The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1857-12-29
LETTER OF
HON. ROBERT ]. WALKER,
Rtsiguiag tie Office Of GorernOr Of Kansas

of the Territory of Kansas.
have been most reluctantly forced to
this conclusion. after anxious and careful
consideration of my duty to the country
to the people of Kansas, to the President
of the United States, and to myself.
The grounds assumed by the President
in his late message to Congress- and in re-
cent instructions in connection with the
events now TRANSPORTING here and in Kansas,
admonish me, that, as Governor of that Ter
ritory. it will no longer be in my power to
preserve the peace or promote the public
welfare.
At the earnest solicitation of the Presi-
dent, after repeated refusals, the last being
in writing, finally accepted this office,
upon his letter showing the dangers and diff
fculties of the Kansas question, and the
necessity of my undertaking the task of
adjustment. Under these circumstances,
notwithstanding the great sacrifices to me.
personal, political and pecuniary. l felt that
/ could no more refuse such a call from my
country. through her Chief Magistrate.
than the soldier in battle who Is ordered to
command forlorn hope.
accepted, however, on the express con-
ditiou that should advocate the submission
of the Constitution to the vote of the people
for ratification or rejection.
These views were clearly understood by
the President and all his Cabinet. They
were distinctly set forth in my letter of &C
ccptance of this Office of the Goth of March
last, and reiterated in my Inaugural ad
dress of the 9th of May last, as follows:
Indeed cannot doubt that the Conven-
ton after having framed State COnstitu-
ton, will submit it for ratification or rcjec-
Ii"n by majority of the then actual bona
fcie resident settlers of Kansas.
with these views well known to the
President and Cabinet, and approved by
them, accepted the appointment of Gov
ernor Of Kansas. My instructions from
thu President, through the Secretary of
State, under date of the Both of March last.
sustain the Regular Legislature Of The Ter
Ti'ory' in assembling u COnUentiOn 10 form a
Constitutions and they express the opinion
of the President, that ,chen such a COnsti-
tuition shall be Submitted to the people Of the
Territory, they must be protected an the erer-
else ofULeir RIGHT Of rOiiHg FOR or AGAINST
that instruments; and he .tair oppression Of
the popular acW must not be interrupted Ly
fraud or UiOLence.'
Il repeat, then, as my clear conviction,
that unless the Convention submit the Con-
stitutiOn to the vote of all the actual resi-
dent settlers of Kansas, and the election be
fairly and justly conducted, the Constitu-
ton will be, and ought to be, rejected by
Congress-"
This Inaugural most distinctly asserted
that it was not the question of slavery mere
ly, (Which | believed to be of little practi-
cal Importance then in its application to
Kansas but the entire Constitution which
should be sui mitted to the people for ratifi-
cation or rejection. These were my words
on that subject in my Inaugural: 1T is not
merely, shall slavery exist in or disappear
from Kansas, but shall the great principles
of self government and State sovereignty
he maintained or subverted ?" In that In
augural L proceeded further to say, that
the people may, by subsequent vote, de-
feat the ratification of the Constitution"
l designate this as great constitutional
right" and add that the Convention is the
servant and not the master of the people,"
In my official dispatch to you of I'd June
last, copy of that Inaugural Address was
transmitted to you for the further informa-
ton of the President and his Cabinet No
exception was ever taken to any portion of
that address; OH the contrary, it is dis
tiuctly admitted by the President in his
message, with commendable frankness, that
my instructions in favor Of the submission
of the Constitution to the vote of the people
were general and unqualified" By that
Inaugural and subsequent addresses, was
pledged to the people of Kansas to oppose
by all ''lawful means the adoption of any
Constitution which was not fairly and full
ly submitted to their vote for ratification or
rejection. These pledges I cannot recall
or violate without personal dishonor and the
abandonment of fundamental principles,
and therefore it is impossible for me to sup
port what is called the Lecompton Consti-
tuition, because it is not submitted to a vote
of the people for ratification or rejection.
l have ever uniformly maintained the
principle, that sovereignty is vested exclu-
sively in the people of each State, and that
it performs its first and highest function in
forming State government and State Con-
stitution. This highest act of sovereignty,
in my judgment. can only be performed by
the people themselves, and cannot be dele
gated to conventions or other intermediate
bodies.
Indeed the whole doctrine of the sover-
eighty of Conventions, as distinct from til at
of the people-of conventional or delegated
Sovereignty, as cOntradistinguished from
State or popular sovereignty, has ever been
discarded by me, aud was never heard of to
MY knowledge, during the great canvass of
1856. Indeed this is the great princiDle of