Nebraska advertiser., 1860-01-26

stitution Of The United States The bin
al thus amended was passed By the SEN
ate by a vote Of thirty-seyen 10 fourteen,
the majority including every Southern
Senator present, except Mr.. Bell, Of Ten
nessee, and Mr.. Houston, of Texas, and
twelve Senators from the other States;
and on the 22d Of May, after a long and
able discussion, it was passed by the
House, by a vote Of one hundred and
thirteen to one hundred, there being in
the majority every Southern member but
seven, and most, if not all of these were
opposed to it, not because of the princi-
pies contained in the particular amend
ment quoted, but on other grounds. Un-
less words be used, as dicers oaths, to
deceive, and Congress intended BY false
pretences to delude, is il not clear that
this amendment declared, and sanctions
the doctrine of popular sovereignty as
maintained by Judge DUuglas3 That
doctrine is, that a territorial government
has a right to legisIaie in relation to their
local concerns and internal polity, subject
only to the Constitution Of the United
States. The amendment declares its
very purpose to be, 'to leave the people
thereof "a territory perfectly free to
form and regulate their domestic institu-
tons in their W way, subject only to
the Constitution of the United States
and this purpose was especially avowed
in regard to SLAVE property. Such pro-
perty indeed gave rise to the very agita-
ton viii Oh 1t was the object Of Congress
TO terminate. That alone constituted the
danger in which the country was suppos-
ed to be, and consequently the principle
was the more particularly prepared to
meet that danger. It was decided to
leave the people perfectly free to regu-
late it as a domestic institution Of their
own, in their own way. Il declares, first,
what is not the intent and meaning Of the
act: 1t is not to legislate slavery into
any state or Territory, nor TO exclude it,
secondly, what was its intent: To leave
it as a domestic institution to the people,
to be settled in their own way, with no
other restriction than the Constitution Of
the United States may impose.
One or the other Of these two conclu-
sions is inevitable. That if Congress be-
lieved they had the power themselves to
legislate upon the subject, they thought it
wiser to surrender it to the people of the
Territory. or that they believed that they
had not the power, and declared it to be
in the people, so as to settle all doubts as
to the right of the latter to exercise it,
The power which, uponeither hypothesis,
they refused to exert, was to legislate
slavery into any Territory or State, or to
exclude it therefrom; and that which they
declared to be in the people, was the pow
er to legislate slavery into or exclude 1t
from such Territory or State 1t will be
seen, too, that in this regard, the people
Of a Territory are placed in the same
condition with the people Of a State. and
that the power in question is not more
disclaimed as to the latter, than as to the
former, and hat the power left to each,
is left In the same terms and to the same
extent. Whatever, therefore, under this
act, the people of a State can do, the
people of a Territory can do,-the sole
limitation upon the authority of either is
declared to be in the Constitution of the
United States"
The length Of our quotation from Mr..
Johnson prevents US getting as far along
with our own argument as we designed
this week. As we have the matter now
laid out, u articles will run through
some half dozen or more numbers of the
advertiser.