Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-12-10

but not one cent for tribute" Your memori
 allsts ask permission here again to repeat thei
 devotion to the Union. Under it our agricu
 turc hdS fourished, and our commerce has vi
 slted every portion of the globe. Under thi
 Union has our star-spangled banner waved
 our fame into every land; and has been bea
 con directing man in his search for his long
 lost rights. But Union, with all these, is no
 dearer than those fundamental principles O
 liberty bcqueathed to us by our fathers, ant
 sealed with their blood. This General As.
 scmbiy, having the most implicit confidence
 in the principles of the Republican party ol
 '98, and not ambitious of carving out new
 track in politics, do now declare their assent
 to the principles of Thomas Jefferson, as con
 tained in his Kentucky Resolutions of 1799,
 and which arc as follows:
 "Re8oiped, That this Commonwealth
 considers the Federal Union upon the terms
 and for the purposes specified in the late
 compact, as conducive to the liberty and hap piness of the several States; that II docs ndw unequiyocallY declare it's attachment to the
 Union and to that compact, agreeably to its obvious and real intention, and will be a.
 mcng the last to seek it's dissolution. That fl those who administer the General Covert ment, be permitted to transgrcss the lints fixed by that compact, by total disregfd of the special delegations of power thetin contained, an annihilaton of the State iio- vernments, and the erection upon their hins of General Consolidated Governmens will be the inevitable consequence. Thal inc principle and construction contended for by sundry of the State Legislatures, that the General Government is the exclusive judge of the extent of the powers delegated to it, stop nothing short of despotism, since the discretion of those who administer the Go- vernment, and not the Constitution, would be the measure of their powcr-That the several States who formed that instrument, being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of it's infrac- tion.'
 And this General Assembly doth moreover declare, that it cannot recognize the princi- pie contended for, that the Supreme Court is the arbiter of differences arising between the General and State Governments; as that would be to say, tEat the destinies of twelve millions of freemen were under the direction of seven men, not more learned, more patri- otc, nor more just than thousands of others in this Union. It would be speaking but lll- tie in favor of the Patriots of the Revolution to say, that they had fought, toiled and bled merely to exchange one master for scven.-- It cannot be believed, that any State would submit any qu, stion of Utal sovereignty to a. nv arbiter on earth. It would have no right so to do, without violating the most sacred rights of its citizens. In that article of th" Constitution which says that the euPre'he Court shall taku coBninanOe of all cohtroVef- sies to which the United States IS party, Il cannot be supposed to have intended more than q tribunal to decide cases of ordinary interest. Inherent rights, upon which the very satety and existence of the people depend' are not .e- be tl,,,s haaarded The idea would be madness; and unless the States in convention are the judges, nope exists. X Creature Of the General Government, the Supreme Court, has been the source from whence the exten- sive implied powers of the Government has flowed, and which, working like gravity, is fast huriying us on to consolidation. Sup pose that Congress was to pass law decla- ring our slaves to be free, and the Supreme Court was to decide it to be constitutional, would this State submit to it9 Suppose that the Tariff could be carried before the Su- preme Court, would it not be pronounced It expresses to be for revenue, and the Court could not inquire into the motives which induced the passage of the law, or ntots operation; and couldths State, under such circumstances, submitto such an arbiter? The decision might be the casting vote of one of the Judges; and shall the voice of one man, frail and imperfect, be with us as in England, omhipotent? By the memory of our fathers, and the recollection of their deeds; by the oaths we have taken, we can not and will not recognize doctiine so 
 Your memorialsts further observe, that while they deprecate the existence Of causes which have produced in the State of South Carolina, an unusual degree of excitement, they cannot believe that men who have stood among the highest of stars in the constella- tion of the patriots and the wise men of this can be actuated by any other than the purest motives. If they are wrong, it is the error of the head, and not of the heart; and many allowances should be made for those whose country has been wasted by the erievous operation of a system believed by them to be unconstitutional; whose cities are clothed in the mourning of poverty; and whose landed property has within ten years beenre- duced in value fifty per cent. those men who stood forward in defence of this country in her darkest hour; whose blood and whose mo- ney have been so copiously lavished in the cause of the Union and ofliberty, now mediate it's dissolution, we do not believe. If they are wrong, it flows more from the excessive feeling of liberty, than from feelings hostile to the Union. This General Assembly, how ever, is not guided or influenced by any other than those which should be felt by every one jealous of their own rights and of their country's honor and safety. They will aid by all the means in their power in preserving to the country, Liberty, the Con- stitution, and Union.
 Resolved, That copy of the foregoing ex- position of the sentiments of this State, be transmitted to each of our Senators in Con- gress, to be laid before that body, and to ecah of the States of this Union.