Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1830-03-23

to be arrayed together for ..the great occasion'-an
the whole "the magnificent scheme of the favorite-th
genusothe master spirit of the West" cd Reg Deb
z1o) others may reverse the picture, and describe
government without these powers too much tram
meed IN Its movements, "palsed by the will of il
constituents as too "rigid its expenditures" and Ger
,ahiy as too plainly republican in its institutions
those who talk of their political lord and MASTER in tn
person OF their presidents But nothing seems panc
TO me, than that is the only true to pre-
serve and perpetuate mere c0nfederacy OF indepcn
dent and democratic sovereigntes and the other b,
whatever name baptiscd, is government tending 4
consolidatlon-to consolidation not OF the Union but
all poltical potcers in the Union The difference doe
not consist SO much in words In things; not in probes
sohs Dut IN effects the tending 10 republican
,eoeraton; the other. in the words OF the Virginia
Resolutions, to practical "nonarchy"
| The Virginia Resolutions, p. l3, say, further:
whether the exposition OF the general phrases her
combaed would not, ty degrees, consolidate the States
into one sovereignty, Is question concerning which
the COMMITTEES can perceive little toom for difference
opinion 10 consolidate the States into sovereign
W, nothing more can be wanted than snperssde the
respective sovereignties in the cases 10 them
ny extending the sovereignty OF the u States TO al
cases OF the general welfare that is to say all ca
ses tchdteuer"
Grant that different opinion on this construction ba
now, and ever has had, from Hamilton Ames and the
e"er ADAMS honest and able advocates; yet the ten
denotes OF it, whether TO consolidation and OF
not nave been, and till matter OF fair and
Just criticism. In that view and in the importance oil
tns conjunction to the present mode of making ona-
IONS oil the public land., and Just Judgment on the
cast on myself and my constituents, hav-
'ns 'uS claims TO real democracy, have attempted to
Vinuicae my own no'iois and those OF nv own State
without detailed collection of the reasoning on the
ABSTRACT question, and without any structures the mo-
tives OF those who differ from me- word more AM,
dismiss this con.ide ration,
VINO Is SO blind as not 10 see i'm the approaching con-
ooh OF our Government, on the extnguishment OF the
nauonai deb', and with our present enormous duties
retained creating vast surplus Of 10 or & g.
OOO,OOO,wh does not cause OF ne W and mos fe
iul apprehension to the States if all that surplus a..
wen as all the public lands cam and are 10 he employed
"huer tne General Cove rnment in objects that
ment may think conducive to the ''conmon yood," o.
general welfare?" Who does not see door on, ned
10 avorsm and corruption (which may let in rreriev-
"o'e rum TO sound political justice and equality, and
o'er"heIm every vesike OF State indep. Who
does not see-I in whose hands adniui.terrJ-
say the same in majority when in minori,v-I
say the same under this under the Last admnisra
ton-who does not SEQ power never contemplated al
he FORMATION oil the Constitution, and which can never
he exercised under present political system with
ont tanning TO the both those who exercise and
those who feel II? DO saw this because hostile to In
ernal improvements? No. But because hostile 10 the
uegeneracy, II not the ruin of conederacy; and
because would advance Internal improvements at
Tue expense oil the States and individuals and not al
'ne expense oil the Union would do il the only way
hey ever can be advanced, with safety and us euine
according to the resolution of New Hamp hire before
rea and IN those cases only, in which individuals and
states can see their private and local interest to be so
improvements,
TIE undertakings by themselves.
Has II then come to this, under such government,
mat one oil the parties cannot, in atty way nterpose
ana correct its ruinous tendencies, and its nsdious
contradictions, when the exigencies of the coun-
try demand it? think there has been more apparent
man real difference this point, in the present de-
oate' Most must admit that they can interfere in some
so 'ad the fathers OF democracy 9s, so said the
virginia and Kentucky resolutions; and so do those saw
whom L represent. They can interpose i'm various
ways. My theory on this subject may vaw more in
FORM IMAM substance from other gentlemers, but as
each speaks Tor himself on this floor NAV he oermit
TED u say briefly it is this that the parties to the Con-
shution are the agents of the people and the States
placed IN The General Government on the one hand and
he agents OF The people placed in their State Govern
mems on the other hand; and that the people, separa
ed from their agents, only the great urinary mower
and foundation OF the whole, acting as one whole
upon or about the Constitution either legislatvelv cx
ecuuVeiy or Judiciay; but setting it in those FORMS
or any Others only by their agents i'm the States and i'm
the General Government. But the people themselves
are still power behind the throne greater than the
throne ITSELF and entrench yourselves YOU may TO
the teeth, in parchments and constructions thew by
their agentsn Convention in the States can abolish cv-
cry institution political civil of the Union or of their
respective States.
The parties then in collision to the extent of the
powers given by the Constitution of the Union are sell
dom the people with their agents of either class and
never so any length OF time without a sufficient re-
dress Dut the opposing parties generally the one
nahd the agents OF the people and the States under that
the State Constitutions. say the agents of the people
and States in the General Government as the States arc
technically represented here in the Senate and NAV al
ways technically and solely choose all the electors of
the Executive branch. The former acting in the adj
mlnistration OF the General Government, causes the
FORMER, properly enough, in parlance to be
called the General Government, and the latter the
States The people such however unless i'm a rev.
dictionary condition, cannot cast single VOTE hold
single town meeting, or lay rod of orIin nv high
way, except through State power and State agency /
shaIl not repeal what reasoning and illustration the gen
tleman from Kentucky, (Mr. Rowan0 and S. Carolina
(Slr Hayne) have adduced, in proof of these views
Dut merely cite clause in the Virginia r. solutions of
rs, TO show, that these views, whether right or wrong
were the views of the fathers of the democratic party
and II err err with the Patos and Socrates of INV
p'itical faith. (yirg. Res. p 81
"The other position involved in this branch of the
resolutlon namely, that the States are not parties TO
The Constitution or compact il in the Judgment of the
Committee, equally free from object IL ia indeed
true that the term " States is sometimes used In
vague sense and sometimes in different senses accord.
ing to the subject TO which il is applied. Thus it some.
tunes means the separate sections occupied by the no.
h'icai societies within each; sometimes the particular
governments, established by those societies; sonnet times
those soceties organized into those particular gov.
ernmenis; and lastly, it means the pc ple composing
those political societies, in their highest political sove
reign capacity. Although il might be wished that the
perfection oil language admitted less diversity in the
signihcaton OF tie same words yet little inconvenien-
ey produced by it, where the true sense can he col
lecied with certainty from the different applications
In the present instance con
Of the term Slaes in the re.oTution nav have been
entertained, all will al least concur in that last men
uonsd; because in that sense, The Constitution was SUBJ
Hited TO the Staes in that sense the Siatss' RAJ
hed y; and IN that sense Of the form Estates" they