American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1867-02-02
Re,ort Of the Joint Standing Commit
Zee on State and Federal Relations.

Report Of the JClAt StAAolhs1 NoA-1iiA'
tee on State and Federal Relations.
It had been our purpose to lay titiS
Locrmcnt in full before our readers
this week, but there was so much
type up tor our outside before we re-
roiyol Il, that it was necessarily omit
ted.
After an elaborate argument of the
question, and copious quotations
from the Constitution, and from de
cjsions Of the Supreme Court, from
fine DAYS Of the illush ious Marshall
to the present time, to prove that
the Amcndmcntj is unconstitutional
which is done in IL mastery man
ncr, the Committee sum up as tol'
lows:
Il would seem to he too plain for
c,vil ar debate. that the United States are
estonped to deny that the States lately in IN
snrrrction are members Of the Federal L mon
If meub hers. they are States in the Union
for all PURPOSES, equal in rights win the
others under the Constitution. The Ioglca
deduction necessary and irresistible IRON
these repeated, deliberate, official acts OF tht
limited States is, that the moment the mlIlta'
nv and forcOle organization against the laws
and authority of the same was overcome
and the Federal supremacy was relnstatet
AMI law and civil tribunals were replaced,
then the work of preserving the Unlon was
accomplished, and the States at once resumed
their proper places and relations in it.
If Mississippi is not now entitled to every
/ benefit of the Constitution, to all the rights
of a State in the Union, as completely as New
York and Indiana, then the Constitution has
not been maintained, and the Union has not
been preserved.
1t is impossible in our complex system
that a State can occupy mladle ground
/ It is revolutionary, subversive OF fundamental
principles. that State may be In the Union
for some purposes and out of it for Others
That she may, through her legislature, ratity
an amendment Of the Constitution, and at
the same time e excluded from the conside-
ration and vote on the amendment in Con-
gress. -,
So far from according with the spirit of the
Constitution, it is in disagreement with al
rirbt ideas of representative government tc
hold in allegiance any of the powers OF any
State.
To DENY to the State representation, and
especially to withhold from her voice IL
Congress, on changes proposed to the organ
ic law. particularly affecting her, and at the
same time to levy on her people direct taxes
which can only be apportioned on the repre-
sentative basis. and all other burdens OF Gov
ernmpnt, is to hold the State and people IN
der the disabilities of conquered territory
War. foreign or domestic, olks no alteration
i'm the CuusttutiOu-it neither enIarges mol
Limiuishcs the powers Of the General GOV
eminent, Our fathers contemplated the con
urgency of domestic conflict ana strife
hence hey conferred on Congress the poWel
to suppress instructions. The grant OF th'
DOW er was for the very purpose OF perpetual
ing the Constitution ana the Union uhuer
not to make the insurrecuon the Pretext u
porvert the one and subvert the other.
The claim, as one Of the col sequences oi the wa
'hlt the states engaged in it have been sunugaied
+, Int another form of speech tor the doctrine ina
the United States may conquer part OF ITSELF
The assumption that twenty-five states can gov
ern the other eleven in a mode different from tn"
prescribed ~ the Constitution, is nothing mo
Than the subyersiun of the Constitution aud u
Union created by 1t.
There is no such thing known TO the Constitutitl
rs power in Congress to eXpcl state Tor an
in Congress or all the departments Of the Govern
ment combined to refuse admission to their seats {
senators aud representatives, from MISSISSIPPI, u
no other reason than because they are accrtd!te
from that State. -
The senate and House al respectively the judge
Of the election and qualification OF their Te-pectV
. members The enquiry is limited TO an eXalninatiO
Of each individual applicant for seat
What the qualifications are, are plainly writte
in the Constitution. II the Congress can 90 outs.o
. # tho constitutional rule aud exclude an entlf
state delegation because Of their political opinion
or those Of their constituents then a majority
congress may perpetuats its party oriacuOn III pow
er. by shutting the doors Of Congress on all VINO
. not agree with it.
Tie Committee recommend the adoption oil u
lint resolution herewith reported.
SIMRALL, Chairman.
Reso1red by The Legislature Of the State Of ms
issiDpj That tie State OF Mississippi refuse 70 raj
ry he amendment to the Constitution Of the Unite
States, proposed by Congress "a article fourteen
The resolution was unanimously adopteu' lc'
Nayg-NOue,