Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-10-11

1t is a question which goes to the very root,
and involves our national life 1t the same
great question which separated Hamilton
and Jefferson. 1t Is the Old fight between
Federalism and Democracy. When our
National government was first established,
these two anita gonistic forces-Federalism
and Democracy-were present contending
for the mastery. One sought to establish
great centralized government. practically
monarchical in form and to clOthe 1T with un-
divided sovereignty. 1t sought to divest
the states of their sovereign attributes and
to compress the whole into one consolidated
mass-into one single, omnipotent sover-
eighty. The other sought the reverse of
that. 1t sought to establish national gov
eminent of limited and purely delegated
powers. Instead of consolidating all sover-
eighty into one great central government,
It sought to create a national government Of
limited powers defined by specific grants in
q written constitutions; to make 1T sovereign
as to those granted powers only, and to
leave the sovereignty of the States undis-
turbed as to all powers not granted. FEEDER
alism denied the capacity of the people for
successful self government land maintained
that the public good could be best promoted,
and the public safety alone secured, through
the agency of a strong centralized govern
ment far removed from direct popular re-
straint or interference. 1t contended that,
In practical effect, democracy and moboc-
racy were synonymous. 1t was strongly
opposed to State sovereignty, because State
sovereignty was too democratic; because it
meant the reservation of too much power to
the people and the consequent subsection of
public authority to popular control. De-
mocracy, on the contrary, maintained the
very opposite of all that. 1t had absolute
fof, Tn no of no f(,p
themselves, and with strong hand upheld
the standard of popular supremacy. 1t
stood the uncompromising advocate of local
sovereignty and self government. 1t was
unyielding in its opposition to unrestricted
Federalism, which it denounced as a scheme
to promote powerful special interests,
menace to personal liberty, and sure pre-
Cursor to imperialism.
out of these confiicts-acrimonious pas
sionate, stormy-democracy came forth tri-
umphant. Federalism was overthrown,
Democracy was in the ascendant, and upon
its principles and in accordance with its
ideas the new Republic was organized. This
Republic, this new government, bear you in
mind, is deliberate creation, not an accf-
dental growth. BY whom or what created:
By independent states. 1t was created, or
ganized, established as the result OF an
agreement between those states. For what
purpose was it created, and with what pow
ers invested? These purposes and powers
are defined and set forth in an instrument
adopted, first, by a convention of delegates
appointed by the several states, and then
by the states themselves. That instrument
Is the Constitution of the United States The
Federal government, therefore, exists only
by virtue of that Constitution. 1t is founded
wholly upon it, and can lawfully exercise no
power 1t does not confer. This new govern
ment was organized on the democratic plan
of a limited sovereignty. In the exercise OF
the specific powers granted to 1t by the Con-
stitution 1t was made supreme. But 1t was
created a sovereignty with reference to
those powers only. All powers not granted
by the Constitution were by its terms ex-
pressly reserved to the states and the peo-
Die. Let me quote the exact langua ge of the
Constitution, as 1t relates to this subject:
..The powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited
by 1t to the states, are reserved to the states
respectively, or to the people,
The government established under the
authority of this constitution is dual in form,
There are two distinct sovereignties In one