Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1858-07-24

| cohIo Vi that oquatter sovereignty What
has become of t2 Can you get anybody to
| tell you now that people of a territory have
| any authority to govern themselves, in regard
| 10 thls mooted question of Slavery, before
| tney form State Constitution? No such
| tnlhg al all, although there is q general run
| mug hre' and although there. has been a
hurraii 'hade IN every speech on that side,
assuming 'hat that policy had given the peO-
pic Vi 'erritory lie tight to govern them
serves upon 'nis question; yet the point is
lodged. To-day it has been decided-no
more than year ago it was decided bv the
| Supreme Court of the United States and is
insisted. upon to-day, that the peonle of a
| territory have no right to exclude slavery
from territory; that if any one man chooses
| to take slaves into a territory all the rest of
the people have no right to keen them ont
This being SO, and this decision being made
one of the points that the Judge approved
and one in the approval of which he saws he
means to keep me down-pm me down.
should not say, for | have never been up
He says he is in favor of it, and sticks to it.
and expects to win his battle on that decision.
| which says that there is no such thing as
Squatter Sovereignty, but that any one man
may take Slaves into territory, and all the
other men OF the territory may be opposed
| to it, and yet by reason of the constitution
they cannot prohibit it. When that is So
how much is left of this vast matter of Squat
ter Sovereignty, l should like to know.
| THE RIGHT OF PEOPLE TO MAKE A CONsTITU
TION NOT NEW DOCTRINE.
| When we get back. we get to the point of
the right of the people to make constitu-
ton. Kansas was settled, for example, in
1854. 1t was Territory yet, without hav-
ing formed a constitution, in very regular
way, for three years. All the time negro
slavery could be taken in by any few indi-
viduals, and by that decision of the Supreme
Court, which the Judge approves, all the rest
of the people cannot keep it out; but when
they come to make a constitution, they may
say they will not have slavery. But it is
there they are obliged to tolerate it some
| way, and all experience shows that it will be
so-for they will not take the negro slaves
and actually deprive the owners of them
All experience shows this to be so All that
space of time that runs from the beginning of
the settlement of the Territory until there is
stitution-all that portion of time Popu lar
Sovereignty is given up. The seal is actually
put down upon it by the Court decision, and
Judge Douglas puts bis on the top of that &;
yet he is appealing to the people to give him
vast credit for his devotion to Popular Sove-
reignty. Applause and cries of right y
"right;" ;" "good;" "good.'
Again, when we get to the question of the
right of the people to form State constitu-
ton as they please, to form it with slavery or
without slavery-if that is anything new, /
confess don't know it. Has there ever been
a time when any one said that anybody other
than the people of a Territory itself should
form their constitution. What is new in it.,
that Judge Douglas should have fought sew
eral years of his life, and pledged himself to
fight all the remaining years of his life for I?
Can Judge Douglas find anybody Oh earth
that said that anybody else should form a
cor stituton for people? A voice, "Ycs.'0
Well, should like you to name him should
like to know who he was. (Same voice,
"John Calhoun.")
MIR. Lincoln-NO, sir, | never heard of even
John Calhoun saying such thing. He in
sisted on the same principle as Judge Doug
las but his mode of applying it in fact, was
wrong. 1t Is enough for my purposes to ask
this crowd, when ever Republican said any
thing against it? They never said anything
against it, but they have constantly spoken for
it, and whoever will undertake to examine the
platform and the speeches OF responsible men
OF the party, and of irresponsible men, too, if
you please, you will be unable to find one
word from anybody in the Republican ranks
opposed to that popular sovereignty Judge
Douglas thinks he has invented. (Applause).
suppose that Judge Douglas will claim in
little while, that he is the inyentor of the idea
that the people should gcUern themselves; (cheers
and laughter) that nobody ever thought OF
such thing until he brought it forward
We do remember that in that old Declaration
Of Independence, it is said that awe hold
these truths to be seli-evident, that all men
are created equal; that they are en- lowed by
their creator with certain inalienable rights;
that among these are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness; that to secure these
rights, governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers fl ON the consent
of the governed" There is the origin of pop.
ular sovereignty. loud applause) Who,
then, shall come in at this day and claim that
he invented it? daughter and appause).
THE LECOMPToN CONsTITUTIoN-REPUBLICA
FIRST AGAINST 1T.
The Lecompton Constitution connects it.
sell with this question, for it is in this matter
of the LecOmpton Constitution that our friend
Judge Douglas claims such vast credit
agree that in opposing the Lecompton Con-
stitution that our friend Judge Douglas
claims such vast credit. | agree that in op
posing the Lecompton Constitution, so far as
[ can perceive, he was right. {" Good"
"good.') do not deny that at ALL and
gentlemen, you will readily see why could
not wish to; for all the Republicans in the
opn,co1 ,I fbo,, hor
posed it just as much without Judge Doug
as aid as with it. They had all taken,
ground against it long before he did. Why,
the reason that he argues against that Consti-
tuition, | urged against him year before |
have the printed speech in my hand. The
argument that he makes, why that the Con-
stituton should not be adopted, tha: the peo-
pie were not fairly represented nor allowed to
vote, pointed out in Il speech yeac ago,
which hold in my hand now, that no fair
chance was to be given to the people. l shall
not waste your time by trying to read it.
{" Read it," "read it.) Gentlemen, reading
from speeches is tedious business, partcu-
larry for an old man who has to put on spec
tacles and the more SO if the man be so tall
that he has to bend over to the light
Laushter).
| WHO DEBATED LECOMPTON.
A little more, now, as to this matter of
popular sovereignty and the Lecompton Con-
stituton, as the Judge tells US, was defeated
The defeat Of it was good thing or it was
not. He thinks the defeat of it was a good
thing, and so do l, and we agree in that.
Who defeated it?
vOice-Judge Douglas.
Mr.. Lincoln-Yes he furnished himself and
if you suppose he controlled the other Demo-
Gratis that went with him, he furnished three
votes in the Senate while the Republicans
furnished tacenty. (Applausc.)
That is what he did to defeat it. In the
House of Representatives he and his friends
furnished some twenty votes and the Repub-