Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1856-01-24

, menacing to the stability ofthe cor
, fstitution, or the integrity Of tb
i Union, and no farther, they deman
the consideration of the Executive
and require to be presented by hir
to Congress.
Before the Thirteen Colonies be
f came confederation Of independen
States, they were associated only b.
community Of transatlantic origin
by geographical position, and by tn
mutual tie of common dependenc
on Great Britain. When the tie wa
sundered, they severally assumed th'
powers and rights of absolute self
] government. The municipal and so
cial institutions of each, its laws o
property and of personal relation
even its political organization, were
such only as each one chose to es.
tablish, wholly without interference
from any other. In the language OF
the Declaration of Independence, each
State had afull power to levy war,
conclude peace, contract alliances,
establish commerce, and to do all
other acts and things which indepen-
dent States may of right do" The
several colonies differed in bate,
in soil, in mutual productions, In re.
ligion, in systems of education, in
legislation, and in the forms of polit-
ical administration; and they oontin
ue to differ in these respects when
they voluntarily allied themselves as
States to carry on the war OF the rev.
olution.
The object of that war was to dis
entbral the United Colonies from for.
eign rule, which had proved to be op-
pressive, and to separate them per-
manently from the mother country;
the political result was the founda.
ton ola federal republic of the free
white men Of the colonies, constitut-
ed, as they were, in distinct, and rec
ciprocally independent, State govern
ments. AS for the subject races,
whether Indian or African, the wise
and brave statesmen of that day, be-
ing engaged in no extravagant scheme
of social change left them as they
were, and thus preserved themselves
and their posterity from the anarchy,
and theever-recurring civil wars, which
have prevailed in other revolution
ized European colonies ofAmerlca.
When the confederated States found
it convenient to modify the conditions
of their association, by giving TO the
general government direct access, in
some respects, to the people Of, the
States as such, they proceeded to
frame the existing constitution,adher-
ing steadily to one guiding thought,
which was to delegate such power as
was necessary and proper to the ex-
ecution of specific purpose. or, in 9th
er words, to retain as much as possl-
BILE, consistently with those purposes,
of the independent powers, of the
individual State. For objects of
common defence and security they
intrusted to the general government
certain carefully defined functions,
leaving all others as the undelegated
rights of the separate independent
sovereignties.
Such is the constitutional theory
of our government, the practical OBJ.
servance of which hascarried US, and
US alone, among modern republics,
through nearly three generations ol
time, without the cost of one drop Of
blood shed in civil war. With free.
| dom and concert of action, it has ena'
BILE us to contend successfully on the
battlefield against foreign foes, has
elevated the feeble colonies into pow
erful States, and has raised our in.
dustrious productions, and our com
merce which transports them, to the
level of the richest and the greatest
nations of Europe. And the admi
raj adaptation of our political insti
tutions to their objects, combining
local self-government with aggregate
strength, has established the practi
cability of government like our
to cover a continent with confederate
States. =
i The Congress Of the United State
lie, in effect, that Congress OF. SOY
ereignties which good men in the oil
world have sought for, and coul'
, never attain, and which imparts t
America an exemption from the mu
lEtual invasions. and vague aspiration
/ after the balance Of power whic
t convulse from time to time the gov
, ernments of Europe. Our co-opera