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: 4 of 8
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threats to make. The fact is, like Sempronius, my thoughts are turned on
peace. I do not think one of these cotton States, or even one of the to-
bacco States, withdrawing from this Union will be any cause of war. If
it is, or is not, this Government can declare war; and I judge that the gen-
tlemen upon the other side of the Chamber hardly suppose that ie will be
stopped in our course by any apprehension that war will be the result. I
think not. Surely we do not expect to make war on them. W e intend to
assert only that great principle which is set forth in a document for which
they have such high admiration-I mean the Declaration of Independenie-
that every community has a right to live under such form of government
as suits it. If this Government does not suit us, we will leave it. Wh I e
we leave it, we will not leave it as rebels, nor as traitors, nor irregularly.
But the State governments will call conventions; the people will be heard
they will vote; and unless a large majority of the people of each one of
these States are in favor of resuming the powers they will not be resumed.
When a large number of the people of any one of these States shall con-
clude that they will live more happily or more prosperously under another
government, they will assert that right by reforming their constitution, and
erecting another Government upon the ruins of the one which they have
destroyed.
I regretted much to see in the message the doctrine set forth that a State
had not the right, constitutionally, to secede, and the further error fallen
into by the President, that this doctrine was one of late origin. I hold in
my hand, sir, Elliott's Debates, in which the ratifications of the different
States are printed; and it seems that when New York came to ratify the
Constitution-there being very great doubt as to the expediency of form-
ing a confederation such as was proposed by this Constitution, and there
being bitter hostility on the part of many, there being many doubts as to
how the new Government would operate-the people of New York, by their
deputies assembled in convention, in the very articles of ratification, de-
clared explicitly, in these words:
"That the powers of Government may be reassumed by the people, whensoever
it shall become necessary to their happiness; that every power, jurisdiction, and
right, which is not by the said Constitution clearly delegated to the Congress of the
United States, or the departments of the Government thereof, remains to the people
of the several States, or to their respective State governments, to whom they znay
have granted the same; and that those clauses in the said Constitution, which de-
clare that Congress shall not have or exercise certain powers, do not imply that
Congress is entitled to any powers not given by the said Constitution ; but such
clauses are to be construed either as exceptions to certain specified powers, or as in-
serted merely for greater caution."-Elliott's Debates on Federal Constitution, 1787,
vol. 1, p. 361.
Now, I ask any Senator, upon either side of this floor, what is the plain
rule of construing contracts ? If a partnership is about to be entered into
by individuals, and they refer it to an attorney, who is to draw up the
articles of agreement, and when they come to sign it, and after it has been
signed by some, one of the parties inserts above his signature an additional
qualification, is there a court of justice in a civilized nation that will not
hold that that new stipulation is as much a part of the compact as if it had
been inserted in the body of it? Does it not inure to the benefit of the
party who has inserted it? Is it not part of the compact which he has
signed ? Does it not inure to the benefit of every other party who has
signed that compact? It is a plain principle of law. Then, when this
Constitution was draughted by the convention, the delegates or deputies to
which were appointed by the different States, and they sent it to be ratified
by the conventions of the different States to becomebinding between tbose
States, the convention of New York, before they would ratify it, in the
very articles of ratification, declared explicitly and expressly that they re-
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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/m1/4/?q=%22slav%22: accessed June 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Schreiner University.