Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1858-12-18
PRESIDENTS MESSAG Z.
FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HoUSl
OF REPRESENTATIVES,

When we compare the condition Of tn
country at the present day with what it wa
one wear ago. at the meeting Of Congress, W
have much reason for grasitude to that "A
mighty Providence, which has never fiiled t
interpoSe for our relief, at the most critica
moment of our history One year ago the sec
tonal strife between the North and South Of
the dangerous subject of slavery, had agai
become SO intense as to threaten the peace ali,
perpetuity of the confederacy. The appica
ton for the admission of Kansas as State in
TO the tnion, tostered this unhappy citation
and brought the whole subject before Congress
Ii was the desire of every patriot that sucl
measures of legislation might be adopted, a
would remove the excitement from the States
and contine il to the Territory where it lcgit
imately belonged. Much has been done,
am happy to say, toward the accomplishment
of the object, during the last session Of Con
gre>S.
The Supreme Court of the United States
had previously decided that all American cid
zen> have an equal right to tax. into the Ter
ritoIics, whatever is held as property under
the guardianship of the federal Constitution
so i0l5 a> he Territorial condition shall re-
main
Tins Is now well established position, and
the proceedings of the last session were alone
waning to give 1t practical effect The prln-
ciplc has beenI ecognized, in some form or 9TH
er 10, an almost unanimous vote OF both Houses
ofCnn-,ces>, that Il Territory has hight to
cOn ,.,o the Union either as free or slave
State. according to the will OF majority Of
the people. The just equality OF all the States
has thus been vindicated, and fruitful source
of dangerous diSsenSion among them has been
removed.
Whilst such has been the beneficial tenden-
cy of your proceedings outside of Kansas,
their influence has been nowhere so happy as
within that Territory itself: Left to manage
and control its own affair; in its cwn Nay,
without the pressure of external influence,
the revolutionary Topeka organization and all
resistance to the Territorial government es-
tabliShed by Congress, have been finally aban-
d0nel. As a natural consequence, that fine
Territory now appears to be tranquil and
prosperous, and is attracting increasing thou
sands ii i.nni grants to Kansas to make it their
happy home.
The past unfortunate experience Of Kansas
enforced the lesson so often already taught,
that resistance to lawful authority, under our
form Of government, cannot fail in the end to
prove disastrous to its authors. Had the
people of the Territory yielded obedieEce to
the laws enacted by their (?) Legislature, it
would at the present moment have contained
large additional population Of industrious
and entarprising citizens, who have been de-
TERED from entering its borders by the eXis-
tence of civil strife and organized rebellion.
1t was the resistance to rightful authority,
and the perSevering attempts to establish 4
revolutionary government under the Topeka
con :;itu;ion, which caused the people Of Kan
sas To commit the grave error of refusing to
vote for delc gates to the convention to frame
a constitution under a law not denied to bc
taif and just in its provisions. This refusal to
vote has been the prolific source of all the
evils which have followed In their hostility
to the Territorial government they disregard
ed the principle absolutely essential to
the working of o.r form of government, that
a majority of those who vote-not the major
ity who may remain at home, from whatever
cause--n.ust decide the result of an election.
For this reason, seeking to take advantage of
th=ir orn erior, they denicu TIC autilo!,ity Of
the convention thus elected to frame conSti-
tuition.
The convention, Notwithstanding, proceed
el 10 adopt constitution uneXcepti0nable in
its genera! features, and providing for a sub
mi~>lJa Of the slavery question to a vote OF
the people, which, in my opinion, thev were
bound 10 do, under the Kansas and Nebraska
act. This was the all-important question
which alone had convulsed the Territory; and
yet the opponents of the lawful government,
peI,;Sting in their first error, refrained from
expires sing their right to vote and preferred
tina, slavery should continue rather than sur
render their revolutionary Topeka organiza-
ton.
\ wiser and better spirit seemed to pre-
vail i.eG,rc tie first Monday of JANUARY last
when ah election was held under ,he constitu-
ton. \ majority Of the people then voted
for Il Governor and other State officers, for
member of Congress, and members of the
State LEGISLATURE This election was warmly
contested by the two political parties in Kai,-
saS, and greater vote was poIed than at
any previous election. \ large majority of
the members of the Legislature elect be-
longed to that party which had previously re-
fused vote. The anti7slavcry party were
thu placed in the ascendant, and the poi;i-
cal po.er of the State was in their own hands.
Had Congress admitted Kansas into the
Union under the Lecompton Constitution, the
Legisla;. re might, at its very first session,
have submitted the question to a vote of the
people, whether they would or would not have
a convention to amend their constitution,
either on the slavery or any other question,
and have adopted all necessary means for Civ
iny speedy effect to The will Of the majom!y
ThuS, the Kansas question would have been
Immediately and finally settled. e. '@
Under these circumstances, l submitted to
Congress the constitution thus framed, with
all the officers already elected necessary tC
put the State government into operation, ac-
companied by strong recommendation in
favor of tho admission Oh Kansas as State
In the course of my long public life | have
never pc: formed any official act which, in the
retrospect, has afforded me more heartfelt
satisfaction Its admission could have innict
ed no possible injury on any human being
Wills; il would, within brief period, hav,
restored peace to Kansas and harmony to tn,
Union In. that event the slavery question
would ere this have been finally settled, ac
co ding 20 the legally expressed will of ma
i)ri:v of the voters, and popular sovereign y
weuld thus have been indicated in a consti
tutional manner. .....-.
With my deep convictions of duty, I coult
have pursued no other course. 1t is tru
that. as an individual, | have expressed al
plllltll, DOtil DclOIC huiiiE ehS SSSoAoi
of the convention, in favor of submitting tn
remaining clauses of the constitution, as wei
as th,t concerning slavery, to the people. B,i
acting i'll an official character, neither myself
nor any human authority had the power {
prcjudge the proceedings of the convention
and declare the constitution which he hat
framed to be nullty To have done thi
would have been violation of the Kansa
ami Nebraska act, which left the people of tn
Territory perfectly free to form and regulat
their domestic institutions in their own way
subject ONLY to the constitution of the Unite,
States" 1t would equally have violated tn
great principle Of popular sovereignty, at tn
foundation OF our institutions, TO deprive th
people of the power, If they thought prope
to exercise it, Of conii'ling to delegates electe
by themselves the trust of framing a const
tuition, without requiring them to subject the
constituents to the trouble, expense and della
of second election. 1t would have been