The Carolina Spartan. (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, September 06, 1866, Image 1
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BY F. M. TRIMMIER. Devoted to Education, Agricultural,, Manufacturing and Mechanical Arts. $2.00 IN ADVANCE
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VOL XXIII. SPARTANBURG, S. C., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1 866. ?\ NO 32
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Address of the Philadelphia Convention
To the People of the United States.
Having met in Convention at the city of
Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania,
this 16th day of August, 1866, as the representatives
of the people in all sections,
t and all the States and Territories of the
Union, to consult upon the condition and
wants of our common country, vrc nddress
to you this declaration of our principles,
and of the political, purposes we seek to
promote.
Since the meeting of the last National
Convention, in the year 1860, events have
occurred which have changed the character
ol our internal politics, and given the
United States a new place among the nations
of tho earth. Our government has
passed through the vicissitudes and perils
of civil war?a war which, though mainly
sectional in its character, has nevertheless
decided political differences that from the
very beginning ot the government had
threatened the unity of our national existence,
and has left its impress deep and in
effaceable upou all the interests, the sentiments,
and the destiny of the republic.
While it has inflicted upon the whole country
severe lusdcs in liieanu in property,and
has imposed burdens which must weigh on
its resources for generations to come, it has
- developed a degree of national courage in
1 the presence of national dangers?acanaciK
ty for military organization and achievew
lucnt, and a devotion on the part of the
' people to the form of government which
they have ordained, and to tho principles
of liberty which that government was designed
to promote, which must conform the
confidence of the people in tho perpetuity
of its republican institutions, and command
the rcspeot of the civilized world.
Like all great contests which rouse the
passions and test tho endurance of nations,
this war has given new scope to the ambition
of political parties, and frcsb impulse
to plans of innovation and reform. Amidst
the chaos of conflicting sentiments inseparable
from such era, while the public heart
is keenly alive to all the passions that can
sway the public judgment and affect the
public action ; while the wtunds of war
r k ?j li-.j* ?
uiu aim 11on una utecamg on eitner sue,
and fears lor tbc i'uiuro take unjust proportions
from the memories and resentments
of tho past, it is a difficult, but an
imperative duty which on your behalf we,
who are here assembled, have undertaken
to perform.
For the first time after six long years of
alienation and of conflict, we have come
together from every State and every section
of our land, as citizens ot a common
oountry, under that flag, tho symbol again
of a common glory, to consult together how i
best to cement and perpetuate that Union ;
which is again the object of our common
love, and thus secure the blessings ol liberty
to ourselves and our posterity.
In tho first place, we invoke you to remember
always and everywhere, that tho
war is ended and the nation again at peace.
Tho shock of contending armies no longer
assails the shuddering heart of the republic.
The insurrection against the supreme
authority ol tho nation has been suppressed,
and that authority has been again acknowledged,
by word and act, by every
State and by every citizen within its juris
diction. We are no longer required or
permitted to regard or treat each other as
r enemies. Not only have the acts ot war i
been discontinued, and the weapons of
war laid aside, but the state of war no Ion- 1
1 ger exists, and the sentiments, the passions, |
me rciationa 01 war nave no longer lawful i
| or rightful placo anywhere throughout our
f broad domain. We are again people of
B the United States, fellow-citizens of one
country, bound by the duties and obligations
of a common patriotism, and having |
neither rights nor interests apart from n
common destiny. The duties that devolve i
H upon us now are again tlio duties of peace, |
and no longer the duties of war. We have J
' assembled here to tako counsel concerning
tho interests of peace ; to decide how wo \
may most wisely and effectually heal tho I
wounds the war has made, and perfect and !
perpetuate the benefits it has secured, and
the blessings which, under u wise and bonign
Providence, have sprung up in its
1 fiery track. This is the work, not of pas
eion, but of calm and sober judgment; not
of resentment for past offcnBcs, prolonged
beyond tho limit which justice and reason
i
which tolerates what it cannot prevent, ar
builds its plans and hope9 lor the futur
rather upon a community oi interest ati
ambition than upon distrust and the wei
pons of force.
