rations were in no sense necessary to the decision of
the case before the court, as it was held that Dred Scott was a
resident of Missouri and subject as a slave to the laws of that
state.

Justices McLean and Curtis dissented from the decision of the court,
and in elaborate opinions refuted, as I think, every position of
the Chief Justice.

Thus the Kansas question became a political question in the Supreme
Court. At once the south rejected the doctrine of popular sovereignty,
and demanded, as a constitutional right, that slaves moved into a
territory must be protected like other property, whether the people
of the territory wish it or not. This was the first time in our
history when this great tribunal entered into the political arena.
Its action encouraged the south, but produced a strong feeling of
resentment in the north, and widened the breach between the two
great sections of the country.

Mr. Buchanan, early in his administration, found it necessary to
appoint a Governor of Kansas. He selected Robert J. Walker, of
Mississippi, who had held high positions in the national government,
having been Secretary of the Treasury and Senator of the United
States. He appointed Fred. P. Stanton, of Tennessee, as secretary
of the territory. Mr. Stanton had long been a Member of high
standing of the House of Representatives. Both were southern men
and both wished to see Kansas a slave state, but both were honorable
men who would not seek to gain their ends by dishonest means.
After a careful estimate, made by them, it was believed that there
were, in the territory, 9,000 Free State Democrats, 8,000 Republicans,
6,000 pro-slavery Democrats, and 500 pro-slavery Americans. A
strong effort was made by Governor Walker to induce these elements
to join in a movement for a convention to frame a constitution,
with a view to admit Kansas as a state in the Union. The Free
State men, while anxious for such a result, were not willing to
trust their adversaries with the conduct of such an election,
without some safeguards against the repetition of the frauds and
violence of the previous elections. The result was that only 2,200
persons took part in choosing delegates to what became the notorious
Lecompton convention.

Both before and after this so-called election Governor Walker
promised that the constitution, when adopted, should be submitted
to a vote of the people, and he added his assurance that the
President of the Unit