Show MESSAGE ivoa cvizic of the ae senate and house cf when wi re compare the condition of the country at the present day with what it was one year ago at the meeting of congress behave much reason for gratitude to that r almighty Provide providence teet which has never fail ed ato to interpose for our relief at the most critical periods of our history one year jear i ago the sectional al strife between the north arth and south on the dangerous subject of slav again become so intense as to threaten all the me peace and perpetuity of the confider acy act the application for the admission of kaunas as a state into the union fostered thill thi unhappy agitation and brought the whole subject once more before congress it ivas was the desire of every patriot that such measures of the legislation might be adopted t as ai would remove the excitement from the u statta states and confine it to the territories where it legitimately belonged auch has bean been adone p done I 1 am hip happy ty to say tow towards lards the ac 1 0 of this I 1 object during the last I 1 ton of congress ine supreme court of the united states had bud previously decided that all american citizens have an e ua ual right to take into the territories whatever is held as property un or c the laws lavva of 0 anhof any of the states and kohold uch property there under the guardianship f the federal constitution so long as the errit territorial orial condition shall remain this thia is 13 now BOW a well established position nd d the proceedings of the last session were i one raiding ting to give 1 dive it practical effect he principle M ople has been reco recognized in come borne ana ral or other by an at almost unanimous vote if f both houses of congress that a territory laasi as a right to come into the union either as a free or a slave state according the will ill ot I 1 a ma majority 0 rity of it its people the just equal ity ty 0 of all ail the states has thus been vindicated i anil nd a fruitful source of dangerous dissension P mor imon them has been removed whilst vj list such has been the beneficial ten ncy ency ot of your legislative proceedings out ide of kansas their influx influence encee has as nowhere iam tg so BO happy as within that territory itself ett to manage and control its own affairs A m n way w ay without pressure of external n nee the revolutionary topeka za all resistance to the territorial established by congress have been leen heatly abandoned As a natural cone le nence roat at fine territory now appears to be agull d prosperous and is is attract ng 1 increasing thousands of emigrants to e it their happy appy home the e past u unfortunate fortunate ort experience of kanas has enforced t the e lesson so go often already taught aught that resistance to lawful authority ulder our form of government cannot fail in in the end to prove disastrous to its authors had the people 04 0 the territory yielded obedience to the laws enacted by their legisla jureit would at t the ll 11 present moment have obtained tont Onta auie ined a large larger additional population of 1 and enterprising citizens citizen spi who I 1 i ave beai deter deterred from entering its borders rythe Y the cx ex istance of civil strife and orsa orga iced rebellion eb ellion i it was the resistance to rightful authority lud the persevering ier persevering severing attempts to establish a government under the topeka constitution 1 which caused the people of haneas lisas to commit the grave error of retus refus beg S to vote tor for del delegates esaies convention A name frame a constitution under a law not ot de ef fair air and just in in its provisions pr oviel ons u refusal to vote hes been the he prolific hoarce wee of all the evils which have followed flowed ill their T lio to the territorial govern sm I 1 t they disregarded the principle abao ay essential to the working of our form that a majority of those labo vote roce noi not the e majority who may reain m aill at Ithome home from whatever cause must Ws do the result result of the election for this leallan aaen seeking to take advantage ot of their p or they denied the authority of the he on thus elected to frame a coastin 1 nsf the antion convention nt ion notwithstanding pro to 10 adopt a constitution t ron conable aMein in its ita general features and provi provid tin 9 submission dision li sion of the slavery ques 10 to vote in ot a people which h in in my C ion t thew e were ebol bud b ud d to do the 1 aas a d I 1 act this was the all P ortan tj leation which ich ik had bad alone colv uli w rd aid Trost cB vf of the tact I 1 lawful government persisting in their first error rort refrained from i exercising their right to i vote and preferred that slavery should continue rather than surrender their revolutionary topeka organization 1 A wiser and better spirit seemed to prevail before the first Monday of january tre last aap when A ben an election was held under the constitution A majority of the people then voted for the governor and other state officers for a member of congress and members of the state legislature this election was warmly contested by the two politician cial parties in kansas and a greater vote was polled than at any previous election A large majority of the members of the legislature elect belonged to