Jefferson Davis

“ No one has attempted to show by what grant of the Constitution it can be claimed that the States have surrendered their sovereignty, and it seems absurd to assume that by implication the great object for which our fathers staked all save honor could have been lost. ”

“ If the sovereign abolishes the State government and ordains and establishes a new one, the obligation of obedience requires the citizen to transfer his allegiance accordingly: there may be joint, but cannot be divided, allegiance; and this fact controlled the action of officers of the army and navy of the United States when continuance in the Federal service came in conflict with the ultimate allegiance due from each to the sovereign State to which he belonged. ”

“ The right of the South equally with the people of other sections to occupy, with every species of property known to any State, the common territory of the United States, was denied by the North, under the specious and wholly untenable plea that to take slaves to the territories would be the extension of slavery. ”

“ Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in congress assembled. ”

“ The Legislature of Massachusetts adopted a resolution declaring that "the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, faithful to the compact between the people of the United States, according to the plain meaning and intent in which it was understood by them, is sincerely anxious for its preservation; but that it is determined, as it doubts not the other States are, to submit to undelegated powers in no body of men on earth" ”

“ In 1776 thirteen of the British colonies in America sent delegates to a general congress, who there, for the colonies they represented, made the declaration "that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states." ”

“ In the face of the Declaration of Independence, and of the Articles of Confederation, and of the Treaty of Paris, he who denies that in 1783 each State was a sovereign, free, and independent community must have much hardihood or little historical knowledge. ”

“ After the independence had been gained for which so much was risked and no little lost, when the condensing pressure of war was removed, the fact became apparent that it was impracticable to administer the general affairs of the Union without the possession of additional powers. ”

“ When the Southern States had, in the recognized mode of expressing their sovereign will,—that is, by convention of the people of the State,—resumed the grants made by them as parties to the Federal compact, they, following the precedent of 1787, formed a new union styled the Confederate States of America. ”

“ The majority in that country exercise a prodigious actual authority and a moral influence which is scarcely less preponderant; no obstacles exist which can impede or so much as retard its progress, or which induce it to heed the complaints of those whom it crushes upon its path. ”

“ It was common among demagogues in later times to excite prejudice against that species of property by describing it as a chattel, though it never was more than a life-long right to service and labor, and that, with the right of increase, was all which could be the subject of purchase and sale. ”