The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-11-11
NEW SERIES-NO. 2O3.

with the original States, without discrimination
on account of the allowance or prohibition of
slavery"
Touching the power Of the Territorial Le-
gislature over the subject of slavery, the
Hon. James L. Orr, late Speaker of the
House of Representatives, on the 18th of
December, 1856, said:
Now with the Legislative authority of a
Territory is invested discretion to vote for or
against the laws. We think they ought to pass
laws in every Territory, when the Territory is
to protect slave property. But if they decline
to pass such laws, what is the remedy? None,
Sir. If the majority of the people ore opposed
to the institution, and if they do not desire it
engrafted upon their Territory, all they have to
do is simply to pass laws in the Territorial LIE.
gislature for its protection, and then it is as
we'll excluded as if the power was invested in
the Territorial Legislature to prohibit it,"
Mr.. Stevens, of Georgia, In a speech in
the House of Representative, on the 18th of
February, 1854, said:
left to the people of the Territories, whether
North or South of 36 deg 80 min.. or any other
truly republican and national policy of taking
this disturbing element out OF Congress, and
leaving the whole question of Slavery in the
Territories to the people there to settle it for
themselves. And it is in vindicatiOn of that
new principle-then established for the first
time in the history of our government-in the
year $780, the middle of the Nineteenth Cen
tury. that we, the friends of the Nebraska bill,
whether from the North or South, now call up
on this House and the country to carry out, in
good faith, and give effect to the spirit and in
30 ton nf torr itnr r0I
legislation
Again, on the 18th of Jan. 1856, he said:
81 am willing that the Territorial Legislature
may act upon the subject when and how they
may think proper
Mr.. Benjamin of Louisiana, in speech in
the Senate on the 25th of May, 1854, on the
Nebraska bill, said {:
''We find, then, that this principle of the in
dependence and self-government of the people
in the distant Territories of the Confederacy,
harmonizes all these conflicting opinions, and
enables us to Danish from the halls of Congress
another fertile source of discomfort and excite
ment."
On the 18th day of February, 1854, Mr.
Badger, of N. G. said of the Nebraska bill
"It submits the whole authority to the Terri
tory to determine for itself. That, in my
judgment, is the place where it ought to be
put. If the people of the Territories choose tC
exclude Slavery, so far from considering it az
a wrong done to me or my constituent, | shall
not complain of it, 1t is their business"
Again, on the 25th of March, 1854, one
day before the passage of the bill through
the Senate, Mr.. Badger said:
"But with regard to that question we have
agreed-sOme of us because we thought it the
only right mode, and some of us because we
think it right mode, and under exist lg cir
cumstances the preferable mode-to confer
this power upon the people of the Territories. v
On the same day, Mr.. Butler, of South
Carolina, said
''Now, believe under the provisions of this
bill, and of the Utah and New Mexico bills
there will be perfect carte blanche given to the
Territorial Legislature to legislate as they may
"Iam willing to trust them. have been will
ing to trust them in Utah and New Mexico
ing to trust them in Kansas and Nebraska,
where the French law, according to the idea
of the gentleman may possibly be revived"
In the House of Representatives, on the
25th of June, 1856, Mr.. Samuel A. Smith
of Tennessee, said:
"For twenty years this question has agitated
Congress and the country without single
beneficial result. They resolved that it should
be transferred from those halls, that all uncon-
stitutional restrictions should be removed. and
that the people should determine for them
selves the character OF their local and dOmes
tic institutions under which they were to live,
with precisely the same rights, but no greater,
than those enjoyed by the old thirteen States" ="
And, further
"In 1851, the same question was presented,
when the necessity arose for the organ ization
of the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska
and the Identical principle was applied for its
solution
In the Senate. on the 25th of February,
1854, Mr.. Dodge, of Iowa, (uow Demo
cratic candidate for Governor of that State, J
said
"And, sir, honesty and consistency with our
course in 1850. demand that those of US who
supported the Compromise Measures should
zealously support this bill, because it is re-
turn to the sound principle of leaving to the
people of tide Territories the right of determin
ing for themselves their domestic institutions"
And in the House of Representatives, on
the 20th December, 1856, Mr.. George w.
Jones of Tennessee, said:
"Then, sir, you may call it by what name
you please-non-interventio squatter sover.
eighty, or popular sovereignty. 1t is, sir, the
power of the people to govern themselves, and
they. and they alone, should exercise it, in my
opinion, as well while in Territorial condition
as in the position of a State"
And, again, in the same speech, he said:
81 believe that the great principle-the right
of the people in the Territories, as well as in
the States, to form and regulate their domestic
institutions in their own way-is clearly and un:
equivocally embodied in the Kansas Nebraska
Act and 1t it is not it should have been. Be-
ieving that it was the living vital pr inciple of
the act, voted for it. These are my views,
honestly entertained, and will be defended"
. l could fill your columns with extracts of
speeches of Senators and Representatives
from the North and the South, who voted
for the Kansas Nebraska Bill and support.
ed Mr.. Buchanan for the Presidency on
that distinct issue-thus showing, conclu-
sively, that it was the general understanding
at the time, that the people of the Terrific.
ries, while they remained in territorial
condition, were left perfectly free, under the
Kansas Nebraska act, to form and regulate