Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-02-10
coIYuxdArroM
me aiehts.eI DUTY of secession.

The Right 81 Duty OF Secession.
The duty of sec a. n is, In my opinion indepen-
Gent Of the right, "A e reason, that danger may
lmmlnenty threat7*ki e State while not yet felt by
the people of the y; and therefore while reyolu-
ton is yet uncale III 1t is the duty Of the State by
any and every meg M of craftsmanship to antici-
pate the coming d ~. Such, for instance is the
present position 0. use OF the slave States South
Carolina TennessA sssr any other, which, having no
free border, is notf red by the personal liberty
bulls OF the northe states and their citizens as
such are not warnyeeANy any premontory pressle
of the contemplated Sush upon southern civilization
Those who denylH HAe right of secession. take re-
fuge from the ext ~ OF their argument in the
reserved right OF luton, forget that revolution
IS necessarily an Q. Mthrow If all the bonds Of gov
ernment. And ilstS2 records no instance of peO-
pie having risen lhs mass against the State until is
expressions had hssHn e intolerable. 1t is. there
fore, an abuse OF Isf1uage to speak of revolution
against the genePasA Fernement, concurrent with a
continued alleglan gD the State. Because when the
people OF the tho are the State) recognizing
the laws Of the ngage In armed resistance to
the general governp,elt that constitutes the seces-
sion of the State alsse who fall back an inher-
outright of revoutfoh, are in fact advocating an I'M
constitutional right;ef secession as derner resort
while denying the constitutional right of secession
timely one. To wait for the exercise of revolution
airy right is wait until the people are personally
goaded to desperation.
If the trainers of the Constitution of the United
States had provided in the instrument no remedy
against ISuSral aggrtSSlOn liley would 10 say the
least have overlooked the greatest ard most
manifest danger to which the States weuld be al
ways exposed. The character of the men by whom
the Constitution was framed, the caution with which
every step taken and the tact that every power
was attempted to be usurped by the Federal Gov
eminent can be forced by implication alone from
| the instrument, all Stow that the trainers of the
| Constitution did notsconsider that the States had
ceded any portion o heir sovereignty to the Gene
| raj Government II 40 OF the States, namely, Mas
sachusetts and New Hampshire, in ratifying the
Constitution declanGS it to be only solemn COM
pact between the STEPS. And the celebrated Vir-
giIia resolutions of 4 49, Gas well the Kentucky
resolutions of 1893 arom the pen of Jeferson) de-
clare that in of deliberate, palpable and dan
gerous exercise of o4er powers not granted by the
said compact the Gates who are parties thereto
have the right, and axe in duty bound, to interpose
for arresting the pfc5ess of the evil The poicers
| conferred upon the tueral creature of the States
| as their agent are extremely limited but
nevertheless the: are necessarily powers of
! great effect. Wee there no other restraint
| upon the abuse - them but the fear of pro-
1 miscuous revolutssl, those powers are all
that any governm - could desire to make itself
master Of the peopf In the formation of the Con-
stituton the federaSstS, under the lead of Hamilton
contended that the stsident and the Senate should
be elected for liffT Eat governors of the States
/ should be appointeIt ~ the General Government,
and that it should re- the power of veto State
laws In fact, upoI. fading the bent of the Conven-
| ton lndomltably Of Hlsed to strong government
| under any circumstances, Hamilton withdrew from
| 1t, and afterwards upon further elaboration,
/ he became the abl's advocate of the Constitu-
/ ton. only for the a. 5on that he it could
be construed into q strong government, al
though not oFganl q n de is said upon good
thority to have exIsed the opinion that there need
| be no limit to pow&rssn Government which was
restrained in the tss "a articles of laying taxes and
declaring war. TSs5istory of the Federal party is
sufficiently well kn%S; and it is equally well known
that the country wSsSnly finally loosened from the
shackles of its poeSSy the effect of its notification
| laws of South Carslfta in 1872.
| If, as is declarel Eby the Virginia and the Ken
lucky resolutions, eatter penned by Mr.. Jefferson
State nitheexercise of its sovereign powers can in
terfere 20 arrest an: encroaehment on the part of
| the Federal Government it seems to me too clear
for argument that in the event unable to
stay the cncroachment the State may, in the same
exercise of its sovereignty, from the danger
1t could not arrest Such is the position at present
of each of the slave States which have net yet Sc
ceded The Virginia resolutions were sent to the
several States The States of Delaware, New York
Connecticut New Hampshire, Vermont and Massa-
sachusets sent replies not coHtradictng the traits
announced by the Virginia resolutions and the
other States by their silence acquesed in them.
