Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1866-09-08

recognized by solemn proclamation of tho Er
eeut'Vc department.; the laws of the Unitcl
ot"tes nave been extended BY Congress orc,
all these Suites aud the people thereof: Fed
erai courts have been rc-opcnkd, and Federa
taxes lmposed and levied; MD, in every -
spest except that they are dehi.d represents
S eson 10 Congress and tho electoral college. the
states once in rebellion arc nuY recognized i at
hoiaing the same position, as oiyit,ss thu a.
ohilgations, and subject to thesdiile duties as
the other States of our commtsi Union.
1t seems to US, in the excrcise Of the calm.
est AND most candid Judgment we can brine
70 the subject, tlut such claia, so enforced
Involves as fatal an overthrow IF the author.
'ty o1 the Constitution, aud rs 5complcte n de-
s,ructIon OF the Government and Union. as
ehat winch was sought to he Effected bv tha
nt't'S "'d people in armed insuircction aeaipst
."c''' ooth. 1t cannot escape observation that
tie power thus asserted to exclude certain
"tatcs from representation is made to rest wholly
on the will umd discretion Of tho Con"rnsss
that asserts ii. 1t is not made to dcpend m.
on any specified conditions or eircup,Atunccp
nor to be subject TO any rules or regulations
whatever. Tho right asserted und exercised
Is absolute, without qualification or restriction
not confined to States in rebellion, nor to
States that have rebellcd-iti is the right of
any congress, in formal possession of the leg
isatlve ISL authority, to exclude any State or
Ht'tes' and any portion Of tho people thereof,
at any time from representation in Congress-
ana IN tho electoral college, at its own discre.
tio,' and until they shall perform such acts
ahu comply with such conditions as it may die
Obviously the reasons for suol exc xclusion be.
ht,I trIf1 Ii,
may cnange as the Congress itself shal cha nrc
enc congress may exclude State from all
st'"re III the Government for one reason and
!! :hat removed, the next Congress may exclude
it for another. One State insw be exclndnI
Oh one ground today and ahothcr ,nnv bc
excluded on the opposite grnvKssssga.s s,--.,:--
may exclude the Northern or the
Eastern States from the next.
Improbable as such usurpations may seem
tho establishment of the principle now aaser-
ted aud acted upon by Congress will render
thcm by no means impossible. The character,
indeed the very existence, Of Congress and
the Union is thus made dependent solely and
entirely upon the party and sectional cxigen-
cics or forbcaranccs of the hour.
We need not stop to show that such action
not only finds no warrant in the Constitution,
but is at war with every principle of our Gov
crnment, aud with the very existence OF free
institutions 1t is, indeed, the identical prac-
tice which has rendered fruitlcss all attempts
hitherto to establish and maintain free govern
mcnt III Mexico and the States of South
America.
Party necessities assert themselves ms su.
pcrior to the fundamental law which is set
aside in reckless obedience to their bchest.-
Stability, whether in the exercise Of power,
in thc administration of Government, or in the
enjoyment OF rights, becomes impossiblc-and
the conflicts Of party, which, under constitu-
tional. Governments, arc tho conditions and
means of political progress, arc merged in tho
conflict of arms, to which they directly and in
cvitably tend.
1t was against this peril, SO consl icuous and
SO fatal to all the Governments, TINT our Con-
stitution was intended especially to provide.
Not only the stability, but the very existence
Of the Government is made by it's provisions
to depend upon tho right and tho fact of rep
rcscntaton. The Congress, upon which is
conferred all the Legislative power of the Na'
tiunal Government, consists of two branches
the Senate and House of Representative
whose joint concurrence or assent is essential
to the validity Of any law Of these, tho
House Of Representatives" says the Consti
tuition, Article l, Section 2, "sl,all be com
posed of members chosen every second ycul
by tho people of the several States" No
only is the right Of representation thus rocog
nizcd as possessed by all the States, aud by ev
cry State, without restriction, qualification, o.
condition of any kind, but the duty of ohoos
ing representatives is imposed upon the peo
pic of ench and every State alike, withou
distinction, or the authority to make distinc
ton, among them, for any reason, or upon an.
grounds, whatever. And, in the Senatc--s s.
curcful is the Constitution to secure to over.
State this right Of rcprcscntation-it is OK
prcssly provided that " No State shall, with
out it's consent, be deprived of its.cqual suf
rage" in that body, even by an alnendnen
Of the constitution itself.