The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1859-11-30
The Territorial Policy OF our GOV.

try. The fathers Of the republic found II 10
existence, and 10 forming the Federal Union
Of free, sovereign and independent States,
were compelled to omit its consideration in
forming the basis Of the Union. We do not
say they feared to touch it, for they were
bold men, but when they declared that call
men were crested equal, 1.-THE fact that slave
~ existed forbade that they shOuld declare
thst they were free. They lett TO. future
generations the disposition of this most diff
ficuIt question.
FROM the 6rst, the territorial policy Of our
government has been greatly Influenced by
the slavery question. No subject has elicit.
ed more general discussion, and at the same
hos been less thoroughly and satisfactorily
understood. During the last seventy years,
precedents can BIZ found faVoring almost ev.
ery theory which can be started; and more
than half a century of discussion and re-
discussion has failed to arrive at a solution
entirely acceptable to the various sections
OF the Union. Limited only by the Consti.
tuition, ConSress, for the first thirty years Of
our existence ss a nation, controlled the ter.
ritories. RI 1890, Missouri sought to be
admitted intb the Union as a &C sCvereign State,
and, ut this time, the previous policy Of our
governmentwas departed from, and, in fact,
abandoned. The Constitution of the apply
ing State tolerated slavery, and for this rea
son her admission was objected to, and for q
wear she was kept out OF the Union. Here
for the first time, anti.slaveryism made its
mark in The councils of the nation. Mis-
souri was lily admitted, and after bitter
coutest under a compromise by which il
WIS provided that slavery should not there.
after exist North Of the line Of thirty-siS
degrees and thirty miautes. But this cele.
.brated compromise, which it Was thought al
, the tim, would settle the slavery question
and gle peace to the country, failed OF III
effect. The political element which hut
been ceated in the opposition to the admIe
sion of Missouri as u slave State, afterward
opposel, for the same reason, the admission
of Arkansas, Florida and Texas. The,
were telow the line of the compromise. bu
their omission into the Union was as bit
terly opposed ss though the cUmpromi,e ha,
not existed. 1t was manifest that the Mis-
souri Cumpromise had by no means settlet
the territorial policy of the nation in regar
! to slavery, and for another generation it w,
alike favored ard denounced by both North
ern s1d Southern men, until the Legislature
of 1850 inaugurated a new policy. Thi
leoisAtion w8s based upon the doctrine o
popuar sovereignty. The bills organizin!
the erritories OF Utah aud New Mexico
which plssed Congress at the same time
proviied that the people OF those. Territorie
shou!i determine for themselves their owl
institutions. subject only to the Fedora
/ Constitution. II 1854 the Missouri Com
prumbe was repealed, and under this issu
the K,nsss difficulty was gotten up to deIeu
the Democracy in 1856, and upon it tn
Democracy triumphed.
h1r. Douglas, as the Chairman of th
Comm tee on Territories, originated an
sustained this truly Democratic policy.
was opposed without just re4son by all III
anti slavery elements of the North ele
G:ents y kich from the first have sought l.
initiate direct, and, as Seward terms it, al
"irre pressbe conflict" between the Mort
and South elements, which, il not success
fully resisted by the National Democrat
party OF the country will sooner or later dee
troy our government and cur boasted equn
rights to ol. The Syuth could enjoy nc
one moments security for her institutions
with President elected upon the Roches
ter platform. The aggression upon tn
territorial policy OF the country now come
entirely from the North. The South has a
no time attempted an aggression upon th
! rights OF the non-sl1yehoIding States.
Under the policy which was commences
in 1850. the existence of slavery in the ter
ritores was to be decided by the Fedora ju
dietary. In the DEED Scott cnse, the Cour
decided "that powers over person and pro
perty are not oHly not granted to Congress
but expressly denied" and "that this prob
bition is not confined to the States, but tn
words Gre general and extend TO the whol
territory over which The Constitution give
it power to leeislate"
| Uud"r this decision, diversity of senti
meut exists between the D. moc.acy of tn
North und the South. The latter take th
ground thnt the question of slavery in tn
Territories is purely a judciol one, on
claim that the question OF the existence o
slavery cannot be determined by the Terri
toral Government until the adoption of
State Constitution and the rights and pow
ers OF sovereign Stale are assumed; Will
the rthern Democracy, with few excep
tons, hold th*t the people Of the territorie
have the right at any timA to decide for them
selves whether they will have slavery or DC
On the one side it is con.ended that the pee
Pile OF u TerrItcry must have slavery as lon
as their Territorial condition lasts, whethe
I they desire it or not; on the other it il main
tained that the people of the territories, lk
those Of the States, shall determine tn
question OF slavery themselves. In some q
| the territories the inhabitants have aIread
decided for themselves upon this question
and it will not be pretended that etuer Judi
cial decision or Congressional Intervention
can compel them to permit its existence.
From the initiation OF the present phAs
Of the territorial question, Judge Dough-
has taken the ground Of popular sovereign
'y--the same ground upon which the cam
paign OF 1856 was fought, when the Demo
cratic party was so triumphantly successIu
His policy we look upon as the true Demo
cratic policy Of the country, and the onI
one with which can successfully be repelle
the dangerous doctrines of the Rochestt
platform, and the "irrepressble conflict
positions of Mr.. Seward.
We are to have agitotion and strife unit
the issues betW cen the North and South oil
definitely settled. II these issues are to b
settled BY the aggressive policy Of Mr.. Sew
ard and the Republican party, scenes OF SCI
vile and civil war must ensue, to end only
the disruption OF the Union. II these ISSUE
are TO be determined by a full recognition
the constitutional rights, both of the Norl
aud the South, such as the National Demt
cratic party has always sustained-such
the Cincinnati plat orm was based upon
and such as Senator Douglas now so ab
advocates and deiends-ws look for the pei