The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1865-11-25
STATE SOVEREIGNTY.
Gen. Jackson ON state R~ighta..IEis
Proclamation Against south Carr
0ItnRs

- &0OS9 AANAs AN0Io 0N1A SO0RGA
upon by tho lovers of National power, as u
sort o bratRiA fafnlen against State Rights
las we'll as a most triumphant assertion
of the powers Of the General Government
over them, whenever the two should
to cfush. This, If we'll looked to,
will be found By no means true; nay,
more, that Gen. Jaekson's views of State
Rights were still unchanged, and in per-
feet keeping with what they had been
seen to be ON all other occasions. His
principles were of storner stuff than
to be disconnected and dashed at their
first encounter.
As regards the South Carolina Procla-
nation, it is we'll known its sole object
was to enforce the United States revenue
laws at Charleston, in opposition 10 ali
uprising of the people against the consti-
tuted authorities. No power, however,
was claimed against State Rights beyond
the simple execution of the laws-admit-
ted TO be eonstitutional-and, of course,
paramount to all State authority what
ever. In other words, the great weight
of the Proclamation was directed against
what was called nullifcation," which
was held to be at once odiOus and uneon-
Ist~itutional; without the slightest aim TO
subvert admitted State Rights, or TO en-
trench upon any of their principles.
To bring fairly to light tho scope and
purpose of the Proclamation, Gen. Jack
son shall speak for himself. He says:
/ consider, then, the power 10 annul a
law of the United States assumed by one
State, incompatible uitk the eristemce OF
THE Union, e~oatradicted erpressly By the
letter Qfths Constitution, wa~eathorised BIZ
It's spirif, Inconsistent acith epery principle
on rhicA IL ~as founded, and Destructive
lof the great object for .cAich IL aras
formed. , Here is a Law of the
United States, not even pretended to be
unconstitutional, repealed BY the author
lity of the small majority of the voters of
q single State. Here is a provision of
the Constitution which is solemnly abro-
gated by the same authority. =
This, then, is the position in which We
stand. A small majority of the citizens
of one State in the Union have elected
delegates to a State Convention; that
Convention has ordained that all the rev.
enue laws of the United States must be
repealed, or, that they are no longer
members of the Union.
In the next place, in the same Procla-
mation, we are distinctly advised of his
|indcstructible regard for State Rights,
when not clashing with the Constitution.
He proceeds:
No one, fellow citiz~us, has a higher
reverence for the reserved rights of the
States, than the Magistrate who now ad-
dresses you. No one would make greater
sacrifices or official exertions to defend
them from violation; but equal care must
be taken to prevent Of their part an inn
proper interference with, or resumption
of, the right they have vested in the ma.
ton. The line has not been so distinctly
drawn as to avoid doubts, in some cases,
of the exercise of power. Men of the
best intentions and soundest views, may
differ in their construction of some parts
of the Constitution /; but there arc Others
on which d~ispassionate reflection car
leave no doubt.
In his next Inaugural Address after
the Proclamation he says:
Deeply impressed with the obligations
of that solemn oath l am now about t.
take, / shah continue to excrt all my fac.
ulties to maintain tho just powers of the
Constitution, and to transmit unimpaircd
ito ~posterity, the blessings of our Federal
Union. At the same time it will be my
aim to inculeate by my official acts the
necessity of exercising, by the Genera
Movement, those powers only which
are clearly delegated.
In his sixth Annual Message, Decem.
Der 2, 1884, President Jackson says:
The claims of power for the Genera
lGovernment upon each of these points
certainly present matter of the deepest
Interest. That the most inju
rious conflicts would u~navoidably arise
between the respective jurisdictions Of
the State and General Governments, il
the absence of constitutional provisions
marking out their respective boundaries
cannot be doubted. The local advanta
ges to be obtained would induce the States
to overlook in the beginning the dangers
anddi&cultias An-which they might be
ultimately exposed. The powers exer.
cised by the Federal Government would
soon be regarded with jealousy by the
State authorities, and originating as they
must, from implication or assumption, il
would be impossible to affx to them Ger,
tain and safe limits. Opportunities and
temptations to the assumption of power
incompatible with State Sovereignty.
would be increased, and those barriers
which resist the tendency of our system
towards consolidation, greatly weakened
The officers and agents of the Genera
lGwernment might not always have the
discretion to abstain from intermeddline
with State concerns; and if they did
they would not always escape the suspi
cion of having done SO. Collisions and
consequent irritations would spring up:
that harmony which should exist between
the General Government and each mem
her of the Confederacy would be fire.
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