A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 6, part 2: Andrew Johnson
History
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 6, part 2: Andrew Johnson
Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875; Presidents -- United States; United States -- History -- Sources; United States -- Politics and government
Colorado, which it is now proposed to admit as a State, contains, as has
already been stated, a population less than 28,000, while the present
ratio of representation is 127,000.
There can be no reason that I can perceive for the admission of
Colorado that would not apply with equal force to nearly every other
Territory now organized; and I submit whether, if this bill become a
law, it will be possible to resist the logical conclusion that such
Territories as Dakota, Montana, and Idaho must be received as States
whenever they present themselves, without regard to the number of
inhabitants they may respectively contain. Eight or ten new Senators and
four or five new members of the House of Representatives would thus be
admitted to represent a population scarcely exceeding that which in any
other portion of the nation is entitled to but a single member of the
House of Representatives, while the average for two Senators in the
Union, as now constituted, is at least 1,000,000 people. It would surely
be unjust to all other sections of the Union to enter upon a policy with
regard to the admission of new States which might result in conferring
such a disproportionate share of influence in the National Legislature
upon communities which, in pursuance of the wise policy of our fathers,
should for some years to come be retained under the fostering care
and protection of the National Government. If it is deemed just and
expedient now to depart from the settled policy of the nation during
all its history, and to admit all the Territories to the rights and
privileges of States, irrespective of their population or fitness
for such government, it is submitted whether it would not be well to
devise such measures as will bring the subject before the country for
consideration and decision. This would seem to be eminently wise,
because, as has already been stated, if it is right to admit Colorado
now there is no reason for the exclusion of the other Territories.
It is no answer to these suggestions that an enabling act was passed
authorizing the people of Colorado to take action on this subject. It is
well known that that act was passed in consequence of representations
that the population reached, according to some statements, as high as
80,000, and to none less than 50,000, and was growing with a rapidity
which by the time the admission could be consummated would secure a
population of over 100,000. These representations proved to have been
wholly fallacious, and in addition the people of the Territory by a
deliberate vote decided that they would not assume the responsibilities
of a State government. By that decision they utterly exhausted all power
that was conferred by the enabling act, and there has been no step taken
since in relation to the admission that has had the slightest sanction
or warrant of law.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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