The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-12-02
MNoRrrY RIeHTs IN raE srArEs PROTECTED by

MINORITY RIGHTS IN THE STATES PROTECTED BY
THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS MINORITY RIGHTS
IN THE TERRITORIES By THE FEDERAL CON
sTrTUTIoN
The authority of the inhabitants of the Territories,
acting through their legislatures, rests upon prnci
pies plain and welldefned that il is surprising
there should be any difference of opinion, confu-
sion in the popular mind ON the subject These leg
islatures entrusted by Congress with power to
legsate for the Territories in its stead all rightfu
subjects--that is to say, in all matters in which
Congress might legislatc for the Territories and
therefore, as il is the federal constitution which
would beconsulted by Congress tacting itself,
it is the constitution which is to be respect
ed by the territorial Legislature the agent of Con-
gress.
1t is as heterodox to contend for an unlimited
thority in the territorial legislatures to iegislae
upon all subjects at their pleasure, it is TO
contend for a like power in Congress to legislate
for the Territories all subjects at its pleasure.
The fact is that Congress- to whom all authority i'll
the Territories far it exists, originally belongs
has, under the recent policy adopted the subject
turned over the territorial legislatures the right to
exercise all and whatever authority it might itself
have rightfuy exercised, but for this general dele
cation Of power. The terms used by Congress in
the transfer of this power to the territorial legsla
lures u.s. that it sha extend to all rghtfu subjects
consistent with the constitution of the United
States'
BY transferring from itself to the territorial legis
lature all the power that it possessed, Congress
planted itself upon the policy of absolute abnega
ton and non-interference as to the affairs of the
Territories Ii Congress had not created local
agent to legsae for the Territories in its stead and
had undertaken the task itself, it does for the
general domain of the Union not yet placed under
territorial organizations, it would have been restrict
ed in the exercise of this authority by the consti-
tuition Of the United States just as the legislatures
of the several States, sovereign though the States
be- are restricted in the exercise of their Legislative
authority by the State constitutions
When we speak of popular sovereignty in the
States we do not intend to imply that the majority
of their people have unbridled license to conduct af
fairs according to their pleasure or caprice; but we
aude to the legal right and authority of the popu-
lar majority to control and regulate affairs according
10 the forms and subject to the restrictions prescribed by
the State constitution. SO, also when speak of
popular sovereignty in the Territories, refer to
the right that has been conferred upon the majority
of the people of the Territory by Congress to con-
troll and direct affairs in the Territory, conformity
to the territorial charter Of organisation granted
By Congress and to that supreme charter, higher than
this ae the constitution Of the United STATES.
AS Congress is restricted in all its action by the
constitution of the United States so the agent of
Congress in the Territories the territorial legsla-
ture is restricted in all its action by that III
strument for what is law to the principal is law to
the agent. The popular will of the people of the
United States as represented in Congress-call it
popular sovereignty" by whatever name-is
subordinate to the nvolabe restrictions and mita-
tons OF the federal constitution. The popular will
Of the people of each State-call it popular sover-
eighty Y or what you MAYS subordinate to the re-
strainng authority of the State constitutions. And
is it contended that the will Of the people of the
Territories it popular sovereignty squat
ter sovereignty" or by whatever other appelation
is superior to restrictions which the sovereign peo
pile of the States and of the Union at large think it
no mean condescension to acknowledge and to
obey? ID.
The excellence, the superiority of our American
system of government, consists in this very feature
of icriten constitutions acting restraint upon the
majority and protection to the rights of the mi
nority. And shall we dispense with this most adj
mrable and conservative feature in institutions
on the very theatres where minorities would be most
at the mercy of majortes, and where young States
preparing to rank and enter into associa
ton with the matured soveregntes of the confed-
sracy2 AS Congress has delegated all its rightlul
powers to the Territories, powers which were linn
tied and restrained by the federal constitution, it
follows that that instrument is the supreme organic
law for the Territories, and that the rights which it
guarantees to the minority in the Union are potent
TO protect the minority in the Territories from the
arbitrary aggressions of the territorial majority.
POLITICAL FOLLIEs NORTH AND SOUTH
There are thousands of men in the North who
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