The only acts of Congress extended to the territories are always expressly named, and they are those relating to the revenue, the slave trade, those regulating commerce and the public lands; while the great body of the acts of Congress, have application only to the members of the confederacy. The general Government, in virtue of its sovereignty, had the control over all foreign intercourse, and undertook the military defence and protection. Having lived under these protective Governments, I must candidly confess, that they possess many advantages. They are entirely unlike the condition of colonies and conquered provinces, subject to onerous exactions, or restrictions. Their burthens were even lighter than those of the citizens of the States, in consequence of not being represented in Congress, as it would be against a fundamental principle to bind them by laws, which they had no share in enacting. Many of the territorial inhabitants regret the change from the quiet of their territorial Government, to the turbulence and expense of the State constitution. They preferred this state of things to the ambition of being able to disturb the balance of power among the States, by a voice in the Senate, or even in the House of Representatives. But the admission into the Union (or admission as States,) “as soon as consistent with the principles of the Constitution,” was an express stipulation, under the treaties which ceded those territories; and in the case of Texas, immediate annexation as a State, was the principal consideration of the compact. Where there is no such stipulation, as in the case of countries acquired by conquest, like those of the Rio Grande, the acquisition is unconditional, and the territorial state may be continued indefinitely, or the admission of the whole or part, be determined at our pleasure. According to the laws of nations, their local laws remain in force; and according to our Constitution, Congress has no power to legislate in local matters for them, although it may create a local legislature for that purpose; for, in my opinion, it cannot constitute itself a local legislature for the purpose, as in the anomalous case of the District of Columbia.