156 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



peculiar!}*, and as exclusively their right now 

 as it was before the formation of the Constitu- 

 tion, and the Supreme Court have so decided 

 in repeated cases. 



" Now, Mr. President, while I am up I will 

 add another word or two. I have taken the 

 position in my argument that Congress has no 

 power to propose an amendment to the Con- 

 stitution that would revolutionize the essential 

 nature and character of the Government formed 

 by the Constitution. My further position is, 

 that the proposed amendment does revolution- 

 ize the distinctive and peculiar character of 

 the Government ; that the Government of the 

 United States is not a single Government ; that 

 it is a mixed Government of the United States 

 and the people of the States. The honorable 

 Senator from Michigan, I presume, compre- 

 hends me, if I haye made myself distinct. 



" I then say that, as a part and parcel of our 

 system of government, the government of the 

 States is as essential as the Government of the 

 United States; that it can no more be dis- 

 pensed with without a revolution and an over- 

 throw of our mixed system of State and Fed- 

 eral Government than could the Government 

 formed by the Constitution of the United States 

 be overthrown without a revolution. I say 

 here, and I maintain as a principle asserted 

 by all the men who assisted in forming the 

 Constitution and who have given any exposi- 

 tion on it, and by every able and accepted 

 commentator on the Constitution, that the gov- 

 ernment of the States is as much a part of our 

 complex and mixed system of government as 

 the Government of the United States ; and in 

 conformity to that principle I assert, as a true 

 proposition, that it would no more change or 

 revolutionize our system of government to 

 destroy the Government of the United States 

 than it would to destroy the governments of 

 the States. 



"Now, Mr. President, I advance another 

 step in my argument. I say that a proposition 

 made in Congress to amend the Constitution 

 of the United States by abolishing the United 

 States Government would not come within the 

 scope of the power of Congress to propose 

 amendments to that instrument. I say it would 

 he revolutionary and destructive of our system ; 

 and that a power to propose amendments to 

 our system does not involve and cannot carry 

 a proposition to destroy the system. I there- 

 fore say that if this proposition was to pro- 

 pose an amendment to the Constitution of the 

 United States by which the Government cre- 

 ated by that Constitution should be abolished, 

 such a proposition as that would wholly trans- 

 cend the power of Congress to propose amend- 

 ments to the Constitution. I assert as the 

 parallel of that position, that the governments 

 of the States being as necessary, as consti- 

 tutional, and as proper a portion of our sys- 

 tem as the Government of the United States, 

 a proposition to abolish, to destroy, to abro- 

 gate the governments of the States it is not 



competent for Congress to make under the 

 guise of executing the power to propose 

 amendments to the Constitution. That is my 

 position. I say that if the proposition was to 

 create a presidency for life, with succession to 

 his son, Congress has no power, under the 

 article that is professed to be pursued now, to 

 make such a proposition." 



Mr. Howard: "If the Senator will allow me, 

 would it be revolutionary and destructive of 

 the Constitution to extend the presidential 

 term from four years to six, as the Confederate 

 government did, or to ten, fifteen, or twenty 

 years, in case the people should see fit to do 

 so?" 



Mr. Davis : "I say the proposition to amend 

 the Constitution by extending the presidential 

 term would not be a revolution ; it would not 

 alter the essential nature of our Government ; 

 but I will tell the Senator what proposition 

 would be of that character. If he was to pro- 

 pose now, as an amendment to the existing 

 proposition, that Senators should hold their 

 offices during their lives, and upon the death 

 of each Senator his place should descend to his 

 eldest son, such a proposition as that would be 

 revolutionary, and it is not competent for Con- 

 gress under its power to propose amendments 

 to offer any such proposition as that. 



" It would be no less revolutionary to abolish 

 the State governments than to take either of 

 the steps that I have indicated. It would be 

 a subversion, a revolution, an overthrow of 

 the essential nature and character of our mixed 

 Government, for Congress to destroy the State 

 governments. Congress, therefore, has no 

 power to make such a proposition in the form 

 of an amendment. I object to this so-called 

 amendment, that it does substantially compre- 

 hend such a proposition as that. It is substan- 

 tially a proposition to abolish the State gov- 

 ernments. It carries a principle with it which 

 Congress may at any time carry to that extent. 

 If Congress has the power to regulate the 

 whole subject of suffrage, and to regulate the 

 matter of who shall be eligible to office, that is 

 the substance of the aggregation of the State 

 governments when applied to them ; and Con- 

 gress might as well, and with more propriety 

 it would be a great deal a less stride of power 

 proceed at once to abolish, absolutely and 

 without qualification, the State governments. 

 I say that Congress has no such power. 



" Chief-Justice Marshall, in the opinion in the 

 case of McCulloch vs. The State of Maryland, 

 lays it down that what the people of a State 

 have the power to organize and to institute 

 they have the power to maintain. I- ask the 

 honorable Senator from Michigan what people 

 have a right to form a State government for 

 that State? What power is there upon this 

 earth that has the rightful authority to form, 

 to change, to abolish, and to introduce another 

 government instead of the present existing 

 government of the State of Michigan? No 

 other power but the people of that State ; and 



