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of our compact of union, and that all acts of individuals or of State Legislatures to defeat the purpose or nullify the requirements of that provision, and the laws made in pursuance of it, are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in their effect.
This, the last of the series, was likewise adopted, as follows: Yeas 36; Nays 6: Yeas as in the first instance, except that
Messrs. Pearce and
Thompson did not vote, their places being filled by
Messrs. Ten
Eyck and
Thomson; while the Nays were
Messrs. Chandler,
Clark,
Foot,
Hale,
Wade, and
Wilson.
The Senate then proceeded, on motion of
Mr. Wilson, of
Massachusetts, to reconsider
Mr. Clingman's resolution hitherto given--
Mr. Wilson stating that, for himself and his friends, they wished to have nothing to do with any part of the series, and therefore moved the reconsideration; which prevailed: Yeas 26; Nays 8.
And the resolution of
Mr. Clingman, being reconsidered, was rejected.
And so,
Mr. Jefferson Davis's entire series, without the change of a comma, affirming and emphasizing the worst points of the
Dred Scott decision, and asserting as vital truths propositions which even the
Southern Democracy voted down when first presented to a Democratic National Convention by
Mr. Yancey in 1848, were now adopted by the United States Senate as necessary deductions from the fundamental law of the land.
The Democratic National Convention of 1856 had decided that its successor should meet at
Charleston, S. C., which it accordingly did, on the 23d of April, 1860.
Abundant premonitions of a storm had already been afforded.
One delegation from the
State of New York had been chosen by the
Convention which nominated State officers at
Syracuse the preceding Autumn; while another had been elected by districts, under the auspices of
Mr. Fernando Wood, then
Mayor of the
Commercial Emporium.
The former was understood to favor the nomination of
Senator Douglas for
President; the latter to oppose it, and incline to entire acquiescence in whatever the
South might propose or desire.
Two delegations had, in like manner, been chosen from
Illinois, under similar auspices.
The National Committee had issued tickets to what it esteemed the regular, or anti-Wood, delegation from New York, admitting them to seats in the
Convention, and excluding their competitors.
Francis B. Flournoy, of
Arkansas, was chosen temporary
Chairman;
Gen. Caleb Cushing, of
Massachusetts, was, on the second day, made permanent
President, and a Committee on Platform, consisting of one member from each State, appointed.
On the third day, the contests were decided in favor of the anti-Wood delegation from New York and the Douglas men from
Illinois.
On the fourth, no progress was made.
On the fifth,
Mr. Avery, of
North Carolina, from a majority of the
Committee on Platform (17 to 14), but representing a minority of the People and of the Electors of
President, reported a series, whereof the material proposition was as follows:
Resolved, That the platform adopted at Cincinnati be affirmed, with the following resolutions:
That the National Democracy of the United States hold these cardinal principles on the subject of Slavery in the Territories: First, That Congress has no power to abolish Slavery in the Territories; second, that
