The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1860-07-04

Oregon, protected by sufficient military
force; OF putting the country at once in a
state OF preparation, so that if war should
result from the assertion Of orr lust rights
war might drive Great Britain and the
last vestiges of royal authority from the
continent Of North America, and make
the United States an ocean bound Rcpub,
lie.
He denied the right of the Federal Gov
ernment to prosecute a system of internal
| Improvements in the States, though he
maintained the conStitutionality and expe-
diency of improving rivers, harbors, and
navigable waters, and advocated a scheme
of tonnage duties for that purpose, to be
levied and expended by the local authoIi
ties.
He was mainly instrumental in securing
the passage of the law extending the war
itime andaaumirality jurisdiction of the Fed
eral Courts over the great chain of north
ern lakes, having reported the bill as a
member of the Judiciary Committee, and
put it on its passage, when member of
| the House of Representatives.
He was among tho earliest advocates of
the annexation Of Texas, and after the
treaty for that object had failed in the Sen
ate, he was one of those who introduced
propositions, i'm the form Of Joint resolu-
tons, as a substitute for that treaty As
chairman of the committee on Territories
| in 1916, he reported the Joint resolution
| declaring Texas to be one of the United
States of America and he vigorously sus-
tained the administration Of President
Polk in the measures which he adopted for
| the prosecution of the war with Mexico,
which was the ultimate consequence of
that act.
As chairman of the Territorial Commit
tee, first in the House of Representatives,
and afterwards in the Senate, he reported
and successfully carried through the bills
to organize the Territories of Minnesota.
Oregon, New Mexico, Utah, Washington,
Kansas, and Nebraska, and also bills for
the admission into the Union of the States
! Of iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California,
and Oregon.
SO far as the question of slavery was
involved in the organization of Territories
and the admission of new States, he early
| took the position that Congress should not
interfere on the one side or the other, but
that the people Of each Territory and Sta tc
should be allowed to form and regulate
their domestic institutions to suit them
selves. In accordance with this principle,
he opposed the "Wilmot Proviso' when
first passed in the House of Representa-.
tives in 1917, as an amendment to the bill
apprcpriating $3,000,00O to enable PreSi-
dent Polk to make treaty of peace with
Mexico, and afterwards in the Senate when
offered as an amendment to the bill for the
organization of the Territory of Oregon.
In August, 1913, however he offered an
amendment to the Oregon, bill extending
the Missouri compromise line indefinitely
westward to the Pacific ocean, in the same
sense and with the same understanding
with which it was originally adopted in
1920, and extending through Texas in
1915, prohibiting slavery in all the Terri
tory north of the parallel Of SO degrees, 80
minutes, and by implication recognizing its
existence south of that line This amend
mcnt was adopted in the Senate by decid.
cd majority, receiving the support of every
| Southern, together with several Northern
Senators, but was defeated in the House OF
Representatives by nearly sectional vote
The refusal of the Senate to adopt the
policy of Congressional prohibition of Sla-
very in all the Territories, and the rejection
in the House of Representatives Of the pro.
position to extend the Missouri compro
mise to the Pacific ocean, gave rise to the
sectional agitation of lS49-50, which was
temporarily Quicted by the legislation known
rs the compromise measures of 1850. Mr..
Douglas supported these measures with
zeal and vigor, and on his return to his
home in Chicago, finding himself assai!ed
with great violence, he defended the whole
series in speech to the people (Oct. 24th,
1850 which is regarded by his friends one
of the ablest he has ever made. In this
! speech he defended the principles on which
the Compromise Acts Of 1850 were founded
and upon which he subsequently defended
| the Kansas Nebraska bill in these words
These measures are predcated on the
great fundamental principle that every peo-
| pie ought to possess the right of framing
and regulating their own internal concerns
and domestic institutions in their own way
........ These things are all con.ilcd by
the Constitution to each State to decide for
| itself, and | know no reason why the same
principle should not be extended to the
| Territories"
Judge Douglas received the high com
pliment of 93 votes as the Democratic can
didate for the Presidency in the National
| Convention at Baltimore in 1852, when he
was only 80 years of age. At the Congress
sional session of 1864, he reported from
the committee on Territories the celebrated
bill to organize the Territories of Kansas
and Nebraska. The passage of this bill
caused great excitement in the free States
OF the Union, and Judge Douglas as its au-
thor was widely and vehemently denounced,
and in many places was hanged and burned
in effigy. The whole controversy turned
on the provision repeating the Missouri
compromise which Judge Douglas main
tanned to be inconsistent with the principle
of non-intervention by Congress with sla-
very in the States and Territories After
repeating the Missouri restriction, the bill
declared it to be the true intent and mean
ing of the act, not to LegiSate slavery into
any State or Territory, nor to exclude it
thercfrom, but to leave the people thereof
perfectly free to form and regulate their do
mestic institutions in their own way, sub
ject only to the Constitution of the United
States" Whatever diversity of opinion
may exist in regard to the correctness of
this principle, and the propriety of its APP
plication to the Territories, it must be ad-
mitted that Judge Douglas has proved
faithful to it under all circumstances. and
defended it whenever assailed CT violated
| In 1856, in the National Democratic
Convention at Cincinnati, he received on
the 10th ballot. l2l votes as candidate
for the Presidency. In the congressional
session of 1878, he denounced and OPP
posed with energy and ability the Lecomp-
ton Constitution, upon the distinct ground
| that it was not the act and deed of the pco-
pie of Kansas, and did not embody their
will. Before the adjournment of that ses-
sion of Congress, he returned home to vim
IL l. l,t 81, e