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Georgia ffi Statesman.
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BY BURR ITT & M EACH AM
THE GEORGIA STATESMAN
Is published weekly at the Seat of Govern
ment, opposite the State-House Square, at
I'hree i 'ars per ann. in advance, or Four
Dollars i! not paid in ait months.
H. B. Sales of laud and negroes, by Ad
ministrators, Executors, or Guardians, are
required by law, io be held on the first Tues
day in the month, between the hours of ten
in the forenoon, and three in the afternoon,
at the court house of the county in which tin
property is situate. Notice of these sales
must be given in a public Gazette SIXTY
days previous to the day of sale.
Notice of the sale of personal property
must be give n in like manner, FORTY days
previous to tha day of sale.
Notice to the debtors and creditors of an
is tat must be published for FORTY days.
Notice that application v ifi he made to
the. Court of Ordinary for It ave to sell land,
must be published for NINI MONTHS.
An. Letters must bf POST PAID.
In- senate of the U States.
January 11), 1826.
Mr. Benton, from the select Commit
tee, to which was referred the
severa-l Resolutions proposing
amendments to the Constitution
of the United State?,
Reported, in part:
{Concluded from our last.)
But the objection goes to the
root of all republican Governments.
For, if the people are incapable of
electing their own Chief Magistrate
—if they arc too ignorant, iiictious,
and corrupt, to make this choice for
themselves, it results as «.n inevita
ble consequence, that there is no oth
er alternative but to take refuge un
der that Providence which is suppos
ed, by the friends of the hereditary
principle, to provide good Kings for
had people.
That there is any reason to appre
hend violence in the popular election
of President, cannot be admitted.
The examples quoted from foreign
countries have no foundation in any
thing analagons in our own, and the
idea itself is contradicted by the his
tory of all elections among ourselves.
Every foreign example which can
he adduced, combines two great
causes of excitementT (to say noth
ing of minor ones,) the union ot
which is indispensible for the pro
duction of violence, and neither of
which can exist in our Presidential
election: the first, deri-ed from a
personal intercourse between the can
didate and the oters ; and the second,
from the assembi. voe of all the voters
at one single election ground, on the
day of election. -Examine the insta;
res so often referred to, the I ction
of a Roman Consul, fa Polish King,
■ r even of a overeign Pont f—each
tt ill lie found to combine these two
•rreat causes of e- fftement, and no
others can ho adduced in which the
same principle of action do not ex
ist. Com-.-re one of these elections,
that of a Roman Consul as rite fair
est and most apposite, with the plan
of election for the American Presi
dent, which the committee recom
mend, and observe how completely
< vic includes, and the other excludes
he tw o great causes of exciti ment
mentioned, and a number of minor
ones which inflame their operation.
Th candidate for the Roman Con
sulship was bound by a custom, in
the early ages of the Republic, and
by law m the later, to appear in per
son, and canvass ;or the office, face
t< face, with all the voters. Treats
. ->d entertainment’s w . < ri ff only
a lowed, hut expected and required.
Be. des standing, on public days, up
on the highest places in ti>" forum
.nil the marl:ot, he was humid, at
certain inter\ ■ , to ffrciimm lbulate
tiie city, in dl the forms of a reg;.
canvass. The pomp nd circum
stance of this display were eminently
calc I ' and to act upon the imagina
tions . dto inflame the pas ions of
the people. Every circum?. a nee,
calculati 1 to prt 'nee effect, was
carefully select and, and skillfully ar
ranged, b“f "chand. The day was
chosen with careful regard to the
state of the weather and the conven
ience ol the public. On the morning
ofthat day, an immense ero'.v.i as
sembled at tlm house of the candi
date, made him their salutations,
and condu ted him to the Capitol,
amidst the loudest acclamations.
There th procession was formed,
and the canvass regularly opened.
