- Jul 23, 2018
- 924
- 265
- 40
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Non-Denom
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Constitution
From Confederation to Consolidation
“This consolidation of the states has been the obiet of several men in this country for some time past. Weather such a change can ever be effected in any manner whether it can be effected without convulsions and civil wars, whether such a change will not totally destroy the liberties of this country time can only determine.”
-Richard Henry Lee 1787
“If ever this vast country is brought under a single government.... you will have to chose between reformation and revolution.”
-Thomas Jefferson
Antebellum American Politics
“Resolved, That the several States composing, the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government for special purposes — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force: that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral part, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself...each party has equal right to judge for itself”
-Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 written by Thomas Jefferson
"That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the powers of the federal government, as resulting from the compact, to which the states are parties; as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting the compact; as no further valid that they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact; and that in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the states who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits, the authorities, rights and liberties appertaining to them.
-Virginia Resolutions 1800 Written by James Madison
“For the Constitution of the union....can never assume any powers, that is not expressly granted by that instrument, not exercise a power, in any manner than is there prescribed. This is indeed, a short, clear, and concise exposition of the principles of a limited government, founded upon a compact between sovereign and independent states.”
-St George Tucker 1803
While the compact theory of the union was not the universal opinion of the founders [the nationalist view was held by men like Danial Webster, Joseph Story and John Jay, was the minority view] it was the majority that dominated politics in early American life before the civil war. The dominate political philosophy of the day Known often as Jeffersonian democrats were of a political belief that flowed from the state ratification conventions especially the Virginian ratification convention. And led by southern [mainly] Virginian planters. In 1803 Virginian St George Tucker authored “A view of the constitution of the united states” the dominate view of the federal government at the time the compact view of Jefferson and James Madison, the “principles of 98” expressed in the Virginia and Kentucky resolution of 1798. And continued with John Taylor of Carolines 1820 “Construction construed, and constitutions vindicated” Abel Parkers Upshar's “ A Brief Enquiry into the Nature and Character of our Federal Government: Being a Review of Judge Story's Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States and John C Calhouns Disquisition on Government and Discourse on the Constitution and government of the united states. This view of the union [that went back to even before the ratification conventions] would dominate the political landscape for decades, and the Virginia conventions understanding of the union would dominate American life before the civil war.
“The Constitution of the united states is to be considered as a compact or confederation between free independent, and sovereign states.”
-Abel Parker Upshur
The federalist attempted a national government at the conventions, but this was rejected for a union “the united states” Madison said “The truth is, that the great principle of the Constitution proposed by the convention may be considered less as absolutely new, than as the expansion of principles which are found in the articles of Confederation.”
"The Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of the states; and these, in uniting together, have not forfeited their nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people.
-Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy in America
9 of the first 11 presidents were southern plantation owners, 7 of the first 12 were Virginians [many two term] 9 were southern, and 1 from New York, at that time was “southern” in politics. The future confederate states would provide 13 of the first 18 us presidents before Lincoln. Before Lincoln The south provided 14 of the 19 attorney generals, 17 of 28 supreme court justices, and 21 of 33 speakers of the house came from the south. The democrat party was the main party of antebellum America who's 1852 platform gives the Jeffersonian view of the union. 1852 Democratic Platform
“Resolved, That the democratic party will faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia legislature in 1799; that it adopts those principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their obvious meaning and import.”
-Winning Democrat platform 1852
“The dominate view of the federal government. as a limited, delegated agent of the sovereign people of the several states, and not the judge of the extant of its own powers, was buried by the outcome of the civil war”
-Clyde Wilson From Union to Empire
Today the federal government has the authority over all peoples and states. Everything is subject to its authority. This is not how it has always been or intended by the founders. The federal government only had power and authority that was delegated it by the states. That authority was only within the limits specifically stated in the Constitution.
“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined.”
-James Madison Federalist Papers #45
“The federal government is the creature of the individual states.”
-President Franklin Pierce 1855 veto message
The states were to govern the rest.
