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 ORGANIZATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FREE STATE GOVERNMEJNT IN KANSAS, 
 
 WITH 
 
 The Inaugural Speech and Message 
 
 OF 
 
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 >l> 
 
 GOVEENOR EOBINSON. 
 
 ^rop' 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 BUELL & BLANCHARD, PRINTERS. 
 
 . 1856. 
 
ORGANIZATION 
 
 FEEE STATE GOVERNMENT IN KANSAS. 
 
 The Senators, Representatives and oiBcers 
 elect of the popular Government, convened on 
 Tuesday, the 4th inst., at Topeka, the tempo- 
 rary capital of the State. Topeka is situated 
 on the Kansas river, on a beautiful, gently- 
 undulating prairie, 23 miles from Lawrence 
 and about 60 from Fort Leavenworth. 
 
 On Monday the "big guns" of the Free- 
 State party were fired off with great effect in 
 Constitution Hall — the room in which the 
 Free-State Constitution was framed — at Frank- 
 lin Pierce and . other creatures of the Slave 
 Power at Washington city. Mr. Stephen 
 Sparks of Easton — a member of the House and 
 a leader in the fight in defence of the ballot- 
 box on the 15th of January — was called to the 
 chair and presided. Sparks is an honest, 
 brave Indiana backwoodsman — a man who 
 may be killed by the Ruffians, but will never 
 be captured alive. He was once surrounded 
 by fifteen armed and mounted Missourians 
 who ordered him to surrender, but instead of 
 complying he cocked his pistol at the leader 
 of the party and told him to prepare to meet 
 his — father, (Old Scratch) or keep a respectful 
 distance. He was not arrested ! The meeting 
 was addressed by Governor Robinson, Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor Roberts, Colonel Lane and 
 others. 
 
 Governor "Rob." is a tall, strong, finely- 
 proportioned man, with a large leonine head, 
 inscrutible light-blue eyes, and an expression 
 at once of gentleness and fearlessness. He is 
 greatly beloved by the people here. Every 
 one believes him to be a man of irreproachable 
 integrity, thoroughly honest, moderate, firm 
 and cautious. He is not a fluent orator ; his 
 sentences are rather complex, at times, for a 
 popular auditory ; his delivery, too, is not so 
 graceful as it might be ; but notwithstanding 
 this, he is the most effective speaker in the 
 Territory. People know that he always ex- 
 presses his opinions, not opinions that he be- 
 lieves will be popular ; they know that he 
 never talks for effect nor to increase his popu- 
 larity, and therefore every suggestion he makes 
 is listened to and considered with respect. 
 
 The Governor gave the President's Special 
 Message a merciless review ; he spoke of Pierce 
 as honest men always speak of renegades and 
 traitors. I have a synopsis of his speech, but 
 suppress it, as nearly the same ideas are con- 
 tained in his Message, which I inclose. 
 
 Col. Lane reviewed the Special Message his- 
 
 torically, using the same arguments and illus- 
 trations that he advanced in the Constitutional 
 Convention. He disproved almost every his- 
 torical statement that Pierce advanced, and 
 proved, by the Congressional debates on the 
 Kansas-Nebraska bill, that an immediate State 
 organization, instead of being a revolutionary 
 movement, was not only supported by prece- 
 dent, but contemplated by the framers and 
 advocates of that act. Lane was in Congress 
 at the passage of the Nebraska bill, and voted 
 for it on the final ballot. Lane is a tall, thin, 
 sharp-faced, very dark complexionedman, with 
 little, deep-set, restless, black eyes ; he is 
 usually dressed a la militaire, with his boots 
 over his — excuse me — breeches, a red sash 
 around his waist, a black cloak, and officer's 
 cap. He is a beau ideal of the political in- 
 triguer. He couldn't live twenty-four hours 
 if he had not some scheme to carry through. 
 He is a fluent speaker, but his tone betrays a 
 want of earnestness, which is fatal to his ora- 
 torical success before a reflective audience. 
 He is a splendid officer. Every one admires 
 him when on military duty, except the Border 
 Ruffians, who fear him. 
 
 Lieut.-Gov. Roberts is a prim, precise, se- 
 date, old bachelor. He is from Pennsylvania. 
 He has a mummy-like or stony face ; the whis- 
 kers around it look as stiff as an iron fence ; 
 and his voice is uncommonly hard, and dull, 
 and lifeless. He is a National Democrat, of 
 course ; has a thorough knowledge of Parlia- 
 mentary Rules ; is profound in Old Hunker 
 arguments and maxims, but won't set the 
 Missouri river on fire, I am inclined to believe. 
 
 There was a good deal of discussion, apart 
 from the denunciation of Pierce & Co., as to 
 the course the Assembly should pursue. No 
 definite result was arrived at. 
 
 The General Assembly convened in Consti- 
 tion Hall, on the following morning. Col. 
 Lane, as Chairman of the Executive Committee 
 of Kansas Territory', called the Senate to or- 
 der, and administered the oath of office to the 
 Lieutenant-Governor. On assuming the Chair 
 — by virtue of his office he is President of the 
 Senate — Mr. Roberts expressed his gratitude 
 to the people, for electing him ; promised 
 faithfully to execute the duties devolving on 
 him ; told the grave and reverend Senators 
 that the eyes of all the American People were 
 upon them ; and that "our infant Republic is 
 this day born of tho popular will : an edifice 
 
if? founded on the true basis of popular sover- 
 eignty, and if we are true to our interests, our 
 success, under the smiles of Divine Providence, 
 is secured.'" 
 
 The oath was then administered to the mem- 
 bers of the Senate, and the following officers 
 elected : Asalph Allen, late of N. Y., Secretary; 
 W. L. Brigden, Pcun., Assistant Secretary; 
 J. M. Fuller, Mass., Sergeant-at-Arms ; Henry 
 Stratton, Mass., Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms ; 
 A. Martin, Ohio, Doorkeeper; John Mack, 
 Mass., Assistant Doorkeeper; Jesse Crane, 
 Penn., Messenger; F. Weudall, Mo., Assistant 
 Messenger; J. F. Cummings. Penn., Tran- 
 scribing Clerk ; J. C. Dunn, Maine, Assistant 
 Transcribing Clerk ; Rev. F. Paul Sheppard, 
 Chaplain. 
 
 The immortal bogus Sheriff Jones, a tall, 
 muscular, athletic loafer, with a cruel Mephis- 
 tophelean expression, clad in the Border Ruf- 
 fian costume — blue military overcoat, large 
 boots, skull cap and cigar in mouth — was 
 present at the organization, and amused him- 
 self and the members both, by writing down 
 the names of the Senators and Representatives 
 as they took the oath of office. 
 
 The Senate then adjourned. 
 
 The House was organized immediately after 
 the adjournment of the Senate. Mr. Minard, 
 late of Iowa, wjis elected Speaker ; Joel K. 
 Goodin, Ohio, Chief Clerk ; S. F. Tappan, 
 Mass., Assistant Clerk; M.J.Mitchell, Mo., 
 Sergeant-at-Arms; Jacob Branson, Mo., Door- 
 keeper; J. G. Suodgrass, Ohio, Transcribing 
 Clerk. 
 
 Only one member elect was afraid to take 
 the oath — he emigrated from the Border Ruffian 
 section of Missouri. 
 
