The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1869-09-22

II those uayS, no 1rlenuS anu advocates
# and the people of the country were al
: determined that there should be n
Q consolidation Of the States, and tina
$ State Integrity and sovereignty Shout,
S be absolutely preserved. :, r. eh I
g Late in the session, When eyeiythin!
fortokened overwhelming defeat, Gov
Hancock, representing the leading I'D
vocates of the system, came forwart
e with "conciliatory propositions" til,
t substance of which was that Massachu
: sets should, at the time of her ratiflta
t ton, propose to her sisters sSvera
r amendments, to secure the integrity O
the States, and the slIbOrdination o.
the new governmental the most inipor:
tant Of them being the one which, or
her motion, as it were subsequently,
became The Tenth. When he propos.
ed these amendments, he gave his as
sent to the Constitution, Gin full con-
| fidence that the said amendments
would soon become part of the sys-
tem;;" and said that as they were
calculated to give security and ease
alike to all the States, he thought all
would agree to them" iii. Ell. Deb.
]75.) The effect of these conciliato-
ry propositions +" can be best seen from
the response of Samuel Adams. Said
he: "Your Excellency's first PROPOSE
ton is, that it be explicitly declared
that all powers not expressly delegated
to Congress, are reserved to the several
States to be by them exercised This
appears, to my mind, to be d summary
of Il bill of rights which gentlemen are
anxious to obtain. :. 1t is conso-
nant with the second article in the
present Confederation, that each State
retains its sovereignty and ev-
cry power which is not a
expressly delegated to the United
States in Congress assembled iii.
Ell. Deb. 1917 Confidence afterwards
justified by the evenly being felt that
these amendments would be adopted /:
and the great opposition leader express
ing himself satisfied, and determined
to vote yea, the opponents yielded suf-
ficiently to allow ratification by the
very small majority of 10, in mems
bership of 355ivotes, the firm and ftr-
midable minority still vaguely fearing
that the instrument might be suscepti-
BILE of the very meaning that Dane,
Story, and Webster afterwards, by per-
version, put upon it. 1 ii's dd
TIE AMENDMENT A TRUIsI, TIfoUGi
But for the understanding that this
amendment at least would he added to
the compact, the defeat of the system
was certain, though in reality the Said
amendment could make no change, it
being mere truism, or at best a gloss,
and only tantamount to the declaration
that all powers not given are reserved
IA. self-evident proposition. Still the
general understanding that such an
amendment was to be made, bore a.
large and useful part in satisfying the
people Of several of the States that
their sovereignty was preserved in the
system, while "powers only were
delegated or trusted to agents. I'm
questionably this was the unanimous
sentiment and sine qua non of Massa-
chusetts. Her idea was that by VIRTUE
Of her sovereignty, which was essen
TALLY characteristic and inalienable las
her Constitution then declared, and as
indeed it declares nov, } she delegated
power just as principal would to his
agent, to be used for the benefit, and
still belonging to her, and subject to
her resumption at will /; and eS abanl
dank caatela, she declared that all not
delegated were reserved. Nay, more,
the whole agency was necessarily com
posed of citizens and subjects of the
allied sovereigfs, elected by them.
The wide destination between the sop-
ctri5A right Of deiegating authority,
and the ppiseis impaired by delegation,
was afterwards forcibiy expressed by
Samuel Adams, in a letter to Richard
Henry Lee; dated July 4, 1889, as to
the object and Importance of this very
amendments. 1t is, said he; "that the
good people MAY clearly see the dis
tinction--for there is Il distinction-be-
tween the federal po,cers vested in
Congress, and the sofereign authority
belonging to the several States, which
is the palladium ofthe private and per-
sonal rights of the citizens" He says,
further, he hopes for some judicions
amendments, so that the whole peo-
Iple may, in every State, contemplate
their own safety on solid grounds, and
the union Of the States be perpetual =
This and a like letter to Elbridge
Gerry are in iii. Life of s. Adams.)
| Now while Hancock, Adams, Ames,
Parsons, Bowdoin; and others, were in
cessantly denying consolidation, and
assuring the State that'her sovereignty
was to be absolate in the new ststem,
why did not sOme of the Danes, StO-