But for the institution of slavery, there
could have been no stipulation that they should not be carried away
as property, nor any claim of indemnity for the violation of that
engagement.
But the war power of Congress over the institution of slavery in the
States is yet far more extensive. Suppose the case of a servile war,
complicated, as to some extent it is even now, with an Indian war;
suppose Congress were called to raise armies, to supply money from the
whole Union, to suppress a servile insurrection: would they have no
authority to interfere with the institution of slavery? The issue of a
servile war may be disastrous. By war the slave may emancipate himself;
it may become necessary for the master to recognize his emancipation by
a treaty of peace; can it for an instant be pretended that Congress,
in such a contingency, would have no authority to interfere with the
institution of slavery, in any way, in the States? Why, it would be
equivalent to saying that Congress have no constitutional authority to
make peace.
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