The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1863-06-11

prevent one or all OF these States from utter
" prohibiting the import or export Of such
commodities as they chose, and which left
the people powerless to induce or compel
advantages from from foreign commerce,
for this purpose snch system was abs9-
lutely useless.
After struggling for few years under
the cramping and confusing effects of this
system, it was given up, and the Constitu-
ton, as framed in 1887, was adopted. The
relations assumed by the States at this time
were marked. By the Constitution, the
people and the States reserved such pow.
ers as were not expressly given to the Uni
ted States, or prohibited to tie States. The
omission of the claim to sovereignty and in
dependence in the Constitution, is as sig
nificant as its presence in the Articles. 1t
appears % definite surrender of those at
tributes, as complete, as binding, as perma-
nent as language could make it. Nor must
we forget, while the momentous questions
of our times are yet undecided, that sover-
eighty once surrendered can never be re-
sumed. The relations, the duties, and the
attributes of the life to which it belongs
have been forever and completely and for.
ever given up, while those of another hsve
been as entirely and irrevokably assumed.
The States had thus passed from
one into another sphere of existence, whose
relations were as different as their objects
The Articles were league offriendship for
common defense, the securities Of liberties,
and the general and mutual welfare. No
identity Of interest was supposed to exist or
sought to be served. Such needs as were
at the time Of the adoption, felt in common,
were provided for, and the States were left
to provide, as best they could, for the oths
ers, This much, and no more was sought
by the States. That the objects of the Con-
stitution were different, as well as that they
were avowed by far different authority, is
shown in the declaration with which it
opens,"We tie People Of the United States,
in order to form . more perfect Union
not as to time, for both the old and the new
union were declared perpetual but in kind
for which the States surrendered the form
er claim to sovereignty and independence
TO establish justice'-not to insure the
amicable relations of allied States, but to
form tribunal which should decide upon
the common privileges Of the people. "To
insure domestic tranquility"--an object un-
recognized in the articles of Confederation
and implying, not association but identity /;
not the mutual obligations of partnership,
but the intimate connection Of the national
household. DO ordain and establish this
Constitution There is no longer the in
definite expression of half conceived obli-
CATION, nor the imperfect pledge to imper-
feet union, but there is, instead, the solemn
authoritative language of a sovereign people
self contained, self-suficing. conscious
alike of its duties and its rights, giving form
to what shall be the law of the land, funda-
mental as being based on the will of the
the people, supreme as higher than the will
of any part of the people, whether indiv,d-
ual or State. A difference as radical pre-
vades all the provisions of the Constitution.
By the Articles, the vote in Congress was
taken by States. By the Constitution,
majority controls in all but extraordinary
business, and the vote is always taken by
members. The Congress is no longer the
assembled States !; it is the assembled re-
presentatives ofthe people-of the nation.
1t is no longer charged with the manage
ment of the mutual relations of parties to
an alliance, but with the making of laws
which shall be the supreme law of the land
throughout its entire extent. BY the Artic
les, prohibitions to the States are made con-
ditional on the consent of Congress; but by
the Constitution, the more important acts
Of notwithstanding treaties, issuing
bills Of credit, regulating the circulat ing
medium-are unco nationally forbidden to
the States. The Congress now controls
foreign commerce, raises the revenue, levies
taxes, and cares for the welfare Of the na.
ton. Bv the Articles, new members OF the |
Confederation were to be admitted by the
consent Of nine-about two thirds of the
States. BY the Constitution. the applicants
ire regarded rather as an organized body
If men, seeking to identify themselves with
he American people. To such the national
Congress extends the privilege of citizen
ship, and from such demands conformity
% our method Of national life.
But while these are instances of the rad,-
al difference existing between the methods
Il treating the same subjects 10 the Articles
# Confederation and in the Constitution,
here are elements in the Constitution, pc
'uliar to itself, which make the relations
md duties Of the States under them utterly
rreconcilable. These are embodied in the
organization Of the national Government.-
% assuming the functions, it took upon it.
elf the forms and instrume ntalitles of q
sovereign and universal authority. Having
ounded the Government on the supremacy
'fthe people, and deposited all original
'ower with the representative and legislative
'ody, the Constitution provided for the
prompt and thorough exercise of that power
" vesting the executive authority in the
President of the United States, and such
Ulcers as Congress should appoint for him.
n the Federation there was no executive