Year: 1861

ed this vew for the assent of the States to the Con
| stitution was there referred to evidence o


sovereign capacity" and the right of people t.
resume powers delegated to a State conceded i
follows, therefore, necessary corollary, that i
the people OF a State may resume powers conferred
by them upon the State authority the people of a
state may also resume those delegated by them tc
the Federal Government. If the right exists il


must be equally as applicable to the Federal Gov
ernment as to the several States


They undoubtedly have right to resume the
powers which they have parted with for a special
purpose. He did not think any authority could be
found anywhere for saying that this was a consoli-
dated Government and only by authority of ma.


orty of the people of the whole United States can
1t be modified, overturned or amended.


Chief Justice Marshall had said no political
dreamer ever imagined that they could BE- CON-
pounded into one compact mass, but he had not
heard the speech Of the gentleman from Washing
ton county, who was rather for compounding them
into one common mass.


tits conceded on all hands that the Constitution


is silent on that subject, and that the power of CO.
ercing State into the performance of its Federal
obligations was voted down in the Convention.
Under these circumstances the source from whence
we are most likely to derive a correct knowledge


of the motives and the objects of the trainers the
GOvernment is the Federalist written bv men


who emlnently aided in its formation, and but for
whose vigorous defence the Constitution of 179S


would never have been adopted.


Quoting from the 39th number of the Fe1era7ist


written by Madison, Mr. Pitts read as there stated


the chief objection of the adversaries of the Con
stituon, that sit not sufficient for the Con-
veution to adhere to the Republican form. They


ought with equal care to have preserved the Fedora


form, which regards the Union as a Confederacy OF
sovereign States instead of which they have framed
National Government, which regards the Union
as a consolidation of the States;" and quoted al
length MIR. Madison's reply and inquiry into the
real character of the Government, that "the Con-
stituon is founded the assent and ratification
of the people given by deputies, "nnt individuals
composing one entire nation, but composing the
distinct and independent States to which the V
respectively belong" "The act therefore es-
tablishing the Constitution will not be a


National, but Federal act" And the
further reasoning by which Mr. Madison ar
rived at this conclusion that "yvere the people re-
garded in this transaction as forming one nation,


the will of the majority of the whole people of the
United States would bind the minority but on
the contrary, "that each State in ratifying the
Constitution is considered as a sovereign BODY in
dependent of all others, and only TO be bound by


it's own voluntary act"


Suppose, said Mr.. Pitts, that four out of the thr-
teen States had refused to ratify the Constitution,
in what condition would they have been? Certain
ly not as fragments of the old Confederacy? No.
1t is manifest they would have been remitted to
their original condition as Independent sovereign
States. Why clearly the latter, and they would
have then had power to coin money, lew duties
and perform all acts allowed to independent States


The idea that the use of the words "ordan and
establish found in the Constitution, being used
to convey a power superior to that of mere com
pact, had been mstakingly relied upon. Precisely
the same language is employed in treaties of peace
between nations such England or France, ard
it they are to have other than general signif-
canoe, it is most probably that which the treaty
making power would suggest


Equally undue has been the significance attrib-
uted to the phrase awe, the people'-in the pre-
amble. I've, the people" of the United States bad
been harped upon ever since the beginning of this
question, and the gentleman from Washington
tu n ~ nnn trnrn nhl NfM M
Webster upon the subject, but, Mr.. Speaker, there
is no force in the word. This preamble put
there because they could not tell in advance what
States would ratify the Constitution. Rhode Island
and Massachusetts might not have ratified the COM
pact, and consequently the names of the particular
States could not be put in. In the conclusion of
the same instrument is to be found clause of quite
as much significance. The preamble does not 90
on to say that "We, the people" do ordain and es-
tablish this Constitution for the people of the Uni
ted States, but with that recognition of the federal
principle which is ever bestowed when proper and
convenient it is stated that the Constitution has
been established for the 'United States of Ameri-
ca


He would say to the gentleman from Washington
county that the Union was the offspring of the
States, not the States of the Union. The sover-
eighty Of the States is recognized, and recognized
by the very oath which We take as legislators of
Maryland, and in which we swear allegiance to the
State contradistinguished from the General
Government. We swear to support the Constitu
ton Ot the United states, and to "true allegiance
bear to the State of Maryland, Virginia, of
any other State in which the oath is taken. Who
has sworn allegiance to the United States2 not
even the foreign emgrant who seeks the protection
of our Institutions; and who claims allegiance but
sovereignty? 1t is because this sovereignty has
never been parted with that we have sworn to bear
allegiance to that sovereign power to which alone
our allegiance is due-the State of Maryland.


