Speech of Hon. L.T. Wigfall, of Texas, on the motion to print extra copies of the president's message. : Delivered in the Senate of the United States, December 5, 1860. Page: 2 of 8
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nits that the Constitution is a compact between States, to which each
State acceded as a State, can deny the right to secede, whenever any State
sees fit. To talk of secession, therefore, being a revolutionary right, is to
use terms with a looseness and want of signification, a want of accuracy,
that renders discussion upon such a question utterly impossible between
men who use these terms with definite meanings and those who use theia
vaguely.
Now, sir, if you admit that the individuals who live between the two
oceans, and between the Gulf and the lakes, do not compose a single po-
litical community, that they are not a State, but that those individuals
who live within these limits are States, separate, distinct, political commu-
nities, that they have ratified a compact which is binding between them,
then at once you introduce the law of nations as the rule for construitig
that compact. When political comnnnitis, when nations, when States,
enter into compacts with each other, the efcet is to bind all their citizens.
When the State of Texas ratified the Constitution of the United States, it
was a matter of not the slightest importance whether I or any other citi-
zen of that State approved or disapproved of the ratification. Wt'e were
bound by it. Eo instanti the laws of the United States became operative
within the limits of that State, and we were bound to obey those laws.
Why ? Because the political power of the State of Texas had ratified
that Constitution; because she had become one of the States of the Union;
and because, by the sixth article of the Constitution, that Constitution and
the laws made in accordance with it were the supreme law of the land.
When Texas, in her sovereign capacity, when the political power which
made this compact shall revoke the ratification, the laws of the United
States cease there to operate, and the citizens of Texas cease to owe any
obedience to the laws of the United States. Why? Because the laws
of the United States extend over the limits of the United States, and s?e
having ceased to be one of the States of this Union, of course the opera-
tion and effect of those laws stop at her limits. These are plain proposi-
tions which those who call themselves Democrats profess, and those who
are Democrats believe.
Then, to talk of secession being a revolutionary right, is, in my opin-
ion-well, I will not use an epithet-it is not logical; it is using the term
in a sense in which it can never be used by lawyers.
Has a State the right to withdraw without cause ? Has a State the
right to withdraw with cause? I say that it is a matter of not the slightest
consequence whether there be cause or not. Each State must act for her-
self, and upon her own responsibility ; and the only thing in the message
of the President which he says cannot be done, is the only thing that I
believe can be done by this Government when a State has withdrawn, and
that is, to declare war. By the Constitution of the United States the Fed-
eral Government has the right to declare war. We can to-day declare
war against England, or against any of the great European powers. There
is no cause for declaring war; but suppose we declare it: war exists; let.
terms of marque and reprisal can be issued ; their commerce can be cut up ;
their towns can be burned, and their forts bombarded. Who can prevent
it? There is the question. Suppose that Great Britain and the United
States put each a different construction upon one of their treaties: the
right or the wrong does not alter the fact. The United States Government
can this day revoke the ratification of any treaty between her and Great
Britain. If she does revoke the ratification of that treaty, that treaty
ceases to be binding between the United States and Great Britain, and
every citizen of the United States is released from any obligation to obey
any single stipulation or article in that treaty. If we, without cause, were
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Wigfall, Louis T., 1816-1874. Speech of Hon. L.T. Wigfall, of Texas, on the motion to print extra copies of the president's message. : Delivered in the Senate of the United States, December 5, 1860., pamphlet, Date Unknown; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth497622/m1/2/?q=%22slav%22: accessed June 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Schreiner University.