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”
-10th amendment U.S Constitution
“Everything not expressly mentioned will be presumed to be purposely omitted”
-James Wilson Pennsylvanian Ratification convention
The powers that the federal government had were not Superior to the states, but inferior, since deriving its delegated powers from the states, who existed before the constitution. Madison stated the meaning of the constitution is found “In those state conventions where it received all the authority which it possessed.” The original constitution reads “A constitution for the united states.”
“I consider the foundation of the [Federal] Constitution as laid on this ground: That “all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.” [10th Amendment] To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specifically drawn around the powers of Congress is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.”
– Thomas Jefferson, “Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank” [February 15, 1791]
“Our government is not to be maintained or our union preserved by invasions of the powers of the several states... its true strength consists in leaving individuals and states as much as possible to themselves ..not in binding the states more closely to the center”
-President Andrew Jackson
Even Federalist at the state conventions assured the people that if the federal overstepped its clear delegated powers, these actions were unconstitutional and void.
“We, the delegates of the people of Virginia, duly elected,…in behalf of the people of Virginia, declare and make known, that the powers granted under the Constitution, being derived from the people of the United States, may be resumed by them, whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or oppression; and that every power not granted thereby, remains with them and at their will: that, therefore, no right, of any denomination, can be canceled, abridged, restrained or modified. In such a system “rights” are given by government— and what a master gives to his slaves, at the master‟s discretion, can be taken away. The ultimate reality is that in any system in which the central government is the sole arbiter of rights, the people are in fact mere subjects whose purpose is to hear and obey .”
-Virginia‟s ratification
“no legislative act, therefore contrary to the constitution, can be valid”
-Alexander Hamilton federalist #78
“Congress cannot assume any other powers than those expressly given them. Powers of congress are all defined and clearly laid down. So for they may go, but no further”
-Samuel Johnston North Carolina convention
“Every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by the said constitution clearly delegated to the united states of America, or or of the government thereof remains to the people of the several states, or to the representatives state governments”
-New York ratification convention
Sovereignty lied with we the people represented by elected officials of our states.
“The attributes of sovereignty are now enjoyed by every state in the union”
-Alexander Hamilton
“The thirteen states are thirteen sovereign bodies”
-Oliver Ellsworth
“A compact between separate communities”
-James cooper New yorker 1833
“This consolidation of the states has been the obiet of several men in this country for some time past. Weather such a change can ever be effected in any manner whether it can be effected without convulsions and civil wars, whether such a change will not totally destroy the liberties of this country time can only determine.”
-Richard Henry Lee 1787
“If ever this vast country is brought under a single government.... you will have to chose between reformation and revolution.”
-Thomas Jefferson
Antebellum American Politics
“Resolved, That the several States composing, the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government for special purposes — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force: that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral part, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself...each party has equal right to judge for itself”
-Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 written by Thomas Jefferson
"That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the powers of the federal government, as resulting from the compact, to which the states are parties; as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting the compact; as no further valid that they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact; and that in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the states who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits, the authorities, rights and liberties appertaining to them.
-Virginia Resolutions 1800 Written by James Madison
“For the Constitution of the union....can never assume any powers, that is not expressly granted by that instrument, not exercise a power, in any manner than is there prescribed. This is indeed, a short, clear, and concise exposition of the principles of a limited government, founded upon a compact between sovereign and independent states.”
-St George Tucker 1803
While the compact theory of the union was not the universal opinion of the founders [the nationalist view was held by men like Danial Webster, Joseph Story and John Jay, was the minority view] it was the majority that dominated politics in early American life before the civil war. The dominate political philosophy of the day Known often as Jeffersonian democrats were of a political belief that flowed from the state ratification conventions especially the Virginian ratification convention. And led by southern [mainly] Virginian planters. In 1803 Virginian St George Tucker authored “A view of the constitution of the united states” the dominate view of the federal government at the time the compact view of Jefferson and James Madison, the “principles of 98” expressed in the Virginia and Kentucky resolution of 1798. And continued with John Taylor of Carolines 1820 “Construction construed, and constitutions vindicated” Abel Parkers Upshar's “ A Brief Enquiry into the Nature and Character of our Federal Government: Being a Review of Judge Story's Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States and John C Calhouns Disquisition on Government and Discourse on the Constitution and government of the united states. This view of the union [that went back to even before the ratification conventions] would dominate the political landscape for decades, and the Virginia conventions understanding of the union would dominate American life before the civil war.
