Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1856-09-25

After asserting this great principle OF
States equality as applicable to every por-
ton cf New Mexico under the Constitution,
and as guaranteed in the compact with
Texas, by prior intendment, SO far rs the
country was acquired from that State, the
seventh section of the act provides that the
/ legislative power of the said Territory shall
extend to all rightful subjects of legisla-
/ ton, consistent with the constitution of the
! United States and the provisions of this
act'--thus leaving the people perfectly
free 10 form. and regulate their domestic
institutions in their own way, subject only
to the Constitution. 1t is now proposed in
the bill under consideration to rcpudiate
these guarantees and violate these great
Fundamental principles, by anncxing to
Kansas all that portion of the country ac-
quired from Texas which lies north of so
degrees 80 minutes, and imposing upon it
a prohibition Of slavery forever, from and
after the first day fJanuary, 1858, regard
less Of the rights and wishes of the people
who may inhabit the Territory.
The twenfy-f)urth section of the bill is
in the following words:
SEC. "a. ind be Il purifier cadcied. That
So much Of the fourteenth section. and also
so much Of The thirty second section, of the
act passed at the first session of The thirty
third Congress, commonly known as the
Kansas y Nebraska act, as reads az folio rs,
to-wit Except the eighth section of the
act, preparatory to the admission of Mis-
souri into the Union, approved March 6.
1920, which. being inconsistent with the
principles of non-intervention by Congress
with slavery in the States and Territories,
as recognized by the legislation Ct 1850
commonly called the compromise measures,
is hereby declared imperative and void It
being the true intent and meaning of this
act not to legisla;c slavery into any Terri
tory or Staie, nor to exclude it thcrefrom
bat to leave the people thereof perfectly
free TO form and regulate their domestic
Institutions in their own way, subject only
to the Constitution of the United States;
Propiled, That nothing contained herein,
shall be constructed to revive, or put in
force any law or regulation which may
have existed prior to the act Of 6th Of
March, 1920, either protecting. establish
cd, prohibiting or abolisIing slavery" be
and the same is hereby repealed, and the
said eighth section of said act of Tie 6,h of
March, 1929. is hereby revived and declar-
ed to be in full force and effect within the
said Territories of Kansas and Nebraska:
Procjded, ho1ceoer, That any person law
fully held TO service in either Of the said
Territories Shall not be discharged from
such service by reason Of such repeal and
revival of said eighth section, if such per-
son shall be permanently removed from
such Territory or Territories prior to the
first day Of January 1858; and any child
or children born in either of said Territo-
rics. of any female lawfully held to service,
ii iii like manner removal without said
Territories before the expiration of that date
shall not be, by reason of anything in this
act, cmancipacd from any service il might
have owed had this act never been passed:
Ind l,rorided. .1urtAer. That any person
lawfully held to service in any other State
or Territory of the United States, and es-
Gaping into either the Territory of Kansas
or Nebraska, may be reclaimed and remov-
ed 10 the person or place where such ser
vice is due under any law Of the United
States WHICH shall be in force upon the
subject.
In the opinion Of your committee there
are various grave and serious objections to
this section Of the BILL In the first place
it expressly repudiacs and condemns the
great fundamental principles OF self-gov-
ernment and State equality, which it was
the paramount object Of the Kansas Ne
braska act to maintain and perpctuate, as
affirmed in the following provision: at
being the true intent and meaning of this
act not to legislate slavery into any Terrific
ry or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but
to leave the people thereof perfectly free to
form and regulate their domestic institu-
tions in their own way, subject only to the
Constitution Of the United States.''
Mt content with repeating this wise and
just provision, and condemning the sound
constitutional principles asserted in it; the
bill proceeds to legalize and establish for
limited time, hereditary slavery, not only
in the territory of Kansas (whcre there is
no other local or affirmative law protecting
it than the enactments of the Kansas Terri
torial legislature, which have been alledeed
to be illegal and void, and which the House
of Representatives, by amendments to the
appropriation bills, have instructed the