Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1862-04-22

lSneu,dnu stuuleu IN All our HeloIics ana SCHOOL
books, but whose real, concrete, living and
practical statement il TO be found IN the harm0
NOUS action Of the General Government, which
represents the sovereignty Of the nation, and Of
the State Governments, which represent the
sovereignty Of the diff rent States. mean that
Wondrous combination Of Federal power, and
separate independent s9gcrelgntles which has
been the most perfect pyoUson OF human rights
and liberty the world has ever seen. This pro-
vision is oot q payer constitution, but It Is a
real and substantive thing "a power ordained
Of Ged the result Oh our condition and history.
For thirty five year., ever since The elaborate
attempt Of South Carolina 10 uulllly constltu
tiouai legislation d the General Government,
the constitution has been subject to one OF those
false and antagonistical interpretations which
has brought upon us he nameess, shuddering
horrors Of this war. One cause Of the terrible
effect no thinking man can fail to find in the
theory that the General Government is a 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 as any time interfere On
that doctrine, notification first erected its stan.
dard. 1t assumed to decide by virtue Of State
enactment, the cJnetjtutionality and binding
force of all the proceedings Of the General Gov
eminent. IL affirmed that the Union was the
creature OF the Stao Legislature, and the Unit
ed States but the agent or trustee Of the State
s0vereignties 1t made the Union the servant
OF thirty masters OF OF as many masters as there
might be States. 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 night Of dctatlon, Of interior
cnce, Of nulhicluon The dogma Of State
rights permitted Any State 10 pronounce the
tariff or any pubic improvement, or any sys-
TEN OF collecting revenue Or taxes, an usurpa-
ton, aad to reject it at It's own option anu with.
OUT reference to tho will or wishes Of any other
State, conettutionaiIy expressed IL made the
Union rope Of sand, and threw the States back
again upon the old considerations out OF which
they had just emerged
This idea wa. Just beginning to bud in the
administration Of Washington. 1t sweled aud
rut forth vigorously amid the strife of tie Fed
eraists and Democrats OF the Immediately sub
sequent Presidents 1t bore It's first noxious
fruits when the Federal Convention met 1T
Hartford, and Massachusetts refused to pay her
taxes to carry On the last war It bore its Sec
ond baleiul apple in ISIS, when the Palmetto
state pat itself N an attitude OF defiance to the
General Government lhatappe OF Sodom and
G0m0rrah was crushed by Jackson, and in it
was found only dust and ashes. But the tree
was not klllcd--vcu the axe was not laid ut It's
root. 1t still showed signs OF vigorous vitality
and the various parties since, according as they
have been pressed " the wall BY theIr oppon-
ents, have changed grounds and have asseuted
20 Or denied II. the exigency OF party strife
has made all parties at times play fast and
loose with u and has yari0usy provided them
with u pgincplg which is subyersl,e of the I'M
ion and the Constitution and the laws. care
NOT to trace tia history of this idea. Wherever
it has presented itself it has worked mischief and
mischief oily 1t has always aimed to correct
or undo tie constitutional legislation oil the
General Gtyernmect ~ casting away the herlt-
aye OF demonstration and flying 70 The covert
OF some Imaginary protection. as IN the case OF
the laws q Southern States respecting our black
sailors firm Northern ports, or the laws OF
Northern states for the protection OF fugitive
slaves. Whenever the action OF the latter has
conaictec with the supposed interests Ola Safe
1t has cIld out Tor peaceabe secession as il
the fathers 81 the republic lad made provision
Tor any offended STATE 20 destroy it. Far other
was their ldva, for they knew we'll enough that
the right; d the STAGES and the rights Of the
Union could only te preserved together and
must be preserved together Jf they would be
both sunk nethr Therefore On Algraut
instance b, oppressive and unconstitutional leg.
isation by IT, Federal Government in 1859.
the States o Virginia and Kentucky. in q rcso-
luton drawn by Mir. Madison announced their
determination to exercise their sovereign author
ity IN resistance 10 that legislation, and called
upon other state Governments 70 do the same
thing" to the end that they might maintain
aud defend the Constitutions Oh the nited STATES
and laws oil the several STATES against every ag-
erosion foreign and domestic. A generation
later, when Calhoun and his compeers took up
TINS resolution aud put upon iC the ianciful
states Rights Interpretation, Mr.. Madison in
dignantly 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 rights theorists were disturbed
they said, We intend to destroy the Union -
We will resume all sovereign power, and break
up and dissolve the General Government '-.
That was the difference between true patriotism
and rank rev5utionsm,
But IN the course OF events another inerpge
taton Of the Constitution has been developed,
OF precisely the opposite character. 1t IS that
of Capitalization, aud it tends toward despot
ism as the other tends toward anarchy. 1t o
theory that merges all States rights into the
central power, and allows one State not only TO
decide its rights, institutions and privileges,
but also to de.de, through the General Govern
ment, the franchises, privileges and institutions
0! other States. 1t Is the same doctrine CARVED
to the other extreme. 1t is State 5 right chrys-
taiized into a central despotism, and making
the Union the creature OF It's will aud behests
SO long as the Union preserved its legitimate
sphere, and maintained the rights OF the several
States, in Che management of their reserved az
fairs u went o,,inse the inion and denounced