will be in the mode of presenting the facts, and the
inferences and observations following that presentation.

In his speech last autumn, at Columbus, Ohio, as reported in the New
York Times, Senator Douglas said:

Our fathers, when they framed the Government under which we live,
understood this question just as well, and even better, than we do now.

I fully indorse this, and I adopt it as a text for this discourse. I
so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and agreed starting point
for a discussion between Republicans and that wing of the Democracy
headed by Senator Douglas. It simply leaves the inquiry:

"What was the understanding those fathers had of the question
mentioned?"

What is the frame of Government under which we live?

The answer must be, "The Constitution of the United States." That
Constitution consists of the original, framed in 1787 (and under which
the present Government first went into operation), and twelve
subsequently framed amendments, the first ten of which were framed in
1789.

Who were our fathers that framed the Constitution? I suppose the
"thirty-nine" who signed the original instrument may be fairly called
our fathers who framed that part of the present Government. It is
almost exactly true to say they framed it, and it is altogether true to
say they fairly represented the opinion and sentiment of the whole
nation at that time. Their names, being familiar to nearly all, and
accessible to quite all, need not now be repeated.

I take these "thirty-nine," for the present, as being "our fathers who
framed the Government under which we live."

What is the question which, according to the text, those fathers
understood "just as well, and even better, than we do now?"

It is this: Does the proper division of local from Federal authority,
or anything in the Constitution, forbid our Federal Government to
control as to slavery in our Federal Territories?

Upon this, Senator Douglas holds the affirmative, and Republicans the
negative. This affirmation and denial form an issue; and this
issue--this question--is precisely what the text declares our fathers
understood "better than we."

Let us now, inquire whether the "thirty-nine," or any of them, ever
acted upon this question; and if they did, how they acted upon it--how
they expressed that better understanding.

In 1784, three years before the Constitution, the United States then
owning the Northwestern Territory, and n