Description:

Slavery - As a result of an incident evocative of "12 Years a Slave," Georgia informs Mississippi of its passage of a proposed Constitutional Amendment stating that no part of the U.S. Constitution shall be construed to authorize the entrance of any person of color in any State contrary to the laws of that State


Rare Printed Document Signed IN TYPE "Thomas Stocks" as President of the Senate, "David Adams" as Speaker of the House, and "G.M. Troup as Governor of Georgia, 1p, 8" x 5". Addressed in unknown hand on verso to "His Excellency / The Governor of Mississippi / Natches Rocky Springs and circular red cancellations "Milledgeville Georgia Jan 17" and red PAID with manuscript "Paid." Toned with staining. Professionally mended on both sides with some loss of letters not affecting readability. Very good condition.

In part, "Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia ... That the following shall be proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States: that no part of the Constitution of the United States ought to be construed, or shall be construed, to authorized the importation or ingress of any person of color into any one of the United States, contrary to the laws of such State..."

In 1822, South Carolina passed "An Act for the Better Regulation of Free Negroes and Persons of Color" which required any free black sailors entering the state be "seized and confined" in jail until the vessel that brought them "shall clear out and depart from this state." If the ship's captain refused to pay their expenses while in jail, the free black sailors would be "deemed and taken as absolute slaves, and sold in conformity" with existing laws. The purpose of the law was to keep free blacks out of the state to prevent them from coming into contact with South Carolina's slaves. South Carolinians believed that free blacks were a threat to slavery and plot rebellions.

In 1823, a free black British sailor was jailed in Charleston under the law, an incident evocative of "12 Years a Slave." South Carolina native William Johnson, an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court heard the case "Elkison v. Deliesseline" (the black seaman v. the Charleston sheriff) while riding circuit in South Carolina. Johnson determined the Act was unconstitutional because it violated the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce, which included navigable waters, and violated a treaty with Great Britain ensuring its right to engage in free trade with the United States. Although the Supreme Court never reviewed the constitutionality of the Act, Johnson's decision was validated the following year in "Gibbons v. Ogden" which held that federal and constitutional law superseded state law.

Georgia's proposal of this constitutional amendment stating that no part of the Constitution of the United States shall be construed to authorize the entrance of any person of color in any State contrary to the laws of that State was the result of Associate Justice William Johnson's decision.

This Georgia resolution was sent to the Governors of the other 23 states in the Union. As would be expected, states reacted differently. For example, New York "adopted a resolution declaring it inexpedient to concur in the Georgia proposition for an amendment to the federal Constitution prohibiting the importation or ingress of colored persons into any state." Kentucky "disapproved." The Senate and House of Missouri "concur in the amendments proposed by the State of Georgia..." The legislature of Maine disapproved. Louisiana refused to concur.
On February 6, 1824, Congressman Joel Abbot of Georgia offered the following resolution on the floor of the House of Representatives: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, That the following amendment to the constitution of the United States be proposed to the Legislatures of the several states, viz. 'That no part of the constitution of the United States ought to be construed, or shall be construed to authorize the importation or ingress of any person of color into any one of the United States, contrary to the laws of such state.'" The resolution was committed to the committee of the whole House on the state of the Union.

On February 24, 1825, Senator James Noble of Indiana communicated the resolution of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, disapproving the amendment proposed by the state of Georgia to the Constitution of the United States, on the subject of the ingress of people of color into the several states of the Union; which was read." On motion, it was ordered, "that it lie on the table."

Georgia's proposed amendment was never introduced in Congress nor was it ever passed by the legislatures of two-thirds of the states.

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