meaning of these phrases in our old Consti-
tutions, and it is that which has caused this
war and created this rebellion. Although
the Constitution of the United States was
supreme, and although the laws of Congress
were supreme, it was held that there remained
an allegiance which the people of the States
owed to their State sovereignties, which with
drew them by all legal and moral power
from under that supreme obligation. What
has been the result? It has demoralized the
people of this country with regard to oaths
and obligations to such an extent that a large
part of the people seem prepared to break
any obligation whatever. There were Uni
ted States army and navy officers at the
commencement of the war who had not only
sworn to support the Constitution, but sworn
allegiance to the Government of the United
States, and sworn to obey every order of the
President as their commander-in-chief; but
when the war broke out, because when at
home they were on one side of a certain line
they thought they were governed by another
allegiance, and that without any other no
tice, they could by a letter written hundreds
of miles away, absolve themselves from all
allegiance to the General Government; and
that their own State had a right to claim
them; that they owed some sort of debt to
the State of Virginia or the State of South
Carolina, although the acts of the State of
Virginia and the State of South Carolina
were against their judgment and in many
instances against their wishes; while they
acknowledged that the Government of the
United States was supreme over them.
That has been the consequence of these
theories and the interpretation put upon the
oath to support the Constitution of the Uni-
ted States. It may be that the time of civil
war is not the best time to change. It may
be that this land presents the spectacle of
houses blazing and lands desolated. But by
the light of these burning conflagrations we
have read the history of the past and the his-
tory of the present, and it has burned itself
into our minds in characters broader and
deeper than would have been possible in
peacefulness and quiet. We have seen the
interpretations placed upon the Constitution,
and we mean to place in it an article which
shall contain our interpretation. I say this
with all respect, because with the exception
of one or two gentlemen upon this floor, this
seems to be rather a quarrel about words. I
think my friend from Kent (Mr. Chambers)
said that the word "paramount" did not
mean anything more than that the citizen
owed allegiance within the delegated pow-
ers; and I do not know that he has any ob-
jection to that. I do not know that there are
more than two gentlemen who object to the
meaning of the article; but they say, why
not leave it precisely as it was before?
Because we want to deny to the State of |
Maryland any right to withdraw people from
their obligations to the supreme law of the
land. Because we want to teach our chil-
dren so that they shall not be misled by the
doctrines which have misled so many mis-
guided but noble-hearted men. If the Con-
stitution of the State of Virginia had con-
tained a clause like this, there would have
been no war. There was a man who has
now gone to his grave with all the laurels of
a soldier on his brow; a man who, I honest-
ly believe, has done more harm to the Government
of the United States than any other
man who has drawn his sword against it; a
man who possessed many of the qualities
of a fanatic, which led him sometimes to
do things which Oliver Cromwell himself
might have found it necessary to explain;
a man who possessed high powers of mind,
of pure, earnest honest intentions, and with
a susceptible and kindly heart;—I mean
General Stonewall Jackson, It is a perfectly
well-known historical fact, that before Stonewall
Jackson engaged in the prosecution of
this war, he sat in his room thinking anx-
iously upon the question whether the ordi-
nance of secession of Virginia bound him to
draw his sword upon that side, or whether
his oath of allegiance as anofficer of the Uni-
ted States army bound him to draw his sword
upon the side of the Federal Government.
We have the testimony of one of his nearest
relatives who saw him after he had taken his
determination and become an officer of the
Confederate army, that upon parting Gener-
al Jackson shook his hand, saying: " My
friend, we part here below to meet only above
My first allegiance is due to the State of
Virginia."
That is the reason for the incorporation of
this article, to deny the right of this State or
of any State, by the exercise of any power
over the individual citizen, to command him
as a citizen to withdraw himself from under
the obligation of the law which the State
and the Constitution of the State admitted to
be supreme.
Now I deny, and I do it with a great deal
of deference, particularly to the gentleman
from Kent, that the history of the world
proves that the time of revolution is not the
time to incorporate new ideas into the govern-
ment. I affirm on the contrary that there is
not a government that exists, there is scarcely
a government that ever did exist, that was
not only baptized in blood, but born amid
the convulsions of revolution. If it had its
origin prior to revolution, it has maintained
itself, and supported its existence and re-
newed its power only through revolu-
tions. What is the Constitution of Mary-
land and the bill of rights of 1776, but an
instruments declared by men that left their
swords at home in order to attend the
council chamber. What is the Govern-
ment of England, in all the great consti- |
