Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1857-06-25

| Although the following is bat private letter
we shall offer no apology in giving it to the pub
| lie. We intended to have put it into the hands
| Of the President of the recent Convention in
| Milwaukee, but unfortu nately it got mislaid for
| 4 few days.
The sound political sentiments of this letter
Will meet with hearty response from every
| friend OF true democracy in the State.
EAST TROy, June 9th. 1857.
| DEAR DOCTOR Il start tomorrow morning
| for Kansas, to look and see for myself how
an election IS conducted in that pattern Territory
| that hrst-born of Douglas Kansas and Nebras-
ka bill-under the squatttr sovereignty ~ stem.
| i wish you could go with me, but s,resune
you intend to be present at the convention % be
| held at Milwaukee on the 18TH 1t wouH aasgf
| me very great pleasure, could l be theye too,
and participate in the free interchange of those
sentiments and feelings which have been engen-
dered in the hearts of all true men by the most
atrocious political decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States and by the evident
determination of the Federal Government 80
paralyze the power of the individual States by
striking a deadly blow at State sovereignty.
This determination was first manifested by leg
lsatiye enactment i'll the Flu tive Slave Law
then by tyrannical and heartless execution of
that law, among, and il, some instances, upon,
free men, denying the power of the States to
protect their OVID citizens from the baseess
claims of any unp.inc!paled scoundrel whose
.usts might be grasiEed by assuming the prerog.
alive of OmnipoteEce and asserting a right OF
property in human soul Than K God oul
own noble States, through her high est iudicials
in the face of this impudent denia.' on the par
of the great central power, reasSerte her rights
| and avowed 1t to be her duty, TO protect all
even the most humble, of her citize ms, and Il
see that No enc of them shoul be Sdeprved 0
life, liberty or property except by the judgment
| of his peers She stands erect and firm upon
| the corner stone of that great nation al fabric
| of which orr fathers were the archi ;ects anC
builders, and which has its deep foundation OF
| that great truth which they dared to promulgatt
in the teeth ofdespotism, and in defence of which
| they sacrificed their fortunes and their lives
q all men are cheated equal m are entitled fl
certain inalienable rights among which are life
| liberty and the pursuit of hapPi ness" She as
scrts her sovereignty within h er State limits
ana she xW maintain 1t. She d enies the powe
| of the Federal Court to review, interfere witt
the decisions of her Courts in amy wher
the liberty or the property of In sr citizens ma.
be IN jeopardy
The States psast all take this position or on
government becomes a great CO nsolidatcd des
potisnl. Par better that they should resolv
themselves into their original position, tina
such a consump alton.
While hold that the Federal Government
has no power under the Constitution to max
slave, also hold that her courts have no pow
er TO declare decree mana slave. SLAYER
has, nor can have no warrant in the Constitutio
ofthe Union. On the other hand the legitimat
eonst ruction of that instrun tent would contirr
and sustain the right Of every human being III
&c, its jurisdiction, TO freed, ,m-unless deprive
Of il as a punishment for CT ime. The decisio
} pf the Federal Supreme c ourt as pronounce
! ny its Chief Justice is sheer blasphemy-it is a
infamous libel on our gov ernnient---a lastin
disgrace to the court from W bich it issued, al
deeply humiliating to every American either
4 1t viii receive the excavations of mankind in a
future time for il is in violation of the upivers;
; conscience of civilized man. 1t ignores the p;
= tefnal character of the dety-it denies the de-
iaration OF our faIhers---it treats with ceRtemI
the cherished principles which from our iufane
we have been taught to hold as sacred, an
n which we can never yield except with the Gni
hope of the further progress of our race in q
that constitutes true happiness.
!. II is my earnest hope that the convention wi
: accomplish all that its most saugui Friends hop
= for it---the concentration of public sentiu;el
/ against the wrong and oppression which threa
en- us.
1t has been long time since have hear
), from you except through the Record which is a
that it should be-
Truly your friend,
JOHN H. POTTER.