 There were thirty-two Representatives and 
 eleven Senators present. They are as intelli- 
 gent a body of men as ever met in a Western 
 Legislature. I saw the Border Ruffian "Ba- 
 rons" of Kansas when at Pawnee city, and I 
 assure you that the contrast between the Free- 
 State and Pro-Slavery Legislatures of Kansas 
 is very gratifying to my sympathies and com- 
 plimentary to our creed. The Ruffians were 
 drunkards, blasphemers and gamblers ; they 
 were personally as ignorani and unpolished as 
 their "acts" demonstrated they were unprin- 
 cipled and violent. These Free-State men, on 
 the contrary, arc intelligent, sober, decided 
 yet liberal in creed. I wish 1 could get the 
 daguerreotypes of both Assemblies and publish 
 them in The Tribune. They would convert 
 thousands of doughfaces to our party. 
 
 S. F. Tajjpan, I am informed, is a nephew 
 or grandson of Lewis Tappan, the leader of 
 the political Abolition party. He is said to 
 be the only Abolitionist in the Territory, 
 Charles Stearns, of the Garrisonian school, 
 excepted. 
 
 INAUGURATION OF GOV. ROBINSON. 
 
 Both Houses met in joint session at iive 
 o'clock, to witness the inauguration of our 
 popular Governor. 
 
 A Committee was appointed to wait on him. 
 
 As the Governor entered the Hall, the n)em- 
 
 bers and spectators rose en masse and greeted 
 him with three hearty cheers. The oath was 
 administered. After taking it he said : 
 Fellow Citizens of the General Assembly: 
 
 It has pleased the people of Kansas to call 
 us from our accustomed duties to discharge 
 high and important trusts. In our keeping, 
 for a brief period, is placed the Legislative and 
 Executive power of the new State. To us 
 the people look for wise and wholesome laws, 
 and the faithful administration of the Govern- 
 ment on the true principles of Republicanism 
 and " Squatter Sovereignty." To the execu- 
 tion of this trust it will be my pleasure, no 
 less than my duty, to co-operate with you in 
 all measures for the good of the people. 
 
 Our position is peculiar, although the people 
 of Kansas have followed precedents set them 
 by other new States, sanctioned by Congress ; 
 and the proceedings in the formation of a State 
 Government are all regular, yet, for the first 
 time in the history of our country, the Presi- 
 dent and his appointees characterize the move- 
 ments as treasonable. This was not to be ex- 
 pected from the advocates of the Kansas-Ne- 
 braska act, which professes to leave the people 
 of the Territories "perfectly free to form and 
 ' regulate their domestic institutions in their 
 ' own way, subject only to the Constitution of 
 'the United States." 
 
 Also some of the people of an adjoining 
 State, unite with the President in opposing 
 the people of Kansas in forming and regulating 
 their own Government, and threaten our de- 
 struction if we do not conform to their dicta- 
 tion. Should the course indicated by the 
 President and the people of another State be 
 persisted in, and our rights again be trftmpled 
 in the dust by official interference or lawless 
 invasions, the people would be justified before 
 the civilized world in asserting their rights by 
 revolution; but since it is believed that Con- 
 gress will grant to us the same rights and 
 immunities that it has to other States — the 
 people of Missouri and the Federal Executive 
 to the contrary notwithstanding — it is better 
 to suffer "while evils are sufierable, than at- 
 ' tempt to right ourselves by a hasty resort to 
 ' extreme measures." 
 
 Our course as a people, thus far, has been 
 distinguished for forbearance, long suffering 
 and patience, and good policy would still dic- 
 tate that everj" honorable effort be made to 
 establish and cultivate friendly relations with 
 our oppressors, especially with the people of 
 our adjoining sister Strife. Nothing should 
 be done in a spirit of retaliatioiL, but rather 
 of conciliation. Although our own rights 
 have been repeatedly invaded and wrested 
 from us, let us show that we respect the Con- 
 stitution and laws of our country and the 
 rights of the people of the respective States, 
 and that until forbearance ceases to be virtue 
 and becomes cowardire, and the opi)rcssion 
 becomes insufferable, we will over lie found 
 loyal citi/-ens of the Government. 
 
 "lmi)Ort;xnt questions will coine before you 
 fiiv consideration, and i! cannot be oxiU'Cled 
 th;it oerfei't U!;:lr'':1l:t^ •:■': '-rv'i' ;:;'■■ ;uiy 
 
^' — '\ 
 
 subject, yet it is desirable and neccssarj', with 
 the v'arious elements of a Legislature in a new 
 State, that a spirit of concession and harmony 
 should characterise the members, that the 
 enactments may carry with them a moral force 
 that will cause them to be respected by the 
 people. 
 
 The position allotted us by the partiality of 
 our fellow-citizens is one of great responsibili- 
 ty, and we need that wisdom which comes 
 from above so to direct us that we may render a 
 good account of our actions to our coustituents 
 and posterity. 
 
 The Governor was M'armly applauded on 
 concluding the Address and immediately with- 
 drew. 
 
 The other officers Avere sworn in. 
 
 Mr. Schuyler, Secretary of State, is in the 
 East. Major IClotz, of Pawnee, was appointed 
 to fill his place. 
 
 Mr. Speer, State Printer, was formerly a 
 Whig editor in Ohio. He is the publisher of 
 The Kansas Tribune — a name which is suffi- 
 ciently explanatory of its politics. 
 
 Mr. H. Miles Moore, Attorney General, a thick- 
 set, dark-complexioned young man, of' short 
 stature and with a bull-dog expression of 
 countenance, is somewhat celebrated in Bor- 
 der Ruffian annals. He resided at Weston, 
 "the home of Bully-Ruffian Stringfellow, for 
 several years, and was connected with The 
 Weston Reporter, the organ of the Benton 
 party in that District. His fearless denuncia- 
 tions of the Ruffians, and his Free-Soil pro- 
 cliA-ities, drew down upon him the indignation 
 of Ihe nullifiers. They threatened to throw 
 The Reporter into the Missouri river. He defied 
 them, and said, in his journal, that if they 
 attempted to execute their threat The Platte 
 County Argus (Stringfellow's organ) would 
 speedily follow it. This threat was effectual. 
 The Ruffians did not molest him nor his paper 
 either. Gen. Stringfellow then attempted to 
 put him down. At a public meeting of the 
 Platte County " Self-defence" Association, the 
 Ruffian said, among other things, "that ever}' 
 ' woman who did her own household work 
 ' was no better than she should be ;" that the 
 working-women had been whores I'rora the 
 time of Abraham and would be to the end of 
 the world. Moore denounced the Bully Ruf- 
 fian for this assertion in his paper, and created 
 great indignation against him. Siringf'ellow 
 saw that he was beginning to stand on rather 
 nncomfortable ground, and undertook to deny 
 that he said so. Moore got several affidavits 
 from the most respectable citizens of Weston 
 to prove the truth of his assertion, and then 
 publicly and personally branded Stringfellow 
 as a coward and liar, and told him to resent 
 the insult if he dared. "If j-ou've got any 
 ' fight in you," said Moore, " I mean to get it 
 ' out of you ; but I believe you dare not take 
 ' me up — you ifre too arrant a coward." 
 
 Stringfellow bore this insult with the most 
 Christian or calf-like resignation ! 
 
 Stringfellow, I may say here, was run out 
 of Savannah, Missouri, some years since; and 
 
 once had to sneak out of Weston when the 
 boys there threatened to tar and feather him. 
 
 Judge Wakefield, the Treasurer, is a jolly, 
 kind-hearted old man, of great corporeal di- 
 mensions, and is very popular with the Free- 
 State men. They all regard him as a father. 
 
