Washington City        

Nov^r 18^th 1860

 

My Dear Duncan,

Your letter of the 12^th Inst has been rec'd. I entirely approve of your refusal to join in clubs or associations at this time. Until you have a place at the bar, and have advanced in your studies so as to move in it your profession with confidence & credit, I would not seek any distracting connections. In New Orleans you could not expect to exert such an influence as would compensate for the loss of time, & the diversion of your thoughts. I am wholly without sympathy in the secession movements that have proceeded from, or find their pretext in the election of Lincoln, merely.

 

Lincoln will probably receive the votes of a majority of the election, he is eligible according to the constitution, why should he not be inaugurated? They say, he is chosen by a section of the union & by a sectional party. But the Constitution does not say anything / of sections, nor does it render the concurrence of states of different sectional localities necessary to an election. M^r Calhoun in one of his speeches suggested the plan of having two Presidents, one from each section, but, this met with no favor. If the present plan of selecting a President is vitious, the remedy is to propose an amendment of the Constitution, not to destroy the Union. The Convention that framed the Constitution found most difficulty in deciding the mode of the choice of a president. There were propositions to have him elected by Congress; by the people; by the Senate; by electors chosen by the Governors of states; by electors chosen by the people; by the state legislatures, by electors taken by lot from Congress,—It was perfectly understood that the President would not always be a suitable Chief Magistrate & that he might be corrupted or misled. Hence his tenure was limited to four years & he was checked by a senate in the exercise of his most important executive powers (nominations to office & making treaties) & by Congress in all the powers of legislation. The Supreme / Court was created independently of him. These checks were deemed to be sufficient to restrain a bad president for four years. The objection then that he is sectional is not tenable under the constitution. But the South will be represented in Congress, in the Supreme Court, in the cabinet, and subordinate places of government in the army & navy. Whence then the cause of alarm?

 

But it is said that his party is opposed to the institutions of the South & that his partisans have made war upon them & have threatened their overturn. Undoubtedly the South ought to be vigilant in reference to the acts of Lincoln and to resist with energy any attempt to interfere with slavery His party connection places him under a certain suspicion But many of his party affirm that he is a sober honest conscientious man who will endeavor to fulfil his duties faithfully. He has but little temptation to do otherwise. If he attempts to he creates disturbance, discontent and possibly disunion. Why should the Union be destroyed upon an apprehension that something / may be done which is not at all probable.

 

            But it is said that the North has agitated upon the subject of slavery until property has become insecure, and the character of our people degraded. My own opinion is, that this is a most serious evil & that the South has had great cause for complaint. There are societies at the North constituted for the purpose of carrying on political agitation & which have impregnated a portion of the Northern mind with the most inveterate hatred of Southern institutions. I have long thought that if the Southern states could come to some understanding on the subject it would be better.

 

            But to remedy this evil the reckless inconsiderate precipitate action such as we have witnessed in South Carolina is wholly inadequate Have we reached that point that a union such as ours cannot exist except upon the condition of impossible conflict and aversion? This is not the inquiry on the present instance. The fact is assumed upon the very doubtful testimony of a presidential election. 

 

But it is said that the North has passed statutes to annul the law concerning the rendition of fugitive slaves. The laws passed in several of the states, besides New England have evidently been formed in aversion to the constitutional duty imposed by the constitution But let us look at the facts candidly

 

            You will find a full discussion of the relative rights & obligations of the two sections of the Union in the case of Prigg vs Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 16 Peters 543. I would advise you to read the case so as to understand the import of the controversy, especially, the opinion of the Court, by Judge Story & the opinion of Ch Justice Taney. Judge Wayne in his opinion collects what was decided. The 4^th point decided was "That the power of legislation by Congress upon the provision is exclusive; and that no state can pass any law as a remedy upon the subject, whether Congress had, or had not legislated upon it"—

 

Some of the Northern legistlatures in their zeal / have passed laws to abrogate these laws. They have passed laws forbidding their officers to interfere to execute these laws. But this was done many years ago & the fugitive slave act of 1850 was designed to supply the deficiency Federal officers men appointed under that act to fulfil the duty which the Supreme Court had said exclusively belongs to the federal government to perform.

 

But it is said that the acts of habeus corpus and trial by jury, were extended to such cases & this was unconstitutional. This is true But the courts of the states have not enforced these laws. In Sim's case 7 Cushing Mass. R 285 the supreme court of Massachusetts so decided. I advise you to read that case. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin committed an excess of the same kind, but the error was corrected by the Supreme Court in the case of Booth reported 21^st How. 506

 

            Besides these, their laws are exceedingly stringent upon kidnapping—the taking of a free person under a claim of him as a slave It is easy for a rascally prosecutor / to accuse the bonafide claimant of a fugitive slave as a kidnapper of a free man, under the mental sophism that slavery does not legally exist & that all men are free. But on the face of the laws they only indicate an anxious disposition to protect freedom men who are not fugitive slaves. These laws may have been enacted in a spirit of rebellion to the constitution & of contempt for the Southern institutions But the federal government has honestly striven to execute the her laws proposed by the Southern representatives. The principle of the law is condemned at the North & the public sympathies are for the slave But there has been no more of open disobedience to the law nor more contempt of the authorities of the U.S. than has been shown in Alabama & Louisiana in reference to the Neutrality acts & the slave trade

 

            The remedy for this state of things is to afford redress to the despoiled master by paying him an indemnity for the slave that is not delivered according to the constitution, like & thus settle the case as any other wrong that cannot be specifically rejoined. 

 

I do not say that the case of the South is not one of great embarrassment, and that the wisest statesmanship is not required to manage an institution that has awakened such inveterate hatred I am not prepared to say that the South will not find it to their advantage to separate from the federal government union in order to avoid the increasing violence & arrogance of the antislavery spirit. But then this is to be done upon principle and after a sober interchange of opinions. The movement in the South is anarchical It is the result of passion & the authors of the movement obviously think more of maintaining their consistency, than of maintaining the honor or interests of the Southern states They are reckless men who have not restrained their passions & feelings, have made rash threats and reckless assertions, & consider that the people are bound to redeem their pledges according to the letter

 

            I have a good deal of apprehension that there will be discord & [?] as a consequence & some fear of disunion But I hope for the best I notice your Uncle George Goldthwaite sustains Taney

 

            We are all well, except that your Mother is suffering in her teeth from a cold.

 

Very affectionately

Your father

J A Campbell

 

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