The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1858-01-07
NO 3
speeoh of Judge douglas


permitting its publication entire
Sir. deny Jour right or mne to in
quire of these people What their okirr
tons to that Constitution are. They have
n sht to Judge for themselves whether
they like or dislike it. 1t is no answer
to tell me that the Consultation is a good
one and uuotjectionabIe Itis not salts
factory to iDe TO have the President saw
in bis message that that Constitution is an
admirable one, like all the Constitution.
OF the new States that have bee o recrntiy
formed. Whether good or bad. whether
obnoxious or not, i, none of my business
and none of yours 1t is their business.
and not ours. | care not what thcy have
in their Constitution, so that II suit, them
aud does not violate the CcDStition or the
| United States and the fund aniental .riu.
ciples of liberty upon which our ibstitu-
ton rest. | am not going to argue the
question whether the banking sysiem es.
tablisbed iu chat constitution is wise or
unwISe. 1t says there shall be no mo-
nopolies. but there shall be one bank of
discount in the State with two branches.
All have to say on that point is, it they
want banking system let them have it
II they do not want it let the ID prohibit it
Ii they want a bank with two branches,
be 1t 20; II they want twenty, it is none
/ of my business, and it matters not to me
whether one OF them shall be on the north
side and the Other on the south side of
the Kaw river, or where tbey shall be.
While | have no ri ght to expect to be
consulted on tha: point. l do hold
that the people of Kansas have a right to
be consulted and to decide it. and sou
have no rightful authority to deprive them
of that ri'ilege. 1t is no justification.
in my mind to say that the provisions for
the eligibility for the Offices Of Governor
and Lieutenant General require twenty
years citizenship in the United States
Ii men think that no person should vote
or hold Office until be has been here tHen<
ty years, they have the right to think so;
and if majority of the people of Kan,a<
think that no man of foreign birth should
vote or hold Office unless he has lived
there twenty years, it is their right to say
so, and have no right to interfere with
them; it is their business not mine. but il
lived there, should not be willing to
have that provision in the Constitution
without being heard upon the subject,
and allowed to record my protest against
it.
l have nothing to say about their sys-
TEN of taxation, in which they have gone
back. and resorted to the old exploded
system that We tried in Illinois, but aban-
doned becau-e We did not like it, Ifthey
wish to try it, aud get tired OF it, and a.
bandoD it, be it 20; but if we're a citizen
of Kansas. | would profit by the expert
euce of Illinois, and defeat it if could
Yet, | have no objection to their having
it if they want it; it is their business not
mine
So it is in regard to the free negroes.
They provide that DO free negro shall be
permitted to live in Kansas | suppose
they have right to say SO if they choo,e.
but if lived there, | should want to vote
on that question, We, in Illinois, prosiic
that there shall no more come there. We
say to the other States, "taks care of your
own free negroes, and we will take care
Of ours" But We do not say that the
negroes now there shall not be permitted
to live in Illinois; aud | think the people
of Kansas ought to have the right to ,ay
whether they will allow them to live there.
aud, if they are not going to do so, how
they are TO dispose Of them
So you may go on with all the different
clauses of the Constitution. They may
be all right; they may be all wrong
That i. question OIL which 10y opinion
is worth nothing. The opinion of the
wise and patriotic CbiefMagistrat OF the
United States i, not worth ANYTHING "a
against that of the people OF Kansas, for
they have right to judge for themselves,
and neither President, nor Senators. nor
Hou-e Of Representatives, nor any other
power outside of Kausas, has a right to
Judge for them. Iieuce it is no iustiicas
ton, in my u,ind, for the violation of
great principle Of self governwent. to say
that the Constitution you are forcing on
them is not particularly obnoxious, or il
excellent in It's provisions.
Perhaps. sir, the same thing might be
said OF the celebrated Topeka Conslitu-
ton. do not recollect it, peculiar pro-
visions. | know one tbiog; We Domo-
crats, We Nebraska men, would not look
into it, to see what it, provisions we're
Why! Because We said it was made by
a political party and pot by the people.
that it vas made in defiance Of the au-
thoriy Of Congress; that it was as pure az
the Bible, az holy as the ten Command
ments, yet we would not touch it until 1t
was submitted and ratified by the people
of Kansas. in pursuance of the foruis OF
law Perhaps that Topeka Constitution,
but for the mode of making it was uDex-
eeptionable. do not know; | do not
care. You have DO right to force an un-
excepiionable Constitution on a people
1t does not mitigate the evil, it does not
not diminish the insult, it does not ameli-
oratc the wrong, that you are forcing
good thing Oh them. | lam not willing to