 Of the Supreme Judges, two — Messrs. Con- 
 way and Hunt — are young men. Mr. Latta 
 of Leavenworth is of middle age. 
 
 LJEGISLATURE— SECOND DAY. 
 
 The proceedings in both Houses on Wednes- 
 day were not of muclii interest or importance. 
 As the Governor's Message is rather long, I 
 shall introduce it and withdraw without fur- 
 ther comments. 
 
 GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE. 
 Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and House of Re- 
 presentatives : 
 
 Having been chosen by the people to occupy 
 the Executive Chair of the new State of Kan- 
 sas, it becomes my duty, under the Constitu- 
 tion, to communicate to the General Assembly 
 the condition of the aflairs of the State, and 
 recommend such measures as I shall deem ex- 
 pedient for their action. While gratitude to 
 the people for the confidence their suffrages 
 evinced and for the honor bestowed will induce 
 me to enlist all my energies in their service, 
 inexperience in public life and a lack of ability 
 and information will cause me to speak with 
 difSdence upon the various subjects to which 
 your attention will be invited. 
 
 The organization of a new Government is 
 always attended with more or less difficulty, 
 and should, under the most favorable circum- 
 stances, enlist the learning, judgment and 
 prudence of the wisest men in all its depart- 
 ments ; the most skillful workmanship is re- 
 quisite, that each part of the complicated 
 machinery may be adapted to its fellow, and 
 that a harmonious whole, without jar or 
 blemish, may be the result. lu Kansas es- 
 pecially, ,is this a most delicate and difficult 
 task. Our citizens are from every State in the 
 Union, and from nearly every country on the 
 globe, and their institutions, religion, educa- 
 tion, habits, and tastes are as various as their 
 origin. Also in our midst are several inde- 
 pendent nations, and on our borders, both 
 west and east, are outside invaders. 
 
 In our mutual endeavors to set in motion a 
 State government, we have a common chart 
 for our guide — the Constitution. The duties 
 of the General Assembly, as designated by this 
 instrument, are : 
 
 To provide for the encouragement of educa- 
 tion and religion ; 
 
 The registration of electors ; 
 
 To provide for the I'eturns of elections ; 
 
 For the election of officers ; 
 
 For the filling of vacancies ; 
 
 For the number of Senators and Represen- 
 tatives ; 
 
 For apportionment ; 
 
 Against special legislation ; 
 
 For publication of laws ; 
 
 For taking the census ; 
 
 For salaries of officers ; 
 
For Surveyor-General, State Geologists and 
 Saperintendent of Common Schools ; 
 
 For judicial districts and jurisdiction of 
 Courts ; 
 
 For Publication of Decisions of Supreme 
 Court ; 
 
 For Duties of Clerk and Reporter of Supreme 
 Court ; 
 
 For School Fund, University, Normal 
 Schools, &c.; 
 
 For State Asylums for Blind, Deaf, Insane, 
 Idiots, and the Poor ; 
 
 For Houses of Refuge for Juvenile Offenders ; 
 
 For State General Hospital ; 
 
 For Seat of Government and State House ; 
 
 For Militia ; 
 
 For Finance and Taxation ; 
 
 For Counties, County, City and Town 
 Officers ; 
 
 For Commissioners to Arrange Rules of 
 Practice in the Courts of Record ; 
 
 For Bureau of Statistics and Encouragement 
 of Agriculture; 
 
 To Secure the Separate Property and Cus- 
 tody of Children to Wife : 
 
 For election of two United States Senators; 
 
 For Banks and Banking ; 
 
 For redemption of certificates of indebted- 
 ness ; and for enforcement of the sixth section 
 of the Bill of Rights. 
 
 Also, the people, by a separate and direct 
 vote, have instructed the Assembly to provide 
 for the exclusion of free negroes. 
 
 Education of the people, common school 
 education, is the palladium of our liberties. 
 Without this, free institutions cannot exist ; 
 with it, tyranny and oppression must disap- 
 pear. A thorough and efficient system of 
 education is a better and cheaper corrective 
 and preventive of poverty, degradation and 
 crime than the poor-house, house of refuge or 
 penitentiary. This subject will not fail to 
 receive its full share of your attention. That 
 the common school may be put on a perma- 
 nent basis, the proceeds of the school lauds or 
 other educational income should be carefully 
 husbanded, till a fund shall accumulate amply 
 sufficient to give every child in the State a 
 liberal common school education. 
 
 Second only to the Common School in im- 
 portance, are the University and Normal 
 Schools. For these, also, the Constitution 
 suggests that you provide at an early day. 
 
 Of the Public Charitable Institutions named 
 in the Constitution, a General State Hospital 
 calls most urgently for consideration. In a 
 new country many must necessarily sufl'er from 
 sickness and poverty, and in the present un- 
 settled condition of the people, it is eminently 
 proper that the State should provide for their 
 relief. 
 
 The subject of finances and taxation is one 
 of primary importance iu every State, and 
 particularly in a new one. Onerous taxes and 
 large indtbtcdaess should be guarded against 
 as far as possible ; and economy, without 
 niggardly parsimony, should be the rule of 
 action. For the present state of the finances, 
 
 you are referred to the report of the Executive 
 Committee. 
 
 Exposed as our citizens are to the scalping- 
 knife of the savage on the west, and to the 
 revolver and hatchet of the assassin on the 
 east, a thorough and early organization of the 
 militia is urgently called for. By the Consti- 
 tution, this duty devolves upon the General 
 Assembly. Measures should at once be taken 
 to encourage tho organization of volunteer 
 companies, and to procure the arms to which 
 the State is entitled. 
 
 The disposition of the Public Lands is a 
 matter for serious consideration. Under exist- 
 ing laws they belong to the General Govern- 
 ment, and are used as a source of revenue. 
 The policy of such a use is at least questiona- 
 ble. The amount received into the Treasury 
 from the sale of public lands is inconsiderable 
 — amounting in the aggregate to about $2,000- 
 000 annually. 
 
 This sum, distributed among the States 
 where the lands are situated, would aid essen- 
 tially the cause of education, or the establish- 
 ment of charitable institutions, but is entirely 
 unnecessary in the already overflowing Trea^ 
 sury of the General Government. Even as a 
 matter of revenue, the Treasury gains nothing 
 by selling the public domain to the people, 
 for the principal revenue is derived from the. 
 products of the soil, and these will be increased 
 as the number of landholders increases, and 
 in proportion to the capital invested in its 
 cultivation. The $1 25 per acre 'laid out on 
 the land will produce far more revenue to the 
 Government in a few j'ears, than if deposited 
 in the Treasury. The true policy for any 
 Government is to give to every citi/.cn, who 
 will cultivate it, a farm without price, and 
 secure it to him for a permanent homestead. 
 Especially should the citizen who deprives 
 himself of the blessings of home, and civiliza- 
 tion for a time, to reclaim the wilderness that 
 it may be added to the Commonwealth, be 
 allowed his land gratis. 
 
 But if the land must be sold and the pro- 
 ceed applied to defray expenses of Govern- 
 ment, the State should be the recipient and 
 not the General Government. Every new 
 State must incur extraordinary expenses in 
 setting its Government in motion. It has its 
 public edifices. State house. Asylums, Peni- 
 tentiary, Universities, School-houses, Rail- 
 roads, &c., to construct, and limi'cd means at 
 command. Should Congress in its wisdom, 
 donate, as we have reason to believe it will, 
 all the public lands of Kansas to the State, it 
 will then be the duty of the Assembly to dis- 
 pose of them. In such an event, by donating 
 ICO aci'es as a homestead to each resident of 
 five years, and allowing no one i>erson to pur- 
 chase of the State more than IGO acres addi- 
 tional, the State would become rajiidly settled, 
 and at the same time secure a fuud fjjr educa- 
 tional and other purj)0ses ecpia! to its neces- 
 sities. 
 
