As I read the Judge's answer in the newspaper, and as I remember it as
pronounced at the time, he does not give any answer which is equivalent
to yes or no,--I will or I won't. He answers at very considerable
length, rather quarrelling with me for asking the question, and
insisting that Judge Trumbull had done something that I ought to say
something about; and finally, getting out such statements as induce me
to infer that he means to be understood, he will, in that supposed case,
vote for the admission of Kansas. I only bring this forward now, for the
purpose of saying that, if he chooses to put a different construction
upon his answer, he may do it. But if he does not, I shall from this
time forward assume that he will vote for the admission of Kansas in
disregard of the English bill. He has the right to remove any
misunderstanding I may have. I only mention it now, that I may hereafter
assume this to have been the true construction of his answer, if he does
not now choose to correct me.
The second interrogatory I propounded to him was this:
_Question 2._ Can the people of a United States Territory in any
lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States,
exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a State
constitution?
To this Judge Douglas answered that they can lawfully exclude slavery
from the Territory prior to the formation of a constitution. He goes
on to tell us how it can be done. As I understand him, he holds that
it can be done by the territorial legislature refusing to make any
enactments for the protection of slavery in the Territory, and
especially by adopting unfriendly legislation to it. For the sake of
clearness, I state it again: that they can exclude slavery from the
Territory,--first, by withholding what he assumes to be an indispensable
assistance to it in the way of legislation; and second, by unfriendly
legislation. If I rightly understand him, I wish to ask your attention
for a while to his position.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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