The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1864-07-06

they repudiated or paid what they pleased;
they have done so ever since. This pow
er, therefore, was clearly not inconsistent
with a republican form of government at
that time, and certainly therefore cannot
be SO now. The right to declare who
shall be electors for State Offices, and who
shall be eligible thereto, was committed
entirely to the State; by the terms of the
Constitution the electors for Representa-
tives should "have the qualifications re-
quisite for electors of the most numerous
branch of the State Legislature" and
those who vote for presidential electors
should have such qualifications as the
Legislatures might prescribe. This pow
er was then and is now not only consist.
ent with but is indispensable to repub-
lican form Of government.
And yet the advocates of this bill pro-
pose to deprive the States Of power over
the question of slavery, power over their
own indebtedness, power to regulate the
elective franchise the right to hold Office,
under the pretence that they thereby
execute the provision that the United
States must guarantee republican form
of government to the States!
The gentleman from Massachusetts,
(Mr. Boutwell, has shown how he would
execute it. South Carolina, Georgia and
Florida should never again appear as a
State or in name in this Confederation.
Is their exclusion guarantee to. them OF
republican government
I Has any gentleman asserted in this de-
bate that these powers are incompatible
with republican government? Not one
would venture so far. Then I submit
that the condition in which Congress may
act has not arisen. If Congress may in
sist upon the three fundamental condi-
tions prescribed in this bill, in the case
of the States resuming their relations to
the Union, then submit that, by pari-
ty of reasoning, it ought to insist upon
their incorporation into the constitution
of the States remaining steadfast to the
Union. If they are essential to republi-
caDism in the one class of States they are
equally 50 in all.
Gentlemen do not assert, but they do
assume, and this is the basis of their
whole argument that, because the Eede-
raj Government must guarantee repub-
lican form of government, it may there
fore prescribe what particular form of re-
publican government State must adopt
This is obviously wrong. Mr.. Madison,
in the Fcderalist, refutes it:
GAS long, therefore, as the existing re-
publican forms are continued by the
States, they are guaranteed by the Fede-
raj Constitution. Whenever the States
may choose to substitute other republican
forms, they have right to do SO, and to
claim the Federal guarantee for the latter
The only restriction imposed on them is
that they shall not exchage republican
for anti-republican constitutions; re-
striction, which, it is presumed, viii
hardly be considered as a grievance"
The conclusion, then, to which 1 am
forced is that under the language of this
clause of the Constitution Congress has
no authority to prescribe the condition as
serted in this bill, whatever may be the
| relation of the seeded States to the Fed
eral Government, and whatever may be
the effect of their secession upon the con
stitution and State government then ex
| isting. I have chosen thus far to argue
this question on the lower grade of the
mere construction of the letter and the
obvious spirit of the Constitution. I have
done SO because the gentleman from Mary
land asserted over and over again that he
found his authority to pass the bill in the
clause of the Constitution which I haYe
cited and he deduced from that source
all the powers which are claimed t
bslong to the Federal Government fol
the purpose of this war. The question
rises, however, far higher; and I propose
to follow the gentleman in his discussion
of it into other regions.
The gentleman maintains two PROPOSE
tions which lie at the very basis of hi
views on this subject. He has explained
them to the House, and enforced them OF
other occasions. He maintains that, BY
reason of their secession, the seeded
States and their citizens shave not ceased
to be citizens and States of the United
States, though incapable of exercising po
litical privileges under the Constitution
but that Congress is charged with higf
political power by the Constitution t.
guaranty republican government in tn,
| States, and that this is the proper time
and the proper mode of exercising it,
/ This act of revolution on the part of thu
States has evoked the relations of tn,
1 States to the Federal Government. Thi.
theory of the gentleman is one of them
| The ratification of the Constitution BY
! Virginia, established the relation between
herself and the Federal Government; i
created the link between her and all the
States; it announced her assumption o
the duties, her title to the rights of tht
confederating States; it proclaimed hel
interest in, her power over, her obedience
to the common agent of all the States
IF Virginia had ever ordained that ratifi
cation she would have been an indepen
dent State; the Constitution would hav,
| been as perfect and the union between tn,
ratifying States would have been as com
plete as they are now. Virginia repeal
/ that ordinance of ratification, annuls tha
bond of union, breaks that link of con
federation. She repeals but single law
repeals it by the action of sovereign
convention leaves her constitution, he
laws, her political and social polity un
touched. And the gentleman from Mary