Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-09-08
COUNTY CONVENTIONS.
Greene County.

Greene county, Tenn, held pursuant TO
call of the Democratic Executive Com
mittee, at the Courthouse in Greeneville,
on Monday, Sept. 3, 1870, for the pur-
pose of appointing delegates to represent
them in the Congressional Nominating
Convention to be held at Greeneville, on
Saturday, the 10th, and the Gubernatorial
Convention to be held at Nashville on the
18th inst, L. F. Self, Esq, was elected
Chairman, and H. II. Ingersoll, Secretary.
A committee on resolutions was ap-
pointed, who retired, aud after a long
absence, returned and reported the fol-
lowing preamble and resolutions, which,
after being twice read, were unanimously
adopted to-wit:
Whereas, The disastrous civil war
which recently divided the people and the
States of the Federal Union is now over,
and we earnestly hope is forever at an
end, and the angry causes which pro-
duced it, with all the untoward events
that characterized it, have, we trust,
passed into impartial history; we must
there leave the whole matter TO be dealt
with in the future. by the just and en-
lightened judgment of mankind
And, whereas, we, a portion of the
people Of the State of Tennessee, without
reference to the late unhappy differences,
growing out of the rebellion, have met in
convention for the purpose of recurring
TO the fundamental principles of the gov
erpment, and the time hOnOred doctrines
as taught and practiced by the sages of
the revolution, who founded the republic,
do sOlemnly announce and declare to all
who favor "a representative democracy"
rs established by the Constitution of the
United States, contradistinguished from
a mOueyed aristOcracy or central despot-
ism, the creed of our political faith, as
laid down in the following resolutions:
"ResOlveG, That the Union of the
United States of America was intended by
its authors to last as long as the States
themselves shall last The Union shall be
perpetual are the words of the con-
federation. TO form a more perfect
Union, BY an ordinance of the people of
the Unit ID States, is the declared purpose
nf the constitution The hand of Divine
PtOVid nee was never more plainly Visi-
ole In fhe affairs of men than in The
framing and the adopting of that instru-
ment 1t is, beyond comparison, the
greatest event in American history, and
is il not, of all events in modern times,
she most pregnant with consequences for
every people of the earth The men,
bers Of the convention which prepared it,
brought TO their work the experience of
the confederation, of their several States,
and of other Republican Governments,
Old and new; but they needed and they
obtained wisdom superior to experience
,.-l.s Gov %
approval of a people that occupied large
part of a continent and acted separately
in many distinct conventions, what is
more wonderful than that, after earnest !
contention and long discussion, all feel |
iugs aud all opinions were ultimately !
drawn in one way to its support!'
The constitution TO which life was thus
imported contains within itself ample re-
sources for its own preservation. II has
power to enforce the laws, punish treason,
and insure domestic tranquility. In case
Of tue usurpation of the Government of
State by one man, or an oligarchy, 1t be-
comes a duty of the United States to
make good the guarantee TO that State of
a republican form of Government, and so
maintain the hOmOgenOusness of all. As
the lapse of time may reveal defects, a
simple mode of amendment Is provided
in the Constitution itself, so that its con-
Gitions can always be made to conform
to the necessities of the people and adj
vsncing civilization
''Resolved That no room is allowed
even for the thought of a possibility of
its coming to an end, aud these powers of
self preservation have always been as
=, 81, ,14o Nv
cry patriotic Chief Magistrate-by Jeffer-
son and jackson, not less than by Wash
ington aud Madison. The parting ad-
vice of the Father of his County, while
yet President to the people of the United
States, was that the free constitution,
which was the work of their hands,
might be sacredly maintained : and the
inaugural words of President jefferson
held up the preservation of the General
Government, in its constitutional vigor,
as the sheet anchor of our peace at home
and safety abroad. The constitution is
the work of the people of the several
States, and it should be as indestructible
as the people themselves.
'Resolved That the maintenance of the
Union briggs with it the support of the
State 60 Sernments in all their rights, but
it is not one of the rights of any State gov
crnment to Ienounce its own place in the
Union or TO nullfy the laws of the Union.
'The largest liberty is TO be maintained
in the acts of the Federal Government
but there is no appeal from its laws, eX-
Cept TO the various branches of the gov
ernment itself, or to the people, who grant
10 the members of the legislative and exc
4. LII, 11,,,ff tod
one, and in that manner always retain the
powers of redress
"ResOlved, That the sovereignty of the
State is the language of the articles of
confederation, and not the language of
the Constitution. The latter contains the
emphatic words, ''the Constitution, and
the laws of the United States which shall
be made in pursuance thereof, and all
treaties made or which shall be made
? under the authority of the United States,
shall lee the supreme law of the land; and
the Judges in every State shall be bound
thereby, anything in the Constitution or
Jaws Of any State to the contrary nOtwith-
standing,
"Resolved, That the Government of
the United States is limited government;
aud so also is every State Government a
limited government. With us this idea
of Limitation spreads through every form
of administration, general, state, and NIL
nicipal, and rests on the great distin-
gushing principle of the recognition of
the rights of man.
"The ancient republics absorbed the
individual In the State, prescribe his re-
Tgion, and controlled his activity. The
American system rests on the assertion of
the equal rights of every man to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness; to
freedom of conscience, to the culture and
exercise of all his faculties. As q COnse-
quence the State Government is limited as
~ tbe General Government in the interest