The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1857-01-17

WtIl,
strucon can be put upon the Kansas bill 10 this parcu
lar may be put upon the New Mexico and Utah bills and
the who do put this construction upon IT put
the upon the Others also. The gentleman, imagine
point single man. Congress Congress
who appls IL TO the and not 70 the Others The doc
trines they hold in reference to the Kansas bill they
held in 1885, and still hold in reference to the others
Their construction did not drive prevent the gentle
man from Kentucky Mr. H. MARSHALL then from voting
for and sustaining those measures nor Will drive OF
prevent from sustaining and defending this one
In addition to this may say that most Of those who hold
the doctrine that the territorial legislatures can exclude
slavery do not derive the power do so from the terri
toral bills at all but they maintain it inherent in
dependent and sovereign right OF the people, not derived
in any way from Congress This Is the OF the doc
tne of squatter sovereignty about which we have heard
much lately and about which gentlemen to have
such indistnct ideas.
The true import Of this word can be best understood by
recurring to its origin Isprang from the idea advocated
by some, that the people Of Territory endowed
with sovereign powers inherently and independently of
action Of Congress This it said, would be re-
cogusng sovereignty in the intruders and quars upon
the public domain Hence the doctrine was dubbed squa
sovereignty" No such doctrine be found either In
the Kansas, Utah, or New Mexico bills All the powers
they ercise they derive directly from this
in their organic acts All their machinery of government
proceeds from They hold it by grant and by
eregu right. They hold from and through and not
Independently Of u.s. Their temporary governments were
or erected by Their legislative powers
ercised by pernisson"e1 grda not "ez deboJ JustaiG
All the rights and powers of government possessed by
Congress the Territories granted to the people
thereeoered upon them in the bills organizing their ter
rora government and all the governmental power
them thus granted but the power to restrain,
strict prohibit slavery or to prevent the immigration
and diffusion of any class of American population not
in my Judgment amongst those thus granted for Congress
does not possess this power to grant il.
This, sir, is government of limited powers All tho
powers it righully exercise confer such
expressly delegated in the constitution and such may
be necessary carry out those which expressly named
The power to govern the Territories provide govern
men for hem is itself not of those expressly granted
IL is but incident merely TO OF the expressly grant
ed powers and go beyond the necessities attending
the execution of the carrying the spe
CITED objects for which they granted The exclusion
restraining of slavery in the Territories the permission
of the immigration of class to the exclusion of another
whether white or black, bond or free not amongst
any of those Objects and is necessary incident in
ryng any Of them out Nor is the exclusion of slavery
included amongst the "righul subjects of legislation
granted the Territories while the right to legislate on
the subject may be for the right exclude is not en-
baced in the power to egsate upon the subject To pro-
tec property is the duty OF government and the power
do this does include the power right to destroy
it, and protect 1t may be riRhul subject of egaa-
tion, consistent with the constitution of the United States
but not to destroy it. The people in the Territories have
this right or power to regulate and protect but the
other for Congress- under the limitations of the consi
tuon did not have that to give them. There no such
thing as sovereignty political soveregnty
meann the people of the Territories either by inherent
right by grant from Congress There is such sove-
reigny over the Territories in Congress or all the
departments Of the general government combined This
resides in the people OF the separate States part of that
resduum of powers not delegated by them in the cons
ton and which ia that instrument expressly reserved
10 the States respectively or the peope and
of them only in the mode provided in the constitution
which is on the admission Of States The public do
main belongs 10 the people Of all the States as common
men should be subject only to SUCH needul rules and
regulations in its disposition may be necessary for its
free and equal use and enjoyment by oil alike and for its
colonization and settlement by all alike without any un
just discrimination against any either by Congress or
territorial government they may institute until the num-
Der of inhabitants may justify their admission into the
Union State and then by the express terms of the
constitution they may be admitted with as absolute soye
reigny within their Jurisdiction the other members of
the conederacy Then, end in this way, the other
undeegaed sovereignty of the whole people AZ the states
respectively passes them int Inc new sate mnon
her recognition and admisson as coequal in the Union
But am asked "ls the government of the United
States sovereign and whether it the representative
OF sovereignty Of people Of the United States over the
Territories In reply that the government of the
United States my Judgment clothed with certain SOW
erelgn but these powers limited specified OBJ
ecs In the legitimate and proper exercise these pow
ers to the extent OF taeir grant, may be considered as
sovereign or supreme as any other government Just as
sovereign as the Autocrat OF Russia in whom is
rated all power but these powers with which it clothed
extend only to such subjects by the grant
deegating them Over all others it has no power or au
thority to act at ALL So far from being SOVEREIGN aa m
these it is perfectly impotent 1t cannot rghtfuv eyer
else any authority whatever upon any matter not comm
ted to its charge by grant from the people of the States re-
specVey and 1t Can WELD the soveeign powers of the
people thus delegated 70 only over such subjects and 10
accomplish sucn Objects the people have Authorized II
to exercise authority upon. To this extent it ia the rem
resentave or rather the active and living imbodment of
the sovereignty of the people II is in Other words the
organ, or constitutes the channels through which their
sovereignty acts on the subjects specified in the grant Of
It's powers But the appropriation the public domain tn
one class OF citizens to the exclusion of another il nat m
oe found In the scope of these powers or the objects for
which they were conferred + y wv ~
And to its being the Representative Of the
OF the people in connection with the subject under consd
eraton have but word further Ia reply Let me ina
rae 1he corporate authorities any town or citv are
the representatives to certain extent of those who he
long TO the municipality They The atves to
the extent OF the powers eonrfed them by their char
ter Nov, suppose adjacent lands should become in apy
way the property Of the corpoatonhe common property
OF ain which every in the town or CITY had an eopa
INTEREST," and suppose that the charter whence the author
ies derive all their power conferred upon them no
er TO dispose OF this common property except to make
needful rules and regulations concerning it, for the equal
oenent u all; would any maintain that the author
ties 10 this could appropriate the whole of Il TO one
CLASS OF the ozens to the exclusion of another or that
they could empower portion of the tenants in common
getting upon 1t to exclude others7 use this illustration
oaey 10 snow the character in which the general
ment may be considered We OF the
OF the people os the United States over the common err
tories Ana for this purpose the analogy is good The
general government holds the property In the Ter
rtorles as trustee The people Of all the States are the
cst que ru and act of the trustee or those acting
unoer 'ne authority OF the trustee can rghtfuy exclude
any 30 long the paramount authority absolute po
icai sovereignty over the territory is in abeyance
But why pursue argument prove that the construc
ton by some upon the Kansas bill to which he
from Kentucky Mr.. H. MARSHALL alluded is wrong and
not legitimate2 He admits 1t himself But be said that
win the construction or that which
authorizes the territorial legislature to exclude savarv tho
Kansas bill is no better the South procica thar he
old Missouri restriction which it took off; and with this
ne would not for all practical purposes far