Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1871-02-02
A Plank from the Republican Plat,
form Of 1860.


The Radical luminarieS effect 20 sncer
at the doctrine of State Rights. They
say it is one Of the hcrcslcs exploded by
the war, and never more to be revived.
These words they utter with aparrct like
hucncy, without comprehending for Il
moment their import. TO say that State
rights have BEEN destroyed, is to say that
the Union is, ovcrlhrown the Constitu-
ton nulilicd, and the liberties Of the
people without guarantee. Where did
the States obtain their rights ?-ior it is
admitted tina, before the late war there
were such things as State rights.
A brief glance at the Declaration Of
Independence will throw some light on
this subject. The principles therein set
forth were made good by the sword, and
the States which viudincaled their claim
to that seperate eXstance which ''Ihe
laws of Nature and Of Natures God en-
titled them possessed every attribute
of sovereignty belonging to Independent
communities When they adapte | the
Fedral Constitution they delegated SO
much Of their seperaIe inheritaut powers,
as they deemed necessary to secure the
common welfare, to national agent,
which they called the Government Of the
United States. That Government was
thus possessed Of expressed powers con-
tanned iu written chart, and none
others. All that were not so given it
were reserved 20 the States and the peo-
pie of the same. This the Constitution
itself says, and here is what we under
stand by the States rights, "Thc pow
ers not delegated to the United States by
the Constitution nor prohibited by it to
the States, are reserved to the States re-
spcctively, or to the people,
Has that clause been repealed. Has
the war wiped it out of the national
chart ?IIas the blood, then so copiously
shed so blurred and defaced it, that it
can no longer be read ? We think not.
We believe the States now are entitled
to the same rights that they had before
the war, and we believe they will yet
assert them. We believe the employ
mcnt of bayonets by the General Gov.
eminent to control State elections is a
gross and wicked invasion Of Sta,e rights
that it is treason to the constition and
treasonto the people,
There was u time and that not q re.
mote one, when no party in the country
dared sheer at the doctrine of State
rights. No longer ago than 1860 it was
asserted by both of the parties whic
then coltended for the mastery. We
need rot quote the resolutions Of the
Democracy. They have ever recognized
the doctrine, Wequote that ofthe Con
rention at Chicago, which nominated
Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency
We quote it now for the benefit of thost
who sneer at the rights ofthe States anC
declares the work of consolidation com
pleto'
THAT the maintenance inviolate o
the rights of the States, and especial,
of the right Of each State to order anc
control its own domestic institutions &C
cording to its own judgment exclusively
is essential to that balance Of power OF
which the perfection and endurance o
our political fabric depends, and we de
nouncc the lawless invasion by armeo
force of the soil Of any State or Terrific
~, no matter under what preteXt, a
among the gravcst of crimes"
How strangely these words sound now
Who could believe that they were tn
utterances of men who call themselve
Republicans? For years past, instead q
maintaining inviolate the rights Of tn,
States, they have been striving to de
stroy them. They hayenot only fllche
from their reserved powers, bu
, have overthrown States themselves, an
pinned them down with bayonets, help
less aud bleeding, to be robbed by i'm
ported mercenaries. They have not onl
denied States the right to control thei
domestic institutions, but have trample
them out entirely, giving them other
) distasteful to them and destructive {
their prosperity. That ''balance {
: power on which the perfection and en-
durancc of our political fabric depend
, has been made to kick the beam on tn
side of Fedral consolidation, --E,ron
= ner, San Francisco, Cal.