Daily national Democrat., 1861-06-20
I1ailu Natlonal Dtmorrat.
Dn,Iedge and Pinckney Of south Caro-
lima. on National Sovereignty.
r-A philadelnhia Inquirer, in an editorin


The Philadelphia Inquirer, in an editorial
.,nor the subject of Davis's late message,
aisos m interesting history of the defeat of
s[o Mira States Rights men in the South
c..olra Convention at the time of the adop-
,..n Of the Federal Constitution. The In
nnirer says:
large portion of the message of the Chief
-rtbe Confederate rebels is devoted to a stale
Uaboarsal of the dogma that the perfect
iTnion of the United States is mere volun
,orv partnership or compact, comforting no
;"defeasible, national authority or power; and
";,b the disregard for historical truth which
:. the "badge of all his tribe" he repeats the
to,sebood that the national doctrine is mod.
avn beresy of the Northern school of politics.
1-non this point he remarks that it must cap
odor strange indeed to the impartial observer,
Lnt If is none the less true that all these care.
t1Iy worded clauses proved unavailing to
,,reyent the rise and growth in the Northern
States of political school which has per-
o;steptly claimed that the Government thus
f,rned, WAS not compact between States,
but was in effect National Government, set
np above and over the States"
The sentiment of nationality here de =
nounced by Davis, as a claim which is of
"modern rise and growth in the Northern
States was the great and especial ground
upon which Rutlege and Charles Cotesworth
Pnckney vindicatcd the Constitution before
the Legislature and the Convention of South
Carolina from the assaults of Lowndes, in
1888.
Listen to Rutledge: "The people OF Ameri-
ca have felt the consequences of this feeble
M II !
serves the name of Government which has
RIO powers to enforce its laws founded on
solemn compact: and it is under the influence
of these feelings that almost with one voice
they have called for a different Government
=
al think very lightly of those fears enter
tanned about bayonets being necessary to en-
force an obedience in the people to the laws E;
but if spirit of resistance should appear,
surely it ought to be in the power of the
Government to compel a coercion of the
people"
Lowndes, who was the leader of the State
Rights party in the South Carolina Legsla-
ture, and the most persistent opponent of the
Constitution, contendtd that " this new Con-
stitulion at once swept all their privileges
away-being sovereign over all and he
added that " he would thereafter value seat
in the Legislature no higher than a seat in
the City Council Such was the opinion Of
the Ultra State Rights men of the South as
to the sovereignty of the National Govern
ment at that day. Pinckney, who was the
principal champion of the Constitution
Qganst the attacks of Lowndes, took up the
gauntlet thus thrown down, and triumph
outly vindicated the Constitution on this
very basis. "The Conr rention," says Pinck-
nev, saw and felt the necessity of estab-
fishing Government on different principle
(rom confederation which, instead of re
guiring the intervention Of thirteen different
Legislatures between the demand and the
compliance, should operate on the people in
the first instance. The necessity of having a
Government which should at once operate on
the people and not upon the States, was con-
ceived to be indispensable by every delega-
tion present" Upon this same theme ne
observed, in another part of the debate, the
separate independence and individual soyer-
eighty of the several States was never thought
Of by the enlightened band of patriots who
framed the Declaration OF Independence d;
the several States are not even mentioned 10y
name in any part OF it, as if it was intended
toimpress this maxim ON America-that our
freedom and Independence arose from our
Union and that without it. we could lie
neither free nor independent. Let Us then
consider all attempts 10 weaken this Uuion,
by maintaining that each State is separately
and individually independent as a species OF
political heresy which can never benefit US,
but may bring upon us the most serious dis
tfess.
Upon arguments such as these Pinckney,
Rutcdse and their cornPatriots carried the
Constitution unanimously through the Legis-
htare, and 10y vote of llo TO 7$ through
The Convention of South Carolina, aad yet
jefferson Davis stands unblushiugly before
the world proclaiming the official lie through
his message, that the claim that the Govern
ment "is national Government and not II
compact" is strange doctrine of n 'po-
ltical school which has had 80 its rise and
growth in the NnrtheEn States.H