Year: 1860

Mr.. PUaH, of Ohio. My fellow citi


zens, l said the reason why l objected &c


the first proposition contained in the ma


jority report, is that can see no consti


tutional authority for it. When the


honorable gentleman from Alabama, oil


any other gentleman, can show me any


authority for it in the constitution, will


90 with him; but rs / said before, it has


been fundamental doctrine Of the Dem.


ocratic party, as it was the habit of our


fathers, to construe the constitution


strictly, and to abstain from the exercise


of all doubtful powers. And where is il


in the Constitution that the Government


of the United States, a government OF


delegated authority, government whose


powers are confided to it from the several


Statcs-show it to me if you can in the


Constitution where it gets the power of


municipal legislation in the territories


Grant, if you please, for the sake of ar


gument, that it ought to be there, and


ought to have been placed there by the


sages who have made the Constitution,


will gentlemen undertake by acts of


Congress and by resolutions of Conven-


tions to carry out proposition of Con-


stitutional power which our fathers in


their wisdom did not see fit to insert in


it? Sir, / will not arm the Federal Gov
sernment with such power as this. 1t
does not belong to them and it is not fed
eral in its character, it is not consistent
with the character of our institutions, it
is assuming an imperial, arbitrary, COIN
plete power over distant people who are
not represented in the government. 1t
is contrary to the genius of the Consti-
tuition, it is contrary to the principles of
the Constitution, it is contrary to the
faith of the fathers, it is in violation of
the reserved rights of the States, and in
violation Of the rights Of the people of
the Territories. [Applause.] And the
power of Congress being limited to the
right to provide Territorial Govern.
ment in order to the protection of per-
sons and property, and in order to regu-
late their rights under the Constitution
until such time as they take upon them
selves the garments of Sovereignty-I
say when Congress substitutes itself for
the Territorial Government, it has as
sumed n power which the founders of
our institutions never gave.


As said just before the adjournment,
we stand on the soil of this State which,
more than all the other States in the
Union, by its great statesmen for more
than quarter of century has called
upon us, has appealed to us not to coun-
tenancc these insidious encroachments
upon the Constitution by the increase of
powers of doubtful authority.


object in the second place, that it will
be fatal to the Union itself. For the
first thirty years or more, under the Con-
stitution, we had none of these ques-
tions, because we allowed the people of
the Territories to do as they pleased.


1t was under that sort of government
that the people of Alabama and Missis-
sippi lived while they were territories.
aud when they came to form their consti-
tutions, they were left, almost in the
words Of the Kansas and Nebraska bill, |
to decide these questions for themselves |
They went on to protect and maintain
slavery through their territorial govern
ments and they put it into their State
governments when they came into the
Union. And now gentlemen point me to |
any instance where slavery has been es-
tablished and protected in any territory
except under this much abused doctrine
of squatter sovereignty? These Terrific
ries did it and so with every territory
where it has been done down to the ter
ritory of New Mexico.


Now, my fellow citizens, since the
year 1920, when this government was
brought to the brink of ruin, when JEFF
ferson said the agitation of this question
sounded to him like a fire bell in the night,
when not only the leaders of the Demo-
cratic party, but the leaders of the Wing
party tried by every means to the extent
Of their influence to get this question
out Of the Halls of Congress, say since
that time this question has been the
source of nearly all our difficulties
Whenever it is brought into Congress, it
becomes Immediately the scene for all
of demagogues to appeal to the
Of their respective constituents.
1t becomes the place of the most bitter
wrangling most fatal to the interest, the
peace and the welfare of both sections of
the country. l say therefore that this
question should be taken away from Con-
gress and sent into the territories, and
let them manage their own affairs in
their own way. That, sir, was not only
the doctrine Of the compromise measures
Of 1850, but it was the doctrine of the
Kansas and Nebraska bill. l do not
claim that the Kansas and Nebraska bill
conferred upon territorial legislature
the power to exclude slavery, nor do /
say that bill denies to territorial legis-
lature the exercise of that right. 1t says
nothing on that subject, but it denied to
Congress the right to intervene either to
establish or exclude it there, and it de-
clared that the people Of the Territories
subject to the Constitution as expounded
by their proper tribunals, on proper occa-
sions, could proceed to dispose Of this
question according to their own wishes.


The honorable delegate from Alabama
told us that Senator Brown, Of Missis-
sippi, in debate on the Kansas and Ne.
braska bill, made certain reference to
the bill, which was not contradicted By