Does the
amendment, after all, make any difference? Must not any _status_, not
against law, be, of necessity, a _legal_ status?

Mr. WILMOT:--No. I think there is a wide difference, and the South
thinks so. One is a status in fact, the other, one in law.

Mr. LOGAN:--I hope we shall not adopt the amendment. We all want these
questions settled. The amendment opens them all wider than before. If
we intend to give the South the right she asks for, and, as I think,
rightfully asks for, let us give it to her in plain and unequivocal
language. Let us not give her a legacy of litigation, by using words
which mean one thing or the opposite, according to the construction
you place upon them. I wish to settle all these questions fairly. The
amendment leaves the question as to what constitutes a _legal status_,
to be decided by the Court. The North would claim that there cannot be
such a thing as a legal status, a legal condition of slavery. The
South would claim the opposite.

Mr. WILMOT:--If the amendment of the gentleman from North Carolina had
been adopted, I would not have moved this. The section then would have
been unambiguous and clear. Now it is all open to construction.

Mr. CHASE:--In my judgment it is unimportant whether the amendment is
adopted or not. The condition of the slave in the Southern States is
one arising out of law, established by legislative provisions. _Status
in fact_ must mean _status in law_ as well as _status in fact_.

I have listened with attention to the appeals made by gentlemen who
urge the interests of the South in favor of a settlement of these
questions. But you are now prosecuting a plan which will be the
subject of debate throughout the country. Adopt your article in either
form, and the question, What does status mean? will still remain.

A majority of the people have adopted the opinion that under the
Constitution slavery has not a legal existence in the Territories. The
triumph of this opinion is not the result of any sudden impulse. A
President has been elected, and a Government will soon be organized,
whose duty it will be to respect and observe the opinions of the
people. You are now seeking, by the adoption of a single section, to
change these opinions and this policy. Do not deceive yourselves,
gentlemen. You will never accomplish this result so easily. You are
presenting such a subject for debate and excitement as the country
never had before. It is best we deal frankly.