The issue was this: Are the Territories bound by the Constitution to become States in the American Union against the judgment of the people, and are the existing States bound to accept a new State and that without regard to its institutions?
Boutwell discusses the constitutional obligations regarding the admission of new states from U.S. territories.
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He was so great that it was not a humiliation to acknowledge a change in opinion, or to admit an error in policy or purpose.
I hope it is not necessary in this day and this hour of the Republic to argue anywhere that a property qualification is not only unjust in itself, but that it is odious to the people of the country to a degree which cannot be expressed.
The value of every article is resolved finally by the ascertainment of its value in gold.
I cannot imagine that in a hundred years this anniversary, in its organization and conduct, will be thought worthy of imitation.
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