The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1880-08-17
STATES RIGHTS.
A REPLY TO THE NEWS.

Editor Bulletin;
The editor of the News publishes in
last Saturdays issue an editorial in which
he discants upon the doctrine of state SUI
pregnancy or sovereignty. He asserts that
article ten of the amendments to the
national constitution, which says that "the
powers not delegated to the United States
bytheconstitutiop, nor prohibited by It to the
states, are reserved to the state respectively,
or to the people"-he asserts that this
article proves that sovereignty lies with the
national government. In proof of
this assertion he enummerates the powers
delegated to the national government aud
exclaims that they are all attributes OF SOW
ereignty, while those reserved to the states
aud to the people have not that quality
I'm fact the national government be says,
''creates the state and certainly the creature
is not greater than the creator" and con-
cludes with the strange exclamation "This
doctrine of state sovereignty is in fat con-
tradlction Of the constitution Of the Unit
ed States. II Is absurd, for it makes
part greater than the whole; and, worst of
all, it is the infamous parent of the doc
trine Of secession"
The only true manner of arriving at the
correct meaning Of any law, is to 90 back
to the time Of its passage and consider the
meaning that was attached to it by Its
authors. The article above referred to was
among the first amendments made after the
constitution had been adopted, and il was
made because it was thought that the ma
tional government had attempted TO intrudc
upon the rights of the people Of the
several states. will not now say that it
was intended to recognize state sovereignty,
but that it did not intend to recognize ma
tional sovereignty is plainly seen from its
every line; TOR it is nothing more or less
than positive affirmation that the powers
OF the national government are limited to
those actually enumerated in the constltu-
ton, and that all powers not expressly dele
gated to it "are reserved to the states, or to
the people" But again. The article just
preceding this says; "The enumeration in
the constitution, OF certain rights, shall not
be construed TO deny or disparage others
retained by the people" That is to say, if
| understand correctly, that the rights ex.
pressly delegated to the national govern.
ment in TIE constitution, shall not serve as
an excuse tor assuming others retained by
the people How else can this be inter
preted than that the powers constitutionally
possessed land enumerated by the editor of
the News shall not be a justification for as
suming the attribute Of sovereignty! But If
it is to be assumed that the exercise of Ger
tain powers constitutes sovereignty, then it
must be admitted that the states are SOW
ereignties; for they all possess and exercise
some sovereign powers.
But the editors idea that the state is the
creature of the national government and
and that the doctrine Of state sovereignty
is contrary to the constitution, absurd etc.
etc. is inconsistent with the facts
and not very complimentary to some of the
greatest statesman and constitutional law
yers the world has ever seen. Any one,
even though he has only casual knowledge
OF our system Of government, knows that
that so far from the national government
creating the states it is exactly the reverse
The original thirteen states created the ma
tional government and it Sas since been
kept up and modified by the states, until
now it stands the grandest system OF popu-
lar government upon the face Of the earth
But to prove still more conclusvey that
the national government is, in fact, the
creature Of the state government, let one
suppose that the people Of the several