Address Of The Republican Central Committee Of Ingham County

Author : Republican Party; Michigan; Ingham Co
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781331209904
Total Pages : 26 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (99 download)

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Download or read book Address of the Republican Central Committee of Ingham County (Classic Reprint) written by Republican Party; Michigan; Ingham Co and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-12 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Address of the Republican Central Committee of Ingham County This plank of the Douglas platform is as follows: "Resolved, That it is in accordance with the Cincinnati Platform, that daring the existence of Territorial Governments the measure of restriction, whatever it may be, imposed by the Federal Constitution on the power of the Territorial Legislature over the subject of the domestic relations, as the same has been or shall hereafter be finally Determined By The Supreme Court of the United States, should be respected by all good citizens, and Enforced with promptness and fidelity by Every Branch of the General Government. On the 20th of June 1860, Mr. Douglas wrote a letter accepting the nomination of the Baltimore Convention, and cordially endorsing the platform upon which it was made. The "additional resolution," of which he speaks in the following extract from his letter of acceptance, is the resolution we have just quoted. Mr. Douglas says: "Upon careful examination of the platform of principles adopted at Charleston and re-affirmed at Baltimore, with an additional resolution which is in perfect harmony with the others, I find it to be a faithful embodiment of the time-honoured principles of the Democratic party, as the same were proclaimed and understood by all parties in the Presidential contests of 1848, 1852 and 1856." This extract speaks for itself. Can intelligent men longer sustain a party that endorses doctrines which would shame the rankest Federalism of earlier times? We think not. Popular Sovereignty. A bad cause rarely trusts its inherent strength for success. Among an intelligent, free people, it must of necessity resort to sophistries and catch words to delude those who would otherwise be hostile to it. Such has been the course pursued by the northern democracy in their subserviency to the interests of the slave power. As a pretext for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which Douglas in 1849 declared to be "canonized in the hearts of the American people as a sacred thing, which no ruthless hand would ever dare disturb," they proclaimed it to be for the sole purpose of establishing in the Territories the great principle of Popular Sovereignty - the right of the people of Territories to govern themselves. The sovereignty of the people is a fundamental principle of free government, on which the pillars of our confederacy rest. But this attribute, in its completeness, is applicable alone to States. It is impossible that the people of a Territory should exercise all the powers of sovereignty which attach to the people of a State. If so, each Territory would be entitled to elect two Senators in Congress, and Representatives according to the ratio of their population, and members of our Electoral College equal to the sum of these. But these acts can only be performed upon the admission of a Territory into the Union - when it no longer remains a Territory, but becomes a State: But it may be urged that this doctrine of "the right of the people of a Territory to govern themselves" does not intend to confer upon them all the powers of sovereignty, but only to leave them, in the language of the Kansas Nebraska act, "perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." Let us see how far this "perfect freedom," is exemplified in the Kansas-Nebraska act. Of judicial officers, the people of those Territories have the power of electing Justices of the Peace, whose decisions may be overruled at any time by Judges receiving their appointment from the President of the United States. The people may elect the members of their Territorial Legislature - but their acts may be vetoed by Governors also appointed by the President. Twice have the Legislatures of these Territories passed laws prohibiting Slavery within their limits and .