The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1864-01-21

the hablllments of the grave, waitln
only for the rites of sepulohre. Ho,
these shall be performed tho world ma
not care; for over its accursed remain
the star of freedom shall forever shine
and the loud hosannas Of an emancipatet
race be sung through all succeeding ages
The victim Of q morbid and treasona
bic ambition, slavery has been murdered
in the house of its friends. Upon them
not Us, the responsibility o: its dea,l
must forever rest. The Union as it wa
the people Of the North were willing t
maintain and abide by but, as the South
have determined otherwise, it is ou
duty now, to insist upon the Union as i
should be, and as our fathers intended it
My ardent wish is that this desoatin!
war may speedily close, and the insur
gent States resume their political rights
in the Union.
That We may properly understand th'
theory of reconstruction, it is important
to avid misapplication Of the term
The rebellion having failed of success,
the Union is not dissolved, and, there
fore, the disorganized States, only, re.
quire to be re construct ed. Had they
succeeded in achieving their separation,
the Union, to that extent, would have
been dissolved, and the question of re
construction have presented different
aspect.
Having, by treason to the General
Government and the inevitable c0nse-
quences of civil war, accomplished the
destruction Of their local organizations,
and not their observance from the
Union, they stand in the attitude Of
States, with their Government subverted
and overthrow. Re organization, there.
fore, becomes an indispensable pre-rcqui.
site to the resumption of their power and
privileges as sovereign States in the
Union. Without this they have no ap-
propriate medium through which their
constitutional rights can be secured or
exercised. They cannot choose Scna.
tors or Representatives to Congress, par.
ticipate in the election Of President, or
enjoy any other regulation designed for
the common benefit Of the States. And
it is only by means of State Governments
that they can perform the functions of
States, and discharge the various obi.
cations and duties they owe to the Cen
eral Government. Until then, the peo-
pie Of these disorganized States, must,
from necessity, depend for protection
upon the Federal Government, under
the arm of its military power. But this
theory by no means implies that these
States must be reduced to territorial
condition, maintained, during their ter
ritorial minoragc, under Government
provided for them at the expense Of the
National Treasury, and be rcadmit.ed
into the Union as States 1t simply
means, what is obviously true, that they
have State limits, territory and people,
without the essential machinery of State
Governments, which are the test and
means of their political existence.
Government represents, not merely
land and certain defined territorial limits,
but the people who established it, and
speak and act through it, as their polit-
ical organ. These people, in consequence
Of their treason, having disqualified
themselves for the exercise of political
rights and privileges their State Gov
ernments have thereby become suspend.
ed, and must remain in allegiance, until
this disqualification is removed by act of
Federal authority.
Reduced to this condition, the pro.
visional control over these States, until
fully recognized and restored, is vested
in the Federal Government but when
restored, it must be under governments
which have emansted from their own
people, under constitutional restrictiors
recognize the right of every State to
regulate and shape its own institutions,
but this right can and should be cxer.
eised only in clear conformity with the
letter and spirit of the Federal Constitu.
ton.
The Constitution prescribes that "the
United States shall guarantee to every
State in this Union, republican form
of Government This provision clearly
implies an obligation on the part Of the
United States, not only to guarantee this
form OF government "to every State,
but the guaranty is to all the States,
that the government of each State shall
be republican in form, whether the pco-
pie thereof will it or not. This the plain
spirit and intent Of the compact; other
wise the right already adverted to, that
each State may regulate its own institu,
tions, would become a source of immi-
nent peril to the Union. Without this
salutary check upon the action Of States
We might soon have a cluster of anti
republican governments, springing U,
within the limits of the Union, to ac
complish its retrogression and ultimate
overthrow.
The events Of the last few years hay
ing fully demonstrated the irrepressibl
antagonism Of slavery to our Rcpublica
institutions, and left the question u
longer to abstract discussion, or inter
probation, or manifest duty, under tn
Constitution, is while the authority