Speech On Nebraska And Kansas March 3 1854

Author : S. A. Douglas
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781330976159
Total Pages : 34 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (761 download)

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Download or read book Speech of S. A. Douglas, of Illinois written by S. A. Douglas and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-08 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Speech of S. A. Douglas, of Illinois: In the United States Senate, March 3, 1854; On Nebraska and Kansas Mr. Houston. It is now half-past eleven o'clock. I cannot see any particular necessity for going on to-night, and therefore we might as well adjourn. Several Senators. No, no. Mr. Houston. Then I give notice that I shall take the floor after the senator from Illinois gets through. Mr. Sumner. Before the debate closes, I hope to be heard on some points. Mr. Douglas. We shall hear the senator from Massachusetts, of course, upon whatever points he may desire to speak. I would gladly have agreed to an arrangement by which it should have been understood that the vote would be taken at any fixed time; but we found it impossible to come to an agreement to fix any day or any hour on which the vote should, by common consent, be taken. Consequently we have thought it was better to insist upon proceeding to a vote tonight. I will not occupy the attention of the Senate longer than I can possibly help in doing justice to myself. Mr. Houston. Objection has been made to my course, it seems, because I evinced a disinclination to consent to fix any particular day for the closing of the debate. I did not see any necessity for doing so, and therefore I could not consent to it. I do not care how soon the debate closes; I hope it will be concluded speedily; but I do not wish to have it done informally, nor in the hurried manner in which it has been pressed on the Senate. I claim all the privileges of a senator; but I am perfectly willing to consent to an adjournment, or any other arrangement which the Senate may make. I am in a minority, but I shall yield to the will of the Senate. Mr. Douglas. I think there seems to be a pretty good disposition manifested now, and we shall be able to close the debate and proceed to the vote in a very short time. Mr. President, before I proceed to the general argument upon the most important branch of this question, I must say a few words in reply to the senator from Tennessee, [Mr. Bell, ] who has spoken upon the bill to-day. He approves of the principles of the bill; he thinks they have great merit: but he does not see his way entirely clear to vote for the bill, because of the objections which he has stated, most of which relate to the Indians. Upon that point, I desire to say that it has never been the custom in territorial bills to make regulations concerning the Indians within the limits of the proposed Territories. All matters relating to them it has been thought wise to leave to subsequent legislation, to be brought forward by the Committee on Indian Affairs. I did venture originally in this bill to put in one or two provisions upon that subject; but, at the suggestion of many senators on both sides of the chamber, they were stricken out, in order to allow the appropriate committee of the Senate to take charge of that subject. I think, therefere, since we have stricken from the bill all those provisions which pertain to the Indians, and reserved the whole subject for the consideration and action of the appropriate committee, we have obviated every possible objection which could reasonably be urged upon that score. We have every reason to hope and trust that the Committee on Indian Affairs will propose such measures as will do entire justice to the Indians, without contravening the objects of Congress in organizing these Territories. But, sir, allusion has been made to certain Indian treaties, and it has been intimated, if not charged in direct terms, that we were violating the stipulations of those treaties in respect to the rights and lands of the Indians. The senator from Texas [Mr. Houston] made a very long and interesting speech on that subject; but it so happened, that most of the treaties to which he referred were with Indians not included within the limits of this bill. We have been informed, in the course of the d.