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

The Popular sovereignty Record Of
4 Broclinridge and Lane.
JOHN 20. BREcKrNRIDaE and JOSEPH
LANE, the Presidential nominees of the Sc
cessionists, are running on q 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-Inter-
vention. At Lexington, Kentucky, on the
9th Of June, 1856, in response to the con.
gratulations 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
The PEOPLE OF EACH TERRITORY SHALL
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.. BRcK1NR1DaE ut
tered the following sentiment, with all the
solemn force of an adjuration, to the tens of
thousands whohupg upon hisglowing periods
as upon the words of youthful apostle
of the true Democratic faith .a..
Break up sectional parties-erase geograph.
ical lines-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. BREcK-
1NR1DaE further proclaimed the doctrines of
the National Democracy of the whole On.
ion to be Non-Intervention with slavery by
Congress, and added
am connected with no party that has
for its object the extension of slavery, nor
with any to prevent the people of any State or
Territory from deciding the question of its ex-
ASCSnSS Va 'VAASeOASO Will tuCA4 1OI LuCm-
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 bin contained
The right to establish involues the correlative
right to prohibit, and denying both ! '00u!d cote
The effect of the repeal (of the Missouri com.
promise.) therefore. is neither to establish nor
to exclude. slavery; but to leaUe the future con-
dition of the Territories dependent ,Dholiy upon
the action of the inhabitants, subject only to such
limitations as the Federal Constitution may i'm
pose.
It will be observed that the rightof
the people to regulate in their 0tUn tcdy ALL THEIR
DOMESTIC INSTITUTIONS is left ,cholly untouched,
except that whatever is done must be done in
accordance with the Constitution 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 Ameri-
can colonies, two years previous to the Decla.
ration of independence, ASSERTED THIS SANE
PRINCIPLE we now find incorporated in the
Kansas.Nebr bill.
Upon an examination you will find that the
Declaration of Rights, made October IA. IVA,
asserts that the people of the several colonies
entitled to the free and exclusive p0,cers Of legisla
ti0n IN THEIR SEVERAL PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURES
in all cases of internal policy. This was refuted
by the Crown, but reasserted by our fore
fathers. Upon this issue the battles of the Rev
olution were fought; by the blood of oar FORE
fathers this principle Of self government was
established. This right, refused by the King,
was secured. consecrated, and established 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 n gt
Of self government in the TERRITORIES, thereby &C,
cupying the rery position to,oard the Territories
that George III. dia to the colonies !? The simple
question involved here is. "are the people cap
able of regulating their internal affairs, or must
Congress regulate those affairs for them?" IT
IS STRICTLY THE DOCTRINE OF CONGRESSIONAL
NoN-1NrERvENT1oN. Now, if that idea is the
correct one if it is true that the American peO.