Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-02-07
AFFAIRS IN KANSAS.
tssagc Of the President.
WAsurNGToF, Jan. 81, 1856.

fssage Of the President.
WAsHINGToF, Jan. 81, 1856.
Senate and House of Representatives:
nmstances have occurred to disturb the
4 of governmental organization in the
ory of Kansas, aad produce there a
a lon of things which renders it incum-
b me to call your attention to the sub
ld earnestly recommend the adoption
D IN of such measures of legislation as
th ave exigoneies of the case appear to
ef exposition Of the circumstances re-
I'd 10. and of their causes, will be necssa-
ry he full understanding of The recon-
M, lions which it is proposed to submit
act to organize the Territories of Ne
br and Kansas was a manilestion of the
Id tive opinion of Congress on two great
nd |of constitutional construction: One,
~ designation of tho boundaries of q
n Z ~ Ilvsg, and provision Cor lis political
orsanization and administration as a Territory
are measures which of right fall within the
power of the General Government; and the
other. that the inhabitants of any such Ter
Yitory. considered as an inchoate State, are en-
titled, in the exercise of self-government, to
determire for themselves what shall be their
own domestic institutions, subject only to the
Constitution and the laws duly enacted by
Congress under it, and to the power of the
existing States to decide, according to the
provisions and principles of the Constitution,
at what time the Territory shall be received
as State into the Union. Such are the
great POLITICAL rights which are SOlemnly de-
clared and affirmed by the act.
Based upon this theory, the act of Congress
defined for each Territory the outlines OF re-
publican government, distributing public au-
thority among the lawfully created agents
executive, judicial, and legislative-to be ap-
pointed either by the General Government or
by the Territory. The legislative functions
were entrusted to Council and House Of
Representatives, duly elected and empower
cd to enact all the local laws which they may
deem essential to their prosperity, happiness
and good government. Acting in the same
spirit Congress also defined the persons who
were in the first instance to be considered as
the people Of each Territory; enacting that
every FREQ white male inhabitant of the same
above the age Of twcnty-one years, being an
actual resident thereof, and possessing those
qualifications hereafter described, should be
entitled to vote at tho first election, and be
eligible TO any office within the Territory
but that the qualifications of voters and hold
Ing Office at all subsequent elections should
be such as might be prescribed by the Legis-
lative Assembly; provided, however, that
the right of suffrage and of holding office
should be exercised only by citizens of the
United States, and those who should have
declared on oath their intention to become
such, and have taken an oath to support the
Constitution of the United States and the
provisions of the act; and, provided further,
that no officer, soldier, seamen or marine, or
other person in the army or navy OF the Uni
ted States, or attached To troops in their SER
vice. should be allowed to vote or hold Office
in either Territory by reason OF being on ser
vice therein.
7 Such of the public officers of the Terrific
ries as, by the provisions of the act, were to
be appointed by the General Government
the Governors. were appointed aud
nmmissioned in due season-the law ha-
ing been enacted on the 30th of May, 1854
md the commission Of the Governor of the
Territory of Nebraska being dated on the I'd
day of August, 1854, and of the Territory Of
Kansas on the 29th of June, 1854.
Among the duties imposed by the act upor
the Governors was that of directing and SUI
perintending the political organization of the
respective Territories. The Governor OF
Kansas was required to cause 2 census oil
.r,., Grafton of the inhabitants or qualified
voters OF t;,s several counties or districts o.
sl,e Territory to be iskcnby such persons ant
4, saodes as he might designate and ap
in suc.. -~snt the time and place of hold
point; TO app, and the manner Of con
inc the first election. - ceEsens to super
ducting them. both as to TIL, '--ns theIeof
intend such elections and the ret. 9TH
to declare the number of the members
Council and House of Representatives 10.
each county or district; to declare what per-
sons might appear to be duly elected; and to
appoint the time and place Of holding the
first meeting of the Legislative Assembly,
In substance, the same duties were devolved
on the Governor of Kansas.
While, by this act the principle of consti-
tuition for each of the Territories was one and
the same, and the details of organic legisa-
ton regarding both were nearly as could be
identical, and while the Territory of Nebras-
ka was TRANQUILITY and successfully organized
in the due course Of law, and its first legisla-
tive Assembly met on the 10Th of J an 1855,
the organization of Kansas was long delayed,
and has been attended with serious Difficult
ties and embarrassments partly tho conse-
qucnce of local mal-administration, and part
" of the unjustiliable interference of the in
habitants Of some of the States foreign by
interests, and rights to Che Terri
tory.
The Governor of the Territory of Kansas,
commissioned, as before stated, on the 29th
of June, 1854, did not reach the designated
scat of his Govcrnment until the 9TH of the
ensuing October; and even then failed to
make the first step in its legal organization,
that of ordering the census or enumeration of
its inhabitants, until so late day that the
election Of the members Of the Legislative
Assembly did not take place until the 30th
of Mach, 1856; so that, for year after the
Territory was constituted by the act of Con-
gross, and the officers TO be appointed by the
Federal Executive had been commissioned,
it was without n complete Government, with
out any legislative authority, without local
law, and OF course, without the ordinary guar
antics of peace and public order.
In other respects the Governor, instead Of
exercising the constant vigilance and putting
forth all his energies TO prevent or counteraot
the tendencies to illegality which are prone
to exist in all imperfectly organized and now
] associated communities, allowed his atteu-
tion to be diverted from official obligation by
other objects and himself set an example of
tho violation of law in the performance of
acts which rendered it my duty in the sequel,
to remove him from the office of chief execu-
tive magistrate ofthe Territory.
Before the requisite preparation was ac-
cemplished for the election of a Territorial
Legislature, sn election of Delegate to Con-
gress had been held in the Territory on the
29th day of November, 1854, and the Dele
gate took his seat in the House of Represent
atives without challenge. If arrangements
had been perfected by the Governor so that
the election for members of the Legislative
Assembly might be held in tho several pre-
cincts at the same time as for Delegate to
Congress, any question appertaining to the
qualification of the persons voting as the
people of the Territory would have passed
necessarily and at once under the supervision
of Congress, the Judge of the validity of
the return of the Delegate, and would have
been determined before conN;ct;r, ross;or.