The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1865-09-30
RIGHTS DEMOCRAT.
OUR VIEWS ON stats RIGnTs.
The following is copied from the las

Statesman
We have been greatly at n loss to know
exactly what kind Of State Rights the SrArE
RIGArs kDkMucRAT adhered to-. We now
learn from The following extract from an ed.
itoklal in that papery speaking Of the power
e the States to constitationaily abolish sla.
very, that its idea of State Rights is the
same rs that entertained By Calhoun. JEFF.
Davis, and the other nulliRere and traitors !:
1--WE do not believe that thirty. four of the
States, even, have the right TO declare the
slaves Of the thirty.R1h State to be free.
That matter belongs solely and only to the
State itself.o
according 10 this statement of the pure
~ unadalterated Oregon Democracy, the
Constitution Of the United States cannot be
amended BY three-fourths of the States, as
IN the Constitution itself provided. To this
We say stick a pin there.a
wehope the Statesman win keep the pin
there, and heed what wesay further. To
make our views a little better understood,
wa viii add here what our position is in
reference to the subject we had under
consideration when we penned the extract
that paper quotes above: We hold hat
Il is the right and province of each State
10 declare for itself whether Slavery shall
o shall not be permitted in it; that the
right belongs solely to the State, and is a
matter over which the General Govern
ment has ne control or discretion
whatever; that it is ono Of the rights
which was not ceded to the General Gov
eminent, and consequently, it belongs ex
clusively to each State respectively that
If thirty-foar Of the thirty-fve States
now in the the Union should meet in
Convention aud declare that slavery should
not exist in the thirty-fAh State, such
declaration would have no just force or
effect. agreeably to the Federal compact
and the sovereignty Of the State most
concerned, unless by its own acceptance
Of rho article of prohibition. The States,
in all of their reserved rights, are sover-
eign, and these cannes be justly arrested
from them by the tlrec-hurths or by all
of the other States. The issue of slavery
is no more TO us in this discussion than
any other State right It stands exactly
with them, being seither more nor less a
sovereign prerogativc than they are. If
al the States can in Convention declare
away the right Of a State to permit sRa-
very within it, they can With equal power
and reason declare away the rights Of shat
State in every other p~articulas ca =
can deprive the people of the right of
suffrage Of the right to elect their own
officers; Of the right to keep a well
regulated MALTA, aud to keep and bear
arms. They can prohibit the free cxer-
ciee Of the people in religious worship ;
they can abridge the freedom of speech,
or Of the press, and prevent the people
from peacefully assembling to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances.
They can take away the right of the peo-
pie to be secure in their persons, houses,
and effects, and against unreasonable
searches and seizures; and the right Of
trial by jury and they can deprive citi-
zens of life, liberty, or property, without
due process Of hw, These peculiar rights
of the people of the States, respecting
which it is expressly stipulated that Con-
gress shall make no law, stand precisely
upon the same basis with the right to
hold slaves, and no power, unless with
the consent Of the State directly concern
ed, can IN any manner affect, curtail or
abolish these State rights, except the
tyr4at's power-that Of force.
A perasal Of The history Of the Goa.
s1ufim sd II the instrument itself
~ nsiliy every candid, intelligent
mr, of the eorEestBess Of our views.
List Instrument vas adopted as original.
~ framed on TIE Ezth ef September,
1Ts7- That portion Of It which especi-
aHy pertains to the rights Of the States,
and which expressly stipulates that, . the
powers not delegated TO the United States
by the Constitutioa, nor prohibited to il
by the States, are reserved to the States
respectively, or 70 the people," was moi
adopted until more than two years after.
wards in March, 1883, and It IS = note,
worthy fact that until the ten State rights
articles we're proposed = be added to the
original Constitution By Congress, neither
Rhode Island nor North Carolina ratified
the instrument, aer entered the Federal
Union.
1t is apparent that after the originaI
Constitution vas put IN practical opera
ton By the eleven States which ratified
it, the discovery was made that it was
defcient h clearly and definitely marking
the hunts Of power granted to the Fed.
e1dGeeennsnt. There was fear appre-
hsaaed 81 many Of the wisest and mos
patzistic Statesmen Of that period, thai
eventually the Constitution as it stood
might be perverted from its trne inter.
pretation that i would be 80 construed
By the advoeates of such 8 system. as t.