Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1860-01-02

anu -AnsElcs anu IN l. 10 A1Gl entered INTO
league, knU2n the ArIicies OF Confederation,
they agreed 70 entIust the administrA-
ten OF Their x ernal relatioDs TO a common
gent, known the Congress of the United
States, ex- ressly declaring, in the first article,
SHAT each State retains its sovereignty, freedom
aid independence, aud every power, jurisdiction
and right, which il nof. bv this Coufe lcratiou,
expressly delegated TO the United States in Con-
gross assembled"
Under this Confederation, the war o. the revo
la ion was carried on, and on the Sd of Sep;em-
Der, l7S3 the contest ended, and a definite treaty
was signed by Great BiitaiD, in which she &C
knowiedsed the Independence Of the Colonies in
in the fOiloSing terms:
"ART. |. lis Bitanc MsjestY Acknowledges
the said U1ited States, viz: New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Bay, Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jer-
sew, Pennsylvania, Delaware. Maryland, Virginia,
North Carolina. South Carolina and Georgia, to
be FREE, SOVEREIGN AND INDEPEND-
ENT STATES; that he treats with them as
suc6; AMI Tor Tself, bis heirs and successors,
reli, pushes al claims to the Government, pre-
pgieJary aEd territorial rights of the same and
cry part thereof"
Thus we're os ablished the two great principles
asserted by the Colonies, namely, the right of a
State TO govern itself; snd the right OF people
o abolish q G iyernment when IL becomes de-
stUsise of the ends for which il was instituted
Aud concurrent with the establishment of these
principles, was the fact that each Colony became
and was recognized BY the mother country as a
FREE. SOVEREIGN AND INDEPENDENT
STATE.
IN l157 deputies we're appointed by the States
to revise the articles Of confederation and on the
I7th OF september, 1857, these deputies recon-
meDdei for the adoption Of the States, the ar
icles OF union, kn)Wn as .he Constitution OF the
United States-
The parties TO whom this Constitution vss sab
mi,'ed were the several fCy,I1 "a States; they
we're 70 agree or disagree, aud when nine Of
them agreed the compact wss to take effect
among those ooncurfing, and the General Gov
ernmcnt, as the common agent, was then TO be
lovosttd with tbeir authority.
| OILY Eiue of the thirteen States had concur
rel, toe other four would have remained as they
then Verc-seHarsts sovereign States, Odepend
ent Ct any O. the provisions of the COnstitutiOn.
70 facs, tao Of The States did not accede 20 the
Constitution until long after il bad gene into OPP
Grafton among The other eleven; All during thai
in-sgVll thsy each exercised the funcuons of an
INDEPENDENT nation.
b. this Constitution certain duties we're
charged on the several States, and the exercise
% csrtain Of their powers res'rliDed, which nc
cessariy implied their continued existence ss SOW
i
amendment was added which declared that the
powers uOf delegated 20 the United States by the
Constitution, Tor prohibited by il 10 the States,
are reserved to the 5 rates respectively, or to the
people. Ga the 90 May, l7SS, SoIth Carolina.
/ by a convention OF her people, passed en- ord-
nance asserting 70 this Constitution, aud alter
words altered her own constitution TO conform
herself 10 the Obligations she had undertaken.
Thus was established, by compact between the
Is. - ~ -.
poseIs, limited TO the express words OF the grant
aud 20 so much more only as was necessary To
execute the power granted. This Limitation left
the whole remaining mass of power subject t.
the CLAUSE Feserying Is to the States to the PEG
pie, and rendered unnecessary any specification
of reserved rights. We hold that the Govern
meat thus established Is subject to the two pTin-
cipIes asserted in the Declaration OF Independ
! euce; and we hold further, that the mode OF its
formation subjects it to third fundamental prin-
ciple. namely: the law OF compact. We main-
tain that in every compact be ween two or more
parties. the obligation s mutual; that the failure
OF one Of the contracting parties 70 perform ma
teral cart OF the agreement entirely releases the
other, aud that where arbitrator is provided
each party Is RENTED to his own judgment TO de
mine Oh fac. OF failure, with ell 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
| fulfill their constitutional obligations, and We
refer 20 their own statutes for the proof.
