Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-07-14

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said Colony will hold itself bound by the resolu-
tons OF the majority of the United Colonies in
the premises; pr00ided, the sole and exclusive
right of regulating the Internal government and
policy Of that Colony be reserred 20 the people
thereof"
This annunciation of the sense and purpose in
which the people of Maryland accepted the Dec
l%aration, is just as much a part of the record as
the Declaration itself; and il clearly controls for
them the meaning and application of every pc
lItical axiom or principle which the Declaration
contains. 1t was intended 10 signify to the
country and the world, that the people of Ma
ryland consented to separate themselves from the
sovereignty of Great Britain, on the condition,
that the right to maintain within their own limits
just such IA system OF society and government as
they might see ht to maintain, should belong to
them, notwithstanding anything said in the Dec
~laration to which they we're asked TO give their
assent.
Several of the other colonies made a similar
express reservation; and all of them, and all the
people of Amelia, understood that every colony
accepted the Declaration, in fact, in the same
sense. No man in the whole country, from the
4h of July, l776, to the adoption of the Articles
of Confederation. ever supposed that the Revo-
lutiOnary Congress acquired any legal right to
interfere with the domestic concerns Ofany one Of
the colonies which then became states, or any
moral authority to lay dow rules for determin-
ing what laws, Institutions or customs, or what
condition of its inhabitants, should be adopted
or continued By the States in their internal gov
eminent. From that day to this. it has been a
received doctrine of American law that the Rev
dictionary Congress exercised, with the assent of
the whole people, certain powers which were
needful for the common defense; but that these
powers in no way touched or involved the sOye
reign right of each State to regulate its own in
ternal condition.
2. When the Articles of Confederation we're
finally ratified, in ISL, there was placed in the
very front of the instrument the solemn declara
ton that leach State retains Its sovereignty,
freedom, and independence, and every power, iu-
risdictiOn, and right, which is not by this Conied.
Grafton expressly delegated TO the United States
in Congress assembled; " and the powers given to
the United States in Congress related exclusive
~ TO those affairs in which the States had IA COM
mon concern, aud were framed with a view to the
common defense against a foreign enemy. in Or
der To secure, by joint exeTtiOns, the independ-
ence and sovereignty of each of the States.
3. When the Constitution of the United States
was finally established, in l7SS, the people of
each State, acting through authorized agents, ex-
ecuted, by a resolution or other public act. a ces-
sion OF certain sovereign powers, described in the
Constitution, 10 The Government which that Con
stitutiOn provided TO receive and exercise them.
These powers being once absolutely granted by
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people Of each State. were thenceforth incapable
OF being resumed; for | hold there is nothing in
the nature OF political powers which renders
them. when absolutely ceded, any more capable
of being resumed at pleasure by the grantors,
than n right of property l. when once conveyed
by an absolute deed. In both cases, those who
receive the grant hold under n contract; and If
that contract. as is the case with the COnstitu
ton. provides for a common arbiter to determine
its meaning and operation, there is no resulting
right in the parties, from the instrument itself,
to determine any question that arises under it.
At the same time, it is never to be forgotten
that the powers and rights of separate internal
government which were not coded by the people
of the States, or which they did not, by adopting
the Constitution, agree to restrain, remained in
the people of each State in full sovereignty. 1t
might have been enough for their safety to have
rested upon this as Il Familiarity understood and
weil-defne1 principle of public law, implied in
every such grant. But the people did not see
FL to trust to Implication alone. They insisted
upon annexing to the Constitution an amendment,
which declares that 1.-The powers not delegated
to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the
States respectively, or to the people"
We thus see that. from the first dawn of our
national existence, through every form which il
has vet assumed a dual character has constantly
attended our political condition. A nation has
existed, because there has all along existed Il
central authority having the right TO prescribe
the rule of action for the whole people, on Ger
tain subjects, occasions, and relations. In this
sense and in no other. to this extent but no further,
we have been since 1916. and are now, II nation.
At the beginning, the limits of this central au-
thOriiy, in respect to which we are a nation. were
defined by general popular understanding; but
more recently were they fixed in written terms
and public charters, first by the Articles of Con
federation, and ultimately, and with a more en-
larged scope and Il more efficient machinery, by
the Constitution. The latter instrument made
this central authority a government proper, but
with limited and defined powers, which are su
preme within their own appropriate sphere. In
like manner, from the beginning there has existed
another political body; distinct, sovereign within
It's own sphere. and independent as to all the
powers and objects OF government not cedei or
restrained under the Federal Constitution. This
body is the State: a political corporation, of which
each inhabitant Is a subject, as he is at the same
time a subject of that other political corporation
known as the United States.
All this is familiar To you. But / state it here.
because ! wish to remind you that the careful
preservation of this separate political body, the
Ssate,-this sovereign right Of self government
as far rs it has been retained by the people of
each State.-has ever been a cardinal rule of ac-
ton with the American people, and with all their
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every school of politics. There have been great
differences of opinion. and great controversies,
respecting the dividing line which separates, or
ought 10 be held to separate, the national from
the State powers. But no American statesman
has ever lived, at any former period, who would
have dared to confess purpose to crush the State
SOvereiguties out of existence; and no man can
now crnfess such a wish, without arousing a
popular jealousy, which will not slumber. even
in a time of civil war and national commotion.
Anplause
What is the true secret of this undying popu
Iar jealousy on the subject of State rights?
What is it, that even nOw-when we are sending
Our best blood to be poured out in defense of the
true principle of the national supremacy-causes
all men who are not mad with some revoiuti0na-
~ project. to shrink from measures that appear
to threaten the integrity Of State authority, and
TO pray that az least that bitter and dreaded cup
NAV pass from us7 Ii is the original. Unborn and
indestructible belief that the preservation of the
State sovereignty, within its Just and legitimate
sphere. is essential to the preservation OF repub
lican liberty. Beyond a doubt, it was this belief
which led the people from the first to object, as
they sometimes did unreasonably object. TO the
augmentation OF the national pO*ers. Perhaps
they could not always ~explain-perhaps they did
not always fully Understandable the grounds of
this conviction. 1t has been, as it were, an in
stinct; and for one, | hope that instinct is as act
i've and vigilant this day, as | am sure it was
eighty years ago.
For | am persuaded that local self-government
to IA great an extent rs is consistent with nation
al safety, is indispensable TO the long continued
existence of republican government ON a large
scale. a Republic, ia a great nation, demands
those separate institutions. which imply IN differ
ent portions of the nation some rights and pow
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