Year: 1861

VueS Ha'S pcSH uecelHlUS Tue lnlnuS OF


their section for more than thirty years,


until at length thsy have brought many


good men to willingness to take up


arms against the government, ths


day after some assemblage OF men


have enacted the farce of taking


the State out of the Union, who could


have been brought to no such thing the


day before. This sophism derives
much, perhaps the whole ofits curren-
cv, from the assumption that there is
some important and sacred supremacy.
pertaining to each State of our FEEDER
al Union. Our states have neither
| more or less power than that reserved
to them in the Union by the Constitu-
ton, no one Of them ever having been


a State out of the Union The origi-
nal ones passed into the Union even


before they east off their British colo


nlal dependence, and the new ones
came into the Union directly from a
condition Of dependence, excepting
! Texas, and even Texas in it's Temporal
ry independence was never designated


as q State.


The new ones only were designated
States on coming into the Union,
while that name was only first adopted
for the old ones in and by the DecIar-
ton Of independence. These in tho
United Colonies were declared free
and independent States but even the
object plainly was not to declare their
independence of one another in the
Union, but directly the contrary, as
their mutual pledge and their mutual
action before, at the time, and after


ward, abundantly show. The express
plight of faith by each and all OF the
original thirteen States in the articles
Of confederation, two years later, that
the Union shall be perpetual, is most
conclusive, having never been States
either IN substance or name outside the
Union. Whence this magical omnip-
otence Of State rights associaling q
Claim Of power to lawfully destroy the
Union itself? Much is said about the
the sovereignty Of the States, but the


word is not even in the National
Constitution, nor is it believed 10 be in


any Of the State Constitutions. What


is sovereignty III the political sense Of


the term ? Would it be wrong to de.


clare a political community without a
political superior.


/ Tested by this, no one of our States,
except Texas, was q sovereignty, and


even Texas gave up the character in


coming into the Union, by which act


she acknowledged the constitution Of
! the United States, and laws and treat


les thereof, made in pursuance Of the


constitution, for our supreme law. The
| States have their status in the Union,


and they have no other legal status if
they break from this, they only do 50


against law by revolution.


The Union, and not themselves sep
arated, procured their independence
and their liberty by conquest or pur-
chase. The Union gave each of them
| whatever Of independence and liberty
it has. The Union is older than aEy
Of the States, and, III fact, it created


them as States. Originally, some in


dependent colonies made the Union,


and in return the Union threw off their
! tlNA IHNt DNAtCtACG IL ciIi LIlCtil Giltl


the States such as they are. Not one


Of them ever had a State Constitution
| Iindependent Of the Union. Of course,


it is not forgotten that all the new
States formed their Constitution before
11ey entered the Union, nevertheless
dependent on and preparatory to COM
ing into the Union.


L. +i,o S{o+o, -
powers and rights reserved to them by
the National Constitution, sut among
! these surely are not included all con-
ceivable powers, however mischie-


vous or destructive; but such only az
were known in the world at the time
as governmental powers, and certain
ly power to destroy the Government
/ itself had never been known as q Gov
ernmental. as merely Administrative
power. This relative matter Of Ma
! ti0nal power and state rights as prin-
ciple is nothing more than 8 principle
| OF! generality and locality; whatever
concerns the whole should be confined


to the whole General Government,
while whatever concerns the State
should be left exclusively to the State.
! This is all there is Of the original
principle about it, whatever. The Ma


tional Convention, IN defining the
boundaries between the two, as applied


to the principle with exact accuracy, IS


not to be questioned. We are bound
.bv that definition, without question:


What is now combatted, is the position


that Secession is consistent with the


Constitution, is lawful and peaceful.


It is not contended that there is any


express law for it, and nothing shonid
ever be implied rs law which leads 70


unjust and absurd consequences.