ts existence
in a dozen, as soon as they pass beyond the limits of the State
governments. The advocates of this novel doctrine, however, if rightly
understood, generally disavowed any claim to its application prior to
the organization of a territorial government.

The Territorial Legislatures, to which Congress delegated a portion of
its power and duty to "make all needful rules and regulations respecting
the Territory," were the mere agents of Congress, exercising an
authority subject to Congressional supervision and control--an authority
conferred only for the sake of convenience, and liable at any time to be
revoked and annulled. Yet it is proposed to recognize in these
provisional, subordinate, and temporary legislative bodies, a power not
possessed by Congress itself. This is to claim that the creature is
endowed with an authority not possessed by the creator, or that the
stream has risen to an elevation above that of its source.

Furthermore, in contending for a power in the Territorial Legislatures
permanently to determine the fundamental, social, and political
institutions of the Territory, and thereby virtually to prescribe those
of the future State, the advocates of "popular sovereignty" were
investing those dependent and subsidiary bodies with powers far above
any exercised by the Legislatures of the fully organized and sovereign
States. The authority of the State Legislatures is limited, both by the
Federal Constitution and by the respective State Constitutions from
which it is derived. This latter limitation did not and could not exist
in the Territories.

Strange as it may seem, a theory founded on fallacies so flimsy and
leading to conclusions so paradoxical was advanced by eminent and
experienced politicians, and accepted by many persons, both in the North
and in the South--not so much, perhaps, from intelligent conviction as
under the delusive hope that it would afford a satisfactory settlement
of the "irrepressible conflict" which had been declared. The terms
"popular sovereignty" and "non-intervention" were plausible, specious,
and captivating to the public ear. Too many lost sight of the elementary
truth that political sovereignty does not reside in unorganized or
partially organized masses of individuals, but in the people of
regularly and permanently constituted States. As to the
"non-intervention" proposed, it meant merely the abnegation by Congress
of its duty to protect the inhabitants of the