Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1832-12-28

raj States who formed the instrument being so
voreign and independen,, have the unquestion-
able right To Judge of the niraction. and, THAT
A NULLlFICATiON-BY TuOSElSOVE
RElGNTiES, OF ALL UNAUTHORIZED
ACTS DONE UNDER COLOR on TnAT
INSTRUMENT, Is THE RiGHTFUL RE-
MEDY.'
1t is tho great Apostle of Americas liberty
himself who has consccrated these principles,
and left them as q legacy to- the Amoriran peo-
pie, recorded 10y his own hand. II is by bim
that wo are instrucicds- to the Constitu-
tional compact, each State acceded as u State,
and is an integral party, its co-staics forming
as to itself the other party" that "they alone
being parties To the compact are solely author
lied TO judge IN the last resort of tue powers
exercised under il; Congress being not party
but merely the creature of The c0mpAai; that
1t becomes sovereign State rs submit 10 un-
delegated and consequently unlimited power,
in no man or body of men, upon earth; that
where powers are assumed which have pot been
delegated tho very case now before US nui-
LITIGATION OF the net i, The righttul remedy; that
| every State has natural right in eases not
within the compact [casus non federis] to NO
| lily oil their own authority all assumption oil
power by Others within their limits, and TINT
without this right they woull be under the do-
mnion absolute and unlimited, of whomcevcr
might exercise the right of Judgment for thcm,"
and that in case of acts being passed 10y Con-
gress $50 pnlpnby against the Constitution as
to amount to IN undisguised dcclaration that
the compact is not meant To be the measure OF
the powers of the General Government, but
that il will proceed to exercise over the States
all powers whatsoever, il would be the duty of
the States 20 declare the acts roid and Of no
force, and that each should take measures Of its
o,cn for providing that neither such acts, nor
any other of the General Government not
plainly aud Intentionally authorized by tho
Constitution, shall tie exercised within their
respective territories"
| 1t is OIL these great and essential truths that
South Caroliua has now acted. Judging FOR
herself, asovereign State she has prououn-
ced the Protecting System, in all its branches,
TO be 'sross, deliberate, aid palpable viola
ton of the constitutional compact and having
exhausted every other means of redress, she
has, in the exercise of her sovereign rights, as
one of the parties to that compact, and in The
performance of a high and sacred duty, inter
posed for arrestng the evi! Of usurpation, with
IN her own limits-by declaring these acts to
be "nuil, void, aud no law, aud taking mea-
sures of her own, that they shall not he en-
forced within her limits"
South Carolina has not assumed" what
could be considered as at all doubtful when
she asserts Z" that the acts in question, werC in
reality Intended for the protection of manuf,c-
tures;" that their Cooperation is unequal ~
that "the amount received by them, is greater
than is re quired by the wants Of tie government
and finally, SHAT the proceeds are TO be ap.
piled to objects unauthorized by the Constitu-
ton" These facts are notorious-these OBJ
jects openly avowed. The President, wlhou,
instilutiug any inqnisitiOn into motives, has
himself discovered, and publicly denounced
them; md his officer of finance is even now
devising measures intended we are told, tc
correct these acknowledged abuses.
1t is vain and idle dispute about words TO ask
bafb no iuht ofS t,ta Ioto.
most properly styled, Constitutional, q sovereign
or reserved right. In calling this right constiitn
tional it could never have been intended to claim
it as right granted by, or derived from the Con
stituton, but is claimed as consistent with is genius
its letter and it's spirit; it being only distinct,
understood, at the time of ratifying the Constitu
ton but expressly provided for, l., the instrumen
itself, that all sovereign lights not agreed to bt
exercised conformity, should be excrted scperatel,
by the States. Virginia declared, in reference t.
the right asserted In the Resolutions of'9S above
quoted, even alter having fully and accurately re
| examined ~ re considered these Resolutions 'rhat
she found 1t to be her indispensable duty to adhere
to the same, as founded in TRUTH conSonant ,oitA
the Constitution, and as conducive to its welfare,
and Mr. Madisonr himself, asserted them TO be per.
tectly constitutional and conclusive"
| 1t is wholly immaterial, however, by what name
this right may be called, for if the Constitution
be ga compact to which the States are parties, il
''acts of the Federal Government are no further
valid than they are authorized by the grants emu
thority of Mr.. Madison himself for the nevitabl,
conclusion that it is, ga plain principle Illustrate,
by common practice, and essential to the nature
compacts, that when resort CO be had to no tribu
nal superior to the authority of the parties, tie
parties themselves must be the rigltfu Judge in
the last resort, whether the bargain made has been
pursued violated" The Constitutions contin
ues Mr. Madison, "ioas formed by the sanction Of
the States gtucn by each in its sovereign capacity
the States then being parties to the constitutions
compact, and in their sovereign capacity, it fol.
lows of necessity, that there caa be no tribunal
above their authority, to decide in the last resort
whether the compact made by them be violated
apd, consequently, that as the parties TO it, they
must themselves decide in the last resort, such
questions may be of sufficient magnitude to re.
| qure their interpretations"
If this right does not exist in the several States
Then 1T is clear that tho discretion of Congress
| ana not the Constitution, would be the measure
of their powers, and this, says Mr. Jefferson
would amount TO the 'seizng the rights of The
States and consolidating them in the hands of the
General Government, with a power assumed 70
bind the States not only in Lsddc federal
but In all cases whatsoever; which would be 10
surrender the form of Government we have cho.
sen, to live under deriving its power from its
own will"
We hold it to DO impossible to resist tho arpu
ment that the several States as sovereign parties
TO the compact, must possess the power IN cases of
gross, deliberate and pal pablc violation of the
constitution, to judge eGch for itself, as we'll of
Inc intraction the mode and measure of redressn
! or ours is d CONSOLIDATED GovERNMENr "without
limitation OF powers,"-a submission to which Mr.
Jefferson has solemnly pronounced to be greater
evil than olsunion itself If, To- borrow the lam
guage of Madison's report, ''the deliberate exor
! Csc OF dangerous powers palpably withheld by
the Constitution could not justify tho parties to
IT, an tnterpoSiRg even far to arrest the pro-
gresS Of the oUiL, and thereby to PRESERVE THE
CONSTITUTIONS ITSELF, well AS to provide for
the safety Of tho parties TO it, there would be AN