The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-10
United Daughters
 0 The Confederacy

 [ Tn relating the following historical facts I hope to prove that the Constitu. ton of the United States recognized and emphasized the sovereignty of the indi- vi6ual States.
 On the 12th of July. 177e. Confederacy O. thirteen independent States drew ur plan of union known as the Articles Of Confederation. According to these Ar ticles the States bestowed upon the United States in Congress assembled cer- tain powders that were thought neces- sary for the common protection and safety, but reserved to the individual States themselves numerous other pow. CTS, naming among them 'sovereignty, freedom end Independence"
 A few years after the establishment of independence it became very evident that something stronger than the Articles of Confederation were necessary to hold the States together; the Union was threat ei.ed. and 1t looked as if instead of one Republic there would be thirteen. All appreciated the need Of union, so the States sent delegates to a conven- ton assembled in Philadelphia, May. 17s7, tc revise the Articles of Confederation. George Washington of Virginia was chosen President of the Convention. Af- ter four months of labor the new plan of union, called the Constitution of the Uni ted States, was ready to be submitted to the people of the several States. | Much opposition arose to the new Con. lstitution. Patrick Henry opposed Virgin {, ia ratifying on the ground her State sov. ereignty might be jeopardized. therefore Virginia accompanied her ratification with the asserton of 'the right of the people to resume the powers granted un- der the Constitution, whenever the same should be used for their injury or op- lpression." And New York and Rhode Island made the recognition of this right the condition of their ratification.
 When Kentucky joined the Union, du- ring Washington's administration, the resolutions were more emphatic than vir- ginia's had been.
 And the tenth amendment was adopted. of which MT. Samuel Adams of Massa- chusetts said: That each State retains It's sovereignty. freedom and independ- ence and every power, jurisdiction and right which is not by this Constitution expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled"
 Thus We see our fathers were eager and labored for a union, and yet they insisted upon the sovereignty of the States.
 The Louisiana purchase raised opposi- tion chiefly from New England. Colonel Timothy Pickering, a member of Wash- ington's cabinet, and later Senator from Massachusetts, so opposed the purchase of Louisiana that he was an advocate for the formation of a Northern confederacy. and he may we'll be called the leading se- cessionist of his day.
 In 1911 when bill for the admission of Louisiana as a State was under discus- sion, it was the cause of violent sectional bitterness Hon. Josiah Quincy, member of Congress from Massachusetts, said: If this bill passes. 1t is my deliberate opinion that 1t is virtually a dissolution of the Union; it will be right to prepare for separation" "amicably, if they can, violently. if they must"
 An a compromise was the result. As
 we all know the opposition to the Lou
 isiana purchase was largely on the grounds of slavery.
 In 1882, because of objectionable tarin | laws, which discriminated against many of the Southern States, South Carolina threatened to withdraw from the Union
 To prevent this the United States gov. ] ernment again compromised. So we seq
 disruption of the Union was threatened | from the Louisiana purchase, and was
 averted by the Missouri compromise
 again the Union was threatened in 1S3:
 by unjust and discriminating tariff laws | and another compromise was effected by
 the valuable intervention of Henry Clay of Kentucky.
 The admission of California as a State again aroused dissension, and at the
 same time relations between the Nortf
 and South were strained by the Fugitive
 Slave Laws and war was only averteC
 by another compromise in 1852. l 1-I G1- Al.A
 turn of runaway slaves to their owners
 and the North was not only violating
 this law, but encouraging the slaves tC
 run away and seek protection in fre'
 States, an account of which Is given fl
 Mrs. Stowes book Uncle Toms Cabin.
 The famous Dred Scott decision ant
 then the admission of Texas with tn,
 vast acquisition of territory from Mex leo again aroused the country. From all this we readily see the sec tions were aroused against each other
 tho not in open warfare.
 | In the Dred Scott case the Supreme Court of the United States had under the constitution rendered a decision ia
 vorable to the Southern opinion. The abolition leaders of the North denounced
 the Supreme Court for so deciding. and
 also denounced the constitution: and | fourteen Northern States passed bills | nullifying the laws of Congress for the
 recovery of fugitive slaves; therefore the I Southern people began to think tho | North had little respect for the consti' | tuition or the law. These opinions be-
 came convictions when John Brown in-
 vaded Virginia. captured the arsenal al
 Harper's Ferry and attempted to arm
 the slaves.
 CTo be Continued.) l