In the next place, we call upon you i
recognize in their full significance, und
accept with all their legitimate conscquc
ces, tho political results of the war ju
closed. In two most important particula
the victory achieved by the national go
eminent has been final and decisive. Fir
it has established beyond all further co:
troversy, and by the highest of all huma
sanctions, the absolute supremacy of ti
national government, ns defined and limi
cd by the Constitution of the United State
and the permanent integritv and indissoli
?1 T
uiiiij vi luv rcuviai t iuuu us u iiccl'J*nui
consequence j and second, it lias put a
end finally and forever to tlic existence <
slavery upon the soil and in the jurisdii
tion of the United States. Both tlics
points became directly involved in the coi
test, and controversy upon both was ende
absolutely and finally by the result.
In the third place, we deem it of the u
most importance that the real character (
the war and the victory by which it wi
closed should be accurately understood
The war was carried 011 by the Unite
States in maintenance of its own authorit
and in defence of its own existence, hot
of which were menaced by the insurrectio
which it sought to suppress. The su]
prcssion of that insurrection accomplish*
that result. The government ol the U11
ted States maintained by force of arms tli
supreme authority over all the territory
and over all the States and people withi
its jurisdiction which the Constitution cot
fcrs upon it: but it acquired thereby i;
new power, no enlarged jurisdiction, 11
rights of territorial possession or of civ
authority which it did not possess befor
the rebellion broke out. All the rightfr
power it can ever possess is that which i
eOuicrrod upon if, either in express term
or by fair and necessary implication, b
the Constitution of the United States. 1
was that power and that authority whic
the rebellion sought to overthrow, and tli
victory of the Federal arms was simply
defeat of that attempt. The governmen
of the United States acted throughout tli
war on the defensive. It sought only t
hold possession of what was already it
own. Neither tho war nor the victory b
which it was closed, changed in any wa
the Constitution of the United States. Th
war was carried on by virtue of its provis
ions, and under the limitations which the
prescribe, and the result of the war did no
either enlarge, abridge, or in any wa
change or affect the powers it confers upo
the Federal government, or released tha
government from the restrictions which i
has imposed.
The Constitution of the United State
is to day precisely as it was before the wat
the ''supreme law of the land, anything i
the constitution or laws of any State to th
contrary notwithstanding," and to day, nls(
precisely as before the war, all the power
not conferred by the Constitution upen th
general government, nor prohibited by i
to the States, are ''reserved to the severs
States, or to the people tlicreoi."
This position is vindicated not only b
the essential nature of our government, an
the language and spirit of the Constitutioi
hut by all the acts and the language of ou
government, in all its departments, anil a
all times lrom the outbreak of the rebellio
to its final overthrow. In every mcssag
and proclamation of the Executive it wa
explicitly declared that the .sole object an
purpose of the war was to maintain the at
thority of the Constitution and to prcserv
the integrity of the Union; and Congrc.*
more thau once reiterated this solemn dei
Juration, and added the assurance th;
whenever this object should be attainci
the war should cease, and all the State
should retain their equal rights and dign
ty unimpaired. It is only since the wa
was closed that other rights have been a;
sorted on behalf of one department of th
general government. It has been pro
claimed by Congress that, in addition t
the powers conferred upon it by the Cot
stitution, tho Federal Government ma
now claim ovor the States, the tcriitor
and the people involved in the insurrectior
tho rights of war, tho right of conquei
and of confiscation, the right to abrogat
? ! uaisuii<; governments institutions an
laws, and to subject the territory conquci
ed and its inhabitants to such laws, rogt
lations and deprivations as the legislativ
departments of the government n>ay see fi
to impose. Under this broad and sweej
ing claim, that clause of the Constitutio
which provides that "no State shall witl
out its consent be deprived of its equ:
suffrage in the Senate ol'the United States,
has been annulled, und ten States hav
been refused, and aro still refused, rcpn
scntation altogether in both branches <
tho Federal Congress And the Congrct
in which only a part of tho States an
of the people of tho Union are represen
cd has asserted the right thus to exclud
the rest from representation, and from a
chare in making their own laws or ehoi
id ing their own rulers ujil they shall com- r
e, ply with such conditio^ and perform such a
id acts as this Congress fus composed may s
i? itself prescribe. That light has not only c
been asserted, but it been exercised, t
to and is practically eniijeed at the present t
to time. Nor does it iiA any support in a
n- the theory, that the lAtes thus excluded a
st arc in rebellion again! the government, t
rs and arc therefore precldcd from sharing i
v- its authority. They at not thus in rebel s
st lion. They arc ono ad ?ll in an attitude i
n- of loyalty towards the ibvernnicnt, and of t
in sworn allegiance to tin-Constitution of the t
ic United States. In no o(e of them is there 1
,t- the slightest indicate of resistance to i
>s this authority, or thu slightest protest t
a- against its just and Inding obligation, r
y This condition of rcttwed loyalty has i
in been officially rccognu?I by solemn proc- |
>f lamation of the Kxcaitive department j
c- The laws of the Unitei StatC3 have been .
