Declaration of Conf Pam #534 llllilllllllllUHllll DECLARATION OF THE CAUSES WHICH JUSTI- FY fllE SECESSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA FROM THE FEDERAL UNION. tSratc of South Carolina having determined to re- mlo^tw^ujjjarate and equal^place among nations, deems it due to herself^biithe remaining United States of America, if. ami to the nations ofcthe world, thai she sin. nit] declare the causes which have led to this act. In the year 1765, that portion of the British Empire embracing Great Britain, undertook to make Laws for the g«vernmen1 of that portion composed of the thirteen American Colonies. A struggle for the right of self-g ornmentVmsm'd, which resulted, on the 4th July, 177 INDEPENDENT STATE. In 1787, D< putiea were appointed \>\ the States to n the Articles of Confederation, and on 17th September, 1787, these Deputies recommended, for the adoption of the States, tin- Articles of Union, known as the Constitution of the United States. The parties to whom this Constitution was submitted were the several sovereign States: they were to a^ree or disagree, and when nine of them agreed, the compact was to take effect among those concurring; and the General Government, as the common agent, was then to be invest- ed witli rHeir authority. If only nine of the thirteen Slates had concurred, the other four would have remained as they then were — separ- ate, sovereign States, independent of any of the provi- sions of the Constitution. In faet. two of the States did not accede to the Constitution until long alter it had gone into operation among the other eleven ; and during that interval, they each exercised the functions of an independ- ent nation. By tiiis Constitution, certain duties were charged on the several States, and the exercise of certain of their powers restrained, which necessarily implied their continued exist- ence as sovereign States. But, to remove all doubt, an amendment was added, which declared that the powers no1 delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. On 23d May, 1788, South Carolina, by a Convention of her people, passed an Ordi- nance assenting to this Constitution, and afterwards alter- ed her own Constitution, to conform herself to the obliga- tions she had undertaken. Thus was established, by compact between the States, a Government, with defined objects and powers, limited to the express words of the grant, and to so much more only as was necessary to execute the power granted. This lim- itation left the whole remaining mass of power subject to the clause reserving it to the Stales or to the people, and rendered unnecessary any specification of reserved rights. We hold that the Government thus established is sub- !;<•!£ istitutiou of iIk- United Is in its Itl pro> •• N held to service or labor in one Stan, ui i im-» another, shall, in "queuc< of any law or regulation therein, "from Buch service « ■]■ labor, but shall l»<- delivered up, "claim «>l' the partj to whom such r labor maj tipul ial to the compact, thai without it thai compact \\<'iil«l not have been math'. The r of the contracting parties held and the State of Virginia had previously declared her estimi of it- value by making it tin- condition of In the territory which ao¥t composes the States north of the < >hio ri\ er. The same ;u*t j<-l < * of the Constitution stipulates also ilition \>\ \\k- several > ^itives from just from th< teral Government, as the common agent, ]»i laws i" carry into effect these stipulations of th( - uuted. But an iucrei iug hostility "ii the pari • States to the Lnstitutiou of Slavery' bas led t" ;i disre I i ir * > I ► 1 i - gations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution. The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont. Massachusetts, Con- necticut, Rhode Island, New York. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana. Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, have enact- ed laws which either nullify the A.cts of Congress or render useless any attempt to execute them. In many of these States the fugitive is discharged from the service or labor claimed, and in none of them has the State Government complied •with the stipulation made in the Constitution, The State of New Jersey, at an early day. passed a law for the rendition of fugitive slaves in conformity with her constitutional undertaking; but the current of anti-slavery feeling has led her more recently to enact laws which render inoperative the remedies provided by her own law and by the laws of Congress. Da the State of New Fork even the right of transit i'ov a .-lave has been denied by her tribunals; and the States of Ohio and Iowa have re- fused to surrender to justice fugitives eharged with murder, and with inciting servile insurrection in the State of A ir- ginia. Thus the constitutional compact has been delibe- rately broken and disregarded by the non-slaveholding States, and the consequence follows that South Carolina i> released from its obligation. The ends for which this Constitution was framed are declared by itself to he "to form a more perfect union, "establish justice, tnsuare domestic tranquility, provide for "th< common defence, promote the general welfare, and "secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our pos- "terity." These ends it endeavored to accomplish by a Federal Government, in which each State was recognized as an equal, and had separate control over its own institutions. The right of property in slaves was recognized by giving to free persons distinct political rights, by giving them the right to represent, and burthening them with direct taxes for three-fifths of their slaves; by authorizing the inn 1 ~ and • lits <>t j.r d in ti 1 1 - /.<<| Iiv : I trillion dcnoui infill tlie institution rmittcd tin- open < utablishmei whose avow i i* i" disturb iln- ; property of tin- citizens of <>i and assisted thousands of our their homes; and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books and pictures t-. Bervile insurrection. twenty-five years this agitation has b< adily inen until it has now secured \>> its aid tli<- po the ( lommon Government. Ob rving the the l tional party has found within that article blishing th< I h e I department, the ab- verting the Constitution itself. \ aphical line n drawn across the Union, and all the 8 thai line have united in th<- elect! f :i man to tin- high office <>r President of the CFnited States whose opinions and purposes are hostile t<> slavery. 1 1 » - is \<> be entrusted with the administration of the Common Government, beca he lias declared that that "Government cannot endure i manently half Blave, half free," and that 1 1 ■ * - public mind mi; the belief thai Slavery is in the course of ulti- mate extinction. This Bectional combination for th<- subversion of th* 1 Constitution, has been aided in Borne of the States by ele- vating i" citizenship, i . who, by the Supreme Law <>i' the land, are incapable of becoming : and their voto b een used to inaugurate a new policy, h<»-tilr to the South, and destructive <>f its peace and Bafety. < )n the 4th March next, this party will ti ession of - 7 the Government. It has announced, that the South shall • be excluded from the common Territory; that the Judicial Tribunals shall be made sectional, and that a war must be waged against shivery until it shall cease throughout the United States. y The Guaranties of the ConstitutiojJ will th exist; the equal rights of the Sh/es will slaveholding States wili no longer have the government, or Belf-protectionf and th ment will have become their roemy Sectional interest and animosity ^^f fleepen the irrita tion, and all hope of remedy is reanrren vain, by the fact that public opinion at the North «as invested a great politi- cal error with the sanctions of a more erroneous religious belief. We, therefore, the people of Soutll Carolina, byjmr del- egates, in Convention assembled, ap|»aling to thjnupreme Judge of the world tor the rectitude of out intentions, have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore' existing between this Slate and the other States of^rorth America, is dissolved, and that the State of Soutil Carolina has re- sumed her position among tin' rations of the world, as a free, sovereign and independent State ; with lull power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish com- merce, ad to do all other acts and things which independ ent^StaA may of right do. j\^ul,«ir the support of this Declaration, with a reliance V>n the protection of Divine Providence, we^Kutu ally pk'dge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our saeredhonor. V t i i . \ i P H 8.5