US Presidency
1857

Under it Kansas, when admitted as a State, was to be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission. Did Congress mean by this language that the delegates elected to frame a constitution should have authority finally to decide the question of slavery, or did they intend by leaving it to the people that the people of Kansas themselves should decide this question by a direct vote? On this subject I confess I had never entertained a serious doubt, and therefore in my instructions to Governor Walker of the 28th March last I merely said that when a constitution shall be submitted to the people of the Territory they must be protected in the exercise of their right of voting for or against that instrument, and the fair expression of the popular will must not be interrupted by fraud or violence. In expressing this opinion it was far from my intention to interfere with the decision of the people of Kansas, either for or against slavery.