Inasmuch as at that time slavery was not prohibited under the Constitution, there was a general agreement in the proposition that Congress might authorize slavery in the Territories and that Congress might prohibit slavery in the Territories.
Boutwell articulates the general agreement that Congress had the authority to regulate slavery in the Territories.
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Does anybody contemplate such a qualification to the elective franchise, in the case of black people or white?
I hope it is not necessary in this day and this hour of the Republic to argue anywhere that a property qualification is not only unjust in itself, but that it is odious to the people of the country to a degree which cannot be expressed.
I cannot imagine that in a hundred years this anniversary, in its organization and conduct, will be thought worthy of imitation.
That is the lesson the war has burned in on the brain and conscience of the Nation.
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