American Eloquence, Volume IV. (of 4) by Various

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Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that,
in legal contemplation, the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history
of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It
was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774.

It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States
expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the
Articles of Confederation in 1778. And, finally, in 1787, one of the
declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to
form a more perfect union."

But if destruction of the Union, by one, or by a part only, of the
States, be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before, the
Constitution having lost the vital element of perpetuity.

It follows, from these views, that no State, upon its own mere motion,
can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that
effect are legally void; and that acts of violence within any State or
States, against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary
or revolutionary, according to circumstances.

I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, the
Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I shall take care, as
the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the
Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem to
be only a simple duty on my part; and I shall perform it, so far as
practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall
withhold the requisite means, or, in some authoritative manner, direct
the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as
the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend
and maintain itself. In doing this there need be no blood-shed or
violence; and there shall be none, unless it be forced upon the National
authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and
possess the property and places belonging to the government, and to
collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for
these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or
among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States, in
any interior locality, shall be so great and universal as to prevent
competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will
be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people for that
object. While the strict legal right may exist in the government to
enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so
irritating, and so nearly impracticable withal, that I deem it better to
forego, for the time, the uses of such offices.

The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts
of the Union. So far as possible, the people everywhere shall have that
sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and
reflection. The course here indicated will be followed, unless current
events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper,
and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised,
according to circumstances actually existing, and with a view and a hope
of a peaceful solution of the National troubles, and the restoration of
fraternal sympathies and affections.

That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy
the Union at all events, and are glad of any pretext to do it, I will
neither affirm nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no word to
them. To those, however, who really love the Union, may I not speak?

Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our
National fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes,
would it not be wise to ascertain why we do it? Will you hazard so
desperate a step while there is any possibility that any portion of the
certain ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while the
certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly
from,--will you risk the omission of so fearful a mistake?

All profess to be content in the Union, if all constitutional rights can
be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written in the
Constitution, has been denied? I think not. Happily the human mind is
so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this.
Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written
provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If, by the mere
force of numbers, a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly
written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view,
justify revolution--certainly would if such right were a vital one.
But such is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and
of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and
negations, guaranties and prohibitions in the Constitution, that
controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever
be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question
which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can
anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length contain, express
provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be
surrendered by National or State authority? The Constitution does not
expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The
Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in
the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say.

From questions of this class spring all our constitutional
controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities.
If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the government
must cease. There is no other alternative; for continuing the government
is acquiescence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case
will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which, in turn,
will divide and ruin them; for a minority of their own will secede from
them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such a minority.
For instance, why may not any portion of a new confederacy, a year
or two hence, arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the
present Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish disunion
sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this.

Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose
a new Union, as to produce harmony only, and prevent renewed secession?

Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A
majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and
always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and
sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects
it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is
impossible; the rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly
inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or
despotism, in some form, is all that is left. * * *

Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective
sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A
husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence and beyond
the reach of each other; but the different parts of our country cannot
do this. They cannot but remain face to face, and intercourse, either
amicable or hostile, must continue between them. It is impossible, then,
to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after
separation than before. Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can
make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than
laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always,
and when after much loss on both sides and no gain on either you cease
fighting, the identical old questions as to terms of intercourse are
again upon you.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit
it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government they
can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their
revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant
of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of
having the National Constitution amended. * * * I understand a proposed
amendment to the Constitution--which amendment, however, I have not
seen--has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government
shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States,
including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of
what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular
amendments, so far as to say that, holding such a provision now to
be implied constitutional law, I have no objections to its being made
express and irrevocable.'

The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and
they have conferred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the
States. The people themselves can do this also if they choose, but the
Executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer
the present government as it came to his hands, and to transmit it,
unimpaired by him, to his successor. Why should there not be a patient
confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better
or equal hope in the world? In our present differences is either party
without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations,
with his eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or
yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail, by
the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people. By the frame
of the Government under which we live, the same people have wisely given
their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal
wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very
short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance,
no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very
seriously injure the government in the short space of four years.

My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole
subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an
object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never
take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no
good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied
still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and on the sensitive point,
the laws of your own framing under it; while the new Administration
will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it
were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in this
dispute there is still no single good reason for precipitate action.
Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who
has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to
adjust in the best way all our present difficulty. In your hands, my
dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, are the momentous
issues of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have
no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath
registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the
most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend" it.

I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be
enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break, our
bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every
battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearth-stone
all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when
again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our
nature.

JEFFERSON DAVIS,

OF MISSISSIPPI.' (BORN 1808, DIED 1889.)

INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MONTGOMERY, ALA., FEBRUARY 18, 1861.

