The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-12-08
FRIDAY sLonNING, De-. 5.
The Presidents MessaEe--.His Policy
of .sReeOnstrucfIoDo

tation, and, now before the country,
will elicit most discussion, is the enun-
citation his policy respecting the States
lately in open rebellion. According to
the Presidents theory, the work to be
done is not work of Reconstruction, {"
accurately speaking, but of rehabilita-
ton. He holds that it is not in the pow
er of any State to secede, and that the
Union therefor has never been dissolved
and does not need to be reconstructed.
The elaborate and able argument with
which the message sets out to show that
in constituting the Federal Union, states
were intended to and do possess a dis
-tiuctive individual character as subor-
dinate parts of the Union, and that in
that character they are ms indestruciible
as the Union itself, is designed, unless
we mistake its purpose, to overthrow
the theory entertained by Mr.. Stephens,
of Pennsylvania, Senator Sumner and
others, who hold thHt the rebellIous
States no longer possess any distinctive
character as States, but simply form an
area OF conquered territory subject like
any other territory ofthe United States
To the legislation of Congress. This
proposition can only be reached by
conceding that the rebel States did in
reality withdraw from the Union; that
they thus became league of foreign
powers, and as such were conquered
and are now held byn power which I'M
der this theory cannot be the Federal
government, because the Union having
been broken up by the withdrawal of a
portion OF the States, that government
then ceased to exist. Until difficulties
like these are cleared away from Mr..
Thnd. Stephens territorial theory, we
cannot adopt or commend it.
The Presidents definition of the re-
lations between the General Govern
mont and the State Governments could
scarcely have been rendered more SIM
pie and lucid.
The maintenance of the Union brings
with it "the support of the State Gov
eTnments in all their right" but IL Is
not one of the rights OF any State Gov
eminent to renounce its own place in
tho Union, or to nullify the laws of the
Union.
The sovereignty of the States" is the
language OF the ConfedeTucy, and not
the language of the Constitution. 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 the au-
thority of the United Suites, shall be
the supreme law of the land; and the
Judges in every State shall be bound
thereby, anything in the constitution
or laws OF any State to the contrary
Notwithstanding"
Certainly the Government of the
United States is limited government;
and 80 is every State government u
limited government. With MS, this
Idea OF Limitation spreads through
every form of administration, general,
State, and municipal, and rests on the
great distinguishing principles of the
recognition Of the rights of men. The
ancient republics absorbed tho individ-
ual in the State, prescribed his religion,
and controlled his activity. The Amer
lean system rests on the assertion of
the equal right OF every man TO life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;
10 freedom OF conscience, To the culture
and exercise of all his faculties. As IA
consequence, the State Government is
limited, as to the General Government
in the interest of Union, as to the indi-
Niduai citizen in the interest OF free
dom.
States with proper limitations Of now
eT, are essential to the existence OF the
Constitution of the United States. At
the very. commencement, when we as
sumed place among the Powers of the
earth, the Declaration of Independence
was adopted by States; so also were the
Articles administrations and when .ths
People of the United States ordained
and established 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 Constitu-
ton, the proposition of Congress needs
the confirmation OF States. Without
States, one great branch of the legisln-
lRtive government would be wanting
Upon these definitions of terms, the
President POUNDS the enunciation or
his policy of restoration. To our peo-
pie, ut least, his theory is not a novel
one. 1t is that upon which the Govern
ment OF Nirginin was rchrbilitated, by
the Convention held in this city in the
summer OF 1861. Tint body, by what
now seems to have been happy in
SEPARATION, eSemplifled for the first time
in the history OF the country. the re-
sumption by State of suspended pow
ers OF government. Their theory was
that the State of Virginia, as an abstract
government, and as subordinate but
distinctive member OF the entire Gov
crument OF the Union, was coexistent
with that government, and that neither
could be destroyed by force; that the
persons exercising the functions OF the
State, in making war on the General
Government necessarily made war on
the source whence they derived their
own powers, and thereby abdicnted
their functions; that the powers Of
government incapable of humiliation
returned for exercise to those who We're
willing to exercise them. They held
that tho powers of the State We're in
herent and its relation TO the Central
unchanged; that the exer-
else of these powers was simply sus-
pended by the abandonment on the
part OF the agents; that it was only no.
ceSSary to reclothe the powers of gov
eminent belonging to the people repre-
scented in the Convention, by appoint |
ing new agents for their proper exer-
else; and this they did.
The Government of the United States, !
in its several departments recog-
n'zed the legality of these proceed |
ings, by acts so complete and bind
ing that they can never be undone; |
ana this policy, not only recognized as
valid ou' deliberately adopted, by the |
government under the administration 1
of Mr. Lincoln, has since been pursued |
and is now officially declared by. Pr,esi- 1
dent johnson.
II it is agreed that the States are to be
restored in particular mode. it is s,nI