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(From the Archives of The New York Times)
"...I stand now by my own bill, which I maintain to be preferable to the last bill of the Committee, as it was to the first. Some honor Senators seem to think that it is unreasonable that I do not give up my own bill, and come down and accept the new one, which they are inclined to treat as a compromise between my own bill for the immediate admission of Kansas, under the Topeka Constitution, and the first bill of the Committee on Territories. Why should I surrender my own bill? If it was wise, just, and necessary, when I presented it to the Senate, it is as just, wise, and necessary now. It was wise, just, and necessary then, if the circumstances under which the Constitution of Kansas was adopted were then truly stated and set forth by me, in my argument delivered in the Senate. In making that argument, I had to rely on probable evidence, for no other evidence then existed. Now, a Committee of the House of Representatives, after having diligently inquired on oath, have ascertained and confirmed the truth of the circumstances of Kansas which Ithen assumed. I state those circumstances anew, on the present occasion, in the moderate and guarded conclusions of the Committee of the House of Representatives:
"Spurious and pretended Legislative, Judicial, and Executive officers have been set over them, by whose usurped authority, sustained by the military power of the Government, tyrannical and unconstitutional laws have been enacted and enforced:
The rights of the people to keep and bear arms have been infringed;
Test oaths, of an extraordinary and entangling nature have been imposed as a condition of exercising the right of sufferage and holding office;
The right of an an accused person to a speedy and public trial by an impartial Jury has been denied;
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, has been violated;
They have been deprived of life, liberty, and property, without due process of law;
The freedom of speech and of the press has been abridged;
The right to choose their Representatives has been made of no effect;
Murders, robberies, and arsons, have been instigated and encouraged, and the offenders have been allowed to go unpunished;
All these things have been done with the knowledge, sanction, and procurement, of the present Administration." ..."
"....Published July 14, 1856
Copyright The New York Times"
Would highly recommend reading the whole speech of Mr. Seward. As it covers quite a bit of ground as to how a Constitutional Republic can, and has been, subverted....
Also See:
The New Kansas Bill, The New York Times, Published July 4, 1856.
As well as the following from the United States Supreme Court during the same year as all of the above:
"...More especially, it cannot be believed that the large slaveholding States regarded them as included in the word citizens, or would have consented to a Constitution which might compel them to receive them in that character from another State. For if they were so received, and entitled to the privileges and immunities of citizens, it would exempt them from the operation of the special laws and from the police regulations which they considered to be necessary for their own safety. It would give to persons of the negro race, who were recognized as citizens in any one State of the Union, the right to enter every other State whenever they pleased, singly or in companies, without pass or passport, and without obstruction, to sojourn there as long as they pleased, to go where they pleased at every hour of the day or night without molestation, unless they committed some violation of law for which a white man would be punished; and it would give them the full liberty of speech in public and in
private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might speak; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went...."
Oh, and before I forget, please take notice how that there is not one mention of the word "militia" in ANY of the above LEGAL historical documents....
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