Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-08-20
AUGUST 20, 1866.

was that power and that authority which
the rebellion sought to overthrow, and the
victory of the Federal arms was simply
the defeat Of that attempt. The Govern
meat of the United States acted through
out the war on the defensive, IL sought
only to hold possession of what was al
ready its own. Neither the war, nor Che
victory by which 1t was closed, changed in
any way the Constitution of the United
States. The war was carried on by virtue
of its provisions, and under the limitations
which they prescribe; and the result of the
war did not either enlarge abridge, or In
any way change or affect the powers it
cOnfers upon the Federal Government, or
release chat Government from the restric-
tions which it has imposed. 'l % tH 7
The Constitution of the United States is
to-day precisely as it was before the war,
the supreme law of the land, anything In
the Constitution or laws of any State to the
contrary notwithstanding; aud to-day,
also precisely as before the war, ''all the
powers not conferred by the Constitution
upon the General Government, nor prohib-
tied by it to the States, are reserved TO the
several States, or to the people thereOfP
This position is yindcated not only by
the essential nature of our Government,
and the language and spirit of the Consti
tuition, but by all the actsand the language
OF our Government, in all its departments,
and at all times from the outbreak of the
rebellion to its final overthrow. In every
message and proclamation of the Execu-
tive it was explicitly declared that the
sole object and purpose of the war was to
maintain the authority of the Constitution
and to preserve the integrity of the Union;
and Congress more than once reiterated
this solemn declaration, and added the as
suranCe that whenever the object should be
attained the war should cease, and all the
States should retain their equal rights and
dignity unimpaired. -.--.'r
1t is only since the war was closed that
other rights have been asserted on behalf
OF one department of the General Govern
ment. 1t has been proclaimed by Con-
greSs that, in addition to the powers con-
ferred upon it by the Constitution, the Fed
eral Government may now claim over the
? States, the territory and the people involv-
ed in the insurrection, the rights of war
the right of conquest and of confiscation,
the right to abrogate all existing govern
ments, institutions and laws, and to subject
the territory conquered and its Inhabitants
to such laws, regulations and deprivations
as the legislative department of the Gov
ernment may see fit to impose. Under this
broad and sweeping claim, that clause of
the Constitution which provides that "nO
State shall without its consent be deprived
of its equal suffrage in the Senate of the
United States" has been annulled, and ten
States have been refused and are still re-
fused, representation altogether in both
branches OF the Federal Congress. And
the Congress in which only part of the
States and of the people of the
Union are represented has asserted the
right thus to exclude the rest from repre-
sentatiOn. and from all share in making
their own laws or choosing their own rulers
until they shall comply with such condi-
tions and perform such acts as this
Congress thus composed may itself
prescribe. That right has not only
been asserted, but it has been eX-
ercised, and is practically enforced at the
present time. Nor does it find any support
in the theory that the States tins. excluded
arein rebellion against the Government,
and are therefore precluded from sharing
its authority. They are not thus in rebel
lion. They are one and all in an attitude
of loyalty toward the Government and
of sworn allegiance TO the Constitu-
ton of the United States. In no one of
them is there the slightest Indication of re-
sistance to this authority, or the slightest
protest against itS just and binding oblga-
tion. This condition of renewed loyalty
has been officially recognized by solemn
pTOClduldJlDu Vi GnC bA6CuIlNC department..
The laws of the United States have been
extended by Congress over all these States
and the people thereof. Federal Courts
have been reopened, aud Federal taxes i'm
posed and levied. And in every respect,
except that they are denied representation
in Congress and the Electoral College, the
States once in rebellion are recognized as
holding the same position, as owing the
same obligations, and subject to the same
duties, as the other States of our common
Union.
1t seems to us, in the exercise of the calm
est and most candid Judgment we can bring
to the subject, that such a claim, SO entorc-
ed, involves as fatal an overthrow of the au-
thority of the Constitution, aud as complete
a destruction of the Government and Union
as that which was sought to be effected by
the States and people in armed ipsurrec-
tion against them both. 1t cannot escape
observation, that the power thus asserted
to exclude certain States from representa-
tion, is made to rest wholly in the will and
discretion of the Congress that asserts it.
1t is not made to depend upon any speci-'
fed conditions or circumstances,llor to be
subject to any rules or regulations whatev-
er. The right asserted and exercised is alb
solute, without qualification or restriction,
not confined to States in rebellion, nor to
States that have rebelled; it is the right OF
any Congress in formal possession of legis-
lative authority, to exclude any State or
States, and any portion of the people there
OF, at any time, from representation in Con-
gress and in the Electoral College, at its
own discretion and until they shall perform
such acts and comply with such conditions
as itmay dictate. Obviously, the reasons
for such exclusion, being wholly within the
discretion OF Congress, may change as the
Congress itself shall change. One Congress
may exclude State from all share in the
Government fer one reason; and, that rea-
son removed, the next Congress may ex.
clude it for another. II One State may be ex-
C uded on one ground to-day, and another
may be excluded on the opposite ground
tomorrow. Northernascendancy may ex-
clude Southern States from one Congress-
the ascendancy of Western or of Southern
interests, or of both combined, may exclude
the Northern or the Eastern States from
the next. Improbable as such usurpations
may seem, the establishment of the princi-
pie now asserted aud acted upon by Con-
gress will render them by no means imnos-
sible. The character, indeed the very ex-
istence of Congress aud the Union is thus
made dependent solely and entirely upon
the party and sectional exigencies or for
bearances of the hour.
: We need not stop to show that such action
not only finds no warrant in the Constitu-
ton, but is at war with every principle of
our Government, and with the very exist
ence of free Institutions, 1t is indeed, the
identical practice which has rendered fruit
less all attempts hitherto to establish and
maintain free governments In Mexico and
tha States of South America PARTY naoas.