the number of inhabitants shall equal those of a single Congressional
district. They surely ought not to be permitted to rush into the Union
with a population less than one-half of several of the large counties
in the interior of some of the States. This was the condition of Kansas
when it made application to be admitted under the Topeka constitution.
Besides, it requires some time to render the mass of a population
collected in a new Territory at all homogeneous and to unite them on
anything like a fixed policy. Establish the rule, and all will look
forward to it and govern themselves accordingly.

But justice to the people of the several States requires that this
rule should be established by Congress. Each State is entitled to two
Senators and at least one Representative in Congress. Should the people
of the States fail to elect a Vice-President, the power devolves upon
the Senate to select this officer from the two highest candidates on the
list. In case of the death of the President, the Vice-President thus
elected by the Senate becomes President of the United States. On all
questions of legislation the Senators from the smallest States of the
Union have an equal vote with those from the largest. The same may be
said in regard to the ratification of treaties and of Executive
appointments. All this has worked admirably in practice, whilst it
conforms in principle with the character of a Government instituted
by sovereign States. I presume no American citizen would desire the
slightest change in the arrangement. Still, is it not unjust and unequal
to the existing States to invest some 40,000 or 50,000 people collected
in a Territory with the attributes of sovereignty and place them on an
equal footing with Virginia and New York in the Senate of the United
States?

For these reasons I earnestly recommend the passage of a general act