The candidate, on focL arrayed in
in the 7Vigu Candida, commenced his
< irciiinaiobulation of the city, follow
ed by his Sectato ret, Xohicndatorcsju
■ crpreteres, Drntores, Seijvestrcs, & all
ihccrowd besides, which interest and
curiosity could collect in the metro
polis of the world. An open t’-es
allowedliim to display the scars ol
wounds which he had received in
battle T the manners of the ago per
mitted hint to recount the exploit*
which himself and his ancestors had
performed, and to point out the ser
vices which they had rendered to
the State. In ibis form, ov ,
street, and square, and suburb of tie
city, was visited ; every citizen was
sail mod by name, and every one hum
bly solicited for his vote. The Sec
tatorrs extended the length, asul
swelled the ranks, of the procession :
the JVotnenclcUores whispered in the
candidate's ear, the name of everv
citizen that was met : the Interpretes
made bargains for votes : the Uivis
orcs distributed the price : and the
Sequcstres received the portions of
those whose sensibility shrunk from
the public reception of a bribe. The
candidate who did all this, was often
a Senator of princely fortune, posses
sed of all the family influence which
hereditary wealth confers ; hut more
frequently a victorious General, load
ed with the spoil of plundered pr
vinces and conquered kingdoms.
The voters to whom he Idressed
himself were wAr-hke young men,
veteran soldiers, and the dregs of an
overgrown and corrupted city. Thus
inflamed and prepared, the candi
date and the voters meet again on
the day of election, in the place, of
all others, best calculated to produce
excitement,with the means in their
-hands of shedding blood, and an ain
} Ie fluid for action : they met in the
Campus .Martins, armed as ff for bat
tle, separated into odious and rival
divisions of c'asses and centuries, and
iree from all control from the civil
magistrates. A single tent contain
ed the candidates and the judges, a
narrow bridge let in the voters, and a
vast field held the assembled, armed,
and agitated multitude. That vio
lence ix bloodshed should attend such
elections, was natural and inevitable.
But what points of resemblance can
bo found between those and ours 1
The candiate for the American
Presidency is dostitute of hereditary
wealth, and frequently impoverished
by a previous service in ihc puldi
affairs; he is unable, if'he should be
be willing, to establish a personal in
tercourse with the voters, by circum
ambulating the territories of the Un
ion—nothing hut his reputation to
rely upon ; the mode of acting upon
tiie public mind reversed by the pow
er of the press, which gives to in
ellcct that range over a Nation,
which, in the Rotmn times, was con
fined to the city . the people to le
aded upon, a body of tranquil citi
zens and cultivators, scattered ov r
an immense surface, and voting in
small bodies, in the absence o -m-
didates, without arms or odious
Unctions, and at several thousand
different places.—The means of
preserving tranquility in those elec
tions, are just ns certain of theii
feet, as those for producing violence
were certain of theirs in the election
of the Roman Consuls. Th ;re is
nothing in one which can serve for
anexample in the other; and, ac
cordingly, our elections l av e been
as marked for order and tranquiifi ,
as those of the Romans w for vio
lence an-' bloodshed.
The idea of violence, in a popular
election for President, A considered
by the committee as an appreh ision
w-tho. ‘ foundation in reason, unsup
ported by examples from abroad, and
contradicted by all th and can he found
at home. For fifty years the peo
ple of the United States have been
engaged in electfi is. They vot<
in every State, for Representatives
in Congress, in many for their own
C ivornors, and in all for a less or
greater number of the civil and mil
iturv officers. The dangcr-of blood
-l ed is much great r in these elec
tions where all the candidates are
known, have a personal intercourse
with the ffers, and are frequently
present with their friends end rela-
t'.an in election :.-t Vesi
dent, where the several candidates,
by their remoteness from the scene,
and general want of personal ae
rmaintmcc, amount to li tie more
than bject of abstract contempla
tion. Vet in these domestic and
State elections, no scenes of blood
shed have been witnessed,no recourse
to arms has ever ensued the most
animated contents So far from
dreading violence at onr Presiden
tial elections, the reverse ot t( it
danger, in the opinion of the com
mittee, is the one to be apprehended:
apathy ! indifference ! a neglect of
the elective franchise, of more por
tentous import to the cause of liber
ty, than the greatest excess of vio
lence ! Already we have cause to
feel alarm at the progress o r this
new and unexpected danger, which
is ms king it s silent and fat a I approach
es upon one side, while we are discus
sing the possibility of its approaching
upon another; and,upon every princi
ple of human action, ti.isprc ei . Jan
gc r should bo repelled before an absent
one is hunted up. To trace bis new
evil to its source, to display its pre
sent magnitude, and to calculate it*
inevitable effect, would be matter of
useful and curious speculation, wor
thy of public attention, but not cum
... within the range of a report,
drawn up upon the instant, and want
ed for an immediate occasion. But,
without going further back than to
the '* • t election, the most ample
proof of the main proposition can be
Ha- tibi crunt artes, pacisque inipaixnTs uiorem, panvre subjects ct debollare snpeibos.—Virgil.