The gentleman from Washington county admits
tnaL the pegpIe possess the right of revolution; but
he goes nrther and terms the exercise of that right
rebellion He (the speaker) would admit neither
of the propositions Revolution means the over
turning of an existing government, and the substi-
tuition in its place Of another, and establishing bv
mere force of the majority a state of affairs which
the minority do not want. The uprising in Eng
land against the Stuarts, followed by the proteco-
rate of Oliver Cromwell, revolution in the
strict sense of the term. But what revolution had
taken place here? Is not the Federal Government
still in existence? Are not all the States,
from Maine to Georgia, in the full en-
joyment of their State institutions and
governments? Has the Southern Confederacy
sought to force upon the United States any other
form of government than they now possess? Does


it seek to deprive it of that ect of their love and
pride-Abraham Lincoln No, Then there has
been no revolution, and the only claim upon which
the argument can rest is this: That the Northern
States, under the Constitution of 1898, obtained
fee simple title to the Southern States and are de-
termined to hold them as their bondmen and their
slaves, and they are resolved that they shall be
hewers of wood and drawers of water, as in the
past. This is the argument of the gentleman from
Washington county, and is the controlling motive
of the bloody and fratricida war now being waged


But the gentleman from Washington county
while admitting the right of revolution, says the
Southern States are in rebellion for exercising
right he has conceded them. What does he call his
act when, in 1850, he voted as a member of a con-
vention to abolish one Constitution and to form
another most repugnant to the wishes of large
and respectable minority Of the people of the State?
That was revolution. Yet the right of its exercise
he would not deny. But the gentleman had gone


further in the assertion Of this right, for the con-
vention of which he was member interpolated into
the Bill of Rights the declaration that the right Of
the people to alter or annul the Government, at
any time they so desired to do, is can inalienable
right'-they proclaimed the principle that Gov
eminent is compact with the people of the State,
and if Government can be a compact between the
people of one State, one community, with yet
greater force does the principle apply to sovereign
States. The gentleman is thus pledged to the
right first asserted by our fathers-Ot casting off
an unpopular or oppressive Government Not the
right of revolution-but an unqualified inherent
right The gentleman had gone back to the divine
right of kings, for he had said the Government was
from GOd but the people Of England overturned
their Government, when it became oppressive, al
though their king claimed to WELD the sceptre by
the grace of God.


If then it is aright-revolutionary or otherwise
who has the right to prevent them from exer-
csing it? If we possess right to do a thing, we
can be committing no wrong upon any body by
doing it; and we may resist an unlawful attempt to
suppress the exercise OF that right without being
rebels.


The resolution most strenuouslv protested against
by the gentleman from Washington county is that
favOring the recognition of the Southern C0nled-
eracy. He admits the right of the people to revO-
utionize, and lie asserts the right of the General
Government to coerce them back. His argument
is that the Federal Government occupy the posi-
tion of trustees for posterty. That they hold this
precious treasure-this gIitterng casket-the MON,
in sacred trust and have no power to give 1t up
That they have power to make war but none to
make peace. 1t is the first time in all interna-
tioDal law that such doctrine has been broached.


Mr. Pitts disclaimed the idea of his being here
a partisan. Years ago he had abjured party poll
tics, and hoped never again to enter its arena.
Speaking for himself, for his colleagues from
Baltimore, be could say they did not come
here, as intimated by the gentleman from Wash
ington county, as disorganizers, nor as secession
lists, nor as promoters of discord. They came here
with hearts full of patriotism, devoted to the
Union and its glory, any that throbs within this
House But, thank God, they came here with none
of that bloodthirstiness of soul which he has here
given utterance to. They came to stay the upifted
hand against shedding their brothers blood; not to
cry for the gbbet and cord but for peace; with
the desire for carnage that prompted the hearts,
but didinot the arms, of those men now inva-
ding Southern soil. [Boisterous applause upon the
floor and in the lobbes, eliminating in yell ut
tered by some excited individual, who Immediately
subsded to avoid the indignant glance of the Ser
geanta ARMS.


We came here to do all we could to preserve the
remnant of our once glorious Confederacy; but we
are not here to say that the gibbet and cord shall
become fixed institutions of the land We came
here for peace, and there is reason why peace
should not be had, except the love of blood and
carnage which animate the heart, but which does
not appear to strengthen the arm, of the invaders
of the "mother of States" daughter and ap-
plause.


The gentleman from Washington county had e.
hausted his ingenuity in search of comparison to
10 tba hon paiI