The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1860-12-28
Seeded.

On Thursday OF last week the South Car
DINA Convention passed, unanimously, the
following ordinance:
An Ordinance to dissOlre the Union tetweeh
the State Of Soath Carolina and the othe'
States united wiH her under tie compact
entitled the Constitution Of the Cniteu
States of Ame'ica:
We,thc people of the state of South Carroll
ra in convention assembled. do declare and
ortain, and it is hereby declared and Or
dained, that the ordinance adorted by US in
convention. on the Odd day of MAY, IN the
wear of our Lord l7SS whereby the Cons,i
tuition of the United States was ratified, and
also all acts ond parts of acts of the General
Assembly of this State ratifying the amend
ments of the SAID CONSTITUTIONS, are hereby
repealed, and that the I nien How subsistins
between South Carolina and other States
under the name of the United States of A.
merica, is hereby dissolved.
One hundred and sixty nine members vo-
ted in favor and none against this ordinance.
This news was speedily telegraphed all over
the country, but without making any visible
impression, as the event was looked for. l,
was reported that money was easier and
stocks little better in Wall street. on Fri
day and Saturday succeeding, than they had
been for two months, but whether this was
owing to the action of South Carolina is UNI
certain.
The declaration of causes of secession was
reported by Mr. Rhett as fellows:
SOUTH CARoIINA's DECLARATION OF INDIE
PENDENCE.
The state Of South Carolina, having deter.
mined to resume a separate and equal rank
among nations. deems it due to herself and
the remaining United States of America and
the nations of the world that she should de-
clare the causes which led to the act. In
1865 that portion of the British empire EN-
bracing Great Britain, undertook to make
laws for the government Of the American
colonies. A struggle for the right of self
government ensued, which resulted on tn.
18th of July. l716, in declaration by thu
colonies, that they aye, and of right ought tt
be, free aud independent states, and that a.
free and independent states, they have full
power to levy war, conclude peace, contract
alliances, establish commerce, and to do such
things as independent states have the right
to do. They further so.emnly declared that
whenever any form Of government become,
destructive Of these ends, it is the established
right of the people to alter and abolish il,
and institute new government. Deemins
that the government of Great Britain had be-
come destructive of these ends, they declared
the colonies free and absolved from allegi
glance to the British crown, and the political
connection between them and Great Britain
was totally dissolved.
The right of state to govern itself, and
the right of the people to abolish govern
ment when it becomes destructive of the
ends for which it was instituted, were ex
pressed when the colonies separated from the
mother country and became free and indie
pendent states. The parties amending the
constitution Oh the 18th Of September, 1871
were the several sovereign states.
On the 23d of May, l7SS, South Carolina
BY convention of her people, assented to
the amended constitution Of the United
States. The failure CT one OF the contract.
ing parties to maintain constitutional oblisa-
tons releases the other Fifteen Of the nor
them states have deliberately refused for
wears TO fulfill their constitutional obligations.
We would refer to those states for proof
of this. When the fourth article Of the con-
stitution was adopted. the greater number of
the contracting parties held slaves The
hostility of the northern states to the insttu-
ton Of slavery has led them to disregard
their constitutional! obligations. The laws
Of the general government have ceased to ef-
feet the objects Of the constitution. Maine
New Hampshire, Vermont. Massachusetts,,
Rhode Island, Connie cticut, New York, Penn
sylvania Illinois. Indiana, Ohio, Michigan,
Wisconsin. and Iowa have enacted laws Ell
the. nulityine the constitution, or rendering
useless all attempts to execute the acts of
Congress. In many of these states fugi,ives
"held to service and to labor" have been
claimed, but in none of them has the state
government complied with the stipulation on
this subject made in the constitution.
In the formation of the federal government
each state was recognized as an equal; the
right of property in slaves was recognized by
giving all free persons distinct political
rights by giving them the right to represent.
and burdening them with direct taxes for
three-hfths of their slaves; by authorizing
the importation of slaves for twenty years,
and bv STIMULATING for the rendition Of fugi:
@;ves from labor. The ends for which this
government was instituted have been detea-
ted, and the government itself made destruc-
tive by the action Of the non-slaveholding