of the act called secession. It has been claimed, that the several States as such ratified the Constitution; that thereby a voluntary union of States was formed, from which any of those States might at any time withdraw. In accordance with this idea, conventions in the Southern States passed acts repealing the original act by which the people ratified the Constitution of the United States. They claimed that by so doing they might assume again that independent and complete sovereignty that they yielded when they joined the Union. But just at this point is a fallacy that is fatal. The States as such never had an independent and complete sovereignty. The Union was not formed by ratifying the Constitution. It began as soon as two colonies existed to be united as subjects of Great Britain. It began formally as an American Union on the 20th of October, 1774, when the members of the Continental Congress, in the name of the people of the colonies, formed the association for the non-importation and non-consumption of British merchandise. From that time to this the question has never been asked if the States would have a union, but only how it should be organized. When the several States ratified the articles of confederation, and the Constitution, they thereby assented to the form, not to the fact of union. Hence, for the people of any State to withdraw their allegiance from the national government, is to do just what the people of all the States did in making the Declaration of Independence. Secession is Rebellion. It may be justifiable, or not, on the same grounds that may justify any other rebellion; but it can never be legal. There is nowhere in the history or constitution of the nation or of the States any provision for a

peaceable dissolution of the Union. That can never be any thing but an act of violence.

tection.

The national government, as well as the whole people, National Pro- is pledged to maintain the authority of the State governments. The Constitution requires the United States to guarantee to every State a republican form of government, and to protect each from invasion and domestic insurrection. Just what is meant by a republican form of government is not stated; but probably the form of the national government was considered republican. The two chief characteristics of such a government are, that it is from the people, and by the people; that is, the Constitution is ordained by a majority of the people, and the government is actually administered by persons chosen by the majority in a constitutional way. If by fraud or violence the power in any State should be usurped by a single individual, or by a faction, it would be the duty of the national government to furnish to the majority of the people all needed assistance in regaining their rightful authority.

If the government of the State cannot maintain itself, the legislature, or, if that body is not in, session, the executive, may make application to the national government for aid. If Congress should not be in session at the time, the president would be required to judge of the emergency, and to take such measures as he might think best. At different times the United States has been called upon thus to protect the State governments from domestic violence.

This is one of the most delicate and dangerous duties of the national executive, especially if the disturbance has arisen from the conflict of political parties. There is a jealousy of national interference in State affairs,

that within certain limits, as has been shown, is healthful; but beyond these limits it would leave the people of the States at the mercy of any demagogue who could acquire a temporary power. But the right and the duty of the national government are unmistakable. Whenever any portion of the people of any State are unjustly deprived of their political rights, the whole people of the Union are bound to reinstate them. The safety of the whole Republic requires the republicanism of every part.

But this does not imply that the United States government shall interfere in every political quarrel by which the quiet of any State may be disturbed. This would belittle its character, and weaken its influence. The people of the States should be left to settle these disputes for themselves until the local authority is exhausted, and the general good requires national interference.

26

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APPENDIX.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

A DECLARATION BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED.

WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident. that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it

is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of governThe history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:

ment.

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operations till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose, obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.