In view of the high and responsible duties which we owe to ourselves and
to mankind, I trust you may be able at your present session to approach
the adjustment of the only domestic question which seriously threatens,
or probably ever can threaten, to disturb the harmony and successful
operations of our system.
The immensely valuable possessions of New Mexico and California are
already inhabited by a considerable population. Attracted by their great
fertility, their mineral wealth, their commercial advantages, and the
salubrity of the climate, emigrants from the older States in great
numbers are already preparing to seek new homes in these inviting
regions. Shall the dissimilarity of the domestic institutions in the
different States prevent us from providing for them suitable
governments? These institutions existed at the adoption of the
Constitution, but the obstacles which they interposed were overcome
by that spirit of compromise which is now invoked. In a conflict of
opinions or of interests, real or imaginary, between different sections
of our country, neither can justly demand all which it might desire to
obtain.
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