The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1862-04-15
GREEN MOUNTAIN FREEMAN APRIL 10, 1862.

statement NAV be written, and printed ,ano pun,
lsh.d and studied in all our histories ana schooi
books. hut whose real, concrete, living anu
practical statement is to be found in the harmo-
NOUS action of the General Government, whlcn
represents the sovereignty OF the na'ion' anu "a
the State Governments, which represent the
sovereignty of the different States. l mean tha'
wondrous combination of Federal power, ana
separate independent soverelgntes, "hlcn mas
been the most perfect provision OF human r'sh''
and liberty the world has ever seen. ANS pro-
Vision Is lioi paper constitution ou' ~ 10 q
real and substantive thing "a power oroalheo
of God, the result of our condition and history
For thirty five years, ever since the elaborate
attempt of South Carolina to nullify constitu-
tiouaI legislation of the General Government,
the constitution has been bect TO one OF those
| false and antagonistical interpretations which
has brought upon US he nameless, shudderlng
horrors Of this War One cause OF the terrible
effect, no thinking man can fail to lind In the
theory that the General Government is simple
compact between the STATES, or is the factor OF
The several States, from which they have the
/ right at any time to withdraw or secede-or
with whose action, according to Its legitimate
! function, they can at any time Interfere On
that doctrine, notification first erecIed It's STAN
dard. 1t assumed to decide by virtue OF State
enactment, the consttutionality and binding
force of all the proceedings of the General Gov
eminent 1t affirmed that the Union was the
creature of the State Legislature, and the Unit
ed States but the agent or trustee OF the State
sovereisnties 1t made the Union the servant
of thirty masters, or OF as many masters as there
might be >tatcs 1t denied that the Union and
the Constitution were the creature for permanent
advantage of the people. 1t held itself at liber-
ty to exercise the light of dictation, of interer
ence, of notification The dogma of State
rights permitted any State TO pronounce the
tariff, or any public improvement, or any sys.
TEN OF collecting revenue OF taxes, an usurpa-
ton. a1d to reject it at its own option ant with.
GU, reference to the will or wishes of any other
State, constitu tionally expressed. 1t made the
Union rope Of sand, and threw the States back
again upon the old confederation, out OF which
they had just emerged.
This idea WAS just beginning to bud in the
administration of Washington. 1t sweled and
PUT forth vigorously amid the strife OF the Fed
eralsts and Democrats OF the Immediately sub
sequent Presidents. 1t bore its first noxious
fruits when the Federal Convention met at
| Hartford, and Massachusetts refused to pay her
taxes to carry on the last war. 1t bore its Sec
ond baleiul apple in 1928, when the Palmetto
General Government. That appe OF Sodom and
Gomorrah was crushed by jackson, and in it
was found only dust and ashes. But the. tree
was not klilti-even the axe was not LAID at its
root. 1t still showed signs of vigorous vitality ;
and the various parties since. according as they
have been pressed to the wall by their oppon-
ents, have changed grounds and have assented
/ to or denied 1t. ihe exigency OF party strife
has made all parties at times play last and
! loose with it, and has varlously provided them
with principle which Is subversl,e OF the I'm
ion and the Constitution and the laws. | care
not to trace the history OF this idea. W herevcr
C has presented itself it has worked mischief and
mischief only. Ii has always aimed to correct
or undo the constitutional legislation OF the
General Governmect by casting away the hertz
age OF the constitution and flying to the covert
OF some imaginary protection, as in the case OF
the laws Of Southern States respecting our black
sailors from Northern ports, or the laws Of
Northern States for the protection of fugitive
slaves. Whenever the action Of the latter has
conhicted with the supposed interests OF II STAT
it has cried out for peaceable secession; as it
the fathers of the republic had made provision
for any offended State to destroy it. Far other
was their idea, for they knew well enough that
the rights of the States and the rights of the
Union could only be preserved together. and
must be preserved together or they would be
both sunk together. Therefore ON fragrant
instance Of oppressive and unconstitutional leg
isatiOn by the Federal Government in 1889,
the States of Virginia and Kentucky in Il reso-
luton drawn by Mr.. Madison announced their
determination to exercise their sovereign author
ity in resistance TO that legislation, and called
upon other State Governments to do the same
thing" to the end that they might maintain
and defend the Constitution OF the United State
and laws of the several States against every ag.
erosion. foreign and domestic. A generation
later, when Calhoun and his compeers took up
this resolution and put upon it the fanciful
States Rights Interpretation, Mr.. Madison in
dlgnanty repudiated The construction, and
General jackson fairly drove it out of sight
When the Government usurped unwarranted
power, the States under the lead of the trainers
OF the Constitution, said. :" We intend to pre-
serve our rights and The Union together. You
shall not touch the one, nor destroy the other.
When the State s ri shts theorists were disturbed
they sad. 1--WE Intend to destroy the Union
We Will resume all sovereign power, and bre II
up and dissolve the General Government
That was the difference between true patriotism
and rank revolutionism.
But III The course of events another interprc
} tation OF the Constitution has been developed
OF precisely the opposite character. 1t is tina
OF centr4llaation, and IL tends toward despot
; ism us the other tends toward anarchy. IL is
. theory that erges all States rights into tn,
central lower, and allows one State not only It
decide its own rights, Institutions and privileges
hut "A l., a to de ,lur Ihruupn the (,rue nj Govnr,