Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-03-25

that SUBJECT, especially as they a.
given in response to a distinct il
quiry addressed TO me in your D
per. The direct questions whiC
you propose to me, 1 will now pr
coed to answer. You say:
"And suppose the power abov
our State, created in accordanc
with our own free will, that h;
exclusive power to do all the:
things and many more, the powt
that claims our supreme allegianc,
and that can call every man of u
to die and fight for it, and tina
guarantees every man of us GU
rights of the free exercise of re
hglon, and of speech, assemblage
press, petition, arms bearing, tria
by jury, freedom from search, pre-
sentiment by grand jury, etc, etc.
should also guarantee an impartia
application Of all conditions of suf
frage to every one of us, what
wrong would be done, Mr. Dixon p
In reply to this l deny that the
government of the United States
has any exclusive power ito cal
every man Of us to fight and die
for it, The government of Con
necticut may do the same thing
(See General Statutes of Connect.
cut, page 578, chapter 81 You are
also mistaken in supposing that the
constitution Of the United States
guarantees to every man of us
our rights of the free exercise of
religion, of speech, assemblage,
press, petition, arms-bearing, trial
by jury" Ct3., except so far as ii re-
Stricts the action of the general
government.
The provision with regard to
most, if not all of these rights, are
contained in the amendments to
the constitution Of the United
States, and only relate to the action
Of the United States government,
and not to the States or the State
Courts, as is clearly shown by
Chief Justice Marshall in the case
of Barron VS. the Mayor of Balti-
more, 9TH Peters reports, 243, and
vs.. Moore, 9Th Peters,
551 also in the case of Murphy vs..
the people, I'd COwen, 2l8. In the
case of Livingston VS.. Moore, the
Court said AS to the amend
ments Of the constitution of the
United States, (relating to the
rights you speak Of they must be
put out of the case, since it is now
settled that those amendments do
not extend to the States. It'll Pee
-ers, 5J2.
Chief Justice Marshall, in the
Ease of Barron VS.. Mayor of Balti~
more, after fully calculating the
dea that the guarantees i'll the
only restrict the Uni-
ed States Government, and not the
States-says "the fifth amendment
and the same rule obviously ap-
)lies to all amendments-and the
same rule obviously applies to all
and to the cOnstitu-
ion itself)-must be understood as
the power of the general
government, not As applicable to the |
States. In the case of Colt VS..
Ewes, Conn. Reports, the same doc
rine is declared by Chief Justice
Williams. at has been we'll settled,
he says that the amendments to |
hat instrument were never intended
% limit the power to control the
of the State Courts.
fou will see, therefore, that it is a
rave error to suppose, that the
federal government guarantees our
lights of the free exercise of Tell-
ZION. 1t only restricts Congress
rom making laws respecting an
of religion or prohib-
ting the free exercise thereof, etc.
SO of the freedom of the press, of |
speech, of petition, of assembling,
If search, of bearirg arms, and all
he rights specified in the amend
nents. They prohibit interference
With their rights by Congress. The
States are left free to act, and, until
very lately, New Hampshire has had
n her constitution, if she has not
low, a religious test, with which the |
government of the United States
could not interfere, and to which
he constitution of the United
States has no application. The truth
8, all these guarantees of our rights |
which you mention are found, if
IN our State constitution,
ind not in the constitution OF the
United States, as the above q-oted
authorities clearly prove. All that
the constitution of the United States
provides is to prohibit interference
with these rights by the general
except where by eX>
press terms it provides that no State
shall do certain specified things.
This distinction, clearly laid down
By Chief Justice Marshall in the
cases above cited, shows the error
into which you have fallen so
plainly that / need not pursue it
further. The only guarantee in the
to the constitution is
that the general government shall
not interfere with the rights speci-
fed, leaving our protection from
State action to the State cOnstitu-
tons. Yours respectfully,
JAMES DIXON.