The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1866-08-22

Az 10 WHY cihCC tAC Nil Istc
closed that other rights have been asserted
in behalf of one Department of the general
government. 1t has been proclaimed by
congress that, in addition to the powers
conferred by the constitution, the federal
government may now claim over the States.
the territory, and the people, involved in
the instruction, the right of conquest and
of confscation; the right to abrogate all
existing governments, constitutions and
laws, and to subject the territory conquered
and its inhabitants, to such laws, regula-
tons and deprivations as the Legislative
Department of the Government may see
fit to impose.
Under this broad and sweeping claim,
that clause of the Constitution which pro-
vides that no State shall, without its con-
sent, be deprived of its equal suffrage in
the senate of the United States, has been
annulled. Ten States have been refused.
and are still refused, representation alto
gether in both branches of the Federal
Congress and the Congress, in which on
ly 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 and choosing their own ru-
lers, until they shall comply with such con-
ditions, and perform such acts as this con-
gress, thus composed, may itself prescribe.
That right has not only been asserted, but
it has been exercised, and is practically
enforced at the present time.
Nor does it find any support in the theo-
ry that the states thus excluded are in re-
bellion against the government, and are,
therefore, precluded from sharing its au-
thority. They are not thus in rebellion.
They are one, and all, in an attitude of
loyalty toward the government, and of
sworn allegiance to the constitution of the
United States. In no one Of them is there
the slightest indication Of resistance to this
authority, or the slightest protest against
its just and binding obligation. This con-
dition of renewed loyalty has been official
~ recognized by common proclamation of
the executive department. The laws of
the United States have been extended by
congress over all these states and the peo-
pie thereof. Federal courts have been re-
opened, and federal taxes imposed and lev
led and every respect except that they
are denied representation in congress and
the electoral college, the states once in re-
bellion are recognized as holding the same
position, as owing the same obligations.
and subject to the duties, as the other
states OF our common union. 1t seems to
us, in the exercise of the calmest and most
candid judgment We can bring to the sub
ject, that such a claim, so enforced, in
wolves as fatal an overthrow of the author
ity of the constitution, and as complete a
destruction of the government and union,
as that which was sought to be affected by
the states and people in armed insurrec-
ton against them both.
1t cannot escape observation that the
power thus asserted to exclude certain
states from representation, is made to rest
wholly in the will and discretion of the
congress that asserts it. 1t is not made to
depend on any specified conditions or cir
cumstances, or to be subject to any rules
or regulations whatever. The right asser-
ted and exercised is absolute, without quail
ification or restriction not confined to
states in rebellion, nor to states that have
rebelled. 1t is the right of any congress,
in formal possession of legislative authori-
ty, to exclude any state or states, or any
portion of the people thereof, at any time,
from representation in congress and in the
electoral college at its own discretion, and
until they shall perform such acts, and
comply with such conditions, as it may
dictate. Obviously the reason for such ex-
clusion, being wholly within the discre-
ton OF congress, may change as the con-
gress itself may change. One cong rcss
may exclude n state from all share in the
government for one reason, and, that rea-
son removed, the next congress may ex-
clude it for another. One state NAV be ex-
cluded on one ground, to-day, and anoth-
er may be excluded on the opposite to-
morrow Nor. hern ascendancy may ex-
clude southern states from one congress !;
the ascendancy of Western or Southern
interests, or of both combined, may ex-
clue the Northern or the Eastern States
from the next. Improbable as such
usurpations may seem, the establishment
OF the principle now asserted and acted up
on by congress will render them by no
means impossible.
The character, indeed the very existence
of congress and the union is thus made de-
pendent, solely and entirely, upon the par
ty and sectional exigencies and forbear-
ance of the hour We do not stop to show
that such action not only finds no warrant
In the constitution, but is at war with ev-
cry principle of our government, and with
the very existence of free institutions. 1t
is, indeed, the identical practice which has
fruitless all attempts hitherto to
establish and maintain free governments
in Mexico and the states of South Ameri-
ca. Party necessities assert themselves as
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 govern
ment, or in the enjoyment of rights, be-
came impossible; and the conflicts of par
ty, which, under constitutional govern
ments, are the conditions and means of
political progress, are merged in the con-
flict of arms to which they directly and in
evitably tend.
1t was against this peril, SO conspicuous
and SO fatal to all free governments, that
our constitution was intended to especial
ly to provide. Not only the stability, but
the very existence of the government is
made by its provisions to depend upon the
right and the fact Of representation.
The congress, upon which is conferred
oiA U"0 AoSioidtiNo power VI inc ndtlOnal
government, consists of two branches, the
senate and house of representatives, whose
Joint concurrence of assent is essential to
the validity Of any law. OF these, ''the
house of representatives. says the consti-
tuition (article l, section 2, "shall be COM
posed of members chosen every second
year by the people of the several states,
Not only is the right of representation
thus recognized as possessed by all the
states, and by every state without restric-
ton, qualification, or distinction of any
kind, but the duty of choosing representa-
tives is imposed upon the people of each
and every state alike, without distinction,
or the authority to make distinctions
among them for any reason or upon any
grounds whatever. And in the senate. SO
careful is the constitution to secure to eve
ry state this right of representation, it is
explicitly provided that no state shall,
without its consent, be deprived of its equal
,,Hr that holv oyo,, ~