MILLEDGEVILLE, TU
readily found ; for it was one emi
nently calculated to excite the fccl
ings and to bring forth the passions
of the people. The candidates were
numerous, popular, personally known
to many, through fame known to all,
stationed in the three great sections
o> the country, each supported L\
zealous friends, and determined par
tizans, opposed by others equally
zealous and preserving, and the can
vass prolonged through the unexam
pled period of four year®. Yet,
wiial was the result ?—an election
ot violence and bloodshed ?—On the
contrary, an alarming neglect of the
elective franchise! The people with
difficulty were got to the polls ! In a
few States, where the coni st was
warmest, about one half gave in their
votes; in many, not a fourth ; in
some not an eighth ! —Such was the
conclusion of an election, in which
sc much violence had been appre
hended and in which so many causes
conspired to produc it. If called
upon to point out the cause of this
. mazing apathy, it w ould he shew n
to arise from the interposition ofelet
tors between the people and the ob
ject ol their choice. This intermedi
ate institution, intended to break
the force, and to soften the action of
the democratic element, has been
successful in the first forty years of
its existence in destroying the life
of the election it. If-—that adding
another to the many proofs already
e listing, of the truth of the grout
maxim, That liberty is ruined
BY PROVIDING ANY KIND OF SUBSTI
TUTE FOR POPULAR ELECTIONS..” The
machinery ofelectors,placed bet ween
ttie people and the President, and,
above all, the imposition of the gen
eral ticke, has paralysed the spirit
of the voters, and made them look
with indifference upon a scene in
w hich they can act no really efficient
or independent part Os the few
votes actually given, in the election
referred to, large proportion cam.
from the least estimable desription
of voters—tbe interested and unpro
ductive classes —while the real peo
ple, they whose industty constitutes
the wealth of; lie country .whose purs
es pay the taxes of the Government,
am’ whose arms fight ts battle, took
Je; interest in the result of this great
election than they would have fei
nt orditi -y canvass for county
oilii urs. S c.ng tl is to be the state
of things at present, and supposing
the evil of it to go on increasing, the
re and prop! 1 ’ • onfing more indiffer
ent to the election of ’’resident, ami
the interested elapses? more anima
ted, s the game is more and more
abandoned *e their piKsnit, what else
can be the result hut that the election
ofthisofficer, who w ields the efficient
power us the Federal Government,
must eventually fall into the hands
of those who want that power wield
ed to the single object of personal
-proportion and in individual aggran
dizement 1
But, what is this objection, this
::s y of violence which is raised against
the people ! l? it any thing more
than heated discussion, boldness in
speaking ..ml writing, cas
sinil affrays between individuals, such
a: every other election produces ?
Is noi this the idea of popular vio
lence among us ! And shall this
wholesome animation be checked,
under tbe notion of preventing civil
wars and | 'malar sedition? ! Is ex
citement of this kind dangerous to
Republics } On contrary, is it
not necc.--.-ary to their existence!
Are not talents developed, new ideas
-truck out, useful designs conceived,
great enterprizes achieved, and lib
erty it soil’ pro; erved.by the agitation,
the colli ion, the active rivalry, and
a Imated competitions of the whole
body of the citizens ! The sleep of
the spirits is as dangerous to Re
publics . it is auspicious to Mon
archies, and it is only in the latter
that it should be the policy of the
jovernment to reduce the people to
the quietude of machines. Instead,
then, of yielding to the force of this
objection, this supposed excitement
< 1 the people, it should he hailed as
mo of the chief advantages to be
derived from the exercise of the di
rect vote. It should be looked to
as tbe identical circumstance which
is to infuse new life into the election,
reanimate the voters, and encourage
the real people to attend the polls,
and to discharge, with becoming
I pride, that exalted privilege of free
men, which is now so much neg! ct
• :d.
Finally, who arc this people who
are not to be trusted with a direct
vote ; whose ignorance violence and
corruption, are so much dreaded?
