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Whole No. 13 j.
Tarborough, (Edgecombe County, JV. OJ Tuesday, January i, 1833.
PoJ. IX JVo. 19.
Tlic "North Carolina Free Press,"
BY tJEORGE HOWARD,
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, 1
PRESIDENT'S PROCLAIM ATI; N.
We copy from the Proclamation the Allowing
passages, relalive lo Nullification and Session.
If the doctrine of a State vetoupon
the laws of the Union carries witHit in
ternal evidence of its impracticable ab
surdity, our constitutional history uijl al
so afford abundant proof that it vould
have been repudiated with indignltion
had it been proposed lo form a feature in
our Government. 1
In our colonial state, aithoigh depen
dent on another powers, we very early
considered ourselves as corrected1 by
common interest with eocl.1 othe
leagues were formed for1 common de
fence, and before the docfmlioti ofin
dependence we were knowi in our Ag
gregate character as the Uritld Coloiies
of America. That dccisivi and impor
tant step was taken jointly We decla
red ourselves a nation by tjoint, not by
several acts; and when thaorms of cur
Confederation were reduce to form, it
was in that of a solemn lenge of several
States, by which they agrid that they
would collectively form one ition for the
purpose of conducting somecertain do
mestic concerns and all fore 11 relations.
In the instrument forming tit union is
found an article which dcclnr that "ev
ery State shall abide by thdetermina
tionsof Congress, on all queens which
by that Confederation shoulde submit
ted to them."
Under the Confederation,t!ion, no
State could legally annul a vision of
the Congress, or refuse to sulik to its
execution; but no provision wimadc to
enforce these decisions. Congss made
requisitions hut they were notomplied
with. The Government couldpt ope
rate on individuals. They haio judi
ciary, no means of collecting renue.
But the defects of the ConfWation
need not be detailed. Under itopera
tion we could scarcely be calj a na
tion. We had neither prosify nt
Lome nor consideration abroat This
state of things could not be enduj, and
our present happy Constitution fur.
ined, but formed in vain, if tl fatal
doctrine prevails. It was formedr im
portant objects that are announccn the
preamble, made in the name and? the
authority of the people of the jted
States, whose delegates framocand
whose Conventions approved it.phe
most important and among these octs,
that which is placed first in rai 0n
which all the others rest, is "to ftt a
more perfect union" Now, is it si
ble that even if there were no exss
provision giving supremacy to ihc"n
stituiion and laws of the United fcs
over those of the State. can it boV
ceived, that an instrument made foie
purpose of "forming a more j)et
Union" than that of the Confederal
could be so constructed by the assemi
wisdom of our country as to substj
for that Confederation a form of povi
ment dependent for its existence oti'
"lone .have devised one that is calculated
to destroy it.
I consider, then, the power to annul a
law of the United States, assumed by one
State, incompatible with the existence of
the Union, contradicted expressly by the
letter of the Constitution, unauthorized
by its spirit, inconsistent with the very
principle on which it was founded, and
destructive of the great object for which
it was formed.
This right to secede is deduced from
the nature of the Constitution, which
they say is a compact between sovereign
Stales, who have preserved their whole
sovereignty, and therefore are subject u
no superior, that because they made the
compact, they can break it, when, in their
opinion, it has been departed from by the
other States. Fallacious ns this course
of reasoning is, it enlists State pride, and
finds advocates in the honest prejudices
of those who have not studied the nature
of our government sufficiently to see the
radical error on which it rests.
The people of the United States form
ed the Constitution, acting through the
State Legislatures in making the com
pact, to meet and discuss its provisions,
and acting in separate Conventions when
the ratified the provisions: but the terms
used in its construction, show it to be a
government in which the people of all the
States collectively are represented. We
are one people in the choice of the Presi
dent and Vice President. Here the States
have no other agency than to direct the
mode in which the votes shall be given.
The candidates having the majority of all
the voles, are chosen. The electors of a
majority of States mny have given their
votes for one candidate, and yet another
may be chosen. The people, then, and
not the States, are represented in the
Executive branch.
