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EDITORIAL WE,UARJ0NE^r The Constitution ? IV ? Having outlined the functions and responsibil ities ? and limited the powers ? of the three branches of the proposed new federal government, the constitutional convention of 1787 turned to a variety of other problems. Thev are treated in Articles 4, 5, 6, and 7, which appear on this page. Article 4 deals with relations between the .states. Under section 1, each state is required to recog nize the public acts, etc., of all the others. Section 2 provides for: 1. Reciprocity in the matter of the citizen's rights ; or, as this section phrases it, his "privileges and immunities". (That exact phrase is repeated in the Fourteenth Amendment.) 2. The return by one state to another of persons charged with crime. 3. The return of escaped slaves. (That was re pealed, of course, when the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery.) , REMARKABLE FORESIGHT One of the most remarkable exhibitions of fore sight, public spirit, and altruism in the entire his tory of this nation is the plan worked out for the territory lying to the west of the 13 states on the Atlantic Seaboard. First of all, trie states ceded their western territories to the federal government. Second, in the Ordinance of 1787, the Confederation Congress provided for the creation of new states in this western territory. Finally, the constitutional ?convention ? in session when that ordinance was adopted by the Confederation, as one of its last acts ? provided that the new states should enter the Union on complete equality with the old ones. In section 3 of Article 4, the rule is set up ? and it lias been followed as 35 new states, nearly three times the number of the original 13, have been admitted to the Union. This was in striking con trast to the old idea of territory as something owned, to be exploited. GUARANTEES TO STATES Section 4 of Article 4 is often cited as requiring 'of the states that they give their citizens a repub lican form of government. A careful reading of that section, though ? especially in its context, and against the background of the convention debates ? suggests it was intended, instead, as a guarantee to the .states ; a guarantee, first, against encroach ment by the federal government ; second, of protec tion from invasion; and, third, of aid, when desir ed, in suppressing domestic violence. ' .. : / jf "?? ,? . It is noteworthy, on the third point, that the aid liad to be really desired. It was to be given only if and when the legislature asked for it ; or, when the legislature was not in session and "cannot be con vened", on request of the governor. METHOD NEVER USED Those who drafted the Constitution were wise enough to recognize that it was not perfect ; and that, in any case, changing conditions might re quire changes in this, the basic law of the new na tion. So they provided for amendments, but saw to it that amendment should not be too easy. To change the Constitution, the vote-jof two-thirds of both houses of Congress, and then the approval of three-fourths of the states is required. (Article 5.) Two methods of initiating amendments are set out. Congress may submit amendments to the states for ratification ; or, on application of two thirds of the states, Congress "shall call a conven tion for proposing amendments". The latter meth od, the proposal for change coming from the states, never has been used. The first section of Article 6 provided that the debts of the Confederation should be assumed by the new government. (Later, it also assumed most of the debts made by the individual states in fight ing the Revolutionary War.) STRONG WORDS Section 2 of Article 6 probably goes farther than any other in the Constitution toward making the federal government dominant ; for it flatly states that the Constitution, "the laws of the United States ... made in pursuance thereof", and all treaties shall be "the supreme law of the land". (The proposed Bricker amendment, widely discuss ed for a number of years, would modify this sec tion, as well as weaken the powers of the Presi dent.) The final .section of this article requires public officials to swear to support the Constitution. Then it adds, significantly, that -a man's religion shall be no bar to public office. That provision was hotly debated when the Constitution was submitted to the states for ratification, many persons insisting they wanted no non-Christian, nor even a Catholic, in public office. NINE STATES REQUIRED Little Rhode Island, torn apart by a struggle be tween the haves and the have-nots in that state, never sent delegates to the constitutional conven tion ; and it is quite possible that the delegates who wanted the Constitution ratified were glad. Be cause, since approval of three-fourths of the states was required to amend the Constitution, it would have been illogical not to require three-fourths of the states to ratify it before it should become ef fective. With 13 states, a three-fourths vote would have required approval by 10. But with Rhode Is land unrepresented, the delegates could reasonably argue that the states involved numbered only 12, and thus that nine would be three-fourths. That one-vote difference may have seemed all-important ; because, at the time, there was serious doubt that even nine states would ratify. In any case, the final article of the Constitution provided that ratification "by nine states sh3.ll be sufficient for the establishment of this constitution between the states so ratifying the same". Suggested motto for motorists in a hurry : "Better be late than the late." ,S TA TE-FEDERA L R ELA TIONS CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES Fourth Installment {EDITOR'S NOTE: The lourth installment of the U. 8. Constitution, which The Press has been publishing serially, appears below. This completes the original Con stitution. Next week, the first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, will appear.) ARTICLE IV SECTION 1? Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and Judicial proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner In which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. SEC. 2 ? 1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citi zens in the several States. 2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found In another State, shall on demand of the Executive au thority of the State from which lie fled, be delivered up, to be re moved to the State having juris diction of the crime. 3. No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping Into another, ?hall, In consequence of any law or regulation therein, be dis charged from such service or .labor, but shall he delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. SEC. 3 ? 1. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, with out tjhe consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. 