The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1854-03-29
NEBRASKA AND KANSAS.
SPEECH OF Mr.. DODGE,
OF IOWA.
In THE SENATE, February IS,

| Kansas.
/ MIR. DODGE, of Iowa said
Mr.. PRESIDENT Il have heard with min
gled feelings of astonishment and regret, tn
speech which has just been made by the Sen
ator from Mississippi, [Mr. Brown.l No sen
tments to which | have listened during m
senatorial career have ever made so untavorabI
| an impression as those hich have just fale
| from him. Nth perfect respect for that Sena
| tor and the Senate desire tina, he and it shal
know my opinion upon some topics connected
with the subject under c ,nsideration, and t.
which | think he has most improperly alluded
Upon those matters | wish TO say, then dlffe
from him wildly as the poles are asunder; AM
1t any thing were wanting now 10 satisfy me tn,
there is imminent danger that at some period il
the history of this country it is to be brought Il
the shock OF arms, the sentiments which he ha
avowed, and the antagonstic ones, going to tn
entire equality between the white and black ra
ces, which have been uttered by free soilers up
on this floor, would satisfy of the fact be
ynnd doubt. Sir, tell the Senator from Mis-
slssippi-l speak it upon the floor of the Amer
lean Senate, in presence of my father who viii
attest its truth-tbat ! have performed and d.
perform when at home all those men al service
to which that Senator referred in terms SO gra-
ting to M feelings As general thing saw
my own wood, do all my own marketing. nev
er had servant of any color TO wait upon mt
day in my life. | have driven teams. horses
mules, and oxen, and considered myself as re.
spectacle then as now do, or as any Senator
upon this A or
Mr.. BROWN Will the Senator allow me
to expiain,
Mr. DODGE Certainly.
Mr.. BROWN. The Senator from Iowa has
VII lily mistaken the drift of my argument.
said nothing against employments like these
said nothing against the gentemans blackine
his own boots, if he had fancy for it, or dri-
wing his neighhor's horses if he had fancy fol
that. certainly never meant to say hat labor
was disreputable in country where slavery ex
lists, because ! knew perfectly well that such a
declaration would have been untrue Let me
repeat TO the Senator, hat said there were ce
IN menal emplnyments-not labor generally
which were performed by servants, and which
people who lived on an equality could not be
hired TO do one for the other Persons in coun,
tries where slaves are may do these things,
and very frequently do them for themselves =
If, hove Yer, the Senator su3pnses that wished
20 convey the idea, in the remotes possible de.
gree, tina. labor was disreputable, he has wholly
and entirely msconcsived me.
Why, SIR, was brought up at the handle of
the plow, and if there is ANYTHING in the histo.
ry of my boyhood of which | am proud, it is
that was brought up to manual labor, and to
labor along side of my fathers sldves-the few
that he then owned | never con idered il dis
reputable. | do no. consider it so now. But,
sir, the day never wis when a neighbor could
have hired me 10 bla,k hs boots That day
does not exist now, ard all the wealth of Col
conda could not purchase from me- a service like
that. II he were CUES. OF nv house, and |
had al. l,,t,, Il
i an ac. OF hos itality, bat not for pay. Did
the Senator understand ne.
! simply meant to take the ground, not that
labor Itself was disreputabie, ,ut that there were
certain kinds Of employment-sndl nndertQoAl
TO designate them-whch white man IN -
country could not be hired 10 do. You can
hire white men there to perform many kinds OF
labor. They may be hired to work OF. piania
tions, and we do hire them and treat them as
equals We can hire them to work at their me
chanical trade, and they and their employers
are equal. But spoke Of menial employments
those of the lower grade. did not mean to
say that man might not do these things for
himself or guest in his honse, as an act OF
hospitality, if he choose, but that he would not
be hired to d. them. that he would not go to a
hotel and hire himself out to be boot black.
