The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1874-03-13
THEORY OF GOVERNMENT
AND NATIONAL.
NUMBER THREE.
ALBANY, Linn County, Or.,l
March 9th. 1874.
editor DeRocrdt:

Nhu1Ol Obls 1Oits
Editor Democrat:
In my two previous letters I aim
ed to prove that the States were
sovereign independent bodies polite;
that.whatever of sovereignty pertain
ed to the United States Government
under the Articles of Confederation,
were conferred by the respective
States, to form common govern
ment for certain and specific pur-
poses, and that all powers possessed
by the General Government were
delegated to it by the several
States, as expressed in that compact.
In this letter, [ propose to enter ups
on the examination Of the subjects
connected with the transition of the
government of the United States
under the Articles of Confederation
to that part of the present Constitu-
ton, ascertain. who the parties to
this transaction were-whether it was
the people of the United States as
one body polite, or whether it was
the people of the several States as so
many separate and distinct bodies
polite, acting in concert to form
common government.
Whatever benefits may have been
expected to-fow from the adoption
of the Articles of Confederation, as a
general government, it was soon
ascertained that its grants of power
were wholly inadequate to the grows
ing exigencies of the country, and we
can account for the long delay Of any
movement to remedy the defect only
by the fact that the people of the
several States were 10th to surrender
to the General Government any pow
ers until convinced by experience
that it was unwise longer to withhold
them, having an instructive dread of
a centralized governmt MT; and we
find no proposition emanating from
any quarter looking to an enlarge
ment of the Federal powers, until
17S6, when in view of the conflict
ing commercial regulations Of the
several States, the Legislature Of
Virginia appointed commissioners to
and recommended the holding of a
convention at Annapolis, for the pur-
pose of preparing a uniform plan of
commercial regulations, to be "sub-
ntitted to all tile States, and il op-
proued and adopted by them, to be
executed by Congress. Such of the
commissioners as met, finding the
subject before them fraught with
interest of such magnitude, and in
yolving questions not legitimately
within the scope of their commits
sions, reported this back to their re-
spective State legislatures, and re-
commended the holding Of conven-
ton in Philadelphia, for the pur-
pose not only of reforming the com
mercial regulations but of amending
the Articles of Confederation, in any
and all respects needed.
These were the preliminary steps
to calling the Convention of 1857,
that gave us our present Constitution
and form of government-important
results truly to flow from so unim-
portant a ripple upon the surface of
the political waters Of that day.
; It is the constituencies of that Con-
vention, its formation and results
that we now propose to inquire into.
The Commissioners to the Annapolis
Convention reported the result of
their deliberations to Congress at
well as to their respective State
Legislatures, and on the 21st of
February, 1887, it was ".ReSoIDed,
That in the opinion of Congress it is
expedient that on the second Mon
day in May next a convention of
delegates who shall have been dp-
pointed By the several States be held
at Philadelphia, for the sole and ex-
press purpose of revising the Articles
of Confederation, and reporting to
Congress and the seUeraL Legislatures
such alterations and provisions there
in as shall, when agreed to by Con-
gress and confirmed By The States,
render the Federal Constitution ade-
quate to the exigencies of govern
ment and the preservation of the
Union"
We find then that this Convention
was composed of delegates appointed
by tho SeUeraL States, coming in the
name of and from within the corpo-
rate limits of their respective States.
Each State appointed its own dele
gates in its own way, and determined
its own number without any reference
to the manner of choosing or the
number chosen in any other State.
And as further evidence that the
States, and not the whole people of
the United States, were the constitu-
encies of this Convention, it was re-
solved by Congress, who was but the
representative body Of the States,
that the Constitution to be formed |
by that Convention "should be refer
red to the Legislatures Of tie seorrat
States and Congress, and "when
approved by Congress and confirmed
by he several States," &c. THUS in
all these proceedings we fail to dis
cover any agency Of the people Of the
United States, as one people, in ithe
formation of this Convention, or the
ratification of the Constitution afterthe
Convention had agreed to it. For
ought we know to the contrary a ma
jority of the popular vote of the Uni
ted States might have been against
its confirmation, and vet it was CON
frmed by the several States.
But the seventh article Of the Con-
stitution affords the most ample and
conclusive evidence of the position
we assume, ''that the Constitution is
a compact between sovereign States;"
it is the ratification Of the conven-
tiens Of nine States shall be sufficient
for the establishment Of this Consti-
tuition between the States 50 ratify-
ing the same. Before this Constitu-
ton could go into effect il must, by
tho terms Of the seventh article, Just