WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1850
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people (by which I understand the people of the Territories as well as the people of the States) have the right of self-govern- ment under the Constitution. Congress has the power to make needful rules and regulations for the Territories and other prop- erty of the United States; and these rules are temporary. They may apportion the land, and they have a right to do whatever may be necessary in order to dispose of it. They may provide for the boundaries of the Territories, in order to give them compactness and judicious dimensions, and they have power to authorize the formation of Territorial . Governments, to exist no longer than until it may be convenient for the people to legislate for them- selves. Such are the powers necessarily resulting from authority delegated by the Constitution to Congress, that beyond this, I think, we cannot safely go. I believe that the exercise of a power not clearly given is nowhere so dangerous as in the Congress of the nation-more so than in any of the coordinate branches of the Government. That body is more numerous, and therefore more dangerous, in the exercise of any usurped power. They are the immediate representatives of the people, and consequently have a more direct influence with them, and have a greater control, from that circumstance, over the feelings and passions of the com- munity. The more numerous the body, the less is the individual responsibility. What is done by all is chargeable to no one in . particular, and thereby the individual responsibility is diminished. The Senate, being further removed from the people, has less influence upon their immediate action. The House of Representa- tives is more numerous than the Senate, and for these reasons, while it is one of the most influential it is the least responsible branch of Congress. Numbers, as I have remarked, divide and lessen the responsibility, and hence usurpation will be more easy and dangerous. The author of any particular misdemeanor is not easily detected. In the coordinate departments of the Govern- ment, though they derive their powers from the people, still it is not so directly done, and, being less numerous, their influence at home is less, and responsibility is more directly fastened upon the offender. In the judicial and executive branches of the Govern- ment, therefore, usurpation is less likely to occur, and less dan- gerous from personal influence when it does occur. If the judicial or executive departments of the Government.were to act inconsist- ently with their high duties, the delinquent could be readily as- certained, pointed out, and punished.
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