Speech of Hon. John a McClernand, of Illinois, on the State of the Union
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| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (McClernand, John Alexander) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from Speech of Hon. John a McClernand, of Illinois, on the State of the Union: Delivered in the House of Representatives, January 14, 1861 Mr. Chairman: When an impending danger can be no longer stayed or averted, is it not the part of wisdom and duty to meet, and, if possible, overcome it? Such, I think, is a sound can on of statesmanship. Acting on this belief, I propose rather briefly to deal with the question of secession now actually upon us. First, I deny the constitutional right of any State to secede from the Union; second, I deprecate the exercise of any such assumed right as a measure of revolution, which, in the present case, must embroil the country in a sanguinary and wasting civil war. Starting with these postulates, I proceed with the effort to make them good. Our fathers, just emerged from colonial thraldom, and jealous of consolidated political power, when they come to frame the Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1778, run into the opposite extreme of dispersed and divided power. They formed an alliance, or at most a league, of sovereign Stales, under what might be called a treaty between independent Governments. In the language of one of the articles, they entered into "a firm league of friendship with each other for the common defense;" no more. Hence the Government, or Congress of the Confederation, was wholly destitute of any essential faculty of sovereignty. It had neither the right to prescribe a rule of action for its constituent body, nor the power to enforce one. It was without legislative, executive, or judicial authority. It could only advise, recommend, and entreat; and even the right to do that was closely circumscribed. Founded upon a league of sovereign and independent States, its exhibitions of authority were addressed to States whose interpretations of their Federal obligations might or might not bind them to compliance. It acted not upon individuals, nor had the right to do so; but, without coherence, without unity of principle or of action, without the power to preserve itself or to conserve the interests of its authors, like the Amphyctionic Council, the Achaen League, the Helvetic, the Germanic, and the Belgic Confederacies; like all more national federations, it fell into pieces in consequence of its own weight, of its own inherent weakness and want of vitality. The evils of this system disclosed themselves in two most striking forms: one in the domestic relations of the States; the other in their relations with foreign Governments. In regard to the former, we learn that the period elapsing between the treaty of peace with the mother country and the organization of the present Government, was one marked by angry controversies and rivalries. The conflicting views of the several States in regard to their commercial, agricultural, and manufacturing interests often prompted them to unfriendly measures, not unfrequently in the form of legislative reprisals, having the effect not only to cripple their internal trade, but their foreign commerce; and incessantly to threaten them with the horrors of civil war. Foreign nations were encouraged to take advantage of this state of things. They imposed upon our foreign navigation and commerce just such restrictions as they deemed most conducive to their own interests. They excluded our ship-pingfrom the benefits of their own commerce, while they daringly and lawlessly strove to monopolize the benefits of ours. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
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