The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1879-09-18

o, 1919.
ljust as sacred as the other; and tina
he who assails the plain rights of tn
States is just as much an enemy o
our system of free institutions isis h'
who assails the just powers of th'
Federal Government. Indeed, so sen
sitive upon this subject were oul
forefathers that within less than two
years after the organization of the
Federal Government ten articles oi
amendment to the Constitution were
adopted, every one of which was in
tended to limit the powers or the pos
sible pretensions of that Government.
and the ninth and tenth articles OF
which expressly declare:
"Article TX. The enumeration in
the Constitution of certain rights shall
not be construed to deny or dispar-
age others, retained by the people"
"Article x. The powers not dele
gated to the United States by the Con-
stitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the States re-
spectively, or to the people,"
For why were our forefathers SO
jealous upon this subject and 80 care
full to preserve the rights of the States
and of the people? 1t was, among
other things, because of all the coun.
tries in the world, America, for the
preservation of the liberties aud pros
perity of the people, needs local self
government. Should Congress con-
tinue successfully its career of usurpa.
tion until, practically speaking all the
powers of Government should be alb
sorbed by it, what would be the nec-
essary result? Then the laws that
would govern the people of Ohio in
regard to their domestic concerns
would be made, not by their own
chosen representatives in their own
midst, but by Congress in which the
State Of Rhode Island has as much
weight in the Senate as the State of
Ohio by Congress in which the six
New England States would have six
times as much power, in the Senate,
in framing . law relating to the do
mestic affairs of our State as Ohio her.
self would have. Let no one, my
friends, imagine that such state of
things can never come to pass. my.
self do not believe that it will come to
pass; but tho reason of my belief is
my faith in the power of the princi.
pies of Democracy to preyenti it. Were
it not for Democratic opposition, it
might come to pass. The forms of
State Governments might remain.
Your Legislatures might sit from year
to year, passing laws and levying tax
es, but their legislation would be met
and controlled at almost every step by
the legislation of the Congress of the
United States.
The forms Of the Roman Republic
to exist for centuries after
every particle of Roman liberty had
been destroyed. And SO the forms of
our State Governments might contiu-
ne to exist after every substantial ex-
ercise of local self-government had
been overthrown. Now, mark 1t, my
the doctrine of State rights or,
in other words, local self-government,
for which the Democracy contend, is
wholly different from the doctrines of
or secession. The De-
of the North never believed
in either Of those doctrines they neY-
er believed in the right of nullifica-
lion or of secession. And until the
breaking out of the civil war I believe
It may be truly affirmed that large
of the people of the Southern
States were also opposed to those
doctrines. 1t is true that when the
war broke out almost every Southern
man took sides with his section. That
was the natural consequence of such
9tAAAc, WAAOA OVOA W u0AAoO AOA LILO
time almost every dictate of sober
reason. But, whatever may have
been the opinion of the Southern peo-
pie before the war, no candid man can
deny, no honest man will deny, that
the Southern people haye abandoned
The doctrines of notification and Sc
cession now and forever. They have
accepted the result of the war as de-
that no State has right to
nullify the valid laws of Congress and
no State has q right to secede from
The Union. 1t is therefore the baldest
or the most deplorable ig-
norance to pretend that there is any
danger of the revival Of the doctrine
Of secession. One great cause that
the Uni0n-slavery-has
ceased to exist. To re-established
Il is a manifest impossibility, No man,
North or South, imsgines that it could
be re-established. The Southern peo-
pie wolAlebe among the first and the
most earnest to oppose such measure.
Their political power is largely in.
creased by the emancipation of the
negro, and they are fast coming to the
that their material pros !
perity is likewise improved by the
1t Is not, therefore, q
fear of secession or of the re-establish-
ment of slavery that prompts the Rad.
Ioal leaders to degrade and debase the
States. The cause lies far deeper than
that. 1t grows out of the long and
effort of consolidated
capital, seeking special privileges by
means of legislationi; privileges that
the mass of the people do not enjoy.
Thu holdae of GoRaEu aut honda de.