Wherein h> they differ from those
who make the objection 1 Are they
not ol the same order of beings, pos
sessed of the same capacities, nearly
>r unite as well informed, moo
deeply interested in the welfare of
their GOUDtry, and infinitely further
! removed from il > operation of rodi-
3D AY, FEBRUARY 23, 1320
rect causes ! Are they not, in fact,
the identical persons who are greet
ed with the appellation of Sovereign,
whose will is admitted to be the
source of all power, and whose hap
piness is proclaimed to he the end
of al' overnment! Then, with what
face can we turn upon these people,
and tell them they arc incapable of
excrci; ing ti e only attribute of sov
ereignty which they have ever claim
ed—that of election !
The existence of slavery in some
parts of the confederation is suppos
ml, by some, to present an insupera
ble obstacle to the plan -f amend
ment proposed by thu committee.
In the opinion of these persons, the
operation-est the direct vote w ill in
volve the loss (: the qualified votes
which they now give fie; t! ir black
population.—Such would undoubted
ly he the effect it' the pianos the
committee was tiie same which it
was understood by many to he, a plan
of consolidation, in which all the
votes of!all the States were to be
collected into one general return,
and the election decreed to him who
had a majority of the whole. Such
a plan would work an injury not only
to tiie slave holding States, hut in a
greater or less degree, to al: : t eve
ry State in the Union—for tiie quali
fications of the voters differing in
each, some prescribing a freehold
possession, some the payment of a
tax, some a residence of a few
month*, olhoun ol’ t» your, mid others
again the privilege of universal suf
frage —would thence result that
the same mass of population would
yield, in different State, a very une
qual number of votes. But (he plan
of Committee is not one cf consoli
dation ; it disturbs no principle o
relative weight >mong the State
iow fixed in the Constitution—each
will give the same number of Prc-i
dnntial votes with, or w ithout the
amendment.—The States will be
divided into districts, in the same
manner as if for the choice, of elec
tors. The qualified voters w ii! then
vote for a President and Vic ’■•esi
uent, instead of voting for an elec
tor, awd the persons having tl >
highest number of votes for these o -
rices, respective!”, w ill be consider
ed as elected in the district, and i n
tilled to , ,unt one vote. To the
ult, il will lie wholly immaterial
whether a district containing a given
number of souls, say 40,1100, shall
posses 1000 ur*fJoo qualified voters.
The Slate, wifi have its number of
Presidential votes, and (h : people
of each district will give each void
.ccording to their own sense of their
ow n interest. The formation of the
districts, and the qualifications of
the voteis and tin regulations of
the elections, pow, rs of essential
importance to the States, and most
capable of being properly exercised
by them, arc left to (lie States re
spectively Thus, the plan of the
Committee avoids all questions
growing out of the existence of slave
ry in some States, the various quali
fications of Voters in others, and pre
sents not a single objection, w hich
would not apply with equal force to
(he choice qf electors by districts.
Considering these several objcc
•ons as effectually disposed of, there
- r i remains an argument to be an
ered, which demands from all the
friends of our present forms of Gov
ernment, the moss respectfi l ai de
liberate consul' ration. it is one
w, ich ileriv s itself from a saerr ! re
gard ibr tin rights of the Stales, and
horn an apprehension that th? Com
mittee’s | .an of amendment will tend
to produce that consolidation of this
league of Republics which every
friend of liberty must deprecate and
oppose. If such was indeed to be
tne effect of their amendment, and
the Committee could be made sen
sible of it, they would he the first to
oppose that plan of election which
they arc no" recommending with so
much earnestness. Far from looking
with i..difference upon that jcalou
spir’ of State rights, which feels
alarm at the slightest noise of en
croachment, they regard it as a spirit
ot' happiest omen, worthy of being
respectfully treated, generously cher
ished, and care ft ißy kept alive Ihe
preservation of the State Govern
ments, such as they left tliemselves
when they gave up a part ot th ;r
powers to compose this 1 ederal Gov
ernment, is not only necessary to the
well-being of the people within those
States, but is indispensible to the
cont mention of the Federal Govern
ment itself. If they are broken down
or materially weakened, the Federal
Government must cease to he what
it is, must he broken down also, and
recomposed under some new and in
finitely stronger form. In all its op
erations in defence of liberty, and in
