Year: 1859

large majority of the people Of this State. Th,


Legislature instructed the Senators from Califor


nia to sustain the Kansas policy of the President
l gave effect to these instructions by my vote il
the Senate. The Democratic party represented
| in State Convention, endorsed these resolutions


of the Legislature and the people at the ballot


box approved emphatically the acts of their rep


resentatives, both in the Legislature and in the
| State Convention; and l stand by that solemn
verdict of the people.


Near the close of the last session of Con.
gress, debate was sprung upon the Senate
upon the question of Territorial sovereignty


We had long expected such discussion, be.
cause it was the duty of Mr.. Douglas to give
his reasons to the Senate and to the country
for the line of policy he had considered it
his duty to adopt in the Senatorial canvass
in Illinois. The doctrines he had avowed in
his Freeport speech had been condemned in
the Senate by his removal from the Chair
manship of the Territorial committee of that
body, and it was expected that he would de-
fend the position he had taken, and give am
pie time to those who differed from him to
give the reasons that had influenced them in
removing him from the important position at
the head of the Territorial Committee, he
had filled for so many years in the Senate
But for reasons satisfactory to himself, he
close of the session, when there was not time
to give the subject that full consideration it
deserved lie had asserted in his Freeport
speech that a Territorial Legislature could
lawful3y by non action or hostile legisla-
ton exclude slavery from such territory
Having always opposed this doctrine, brief
ly announced my previous opinions, and de-
clared that if such construction had been
given to the Kansas Nebraska act when it
was under consideration in Congress in 1854
| should have voted against it. Such power
was Withheld from the territorial Legislature
in that act, for the express purpose of leav-
ing the question of slavery in tue Territories
to be decided by the Supreme Court of the
United States. For this reason, the right of
appeal from the Territorial Courts to the
Supreme Court where the amount in contro-
versy was less than s., 2,OOO was conferred by
that law. In March, 1857, tie Supreme
Court decided this question in all its various
relations, in the case of Dred Scott. That
decision declares that neither Congress nor
a Territorial legislature possess the power
either to establish or exclude slavery from
the Territory, and that it was a power which
exclusively belonged to the States; that the
people of Territory can exercise this power
for the first time when they form Constitu-
ton; that the right of the people of any
State to carry their slaves into a common
territory Of the United States, and hold them
there during its existence as such, was guar
anteed by the Constitution Of the United
States; that it was a right which could ne-
ther be subverted nor evaded; either by non
action, by direct or indirect Congressional
legislation, or ly any law passed by Terri
torial Legislature. This new tangled doc
trine of non-action or hostile legislation is an
absurdity which no man, having fair claims
to common sense, or pretensions to states
manship, should deliberately assert. But
history proves that there is no theory which
can be devised by the cunning or The fanati-
csm of man, that will not have its advocates
and adherents. 1t is no less true also, that
there is no theory which can affect the social
compact that the wit of man cannot invent,
especially under the influence of an unre-
strained ambition for high place and power
To refer to Mahometanism would be stale
truth, because of its age; the fire. worshiper
likewise believes in his creed SO does the
idolatrous Polytheast, or the stupid African,
who would lay down his life in defence of
some fetish object of worship, although it is
nothing but a shoe buckle or button. In
our own country the Mormon proclaims his
revolving belief in polygamy, and stands up
to it; and so it will be with the. .politica! sect
of tbo Joy ,,h;,b oAo,,to 70 ho thop tho
Supreme Court of the United States and
which can without any disturbance of con
science 60 on refining upon new and mon
strous interpretations of constitutional rights
and power, and it will find numerous anala-
gous examples in the preposterous folly and
wicked theories of their fellow men. To
contend for the power-and sovereign pow
cr it s-of territorial legislature to exclude
by non action or hostile legislation, is
pregnant with the mschiets of never ending
agitation, of civil discord and of bloody wars.
This new theory. sprung into existence as it
was, at the close of long series of abolition
designs, which had been persevered in with
untring zeal for a quarter of Il century,
seemed to me like fresh invitation to re-
new the now fading hopes of that fanatical
party. | am opposed to the system of keep
ing up roaming commission to search for
new sources of mischief to our Government.


| will not stop to express regrets for the
course which any public man may see fit to
take, nor for any opinion which ho may
choose to promulgate, that deem dangerous
to the peace and prosperity Of my country.
Where question like this, so vital to the
safety and the great future Of this mighty
republic, is involved, its very magnitude de-
mands that it shall be treated apart from all
merely personal considerations. The inter-
ests which it affects rise above the humble
standard of unmeaniug and individual regrets