The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1855-10-30


question furnished its And we think but
il does follow that because the Legislature has s dc
position Of the Territories it has Of all the other
property the United States therefore il has the power
in taking that they be organized to pronoe tue
interests Of the nation, to limit the rights and mmunde
which shall be enjoyed by those TO whom the Territories
shall be disposed Does the Post intimate by i'd
question that when Congress It's discretion thinks proper
for the public good dispose Of any Of its real estate such
its sites for public works forts magazines navyyards
&C. ii has the power 10 the sale condition that
the purchasers shall not be slayeowners IL the power
exists ia Congress in regard to the Terrtores to
provide that they sba not be bought and held BY owners
of slaves the power be found under the eonstit
tiona provision which authorizes Congress 70 dispose
the public lands.
But the Post virtually comedies this point by emitting
to answer its question: and by proceeding TO sh
to another ground in propoundng another question
which this "Ought the whole confederacy of States
with which these embryo members to be associated 10
have light to form their character In uncy2 Our
to this question would be- that every citizen
every State has interest in the Territories and because
of that interest every citizen ought have the right Of
going any Territory and buying entering land and Of
|
would have the government of the United States to deny
10 the citizens fifteen the States the right inter
lere in forming the character of the infant Territory
Hence its answer to its question differs widely from ou
It's answer this The lass Of Nature and Of society give
the parental predecessors authority direct the educa
ton and to form the of the rising generation
coming forward to take part in the government &c This
is the first instance in which we have seen an attempt
IL, n
tire and Of socicyni We have federalism often axs
ing its ingenuity to discover wished-for power by
peryerng and stretching the constitutional but the Post
goes beyond federalism and claims for Congress the right
to egsate for the Territories the laws of Nature
and Of society"
But those laws will not avail the Post The
aogy between the rights Of the parent the educ-
ton and training of his child and those of the gov
eminent over its Territories win not aid defective
constitutional power The Territories the property of
the United States and the only power them is spec
fed in the constitution When the constitution provides
that the government may dispose Of the Territories
citizens, it does not to hold to those citizens the
relation of parent butt bargains with hem and convcyso
hem Of mature age, capable of acting for them
selves and of forming, when their numbers sufficient
political communities, with the right to come into the
Union States upon equality with the existing States
Every settler in Territory is emgrant from
of the States. Whilst citizen of State he was in the
enjoyment of all the rights of freeman Of full age
The Post would make infant of him by his emign-
ton to Territory The excellence of the non-ineryen-
ton principle is that it regards the hardy pioneer in
Territory fully competent to enjoy all the rights
that attached to him before bis migration, and, thereor
that it him voice in laying the foundation o
the government in which he chooses to make his perma
ncnt home. The Post would deny to him the inherent
rights of freeman, and would give him voice in The
formation Of the institutions under which he is to live
The principle of nonnterventon is that which faith
ers asserted and maintained against the claim Of the
mother country regard the colonies her infant chill
dren, whose education and training she had the
right preside with absolute power The Post claims for
the federal government the power the Terrific
res that the British Parliament claimed the colonies
We had thought that foefathers established the sound
ness of the nonntervention principle the battle Of York
town. The Post however would have the battle fought
over again in regard Kansas Its whole argument cs
upon an assumption that has foundation either in the
constitution, in reason or in experience The consu
ton gives Congress such power the inhabitants
of Territory as that claimed for by the Post If Con
breSS can annex one cOHutou IlbHt vi
in Territory it can annex many it chooses. II it
can say that no man who owns slaves shall buy and live
on the public lands, it well say that man who
owns horses or cattle shall buy and settle them II
the power to aGix conditions exists it is unlimited
power and therefore it is necessarily despotsm The
principle of non-intervention holds Congress the
else of none but delegated powers, and doing it
guards the people of the Territories against depos and
makes them freemen
There is in the doctrine of the Post that the
Congress of the United States knows the peculiar local
interests of Territory better than those who reside in
The assumption is absurdty Nor there anything
the history of the settlements of Territories which susans
the doctrine that the pioneer inhabitants not capable
the citizens of the States tits aogeh
acous suppose that the ordinance Of 1871 the Mis-
souri, restriction had any influence in the formation Of the
characters Of the Territories which have grown up to The
condition Of States within the limits of the country covered
by them The laws Of Nature, and not the ordinances
laws of Congress fixed tho character of the States within
their boundaries The laws will finally settle the char
Of Kansas and Nebraska and but for the interference
abolions would have settled them before the present
time Non-interventon recognises these laws the true
arbers Of the condition of Territory. 1t the object
of the Nebraska bill to all obstacles to the opera
ton of these laws and to that end and to that alone the
Missouri prohibition repealed.
1