that party which had previously refused to vote the antislavery anti slavery party were thus placed in the ascendant and the political power of the state was in their own hands awer had ad congress admitted kansas into toe the union under the Le compton constitution the legislature might at the very first session have submitted the question to a vote of the keople people whether they would or would not j have ave a convention to amend their constitution either on the slavery or any other question and have adapted ill all necessary means for giving speedy effect to the will of the majority thus the kansas cu ue stion estion in would i have been immediately and finally settled bottled U der these circumstances I 1 I 1 to contress Con congress the constitution thus framed fress with a all the officers already elected ry to put the state government into operation by a strong recommendation ili favor of the admission of kansas as a state in t the he course of my long public life I 1 have never P performed er formed any 0 official I 1 acial act which I 1 in the ret retrospect ro has afforded me more heartfelt satisfaction its admission could have inflicted no do possible injury on any human humair being whilst it would within a brief period have restored peace to kansas and harmony to the union in enthat that event the slavery question would ere this have been finally filially settled according to the legally expressed will of a majority of the voters and popular sovereignty would thus thua have been vindicated in ili a constitutional manner with my deep convictions of duty I 1 could have pu pursued r sued no 0 ther other course it is true that as an individual I 1 had expressed an all opinion both before and during the session of the convention in favor of submitting the remaining clauses of the constitution as well as that concerning slavery to the p peo 0 o pre but acting in an official character neither er myself nor any human authority had the power to reaud e the proceeding of the convention and declare leclare the constitution which Nhi cli it had framed to be a nullity toraye to have done this would have been a violation of the kansas and nebraska act which left the people of the territory perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way subject only to the constitution ution of united states it would equally have violated the great principle of popular sovereignty at the foundation of our institutions to deprive the people of we tae power if they thought proper to exercise it of brofer confiding to delegates e elected acted by themselves the trust of framing a constitution without retiring reu re iring them to subject their constituents to the trouble expense and delayon delay of a se ond election it would have been in opposition to many precedents in our history commencing ing in i the very best age of the republic of th the admission of territories rIis as states into the without a previous vote of the people approving their constitution it is to be lamented lamented that a so 80 in insignificant m when hen i viewed in its practical effects on the people of kansas whether decided one way or the other should have kindled such a flame of excitement throughout the country tb this is reflection may prove to be a lesson of wisdom ad of barnin warning fo for r our future guidance practically con considered sTeer the question is simply whether the people of that territory should first come into the union and then changa any provision in fix their constitution not agreeable to th themselves or accomplish the very same object act by remaining out of the union and framing another constitution in accordance with their willin either case thief the result would be precisely the same the only difference in point of fact is that the object would have been much sooner attained and the pacification of kansas more speedily effected had it beba been admitted as a state during the last sea session of Congressi congress my recommendation however for the immediate admission of kansas failed to meet the he approbation of congress they deemed it wiser to adopt measure tor for the settlement of the question for my own part I 1 should have been willing to yield my assent to almost any constitutional measure to accomplish this object I 1 therefore cordially ac merced in what has been called the english compromise and approved the act for the admission of the state late of kansas into the union upon the th terms therein pr I 1 under the ordinance which accompanied the lee Le compton ton constitution the people of kansas had 03 h claimed double doublet the hd quantity of public lands for the support of common be schools oi s which h had ever been previously granted to any state upon entering the union and also the alternate sections ot of land for twelve miles on each side of two railroads proposed to be constructed from the northern norther n to the southern Southe rii boundary and from the ea eastern t to the western boundary of the state congress deeming these claims unreasonable provided by the act of may 4 1858 to which I 1 have just ream led for the tha admission of the state on an eual footing with the ori ginal binal states but upon the fundamental condition precedent that a majority of the people thereof at an election to be held for