Year: 1859

And the home of the brave"


A common error seems to have taken
possession of the public mind, that no ter
ritory can be admitted as a State, unless
it has ninety-three thousand population.
The debates in Congress upon the appli-
cation of Kansas under the "Lecompton
Constitution" have given rise to this pre-
vailing sentiment.


Never before was population made a
condition for the formation of States; and
we think we are safe in saying that in
the twenty-one States admitted under the
Federal Constitution, in but one solitary
instance (that Of Arkansas) did Congress
in the acts admitting them, specify the
number of inhabitants contained within
the jurisdiction of the new State.


If definite population were necessary
as condition precedent to admission, it
would appear in the act admitting the
State that this condition was not wanting,
and that the population having been def
nitely ascertained by sworn officer was
ample and complete. We said the error
grew out of the debates upon the applica-
ton of Kansas. 1t Will be remembered
that a large party in Congress were Op-
posed to admitting Kansas under the con-
stitution presented, and every means was
resorted to for the purpose Of preventing
the consummation of what was called the
"Lecompton fraud" Among other rea-
sons urged was, that the Territory did not
possess the requisite inhabitants under
the census act of 1850, apportioning MEM
bers of Congress among the several
States. A vigorous effort was here first
made to make Kansas an exception to the
general rule, and to apply terms and affix
conditions to that Territory which had
never been applied IL the admission Of
any other.


But even in the case of Kansas, the
bill passed admitting it with a population
not exceeding forty thousand, prefxing,
! however, as a condition, that unless the
people accepted the constitution at po-
! pular election, she should not come unto
the Union until she had ninety-three
! thousand.


That constitution, as is we'll known,
was rejected, and at the last session an
attempt was made to pass an appropria-
ton of twenty thousand dollars to take the
census of Kansas, In order to ascertain
whether it had the necessary inhabitants
under the English BILL" which failed
was voted down-Clearly showing that the
condition was abandoned and would not
be further insisted on. Kansas will,
therefore, at the next session, present her
new constitution without any reliable data
as to population, and certainly without
! any pretence to the number under the
English bill" and who believes she will
be rejected on the ground she does not
contain the necessary number to entitle
the State to a member under the census
of 1856?


By the act of 1850, commonly known
as the apportionment law, the Secretary
of the Interior is required TO have an emu
meration of the inhabitants of the States
taken. The aggregate population thus
ascertained is to be divided by the number
Z33, and the product of such division is to
| be the ratio or rule of apportionment Of
representatives among the several States.
The Secretary of the Interior is then re-
quired to ascertain in the same manner
the representative population of each
State, and divide the whole number by
the same ratio, and the product thus as
certained is TO be the number of repre-
sentatives apportioned to each State
giving to all the then States 233 repre5en-
tatlves, and to each State as its population
was to the population of all the States.-
The whole enumeration being divided by
233, the number of members in Congress
all the States were entitled to, give a
fraction over ninety-three thousand as the
representative population in each State.
Upon this law do the friends of the popu-
lation rule for Territories base their ar
gument. They say we are not entitled
to be admitted, because we have not the
population required for a member of Con-
gress. We hold their construction Of the
law partial and unjust. The object of the
law was to limit the number Of members