KANSAS. 51 MINORITY REPORT. The undersigned, member of the Committee on the Territories, unable to concur with the majority in the report of the bill for the immediate admission of Kansas as a State into the Union, begs leave to submit the reasons which, in his judgment, are conclusive against such action, and which at the same time demonstrate the propriety of authorizing the people of the Territory of Kansas to form a State constitution, with the privilege of admission into the Union so soon as they have the requisite population. The undersigned readily comprehends that the true policy and interests of the government of the United States are opposed to the long and unnecessary continuance of any portion of the American people in a condition of Territorial dependence ; that such relations, prolonging the rule of the government over a people debarred from participation in its general direction and control, tend to depress that independence of sentiment which a government like ours should ever cultivate in its citizens ; and that it would be ill-judged in continuing to impose upon the United States the burdens of a Territorial organization, after the people of the Territory were fully able to defray for themselves all the expenses of a State government. But the undersigned respectfully submits, that such considerations do not apply to the present condition of Kansas. It has been but two years since the present Territorial government was organized, over a then wilderness country, while, with other Territories of the Union, the average duration of Territorial organization, prior to admission as States into the Union, has been from twelve to thirteen years, and in some instances much more ; as, with Mississippi nineteen years, with Florida twenty-six, and with Michigan thirty-two years. Besides, the population of Kansas is entirely too small, too sparsely scattered over the Territory, subject to too much fluctuation and instability, and in almost every way too little prepared to throw off the Territorial and assume all the responsibilities of a State government. The population in October last was twenty-five thousand, or less than one-third the number (93,420 inhabitants) requisite to entitle Kansas to a representative in Congress. Though increasing rapidly, yet there is no data before the committee showing that this condition of things is materially changed. Would the admission of so small a population to all the rights of a State of the Union, with two senators and a representative in Congress, be just to the due representative weight of the present States of the Union ? It would be a radical departure from the established usage of the government; there being no instance in which a State has ever been admitted with a population so inconsiderable, and no instance, with one solitary exception, in which a State has ever been admitted without a population more than equal to the ratio of representation in Congress. Though the constitution prescribes no definite amount of population as necessary for the admission of a State, yet considerations of the highest and soundest policy have led to the establishment of a general usage, and a long roll of precedents, extending down from the organization of the government, which it would be not only unwise but unsafe to depart from in the manner proposed. Of the eighteen States admitted since the
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