The weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1858-1860, 1858-07-20


their own form Of government and establis
their own institutions. That resolution is a
follows:
IN Resotred, That our liberty and ;ndenen
Z denee are based upon the right Of the peopl
&. - form for themselves such . government !
to they may choose; that this great principle
l. the birthright Of freemen, the gift Of Heaven
10 secured to US by the blood of cur ancestors
ls ought to be extended to future generations
y and NO limitation ought TO be applied to thi
L power IN the organization Of any territory o
n the United States Of either Territorial Gov
d ernment or State Constitution, provided tn,
G Government SO established shall be Republi
4 can and in conformity with the Constitution
e of the United States.
y mat resolution, declaring the great prin
Q ciPie OF self-government as applicable to the
1erritofies and new States, passed the House
: OF Representatives Of this State BY vote Of
slxty-sne in the affirmative to only four in
the negative. Thus you find that an express.
SION OF public opinion, enlightened, educated.
Intelligent public opinion, ON this question
oy the representatives Of Illinois, in 1851
approaches nearer to upsnimitv than has ev.
e1 Deen obtained on any controverted ques-
T ton. That resolution was entered ON the
journal of the Legislature of Illinois, and il
has remained there from that day to this
standing instruction to her Senators and a re
Il quest to her Representatives in Congress to
carry out that principle in all future cases.
Illinois therefore, stands pre- eminent as the
State which stepped forward early and es.
tab'ishec a platform applicable to this sla.
very question: concurred in alike by Who's
and Democrats, in which it was declared to
be the wish of our people that thereafter the
people of the Territories should be left per.
fectiy free to form and regulate their domes-
tic institutions in their own way, and that
no limitation should be placed upon that
Hence, what was my duty, in 1854, when il
became necessary to bring forward bill for
the organization of the Territories of Kansas
and Nebraska? Was it not my duty, in obe
dience to the Illinois platform, to your stand
| ing instructions to your Senators, adopted
with almost entire unanimity, to incorporate
in that bill the great principle Of self-pov-
ernment, declaring that it was "the true in.
tent and meaning of the act not to lepislate
slavery into any State or Territory, or to ex-
! clude it therefrom, but to leave the people
| thereof perfectly free to form and regulate
| their domestic Institutions in their own way.
subject only to the Constitution of the United
States = (Cries of 'yes, 'yes,' and chee,s.)
did incorporate that principle in the Kan
sss-N Nebraska bill, and perhaps did as much
bill, (great applause) thus establishing the
doctrine in the public policy of the country.
(Cries of good, and renewed applause.) 1
then defended that principle against assaults
from one section of the Union. During this
last winter it became my duty to vndicate it
against assaults from the other section of the
Union. (Cheers.) | vindicated it boldly ana
fearlessly, as The people of Chicago can bear
witness, when it was assailed by Freesoilers;
("yes," Eyes" and cheers, and during this
winter vindicated and defended it as boldly
and as fearlessly when it was attempted to
be violated by the almost united South I'm.
mense applause pledged myself to you on
every stump in Illinois in 1854, | pledged
myself to the people of other States, North
and South---wherever l spoke-and in the
United States Senate and elsewhere, in every
form in which could reach the public mind
or the public ear, gave the pledge that /, so |
far as the power should be in my hands.
would vindicate the principle of the right of |
the people to form their own institutions, to |
establish free States or slave States as they |
choose, ard that that principle should never
be violated either by fraud, by violence, by |
circumvention, or by any other means if it
was in my power to PREVENT it. tApplsuse.) |
now submit to you. my fellow citizens,
whether have not redeemed that pledge in
EOou laltu. lITaes Ul yes, yes ana three |
tremendous cheers.) Yes, my friends have
Of heartfelt gra,ihcaiion to to see these
assembled thousands here tonight bearing
their testimony to the fidelity with which I
have advocated that principle and redeemed
my pledges in connection with it. Three
cheers.
will be entirely frank with you My OBJ
ject was to secure the right of the people of
each State and of each Territory, North and
South, to decide the question for themselves,
to have slavery rot, just the chose and
my opposition to the Lecompton Constitution
was not predicated upon the ground that il
was pro-slavery Constitution, Cheers nor
would my action have been different had it
been a freesoil constitution. My speech
against the Lecompton fraud was made on the
9Th of December, while the vote on the sla-
very clause in that constitution was not ta-
ken until the Dist of tie same mouth. nearly
two weeks after. made my speech against
that Lecompton monstrosity solely on the
ground that it was violation of the funda-
mental principles of free government, on the
ground that it was not the act and deed ofthe
people of Kansas; that it did not embody their
will that they were averse to il; and hence l
denied the right of Congress to force it upon
them. either as q free State or slave State.
Bravo. l deny the right of Congress to
force slave holding State upon an unwil-
forceA free State upon an unwilling people. 1
ICbeers.) deny their right to force good {
thing upon people who are unwilling to re- {
ceive it. (Cres of good good, and cheere.l
The great principle if the right of every COM
nunity to Judge and decide for itself, wheth.
or q thing is right or wrong, whether it \
would be good or evil for them to adopt il; {
and the right of free action, the right of free {
thought, the right of free judgment upon the I
question is dearer to every true American q
han any other under free government. My I
objection to the Lecompton contrivance was q
hat il undertook to put o Constitution on the I
people Of Kansas against their will in oppo 6
,itiou to their Wishes and thus violated the
great principle upon which all our institu- |
tions rest. II is no answer to this argument g
to say that slavery is an evil, and hence /
should not be tolerated. You must allow the !
people to decide for themselves whether il is a
i good or an evil. You allow them TO decide {
for themselves whether they desire Maine
Liquor Law or not; you allow them to decide
'or themselves what kind of common schools a
hey will have; what system of banking they
sill adopt, or whether they will adopt any
L all; you allow them to decide for thcm- u
elves the relations between husband and ii
wife, parent and child, and guardian and o
Yard; in fact, you allow them to decide for {
themselves all other questions, and why not d
pon this question (Cheers.) Whenever Il
ou put limitation upon the right of any q
eople to decide what laws they want, you s
ave destroyed the fundamental principle of e
(Cheers.) h
In connection with this subject perhaps, Il
will not be improper for me on this occs- j,
ion TO allude to the position Of those who p
ave chosen to arraign my conduct on this u
ame subject. Ihave observed from the puh- e'
Q prints that but few days ago the Re. a
ublican parry of the State Of Illinois assem- II
led in Convention at Springfield, and not ii
My laid down their platform, but nominated Il
candidate for the United States Senate as y
y successor. (Hisses.) take great pleas y
re in saying that have known, person ally ju
nd intimately, for about quarter Of . GEN. I"
Try, the worthy gentleman who has been m
ominated for my place. "a voice. '41e will ul
ever get It." and cheers, and will say that OF