The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1856-01-05

colonies inIo powerful States, and has raised
our Industrial productions and our commerce
which transports them, to the level Of the
richest and the grestest nations Of Europe.
And the admirable adaPtation Of our political
institutions to their objects. combining local
sel-goyernment with aggregate strength. has
established the prActibility Of Government
like ours TO cover q continent with confedeS.
ate States.
The Congress Of the United States ID, In
effect. that congress Of Sovereignties, which
good men in the Old World have sought for
but could never attain, and which imparts to
Amerisa an exemption from the mutable
leagues for common action, from the wars,
the mutual invasions. and vague aspirations
after the balance Of power, which couvulse
from time to time the Governments OF Europe
Our cooperative action rests in the eondi-
tons Of permanent confederation prescribed
by the Constitution. Our balance Of power
Is in the separate reserved rights Of the
States, and their equal representation in the
Senate. That independent sovereignty in
every one OF the States, with its reserved
rights of local self-government assured to
each by their coequal power in the Senate,
was the fundamental condition Of the Con-
stitution. Without it the Union would never
have existed. However desirous the larger
States might beto reorganize the government
SO as to give to their population its propor-'
tionate weight in the common counsels, they
knew 1t was impossible, unless they conce-
ded to the smaller ones authority to exercise
at least q negative infcence on all the meas.
ures Of the Government, whether legislative
or executive, through their equal repFeserta-
tion in the Senate. Indeed, the larger States
themselves could not have failed to perceive
that the same power was equally necessary
to them, for the security Of their own domes-
tic interests against the aggregate force Of
the General Government. In word, the
original States went into this permanent
league on the agreed premises, OF exertihg
Gheir common strength for the defense Of the
whole, and Of all it's parts; but of utterly
excluding all capa5ity Of reciprocal aggfes.
sion. Each solemnly bound itself to all the
others, neither to undertake nor permit any
encroachment upon, or ihtermeddling with,
another's reserved rights.
Where it was deemed expedient, particular
|, rights of the States were expressly guar
ranteed by the Constitution; butt all thlngs
beside, these rights were guarded by the limi-
tation OF the powers granted, and by express
reservation Of oil powers not granted, in the
compact Of union. Thus, the great power
OF taxation was limited to purposes of COM
mon defense and general welfare, excluding
objects appertaining to the local legislation
of the several States; and those purposes of
general welfare and common defense were
t afterward defined by specific enumeration,
as being matters only Of correlation between
the States themselves, Or between them aud
> foreign Governments, which, because of their
; common and general nature, could not bc
left to the separate control Of each State.
Of the circumstances of local condition,
interest and rights, in which portion of the
, States, constituting one great section Of the
. Union, differed from the rest and from anoth-
: er section, the most important was the pecu-
s liarity Of a larger relative colored population
: in the Southern than in the Northern States.
!. A population or this class held in subjec-
tion, existed in nearly all the States, but was
moro numerous and of more serious concern.
ment in the South than in the North, on
, account Of natural differences of climate and
= production; and it was forescen that, for the
same reasons, while this population would
!. diminish. and sooner or later cease to exists
o in some States, it might increase in others.
g The peculiar character and magnitude Of
y this question of local rights, not in material
e relations, but still more in social ones, caused
r it to enter into the special stipulations Of the
: Constitution.
: Hence, while the General Government
= as well as by the enumerated powers grant
ed to it, as by those not enumerated, and
v therefore refused to it, was forbidden to
/, touch this matter in the sense Of attack or
II otfense, it was placed under the general safe
i guard Of the Union, in the sense of defense
= against either invasion or domestic violence
IS like all other local interests Of the several
o States Each State expressly stipulated
as wch for itself rs for each and all Of its
, citizens and every citizen of each State be-
!. came solc,nnly bound by bis allegiance te
,. the Constitution, that any person, held 4
service or labor in one State, escaping intt
another, should not in any consequence o.
y any law or regulation thereof be discharged
s. from such service or labor, but should b.
D. delivered up Oh claim of the party to whom
= such service or labor might be due by tn,
4 law Of his State.
e Thus and thus only, by the reeiproca
is guaranty of all the rights Of every STATE
d, against interference on the part Of another
h was the present form of government estab
y lshcd by our fathers and transmitted K
'e us; and by no other means is it possible
,e for it to exist. If one State ceass to res
!, = pect the rights of another, and obtrusiyel,
= intermediates with its local interests-if
of portion Of the States assume to impos,
ID their institutions on the Others, or refuse t
in fulfill their obligations to them-we gre n,
a. longer united, friendly States but distract
$. ed, hostile ones, with little caracity left o
Sc common advantage. but abundant means Q
n reciprocal injury and mischief.
he Practically, it is immaterial whether az
~ gressive interference between the States, Q
ch deliberate refusal on the part Of any one q
te them to comply with constitutional obliga
y; tions, arise from erroneous convictions Q
blind prejudice, whether it be perpetrate,
he by direction or indirrection. In eithe
is- case, it is full Of threat and Of danger I
te the durability Of the Union.
- CONSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS OF SLAVERY
- ~ Placed in the office af Chief Magistrat
ial as the executive agent of lhe whole coul
as try, bound to take Gaze that the laws