Year: 1863

The Magnitude of state Power.


From the Constitutional Union # Philadelphia.


Why does the citizen of any State. of PeEnsyl-
yania for instance, owe obedience to the ConSt
tutionG Simply because the ordinance of
State Convention, adopted seventy years ago,
has made that Constitution obligatory upon him.
The high and solemn act of State authority is
all that binds the citizen to obey that instrument
But for the act of Cons en,ion which in 1887
declared the sovereign voice of Pennsylvania, the
citizen of this State would to day owe no respect
to the Federal Constitution. The acts of all
other States and their citizens were powerleSs TO
impose upon him the slightest obligation to that
instrument. This illustrated in the case of
Rhode Island State that was acknowledged
outside of the Union and entirely independ-
ent of the Constitution, even after twelve
other States had assented to that instrument, and
were effectually associated under the juris-
diction of the Federal Government. Why
were the citizens of Rhode Island entirely ex-
empt from every provision of the Constitution,
while in twelve other States the citizens Owed to
that instrument implicit obedience7 Simply be
cause, though the Conv ventioDs in those twelve
States had assented TO the Constitution, the pow
er competent to establish that instrument within
Rhode Island had not yet spoken; the sovereign
will Of that community had not vet been de-
cared by State Convention; the Constitution
had not yet been sanctioned by the only power
competent to give it validity within that State.
the collective voice of that community had not
yet given consent to that instrument; and until
such consent had been given, the individual cti.
dare not, without treason to his State. obey
the Federal Constitution as a binding law. Did
the ordinance of State Convention impose the
landl Undoubtedly it did; and it is equally clear
that in each of the other States that instrument
derived its validity from a similar ordinance.


1t thus appears that he who inculcates contempt
for State authority attacks in reality the validity
of the Constitution. When men seek to central
ize unbounded power in the Federal Government,
and teach that the mandates of a State, because
emanatng from State, must be spurned and spit
upon, TIE citizen may very reasonably answer:
That mandate of my State. uttered seventy
years ago in the ordinance of State Convention,
is all that makes the Constitution obligatory upon
me. If State authority is thoroughly insig-
ni6cAnt, then that ordinance and the Constitution
which il processes to sanction and ratfy are alike
deserving of my contempt"


Let us view the question in another form. By
what right does the Federal Government Today
appeal to the citizen of PENNSYLVANIA for obedi-
encef Simply because there is now among the
archives Of the government a scrapof paper certi-
fving that on a certain day convention repre-
senting the people of PENNSYLVANIA did, in their
name, consent 70 the Constitution The
document, emanating from State authority,
ana certifying the action OF n state Convention,
ia the sole ground of all the jurisdiction which
the Federal Government can rightfuly exercise
within the State: il is the sole warrant BIZ which
that Government can claim from Penns ylvanians
obedience TO the Constitution. Remove from
the archieveS at Washington that document, and
the Federal Government has no more jurisdiction
in Pennsylvania than il has in Turkey or Rus
sia.


Some persons seem to imagine that the Fed
aral rnro nenf in Irz ad prfRif
must pursue its sublime career regardless of any.
thing so contemplate as a mere emanaton of
State authority. "The Constitution alone" it is
contended, "prescribes the sphere of the Federal
Governments jurisdiction and that Government
cannot look outside of the Constitution to take
cognizance Of any document which utters the pu.
nv voice OF State authority"


Those who thus imagine that the Federal Gov
eminent must determine its jurisdiction by look
ing at the Constitution alone, may be startled
when we state that the language of the Constitu
tion was precisely the same in 1889, when the
Union embraced only eleven States as in $780,
when thirteen States were subjected to the Fed
eral Governments jurisdiction; and the language
of the Con stitution would have been precisely
the same if the Union had only nine States
contingency which was contemplated by the last
article. In other words, when the Constitution
had gone into operation and the Federal Gov





was nothing in the Constitution by which
that Government could ascertain whether
il possessed Jurisdiction over nine or
eleven, or thirteen States. By the language
of the preamble, the Constitution was "ordained
and established for the United States Of Amer
ca" but from the Constitution alone the govern.
meat could not ascertain whether the United
States" that were subject to its authority com
prised nine or thirteen States; and if the Union
embraced only nine States, the government could
not learn from the Constitution which were those
ninel How. then. did the government determine
the geographical boundaries of its jurisdiction 7
By consulting eleven different documents, then
among the archives OF the government. each
document emanating from State convention and
certifying the action Of such body By the act
emanating from the New York Convention the
government was apprised of its jurisdiction over
New York: by the act emanatng from the Vir.
grnia Convention the government learned its
jurisdiction Virginia Among those
acts of various State conventions, the Federal
government at the time of its organization found
no act declaring the consent of the people oi
North Carolina; 1t found no act declaring the
consent Of the people Of Rhode Island. There.
fore il did and r;ghtfuliy it could not assume
Jurisdiction within either Of those States When
document transmitted by North Carolina
convention had sigbifed the assent Of the com.
muBity, the Federal government asserted author
ity withiE that State When a document eman
asing from Rhode Island convention, had ex-
pressed the consent Of that community, then, and
at no previous time. the Feiersl government be
came endowed with jurisdiction in that State
But for that document emanating from State
convention of Rhode Island. the Federal govern
menf might have waited till doomsday before the
mere words of the Constitution would have giser
it any authority within that State


These facts enable ne to realize the real nature
Of the Consultation. That instrument. as Il