The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1856-11-13
From tie Nc,o Orleans Delta.
THE ABSOLUTE AND CONCURRENT MAORI


THE AbSOLUIE AND CUNCUhhENI mAJUhl-
TIES.
There has been no greater political fall
lacy current in modern times than the doc.
ern. 1t is wrong in principle and can only
he dangerous in practice. The essence OF
lcspotism is in it. Under plausible dis
guse it concea!s deadly poison which, ap-
piled to our Federal Government, must prove
fatal to justice, union and liberty.
From the beginning of the present Union,
tho tendency has been unceasing to install
the principle OF the absolute majority as the
supreme power in the land. Shallow I:olit-
ical philosophers have dciiied it under the
blasphemous motto of" uo.r 7opuH cor Dci,"
clothed it with inf:,Ilibility, regarded denial
Of its uniform justice no less than hcrcsy
and little less than insanity, and resistance
to its authority us fragrant treason. 1t was
the fatal mistake Of many old republics to
confound liberty with the right Of the major
ity to govern-to suppose that to cxpel Il
single despot was to secure justice as we'll
as equality, and that though one man, or II
few men, would necessarily abuse power,
many men could not by any possibility do
so. But experience soon proved the contra
ry, and we find that in the best of the re-
publics that existed for considerable length
of time, the Constitution intcrposcd checks
against the dominance Of the many on one
hand and of the few on the other.
There is not u whit more safety in being
ruled 10y one man than by Il million or
twelve millions, acting as the latter may in
Il unit. 1t is no consolation to the victim of
unjust laws, to he told that lie is oppressed 10y
Il million or more lawmakers, or the SOW
| .,c
who, united hy interest or E,naticisn, have
resolved to crush him. 1t will not make the
yoke he wears any the less CALLING, or con-
vert his slachles into golden tr "'ets, to be
told that the majority should .yycrn and
that these are the bad yes of its subjects.
Nor, II ne be rendered destitute after being
made slave, will it fill his purse with cash
or restore the bread to his children, to know
that the mlIion-hande'l minority has emp
tied the one and li!chcd the other It, is the
principle which makes the wrong, whether
inflicted 10y one or II million; and it is The
relation that makes the slave, not the num-
'"l II his masters.
i - .'l::i'';"' "a; n political iruSm that
! UNRESTRICTED power cannot safely be conf.
'lc'l to one individual, yet it seems to lc
forgotten that an aggregate of individuals
can hc no better and no worse than lis com
p"ncnt parts, AMI must prove equally dan
Scro's it it have the power and the motive
10 Cypress al inferior number against
this abuse of power" said John G. Calhoun
IN his ,nastcrly letter to Governor Hamilton,
no remedy can he applied but that of the
eoncurrlng majority" Nearly the whole
history Of our Federal Government has been
Il conflict between the numerical and con-
current majorltles. The one has been rccE-
less and despotic in its tendency, the other
conservative and beneficcnt The one has
AIMED to aSgrandize the controlling inter
csts OF one section ut the expense Of another,
ana the other to protect the rights OF the
people of all the sections and secure equality
Tor I'LL tile Interests Of the country. The
one was nnrlnrc.l IN the North. the other in
the S"atll. llcncr, the North has always
been aggressive and the South defensive in
It's attitude; the North has sought to break
down All the constitutions, barriers between
lis numerical majority and absou.ism in
The Government, and the South has sought
10 conserve all the reserved rights of the
States and people; and could only do so by
asserting The principle Of the concurrent
ma!orlty-tl'at is, appealing to State inter.
position against the usurpalions by the Fed
erai Government of powers not ,lelc~atcd
IN the Constitution. This appeal was made
III 10000 i'll the adoption of tho we'll
known Virginia and Kentucky resolutions.
AMI it WAS ctfectual. 1t was made again in
1882 10y South Carolina alone, and though
the Republican or anti-FcdcraI party of that
day had well nigh forgotten the platform of
It's founders, Jefferson and Madison, it forced
" selfish majority, having the law-making
power in its hands, to receic from its extreme
demands and parl"y for y compromise.
Both these appeals were made against the
encroachnents Of Il numerical maiorily act-
ing through the law making branch Of the
Government; but in 1856 we see a SINH
!ar protest against the same majority acting
ID the primary capacity of voters in n Pres
ilent'al election. 1t was the only means by
which the sectional candi late of the Nori,
could 1e defeated; the State Rights resis-
tance party and press Of the South resorted
to 1t, and if Fremont be net elected. as he
almost certainly will not be, it will prove
the wisdom of their policy and be another
triumph of tile principle.
1t is idle to think that the North would
not elect n President ms we'll MS Congress to
rule over us aud subject us completely to
their interests, wl,im or prejudice, if it could
be done without rousing into action this
principle Of the concurrent majority-thc
eternal principle which makes it the right
and the duty of every sovereign and equal
State to resist tho exercise Of powers unjust
in themselves, and to which its consent was
never given. Once surrender this principle.
and there is no hope for the equality or in
dependence of the South. The North has
about twice the white population which We
have. All it's aborcrs, and NIL its non-voting
classes, enter into the representative basis,
while only three-fiftI,s Of our laboring and
non-voting population are allowed repre-
sentation. Further, their lnboring popuIa-
ton is rapidly increased by emigration, thus
| every day swelling tllsir represenIative now.