Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1833-02-28

tho States arc not sovereign under the Constitution. and
/" each State having expressly parted with so many pow
ers as to constitute jointly with the other States, a single
nation, cannot from that period possess any right to secede,
because such secession does not break q league, but de-
siroys the unity OF the nation" These passages, which
\ went, a. he thought. TO show that the Constitution is not
a compact made between the States in their sovereign ca
pacity, aud that the States are not sovereign under its
provisions; Comprised his objections TO The Proclamation.
They were illustrated in hat paper by a variety OF re-
IerenCes to the popular features ot the Government. the
pervading ialldcy OF which, Was, that by an inversion OF
reasoning, the nature Of the compact, aud the character
Of the parties to it, were deduced from The mode Of s-
buon Of the GoyeInmrnInent 10 which that compact gave
fbirh. @"f ' go
Ii could nor, he said. be denied. thai, Whit the State.
Of this Union were cooAies OF Great Britain. they we're
united by no direct tic Whatsoever. They owed alleri.
tancc To the same crown but were separate and distinct
dependencies They were less connected thon arc Scot.
land and Ireland since tie Union under the British Gov.
ernnent-ior' those States, 10y their terms OF Union, sit and
act together, through their representatives., i'm the same
parliamentary body; whereas the American Colonies had
I$ePHdp governments, derived from their respective char.
,ers or proprietary grants, aud met each other neither in
P"thahent nor III any other common assembly. DR..
Frdnklin- in his examination before the House OF Com.
upnS, in lTT6, said, the Colonies are not supposed TO be
within the realm they have Assemblies of iheir own.
Wnieh are 'helr Pariiapents, anl they are in that respect
III the same situation with LELAND" which il would be
rerOlIected, was not then incorporated With England, by
The act OF union, but wa, . mere dependency. They had
ehrii within itself all lie internal organization OF complete
govetnnent'' with no other restraint an. iheir right OF in
dependent action, than the allegiance due 20 the crown.
ana when that ceased, they were as absolutely unconnrct.
ca WIN each Other, as would be Jamaica and Canada Or
%. Helena, II the island OF Great Britain were suddenly
sunk ia the ocean.
Ii was hue that the Colonies, in conceriing ,nc,.urc.
Tor resisting The expressions OF the mother country. con-
ierred with each other Tor years bctarc the D.clarstfon y,
Independence, Though deputatnons from their JeyisI,nyo
Assemblies; but II was obvious that no formal connection
amounting even TO an alliance, took place between them
previous TO the adoption OF the articles of confederation
i1e MASSACHUSETTS Circular, OF June 1865, one of the ear
!! ,H,tiGhaYges OF opinicn amongst the Colonies, and
wmch led To me Congress at New York in October fol-
owing merely, reconmeHled that committees should lie
sem! rom The several Assemblies TO consult toy ether on the
subject OF their comnGn wrongs. The General Congress
at Philadelphia, in MA, as well rs tha, of l776. was com
poseu oil depules chosen by tEc Colonial Assemblies These
delegates united, on various occasions, inmakin- , mimi dc.
claiaiiou OF their grievances and adopting addresses AMI ~
ntlons to the King and Parliament. They finally ur,rsL
ih declaring themselves independents; hut none of these
Act'' not even the last, could he regarded as an alliance
anec'ing IN any degree, the political character Of the Co.
lohles. by The Declaration itself. they are STYLED" Tree
and independent States" " and that as free and indrncn:
dent States, they have full power to levy war. concIudc
peace, CONTRACT alliances, establish commerce, and ia do ali
o'"er ac'S and things which independent States may OF
right do" According TO Mr.. Jeilersou's memoir Of ,hc
uenate on mat. occasion, II was urged /" That if the dele.
SA'es 81 any particular colony had no power To declare
such colony Independent, certain they were. the Others
could not declare it for them the colonies being as vet
perfectly independent Of each other - and M, -
advocates Of the Declaration said, in.ref.rencc IN tho NO
priety OF a previous confederation, " that il would bc IN
10 lose uhe In settling the terms Of alliance, till we had
hrst dctegmiped we would enter into alliance, some If
The Colonies, and Virginia amongst The rest, asserted Their
independence previous 10 the general Declaration and ,c.
tn1ly:pr9seeded TO organize new governments. On tbo
I'm july iuo'n lew days after the Declaration OF Indie.
penience, the original draft of the Articles Of ConCnIsr,
Qo9 was ilrst presented 10 the Congress, and after two
years debate and consideration was ratified, OH the 9th of
july l71S, by ten of The States, and subsequently nv Tho
o,lers-Maryland acccding on the lst March, l7SL-
This compact, which was The first act of confeJeranon no
tween the Colonies or States, not only recopnizAs ,heir
previous sovereignty, but guarantees il for the future
In the third article Of that instrument il il s,',sI -
" The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league
ct friendship with each other, for their common defence !"
