Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1861-01-18
VOL. 81, NO. 3.

Constitution. In fact, two of the States did
not accede TO the Constitution until long after
it had gone into operation among ths other
eleven, and during that interval they exercised
the functions of an independent nation.
BY this Constitution, certain duties were
charged on the several States, and the exer-
else Of certain of their powers restfained,'
which necessarily implied their continued ex-
istence as sovereign States. But, tn remove all
doubt, an amendment was added, which de-
clared that the powers not deleg ted TO the
United States by the Constitution, nor prohib-
tied by 1t to the States, are reserved 10 the
States respectively, or to the people On 23d
May, 1888, South Carolina, by a convention of
her people, passes an ordinance asserting to
this Constitution, and afterward altered her
own Constitution, to conform herself to the OBJ
legations she had undertaken
Thus was established, by compact between
the States, Government, With defined obieets
aud powers, limited to the express words of
The grant, and 10 so much more only as was
necessary to execute the power granted. This
Limitation left the whole remaining mass of
power subject to the clause feserying it 10 the
States or TO the people, and rendered unneces-
sary any specification of reserved rights
We hold that The Government thus estab-
lishcd Is subject to the two great principles as
serted 10 the Declaration Of Independence. and
We hold further that the mode of its formation
subjects il to third fundamental principle
namely, the law Of compact. We maintain
that in every compact between two or more
parties the obligation is nutual--that the fall
ure OF one of the contracting parties to perform
material part of the agreement entirely re-
leases the obligations of the other, and that.
where no arbiter is provided, each party il re-
nltted to his own judgment 10 determine the
fact of failure with all it's consequences.
In the present case that fact Is established
with certainty. We assert that fifteen Of tho
States have deliberately refused for years past
to fulfill their Constitutional obligations, and
we refer to their own statutes for the proof.
The Constitution OF the United States. IN
its 4tb article, provides as follows
'sNo person held to service or labor in on.
State, under the laws thereof, escapinp into
another, shall, IN consequences of sny law or
regulation therein, be discharged from sueh
service ar laber, but shall ha fnliEsral lii. ans
claim OF The party to whom such service d
labor may be due"
This stipulation was SO material to the COM
pact that without il that compact would not
have been made. The greater number of the
contracting parties held slaves, and the State
of Virginia had previously declared her esti-
mate of its value by making it the condition of
her oesslou OF tue territory which now com.
poses the States north of the Ohio river.
The same article of the Constitution stipu-
lates also for the rendition by the several
States of fugitiges from justice frcm the other
St-tes
The General Government, as the common
ageGt, passed laws to carry into effect theae
shpulations of the States. For many years
these laws were executed. But an increas-
ing hostility on the part of the Northern States
to the institution Of Slavery, has led to dis
regard of their obligations, and the laws of
the General Government have ceased to effoot
the objects of the Constitution. The States
Of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massa-
chusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New
York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio,
Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa have enacted
laws which either nulIify the acts of Congress
or render useless any attempt TO execute them.
In many Of these States the fugitive is dis
charged from the service of labor claimed. and
10 none of them has the State Government
complied with the stipulation made 10 the Con-
stitution. The State Of New Jersey, at an
early day, passed a law for the rendition of
fugitive slaves in conformity with her Consti-
tutional undertaking, but the current of anti.
slavery feeling has led her more recently to
enact laws which render imperative the rema-
DIES provided by her own law and by the laws
of Congress. In the State of New Yerk even
the right Of transit for slave has been denied
by her tribunals, and the States of Ohio and
Iowa have refused TO surrender to Justice fn
gItlVes charged with murder and With incitiug
servlle lnsurrection in the State Of Virginia.
Thus tLe Constitutional compact has been do
llberately broken and disregarded by the non
slaveholdlDg States, and the consequence fol.
lows that South Carolina is released from its
obligations.
The ends for which this Constitution was
framed are declared BY itself 10 be ssto form
moro perfect Union, establish justice, insure
domestic tranquility, provide for the common
defense, protect the general welfare, and secure
tue blessings of liberty to ourselves and our
These euds it endoavorsd to accomplish by a
Federal Government, in which each State WA
recognized as an equal, and had separate con-
troll over its own institutions. The right Of
property 10 slaves vas recognized BY giving TO
free persons distinct political rghis; by giving
them the right torepresen,, and burdening them
With direct taxes for three-6ths of their slaves;
BY authorizing the importation Of slaves for
twenty years, and BY stipulating for the rondi-
tion of fugitiyes from labor.
We affirm tha. those ends for which this Gov
arnment was instituted have been defeated, and
the Government itself has been made destruc-
tive Of them byv the action of the non-slave-
holding States. Those States have assumed
the right of deciding upon the proprlety Of our
domestic institutions, Sad have denied the rights
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