4. With our natural increase, growing | Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. with a rapidity unknown in any other part It is the eternal struggle between these two of the globe, with the tide of emigration principles-right and wrong-throughout that is fleeing from despotism in the old the world. They are two principles that world, to seek refuge in our own, there is have stood face to face from the beginning a constant torrent pouring into this coun- of time; and will ever continue to struggle. try that requires more land, more terri- The one is the common right of humanity, ory upon which to settle, and just as fast and the other the divine right of Kings. as our interests and our destiny require It is the same principle in whatever shape an additional territory in the North, in the it develops itself. It is the same spirit that South, or on the Island of the Ocean, I says, 'you work and toil, and earn bread, am for it, and when we require it, will and I'll eat it.' No matter in what shape leave the people, according to the Nebraska it comes, whether from the mouth of a bill, free to do as they please on the sub- King who seeks to bestride the people of ject of slavery, and every other ques- his own nation and life by the fruit of their tion." labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle." And again:

The bitterness of the feelings aroused by the canvass and boldness of Douglas, can both be well shown by a brief abstract from his speech at Freeport. He had per- "On this subject of treating it as a sisted in calling the Republicans "Black wrong, and limiting its spread, let me say a Republicans," although the crowd, the word. Has anything ever threatened the great majority of which was there against him, insisted that he should say White Republican." In response to these oft repeated demands, he said:

Our

existence of this Union save and except this very institution of slavery? What is it that we hold most dear among us? own liberty and prosperity What has 'Now, there are a great many Black ever threatened our liberty and prosperity Republicans of you who do not know this save and except this institution of slavery? thing was done. ("White, white, and If this is true, how do you propose to ingreat clamor)." I wish to remind you that prove the condition of things? by enlarging while Mr. Lincoln was speaking, there slavery ?-by spreading it out and making was not a Democrat vulgar and black-it bigger? You may have a wen or cancer guard enough to interrupt him. But I know that the shoe is pinching you. I am clinching Lincoln now, and you are scared to death for the result. I have seen this thing before. I have seen men make appointments for discussions and the moment their man has been heard, try to interrupt and prevent a fair hearing of the other side. have seen your mobs before and defy your wrath. (Tremendous ap¡plause.) "My friends, do not cheer, for I need my whole time.

upon your person and not be able to cut it out, lest you bleed to death, but surely it is no way to cure it, to engraft it and spread it over your whole body. That is no proper way of treating what you regard a wrong. You see this peaceful way of dealing with it as a wrong-restricting the spread of it, and not allowing it to go into new countries where it has not already existed. That is the peaceful way, the old-fashioned way, the way in which the fathers themselves set us the example."

"I have been put to severe tests. I have The administration of Pierce had left stood by my principles in fair weather and that of Buchanan a dangerous legacy He in foul, in the sunshine and in the rain. found the pro-slavery party in Congress I have defended the great principle of temporarily triumphant, it is true, and self-government here among you when supported by the action of Congress in reNorthern sentiment ran in a torrent against jecting the Topeka constitution and recme, and I have defended that same great ognizing the territorial government, but principle when Southern sentiment came he found that that decision was not accepdown like an avalanche upon me.. I was table either to the majority of the people not afraid of any test they put to me. I in the country or to a rapidly rising antiknew I was right-I knew my principles were sound-I knew that the people would see in the end that I had done right, and I knew that the God of Heaven would smile upon me if I was faithful in the performance of my duty."

slavery sentiment in the North. Yet he saw but one course to pursue, and that was to sustain the territorial government, which had issued the call for the Lecompton convcntion. He was supported in this view As an illustration of the earnestness of had decided that slavery existed in Kansas by the action of the Supreme Court, which Lincoln's position we need only quote two under the constitution of the United States, paragraphs from his speech at Alton:"Is slavery wrong? That is the real lieve themselves of it by the election of and that the people therein could only reissue. That is the issue that will continue delegates who would prohibit it in the in this country when these poor tongues of constitution to be framed by the Lecomp

to

Marshall of Illinois; Morgan of New SEC. 3. In the prosecution of slaves for York; Morris, Shaw, and Smith of Illinois. crimes of higher grade than petit larceny, The Americans who voted with the Repub- the legislature shall have no power to delicans were Crittenden of Kentucky; Davis prive them of an impartial trial by a petit of Maryland; Marshall of Kentucky; jury. Ricaud of Maryland; Underwood of Kentucky. A number of those previously classed as Anti-Lecompton Democrats voted against their colleagues of the same faction, and consequently against the bill. These were Messrs. Cockerill, Gwesheck, Hall, Lawrence, Pendleton and Cox of Ohio; English and Foley of Indiana; and Jones of Pennsylvania. The Americans who voted against the bill were Kennedy of Maryland; Anderson of Missouri; Eustis of Louisiana; Gilmer of North Carolina, Hill of Georgia; Maynard, Ready and Zollicoffer of Tennessee; and Trippe of Georgia.

SEC. 4. Any person who shall maliciously dismember, or deprive a slave of life, shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted in case the like offence had been committed on a free white person, and on the like proof, except in case of insurrection of such slave.