When therefore, Mr.. Calhoun, thirty years after
wards claimed the right on the part of q sovereign
State peacefully 10 Secede from the Union when the
compact was bro'-en by the other States he claimed
no more than WI had been admitted to be Ccnsti-
tutona right by the trainers of the instrument no
more than VIII. lad been declared by several
of the States n the act of ratifying the Con-
stitution TO be heir understanding Of it. That
1t is no infract of the Constitution for State
in sovereign ca S2ity to secede from the Union
when secession g necessary TO the preservation
Of its rights, proved By arguments drawn
from the nature Il our government and which have
never been ansr4red In attempting now to give
abstract of Il 4t argument it shall be my endeav
or as much pF s.9e to adopt the statesman's own
language. haNf b. en- partly induced to undertake
the task by the Suggestion that of the most in
telligent and akG:c Of our naturalized citizens,
who the need sSE of Secession consider it as
revolutionary rJf1 Ely which would be breach of
their oath of nat sr!. izatiOn.
1t is the opiniob q a large portion of our country
that the very bece Zeal of perfect government is
the government g KmajoFity, acting through re-
preventative bods Sithout check or limitation in its
power; but so far %fFom being Perfect when this
theory is tested by Experience and it becomes
manifest that the NECESSARY tendency of all govern
ments, based upon the will of absolute majority
without constitutional check limitation of power
is to faction. corruption. anarchy and desDotsm;
and this whethec the will of the majority be ex-
pressed directly thrpugh assembly of the people
themselves. CT BY their representatives. No gov
eminent of the kind, among the many attempts |
which have been made. has ever endured for q sin
gle generation but the contrary, has invariably
experienced the fate assigned to it. the inevitable
result would be syftem of hostile legislation the |
part of the majority. stronger interest, against
the minority, weaker interest:the object of which,
much as possible frcIu the latter, which would
essarily be resisted BY all the in their power
Warfare, by legislation. would thus be commenced |
between the parties with the objectand not less
hostile than that which IS carried on between distinct
and rival nations the only distinction would be the
instruments and the mode. Enacments, in the on5
case, would supply what could only be effected by
arms in the other and the inevitable operation |
would be 10 eBgen " the most hostile feelings be-
tween the parties, Which would merge every feeling
of patriotism, that ne feeling which embraces the
whole and substitu in its place the most violent
party attachment; cSd snstead of one common cen
TIE of attachment y, md which the affections Of |
the community nj q rally there would in tact, be
two-the interests : the majority, to which those
who constitute thass ajorty would be attach
ed than they woudE the whole, and interests of
the minority to vl.tS they. in like manner, would |
be more attached nk to the interests of the whole,
Faction would thUF;s axe the place of patriotism;
and with the loss Hd patriotism, corruption must
necessarily follow = i in its train anarchy, and fl
nally despotsm K the establishment of absolute |
power in q single SivIdual. who, by being made |
lord and master ,nsae whole community, would |
have an equal int &St IN the protection OF all the |
parts. Te
Let us next suniIta that in order to avert tina ca
lamitous train III consequences, the community |
should adopt W. IN Constitution with limitations
restricting the " e " the majority, in order to pro-
tect the Eilnori. :gairst the expressions which |
would lecessap r suit without such restrictions.
1t is obvious thQE& case woald not be in the slight
varied, if thef iority be left in possession of
the right of judy exclusively of the extent of its
powers, without M right on the part of the minor
;ty to enforce tht IL tTctions imposed by the Con-
sttatioR the Ill Of the majority The points too
clear for ilustra A& Nothing can be more certain
than that, when a9NHsttution grants power and inn
poses limitations M he exercise of thatpower what
ever interests mi II btain possession of the govern
ment will be in ftr of extending the power at the
expense of the hi sation; and that unless those in
whose behalf th LIMITATIONS were imposed have in
some form or m IT the right of enforcing them,
the power will &latey supersede the limitation,
and The governm must operate precisely in the
same mdnner as Ne will of the majority govern
ed without cons ton or limitation OF power
The great and Alemn question here presents it
self Is there any, xsmedy for these evils? On the
decision of which &lepends the question, whether
the people can germ themselves, which has been
so often asked wiz so much skepticism and doubt.
There is a remedT5nd but one, the effects of which,
whatever may be he form, is to organize society in
reference to this Gt1ct of interests, which springs