The gentleman talks of tender parents. If he considers the State of Georgia as one of our tender parents, I protest against it. Although she be one of our parents, there has been no proposition ever made on this floor, for the good of the Territory, which has not met the opposition of that State. But these are subjects on which I will not dwell.
The gentleman has stated that a number of people have gone over to the Mississippi Territory to settle lands, against the express provisions of the law. That, under the pretext of a purchase from an Indian, named Double Head, people have gone over to settle lands, is true; but from where? From Georgia. They are citizens of Georgia; people nurtured by this tender parent into a state of manhood, and unwilling to participate longer in the tender cares of the State of Georgia. They have been, very properly, ordered to be driven off by military force, because they have infringed a law of the United States. But these things do not touch the present question. I now propose to take away a power which has been, by mistake, incorporated into the constitution of a free people.
Mr. Bib said that the State of Georgia had never undertaken to legislate for the Mississippi Territory; but there was a compact existing between the United States and Georgia, and he called upon the United States to adhere to it. They dared not violate it, except they could violate the most solemn compact—the constitution.
Mr. Troup observed that it had been said this power of the Governor was a badge of slavery copied from the British Constitution. That in many things they had been copied too far, he agreed; but as to this prerogative, it was no such badge of slavery, and was found not only in the articles of the ordinance, but in the constitutions of various States, qualified in a greater or less degree. Mr. T. quoted the constitutions of New York and Massachusetts, both which States had been considered republican. Massachusetts, to be sure, was a little wavering now, but he hoped she had not quite gone over to the enemy yet. These constitutions gave a qualified prerogative to the Governor of the State.
The committee now rose—58 to 36.
Mr. Troup moved that the further consideration of the bill be postponed indefinitely—[equivalent to rejection.]
Mr. Poindexter calling for the yeas and nays on the motion, it was decided—yeas 57, nays 52, as follows:
Yeas.—Lemuel J. Alston, Willis Alston, jun., Ezekiel Bacon, David Bard, William W. Bibb, William Blackledge, John Blake, junior, Adam Boyd, Robert Brown, Joseph Calhoun, John Campbell, Martin Chittenden, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, jun., William Ely, William Findlay, Francis Gardner, Charles Goldsborough, Edwin Gray, John Heister, William Hoge, Richard S. Jackson, Robert Jenkins, Walter Jones, James Kelly, William Kirkpatrick, John Lambert, Joseph Lewis, jun., Robert Marion, William McCreery, William Milnor, Nicholas R. Moore, Jonathan O. Mosely, Gurdon S. Mumford, Wilson C. Nicholas, Timothy Pitkin, junior, John Porter, Josiah Quincy, John Randolph, Matthias Richards, Samuel Riker, John Russell, Dennis Smelt, Henry Southard, William Stedman, Lewis B. Sturges, Peter Swart, Samuel Taggart, Benjamin Tallmadge, John Taylor, George M. Troup, Jabez Upham, James I. Van Allen, Daniel C. Verplanck, Robert Whitehill, David R. Williams, and Nathan Wilson.
Nays.—Joseph Barker, Burwell Bassett, William A. Burwell, William Butler, Matthew Clay, John Clopton, John Culpeper, John Dawson, Josiah Deane, Joseph Desha, Daniel M. Durell, James Elliot, John W. Eppes, James Fisk, Meshack Franklin, Thomas Gholson, jun., Peterson Goodwyn, Isaiah L. Green, John Harris, William Helms, James Holland, David Holmes, Benjamin Howard, Daniel Isley, Richard M. Johnson, Nathaniel Macon, Daniel Montgomery, junior, John Montgomery, Jeremiah Morrow, John Morrow, Roger Nelson, Thomas Newbold, Thomas Newton, John Pugh, John Rea of Pennsylvania, John Rhea of Tennessee, Jacob Richards, Benjamin Say, Ebenezer Seaver, Samuel Shaw, James Sloan, John Smilie, Jedediah K. Smith, John Smith, Samuel Smith, Richard Stanford, Clement Storer, John Thompson, Archibald Van Home, Jesse Wharton, Isaac Wilbour, and Alexander Wilson.