Delaware State journal and statesman., 1861-07-19
STATE SOVEREIGNTY.

Pulitiuu utFesyy Gdlleu eofulc 500
ere'gn'y, is not us fully understood by the "pla
people" of the country, as Mr.. Lincoln quaint
expresses it, as it should be. By many it
supposed 10 be new idea of comparatively re
cent origin, but In an address delivered by Re,
MIR. Wiswell, on the Fourth Of July in this city
ii is shown to he, theoretically and practically
older than the constitution itself; and was super
ceded by that instrument 10 order to save III
country from ruin and anarchy. We quote fror
the already extensively published addressed q
Mr.. Wiswel:-
To appreciate somewhat the difficulties which
encompassed the men who fought the battles O
our national freedom we must bear in mind tina
from thejnoeption of the war to the year l7sI
when our Federal Constitution was adopted
there was no we'll compacted, healthy govern.
ment The men who made the Declaration o
independence signed that document 10 the NAM
and by the authority of the s'good people of IN,
United Colonies" Thus they legitimately com
mltled the aOhole people against the reignius
power OF England Thus absoved from theil
allegiance to the British Crown they were with
Sut government. The times were stormy, ant
they were driven by the stern necessities Of the
hour to find some bond Of alliance. Hence il
was that on the 18th of July, eight days after
me issue Of the Declaration of Independence
John Dickinson, OF Pennsylvania, who voted
against the Declaration aud never signed H.
drafted aud presented to the Colonial Congress
several articles of confederation between the
Colonies. The first of these articles clearly as
sefts, the doctrine Of State sovereignty in these
words--"Each State retains its sovereignty, free.
dom and independence and every power, iuris.
dicton and right, which is not by this confeder.
alton expressly delegated to the United States
in Congress assembled"
In answer to the question where did each Of
these States get its sovereignty, it is only ueces-
sary TO gay that the people, the only rightful
| source Of power, never delegated any such SOW
ereignty. These articles of confederation were
debated until the goth of August, l77G, and
then new draft was reported to CONGRESS-, slight.
" modifying some of the features of the original,
when the report was laid over until April Eth.
| l77I, from which timo until November 18th. il
was sharply discussed three times a week, and
hnally adopted But these articles of confeder
alton were not fully signed until March LIST
1 1881, when Maryland was reluctantly urged to
yield its name.
Here was confederacy of sovereign aud In.
dependent States. How largely it answered the
expectations Of its founders, every careful reader
OF those times knows too we'll to be told The
friction and Earrings, and dscords and striies
incident TO the working Of such bastard gov
efnment were legion The heart of Washington
was saddened as he saw and felt too often the
iorce OF these difficulties As a philosophical and
accurate historian of those times has said. there
was no congeniality of principle between the
Declaration of Independence aud the Articles of
Confederation. 1.-THE foundation of the one,
were the rights Of man, experimenting Proyi-
dcnce nnd the constituent revolutionary power
OF the people. That of the other was the soye
roienty Of organized power and the indepcn-
dence OF the separate or dis-united States The
fabric OF the Declaration and that Of the Con-
federation were each consistent with lis own
foundation but they could not found one CON
sisteut, symmetrical edifce. They were the
production OF different minds and of adverse
passions; one ascending for the foundation of
human government 70 the laws of nature and of
God, written upon the heart Of MANTLE other
resting upon tho basis Of human institutions
prescriptvc law and colonial charters The
cornerstone OF the one was Yight-that of the
other was pol0er."
To any unprejudicei mind it il clear that the
Articles of Confederation between the thirteen
colonies, which obtained from 1881 until The
adoption Of the Federal Constitution, was in al
most every essential particular total departure
from the principles of the Declaration OF indie
pcndence. And, hence. the endless CONFLICTS
through which the nation passed, and in the
midst of which it lanRuished. When the indie
pendence Of the colonies was gained at so great
expense Of blood aud treasure, the work of
founding permanent Republic was hut Just
begun. The country soon began to droop and
pine under the poisonous shade of the Upas of
" state soyereignty'-a government which was
no governments form of government which
was in constant antngonism with the very prin-
ciples for which, through eight ensanguined,
dreary years, the people had shed some of the
most precious blood of the Garth, and strown
with their bleaching bones almost every hill and
valley from the SHOWS Of New Hampshire to the
swamps of Florida. They had repudiated the
government Of Great Britain, and had gotten in
its place u miserable Confederacy of indepen-
dent States they had indeed escaped the perils |
of Scylla, but had fallen into the snares of
Charybds. Confederation of these petty soye-
reigntes proved as incompetent to preserve the |
people in peace ms it had been inefficient to con.
duct them tremendously in war.
Seven years experience had demonstrated their
mistake and the condition of the country was .a
shrek Of terror ut its awful magnitude" The
existing state of things could not longer be borne.
The eye OF patriotism saw il. The sage of
Mount Vernon, in his quiet retreat, was panied
at the imperfect union Of the States for whose
Independence he had sacrificed the beat part of
his life And it was in his mind so full of ex.
pedients for the good of his country, that the
idea of the Federal Convention originated. lie
saw and others saw that the only safety for the
country was in speedy return to the principles
OF the Declaration Of Independence. 10 realize
this idea, the delegates of the people of the
several States met in convention in the city of
Philadelphia on tho 18th day Of May, 1897, and
on the 18th Of the Same month they organized by
the choice Of George Washington as their Presi-
dent. The result Of that convention, OF the pro-
found wisdom and patriotism of the country.
was the Federal Constitution. In the preamble
to that document they thus declared their pur-
pose;
owe, the people of the United States, in order
to form a more perfect union, establish justice.
ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the com.
mon defence, promote the general welfare ond | |
secure the blessings of liberty 10 ourselves md \
our poslerity, do Ordain and establish this Com =
stitution Tor the United States of America"
Inc leaulng elementary principle of this CON- v
sututlon was, mat =" the affairs OF the peOple of Il
inc United States were thenceiorth to be- adj
not by conlederacy or mere league
d irien1ship between the several sovereign o.
states, but by government distributed into Tho 81
hree great departments, Legislative, Juiieai al
md Executive" =,
Mr. Madison, whose doctrines are now held /,
contempt by rebels, in writing to his friend Ej" e
nund Randolph just before the assembling of the al
invention, says: " | hold it as n fundamental m
Joint that nm Individual independence of Tia States ~
utterly irreconciable with the idea Of an aggre 7,
ate Sovereignty" This was just what every II
atriOtic eye saw, and hence to form a moro oil
erfect Union aud cement these States into one
overeign republic, this glorious constitution was in
dopted. venture TO say that in this imperfect r
ondiIion of human nature, it combines more =,
olltieal wisdom, more sagacious craftsmanship, vi
nd more simple devotion to national welfars pr
ian any political paper ever written. 1t was Of
le work of one people, it was designed to So
,nsolidate these States into one government and :,
,ment them perpeiually by the strong, indis- h
lluble bonds of one great civil fraternity. th
We, the people Of this State have more than en-
ice rejoced, as we do this day, that our an 90
Vaal4 =.