Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1884-12-04

for that section Of the territory, which lfd
to constitutional convention being held
at Sioux Falls in September, 1883, and
the formation and adoption of con.
stltulion. Among the delegates TO that
convention from Huth,nson county ap
pears the name of A. Sheridan Jones,
who Is presumptlvely the same person as
A. s. Jones, member elect of the council
from that county.
When the time for the convention came
their enthusiasm nad cooled down so that
they concluded not 10 elect set of state
officers IN advance of admission, hold
their own courts and throw United States
marshals into jail. They coctented them
selves with corning constitution and
asking admission into the union. The
constitution was formulated and present
ed to congress last winter and possibly
now might be found IN pigeon hole OF
some committee room if it has not been
used for lighting cigars. Congress lg
nored it with silent contempt, and IN view
of this past and recent experience of Mr.
Jones in enforcing admission into the
union it is a lit le surprising that he
should give expression to such sentiments
on the subject as those quoted aaove.
The questions involved and settled in
the admission of Nebraska in 1866 Z set.
ties beyond reasonable controversy the
questions so persstently rals I'd and re-
peated|y disputed BY the ultra advocates
of enforcing the admission Of Dakota o,
any part of it into the union, as shown by
Judge Shannon in his reply to Mr. Camp
bell, and were il not that this came from
member elect to the highest leglsmtive
body in the territory it would hardly he
necessary to combat tho proposition.
In the discussion Of the question of ad.
ml,ting Nebraska into the union the illu..
trlous senator from Massachusetts, Charles
Sumner, said: Nobody doubts that con
gress, in providing for the formation of a
constitution may af1ix conditions. This
has been done from tho beginning Of our
history. There is no instance where i,
has been omitted. They are in your stat
ute book, constant witnesses to the power
Of congress, unqueslioned and unqLes-
tionable"
Ou the same subject senator Edmun Is,
one of the most profound constitutional
lawyers OF the age and nation, made the
br Il ami sweeping declaration: "We
have right to create states; we have a
right to govern territories We have a
right to sweep Them away
In decision OF the supreme court OF
the state of Nebraska upon political rights
claimed under tue constitution after its
adoption and before the state was admit
teG by congress into the union the cour,
asserts the self-ev'dent proposition tina,
"a state aud territorial government could
not possibly exist at one and the same
time" Further, "What we choose to
Call state constitution was, at most, a
proposed instrument, and Of no more
force until admission than blank psrch
ment Those who had been chosen state
officers had no offices to fill, and were
private citizens. governed by the laws
and officers of the territory" Still fur
,her the court saysln this dlcisio1 "The
Legislature of the territory owes its exist.
ence to the organic act of congress, pas.
sed in 1854, which empowers It to leg islate
upon all r,ghtful subjects Of legislation.
To undertake to subvert the very gov
ernment under which it assemblies and
acts is not right'ul sunject O: leglsla
tion; on the contrary, it is revolutionary"
The court also quotes the following from
an opinion Of the attorney general of the
United States on this subject. "rerri
torial legislatures cannot, without permis.
sion from congress, pass laws authorizing
the form .tion OF constitutions and stat,
governments vi measures commenced
aud prosecuted with design to subver'
the territorial government, without lh
consent OF congress, are unlawful
The mistaken idea that Michigan fore
ed her admission into the union, an idea
which originated with Hugh j. Camp
bell and was Gy him disseminated among
The cople of south Dakota, has seriously
msled the pc pie upon the subject.
M,chlgan's pretensions to statehood wer,
never recognized by congress. Although
it occurred when the idea and doctrine of
states rights were at tie zenith under the
powerful advocacy of John e. Calhoun,
even that illustrlous "nullifier" of the
laws and rejec,er of the sovereign powers
of the national government could no,
swallow such nulliticstlon as that ass umed
hy the usurping state government OF
Michigan, and he voted against receiving
a petition purporting to have come from
the state legislature because go receive
the petition would amount to a recogni-
ton Of Michigan rs a state," IN which he
was sup 1orted by Daniel Webster, Henry
Clay, John }. Crttenden, and other illus.
trioIs senators.
The prOposition of connc,1man a1ec,