Alfred H. Stone Collection
Volume: 29

8. Massachusetts, Senate, Resolutions Adopted by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, Jan. 24, 1861. Resolutions Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, Senate no. 28 (N.p., [1861]). (11 p.)

Transmission of resolutions passed by the Pennsylvania and the Tennessee legislatures dealing with the error of secession (Pennsylvania) and the right to take slaves into free states or western territories (Tennessee). The Pennsylvania legislature reaffirms its loyalty to the Union and resolves “that all plots, conspiracies and warlike demonstrations against the United States, in any section of the country, are treasonable in their character, and whatever power of the government is necessary to their suppression, should be applied to that purpose without hesitation or delay.” The Tennessee legislature, on the other had, is more concerned with protecting the rights of slave owners who want to take their slaves with them when they travel outside the borders of the slave states. The Tennessee legislature seeks amendments to the United States Constitution that would guarantee the slave-owners’ rights.