596 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



which the General Government is constituted, and to 

 the objects which it was expressly formed to attain." 



It is not pretended that any clause in the Constitu- 

 tion gives countenance to such a theory. It is alto- 

 gether founded upon inference not from any language 

 contained in the instrument itself, but from the sover- 

 eign character of the several States by which it was 

 ratified. But is it beyond the power of a State, like an 

 individual, to yield a portion of its sovereign rights to 

 secure the remainder? In the language of Mr. Madi- 

 son, who has been called the father of the Constitution, 

 " it was formed by the States that is, by the people 

 in each of the States, acting in their highest sovereign 

 capacity; and formed, consequently, by the same 

 authority which formed the State Constitutions. 



" Nor is the Government of the United States created 

 by the Constitution less a Government in the strict 

 sense of the term, within the sphere of its powers, 

 than the governments created by the Constitutions of 

 the States are within their several spheres. It is, like 

 them, organized into legislative, executive, and judi- 

 ciary departments. It operates, like them, directly on 

 persons and things ; and, like them, it has at command 

 a physical force for executing the powers committed 

 to it." 



It was intended to be perpetual, and not to be an- 

 nulled at the pleasure of any one of the contracting 

 parties. The old Articles of Confederation were enti- 

 tled, " Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union 

 between the States ;" and by the thirteenth article it 

 is expressly declared that "the articles of this Confed- 

 eration shall be inviolably observed by every State, 

 and the Union shall be perpetual." The preamble to 

 the Constitution of the United States, having express 

 reference to the Articles of Confederation, recites that 

 it was established " in order to form a more perfect 

 union." And yet it is contended that this " more per- 

 fect union" does not include the essential attribute of 

 perpetuity. 



But that the Union was designed to be perpetual 

 appears conclusively from the nature and extent of the 

 powers conferred by the Constitution on the Federal 

 Government. These powers embrace the very highest 

 attributes of national sovereignty. They place both 

 the sword and the purse under its control. Congress 

 has power to make war, and to make peace; to raise 

 and support armies and navies, and to conclude treaties 

 with foreign Governments. It is invested with the 

 power to coin money, and to regulate the value there- 

 of, and to regulate commerce with foreign nations and 

 among the several States. It is not necessary to enu- 

 merate the other high powers which have been conferred 

 upon the Federal Government. In order to carry the 

 enumerated powers into effect, Congress possesses the 

 exclusive right to lay and collect duties on imports, 

 and in common with the States to lay and collect all 

 other taxes. 



But the Constitution has not only conferred these 

 high powers upon Congress, but it has adopted effec- 

 tual means to restrain the States from interfering with 

 their exercise. For that purpose it has, in strong pro- 

 hibitory language, expressly declared that " no State 

 shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation ; 

 grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ; 

 emit bills of credit ; make any thing but gold and silver 

 coin a tender in payment of debts ; pass any bill of 

 attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obli- 

 gation of contracts." Moreover, " without the consent 

 of Congress, no State shall lay any imposts or duties 

 on any imports or exports, except what may be abso- 

 lutely necessary for executing its inspection laws ; " 

 and, if they exceed this amount, the excess shall be- 

 long to the United States. 



And " no State shall, without the consent of Con- 

 gress, lay any duty of tonnage ; keep troops or ships- 

 of-war in time of peace; enter into any agreement or 

 compact with another State, or with a foreign Power; 

 or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such 

 imminent danger as will not admit of delay." 



In order still further to secure the uninterrupted 

 exercise of these high powers against State interposi- 



tion, it is provided "that this Constitution and the 

 laws of the United States which shall be made in pur- 

 suance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be 

 made, under the authority of the United States, shall 

 be the supreme law of the land ; and the judges in 

 every State shall be bound tnereby, any thing in the 

 Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary not- 

 withstanding." 



The solemn sanction of religion has been superadded 

 to the obligations of official duty, and all Senators and 

 Representatives of the United States, all members of 

 State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial offi- 

 cers, " both of the United States and of the several 

 States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to sup- 

 port this Constitution." 



In order to carry into effect these powers, the Con- 

 stitution has established a perfect Government in all 

 its forms, legislative, executive, and judicial ; and this 

 Government, to the extent of its powers, acts directly 

 upon the individual citizens of every State, and exe- 

 cutes its own decrees by the agency of its own officers. 

 In this respect it differs entirely from the Government 

 under the old Confederation, which was confined to 

 making requisitions on the States in their sovereign 

 character. This left it in the discretion of each whether 

 to obey or to refuse, and they often declined to comply 

 with such requisitions. It thus became necessary, for 

 the purpose of removing this barrier, and " in order to 

 form a more perfect Union," to establish a Govern- 

 ment which could act directly upon the people, and 

 execute its own laws without the intermediate agency 

 of the States. This has been accomplished by the 

 Constitution of the United States. 



In shftrt, the Government created by the Constitu- 

 tion, and deriving its authority from the sovereign 

 people of each of the several States, has precisely the 

 same right to exercise its power over the people of all 

 these States, in the enumerated cases, that each one of 

 them possesses over subjects not delegated to the 

 United States, but "reserved to the States, respec- 

 tively, or to the people." 



To the extent of the delegated powers, the Con- 

 stitution of the United States is as much a part of the 

 Constitution of each State, and is as binding upon 

 its people, as though it had been textually inserted 

 therein. 



This Government, therefore, is a great and powerful 

 Government, invested with all the attributes of sov- 

 ereignty over the special subjects to which its author- 

 ity extends. Its framers never intended to implant in 

 its bosom the seeds of its own destruction, nor were 

 they at its creation guilty of the absurdity of providing 

 for its own dissolution. It was not intended by its 

 framers to be the baseless fabric of a vision which, at 

 the touch of the enchanter, would vanish into thin air; 

 but a substantial and mighty fabric, capable of resist- 

 ing the slow decay of time, and of defying the storms 

 of ages. Indeed, well may the jealous patriots of that 

 day have indulged fears that a Government of such 

 high powers might violate the reserved rights of the 

 States ; and wisely did they adopt the rule of a strict 

 construction of these powers to prevent the danger! 

 But they did not fear, nor had they any reason to im- 

 agine, that the Constitution would ever be so inter- 

 preted as to enable any State, by her own act, and 

 without the consent of her sister States, to discharge 

 her people from all or any of their Federal obligations. 



It may be asked, then, are the people of the States 

 without redress against the tyranny and oppression of 

 the Federal Government? By no means. The right 

 of resistance on the part of the governed against the 

 oppression of their Governments cannot be denied. It 

 exists independently of all constitutions, and has been 

 exercised at all periods of the world's history. Under 

 it old governments have been destroyed, and new ones 

 have taken their place. It is embodied in strong und 

 express language in our own Declaration of Indepen- 

 dence. But the distinction must ever be observed, that 

 this is revolution against an established Government, 

 and not a voluntary secession from it by virtue of an 

 inherent constitutional right. In short, let us look the 



