The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-05-06
WASHINGTON, D. G..
KANsAs-THE LEcoMPToN CONSTITUTION
SPEECH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT,

OF VERMONT,
IL TIE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
a MARcH 20, 1858.
ghe sens (, as in Committee of the Whole havinf
consideration the bill for The admission ofihe Sats
OF Kansas into the Union
Mr.. FOOT said:
Mr.. President, oppose the introduction Of
Kansas into the Union under the Lecompton
Constitution. Ioppose the enforcement of that
Constitution upon the people of Kansas. 1t is
not the expression of their will 1t is not their
free act and deed. 1t is not the work of their
hands. They are not only unwilling to accept
it, they are not only unwilling TO come into the
Union under it, but they utter their most solemn
protest against the bonds. As an institution
of State Government, the Lecompton ConstItu-
ton was not formed In obedience to the Will OF
the people Of Kansas, nor in pursuance OF their
authority, nor yet in pursuance OF any legal
authority whatever. 1t is only the product, the
consum nation of long series of acts OF usurp-
alton, violence, and fraud; of artful devIces,
and unmitigated outrage, the like whereof this
country had never before witnessed within Its
borders. 1t was literally conceived In sin
and brought forth In iniquity" And now Con-
gress il invoked to legitimate this unnatural
bantlng, and to force its recognition upon
people who disown it, who spurn it, and turn
their backs upon it with indignant scorn and
disgust. "a the offspring Of violence and dis
honor. They have expressed their adherence
and reputation of it in every possible, legal,
and authoritative form. They have repudiated
IL by the popular vote and by Legislative pro-
testation. Il is now brought into our presence
here, in all It's deformity, discredited and dis
owned, and with the stamp of the popular rep
rotation and rejection branded upon its fore
head. This is the Lecompton Constitution.
Shall il be imposed upon an unwilling and pro.
testing people2 In the name Of justice and
freedom and enforcement; in the name of
the persecuted aud down trodden and subju-
gated people OF Kansas; In the name Of the
sovereign State and equal copartner in this
Union of ours, In whose behalf | am author
lied to speak in this august presence, though
it may be with feeble and UNDECIDED voice,
enter my earnest and perpetual protest against
the contamination of this great iniquity.
And now here, Mr. President, before pro-
ceeding further, let me say-and / rejoice in
being able to say-tbat the question before us,
the momentous question before us, is not alto
gether party question; that it is bv no means
exclusively sectional question. 1t is, more
properly speaking, question of popular rights !;
a question of the right of selfgovernment; the
right of the people TO be heard in the framing,
and to be consulted in the adoption or ratifca-
ton, Of the fundamental law under which they
are TO be initiated into the Union of States, aud
under which they are to be governed. This
question rises higher AID far above the mere
partisan questions of the day. 1t expands and
reaches out far beyond any of the mere local
or sectional questions which 80 unhappily d.
vide and ALLEVIATE US from the ties of political
and social brotherhood. In opposition to this
measure of imposing Constitution upon q
people who had no voice in its framing, and
which they utterly repel and repudiate, /, sir,
as a Republican, Join hands with the main
forces of the Northern Democracy. / Join
hands in this opposition with the leading men
the strong, bold men; yea, sir, with the giants
of that party ut the North, who have led your
mighty hosts in many field of contest and
who, more than once, when success or defeat
hung doubtful and trembling in the scale, have
grasped your standard with their own strong
hand, and borne away the prize in triumph,
and laid the crown of victory at your feet. As
Northern man, join hands, in opposing this
great wrong, with conservative and strong men,
with honored and trusted men ay, sir, and with
ProSlsvery men, yet honorable and patriotic
men, of the South. join hands in resisting
this wrong against human rights, with your
Walkers and your Stantons and your Wises of
the South; and, rejoice to add, with your Bells
and your Crittendens too-men whose fidelity
to the interests and the honor and to the inst
buttons of the South you will not be likely to
impugn, and whom you will hardly venture to
stigmatiZe as " miserable fanatics and Adolf
tionists," as you are sometimes wont to do,
with fippsnt tongue-snd senseless and un-
Needed fliprant-all Northern men who fail
to yield a ready and willing obedience 10 the
behests of the Belisl of Slavery.
/ will further remark, In this connection, that
1t is g great error to assume that parties in
Kansas are divided upon the basis of the polit-
ical or sectional divisions which prevail in the
country at large. The people of Kansas, so far
as there is any political division among them,
are divided upon the question whether it shall
be a free State or a slsveholding State. Hence
the only recognised parties there are distin-
guished and designated as the Free State and
the Pro-Slsvery parties. And the Free-State
party, which embraces at least threefourths of
the population of the Territory, is by no means
composed exclusively of those who sympathize
and act with the Republican party of the coun-
try; but 1t embraces considerable portion of
those who sympathize and have always been
identified with the Democratic party of the
country. Nor is the Free-St8te party by any
means composed exclusively of those who came
from the Northern States; but it embraces q
very considerable number of those who came
from the Southern States. On the other hand,
the Pro-Slsvery party in Kansas is not com
posed exclusively Of those who came there from
the slaveholding States; but it embraces many.
quite too many, who went there from the free
States and among them some who have hean
prominent and leading actors In the scenes
of fraud and outrage which have 50 long
been perpetrated with impunity upon the
Free Stale people of that Territory. Mr. Cal
houn, late President OF the Lecompton Conven.
ton, and "viee regent of the o-Slrvery
party in Kansas, who had the manipulation Of
the returns OF the January State election, and
who will probably let the world know the result
Just when he gets ready, is a Northern man,
originally, as l understand, from the State of
Massachusetts,. Governor Ransom, the late
candidate of the Pro-Slavery party for Delegate
10 the House of Representatives in Congress,
was originally from my own State, and more
recently from Michigan, where he had filled the
offices of Judge of the Supreme Court and Gov
ernor of the State, and then terminated bis po-
litical career in that State as defeated Dem
ocratic Free-Soil candidate for the Senate of the
United States, in opposition to General Cass.
Henderson, Miller, Mclean, and others, the
chief plotsers and engineers of the notorious
Delaware Crossing frauds, am informed, were
all Northern men. The very worst class of
"border ruffians" in Kansas; "the chief priests
and scribes Of the Phsrisees;" the active spir.
It's and the fileleaders Of the Pro-Savery or
Leoompton party, and the chief contrivers
of the frauds and vilainies which have
marked the history of Kansas for the last
three years, Il am obliged and yet ashamed
TO confess it, were from the free States.
/ am sorry that it is so. l am sorry that
truth and justice require this admission. But
/ am aware, at the same time, that it is no
new thing under the sum-" Slavery has al
MaYs been accustomed to do its most cowardIv