The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1856-01-09

guaranty Of ali the rights of every State
against interference on the part of another,
was the present form of government estab-
lished by our fathers and transmitted to
us; and by no other means is it possible
for it TO exist. If one State ceases to
sively Intermediates with its local inter
%ests-if a portion Of the States assumes
to impose their institutions on the others,
or refuse to fulfill their obligations to
them-we are no longer united friendly
States, but distracted, hostile ones, with
little capacity left of common advantage,
but abundant means of reciprocal Injury
and mischief.
Practically, it is immaterisl whether
aggressive interference between the States,
or deliberate refusal on the part of any
one of them to comply with constitutional
obligations, arise from erroneous convic-
ton or blind prejudice, whether it be per-
petrated by direction or indirection. In
either case, it is full of threat and of danger
to the durability of the Union.
CONSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS OF SLAVERY.
Placed in the Office of Chief Magis-
trate, as the executive agent of the whole
country, bound 20 take care that the laws
be faithfully executed. and specislly en-
Joined by the Constitution to give infor-
nation to Congress on the state of the
Union, it would be palpsble neglsct Of
duty on my part to pass over a subject
like this, which, beyond all things at the
present time, vitaily concerns individual
and public security.
1t has been a matter of painful regret
to see States, conspicuous for their services
in founding this Republic, aud equally
sharing its advantages, disregard their
constitutional obligations to it. Although
conscious of their inability to heal ad-
united and pslpable social evils of their
own, and which are completely within
their jurisdiction, they engage in the often
sive and hopeless undertaking of reform
ing the domestic Institutions of other
States wholly beyond their control aud
authority. In the vain pursuit of ends,
by them entirely unattainable, and which
they may not legally attempt to compass,
they peril the very existence of the con-
stituLion, and all the countless benefits
which it has conferred.
When the people of the Southern States
~coniine their attention to their own affairs,
not p%resuming oHiciously to intermeddle
with the institutions of the Northern
States, too many of the inhabitants OF the
latter axe permanently organized in asso-
Citations to infict iajnry on tAe former, by
wrongful acts, which would be cause OF
War as between foreign powers, and only
fail to be such in our system. because per-
petrated under cover of the Uuion.
1t is impossible to present this subject
as truth and the occasion require, without
noticing the reiterated, but ~groundIess
allegation that the South has persistently
asserted claims and obtained advantage
in the practical administration of the gen.
eral government, to the prejudice Of the
North, end in which the latter has &C.
gu;csced. That's, the States which either
promote or tolerate attacks Of the rights
Of persons and of property in other States,
to disguise their own injustice, pretend
or imagine, and constantly aver, that they,
whose constitutional rights are thus sys-
tematicaIly assailcd, are themselves the
aggressors. At the present time, this
imputed aggression, resting, as it does
only in the vague, declamatory charges OIL
political agitators, resolves itself into mis-
apprehension, or misinterpretation, of the
principles and facts of the political organ,
~ization Of the new Territories Of the Uni.
ted States.
What is the voice of history! When
the ordinance, which provided for the gov
ernment of the territory northwest of the
river Ohio, and for its eventual subdivision
into new States, was adopted in the Con
gress of the Confederation, it is not to be
supposed that the question of future rela-
tive power, as between the States which
retained, and those which did not retain,
a numerous colored population, escaped
notice or failed to be considered. And
yet the concession of that vast territory
to the interests and opinions Of the North.
ern States, = territory now the seat of five
among the largest members Of the Union
was, in Q great measure, the act Of Vir.
ginia and of the South.
8 When Louisiana was acquired by the
United States, it was an acquisition mol
less to the north than to the South; for
t while it was important to the country al
, the mouth of the Mississippi to become
the emporium of the country above it, sc
: also it was even more important to Tho
whole Union to rave that emporium; ant
although the new province, by reason o
lis imperfect settlement, was mainly re.
garded as the Gulf of Mexico, yet, in fact
: it extended to the opposite boundaries o
: the United States, with far greater breadth
above than below, and was in territory, Al
in everything else, equally at least an &C
~cession to the Northern States. 1t il
mere delasion and prejudice, therefore, t.
speak of Louisiana as an acquisition i,
the special interest of the South.
S The patriotic and just men, who parti