Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-01-09
For the Intelligoncer.1
THIRD ARTICLE FROM sCURTIUs.,
MCDUhle on Secessiom-VieIvs OF Lu-
Interesting Resume.
No, z.

NICDUhle on Secessiom-Vie1ys OF Lu.
4her Mortin-AM Instructive and
No. 3.
4uessrs. EdttoTS:-In 1929 Mr. McDuffic,
OF South Carolina, published pamphlet
called the Trio in which he has antici-
Pnted and answered every argument en-
ployed by the nullifiers of his State in
1888. 1t is not generally accessible, and
we desire TO recur to some remarkable
passages in it, which are full of interest nj
this tune.
lie says: "Ambitious N n of inferior
talents, finding that they nave no hope to
be distinguished in the councils of the
national government, naturally wish to
increase the power and consequence of the
State governments, the theatres in which
they expect to acquire distinction. II is
not therefore n regard for the rights of the
people, and real apprehension that those
rights are in danger, that have caused so
much to be said on the subject of prostrute
State sOYereigntieS and consolidated en-
pire. II is the ambition of that clnss of
! politicians who expect to figure only in
the State councils, and of those States who
are too proud to acknowledge any sunc.
rior. lie must have read the lessons of
history to little purpose who does not
| perceive that the people Of particular
states are liable to fall occasionally into IL
dangerous ana morbid excitement upon pnr
tlcul"r subjects, and that under this excite
ment they will impci their rulers into the
adoption of measures in their headloug
precipitation, destructive to the Union. 4
man who will contend that our govern
ment is confedsracy of independent
States whose independent sovereignty was
never in any degree re-advanced, and that
1t may be controlled or annullcd at the
will of the several Independent States. or
sovereignties, can scarcely be regarded as
belonging to the present generatinn- Tho
General government. This is open, undis-
guiSed, arrrant anarchy itself!"
What then, in fact, is the condition of
the States under the Constitution? Are
they mere corporations like our cities and
towns deriving all the powers from
the acts of the government, under which
they are placed? Assurcdly not. The
States are the original parties to
the social compact, and are recognized
in ii, as entitled to exercise u certain
portion of the legislative power. In
the exercise of this legislative power
they are just as independent of the gencr-
al government as the general government
is of them in the exercise Of the powers
with which it is invested by the same
! Constitution. But although the general
! government has no authority over the
| State governments. merely as such, the
! L1litrd States, besides the control which
they exercise through the general govern
ment, over the citizens of the Stntcs. also
possesses under the Amending clause of the
Constitution, an almost unlimited con-
troll over the political situation of the
Stntcs themselves. Under these circum-
stances it is obvious that the States,
al. I, L.,
original right, recognized in the Constitu-
tiOn, the legislative power, which they
are entitled to exercise, have yEt no pre-
tensions to sovereignty or absolute politi-
cal Independence, and that the only sover-
eiEn power recognized i'll our institutions
is that of the people, n body polite of the
United States.
We take up, therefore, the thread o
discussion dropped in our last number
and resume the consideration of the ques,
tion: ''Whut is the nature and extent o
the supreme power of the Federal Gov.
ernmcnt, and how and by what means i
is to he enforced. We have shown thn
one of the chief weaknesses of the articles
of Confederation was that itOpcrated upOr
and through States, and not upon anC
through the people. IN this phnS
of the controversy it is not materia
whether the Constitution was adopted b,
the people as an aggregate mass, (for i
was not) or 10y the States, each ting b,
ITSELF through its sovereign people.
could not be submitted to the people O
the whole Union without being submitted
to the people of each State, because b,
the Constitution the rightof suffrage was
left to the people of each state, and TIL
qualifications of the electors in the Stntc
were made The qualifications of the elec
tors under the Constitution. When
that "the ratification of the Conven
tons of nine States shall be suffi
, cient for the establishment of this cOnstitu
} tion 6etscecm the States so ratifying til
same, the people of the Union becnm
parties to it, and this is the true, and, a
we believe, originul explanation Of til
phrase in the preamble, s'No the people c
the United States" 1t was, therefore
neither league, confederation, or an a
liRnce. 1t WAS social compact, a govern
meul, and it is described in the COnstitu
ton, and called in the Sth section of til
lat article, "Thc Government of the INIT
Sfates." And in the l7th section of III
same article, provision is made to exercis
exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoeve
a over n district (not exceeding ten mi
a squarcs) 10 become the seHt Of the GovERl
NENT of the United States" AS if
= make the distinction still palmer, by I'll
9th article contrudistinction is draw
between the new and the old system,
: providing that ''0ll debt, &c, ContrnctC
before the adoption OF this Constitute
: shall be valid against the United Stat
under this Constitution, as under THE Coz