GENTLEMEN OF THE CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, FRIENDS,
AND FELLOW-CITIZENS:

Our present condition, achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history
of nations, illustrates the American idea that governments rest upon the
consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter
and abolish governments whenever they become destructive to the ends
for which they were established. The declared compact of the Union
from which we have withdrawn was to establish justice, ensure domestic
tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our
posterity; and when in the judgment of the sovereign States now
composing this Confederacy it has been perverted from the purposes for
which it was ordained, and ceased to answer the ends for which it was
established, a peaceful appeal to the ballot-box declared that, so far
as they were concerned, the government created by that compact should
cease to exist. In this they merely asserted the right which the
Declaration of Independence of 1776 defined to be inalienable. Of the
time and occasion of this exercise they as sovereigns were the final
judges, each for himself. The impartial, enlightened verdict of mankind
will vindicate the rectitude of our conduct; and He who knows the hearts
of men will judge of the sincerity with which we labored to preserve the
government of our fathers in its spirit.

The right solemnly proclaimed at the birth of the States, and which
has been affirmed and reaffirmed in the bills of rights of the States
subsequently admitted into the Union of 1789, undeniably recognizes in
the people the power to resume the authority delegated for the purposes
of government. Thus the sovereign States here represented proceeded to
form this Confederacy; and it is by the abuse of language that their act
has been denominated revolution. They formed a new alliance, but
within each State its government has remained. The rights of person
and property have not been disturbed. The agent through whom they
communicated with foreign nations is changed, but this does not
necessarily interrupt their international relations. Sustained by the
consciousness that the transition from the former Union to the present
Confederacy has not proceeded from a disregard on our part of our just
obligations or any failure to perform every constitutional duty, moved
by no interest or passion to invade the rights of others, anxious to
cultivate peace and commerce with all nations, if we may not hope to
avoid war, we may at least expect that posterity will acquit us of
having needlessly engaged in it. Doubly justified by the absence of
wrong on our part, and by wanton aggression on the part of others, there
can be no use to doubt the courage and patriotism of the people of the
Confederate States will be found equal to any measure of defence which
soon their security may require.

An agricultural people, whose chief interest is the export of a
commodity required in every manufacturing country, our true policy is
peace and the freest trade which our necessities will permit. It is
alike our interest and that of all those to whom we would sell and
from whom we would buy, that there should be the fewest practicable
restrictions upon the interchange of commodities. There can be but
little rivalry between ours and any manufacturing or navigating
community, such as the northeastern States of the American Union. It
must follow, therefore, that mutual interest would invite good-will and
kind offices. If, however, passion or lust of dominion should cloud the
judgment or inflame the ambition of those States, we must prepare to
meet the emergency, and maintain by the final arbitrament of the sword
the position which we have assumed among the nations of the earth.

We have entered upon a career of independence, and it must be inflexibly
pursued through many years of controversy with our late associates of
the Northern States. We have vainly endeavored to secure tranquillity
and obtain respect for the rights to which we were entitled. As a
necessity, not a choice, we have resorted to the remedy of separation,
and henceforth our energies must be directed to the conduct of our own
affairs, and the perpetuity of the Confederacy which we have formed. If
a just perception of mutual interest shall permit us peaceably to pursue
our separate political career, my most earnest desire will have been
fulfilled. But if this be denied us, and the integrity of our territory
and jurisdiction be assailed, it will but remain for us with firm
resolve to appeal to arms and invoke the blessing of Providence on a
just cause. * * *

Actuated solely by a desire to preserve our own rights, and to promote
our own welfare, the separation of the Confederate States has been
marked by no aggression upon others, and followed by no domestic
convulsion. Our industrial pursuits have received no check, the
cultivation of our fields progresses as heretofore, and even should we
be involved in war, there would be no considerable diminution in the
production of the staples which have constituted our exports, in which
the commercial world has an interest scarcely less than our own. This
common interest of producer and consumer can only be intercepted by
an exterior force which should obstruct its transmission to foreign
markets, a course of conduct which would be detrimental to manufacturing
and commercial interests abroad.

Should reason guide the action of the government from which we have
separated, a policy so detrimental to the civilized world, the Northern
States included, could not be dictated by even a stronger desire
to inflict injury upon us; but if it be otherwise, a terrible
responsibility will rest upon it, and the suffering of millions will
bear testimony to the folly and wickedness of our aggressors. In the
meantime there will remain to us, besides the ordinary remedies before
suggested, the well-known resources for retaliation upon the commerce of
an enemy. * * * We have changed the constituent parts but not the system
of our government. The Constitution formed by our fathers is that of
these Confederate States. In their exposition of it, and in the judicial
construction it has received, we have a light which reveals its
true meaning. Thus instructed as to the just interpretation of that
instrument, and ever remembering that all offices are but trusts held
for the people, and that delegated powers are to be strictly construed,
I will hope by due diligence in the performance of my duties, though I
may disappoint your expectation, yet to retain, when retiring, something
of the good-will and confidence which will welcome my entrance into
office.

