The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1860-12-27
DJsUNION.
Jackson on the Right to Secede.,

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The following is what the grea; Dem
ocratic statesman--Andrew Jackson; said
in regard to secession on the 10th of De
cember, 1882, when South Carolina as
sumed the position that she would have
the compact of States. Tie extract is
worthy of perusal by every American
citizen: $50
"7he laaCs Of the United States mast be
erecuted. Ihaue no discretionary poaeer on
tie sugect--my duty is empAaticoily pro-
nounced in tie Consultation. Those who
told you that you might peaceably pre-
vent their execution. deceived you-they
could not have deceived themselves
They know that forcible opposition
could alone prevent the execution of the
laws, and they know that such opposition
must be repelled. Their object is disun,
ion; but be not deceived by names; dis.
union by armed force is treason. Are
you really to incur its guilt? If you are,
on the heads of the instigators of the act
be the dreadful consequence-on their
heads be the dishonor, but on yours m ay
fall the panlshment--on your unhappy
State will inevitably fall all the evils Of
the conflict you force upon your country.
l. cannet accede to the mad project of
disunion of which you would be the first
vIctlms-its frs: magistrate cannot, if he
would, avoid the performance Of his duty
the consequences must be fearful for
ycu' distressing to your fellow citizens
here, and to the friends of good govern
ment throughout the world. Its enem-
les have beheld its prosperity with ~ex-
ton which they could not conceal--is
was standing refutation of their slavish
doctrines, and they will point to our dis
cord with the triumph of malignant Joy.
1t Is yet IN your power to disappoint them
heie - 1eI Iitbe 10 SHOW tnat the de-
scendants of the Pinckneys, the Sum piers,
the Rutledges, and of the thousand other
names that acorn the pages of our revo-
lutionary history, will not abandon that
Union, to support which so many fought
and hled and died. adjure you as you
honor their memoiy-as you honor the
cause of freedom, to which they dedicat-
ed their lives-as you prize the peace of
your country. the lives Of its best citizens,
and your own fair fame, TO retrace your
steps. Snatch from the archive of your
State the disorganizing edict of its Con-
vention-bid its members reassemble and
promulgate the decided expressions of
your will to remain in the path which a.
lone can conduct you to safety, prosperity
and honor-tell them that compared to
disunion, all other evils are light, because
that brings with it an accumulation of all
declare that you will never take the
field unless the star spangled banner of
your country shall float over you-that
you will not be stigmatized when dead
and dishonored and scorned while you
live, as the authors of the first attack on
your country! Its destroyers you cannot
be. You may disturb its peace--you
interrupt its prosperity-you may c:oud
its reputation for stability--but its tram
guilty will he restored. its prosperity will
leturn, and the stain upon its nationality
will be transferred and remain an eternal
blot on the memory Of those who caused
the disorder.
Fellow-citizens Of the United States!--
The threats Of unhallowed disunion--the
names of those, once respected, by whom
it is uttered-the array of military force
to support it--denote the approach of
crisis in our affairs on which the continu-
ance of our unexampled prosperity, our
political existence. and perhaps that of
all free governments. may depend, The
coniunc:ure demanded free, a full and
explicit enunciation, not ouly of my inten
tons, but of my principles of action;
and as the claim was asserted OF right,
by State to annul the laws of the I'm
ion, and even to secede from it at pleasure,
a frank exposition Of my opinions IN regard
to the origin and form of our government
and the construction I give to the instru-
ment by which it waa created, seemed
to be proper. Having tie fullest conf
dence in the business of the legal consti-
tutional opinion of my duties which has
been expressed, l rely with equal conf
dence on Jour undivided support in my
determination to execute the laws-to
preserve the Union by all constitutional
means--to arrest, if possible, by all mod
crate but firm measures, the necessity Of
a recourse to force; and if it be the will
Of Heaven that the recurrence of its pri
mevaI Gu rse on man for the shedding of a
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