In the House of Representatives there
is this difference, that the people of one
State do not, as in the case of President
and Vice President, all vote for the same
officers. The people of all the Stales
do not vote for all the members, each
State electing only its own representa
tives of the particular State from which
they come. They are paid by the United
States, not by the State; nor are they ac
countable to it for any act done in the per
formance of their legislative functions,
and howeier they may in practice, as it
is their duty to do, consult and prefer the
interests of their particular constituents
when they come in conflict with any oth
er partial or local interest, yet it is their
first and highest duty, as representatives
of the United Stales, to promote the ge
neral good.
The Constitution of the United States
then forms a government, not a league,
and whether it be formed by compact be
tween the States, or in any.other manner,
its character is the same. It is a gov
ernment in which all the people are rep
resented, which operates directly on the
people individually, not upon the States
they retained all the power they did
not grant. Out each State .having 'ex
pressly, parted with so many powers as to
constitute jointly with the other States a
single nation, cannot from that period
possess any right to secede from, because
such secession does not break a league,
but destroy the unity of a nation, and
any injury to that unity is not only a
breach which would result from the con
travention of a compact, but it is an of
fence against the whole Union. To say
that any State may at pleasure secede
from the Union, is to say that the Uuited
States are not a. Nation, because it would
local interest, the party spirit of a St? a nation might dissolve its connexion
or of a prevailing faction in a Stn
ivery man or pia u, unsophisticated tf in, without committing any offence.
Se-
ucrstanuiriff. who hears the niiRstinn.u i-.u' ii.,,-
give such an answer as will preserve mixy be morally justified by the extremi
Union Metaphysical subtlety, in pty of oppression; but to call it a constitu
sait ot an impracticable theory, couti0nal right, is confounding tho meaning
of terms; and can only he done through
gross error, or to deceive those who are
willing to assert a right, but would pause
before they made a revolution or incur
the penalties consequent on a failure.
Because the Union was formed by com
pact, it is said the parties to that compact
may, when they feel themselves aggriev
ed, depart from it: but it is precisely be
cause it is a compact that they cannot. A
compact is an agreement or binding obli
gation. It may by its terms have a sanc
tion or penalty for its breach, or it may
not. If it contains no sanction, it may
be broken with no other consequence
than moral guilt: if it have a sanction,
then the breach incurs the designated or
implied penalty. A league between in
dependent uations, generally, has no
sanction other than a moral one; or if it
should contain a penally, as there is no
common superior, it cannot be enforced.
A government, on the contrary, always
has a sanction, express or implied; and
in our case, it is both necessarily im
plied and expressly given. An attempt
by force of arms to destroy a govern
ment, is an offence by whatever means
the constitutional compact may have
been formed, and such government has
ihe right, by the law of self-defence, to
pass acts for punishing the offender, un
less that right is modified, restrained, or
resumed .by the constitutional act. In
our system, although it is modified in the
case of treason, yet authority is express
ly given to pass all laws necessary to car
ry its powers into effect, and under this
grant provision has been made for pun
ishing acts which obstruct the due admi
nistration of the laws.
It would seem superfluous to add any
thing to show the nature of that Union
which connects us; but as erroneous opi
nions on this subject are the foundation
of doctrines the most destructive to our
peace, I must give some further develop
ments to my views on this subject. No
one, fellow citizens, has a higher rever
ence for the reserved rights of the States,
than the Magistrate who now addresses
you. No one would make greater per
sonal sacrifices, or official exertions, to
defend them from vie lotion; but equal
care must be taken to prevent on their
part an improper interference with, or
resumption of, the rights they have vest
ed in the nation. The line has not been
so distinctly drawn as lo avoid doubts in
some cases of the exercise of power.
Men of the best intentions and soundest
views ma v differ in their construction of
some parts of the Constitution; but there
are are others on which dispassionate re
flection can leave no doubt. Of this na
ture appears to be the assumed right of
secession. Jt rests, as we have seen, on
the alleged undivided sovereignty of the
States, and on their having formed in this
sovereign capacity, a compact which is
called the Constitution, from which, be
cause they made it, .they have the right to
secede. Both of these positions are er
roneous, and some of the arguments to
prove them so have been anticipated.