/ The Constitution OF the Uoited States, in its
/ fourth article. provides as follows:
"No person held to service or labor in one State
under the laws thereof, escaping into another,
sh4l, in consequence oil any law or regulation
therein, be discharged from such service or labor,
but shall be delivered up on clai of the party
to whom such service or labor may be due"
/ This stipulation was so material to the compact
thst with0u. il that compact would not have been
mad. The greater number of the contracting
parties held slaves, and the State of Virginia had
I previously declared her estimate Of It's value by
making il the condition of her cession of the ter
ritory which roa coDposes the States north oil
the Ohio river.
! The same article of the Gcnstitl:ion stipu-
lates also for rendition by the several States oil
/ fugitiyts from Justice from the other States
The Geutr8l Government, as the common
agent, passed Laws to carry into effect these
s.ipula,ious of the States. For many years these
l laws were executed. But an increasing hostility
on The part Of The rortberl Sts,es to the insti'u
ton of slavery has led to disregard OF theS o5-
legations, and the Laws of the General Govern
/ ment have ceased TO effect the objects of the
/ Constitution. Tue states Of Maine, New lamp
I shire, Vermont, MASSACHUSETTS,. Connecticut
RHODE Island; NeS York, Pennsyl ylnis, illinois,
Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa
have enacted laws which either nailily the acts OF
4 Congress. or render useless any attempt TO ex
:-au;e them. In many OF these States the fugitive
il d,sch ,rgeA from the service or labor claimed
md in none of them has the State Government
COMPLIED with the liquidation made 10 the Con-
stitntion. The State o: New Jersey, at an early
ds7, passed law Tor Inc rendition OF fugitive
slaves in conformity with her constitutional IN
L A 81 81. ula No.
has led her more recently 10 enact laws which
rendered imperative TIE remedi,s provided by
her own law and by the laws of Congress. 10
the State OF Nes York, even the right OF frsDsit
/ for slave has been denied by her tribunal; ard
the ates of Ohio and Iowa have refused to
surrender to justice fugitives charged with
murder, and with uciting servile Instruction 10
the State of Virginia. Thus the constitutional
compact has been d,iioeErtsly broken and d'sre-
garded by the non sIsyehol ing States. and the
conse queucs follows that South Carolina ia re.
leased from its obilgsnea
The er d5 for which this sConsttui0n was
framed are declared by Itself to be "to form a
more perfect Uoion, establish justice, insure do.
nestle tranquility, provide for the common
defense, promote the general welfare and secure
he blessings CT liberty 10 ourselves and pos
terity."
The ends il endsayored to accomplish by a
Federal Government, in which each State was
recognized as an equal, and had separate con-
troll over its own institutions. The right OF prop
erty in slaves was recognized by giving to free
persons distinct Political rights; By giving them
the right to represent, and burthening them with
direct taxes for three-fiiths of their slaves, by
authorizing the importation Of slaves for twenty
years, and by stipdlGtcg for the reDdition of
fugitiyes from labor.
We affirm that these ends for which .his Gov
eminent was instituted have been defeated, and
the Government tseif has been made destructive
Of them by the action OF the non slayeholding
States. Those States have assumed the right of
deciding upon the prOprieiy of our domestic instii.
tutions snd have denied the rights of property
established in hitesn - TIE States and recog-
nized by the Cor slituIion; they have Denounced
as sinful the institution of slavery; they have
permitted the open establishment among them of
societies, whose syowed object is to disturb the
peace and 70 eloign the property Of the citizens
of other Safes. They have encouraged aud
assisted thousands OF our slaves to leave thsir
homes; and those who remain have been melted
by eniseeres, books and pictures, to servile in
sIrrectioa.
For twenty-five years this agitation has been
steadily increasing. until il has nov secured 10
its aid the power Of the common Government
Observing the forms of the Constitution, a sec
iopal party has found within that article estab-
isbiug tle Executive Department, the means Of
the Constitution itself. geograph
ical line has been drawn across the Union, and
all the States north of that line have united 10
the election of a man to the high Office of Pres-
dent of the United States whose opinions and pur
poses are hostile to slavery. He 10 to be en- |
trusted with the administration of the common /
Government, because he has declared that that /