Southern planter., 1832-12-22
From @s augusta (Geo) Coastitu,ioaalisL
THE DOCTRINE OF MULTIPLICATION
EXAMINED.

The maintenance Of constitutional Geedom i
the first interest Of civil society. and ealous Y;g
lance over those who are entrusted with autbo,;,y
one OF the highest duties Of tho citizen IN sncb
cause, even some eXcesscs Of zeal are not with.
out apology But il occasionally happens. Thai
those who are engaged in repellna the encroaeb
men's OF power, themselves advance exborb;,on,
prelenslons, which endanger social order, and brno
d'scredi on the very cause Of liberty itself To
analyze and expose such prelensions therefore. be-
comes also duty, OF no inconsidera BILE importance
The Federal Constitutions compact. hy which
the thirteen sovereign states that adopted il. re
houncod certain portion Of their powers; and al
so delegated certain portion, to be Jointly held
by all The parties, under the form of general goy
eminent. The additional members of the confed.
eracy which now embrace, twcniy-four states. are
nll on 'he same political footing with the original
lhlueen' According 10 this constitution, the leais
lahve power IS exercised by maoriiies of both hon
ses OF Congress, with the concurrence of the Pres
ldent, or by two thirds Of both houses without his
concurrence. The Supreme Court of the United
states - the ultimate depository of the judicial
power OF the general government; and when the
question is duly brought before that tribunal il has
night TO decide whether an act Of Congress is
constitutional or not Such is a brief summary
OF our legislative system, in lis regular course -
bui Il - coniendod, that extraordinary case has
OccuHed-ihal the majority, abusing the advantage
0i numbers, has enacted an unconstitutional law
Oppressive to the minority the judicial depart
meni promises no adequate redress--and that some
corrective, more olioacious, must consequently be
employed. The remedy, which has been hitherto
most zealously recommended, is that denominaied
Nullihcalon, the merits Of which, il is our present
purpose to examine. The following, we believe,
are substantially the doctrines comprehended under
that term .--"ln all cases of compact among par
ties having no common Judge, each party has an
equal right to Judge for itself, as well OF inlrac
tons, as Of The mode and measure of redress
The Federal Constitution is case of such com
pact When state considers an act Of Congress
unconstitutional, il has right To nulhfy that act,
within ITS own limits. The other states have no
right to enforce the nulh6ed act within those lin
us general convention Of states must be called
for the purpose Of proposing amendments TO the
constltuiisn, and thereby testing the question Of
eonsututionally The states in favor Of the nulli-
ned act, must propose an amendment, comforting
on Congress the power TO pass such law. That
power IS to be regarded as having never been dele
gated, unless three fourths Of the staes in sepa
rate conventions, or in their respective legislatures
ratIty the amendment so proposed"
II we designed TO exhibit our own precise heo-
ry, in relation TO the subject in dispute, il would
be necessary to urge several very important quali-
cations, even Of the two first of these propositions
but as our object is simply what has been stated
To examine the merits of nuifcation, we shall ad-
NIT for the sake of argument, that SIN all cases Of
compact, among parties having no common Judge,
each party has an equal night tojudge for itself, as
well OF lniraciions as the mode and measure OF
redress" and that ''lhe Federal Constitution is a
case of such compact" We shall also in the
sume manner, admit the third proposition, concer.
ming the right TO nullify, with such explanations
however of the term right, as will presently appear
All the remaining propositions we totally deny.
Let us endeavOr in the first place to ascertain,
what will be the state of things produced, by the
exercise Of this equal right tofnerprelaions, which
has been admitted. Parties enjoying equal rights
to interpret contract, may have the perfect night
to speculative inerpretaiion-tha is, TO an opin-
ion concerning It's import; because two or more
persons may entertain different opinions, without
any necessary interference But the right referred
TO IN this discussion, is obviously the right of pac-
tica Interpretation, the right of the parties, to give
an effect TO the contract, conlamable 10 their res
pective opinions Of its meaning. The right OF
none therefore can be perfect, since the night OF
each is qualified by the right of every other. For,
If any one had a perfect right, of practical inter
prelallon-that Of giving effect TO his own opin-
ion; the nights Of all the others must yield to It;
and all those others, so far from enjoying equal
rights, would practically possess no right at all
For example-wo persons placed in a situation
where they can have no common Judge, agree IL
build house Jointly, on a specified plan. During
the progress Of the works, they differ in their ex-
planaton Of the original design. Each has per
feet right to consider his own explanation the true
one; but neither can have the perfect right to ex-
ecue the work, according TO his own Judgment
since, if such were the case, the other who IN the
ory, has an equal right, would in practice have none
at all. As house cannot be built ia two ways al
the same time, their practical rights unavoldaby
conflict; and each in maintaining his own, must
necessarily oppose that Of the other. URless,
therefore, one voluntarily yields, or there is com
promise, force alone can decide between them, In
similar circumstances, the result would be the
same, If the contract consisted Of reciprocal prom
ises Each party would have right TO interpret
the whole contract-not only by the promise made
by himself, but the promise made by the Other--
II in a wilderness, where no civil law exists, It Is
stipulated between A and Il that at u certain
time, A shall deliver to b number Of iars, and on
a subsequent day, receive in exchange a number cl
bushels of grain, should dispute ultimately arise,