The Charlotte journal. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1835-1851, 1851-02-05

F'"Pie OF the Stafes, ~ one branch Of The le
eis'ainre Of the Uniied States, and trial b
The representatives Of the States, in the 9th
or branch the State fuuciionaries, legislative
executive and Judicial, being at the same tim
10 their appointment and responsibility alto
gether independent &c the agency or aulhor
~ of the u. States.
Should the provisions of the conslluiio
as here reviewed, be found not 10 secure IN
government and rights Of the states apains
the usurpatIons and abuses on the par, of th
unred States, the final resort within the pur
view Of The Constitution lies 10 an amendmep
OF the constitution, according TO a process ap
p'icable by the States.
Aud IN the event Of the failure of ever,
constitutional resort, and an accumulation o
usurpa'ions aud abuses rendering passive obe
d'encc and non.resIssncc a greater evil thar
resistance and revolution there can remain
bnt ore resort, the last Of alan appeal from
the cancelled Obligations of the comsact, 10
original rights and the law Of self preserva.
ton. This s the uitima ratio under I'll gov
ernmenis whether consolidated, conledersted
or compound Of both aud i, canno, be
doubted that a single member Of the union,
IN The extremity supposed, but in that only
would have right, as an extra and ultra con.
sli'ui'onAl rgh, TO make the appeal"
ANDREW JACKSON in his proclamalo Of
the llth Of December, ls32, said:
This right TO secede i. deduced from the
nature of The constitution, which they say is
n compact between sovereign states who have
preserved their whole sovereignty and there.
lore are subject to no superior that bee ause
they made the compact, they can break it,
" hen IN her opinion IT has been departed
from by he other states. Fallacious as this
course OF reasoning Is, it enisls state pride,
aud fnds advocaics IN the honest preiudices
Of Ihase who have no, studied the nature of
our goserumcrt sufficiently to see the radi.
cal error on which u rests.
The constitution o! the United Srales, then
fofms government not league, and whe.
lhet II be formed by compact between the
states, or IN any other manner, lis character
Is the same. II is gosernmea, IN which all
the people are represented. which operates
directly on the people Individually, not upon
the statcs-they retained all the power they
dId no' grant. But each state ksvlng ex.
pfessis parted Wnh so many powers, as to
constitute, jointly aith The other states, a sin.
ele nation, can not from that period, possess
any tigh secede, because such secession
does not break Il league, bat destroys the uni
IS not only a breach " ich would result from
the conuaveniion of a compact, but 1t is an Of.
t,nce against the whole Uuon. To say that a.
ny state uay at pleasure secede from Ihe Unlon
Is to say that the United States are not ma.
Inu, because II would be a snleclsm to con.
tend that any patto of a uslon, might dissolve
~ connection with The other parts, to their
INJURY or ruin,"lthout committing any offence.
Secession, like any other revolutionary aci, ,
may be morally justified by the extremity of
oppression but to call It n constitutional
night is cnutuundng the meaning Of term,
mud can only be done through gross error, or
10 decide those who are willing TO assert a
right, hot would pause before they made
revolution, OF incur the penalties consequent
on failure.
Because tho Union was formed By com.
pact, Il is said the parties in thut compact
Any, when they feel themselves aggrieved
depart from IT hut II is precisely because il
IS compac. that they cannot. A compact
Is an agreement Of binding obligation. II
may, by It's terms, have a sanction or penal.
~ f1r It's breach, or it may not. II i, con.
tatns no sanction, II may be broken with no
other Consequence than moral guilt, if il
have sanction then the breach lncurs the
designated or implied penalty. A league
between independent nations, generally, has
no sanction other than moral one; or It il
should contain penalty, as there is no com.
mon superior It cannot be enforced. A Co
rcrnment on lhe contrary, always has a sane.
ton express or implied and IN our case it is
both necessarily implied and expressly giveE.
" Men Of the best intention and soundes;
views may d ier in their construction Of some
part of the constitution but there are others
on which dIspassionate reflection can leave
no doubt. OF this nature appears to be the
assumed right of secession. II rests, as we
have seen, on the alleged Undivided sovereign
,y OF the states, and OF their having formed
IN this sovereign capacity, compact which
is called the constitution, from which because
they made it, they have the right to secede.
Both of these positions are erroneous, and
some Of the arguments to prove them SO have
been anticipated.
SO obvious are the reasons which forbid
this secesslon, that i, Is necessary only to
alude TO them. The unon was formed for
he beneti, of all. 1t was produced by mu,u
al sacrifices of interest and opinions. Can
those sacrifices be recalled Can the states
who mngnanimously surrendered their title
to the territories OF the west, recall the grant
VIII the inhabitants of the inland states agree
to pay the duties that may be imposed with.
on, their assen, by those on the Atlantic or
the gulf, for their own benefit Shall there
be a Tree port III one state and onerous ou.
= IL