WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
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sir there is no alternative but one; and that is, upon the accept- ' ance of the constitution to receive the Senators, let the census be taken, and let the people elect such Representatives as the present apportionment may entitle them to. Gentlemen indulge in conjectures of what their population may be, and various refinements and spe~ulations are brought forward to sanction this transgression, as I consider it, and to give currency to a precedent that will some day be regretted, when the laxity that is now exercised in legislation regardless of the Constitution increases; when expediency usurps principle and <;onvenience overrides the Constitution. · Mr. President, I am of the opinion that we can look into the constitutions of States applying for admission. The Constitu- tion of the United States requires that they shall be republican; and we must be satisfied of that. If they are not in conformity with the Constitution of the United States, are they republican in character? If they are not, they are anti-republican. Does this constitution of Minnesota contain no feature in violation of the Constitution of the United States? I think it does. It contains a provision allowing aliens to vote in Minnesota. I con- tend that a State constitution is not republican in character, unless it is in conformity with the Constitution of the United States, and I say such a provision is not warranted by the Con- stitution of the United States. By the Constitution of the United States it is declared that Congress shall have power to pass uniform laws on the subject of naturalization, and of course that power being conceded by the States, they have divested themselves of all power of naturalization, and conferred it upon Congress alone. A man cannot be a citizen of a State unless he is a citizen of the United States. I contend that no State has power, in derogation of .Federal rights and prerogatives (the Federal Government being the only authority to pass general ' naturalization laws), to constitute any man a voter who is not a citizen of the United States. I say, then, this constitution is not republican in its character in this respect. It is so clear, that though no high judicial decision has yet taken place on the subject, I am sure, whenever it is made a question, the Supreme Court will be bound to arrive at the conclusion which I have indicated, unless they disregard the Constitution of the United Sta.tes, and throw disrepect in the face of the States wlio con- stituted the Federal Government, and adopted its Constitution in the first instance. If the Supreme Court, in discussing the i J i
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