Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1860-07-14
Acceptance Of Hon. John C. Breck-
inridge.

Acceptance OF Hon. John C. Breck-
inrfdSe.
WASHINGTON CRY. July 6, 1860.
DEAR SIR: have your letter of the 23rd
ultimo, by which 1 am officially informed of
my nomination for the Office OF President of
the United States by the Democratic National
Convention lately assembled at Baltimore.
The circumstances of this nomination will
justify me in referring to its personal aspect.
have not sought nor desired to be placed
before the country for the Office of President.
When my name was presented to the Conven-
ton at Charleston, it was Withdrawn Dy a
friend in obedience to my expressed wishes.
My views had not changed when the Conven-
ton reassembled at Baltimore, and when /
heard of the differences which occurred there,
my indisposition to be connected prominently
with the canvass was confirmed and expressed
to many friends.
Without discussing the occurrences which
preceded the nomination, and which are. or
soon viii be. well understood by the country
have only to say that l approved, as just
and necessary to the preservation of the Ma
tional organization and the sacred right of
representation, the action of the Convention
over which you continued to preside; and
thus approving it, and having resolved to
sustain it, I feel that it does not become me
to select the position shall occupy, nor to
shrink from the responsibilities of the post
to which l have been assigned. According
ly, l accept the nomination from a sense of
public duty, and, as 1 think, uninfuenced
in any way by the allurementS of ambition.
1 avail myself of this occasion to say, that
the confidence in my personal and public
character implied by the action of the Con-
vention, will always be gratefully remember
ed; and it is but just, also, to my own feel
lngs to express my qualification at the asso-
citation of my name with that of nv friend
Gen. Lane, a patriot and a soldier, whose
great services in the field and in council en-
title him to the gratitude and confidence
his countrymen.
ton have my cordial approval. They are
just to all parts of the Union, to all our citi-
zens, native and naturalized, and they form
noble policy for any Administration.
The questions touching the rights of per-
sons and property, which have of late been
much discussed, find in these constitutional
solution. Our Union is Confederacy of
equal sovereign States, for the purposes en-
umerated in the Federal Constitution. What
ever the common Government holds in trust
for all the States must be enjoyed equally by
each. 1t controls the Territories in trust for
all the States. Nothing less than sovereignty
can destroy or impair the rights of persons
or property. The Territorial Governments
are subordinate and temporary, and not SOW
ereign; hence they cannot destroy or impair
the rights OF persons or property. While
they continue to be Territories they are I'M
der the control of Congress, but the Consti
tuition nowhere confers on any branch of the
Federal Government the power to discrimin-
ate against the rights of the States or the
property of their citizens in the Territories
1t follows that the citizens of all the States
may enter the Territories of the Union with
their property, of whatever kind, and enjoy
1t during the territorial condition without let
or hindrance, either by Congress or by subor-
dinate Territorial Governments.
These principles flow directly from the
absence of sovereignty in the Territorial
and from the equality of the
States. Indeed, they are essential to that
equality, which is, and ever has been, the
vital principle of our constitutional Union
They have been settled legislatively-settled
and are sustained by right reason.
They will preserve the Union.
1t is idle to attempt to smother these great
issues, or to misrepresent them by the use of
partisan phrases, which are misleading and
1elusive. The people will look beneath such
expressions as Intervention" "Congres-
,io1al Slave Code" and the like. and will
to the real questions involved
Ne frfenQS VI SQudiILy 10 nOG
.nd never did demand Congressional
Slave Code" nor any other code in regard
% property in the territories. They hold
he doctrine of nQn-intervention by Congress
,r by a territorial Legislature, either to es-
,ahlish or prohibit slavery; but they assert
fortified by the highest judicial tribunal in
he Union) the plain duty of the Federal
Government, in all its departments, to secure,
when necessary, to the citizens of all the
States, the enjoyment of their property in the
common territories, as everywhere else with
IN its jurisdiction. The only logical answer
to this would seem to be to claim sovereign
power for the territories, or to deny that the
Constitution recognizes property In the SER
vices VI negro slaves, to dony that such
property can exist.
InexOrable logic, which works its steady
way through clouds and passion, compels
the country to meet the issue. There is no
evasive middle ground. Already the signs
multiply of a fanatical and growing party,
which denies that under the Constitution, or
by any other law, slave property can exist;
and ultimately the struggle must come be-
tween this party and the National Democ-
racy, sustained by all the other conservative
elements in the Union.
I think it will be impossible for candid
mind to discover hostility to the Union or a
.aint of sectionalism in the resolution adopt
ed by the Convention. The Constitution
and the Union repOse on the equality of the
States, which lies like broad foundation
our whole political structure.
As construe them, the resolutions simply
assert this equality. They demand nothing
or any State or section that is not cheerfully
conceded to all the rest. 1t is well to re-
member that the chief disorders which have
afflicted our country have grown out of the
falo nj State pnnalifv hot IOnn
IS this great principle has been respected
We have been blessed with harmony and
peace. Nor will it be easy to persuade the
country that resolutions are sectional which |
the support of majority of the |
States, and are approved by the bone and |
,ody of the Democracy, and by vast mass
If conservative opinion everywhere, without |
egard to party.
1t has been necessary, more than once in |
,ur history, to pause and sOlemnly assert
he true character of this Government. A
memorable instance occurred in the struggle |
which ended in the civil revolution of 1900. |
The Republicans of that day, like the De- /
nocracy of this, were stigmatized as dis /
est under the Constitution and saved our |
political system. By like constitutional |
t-uggle it is intended to assert and estab- |
ish the equality of the States, as the only |
,asis of union and peace. When this object,
o national, so constitutional, so just, shall
We accomplished, the last cloud will disap-
'ear from the American sky, and with COM
non hands and hearts the States and the |
,eople will unite to develop the resources of
he whole country, to bind it together with
he bonds of Intercourse and brotherhood,
nd to impel it onward in its great career.
The Constitution and the equality of the |
'tates! These are the symbols of everlasting
Union. Let these be the rallying cries of the |
'eople.
/ trust that this canvass will be conducted |
Without rancor, and that temperate argu- |
nents will take the place of hot words and |
,assiOnate accusations.
Above all, venture humbly to hope that |
livide Providence, to whom we owe our origin |
ur growth, and all our prosperity. will con