attest that the great and leading States
admitted since 1845, viz, Iowa, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, and
Kansas, including Texas, which was admitted that year, have all come
with an ample population for one Representative, and some of them with
nearly or quite enough for two.

To demonstrate the correctness of my views on this question, I subjoin
a table containing a list of the States admitted since the adoption
of the Federal Constitution, with the date of admission, the ratio of
representation, and the representative population when admitted, deduced
from the United States census tables, the calculation being made for the
period of the decade corresponding with the date of admission.

Colorado, which it is now proposed to admit as a State, contains, as has
already been stated, a population less than 28,000, while the present
ratio of representation is 127,000.

There can be no reason that I can perceive for the admission of
Colorado that would not apply with equal force to nearly every other
Territory now organized; and I submit whether, if this bill become a
law, it will be possible to resist the logical conclusion that such
Territories as Dakota, Montana, and Idaho must be received as States
whenever they present themselves, without regard to the number of
inhabitants they may respectively contain. Eight or ten new Senators and
four or five new members of the House of Representatives would thus be
admitted to represent a population scarcely exceeding that which in any
other portion of the nation is entitled to but a single member of the
House of Representatives, while the average for two Senators in the
Union, as now constituted, is at least 1,000,000 people. It would surely
be unjust to all other sections of the Union to enter upon a policy with
regard to the admission of new States which might result in conferring
such a disproportionate share of influence in the National Legislature
upon communities which, in pursuance of the wise policy of our fathers,
should for some years to come be retained under the fostering care
and protection of the National Government. If it is deemed just and
expedient now to depart from the settled policy of the nation during
all its history, and to admit all the Territories to the rights and
privileges of States, irrespective of their population or fitness
for such government, it is submitted whether it would not be well to
devise such measures as will bring the subject befo