Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1856-04-24

right to acquire territory, either by conquest
or by treaty, it would seem to follow, as an
inevitable consequence, that it possesses the
power to govern what it has so acquired
The Territory does not when so acquired,
become entitled to elf-government, and is
not subject to the jurisdiction Of any State;
it must consequently be made the dominion
and jurisdiction of the Union, or it would
be without any government at all.
| No one has ever doubted the authority of
Congress to erect Territorial Governments
within the Territory of the United States,
under the general language of the clause
'to make all neediul rules and regulations
What shall be the form of the government
established in the territories depends exclu-
siyely upon the discretion, of Congress-
Kent. in vol l, page $50 of his Com
mentaries says:-
at would seem, from these various Con-
gressional regulations of the Territories be-
longing to the United States, that Congress
have supreme power in the government OF
them, depending on the exercise of their
sound discretion"
Again he says that inhabitants of terri
tories are "as dependant upon the will of
Congress as the people Of this country
.swould have been upon the King and Par
element o. Great Britain, if they could
shave sustained their claim TO bind US in
"all cases whatsoever"
In Sergeant's Constitutional Law, page
3S9 occurs the following:
"The power Of governing and legslating
'sfor territory is the inevitable consequence
'of the right to acquire and hold territory"
Hunter, of Virginia, in the debate on the
Oregon bill, in 1913, said-
81 agree with those who maintain, that
the right to govern the Territories is in
Congress-
Underwood, of Kentucky, about the line
time said:-
"There is nc prohibition to be found in
the Constitution in respect to the power of
Congress over the question of slavery when
legislating for Territory
Mr. Polk in one of his messages, alluded
to the Missouri Cor promise as follows
"But the good gerius of Cancellation
which presided at the birth of our institu-
tions finally prevailed, and the Missouri COM
promise was adopted"
He also recommended the extension of
the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific
ocean, as did Messrs. Douglass and Buch-
anan.
In 1850 Stephen A. Douglass said:-
al am prepared to stand or fall by the
American Union, clnging with the tenacity
of life to all its glorious memories of the
past, and the precious hopes of the future;
and among those glorious hopes of the past
| pronounce the Compromise Of 1920 to be
one"
We might 90 on and cite authority on
this point almost without limit, all going to
prove that Congress and Congress alone has
the right to legislate in the territories, but
we forbear: knowing that if any one is so
foolishly captious as to reject the authorities
already given, he would not believe though
r. lo,
Having proven upon former occasion
that slavery was an evil, and curse to any
country in which it existed; and in this ar
ticle shown, upon the very best authority,
that Congress has unlimited right to pro-
hibit its spread, we come to the main ques-
ton, and the all-important question-ls it
not the business of every true lover of his
country to lift up his voice against the spread
of this curse, and demand that Congress
shall assert her power! We fear not but
that every true heart will dictate an affirma-
tive answer. This is simply ."the aim of
the Republican party,
Reader, do you detect anything treason
able in all this! Anything calculated to
subvert our government! Most ,assuredly
not. Then join US heart and hand in our
attempts to place the government upon the
principles designed by Washington, Madison,
Jefferson and Monroe, the fathers of our ma
tionality, and secure to your posterity the
blessings of freedom instead of the curse of
slavery