St. Charles Republican intelligencer. (St. Charles [Charles City], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1856-12-18
NUMBER 10.

ed according to law and in virtue of
express provisions Of the Constitution.
To promote this object, legislative en-
actments and other means were adopt
ed to take away or defeat rights, which
the Constitution solmenly guaranteed.
In order to nullify the then existing
act OF Congress concerning the extra
dltlon OF fugitives from service, laws
were enacted in many States, forbid
} ding their officers under the severest
penalties, to participate in the execu-
ton of any act of Congress whatever.
:. In this way that system Of harmoni-
Gus cooperation between the authori-
ties of the United States and of the
several States, for the maintenance of
their common institutions, which exist
ed in the early years of the Republic,
was destroyed conflicts of jurisdic-
tion came to be frequent and Con-
gress found itself compelled, for the
support of the Constitution, and the
vindication of its power, to authorize
new officers charged with the execu-
ton of its acts, as if they. and the Of:
ficers of the State. were the ministers,
respectively, of foreign governments
in a state of mutual hostility, rather
than fellow magistrates of a, common
country, peacefully submitting under
the protection Of one we'll constituted
Union. Thus here, also, aggression
was followed by reaction and the, at
tacks upon the Constitution at this
point did but serve to raise up new
barriers for its defence and security.
l. The third stage of this unhappy Sec
tional controversy was in connection
with the organization of Territorial
governments, and the admission of
new States into the Union. When it
was proposed to admit the State Of
Maine, by separation Of territory from
that of Massachusetts, and the State
of Missouri, formed of a portion of the
territory ceded by France to the Uni
ted States, Representatives in Con-
gress objected to the. admission of the
latter, unless with conditions suited to
particular views of public policy The
imposition of such a condition was
most successfully resisted. But, at
the same period, the question was pre-
sented Of imposing restrictions upon
the residue of the territory ceded by
France. That question was, for the
time, disposed of by the adoption Of
geographical line OF Limitation.
In this connection it should not be
forgotten that France, of her own ac-
cord, resolved, for considerations of
the most far-sighted sagacity, to cede
Louisiana to the United States, the
latter expressly engaged that 1.-THE IT,
habitants of the ceded territory shall
be incorporated in the Union of the
United States, and admitted as soon
as possible, according to the Federal
Constitution, to the enjoyment of all
the rights, advantages, and immuni-
ties OF citizens of the United States
and in the meantime they shall be
maintained and protected in the free
enjoyment Of their liberty, property, and
the religion they profess that is to
say, while it remains in a territorial
condition, it's inhabitants are main
tanned and protected in the free enjoy
ment of their liberty and property,
with right to pass into the condition
OF States on footing of perfect equal
ity with the original States.
! The enactment which established
the restrictive geographical lines, was
acquiesced in rather than approved by
the States of the Union. 1t stood on
the statute book, however, for a num-
Der of years; and the people of the
respective States acquiesced in the re-
enactment of the principle. as applied
to the State of Texas /; and it was pro-
posed to acquiesce in its further appli-
cation to the territory acquired by the
United States of Mexico. But this
proposition was successfully resisted
by the representatives from the north
ern States, who, regardless of the stat
ute line, insisted upon applying re-
striction to the new territory general
~, whether lying north or south Of it,
thereby repeating it as legislative
compromise, and, on the part of the
North, persistently violating the COM
pact, if compact there was.
Thereupon this enactment ceased to
have binding virtue in any sense,
whether as respects the North or the
South; and so in effect it was treated
on the occasion, of the. admission of
California, and the organization Of the
Territories Of New Mexico, Utah and
| Washington. E.g
Such was the state of this question,
when the time arrived for the organi-
zation Of the Territories Of Kansas
and Nebraska. In the progress of
constitutional inquiry and reflection,
it had now come to see clearly that
Congress does not tpossess constitution
al power to impose restrictions Of this
character upon any present or future
State of Union. In long series Of
decisions, on the fullest argument and
on the most deliberate considerations,
the Supreme Court Of the United
States had finally determined this
point, in every form under which the
question could arise, whether as re-
hecting public or private rights-in
questions of the public domain, of re-
lligion, Of navigation, and of servitude.
L h q ~ n Al ~ L