Iowa territorial gazette and advertiser., 1845-06-14
I. BrRIINc;ToN ATuRDAY, JUNE 4. 1916.

might form ena great deal worse. Il i
safe and sound, liberal and practical; and
while It win give Il tie citizen the sreat-
est liberty, and security, II win hi 5,
found oppressive in its operations. | a
moi. however, wish now to discuss the prin-
ciPles Of that constitptson. I wish, simplv
to state the fact that, The people of the Ter. !.
rltory were satisfed with the proyisIbhs
Of the Constitution! ! and TINT beforA ~
amendments of Congress were made. 4
wasasxpeeted on al sides. that il would be
adopted By 2 large majority, ,WhS then.
It may be asked, was It voted down III ia
last election2 answer simply because
the question was presented il such manL
nerthas the people were induced 10 Relieve.
that Il they adopted the constitution; they
would, by the same vote, accept the new
Boundary proposed BY Congress-. Here
was the great difficulty, ana The oniy way
toiget out of it, in the opinion of q great
many Of our citizens, was to,yote downthe
constitution, boundaries and all, and then
afterwards to take. another vote npon the
constitution. This, as tlie'fuestion stood
at the time Of The election, was regarded
by many as the only safe way to dispose of
the amendments made By Congress. The
bill for admission, as It first passed the
House Of Representatives. provided that
the assent Of the people should be given to
the amendments proposed BY Congress to
the constitution, by convention OF dele
gates elected for that purpose. Had the
act finally passed in this shape, there would
have been no difficulty whatever, because
the constitution could then have been rat
flied by the popular vote in April, and the
amendments rejected afterwards by con-
yeniion Of delegates. In this way the con-
yention would have been disioined from
the amendments made by Congress and each
would have stood on its own merits. Had
the act Of admission finally passed in this
shape, the constitution, would have been
ratified At the last April election, and we
should not have been called on 10 pass this
bill to refer it to the people. gsasese
After the act Of admission had passed the
House Of Representatives in this shape, il
was reconsidered, and The clause providing
for the ratification of the amendments by
a convention of delegates, stricken out.
and another pr,,visior, entirely different,
substituted for it. This substitute provi-
yided that we might give our assent to the
amendments made BY Congress, In two
ways-either in the s.sa,ne way" and sat
the same time" that we had provided for
the ratification Of the constitution, OF by
an act Of the Estate Legislature. II The
first mode, then, provided BY the act Of ad-
mission, for the ratification Of the amend
ments, was a popular vote on tie first
Monday Of April last, Because that was the
mode we had provided fuf the ratification
of The constitution. This apparently unit.
ed the fate Of the constitution with the
amendments-presented, in the estimation
Of many, one indivisibls question, and gave
ground for the opinisn, that we could not
vote any other way than either for both, or
against both--tlat we must ratify the new
boundary with the constitution, or reject
both together. This was the. great mis-
take. 1t was this awkward and bungline
legislation on the part Of Congress, that de-
feated the constitution at the late election.
They made a most important modification
Of our boundary, cutting us down to an
extent which they had no reason to believe
we would ACCEPT, and yet, instead Of sep
arating the questions and giving US d sep
arate ballot for each, they joined them in
separately together, as was generally sup
posed, and forced the people either to ac-
cept the boundary or vote down the consti-
tuition. The institution, then, was not
defeated either because it was unpopular,
Or because majority Of the people were
not in favor ofa state government; but be-
canse the people conld not accept it upon |
the conditions proposed BY Congress.
The question: now arises, what il the |
proper, course lcr this Legislature to pur-
sue under existing circumstances? There
are only three ways that occur to nv mind |
to dispose Of this matter. We must ei-
ther stand still and do nothing, Of submit
this subject toihe people, on call for an
other conventian; or we must refer the |
constitution as provided by the bill now !,
under consider alton, again 10 the people. |
The first proposition, ! presume, will not
meet with favo, many quarter. We have
said and done loo much already towards
the formation I" a state government, to
abandon it now. We must move in some
direction or the public will be greatly dis
appointed. Then the only choice is, be-
tween referring the subject to the people
again, upon the question Of convention or
no convention, or upon the ratification Of
the constitution, as proposed BY this BILL
But why refe, the matter to the people
again upon the question Of convention or
no convention Have they not already
decided in favor Of a state government, az
ter FIVE Or six years discussion and reAec-
tion, by very. large majority? II We
should submit the question In this manner,
NO reasonable doubt could be entertained
of the result. The people would vote as
they did at the last election, and We should
then hold anou'cr convention, at al, expenae
Of eight5or ten thousand dollars, form an
ether constitution, submit it to the people
for their ratification, and after ali this
trouble and expense. We should land Just
where we now stand. We would have !
constitution to submit to the people. ana
that we have already. n the people are
dissatisfied with the provisions Of the con-
stitution let them vote it down, If thet
are unwilling to frm ! state government,
they can effect their object AZ fully ~ ~.