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“ The abolition irruption upon Kansas is without precedent in our history. Seventy-nine years of our national life have rolled by; Territory after Territory has been annexed, or settled, and added to the galaxy of States, until from thirteen we have increased to thirty-two; yet it never before entered into the head of any statesman, North or South, to devise a plan of acquiring exclusive occupation of a Territory by State colonization. To Massachusetts belongs the honor of its invention, and we trust she will survive its defeat. ”

“ Missouri has taken her position in the resolutions adopted by the Lexington Convention, and from that position she will not be likely to recede. It is based upon the Constitution—upon justice, and equality of rights among the States. What she has done, and what she is still prepared to do, is in self-defence and for self-preservation; and from these duties she will hardly be expected to shrink. With her, everything is at stake; the security of a large slave property, the prosperity of her citizens, and their exemption from perpetual agitation and border feuds ”

“ But the scheme failed—as it deserved to fail; and as the peace, prosperity, and union of our country required it should fail. It was a scheme totally at variance with the genius of our government, both State and Federal, and with the social institutions which these governments were designed to protect, and its success would have been as fatal to those who contrived it, as it could have been to those intended to be its victims.
The circumstance of novelty is entitled to its weight in politics as well as law. ”

“ The abolition of slavery in New England, and in the middle States, can hardly be cited as an exception, since that abrogation was not so much the result of positive legislation, as it was of natural causes—the unfitness of climate and productions to slave labor. It is well known to those familiar with the jurisprudence of this country, and of England, that slavery has been in no instance created by positive statutory enactment, nor has it been thus abolished in any country, when the popular will was paramount in legislative action. ”

“ That the eighteen counties of Missouri, lying on or near the border of Kansas, with only an imaginary boundary intervening, contain a population of about fifty thousand slaves, worth, at present prices, twenty-five millions of dollars; and this large amount of property, one half of the entire slave property of the State, is not merely unsafe, but valueless, if Kansas is made the abode of an army of hired fanatics, recruited, transported, armed and paid for the special and sole purpose of abolitionizing Kansas and Missouri. ”

“ No southern or slaveholding State has ever attempted to colonize a Territory. Our public lands have been left to the occupancy of such settlers as soil and climate invited. The South has sent no armies to force slave labor upon those who preferred free labor. Kentucky sprung from Virginia, as did Tennessee from North Carolina, and Kansas will from Missouri—from contiguity of territory, and similarity of climate. Emigration has followed the parallels of latitude and will continue to do so, unless diverted by such organizations as Emigrant Aid Societies and Kansas Leagues. ”

“ It is not pretended that such emigration, even if fostered by State patronage, would be illegal, or in any respect objectionable. The wide expanse of the fertile West, and the deserted wastes of the sunny South, invite occupation; and no man, from the southern extremity of Florida to the northern boundary of Missouri, has ever objected to an emigrant simply because he was from the North, and preferred free labor to that of slaves. ”

“ We have merely adverted to the fact, in connexion with the recent abolition movements upon Kansas, that amidst all their fierce denunciations of slavery for twenty years past, these fanatics have never yet been able to suggest a plan for its removal, consistent with the safety of the white race—saying nothing of constitutional guarantees, Federal and State. ”

“ That such a population would be fatal to the peace and security of the neighboring State of Missouri, and immediate destruction of such owners of slaves as had already moved to the Territory of Kansas, is too clear to admit of argument. A horde of our western savages, with avowed purposes of destruction to the white race, would be less formidable neighbors. ”

“ It would be a declaration that slavery was incompatible with republican government, in the face of at least two formal recognitions of its legality, in terms, by the Federal Constitution.
We trust that such counsels have not the remotest prospect of prevailing in our National Legislature, and will not dwell upon the consequence of their adoption. We prefer to anticipate a returning fidelity to national obligations—a faithful adherance to the Constitutional guarantees, and the consequent prospect—cheering to the patriot of this and other lands—of a continued and perpetual UNION. ”

“ Unquestionably, emigration, both individual and collective, from the free States to the South, and, vice versa, from the slave States to the North, has been progressing from the foundation of our government to the present day, without comment and without objection. ”

“ If the Massachusetts legislature, or that of any other State, have the right to send an army of abolitionists into Kansas, they have the same right to transport them to Missouri. We are not apprised of any provisions in the constitutions or laws of the States, which in this respect distinguishes their condition from that of a territory. We have no laws, and we presume no slaveholding State has, which forbids the emigration of non-slaveholders. ”

“ An idea has to some extent prevailed abroad, that Missouri contained but a very small slave population, and that the permanence of this institution here was threatened by the existence of at least a respectable minority of her citizens, ready and anxious to abolish it, and that only a slight external pressure was necessary to accomplish this purpose. We regret that this opinion has to some extent received countenance from the publication and patronage of journals in our commercial metropolis, evidently aiming at such a result. ”

“ Conservative men from other quarters have come up to the rescue, when the rights of the South have been seriously threatened. But it is essential [pg 15] to the purposes of self-preservation, that this minority should not be materially weakened; it is essential to the preservation of our present form of government, that the slave States should retain sufficient power to make effectual resistance against outward aggression upon an institution peculiar to them alone. Parchment guarantees, as all history shows, avail nothing against an overwhelming public clamor. ”

