The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1861-10-18
Governors Message.


convene the Legislature, twice in extra
session.
My messages to, and the Legislation by
those extra sessions, will furnish full in
formation as to the action of the State in
the most important period in its history,
resulting in the resumption of her origi-
nal sovereignty. by the almost unanimous
action of her people. and q union with
the Government of the Confederate States
of America.
Impelled to this action by "a long train
OF abuses and usurpations, pursuing inva.
rla6ly the same object" evincing settled
purpose upon the part Of those controlling
the Federal Government to degrade the
Southern States below the level of eouali-
ty, depreciate and destroy their property,
in open violation of the plainest guaran-
tees OF the Constitution, leaving those
States no alternative but humiliating SUBJ
mission, or manly resistance to the tyran-
ny of usurpation. -.
In contemplating the present condition
OF the country and the exciting and i'm.
portant events which are now transpiring
it may not be Improbable to review
briefly, the history of the past, and follow
step by step the progress of that revolu-
ton in the public sentiment of the North
which has eliminated in the reputation
of those vital principles of personal free.
dom, political equality and State sover-
eighty, upon which the Union OF the
States was originally established.
As our country expanded into the mag.
niticent proportions of great empire,
majority of the Northern people were daz-
zled by the open splendor of the nation
as unit. In contemplating with pride
and satisfaction the development of gi-
gantic power, capable of contending upon
equal terms with any other nation of the
earth, they overlooked the important
truth, that this colossal Government was
indebted for its greatness to the aggregat-
ed power of the separate sovereign States
which composed it, developed by their
respective local laws and institutions.
The country being naturally divided by
geographical distinctions-dissmil OF
pursuits, institutions, local laws, and di-
versity of interests, into twogreat sections,
upon the very instant when the equality
and sovereignty of the States were denied
by a majority of the members composing
the confederacy, the tendency of the
stronger section was to widen the breach
between them and to stimulate sectional
animosties, in order that it might seize
upon the exclusive control of the power
and purse of the General Government.
The struggle for supremacy, therefore,
was soon narrowed down to contest be-
tween these two great sections, the South
CALAMITY battling for the maintenance of
Constitutional liberty, States sovereignty
and political equality, while the North
disregarding these great cardinals, sought
to obtain power and spoils upon their
ruins.
In such contest the victory at the bal
lot box necessarily Injured to that section
which was numerically the stronger.
The exclusion of the Southern States
from all practical participation in the
control Of the General Government was
the immediate and unavoidable conse-
quence.
Upon the election of President Lincoln
under such auspices, the Southern people
were left in condition of dependence as
hopeless as that held by their fathers,
when they occupied the position of pro-
vincial subjects of the British Crown. All
positions OF influence and power in the
Government at the disposal of the Presi-
dental Chief, were Immediately filled with
those who were the most bitter and clam
orous enemies of the South. He who had
manifested the greatest degree of viru-
lance against the domestic institutions
and well defined constitutional rights of
the Southern States and people, were re-
garded as possessing the highest claim to
fa hot
hope could the Southern people in
dulge, for justice at the hands Of such
rulers? ..
The Congress which was in session at
the Inauguration of the President, enact
ed tariff law for the undisguised purpose
of transferring the earnings of the farmers
and planters of the South into the pock-
cts OF the manufacturers Of the North.
The Executive, Legislative and diplo.
matte functions of the Government were
in the possession Of party, backed by the
power OF dominant section, declaring
and inaugurating policy revolutionary
in itself, and destructive of the rights and
liberties of the people of the Southern
States, and measures were in active pro
gress to carry out their oft-repeated threat
to reorganize the Judiciary, so as to make
that last and only remaining bulwark oi
Constitutional liberty subservient to theil
selfish and sectional purposes.
Having exclusive control of the Govern
ment, they refused to listen to any over
lures on the part of the South for peace
full solution Of the difficulties and danger.
which they had thus precipitated upor
the country. In the blind wantonness o.
sectional pride and imaginary power. they
haughtily refused to entertain any term,
of compromise or to abate in the smalles
degree their arrogant pretensions.
They insultingly proclaimed that thu
will of majority was the will of the Gov
ernment, and hence. the will of maiorit,
of the people of the Northern States mus
be regarded as the law of the Union, re
gardless of Constitutional restrictions, jus
tice and equality.
Having exhausted every peaceful meas
ure which the most devoted friends of tn
Union could devise, in fruitless efforts tC
induce this sectional party to pause in it
career of unjust aggression, the people O
the South, almost as one man, prepares
to meet the crisis as became descendant
of brave and liberty-loving ancestry
Eleven States have resumed the power
which they had delegated to the Genera
Government, and in the exercise of thei
inalienable rights, have united themselve
together and started out upon their caree
under the auspices of new Confedera
cy. FF"i
Our late associates, dissenting from ou
course, and maddened by unexpected rt
sistance to their assumptions of authority
have hurled upon our unofiending peopl
their legions of mercenary soldiers in o.
, der to bend the necks of the freemen
eSouth TO the CALLING yoke of militar
despotism.
Their President has officially announ,
ed through the medium Of his messag
the monstrous heresy, that the sewers
States Of the Union are indebted TO th
Federal Government for their existenc
and theduration Of their separate author
ty, in effect assigning to them the san
relation To the IInion that COMMITTEES bei