Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1861-03-12
LINCOLN'S INAUGURAL

| about which there IS no special anxiety or e.
citement. Apprehension seems to exist anon
the people of the States that by the acces
sion Of q Republican administration the
property and Their peace and personal securlt
are to be endangered. Ttere never has been an
reasonable cause for such apprehensions. In
deed, the most ample evidence to the contrar
has all the while existed and been open TO thel
inspection II is found in nearly all the pnblshe
speeches of him who now addresses you. l d
but quote from one of those speeches when | de
clare that Il have ND purpose, directly or indi
recty, to interfere with the institution Of SLAYER
in the States where it exists. ! believe | hav
no lawful right to do SO, and have no inclina
ton to do So" Those who nominated and q
lected me did SO with full knowledge that / hat
made this and many similar declas atiOns, ant
had never recanted them. And, more than this
they placed in the 'platform" for my acceptance
and as a law to themselves and to me, the clea
and emphatic resolution which now read:
"l2eso1ved. That the maintenanoe inviolate Of tn
rights of the States and especially the right of eacl
State to order and control its domestic institu
tions according to its own Judgment exclusively,
essential to- that balance of power on which the per
fection and endurance of political fabric depends
and denounce the lawless invasion by armed fore
of the soil of any State Territory matter under
what pretext, as among the grayest Of crimes"
| now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing
so, only press upon the public attention tht
most conclusive evidence of which the case il
susceptible, that the property, peace and security
of no section are to be in aDywise endangered
by the now incoming administration. | add
too, that all the protection which, consistently
with the Constitution and laws can be given
will be cheerfully given to all the States wheI
lawfully demanded, for whatever cause, as cheer
fully to one section as to another.
There is much controversy about delivering up
fogitives from service or labor. The clause | now
read is as plainly written in the Constitution as
any other of its provisions:
"No person held to service or labor in one State,
under the laws thereof, escaping into another shall,
in consequence of any law regulation therein, be
discharged from such service labor but shall be
delivered up claim of the party to whom such
vice or labor may be DUE"
1t is scarcely questioned that this provision
was intended by those who made it for the re-
claiming of what we call fugitive slaves, and the
intention of the law giver is the law. Ali men,
bers Of Congress swear their support to the
whole Constitution-to this provision as much
as to any other. To the proposition, then, that
slaves whose cases come within the terms of this
clause shall be delivered up, their oaths are u
unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort
in good temper, could they not, with nearly
equal unanimity, frame and pass a law by means
OF which to keep good that unanimous oath9-
There is some difference of opinion whether this
clause should be enforced by National or by
State authority, but surely that difference is not
a very material one. If the slave is to be sur
rendered, it can be of but little consequence to
him or to others by which authority 1t is done
And should any one, ln any case, be content that
bis oath shall go unkept, on merely unsubstan-
tial controversy as to hOso it shall be kept2
Again: In any law upon this subject, ought
not all the safeguards OF liberty known in civil
lied and humane Jurisprudence to be introduced,
so that free man be not in any case surrender
ed as q slave Aud might it not be we'll. at the
same time, to provide by law for the enforce
ment OF that clause in the Constitution, which
guarantees that ethe citizens of each State shall
be entitled to all the privileges aud immunitles
OF citizens in the severai States" / take the of
iciai oath to day with no mental reservation
and with no purpose to construe the Constitu-
tion and laws by any hypercritical rules, and
whileI do not choose now to specify particular
acts OF Congress as proper to be enforced, dc
suggest that it will be much safer for ALL both il
official and private stations, to conform to and
abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed
than to violate any OF them, trusting to 6na
mpunity, in having them held to be unconstitu
tional.
1t is seventy two years since the first inaugu
ration of President under our National Con
stitution. During that period fifteen diferen
and greatly distinguished citizens have in sue
cession administered the Executive branch o
the government They have conducted i
through many perils, and generally with grea
success. Yet, with all this scope for precedent
now enter upon the same task for the brief con
sttutional term of four years under great ant
peculiar difficulties. A disruption of the Fedora
Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formi
daily attempted. hold that, in contemplation
Of universal law and of the Constitution, tn
Union OF these States is perpetual. Perpetuit.
is Implied, if not expressed, in the fundamenta
law OF all National Governments. 1t is safe t.
assert that no Government proper ever had
provision in its organic law for its own termi
nation. Continue to execute all the expires
provisions of our National Constitution, and th
Union will endure forever, it being impossibl
to destroy it, except by some action not provide
for IN the instrument itself. Again if the Uni
ted States be not government proper, but a
association of States, in the nature of cor
tract merely, Can it, as contract, be PEACEFUL
unmade by less than all the parties who mad
lit One party to contract may violate II
break it, so to speak, but does it not require q
to lawfully rescind ita
Descending from these general principles, W
fnd the proposition, that in legal contemplate
the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the hstor
of the Union itself. The Union is much olde
!, than the Constitution. 1t was formed, in fac
| by the Articles OF Association in 1774 1t ws
matnred and continued by the declaration of in
dependence in 1776 1t was further maturet
and the faith Of all the then thirteen States ex
pressly plighted and engaged that it should
perpetual, by the articles Of confederation in II
78. And finally in 1887, one Of the declare
objects tor ordaining and establishing the Cor
s.tution was ''to form a more perfect Union. -
But ii destruction of the Union by one, or by
part only, OF the States be lawfully possible, th
4 Union is less perfect than before the Oonstitl
tion, having lost the vital; element of perpetuit
1t follows from these views that no State, up
on its own mere motion, can lawfully get out
the Union that Resolves and Ordinances
that effect are legally void and that acts of v
olence within any State Or States, against tt
authority of the United States, are insurrectio
J AIRY or revolutionary, according to circumsta
! ces. | therefore consider that in view of ii
Constitution aud the laws, the Union is unbr
ken; and, to the extent OF my ability, shs
} take care, as the Constitution itself express
|. enjo,ns upon me, that the laws of the Union
+ faithfully executed in all the States. Doing th
, deem it to be only a simple duty on my pal
and shall perform it, SO far as practicable, III
less my rightful masters, the American peopl
shall withhold the requisite means, or IN sou
, autholi. alive manner, direct the contrary.
trust this will not be regarded as q menace, o
only as the declared purpose of the UuiOn tn