Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1871-07-11
Spirit of yeffetsnr.
SFATE-RIGHTS 1'DISPATOaED.U

tnS NeO TORS Tunes, contained an attack,
eouehed in no very courteous terms, upon Jef.
ferson Davis, for declaring in his late speeches
IN Georgia, that he did not "accept the situa.
tiOn." In this article the Dispatch declares
In substance, not only that the doctrine of Sc
cessiOn was dead, bat that ia tho grave with
1t was buried forever the Rights of the States
both those guaranteed by the Constitution,
and those reserved rights which pertaiued to
them before they aceeded to that compact
That the uni6cation of the country was com.
Plete, aud consolidation an accomplished fact
Aud, speaking for the Southern people, tho
Dispatch maintained that they eagerly ac-
cepted" this contamination, and asked for
nothing but peace and order as the result of
such radical change in tho nature of the
Union.
We replied to this article, aud asserted that
such were not our sentiments, nor those of
che Southern people, as We understood them,
nor yet those of the Northern Democracy
That on the contrary. they constituted the
principles of the Republican party, and that
the Di:Pdtch By their auuuuciation threw it.
self practically into the Republican ranks !:
that the DisP0tch's article called upon us to
aceept not only the recent so-called constitu,
tional amendments, but the armed interview
tiOn Of Federal power at the State elections,
the PrOstEatiOn of the Supreme Court by the
Reconstruction Acts, aud the investiture of
the president with imperial power in the En-
torcement Bill. We declared, aud we repeat,
that such a new departure as this, is depar-
ture from the ranks Of the CONGRATULATIONS
Ocratic, into full communion and fellowship
with the Black Republican party.
To this editorial Of ours, the Dispatch re-
plies in recent number, in a strain of very
melancholy wit, and very humorous logic
1t admits and reasserts all of its previous
despair OF the RePublic, aud tacitly conEesscs,
by failure to deny, our charge that it is now
practically Black Republican organ. 1t ac-
&nOwledges frankly the ultimate destination
of the Government under the acceptation poll
icy which it couusels, and advises the people
to fold their arms aud drift quietly, upon the
bosom of temporary calm, into tho not
distant haven of n monarchy, or despo.ism.
To saO~ that VIC do not misrepresent the no.
sitiOn of the Dispatch, We quote a single pas
sage:
''And now the whole web of States rights.
as understood by Jefferson and his followers,
IS brushed away by force, and Madisons idea
Of the supremacy of the voice of the peopIe
Of all the States is established. as the second
age of this nation. The fact is beyond guess
l..
main until the arrival of that period of reyo.
luton in the fut1re which must Certainly
come. But it is the greatest of decisions to
believe or to hope that when that revolution
comes it will establish 4 confederacy of indc>
pendent States in which the golden age of
Jehersoniau State rights will be revived
That revolution will only be from one Cow
ernmcnt to another that is stronger"
VIC assure our contemporary that the idea
which he here SO cOufidentiaIIy attributes to
Mr.. Madison, Of "the supremacy Of the voice
of the people of all the States" as one Ma
tion, never for an instant found Judgment in
the mind or breast of that statesman: nor did
he ever for ono moment admit, as iutimateyl
by the DispoM, that the pbraze 1--WE the peo.
pie Of the United States" in the Constitution.
was intended to give to thet instrument any
character other than that of compact be,
tween the States, as organized, independent,
political communities; on the contrary, in
reply to this very objection urged against this
language, Mr.. Madison replied as follows:
The Constitution will not be National but
Federal act That it will be federal, and
not national act, as these terms arc uuder-
stood by the DIRECTORS. the act of the people,
as forming so many independent States. not
As forming one aggregate nation. is obvious
from this single consideration, that it is the
result neither of the decision of a maiority of
the people Of the Union, nor that Of ma,
]Orlty OF the States. 1t must result from the
unanimous assent Of the several States that
are parties TO 1t. Were the people regarded
In the transaction as forming one nation, the
Will OF the majority of the whole people
o the United States would bind the minority.
Each State, in ratiFying the Constitution, is
considered as a sovereign body, independent
OF all others, and only to be bound by its own
voluntary act"
This was Mr.. Madison's idea of the Con-
stitution, confirmed by the action of the Con-
vention that framed that instrument, when on
the 25th Of June, the motion to erase the
word National" and substitute Omitted
States" was carried in the affirmative.
We decline, therefore, to accept any other
Interpretation of the Constitution than that
placed upon it by its authors. We decline to
accept the present order of things as consii>
tutiDg what the Di<Posch complacently informs
us is ''the second age of this Nation" The
very best reason for non-acceptance is furn-
ished BY our contemporary himself, when lie
informs ms with tho ,,,rost ,,b;Ioso,b;I