It is joyous in the midst of perilous times to look around upon a people
united in heart, when one purpose of high resolve animates and actuates
the whole, where the sacrifices to be made are not weighed in the
balance, against honor, right, liberty, and equality. Obstacles may
retard, but they cannot long prevent, the progress of a movement
sanctioned by its justice and sustained by a virtuous people. Reverently
let us invoke the God of our fathers to guide and protect us in our
efforts to perpetuate the principles which by His blessing they were
able to vindicate, establish, and transmit to their posterity; and
with a continuance of His favor, ever gratefully acknowledged, we may
hopefully look forward to success, to peace, to prosperity.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS,

OF GEORGIA. (BORN 1812, DIED 1884.)

THE "CORNER-STONE" ADDRESS;

ATHENAEUM, SAVANNAH, GA., MARCH 21, 1861

MR. MAYOR AND GENTLEMEN:

We are in the midst of one of the greatest epochs in our history. The
last ninety days will mark one of the most interesting eras in the
history of modern civilization. Seven States have in the last three
months thrown off an old government and formed a new. This revolution
has been signally marked, up to this time, by the fact of its having
been accomplished without the loss of a single drop of blood. This new
constitution, or form of government, constitutes the subject to which
your attention will be partly invited.

In reference to it, I make this first general remark: it amply secures
all our ancient rights, franchises, and liberties. All the great
principles of Magna Charta are retained in it. No citizen is deprived of
life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers under the
laws of the land. The great principle of religious liberty, which was
the honor and pride of the old Constitution, is still maintained and
secured. All the essentials of the old Constitution, which have endeared
it to the hearts of the American people, have been preserved and
perpetuated. Some changes have been made. Some of these I should prefer
not to have seen made; but other important changes do meet my cordial
approbation. They form great improvements upon the old Constitution. So,
taking the whole new constitution, I have no hesitancy in giving it as
my judgment that it is decidedly better than the old.

Allow me briefly to allude to some of these improvements. The question
of building up class interests, or fostering one branch of industry to
the prejudice of another under the exercise of the revenue power, which
gave us so much trouble under the old Constitution, is put at rest
forever under the new. We allow the imposition of no duty with a view of
giving advantage to one class of persons, in any trade or business,
over those of another. All, under our system, stand upon the same broad
principles of perfect equality. Honest labor and enterprise are left
free and unrestricted in whatever pursuit they may be engaged. This old
thorn of the tariff, which was the cause of so much irritation in the
old body politic, is removed forever from the new.

Again, the subject of internal improvements, under the power of Congress
to regulate commerce, is put at rest under our system. The power,
claimed by construction under the old Constitution, was at least a
doubtful one; it rested solely upon construction. We of the South,
generally apart from considerations of constitutional principles,
opposed its exercise upon grounds of its inexpediency and injustice. *
* * Our opposition sprang from no hostility to commerce, or to all
necessary aids for facilitating it. With us it was simply a question
upon whom the burden should fall. In Georgia, for instance, we have done
as much for the cause of internal improvements as any other portion of
the country, according to population and means. We have stretched out
lines of railroad from the seaboard to the mountains; dug down the
hills, and filled up the valleys, at a cost of $25,000,000. * * * No
State was in greater need of such facilities than Georgia, but we did
not ask that these works should be made by appropriations out of the
common treasury. The cost of the grading, the superstructure, and the
equipment of our roads was borne by those who had entered into the
enterprise. Nay, more, not only the cost of the iron--no small item in
the general cost--was borne in the same way, but we were compelled
to pay into the common treasury several millions of dollars for the
privilege of importing the iron, after the price was paid for it abroad.
What justice was there in taking this money, which our people paid into
the common treasury on the importation of our iron, and applying it to
the improvement of rivers and harbors elsewhere? The true principle is
to subject the commerce of every locality to whatever burdens may be
necessary to facilitate it. If Charleston harbor needs improvement, let
the commerce of Charleston bear the burden. * * * This, again, is the
broad principle of perfect equality and justice; and it is especially
set forth and established in our new constitution.

Another feature to which I will allude is that the new constitution
provides that cabinet ministers and heads of departments may have
the privilege of seats upon the floor of the Senate and House of
Representatives, may have the right to participate in the debates and
discussions upon the various subjects of administration. I should have
preferred that this provision should have gone further, and required
the President to select his constitutional advisers from the Senate
and House of Representatives. That would have conformed entirely to the
practice in the British Parliament, which, in my judgment, is one of the
wisest provisions in the British constitution. It is the only feature
that saves that government. It is that which gives it stability in
its facility to change its administration. Ours, as it is, is a great
approximation to the right principle. * * *

Another change in the Constitution relates to the length of the tenure
of the Presidential office. In the new constitution it is six years
instead of four, and the President is rendered ineligible for a
re-election. This is certainly a decidedly conservative change. It will
remove from the incumbent all temptation to use his office or exert the
powers confided to him for any objects of personal ambition. The only
incentive to that higher ambition which should move and actuate one
holding such high trusts in his hands will be the good of the people,
the advancement, happiness, safety, honor, and true glory of the
Confederacy.

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