t the
constitutional rights of the States are equal; that the
States have equal rights in this country under the
Constitution; and, as I understand it, they must be
maintained in that equality. These resolutions only assert
that principle; and I say that it is a misfortune to the
country, in my opinion, that the principles laid down in
these resolutions had not been asserted sooner. They ought
to have been asserted by the Democratic party in plain
English ten years ago. If they had been, you would have had
no trouble in this country to-day; the Democratic party
would have been united and strong, and the equality and
constitutional rights of the States would have been
maintained in the territory, and in all other things;
squatter-sovereignty would not have been heard of, and
to-day we should be united. It is the fault of the
Democratic party in dodging truth, in dodging principle, in
dodging the Constitution itself, that has brought the
trouble upon the country and the party that is experienced
to-day."

I believe, if we had asserted and maintained these great truths ten
years ago, and placed ourselves upon them boldly, as it was our duty
to have done, we would have no trouble in this country to-day; but
instead of declaring the great truths enunciated in these resolutions,
we went off upon issues unbecoming the Democratic party. A portion of
our leaders wandered and went astray, and asserted that the people of
a Territory had the right to prohibit slavery whenever, in their
judgment, it ought to be prohibited; a power which Congress even does
not possess, and consequently cannot confer upon a Territorial
Legislature, unless the creature becomes greater than the creator. It
was this kind of trouble, and this sort of heresy introduced into the
Democratic party, that has broken it up, and brought the disasters
upon our country which we experience to-day. I say, then, let the
blame fall upon the guilty; I am innocent of it; for I have held but
one doctrine upon this question from the beginning to the present
hour, and I shall hold that doctrine to the end. In the speech from
which I have already read, I also used the following language:

"Sir, it appears to me to be very singular indeed, that any
man can hold that the territory of this country belongs to a
portion of the people, and that the people of one portio