198 



CONGKESS, U. S. 



knowing beforehand the sentiments which my 

 colleague ,has expressed ; and believing that 

 they fairly represent the feelings, opinions, and 

 purposes of our constituents, and correctly ex- 

 plain the reason and causes of their late action, 

 he was fully warranted in saying he had my 

 full concurrence in the views which he has just 

 submitted. I therefore deem it unnecessary, 

 if not improper, to abuse the privilege which 

 the courtesy of the Senate accords to me, by 

 further remarks. T feel that I am bound by 

 the act of Alabama, and cannot claim the rights 

 and privileges of a member of this body. I ac- 

 knowledge no loyalty to any other power than 

 that of my sovereign State ; and shall return to 

 her with the purpose to sustain her action and 

 to share her fortunes, for weal or woe." 



Mr. Davis : " I rise, Mr. President, for the 

 purpose of announcing to the Senate that I 

 have satisfactory evidence that the State of 

 Mississippi, by a solemn ordinance of her people 

 in convention assembled, has declared her sep- 

 aration from the United States. Under these 

 circumstances, of course, my functions are 

 terminated here. It has seemed to me proper, 

 however, that I should appear in the Senate to 

 announce the fact to my associates, and I will 

 say but very little more. The occasion does 

 not invite me to go into argument ; and my 

 physical condition would not permit me to do 

 so if it were otherwise ; and yet it seems to be- 

 come me to say something on the part of the 

 State I here represent, on an occasion so solemn 

 as this. 



" It is known to Senators who have served 

 with me here, that I have for many years advo- 

 cated, as an essential attribute of State sov- 

 ereignty, the right of a State to secede from the 

 Union. Therefore, if I had not believed there 

 was justifiable cause ; if I had thought that 

 Mississippi was acting without sufficient provo- 

 cation, or without an existing necessity, I 

 should still, under my theory of the Govern- 

 ment, because of my allegiance to the State of 

 which I am a citizen, have been bound by her 

 action. I, however, may be permitted to say 

 that I do think she has justifiable cause, and I 

 approve of her act. I conferred with her peo- 

 ple before that act was taken, counselled them 

 then that if the state of things which they ap- 

 prehended, should exist when the convention 

 met, they should take the action which they 

 have now adopted. 



" I hope none who hear me will confound 

 this expression of mine with the advocacy of 

 the right of a State to remain in the Union, and 

 to disregard its constitutional obligations by 

 the nullification of the law. Such is not my 

 theory. Nullification and secession, so often 

 confounded, are indeed antagonietic principles. 

 Nullification is a remedy which it is sought to 

 apply within the Union, and against the agent 

 of the States. It is only to be justified when 

 the agent has violated his constitutional obliga- 

 tion, and a State, assuming to judge for itself, 

 denies the right of the agent thus to act, and 



appeals to the other States of the Union for a 

 decision ; but when the States themselves, and 

 when the people of the States, have so acted as 

 to convince us that they will not regard our 

 constitutional rights, then, and then for the first 

 time, arises the doctrine of secession in its prac- 

 tical application. 



" A great man, who now reposes with his 

 fathers, and who has been often arraigned for 

 a want of fealty to the Union, advocated the 

 doctrine of nullification, because it preserved 

 the Union. It was because of his deep-seated 

 attachment to the Union, his determination to 

 find some remedy for existing ills short of a 

 severance of the ties which bound South Caro- 

 lina to the other States, that Mr. Calhoun ad- 

 vocated the doctrine of nullification, which he 

 proclaimed to be peaceful, to be within the lim- 

 its of State power, not to disturb the Union, 

 but only to be a means of bringing the agent 

 before the tribunal of the States for their judg- 

 ment. 



" Secession belongs to a different class of 

 remedies. It is to be justified upon the basis 

 that the States are sovereign. There was a 

 time when none denied it. I hope the time 

 may come again, when a better comprehension 

 of the theory of our Government, and the in- 

 alienable rights of the people of the States, will 

 prevent any one from denying that each State 

 is a sovereign, and thus may reclaim tl\p grants 

 which it has made to any agent whomsoever. 



" I therefore say I concur in the action of tho 

 people of Mississippi, believing it to be neces- 

 sary and proper, and should have been bound 

 by their action, if my belief had been other- 

 wise ; and this brings me to the important point 

 which I wish on this last occasion to present to 

 the Senate. It is by this confounding of nulli- 

 fication and secession that the name of a great 

 man, whose ashes now mingle with his mother 

 earth, has been invoked to justify coercion 

 against a seceded State. The phrase " to exe- 

 cute the laws," was an expression which Gen- 

 eral Jackson applied to the case of a State re- 

 fusing to obey the laws, while yet a member 

 of the Union. That is not the case which is 

 now presented. The laws are to be executed 

 over the United States, and npon the people of 

 the United States. They have no relation to 

 any foreign country. It is a perversion of 

 terms, at least it is a great misapprehension of 

 the case, which cites that expression for appli- 

 cation to a State which has withdrawn from 

 the Union. You may make war on a foreign 

 State. If it be the purpose of gentlemen, they 

 may make war against a State which has with- 

 drawn from the Union ; but there are no laws 

 of the United States to be executed within the 

 limits of a seceded State. A State finding her- 

 self in the condition in which Mississippi has 

 judged she is, in which her safety requires 

 that she should provide for the maintenance of 

 her rights out of the Union, surrenders all tha 

 benefits, (and they are known to be many,) de- 

 prives herself of the advantages, (they aro 



