Democracy In America-1 [247]
so; and that the Federal Government would have no means of maintaining its claims directly, either by force or by right." This is the Southern theory of the Constitution, and the whole case of the South in favor of secession. To many Europeans, and to some American (Northern) jurists, this view appeared to be sound; but it was vigorously resisted by the North, and crushed by force of arms.
The author of this book was mistaken in supposing that the "Union was a vast body which presents no definite object to patriotic feeling." When the day of trial came, millions of men were ready to lay down their lives for it. He was also mistaken in supposing that the Federal Executive is so weak that it requires the free consent of the governed to enable it to subsist, and that it would be defeated in a struggle to maintain the Union against one or more separate States. In 1861 nine States, with a population of 8,753,000, seceded, and maintained for four years a resolute but unequal contest for independence, but they were defeated.
Lastly, the author was mistaken in supposing that a community of interests would always prevail between North and South sufficiently powerful to bind them together. He overlooked the influence which the question of slavery must have on the Union the moment that the majority of the people of the North declared against it. In 1831, when the author visited America, the anti-slavery agitation had scarcely begun; and the fact of Southern slavery was accepted by men of all parties, even in the States where there were no slaves: and that was unquestionably the view taken by all the States and by all American statesmen at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, in 1789. But in the course of thirty years a great change took place, and the North refused to perpetuate what had become the "peculiar institution" of the South, especially as it gave the South a species of aristocratic preponderance. The result was the ratification, in December, 1865, of the celebrated 13th article or amendment of the Constitution, which declared that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude - except as a punishment for crime - shall exist within the United States." To which was soon afterwards added the 15th article, "The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous servitude." The emancipation of several millions of negro slaves without compensation, and the transfer to them of political preponderance in the States in which they outnumber the white population, were acts of the North totally opposed to the interests of the South, and which could only have been carried into effect by conquest. - Translator's Note.]]
Reason for which the preponderating force lies in the States rather than in the Union - The Union will only last as long as all the States choose to belong to it - Causes which tend to keep them united - Utility of the Union to resist foreign enemies, and to prevent the existence of foreigners in America - No natural barriers between the several States - No conflicting interests to divide them - Reciprocal interests of the Northern, Southern, and Western States - Intellectual ties of union - Uniformity of opinions - Dangers of the Union resulting from the different characters and the passions of its citizens - Character of the citizens in the South and in the North - The rapid growth of the Union one of its greatest dangers - Progress of the population to the Northwest - Power gravitates in the same direction - Passions originating from sudden turns of fortune - Whether the existing Government of the Union tends to gain strength, or to lose it - Various signs of its decrease - Internal improvements - Waste lands - Indians - The Bank - The Tariff - General Jackson.
The maintenance of the existing institutions of the several States depends in some measure upon the maintenance of the Union itself. It is therefore important in the first instance to inquire into the probable fate of the Union. One point may indeed be
The author of this book was mistaken in supposing that the "Union was a vast body which presents no definite object to patriotic feeling." When the day of trial came, millions of men were ready to lay down their lives for it. He was also mistaken in supposing that the Federal Executive is so weak that it requires the free consent of the governed to enable it to subsist, and that it would be defeated in a struggle to maintain the Union against one or more separate States. In 1861 nine States, with a population of 8,753,000, seceded, and maintained for four years a resolute but unequal contest for independence, but they were defeated.
Lastly, the author was mistaken in supposing that a community of interests would always prevail between North and South sufficiently powerful to bind them together. He overlooked the influence which the question of slavery must have on the Union the moment that the majority of the people of the North declared against it. In 1831, when the author visited America, the anti-slavery agitation had scarcely begun; and the fact of Southern slavery was accepted by men of all parties, even in the States where there were no slaves: and that was unquestionably the view taken by all the States and by all American statesmen at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, in 1789. But in the course of thirty years a great change took place, and the North refused to perpetuate what had become the "peculiar institution" of the South, especially as it gave the South a species of aristocratic preponderance. The result was the ratification, in December, 1865, of the celebrated 13th article or amendment of the Constitution, which declared that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude - except as a punishment for crime - shall exist within the United States." To which was soon afterwards added the 15th article, "The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous servitude." The emancipation of several millions of negro slaves without compensation, and the transfer to them of political preponderance in the States in which they outnumber the white population, were acts of the North totally opposed to the interests of the South, and which could only have been carried into effect by conquest. - Translator's Note.]]
Reason for which the preponderating force lies in the States rather than in the Union - The Union will only last as long as all the States choose to belong to it - Causes which tend to keep them united - Utility of the Union to resist foreign enemies, and to prevent the existence of foreigners in America - No natural barriers between the several States - No conflicting interests to divide them - Reciprocal interests of the Northern, Southern, and Western States - Intellectual ties of union - Uniformity of opinions - Dangers of the Union resulting from the different characters and the passions of its citizens - Character of the citizens in the South and in the North - The rapid growth of the Union one of its greatest dangers - Progress of the population to the Northwest - Power gravitates in the same direction - Passions originating from sudden turns of fortune - Whether the existing Government of the Union tends to gain strength, or to lose it - Various signs of its decrease - Internal improvements - Waste lands - Indians - The Bank - The Tariff - General Jackson.
The maintenance of the existing institutions of the several States depends in some measure upon the maintenance of the Union itself. It is therefore important in the first instance to inquire into the probable fate of the Union. One point may indeed be