 The indiscriminate sale of intoxicating 
 drinks in a State like Kansas, where are 
 numerous Indian tribes, is productive of much 
 
mischief. Some tribes within our borders are 
 still uncivilized, and indulge their appetites 
 without restraint, while many of the other 
 tribes are equally unfortunate. It is a duty 
 we owe to the Indian that we not only culti- 
 vate the most friendly intercourse, but that 
 we protect him from injury ; and this subject 
 should not be overlooked by the General 
 Assembly. , . 
 
 The use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage 
 impairs the health, morals, good order and 
 prosperity of any community, and the traffic 
 in them is an unmitigated evil, and it is for 
 the Legislature in its wisdom to adopt such 
 measures as shall best secure the public welfare. 
 
 It will be remembered that a skeleton of a 
 government still exists in our midst, under 
 the territorial form, and although this was but 
 the foreshadowing of a new and better cove- 
 nant, collision with it should be carefully | 
 guarded against. A territorial government is 
 transient in its nature, only waiting the action 
 of the people to form a government of their j 
 own. This action has been taken by the peo- | 
 pie of Kansas, and it only remains for the | 
 General Government to suspend its territorial 
 appropriations, recall its officers and admit 
 Kansas into the Union as a sovereign State. 
 
 The reasons why the territorial government 
 should be suspended and Kansas be admitted 
 into the Union as a State, are various. In the 
 first place, it is not a government of the people. 
 The executive and judicial oflBcers are imposed 
 upon the people by a distant power, and the ofiS- 
 cers thus imposed are foreign to our soil, and are 
 accountable, not to the people, but to an Ex- 
 ecutive 2,000 miles distant. American citizens 
 have for a long time been accustomed to govern 
 themselves and to have a voice in the choice 
 of their officers, but in a territorial govern- 
 ment they not only have no voice in choosing 
 some of their officers, but are deprived of a 
 vote for the officer who appoints them. 
 
 Again : Governments are instituted for the 
 good and protection of the governed, but the 
 Territorial Government of Kansas has been, 
 and still is, an instrument of oppression and 
 tyranny unequalled in the history of our Ee- 
 public. The only officers that attempted to 
 administer the laws impartially have been re- 
 moved, and persons substituted who have 
 aided in our subjugation. Such has been the 
 conduct of the officers and the people of a 
 neighboring State, either intentionally or 
 otherwise, that Kansas to-day is without a 
 single law enacted by the people of the Terri- 
 tory. Not a m.an in the country will attempt 
 to deny that every election had under the Ter- 
 ritorial Goverinucnt was carried by armed in- 
 vaders from an adjoining State, and for the 
 purpose of enacting laws in opposition to the 
 known wishes of the people. 
 
 The Territorial Government should "be with- 
 drawn because it is inoperative. The officers 
 of the law permit all manner of outrages and 
 crime to be perpetrated by the invaders and 
 their friends with impunity, while the citizens 
 proper are naturally law-abiding and order- 
 lovina-. discosed lu'.h-.'r to futfcr tl'.un do 
 
 wrong. Several of the most aggravated mur- 
 ders on record have been committed, but as 
 long as the murderers are on the side of the 
 oppressors no notice is taken of them. Not 
 one of the whole number has been brought to 
 justice, and not one will be by the Territorial 
 officers. While the marauders are thus in open 
 violation of all law, nine-tenths of the people 
 scorn to recognize as law the enactments of a 
 foreign body of men, and would sooner lose 
 their right arms than bring an action in one 
 of their misnamed Courts. Americans can 
 suffer death, but not dishonor, and sooner than 
 the people will consent to recognize the edicts 
 •of lawless invaders as laws, their blood will 
 mingle with the waters of the Kansas and this 
 Union be rolled together in civil strife. 
 
 Not only is the Territorial Government the 
 instrument of oppression and subjugation of 
 the people, but under it there is no hope of 
 relief. The organic act permits the Legislature 
 to prescribe the qualification of voters, and 
 the so-called Legislature has provided that no 
 man shall vote in any election who ■will not 
 bow the knee to the dark image of Slavery, 
 and appointed officers for the term of four 
 years to see that this provision is carried out. 
 Thus nine-tenths of the citizens are disfran- 
 chised and debarred from acting under the 
 Territorial Government if they would. 
 
 Even if allowed to vote, the Chief Executive 
 of the country says he has no power to pro- 
 tect the ballot-box from invaders, and if the 
 people organize to protect themselves, his ap- 
 pointees intimate that the.y must be disarmed 
 and put down ; hence, whether allowed to 
 vote or not, there is no opportunity for the 
 people of the Territory to rule under the pre- 
 sent Territorial Government. Indeed, the 
 laws are so made and construed that the citi- 
 zens of a neighboring State are legal voters 
 in Kansas, and of course no United States 
 force can be brought against them. They arc- 
 by law entitled to invade us and control our 
 elections. 
 
 According to the Organic Act the people' 
 have a right to elect a Legislature, and that. 
 Legislature has a right to make laws, establish 
 Courts, and do everything but choose their 
 Executive and Supreme Judicial officers. If 
 they have the right to do the one, they un- 
 doubtedly should have the right to do the 
 other". The principle of Squatter Sovereignty, 
 upon which this act is said>to be based, knows 
 no distinction between the power to legislate 
 and the power to adjudicate or • execute. If 
 the right of one Department of Government 
 is inherent in the people, so is the other. On 
 this subject there is high authoritj-. General 
 Cass, in the Senate, said : '■ The Government 
 ' of the United States is one of limited authori- 
 ' ty, vested with no powers not expressly 
 ' granted or not necessary to the proper execu- 
 ' tion of such as are." 
 
 " There is no provision in the Constitution 
 ' granting any powers of legislation over the 
 'Territory or other property of the L'nited 
 • States, except .inch as relates to it.'; regula- 
 'tion and disno-^itioii. Political jnrisdietioii 
 
8 
 
 ' is entirely withheld, nor is there any just 
 
 ■ implication which can supply this defect of 
 ' original aijthority." 
 
 ■ Again he says, " I shall vote for the entire 
 
 • interdiction of all Federal action over this 
 
 • .cenenil cinestion, under any circumstances 
 'that may occur.'' But the Executive and 
 Judiciarj" of Kansas are the creatures of the 
 I'Y'deral Government and under its control, 
 and the Governor has a negative legislative 
 power equal to two-thirds of both branches 
 of the Legislature, leaving to the people of 
 the Territory only one-third of one of the 
 three departments of Government, and to the 
 General Government all of two departments, 
 and two-thirds of the other. 
 
 Also, he says, ' • Leave the people who will 
 
 ■ be effected by this question (Slavery), to ad- 
 
 • just it upon their own responsibility and in 
 
 ■ their own manner, and we shall render an- 
 
 • other tribute to the original principles of our 
 
 • Government, and furnish another guarantee 
 'for its permanency and prosperity." But 
 'now can this or any other question be adjusted 
 by the people, while ruled by a foreign Execu- 
 tive and Judiciary ? 
 
