The entire control of
Congress over the whole subject of territorial government had never been
questioned in earlier times. Necessarily conjoined with the _power_ of
this protectorate, was of course the _duty_ of exercising it for the
safety of the persons and property of all citizens of the United States,
permanently or temporarily resident in any part of the domain belonging
to the States in common.
Logically carried out, the new theory of "popular sovereignty" would
apply to the first adventurous pioneers settling in the wilderness
before the organization of any Territorial government by Congress, as
well as afterward. If "sovereignty" is inherent in a thousand or five
thousand persons, there can be no valid ground for denying its existence
in a dozen, as soon as they pass beyond the limits of the State
governments. The advocates of this novel doctrine, however, if rightly
understood, generally disavowed any claim to its application prior to
the organization of a territorial government.
The Territorial Legislatures, to which Congress delegated a portion of
its power and duty to "make all needful rules and regulations respecting
the Territory," were the mere agents of Congress, exercising an
authority subject to Congressional supervision and control--an authority
conferred only for the sake of convenience, and liable at any time to be
revoked and annulled. Yet it is proposed to recognize in these
provisional, subordinate, and temporary legislative bodies, a power not
possessed by Congress itself.
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