Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-06-14

''l,7Jamitsd submission to their General
/ Government but that, by compact,
under the style and title ofa Constitu-
/ 'itiOn for the United States, and Of
! Amendments thereto, they constitu-
/ tied a general government for special
I purposes etc. The Virginia resolutions
1 declare that the Assembly views "the
1 ''pOwers of the Federal Government as
/ resulting from the compact to which
''the States are parties, as limited by
/ ''the plain sense Of the instrument con-
| 'stitutiBg that compact; and that in case
( 'Of q deliberate, palpable and danger
! i'Ous exercise Of other powers, not
/ granted by the said c0uDGct. the States,
| ''whO are parties thereto, have the right
land are fg duty bound, TO 6slteTDose for
/ 'GTTeStlRg the progress Of the eUlt and for
/ "a1daltdi1li3lg 1gishigl their Tespectire iiBl-
] t'its the I3EthOTIties rights and liberties CD-
/ pertaining TO then-' Here we have the
/ right Of secession clearly affirmed, and
( argued from the premises that the Uni
on is a compact. These resolutions
/ have we believe, always been essential
/ dOgmas Of Democratic faith until repu-
/ diRted last January by the Convention
Of this State which nominated Thur
man for Governor. SO Infamous have
they been made by the late war that
/ even the COPperheads dare not now
i take them up and incorporate them in
their platform. The Convention which
/ nominated Buchanan for President re-
affirmed them and thus pledged him
beforehand against coercion" of Sc
ceding States.
By virtue of this same heresy thai
/ the Union is a compact the institution
Of Slavery was fOstered under a repub-
Iican government which, it was main.
tanned, had not the power to touch the
l domestic institutions OF Sovereign
/ States" BY virtue OF the same heresy
it was attempted to extend slavery &c
the territories Of the United States, in
asmuch as to intarfere with such ex.
tension was alleged to be an infringe
/ ment Of the rights belonging TO part
l ners in the Union Compact By virtue
of the same heresy secession was main
tanned as a right when it had no other
/ cause or pretext. By virtue of the same
1 heresy Buchanan excused himself fOl
''letJing the Union slide, saying he
had no power to maintain the suprema-
1 cy OF the Government
Such are some of the Inischiefs which
have grown out Of this doctrine OF com
/ pact and which show at first sight its
dangerous character. And this testi-
/ monv of xperience is fully cOrrObera-
ted by that oil the trainers and expOund-
| ers of the Constitution. Says Mr.. Mad
/ ison in the FederulisC sit was moi
sufi efent, say the adversaries of tho
! proposed Constitution, for the conven-
! ton to adhere to the republican form
| They ought with equal care, to have
| preserved the federal form, which re-
1 CARDS the Union as a oHfederGcg ol
/ sovereign States ; instead OF which
! they have framed a national govern
/ ment which regards the Union as a con-
solidation of States.1 This objection
| if such it may be called, was no doubt
1 to a certain extent we'll taken, mas
much as the very object Of the consti-
tuition was not to preserve but to dis
/ pense with the confederate relation OF
/ the States aud form "a "more perfect
Union" Mr.. Madison, who writes to
| advocate the adoption Of the constitu-
| ton, does not so much attempt to re-
/ fute this objection as to explain it away
holding that the general government is
national in respect to the operation o1
its powers and federal in respect to theil
extent. He defines the difference be
tween federal and national gov
| ernment to consist in this, that the
powers of the former operate only up
on the political bodies composing the
! confederaoy, and those of the latter op-
/ crate both on these political bodies and
on the individuals composing them
a1nw that the Union was intended tC
5e a national government according tc
this definition was clearly the opinion
| Of Alexander Hamilton who, pending
the adoption of the Constitution, said
/ '"The great and radical vice in the
! construction of the existing aconfador-
/ ''atIOn is IN the principle of legislation
/ ''fOr States or governments, in theil
/ corporate or collective capacities, and
''Rs distinguished from the individu-
| 'als of whom they consist" Again
/ tMr. Hamilton saws HIt the Federal
/ "GCvernment) must carry its agency
''tO the persons of the citizens. 1t musi
( ''staud in need of no intermediate leg
I 'fisIations but must itself be empOw-
I "ered to employ the arm of the Ordina-
cry magistrate 10 execute its own resO-
/ 1utions. The majesty Of national au-
/ 'thority must be manifested through the
! medium of the courts of justice. The
government of the Union, like that oil
/ t'each State, must be able to address it.
/ "self to the hopes and fears Ofindividu-
''als ; and to attract to its support those
passions, which have the StrOngeSi
/ influence upon the human heart. II
! ''must, in short, possess all the means
| ''and have a right to resort to all the
| methods of executing the powers with
/ (which it is entrusted, that are possess
''ed and experienced by the govern
"u,ents ofthe particular States.'' Again
says Hamilton, answering the objec-
ton that the Constitution contains nc
/ bill of rights, and that under his theO-
] ry the general government may become
J oppressive to the individual citizen
eve, THE PEOPLE of the United States
/ t'to secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our pOsterity, do OR
/ ''DAIN and ESTABLISH this constitution
| t'fOr the United States of America > this
/ sis a better recognition OF pOpulBI
1 rights, than volumes Of those aphor-
''isms which make the principle fig
! lure IN several of our States bills OF
| ''rights; and which would sound much
| ''better in a treatise of ethics, than in a
! constitution of government" These
extracts from the writings of the prin-
| eipal author and greatest expOunder oi
! the constitution show cOnclusiveIY that
in his judgement the general gov
ernment is a government of the
people, BY the people and for the
/ people, that it IS national rather
than federal, and that the Union is not
/ a compact of political bodies. With
such authority in our favor it is unless
( to look further
But let US examine the subject from
another point of view. Can the Union
be considered a compact in legal
sense
Now we understand the word COM
pact. as applied to the Union, to be
used in the sense Of contract. or agree
ment between parties. Tt is evidently
so used in the Kentucky resolutions
which say: ''To this compact each
State acceded as a State, and is an in
tegral party, its co-States forming as to
itself the other Party.''