We have heretofore shown ourselves to be equal to our undertakings, and now when the great crisis in our national affairs is at hand, and the eyes of the friends of liberty throughout the civilized world are gazing upon us with the deepest anxiety, shall we be found unworthy of the liberties we enjoy? Should we be found unfaithful to the trust imposed on us by our forefathers? We would be the just object of scorn and contempt, and the historian who shall undertake the task of writing the true history of the rise and fall of the American government, will have the painful duty of drawing the contrast between the noble and patriotic heroes who established it, and the cowardly, selfish and unprincipled traitors who became its destroyers.
This question is frequently asked by those who are encouraging the Southern rebellion. I answer, most emphatically, in the affirmative. But let us see who the people are. It is plain that the people of a State are not those of one or more of the counties, unless the people of those counties are a majority of all the people in the State. Now the Constitution of the United States comes from the people of all the States, consequently it will be perceived that they alone and not the people of one State have the right to alter or abolish it. As well might the people of Indianapolis declare the Constitution of the State of Indiana null and void, as for the people of one State to declare this Union dissolved. It is true that men talk about "States' rights," "the equality of the States," and in fact invent every manner of argument for the purpose of shielding those who are committing treason against the government of the United States, but where is the clause of the constitution that discloses any such sentiments? There is none, but on the other hand we find the most positive proof that the framers of that article intended that we should be one great nation, and to secure us against the liability of sudden and unnecessary changes they provided that in order to amend the constitution the consent of three-fourths of all the States were necessary, hence it will be perceived that a simple majority of the people of the United States could not amend the constitution, much less declare it null and void.