The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-02-10


community they constitute a people
Kansas is a politicai co1nmuuity and a
people. What enabling act" was re-
quired to impart to theln-stLe power to
propose change in their form Of govern
ment? What enabling act can give them
more political and inalienable rights than
they already possess? 1t would be a
solecism, contradiction, to assert tt
Among the inalienable rights are .iiife,
liberty, aud the pursuit of happiness. to
secure which governments are Instituted,
deriving their just powers from tue con-
sent Of the governed. )" Who are the
"governed 2n The people sS Kansas
From whom, then, viii thesgovernmcnt
of the State of Kansas derive its just pow
ers :? From the '.goUerncd, and not from
your g enabling act.n Their power was
inherent, aud all the action of the FEEDER
al government can give them no addition
al political po er- That Inherent Towcr
is ole of transfer; it is unchapgeab bic;
it is indefeasible it is original What
then Does it follow that the people in
an organized or unorganized shape, living
in Territory, can set up an Independent
government when they please No; L
answered most emphatically, no. They
may propose their form of government !;
they may shape its features they may
parcel out its powers; they may gard
the rights aud interests of the people uu-
der the newly proposed governm, mt but
they cannot become an absolute sovereign
ty they cannot become an absolute inde-
pendent State. Why Because the Ter
ritory belongs to he Federal Government
for the use of all the States. Nothing
but the assent of the Federal Government
in some manner, shape, or form, will ever
impart to them independence and sover-
eighty. The only purpose of az ''ena6ling
act" to an organized Territory oughtsim-
ply to be a lac of-AssENT. If it is but
an uaOrgani1ed Territory, ard not a
people, Congress then ought to throw
them into an organic shape, as well as
give its assent. This will be found to
be the true principle, and ought to be the
rule to regulate the steps Of this Govern
ment in its dealings with the Territories.
States come into the Union By their own
will, and with the assent of the United
States
All the power ola Federal Govern
ment cannot create an Independent s9ver
eign State The power cf this Fe3eral
Governm ut is not to create, inttp admit.
To ''admit" State, implies its existence
prior to admission. Thus, what is now
ordinarily called an :" etabffng act, IS,
to all iutents and purposes, noting but
a kua0 Of assem- The grest Federal Gov
ernIneut, in which is vested the sovereign
ty of the @,erritoryssm give that assent
before or after the organization of the
proposed new government; it is perfectly
optional with the Federal Government to
give it before or after such organization,
with this single difference: when the as
sent is in the shs pc of what is new called
an ienabiipg act," and when the people
of the Territory have proceede ed according
to the principles of that enabling act, and
created government, the assent being
given, the whole sovereignty becomes YES
ted, the independent State EXISTS, and
then if Congress DO not admit it, it is
foreign State in spite of all our powers
The danger, therefore, ia in passing au
enabling act, not in Withholding one.
Who Is it that does not remembtr the
unfortunate Missouri controve sey of Is
20 An enabling act, as latterly Gals
led, had been passed for the State of Mis-
souri,, in pursuance of which Missouri
formed its constitution and asked for ad
mission Some quibbles were raised, and
some non. essential points were alleged
against its admission, and Missouri was
we'll nigh rejected. All the Republican
Senators aua members of the House of
Representatives at that day-I use the
term in its old Specification. not the new
said, ''the assent of thu Federal Gov
ernment has been given to the act of NJ IS
souri,. Missouri had created its govern
ment in puruapce of an enabling act, and
was, therefore, sovereign aud independenti
and if Congress had not admitted Missou-
ri, that State would have been a legally
recognized foreign government at the west
bank Of the Mississippi river"
It is trua that the physical power of
the Federal Government might have sent
armies and coerced Missouri into submis-
sion, but that would have converted it in
to a subjugated State; Missouri would
not have been, in that case, free and in
dependent State it would have made it
an inferior, dependent vassal, subservient,
and subordinate member of the confed-
eracy According to the true principles
of the theory of our Government, whenev-
er congressional assent TO sovereignty and
independence are cOHCeueu, tue p6Uplc VI
Territory may act as they please, and it
is an independent State thereafter Now,
when assent is not given prior to the time
of admission, there is no danger of that
kind of difficulty.
But Mr.. President, is it so important
that an "ena6ling act" should be passed?
The Senator thinks SO, and refers to in
stances when such acts were passed
Why, sir, Tennessee, Arkansas, Michigan,
Florida, Iowa, California, Maine, and Yer
mont, eight States-new States, not in
the original Confederacy-came into the
union without any enabling act on the
part of Congress- Was Tennessee improp-
erly admitted !? It was recommended by
George Washington. The proceedings
that were instituted under governor Blunt
in the then Territory of Tennessee, met
the sanction of the republicans of that
State. Among the members of the con-
ventiop, that revolutionary-no, the SEN
ator does not give it that name-that
'irreguLar" convention, is found the name
of Andrew jackson, of Tennessee. He