Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 4 (of 16)

by United States. Congress

Mississippi Territory.

The unfinished business of yesterday, the bill for enabling the people of the Mississippi Territory to form a constitution and State Government, being taken up—

Mr. Poindexter said, that on the general principles of the bill under consideration, he presumed there will be but little difference of opinion. The population of the Territory proposed to be erected into an independent State is unquestionably sufficient to authorize the measure agreeably to the present ratio of representation; and from the vast influx of emigration to that section of the Union since the last census, I am fully satisfied that it might be demanded as a matter of right under the compact with the State of Georgia. But, sir, the wise and magnanimous policy of the General Government has uniformly conferred on the respective Territories the rights of State sovereignty so soon as their numbers would fairly entitle them to one member in the House of Representatives of the United States. Ohio was admitted with a population of thirty-seven thousand souls. In the next Congress, that State will be entitled to six Representatives, besides a very large fraction which was thrown on her by the apportionment made during the present session. All the other new States received into the Confederacy since the adoption of the constitution, have grown into importance, and now constitute some of the firmest pillars in the Temple of Liberty. Permit me, Mr. Chairman, to express a hope, that while gentlemen delight to bask in the sunshine of freedom at home, they will on every occasion manifest their liberality and philanthropy, by extending its cheering rays to the remotest regions of our beloved country. Emancipate us from the trammels of colonial vassalage; place us on the high eminence of a free, sovereign, and independent commonwealth; and we shall at all times be ready, with our lives and fortunes, to assert the rights and vindicate the honor of our common country.

With respect to the limits recommended by the committee, including all that tract of country of which possession was taken by virtue of the Proclamation of the President of the United States, bearing date the 27th of October, 1810, there appears to exist a diversity of opinion. Some gentlemen think it improper to legislate definitely over that country, until the pledge given in the proclamation that it will in our hands be held subject to future negotiation, is redeemed in a manner satisfactory to the Executive who made it; and others wish to divide the country between the State of Louisiana and the State to be formed of the Mississippi Territory. To rescue this subject from the first objection, at a very early period of the session, I moved a resolution calling on the President for information on two points: 1. Whether there was any pending negotiation respecting our title. 2. Whether it was the wish of the Executive that the Legislative authority of Congress over the country should be suspended with a view to future negotiation and adjustment in relation to the claim of the United States. To this request the President has returned no answer. But without the aid of those lights which it is in the power of the Executive to shed upon the question, we all know that the downfall of the late Spanish Monarch, and the distracted state of revolution in which Spain is involved, renders it impracticable to recognize any legitimate authority with whom a negotiation could be conducted. It is true, several letters have passed between Mr. Secretary Monroe and Mr. Foster, the British Minister, during the recess of Congress, relative to our possession of West Florida, and the manner of taking it. On this correspondence it is not my intention at present to comment. It is a new proof of the disposition which Great Britain has always shown to intermeddle in the affairs of other nations, and the language of Mr. Foster is in the highest degree arrogant and insulting. Mr. Monroe, in his letter of the 8th of July, after repelling the insinuations made by the British Government as to the motives by which the President was actuated in taking possession of the country, declares "that by this event the United States have acquired no new title to West Florida. They wanted none." From this declaration it is evident that no doubt is entertained by the Executive as to the validity of our title, and therefore it is unnecessary to suspend for a longer period the admission of that country into the Union.

Mr. Poindexter then offered the following amendment:

"And be it further enacted, That the said State shall consist of all that tract of country contained within the following boundaries, to wit: beginning on the river Mississippi, at the point where the southern boundary line of the State of Tennessee unites with the same; thence along said line to its junction with the western boundary of the State of Georgia; thence along the said boundary to the thirty-first degree of latitude, and along said degree of latitude to a point opposite the river Perdido; thence to the junction of said river with the Gulf of Mexico, including all islands within six leagues of the shore to the junction of Pearl River with the Lake Pontchartrain; and up said river to the 31st degree of latitude; thence to the river Mississippi, and up the same to the beginning."

The question on this amendment was taken without debate, and carried.

Mr. Clay moved to add the following proviso, to follow after the section just adopted; which would have the effect to keep that portion of country taken possession of under the President's proclamation, subject to future negotiation:

"Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent that portion of the Territory comprehended within the said boundary, formerly composing a part of the country known by the name of West Florida, being subject to future negotiation on the part of the United States."

Mr. Clay (Speaker) said that in offering this amendment to the committee, he confessed he was actuated rather by a disposition to accommodate the views of other gentlemen, than from any difficulty which he felt on the subject himself; for, with respect to our title to West Florida, he thought it utterly impossible that any gentleman could examine that question without suffering other considerations to mingle in the investigation, and not be thoroughly convinced that the title was in the United States: and he confessed that were he to consult his own views only, he should not hesitate a moment in making an unqualified annexation of that territory to the States to be formed of the Orleans and Mississippi Territories. But as some gentlemen, adverting to the President's Proclamation for taking possession of that country, had supposed that some difficulty might arise under it from such a procedure, in order to quiet these apprehensions, he had submitted this proviso. The right of the General Government to destroy the integrity of a State having been questioned, it would be well to guard against any difficulty on that score by a reservation to the General Government of the power to negotiate on the subject of this territory. At the same time he made this proposition, Mr. C. utterly disclaimed the idea that in any possible state of things ought this country to be ceded away. He considered the possession of West Florida as indispensable to the interests and prosperity of the Western States, and so far to the integrity of the Union; and he should as soon see a part of the State which he represented ceded away as this territory. What, he asked, was the extent of the country in question? In breadth, about twenty miles; in length, about two hundred, binding to that extent our southern frontier. The danger of having provinces of a foreign power on our frontier is too well disclosed by the late communication of the President (concerning Henry's mission)—a disclosure which must combine in the execration of the project it developed, every man in the country, and every honest man in every country. Suppose the former dynasty of Spain to be reinstated on the throne, it could not desire, for honest purposes, the possession of West Florida. In proposing the amendment, Mr. C. said it was merely his object to make the acts of the Legislative body tally with the proclamations of the President. If, therefore, contrary to his firm conviction, it should be determined that we have not the title, he had no idea that even in that state of things the territory would be given up, but that an equivalent should be given for it.