Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1883-05-28


n place in the union O.
an Independent state; the other that con.
gress must first lay of the territory into
one or. more states, according to . Just dis
cretion. defining the esane BY bounds and
limits; and that the admission Of the
state thus defined should take place ~
their population respectively amounted
to the number of free inhabitants men.
toned; that is, that the sixty thousand
could not claim admission into the union,
unless they we're comprised within state
whose territorial limits had been pre-.
viously ascertained by an oct Of congress
that the latter construction was the pre-
ferable one. because 1t was conformable
not only to the spirit, but to the letter of
the, e,ordinance and deed of cession, which
contemplated the erection of Tennessee
into one or more states," as congress
might determine; that the territory of
Tennessee had no other or greater rights
than had the territories northwest of
the Ohio, for whom the ordinance had
been expressly enacted; and it could not
be pretended that the latter would be
entitled to admission into the union AZ
one state SO soon as their population
shosld amount to sixty thousand, be-
cause the ordinance itself divided the
country into three separate and distinct
states. each of which must contain sixty
thousand free habitants before it
could claim to be received; !;
that the action OF congress upon
the question now, would be regarded and
followed hereafter as . precedent, aud
hence it was of the utmost importance
that no sanction should be given to any
proposition which expressly or even i'm.
pliedly admitted that the people inhab.
iting either of the territories of the Unit.
ed States could, at their own mere will
and pleasure, and without the declared
consent of congress, erect themselves in.
to separate and independent state;
that the provision of the ordinance re-.
lating to the admission of new states,
when there should be sixty thousand free
inhabitants within their respective limits
evidently contemplated the taking of
census, and as congress was to act upon
the result OF such census, it was more
proper that it should be taken IN pursu-
ance of its own order than by that of .
community whose interest might lead it
to exaggerate its numbers, and whose re-
port, therefore, if accurate would be re.
ceived with distrust. and, finally, that
there was reason to doubt the accuracy
of the count taken by the territorial gov.
eminent, since its order required the
sheriffs of the several counties to include
in their enumeration all persons within
their respective limits within the period
allowed for making it, which was two
months; hence, that the same men might
have been counted in several counties,
nay, in every county in the territory, and
that without any intentional fraud.
ION the other hand, the friends o.
bill contended, that the people of Ten
nessee became ipso Jacto, state, the mo
ment they numbered nxty thousand fire.
inhabltants, and that it became the duty
of congress, as part Of the original com
pact, made at the time the territory wa
ceded to the United States, to recogniz.
them as such, and to admit them int
the union, whenever satisfactory proc
was furnished to them Of that fact; tina
to the objections, that previously to tn
proof of that fact being given. it va
necessary that congress should have lai,
out and formed that territory into ION
or more states" and that the proof O
their number should have been give
under direction and BY order OF congrss
the people being incompetent to Civ
that proof themselves, it was Q s1hicien
answer that both those objections sup
posed construction OF the ordinauc
of 1887 and of the deed Of cesnon, whic
was inadmissibly since il rendered ths
compact binding upon ono party IN
not upon another; that it was absur
to suppose that that ordinance, wkos
object it was toestabliah the principle
of free government, sand to determin
with certainty the conditions of the &C
mission Of new States into the union, ha
made the time when those people We,
to enjoy that government and be admi
ted as member of the unie
depend, not on the contingent
of their having sixty th.usar
free inhabitants, but on. certain aets l
congress; in other words, on the sole vi
of congress; that either it must be ID,
ceded that their admission depsnde
solely on the condition of tho compa
being fulfilled, to Wit, their having Il
: population required, or it must be d
clared that it rested on another q,
a which might be done or refused by &
! other party; that as to the return OF {
number Of inhabitants, no mode hi
been fixed by the compact how th
numbe: should be determined. but,
BY the acts Of congress establishing te,
. porary governments in the territory
!, fected by the ordinance of 1857, whane,
a they should have respectively nve tho
sand Inhabitants, the governor Of I
territories were especially authorized
!. cause the enumeration TO be made, the
!. could be no doubt tbs same course u