The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1866-08-30
NAV exclude the Northern or the Eas-

may exclude the Northern or the Eas-
tern States from the next.
improbable as such uslrpations may
seem! the establishment Of the principle
now asserted and acted upon by Congress
will render them 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 e1igenciey or torbear-
ances 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 Government, and with
The very existence Of free institutions.
It is, indeed, the identical practice which
has rendered fruitless all attempts hither-
to to establish and maintain free govern
ment in Mexico and the States OF South
America.
Party necessities assert themselves as
superior to the fundamental law, which is
set aside in reckless obedience to their be-
hests. Stability, whether in the exercise
of power, in the administration of Gov
eminent, or in the enjoyment OF rights,
becomes impossible-and the conflicts OF
party, which, under constitutional Gov
ernments, are the conditions and means
of political progress, are merged IN the
conflict of arms, to which they directly
and inevitably tend.
It was against this peril, go conspicuous
and 30 fatal to all free Governments, that
our Constitution 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
the right and the fact Of representation.
The Congress, upon which is conferred
all the legislative power of the National
Government, consists of two branches,
the Senate and House of Representatives,
whose Joint concurrence or assent is es-
sential to the validity of any law. Of
these "the House of Representatives"
says the Constitution, Article |, Section
2, "shall be composed of members chosen
every second year by the people of the
several States" Not only is the right Of
representation thus recognized as possess
ed by all the States, and by every. State,
without restriction, qualification, or con-
dition of any kind, but the duty of choos-
ing representatives is imposed upon the
people of each and every State alike,
without distinction, or the authority to
make distinction, among them, tor any
reason, or upon any grounds whatever.
And, in the Senate-so careful ls the Con-
stitution to secure to every State this
right of epresentation-it is expressly
provided that "No State shall, without
it's consent, be deprived of it's equal suf-
frage" in that body, even by an amend
ment of the Constitution itself.
When, therefore, any State is excluded
from such representation, not only is a
right of the State denied, but the consti
tutional integrity of the Senate is i'm
paired, and the validity of the Govern
ment itself is brought in question. But
Congress, at the present moment, thus
excludes from representation in both
branches of Congress ten States OF the
Union; denying them all share in the en-
actment of laws by which they are to be
governed, and all participation IN the
election of the rulers by which those laws
are to be enforced. In other words, a
Congress, in which only twenty-six States
are represented, asserts the right to gov
ern, absolutely, and in it's own dis
cretion, all the thirty-six States which
compose the Union to make their laws
and choose their rulers, and to exclude
the othor ten from all share in their own
Government, until it sees fit to admit them
thereto. What is there to distinguish the
power thus asserted and exercised from
the most absolute and intolerable tyran-
nv? Nor do these extravagant and un-
lust claims on the part Of Congress to
powers and authority never conferred
upon the Government by the Constitution
find any warrant in the arguments or ex-
cuses urged in their behalf 1t is alleged ::
l. That these States, by the act Of re-
bclion, and by voluntarily Withdrawing
their members from Congress, forfeited
their right to representation, and that they
can only receive it again at the hands Of
tho supreme legislative authority of the
Government, on its own terms and it's own
discretion. If representation in Congress
and participation in the Government were
simply privileges conferred and held by
favor, this statement might have the merit
ofplausibility; but representation is, under
the Constitution, not only expressly
recognized as right, but it is imposed as
a duty, and it is essential, in both respects,
to the existence OF the Government and to
the maintenance of it's authority. In free
Governments, fundamental and essential
rights cannot be forfeited, except against
individuals, by due process of law. Nor
can constitutional duties and obligations
be discarded OF laid aside. The enjoy
ment of rights may be, for time, sus.
pended, by the failure to claim them, and
duties may be evaded by the refusal to
perform them.
The withdrawal of their members from
Conpress by the States which resisted the