that purpose should in place of f th the very large grants of public lands which they had bad demanded under the ordinance ordina uce accept suc such grants as had been imade to minnesota and other new states under this act should a majority reject the pro proposition position Tosi tion offered them it shall be deemed an and held that the people of kansas do not desire admission into the union with said isaid constitution under the conditions set se forth in n said propositions in that event the act authorizes the people of the territory to elect delegates to torn form a constitution and state government for themselves whenever and not before it is ascertained by a census duly and legally taken that the population of said territory e bals or exceeds the ratio of representation repaired for a member of the house of representatives senta tives of the congress of the united states the celep delegates ates thug assembled shall first determine by a vote whether it is the wish of the people of cf the pio proposed posed state to be admitted into the union at that time and if so shall proceed ett to forma form a Cons titu tion and take all ne nece cestary steps for the establishment of a state government in conformity with the federal constitution after this I 1 i constitution shall have beeri formed congress carrying out tie principles of pon ular sov sovereignty ereis ty and nor noi intervention have haiie MI left lithe the mode and manne mannerow its approval or ratification by the peo people ae of the proposed state to be prescribed by law a and p they ey shall hall then be admitted into the union nion as a state under such constitution thus fairly and legally legal made with or without slavery as said constitution may pr prescribe P an election wits was held throughout kansas sa in in pursuance of the tha provisions of this act on the second day of august last sn d it resulted in the rejection by a large lat ge majority of the proposition submitted to the people by Con congress gres this being the rase case they are now nov authorized to form another constitution preparatory tory to admission mission into the unior ut b nol until their number ascertained certai fied by a census shall equal or exceed lie die ratio required to elect a member to t the h e house of representatives it is not probable in the present state of the case that a third constitution can be lawfully framed and presented to congress by kansas before its population shall have reached the designated il number lumber nor is it to be presumed that after their sad experience in resisting the territorial laws they will attempt to adopt a constitution in express violat violation iori of the provisions of an act of congress during the session of 1856 much of the ime congress was occupied on the question of admitting kansas under the topeka constitution again nearly the whole of 0 the last session was devoted to the question quentio n of its admission under the lecompton Le compton constitution surely it is not unreasonable to require the people of kansas to wait before making the third attempt until the number of their inhabitants shall amount to ninety three thousand four hundred and twenty durin daring 9 this brief period the harmony of the states as well as the great business interests of the coun country demand that the people of the union shall not for a third time be convulsed by another agitation on the kansas question by wai waiting for a short time and acting in obedience to law Kans kansas aswill wilt glide into the union without the slightest impediment this excellent provision which con gress have applied to kansas ought to be extended and rendered applicable to io bill all territories which may hereafter seek aiato iato the baito Ua ito i r 1 whilst congress possess the undoubted cyer power of admit admitting tim a new state into the union nio 1 however small may be the number of its inhabitants yet this power ought 1 not I in in my opinion to be exercised b before ore the e population shall amount to the i ratio required by the act for admission of kansas had this been previously the rule the cauntay would have escaped all and misfortunes to which chicly it has been exposed by the kansas question of course it would be unjust to give this rule a retrospective application and exclude a state which acting upon the of the government has already formed its constitution elected its legislature egi slature and other officers and is now prepared to enter the union the rule ought to be adopted whether I 1 we v e con consider S ider its bearing upon the people of the territories or upon the people of the existing states many of the serious seri ou dissensions which hive have prevail prevailed ad in in Conr congress ress and throughout the country would have been avoided had this rule been established at an earlier period of the g government 0 v ern in ent immediately upon the formation ofa of a new territory people from different states and from foreign countries rush into ite it forthe for the laudable purpose of im improving their condition their first duty to themselves Is to open and cultivate farms to construct roads to establish be schools to erect places of re religious limous worship and to devote their ene energies riles generally to reclaim the wilderness |