2. The Congress shall have pow er to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations re specting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Con stitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular State. SEC. 4 ? The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of gov ernment, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the Legislature! or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened \ against domestic violence. ARTICLE V The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem It necessary, shall propose amend ments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a convention for pro posing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all Intents and purposes, as part of 'UNANIMOUS' Today, the men who drafted the V. S. Constitution are thought of as virtual saints. Well, they weren't. While many of them were dedicated statesmen, most of them were, first of all, politicians; not above a bit of deception when the situation seemed to call for it. That point is illustrated by this incident: Like any group making a proposal, the drafters of the Constitution had hoped it would be adopted unanimous ly. But they were disappoint ed. Three delegates ? George Mason and Edmund Ran dolph, of Virginia, and El bridge Gerry, of Massachu setts ? refused to sign the document. Without at least the ap pearance of unanimity, the Constitution's chances of rati fication would be lessened. There was a loophole, how ever, for each state had one vote, and the majority of every state delegation favor ed adoption. Hence the adopt ing clause: "Done in conven tion by the unanimous con sent of the STATES present." That less-than-honest phrase was devised by Gouverneur Morris, of Pennsylvania. And it's use was moved by none other than the great Benja min Franklin! this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be pro posed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses In the Ninth Section of the First Article, and that no State, without its con sent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage In the Senate. ARTICLE VI 1. All debts contracted and en gagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Consti tution, as under the Confeder ation. 2. This, Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance there of, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the author ity of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land, and the judges In every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwith standing. 3. The Senators and Represent atives before mentioned, and the members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and Judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several 8tates, shall be hound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution: but no religious test shall ever be required as a quail "Think You've Got The Trail, Huh, Boy'" * * GREENSBORO DAILY NEWS fication to any office or public trust under the United States. ARTICLE VII The ratification of the Conven tions of nine States shall be suf ficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same. Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September, in the Year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Inde pendence of the United States of America the Twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto suo scribed our names. 'FOR OUR OWN' A Thought for Today (From yesterday's talk by the editor on The Press' weekly 7 :45 a.m. Wednesday program, "A Thought For Today", over Sta tion WFSC). Margaret Elizabeth Sangster said it: "We have careful thought for the stranger, And smiles for the sometime guest; But oft for our own the bitter tone, Though we love our own the best." Of all the strange things In nature, surely the strangest Is human nature. For how often do you and I manage to "put our worst foot forward"! We say or do the wrong thing, or we say or do the right thing but at the wrong time, or we say or do it in such a way that the other fellow, who ordinarily would be ready to applaud, is enraged by our attitude. At heart, we're kind, decent human beings, but, before others, we are likely to act as though we were neither kind nor decent. Well, there's one thing about us human beings that is even stranger than that ? the picture drawn by those lines: "We have careful thought for the stranger, And smiles for the sometime guest; But oft for our own the bitter tone . , And all that, in spite of the fact that of course we love our own the best. Why are we like that? It might take i. psychologist or a psy chiatrist, or maybe a Solomon, to say. But It takes neither a specialist nor a Solomon to know that it Just doesn't make sense for us to act that way. Careful thought for the stranger? ? of course. Smiles for the sometime guest? ? by all means. But If we are smart, if we are reasonable human beings, if we value our own happiness, we'll rate things in their right order ? ? and that means we'll save the most careful thought, the brightest smiles, for our own, for those we love the best. Letters Thanks Franklin People Editor, The Press: I should like to express my sincere thanks and apprecia tion to the people of Franklin for their kindness and gen erosity in providing food and lodging for the Civil Air Patrol cadets and senior members who participated in the recent search of that area for a lost aircraft. JUANITA E. WILSON, Major, N. C. Wing Coordinator for Women Asheville, N. C. Proud Of Macon County Dear Mr. Jones: I would like to express the appreciation of the Franklin Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol for the assistance and co operation given us by your newspaper during our recent search for the crashed airplane. Your accurate reporting and your publisher's willingness to release personnel to assist in the actual search reflected the spirit of true "mountain hospitality" and a feeling for others which is so evident in this county. , Don't you think we are prone to take somewhat for granted the things which we see every day? People travel for hun dreds of miles to see our hills and fall color which we hardly notice, since we are accustomed to them. Likewise, I'm afraid we become somewhat accustomed to the real hospitality of our everyday neighbors. However, the events of the week of the search made me proud to be an "adopted native son" of Macon County. When it became necessary to ask for a place to house some of the out-of-town personnel who were helping In the crash search, the response was, or would be in some locations, amazing. Almost a hundred calls came In of fering beds and meals for those strangers in our community, who were in need. People from all walks of life offered and gave assistance far beyond expectations. Clubs, as well as private individuals and businesses, gave time, equipment, and food to help take care of the emergency. I, and the Franklin Squadron, would like to repeat that we are proud of Macon County and believe that there is a warm spot for this county In the hearts of those from other coun ties who saw what real neighborliness Is, during the search. May we, through your paper, express our appreciation. To ALL you hospitable folks ? a real hearty THANK YOU. Franklin. FRANK PLYLER, Commander DO YOU REMEMBER? Looking Backward Through the Files of The Press 65 YEARS A (HO THIS WEEK (1892) A goodly number of the colored men of Macon voted (In last week's election) the Democratic ticket rather than sup port the third party. The mountains were covered with snow yesterday (Novem ber 15) morning. If you do not want gray hairs, use Hall's Vegetable Sicilian Hair Restorer. ? Adv. Old Aunt Charity Chavls, colored, died Monday morning about three miles west of town. 25 YEARS AGO (1932) The Macon County chapter of the American Red Cross has been swamped with requests for clothing for school children in all parts of the county. ?Mrs. Logan A. Allen entertained with a quilting party at her home on Thursday, November 10. Distribution of the fourth carload of Red Cross flour to the 47 school districts of Macon County will be made Sat urday. 10 YEARS AGO Forty members of the Franklin American Legion post gath ered Tuesday night at the Slagle Memorial building for the first meal served in the building. Last month was exceptionally warm and wet for October, a comparslon with a 10-year average at the Coweta Experi mental Forest revealed. Sales of extract wood In this county total about $480,000 a year, John Waslllk, Wayah district ranger of the Nantahala National Forest, pointed out this week.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Nov. 14, 1957, edition 1
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