Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1856-05-07
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY.


The Democratic State Convention of North
Carolina, held at Raleigh on the 10th instant,
adopted the following among other resolu-
tions:
"That we heartily approve of the Kansas
Nebraska act, by which the Missouri restric-
tion was repealed, and the people of the
South let in with their property, equally
with those of the North, to the common
Territories of the Union. That in our opin-
ion the doctrine of popular sovereignty is the
true doctrine; that the people Of the Terri
tories, when they come to form their State
constitutions and apply for admission into the
Union as States, have a right to determine
for themselves the character of their domestic
institutions"
This resolution, like similar resolutions
adopted by the democratic conventions of
two or three other Southern States, stretches
the doctrine of popular sovereignty little
beyond the proper limit. The Supreme
Court of the United States, in the case of
Prigg as. the State Of Pennsylvania, decided
---and all the southern judges concuned in
the decision-that slavery could not exist in
States or Territories except by the local law
of the place. This decision is conclusive of
the question. From it there is no appeal
1t follows that the Kansas N Nebraska act does
not let the people Of the South in with their
property Gf that property be slaves to the
common Territories of the Union. 1t fol-
lows that if the people of the South take their
slave property into the Territories, they do
SO at their peril until slavery is recognized
by the local law.
We doubt whether the North Carolina
convention designed to make the admission
contained in the resolution we have quoted.
If the repeal of the Missouri restriction lets
in the people of the South, with their slave
property, to the territory that was covered
by it, then the effect of the restriction, while
it existed, was to prevent the introduction of
slave property into such territory. The adj
mission goes to the power of Congress over
slavery in the Territories. The democratic
doctrine is, that Congress possess no power
either to prohibit slavery or to permit. The
definition of popular sovereignty is, that the
people Of the Territories as well as of the
States, may, by their Territorial Legislature,
or by direct popular action, determine for
themselves the character of their domestic
nstitutions-that this determination may be
exercised by the people of the Territories at
all times-that it is not confined to the pc
Rod "when they come to form their State
institution"
We advert to this point now because it
may be brought before the Cincinnati con-
vention, and it is desirable that delegates
should reflect upon it. Had the Supreme
Court, whose decisions in this country are
omnipotent in all matters over which they
have jurisdiction and which are properly be-
fore them, endowed slave property with the
same universally as attaches to other pro-
perty, then indeed there could be no question
about the right Of the people of the South
to carry their slaves into the common terri
tory of the Union. But since the Supreme
Court have decided that slavery is the crea-
ture of the local law of the place, and since
that decision was the deliberate judgment OF
the southern as well as the northern judges,
we suggest whether it is not the very best of
policy for the democratic party to abide by
the doctrine thus enunciated ra-.
Detroit Free Press.