William Henry Harrison to John Brown Dillon

North Bend, Ohio, 12 December 1838.

Autograph letter signed, 3 pages + address.

North Bend 12th Decr. 1838.

Dear Sir
I received your letter of the 5th Inst the day before yesterday. I have come to the
determination from necessity to decline giving my opinion to Individuals upon political subjects
for publication. Had I not adopted this rule I would have to abandon my business (necessary to
the support of my very large family) & devote myself entirely to Political writing But as you tell
me that you are about publishing a pamphlet on the subject of Slavery I will as a friend give you
my opinion upon one constitutional [struck: question] principle in relation to which either
[struck: I or] you [inserted: or I] very greatly err. (No one I think can [well] understand the
character of our peculiar Govt without having it impressed upon [struck: their] [inserted: his]
mind that [struck: the] our Union is a Union of Sovereign Independent States & that in every
particular where power is not expressly surrendered by that instrument to the General
Government it is retained by the States & that in the relations to matters so retained they are as
completely Sovereign & independent of the Genl. Government and of each other as are France &
Great Britain.)
You seem to suppose that an Article in the Constitution not having been inserted in it the
Genl. Govt won’t have the complete power over the Slavery question in the States. This I
apprehended to be a mistake [2] the Constitution contains no article preventing or forbidding
Slavery in the States. The Slaveholding States (of which there were at that time 9 out of 13) did
not wish such an article inserted. They retained the complete control over the subject of Slavery
within their own boundaries by not surrendering [inserted: it]. All that they wished to have
inserted in the Constitution in relation to the subject was that when their Slaves fled from them &
sought refuge in other States that they should be delivered up on their application. When
therefore you say that "an early [inserted: & amicable] adjustment of the question is desirable” it
cannot refer to the Slavery in other States but may with propriety refer to the District of
Columbia, Within which the [strikeout] power of [strikeout] Legislation is expressly given to

The Gilder Lehrman Collection GLC02946 www.gilderlehrman.org

Congress. But no law which that body can pass [strikeout] [inserted: can] in any way effect the
right which the people of the Slave holding States claim over their slaves any more than
Congress can pass a law to change the qualifications of Electors in the States or define the period
when Minors are to be free from the controul of their [inserted: parents] to do either would
change the whole character of the Government & reallise the [dread] of [struck: the] large
portions of the Ablest Statesman in our Country at the period of the adoption of the Constitution
that it would end first in a Consolidation & then in a despotism which latter could only be
averted by preserving the independence of the States of the Genl Govt in matters [3] which they
had reserved for their own exclusive action (The citizens of the free States have the right as
individuals to give their opinions to their brethren in the Slave States upon the subject of Slavery
as they can upon the subject of Internal improvements, the extension of the right of voting
[inserted and struck: &c] but they have no power what ever to controle them upon any of those
subjects.) Give them your opinions then upon the former subjects but I can tell you that however
able your appeal to them may be on the abstract [inserted: question] if you assume the right of
Controul over the subject either for the US (except as to the District of Columbia) the [inserted:
free] State authorities or
yourself individually it May do harm but will certainly do no good.

I repeat that I write to you mainly as a friend & not by any means for publication & I
write in haste amidst preparations for a journey to Columbus Where I have been summoned as a
Witness in a Case in the U S court
yours Very truly
W H Harrison.

Decr. 24th
This letter was written on the day of its Date but Kept from the Post office by the
inattention of one of my Sons
To
John B. Dillon Esqr.

[address]

The Gilder Lehrman Collection GLC02946 www.gilderlehrman.org

[Cleved] O. 18 ¾
Dec 25th
John B Dillon Esqr
LogansPort.
Indiana

The Gilder Lehrman Collection GLC02946 www.gilderlehrman.org