 Mr. Douglas says, " I have always held that 
 
 ■ the people have a right to settle these ques- 
 
 • tions as they choose, not only when they 
 
 ■ come into the Union as a State, but that they 
 
 ■ should be permitted to do so while a Terri- 
 •tory." If the people have this right, then 
 (he Federal Government has no right to inter- 
 fere with it, and the people of Kansas have a 
 right to demand that the present Territorial 
 Government of Kansas be withdrawn, and that 
 they be allowed to choose all their officers. 
 
 Mr. Hcnn of Iowa, in Congress, said: "I 
 
 ■ would that Congress would recognize the 
 ' doctrine of ' Squatter Sovereignty' in its 
 
 • length and breadth ; that the citizen, where- 
 ' ever he may settle, if on American soil, shall 
 
 ■ have all the rights and privileges' of citizen- 
 
 • ship, and be consulted by executives as well 
 
 • as by representatives. This would be right. 
 
 • This would be simple justice. It is a doc- 
 
 ■ trine that was broadly asserted, and with 
 
 ■ Srmncss maintained, by the Fathers of our 
 
 • Republic." 
 
 lu the organic act of the Territory, sec. 14, 
 is the following : "It being the true intent and 
 
 ■ meaning of this Act not to legislate Slavery 
 
 • into any Territory or State, nor to exclude 
 
 ■ it tlierefrom, hut to leave the people thereof 
 ' perfectly free to form and regulate their domes- 
 
 • tic institutions in their own way, subject only 
 
 ■ to the Constitution o^ the United States." 
 
 But how can this "intent" be carried out 
 with an Executive and Judiciary, and two- 
 thirds of the Legislative power in opposition 
 to the v.-ill of the people, and with an over- 
 wlielraing invasion at every election by per- 
 mission of these officers? 
 
 In the President's Annual Message to Con- 
 gress, for the current year, he says': "In the 
 
 • counsels of Congress there was manifested 
 ' extreme antagonism of opinion and action 
 ' between some representatives who sought, 
 
 by the abusive and unconstitutional employ- 
 
 ' ment of the legislative powers of the Govern- 
 'ment, to interfere in the condition of inchoate 
 'States, and to impose their own social theories 
 ' upon the latter ; and other representatives, 
 ' who repelled the interposition of the General 
 ' Government in this respect, and maintained 
 'the self-constituted rights of the States." 
 ' In truth, the thing attempted was, in form 
 ' alone, the action of the Gener^al Government, 
 ' while in reality it was the endeavor, by abuse 
 ' of legislative power, to force the ideas of 
 ' internal policy, entertained by particular 
 ' States, upon allied independent States. Once 
 ' more the Constitution and the Union tri- 
 ' umphed signally. The new Territories were 
 ' organized without restrictions on the dis- 
 ' puted point, and were thus left to judge in 
 ' that particular for themselves." 
 
 If it would have been "abuse of legislative 
 power' ' for Congress to ' ' force the ideas of in- 
 ternal policy entertained by particular States" 
 upon Kansas, by what reason does he justify 
 the Executive in the exercise of that power? 
 That the officials of his appointment are to- 
 day endeavoring to do this very thing against 
 the sentiment of a large majority' of the people, 
 cannot admit of a doubt. 
 
 Again he says : " The measure of its repeal 
 ' (Missouri Compromise) was the final con- 
 ' summation and complete recognition of the 
 ' principle that no portion of the United States 
 ' shall undertake, through the assumption of 
 ' the powers of the General Government, to 
 ' dictate the social institutions of any other 
 ' portion." 
 
 The people of Kansas have reason to feel 
 that the ' ' complete recognition' ' of the prin- 
 ciple, unless carried into practice, is of no 
 avail to them, and that the recognition of this 
 principle by Congress, while the opposite is 
 acted upon by the E.xecutive, would be simple 
 mockery. 
 
 Once more : "If the friends of the Consti- 
 ' tution are to have another struggle, its ene- 
 ' mies could not present a more acceptable issue 
 ' than that of a State, whose Constitution clear- 
 'ly embraces a Republican form of Govern- 
 ' ment, being excluded from the Union because 
 ' its domestic institutions may not in all re- 
 ' spects comport with the ideas of what is wise 
 'and expedient, entertained in some other 
 'State." " If a new State, formed from the 
 ' Territory of the United States, be absolutely 
 ' excluded from admission therein, that fact, 
 ' of itself, constitutes the disruption of union 
 ' between it and the other States. But the 
 'process of dissolution could not stop there. 
 ' Would not a sectional decision, producing 
 ' such result by a majority of votes, either 
 ' Northern or Southern, of necessity, drive 
 ' out the oppressed and aggrieved minority, 
 ' and place in presence of each other two irre- 
 ' concilably hostile confederations ?' ' 
 
 Thus it will be seen by the highest Demo- 
 cratic authority in the country, that the people 
 of Kansas have a right to demand the removal 
 of the present oppressive Territorial Govern- 
 ment, and also that they be admitted into the 
 Union as .an equal and independent State. 
 
Knowing that one great party in Congress, 
 with the President at its head, was in principle 
 committed to our defence, and believing that 
 many from the other parties would, if not 
 from principle, as an act of justice, be induced 
 to look upon us with fiiror, we had a right to 
 anticipate a speedy termination of our present 
 thraldom. However, owing to an apparent 
 misunderstanding of the Constitutional move- 
 ment in Kansas, the President intimates, in a 
 special message, that Congress must interfere 
 and make the people undo what, with great 
 care and expense, they have so well done. 
 This message, as it refers exclusively to Kan- 
 sas, should receive some attention from the 
 General Assembly. Kansas men — "squatter 
 sovereignty" men — cannot fail to be some- 
 what surprised at its purport. It is somewhat 
 belligerent in its tone, threatening to bring 
 against the people of Kansas the army and 
 navy of the United States, and, should this 
 force be inadequate to the task, the militia of 
 the several States is to be brought into requi- 
 sition to compel the people to submit to what 
 they do not recognize as laws, and to laws, 
 according to his own showing, the people of 
 Missouri, with the aid of the Executive which 
 he appointed, have enacted. But it is to be 
 hoped that by the time his forces are raised 
 and marched into the Territory he will find, 
 like his Excellency Governor Shannon, that 
 the people are not so deserving of annihilation 
 as he had supposed. 
 
 The President gives the details of the inva- 
 sion of Kansas and the Governor's connec- 
 tion therewith, and does not deny that the 
 so-called Territorial Legislature was elected by 
 the people of Missouri ; but because the Gov- 
 ernor, his appointee, chose to grant certiticates 
 of election to a majority of persons elected by 
 the people of a neighboring State, therefore 
 their laws are binding upon the people. To 
 strengthen this argument, he might have ac- 
 cused the Governor of still further complicity 
 with the invaders, and have said that, although 
 this Territory is hundreds of miles in ex- 
 tent, and the people were politically unor- 
 ganized, yet he gave them but four days in 
 which to contest the election, and would not 
 extend the time one hour ; for it is said that 
 a protest arrived at 1 o'clock on the morning 
 of the fifth day, which, had it been regarded, 
 would have changed five seats in the Legisla- 
 ture ; but it was too late by one hour fuid 
 could not be received. 
 
 The argument of the President may be good 
 against any objection to the acts of the iiegis- 
 lature on his part, as in the first place he re- 
 fused to protect the ballot-box from fraud, 
 and in the second place, so far as Ifty in his 
 power, his appointee legalized it, but is it good 
 against the people? 
 
