Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1864-09-03
STATE or IM8 EUU MTNY.
Reconstruction.

The propositions which should obtain
in the reconstruction OF the Union are not
difficult of statement, and wehn contras-
ted with the policy Of the Administration
will appear 10 peculiar advantage.
The first is, that the States ,hall stand
az before the war, except as to changes
which may be agreed upon between or
among them. The Corst tuition Of the Uni.
ted States il the rightful and only bond of
union for the States c'mpo'ing the Confed
eracy, aud it is 10 stand as il il, in its full
Integrity. until the parties who are bound
by i! shall change it's terms or add to it
new provisions. Any other doctrine is rev.
outionary and destructive and to be utter.
y ri ctrd, VIII .tber founded upon Prcsi
acn!ial proclamaiions or s'autcs enacted
by Congress. The powers Of the Fedora
Government in all its branches are confined
within the provisions of tbs Constitutio,
AID cannot transcend item. Thereto
the Constitution as ills, including its pew
er of regular amendment, is the leading
doctrine Of the great party which propo-
ses to save the nation in hi, day of its sore
trial. Let the false and guilty doctrine
that the President Of the United States
IVY proclamation, or the Congress thereof
| hys stau.e, can prescribe, alter, add TO or
sininish the.conditions Of union between
the States be discarded at once and for
ever, and most of the difficulties which ap
pear to attend the question Of re-con.truc-
ton will wholly disappear. Those dep art
ments of the Government arc confined to
particular legislative aud execute Gutiss
aud cannot touch or determine the rela-
tious Of the States with each other. That
field Of power i. sacred to the great or
gauiz2d communities by whom the Union
was formed and by whom alous it can be
subjected to modification or change. We
have fought to restore the Union, not to
chasgc, It, much less to subvert its fuuda-
mental principles, and the acco mplishment
of its restoration is the compensation we
pr pose to ourselves for all the cost and
sacrifices of the struggle.
But what ia impossible 10 the President
or to Congress ii. competent for the
States, in their sovereign capacity, by free
mutual consent, at the proper time, so per
form.
The American States required a compact
oi union 10 60 through the war of the Rev.
oiulioD, and it was made. Subsequently
they required an amended compact, Great
ing more intimate union, to secure ia
them the fruits of independence. From
their deliberations on the latter occasion
there resulted ihat most admirable instru.
ment, the Constitution OF the United
! States, under which the Republic has ox
listed and prospered for more than seventy
: years. And now, under our experience
Of revolt and war and msgovernme ut, we
may conclude that additional seouritie:
for liberty and Union should be establish
ed in the fundamental law. But ,hese Sc.
curities mus. consist Of lin itations rather
; than of extentionS Of Federal authority
> and must not invade those fields Of power
which were left sacred to State jurisdiction
in the original scheme of Union.
The Constitution should provide agains
the uncontrolled domination of seciions
parties, South or North in the Governmen n
Of th' United States, as the most indispen
, able and vital regulation possible for GU,
safety AID continued existence as a Re
public We refer upon thi- point to on,
remarks at the beginning of the presep
address, as exhibiting he grounds upol
which this mon important proportion ma,