The States severally have not retained
their undivided sovereignty. It has been
shown that in becoming parts of a nation,
not members of a league, they surrender
ed many of their essential rights of sove
reignty. The right to make treaties
declare war levy taxes exercise exclu
sive judicial and legislative powers
were all of them functions of sovereign
power. The States, then, for all these
important purposes, were no longer sove
reign. The allegiance of their citizens
waa transferred in the first instance to
the Government of the Uuited States;
they become American citizens, and ow
ed obedience to the Constitution of the
Uniied Stales, and to laws made in con
formity with the powers it vested in Con
gress. . This last position has not been,
and cannot jbe denied. How then can
that State be said to be sovereign and in
dependent whose citizens owe obedience
to lawsnot made by if, and whose magis
trates are sworn to disregard those laws,
when they come in conflict with those
passed by another! What shows con
clusively that the States cannot be said to
have reserved an undivided sovereignty,
is that they expressly ceded the right to
punish treason, not treason against their
separate power, but treason against the
the United States. Treason is an of
fence against sovereignty, and sovereign
ty must reside with the power to punish
it. But the reserved rights of the States
are not less sacred because thev have for
iheir common interest made the General
Government the depository of these
powers.
Tl ie unity of our political character (ag
has been shown, for another purpose)
commenced with its very existence. Un
der the royal government we had no se
parate character; our opposition to its
oppressions began ns United Colonies
We ware the United States under the
Confederation, and the name was per
petuated and the Union rendered moro
perfect by the Federal Constitution. In
none of these stages did we consider bur
selves in any other light than as forming
one nation. Treaties and alliances were
made in the name of all. Troops were
raised for the joint defence. How then,
with all these proofs, that under all chan
ges of our position we had, for designa
ted purposes and with defined powers,
created national governments how is it,
that the most perfect of these several
modes of union, should now be consider
ed as a mere league that may be dissolv
ed at pleasure? It is from an abuse of
terms. Compact is used as synonymous
with league, although the true term is not
employed, because it would at once show
the fallacy of the reasoning. It would
not do to say that our Constitution wag
only a league, but it is labored to prove)
it a compact, (which in one sense it is)
and then to argue that as a league is a
compact, every compact between nations
must of course be a league, and that from
such an engagement every sovereign
power has a right to recede. But it hag
been shown that in this sense the Slates
are not sovereign, and that even if they
were, and the national Constitution had
been formed by compact, there woulfl bo
no right in any one State to exonerate it
self from its obligations.
So obvious are the reasons which for
bid this secession, that it is necessary on
ly to allude to them. The Union was
formed for the benefit of all. It was pro
duced by mutual sacrifices of interests
and opinions. Can those sacrifices be
recalled! Can the States, who magnani
mously surrendered their title to ihe ter
ritories of the west, recal the grant?
Will the inhabitants of the inland States
agree to pay the duties that may be im
posed without their assent by those on
the Atlantic or the Gulf, for their; owa
benefit! Shall there be a free port in ono
State and onerous duties in another! No
one believes that any right exists in a sin
gle State to involve all the others in these
and countless "other evils contrary to en
gagements solemnly ' made. Every ono
must see that the other Stales, in self-
defence, must oppose it ai all hazards.
(CP We understand, but upon no distinct
authority, that the Southern ''cadets; at
West Point lately had a meeting, iq which
they resolved that, if South Carolina
should be assailed by the General Gov
ernment, they would come off to her as
sistance. They have all been arrested
and a court martial summoned for their
trial. -Columbia Tel.
A Good owe In a larre comnonv.
- v. r i . .
some days since, in which the recenfc
Course of Smith Pnr!inn wna mnritifinfid.
- , - " XI UIIIIU " - - y
and various sentiments expressed, a warm;
IlKJirTPH llihprnion a wari'Pf . "till
- M M V IIIUII UUOl'' ...... - I
Ladies, he believed, iccrc aU forUNio&
''!'!'. . . .'
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