The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1868-06-09
y For the Standard
LETTERS ON THE CONSTITUTION .

No. 1.
DEAR When visited vou of school
S Sg the late campaign, Won Expressed q
oh 20 OBTAIN satisfactory information
ABOUT the great questions before the ne.,,,le
anu especially to understand the nrovis;ans
vi Ihe new Constitution. You comnla;naJ
Oh want of candor and precision both in
Puniic speakers and in tho newsnaners .nd
l nave not forgotten the promise Won exact.
e'' OF me to write you about these atters in
oetaii at some future time when I shonld ha
ut leisure. '""ulo DC
= am glad to hear so good report of Won
from your instructor. He writes mo thot
you are industrious and punctual in attend
",ce upon All your duties | confess fear
e.' mat your lmpulslve nature might lead YOU
~ spouse one side OF the question so warm
~ as to distract your mind and divert II
from your regular course of study
L am gratitied to learn that NV fears b.ve
proved unfounded. Your instructor crntine
ues TO speak in commendatory terms of vour
dlngence and progress He mentions Incl
oehtally your inclination to be in the com
pany or your seniors and superiors in in.
leiiigence, and states that your modest de-
pertinent and your disposition to inform
yourself has won for you friendship and
esteem OF all the gentlemen you have met
with. This modesty is the most amiable
trait that can characterize a youth of vour
age. 1t springs from a genuine love of
learning, consciousness of your own de.
nciency and the recognition of all intellectual
superior who can supply your want
and the scholar
You write me that gentleman for whom
you entertain high regard, in replv to a
question OF yours answered, that YOU could
not understand him and that you were too
young to NEEDLE with politics.
If, by politics, he meant an indiscrimi-
nate reading of newspapers, and a regular
attendance on political meetings, I agree
with him. If he meant heated debates at
street corners and descent to the vulgarity
OF some OF our political stumpers, 1 cordial
ly concur in his opinion. But your early
training has already impressed you with a
proper disgust for this species of controver-
sy. If, however, by the term "politics,"
your friend meant our forms of government
and the laws and institutions of our coun-
try, he was mistaken when he observed that
you were too young to be instructed in them.
The Jews were commanded by their great
law glvcr to teach their laws to their chill
dren. The Persians the Spartans and all
the nations of antiquity which laid nv
claim to civilization instructed the Young
men in the laws of their country
Scandinavian priests and the Druids
of England embodied their laws in
verse and taught them to their children in
songs, and by this means transmitted their
customs from one generation to another
just here the civilization of the nineteenth
century might well take lesson from the
wisdom of the ancients. shall devote nv
first letter to the question: What is Com
stitution e. This will take Us back into his,
tory and necessarily to discussion of
the principal features of the differ ,i,rels
of government. After this, we vii! 4 ance
very briefly at the Constitution of the H,ised
States, the original relation OF al Tia. States
to the general government and see how these
relations between the government and smne
of tIe States became changed by means of
the late civil war. After this gradual intro
duction. you will be better able to under
stand discussion in detail of the new Re-
publican Constitution of North Caroiina.-
In our next, then, we will see Whist a Consti-
tuition is. Yours, &c.