Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1880-12-10
STATE SOVEREIGNTY.
An Eloquent Personalities Of the
Question.

were heard with great pleasure wher.
ever he spoke. Here is a passage
from one ofthem on the question of
estate sovereignty :"
So we find
that in the beginning the king crea-
ted the colonies; next, the people of
the colonies formed the union; then
the people breathed upon the colonies,
and Transmitted them into states. The
people clothed the individual states
with sovereignty, for six years in the
confederation, and finally having
learned, by this six years experience.
the weakness of the confederation and
its total inadequacy to answer their
purposes, in 1787-resuming their SOW
ereignty-swept 1t away, and created
the constitution and government OF
the United States as we find it. That
the supremacy, or sovereignty, 80 far
as the people have transferred it from
themselves at all, is in the nation. and
no. in the states, is most concluslyely
demonstrabie, by measuring their
respective powers, as dthned and Inns
lied in the chatter creating them, L
mean the constitution, and by the
definition Of sovereigLty In Its Ort9a-
nal AMI it accepted sense.
rhe primary Specification OF this
fendai word Is "a person, a prince
who has supreme authority over SUBJ
iects who owe him supreme allie
glance." Having neither princes nor
subjects in the United Ststsp, the word,
uaoer this definition, can not apply
here, But in that definition suba tltut-
ing government or nation, for "person
or prince and citiZ9I f Subjects"
we have the accepted sense Of the
term, SIS used among Us, and the def
niti0n would read: "A government or
nation, which has supreme authority
over CITIZENS VINO owe it supreme al
Iegianee." Now let Us learn the attri-
butes OF sovereign or supreme gov
eminent, and see WHIT ther these inhere
in the several states Or not, and wheth-
or not they belong TO the national
government. Cousuit your dictionary,
law books and common sense, and you
will find that sovereign, to be such
in fact, must have the following pow
ers, to wit: The pc n er to make war,
and 20 negotiate peace, to raise armies
and build naviee, and to arm, equip
and support them; the power to make
treaties with foreign powers, to
form compacts and agreements
with other states; to levy imposts on
Imports and exports, foreign and
domestic; TO regulate commerce, to
coin moDy, TO emit bills of credit,
and make them legal tender money;
to authorize ships t. go into commits
sion anywhere on the high seas; to
have flag of its own; to ordain such
a constitution, and enact such laws, rs
il may will to do, unrestricted by any
ether power; to ordain any change in
it, organic law; the power TO maiutain
and preserve all its inherent rights un-
impaired, and unlnterfered with, by
any ether govern meni; and t. do any
and all Cther taiugs an independent
sovereign government may of right to
do.
But has any state of this union any
single one OF these powers essential to
sovereignty? NOT ONE-because they
are tx pressly prohibited and Withheld
by the only sovereign in this country
the people-in the consultation itself.
Moreover. the supreme Court of the
United States may decide to be null
and void any law, or any part of the
constitution, OF any state, which
may be found in conflict with
the constitution and laws of the Unit
ed States. Congress may absolutely
abolish any government, of any state,
if it is found not to be republican in
form, and every solitary right possess.
ed by any and every one of these So
called sovereign states, may he swept
away without it's consent, by the con-
curing vote of tWo~thirds of congress
and three-fOurths of the states. Thus
we see that state sovereignty is but a
sceptered phantom enthroned in the
solitude of an ideal utopia, whose only
existence is in the fond enthusiasts
dreamy brain. But, measured by tais
definition, all the attributes of sovera
eignty expressly denied in the peo-
pies constitution TO the states) are
found concentrating in the national
government, as the rays of the sun all
concentrate in his burning disk. AS
God, in wisdom infinite, by His ON
nipotent fiat, flung out from His cree
alive hand, tue vast system of worlds
above us-all beautiful aid harmo-
Understanding with the vast system
of imperial authority q glory, all di-
vine, on each satellite, and plan
ct, and delegated to its central
orb. Ithe sun, the sovereignty
the whole, sceptred him with powers
far-reaching, various and mighty, yet
we'll defined and circumscribed by
law eternal and ipf1exible, and sent
HIM forth as His vice gerent, to gov
ern the spheres to His domain allotted
in benignant anu paternal love, kind
ly repelIing such as would, with CEN
tripitai intent, drop from their miss
sion into his burning arms, sternly
restraing others by chords invisible of
gravitative force, whose centrifugal
desires would, in a tangent to their
normal orbit, hurl them into the
abysmal realms of choas and night,
and thus break up the unity of
heavens design, and precipitats the
final catastrophe of the universe. AS
Jehovah thus created all these worlds,
each differing in magnitude, density,
distance and velocity from all the rest !;
all varying in their times of axial
revolution, and in their Orbital dame
tere, and their angles to the ecliptic of
the sun, yet each obedieDt to its own
projectile force, and to the law of
gravitation, each unlike all others In
those laws adapted to it's il Individuality,
yet all alike in obligation and loyal
obedience t. the great central power;
one hundred differing worlds. sattel>
litss, planets and sun; one hum
dred differing glories shining in
each, vet altogether exhibiting single
mighty System, marshalled on the
plain of Heaven, silent, but sublime.
l.