American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-02-03
" State Rights and Peoples Policy.

I" State Rights and Peoples Policy
We yield our editorial space to
day to a very able article from the
Louisville (Ky.) Ledger, of the 18th
inst, and the editorial of the Gin,
cnnati CommOner, to which he al
ladies'. This, we repeat, is " the seed
time of IDEAS" 1t is now, before
the Presidential campaign of this
year opens, that the people, if they
would preserve and perpetuate their
rights, must read and study-must
make themselves thoroughly con
versant with the principles on which
those rights are based. No people
can either achieve or maintain free
Government who have not the in.
teligence to understand its prlnci
pies, the patriotism to be devoted
to them. and the infexible virtue to
maintain them, especially at the
ballot box. Subjo,ned will be found
the article referred too: a II. S.
State Rights and Peoples Policy.
From tile Louisville tKy.) Ledger.]
We republish in another column
an article taken from the COmMOner
because it affords us fair opportu
nifty to diSclaim any untrirndlN feel
ing toward our neighbor, the Je0er
s0niGn Democrat, and at the SAME
time to say a few words in relation
to the doctrine of State rights and
the necessity for cooperation upon
the part Of the interior States of the
Union for the preservation of theiI
own sovereignty. We have never
believed that the Federal Union
could be preserved and made tC
contribute to the general happiness
and prosperity of its members upon
any other basis than that of the alb
solute equality of the States, and
the absolute right of the States to
regulate and control their own do
nestle affairs, each one acting for
itself. The history of the formation
and adoption of the Constitution OF
the United States, the nature of the
organization provided for by it, and
the cotemporane0us construction
put upon its provisions by the emf,
nent statesmen who participated in
all the early discussions arising out
of it, conclusively establish the fact
that the sole design of the founders
of the Federal Government was to
institute a system for the accom-
of certain specified pnr-
poses only, leaving the great mass
Of sovereign power where it origin
ally was, in the hands of the several
States and their people.
Every one at all familiar with the
history of the period preceding the
adoption Of the Constitution, AND
with the character Of the defects
complained of in the old Articles of
Confederation, must admit that in
competency upon the part OF the
several States to order and direct
their own Internal affairs and pro-
tect the ordinary rights of their own
people was never even suggested as
one of the reasons for the formation
Of a new government. On the con
trary, it was every where conceded
that State governments were fnlIy
adequate for all the purposes of
domestic peace and adj
ninistering justice between their
own citizens, and the only recogniz.
I'd necessity was for some common
organization, in which all could be
equally represented, for the pur-
Dose of regulating and preserving
relations between the
States themselves in their individu-
Il capacities, and between them in
heir united capacity and foreign
powers.
The government created by the
is nothing more nor
eSs than the States acting i'll their
United capacity through represent
ltiveS chosen by themselves. No
Jew power or sovereignty was Gre
tied or attempted to be created.
The States and people originally
possessed every power and every
of sovereignty that any
could possess, and they
till scverally retain all those pow
rs and attributes except SO far as
hey have expressly, or, by neceSsa-
v implication, delegated them in
he Constitution. They are still
United rs several States, and are not
IS one State. The idea of Mr.. Nor
on and'other Radical leaders, that
he Constitution consolidated all the
States and made one out of them,
+. to use the Indiana Senator's ex-
'resSiOn, that we have one great
tar and not thirty-seven small ones,
as no warrant whatever in that in
trument itself, or in the speeches
+ writings OF the men who framed |
J. SucA position can only be |
Maintained by totally disregarding |
he history and pristine provisions
the Federal compact, or which is
nbstantiaIly the same thing, by re-
erSing all the rules of construction
pplicablc to such Instruments. We
elieve that, with the exception of
uch powers as have been expressly
eiegated or conferred by necessary
nplication, the State of Kentucky
of right as completely sovereign
thin her own limits TO day as the
tates of Massachusetts and Viz
mia ever were at any period of
Ieir history; and we believe that
Iere can be no real safety for the
Ierties of the people in this coun-