Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1854-05-04

States and Territories upon precisely equality
with respect to the power of Congress over them.
Congress does not mean to put slavery in or out
of any State or Territory. To all that polite
abnegation, / have to say that, in respect Of the
States, it is the supererogation Of modesty and
humility, as Congress happens to have no pow
er to put slavery in them, or out of them and
in respect of the Territories, it is an abdication
of constitutional power. and duty; it being
the right of Congress to legislate upon slavery
in the Territories, and its duty to do so when
there is occasion for it-as in 1887 and 1920.
object to this shilly-shally-willy- won' ty-
don'ty-can't y-style of legislation. 1t is not
legislative. 1t is not parliametory. 1t is
not manly. 1t is not womanly. No wo-
man would talk that way. No shilly -shally in
woman. Nothing of the female gender was
ever born young enough, or lived long enough,
to get befogged in such a quandary as this 1t
is one thing or the other with them and what
they say, they stick to. No breaking bargains
with them. But the end of this stump speech
is the best of the whole. Different from good
milk, in which the cream rises to the top, it
here settles to the bottom, and is in these words:
" Leave it to the people thereof, that is to say,
of the States and of the Territories, to regu-
late slavery for themselves as they please, only
subject to the Constitution of the United States.
Certainly this is new subsection for the States.
Heretofore they have been free to regulate slave
ry for hemseves-admit it or reject it; and
that not by virtue of any grant Of power in the
Constitution, but by virtue of an unsurrendered
part of their old sovereignty. 1t is also new
of the Territories. Heretofore they have been
held to be wards Of Congress, and entitled to
nothing under the Constitution but that which
Congress extended to them. But this clause is
not accidentally here; it is to keep up the dog
ma of the Constitution in Territories; but only
there in relation to slavery, and that for its adj
mission-not rejection.
Three dogmas now alict the land; uidehcet ::
squatter sovereignty non-intervention, and no
power in Congress to legislate upon slavery in
Territories. And this bill asserts the whole
three, and beautifully illustrates the whole three,
by knocking each one on the head with the
other, and trampling each under foot in its
turn. Sir, the bill does deny squatter sovereign
ty, and it does intervene, and it does legislate
upon slavery in Territories and for the proof
OF that, see the bill and see it, as the lawyers
say, pdssim; that is to say, here, and there,
and everywhere. 1t is a bill of assumptions
and misunderstanding what is inbound
cd, and contradictng what it assumes, and bal
ancing every affirmation by anegation. 1t is
see-saw bill but not the innocent see-saw which
children play on a plank stuck through fence;
but the up-and-down game of politicians, played
at the expense Of the peace and harmony Of the
Union, and to the sacrifice of all business in
Congress. 1t is an amphibological bill, stuffed
with monstrosities, hobblod with contradictions,
Badgered with a proviso.
Amphibology is cause for the rejection of
bills, not only by Congress, but by the Presi-
dent, when carried to him for his approval.
Gen. jackson rejected one for that cause, and it
was less amphibological than this it was the last
night of the last day of his last administration,
and quarter before midnight. Congress had
sent him bill to repeal the specie circular, and
to marguerite the paper money of a thousand
local banks as the currency of the Federal Gov
ernment. 1t was an object not to be avowed,
nor to be done in any direct or palpable manner
Paraphrases, circumlocution, ambidexterity, and
ambiguity, were necessary to cover the design !;
and it was piled on until it was unintelligible.
The President read it, and could make nothing
OF it: he sent to his Attorney-General, who
was equally puzzled. He then returned it, with
a message to the Senate, refusing to sign the
bill for amphibology We should reject the bill
for the same cause, if for nothing else Hard is
the fate of party fealty. 1t has to keep up with
the ever-changing measure. Often have these
bills changed; and under every phase they had
to be received as Il test of orthodoxy; and have
more changes to undergo yet and to continue
to be test under all mutations.
And now, what is the object of this movement
which so disturbs Congress and the country !!
What does it propose to accomplish! 10 settle
a principle, is the answer-the principle of nom
intervention, and the right of the people of the
Territory to decide the question of Slavery for
themselves. Sir, there is no such principle.
The Territories are children of the States. They
are minors, under age, and it is the business of
the States, through their delegations in Con-
gross, to take care of them until they are Of age
until they are ripe for State government
then to give them that government, and admit
them to an equality with their fathers. That is
law, and has been SO admitted since the first
ordinance in 1884 The States in Congress are
guardians OF the Territories, and are bound to
exercise that guardianship and cannot abdi-
cate it without breach of trust and derelc-
ton of duty. Why, sir, the Territory itself is
the property Of the States, and they do with it
what they please-permit it to br settled OR not
as they please cut it up by lines as they please
sell OR give it away, as they please; chase white
people from it, as they please. This has been
always the case. There is proclamation now
extant of the old Congress of the confederation
describing the first settlers in the Northwest
Territory as g dsordery persons" and ordering
them to be driven off by the military. remen.
Der many such military explosions IN the early
settlement of the western country, often execu.
ted with severity burning houses, cutting uT
corn, destroying fences, and driving off peoplt
at the point of the bayonet, and under the edg,
of the sabre. As late as 1866, and after tn,
extinction OF the Indian title to the Platte coun
try, in Missouri similar orders were given to the
then colonel OF dragons commanding on thai
frontier, the now Senator in Congress, HENRY
DODGE, to expel the people from that purchase
orders which he executed in gcnteness anC
mercy, going alone, explaining his business, anC
requiring them to go away; which they did
like good and orderly people; and when he wal
gone came back like sensible and industrious
people, and secured their prescriptions. Not
only settled but organized territory has been 81
treated by the Federal Government, and worse
the people driven off, and their homes givel
away. This happened in Arkansas, in 1928
when twelve thousand square miles of her or
gained territory was given to the Cherokees
and the people driven away. Why, sir, thi
very line OF 81 deg. 80 min., with all the terri
tory on one side Of it, and two degrees on TIN
other side, were given awayto the king of Spain
lhls has been the seventy years. practice of tn
Government-to treat the Territories as proper
ty, and the people as unlimited guests, to be en-
tertalned, or turned out, as the owner of tn
house chooses: Fine sovereigns, these! chase
Oh by the military, and their homes given to In
dams or Spaniards.
The whole idea of this sovereignty is novel
ty' secuted from Congress when it first appeare'
In the Senate, contladicted by the Constitution
and the whole action of the Government, in a.