The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1865-12-14

unquestionably within its jurisdiction
are so numerous, that it must ever nat
urally refuse to be embarrassed by ques-
tions that lie beyond it. We're it other.
wise, the Executive would sink beneath
the burden: the channels of justice
would be choked,. legislation would be
obstructed by excess so that there is
greater temptation to exercise some of
the functions ofthe general government
through the States than to trespass on
their rightful sphere. aThe absolute
acquiescence in the decisions of the ma
jority" was, at the beginning of the CEN
tury, enforced by Jefferson ssas the vital
principle of republics" and the events
of the last four years have established,
we viii hope forever, that there lies no
appeal TO force
The maintenance of the Union brings
with it athc support of the State gov
ernments in all their rights )" but it is
not one of the rights of any State gov
ernment to renounce its own place in
the Union or to nullify the laws Of the
Union. The largest liberty is to be
maintained in the discussion of the acts
of the Federal government; but there
is no appeal from its laws, except to the
various branches of that government it.
self, or to the people, who grant to the
members of the Legislative and of the
executive departments no tenure but
limited one, and in that manner always
retain the powers Of redress.
s.The sovereignty of the States" is
the language of the confederacy, and
not the language of the Constitutions.
The latter contains the emphatic words
''The Constitution, and the laws of the
United States which shall be made in
pursuance thereof, and all treaties made
or which shall be made under author
.ity of the United States, shall be the
supreme law Of the land and the judg-
es in every State shall be bound there
by, anything in the constitution or laws
OF any State to the contrary notwith-
standing"
Certainly the government of the
United States is limited government
and so is every State government a
limited government. With us, this
idea Of limitation spreads through every
form of ADMINISTRATION, general, State and
municipal, and rests on the great distin-
gushing principle Of the recognition of
the rights of man. The ancient repub-
lies abso,bed the Individual in the State,
prescribed his religion, and controlled
his activity. The American system
rests on the assertion of the equal right
of every man to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness ], to freedom of
conscience, to the culture and exercise
of all his faculties. As consequence,
the State Government is limited, as to
the general government in the interest
of Union, as to the individual citizen in
the interest of freedom.
States, with proper limitations of pow
er, are essential to the existence of the
Constitution of the United States. At
the very commencement, when we as
sumed a place among the powers of
the earth, the Declaration of Inde-,
pendence was adopted by States: so
also were the articles of confedera-
ton; and when '.the people of the
United States" ordained and establish
ed the Constitution it was the assent
of the States, one by one, which gave
it vitality. In the event, too, of any
amendment to the Constitution, the
proposition of Congress needs the confir-
nation of States. Without States, one
great branch of the Legislative govern
ment, would be wanting. And, if welook
beyond the letter of the Constitution to
the character of our country, its capacity
for comprehending within its jurisdic-
tion vast continental empire is due to
the system of States-The best securi-
for the perpetual existence cf the States
Is the supreme authority" of the Con-
stitution of the United States. The
perpetuity of the Constitution brings
with it heperpetuity ofthe States their
naturalization makes us whatweare, and
In our political system their connexion is
indissoluble. The whole cannot exist
without the parts, or the parts without
the whole. So long as the Constitu-
tion of the United States endures, the
States will endure; the destruction of
the one is the destruction of the other !;
the preservation of the one is the pres
ervation of the other.
/ have thus explained my views of
the mutual relations of the Constitu-
tion and tire States, because they unfold
the principles ON which / have sought
to solve the monentous questions and
overcome the appalling difficulties that
met me at the very commencement of
my administration. It has been my
steadfast object to escape from the
sway of momcntary passions, and to
derive healing policy from the funda-
mental and unchanging principles of
the Constitution. q
| found the State suffering from the
effects ofa civil war; Resistance to her
general government appeared to have
exhausted itself. The United States
had recovered possession of their forts
and arsenals and their armies were in
the occupation of every State which
had attempted to secede. Whether
the territory within the limits of those
States should be held as conquered ter
ritory, under military authority emana.