The Aberdeen examiner. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1866-current, 1883-03-01
POLITICAL SOVEREIGNTY.
MIR. JEFFERSON DAVIS ExP1AINs A PASS
AGE IN II s HISTORY,
BEAUvoIR, HARRISON Co., MIss.,
January s, 1888,

BEAUvoIR, HARRISON Co., MISS,
January 8, 1888,
Editors of Meriwether's Weekly:
l have received yours of first inst with
a copy OF Meriwether's Weekly contain
ing communication which criticizes the
the position taken on page 1853, vol. of
the "Rise and Fall of the Confederate
Government In compliance with your
request | send you the following remarks
suggested by the criticism:
On the page to which your CORES
pondent refers it is written thus "Ac-
cording to the American theory every
individual is endowed with certain in
alienable rights, among which are life,
liberty and the pursuit Of happiness. {"
The rights thus possessed could only be
inalienalle because of his inherent indi.
vidual sovereignty In the same para
graph it is further written thus "But
political sovereignty, which is the source
Of all the power of government, legisla>
tive, executive and judicial, belongs to,
and Rdheres in, the people of a. organ
lied political community" The distinc-
lion was here prl sented between the nat
ural md the social condition of nun.
Communities are formed, or should he
formed, to prot, ct each individual and
by furnishing wrong to preserve right.
The members by entering the communi-
ty do not ALLEVIATE their natural rights
bnt combiue for the greater security of
them. The sovereignty of the commn,
nifty is the aggregate OF the individual
sovereignties and therefore Govern
ments rest on the consent of the govern
ed" The State, i. e., the people, require
agents as well for efficiency as f)r con,
venience, and functions are delegated,
but sovereignty, indivisible and indie.
feasible, remains in the people.
Some form of government is necessary
to social existence and common interest
OF all ii guarantee to each that the
government will be the best which the
judgment of The whole can devise. but
1t is usual with us to guard against usllr,
patton by bill Of rights, barrier over
which official agencies cannot pass even
if corruptiy using the shield of State
sovereignty.
In many pages, both preceding and
following the one cited by your CORES
p nlen', / endcavored, on the foot of
authority and by argument. to refute
three mischievous errors of recent birth
and rapid growth First, that our gov
ernments are sovereign; second, that the
Cunsti ution of the United States is the
creation of the people en- masSe, instead
of compact between the States, j. e.,
the people of each independent commu>
nifty; third that the will of the majority
is the law of the land, meaning thereby
of the United States. In attacking each
and all OF these positions, State sover-
eighty was the heavy battalion relied |
on, and its leaders were the founders of |
our constitutional union.
You ask for my thoughts on "The |
source OF the right in the majority to
rule" l do not think there is such n
right; if it were admitted the only
source | could suggest would be ply steal
power; but it is not self evident that the
N jorlty would he the stronger, and civ
lization denies that might and right are
convertible terms. The people of an
community could give to
majority the pocer to have unrestricted
'ule, they could not transfer the una-
enable right of the minority and brief
experience would, no doubt, cause them
o revoke the grant of power so dan>
yerOus to the common welfare and hap
'iness. Respectfully,
JEFFERSON DAVIS