Resolutions of the 1851 Mississippi Convention






Several Southern States held conventions in the wake of the Compromise of 1850, which many hoped would express outrage over the terms of the compromise or perhaps even some movement toward secession, but most of the conventions were dominated by more moderate voices.  What is interesting to the Publisher about this set of resolutions is the 4th Resolution which rather explicitly denies  the right of unilateral secession.   A very good book on the Compromise of 1850 is On the Brink of Civil War, by John Waugh.  This document, as well as some other very interesting material, was sent to me by Aleksandr Barhavin, of Boston, and I am very grateful for it.  The full Journal of the 1851 Mississippi Convention is on the Internet Archive.





PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS 

AS 

ADOPTED BY THE CONVENTION.

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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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Source: 
Journal of the 1851 Mississippi Convention on the Internet Archive.

Date added to website:  May 9, 2024

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