Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-09-11
The Federal Union.

The following disqu!sition on our sys.
tenn Of government, which We clip from
the Philadelphia Record, should be read
by all men, and by them repeated to
the children. The enemies Of the Re
public are busy in poisoning the minds
Of the young, with design, at no dis
tant day, 10 break up our free Federal
system and transform US into des-
poiism
Sovereignty is one OF the many
words Of our great composite language
which come TO us from the Norman
French. photographer define it as
signifying the supreme power or rule.
Authority is one of it, synonyms
Bouvier, in his law dictionary. quotes
Judge Story as declaring that in the
United States the absolute sovereignty
Of the nation is in the people, while
the residuary sovereignty Of each State,
not granted TO any of its public func
tionaries, is in the people OF the State
This idea Of divided sovereignty was
quite familiar to our forefathers, and
none OF the authorized spokesmen Of
either Of the two great parties which
existed in their day denied it. FEEDER.
alists and Republicans alike admitted
IL. This they could not well help doing
with the recently adopted Federal Con.
stitution before them. That instrument,
II IL to be feared, was more thoroughly
and oftener studied then than now.
There is reason to believe that many Of
our politicians, including some who
have reached high station, have never
read it more than once or twice.
few OF our present public speak.
eIsl writers are indulgiDg in denun.
81 a, as Of State sovereignty, as if the
vei : idea OF such thing were 3 vision.
AIRY notion and Wild and perilous her.
esy. They see, or pretend to see, the
possibility Of but one sovereignty in a
single governmental system. They for.
get the fact, or knowingly ignore IL,
that, in the complex scheme construct.
ed by the ingenious wisdom of the
founders Of this government, the vari.
Gus powers OF sovereignty-which are
not q unit, but distinct and several
were deliberately distributed between
the nation and the States. and that each
in its separate sphere, and As regards the
subjects allotted it, is supreme. An
intense and eager devotion 10 consolida.
ton runs into absolutism. A single
sovereignty Is the equivalent of pure
autocracy. IL is nothing less than des.
potism. This was the especial evil
which the trainers of the Union sought
10 avoid by discreet partition of the
supreme authority.
The Federal Constitution realized the
dream of Cicero, whose ideal eJfisaa con-
stitsta rep,JGod was a government organ.
lied with a proper balance of the ele-
ment Of regal, aTistocratic and popular
power, as expressed in executive, judi.
cial and legislative departments. The
people being the primary source Of
authority in the new republic, the laws
are made by their immediate represent.
atives. The ariscotratic principle be.
comes concrete in the judiciary which
expounds them. The regal integer ap.
pears in the executive which enforces
them. The same three. fold system was
adopted by the States, and IL the arch.
etype or standard of that Republican
form OF government which the United
States guarantees 10 every State.
Not only are the attributes or func.
tions of sovereignty in this country
separated into these three distinct szssi
independent classes, but there i q
further division ~ 20 its subjects be-
tween the States respectively on the
one hand and the nation on the other
Within its prescribed sphere, and in all
things which relate to its own juFisdic.
tion, each 10 sovereign. The national
Jurisdiction Ia more august and impos-
ing. embracing. as IL does, those larger
and more general functions which are
the marks OF peership in the family OF
nations, and armed With which Il con.
fronls the world. These are the powers