The Oxford intelligencer., 1861-01-09
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de donsdt Ftiod j the uniI ed statst was framed,
by the-66tes al such, e~ch~seting for kseif n
its separate capacity Of an independent soyer-
eiyTty3 i was 4 Compact between sovereign
na6ons each equal in sovereign rights to any
Other, and none wiling to acknowledge any In
feriority. II follows, as history abundantly
proves, that the Federal Government would new
or haxa been arsauized i this perfect equality.
of the States bad pot been recognized and guar
antied in the Constitution. Holding this princi-
pie as iinviolabie, and cherishing It as one does
the apple Of his eye the States agreed together
to appoint s'eommon agent transact their bus
mess with foreign nations, and to regulate some
few other matters Of common interest 10 all the
States, principally growing ont OF this foreign
business And in order 10 enable this agent to
carry out the. provisions q the compact by which
it was appointed it was necessary that the
States should delegate to i authority % ersreise
some Of their most important sovereign powers
It was necessary that K shouidb be able to act ef
ncientiy HI discharsihg its high and important
trusts, and to enforce the obedience Of the citizen
to its, measures for promoting che general ssl-
fairs Hence itwas provided with a Judiciary
and an executive, through whichit could reach
individual persons and exact of them that ODE
diepss without waiting for the tardy and uncer-
tain process Of appealing to the States to enforce
its decrees But observe just here, that the
power here grated, was to be erercissd by the
agent, it is true, yet Il was not Inherent in the
agent, but was wholly derived from and delega-
ted by the individual States. And this marked
difference exists between the natures Of the Fed
eral and the State Governments, viz: All the
powers of the Federal Government are borrowed
from the States, being dslsgatedby them to the
former, which not only possessed no power, but
absolutely had no existence except BY the Jfdt
of the States; while the powers Of the States
are absolute and Inherent. Mr.. Madison said,
that the Constitution Of The United States, hay
ing been ratified in each State by Convention
of the people thereof, therefore rested upon the
same basis hcpcopic J for its authority and va
lidty, as the Constitutions Of the several States
While this is true IN one sense, this important
distinction must be kept 10, mnd % In rati(ymg
the Federal Constitution these several State
Conventions acted as sovereign and Independent
powers, celebrating upon and ratifying treaty
with other similar powers whereby they created
mutual agent whose attributes and authority
are derived solely from that treaty; no State
could confer the powers Of another or in any
way bind another while in forming their res.
pcctive State Consultations, each State acted as
one consolidated body polite, organizing gov
ermnent for its own members. To have made
the cases parallel, and placed the Federal Con-
.sitution upon the same basis with the State
Constitutions, it should have been ratified, as
stated in my former article, by ageneral Conven-
ton of the people of the whole Union as one
Integral nati0a. Then all the States would
have been bound by its action, Indeed they
would have been annihilatcd in great measurc)
although the delegates of the people from a
large minorityof the States had been utterly OPP
posed 10 ratifying that instrument. But not so.
Our fathers were wiser men and better States
right men, than to do any such thing. They
designed the Constitution to be, as twas conf
pact between the States; and they left each
State to determine for itself whether it would
ratify this compact. Tn the one instance they
were delegatihg authority to d stranger to act
for them in certain specified cases; and in the
other, they were firing bounds to the exercise of
their own original, absolute sovereignty, when
applied by themselves to the government of
their own citizens. The Federal Constitution
is letter of attorney, by which an agent, hay
ing in himself no power and no right to act in
the premises, is appointed to do certain acts foi
his principal, and his whole authority necessari-
ly arises from and is controlled by the instru-
ment ITSELF which he can neither alter nor mod
ify, and beyond which he cannot CO. On the
other hand, State Constitution is but the rule
Of action prescribed by the principal to regulate
his own conduct in the management of his own
affairs, which he can change or modify at plea
sure; and mark his powers do not arise out of
the instrument but the instrument itself is the
p6pring Of his po,eers, which are innate and
independent, The distinction is clear and sim
pie, and is Of the utmost Importance in under
standing the true philosophy Of the complicated
system of government framed BY our fathers.
Now, the difference between original and del
egated sovereignty becomes plain and palpable.
Indeed, delegated sovereignty is just no sorer-
eignty at ALL The term itself is solecism, for
It implies (what is really the TRUTH the mere erer
else of the powers of some. superior sovereign,
who, for the time being, authorizes and permits
such exercise. And this is just the relation ex-
isting between the States and the Federal Gov
ernnent under the Constitution. Hwould seem,
TO follow, as logical necessity, that the sover-
eign would have right to resume tie exercise Of
his orn possers whenever he thought proper
Suppose for example, that the Autocrat'of Rus
STA should choose to appoint the Emperor of
Austria bis regent, to exercise certain functions
pertaining to bis sovereignty; would any one
question his right to resume the use of those
functions at pleasure? and more especially if he
found this agent abusing his trust, and employ
ing the powers thus conferred to the injury Of
the granter, and for the destruction of his
rights And would II not be absurd to say that
the En- peror of Austria bad right to hold on
to these powers and toaeoerre the Autocrat to