Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1858-02-26
GIa&lMINgWI lie .
rRIDkY. fEBRpARY %. 1855


democratic party. as especially dangerous
10 the interests Of the South. This party
claims to be the great defender of the Con-
stitution, the conservator Of the Union
and the bulwark of State rights, and in
support of these false assumptions, what
are the doctrines they avow2 In the first
place; "The time-honored resolutions of
1873 expressly declare that each State
shall be its own judge of the constitution
atty ola law of Congress-without the
slightest regard to the Supreme Court and
its decisions. These resolutions are re-
affirmed by every democratic Convention,
and their binding authority upon the party
thus often reiterated, make them the lead
ing item in the democratic creed. With
the sanction of these resolutions, Massa-
chusetts passed her personal liberty bill,
declaring the fugitive slave law unconstitu
tional, and, therefore, null and void. 9th
er States, without such legislative enact
ment, have acted upon the same principle;
and the South has been, practically, ad
monished by the whole North, that this
one article in the democratic confession of
faith sanctions the broadcast rebellion
against the laws of Congress, and the con-
sequent violations of the Constitution.
Under the sanction of the same resolu-
tons, we find the North setting at defiance
the Supreme Court, and repudiating its
descsion in the bred Scott case. Sure
ly, no sensible man can fail to see whittier
such practices, with such sanction, must
lead us. The Constitution is a nullity,
the acts Of Congress are nullity, the
Supreme Court is nullity whenever, and
wherever, State falls back upon the reso-
lutions of 1885," and claims to be its own
judge of the constitutionality of federal
laws; and the democratic party, pledged
beyond retraction to the soundness of those
resolutions, have no right to complain, and
are powerless to stay the rebellious hand
armed with the sanction of those resolu-
tions, aimed the first blow at the Constitu-
ton and the law, and, to this hour, main
tains that she was right; but when Massa-
chusetts, welding the same weapons, aimed
n similar blow, the democrats of the South,
raised, with one voice, the cry of treason!
And what was the difference in the two
cases2 In principle, there was none. S.
Carolina rebelled against the iff;-Mass-
achusetts, against the fugitive slave law.
The former declared the tariff unconstitu
tional; the latter said the same of the
fugitive slave law, and both claimed to be
right, and both quoted the resolutions OF
$3.50 to prove that they were right. Can
any man be so stupid as not to see that the
direct tendency of such doctrine is dis
solution of the Union?
But there is another doctrine-a new
revelation-just officially promulgated
and endorsed by the South, which, taken
in connection with the other, arms the
North with all the power it needs to crusl
che Institution of the slavery. In his
Kansas Message, the President says: "ThC
will Of the majority is supreme and irresist
able, when expressed orderly and in law,
full manner. IL can unmake constitutions
at pleasure. 1t would be absurd to say
they can impose letters upon their OWL
power which they can not afterward re
move. II they could do this, they nigh
tie their own hands for an hundred as fol-
ten years" Now, to arrive at the true
meaning and spirit of this startling doc
trine, the reader must bear it in mind tina
the Lecompton Constitution has a claus,
declaring that that instrument shall no
be altered or amended sooner than tn
year 1864 Now, if the Lccompton Con
vention was fairly organized, aud tn
Constitution fairly endorsed at the polls
shore is not an honest and law .abidin,
man IN the Union who would not pro
nounce that Constitution binding, eve
upon the majority, up to the period desi
grated Such has been the theory an
practice in many of the States, and never
till now, has it been officially announce
that majority can not bind itself for
term ef years. But tho President goe
further than this he asks Congress t
receive the ConstitutioR-which make
Kansas a Statc-and so far interferes wit
State rights as to undertake to absolve III
majority-as he pleases to assume-oR tn
people of Kansas from the respOnsibilit
OF their own acts. When Kansas become
a StatO--whicb will be the instant its Cor
stitution is rncelyed--it viii NOT be In th