Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-02-05
sPEEoH og eos. Jas. NJ. AsHLEY
CCoa6n9ad)


Neither did the people, in any one OF the
colonies, when adopting the Constitution,
reserve 10 themselves the right 10 withdraw
from the Union at pleasure and thus destroy
the Government they were organizing and
or three Of the colonies, it is true, before rat
flying the Constitution, did discuss the pro-
priety Of reserying the right 70 withdraw
from the Union at pleasure, but no such right
was conceded; and from the necessity OF the
case, could not be admitted then, any more
than it can be now.
Alexander Hamilton, in a letter to James
Madison, suggested the propriety of New
York ratifying the Constitution with the
reservation OF a right to seoede," if certain
amendments to the Constitution, proposed
bv New York, were not adopted within a
given period. Mr. Madison replied, declaring
explicitly, that the Constitution required an
" adoption N toto and foreDef.' " It has" he
adds, " been 50 odopted By the other STATES"
But will read the whole paragraph:
any opinion is, that a reservation of a
right to withdraw if amendments be not de-
cided on under the form OF the Constitution,
within certain time, is conditional rati6-
cation, that it does not make New York a
member OF the new Union, and consequently
she should not be received on that plan.
Compacts must be reciprocal; this principle
in such case would not be preserved. The
Constitution requires an adoption in toto and
FOREVER. It has been so adopted by the
other States. An adoption fora limited
time would be as defective as an adoption of
some Of the articles only. In short any
condition whatever must vitiate the ratifca-
tion" "The idea of reserv-
ing the right to withdraw was stated at Rich-
mond and considered as conditional rati6ca-
ion, which was itself fabandoned-wOrse than
a rejection"
At a later day, ussO,) Mr.. Madison
declared, il a letter to Hon. Edward Everett,
that
at the Constitution was formed not By
tie governments Of the com 7oasnt States, as
the Federal Government for which it was
substituted was formed; nor was il formed by
a majority of the people of the United States,
as single community, in the manner OF
consolidated government. 1t was formed by
the States-that is by the people in each OF
the States, acting in their highest sovereign
capacity, and formed, consequently, by the
same authority which formed the State con-
stitutiOns-
Being thus derived from the same source
as the constitutions Of the States, it has with
| in each State the same authority as the con-
stitution OF the State, and is as much con-
stitution, in the strict sense of the term,
within its prescribed sphere, as the con
stitutions of the States are in their respective
spheres, but with this obvious and essential
difference, that being compact among States
in their highest sovereign capacity, and con-
stituting the people thereof one people for
certain purposes, Il cannot be altered or an
Euled at The tviH Of the States individually, as
the constitution of State may be at its IN
l dIvidual will"
Thus spoke Madison, the father of the Con-
stitution.
now make a quotation from Jefferson
In letter written more than forty-hve years
ago, he said:
f" In every free and deliberating society,
there must, from the nature of man, be Op-
posite parties and violent dissensions and
diseords; and one Of these, for the most part,
must prevail over the Others for longer or
a shorter time Perhaps this party division
is necessary to induce each to watch and relate
to the people the proceedings Of the other
PHti, on temporary superiority Of the ol7H
Darty, ths other IS to resort to session Of th'
Union no Federal Government can ever er'St
If to rid ourselves of the present rule oi
Massachusetts and Connecticut we break the
Union, will the evil stop there2 Suppose
the New England States alone cut Off Will
our natures be changed2 Are we not men
still to the south of that, and with all the
passions of men 2 Immediately we shall see
a Virginia and a Pennsylvania party arise
in the residuary confedsracy, and the pu6ll-
mind will be distracted by the same party
spirit Whst game, too, viii one party
have in their hands, by eternally threatening
the other, that unless they do so and SO they
will Join their northern neighhors? If we
reduce our Union to Virginia and North
Carolina, Immediately the conflict viii Dc
established between the Representatives o
these two States, andthey viii end by break
ing into their simple units
These and similar opinions of the leading
men who put the machinery of our Govern
ment in motion might be quoted, II time per
,-ltted, almost, indefinitely. In fact, the
whole history of the times proves that the
men who ms6S the Constitution and favored
its ratification intended to make Govern
ment for the people ID all the States which
should be strong enough to Withstand AL
lttacks. and which could net be broken VI
ur divided, except by the eoEsent OF tn'
whole people
Mr.. Chairman, article four, section four o.
the Constitution, declares that the - u pltec
States shall guaranty to every State IN the
Union republican form of government
This includes, of course, all the STAT IN the
Union when the Constitution was aCepteo
aud all new States which should afterwarIli
be admitted into the Union. These word,
are net susceptible of double Interpretation.
They can have but one meaning. They
declare fmperatively that the legislative, ex-
ecutiVe, and judicial powers Of the Govern
meut acting uRder and by authority of the
national Constitution, ,shal see that every State
in lbe Union has secured to it a republican
form Ofgovernment. This provision of itseli
is a clcar denial of the claim set up here that
every State is sovereign and independent
and that The Federal Government is only a
confederation clothed by these sovereign anc
independent Stutes with temporary authority
which can be Withdrawn at the pleasure
caprice. or whim Of an accidental or absolute
majority Of the citiz ems OF any State Ien'
eral Jackson declared, in his celebrated proc
amation, that 10 say that any State may al
pleasure secede from the Union, is to say thai
The United States are not a nation" This
claim Of the right Of any State to withdraw
from the Union at pleasure, is SO absurd that
it would seem unworthy OfSerioGs consIdera-
ton. were It not for the fact that the doctrine
is daily proclaimed here with some show Of
seriousness, and, I regret to say, by some
northern me1.
Mr. Chairman, the people of the United
States, in creating this national Government
intended 10 protect themselves from every
form of despotism. They intended to secure
themselves against the actions Of State gov
ernments which, in an excitement like the
present might attempt to establish desPotiC
government, abolish liberty, and violate The
c,,,s-.o rtied r;rbf1 Of auv norton of their cit