Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1856-12-18

greSs iOuDo l(SelI compelled, fOf tn
: support of the Constitution, and th
vindication Of its power, to author
ize the appointment of new officer
charged with the execution of it
acts, as if they and the officers O
the States we're the ministers, espec
lively, of foreign governments in
state of mutual hostility, rathe
than fellow-magistrates of a common
country, peacefully subsisting under
the protection of one well.constitut
ed Union. Thus here, also, aggres
sion was followed by reaction; and
the attacks upon the Constitution a
this point did but serve to raise u,
new barriers for its defence aud secu
rity.
/ The third stage of this unhapp,
sectional controversy was in connex
ion with the organization Of terrific
rial governments, and the admission
of new States in 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 territory ceded by France TO the
United States, representatives in
Congress objected to the admission
of the latter, unless with the condi.
tions suited to particular views of
public policy. Tie imposition of
such condition WAS successfully re.
sisted. But, at the same period, the
question was presented of imposing
restrictions upon the residue of the
territory ceded by France The
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
accord, resolved, for considerations
of the most iar-sightea sagacity, to
cede Louisiana to the United States,
and that accession was accepted by
the United States, the latter express
ly engaged that "the inhabitants of
the ceded territory shall be incorpo-
rated in the Union of the United
States, and admitted as soon as pos
sible, according to the principles Of
the Federal Constitution, to the en-
joyment of all tie rights, advantages,
and immunities of citizens of the
United States, and in the meantime
they shall be maintained and protec-
ted in the free enjoy yment of their
liberty, property, and the religion
which they profess that is to say,
while it remains in territorial con-
dition, its inhabitants are maintained
and protected in the free enjoyment
of their liberty and property, with a
right then to pass into the condition
of States on footing Of perfect
equality with the original States.
The enactment, which established
the restrictive geographical line, was
acquiesced in rather than approved
by the States of the Union. 1t
stood on the statute book, however,
for a number of years; and the peo-
pie of the respective States acquies-
ced in the re, enactment of the prin-
ciple as applied to the State of Tex
as; and it was proposed to acquiesce
in its further application to the terri
tory acquired by the United States
from Mexico. But this proposition
was successfully resisted by the rep
resentatives from the Northern
States, who, regardless of the statute
line, insisted upon applying restrie-
tions to the new territory generally,
whether lying north or south of it,
thereby repeating it as a legislative
compromise, and, on the part Of the
North, persistently violating the
compact, if compact there was.
Thereupon the enactment ceased
to have binding virtue in any sense,
whether as respects the North or
South; and so in effect it was treated
on the occasion of the admission OF
the State of California and the organ
ization of the Territories of New
Mexico, Utah and Washington.
Such was the state of this ques'
tion when the time arrived for the
organization Of the Territories o.
Kansas and Nebraska, In the pro-
gress of the constitutional inquiry
and reflection, it had now at length
come to be seen clearly that Con
gress does not possess constitutions
power to impose restrictions of thi'
character upon any present or fntnr'
State of the Union. In a long serie
lof decisions On The fullest argument