The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1858-12-16

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 framed, Con-
gress, carrying out Ethe principles of
popular sovereignty and non-interven-
ton, have left " the mode and manner
of its approval or ratification by the
people of the proposed State" to be
prescribed by law" and they "shall
then be admitted into the Union as a
State under such constitution thus fairly
and legally made, with or without
slavery, as said constitution may pre-
SCRIBE" An electien was held through
out Kansas, in pursuance of the pro-
visions of this act, on the second day
of August last, and it resulted in the
rejection, by a large majority, of the
proposition submitted to the people by
Congress. This being the case, they
are now authorized to form another
constitution, preparatory to admission
luto the Union, but not until their num-
Der, as ascertained by census, shall
equal or excel the ratio required to elect
member to the House of Representa-
tives.
1t is not probable, in the present
state of the case, that third constitu-
ton can be lawfully framed and pre-
sented to Congress by Kansas, before
its population shall have reached the
designated number. Nor is it to be
presumed that, after their sad expert
ence in resisting the territorial laws,
they will attempt to adopt constitu-
ton in express violation of the provis-
ions of an act of Congress. During
the session of 1856, much of the time
of Congress was occupied on the ques-
ton of admitting Kansas under the
Topeka constitution. Again, nearly
the whole of the last session was de-
voted to the question of its admission
under the Lecompton constitution.
Surely it is. not unreasonable to.require
the people of Kansas to wait before
making third attempt until the num-
ber of their inhabitants Shall amount
to ninety three thousand four hundred
and twenty. During this brief period
the harmony of the States, as well as
the great business interests of the
country, demand that the people of the
Union shall not for third time be con-
vulsed by another agitation on the
Kansas question. BY waiting for a
short time, and acting in obedience to
law, Kansas will glide into the Union
without the slightest impediment.
This excellent provision, which Con
gress have applied to Kansas, ought to
be extended and rendered applicable
to all Territories which may hereafter
seek admission into the Union.
Whilst Congress possesses the un-
doubted power of admitting a new
State into the Union, however small
may be the number of its inhabitants,
yet 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. Of
course it would be unjust to give this
rule 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,
whether we consider its bearing on the
people of the Territories or upon the
people of the existing States. Many
of the serious dissentions which have
prevailed in Congress and throughout
the country, would have been avoided,
had this rule been established at an
earlier period of the government
Immediately upon the formation of
q new Territory, people from different
States and from foreign countries rush
into it, for the laudable purpose of i'm
proving their condition. Their first
duty to themselves is to open and cul-
tivate farms, to construct roads, to
establish schools, to erect places of re-
ligious worship, and to devote their en-
ergies generally to reclaim the wilder
ness and to lay the foundations of
fourishing and prosperous common
wealth. If, in this incipient condition,
with a population of few thousand,
they should permanently enter the Un-
ion, they are oppressed by the burden
of State taxation, and the means nec-
essary for the improvement of the Ter
ritory and the advancement of their
own interests, and thus divertedto very
different purposes.
The federal government has ever
been liberal parent to the Territories,
and generous contributor to the USE
full enterprises of the early settlers. 1t
has paid the expenses of the govern
ments and the Legislative assemblies out
OF the common treasury, and thus re-
lieved them from a heavy charge. I'm
der these circumstances nothing can
be better calculated to retard their ma
terial progress than to divert them from
their useful employments by prema-
turely exciting angry political contests
among themselves, for the benefit of
aspiring leaders. 1t is surely no hard
ship for embryo governors, senators
and members of Congress, to wait until
the number of inhabitants shall equal
those of single Congressional district.
They surely ought not to be permitted
to rush into the Union with popula-