 The organic act provides for a Legislature 
 to be elected from and by the voters ; and a 
 voter is to be " an actual resident of said Ter- 
 ritory," and if any other set of men, either 
 with or without the sanction of the Execu- 
 tive, claim to be the Legislature, are the peo- 
 ple bound to regard them, as such? .\lso, 
 
 this act says, '• It is the true intent and mean- 
 ' ing of this act to leave the people of the 
 ' Territory perfectly free to form and regulate 
 ' their domestic institutions in their own way, 
 ' subject to the Constitution of the United 
 ' States' ' — 7iot subject to the people of Missouri, 
 or the Executive, or both of them together. 
 How can the true intent of this law be carried 
 out by a Legislature elected as was that on 
 the 30th March last? Yet that Legislature, 
 elected from and by the people of a neighbor- 
 ing State, have assumed to pass laws for the 
 people of Kansas, and also to " Legislate Slave- 
 ry into the Territory," which Congress itself 
 professed not to have the right to do ; and these 
 are the so-called laws that the President says 
 must be enforced, even though it require all 
 the Army and^avy of the United States and 
 the militia orahe several States. Undoubt- 
 edly one-half of this force will be all-sufBcient 
 to enable him to enforce any process, or to 
 chop, shoot and hang all the inhabitants. 
 But all the armies and navies in the world 
 could not make the people believe he had a 
 right to do it, or that the enactments of that 
 Border Legislatui'e were binding upon the 
 people of Kansas. If Squatter Sovereignty 
 means simply that Congress has no right to 
 interfere with the affairs of a Territory, but 
 that the Executive and the people of another 
 State have, then most certainly that doctrine 
 will be very unpopular in Kansas. 
 
 Other reasons might be given to show that 
 no legal Legislature have ever passed laws in 
 Kansas besides the above, or the removal of 
 the sittings from Pawnee to the Shawnee Mis- 
 sion, which is on the Shaw^lee Reserve, as it 
 is underslood, and can, consequently, "con- 
 stitute no part of the Territory of Kansas." 
 The organic act provides that " the persons 
 ' having the highest number of legal votes in 
 ' each district for members of the Council (or 
 'House of Representatives) shall be declared 
 ' by the Governor to be duly elected." From 
 his decision there is no appeal, according to 
 the act, yet nine persons declared to be duly 
 elected by the Governor, were ejected hj the 
 Legislature and others admitted. But one 
 person, it is believed, was duly elected by the 
 legal voters of the Territory, and he resigned 
 his seat, regarding the whole body illegal. 
 His seat was filled without an election, and by 
 the Legislature ; hence, probably not one of 
 the members of the body could have received 
 the suffrages of the legal voters ia the districts 
 they pretended to represent. 
 
 It is the enactments of such a body of men 
 that the army, navy and militia of the country 
 are to enforce upon a people who were told 
 they should be "free to form and regulate 
 their domestic institutions in their own way" 
 — a body of men elected by a neighboring 
 State, who did not sit at the seat of govern- 
 ment, as required ; who dids,\i at the Shawnee 
 Jlission, understood to form no part of the 
 Territory of Kansas; who turned out nine 
 of its legally elected members and received in 
 their stead nine persons not legally elected ; 
 who filled a vacancy by appcintment, and not 
 
10 
 
 by election of the voters of the district, &c., to 
 say nothing of the Draconian character of the 
 enactments. 
 
 The President says: "the constitutional 
 ' means of relieving the people of unjust ad- 
 ' ministration and laws by a change of public 
 ' agents, and by repeal, are ample." This is 
 usually the case, and ought always be so ; but 
 the case of Kansas is an exception. The Ad- 
 ministration of Kansas has its head at Wash- 
 ington, and we have not so much as a vote in 
 favor of its continuance or removal, while the 
 repeal of any laws, under present arrange- 
 ments, by the people, is out of the question, 
 as the Legislature has disfranchised a large 
 majority of tlicm. No man in favor of a 
 change or repeal of certain laws can vote under 
 our new order of things, anrL consequently, 
 no peaceable way of establishing a Govern- 
 ment of the people is left but to form a State 
 Constitution and ask for admission into the 
 Union. This has been done, but the Presi- 
 dent objects to our Constitution, and calls the 
 movement for a State Government revolution- 
 ary, and intimates that the forces of the Union 
 must, if necessary, be brought against it, al- 
 though he admits that it was not revolution- 
 ary for other Territories to do precisely what 
 we have done, as California, Michigan, and 
 others. His reason is that the Constitution 
 of Kansas w^as formed by a party and not by 
 the whole people. What are the facts? A 
 bill calling for a convention for the formation 
 of a State Constitution is said to have passed 
 throiigh one House of the Jlission Legislature, 
 and was defeated in the other only because 
 thej' feared the result would be a Free State. 
 In July and August a paper was circulated 
 for the signatures of all such persons as were 
 desirous of forming a State Government, and 
 between 1,000 and 2,000 persons signed it. 
 August 15th a general mass meeting of citi- 
 zens, irrespective of party, was held at Law- 
 rence, pursuant to public call signed "many 
 citizens," "to take into consideration the 
 ' propriety of calling a Territorial Delegate 
 ' Convention, preliminary to the formation of 
 a State Government and other subjects of 
 'public interest." At this meeting all par- 
 ties participated, and the following preamble 
 and resolution were adopted, with but one 
 dissenting voice, and that was an acknow- 
 ledged disunion Abolitionist, the only one of 
 that party at the meeting. 
 
 Whereas, The people of Kansas Territory 
 have been, since its settlement, and now are, 
 without any law-making power ; therefore, 
 be it 
 
 Resolved, That we, the people of Kansas, in 
 mass meeting assembled, irrespective of party 
 distinctions, influenced by a common necessi- 
 ty, and greatly desirous of promoting the 
 common good, do hereby call upon and re- 
 quest all honajidc citizens of Kansas Territory, 
 of whatever political views or predilections, 
 to consult together in their respective election 
 districts, and, in Mass Convention or other- 
 wise, elect three Delegates for each Rcpresen- 
 lative to which such dl- ••■•■( ■-- ;ntit,led in the 
 
 House of Representatives of the Legislative 
 Assembly, by proclamation of Gov. Reeder oi 
 date March 10, 1855 ; said Delegates to assem- 
 ble in Convention at the Town of Topeka on 
 the 19th day of September, 1855, then and 
 there to consider and determine upon all sub- 
 jects of public interest, &nd. particularly upon 
 that having reference to the speedy formation 
 of a State Constitution, with an intention of 
 an immediate application to be admitted as a 
 State into the Union of the "United States 
 of America." 
 
 This was the first public action taken by the 
 people in their sovereign capacity upon this 
 subject, and all parties and sects participated. 
 
 The next action was at a party convention 
 held at Big Springs on the 5th and 6th of Sep- 
 tember. A Committee on State Organization 
 was appointed, and made the following re- 
 port : 
 
 "Your Committee, after considering the 
 propriety of taking preliminary steps to fram- 
 ing a constitution, and applying for admission 
 as a State into the Union, beg leave to report 
 that, under the present circumstances, they 
 deem the movement untimely and inexpe- 
 dient." 
 
 The following was offered as a substitute 
 for the report : 
 
 ^^ Resolved, That this Convention, in view 
 of its recent repudiation of the Acts of the so- 
 called Kansas Legislative Assembly, respond 
 most heartily to the call made by the People's 
 Convention, of the 15th ult., for a Delegate 
 Convention of the people of Kansas Territory, 
 to be held at Topeka, on the 19th inst., to 
 consider the propriety of the formation of a 
 State Constitution and such other matters as 
 may legitimately come before it." This in 
 substance was agreed to. 
 
