The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1860-03-07
TERMS--S2,OO


sion on equal 'ooting with all the ctker States.
It Is the true Jeff.rsoniau Interpretation Of the
Constitu ion, ani utterly rspudistss the strong
Government doctrines Of the old Jchn Adams
Is hc,l which found power for the euneas Of
every extrlvaglnt measure that might suit thei:
fancy or their interest. This extract says
nothing, but leaves the matter Just where the
Constitution leaves It. 1t grants no poTet be.
cause it repudistes the ides that Congress bad
any power to grant or to withhold. You eiairs
under this declaration in the organic act, the
/ right to abolish slavery ia the Territory Of Kan.
sas BY so doing, you mistake both tho words
and the rresnirg, and misccneeivo the true spirs
itof the text. Whatever power you possess o.
YER the question ofslsvery, you would have pos.
sessed in a. eminent dsgree without as with
this clause in the organic act, which we tss
and observe every day "a our rule ofsctio5, &C.
! 10 find power to take away from any cti1eu
| his rights or his property, but to protect both.
| Eevery clause is full of this and nothing else.
1t creates executive officers as administrators cf
the law; it authorizes the election OF LegisisA
ture for the purpose OF making laws; II estsb.
fishes Courts ofjustce TO try all questions OF
controversy between citizen and citizen, frcsi
breaches Of the peace 10 the rights Of property.
Each department has its legitimate sphere Of
duty and the Legislature can no more adiudi.
cate breaches Of the peace or the rights Of pros
perty, than the Courts can enact laws. .Toa
have vast powers oflegslstion, admit; gfexief
in Territory, generally, than in States
| Your restrictions are very ew, and your gene'
raj powers are enormous; il is one cause Of anx.
iety, most frequently, for change to State.
that the wild and reckless legislation Of Ter.
ritory may be confined to the stricter rules Of
a State Constitution. In this syrnpathife
with the people. But why desire Ststef--
Because you then act in sovereign capacityt
the sovereignty Is expressed in Constituticni
by that sovereignty you regulate and restrict
the acts OF your public servants. Sovereignty
implies the restriction Of power as well a. ita
exercise; its right to act Is inherent in itsess
it knows no master and has arbiter. This 10
the condition Of state, as opposed to Terri.
tory; one is created, the other creates Itself.
| The Legislature of State can only exercise
the functions granted; the Legislature of
Territory exercise the functions granted: the
Legislature ola Territory exercise such powers
assare not prohibited. 1t can abolish sil legal
relations between man and wife; 1t can abolish
all laws fur the collection Of debts; it can sbo.
ish the Sabbath day, or prohibit the holding OK
Sundap schools; it can repeal all laws in re'a.
ton to contracts between man and man; 1t can
refuse to provide foI the punishment OF a crime
our Courts OF Justice, which it cannot abolish,
it might transfer one mans farm to the occus
paHcy ofanother, as we'll as all other property.
and nothing hut its want Of complete sovereign.
tg checks its ability III the exercise oil po~sr.=
That it lacks; and that renders the bill before
me mischieyous, in engendering litigation, which
is the very worst species Of legislation that caa
inhict a people.
Sovereignty does uot reside in Legislatures.
it resides in the people; and their sovereign
acts must precede legislative bodies. And here,
! presume, is the rock on which you have split.
If sovereign resided in Legislatures, then, ins
deed, no one would dare to dispute your sover-
egn acts But in this great essential you are
deficient, and hence the embarrassment under
which you labor in completing your round
of "all legislation, You can pass laws regu.
lating the condition of master and slave, or
you can repeal such laws, or refuse to pass
them. but yon lack the sovereignty necessary
to create slave, or wrest him from his owner.
That is an exercise Of power which clear, TN
disputed sovereignty alone can exercise; and
it must be done by the sovereign himself in
convention assdmbed In that capacity you
adopted clause 10 your Constitution at Wy
andott, declaring that slavery should never ex.
iSt in the State Of Kansas. No one is silly O.
nough to dispute that right; and had you decla.
red it should exist in the State of Kansas the
right was equally clear, and none ever disputed
it but the old John Adams school Of strong
conStructionsts and illegitimate Republican,
ism, Of royal and imperial dictation over the
States, Of intermeddling by constitutional con-
Structionists, and deranging the order of things
generally, You might as we'll expect to pre-.
serve the lives and machinery OF railroad
train. at forty miles speed, by running it OF
the track, as to preserve tha Union OF these
Sovereign States outside Of the tue construc-
ton of the Constitution. We 6und in early
times New England threatened dissolution Of
the Union because q true construction had bsen
put upon that instrument, and to her own equal
advantage. How much more likely then win
others be to do the same thing from false con.
structions made to work them an injary. It
is folly to make question out Of an inevitable
consequence.
But you say that the Act also repealed
the "Compromise Act Of 1920" That compro.
mise was nullity when adopted. 1t was out
side OF Constitutional powe: when made. It was
a compromise with error done to save the union
for the time being, from the assaults Of fanati-
cs1n. 1t tadmitted Missouri, with restriction on
her sovereign right, but placed upon others not
party to the compromise those who might
grow up and become sovereign with restrictions
~. 1t never was satisfactory to great portion
Of the pople 1t was yertuly ignored b5 tho
resolutions Of 1850, with MIR. Clays advocacy
and advice--it was declared imperative by the
Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854, and totally wash
ed ont in the Died Scott Decision Of the Su.
, preme Court of the United States. II was the
declaration of the Kansas Nebraska Act that
the line OF Sc degrees and 80 minutes was "in .
operatives" that gave that act its greatest i'm.
: poltance. 1t corrected errors Of the past and
opened up the future to the true doctrine Of
Congress in regard to the Territories.
The ancient enemy Of the Democracy was
terribly shocked, or pretended to be, at this act
and to make an issue, they met at Phiiadei-
! phia, in convention represented by one half
the States and fell back on the doctrine OF
# OF power in the General Government. The
members that composed the treasonable Hart
t ford Convention could rot have done worse in
the way of royal assumptions, and Ccngression.
al specifics to cure evils of which they seemed
n to know little, and perhaps, cared less. They
!, Resolved That the Constitution eonfers upon
Congress sovereign power over the Territories
. Of the United States for their government. and
d that in the exercise of this power it is both the
e right and duty Of Congress to prohibit in the
Territories those twin relics of barbarism --po-
lygamG and slavery.
This is most extraordinary resofN, and II
! believed in by the political majority In your
: Hoose, cannot see how, without qualification.
you assumed the right to exercise this sovereign
power in Territory! But this is not for me to
be The Judge. 1t is to be hoped that no one be-
lieve in this resolution now if they ever did,
= What soopye;1nty does Congress possess over