Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1.

[238] Kentucky, who offered a resolution that a committee of one from each State be appointed by the delegates thereof, to be nominated to the President of the Convention, and to be appointed by him, to whom should be referred the resolutions of the State of Virginia, and the other States represented, and all propositions for the adjustment of existing difficulties between the States; the committee to have authority to report what it might deem right, necessary, and proper, to restore harmony and preserve the Union. The resolution was adopted; the committee was appointed,¹ and the subjects laid before it were duly discussed, sometimes with warmth, but always with courtesy. On the 15th, Mr. Guthrie, Chairman of the Committee, made a report, in which several amendments to the Constitution were offered. It was proposed-

First, To re-establish the parallel of 36° 30‘ north latitude as a line, in the territory north of which Slavery should be prohibited; but in all territory south of it Slavery might live, without interference from any power, while a territorial government existed. It also proposed that when any Territory north or south of that line should contain the requisite number of inhabitants to form a State, it should,² if its form of government should be republican, be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, either with or without Slavery, as the constitution of the new State might determine.

Second, That territory should not be acquired by the United States, unless by treaty; nor, except for naval and commercial stations, unless such treaty should be ratified by four-fifths of all the members of the Senate.

Third, That the Constitution nor any amendment thereof should be construed to give Congress power to interfere with Slavery in any of the States of the Union, nor in the District of Columbia, without the consent of Maryland and the slaveholders concerned; and, in case of the abolition of Slavery, making compensation to those who refused to consent; nor to prohibit representatives and others from taking their slaves to and from Washington; nor to interfere with Slavery in places under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, such as arsenals and navy-yards, in States where it was recognized; nor to interfere with the transportation of slaves from one Slave-labor State to another; nor to authorize any higher rate of taxation on slaves than on land.

Fourth, That the clause in the Constitution relating to the rendition of fugitive slaves should not be construed to prevent any of the States, by appropriate legislation, and through the action of their judicial and ministerial officers, from enforcing the delivery of fugitives from labor to the person to whom such service or labor should be due.