&c. and again, in the second article, that /" each State
retains It's sovereignty, freedom aud independence, +" &c
expressions which leave no doubt as TO the sovercion cha
racter OF the States under the confederation.
lle States then, he said, were sovereign TN 10 the Tim.
oil Ie adoption oil the Constitution. Was there any thing
IN the circumstances under which il was FORMED oy in ,be
n'lner OF us rAlication. which tt nded to- prove that the
parties DeIe not sovereignS That instrument was framed
by a Convention Of Delegates from the IecisT,uries ot
The several States sssembled at Philaiel niia." ON the 81
Monday in May, 1881, in pursuance Of a rcsol,,;or 81
the Congress, OF die confederation, adopted OH the Dist of
February OF the same year. The Constitution was an
atnendtpept Of the Articles Of Confederation and adopted
asa substitute. tori II by the same parties. The Resolution
OF CongresS, calling the Convention. states il 10 he " Tor
the cole and express purpose of revising the Articles OF
CONFEDERATION, aud reporting to Congress and the several
Legislatures, such alterations and provisions therein, as
shalt When agreed to in Congress, aud confirmed by the
States ren'ier The Federal Constitution adeomate 10 the
exiSenG'es OF government, and the preservation Of the
Union.'' The 18Th Article OF the Confederation declare.
that those Articles "Shdil he inviolably observed by every
Stdte, and the Union shall be perpetual; nor shall any
alteration, at any time hereafter, lie made in any OF them,
unless such alteration he agreed 20 by a Congress Of the
United States, and lie afterwards confirmed nv tho I eois
latmres OF every State" The Convention laid the wort
OF their hands before Congress in conformity with the fore.
going provision, and advised that il should afterwards be
''Ntt'''N ~ ~ SbNNN iIOI vi DtttpdttN, CHOSEN 4 "a q
State by The people thereof, Under tie recommendation of
is Legislature, for their assent and ratification" Since
then the Articles OF Confederation could not be altered with.
out the assent otevery State; and the Constitution was. in
TACT, an alteration made in The specified manner, it follow
ed, lie said, that the alteration or in other words, the Con.
stilniion, could only be adopted by the parties to the con-
federation, which had already Ueen shown to have been
sovereign.
In rarilying"the Constitution, the people of each State
assembled IN Convention, were regarded as forming a
separate aud distinct political body-not a party to the com.
pact, nor bound by it, until its assent had been expressly
gwen. II was provided that the new government should
be organized az tbon As nine States should have assented:
and hid the other four States rejected il, they would, i'm
no degree, have been bound, in consequence Of its ratifca-
ton ny the others. This was clearly shown by the his.
torical fact, that some of the thirteen States did not come
into the Union, until after The Federal Government went
into operation. North Carolina did not raiiy the Consi-
tuition until the LIST Of August, 1888, and Rhode Island
not until the 10th Of June, 1890, whereas the new Gov
eminent was organized, without the participation of these
two states, and commenced i its action on the 4h Of March,
l7SS. In the interval these States kept entirely aloof
from the Union, and so far from considering themselves
subject to the Federal Constitution, or under any obliya-
Ton TO accedc To II, some Of the abIest debaters in The
Convention OF North Carolina, contended that AZ the Ar
lcles oil Confederation could not be altered without tie
assent OF every Stale, any one State had a right to insist
on their being adhered 10 by all. This was unquestion-
ably true, and the difficulty could onIy have been re-
moved by the common consent Of all The States, which
was at last obtained. The Constitution was not REGARDED
as resulting from the people OF the States collectively nor
was II submitted for their ratification as one mass. Tho
several State Conventions were. not mere agents or con.
yenicnceS, for collecting the general will OF the Ameri-
can people, but consti utcd the separate and inlepen-
dent bodies polite, who were TO become parties to the
compact Had the Constitution been submitted for the