 Thus it appears that this party Convention 
 simply approved of the action of the Citizens' 
 Convention at Lawrence, and let the matter 
 rest. 
 
 A Delegate Convention, irrespective of party 
 was held at Topeka on the 10th and 20th of 
 September, agreeably to the call of the Mass 
 Convention of the 15th of August, and the 
 following preamble and resolution were unani- 
 mously adopted : 
 
 " Whereas, The Constitution of the United 
 States guarantees to the people of tliis Repub- 
 lic the right of assembling "together in a peacea- 
 ble feianner for their common good, to estab- 
 lish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, pro- 
 vide for the common defence, jiromote tlie 
 general welfare, and secure the blessings of 
 liberty to themselves and their posterity ; and 
 whereas the citizens of Kansas Territory were 
 prevented from electing members of a Legisla- 
 tive Assembly, in pursuance of a proclamation 
 of Gov. Reeder, on the 30th of March last, by 
 invading forces from foreign States coming 
 into the Territory and forcing upon the peo- 
 ple a Legislature of non-residents and others, 
 inimical to the interests of the people of Kan- 
 sas Territory, defeating the object of the or- 
 ganic act, in consequence of which the Terri- 
 torial Government became a perfect failure, 
 
11 
 
 and the people were left without any legal 
 g-ovcrnment until their patience has become 
 exhausted, and ' endurance ceases to he a vir- 
 tue;' and they are compelled to resort to the 
 only remedy left — that of forming a govern- 
 ment for themselves ; therefore, 
 
 "Resolved, by the people of Kansas Territo- 
 ry, in delegate Convention assembled, That 
 an election shall be held in the several election 
 precincts of this Territory, on the second Tues- 
 day of October next, under the regulations 
 and restrictions hereinafter imposed, for the 
 members of a Convention to form a Constitu- 
 tion, adopt a Bill of Rights for the people of 
 Kansas, and take all needful measures for or- 
 ganizing a State Government, preparatory to 
 the admission of Kansas into the Union as a 
 State." 
 
 At this Convention a Territorial Executive 
 Committee vras appointed, and that Commit- 
 tee, in accordance with the instructions of the 
 Convention, issued a proclamation commenc- 
 ing as follows : 
 
 ' ' To the legal voters of Kansas : 
 
 "Whereas, The Territorial Government, as 
 now constituted, for Kansas has proved a feil- 
 ure — squatter sovereignty under its workings 
 a miserable delusion — in proof of which it is 
 only necessary to refer to our past history and 
 our present deplorable condition — our ballot- 
 boxes have been taken possession of by bands 
 of armed men from foreign States — our people 
 forcibly driven therefrom — persons attempted 
 to be foisted upon us as members of a so-called 
 Legislature, unacquainted with our wants and 
 hostile to our best interests — some of them 
 never residents of our Territory — misnamed 
 laws passed — and now attempted to be en- 
 forced by the aid of citizens of foreign States, 
 of the most oppressive, tyrannical and insult- 
 ing character — the right of suffrage taken from 
 as — debarred from the privilege of a voice in 
 the election of even the most insignificant 
 officers — the right of free speech stilled — the 
 muzzling of the press attempted ; and where- 
 as, longer forbearance with such oppression 
 has ceased to be a virtue ; and whereas, the 
 people of this countrj' have heretofore exer- 
 cised the right of changing their form of Gov- 
 ernment when it became oppressive, and have, 
 at all times, conceded this right to the people 
 in this and all other Governments ; and where- 
 as, a Territorial form of government is un- 
 known to the Constitution, and is the mere 
 creature of necessity, awaiting the action of 
 the people ; and whereas, the debasing char- 
 acter of the slavery which now involves us 
 impels us to action, and leaves us the only 
 legal and peaceful alternative, the immediate 
 establishment of a State Government ; and 
 Vr'hereas, the Organic act fixils in pointing out 
 the course to be adopted in an emergency like 
 ours ; therefore, you are requested to meet at 
 your several precincts in said Territory here- 
 inafter mentioned, on the second Tuesday of 
 October next, it being the ninth day of said 
 month, and then and there cast your ballots 
 for members of a Convention, to meet at To- 
 peka on the fourth Tuesdaj' of October next, 
 
 to form a Constitution, adopt a Bill of Rights 
 for the people of Kansas, and take all needful 
 measures for organizing a State Government 
 preparatory to the admission of Kansas into 
 the Union as a State." 
 
 On the fourth Tuesday of October, the Con- 
 stitutional Convention assembled at Topeka, 
 and drafted a Constitution which was submit- 
 ted to the people on the 15th of December, and 
 by them approved, by a very large majority — 
 men of all parties voting. 
 
 Such, in brief, is the history of the Consti- 
 tutional movement in Kansas, and if this is a 
 party movement, it is difficult to see in what 
 way a Constitution can bo framed and adopted 
 not open to this charge. If the people, or 
 any portion of them, failed to participate, it 
 was their own fault, and not the fault of those 
 who were active. Democrats, Ilards and Softs, 
 Whigs, Hunkers and Liberals, Republicans, 
 Pro-Slavery and Anti-Slavery men of all 
 shades participated in the formation of the 
 State Government, and if it be a party move- 
 ment at all, it certainly cannot be a movement 
 of one party alone. In a Republican Govern- 
 ment, the majority has no power to compel 
 the minority to vote on any question ; neither 
 has the minority a right to object to the action 
 of the majority, because they did not choose 
 to act with them. 
 
 The President says : "No principle of pub- 
 ' lie law, no practice or precedent under the 
 ' Constitution of the United States, no rule of 
 'reason, right or common sense, confers any 
 'such power as that now claimed by a mere 
 ' party in the Territory. In fact, what has 
 ' been done is of a revolutionary character. 
 'It will become treasonable insurrection if it 
 ' reach the length of organized resistance by 
 ' force to the fundamental or any other federal 
 ' law, and to the authority of the General 
 ' Government." 
 
 " No principle of public law ?" What is 
 the principle of squatter sovereignty, then? 
 "No precedent?" What did llichigan, Cali- 
 fornia and other new States do ? "No rule of 
 reason, right or common sense?" Is popular 
 sovereignty unreasonable, unjust and nonsen- 
 sical? Suppose the ^.)flr^?/ comprise an over- 
 whelming raajorit}' of the people, what then? 
 
 James Christian, Esq., a very honorable and 
 high-minded Pro-Slavery gentleman, writes 
 to a friend iu Kentucky as follows : " I believe 
 ' I informed you before that I have been ap- 
 ' pointed Clerk of this (Douglas) county under' 
 ' the Territorial Legislature, but we are in such 
 ' a horrible state of confusion in regard to the 
 ' laws that it don't pay anything. The Free- 
 ' Soilers are in a large majority in the Terri- 
 ' tory, and they are determined to pay no re- 
 'gard to the laws; consequently they will not 
 'sue nor have recording done; so my office 
 ' is only in name. It is the same all over the 
 ' Territory." 
 
 According to the President, this "large 
 majority" can have no rights, because they 
 happen to think alike on a certain subject, or 
 belong to the same "party." It was formei'ly 
 .a principle of democracy that the majority — 
 
12 
 
 "especially large majorities" — should rule: 
 but times must have changed. 
 
 If this "large majority," persist ia setting 
 in motion a State Government, it will be 
 •' treasonable." It was not so, however, in Mich- 
 igan, California and other States. But the peo- 
 ple of Kansas do not propose to reach the 
 point of "organized resistance by force to the 
 'fundamental or any other federal law, and to 
 ' the authority of the General Government," 
 unless our State, "whose constitution clearly 
 ' embraces a republican form of Government, 
 ' is excluded from the Union because its do- 
 'mestic institutions may not, in all respects, 
 'comport with the ideas of what is wise and 
 'expedient, entertained in some other State." 
 
