The Northern star, and farmers' and mechanics' advocate. [volume] (Warren, R.I.) 1830-1834, 1833-01-05

| DinuIng on tne States SO Tatily ing-tne
States are its authors, their power created
it-their voice clothed il with authority
the government which it formed, Is COM
posed of their agents, and the Union oi
which it is the bond is Union Of the
States and not OF individuals-thata as re-
CARDS the foundation and extent Of its
power, the government OF the United
States is strictly what its name implies, a
Federal Government-that the states are
as sovereign now as they were prior to the
entering into the compact-that the Fed
eral Constitution Is d confederation in the
nature Of a treaty-or an alliance by
which so many sovereign states agreed
to exercise their sovereign powers con-
jointly upon certain objects of external
concern in which they are equally inter-
ested, such as WAR, PEACE, COMMERCE,
Foreign Negotiation, and Indian Trade I;
and upon all other subjects Of civil gov
ernment, they were to exercise their SOW
ereignty separately.
From the convenient conjoint exercise
of the Sovereignty of the States, there
must Of necessity be some common agen-
cy or functionary. This agency is the
Federal Government. 1t represents tho
con!ederated States, and executes their
joint will, as expressed in the compact
The powers ofthis government are wholly
deriratire. 1t possesses no more inher-
ent sovereignty, than an inco rporated
town, or any other great corporate body
it is political corporation and like all
corporation, it looks for its powers to an
exterior source. That source is the
States.
South Carolina claims that, by the
Declaration of Independence, she be-
comes and has ever since continued
free, sovereign, and independent state.
That as So, ereign State, she has the
inherent power to do all these acts, which
by the law of nations, any Prince or Po-
tentate, may of right do. That like all
independent states, she neither has, nor
ought she 10 suffer any other restraint up
on her sovereign will and pleasure, than
those high moral obligations, under which
all Princes and States are bound before
God and man to perform their solemn
pledges. The inevitable conclusion from
what has hecn said, therefore, is, that as
in all cases OF compacts between Indepen
dent Sovereigns, where from the very ma
ture of things, there can be no common
Judge or umpire, each sovereign has a
righ: 20 'iudge as we'll Of inlraclions, as
of the mode and measure OF redress so
in the present CONTROVERSY, between South
Carolina and the Federal Government, 1t
belongs solely to her by her delegates in
solemn convention assembled, to decide
whether the federal compact be violated,
and what remedy the state ought to Pur-
sue. South Carolina therefore cannot,
and will not yield to any department Of
the Federal Government, right which
enters into the essence of all sovereignty,
and WITHOUT which, it will become bau-
bic and a name AZ.
Such are the doctrines which South
Cafbina has .hrough her Convention sol
emnly promulgated to the world, and by
them she will stand or fall; such were the
principles promulgated by Virginia IN '98,
and which then received the sanction ol
those great men, whose recorded SENT
ments have come down to us as light to
our feet, and a lamp to our path. II Is
Virginia, and not South Carolina, who
speaks, when it is said that she " views
the powers OF the Federal Government,
as resulting from The compact, TO ;gh'ch the
States are parties, as limited by the PLAIN
sense and intention olthe instrument con-
stituting tha, compact--as no further val
id than they are authorised by the grants
enumerated in that compact; and that IN
case of a deliberate, palpable, and dan
gerous exercise of other powers, not
granted by the said compact, the states
who are parties thereto, have the right,
and are in duty bound to interpose, for
arrcsting the progress Of the evil and ior
maintaining within their respective limits,
the authorities, rights and Liberties, ap-
pertaining to them."' -
1t is Kentucky who declared IN 's9,
speaking in the explicit language Of lhom
as Jefferson, that the principles and con-
struction contended for by members oi
the State Legislature THE very same now
mainted by the President that the gen
eral government is the exclusive judge OF
The extent Of the powers delegated to H.
stop nothing short of despotism- since
the discretion Of those who administer 'he
government, and not the constitution,
would be the measure Of their powers
That the several States who formed Tue
instrument being sovereign ana inosPon