&8S .J77 Copy 1 KANSAS CONTROVERSY, SPEECH OF HON. GEORGE W. JONES, OF IOWA, DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, APRIL 16, 1856. WASHINGTON: PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 1856. J7 KANSAS CONTROVEUSY. The PRESIDENT. The question is on the motion of tlie Senator from iowti [Mr. Jones] to reconsider tlie vote postponing until Monday next the bill (S. No. 172) author- izing the people of Kansas Territory to form a eonslitution and State government when they have the requisite popu- lation. Mr. JONES, of loM-a, said: Mr. President: An imperative duty urges me for the first time during the period of my service as a member of the Senate, to tax its patience by attempting more than a few brief remarks upon matters immediately connected with my puohc and official duties. And permit me to say, I now regret that circumstances have impelled me to deviate somewhat from the rule which I have hitherto imposed upon myself, for the reason that upon subjects of a general import, I have always found Senators better informed than myself, or more able to present the views we hold in com- mon, than 1 could pretend to be. My colleague, on the 27th of Inst month, gave to the Senate his views upon the aflairs in Kan.sas, and the various considerations arising therefrom; — those views have been laid before the people of the Union; they do not reflect the opinions nor the feelings of a large majority of the citizens of the State of Iowa; and therefore I have conceived it to be my duty to attempt, in a plain way, to refute and exhibit the fallacy of his statements and views, and present what! conceive to be a more correct exhibition of the opinions of the people of Iowa than he has given; and in doing this I trust I shall not depart from a becoming deference to the eru- dition of my colleague as a professor of natural science, a theologian, and a lawyer, in all of which capacities he has distinguished himself; and has, in a contest hke that which now occupies the Senate, a decided advantage over me — unless, indeed, my disadvantages are more than made equal by the truth and justice of the side which 1 have espoused. After indulging in an expression of his opinion relative to the conduct of the President, and the manner in which he has discharged his duties touching the disturbances in Kansas, my col- league presents a very partial view of the cause which produced those disturbances. It is not in- cumbent upon me to attempt, in this place, to reply either to his opinions of the Presicient, or to his impressions of the occurrences in Kansas — both his opinions and impressions, I am sorry to say, seem to have been produced by improper excite- ment, by prejudice, or by an inordinate desire to build up a sectional party opposed to the national Democracy of the Union; but, whatever may have produced them, I will leave them to the opera- tion of time and facts, and such conscientious investigation as my colleague may find leisure to make in his future public career. The President and the Kansas disturbances having been disposed of by my colleague, to his entire satisfaction, he in the next place proceeds to prove, by a tremendous array of historical facts, that the Congress of the United States pos- sesses, constitutionally, legally, and necessarily, complete and sovereign power to legislate for the local matters and wants of all citizens who may become residents upon the territory of the Unionj and, moreover, that having this undoubted power, it is the imperative duty of Congress to exercise it immediately for the sole pui-pose of excluding all who own slaves, and preventing our fellow- citizens of the southern States from emigrating to Kansas, and taking with them their negro ser- vants — and thus, as he says, preventing the shed- ding of blood and civil war among the present occupants. The facts adduced to show, or for the purpose of showing, that this power is lodged in the Congress of the United States, I have desig- nated as tremendous, not because of their weight, but in consequence of the vast space they occupy in the Globe— I mean the Globe of Mr. John C. Rives. If the facts, quotations, and occasional argument of my colleague upon this portion of the subject are to be estimated by their lenj;th, they maybe truly termed tremendous, and he must be a patient man who will even attempt to allude to them seriatim. 1 cannot venture upon the task; yet I will try to dispose of my colleague's argument in a plain, brief, and pracucal manner. The labors of my colleague to sustain the important power which he claims for Congress, consists in collecting the captions and dates of the acts that have been passod from time to time, giving to the people of the suveral Territories a form of territorial government; and he infers, from the fact that these acts have been passed , and that they have contained, sometimes, provisions relative to negro bondage, that Congress has full power to legislate for the people of the Territo- ries " tJi all cases whatsoever. Indeed, my col- kague claims for the General Government, or for Congress, greater powers than were even dreamed ' of by the most ultra Federalist that Uved in the days of the elder Adams. That I may not be charged with injustice towai'ds him, 1 will quote from his published speech: " The Goveriiincnt of the United States.acqiiired all her rights in"" the Floridas from Spain ; in the Louisiana Terri- tory from France. The United States was the successor of each of these. \Vhatever the original sovereign of each of these might have done within its limits, while a part of liis doimnione, miglu be done by his successor." Again, speaking of Louisiana Territory, he says: " It was a part of the dominions of France ; she was its absolute sovereign. Hence the Government of the United States must have succeeded to the same unrestricted rights; and m