904 JOINT RESOLUTIONS.
Report of the
Committee. |
olate its provisions, demanding from the individ-
ual States a firm and decided opposition. An
iron despositism can impose no harder servitude
upon the citizen than to force him from his
home and occupation, to wage oppressive wars,
undertaken to gratify the pride of passions of this
master. History Hartford Convention, 361. That
the acts of Congress, in violation of the Constitu-
tion are absolutely void is an undeniable position.
It does not, however, consist with respect and for-
bearance due from a confederate State towards the
General Government to fly to open resistance upon
every infraction of the Constitution. The mode
and energy of the opposition should always con-
form to the nature of the violation, the intention
of its authors, the extent of the injury inflicted,
the determination manifested to persist in it, and
the danger of delay. But in cases of deliberate,
dangerous and palpable infractions of the Consti-
tution affecting the sovereignty of a State and
the liberties of the people, it is not only the right
but the duty of such State to interpose its author-
ity for their protection, in the manner best calcu-
lated to secure that end. When emergencies
occur which are either beyond the reach of judicial
tribunals, or too pressing to admit of the delay
incident to their forms, States which have no
common umpire must be their own judges and
execute their own decisions.
In eighteen hundred and twenty-five, there was
published in Philadelphia, a Commentary on the
Constitution of the United States, by William
"Rawle, L. L. D., an eminent lawyer and philoso-
pher of that city. A second addition of the same
work appeared in eighteen hundred and twenty-
nine, in which the author said. The principles
laid down in the first remain unaltered; the
author has seen no reason for any change of them.
The following extracts are taken from the con-
cluding chapter on the permanence of the Union:
The Union is an association of republics; its
preservation is calculated to depend upon the
preservation of these republics. The people of
each pledge themselves to preserve that form of
government in all. |
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