San Andreas independent., 1858-01-23

upon the people against their will, whether II
recognise freedom or slavery. Indeed, the frs
question which the people ought TO decide, in
forming Government for an incohate State
I is whether they will change or not from &
Territorial to n State Government. Now, a.
no one, who, with me, denies Federal or Ter.
ritoria sovereignty, will contend that a Terri
torial Legislature is sovereign, or represent'
sovereignty, or that such Legislature, a mere
creation of Congress, can transfer soyereignt,
: which it does not possess, to territorial Con
vention This change from Territorial to 1
State Government, can only be made by th'
power where sovereignty rests-namely, th'
people. Yet State Government is forced
upon the people of Kansas by the Lecomptor
Constitution, whether they will or not, for the,
can only vote for the Constitution, and no
against it. But besides the change from q
Territorial to State Government, which the
people alone have the right to make in framing
State Constitution, there are many momen-
tous questions included in that instrument. II
involves all the powers of State Government
There is the Bill of Rights, the Magma Charta
of the liberties of a free people. the legislative
executive, and judicial functions, the taxing
power, the elective franchise, the great ques-
ton of education, the sacred relations of hus-
! =
ward, and all the rights affecting life, liberty
and property. There is also the question oi
State debts, of hanks, and paper money, and
whether they shall be permitted or prohibi-
ted. As all free Government rs stated by
Mr.. Jefferson, in the Declaration of Independ-
ence, depends upon the ''consent of the gov
| erned,' how can it be known whether the pco-
pie would assent to the Constitution unless il
/ is submitted to their vote for ratification OF
rejection?
| But if acquiescence can be presumed in any
case, surely it cannot be in that of Kansas
where so many of the delegates violated their
pledge to submit the Constitution itself to 4
vote of the people, where the delegates who
signed the Constitution, represented scarcely
one-tcnth of the people, and where nearly one
half of the counties of the Territory were
disfranchised, and (by no fault of theirS,) did
not, and could not give a single vote at the
election, for delegates to the Convention.
| have heretofore discussed this subject
mainly on the question that Conventions are
not sovereign, and cannot rightfuly make n
State Constitution, without its submission to
the vote of the people for ratification or re-
lection. Yet, surely, even those who differ
with me on this point, must conecde, especi-
ally under the Kansas Nebraska bill, it is only
such Conventions can be called sovereign as
have been truly elected by the people, and
represent their will. On reference, however,
to my address of the 10th September last, on
the tax qualification, Ia copy of which was
Immediately transmitted to you, for the infor-
nation of the President and Cabinet,) it is ey-
ident that the Lecompton Convention was not
such body. That Convention had vital. not
technical defects. in the very substance of its
L.. H. IL.
| could only be cured, in my judgment, as set
forth in my inaugural and other addresses, by
the submission of the Constitution for ratif-
cation or rejection by the people.
On reference to the territorial law under
which the Convention was assembled, thirty
four regularly organized counties were named
as election districts for delegates to the Con-
vention. In each and all of these counties il
was required by law that census should be
| taken and the voters registered and when
this was completed that delegates to the Con.
vcntion should be apportioned accordingly
In nineteen Of these counties there was nj
census, and therefore there could be no sucl
apportionment there of delegates based upol
snch census. And in fifteen of these counties
there was no registry of voters. These fifteeI
counties, including many OF the oldest organ.
zed counties of the Territory were entirely
disfranchised, and did not give, and by M
fault of their own, could not give, a solitary
vote for delegates to the Convention.
This result was superinduced by the fact
that the Territorial legislature appointed all
the Sherifs and probate Judges in all these
| counties, to whom was assigned the duty, by
law, of making sthis census and registry
These officers were political partZans, dissen-
ting from the views and opinions of the peo-
pie of these counties, as proved by the cleo
tiou of October last. These officers. from
want of funds, as they alege, neglected or re-
fused to take any census or make any registry
in these counties, and therefore they were en-
tirely DISTINGUISHED, and could not, and did not
give single vote ut the election for delegates
to the Constitutional Convention. And here
wish to call attention to the distinction, which
will appear in my inaugural address, in refer
ence to those counties where the voters were
fairly registered and did not vote.
In such counties, where full and free op-
portunity was given to register and vote, and
they did not choose to exercise that privilege,
the question is very different from those coun-
ties where there was no census or registry,
and no vote was given or could be given, how
ever anxious the people might be to partici-
pate in the election of Delegates to the Con-
acqueseed, for wherever they endeavored by
subsequent census or registry of their own
to supply this defect, occasioned by the pre-
vious neglect of the Territorial officers, the
delegates thus chosen were rejected by the
Convention. ] repeat, that in nineteen coun-
ties ont of thirty -four, there was no census
In fifteen counties out of thirty-lour there was
no registry, and not solitary vote was given
or could be given for delegates to the Conven-
ton in any one of these counties. Surely, then
it cannot be said that such Convention,
chosen by scarcely more than one-tenth of the
present voters of Kansas, represented the peo-
pie of that Territory, and could rightfully i'm.
pose Constitution upon them without theil
consent. These nineteen counties, in which
there was no census, constituted n majority o
the counties of the Territory, and these fifteen
counties, in which there WAS no registry gave
much larger vote at the October election
even with the six months qualification, than the
whole vote given to the delegates who signed
the Lecompton Constitution, on 7th November,
last. If, then, sovereignty can be delegated,
and conventions, as such, are sovereign, which
deny, surely it must be only in such cases as
when such Conventions are chosen by the
people, which we have seen was not the case
as regards the late Lecompton Convention