James Buchanan actually said...

With my deep convictions of duty I could have pursued no other course.

The just equality of all the States has thus been vindicated and a fruitful source of dangerous dissension among them has been removed.

A wiser and better spirit seemed to prevail before the first Monday of January last, when an election was held under the constitution.

The principle has been recognized in some form or other by an almost unanimous vote of both Houses of Congress that a Territory has a right ...