Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1863-10-20
srttli=Wtpktq 5tauAard.
For the Standard.
THE RIGHT OF SECESSION.


Federal Union He has labored through four NOR
tai columns of the Journal with great zeal and en-
ergv: he has made an immense NUMBER Oh q uoVa
tons some of them from eminent men, others IRON
obscure men, and the sum and substance OF all Ms
arguments is that the States were at the time tney
EoTmed the Union a6soLutslv sovereign and fndepen
dent and that in forming the Union they surren
dered no part of that sovereignty; that the Oon-
st,tution did not form in any sense OF the Woro
national government; that it did not IN the silgnt
est degree derive its powers FROM the sanction oil
the people, but that it was mere couiPsct oe-
. tween free. sovereign, and independent States,
TGorpanizing certain individuals into macnlne
termed the government of the United States, and
c6nferrinp on it, merely delegGting to it certain
specified limited powers" that it Is in the nature
Of league or treaty of alliance between lndepen-
dent nations depending for, its support upon the
will or good faith of the partfs~fo it, and that
therefore the right OF secession is deducole IRON
the nature of it
He assumes that no person will deny " that the
several States were at the ratification OF the Con-
sttution of 1888, sovereign States, to the same ex
tent that either England or France is at this day
free and sovereign State" Many of the most emf
nent statesmen Of the Convention OF l7S7 dla deny
It, have already quoted Gen. G. Q. Pinckney on
this subject and will now give the opinions OF
several others including the father OF the OanStl
tuition y himself Ia the debates IN the federai
Convention, Mr. Madison SAID: "Some contend
that the States are sovereign, when IN fact tney are
mere political societies. There is graduation OF
power in all societies, from the lowest corporation
to the highest sovereign. The States never pos
sessed the essential rights of sovereignty, These
were ALWAYS vested in Congress Their voting as
States in Congress is no evidence OF sovereignty
The State of Maryland voted by counties; did this
make the counties sovereign The States at pres
ent are only great corporations having the power
of making bylaws, and these are effectua only II
fhov contradictory 4 the General COnteQ-
Grafton. The States ought to be placed under the
control of the General government" In the same
Convention, Rufus King said: None OF the States
are now sovereign or independent Many of these
essential rights vested in Congress. Congress
by the Confederation possesses the rights OF the
United States. This is union Of the men OF those
States none of these Estates, individually or coec-
lively but in Congress- have the rights peace or
SOar. The magistracy in Congress possesses the
sovereignty. To certain points we are now uni
ted people. Consolidation is already established
In the same Convention, Mr.. Gerry said: 1t
appears to that the States never were lndepen-
dent-they had only corporate rights" Mr.. Will
son. of Pennsylvania, afterwards Judge cf the Su-
preme Court of the United States, said: shall
three fourths of the Union surrender their rights
for the support of that artificial being, called State
INTEREST,"" need not add, that Gen. Hamilton
who has been quoted by Marion" and who was
formerly quoted by President Davis while yet in
that "he was the mightiest intellect of the age in
which he lived; that he thoroughly understood ev-
cry subject Of which he treated and that he never
treated of any subject without exhaustng it" and
BY Gov. Ellis in his message to the first extra ses
sion of the Legislature, in May, 1861, with how
opinions, as well as great many others among the
ablest statesmen Of that age
The doctrine which l maintain is, that the pres
ent Constitution is not mere league, treaty, or
Confederation between sovereign and independent
States, but that it is Constitution of National
government, deriving its powers from its ratifca-
ton by the people themselves; of delegated powers
if you choose but those powers delegated by the
people themselves, acting through State organiZa
tons, and not by the States themselves in their
corporate capacity, but delegated without limita-
ton in point Of time but in all other respects its
powers limited by the plain language and meaning
Of the Constitution itself 1t forms mixed gov |
ernment partly national and partly Federal in the !
of its powers For instance the House
of Representatives is elected by the people, and is
responsible only to the people, and therefore forms
purely national branch of the government; while
the Senate is elected by the States, each State hav-
ing an equal representation, which is a Federal !
feature. But then the vote in the Senate is not
by States, each Senator having one vote, and the |
Senators from the same State often voting against
each other it loses in its operation the Federal fea
ture, and merges again into the national form. So
in many other respects it has some of the Federal
principles but in its operations it is almost WhOLly
national As cannot fully explain all its features
and the mode of their operation here would refer
the reader to the 39th No. of the FSGsrGlist, by
James Madison which contains by far the best analy
sis of the Constitution extant 1t does not form q
complete consolidation, as the State governments |
retain their existence but so far as its powers do
extend and they extend to e0ery object of national
war, to peace, to commerce, to f. |
nance to treaties to foreign alliances to the raising
of armies and equipping nayies, the regulation of
the coin and to almost every conceivable object of
that character, as well as to many of municipal |
character, while it prohibits them to the States to
that extent it does form consolidated government;
to that extent 1t made US one people-0Re nation.
On the other hand the powers not delegated to the
national government BY the people, were reserved
by them to the States, and to that extend and no
farther do they possess the rights of s1oereiqnty
but that sovereignty is of local and municipal
character, extending to all the internal concerns
and police of the States to the protection of life and
the regulation odeseents and of marriages
and to vast number of similar objects and if YOU
please, to the right of "eminent domain" That
class Of persons who are always talking about the
national government being one of limited pouers,
should not forget that the people in the same instru
ment in which they limited the powers of the gen.
eral government also limited the powers of the |
State gorerHments; first by actually prohibiting |
many powers to them; secondly, by providing that
where the Constitution or laws of State conhicted
with those of the United States, the former should
yield to the latter The second clause of Article
VI OF the Consultation ordans that: This Con.
sttution, and the laws Of the United States which
Shalf be made IN pursuance thereof and all treaties
made, or which shall be made, under the authority
of the United States, shall be the supreme law Of
land and the Judges in erery State shell be bound
thereby, any thing in the Constitution or laws of
any State to the soatrary notwithstanding" The
seconI clause OF tne III article of the Constitution
provides that; "The judicial power shall extend 70
all cases. in law and equity, arising under this Con-.
sttutcn, the laws of the United States and traaes
made, or which shall be made, uader their AN.
thority." -"
"These two provisions, says Mr. Webster, in
. Constitution; without these, it would have 49,
CONFEDERATION" These provisions most unorSs.
tiOnGbty establish the suprsmacv of the nonS.c.,'