Lecompton Constitution.

Free Negroes.

Bill of Rights, SEC. 23. Free negroes shall not be allowed to live in this state under any circumstances.

ARTICLE VIII.—Elections and Rights of
Suffrage.

SEC. 1. Every male
Every male citizen of the
United States, above the age of twenty-
one years, having resided in this state one

The following are the political features year, and in the county, city, or town in of the Lecompton constitution :

ARTICLE VII.-Slavery. SEC. 1. The right of property is before and higher than any constitutional sanction, and the right of the owner of a slave to such slave and its increase is the same, and as inviolable as the right of the owner of any property whatever.

SEC. 2. The legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of the owners, or without paying the owners previous to their emancipation a full equivalent in money for the slaves so emancipated. They shall have no power to prevent emigrants to the state from bringing with them such persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the United States or territories, so long as any person of the same age or description shall be continued in slavery by the laws of this state: Provided, That such person or slave be the bona fide property of such emigrants: And provided, also, That laws may be passed to prohibit the introduction into this state of slaves who have committed high crimes in other states or territories. They shall have power to pass laws to permit the owners of slaves to emancipate them, saving the rights of creditors, and preventing them from becoming a public charge. They shall have power to oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity, to provide for them necessary food and clothing, to abstain from all injuries to them extending to life or limb, and, in case of their neglect or refusal to comply with the direction of such laws, to have such slave or slaves sold for the benefit of the owner or

owners.

which he may offer to vote, three months
next preceding any election, shall have
the qualifications of an elector, and be en-
titled to vote at all elections. And every

male citizen of the United States, above
the
of the state at the time this constitution
age aforesaid, who may be a resident
shall be adopted, shall have the right of
voting as aforesaid; but no such citizen or
inhabitant shall be entitled to vote ex-

cept in the county in which he shall
actually reside at the time of the elec-
tion.

The Topeka Constitution. The following are the political features of the Topeka constitution :

Slavery.

Bill of Rights, SEC. 6. There shall be no slavery in this state, nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime.

Amendments to the Constitution.

SEC. 1. All propositions for amendments to the constitution shall be made by the General Assembly.

SEC. 2. A concurrence of two-thirds of the members elected to each house shall be necessary, after which such proposed amendments shall be again referred to the legislature elected next succeeding said publication. If passed by the second legislature by a majority of two-thirds of the members elected to each house, such amendments shall be republished as aforesaid, for at least six months prior to the next general election, at which election such proposed amendments shall be submitted to the people for their approval or

rejection; and if a majority of the electors | rejected it by a majority of 9,513, and Kanvoting at such election shall adopt such sas was not admitted under the Lecompton amendments, the same shall become a part constitution.

of the constitution.

Finally, and after continued agitation, SEC. 3. When more than one amend-more peaceful, however, than that which ment is submitted at the same time, they characterized the earlier stages of the strugshall be so submitted as to enable the gle, the territorial legislature of Kansas electors to vote upon each amendment separately No convention for the formation of a new constitution shall be called, and no amendment to the constitution shall be, by the general assembly, made before the year 1865, nor more than once in five years thereafter.

called an election for delegates to meet and form a constitution. They assembled in convention at Wyandot, in July, 1859, and reported a constitution prohibiting slavery This was adopted by a majority exceeding 4000, and under it Kansas was admitted to the Union on the 29th of January, 1861. The comparative quiet between the reSubmission of Constitution to the People jection of the English proposition and the Schedule, SEC-2. That this constitution adoption of the Wyandot constitution, was shall be submitted to the people of Kansas at one time violently disturbed by a raid for ratification on the 15th day of Decem-made by John Brown at Harper's Ferry, ber next. That each qualified elector shall express his assent or dissent to the constitution by voting a written or printed ticket, labelled “Constitution," or "No Constitution," which election shall be held by the same judges, and conducted under the same regulations and restrictions as is hereinafter provided for the election of members of the general assembly

The Donglas Amendment.

with a view to excite the slaves to insurrection. This failed, but not before Gov. Wise, of Virginia, had mustered his militia, and called for the aid of United States troops. The more radical anti-slavery men of the North were at first shocked by the audacity of an offense which many looked upon as an act of treason, but the anxiety of Virginia to hang Brown and all his followers who had been captured alive, changed a feeling of conservatism in the North to one of sympathy for Brown and deeper hatred of slavery. It is but fair to

The following is the Douglas amend-say that it engendered hostility to the ment, which really formed the basis of the bill for admission:

It being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any state or territory, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States."

The bill which passed on the 4th of May was known as the English bill, and it met the approval of Buchanan. To the measure was attached a fundamental condition precedent," which arose from the fact that the ordinance of the convention accompanying the constitution claimed for the new State a cession of the public lands six times greater than had been granted to other States, amounting in all to 23,500,000 acres. In lieu of this Congress proposed to submit to a vote of the people a proposition specifying the number of acres and the purposes for which the money arising from their sale were to be used, and the acceptance of this was to be followed by a proclamation that "thereafter, and without further proceedings from Congress the admission of the State of Kansas, into the Union, upon an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, shall be complete and absolute." The condition was never fulfilled, for the people at the election on the 2d of August, 1858,

Union in the South. The right and wrong of slavery was thereafter more generally discussed than ever. The talent of the South favored it; while, with at least a large measure of truth it can be said that the talent of the North opposed it. So bitter grew the feeling that soon the churches of the sections began to divide, no other political question having ever before disturbed the Union.

