ular course, yet such an act has not been held to he indispensable, and in some cases the territory has proceeded without it, and has nevertheless been admitted into the Union as a state. It lies with congress to authorize beforehand, or to confirm afterward, in its discretion; but in no instance has a state been admitted upon the application of persons acting against authorities duly constituted by act of congress. In every case it is the people of the territory, not a party among them, who have the power to form a constitution and ask for admission as a state. No principle of public 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 revolutionary character. It is avowedly so in motive and in aim as respects the local law of the territory. 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.
In such an event, the path of duty for the executive is plain. The constitution requiring him to take care that the laws of the United States be faithfully executed, if they be opposed in the territory of Kansas, he may and should place at the disposal of the marshal any public force of the United States which happens to be within the jurisdiction, to be used as a portion of the posse comitatus; and, if that do not suffice to maintain order, then he may call forth the militia of one or more states for that object, or employ for the same object any part of the land or naval force of the United States. So also if the obstruction be to the laws of the territory, and it be duly presented to him as a case of insurrection, he may employ for its suppression the military of any state, or the land or naval force of the United States. And if the territory be invaded by the citizens of other states, whether for the purpose of deciding elections or for any other, and the local authorities find themselves unable to repel or withstand it, they will be entitled to, and upon the fact being fully ascertained, they shall most certainly receive, the aid of the general government.
But it is not the duty of the President of the United States to volunteer interposition by force to preserve the purity of elections either in a state or territory. To do so would be subversive of public freedom. And whether a law be wise or unwise, just or unjust, is not a question for him to judge. If it be constitutional—that is, if it be the law of the land—it is his duty to cause it to be executed, or to sustain the authorities of any state or territory in executing it in opposition to all insurrectionary movements.
Our system affords no justification of revolutionary acts; for the constitutional means of relieving the people of unjust administration and laws, by a change of public agents and by repeal, are ample, and more prompt and effective than illegal violence. These constitutional means must be scrupulously guarded—this great prerogative of popular sovereignty sacredly respected.
It is the undoubted right of the peaceable and orderly people of the territory of Kansas to elect their own legislative body, make their own laws, and
