Nebraska advertiser., 1859-09-29
THE TERRITORIAL QUESTION.
The Division Line Between Fed
eral Acknowledgements SOVe-
reignty I'm the Territories.
BY STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.

! Under our complex system of govern
ment it is the first duty of American states
men to mark distinctly the dividing line
between Federal and Local Authority
To do this with accuracy involves an in
quiry not only into the powers and duties
of the Federal Government under the
Constitution, but also into the rights, privi-
leges, and immunites of the people of the
! Territories, as Wellsas of the States COM
posing the Union. The relative powers
and functions of the Federal and State
Governments have become well understood
and clearly defined by their practical ope-
ration and harmonious action for a long
series of years; while the disputed ques-
tion-involving the right of the people of
the Territories to govern themselves in
respect to their local affairs and internal
polity-remains fruitful source Of parti-
san strife and sectional controversy. The
political organization which was formed in
1854, and has assumed the name of the
Republican Party, is based on the theory
that African Slavery, as it exists in this
country, is an evil of such magnitude
social, moral and political-as to Justify
and require the exertiOn of the entire
power and influence of the Federal Gov
ernment to the full extent that the Con-
stitution, according to their Interpretation,
will permit for its Ultimate extinction. In
the platform of principles adopted at
Philadelphia by the Republican Ma
tional Convention in 1856, it is affirmed
"That the Constitution confers upon Congress
sovereign power over the Territories of the United
States for their government and thatin the exercise
of this power it is both the right and the duty of
Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin
relics CT barbarism, POiygamy and Slavery"
According to the theory of the Repub-
lican Party there is an irrepressible con-
fict between Freedom and Slavery, Free
labor and Slave labor, Free States and
Slave States, which is irreconciIable, and
must continue to rage with increasing fury
until the one shall become universal by
the humiliation of the other. In the
language of the eminent and authorita-
tive expounder of their political faith:
at is an irroprcssible conflict between opposing
and enduring forces and it means that the United
States must and WILL sooner later, become either
entirely slavehoding nation or entirely freelabol
nation. Either the cotton and rice fields of South
Carolina nd the sugar plantations OF Louisiana will
ultimately be titled by free labor, and Charleston and
New Orleans become marts for legitimate merchan-
dze alone or else the rye fields and wheat fields OF
| Massachusetts and New York must again be surren-
dered by their farmers slave culture and to the Pre-
duction of slaves, and Boston and New ork become
once more markets for trade in the bodies and souls
! Of men,"
In the Illinois canvass of 1858 the same
proposition was advocated and defended
by the distinguished Republican standard
bearer in these words:
"In my opinion it the Slavery agitation will not
cease until crisis shall have been reached and pass
! ed "A house divided agains itself cannot stand
I believe this Government cannot endure permanent
! Iy half slave and half free. | do not expect the
house to fall but do expect it will cease to be di-
vided It will become all one thing all the other
Either the opponents of Slavery will arrest the
further spread Of it, and place it where the public
mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course
of ultimate extinction its advocates will push for
ward till itshal become alike lawful in all the States
old as well as new-North as well as South"
Thus it will be seen, that under the
auspices of a political party, which claims
sovereignty in Congress over the subject
of Slavery, there can be no peace on The
! Slavery Question-no truce in the sectional
strlfe-no fraternity between the North
and South, so loEg as this Union remains
as our fathers made it-divided into free
and slave States, with the right on the
part Of each to retain Slavery so long as
| it chooses, and to abolish Ii whenever ii
pleases.
On the other hand, it would be IN
candid to deny that while the Democratic
Party is a unit IN its irreconcilable oppO-
sition to the doctrines and principles of
the Republican Party, there are radical
differences of opinion in respect to the
powers and duties of Congress, and the
rights and immunities of the people of
the Territories under the Federal Con-
stitution, which seriously disturb its har-
mony and threaten it's integrity. These
differences Of opinion arise from the diff
ferent interpretations placed on the Con-
stitution by persons who belong TO one
of the following classes:
1st. Those who believe that the Consti-
tuition of the United States neither es-
tablishes nor prohibits Slavery in the
States or Territories beyond the power of
the people to control it, but "leaves the
people thereof perfectly free to form and
regulate their domestic institutions in their
own way, subject only to the Constitution
of the United States"
I'd. TLose who believe that the Consti-
tuition establishes Slavery IN the Terri
tories, and withholds from Congress and
the Territorial Legislature the power tC
control it; and who insist that, in the
event the Territorial Legislature fails tc
enact the requisite laws for its protection
it becomes the imperative duty of Congress
to interpose its authority and furnish such
protection.
Sd. Those who, while processing TO be-
leve that the Constitution establishes
Slavery in the Territories beyond the
powqNo of Congress or the Territorial Leg
islat = TO control it, at the same time pro-
test a2ainst the duty of Congress to inter
fere for its protection; bat insist that it is
the duty of the Judiciary to protect and
maintain Slavery in the Territories with
out any law upon the subject.
By careful examination of the second
and third pOrOsitioniOns, it will be seen