Litchfield enquirer., 1830-03-18

'Ot granted 6y the General GOucrnmeHf
 ta0t States may intcrpose to arrest tke pyO-
 gross ef thc ecH. But how intcrpose. and
 what does this declaration purport |? Does
 l: mean no more, than that there may be
 cXueme Cases, in which the people, in any
 mode of assembling, may resist usurpation. ] and relieve themselves from a tvrannical
 government No one wil! deny this. Such resistance is not only acknowledged l to be just in America, but in England also.
 Blackstone admits as much, tn the theory,
 and practice too, of the English constitu- ton. We, sir, who oppose the Carolina
 doctrine, do not deny, that the people may,
 if they choose, throw off any government, when it becomes oppressive and intolera-
 ble, and erect better in its stead. We a!!
 know, that civil institutions are es,ablish- ed for the public benefit, and that when they cease to answer the ends of their ex- istence, they may be changed. But do not understandable doctrine now contended for, to be that which, for the sake of dis ton. understand the gentleman to main tain, that without revolution, without civil commo;ion, without rebellion, a remedy for supposed abuse and transgresSion ofthe powers of the General Government, lies its direct appeal to the interference of the State G"vernments.-[M Mr. JAYNE here rose He did not contend, he sad, for the mere right of revolution, but for the right of constitutional resistance. What he maintained was, tEat in case of plain, Palpable violation of the constitution bv the General Government, State may inter- pose ; and that this interpretation is consti- tutional. ]-Mr. WEDsTER resumed So, sir, l understood the gentleman, and am happy to find that dld not misunderstood him. What he contends for is, that it is consiitu ional to interruptthea administration of the constitution itself, in the hands of those who are Cho5 n and sworn to admin is.et i, by the direc: interference, in lorn, of law, of the States, in virtue of their sove. reign capacity. The inherent right in the pe"ple to reform their government. l do not deny and they have another right, and that is, to resist unconstitutional laws, without 0verturning the Governma ant. It Is no doctrine of mine, that unconstitution- al laws bind the people. The great ques- ton IS, WhOSe DrerUgatiOe iS it to decide 0n t"e cO"st'f"tio"aIity, or H"cOnstit~tiOna!ity, 0t fhe i0ws? On 'hat, the main debate h,n- ges. The praposs': H, taat in case of supposed violation of the constitution by Congress, the States have a constitutional right to interfere, and annual the law of Congress, is the proposition of the ecnile- man: do not admit it. If the gentleman had intended no more than to assert the right of revolution, for jIs'ifable cause. l,e w"uiJ have sad only what all agree to. But cannot C"nccve that there can be mlddlr course, be'wesn submission to the laws, when regularly pronounced constitu- 'i"n"i, on ,he one hand, and open resis- tancc, which is revolution, or rebellion, on the other. 1 say, the righ, of d State ! !" a"nul law of Congress, cannot be maintained, but on the ground of the un- aIcnab!e right of man to resist oppress- ion that is to say, upon the ground of rcvoluii"h. l admit, that there is an ul- innate violent remedy, above the constitu- ilon, and in defiance of the constitution, which may be restored to, when revolu. tion is to be justified. But do not admit, hat, under the constitution and in con tormity with it, there is any mode in which S'aIe Government, as a member of the Union, can interfere and stop tine progress of the General Government, by force of her own laws, under any circumsl lances whatever.
 This leads us to inquire into the origin of this Government, and the source of it's power. Whose agent is it 2 Is it the crea. ture of the State Legislatures, or the crea- ture of the People If the Governmen, of he United States be the agent of the State Governments, then they may control it, provided they can agree in the manner of controlling it if it be the agent of .Lc Peo- pie, then the People alone can control it, restrain it, modify or refurHI ii. 1 is ob- servabIc enough, that the doctrine for
 which the honorable gentleman contends, leads him to the necessity of maintaining, not only that this General Government is the creature of the States, but that il is the creature of each of the States severally SD that each may asscrt the power, for it. self, of determining whether it acts within
 the limits of it's authority. 1t is the servant
 of tour and twenty masters, of differ Ient
 wills and different purposes aud yet bound to obey all. This absurdity, (for it
 seems no less) arises from misconception
 as to the orig m of this Government and it's
 true character. It is, sir, the Peoples Constitution, the Peoples Government i;
 made for the People made by the People ::