That instrument simply declares that Congress may admit
new States into the Union. It nowhere says that Congress may make new
States for the purpose of admitting them into the Union or for any other
purpose; and yet this bill is as clear an attempt to make the
institutions as any in which the people themselves could engage.
In view of this action of Congress, the house of representatives of the
Territory have earnestly protested against being forced into the Union
without first having the question submitted to the people. Nothing could
be more reasonable than the position which they thus assume; and it
certainly can not be the purpose of Congress to force upon a community
against their will a government which they do not believe themselves
capable of sustaining.
The following is a copy of the protest alluded to as officially
transmitted to me:
Whereas it is announced in the public prints that it is the intention
of Congress to admit Colorado as a State into the Union: Therefore,
_Resolved by the house of representatives of the Territory_, That,
representing, as we do, the last and only legal expression of public
opinion on this question, we earnestly protest against the passage of a
law admitting the State without first having the question submitted to
a vote of the people, for the reasons, first, that we have a right to a
voice in the selection of the character of our government; second, that
we have not a sufficient population to support the expenses of a State
government.
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