THIS POWER HAS BEEN CONCEDED BY GRAND JURIES OF THE DISTRICT.  The grand jury of the county of Alexandria, at the March term, 1802, presented the domestic slaves trade as a grievance, and said, “We consider these grievances demanding legislative redress.”  Jan. 19, 1829, Mr. Alexander, of Virginia, presented a representation of the grand jury in the city of Washington, remonstrating against “any measure for the abolition of slavery within said District, unless accompanied by measures for the removal of the emancipated from the same;” thus, not only conceding the power to emancipate slaves, but affirming an additional power, that of excluding them when free.  Journal H. R. 1828-9, p. 174.

4.  THIS POWER HAS BEEN CONCEDED BY STATE LEGISLATURES.  In 1828 the Legislature of Pennsylvania instructed their Senators in Congress “to procure, if practicable, the passage of a law to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia.”  Jan. 28, 1829, the House of Assembly of New York passed a resolution, that their “Senators in Congress be instructed to make every possible exertion to effect the passage of a law for the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia.”  In February, 1837, the Senate of Massachusetts “Resolved, That Congress having exclusive legislation in the District of Columbia, possess the right to abolish slavery and the slave trade therein.”  The House of Representatives passed the following resolution at the same session:  “Resolved, That Congress having exclusive legislation in the District of Columbia, possess the right to abolish slavery in said District.”  November 1, 1837, the Legislature of Vermont, “Resolved that Congress have the full power by the constitution to abolish slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and in the territories.”

In May, 1838, the Legislature of Connecticut passed a resolution asserting the power of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia.

In January, 1836, the Legislature of South Carolina “Resolved, That we should consider the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia as a violation of the rights of the citizens of that District derived from the implied conditions on which that territory was ceded to the General Government.”  Instead of denying the constitutional power, they virtually admit its existence, by striving to smother it under an implication.  In February, 1836, the Legislature of North Carolina “Resolved, That, although by the Constitution all legislative power over the District of Columbia is vested in the Congress of the United States, yet we would deprecate any legislative action on the part of that body towards liberating the slaves of that District, as a breach of faith towards those States by whom the territory was originally ceded.  Here is a full concession of the power.  February 2, 1836, the Virginia Legislature passed unanimously the following resolution:  “Resolved, by the General Assembly of Virginia, that the following