Show jl A congressional imposition TEM admission of the territories of washington and montana as states of the union was recommended to the house by the committee on territories ton the dinst the bill which went to the committee came from the senate and provided only for the admission of washington Washing toh the committee added montana to the bill and changed the provision that the constitutions of the new states should be submitted to the FreS president ident so as to require them to be submitted to congress A further amendment requires the constitutions of the new states to embody a provision forbidding polygamous association or citation within their jurisdiction mr hill of ohio chairman of the committee presented a minority report objecting to the anti polygamy provision on the ground that no conditions whatever should be int imposed posed on the of the states except that they shall provide for a republican form of government and conform to the constitution of the united states mr hill though in the minority to la exactly right on this question it Is and ought to be required of every state forming a part spart of the federal union that its constitution and laws shall be in n accord with the supreme law of the land and but what consistency is there in this re requirement t it if congress in imposing it r upon tt the e stages departs from that constitution itself let us see what that instrument has to say gay bearing on the question of new states I 1 new states may be admitted into the union but no new state shall hall be formed or erected within she the jurisdiction of any an other state nor any state bel beH formey ormed bythe by the junction of two or more inore States without the convent consent of the legislatures of althe states concerns concerned cOn cerne d as well as of the congress it A the agthe united states shall guarantee to every state in the union a republican form of government and shall protect et each of them against invasion inva eon and en a ap application executive ol of the legislature 0 or r of the executive when the legislature cannot be convened against domestic violence 11 artiel article e IT IV sees 1 1 I 1 this constitution and the laws of the united states which shall be made pursuance In thereof and all treaties made or which shall be made under the sui authority bority of the united states shall be the supreme law jaw of the land and the abe judges ta in every state shall be bound thereby anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding 1 article VI par 2 congress has no legitimate powers but choser conferred upon it by the constitution any others that it assumes to exercise are in the nature of usurpation every american patriot ought ough tto to do all that lies in his bis power to preserve the country from unlawful ul encroachments encroach ments the balance of power between the several states and the national government ern ment so nicely adjusted in the constitution ought t I 1 be maintained when new states are about to be admitted into in the union no other conditions ought to be imposed than those contained in the above extracts which are all ali that the constitution has to say relating to th this subject it if a state is guaranteed a republican form of government er ent and is not formed out of part oi of an existing state or of two or more tates congress has no constitutional power to demand any extraneous requirements quire ments me bugaboo Is making asses of many public men granting that all the nonsense nonsense that has been uttered about it both inside and outside of congress is sound and true neither polygamy pal agamy nor I 1 monogamy nono gamy is a subject for ir the federal government to legislate upon matrimony does not belong to the sphere of national politics it is to be regulated it if anywhere by the secular power under the abb auspices of the several states each state has ithe right to regulate its own domestic affairs congress has no more right to forbid polygamy than bachelorhood within any state of the union all the powers not dele gated to the united states by the constitution ution nor prohibited by it to the states are re reserved 8 arved to the states respectively or to the peo people ae I 1 ISO so says article ten of the amen amendments T ments there is nothing in the constitution or orthe the amendments thereto which delegates any power to congress or other branch of the national government over the subject of marriage it belongs to the states respectively or to the people the fanatical aej and erratic notion that has obtained at the seat of government that utah must not bo be admitted as a state without some unconstitutional provision like that p proposed 0 for montana is an assumption on of power at variance varia ace with the spirit rit and also the letter of our national institutions 11 it is a departure from custom and from right it aught not to be pandered to by any democrat in the land because the democratic party is supposed up posed to be par excellence the constitutional party maintaining the rights of the several states as aga against dinst federal encroachments encroach ments and preserving that equilibrium af pf f powers aers by ach which alone the integrity of our system of govern government men ra can n be e perpetuated montana may accept ept the condition improperly imposed other incipient states might do the same for the purpose of securing securing without impediment the liberty which chic is their tight right ex are often necessitated by force orce but it i would nevertheless be a new departure from the beaten path and the de demand mancl would none the less be outside of the atit authority hority vested in congress by the instrument that confers upon it all its legitimate p awers conin gressman hill may stand his resistance tance to this demand upon montana tana but he hm the proud satisfaction pf af knowing that hat his position is sound and it is better to foe be right than to bo be president |