Constantine republican. [volume] (Constantine, Mich.) 1836-1838, 1836-09-07

will claim a victory and thereby expect to
their lost power and defeat the cleo
toral vote of the state of Michigan being
given to the Democratic candidates for
President and Vice-President of the Uni
ted States" They therefore advise the
democracy of the State to be United and
10 distrust the cant and cunning of their
constant political foes. This we think is a
wise and sound caution, for it has eve been
found unsafe for democracy to adopt the
~counsels of aristocracy, and any amalga-
nation with its policy or principles has al
ways resulted in betrayal and defeat. While
therefore, we find sufficient reason to re-
gard with suspicion the opposition which
the federal or wing party are e~ndeayoring
to organize against our admission into the
Union, and derive from thence q strong
motive to union and harmony, we can also
deduce enough from an impartial examina.
ton of the question itself to influence our
judgement and patriotism in favor of assent.
ing to admission into the Union on the con-
ditions specified in the act of Congress.
The question has not been fairly stated
by the opposition. 1t is not whether or no
we shall cede the disputed boundary to Ohio
and Indiana. That question has been set
tied and disposed of by a distinct act of Con-
gress, which passed both Houses by over
whelming majorities, and received the ION.
stitutional sanction of Andrew Jackson, our
v~enerated president. The disputed boun-
dairy has been irretrievably confirmed to
Ohio and Indiana, by the laws and author
ity of the United States, and not the slight
est hope can be nationally entertained Of
ever agitating the subject again, so long as
We remain out of the Union and without
any representation in Congress. Our ac-
ton in the premises is neither needed or
required, for Congress has already fully le-
gislated without it, and whether we come in.
to the Union or stay out of it, Ohio and In
diana will still hold and possess the bounda-
ry guaranteed to them against all earthly
power by their own sovereignty and the de-
cision of the Union in their favor.
The true and only question then is, whe-
Their seeing that we have no ability to help
ourselves in this matter it is our policy or
duty in addition to the wrong we conceive
has been already inflicted on us by others,
TO infict a further mischief on ourselves, by
refusing to come into the Union.
To enable us wisely to settle this question
and boldly to act for our best interests in this
dilemma, it behooves us disp%assionatcly,
carefully, and upon %magnanimos principles,
to weigh and consider it. We should ask
ourselves calmly, whether, under all cir
cumstances, it is best for us TO come into
the Union and partake of its advantages,
or to exclude ourselves from these advan-
tages, by refusing our assent to admission.
This convention can not for q momen ad-
init that the time has arrived, when the val
ue of the Union is to be nicely calculated
by American patriots. Its blessings are
inestimable and invaluable to us, our pos
terity, and TO human liberty every where.
1t was achieved by the wisdom and valor
of our sainted forefathers established and
cemented by their self-denial, sufferings,
and blood, and in the language of our hero.
&c President, 'must and shall be ever pre-
served" 1t is therefore for the precious
legacy of our revolutionary sircs, for the
hopes of freedom throughout the world, for
the vital principles of democracy, for the
glorious constitution of the United States,
for our W permanent and best interests
as indissolubly connected with its mainte.
nance, and against the detestable heresv of
notification, we contend, when we object
to the policy or propriety of refusing to
come into the Union and partake of its adj
vantages, by declining to give our assent,
~agreeably to the act of Congress, and vet
claiming all the rights of a sovereign state
out of it. For to practical notification
and nothing else, to the law of revolution
and the sword are we driven, if we refuse
to come into the Union on the terms pro.
posed by Congress. Ifthis were all, there
is enough in these considerations in the
opinion of this convention, to enable us as
Americans, democrats, and patriots, to dc.
eide in favor of peace and union, and it is
no solid objection to such a conclusion, as
urged by our political opponents, that we
thereby make some sacrifices of opinion and
feeling. Grant that we do. Our confed.
eracy as formed in a spirit of compromise,
must be maintained in the same spirit of
and concession and can only be
impaired and reduced to a "rope of sand,"
prophcsied from the first by aristocracy,
by its citizens insisting angrily on partial
differences in opinion and feeling.
Besides, is there to be found in this proud
and free republic a single citizen who would
not, in emulation of the ancient Roman, who
threw himsclfheadlon into the yawning gulf
which portendcd his country's ruin, that il
might close over him and Rome be saved.
willing to take any sacrifice and even
consider it glorious to die for his country's
good? We believe and trust not. But
what of real value in comparison with the
advantages to be gained, do we abandon in
'ssenting to the terms of admission now
before us? We abandon nothing, as before