“The Constitution of the united states is to be considered as a compact or confederation between free independent, and sovereign states.”
-Abel Parker Upshur
The federalist attempted a national government at the conventions, but this was rejected for a union “the united states” Madison said “The truth is, that the great principle of the Constitution proposed by the convention may be considered less as absolutely new, than as the expansion of principles which are found in the articles of Confederation.”
"The Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of the states; and these, in uniting together, have not forfeited their nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people.
-Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy in America
9 of the first 11 presidents were southern plantation owners, 7 of the first 12 were Virginians [many two term] 9 were southern, and 1 from New York, at that time was “southern” in politics. The future confederate states would provide 13 of the first 18 us presidents before Lincoln. Before Lincoln The south provided 14 of the 19 attorney generals, 17 of 28 supreme court justices, and 21 of 33 speakers of the house came from the south. The democrat party was the main party of antebellum America who's 1852 platform gives the Jeffersonian view of the union. 1852 Democratic Platform
“Resolved, That the democratic party will faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia legislature in 1799; that it adopts those principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their obvious meaning and import.”
-Winning Democrat platform 1852
“The dominate view of the federal government. as a limited, delegated agent of the sovereign people of the several states, and not the judge of the extant of its own powers, was buried by the outcome of the civil war”
-Clyde Wilson From Union to Empire
Today the federal government has the authority over all peoples and states. Everything is subject to its authority. This is not how it has always been or intended by the founders. The federal government only had power and authority that was delegated it by the states. That authority was only within the limits specifically stated in the Constitution.
“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined.”
-James Madison Federalist Papers #45
“The federal government is the creature of the individual states.”
-President Franklin Pierce 1855 veto message
The states were to govern the rest.
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”
-10th amendment U.S Constitution
“Everything not expressly mentioned will be presumed to be purposely omitted”
-James Wilson Pennsylvanian Ratification convention
The powers that the federal government had were not Superior to the states, but inferior, since deriving its delegated powers from the states, who existed before the constitution. Madison stated the meaning of the constitution is found “In those state conventions where it received all the authority which it possessed.” The original constitution reads “A constitution for the united states.”
“I consider the foundation of the [Federal] Constitution as laid on this ground: That “all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.” [10th Amendment] To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specifically drawn around the powers of Congress is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.”
– Thomas Jefferson, “Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank” [February 15, 1791]
“Our government is not to be maintained or our union preserved by invasions of the powers of the several states... its true strength consists in leaving individuals and states as much as possible to themselves ..not in binding the states more closely to the center”
-President Andrew Jackson
Even Federalist at the state conventions assured the people that if the federal overstepped its clear delegated powers, these actions were unconstitutional and void.
“We, the delegates of the people of Virginia, duly elected,…in behalf of the people of Virginia, declare and make known, that the powers granted under the Constitution, being derived from the people of the United States, may be resumed by them, whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or oppression; and that every power not granted thereby, remains with them and at their will: that, therefore, no right, of any denomination, can be canceled, abridged, restrained or modified. In such a system “rights” are given by government— and what a master gives to his slaves, at the master‟s discretion, can be taken away. The ultimate reality is that in any system in which the central government is the sole arbiter of rights, the people are in fact mere subjects whose purpose is to hear and obey .”
-Virginia‟s ratification
“no legislative act, therefore contrary to the constitution, can be valid”
-Alexander Hamilton federalist #78
“Congress cannot assume any other powers than those expressly given them. Powers of congress are all defined and clearly laid down. So for they may go, but no further”
-Samuel Johnston North Carolina convention
“Every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by the said constitution clearly delegated to the united states of America, or or of the government thereof remains to the people of the several states, or to the representatives state governments”
-New York ratification convention
Sovereignty lied with we the people represented by elected officials of our states.
“The attributes of sovereignty are now enjoyed by every state in the union”
-Alexander Hamilton
“The thirteen states are thirteen sovereign bodies”
-Oliver Ellsworth
“A compact between separate communities”
-James cooper New yorker 1833