Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1864-05-19
From the Methodist Quarterly Review for April.
THE WAR FOR THE UNION.

Our civil war, now become the settled
business of the nation, at first took the
world greatly by surprise Our quadrenia
elections had always been followed by such
ready and perfect acquiescence, that mer
generally were astounded when close On the
heels of that of 1860 followed gigantic in
surrection. And yet, to the thoughtful
observer of national affairs, there had long
been causes at work in our body polite
of which such an instruction was but the
natural outgrowth and developement.-
These causes date back to the period prior
to the adoption of the Federal Constitution,
but more Immediately and especially to
that embraced by the administration Of
Washington. For it was during his ad-
ministration that the Constitution be
coming then the law of the land-received
it's first exposition and enforcement. The
government which is brought into being
was at first merely paper one. Of itself
it had no force or effect, But it was to
take form and force from, the manner in
which it was expounded or administered.
There can be no doubt that the founders
of the present American Government in
tended it to be a strong one. They were
weary of the vexations and the perplexities
that beset them at almost every step, in the
form ofState Rights, under the old Articles
of Confederation, and when they set up the
Federal Government, they meant to endow
it with the authority and the power of the
American people. Therefore it was they
declared that 1--WE THE PEOPLE, not '.we the
States" do ordain and establish it ''for our
selves and our posterity." But the ma
chinery of the government had scarcely
been set in motion before the germs of two
parties unfortunately appeared. The one,
headed by Alexander Hamilton, held that
the new government was really Goueraa-
ment, established by the whole people, for
the people, and endowed with all the func-
tons and powers necessary for sovereignty
and rule. The other, led by the matchless
leader Thomas Jefferson, claimed that the
several states were still sovereign in a great
degree, and chat the federal government,
having been derived from the states, was
powerless as against the states, except
within certain limits expressly defined in
the constitution itself In a word, the one
pleaded for a strong government strong at
home, as well as abroad, prepared for all
emergencies; while the other argued that
the central government would be dangerous
to local liberties, unless surrounded by
manifold checks and balances Hamilton
was undoubtedly statesman Of great parts,
was certainly unsurpassed by any states
man of his day, but as a party politician he
was nc match for the bold, resolute, schem-
ing and worldlywise Virginian. While
the one contended ably for strong repub-
lie, the other was already popularazing
doctrines that tended to wild democracy.
Adopting as his war-cry the popular maxim
of that age, ''the world is governed too
much," Mr.. Jefferson evidently forgot that
there might come a time when the chief
trouble of his country would be-
being governed too little. His advocacy
of the decentralization of the government,
and the localization of power, was
necessarily popular, because such a gov
ernment would give importance to localities
and individuals that would otherwise re-
main obscure and unknown His platform,
therefore, soon enlisted the energies and
sympathies of all such, and though frown-
ed upon by Washington, Madison, and
other great worthless of that day, its as
cendancy was only question of time. The
result was, that Hamilton soon became de-
noaaced as an aristocrat and monarchist,
while Jefferson was hailed as the philoso-
pher and democrat, the model statesman,
the peoples friend. Whatever else may be
said of Mr.. Jefferson, the logic Of his doc
trine of decentralization was soon mis-
taken, as in time counties came to question
the authority of states, and townships that
Of counties, until at length it happened all
authority was deemed irksome, and all con-
straint called despotism.
This pestilent heresy of Estate Rights
Sole source of all our woes
thus fostered and insisted upon, soon begat
that jealousy Of the national government
early christened the spirit of Disunion, u
whose natural fruit was the Hartford Con.
vention, and whose natural developement