The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1860-12-12

Here, then, clear case is presented, In
which il will be the duty Of the next Presi.
dent as it has been my own. to act with
yigor in executing this supreme law against
the conflicting enactments of State legisla-
lures. Should he fail in the performance Of
this high duty, he will then have manifested
disregard Of the Constitution and laws. to
the great injury Of the people Of nearly one
half Of the States of the Union. But are
we to presume in advance that he will thus
violate his dutys This would be at war
with every principle Of justice and Of Chris
tian charity. Let US wait for the overt act.
The fugitive slave law has been carried into
execution in every contested case since the
tion; though often it is to be regretted, with
great loss and inconvenience to the master,
and with considerable expense TO the govern.
ment. Let us trust that the State legisla-
lures will repeal their unconstitutional and
obnoxious enactments. Unless this shall be
done without unnecessary delay, it is impos-
sible for any human power to save the
Union.
The Southern States, standing on the ba-
sis OF the Constitution, have right to de-
mand this act Of justice from the States Of
the North. Should it be refused. then the
Constitution. TO which all the States are par
ties, will have been wiliully violated by one
portion of them in a provision essential to
the domestic security and happiness Of the
remainder. In that event. the injured States
after having FIRST used all peaceful and con.
stitutional means TO obtain redress, would be
justified in revolutionary resistance to the Go.
sernment Of the Union.
! have purposely confined my remarks TO
revolutionary resistance, because il has been
claimed within the last few years that any
State, whenever this shall be its sovereign
will and pleasure, may secede from the I'm
ion, in accordance with the Constitution,
and without any violation of the constitu-
tional rights OF the other members Of the
Confederacy. That as each became parties
to the Union by the vote of its own people
assembled in Convention, so any one Of them
may retire from the Union in similar man.
ner by The vote of such convention.
ln order To justify secession as constitu-
tinnal remedy il must be on the principle
that the Federal Government is a mere vol
untary association Of States. TO be dissolved
at pleasure by any one Of the contracting
parties. II this be so, the Confederacy is a
rope Of sand, to be penetrated and dissolved
by the first adverse wave Of public opinion
10 any of the States. In this manner our
thirty. three States may resolve themselves
into as many petty, jaring. and hostile re.
publics, each one retiring from the Union,
without responsibility, whenever any sud-
den excitement might impel them TO such a
course. BY this process Union might be
entirely broken into fragments in a few
weeks. which cost our foreialhcrs many years
Of toll, priyation, and blood TO establish.
Such a principle is wholly Inconsistent
with the history as we'll as with the charac-
ter Of the federal Constitution. After it
was framed, will the greatest deliberation
and care, it was submitted TO conventions Of
the people of the several States FOR ratifica-
tlon. Its provisions were discussed al length
in these bodies, composed Of the first men
Of the country. It's opponents cantended
that il conferred powers upon the Federal
Government dangetous TO the rights of the
States, whilst its advocates maintained that
under fair construction Of the instrument
there was no foundation for such apprehen-
Sims. In that mighty struggle between the
first intellects Of this or az, other country,
il never occurred to any individual. either
among its opponents or advocates, to assert,
or even to intimate, that their efforts we're
all vain labor, because the moment that any
State felt herself aggrievrd She might secede
from the Union. What crushing argument
would this have proved against thase who
dreaded that the rights IL The States would
be endangered BY the Constitution. The
truth is, that il was mt until many years af-
Ter the origin Of the Federal Government
that such proposition was first advanced.
II was then met and refuted by the conclu-
siye arguments of General Jackson. who in
his message Of 10th January, 1855, trans
mitting the multiplying ordnance Of South
Carolina TO Congress. employs the following
language; "rhe right Of the people ui sin
gle State 10 absulye themselves az will, and
without the consent OF the other States, from
their most solemn obligations, aud hazard
the liberty aud happiness d The millions
composing this Union, cannot be acknowl
edged. such authority is believed TO be ut.
tcrly repugnant both TO the principles upon
which The General Government is cunstitu-
ted and TO tie objects which il was express
~ formed TO attain"
II is not pretended chat any clause in the
Constitution gives cOuntenance 10 such a
theory. |, is altogether founded upon in
ference, not from any language contained in
the instrument itself. but from the sovereign
character Of the several States by which il
was ratified. But is il beyond the power Of
a State, like an individual, to yield portion
Of it, sovereign rights 10 secure the remain.
ders ln the language Of Mr.. Madison, who
has been called The father Of the Coustitu.
ton: I" Ii was formed by the Siates--that
is, by the people 10 each of the States. act.
ing IN their highest sovereign capacity and
formed consequently BY the same authority
which formed the State constitutions
Nor is the Goyernmtu, Of the United States
created by the Constitution. less a Government IN
the strict sense % the term, within the sphere Of
its nowcrs than The governments created by the