jc extended by Congress <rcr all these States t
ii. and the people thercoi Federal Courts i
id have been reopened, anl Federal taxes im t
posed and levied, and in every respect, i
t- except that they arc d>aicd representation <
}f in Congress and the Khitoral College, the i
is States once in rebellion arc recognized as {
]. holding the same position, as owing the j
d same obligations, and subject to the same i
y duties as the other S:atcs of our common j
h Union. ,
n it seems to us in the exercise of the (
i calmest and most candid judgment we can i
!s bring to the subject, th.t such n claim, to
i. enforced, involves as faul an overthrow ot \
c the authority of the Constitution, and us
t complete a destruction ?f the piwommont
n' and Union, as that wlrih was sought to
i be effected by the Stats and people in
0 armed insurrection agaiiut them both. It
0 cannot escape observation that the power ,
il thus asserted to exclude jertain States from
c representation, is made to rest wholly in
,] the will and discretion of the Congress
s i that asserts it. It is not made to depend
s upon any specified conditions or circuiuy
stances, nor to be subject to any rules or
t regulations whatever. The right assorted
|, and exercised is absolute, without qualili
c cation or restriction, not confined to State?
a in rebellion, nor to States that have rebell
ed; it is the right of any Congress in for
c mal possession of legislative authority, to
0 exclude any State or States, and any por
d tion ol the people thereof, at any time.
from representation in Congress and in the
y Electoral Collet, at its own discreiiou and
0 until they shall perform such acts and
comply with such conditions as it may die
y tatc. Obviously, the reasons for such ex
elusion being wholly within the discretion
., of Congress, may change us the Congress
? itself shall change. One Congress may
^ exclude a State lrom all share in the gov
, eminent for one reason; and, that reason
removed, the next Congress may exclude
it fill* auntli??r One Xt-ilo
ed on one ground today, and another may
be excluded on the opposite ground to
c morrow. Northern ascendancy may exclude
, Southern States Irom one Congress?the
s ascendancy ot \\ estcrn or of Southern in
c i tercsts, or of both combined, may exclude
L , the Northern or the Eastern States from
! the next. Jmprobable as such usurpations
j may seem, the establishment of tire princi
y ! pie now asserted and acted upon by Co*ijj
j gross will render them by no means impos,
sihle. The character, indeed the very ex
,1 istence. of Congress and the I'nion i-> thus
t made dependent solely and entirely upon
the j>arty and sectional exigencies or for
bearance ot the lie ur.
s We need not stop to show that such
j action not only finds no warrant in the
( Constitution; hut is at war with every prin.
ciplc of our government, and with the very
s existence ot free institutions it is, in,
deed, the identical practice which has ren^
dered fruitless all attempts hitherto to es
j tablish and maintain tree governments in
s' Mexico and the States of South America,
j | Party necessities assert themselves as sur
> perior to the fundamental law, which is set
^ aside in reckless obedience to their behests.
c Stability, whether in the e\crcise, of powcr,
in the administration of government,
or in the enjoyment of rights, becomes impossible;
nod the conflicts of party, which,
under constitutional governments, are the
conditions and means of political progress,
? iiifiv.Tfo.l i#* t lui OAnfl ioto a<'.????. . ?? I. I ? I
j hi %...v vu.iu.uuuianin IU WHICH J
I they directly and inevitably tend.
