The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-06-30

forn,sg are i,ou,fies with which CONGRESS
has no concern. The right of the people OF
q State to form 81 government Tor tnenlseiyes
has never been questioned In the absence
5 of any restriction, that right would pc apso-
lutte any form could be adopted py unenl
that they might Determine upon. ne COZ
stitution imposes butasingle restriction upon
such right-that the government adopted
shall be of g o republican form'-and this Is
done in the obligation to guarantee every
State such form. 1t gives no power TO
form a constitution for State. 1t operates
alone upon one already formed by the otate.
In the words of the FederQtist mo 44), IL = II
supposes pre-exlstlnS government vi 1ne
form which is to be guaranteed Ii is not
pretended that the existing governments OF
the States in question are not of the required
form, The objection is that they were net
legally established; but it Is confidently SUD-
niitted that that is a matter with which Con
oress has no concern. The powerto establish
or modify a State government belongs eA-
clusiVely to the people OF t he stare; htieh
they shall exercise it, how they shall exercise
If What provisions it shall contain, it is their
exclusive right to decide, and when declded
their decision is obligatory upon everybody
and independent ofall Congressional control,
if such government be of a republican form
To convert an obligation of guarantee INTO
an authority to interfere in any way IN the
formation of the government to be guarah-
teed is to do violence to language. Ii IL oe
said that the President did illegally interfere
in the organization of such governments the
answers are obvious. First, if it was, if the
people of such States not only have not, put
do not complain of it, but, on the contrary,
have pursued his advice and are SATISFIED
with. and are living under the governments
they have adopted, and those governments
are republican in form, what right has Con
gress to interfere or deny their legal exls-
tence9 Second conceding, for arguments
sake, that the Presidents alleged interference
was unauthorized, does it not, and for the
same reason, follow that any like interference
would be equally unauthorized A different
view is not to be maintained because of the
difference in the nature OF the powers con-
ferred upon Congress and the President, the
one being legislative and the other executive.
For it is equally and upon the same grounds
beyond the scope of either to form govern
ment for the people of Il State once in the
Union, or to eXpel such State from the
Union. or to deny, temporarily or perman-
emily, the rights which belongto State and
her people under the constitution. Congress
may admit new States but State once adj
mitted ceases to be within its control, and
can never again be brought within it. What
changes her people may at any time think
proper to make in her constitution is a mat
WIFI WHICH nelIueT SOuSitSS uOI any uS-
partment of the general government can
interfere, unless such changes make the State
government anti-republican, and then it can
only be made under the obligation to guar
antec that it be republican. Whatever may
be the extent of the power conferred upon
Congress in the third section, article four of
the constitution, to admit new States, in what
manner, and to what extent they can, under
that power interfere in the formation and
oh of tho constitution of c1Iph States
preliminary to admission into the Union, no
one has ever pretended that when that adj
mission is had the State can again be brought
within its influence. The power is exhausted
when once executed, the power forthwith
passing out of its reach. The State admit
ted, like the original thirteen States, becomes
at once and forever independent of Congress
sional control. A different view would
change the entiIe character of the govern
ment, as its trainers and their contemporaries
designed and understood it to be. They
never intended to make the State govern
ments subordinate to the general govern.
ment. Each was to move supreme in its
own orbit; but as each would not alone have
met the exigency of government adequate
to all the wants of the people the two, in the
language of Mr.. Jefferson. constituted eco
ordinate departments of one single and
integral whole" the one having the power of
legislation and administration "in affairs
which concerned their own citizens only"
the other, whatever concerned foreigners or
citizens of other States" Within their re-
spective limits each is paramount The
States, as to all powers not delegated to the
general government, are as independent of
that government as the latter, in regard to
all powers that are delegated 10 it, is indie
pendent OF the governments OF the States
The proposition, then, that Congress can, by
forpn NJ OtbaFyyIca lln6ar the n
rectionary or any other power, expel State
from the Union or reduce it to territorial
condition. and govern it as such, is utterly
without foundation. The undersigned deem
it unnecessary to examine the question
further. They leave it upon the observations
submitted considering it perfectly clear that
States, notwithstanding occurring insurrec-
tions, continue TO be States of the Union.
Thirdly-If this is so it necessarily follows
that the rights of States under the constitu-
ton as originally possessed and enjoyed by
them are still theirs. And these they are
now enjoying as far as they depend upon the
executive and judiciary departments of the
government. By each of these departments
they are recognized as States. By the one
all officers of the government required by
law to be appointed in such States have
been appointed and are discharging without
question their respective functions. By the
Quiet Iucy are us OIdteS, enjoying IHc UeHe-
fit and subjected to the powers of that de-
partment-a fact conclusive to show that
they are, in the opinion of the judiciary, as
they were at first, States of the Union, bound
by the laws # the Union, and entitled to all
the rights incident to that relation. And
vet, so far they are denied that right which
the constitution properly esteems as the Sc
cur1ty of all the others, that right without
which government is anything but a repub-
lic-is indeed but tyranny-the right of hav-
ing a voice in the legislative department.,
whose laws bind them in person and in pro-
perry This, it is submitted, is a state of
things without example in representative
republican government; and Congress, as
long as it denies this right, is mere despo-
tism. Citizens may be made to submit to
it by force or dread of force, but fraternal
spirit and good feeling towards those who
impose it, so important to the peace and
prosperity of the country, are not to be
hoped for, but rather unhappiness, dissatis-
faction, enmity. There is but one ground
on which such conduct can find any excuse
"a supposed public necessity, the peril of
destruction to which the government would