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Whereas,
The Constitutional Union was formed by the
several States in their separate soverign capacity for the
purpose of mutual advantage and protection;
That
the several States are distinct sovereignities,
whose supremacy is limited so far only as the same has been
delegated by voluntary compact to a Federal Government, and when
it fails to accomplish the ends for which it was established, the
parties to the compact have the right to resume, each State for
itself, such delegated powers;
That
the institution of slavery existed prior to the
formation of the Federal Constitution, and is recognized by its
letter, and all efforts to impair its value or lessen its
duration by Congress, or any of the free States, is a violation
of the compact of Union and is destructive of the ends for which
it was ordained, but in defiance of the principles of the Union
thus established, the people of the Northern States have assumed
a revolutionary position toward the Southern States;
That
they have set at defiance that provision of the
Constitution which was intended to secure domestic tranquility
among the States and promote their general welfare, namely:
"No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the
Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any
Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or
Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom
the Service or Labour may be due;"
That
they have by voluntary associations, individual
agencies and State legislation inteferred with slavery as it
prevails in the slaveholding States;
That
they have enticed our slaves from us and, by
State intervention obstructed and prevented their rendition under
the fugitive slave law;
That
they continue their system of agitation obviously
for the purpose of encouraging other slaves to escape from
service, to weaken the institution in the slave-holding States by
rendering the holding of such property insecure, and as a
consequence its ultimate abolition certain;
That
they claim the right and demand its execution by
Congress to exclude slavery from the Territories, but claim the
right of protection for every species of property owned by
themselves;
That
they declare in every manner in which public
opinion is expressed their unalterable determination to exclude
from admittance into the Union any new State that tolerates
slavery in its Constitution, and thereby force Congress to a
condemnation of that species of property;
That
they thus seek by an increase of abolition States
"to acquire two-thirds of both houses" for the purpose
of preparing an amendment to the Constitution of the United
States, abolishing slavery in the States, and so continue the
agitation that the proposed amendment shall be ratified by the
Legislatures of three-fourths of the States;
That
they have in violation of the comity of all
civilized nations, and in violation of the comity established by
the Constitution of the United States, insulted and outraged our
citizens when traveling among them for pleasure, health, or
business, by taking their servants and liberating the same, under
the forms of State laws, and subjecting their owners to degrading
and ignominious punishment;
That
to encourage the stealing of our property they
have put at defiance that provision of the Constitution which
declares that fugitives from justice (escaping) into another
State, on demand of the Executive authority of that state from
which he fled, shall be delivered up;
That
they have sought to create domestic discord in
the Southern States by incendiary publications;
That
they have encouraged a hostile invasion of a
Southern State to excite insurrection, murder, and rapine;
That
they have deprived Southern citizens of their
property and continue an unfriendly agitation of their domestic
institutions, claiming for themselves perfect immunity from
external interference with their domestic policy;
We
of the Southern States alone made an exception to
that universal quiet;
That
they have elected a majority of Electors for
President and Vice-President on the ground that there exists an
irreconcilable conflict between the two sections of the
Confederacy in reference to their respective systems of labor and
in pursuance of their hostility to us and our institutions, thus
declaring to the civilized world that the powers of this
Government are to be used for the dishonor and overthrow of the
Southern Section of this great Confederacy.
Therefore:
Be
it resolved by the Legislature of the State of
Mississippi, That in the opinion of those who now constitute the
said Legislature, the secession of each aggrieved State is the
proper remedy for these injuries.
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