The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-04-20

representative is every mans portion o
sovereign power"
That is sentence worthy of Mr.
. Webster:
"The rightto choose Representative
is every mans portion Of sovereign pow
er. Suffrage is delegation of politica
power to some Individual"
Again:
at has been said By the opposing
counsel, that the people can get togeth
er, call themselves so many thousands
aud estab blish whatever form of govern
ment they please But others must hav.
the same right We have then q stormy
South American liberty, supported BY
arms to day, and crushed by arms to
morrow. Our theory places beautiful
face on liberty, aud makes it powerful
ror good. producing no tumults- Wher
it is necessary to ascertain the will oi
the people, the Legislature must provide
i the means of ascertaiuiDg it. The Con
stitution of tire United States was es
tablished il this way. Il was recon
| men6ed t. the States to send delegates
to q convention. They did So Then
it was recommended, that the States
should ascei tain the will of the people
| Nobody suggested any other mode. y
Hoaoard's Report, PIP. 80 81
Now, sir, / say that the act and deed
of the people has been made in every
form known to the law up to the assem-
bling of the convention at Lecomptons
Unless you are to have what Mr.. Web
ster properly calls South American
liberty. the liberty of those who are the
strongest, the liberty of those who
choose to take arms in their hands iu-
stead of abiding peaceful arbitration
of their differences, there can be no 9th,
er act and deed of the people than as
expressed in the forms of law. | say
| this conventions, when it was assembled,
was the representative of the people of
Kansas; nobody else was authorized to
speak for the people of Kansas; aud
the convention was authorized to speak,
and it was authorized as plainly as if it
had been SO written in the act providing
for the election of the delegates, either
to submit the constitution IN whole, or
in part, to popular ratification. Now,
we, not elected by the people of Kan
sas, not responsible to.the people of Kan
sas, but elected by, and responsible to
the people of other States, propose to
take into our hands the formation and
regulation of all the political affairs in
this new State. We propose to say to
this convention that we will defne their
powers; that we will prescribe for them
different powers from those which the
people conferred. It seems to ne that
on no sound principle, with no just rep
resentative Government, with no just
regard to the reserved rights and sover-
eighty Of the States, can Congress ever
undertake to required the ratification of
the constitution of new State in diff
ferent manner from that which the peo-
pie themselves have prescribed. do
uot say it is merely intervention; for
that has come TO b.. catchword; say
it is trampling un er foot the sovereign
ty and the rights of the States. If you
admit Kansas into the Union at all, you
must admit her on an equal footing with
the original States and you must do
nothing with her, or to her, that you
would not do to any State already in
the Union.
R,t ,ae,,ra3 - H. - oe +l,a
last Congress preparatory to the admis
sion of Minnesota, and we are told that
is precedent which elected no dispute
III Congress. 1t elicted no dispute, be-
cause it attracted no attention. | OBJ
serve, by reference to the Congressional
Globe, that that bill, in its present shape,
passed the other House under the opera
tion of the previous question, without
ever having been printed. 1t was brought
iuto the House at the last hour, as an
amendment to former bill; aud, hav-
lug been offered and hastily read, bythh. c
dispersation of-tha-prsgie Gus zqaesEiy yrouz il
was put through the House. think we
debated it week on t,,ae provision for
alien suffrage; but I did not hear a
single Senator, either for the bill OF
against .s, make the least allusion to the
fast that it required the constitution Of
/ that State to be submitted to vote oi
| the people,. I do not know how many
Senators were aware of that provision
1 Perhaps the Senators from Illinois was
4 / was not I did not know there was
any such provision in the bill until long
after the adjournment of Congress. 1
had known it, and a motion had beer
made to strike it from the bill, should
have voted to strike it out of the bill
for / wonld have required of Minnesots
nothing more than had been required il
former times of other States. That il
the only case to be found in ali the leg
islation of Congress, from the earliest
times, in which we have required tn.
constitution of State to be submitted
to vote of the people, It is cast
that passed without discussion; it is {
case where there was no debate in either
House on the question; and / certainly
! need not tell an assembly of gentlemen
! majority of whom are lawyers, that NJ
case is authority upon any question tina