James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow

Name: Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State?
Author: James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow

Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State… (1860)

Summary

“Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State?”, published in 1860, is a work by James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow. It explores elements such as Stales, secession and Constitution.

Quotes from Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State… (James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow)

James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow, Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State… (1860)

“ Whether the States will resort to the harsh means of war, and rush into the discords of social evils sure to follow in the footsteps of such a war, or whether recognizing some justice in their grievances, peaceful means to mitigate by treaties the evils of disunion, or else by timely additional guarantees in the Constitution, to give full assurance of the equality and protection demanded in the Union, are questions of future policy for discussion in each State. ”

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Source: Wikisource

James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow, Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State… (1860)

“ To consider this question, a distinction must first be drawn between the right of war and the exercise of a constitutional function of the government on itself, in a constitutional way. The right of war exists only against other governments — and by the law of nations, it is immaterial whether these are usurping or legitimate governments. It suffices that each party has an actual possession or government, a control de facto over some territory or people which it enjoys, disconnected with, or by dispossessing the other's government. ”

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Source: Wikisource

James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow, Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State… (1860)

“ It is not from the length of time that the government de facto has existed, but from the fact that the opposing government claiming to be legitimate, cannot control the other by civil means, and has not an actual military possession and control over it — that other nations are justified in treating it as a government and entering into alliances with it. Thus, in our own War of Independence, after the declaration, Spain, Holland, and France, acknowledged the independence of the Colonies, and formed treaties, without those acts violating their existing treaties with England. ”

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Source: Wikisource

James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow, Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State… (1860)

“ What is the offence against the Constitution by a State when she secedes? and, What Constitutional mode and means of punishment or prevention by the general government exist? It is not our purpose to draw the line between secession and revolution, as abstract ideas; we are content to examine a single case, which is stated thus : The people of a sovereign State in Conveiilion secede from the Union by repealing the ratification she gave to the Constitution of that Union of 1785, What is the offence? ”

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Source: Wikisource

James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow, Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State… (1860)

“ The general government has no power to act in a case of secession. It concerns the Stales, in their sovereignly, and is beyond the limited sphere of the general government. Whom, then, does secession concern ? ”

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Source: Wikisource

James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow, Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State… (1860)

“ The people of one State surrendered no part of their sovereignty over their own State to other States. Whilst in the Union, the Constitution is iheir law, because it is their act. The general government has no sovereignly over any State of this Union. It is the agent of the States, having several powers from each ”

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Source: Wikisource

James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow, Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State… (1860)

“ A Constilulion makes agents to exercise powers of govern- ment, and limits and dehnes the spheres and powers of these agents, the servants ol the people. It does not transfer the sovereignly from the people to their agents, making the agent lo be sovereign, and the former sovereisrn lo be the subject. On the contrary, every constitutional government announces lliat all powers are derived from the will of the people, and all powers not granted by the people are reserved. The agent cannot have more powers tlian the principal. The creature cannot be jrreater than the creator. ”

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Source: Wikisource

James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow, Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State… (1860)

“ It concerns the sovereign people of each State in this Union, and them only. Congress has no powers to represent them. The people of the sovereign States have delegated no powei^s to any agent, State or general, to represent ihem. In their conventions alone can Ihey meet this issue, by either delegating powers to some agent or agencies equal to the. emergency ; or consider what other appropriate remedies, if any, are necessary. To the question, is there any retribution for secession? we say: not under the Constitution. But outside of the Constitution, is retribution to be sought? ”

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Source: Wikisource

James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow, Has the General Government the Right to Coerce a State… (1860)

“ Half the strength of these Colonies in the Revolution was derived from foreign interference, and had England, by avoiding force, kept the question of taxation purely domestic, she might have preserved, instead of losing, her connexion with her Colonies, and been spared the hatred that has survived the hostilities that gave it birth by more than eiiility years. It was madness in lier so to act as to let Ln the rival and jealous powers of Europe to give aid and comfort to the weaker side. ”

James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow

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