We have not pretended to give a complete history of the Kansas trouble either in that State or in Congress, nor yet a full history of the many issues raised on questions which were but subsidiary to the main one of slavery Our object is to show the relation of the political parties throughout that struggle, for we are dealing with the history of parties from a national view, and not with battles and the minor questions or details of parliamentary struggles. The contest had cemented the Democrats of the South as it had the Republicans of the North; it divided both the Democrats of the North and the Americans in all sections. John Bell, of Tennessee, and Sam Houston of Texas, recognized leaders of the Americans, had shown their sympathy with the new stand taken by Douglas, as early as 1854. Bell, however, was less decided than Houston, and took his position with many qualifications. Houston opposed even the repeal of the Mis souri Compromise, and made the last speech

against it in the Senate. He closed with these words:

and minority of the committee, again made opposite and conflicting reports on the "In the discharge of my duty I have question of slavery in the Territories. On acted fearlessly. The events of the future this question the committee had divided are left in the hands of a wise Providence, from the beginning, the one portion emand, in my opinion, on the decision which bracing the fifteen members from the we make upon this question must depend slaveholding States, with those from Caliunion or disunion.' fornia and Oregon, and the other consistThese sentiments were shared by manying of the members from all the free States Americans, and the great majority of them east of the Rocky Mountains. On all other drifted into the Republican party. The questions both reports substantially agreed. Abolitionists from the beginning of the The following is the report of the majorstruggle, allied themselves with the Repub-ity made on this subject by Mr. Avery, of licans, a few of their leaders proclaiming, however, that this party was not sufficiently advanced in its views.

The Charleston Convention.

North Carolina, the chairman of the committee: "Resolved, That the platform adopted by the Democratic party at Cincinnati be affirmed with the following explanatory resolutions: 1st. That the Government of a Territory, organized by an act of Congress, is provisional and temporary, and during its existence all citizens Such was the condition of the parties of the United States have an equal right when the Democratic national convention to settle with their property in the Terrimet at Charleston, S. C., on the 23d of tory, without their rights, either of person April, 1860, it being then the custom of or property, being destroyed or impaired the Democratic party, as it is of all major- by Congressional or Territorial legislation. ity parties, to call its convention first. It 2d. That it is the duty of the Federal Govwas composed of delegates from all the ernment, in all its departments, to protect, thirty-three States of the Union, the whole when necessary, the rights of persons and number of votes being 303. After the ex-property in the Territories, and wherever ample of former Democratic conventions else its constitutional authority extends. it adopted the two-third rule, and 202 votes 3d. That when the settlers in a Territory were required to make nominations for having an adequate population form a President and Vice-President. Caleb Cush- State Constitution, the right of sovereignty ing, of Mass., presided. From the first a commences, and being consummated by radical difference of opinion was exhibited admission into the Union, they stand on among the members on the question of an equal footing with the people of other slavery in the Territories. Almost the States, and the State thus organized ought entire Southern and a minority of the to be admitted into the Federal Union Northern portion believed in the Dred whether its constitution prohibits or recogScott decision, and held that slave property nizes the institution of slavery was as valid under the constitution as any other class of property. The Douglas delegates stood firmly by the theory of popular sovereignty, and avowed their indifference to the fact whether it would lead to the protection of slave property in the territories or not. On the second day a committee on resolutions consisting of one member from each State, selected by the State delegates, was named, and then a resolution was resolved unanimously "that 'this convention will not proceed to ballot for a candidate for the Presidency until the platform shall have been adopted. On the fifth day the committee on resolutions presented majority and minority reports. After some preliminary remarks, Mr. After a long discussion on the respective Samuels moved the adoption of the minormerits of the two reports, they were both, ity report as a substitute for that of the on motion of Mr. Bigler, of Pennsylvania, majority. This gave rise to an earnest re-committed to the Committee on Reso- and excited debate. The difference belutions, with a view, if possible, to promote tween the parties was radical and irreconharmony; but this proved to be impracti- cilable. The South insisted that the Cincable. On the sixth day of the Conven- cinnati platform, whose true construction tion (Saturday, April 28th,) at an evening in regard to slavery in the Territories had session, Mr. Avery, of North Carolina, and always been denied by a portion of the Mr. Samuels, of Iowa, from the majority Democratic party, should be explained and

The following is the report of the minority, made by Mr. Samuels, of Iowa. After re-affirming the Cincinnati platform by the first resolution, it proceeds: "Inasmuch as differences of opinion exist in the Democratic party, as to the nature and extent of the powers of a Territorial Legisla ture, and as to the powers and duties of Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, over the institution of slavery within the Territories, Resolved, That the Democratic party will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States upon questions of constitutional law."