Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1858-02-25

kG Cuy, FeoTudTy ON, 1000. 81.
GovEREoR RIcHARDsoN:
Sir-As the selected medium for ex-
pressing to you the sentiments of the peo-
pie of Nebraska, due alike to your dis
tinguished station and person tits with
pleasure that / bid you welcome as Gov
ernor to this. Territory.
Ordinary ceremonies upon an occasion
like this, would be characterized with more
Of form than feeling, more Of respect due
to the Office, than admiration or friend
ship for the man; but sir, in extending to
you hearty welcome, Difference for your
executive position, and a high apprecia-
ton of yolr character as a statesman, and
the affection we entertain for you as man
are harmoniously blended and together
constitute the felicity of the people, and
the cordiality of the greeting. While we
are mindful that as the head of this Govern
ment you are entitled to our confidence
and support; yet deeper, warmer and
more intense feeling pervades the
hearts of the masses, when they re-
cur to your past history; your associations
the important part you bore In the great
struggle for the rights which we now en-
Joy, and the indissoluble connection which
must ever exist between you and the
Government, over which you are called to
preside. @ ~
Bold and prominent in American. his
tory viii ever appear the proceedings of
the Congress Of 1854, and the brightest
page of that history is the one which re-
cords the speeches and votes of Cass,
a Douglas, a Richardson, and their as
sociates in favor of the Act which gave
Kansas and Nebraska an existence, and
restored the people Of the Territories their
political rights. - 81
! For many long years the national halls
had been made the theater for the agi-
tation of the slavery question, and fearful
and heart-sickening were the dramas per-
formed When the people of Territory
formed State Constitution and presented
it at the door Of Congress praying for ad-
mission into the Union as a sovereign
State, if with a provision adopting slaves
ry, at once the Representatives Of the
Northern States were arrayed against it.
and if without slavery, it usually met with
like opposition from the Representatives
of the South. The free States, Jealous Of
a preponderance of political power in ouI
national councils from the slave. States
and those of the South alike Jealous that
the preponderance might be in favor Of
the North, came in collision; and for a long
series of years in the earlier history Of
/ the country the struggle was desperate
] and promised speedy overthrow of the
I Constitution. During all this struggle, /;
a it not passing strange, that the great prin'
: ciple of popular sovereignty, which ami
mated the fathers of the Republic in fra
ming the American Constitution, was no
boldly proclaimed, and the people left free
to regulate their domestic institutions IL
their own way? But sir, instead of re
ferring this vexed question to the people
r the only source of political power, it wa
attempted to be disposed of by taking tht
right from the people, by the act admit
ting Missouri into the. Union, thereby vi
olating one of the most sacred constitu
tional privileges belonging to freemen,
need not say to you sir, that by the re
strictive feature of that act, the peopl,
were prevented within the new Terrific
. ries thereafter formed North and West o
d the limits prescribed, from regulating al
their domestic institutions in their own way
The right of the people to form such
Constitution on this subject as they Nigh
desire, was not only taken from them, bu
denial of the rigft necessarily refectet
> upon their intelligence, ignored their ca
pacity, and struck a deadly blow at tn
very principle of self government.
Notwithstanding this attempt to banisl
the subject Of slavery from Congress,
still continued the forum for angry discus
sion, and politicians, designing demagog
ues, and fanatical orators, found in it
fruitful subject for engendering discord an
: producing alienation between the Mort
and South SO fierce did the contest be
> come that in 1850 the Constitution was on
f, ly saved from utter wreck by Cass,
/. Douglas, Clay and Webster rallyin
d with united power to the rescue. Henc
Q the so called Missouri Compromise, affect
" ed at so great sacrifice of principle, ut
terly failed in driving the subject of sla
very from the National Legislature. Th
Constitution had been violated and no praC
teal good accomplished. :
Ihave thus sir, gwen very brief out
line of the antecedent history, for the pun
pose of expressing 10 you the feelings {
the people, in flavor Of Legislation divorcin
the government from further connectio
with this dangerous subject, in favor {
being restored to their rights under tn
,, Constitution to settle this question then
selves, and for the purpose Of bringing oI
u u in more bold relief the part you took j
n that ever memorable act, which is certai
to accomplish these desirable objects.
= = In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska bill va
introduced into the Senate of the Unite
States by Mr.. Douglas, chairman of h
committee on Territories. In this bill th
doctrine upon this subject is for the fir
time correctly inaugurated. tproyides fC
the repeal of the Missouri restriction an
the people Of these Territories are lie
free to regulate their domestic institution
ST in their own way; thereby restoring
them the rights taken from them by II
if act edmitting Missouri, and transferrir