Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1848-03-22
SYAUNYON, (VA.) WEDNESDAY, MARCH sAs

Gu oy peculiar conservatism. Their object was
W w "iiai was necessary, and no more and m 4,
'na' WIN the utmost temperance and prudence
VOW, without going into historical details =,
ioue'n' ie' me slate what understand the Ameri
0", pi'hc'pies TO DO on which this system rests.
rHs' ana chief. no man makes question tbs,
the people the source of all noI;,ioo, 'i"'
government Is instituted for their good and lie
ihehioers are their agents and servants iJo -
would argue against this, must arrue ,vtho,, ~
adversary. And who thinks there is anv necr,;ar
merit In asserting doctrine like that. in the mds,
~ ."ony unions OF people, when nineteen mil
hons, nine hundred and ninety. nina tbo,s.,J 80;
hundred and ninety nine of them boJ !, &c LII
himself. here Is no other doctrine of government
mere anu no man lmpuies to another and NJ, 49,,
should claim Tor himself, any peculiar merit or rs.
seI'ng what every body knows to be truc and No.
oooy denies Why, where else can we loot Inn, ~
rme peop'9; - poilticas power. in popular rovcrn
l.on' we nave no hereditary Executive -, NO.
Fsdi'afy branch of the Legislature M inhsr,..o
Vi great masses of property, no system of entails
no iohS tiuSts, no long family settlements M nv;
moseni'ure. Every estate in the country from, The
h iones. 10 Inc poorest, is divided among sons and
uiueh'efS alike. Alienation is made as easy ne
p r, everywhere the transmissbility of proper
:; nlaue perfectly free; the whole system
80 Seu 50 as TO produce, as far as une-
quai industry and enterprise render II noss;bla
uNe'sai equality among men, an equality of riob,s
"'',,u,eiy' ana an equality of condition so far nc
'no inherent characters Of individuals will allow
sucn equality to be produced. He who considers
''eie may De. Is, or ever has been. since the
/ ., @ ' Vi Independence, anybody who looks
any other source of power in this country bnt Tho
people, 50 as to give them peculiar mer, who cI
''oi ioudest In lis assertion, must be ont of his
i''iiiu even more than Don Quixote Was He inn
asination was only perverted He saw tbinus mn,
% ihey were. lie saw windmls, and took them
" Nc armed men-knghts on horseback. This
~. o"u enough, but whoever says, or speaks as if
he thought, that anybody looks to any other
Oh political power in this country hit The noonIo
'Au' nave stronger and wilder imagination for he
--givos to airy nothing,
A local habitation and a nam. -
lie "saws the air' He sees pbon,omc WIN
then, let all admit, what none DENY thu, Tho o,S,.
source OF political power in this country ia tbe neo
pc Lei us admit that they are sorore;r,, far
they arc SO that Is to saw the auureuate coEn,np;
ty the collected will of the people, is SOVEREIGN
confess mat think Chief Justice Jay spoke rather
parauoXicaiiy than philosophcally, when he said
md: 'ns country exhibited many soyereigns and no
SUBJECTS. he people, he said are all soyere;ons .
ana Inc popularity of the case is that thew have mo-
SUBJECTS except few colored persons This mus,
Dc rather ianciul The agorepate con,mun;,,, -
eoteiegn; 0ut That not the sovereignty which acts
IN inc daiiy exercise Of sovereign power. The peo
PIE cannot act daily as the people They must os
LIS" government, and invest il with SO much
", 'he sovereign power as the case requires: snd
.is sovereign power being delegated and placed in
| inc hahds VI the government, that government he
comes what Is popularity called THE STATE Lie
'iie oiu- aShohed way OF stating things as thew are
ana ms Is the true idea Of State IL ia oo o,n,p'
iZeo government, representing the collected will of
inc people, SO far as they fit to invest that co
Vernment with power And, in that respect !, 10
true tLat though this government POSSESSES sova
reign power 1t does not possess all SOVEREIGN power
anu 50 me State governments, though SOVEREIGN in
some respects, are not i'll ALL Nor couh Il bo
SHOWN that the powers OF both as delepated em-
Drace 'he whole range of what might be called SOW
eieigh power. we usually speak of STATES as go
. esn States DO not object But the Cons,-
tuition never 50 styles them, nor does the Consi;,u
! 'ioh speak OF the government here as the Dene,ol
OF the Jedera! government. 1t calls them the ITni
tea otaies and tho Government the Government
oil the United States: and it calls the State cavern
mems, State Governments. Still the fac, is unde
hiao'y so. Legislation is q sovereign power and s
exercised by an organized government to = cor,,in
extent, and by the States according to the fnrrn.
"hich they have themselves established.
wen then, having agreed that all power is orr
g'haiIy from the people, that they can confer &c
rnuch oil 1t as they please, the next princple is
tnat as the exercise of legislative power and the O,
'her powers OF government by themselves is i'm
Pf"c'icaoie, they must be exercised by representa-
yves OF the people: and wha. DISTINGUISHES the A
i'eiican system as much as anything else from any
poiitical system OF ancient or modern times i, the
marvellous ieciiy OF It's representative system. I,
mas WIN us, allow me 10 say, somewhat di ferent
origin rom the representation of the Commons in
England, though that has been worked I'd to some
resemblance oil our own system. The representa-
I'VE system In England originated not in any sup
posed rights OF the people themselves but in nc
necessities and commands of Tho A.,
knights anG burgesses were summoned 10 parlia
,neht called by the Hing, often against their will
MANY circumstances were presented against send
ing up THESE representatives. the charge of payino
mem was felt TO 6e burdensome by the people BuI
the klng wished their counsel and advice. and per
maps 'he presence OF the popular body, to enable
MIN TO make greater headwav aoaipst Inc fonda
barons in the arstocratc and hereditary brancl, a.
the legislature In process of time these knights anc
ourgesses assumed more and more popular charac
ter ana became the guardians of popular rights
The people through them obtained protection =
ganst the encroachments Of the crown and the y
risIoc'acy, Till in our day they are understood TO b
'hs representatives. OF the people, charged With tht
protection OF the rights of the people With us i
, was always Just Representation has alway
been this: The power is with the people bu
they cannot exercise it in masses or ,ey ronifn
they can only exercise it by their representatives,
The whole system with Us has been popular from
= the beginning.
wei, the basis Of this representation is snfrace
; The rIght TO choose representatives is every man.
part IN the exercise Of sovereign power:-to bav,
voice in il. if ne has the proper qualifications tia
is the fundamental exercise OF political power b,
every elector That is the beginning. That !,
the mode in which power ernanalos from its sou1c,
and gets into the hands Of Conventions. Ieosla
tufes, Courts Of Law and the Chair Of the Execu
tive. 1t begins in suffrage Suffrage is the dele
CATION of the power Of an individual to some agent
II 'lis be So then follow two other great priuci