“ They are not sent to cultivate the soil, to better their social condition, to add to their individual comforts, or the aggregate wealth of the nation. They do not move from choice or taste, or from any motive affecting, or supposed to affect, themselves or their families. They have none of the marks of the old pioneers, who cut down the forests of Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, or levelled the cane brakes of Tennessee and Mississippi, or broke up the plains of Illinois and Missouri. ”

“ They are mostly ignorant [pg 7] of agriculture; picked up in cities or villages, they of course have no experience as farmers, and if left to their unaided resources—if not clothed and fed by the same power which has effected their transportation—they would starve or freeze. They are hirelings—an army of hirelings—recruited and shipped indirectly by a sovereign state of this Union, to make war upon an institution now existing in the Territory to which they are transplanted, and thence to inflict a fatal blow upon the resources, the prosperity and the peace of a neighboring State. ”

“ This part of our State is distinguished by an uniform fertility of soil, a temperate and healthful climate, and a population progressing rapidly in all the elements that constitute a prosperous community. Agriculture is in a most flourishing condition, and the towns and villages which have sprung up, indicate a steady progress towards wealth, refinement and commercial importance. ”

“ It has been said that the citizens of Massachusetts have an undoubted right to emigrate to Kansas; that this right may be exercised individually, or in families, or in larger private associations; and that associated enterprise, under the sanction of legislative enactments, is but another and equally justifiable form of emigration. Political actions, like those of individuals, must be judged by their motives and effects. ”

“ The culture of hemp has been found profitable,—more so than cotton in the South; and this fact, with the additional ones, that [pg 4] almost every foot of land within the counties alluded to, is wonderfully adapted by nature to its production, in greater quantities, and finer qualities, and at smaller cost, than in any other State in the Union, and that the climate is such as to permit the growers of this article to reside on their estates, will readily explain and account for the unexampled growth of the country. ”

“ The fate of the Fugitive Slave Law affords an instructive warning on the subject, and shows that the most solemn constitutional obligations will be evaded or scorned, where popular prejudice resists their execution. The South must rely on herself for protection, and to this end her strength in the Federal Government cannot be safely diminished. ”

“ That we disclaim all right and any intent to interfere with the bona fide independent settlers in the Territory of Kansas, from whatever quarter they may come, or whatever opinions they may entertain; but we maintain the right to protect ourselves and our property against all unjust and unconstitutional aggression, present or prospective, immediate or threatened ”

“ Already it constitutes the most densely populated portion of our State, and its remarkable fertility of soil, and general salubrity of climate, with the facilities for outlet furnished by a noble river, running through its midst, and two great railroads, destined soon to traverse its upper and lower border, will render it at no distant period, if left undisturbed, as desirable and flourishing a district as can be found in the Mississippi Valley. ”

“ Direct legislation would have been preferable to indirect legislation, leading to the same result, and the enforcement of the restriction in the settlement of Kansas was virtually the abolition of slavery in Missouri. But Congress [pg 6] acted more wisely, as we think, and with greater fidelity to the Constitution and the Union.
The history of the Kansas-Nebraska bill is known to the country. ”

“ Such laws, if passed, would clearly conflict with the Federal Constitution. The southern and south-western slaveholding States are as open to emigration from non-slaveholding States as Kansas. They differ only in the price of land and the density of population. ”

“ For such purposes the majority in the North is already sufficient, and no future events are likely to diminish it. The slaveholding States are in a minority, but so far, a minority which has commanded respect in the national councils. ”

“ Its existence and non-existence appears to depend entirely upon causes beyond the reach of governmental action, and this fact should teach some dependence upon the will of an overruling Providence, which works out its ends in a mode, and at a time, not always apparent to finite mortals. ”

“ They have been picked and culled from the ignorant masses, which Old England and New England negro philanthropy has stirred up and aroused to madness on this topic, and have been selected with reference to their views on this topic alone. They are men with a single idea ”

“ Russell, of Cass county, Resolved, That the delegations from the different counties furnish the Secretary of this Convention with a list of delegates from their counties.
On further motion of Mr. Russell, of Cass county, permission was given to the committee on resolutions, &c., to retire and draft resolutions, to report as soon as practicable.
On motion of Mr. Field, of Lafayette, a committee, consisting of Messrs. Field, of Lafayette, Bayless, of Platte, and Boyce, of Ray, was appointed to wait upon Messrs. D. R. Atchison and A. W. Doniphan, and invite them to address the Convention.
Mr. ”

“ Lafayette Co.—F. C. Sharp, W. K. Trigg, O. Anderson, S. L. Sawyer, A. Jones, R. N. Smith, W. T. Field, W. M. Smallwood, Dr. G. A. Rucker, (a Committee to cast the vote.)
Livingston Co.—A. T. Kirtly, A. Craig, W. Hudgins, W. Y. Slack, W. F. Miller, W. O. Jennings, J. D. Hoy. ”

“ G. H. C. Melody, Sterling Price, Jr., and James Shannon.
Caldwell Co.—W. S. Pollard, David Thomson, Wm. Griffey, Albert G. Davis.
Carroll Co.—S. Barker, S. Stafford, W. J. Poindexter, R. H. Courts, C. Haskins, H. Wilcoxen, Judge Thomas, Hyram Willson.
Cass Co.—Wm. Palmer, J. F. Callaway, F. R. Martin, J. G. Martin, T. Railey, J. T. Thornton, C. T. Worley, W. H. Russell, S. R. Crockett, T. F. Freeman, C. Vanhoy, G. D. Hansbrough, S. G. Allen, H. D. Russell, J. T. Martin. ”