The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1860-07-06
The Popular Sovereignty Record Of
Breckenridge and Lane.

Breckenridge and Lane.
JOHN G. BRECKENRIDGE and JOSEPH
LANE, the Presidential nominees of the Se>
cessionists, are running on a platform which
demands Congressional Intervention for the
protection of slavery in the Territories
-Four years ago, both these gentlemen were
loud in denunciations of this same doctrine,
and earnest in their advocacy of Popular
Sovereignty, or Congressional Non-1nter-
vention. At Lexington, Kentucky, on the
9th Of June, 1856, in response to the con.
CALCULATIONS of his friends and neighbors, on
bis nomination for the Vice Presidency at
Cincinnati, on the ticket with BUCHANAN,
Mr.. BRECKENRIDGE said:
The whole power of the Democratic organi.
cation is pledged to the following propositions
That Congress shall not interpose upon this
subject slavery in the States in the Terrific.
ries, or in the District of Columbia; THAT
DETERMINE THE QUESTION FOR THEM.
SELVES, and be admitted into the Union upon
footing of perfect equality with the original
States, without discrimination on account of
the allowance or prohibition of slavery.
At the great Tippecanoe Battle Ground
Convention of 1856, Mr.. BRcK1NR1DGE Ut
tered the following sentiment, with all the
solemn force of an adjuration, to the tens of
thousands whohung upon hisg glowing periods
AS upon the words of youthful apostle
of the true Democratic faith:
Break up sectional parties-erase geograph.
ical lnes-frown from your presence those
whose only passport to your confidence is de.
nunciation of your sister states; and thus with
harmony restored, the future will be all our
own for high and noble purposes.
In the same speech-the points of which
were recapitulated to Judge DOUGLAS be-
fore delivery, for his approval-Mr. BROCK
1NRIDGE further proclaimed the doctrines of
the National Democracy of the whole Un-
ion to he Non-Intervention with slavery by
Congress, and added
1 am connected with no party that has
with any to prevent the people of any State or
Territory from deciding the question of its ex-
istence or non existence with them for them
selves.
And to show that these sentiments were
not assumed for mere campaign purpo-
ses, but that they were, to every appearance,
his deliberate convictions, we extract the
following from the great speech of Mr..
BRECKENRIDGE, delivered in support of the
Kansas Nebraska bill, in the House of
Representatives, on the 23d of March,
1854:
Among the many Misrepresentation sent to
the country by some of the enemies of this bill,
perhaps none is more fragrant than the charge
that it proposes to legislate slavery into Kan.
sas and Nebraska. Sir, if the bill contained
such feature, it would not receive my vote.
The right to establish inU0lves the cOsTelatiUe
right to prohibit, and denying both I '0Ould u0te
The effect of the repeal (of the Missouri COM
PROMISE therefore. is neither to establish nor
to exclude, slavery; but to leave the future con-
dit,on of the Territories dependent ,cholly upon
the action of the inhabitants, subject only to such
limitations as the Federal Constitution may i'm.
pose.
x 1t will be observed that the rightof
the people to regulate in their 0,cn tcdy ALL THEIR
DOMESTIC INSTITUTIONS is left ,chOlly untouched,
except that whatever is done must be done in
accordance with the Constitution-the supreme
law for us all.
No Democratic politician of the country
has occupied firmer ground in favor of the
Intervention doctrine than JOHN G.
BRECKENRIDGE. 1t will be seen from the
extracts above printed, that his interpreted
ton of the Kansas-Nebraska act, and of
the Cincinnati platform, given on both at
the times of their adoption, corresponds
exactly in spirit and terms, with that then
uttered and now maintained by STEPHEN A.
DOUGLAS, and the National Democracy.
General JOE LANE is equally committed
to the principles of the party as enunciated
at Cincinnati, and reaffirmed at Charleston.
In speech in New Hampshire, in 1856, he
thus forcibly announced the principles of
the party upon the Territorial and slavery
issues:
Gentlemen, desire to say to you. that the
principle incorporated in the Kansas Nebraska
bill, is the very principle in defence of which
your fOrefatherS entered the service OF the cOun-
try in the Revolutionary war; for the Amer-
can colonies, two years previous to the Decla
ration of independence, ASSERTED THIS SANE
PRINCIPLE we now find incorporated in the
Kansas.Nebraska bill.
Upon an examination you will find that the
Declaration of Rights, made October IA, IVA,
asserts that the people Of the sereral colonies are
entitled to the free and exclusive p0,cers of legisla
ton IN THEIR SEVERAL PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURES
in all cases of internal policy. This was retuted
by the Crown, but reasserted by our fore
fathers. Upon this issue the battles of the Rev.
olution were fought; by the blood of OR FORE
fathers this principle Of self government was
established. This right, refused by the King,
was secured. consecrated, and establi, he'd by
the best blood that everfowed in the veins
of man. Would you now refuse to the people
of the Territories the right your noble sires de-
manded of the Crown and won by their blood
thus placing yourselves in opposition to the ght
of self government in the Territories thereby &C.
cupying the rery position to,card the Territories
that George iii. dia to the colonies !? The simple
question involved here is. "are the people cap
able of egulating their internal affairs or must
Congress regulate those affairs for them?" IT
is STRICTLY THE DOCTRINE OF CONGRESSIONAL
NON INTERVENTION. Now, if that idea is the
correct one ; if it is true that the American peo-
pie are capable of self government and the
principles of the Kansas Nebraska bill are
right, then opposition to that bill is wrong; con-
sequently dangerous to the best interests of the