Mr. DODGE Mr. Presnent, | am very
glad to hear the explanation of the Senator from
Mississippi, fer unde erstood him, if not direct
iy al least indirectly, 10 attack and to sneer at
tbs dignity Of labor and the freemen of the
Nor h.
MIR. BROWN. The Senator entirely mis-
understood me if he understood any such
thing.
Mr.. DODGE am very glad to hearit
felt the more keenly, perhaps, what the Sena-
tor said, because am sincere believer in the
doctrine which he sneeringly calls 'ss,llatttr r
sovreigniy," and which has been ably ex-
pounded by your colleague, [Mr. CAss,] (Mr.
STUART, of Michigan, being in the chair.)
With this DEPRESSION upon points wholly un-
looked for in the discussion, and being Gin
cere believer in the doctrine of "squatter SOW.
reisnity," in its fullest, broadest deepest sense,
1 propose now, in my humble way, to cffar some
in support OF the bill for the organiza-
'ion of Nebraska and Kansas-it being in is
present shape, or as its friends propose to make
it. the nobest tribute which has ever vet been
offered by the Congress Of the United States to
the sovreignity Of the people.
The great principle embodied in these terri
torai biils ara it is the one so hotly contested,
IS as 10 lie nature and extent of the powers Of
congress over the cit zens of the United States
VINO either have settled, or nay settle in the ter
ritories OF our confederacy of States Before
q discussing the prov sions of the bill which are
to operate upon those citizens and egulaie their
local internal concerns, it should be first set.
tied whether such legislation as they themselves
may adopt for their own 'ety and happiness
when restricted to, or kept within the provisions
of the Constitution of the Republic, can be IN.
terrupted by Congress by the exercise of any
powers either expresses or implied in the Con
stitu,ion.
In the enumeration Of the powers of CONGRESS
nothing can be found in the Constitu,ion which
cnnvevs the right t. legisate for American cit
izens residing upon any Territory in the Union
except the District of Columbia, and such pla
ces as are purchased of States for the erection
of forts, &c,
Fnr many years after the fre-brand calles
the NV ilm"t progiso' was attempted 10 be in
trnumrt into i-g'-lati...., defeat our yra
bills and drive vic torious arms in dis Iract
from Mexicn-to humi'iate MIR Polk and hi.
Cabinet, by forcing them 10 insert stipulation
into any treaty tha, might be made wl'E a for
eign government taat American slavery shoul,
be forever prohibited, and especially from an,
Territory that mi.h be ceded to US by tn,
free, Ell Heightened, law.and order loving Rrpub
lie of MeXico-then, and for several years afte
this power was located in that clause OF th,
Constitution which says:
s'The orgress shall have power to dispose o
and make all r,eedful rules and regulations re
specting the territory or other property belong
ing to the United Slates.''
But think it was thoroughly exploded BY th,
Senator from Michigan in his great speech o
January 2l and %, 1850, against the ssWilmo
provisn.' General Cas- quotes from the desci
sion of the Supreme Court in the case of tn,
IT, s. cs. Gratiot and oilers, as f,llows
s.Tne term ',errilory' as here used is merel,
descriptive of the kind of property, and IS equiv
alent to he word lands and Congress has tn
same power eyer it over any other propert,
vested in the United Sta,es," &c.
He then goes on TO remark:
"The term territory, as here used, is merely
descriptive Of one kind Of pr perly, (s1ys th
Court and is equivalent to the word lands :
How the Supreme Court, after thus decIdin!
that territory here means fands, could decid
also that TIE po,rer to sell Ged reguiat
land includes the power of unlimited po
iitical Jurisdiction, profess my inabilit,
TO comprehend, more especially as the power Il
be exercised must be 'needlnl, and this neces
sity upon the face of it is incompatible with tn
idea that this power is vested in Congrcs
,eithout limitation
"Why, then, Eaye Congress exercised tn
M of he TerritortpSo and u