The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1856-01-24
NUMBER 19.
Ell as authorizing all necessary te.Fitori-

ed as authorizing all necessary te:ritori-
al legislation. sgss 1e,zI9sl -c7esE.. ..s
Almost every Congress had exercised
the power. and almost every President had
approved its exercise. They very persons
who denied the power to prohibit Slavery.
asserted the power to establish territorial
governments and to define their departments
and powers, and therefore, in denying the
power Of prohibition, were reduced to the
necessity OF denying that the greater in
cludcs the less. ,t-a., o4 ss..-r, -s--
Under these circumstances, after, the
prohibition had remained sunquestioned
for more than the third of century,st
denial OF its consitutionality rather pro-
voked Indignation than excited doubt.
l. 1t was, also, insisted that the doctrine
1of popular sovereignty required the re-
peal ot the prohibition. This was reere
abuse OF terms. The true idea of popular
Sovereignty demands as q primary essent-
iai condltion the recognition Of inalienable
personal rights, There can be no genuine
popular sovereignty where a portion O. the
population is enslaYed. The prohibition
of slavery Is therefore necessary pre-re-
qnisite 20 real Sovereignty, of the people
In the sense OF the apologistss for repeal.
popular sovereignty signifies nothingabnt
The right OF portion of the community
t., enslaye the rest, Itbegins by the den.
ial OF the natural rights OF man. /; must
end in total subvcrsion of the fundament-
al principles of American institutions
For free and Independent people. it
would substitute community OF masters.
: dependents, and slaves, 80 =. -
Such is. the ,repulsive theory. In prae-
teal operation it has not proved more at
ltractive. As embodied in the Nebraska-
Kansas, bill, it has been fruitful of moth
in. but evil. Il has not conferred q single
substantial benefit upon the settlers of
either territory. In mo respect are they
: distinguished from the settlers of Minnes-
ota. where slavery is prohibited, except by
, exposure to its evils. .,s.. u. s. -
The sole special effect of the Nebraska
Kansas act upon the territories organized
un'ier 1t is to open them to the introIuc.
ton of slavery. In one OF them it has
led to desperate attempts to effect that OBJ
Ject--to. invasion, usul patton, violence.
oloodshed-almost to civil war. Crimes
like these are not the legitimate ,furits of
: that doctrine of popular self-goyernment.
TO the maintenance of which. our fathers
pledged their lives, their fortunes and their
honor. -
In all these things our own State has
a deep and peculiar interest. Our own
history furnishes the most complete vindic-
atien of the policy of slavery prohibition
Wa ,A Ill
from the blight OF slavery by the tine Or
dinance of 1887. For more than halt q
. century the people Of Ohio have been ac-
cn>tomed to regard that Ordinance with
mingled emations of gratitude and pride.
Conspicuous among it's provisions and in
hit companionsh p withits sacred guaraties
OF religious freedom, of liberality to-
wards immigrants. of the inviolabiIity
of contrscts, OF the security of pri-
vate property, and of the univerdict
aggiIlst slavery, acknowledging and i'm
partially protecting the ights of man as
man. The words to which we always
recur when seeking in the Ordinance the
the peculiar springs of our wonderful pro-
speri;y and progress, are those which en-
body this prohibition. efl5 ~
r. Never did the the noble pioneers who
laid the foundations, on which we now
joyfully build, complain of that interdict
as an abridgement OF any rights, person
al OF political. On the contrary they havs
ever spoken OF it as the pillar OF fire by
night nd OF cloud by day which guided
and protecte them in the Wilderness
More than any other State, Ohio, as the
, tirst-born OF the Ordinance, and indebted
to the Ordinance for her proud position,
as the third State OF the Cunterderacy
and first among the new Stat S, in bonnd
TO chez ish and defend its great and benefit
cent principle. ,ry.'fa e.. = .59x<... .assr7
In SO d oing we shall be fellow workers
: with its illustrious Trainers in their own
feclaied policy and purpose of extend
ing the fundamental principles Of civil and
relig Gus liberty whefeon these republics,
their laws and constitutions are erected.
and fixing and establishing those principle
as the basis of all laws, constitutions and
governments which forever hereafter shall
be formed in American territory
Nc political duty appears to be more
urgent than this. ff
The question of Slavery, it ia almost
universally nonceded, transcends in pre-
sent importance all other political ques-
tions OF national charater. The repeal
of the Missouri Prohibition. abrogatins
the Missouri Compromi O. opens anew the
Whole anl important subject of tho re-
lationso of slavery to the Union, to the
States. anslto the Ter1itoriers. In,determ-
ining the tue line of duty, under these
circumstances, it seems to he the part of
wisdom to lecur to the acts of the Fonnd-
ers of the Republic, and to the principles
af the Constitution. 70 me these guides
seem To indicate a plain. 1t leafis back
TO the original national policy, L ha,e al
ready remarked, while it sanctioned no
outside interference with slavery III slave
States, contemplated no extension of it
beyond limits. 1t regarded slavery in
ali lis relations as subject, exclusively, to
State Legislation. and absolved The Gener.
al Government from all responsibility for
It's existence or continuance. Our return
20 that policy should be >ignalized by the
restoration OF the guaranty of freedom to
the Territories which have been deprived
Of the retrograde legislation of Congress.
Fad The policy originally adopted been
ie.sistentiy purSuel, the question OF sla-
very would have ceased long since to yex
our repose and disturb our councils.---