Author : J. M. Mason
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781330947203
Total Pages : 22 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (472 download)
Book Synopsis Property in Territories (Classic Reprint) by : J. M. Mason
Download or read book Property in Territories (Classic Reprint) written by J. M. Mason and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-07-08 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Property in Territories The honorable Senator from Illinois, (Mr. Douglas, ) to whom I listened with great interest and respect during the last two days of the session, has presented his views, not only elaborately, but with great strength and power, upon this very question of the relations between the Territories and the States - views from which I differ totally - views which, if correct and carried into effect, must rend asunder existing party alliances and bring the southern States to separate organization. They involve, of necessity, a discussion upon, a minute inquiry into, and a thorough understanding of, the relation which the occupants of a Territory bear to the States of the Union; because a Territory, I believe all admit, is a common property, belonging just as much to one State as to any other; in which all have equal rights, and in which the Constitution requires that the rights of all shall be equally respected. Nor is it abstract; because the very question has arisen before the country, and is now depending in the legislation upon your table. It involves the constitutional control of the States of the Union acting through the Federal Government upon the Territories - a great principle - a control affirmed on one side, and directly disaffirmed on the other. Now, what is it? The territorial, or organic law, as it is called, is a law passed by the Congress of the United States organizing a government in a Territory. The character of the organization; the powers that are conferred upon the people of the Territory, and those that are withheld from them; the mode in which they are exercised, are all necessarily expressed in that organic law. Some fifteen years ago, it was claimed, by a majority in both Houses of Congress, that, in passing a law creating and establishing government in the Territories, Congress had the power to create a disparity between the States of the Union; that Congress had the power to declare that one condition of society belonging to certain States of the Union - that of African bondage - should not go into the Territories. Congress asserted that power as a constitutional right. It is known in popular acceptation as the Wilmot proviso - the interdict denounced by Congress in the organic law of the Territories against the admission of African bondage into the Territories. It was resisted to the best of their ability, and in the sternest manner, by the States interested. They were overruled. According to my recollection, in more than one instance, certainly in organizing the Territory of Oregon, that interdict was put in the law. The southern States were deeply moved. They felt not only that they were aggrieved, but that the compact which they had entered into with the other States had been violated to their wrong. There was hardly a Legislature, if any, in the southern States that did not express the sentiment of their people on this violation, as they considered, of the great compact between the States - the Constitution. It resulted that men took counsel together. In the year 1850, when it became necessary to organize new Territories, arising from the acquisitions obtained at the close of the Mexican war, a series of measures were projected in the Senate affecting this condition of society, African bondage, in various forms, and were blended together in one bill, including the organization of the new Territories, which was termed by its friends a great measure of compromise. I do not mean to go further into that history than to exhibit its results. The bill failed to pass; and those various measures were enacted separately, in various forms. They passed, however, by the general term of compromise measures, I was one of those, occupying a seat in this body, who disapproved of many of those measures, and voted against them. They were passed, however. In that legislation, a new feature was introduced in the laws organizing territorial governments.
