Author: William Plumer

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2018-02

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13: 9780484401180

Excerpt from Speech of Mr. Plumer, of New-Hampshire, on the Missouri Question, Delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, February 21, 1820 To Congress, then, is giventhe power of admission in its full extent, and with all its incidents. What, Mr. Chairman, are theseincidents? Suppose the states had reserved the right of admitting new members to them selves, instead of giving it, as they have done, to Con gress; can it be doubted that they might. In that case, have received into their confederacy new associates, upon such terms and conditions as the contracting parties might see fit mutually to adopt They surely might. And why, sir Merely because they possess ed the power of admission. But, instead of retaining this power, they have transferred it to Congress. If we do not possess it, where does it reside Not in the states for they have nothing to do in the admis sion of new members nor in the people, as asserted by the gentleman from S. Carolina, (mr. Lowndes, ) who last addressed you. He did not speak with his usual accuracy when he said that the people, and not Congress, possessed the power to impose conditions on states about to be admitted into the Union. The people, sir, have reserved to themselves no such power, any more than they have reserved the power, for example, of declaring war. Their power to de clare war they have transferred to Congress. Their power to admit new states they have, in like manner, transferred to Congress, and we have seen that this transfer is entire, with all its incidents, subject only to that general reservation which applies to all delegated power - that it shall be exerted in a manner not re pugnant to other parts of the constitution. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.