Daily national Democrat., 1860-12-30
We Are Not lIistnkcn.


issue
We find the power of coercion not only in
the Constitution itself but in the preliminary
resolutions Of the Convention which framed
it. These iniSatory clauses ripened into the
following enumeration Of powers in the Con-
stitution: The Congress shall have power
To levy and collect taxes, duties, Imports
and excises, etc:
To borrow money on the credit Of the Uni
ed States:
TO regulate commerce with foreign nations,
and among the several States, and with the
Indian tribes:
To establish a uniform rule Of naturaliza-
tion, &c:
To coin money. &c:
To provide FOR the punishment of counter
feitng, &c, &C.;
To establish post Offices and post roads ::
To promote the progress of science and use
ful arts, DC.
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Su-
preme Court;
To define and punish piraeies, &c
To declare war, grant letters of marque
and reprisal, dc.
To raise and support armies, &c.
To provide and maintain navy:
To make rules for the governmentand reg
ulation Of the land and naval forces:
To provide for calling forth tho militia 10
srec,oe the lars ofthe Union, suppress nsur-
rections and repel inyasions.
To provide for organizing, armlng ard dis
cipliuing the militia, &C.
To exercise exclusive legislation in all ca
ses whatsoever, over such district mot ex-
ceeding ten miles square, as may Ly ces
sion of particular States, and the acceptance
Of Congress, become the scat Of Government
Of the United States, and to exercise like au-
thority over all places purchased, by the con-
sent of the legislature Of the State in which
the same shall be, for the erection Of forts,
magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other
needful buildings and
! 10 nedke all laaos which shall be necessary
and proper for carrying into cfecution the
foregoing powers, and all other powers vest
ed by this Constitution in the government ol
the United States. or IN any department. o,
Office thereof"
In section Of the Constitution occurs the
following -
"The privilege Of the writ of Iabeas Cor
pus shall not be suspended an,less when, in
cases of rebellion or invasion. the public safety
may require it."
The Constitution thus plainly provides for
forcible execution Of the laws Of the United
States, and that is all we contend for l,
plainly provides for the suppression of ere
Jellion," naming it,by its own proper title, in
the letter Of the instrument Secession is
practically notification or resistance to the
laws ofthe United States, for, when a State
declares itself out Of the Union, it must max
good the declaration by resisting the Fedora
authority in whatever shape it appears
whether it be the execution Of a judicial pro-
cess, the collecting ortho customs or the ex-
ercise of any Of the functions of . Federal
office.
We have clearly covered our whole posi-
tion by the Constitution of the United States
and our idea cannot be "a mistaken one, as the
Express so complaeently charges.
Gen. Jackson, we believe, was as good
Democrat as any of those latter day politi-
clans who are now arguing against coercion,
and understood the Constitution as well In
his celebrated proclamation against the Null
lification Movements of South Carolina, in
1882, he used the following marked and EN-
phatic language:
"This, then is the position in Which we
stand A small majority ofthe citizens of one
State of the Union have elected delegates to
State Convention that Conv cntion has or
dained that all the revenue laws of the Uni
ted States must be repealed, or that they are
no longer member of the Union. The Gov
ernor of that State has recommended to the
Legislature the raising of an army to carry
the secession into effect, and that he may be
empowered to give cearances to vessels in the
name of the State. No act of violent opposi-
ton to the law has yet been committed, but
such a state of things is hourly apprehended
and it is the intent of this instrument to pro-
claim not oRly that the duty imposed on me
by the Constitution, to take care that the
laws be faithfully executed shall be perform
ed to the ertent Of the pocorS aIreadg rested IN
me by law, or Of s3tch others as the gisdom of
Congress shall deUise and intr,tst to me for
that purpose; but to warn the citizens of
South Carolina, who have been deuded into
an opposition to the laws, of the danger they
will incur by obedience to the illegal and
disorganizing ordinance Of the Convention
to exhort those who have refused TO support
it, to perseyere in their determination to up
hold the Constitution and laws of their coun-
try, a2d to point out to all the perilous situa-
tion into which the good people that State
have been led-and that the course they are
urged to pursue IS one Of ruin and disgrace to
the very State whose rights they affect to
support
Such was JacLson's understanding Of the
power of coercion.
The Express also says that we are in q
grave error, when we say that it is iadiui9,t
ais, and not States, in their capacity ofStates
that are TO be held responsible for resistance
to the laws Of the Union. Now, let US see
what jackson thought on that point also. In
the same proclamation above alluded to, he
said
"The Constitution of the United States
then, forms a g0UcrlsmeHt and not league
and whether it be formed by compact be
tween the States or in any other manner it.
| character is the same. 1t is a government
in which all the people are represented, which
operates directly upon the poopie iadiui4uaA5