Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1830-03-23

!. provided they can agree in the manner o.
controlling it.; if it is the agent of the
People, then the People alone can contro
it, restrain it, modify or reform it. 1t il
observable enough that the doctrine fol
which the honorable gentleman contends
leads him to the necessity of maintaining
not only that this general government i.
the creature of the States, bul that it is
the creature Of each of the States several
ly 4; so that each may assert the power
for itself, of determining whether it ac,'
within the limits of its authority. 1t is
the servant of four and twenty masters o.
different wills and different purposes and
yet bound TO obey all. This absurdity
(for it seems no less) arises from mis-
conception as to the origin ofthis Govern.
ment and IFS true character. 1t is, sir
the Peoples constitution, the Peoples
Government; made for the People; made
by the People; and answerable TO the
People. The People of the United States
have declared this Constitution shall be
the Supreme Law. We must either ad.
nit the proposition, or dispute their au.
thority. The States are unquestionably
sovereign, as far as their sovereignty is
not affected by this supreme law. The
State Legislatures, as political bodies
however sovereign, are not yet sovereign
over the people. So far az the people have
given power to the General Government,
so far the grant is unquestionably good
and the Government holds the People,
and not of the State Governments. We
are all agents Of the same supreme power,
the People. The General Government
and the State Governments derive their
authority from the same source. Neither
can, in relation to the other, be called
primary though one is definite and re-
stricted, and the other general and resld-
uarv.
The National Government possesses
three powers which it can be shown the
people have conferred on it. and no more.
All the rest belongs to the State Govern
ment or TO the People themselves. So
far as the people have restrained State
sovereignty, by the expression of their
will, in the Constitution of the United
States, so far it must be admitted, State
sovereignty is effectually controlled,
do not contend that it is, or ought to be,
controlled farther. The sentiment to
which l have referred, propounds that
State sovereignty is only to be controlled
by IFS own feeling of justice y that is to
| -, ko oon.sr,nal ell c..
one who is to follow his own feelings is
under no legal control. Now, however
men may think this ought to be, the fact
is, that the people of the United States
have chosen to impose control on State
Sovereigntes. The Constitution has or
dered the matter differently from what
this opinion announces. To make war,
for instance, is an exercise of sovereign
ty; but tho Constitution declares that no
State shall makewar. To coin money 10
another exercise of sovereign power !;
no State is at liberty to coin money.
Again, the Constitution says, that no
! Sovereign State shall be so sovereign as
to make treaty. These prohibitions, it
must be confessed, are control, on the
State sovereignty Of South Carolina, as
well as of the other States, which does
not arise from her own feelings of hon
Durable JUSTICE" Such an opinion, there
fore, is in defiance of the planest provi-
sions of the Constitution.
There are other proceedings of publick
bodies which have already been alluded
to, and to which we refer again for the pur-
pose of ascertaining more fully, what is
the length and breadth Of that doctrine,
denominated the Carolina doctrine, which
the honorable member has now stood up
on this floor to maintain. In one of them
find it resolved, Z" that the Tariff of 1923,
and every other Tariff designed to pro.
I" mote one branch Of industry, at the ex.
"pense of others, is contrary to the mean
"ing and intention of the Federal com.
, ''pact and as such dangerous, palpa.
+" BILE, and deliberate usurpation of power
sby determined majority, welding the
, General Government beyond the limits
"of its delegated powers, as calls upon
" the States which compose the suffering
minority, in their sovereign capacity, to
! "exercisethe powers, which as sovereigns
, necessarily devolve upon them, when
, their compact is violated"
: Observe, sir, this resolution holds the
Tariff of 1928. and every other tariff. de-
signed to promote one branch of industry
: at the expense Of another, to be such a
r dangerous, palpable, and deliberate usur.
' patton of power. as calls upon the States
e in their sovereign capacity. to interfere
4 by their own power. This denunciation
y Mr.. President, you will please to observe
E includes our old tariff OF 1916, as we'll as
: all others because that was established
:, to promote the interest of the manufactures
: of cotton, to the manifest and admitted
e injury of the Calcutta cotton trade. Oh.
0 serve, again, that all the qualifications are
e here rehearsed and charged upon the
p Tariff which are necessary In hrin1 the