St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-01-13
Popular Sovereignty.

OF all power. Within sovereign States,
they establish their local laws, their
municipal regulations, their domestic
institutions. In districts and in II
ties they exercise the same unlimited
right of control. They act as citizens
of school districts, Of towns, Of con-
! grcssional districts, of counties, of
States and of the United States, and
in each and all of these capacities,
their functions are supreme and their
. decision is final. The fundamental
idea of u institutions-thc right OF
majoritics to rule-rcquircs that this
should be so. And this is Popular
Sovereignty in its fullest, broadcast,
most perfect Specification. In the
practice of the Government, however,
the Territories have been put under
the tutclagc of the Federal authority,
which has furnished them with Gov
errors, Judges and other territorial
officers. When this practice was first
established, the western and north
! western domain was a wilderness of
vast extent, inhabited by numerous
tribes of Indians. There were but
few pioneer bands of settlers, scat.
tered widely apart, and they needed
the strong arm of the Federal power
to sustain and protect them. Out Of
this need, grew the practice, which
exists to the present day, of Federal
supervision over the government OF
the Territories.
But the times have changed, and
the condition of the territories has
changed with them. The public do
main is no longer an immense wilder
ness, infested by rowing bands of war
like Indians. The arts of civilization
and of culture have been transplanted
thithcr. Great communities have
sprung up there, and many of the ter
r~itoriCs have taken the form Of States,
and have come into full and equal
standing in the Union. Meanwhile
the progress of emigration is still on
ward. Westward the course of empire
takes its way. The entire bosom of
the continent is planted with commu-
mites, who are under as clear condi-
ton of independent sovereignty as
any communities in the older States.
They are not liable to invasion from
barbaric foes, but cultivate the arts
of peace and of social life with the
same freedom and security that attach
to quiet New England villages.
Under these circumstances, the old
practice of the government is out of
place !; it is not in conformity to the
requirements of the people in the Ter
ritorics ; nay, it is unjust and opprcs-
sivc, for it abridgcs the rights of
American citizens, and strips them of
rights in the territories which they
enjoyed in the States-thc right to
determine their own rulers and their
own local status and laws. so long
as the public domain was a wilder
ness and incipicnt settlements only
were to be found there, in pcrils con-
tinually from savage inroads, the COM
prchcnsive rule and authority of the
general government was the only suf-
fcicnt rule that could exist. When,
however, the settlements took the form
of communities, perfect in all their
parts when all fear of disruption
was forever banishcd, then returned,
in all their force, the full and equal
rights of self-governmcnt, which those
who composed the new communities
enjoyed while they remained citizens
of States. This is popular sovereign
ty in its plain and obvious application.
1t is in this view of the Ease that
Mr.. Morris, of Illinois, has introduced
a bill into the House of Representa-.
tivcs, the object Of which is to grant
to the people of the organized ter
ritories, the right to choose their own
territorial officers. The first section,
which embraces the material features
of the bill, is as follows -
SECTION |. Be it enacted, &c, That
the people of the several organized
territories of the United States be and
they are hereby authorized and en-.
powered to appoint or elect their Gov
ornors, Judges and all other territorial
officers, in such mode or manner as
their respective legislatures may by
law determine, and to define their
powers and prescribe their duties.
Provided, That nothing herein con-
tanned shall be so construed as to in
terfere with the right of the existing
officers in said territories, or those
that may be hereafter appointed by
the President to hold their respective
offices until their SUCCESSORS are APP
pointed or elected and qualified in
pursuance of the laws Of said terri
tory.
We are somewhat surprised to see
the Union and other papers that claim
to be the opponents of the Democratic
faith oppose this application of the
great doctrine of Popular Sovereignty,
while the more liberal of the Rcpubli,
can presses and the more prominent
of the Republican members Of Con,
gress give in their adhesion to it,
This fact is significant. 1t indicates
that a change is in progress in the po'
sition and expression of parties that
is quite remarkable even for these
changing times.
The McGrcgor Times says workmcn