Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I
had made this and many similar declarations and had never recanted
them; and more than this, they placed in the platform for my
acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and
emphatic resolution which I now read:Resolved, That the maintenance
inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each
State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to
its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on
which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and
we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any
State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the gravest of
crimes.

I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so I only press upon the
public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is
susceptible that the property, peace, and security of no section are to
be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add,
too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution
and the laws, can be given will be cheerfully given to all the States
when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause - as cheerfully to one
section as to another.

There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from
service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the
Constitution as any other of its provisions:No person held to service
or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another,
shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein be discharged
from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the
party to whom such service or labor may be due.