r Pugh of Ohio
had already locked horns with Davis on this point, and had attempted to
show that a territorial Legislature was independent of Congress. "Then
I would ask the Senator further," retorted the logical Davis, "why it is
he makes an appropriation to pay members of the territorial legislature;
how it is that he invests the Governor with veto power over their acts;
and how it is that he appoints judges to decide upon the validity of
their acts."

In the Democratic convention which met at Charleston in April, 1860, the
waning power of political evasion made its last real stand against the
rising power of political positivism. To accept Douglas and the idea
that somehow territorial legislatures were free to do what Congress
could not do, or to reject Douglas and endorse Davis's ultimatum--that
in substance was the issue. "In this convention where there should be
confidence and harmony," said the "Charleston Mercury", "it is plain
that men feel as if they were going into a battle." In the committee on
resolutions where the States were equally represented, the majority were
anti-Douglas; they submitted a report affirming Davis's position that
territorial legislatures had no right to prohibit slavery and that the
Federal Government should protect slavery against them. The minority
refused to go further than an approval of the Dred Scott case and a
pledge to abide by all future decisions of the Supreme Court. After
both reports had been submitted, there followed the central event of the
convention--the now famous speech by Yancey which repudiated political
evasion from top to bottom, frankly defended slavery, and demanded
either complete guarantees for its continued existence or, as an
alternative, Southern independence. Pugh instantly replied and summed up
Yancey's speech as a demand upon Northern Democrats to say that slavery
was right, and that it was their duty not only to let slavery alone but
to aid in extending it. "Gentlemen of the South," he exclaimed, "you
mistake us--you mistake us--we will not do it."

In the full convention, where the representation of the States was not
equal, the Douglas men, after hot debate, forced the adoption of the
minority report. Thereupon the Alabama delegation protested and formally
withdrew from the convention, and other delegations followed. There was
wild excitement in Charleston, where that evening in the streets Yancey
addressed crowds that cheered for a Southern republic