East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1864-09-28
Tendency to Consolidation and Des-

Tendency to Consolidation and Des-
i. potism.
IMPORTANCE OF THE STATE GOVERNMENTS.
From the Ann Arbor Journal, (Republican
Alexander Hamilton once said: at
may safely be received as an axiom in
our political system, that the State
governments will in all possible con-
tingencies afford complete security
against invasions Of the public liberty
by the national authority Projects
Of 'usurpation cannot be masked under
pretenses so likely to escape the pene-
tration of select bodies as of the peo-
pie at large. The Legislatures will
have better means of information
They can discover the danger at dis
tance and possessing all the organs of
civil power and the confidence of the
people, they can at once adopt reg
ular plan of opposition in which they
can combine all the resources of the
community"
Mr.. Madison took a similar view
lin the 10th number of the Federal
ist,) of the importance of the State
governments, as bulwarks of defence
to secure the people of every sec
ton of tho Union from tho encroach-
ments of federal power. The State
governments may in fact be very prop
erly regarded as the chief bulwarks
of the liberties of the people against
the strong tendency of the national
government, in time Of war, and high
party excitement-to extend its pow
ers by broad and latitudinarian con-
structions of the Constitution, and the
plea of necessity-and to encroach
upon the powers of the State govern
ments, and upon the rights and priv
ileges of the citizen.
This war and the ambition of the
radicals, who have obtained control of
the President, of Congress, and the
Republican party, have developed a
strong tendency in both the Executive
and Legislative branches of the ma
tional government, under the plea of
necessity, and the assumed war pow
ers Of the President, to consolidation,
to constant encroachments upon the
legitimate powers Of the States, and
upon the legitimate rights and priv
leges Of the citizens--to such extent,
as to sap the foundations Of the State
governments, threaten to overthrow
their rightful sovereignty, in domestic
and interior matters-and to concen-
trate all the sovereign powers of the
States, as well as the nation, in the
Federal Government and leave to the
State government only such powers,
as dependent corporations, as Congress
and the President, for the time being,
do not sec fit to exercise, nor to as
sumo. Such we believe to be the
present tendency of the Federal Gov
ernment-in the hands of President
Lincoln and the radicals of the Re-
publican party-with their doctrines
and principles of government, their
views of the war power, and of the
necessity of destroying the local and
domestic sovereignty of the several
States, in order TO overthrow the in.
stitution Of slavery, and elevate the
colored race as nearly as possible to a
level with the white. They seem
blind to any evil but slavery, and to
overthrow that one great evil to the
slave (which by the by is very tri.
fling evil to the people of the free
States, living at distance from slave
eommunities.) they have adopted a
policy and a course Of measures, which,
if carried into effect, will substantially
change and revolutionize our present
federal system of government, gradu-
ally convert our national government
into q central consolidated despotism,
and make the President, for the time
being, with his immense patronage
and power over the army, nearly as
absolute as the Emperor Of France.
The rebellion and slavery, and this
cry of necessity to put them down
have had terrible influence upon the
public mind and upon Congress, and
induced Congress to confer upon the
President most extraordinary and un-
defined powers-generally very proper
in the present exigsnces Of the coun-
try, so far as the powers conferred are
defined; but very improper so far as
underlined, arbitrary and unlimited
powers are given to him, either by ex-
press grant, or by implication. Con-
gress seems to have resigned to the
President nearly all their own powers,
except tho powers Of taxation--to
raise and collect revenues to carry on
the war. They have in effect and by
formal Legislative act, said to him,
you may by military power close any
and every printing office and legisla-
tive body and public meeting which
may condemn or criticize your policy,
if you think it expedient to do so; you
may imprison without warrant OF
criminal charge any individual whom
you may see fit; you may dictate who
may, and who may not, be candidates
for office in any State, and who may
and who shall not vote at any election
and may control the election in any
State by military power; and if any
of your officers should be prosecuted
in court of justice for carrying into
effect your arbitrary orders to do any
such act Of violence and trespass, the
defendant may plead the act of Con
gress and the order of the President
as q perfect justification and defence
for any such trespass. 4o
The senate of Rome in the time o.
its greatest humility and degradation
when it sat at the mercy of the C@
sars, to register the commands of the
emperor, never passed an act nominal
ly comforting on their imperial master
! the authority to exercise more unlimi