8142. STATE RIGHTS, Slavery and.—
An abstinence from this act of power [prohibition
of slavery in Missouri], would remove
the jealousy excited by the undertaking
of Congress to regulate the condition of the
different descriptions of men composing a
State. This certainly is the exclusive right
of every State, which nothing in the Constitution
has taken from them and given to the
General Government. Could Congress, for
example, say, that the non-freemen of Connecticut
shall be freemen, or that they shall
not emigrate into any other State?—
To John Holmes. Washington ed. vii, 159.
Ford ed., x, 158.
(M.
1820)
