The American Quarterly Review, published at Philadelphia, with a large circulation and list of contributors in the slave states, holds the following language in the September No. 1833, p. 55:  “Under this ‘exclusive jurisdiction,’ granted by the constitution, Congress has power to abolish slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia.  It would hardly be necessary to state this as a distinct proposition, had it not been occasionally questioned.  The truth of the assertion, however, is too obvious to admit of argument—­and we believe HAS NEVER BEEN DISPUTED BY PERSONS WHO ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE CONSTITUTION.”

OBJECTIONS TO THE FOREGOING CONCLUSIONS CONSIDERED.

We now proceed to notice briefly the main arguments that have been employed in Congress, and elsewhere against the power of Congress to abolish slavery in the District.  One of the most plausible is; that “the conditions on which Maryland and Virginia ceded the District to the United States, would be violated, if Congress should abolish slavery there.”  The reply to this is, that Congress had no power to accept a cession coupled with conditions restricting that “power of exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District,” which was given it by the constitution.

To show the futility of the objection, we insert here the acts of cession.  The cession of Maryland was made in November, 1788, and is as follows:  “An act to cede to Congress a district of ten miles square in this state for the seat of the government of the United States.”

“Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of Maryland, that the representatives of this state in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, appointed to assemble at New-York, on the first Wednesday of March next, be, and they are hereby authorized and required on the behalf of this state, to cede to the Congress of the United States, any district in this state, not exceeding ten miles square, which the Congress may fix upon, and accept for the seat of government of the United States.”  Laws of Md., v. 2., c. 46.

The cession of Virginia was made on the 3d of December, 1788, in the following words: 

“Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That a tract of country, not exceeding ten miles square, or any lesser quantity, to be located within the limits of the State, and in any part thereof, as Congress may, by law, direct, shall be, and the same is hereby forever ceded and relinquished to the Congress and Government of the United States, in full and absolute right, and exclusive jurisdiction, as well of soil, as of persons residing or to reside thereon, pursuant to the tenor and effect of the eighth section of the first article of the government of the constitution of the United States.”

But were there no provisos to these acts?  The Maryland act had none.  The Virginia act had this proviso:  “Sect. 2.  Provided, that nothing herein contained, shall be construed to vest in the United States any right of property in the soil, or to affect the rights of individuals therein, otherwise than the same shall or may be transferred by such individuals to the United States.”