Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1857-10-20
THE RICHMOND ENQUIRER.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 90, 1857.
SECTIONS va. STATES.
BY RITCHIE l. DUNNAyANT.

SECTIONS VS.. STATES.
Ihe division oil the United States, politically con
'idered, into two separate sections s if We may sc
express it, altogether unnatural 1t is contradictory
to the spirit of our institutions and the genius of ou,
government Each Individual State of the Union, il
true within itself sovereignty, independent and
distinct. But there is no such division or subdivi
sion Of our peculiar system, as to recognize seve
rance OF the country into two or more sections having
variant or antagonstic political interests. Virgins
possesses and puts into action, all the elements o
Constitutional liberty. and all the appointments Of ar
independent government; and so with Maine or Mas
sachusetts, South Carolina, Louisiana or any othe,
State. But neither the slave States nor the free
States are connected together the class section
in contrsdstinction from the other, by any other
bond thau that Of sympathy in cause altogether ir
relevant to the legitimate duties, s,powers and workings
ofthe federal government, in obedience to the rghtu
management Of which they all profess to act There
is no strictly political connection between the States
OF the North Of the South except that which binds
! them both and all together in common confeds.
racy. Like the Democratic party, the Constitution
of the United States "knows no sections" 1t em-
braces the interests of the whole country regardless
OF the domestic institutions OF the several States, of
geographical locations climate, products, the pre-
JUDGES of the people, State sovereignty is dis.
tinctly defined in the construction Of our govern.
ment, as are the separate stones in edifce,
individual identity in community. But sectional
sovereignty is altogether unknown. And yetnolhing
| is more common than 10 speak OF the North and
South as though the interests Of each are determined
by their latitude, end diametrcally opposite in 30
far as the conduct of the federal government ia
cerned. foreigner, from reading the political pa
pers and listening to the political speeches in this
country, might reasonably be Impressed with the
idea, that the slave States are under one govern
ment and the free States under another and that they
are both necessarily engaged in dsputaon as to
the respective merits and advantages Of each seps.
rate system. "The rights of the South" is the war.
cry of one section, and "the evils and horrors OF
slavery" the harden of the song of the other. 1t is
all the result oil the dangerous designs Of the aboi
tonists upon The institutions of the South.
1t is thus that State sovereignty 10 impugned and
the Union is divided into two separate sections, the
one arrayed in open antagoniam TO the other. The
doctrines of Black Republicanism deny, in effect the
origin Of the Union and the organization of the Gov
ernment Contendng that the Fedsral authority ex
tends into the territories and that il would justify the
General Government in disregarding the popular will
by inhibi,ng ssvery where it does not now exist the
AbooHists are, evidently in favor of such centrnli.
zs,ion of the political powers Of the American pee.
ple as would deprive the States Of their sovereignty
and independence, and render them subservient to
that agent to which they have entrusted authority ia
be exercised for the welfare Of them ALL and of which
| each individual member of the CUnfederacy or as
many as the exigency would justify in such course
may revoke It's or their portion. The right of secee
sion belongs 70 each and every State in the Union.-
1t ia unaliena:ed and ualienable long coun
try continues confederated republic, or until our
system of government ia so essentially altered as 10
| make the Urion n consolidated and indivisble Ell,
pire, and to centre all authority, whether pertaining
to State or general interests in the Federal Govern
| ment. 1t 10 the only certain source OF security
against the oppression of such an unconsti:utiona!
administration of the affairs Of the nation, as to insult
the honor or inure the interests of single State or
number of States. "The rights of the South" means
neither more less than the supremacy of the peo'
pie, and the sovereignty of the States II Id in the
North that the effort is made, 10 make the
popular will in the Territories and the laws OF the
States subordinate to Federal authority. And thus
it ia eyden. thst the Northern people, rather hosa
of them who make war upon the South are either
incapable of approaching and enjoying Constitutional
liberty or they are 60 utterly lost to all sense of us
tice fairness and reciprocal rights, as TO have become
an exlraueous element in our country and desperate
enemies of every thing like law and order, and the
Indispensable regulations Of civilized society PolItl.
cally considered, there is no more reason that the
slave States and the free States should be any wider
apart, in interests and in feeling, than the Southern
States which produce cotton and those that do not.
There is, in fact, no legitimate cause OF division
among any of the members of the Union. Slavery,
in Virginia. s as free from the authority Of the Fede
raj Government as is the growth of sugar in louisis
ma, or rice in Carolina But these antagonsc sections
doexist in perverted political sense And the paradox
presented is altogether the result of opposition to the
domestic institutions Of the South The slave States
are engaged in a common cause, as the sovereignty
Of each aesailed by the assaults of aboitionism
on an institution which can rest securely only upon
,bose principles which proclaim the States separate
and independent in their internal arrangements and
recognize the right revoke delegated powers which
have been grossly abused. The Constitution acknow'
lodges no lines Of latitude. The government of the
United States "knows no sections" The Union IL like
feet of friendly sails. AS each ship is separate and
distinct from every other, equipped with all the ap
pointments of navigation, and with her own officers
and crew. 30 is each State in the confederscy capable
of an independent existence And as the ship may
sail away from tho feet when her own safety de-
msnds it. So In similar emergency may the State or
States secede from the Union.
0IIR NEXT SENATOR