Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-11-10
SECESSION NOT QUALIFICATION
TIE ONE CONSTITUTIONAL, ~7HE0THER
UNCONSTITUTIONAL

TIE ONE CONSTITUTIONAL, The OTHER
UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
On our 6rst page will be found a couple Of arti-
oles ia relation 10 what is termed The Disunion
Plo,,' and treating upon the right of Southern
States 10 seoele in the event Of Lincoln's election.
Those Who write aud speak 10 opposition to Seces-
sion, almost always assume that it is unconstitu-
tional-au overt act Of treason. This is owing,
perhaps, to their confounding Secession with Null
LITIGATION. a withdrawsl from the Union, with re-
INSTANCE to its laws while remaining in the Union.
Wh.ever will calmly and dispasSionately look
at the question of Secession, will, we think, be
constrained to admit that any state has q Corsti-
%tutional right to withdraw from the Union for any
reason Whatever which is satisfactory to itself.
And while claiming the right of northern states
80 seceds because Of the support which their part
nership in the Union compels them to give slave
ry, we are equally ready to defend the right of the
southetn States to secede because Of the election
or Eincoln or Douglas, or if they regard it as q
sufficient reason, because there are heavy frosts
north Of Mason and Dixon's line.
The Right of Secession is q State right; belong
ing to she State in it's organic capacity, and be-
longing to the people as the constituents of the
State. IL is the very essence of despOsism to as
sumo, that becau Sc a State is willing to-day to
confederate with other States, tina, that partner
ship shall therefore exist until the end Of Timej
and that no matter what changes may be made in
she terms of partnership, that no matter what
other obligations may be imposed upon the mem
bers, that State is forever and irreVocably Bound
10 remain q partner. And to assert that the peo-
pie of o State have the authority to not only bind
A. A.. -C a. annA;:oaa
but also bind their children and their children's
children for unnumbered generations, is to annihi-
late the free agency of posterity, and to convert all
who come alter into mere machines, into govern
mental pswns to bo used solely with reference to
the success of the politician who moves them.
The Federal government has no other powers
than those conferred upon it by the States respeo-
lively, and tho States have all the Just powers of
government save those which they delegated 10 the
general government. Each State promised ODE
dienee to the United States so long as it remained
one OF them; and should South Carolina while in
the Union attemp pit to nullify the revenue law, or
Ohio attempt TO nullify tie fugitive slave law, the
United States government has the delegated au-
thority 10 compel submission, and her officers can
point to the chapter and section Of the Constitu-
zion which is their warrant. But when q State
sscedes from the Union, asking, on the one hand,
naught from the Federal government, and on the
.other hand, yielding it no obedience, there is no
clause to be found in the Constitution authorizing
The President to compel submission. The seees-
sion of South Carolina would no more change the
character OF the Unised States government, its au-
thority and power, than did the admission of Ore
gon; and sRe only difference between the acts OF
~e.o- 49, o-l oo-.-o - - khak -, a1p,tkN;nn AS,
lnenibets tc the firm it requires the consent Of
those already in the partnership, while q with
drawalcan be accomplished by the sole action Of
Ibe seeding State. And this is so, because adj
miisioa into the Union is a power delegated to the
general government, while secession from the
Union is a right reserved by the States, each to
issolf respectively. If in addition to the act oil
secession there should be a conflict between the
seeding State and the United States, even thai
would not be a tsai.orous act, but simply an act
of war, foT no one can be a traitor to a government
TO which he owes NO allegiance.
The Constitution of the United States is MOI
like the laws of the Modes and Persians, but sub.
jest to change. Indeed, a formidable array oil
amendments which follow as its rear guard, give
unmistakable evidence that in the stimation oil
the people it is an instrument not altogether per
feet, but whi:h has been changed, and may be
again changed, and changed SO as materially tc
affect the rights and obligations Of its supporters
There lie, in fact, but one portion Of the COnstitu
tion but may be changed by a constitutional ma.
jority and in a constitutional manner. Suppose il
should he so amended as to declare that what was
property in one State, II carried iato another State
should be protected as property there; that any
49, l. L
State. should be Recognized as legitimate in al
the States. This; Of course, would constitution.
ally establish slavery and The slave trade through.
out The Union. Would Ohio in such case be bound
TO remain in the Union, or under the supposed
circumstance would she have the right to secede
We presume that all the Buckeyes would then BE-
secessionists, and claim for themselves the righ,
to do what they now deny to the South. 1t would
then be your bull goring our OK.
The secession Of a single State Is a matter very
lastly effected; and in 1843 We were assured on
good authority that the dissolution of The present
6onfederacy could be readily and justly accom-.
plished. Ex-Presideht Adams; Ex Governor Briggs
Of Massachusetts. Ex-Governor Slade Of Vermont,
Joshua r. Giddings of Ohi,; and sixteen other
members Of Cohgressj solemhly declared in view
Of the Annexation Of Texas, We hesitate not to
say that annexation, effected by any act or pro.
eesding Of the Federal government, or any OF its
departments, Would be identical pih dis s~olution. >
And they further declared that such a measure,
so Injurious to the interests and abhorrsnt to the
feelings of the people Of the free STATES, will, in
our opinion, not only inevitably result in a disso.
lutiOn of the Union. but fully justify IT, There
Is the right, not only of secession-a retail process:
but Of dissolution-a Wholesale measure-dis.
tinosly aVowed, and based too, on sectional
grounds. Nothing has occurred since l843 to In.
validate that right, and we place ourselves by the
side of the men named and their CONDUCTORS in de.
Tending IT, whether exercised by the North or by