Litchfield enquirer., 1832-12-20

our law-ste, most of whom have sworn TO !
support ii--I0e, i1d% -abr0gate this law and !
sw ear, and force tthefs to swear, that il shall
not be 0beySd--And we do this. not because
Congress have no right 20 pass such laws *
this WE do nor alIedge. bnt because they have
passed Them with improper views. They
are Unconstitutional, from the motives Of
those who passed them, which we can never
with certainly know--frOm their unequal OPP
eratiun, although il is impossible, from the
nature of things, that they should be equal
and from the disposition Which we presume
may be made of their proceeds, although that
disposition has not lIeen declared. This Is
the plain meaning Of the Ordinance in rela-
tion 10 laws which it abrogates for alfedged
unconsiiintionaIity. But it does HOt stop
there. 1t repeats, in express terms, an i'm
portant part Of the Constitution ITSELF and of
laws passed to give ii effect, which have new
er been dliedged to be Unconstitutional. The
Constitution declares that the judicial powers
Of the United States extend to cases arising
under laws Of the u. States, and that such
laws, the Constitution and treaties, shall be
paramount to the State Constitutions and
laws. The judiciary act prescribes the mode
by which the case may be brought before a
court Ofthe United States, by appeal, when
State tribunal shall decide against this pro-
vision of the Constitution. The Ordinahce
declares there shall be no apreal-makes the
State law paramount to the Constitution and
laws ofthe United Sfates-forces judges and
jurors to swear that they win disregard their
provisions; and even makes It penal in sui
tor 10 attempt relief by appeal 1t further
declares that it shall not be lawful FOR the au-
thorities ofthe United States. or Of that State.
to e0force the payment of duties imposed by.
a. -. -
Here is law Of the United States, not
even pretended 10 be Unconstitutional, re-
pealed by the authority of small majority
vision of the Constitution which Is sOlemnly
abrOgated by the same authority.
On such expOsiiions and reasonings the
Ordinance grounds not only an assertion Of
the right to annul the laws Of which it COM
plains, but to enforce it by threat Of seced-
ing from the Union if any attempt is made to
execute them.
This right to secede is deduced from the
nature Of the Constitution. which they say is
a. compact between sovereign States, who
have preserved their whole SOY ereignty, and
therefore are subject to no superior, that be-
cause they made the compact. they can break
it, when, in their opinion, 1t has been depart
ed from by the other States. FaIlaciOus as
this course Of reasoning is, il enlists State
pride, and finds advocates in the honest pre-
JUDGES of those who have not studied the ma
ture Of our Government sufficiently to sec the
radical error 10 which it rests.
The people Of the United States fOrmej
the Constitution, acting throbgh the State
Legislatures 10 making the compact. 70 meet
and discuss its provisions, and acting in srpe-
rate Conventions when they ratified the pro-
visions but the terms used 10 its construc-
ton. show 1t TO be Government in which
the people Of all the States collectively are
represented. We are one people in the choice
Of the President and Vice President. Here
the States have no other agency Than TO d.
rect the mode in~which the votes shall be
given. The candidates having the majority
Of all the votes are.ebOsen. The electors Of.
a majority Of States may have given their
votes for onc candidate and yet another may
be- chosen. The people. then, and not the
states,are represented 10 the Exec utive branch.
In the House Of Representatives there is
this difference, tbat the people Ut one State
do not, as in the case of President and Vice
President, all vote for the same officers. The
people of all the States do not vote for all the
members, each State electing only its own
Batthis creates nc. material
distinction. When chosen. they are all rep
resenta,ives Of the United States, not repre-
sentaiives of the particular State fron, which
they come. They are paid by the United
States, not by the State; nor are they ac-
countahle 10 il for any act done in the per-
formance Of their legislative functions, and
however they may be in practices as il is
their duty tn do, consult and prefer the in
terests Of their particular constituents when
they come in, conflict with any other partial
or local interest, yet il is their FIRST and high
est duty, as representatives of the United
States, to promote the general good.
Phe Constitution Of The United States then
forms government, not league,s and wheth-
er it be formed by compact betwesr the
States. or in any other manner, IFS cha aefer
is the same. 1t 10 government 10 which all
the people are represented. which operates
directly an the people individually, not upon
the States--they retained all the power they I
did not grant. But each State having ex-
pressly parted with sd many powers as to !
constitute jointly with the other States sim
gle Nation, cannot from that period possess
any right TO secede, because such secession |
does not break q league, hut destroys the uni !
ty ofa nation, and any injury to that unity is |
not only breach which would result from
the contraveniiOn Of compact, but It is an
offence against the whole Union. To say
that any State may at pleasure secede from
the Union, is TO say that the United States
are not Nation, because il would be A SOLE |
cism TO contend that any part of Nation
might dissolve its connection with the other !