The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1860-08-03
Reverence for the supreme Court.

Aao otiI Ae' ehtNa 1NhN ~ w WV
spect and reverence which should be paid to
the Supreme Court Of the United States.
Their leader, Stephen Arnold Douglas, for
getting his own position against the decis-
ions theof Supreme Court Of Illinois, and his
support Of the " Old Roman" Gen. Jack
son, where he took issue with the Supreme
Court on the Bank questions, now says he
accepts the decision Of the Court in the Dred
Scott case, and his friends put him ON plat
form which compels him not only to accept
this, but promises the country that he will
accept any decision, no matter how absurd,
how unjust or detrimental to public liberty,
that the Slayeholding Judges may make.
And this antidemocratic doctrine, which was
secuted as anti-democratic in the carly days
Of the Republic, the followers Of Dougla.
and the followers Of Brcckinridgc now ac'
cept and call upon the people to endorse.
ABRAHAM LrscoLs has said, Z" If were
in Congress, and vote should come up on a
question whether Slavery should be prohibit
ted in q new territory, in spite Of the Dred
Scott decision, I would vote that it should"
Democrats, young and old, who pretend
they are following in the footsteps of Thomas
Jefferson, and who claim him rs the father
Of Democracy, and who swear by Gen.
jackson, hold up their hands in holy horror
Mt this declaration of Mr.. Lincoln, denying
the plenary authority Of the Supreme Court
over the Constitution and the other branch
cs Of the Government.
There are some indisputablc historical
facts connected with this matter, which have
been linked together by. the Philadelphia
North American, which are worthy Of atten-
ton, and which go to show the inconsistent
cy of men claiming fellowship with Thomas
Jefferson and Gen. jackson as Democrats,
while supporting either tho Douglas or the
Breckinridgc wings Of tho Democracy.
These historical facts are these:
/. Mr.. Madison, the Virginia resolutions
of '0S, and the whole Democratic party, Of
the first and pure formation, denied that the
Supreme Court had any moro authority in
the Interpretation Of the Constitution than
either Congress or the Executive. A large
portion Of the Federalists agreed with them.
.. Besides the defiance Of that Court by
the State of Georgia, a defiance which De
mOcnicy sustained, Gen. jackson said that u
United States Bank was not Constitutional,
while the Supreme Court had said that it ,cas
50, in decision never yet reversed. Democ-
racy upheld the defiant stand taken by Jack
son, in both branches of Congress, and the
whole country over. Wedid not then quote
tho language employed in his message Veto
ing the re-ehartcr Of the Bank, but to gag
the mouth of eayil we will quots it now:
"The opinion Of the Judges has no more
authority over Congress than the opinion OF
Congress over the Judges; and ON that point
the President is independent Of both. The
authority Of the Supreme Court must not,
therefore, DO permitted to control the Con-
greSs or the Executive, when acting in their
legislative capacities, but is to have only such
influence as the force OF their reasoning may
deserve"
3. The democratic national conventions
held ut Baltimore and Cincinnati in 1852 and
1856, rcailrmcd the doctrines advanced by
Madison and by the famous Virginia resolu-
tons of '9S and 99-thosc resolutions, with
Madison's report, distinctly and entirely re-
pudiating the right of the Supreme Court to
interpret the general law independently Of
the legislature and the executive. Their ar
gument was that the Supreme Court, If in
vested with this national omnipotence, might
be constituted, as it has lately been, on
partisan basis-misht extend, abridsc, or
abolish the rights OF the citizen and tho in
situations of the nation-might. against the
will Of the people themselves, control all
their present and shape all their future.
4. At the democratic national convention
assembled last month at Charleston, there
was presented the following resolution, the
preamble of which we omit as needless:
Z" Resolved, That the democratic party will
abide by the decisions Of the Supreme Court
Of the United States on the question Of Con-
stitutional law"
That convention, democratic convention,
drawn from all quarters of the Union-re-
jcctcd the resolution by vote Of e3S nays
against q yeas! Democrats, who under
stand arithmctic-and they have evidently
gone rs far as fractional division--may take
slate and pencil, and soon cipher out that
their embodied party denied the authority Of
the Supreme Court over all questions Of Fed
eral law, by vote Of IL Is to 1. Rcduc-
ing the answer from fractions, Of which they
have already had too much, we will place it
in easy interycrs-a to ).
Aftsr this little summary Of tho indisput-
able proof we gave by facts and records, as
10 the view Of the functions Of the Supreme
Court taken by the first democracy under
Madison, the second under jackson, and the
.nird NJ Its national CONVENTIONS in ls52,
1890 and 1850, let us now quote from a still
higher c1POundCr of democratic doctrine.
Thomas jefferson, in letters written :,
1919, ls2o and 1929, the first to Jnd,.
K"anc, Nc second to Mr.. Jarvis, the ,b;ra
TO Judge johnson, expressed himself rs fol.
lows. 10 Judge Roane he wrote thus:
In denying the right they (thc Judges
OF the supreme Court) usurp, Of exclusively
explaining the Constitution, I 20 further
than you do, II | understand rightly your
quotation from the Fedcraiist, OF an opinion
that the Judiciary Is the last resort in re-
latinn ID the other dcrartn,nni. .,c a.. -.