Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-12-13
GREEN MOUNTAIN FREEMAN, DEC. 10, 1860.

w A9OhGllCll DtAtCS, nNHIAuiuS Ol luC Dl5i0
Of the Constitution, have a right to demand
this act of stce from the States Of the North.
Should it be refused, then the Constitution, to
which all the States are parties, will have been
wiIlully violated by one portion Of them in u
provision essential to the domestic security and
happiness of the remainder. In that event the
injured States, after having first used al! peace
ful and constitutional means to obtain redress,
would be justified in revolutionary Resistance to
the government Of the Union,
have parposeIy confined my remarks to
revolutionary resistance, because it has been
claimed within the last few years that any State
whenever this shall by its sovereign viii ami
pleasure, may secedo from the Union, in accord
ance with the Constitution, and without any
violation Of the constitutional rights Of the
other members of this conledaracy. That as
each became parties to the Union by the vote
of its own people assembled in convention, 50
any one Of them may retire from The Union in
a similar manner by the vote of such IL conycn-
ton
In order to Justify secession asa constitution
al remedy, it must be on the principle that the
federal government is u mere voluntary associa-
lion of the States, to be dissolved at pleasure
by any oae of the contracting parties. If this
be so, the conicderacy II \ rope Of sand, to be
penetrated and dis.),2rd by the first adverse
wave of public opinion ia any Of tn Safes
In this manner or thirty States miY resolve
themselves into Us many petty, .jarring and hos
tile repnbilo5, each one refining from the Union,
without responsibility, whenever any sudden ey.
element might impel then to such course -
by tbs process Union III. lit be entirely bro
ken into fragments in few weeks which cost
Our Ioroi4tdars many years of toll, privarion
and bioaI to establish.
Such a prmciple is wholly inconsistent with
the history as well as the character Of the Fed
ersl Constitution AfU9r 1t was framed with
the greatest elaboration and care, it was sub
mtted to conventions of the people of the sev,
eral States for ratification. Ita provisions were
discussed at length in these bodies, composed of
the first men of the country. It's opponents
contcndcd that it conferred powers upon tho
federal government dangerous to the rights of
the States whilst its advocates maintained that
under fair construction OF the instrument
there was no foundation for such appreEensions
In that mighty struggle between the first intel
lccts of this or any other country, it never oc-
Cured to any individual, either among its OPP
p0nents or advocates, to assert or even to init
mate that their efforts were all vain labor, be-
cause the moment that any State felt herself
aggrievcd she might secede from the Union.
What crushing argument would this have
proved against those xho dreaded that the
rights Of the States would be endangered bv
the Constitution. The truth is, that it was not
until many years after the origin Of the federal
government that such proposition was first
advanced. 1t was then met and rcfutcd by the
conclusive arguments of General Jackson, who
in his Message OF 10Th January, 1888 trans
uniting the multiplying ordinance of s. nth Car
DINA to Congress, enRleys the following Ian
guage; 1.-The right 6f tile people of single
State to absolve themselves at will, and wi thout
the consent Of the other States, from their most
solemn obligations, and hazard the liberty and
happiness of the millions composing this Union,
cannot be acknowledged, Such authority is be-,
leved to be utterly repuknant both to the
principle upon which the general government
is constituted and to the object which it was
expressly formed to attain"
1t is not pretended that any clause in the
constitution gives countenance to such theory.
1t Sc altogether founded upon Interference, not
;tsoit hHt rrn '"" ,ono ~ ''p instrument
several Stotos WV bob IL V rntGo o. tH4
is beyond the power of State, like an indiyd-
ual, to yield portion of its sovereign rights to
secure remainder? In the language of Mr..
T ""I4 ""o '"S D.ea v"liY 'lq latHc[ o. 'ne
~ tn H"S +n?u " t'lV o'"'SS "'Vl
$1,000 ~, ',v asa n u'T '3 w. c"P"clty ann
t;aL fo UY''I t 'e'' y vs SUM "u'nofl'y
"'7 W io'! u ''0 o'''0 Col'',i'ntIohs'
Nor ~ '4G 1EgIll it u [no Unlted States
''tIo o ~ t s1'' UonS''sG''on' less Sov2rnMan'
.n, 'n' S'i nc Sense oi lne term within the
PaJr G o. us POWERS, 'noh fhe governments Gre
%'oI ~ 'ng Co"s'ilu''o"S 81 Ihe StateS are with
LA '"e'I S'I'rai spheres /. rs lNo them organ
J@r n',o ita'S'1t'c' e%teutI''' ana J"ulcIlry
"sl't."'e,.'S, ~ ~ operates HNe men, directly
o' persons anu 'lnSS ana IKE tNem' 1t has al
Co,,,'''',''' " p''SS't"' 'o'oe Ior executing tho
I" !. ,ne eo''. .,... u 20 H.
t., ""> 'i''l'' ''4 " W PTPe'o"l' ana, MOI
" w. ''n0li'" az inc =, assure Oh any one OF the
contracting IfTIIPS IIte olu articles OF c0nted