near together as they could be brought,
rather than divide the territory of this nation
into conflicting jurisdictions, and separate
national authorities.
Now, what is the meaning of the deduction
in the latter part of this article? Gentlemen
who have taken part in this debate, admit
that the Constitution and laws of the United
States are the supreme law of the land. They
say that everybody owes allegiance ill a qual-
ified sense to the Constitution of the United
States; I mean qualified by the effect of our
form of government. If a man owes alle-
giance to the Constitution of the United States
as the supreme law of the land, then I say—
though it is but a repetition of the very able
argument my friend from Baltimore county
(Mr. Ridgely) made yesterday—that it fol-
lows as a necessary conclusion that if alle-
giance is due at all to authority, supreme
allegiance must be due to supreme authority.
But gentlemen say that this is a Govern-
ment of limited powers. What has that to
do with it? Is there a government upon this
continent, in any part of American territory,
that is not a government of limited powers?
Is there such a thing known, excepting in
the case of despotisms, as a government of
unlimited powers? I suppose the government
of the State of Maryland is a government of
limited powers, Yet gentleman contend that
allegiance is due there and sovereignty rests
there. The governments of other countries
are limited. The government of Great Brit-
ain is a limited government; yet did any
Englishman ever deny that he owed supreme
allegiance lo the King of Great Britain, be-
cause the King of Great Britain no more than
Abraham Lincoln, possessed unlimited pow-
ers.
Mr. BRISCOE, The allegiance is due to the
King, Lords, and Parliament.
Mr. STIRLING. The King, Lords, and Par-
liament, are a limited government; for while
the Parliament of Great Britain is in one
sense supreme, there are limitations and re-
strictions upon the Parliament. The question
of Its being a limited government has nothing
to do with its being the supreme power, to
whom supreme or paramount allegiance, for
they both mean the same thing, is due.
Then it is said to be a government of dele-
gated powers. I suppose that every govern-
ment upon this continent, of the American
people, is a government of delegated powers
I do not suppose that any inherent or abo
riginal sovereignty resides in any government
here at present. I do not suppose that any
government exists here exempt in the exercise
of delegated powers. I shall not go back to
the confederation or to the Declaration of in-
dependence. I shall leave all that question
whether there was sovereignty in the States
or no sovereignty in the States; whether sov-
ereignties formed the Constitutions, or whether
sovereignties did not form the Constitution; |
because, in my judgment, it does not make the
slightest difference. The Constitution of the
United States was framed by a Convention
which was called into existence by a Congress
under articles of confederation which gave
that Congress no power to call a Convention.
The people acceded to that recommendation
of that Congress, and elected through their
State Legislatures that Constitutional Conven-
tion. That Constitutional Convention went
on to frame a form of government, and created
one single organism for the purpose over the
whole people of the United States. It took.
away from the States what they undoubtedly
had, sovereign or not, the exclusive power of
acting directly on their own people. It was
submitted to the people of the States; and
bow was it submitted to them? Each State
had a government which the individual citi-
zen was bound to obey, a government repre-
sented by an executive, a legislature, and a
judiciary, with a written Constitution, which
defined and regulated the powers of the gov-
ernment and the rights of the people; and
under that government, the united colonies,
or United States held their conventions and
acted upon and adopted the Constitution.
No matter how much or how little sovereignty
the confederacy had, the form of govern-
ment was adopted by the people of the United
States, in their separate States, or by States,
by which powers were granted to the General
Government and taken from the States, and
by which the whole powers of the people
were made a complex system of government,
and redistributed between the General Gov-
ernment and the States.
It is a sensible and practical conclusion that
this was a peaceable and orderly revolution.
The Legislatures of the States had no right to
call State Conventions, by any power dele-
gated to them. The Congress of the Confed-
eration had no delegated power to call a
General Convention. It was by the powers
residing in the people that the General Con-
vention was called into existence and the
State Conventions were called into existence,
and, by the sovereign act of the people of the
States in the States, remodelled the whole
form of government and re-distributed cer-
tain powers which resided nowhere else than
in the people, the States, or the General Gov-
ernment. They gave the General Govern-
ment the attributes which nations are pos-
sessed of, all those attributes which constitute
one of the family of nations on the earth; and
took them all away from the States. It re-
sults as a matter of law, and a necessary moral
consequence, that the duty which a man
owes to preserve that Government which was
thus erected by the people of these States
and which was by them declared to be su-
preme, the characteristics of which were the
characteristics of the only National Govern-
ment on the continent, the characteristics of
which were the only characteristics required |
