Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1860-12-28
south Carolina sovereign Convention

duty Of preparing an Address to the people OF
1.-THE Southern States, to declare the causes when
Justify the secession Of South Carolina from the
Federal Union, made their report as follows:
DECLARATION OF THE CAUSES WHICH JUSTIFY THE
SECESSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA FROM THE fEDE'
RAJ UNION.
The State Of South Carolina having deter
mined to resume her separate and equal place
among nations, deems it due to herself, to the
remaining United States Of America, and to
the nations Of the world, that she should declare
the causes which have led to this act.
In the year 1865, that portion OF the British
Empire embracing Great Britain, undertook to
make laws for the government Of that portion
composed of the thirteen American Colonies.
A struggle for the right Of self. government en-
sued, which resulted, on the Attn July, lTI6, in
a Declaration by the Colonies that they are
and Of right ought to be, FREE AND lADE,
PENDENT STATES, and that, as free and
independent States, they have full powcrto levy
war, conclude peace, contract alliances, esta1,
llsh and to do all other acts ana
things which independent States may ol right
do"
They further solcmaiy declared that when
ever any form Of government bccolnes de-
structive of the ends for which, it was established
it is the right Of the people to alter CT ABOLISH
it, and to institute a new Government.
Deeming the Government Of Great Britain to
have become destructive Of these ends, they
declared that the Colonies ''arc absolred from
all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all
political connection between them and the
State Of Great Britain is, and ought to he, To-
tally dissolved"
In pursuance Of the Declaration Of indie
pendence, each Of the thirteen States proceed
ed to exercise its separate sovereignty adopted
for itself q Constitution, and appointed officers
for the administration Of government in all ITS
departments Legislative, Executive ana JUDI.
oial. For purposes Of defence, they united
their arms and their c~cunscls; and, in ITS,
they entered into i League known as the Ar;l-
clcs of Confederation, whereby they agreed To
entrust the administration oil their external
relations to q common agent, known as the
Congress Of the United States, expressly de-
%clarins, in the first article, THAT each State re-
tains its sovereignty, freedom and independ-
ence, and every power, jurisdiction and right
which is not, by this Confederation. expressly
delegated to the United States in Congress as
sembled.".
Under this Confederation the War Of the
Revolution was carried on. and on the Sd Of
September, 1855, the contest ended, and AIDE
6nitive Treaty was signed By Great Britain, IN
which she acknowledged the independence Of
the Colonies in the following terms:
TART. Ills Britannia Majesty acknow-
lodges the said United States. viz: New Hamp-
shire, Massachusetts, Bay, Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina and Georgia, to ne FREE, SOFE-
REIGN AND OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES that
he treats with them as such and for himself,
his heirs and successors. relinGuiShes all claims
to the government, proprietary and territorial!
rights Of the same and every part thereof"
Thus were established tie two great prlncI-
Piles asserted by the Colonies, namely: the
right Of a State to govern itself; and the right
of q people to abolish Il Government when it
becomes destructive Of the ends for which it
was instituted. And concurrent with the
establishment Of these principles, was the fact,
that each Colony became and was recognized
by the mother country as a FREE, SUEE-
REIGN AND INDEPENDENT STATE.
In 1887, Deputies were appointed By the
States to revise the Articles OF the Contcdcra-
ton and on the 18th Of September, 1872,
these Deputies recommended, for the adoption
of the States, the Articles Of Union, known MS
the Constitution OF the United States.
The parties to whom this Constitution was
submitted were the several sovereign States;
they were to agree or disagree, and when nine
Of them agreed, the compact was to take
effect among those cuncurring; and the General
Government, as the common agent, was then
to be invested with their authority.
If only nine Of the thirteen States had con-
Cured, the other four would have remained as
they then wcrc-scparatc, sovereign States,
independent Of any Of the provisions Of the
Constitution. In fact, two Of the States did
not accede to the Constitution until long alter
it had gone into operation among the other
eleven and during that interval, they cXer-
cised the functions Of an independent nation.
By this Constitution, certain duties were
charged on the several States, and the exercise
Of certain of their powers restrained, which
necessarily implied their continued existence as
sovereign States. But, to rcmnve ell doubt, an
amendment was added, which declared that
the powers not delegated 10 the United States
by the Constitution, nor prohibited BY 1t
to the States, are reserved to the States re-
spectivcly, or TO the people. On 2@l May,
l7SS, South Carolina, by 4 Convention Of
her people, passed an Ordinance asserting to
this Constitution, and afterwards altered her
own Constitution, 10 conform herself to the
obligations she had undertaken.
Thus was established, b. compact between
the States, L Government, with defined OBJ
iects ano powers, limited to the express words
of the grant, and to so much more only Us was
necessary to execute the power granted. This
Limitation left the whole remaining mass Of
power subject to the clause reserving it TO the
States or to the people, and rendered unneccs-
sary any specification Of rcscr"ed rights.
We hold that the government thus estab-
lished is subject 20 the two great principles as
serted in the Declaration Of independence; and
we hold further, that the mode Of its formation
subjects it to = third fundamental principle,
namely the law Of compact. We maintain,
that in every compact between " or more
parties the obligation is mutual; that the failure
of one Of the contracting parties to perform 4
material part Of the agreement, entirely re-
leases the obligation OF the other; and that
where no arbitcr is provided, each party is re-
United 10 his own judgment to determine the
fact of failure, with all its consequences.
In the present case, that fact is established
with certainty. We assert that fifteen Of the
States have deliberately refused. for years past,
to fulfil their Constitutional obligations, and
we refer to their own statutes for the proof.
The Constitution Of the United States, in its
4th Article, provides as follows:
"No person held to service or labor in one
State, under the laws thereof, escaping into an
other, shall, in consequence Of any law or re-
g~ulation therein, be discharged from such
Service or labor, but shall be delivered up, on
claim of the party to whom such service Or
labor may be due
This stipulation was so material to the COM
pact, that without it that compact would not
have been made. The greater number OF the
contracting parties held slaves, and the State
Of Virginia had previously declared her csti-
mate OF its value by making it the condition
of her ccssion of the territory which now con,-
poses the States North Of the Ohio River.
The same article of the Constitution Stipu.
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