It was against this peril so conspicuous j
(j and so fatul to all free governments that.'
r_ our Constitution was intended especially to !
j provido. Not only the stability but the i
very existence of the government is made '
by its provisions to depend upon the right I
) and the fact of representation. The Con- J
i, Krcss? upon which is confeircd all the leg 1
i islativo power of the national government,
tj consists of two branches, the Senate and
? House of Representatives, whose joint con j
' currcnco or assent is essential to the valid
* ity of nny law. Or theso the Houso of
(j- Representatives, 6ays tho Constitution,
s (articlo one, section two,) "shall ho coin(j
posed of members chosen every second
t year by the people of the several States." :
0 Not only is the right of rcpresentaU
tion thus rooogniaed as possessed by
j all the Statos and every State without
estriction, qualification, or condition of
my kind, but this duty of choosing repreentatives
is imposed upon the people of
:ach and every Stato alike, without disinction,
or the authority to make distincions
among them, for any reason or upon
my grounds whatever. And in the Senite,
so careful is the Constitution to secure
o every State the right of representation,
t is expressly provided that "no State
hall, without its consent, be deprived of
ts equal suffrage" in that body, even by
m amendment of the Constitution itself.
kVhen, therefore, any State is excluded
iom such representation, not only is the
ight of the State denied, but the constituional
integrity of the Senate is impaired,
md the validity of the government itself
s brought in question. But Congress at
he present moment thus excludes from
cpresentation in both branches of Congress,
ten States of the Union, denying
hem all share in the enactment of laws by
which they aro to be governed, and all participation
in the election of the rulers by
which those laws arc to be enforced. In
)thcr words, a Congress in which only
:wcnty six States are to be represented, asInrfn
t li ?-i . rh t /> raAnAmi > ~ J ?
>wiio i.uv u^ub iij| uuauiuicijf ituu iu
ts own discretion, all the thirty-six States |
which compose the Union?to mako their
aws and choose their rulers, and to ex- I
elude the other ten from all share in their '
>wn government until it sees fit to admit
them thereto. What is there to distinguish
the power thus asserted and exercised from
the most absolute and intolerable tyranny?
Nor do these extravagant and unjust
claims on the part of Congress to power
and authority never conferred upon the
government by the Constitution find any
warrant in the arguments or excuses urged
on their beha'f. It is alleged,
First. That these States, by the act of
rebellion and by voluntarily withdrawing
their members from Congress, forfeited
'heir right of representation, and that they
can only receive it again at the hands of
the supreme legislative authority of the
government, on its own terms and at its
own discretion. If represen union in Con
_rress and participation iu the government
were simply privileges conferred and held
by favor, this statement might have the
merit of plausibility. But representation
is under the Constitution not only express
ly recognized as a right, but it is imposed
as a duty; and it is essential in both as
poets to the existence of the government
and to the maintenance of its authority. In
free governments fundamental and ess en
tial rights cannot be forfeited, except
against individuals by due process of law;
nor can constitutional duties and obliga
tions be discarded or laid aside. The enjoyment
of rights may be for a time suspended
by the failure to claim them, uud
duties may do evaded by the refusal to perform
them. Tho withdrawal of their mem
ncrs iroru congress Dy tne States winch
resisted the general government was among
their acts of insurrection?was one of the
means and agencies by which they sought
to impair the authority and defeat the ac
tion of the government; and that act was
annuled and rendered void when the insur
rection itself was suppressed. Neither the
right of representation nor the duty to be
represented was in the least impaired by
the fact of insurrection; but it may have
been by reason of the insurrection the conditions
on which the enjoyment of that
right and the performance of that duty for
the time depended could not be fultiiled.
This was, in fact, the c^sc. An insurgent
power, in the exercise of usurped and unlawful
authority in the territory under its
control, had prohibited that allegiance to
the Constitution and laws of the United
States which is made by that fundamental
law the essential condition of representation
in its government. No man within
the insurgent ?States was allowed to take
the oath to support the Constitution of the
United States, and, as a necessary consequence,
no man could lawlully represent
those States in the councils of the Union.
Hut this was only an obstacle to the enjoyment
of the right and to the discharge of
a duty?it did not annul the one nor abrogate
tho other; and it ceased to exist when
the usurpation by which it had been created
had been overthrown, and the States
had again resumed their allegiance to the
Constitution and laws of the United States.
Second. Hut it is asserted, in support of
the authority claimed by the Congress
now in possession of power, that it flows
directly from the laws of war; that it is
among the rights which victorious war always
confers upon the conquerors, and
which the conqueror may exercise or
waive in tiis own discretion. To this we
reply, that the laws iu question relate
solely, so far as the rights they confer aro
concerned, to wars waged between alien
and indcpeudcut nations, and can have no
place or force, in this regard, in a war
waged by a government to suppress an iu.-urrection
of its own peoplo, upon its own
soil aguinst its own authority. If we had
carried on successful war aguinst any foroign
nation, w? might thereby have acquired
possession and jurisdiotion of their
soil, with the right to enforce our Uwb np
on their people, and to impose upon them
such laws and such obligations as we might
choose. But we had before the war complete
jurisdiction over the soil of the Southern
States, limited onlj by our own Constitution.
