Elizabeth-Town gazette. [volume] (Elizabeth-Town, N.J.) 1818-1821, 1820-12-26

Ue60 dUte 10 uuuChokhuu tue NiSutnCh
that they are now state. But, whel
Congress gave them authority TO form
constitution TO fit them for admission Z
! say that Congress did then admit then
inlo the Uuiou was All argument not intel
. iigible aud, almost equally SO was tina
t which made her ont to be state wheneve
| her people had formed constitution.
The United States, with respect to lie
territory, stood almost iuthe same relation
as one OF the states TO its territory. Vir
, ginia, for example, gave authority to th
, people OF that part OF her territory wlicl
IS COW Kentucky. to form a constitution
The territory called convention, Hiale
state government, fixed the mode OF he
elections. elected her officers. Was ;b'
then member OF the Union Yes, whet
Congress agreed to admit her into tht
4 Union. Was she state before that tool
lplace? Certainly moi. So with the ter
i ritories Of The United States. Congress
gives them authority 10 make cousiiiu
lion, preparatory 10 their admission, aus
| that being doue, Congress may admit them
! IT, said Mr.. S. further, Representatives
iron territory which has thus formed .
constitution, present themselves at the
door Of this House, is moi The House bound
to enquire whether they are the Repre-
seniatives of as,ate Must we not examine
whether they are properly depnied, or
must we admit any body and every bady
who presents himself aud declares that he
is the Representative OF a state We may
know the fact out OF doors, but il must
also be known here 10 ascertain 1t, we
are obliged to examine the constitution.
Mr.. S. entered into train of reasoning
to shew the Inconvenience which would
result from each branch ofthe government
being left to determine for itself the indie.
pendence Of state. the chance oil their
uot concurring III their views of the sub
ieci, and The iucong ruity which would
resnit from such a disagreement.
The orderly, polite, and regular course
of proceeding, iu such case as This, was
so obvious, he sail. that he was only as
tonished that, in any Ease. differenl
course had been pursued. In the main,
he said the construction had been that for
which he commended. Whatever irregu-
larities there might have been in other
respects. with respect to the newly formed
states, the full extension to state OF the
benefits of its admission into the Union
had never taken place until, ny some act,
Congress had expressly or implicitly re-
cognized its admission.
Mr.. S. then proceeded to enquire whether the
practice of our government sustained the doctrine
which he had endeavored to shew was inconsistent
with its theory. With respect to precedents,
whilst he disavowed savish subsection to their
authority, yet he acknowledged that, if they were
clear and undertaking. showing an uniform prae-
tice under the constitution to the present time, he
should consider them of very high authority. He
recoected in the at the last session. the gen.
tienan from South Carolina had not considered
them Of SO great weight; but MIR. S. said he agreed
with that gentleman now in allowing them weight,
provided they have the character of uniformity.
He was mistaken if, upon examination, they did
not turn out differently from what the member
from South Carolina had supposed. In examining
them, precedent might be made ont to warrant
any course gentlemen chose, they differed so much
from each other; among them might be found one
for people makinga constitution without previous
territory Of the United States-for which no body
would contend. Mr.. S. here briefly ran over the
cases Of admission into the union, commenting on
each Kentucky, Vermont, Tennessee, Ohio, and
Louisiana were admitted up to 1911, inclusive, and
in every case some act of the government had been
thought necessary, precedent or subsequent, to
enttle them to admission. From the year 1911,
however, every state admitted Give in number,
besides Maine, whose case was peculiarly had been
formed by previous authority, and had come into
the union by virtue of act resolution express
y admitting her. Would gentlemen, then, take
the single precedent of Kentucky, Of Tennessee,
or Vermont. with their pecuarties, and apply il
10 state formed out of new territory purchased
By the United States, or would they take the case
of other states, which formed series Of preee
dents, each distinctly recognizing the power o.
Congress to give previous authority to people te
form constitution, and also, the authority and
right Of Congress to admit them Into the union
and the necessity of such an act of admission
With respect to elections by the inchoate states
he considered them as provisional, and made vaIit
by the ratification of the constitution. The repre-
sentative from Indiana taking his seat before The
passage of the act for her admission he considered
an oversight. "A nd was not the fact OF the repre-
sentative from Missouri remaining absent, asserting
no right as representative, and not being admit
ted as such, (and so her senators also,) stron
ger evidence of the opinion, not only Of the ole
states. hut Of the states too, than a single
precedent of irreguarits, as that Of Indiana
Having shown, in his opinion, that Congress
/ possessed right and power to examine this qnes
ton, Mr.. S. proceeded to the remaining points il
| the discussion.
| In this particular case the mode of proceeding
proposed, struck him as the most Objectionable
that could be devised because it seemed to hin
that the report and the observations Of the chair
4 man of the committee, did admit that there wa
something in the constitution formed BY the peopi