Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-03-08

- State should have 3 representation IN
each branch of the National Legislature,
in proportion to its population to have
! President elected by this National
I. legislature and Judges of supreme
Judiciary chosen by this Senate, in which,
"a as in the House, the large States were to
= rule. This National Legislature was to
S have negative on, that is, power To
~ dnnul, State laws, contravenins, IN its
opinion, the articles Of Union, or any
Treaty. To attain these objects, they
90 struggled to the end, and only yielded
50 when the smaller States distinctly an
ny nounesd that they never would yield the
y point of sn equal representation III the
Senate.
= The larger States, compelled to yield
V that, and to abandon the word Ma
tional,' were also defeated in regard to
IS the mode of electing the President and
e of appointing the Judges; and the Con-
n stitution of government remained fed
Y eral, ia despite of them. We ore the
- DTcserUdtion of the Federal Union to the
e small States. The Constitution was not
, the result Of any theory, not the work
Of wisdom, but merely compromise be-
r tW cen conflicting interests: and, more
over, one will be surprised, on reading
the debates, the letters Of the members,
L and the numbers of the F6deralist, TO sec
7 with how little wisdom and foresight thD
! merits and defects of the different fea-
lures were in general, discussed; and
how little of what pretended to De
e prophecy, as 10 its workings, was proven
e true or sagaeious by after events. Most
of the dangers apprehended and tried to
3 be guarded against, proved wholly imsg-
Z mary and no one discerned the rocks
and shoals on which the Union went to
pieces.
The msnner in which the Constitution
was formed, enables us to understand it,
to account for the anomalies and incon-
gruities it contains, and for the parties
that grew up under it !; and to see how
impossible it was for the Government
established by it to continue. Made in
violation of the Articles of Confedera-
ton, which, it had been solemnly /
agreed, should be perpetual it was
to be in force between the States /
ratifying it, when nine should have
done so; and it thus compelled .
the other four either to remain isolated |
and independent nationslitie8 or to sub |
NIT to the will of the nine. A COM |
promise between conflicting selfish /
nesses, and interests of the least noble .
and heroic kind, il owed its adoption by .
the States to its antiquities and .
the general uncertainty as to its .
nature. Two of its advocates
and apolOgists, HAMILTON and .
! MADISON, were, almost Immediately .
after its adoption, engaged in an angry .
controversy as to the powers granted by
il to the Executive. Understood differ
emily in different States, it never had,
according to the principles Of that law
which is the expression Of the universal
justice and reason, the valid assent Of
the States which were deceived as to the
parties to it, and as to its nature and
! these had, by the same law, the right at
! any time, to revoke a ratification given
/ by mistake, if not obtained by fraud.
/ The effects of mistake and fraud are, in
I such a case, the same.
The large States were not defeated in
/ the Convention, because the small ones
/ had a majority there but because, Rhode
/ Island refusing to sit in it, the new gov
ernment would be a dead failure, if Ma
I ryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New
/ York, Connecticut and New Hampshire
withdrew from the Convention, and
refused to have anything to do with the
[ proposed National Government
The object of the large States was to
make one Nation out of the lDhOle, and
in that to control. They were willing
/ to consolidate, because so only they
| could control. They did not mean
to make q Federal Government at
an. They failed of their object, if
/ the small States left them. Those
withdrawing were therefore enabled,
when the Convention was on the
point of dissOlving, to force the large
states into terms on the main question,
that of representation, ard as to the ma.
tlre of the new Government, as Federal,
instead Of National. We shall show in
another connection, that they could not, /
nevertheless, so control as to make all
{ IL. yl.R, IL nd nh 10 .
Constitution, with much ill-temper on
the part of Mr.. Madison, which he did
not seek to conceal. reluctantly accepted [
this new character; and the Nationalist, I
Of course, did all in their power to di- ]
minish as much as possible the nature of 1
the concession wrung from them {
by the small States. If the stronger !
party had been originally in favour Of j
such plan OF Government as was finally !
forced upon it, no doubt all the parts of {
the plan would have been made better |
to fit together. But, when defeated,
they We're not great enough to yield with {
a good grace and they retained express j
sious and provisions, enough TO enable /
those whose interest it was 10 do it, to {
represent that the GoyGTnment created :
was a National one, igl the main, or, at .
least, only az part federal, and in part {
National, and, in some particulars, as !
Madison said in the FedcratiSt, both Ma {
tfonal and Federal. Human nature likes {
to soften its falls, and to find some salve
for its vanity wounded by defeat. |
For example, the preamble, ss at first s
drafted, represented the people CT the ]
respective States, each By its name, as t
making the Constitution. They altered {
that, so that it should read, - We the {
people Of the United StGtes.' The phrase I
was mischievOus but it had been be- a
fore in use, and the Declaration of Inde-
pendence had been made 8 in the name e
and by the authority Of the good people Q
Of these Colonies
The Constitution resembled, when fin t
ished a draft of a plan of incorporation, /
turned into articles of partnership by t
the change of a single provision. Of {
course, entire harmony was wanting. Q
It was not wholly congruous. There E
was not entire correspondence between u
its general nature aud purpose, and the Z
details. In some respects, it rowe d one d
way, and looked the other v
The phrase 'citigens Of the United Z
States remained there, unexplained, in
consequence of the NatiOnalistic charae- a
ter of the original plan. f
The Constitution was TO have swept 4
away the Sovereignty of the States, not {
by express words TO that effect, which :
the Virginia and South Carolina plans Z
did not dare employ, but by the nature o
Of its provisions, the use Of the word a
NATIONAL the powers vested in the t
National Legislature and Executive. n
Caution and reticeDce were necessary for {
this; and therefore the change of the a
plan from National TO Federal was more |,
easily made. The equal representation r
in the Senate given it only occurred to n
the convention as necessary, to strike out
the word National b
The NatiOhalists, whom public opin- 4
ion forced to usurp the name Of "Fede- Q
ralists," while their opponents took the v
unmeaning one Of Republicans y which o
afterwards yielded to the false, mischiev- I
Gus, inapplicable one Of Democrats ", b
meant to get behind the States, to get rid H
Of them, 10 ignore them, in having the l,
Constitution ratified and to submit it v
directly 10 the People of each State, in r
Convention, in order to make it the act
Of the lrhOle people Of the new " Nation a
as Qae people, those Of each STATE only f
acting as 9 fraction Of the great unit c
Defeated, and forced to abandon the a
word Z" National - when it had become I
inappropriate on account of its special 4
application, they still adhered To the pro- h
posed mode of ratification. As the act n
OF a Convention Of the People of State, y
legally called together, is the act OF
the State, in law, because 1t would n
else not bind the minority unrepresented v
and in opposition, there was no reasona II
ble objection 10 be made TO the mode Of s
ratification. IL was only necessary to q
assign other reasons for II. These were a
readily found AS, that the Legislature 4
was not commissioned to part lUith any 4
OF the powers Of government, but only to I
exercise them and that only the people ;
of the State, in convention, could DO this: v
or. that If the ratification were only by +
a LegislatiEe act, a Subsequent Legisla- I
tive act might repeal it. These were v
aiter-thOughts, q
90 the phrase, ss TO the reservation of ;
powers not granted, was, no doubt,
originally intended to mean, that they {
were reserved to the States, or 10 the 4
lchoic people, the one people, Of all. But a
he only reserves, who grants !; and when it :
was settled that States were the parties I
70 the Compact, and,the only grantors,
the phrase necessarily meant; to the Z
states, or 10 the Heopls Of 5Q5a.
! do not say that mischief was /
intoaded by these senii-protests against '
the Federal character of the plan t