The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1864-08-10

scCcuiiS STATES 70 IurniSn MIN seventy-nYe
thousand men. to be used against the States
which had seeded, he announced, in eject,
his intention to destroy the old Govern
ment; and when certain of the States ac-
ceded to his demand, they declared also
that they were willing that it should be de-
stroyed. None of the conditions requisite
to make revolution in the government
complete were wanting. The officers Of
State, whose sworn duty it was to protect
and defend the old Government, forsosk it,
and the people abandoned it. From that
moment it ceased to exist and we have
been living for more than three years. nm
der new Government, Government me-
cessarily despotic. because, the Constitu-
tion being set aside, the man who rules
over us is absolutely without restraint of
any kind, except that imposed by his own
will. We have not even the benefits Of
those restrictions upon power, which in
other absolute Governments have been i'm
posed BY ancient and long established
usage. Our lives, liberty and property are
wholly at the mercy of Abraham Lincoln.
The thirteen colonies, while dependent up
on Great Britain, were. wholly Independent
of each Other, existing under separate char
ters, or royal grants, and having each its
own Governor, Legislative Assembly and
Courts of Justice.
When these colonies declared them
selves independent Of the Mother Country,
they each became separate and indepen-
dent STATE or Natien, and were subsequent
ly recognized by name as such in 1888, by
the only government interested in the de-
NAL. The articles Of confederation which
were entered into by the State govern
ments during the revolutionary war of
i l.77, remained in force until the adoption
of the Federal constitution, which went in
!. to operation in l7s9. II did not impair
the sovereignty OF any one OF these States
or natiens, any more than did the offensive
and defensive treaty Of France and Eng
land, in the war with Russia, diminish the
sovereignty Of either of those nations. The
Federal Constitution, as framed by the
Convention which met in PHILADELPHIA on
the Goth of May. 1877, did not, nor have
any Of the amendments subsequently made
thereto, impaired or taken away, sovereign
J ~ from any State by which it was adopt
| ed.
: The people Of each State retained their
5 separate existence and nationality, as COM
pletely after they had seyerally adopted
the Federal Constitution as before. There
was in the Conventign-as appears by the
: Madison papers, and as We are informed by
Luther Martin in his address before the
5 Maryland Legislature--a semi monarchical
1 or consolidated party. and this party was
r lof course in favor Of Capitalization, but
e when it found, as it soon did, that the semi
i monarchical idea was wholly impracticable
: in the then state of feeling, both in and
: out Of the Convention, it abandoned along
/ with it the idea Of consolidating territory
D SO vast, with so great a variety Of soil.
climate, production and material Interests,
0 and in which the habits and character OF
Ithe people in The different locations must
n differ SO widely under one Republic, as an
/ absurdity too great to be contemplated fer
i on instant.
i Two separate attempts we're made in the
# Convention TO consolidate. The FIRST, by
G Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, who pro-
n pesed in his sixth resolution 10 confer sp-
!, on :he Government Of the United States
q the power to coerce disobedient or re-
J fractory State. The second, by Patterson,
J, Of Pennsylvania. who submitted similar
/ resolution. though couchedin different Ian
r guage.
d The folly and dangers Of these resolu
items having been fully exposed in the
n Convention by Msdisoa, Hamilton, Mason
!, and Martin, they were voted dOwn unani-
! mously, each State casting one vois. These
Il we're the only attempts which wtre made
i. in the Convention TO consolidate ihe PEo-
l. RE and TO transfer their sovereignty TO q
a rev nation, proposed 20 be created BY the
Il Convention. Their failure was most sig
Z Il ..i .s,d ro..,.1ato