their approval or disapproval at the Ballot Box, its action
in the
premises.
8th. Resolved, That in the
opinion of this Convention, without intending to call in question the
motives
of the members of the Legislature, the call of this Convention by the
Legislature, at its late extraordinary session, was unauthorized by the
people;
and that said act, in peremptorily ordering a Convention of the people
of the
State, without first submitting to them the question whether
there should be a
Convention or no Convention, was an unwarranted assumption of power by
the
Legislature; at war with the spirit of republican institutions, an
encroachment
upon the rights of the people, and can never be rightfully invoked as a
precedent.
Approved,
C. CARMACK,
ATTESTE:
President
of the Convention.
FLEMING
L. SWANN, Secretary.
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