152 



operation of these two forces, the one which 

 tends to the centre, the other which tends to 

 the circumference, which keeps these planets 

 moving in their orbits, which maintains our 

 system, which keeps it from destruction ; and 

 the destruction of either of these forces is the 

 destruction of the solar system. 



" Now, sir, come to our system of govern- 

 ment : these two forces are planted in it of ne- 

 cessity. These two ideas have been here from. 

 the beginning. There have been men who 

 represented the one and represented the other 

 from the beginning. There have been men 

 who have contended always for the absolute 

 sovereignty of this central Government, and 

 other men who have contended always for the 

 absolute sovereignty of the States; and both 

 of them have contended fpr a falsehood from 

 the beginning. There is no absolute sover- 

 eignty in this Government, nor is there any 

 absolute sovereignty in the States ; but, under 

 the operation of our system devised by our 

 fathers, wise as if it had been inspired from on 

 high, and as if they had wisdom almost like 

 Him who created the solar system under which 

 we live, these two grand ideas, two great forces 

 in government, were put in operation at . one 

 and the same time, each limiting the other, 

 each operating upon the other, both working 

 together, and working out that harmonious 

 system in which alone we live and move and 

 have our being ; and that man or statesman, 

 call himself what he may, whether a fire-eating 

 secessionist of the South who comes into this 

 body or elsewhere and maintains the absolute 

 sovereignty of the State, with its right to 

 withdraw from the Union, to retire from the 

 system, to overturn the Government ; or that 

 other statesman, Republican though he may 

 call himself, who comes into this body or else- 

 where* and maintains that this Government 

 only has absolute sovereignty, and that it has 

 the power to seize to itself all the powers of 

 the Government whichever one of these men 

 undertakes to do this, is making war on the 

 Government and war on the system under 

 which we live. 



"Mr. President, it is in these two ideas, 

 limited by each other, controlled by each 

 other, that we alone can maintain our sys- 

 tem of government. We must maintain the 

 rights of the States under the ' Constitution. 

 We must love to maintain the rights of the 

 States. We must maintain the rights of 

 the Federal Government. And, while we 

 put down rebellion, put down secession when 

 it undertakes, under the doctrine of State 

 rights run mad, to destroy the Government, to 

 break up the system, if the time ever comes 

 that in this body, from any quarter, East or 

 West, or North or South, any party stands for- 

 ward to determine that this is the Government 

 and here is all power, and that in Congress are 

 to be vested all the powers of government, 

 that party will be equally at war with the 

 system. Both must be resisted ; the doctrine 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



must be overcome; and I tell the Senator 

 from Indiana that the .doctrine of unqualified 

 centralization of power in this Government is 

 just as dangerous as the doctrine of secession. 

 Both of them are at war with the Constitu- 

 tion. 



"Mr. President, I should not have been 

 drawn into any remarks on this occasion, had 

 it not been for the speech of the honorable 

 Senator from Indiana (Mr. Morton), and par- 

 'ticularly that portion of his speech where he 

 seems to claim that every man who maintains 

 that the States have rights under the Consti- 

 tution, and ought to have rights under the 

 Constitution, is only repeating the arguments 

 of secessionists. Sir, what I claim is the rights 

 of the States under the Constitution, not out- 

 side of the Constitution. I claim their rights 

 under the Constitution which it guarantees to 

 those States, not a right to secede, not a right 

 to nullify, not a right to break up the Govern- 

 ment, but a right to live in the Government 

 and enjoy under the Constitution' the rights 

 which its secures. 



"Mr. President, I maintain that it is just as 

 necessary for us to insist upon the rights of 

 the States as upon the rights of the Federal 

 Government. The time is coming, in my judg- 

 ment, when the people of the States will be 

 aroused to this question. The danger is that, 

 while we have been exerting all the powers 

 of this Government, great and gigantic as they 

 are, to put down the secession of States, not 

 in the exercise of rights, but in the exercise 

 of wrongs attempting to exercise powers 

 which they have not, and cannot have, under 

 the Constitution our people are becoming ac- 

 customed to look upon the exercise of these 

 great powers by this Government with indif- 

 ference." 



Mr. Drake, of Missouri, said: "Now, sir, 

 the honorable Senator from Indiana (Mr. Hen- 

 dricks) seemed to be concerned this evening 

 as to the limit of the pOAver of amendment of 

 the Constitution, without drawing a distinc- 

 tion between that which is an amendment of 

 the Constitution and that which is a revolu- 

 tion to overthrow it. I have simply to say 

 that, so far as amendment is concerned, there 

 is no limit. You .cannot find a word in the 

 Constitution which makes a limit upon the 

 right of the people to amend it, except in that 

 article which declared that 'no amendment 

 which may be made prior to 1808 shall in any 

 manner affect the first and fourth clauses of 

 the ninth section of the first article.' " 



Mr. Edmunds : " And the equal representa- 

 tion of States in the Senate." 



Mr. Drake : " No, sir ; excuse me. The lan- 



lage does not apply there at all, as I have 

 iad occasion to show here before. But there 

 was the only limitation on the power of 

 amendment contained in the Constitution, and 

 it was a limitation in favor of the importation 

 of slaves from the coast of Africa to this con- 

 tinent." 



gm 

 hac 



