(Mr. Brooks then walked out of the House of Representatives.)
JUDAH P. BENJAMIN,
OF LOUISIANA. (BORN 1811, DIED 1864.)
ON THE PROPERTY DOCTRINE, OR THE RIGHT OF PROPERTY IN SLAVES;
SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 11, 1858.
MR. PRESIDENT, the whole subject of slavery, so far as it is involved
in the issue now before the country, is narrowed down at last to a
controversy on the solitary point, whether it be competent for the
Congress of the United States, directly or indirectly, to exclude
slavery from the Territories of the Union. The Supreme Court of the
United States have given a negative answer to this proposition, and
it shall be my first effort to support that negation by argument,
independently of the authority of the decision.
It seems to me that the radical, fundamental error which underlies the
argument in affirmation of this power, is the assumption that slavery
is the creature of the statute law of the several States where it is
established; that it has no existence outside of the limits of those
States; that slaves are not property beyond those limits; and
that property in slaves is neither recognized nor protected by
the Constitution of the United States, nor by international law. I
controvert all these propositions, and shall proceed at once to my
argument.
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