The Washington union., 1858-02-03
THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO CHANGE THEIf
CONSTITUTION

!
CONSTITUTION
Can the people of Kansas, al amy time it may suit
their pleasure, change their constitution?
The sovereignty of State is always with its peo-
pie They make their government, and as a conse-
quence, above it. No creature can he equal to
the power which creates it. And as the sovereignty
of to-day is OF the dignity that of yesterday
and that of tomorrow the that of to-day,
neither can by any versatility tie the hands of the
other convention Of delegates is convention of
the people the masses being presunptivey present
in the persons Of those who represent them For
this all American constitutions say: I'VE,
the people establish &c" But our legislatures say:
:. Be it enacted by the senate and house of rep
resentatives" or g BY the general assembly" &c.
This distinction itself marks the nature Of the
respective powers. When the people speak in
the organization of government, they create an
artificial body, and parcel out powers to it's re-
spectve branches. To each Of these they fix
limit; but they as the sovereign body, are unlm-
tied except far restrained by the laws Of ma
tire. Were it not 50, the people Of to-day might
meet in convention and say, greater than the
people Of tomorrow therefore we make govern
ment which the people of tomorrow cannot change.
But the people of tomorrow, when tomorrow comes
turn round and say you of yesterday have mistaken
your powers; We your equals therefore we can
change abolish the government which you Gre
ated. Accordingly, they proceed and do so, and
when they have completed their work, who is there
on Gods extended footstool who dares to question
either their right or their power This would be-
long not to the dead hut the living; consequently
the living people have the unquestionabe right
at all times to change or abolish all its conventional
forms.
Under system, however, of State and federal
governments, power is limited and crcumscribed
everywhere but with the sovereign people. The
federal head is hut aggregate of delegated pow
ers, and, consequence, can act only within its
delegated capacity; therefore it cannot abolish
slavery in Virginia, or poygamy in Utah, if Utah
were State. But the SateH not limited. Vir-
ginia may abolish slavery, and Utah polygamy. But
as the federal is made mp ofpowers given
it by the States all grants to it grants Of much
sovereignty For instance: federal compact pro-
vides that no State shall pass laws impairing the
hdity Of contracts. There is power, sovereign i'll
its nature which the States have parted with for
as contracts are upheld only by law State, truly
sovereign may at any time wipe out all contracts.
But this item of sovereignty the States have parted
with. A bank charter, being held by courts to
be contract between the State granting it and the
person persons to whom it is granted, cannot be
impaired by any power remaining in the States. Bnt
all powers which have not been thus surrendered
main with the States. Consequently, when State
makes law which does not impair contract it
may abolish il Immediately. The same rule applies
to constitution. II is the creature Of the sovereign
people is at all times within their control and as
its change impairs contract, they may alter or
abolish il at their pleasure. Sir William Blackstone
tells MS that no Parliament of the British empire can
make law which a subsequent Parliament cannot
repeal because to do So he tells us would be to say
that one Parliament is greater than another The
same is the case with conventions of the sovereign
people. Could one convention say we hereby estab-
lish constitution which no other convention shall
alter until the expiration Of certain number Of
years it would necessarily be superior all the
ventions which could follow it within the prescribed
time; and, further consequence, the sovereign
ty Of day be superior to that Of another which
is compatible with neither law. We,
therefore, conclude that Kansas, AZ any other State
may at any time change abolish it's constitution
no matter how many provisions it may contain in
opposition TO this right
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We regret learn that s-Prcsdent Tyler is said to be