Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1857-04-02

00AAoN "h0iO Uiio lelIllOry is Tree, pOlH
parties acting in good faith, would be attend
ed with satisfactory results
The sovereignty of the federal government
extends to the limits of our territory. Should
any foreign power invade our Jurisdiction, it
would be repealed. There is law of Con-
gress to punish our citizens for crimes commit
ted in districts of country where there is no
organized government. Criminals are brought
to certain territories or states, designated in
the law, for punishment. Death has been
1efi1e1ed in Arkansas and in Missouri on indi-
b. murders committed beyond the
Inn Hs'of any organized territory or state;
ane no epe doubts that such a jurisdiction was
rlghtfully exercised IF there be a right to
acquire territory, there necessarily must be an
implied power to govern it. Whenkhe mill
tary fbreeo Of the Union shall conquer coun-
try, maHnot Congress provide for the govern
ment OF such country? This would be an
implied power essential to the acquisition of
new terrltgry his power has been exercised,
without e its constitutionality, over
territory acqiNrelsby conquest or purchase.
And wheel there is a large district Of coun-
try within Me United States and not within
any stass government if it be necessary to
establish ttsmporary government to carry
out power es Vressly vested in Congress-as
the. disposition4 the public lands-may not
such governml ka instituted by Congress?
How dow ,de Constitution? Is it not
apracticai pent?
In such 4ses no implication Of power
can arise which is inhibited bwthe Constitu-
ton, or which may be against the theory Of
its construction. As my opioion rests on the
third section, these remarks are made as an
intimation that the power to establish tenn
porary government may arise, also on the
other two grounds stated in the opinion Of the
court in the insurance case, without weaken
ing the third section.
Iwould help simply remark that the Con-
stitution was formed for our whole country
An expansion or contraction of our territory
required no change in the fundamental law.
When we consider the men who laid the
foundation Of our government and carried it
into operation, the men who occupied the
bench, who filled the halls Of legislation and
the Chief Magistracy, it would seem, if any
question could be settled clear of all doubt, it
was the power of Congress to establish terri
torial governments. Slavery was prohibited
in the entire northwestern territory, with the
appreciation of leading men South and North;
but this prohibition was not retained when
this ordinance was adopted for the govern
mentof southern territories where slavery
existSa. In a late republication of a letter
Of MA Madison, dated Nov. II, 1919, speak
Of this power of Congress to prohibit
Il slavesy in territory, he infers there is no
Esubh power from the fact that it has not been
exercised This is not very satisfactory ar
.gument against any power, as there are but
lew if any subjects on which the constitutions
al powers of Congress are exhausted. 1t is
true, as Mr. Madison states, that Congress, in
the act to establish government in the Miss
issippi territory prohibited the importation
Of slaves into it from foreign parts but it is
equally true, that in the act erecting louisa
ma into two territories, Congress declared, at
shall not be lawful for any person to bring in.
to Orleans territory, from any port Or place
within the limits of the United States, any
IKE which shall have been imported since
,Ir-I79S, or which may hereafter be imported
except by a citizen of the United States who
settles in the territory, under penalty of the
treedonl Ngch slave" The inference Of
y MIG 1iGIsiore, against gg<,,ps the power q
from the con
in Indiana, by
he people of th'
- PcSlL II Of the provision which
slavery in that territory. The re
Et 1sed !" that the rapid population of tn,
state OF Ohio sufficiently evinces, in the opin
.en OF your committee, that the labor of slave
y not necessary to promote the growth anc
HSettement Of colonies in that region. Tha
labor, demonstrably the dearest of any
u only be employed to advantage in the cul
tipn ct products more valuable than an
1esthat quarter Of the United States
6ommittee deem it highly dangerou
8pedient, to impair provision wsel
topromote the happiness and pros
lie northwestern country, and t
Iand security to that extensiy
IN the salutary operation of tn
I and benevolent restraint, it is bt
h the inhabitants will, at no yer
levday, find ample remuneration for
T~porary privation Of labor and of emigr;
ttion." Il vol. State Papers, Public Lane
F'1GS)
The judicial mind of this country, sta
and federal, disagreed on no subject, with
its Legitimate Essn, with equal .unaninity
on the powe Coqgras to establish teIriti
ria governmsstsy 30 court, state or fedora
, no Judge or statesman, Il known to have he
= any doubts opsthn question for nearly sixt
yea&ssafter the power was exercised. Sue
sants Riyc been established from Il
rs Of the Ohio to The Gulf of Mexic
aGndl9g to the lakes on the north and Il
pTSgc Ocean in the west, and from the lin,
= Of eorgia to Texas.
Aeat interests have grown up under IL
;, territorial laws over country more than fl,
times. greater in extent than the original thi
teen states and these interests, corporate
otherwise, have been cherished and consol
dated by benign policy without any one SUI
posing the aw-making power had united vii
the Judiciary, under the universal sanctic
OF the whole country, to usurp the jurisdicti(
which did not belong to Them Such di
coyery at this late date is moro evtroord;po,