Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1858-12-16

each side of two railroads, proposed t.
be constructed from the northern to tn
southern boundary, and from the east
ern to the western boundary of tn
State. Congress, deeming these claim
unreasonable, provided by the act o
May 4, 1853, 10 which have just refer
ed, for the admission of the State on al
equal footing with the original States
but "upon the fundamental condition
precedent" that majority of the PEG
pie thereof, at an election to be held fol
that purpose, should in place of the very
large grants of public lands which they
had demanded under the ordinance, &C
cept such grants as had been made tC
Minnesota and other new States. Tn
der this act, should majority reject the
proposition offered them, (" it shall be
deemed and held that the people Of
"Kansas do not desire admission into
"the Union with said Constitution un
der the conditions set forth in said
proposition. In that event the act
authorizes the people of the Territory to
elect delegates to form a Constitution
| and State Government for themselves,
whenever, and not before, it is ascer-
tanned by census, duly and legally
taken, that the population of said Ter
ritory equals or exceeds the ratio OF
representation required for member
Z" of the House of Representatives of the
"Congrcss of the United States" The
delegates thus assembled s'shall first de-
termine by vote whether it is the
swish of the proposed State to be adj
&c emitted into the Union at that time,
and, if SO, shall proceed to form a
" Constitution, and take all necessary
"steps for the establishment of State
Government in conformity with the
" Federal Constitution. After this Con-
stitution shall have been formed, Con
gress carrying out the principles of Pop
ular Sovereignty and n-intervention,
have left ''the mode and manner of its
approval or ratification by the people
" of the proposed State" to be ''pre-
scribed by laws" and they ''shall then
" be admitted into the Union as State
under such Constitution thus fairly
"and legally made, with or without
Slavery, as said Constitution may pre-
"scribe."
An election was held throughout Kan
sas, in pursuance of the provisions. OF
this act, on the second day of August
last, and it resulted in the rejection by
a large majority, of the proposition sub
mitted to the people by Congress. This
being the case, they are now authorized
to form another constitution, preparato-
ry to admission into the Union; but not
until their number, as ascertained by a
census, shall equal or exceed the ratio
required to elect n member TO the House
of Representatives. 81
1t is not probable, in the present state
of the case, that a third Constitution
can be lawfully framed and presented
to Congress by Kansas, before it's pop
ulation shall hav5 reached the designa-
ted number. Nor is it to be presumed
that after their experience in resisting
the Territorial laws, they will attempt
to adopt Constitution in express viola
ton OF the provisions of an act of Con-
gress. During the session of 1856, much
of the time Of Congress was occupied on
the question of admitting Kansas under
the Topeka Constitution. Again nearly
the whole of the last session was devo-
ted to the question of its admission un-
der the Lecompton Constitution. Sure
y it is not unreasonable to require the
people of Kansas to wait, before MAX
ing third attempt, until the number of
their inhabitants shall amount TO nine.
ty three thousand four houndred and
twenty. During this brief period the
harmony Of the State, as we'll as the
great business interests of the country
demands that the people of the Union
shall not for a third time be convulsed
by another agitation on the Kansas
question. BY waiting for short time,
and acting in obedience to law, Kansas
will glide into the Union without the
slightest impeachment.
This excellent provision, which Con
gress have applied to Kansas, ought to
to be extended and rendered applicable
to all Territories which may hereafter
seek admission into the Union. 4Hlfa
While Congress possesses the un-
doubted power of admitting new State
into the Union, however small may be
the number Of its inhabitants, vet this
power ought not in my opinion, to be
exercised before the population shall
amount to the ratio required by the act
for the admission Of Kansas. Had this
been previously the rule, the country
would have escaped all the evils and
misfortunes to which it has been exposed
| by the Kansas question. sfi} JLtt E
Of course it would be unjust to give
this rule a retrospective application and
exclude State which, acting upon the
past practice of the Government, has
already formed its Constitution, elected
its Legislature and other officers, and
is now prepared to enter the Union.
The rule ought to be adopted, wheth
er we consider It's hearing on the PEG
pie of the Territories or upon the PEG
pie of the existing States Many O
the serious dissensions which have pre-
vailed in Congress and throughout tn,
country would have been avoided hac
this rule been established at an Garlic
period of the Government.
Immediately upon the formation of
new Territory, people from diferen
States and from foreign countries rusl
into it, for the laudable purpose of i'm
proving their condition. Their first dut,
to themselves is to open and cultivate
farms, to construct roads, to establish
schools, to erect places of religious wor
ship, and to devote their energies gen
orally to reclaim the wilderness and t
lay the foundations Of a, fourishino an,
prosperous commonwealth. If, in thi
incipient condition, with population
of a few Thousand, they should prema
turely enter the Union, they are oppres
sed by the burden of State taxation, an,