 If our SLate "be absolutely excluded from 
 •admission therein, that fact of itself {may) 
 'constitutes the disruption of union between 
 ' it and the other States. But the process of 
 •dissolution could not stop there," and we 
 should have the Chief Executive on our side 
 iu such an event. But no such result is to be 
 anticipated. When the President fully under- 
 stands our case, he can do no less than with- 
 draw his I'ecommendation for an enabling act 
 to form another constitution, and Congress 
 will admit us without delay. 
 
 Also, we have confidence that no attempt 
 will be made by the Federal authorities to en- 
 force the enactments of a foreign Legislature 
 upon the people of Kansas. Mr. Christian, 
 the Pro-Slavery Clerk of Douglas County, 
 says the people of Missouri came into the Ter- 
 ritory on the 30th of March last, "bearing 
 'with them their peculiar institutions — bowie 
 ' knives, pistols and whiskey — to the amount 
 ' of five or six thousand, carried the election 
 • by storm, and elected every Pro-Slavery can- 
 ' didate that was in the field, by overwhelming 
 'majorities, thus securing every member of 
 ' Council and House of Representatives, in 
 'some instances driving from their seats the 
 'Judges appointed by the Governor, and 
 ' placing Judges from their own number in 
 ' their stead, who paid no regard to the instruc- 
 ' tions of the Executive, &c." 
 
 It cannot be that the President, after per- 
 mitting the people of another State to take 
 from the legal voters their constitutional and 
 organic rights, will add to the outrage by 
 compelling the people of Kansas to submit to 
 their authority and obey their enactments. 
 It is bad enough to be deprived of the right 
 to make laws for ourselves, but it is worse to 
 be compelled to submit to the laws of those 
 who have deprived us of that right. Although 
 there has been, and there will be, no organized 
 resistance to the self-styled Territorial Legis- 
 lature, yet nine men out of every ten spurn it 
 with contempt as a gross outrage upon Ameri- 
 can citizens, and it is highly proper for the 
 General Assembly to memorialize Congress 
 upon the subject, as well as with reference to 
 the admission of the State in the Union. 
 
 The President apologizes for the frequent 
 invasions of Kansas on the ground that some 
 Northern people talked about the repeal of 
 the Missouri Compromise, and subjects con- 
 
 nected with the extension of negro bondage, 
 and because an Emigrant Aid Association 
 had been formed. 
 
 The people of this country have been in the 
 habit of talking about the affairs of Govern- 
 ment ever since the Mayflower discharged her 
 cargo on Plymouth Rock, but this is the first 
 time that it had been considered an apology 
 for thejnvasion of a distant State or Territory. 
 If the people of Kansas were accountable for 
 the loquacity of the North or the silence of 
 the South, the case might be different. 
 
 Emigrant Aid Associations are nothing new 
 in the United States. When California w-as 
 first opened to settlement the same kind of 
 associations were formed, with only this dif- 
 ference : in one case, each party had an agent 
 of its own for the purpose of procuring tickets, 
 arranging details, &c.; while in the other, all 
 the parties have a common agent. There is, 
 however, connected with the Aid Society for 
 Kansas emigrants, a stock company for the 
 purpose of erecting mills, hotels, otc, in the 
 new country ; but the agent of this society 
 will purchase tickets for a slaveholder as soon 
 as for a Free State man, and the investments 
 are for the benefit of all settlers alike. No 
 questions are asked, and no distinctions are 
 made. 
 
 Had the President visited "Western Missouri 
 before any Aid Society had been formed at 
 the East, lae might have found a secret, oath- 
 bound Association, pledged to make of Kansas 
 a Slave State — peaceably if they could, forcibly 
 if they must. This Society has been in active 
 operation since its inception, and now threa- 
 tens to deluge Kansas with the blood of Amer- 
 ican citizens for the crime of preferring a 
 Free to a Slave State. 
 
 Also, it is only necessary to read a few 
 Southern journals to see accounts in differ- 
 ent parts of the South, not of Emigrant Aid 
 Societies, but of Emigrant Buying or Hiring 
 Societies, which do not simply procure tickets 
 for the emigrant at cost, irresjiective of party 
 or condition, but which pay the fare and ex- 
 penses of the right kind of emigrants, and 
 support them iu Kansas one year, more or less. , 
 However it may be, the " King can do no 
 wrong," although it may be wrong for the 
 common people to do as the King does. 
 
 The people of Kansas will not object to Aid 
 Societies whether North or South, so long as 
 they treat all parties alike. Emigrants from 
 all parts of the country are received with a 
 hearty welcome, and the investment of capital. 
 Avhether Eastern or Western, Northern or 
 Southern, is greatly needed. 
 
 The settlers of Kansas have suffered seven' 
 losses and injury from repeated invasions from 
 a nieghboring State, and it is highly proper 
 that Congress be memorialized upon this sub- 
 ject. Especially should the General Govern- 
 ment repair the injury it has inflicted. All 
 the invasions have been permitted by the offi- 
 cers of the Government, without any opposi- 
 tion, while at least one was invited by them. 
 It is the duty of the Federal Government to 
 protect infant territories in their rights, but 
 
13 
 
 Kansas has not only not been protected, but it 
 has been actually oppressed by those whose 
 duty it was to defend it. 
 
 It is unjust to any community to send among 
 them oflticers with Government patronage, 
 whose political sentiments are opposed to the 
 sentiments of the people, particularly when 
 those officers mount the stump and shoulder 
 the ritie for the purpose of crushing out all 
 who differ from them. Some of the Federal 
 officers of Kansas are charged with undigni- 
 lied conduct, and one of them, at least, with 
 high crimes, and it is the duty of the Legisla- 
 ture to m.emoralize the President, that our 
 citizens may be protected in their lives and 
 inalienable rights, and from unwari'antable 
 interference of officials in the management of 
 their internal affairs. It is manifestly im- 
 proper for the Federal officers to dictate into or 
 out of Kansas an institution over which Con- 
 gress professed to have no authority. 
 
 It is understood that the Deputy Marshal 
 has private instructions to arrest the members 
 of the Legislature and the State officers for 
 treason as soon as this address is received by 
 you. In such an event of course, no resistance 
 
 vnW be offered to the officer. Men who 
 are readr to defend their own and their 
 country's honor with their lives, can never 
 object to a legal investigation into their ac- 
 tion, nor to suffer any punishment their con- 
 duct may merit. We should be unworthy the 
 constituency we represent did we shrink from 
 martyrdom on the scaffold or at the stake 
 should duty require it. Should the blood of 
 Collins and Dow, of Barber and Brown, be 
 insufficient to quench the thirst of the Presi- 
 dent and his accomplices in the hollow mockery 
 of " Squatter Sovereignty" they are practisiu"- 
 upon the people of Kansas, then more victims 
 must be furnished. Let what will come, not 
 a finger should be raised against the Federal 
 authority until there shall be no hope of re- 
 lief but in revolution. 
 
 The task imposed upon us is a difficult one> 
 but with mutual co-operation, and a firm re- 
 liance on His wisdom who makes " the wrath 
 of men praise him," we may hope to inaugu- 
 rate a Government that shall not be unworthy 
 of the country and the age in which we live 
 C. ROBINSON. 
 
 Topeha, March 4, 1856. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 016 088 978