Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-04-06
COMMUNICATED.
Government a Voluntary Society.

untdry ASSOcldtlon OF lOulVlOudls vi oue
Body, TO accomplish certain ends-as a Tenn
,erance, Literary, Moral Reform, or Anti
Society. Now human government
is nothing more nor less than such a Society,
and is accordingly as voluntary as any other.
This is strictly true Of every government
even of the worst Despotism on earth. Take
an Absolute Monarchy, for example. The
riciims of that Monarchy may not be volun-
tary in their su5jection 10 the government,
but then they are not the government, nor
anu mart of it. The Monarch is that, and he
solely ; else he is not Absolute. And he is
voluntary, Of course.
But if there could be any doubt in the
case of Monarchies, there certainly can be
none with regard TO Republican forms. A
Republic is a government Of the people By
Memseires-that is, a Society of Sey-governoys.
But it is absurd to say, that participation in
such a government; can be any thing but vo.
luntary. The people choose their own ru-
lers, make their own laws, execute their own
regulations, and administer every department
of their own government-aH of their GUN
free ,ciK. Every step in the whole process
is voluntary.
Not only are governments of individuals
voluntary, but Confederacies, or governments
of States, are SO likewise. Nay, they are far
more so. The Thirty Confederated States
of the North American Union, therefore, are
a voluntary Society. The "Old Thirteen ="
were so, in the first place. They were free
10 confederate or not, just as they chose.-
They need not 10 have formed any Union al
all. And when a Union ,cas formed, any
particular one or ones of those States need
not have joined it. In fact, North Carolina
and Rhode Island for a long time did not join
it, and it was even doubtful whether they
ever would. And even after they had joined,
or after New York and Massachusetts, had
done so, they might any or all of them cup
on the second thought" have concluded that
they had made a bad bargain and walked out
again. And so with the seventeen States
that have Joined the Union since. They
have all Joined voluntarily-not one has been
compeIled-not one but might have stood
aloof ill this day. And not one but ought
to have done so.
The Union, then, can be dissolved. States
made il, and they can unmake it. They
;oined it, and they can leave it. They can
leave ii IS we'll as individuals can leave any
other Society. The Fifteen Northern States
can leave it in a Booy d. or Four Of them, the
Buckeye, the Keystone. the Empire, and the
| Bay, can 90 off together; or Ore Of them
can go off alone. The Fifteen can conn out
and form another Union; New England can
come out and form a small Union /; or Ohio
can come out and stand by herself, ,cithout
any Union-ihat is, she can come ont and
Sc, up an independent Nation, with 2,000,-
900 of inhabitants. And the "Old Thir-
teen" all put together, had only 100000
when they left Great Britain. There is nc
difference between a State and a nation. IN.
less it is supposed that the latter has more
inhabitants, and is consequently more respsc-
table than the former. Let Ohio become a
Sovereign Nation, then!
And not only can States walk out of the
Union, but individuals can. States make
the Union, and individuals the States; by
leaving the States, then, they will leave the
Union-that is, The connection Of erery ,ndi-
UiduaL man in the WhOe nation, with the
Union, is voluntary. He is a citizen of the
Union, or not, just as he p~leases. He is a
member Of The national government, or not
just as he takes a notion. True, he is a sub
ject of it, Without taking a notion to be. He
is a subject because he can not help himself
But the words subject and citizen, are not sy
nonymous. Do not confound them. A citi
zen is a voluntary member of the government
tai Society-a subject is one who, toiLhoti
being such a member, is still compelled t
submit to the Society's hws. A man is JOri
a subject, but he makes himself a citizen, al
ter he is grown up. He is born under tn,
government-not into it. Do not contour,
those two words, either. Keep things dis
iinct that are so. This is the first rule in al
logic.
But hour does a man make himself a cili
zen? HoU does he become a member &
the government! Why, in just in the sam
manner that he becomes a member Of any OH
er SOciety-by signing lis Constitution. Whe
he is 2l years Of age, the law allows hir
to vote, and uOting is signing the governmer
tai constitution. For The individual for whog
the vote is cast, has TO sign the constitutio
with an oath, before he can take the Office
and therefore the man who casts the vote
has to sign the constitution with the sam
oath in the person of his candidate. An
this is what makes him a member of the &C
vernment-a citizen Of the Union. True
the lam considers him a citizen befOre h