The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-12-12
g.


| The solemn sanction of religion has been
superadIed to the obligations of official duty,
and all Senators and RepreseI tatives of the
| United States, all menbers of State Legisla-
lures, and all executive judicial officers,
"both of the United States and of the several
States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation
to support this Constitution"
! In order to carry into effect these powers,
tie Constitution has established perfect gov
ernment in all its forms, legislative, executive
and judicial; and this government, to the ex-
| tent of its poxerss, acts directly upon the in
diEidual citizens of every state, and exercises
its own DEGREES by the agency of its own Off
GERS. In this respect it differs entirely from
the government under the old confederation,
which was confined to making -rcqniaitionSs - nm
the States In their sovereign character. This
| left it in the discretion of each whetherte obey
or refuse, and they often declined to comply
with such acquisitions. 1t thus became ne
cessary, for the purpose of removing this bar
rier and "in order to form a more perfect
Union,' to establish government which
could act directly upon the people and execute
| its own laws without the intermediate agency
of the States This has been accomplished
by the Constitution of the United States.
| In short, the government created by the
Constitution, and deriving its authority from
the sovereign people of each of the several
States has precisely the same right to exercise
its power ever the people of all these States,
| in the enumerated cases that each one of them
possesses over subjects not delegated to the
United States, but preserved to the States, re-
spectively, to the people"
To the extent of the delegated powers the
| Constitution of the United States is as much
part of the Constitutions of each State, and is
as binding upon its people, as though it had
| been textu.lly inserted therein.
| This government therefore, is great and
powerful government, invested with all the
attributes of sovereignty over the special sub
| jects to which its authority extends. Its fra
mers never intended to implant in its bosom
the seeds of its own destruction, nor were they
at its creation guilty of the absurdity of pro-
! viding for its own dissolution. 1t Eas not in
| tended by its trainers to be the baseless fabric
of a vision which, at the touch of the enchan-
ter would vanish into thin air, but snbstan-
tial and utighty fabric, capable of resisting the
1 slow decay of time and of defyng the storms
Of ages Indeed, well may the jealous patriots
of that day have INDUCED fears that govern
fment of such high powers might violate the
| reserved rights of the States, and wisely did
they adopt the rule of a strict construction of
these powers to prevent the danger! But they
did not fear, nor had they any reason to ina
4 CINE, that the Constitution would ever e so
interpreted to enable any State, by her own
act, and without the consent of her sister
States, to discharge her people from all or any
of their federal obligations.
II may be asked, then, are the people of the
States without redress against the tJrraany
and oppression of the Federal government =
By no means. The right of resistance on tie
part of the governed against the oppression of
their governments cannot be denied. 1t ex-
istsEindependently of all Constitutions, and has
been exercised at all periods of the worlds
, history Under it old governments have been
destroyed and ones have taken their
place. 1t is embodied in strong and express
language in our own Declaration of lndcpen-
dence But this distinction must ever be OBJ
served that this is revolution against an es-
, tablished government, and not a voluntary
| secession from it by virtue of an adhereut
Constitutional right. In short, let us look the
D danger fairly in the face: secession is neither
c more nor less than revolution. 1t may it
= may not Re justifable revolution, but still it
: is revolution,
What. in the mean time, is the responsible
ty and true position of the Executive He
e is bound by solemn oath before God and the
e country ssto take care that the laws be faith
o fully executed" }" and from this obligation he
2 cannot be absolved by any human power
: But what if the performance of this duty, in
r whole or in part, has been rendered impraeti-
s cable by events over which he could have ex-
- ercised no control? Such. at the present
# moment, is the case throughout the State Of
South Carolina, SO far as the laws of the Uni
e ted States to secure the administration of lus:
/ tice by means of the Federal Judiciary are
y concerned. All the federal officers within its
t. limits, through whose agency alone these laws
l. can be carried into execution, have already
e resigned We no longer have District Judge
= a District Attorney, or Marshal, in South
o Carolina In fact the whole machinery Of the
d Federal government, necessary for the distri-
Al IL
II has been demolished and it would be difficult
! if not impossible, to replace it.
l. The only acts of Congress on the statue
It book bearing upon the subject, are those Of
s Goth February, l795, and Sd March, 1907
ii These authorize the President, after he shall
l. have ascertained that the Marshal, with h:s
o posse commitatus, is unable to execute civi
l. or criminal process in any particular case, tt
y call forth militia and employ the army anc
navy to aid him in performing this service
d having first, by proclamation commanded tht
Is insurgents sto disperse and retire peaeeably te
IS their respective abcdes, within limited time.
1T This duty cannot By possibility be performed
,e in a State where no judicial authority exist:
,r to issue process, and where there is no Mar
4; shal to execute it, and where, even if there
n were such an officer, the entire population
e would constitute one solid combination to re.
= sist him.
&C The bare enumeration Of these provisions
n proves how inadequate they are without fur
1t ther legislation to overcome united epposi-
)r tion liz a single State, not to speak Of othe
1t States who may place themselves in a sifnila
l. attitude. Congress alone has power to decid
ID whether the present laws can cannot b.
le amended as to carry out more efectually tn,
objects of the constitution.
of The same insuperbable obstacles co not liz
s. in the way of executing the laws for the col
to lection of the Customs. The revenue still
e, continues to be collected, as heretofore, at tn
n Custom House in Charleston, and should tn
n- collector unfortunately resign, successor ma,
be appointed to perform this duty.
r Then, in regard to the property of the Uni
st led States in South Carolina. This has beer
is purchased for fair equivalent, "by the con-
es sent Of the Legislature of the State" Mfor til