Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1865-09-01
A Question that has been Settled.

the several attempts to establish the right o
power Of State to determine the charscte
and destiny of the United States, and III,
successive and overwhelming defeat of al
such attempts, is worth a careful perusal
Three times in our history the suhject has beer
discussed with the most solemn esrnestness anC
by the most consummste ability 10 be found il
the whole community. and three times the Peo-
! pie themselves, our supreme and hnal court, af
ter listening to every argument. every subtlety
every appeal. have come 10 the same almost
unanimous conclusion.
! In 1898. when the Alien and Se'htion law:
passed by the administration Of the elder Adams
gave great offence TO the popular instinct, and
were regarded by the republican leaders as ar
biirary, injurious and unconstitutional, the leg
islature of Virginia carried its hostility far
to ras. n series OF resolves calling upon theStates
s.to interfere and arrest the evil" Those re-
I solves we're drawn by Madison, they were ma
/ turely considered snd carefully expressed, and
I they became to a considerable extent the symbol
and creed Of the republican party. They by
( no means declared in any part Of them. what
have since been known as the doctrine Of ''nul-
lihcatiou" and ''sece>sion;' they SIMPLY assert
al the right Of the States who are parties 10 the
federal compact, in Gaze of a deliberate. palpa-
bic and danger, US exercise, by the general gov
eminent, oip powers not granted by that compact,
10 "inierpose for arresting the progress Of the
evil not defining in what way or 10y what
means they should inierpose (; but they clearly
squinted at some sort Of antagonism which the
Sistes might rightfully assume to consrsin or
compel the submission Of the general govern
menr.
10 this light they were debated in animated.
almost furious terms. by all parties. In this
light they were discussed in the legislatures Of
the several States. to which they had been CON-
municated By the Governor Of Virginia, who
asked their cooperation ''in maintaining unIm-
paired the authorities, rights and liberties re-
served TO the States'
What was the result of thst discussion and
appeal OF the fifteen STATES Of which the
Union was composed at that time, there was hut
one. Kentucky, which gave favorable response,
and Kentucky al but recently been part of
the State of Virginia Seven Ofthe States, Yer
mont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connec-
ticnt, Rhode Island, Delaware and New York.
passed the most decided counier-resoluiions
seven more. New Jersey. Pennsylvsnia, Mary
land, North Carolina, : nth Carolina and Geor
gia. either refused or failed TO approvei snd Hir-
ginis wss left in her inglorious solitude.
Thus, on the hr., occasion in which the au-
thoritie- OF the States and Of the Union
brought into conflict. the States themselves, act
ing through their appropriate agencies. the State
legislatures perempiOrily declined TO assume any
position OF TO take sny steps ths, might Imperil
the supremacy Of the Union. Whist the people
Of those days lid to IN nifst their opprsiion to
the obnoxious laws. wss not TO get up any do
bious and dangerous here,ies of political doctrine.
but 70 turn out the administration by which
those laws had been originated
Thirty-fiye years later, South Carolina, Gpro-
10, 10 a disagreement with the general govern
mont ON a matter Of public economy. presented
the issue, in = still more direct and positive form.
10 the consideration and decisiOn Of the States
Pushing the resolves Of '9s In an extreme and
unwarrantable conclusion, as Madison, the wri-
ter of them, indignantly showed, the South Car
olina theorists in 1882 33 asserted the right Of
State to nullify actually an offensive act Of
Congress. That right had been indirectly claim
ed in the original draft Of the Virginia resolves,
but on motion of John Tyler, of Carolina, it had
been stricken out and vet the South Carolina
leade . inierpolated it anew. Not satisfied with
words, they preceded TO action Drawing up n
flaming manifesto and report. which they sent
to all the other States, they made ready for vio-
lent resistance Andrew jackson was then Pres
ident How he met the crisis i, well known, but
what concerns us now is the mode in which the
States aud the people met it. The issue was
plain, was unmisrakatle; it had betn for years
discussed in Congress, by speeches, in the news
papers, in conversation and We may say that
all the talent, acuteness and learning Of that
generation had been engaged in the contro-
versy.
Again, what was the result Of the appeal to
the nation The South Carolina resolves, drawn
up 10y a mind even acuter than that of Madison,
the late Mr. Calhoun's. and enforced by re-
mort only second to Madison's for adroit logic
impressive statement and an imposing earnest
ness, was submitted TO the legislatures Of the
States Entertained and considered with the
utmost conscieutiousness and solemniiy OF pur-
pose; and debated by the master iniellects of
every locality, the action Of the nation under
such circumstances, must be decisive. and it was
decisive; OF the twenty-three other States then
comprising the Union, not a single one approved
the course or the doctrines Of South Carolina
They were condemned, not timidly or indirectly,
but heartily. by one; by most Of the States.
indeed, they were denounced in unmeasured
terms: while the argument of Jackson. in sup |
port Of the Union, followed up as il was by
menace Of = resort 10 force, was received and
eItolled universally, by legislature and by pop
ulsce.
In 1898. it had been the federal party which |
took the lead in sustaining the Union as sgainst .
the States; but 1888, j; was the democratic par |
ty, led on by Its most energetic and popular rep
reeertative.
But not satisfied with the emphatic, unmis- |
taxable and irreverrible decision OF the national
will certain restless political ambitions, bitten
by the maggot of State supremacy, determined
10 make another trial. For thirty years they
secretly and openly laid the train for what they
supposed would be q stupepdous and fatal ex-
plosion against the Union. Attaching them
selves to a peculiar institution, identified not
only with the social structure and the commercial
interests Of one-haif the States, but by careful
infused into the moral CONVICTIONS
and personal passions and prejudces Of nearly
every class of their inhabitants: acbpting besides,
in nsme, those principles ofliberal polieyand dem
ocratic sentiment which were likely to WIN them
the sympathy Of the masses Of othrr States: with
the government in their possession, its money,
its armies ite fleets and its civil SCENTS, and sure
of the secret if not open assistance Of the foreign
monarcbies. the secsssionisfs swallowing up all
tha. had gone before Of State-riehtism and null
ll6cstionism, made their strong. determined.
desperate, 6ual appeal TO the people. II was.
this time, not an appeal by Restitution and sc-
dress, but an apreal BY arms. The gauntlet Of
State sovereignty was proudly and dehanily
hurled in the face Of the Union. How vas it
taken up, By a single champion Of the Union,
here and there? by score Of such champions.
by a hundred or thousand, armed cap o-Pie,
and riding into the lists, No; but the whole
North. with scarcely one exception. made itself
the champion Of the national integrity.
With . unanimity and exaltafion Of sentiment
that has had no parallel since the earlier Cru
ssJes the people rose nm as one man, and sworn
TO give their substance - drose. snd to pour out
their blood like water. rather th.u that single
star should disappear from the dag. Itivs 10,
party or transient enthusiasm, this; il ysa no;
mere ebulliiion or ffoih Of tuwulfuous eenfineat
what the people ssid At the outset 10y usAst T
IN the end; what they said they did; aDd }bps u
ysars ofsuful desolatine, eyhapsting War, Rhieb