herefore, to favor or
encourage its further extension. We have slavery already amongst
us. The Constitution found it in the Union; it recognized it, and
gave it solemn guaranties. To the full extent of these guaranties
we are all bound, in honor, in justice, and by the Constitution.
All the stipulations contained in the Constitution in favor of the
slave-holding States which are already in the Union ought to be
fulfilled, and, so far as depends on me, shall be fulfilled, in the
fulness of their spirit and to the exactness of their letter.
Slavery, as it exists in the States, is beyond the reach of
Congress. It is a concern of the States themselves; they have never
submitted it to Congress, and Congress has no rightful power over
it. I shall concur, therefore, in no act, no measure, no menace, no
indication of purpose, which shall interfere or threaten to
interfere with the exclusive authority of the several States over
the subject of slavery as it exists within their respective limits.
All this appears to me to be matter of plain and imperative duty.
But when we come to speak of admitting new States, the subject
assumes an entirely different aspect. Our rights and our duties are
then both different. The free States, and all the States, are then
at liberty to accept or to reject. When it is proposed to bring new
members into this political partnership, the old members have a
right to say on what terms such new partners are to come in, and
what they are to bring along with them. In my opinion, the people
of the United States will not consent to bring into the Union a
new, vastly extensive, and slave-holding country, large enough for
half a dozen or a dozen States. In my opinion they ought not to
consent to it."

Gentlemen, I was mistaken; Congress did consent to the bringing in of
Texas. They did consent, and I was a false prophet. Your own State
consented, and the majority of the representatives of New York
consented. I went into Congress before the final consummation of the
deed, and there I fought, holding up both my hands, and urging, with a
voice stronger than it now is, my remonstrances against the whole of it.
But you would have it so, and you did have it so. Nay, Gentlemen, I will
tell the truth, whether it shames the Devil or not. Persons who have
aspired high as lovers of liberty