Our laws were the only national
laws in forco upon it The government
of the United States was the only govern- .
ment through which those States and their
people had relations with foreign nations,
and its flag was the only flag by which
they were recognized or known anywhere
on the face of tho earth In all these respects,
and in all other respects involving
national interests and rights, our possession
was perfect and complete. It did not need
to be acquired, but only to be maintained;
and victorious war against the rebellion
could do nothing more than maintain it.
It could only vindicate and re-establish the
disputed supremacy of the Constitution. It
could neither enlarge nor diminish the authority
which that Constitution oonfers
upon the government by which it was
achieved. Such an enlargement or abridgment
ot constitutional power ean be effected
only by amendment of the Constitution
itself, and such amendment can be made
only iu the modes which the Constitution
itself prescribes. The elaim that the supnrpssinn
nf an innnrrpntinn crainut
vernment gives additional authority and
power to that government, especially that
it enlarges the jurisdiction ot Congress
and gives that body the right to exclude
States from representation in the national
councils, without which the nation itself
can have no authority and no existenee,
seems to us at variance alike with the
principles of the Constitution and with the
public safety.
Third. But it is alleged that in certain
particulars the Constitution oi the United
States iails to secure that absolute justice
and impartial equality which the prinoiplea
of our government require; that it
was in these respects the result of compromises
and concessions to which, however
necessary when the Constitution was formed,
we are no longer eompolled to submit,
and that now, having the power through
successful war and just warrant for its exercise
in the hostile conduct of the insurgent
section, the actual government of the
United States may impoee its own conditions,
and make the Constitution conform
in all its provisions to its own ideas of
equality and the rights of man. Congress,
at its last session, proposed amendments to
the Constitution, enlarging in some very
important particulars the authority of the
general government over that of the several
States, and reducing, by indirect disfranchisement,
the representative power
of the States in which slavery formerly
existed; and it is claimed that these amendments
may be made valid as parts of the
original Constitution, without the concurrence
of the States to be most seriously
nffcctad by them, or may be imposed upou
thoso States by three fourths of the remain'
ing States, as conditions of their re-admis|
sion to representation in Congress and in
i the Electoral College.
It is tho unquestionable right of the
I people of the United States to make such
| changes in the Constitution as they, upon
' due deliberation, may deem expedient.
| But we insi&t that they shall be made in
the mode which the Constitution itself
' points out?in conformity with the letter
. and the spirit of that instrument, and with
me principles 01 sell government and ot
equal rights which lie at the basis of oar
republican institutions. We deny tho
right ot Congress to make these changes
in the fundamental law, withont the concurrence
ot three-fourths ot all tho States,
1 including especially those to be raoet serii
ously affected by them; or to impose them
i upou States or people as conditions ot repI
resentation, or of admission to any of tne
' rights, duties, or obligations which belong
t under tho Constitution to all the States
alike. And with still greater emphasis
, do we deny the right of any portion of the
States excluding the rest of the States
' from any share in their councils, to propose
or sanction changes in the Constitution
' which arc to affect permanently their political
relations and control or coerce the
j legitimate action uf the several members
! of the common Uniou. Such an exercise
| of power is siuiply a usurpation; just as
| unwarrantable wbeu exorcised by Northern
States as it would be if exercised by South*
1 cm, and not to be fortified or palliated by
anything in tho past history either of those
i by whom it is attempted or of those upon
| whose rights and liberties it is to take ef~
i feet. It finds no warrant in th?
tion. It is at war with the tandamental
principles of our torro of government. If
tolerated in one instance it beoomee the
precedent lor iuture invasions of liberty
j and constitutional right dopendent solely
upon tho will of the party in possession of
! power, and thus leads, by direct aod neoessary
sequence to the most fatal and intolerable
of all tyrannies?the tryaony of
shifting and irresponsible political faotiooi.
It is against this, the most formidable of
all the dangers which menace the stability
of free government, that tho Constitution
(Conoluded on ith page.