all its route Is with Foreign powers,
the Governments of the {states can
ive Ihe most efficient aid to the
Government of the Confederation
i and if this latter should undertake
any thing against the lives, liberties,
or property of individuals, the State
Governments alone are competent
to chock the encroachment and give
protection to the rights of the citi
zen. Tt-.cy arc the best directors of
all the powers which were reserved
to the States in the Convention of
1787, and if the time shall ever come
when these reserved powers shall
fall into the hands of the Federal
Gov r; nent, and be exercised by
members of Congress, drawn from
all the States, the tide of the weaker
members and smaller sections of the
Confederation may he read in the
hi-fory of all tiie Confederacies which
ancient or modern times have pro
duced : tyranny and oppression on
the pan of the itrong: misery and
degradation on the part of the weak;
burthens unequally imposed, benefits
unequally divided ; and the r. > t un
just decrees enforced with anus and
penalties! Such is the frightful pic
ture w hich the history of all such
Confederacies present, and from
which this, in its turn, could expect
no exemption. The dread of these
evils should alone be sufficient w
make us guard the rights of the
States with jealous care, and main
tain with inflexible firmness that
equilibrium of power which was ad
justed hetw, on them and ihc Federal
Government, the cst .Mi-'incut of
tbe pro cut Constitution. But a con
sideration of -'till higher and more
inipuiious import, demands the same
policy. That consideration is this,
that liberty itself, will live longer in a
league of Brpub'ics, than in a lie
public one and iNDivistii. i;. I' a
son and history support this pi po
-ition. In the first place, it i cer
tainly more difficult to oveicomc
many Governments, acting together
for a common c.iu m, than it would
fie to oveifarn a single <• comment,
possessed of their n ifed territories,
strength and resources. T. ■ history
f our own revolution is a pregnant
. xamplc of this truth. In the next
; iace, the conduct of the capital, in
a great nation, often decides the fate
of the nation itself. Titus we have
con in history, that whoever had
Rome had the empire, and, in our
own day, that whoever had Paris had
Fr. nee. But in a league of Rcpub
«, the corruption, cowardice, • r
roa on of the Metropolitan City,
couid not affect the safety of the re
moter members of the Confedera
ion. The mother capital might
open her gates to a Foreign enemy,
or bend her ucck to tiie yoke of a
domestic master, but other cities
would remain, capitals of powerful
States, the seats of organised Gov
ernments, mistresses of armies, forts
and arsenals, and deriving supplies
from; regular system of revenue
To these the friends of liberty could
resort, a :d arm again for the renew
al of the contest, instead of flying to
a Foreign shore io die in despair.
Brut ns and Cato need not to have fall
en upon their sword if they had had
such points of retreat ; the revolu
tions in Paris might not have lost the
Repul ,c, nor its capture, the em
pire, if the GW. wu/ts-is in ’Off, and
the wrecks of the armies in 181-1,
coiff 1 have sou id in thee partnients
of tie 111* i c and Loire, Virginia
or New-York, to have r< ived at;
named the Caitiff' friends ot
I since ’Hus deeply impr< sed
with tin cv Is of consolidation, and
looking to die preservation of the
State Governments as eqw iiy ne
cessary to tne well-being of their
own citizens, and to the perpetuation
of the general libe , it cannot bo
supposed that t'i Committee have,
wittingly p r <1 any thing which
tends to produce the evil which they
depr- with so much z .al and ; in
ce- Still, it is the i pinion of
some, that the fights of the States
will be endangered y ihc adoption
of the Committee’s plan of amend
ment : the Committee think other
wise ; here non is a difference be
tween those who have a common ob
ject in view, and to decide it, the
points in issue must he fairly stated
unde nffidlv examined. These points
are :
Ist. The supposed diminution of
power in the Stare, to choose between
the Legislative, the general ticket,
and the district inodes of election.
ffil. In the supposed diminution ol
the power of the St 'tc in concen
trating her strength in those elec
tions.
3d. In the supposed tendency of
the direct vote towards the consoli
dation of all the States.
These being the. points c r injec
tion, thequestion is plainly p ented
whether they amount, in i ;ality, to
any encroachment upon the rights of
the States, or contain any of those
tendencies towards consolidation,
which have been imputed to them.
But, before proceeding to answer
this question, it is necessary to fix
precise ideas fro several terms which
arc the very Linges of the Question
IOR SI IF NOT I’AID IN SIX MONTHS
[NO. XI — VOL. I.
itself. “State rights—sovereignty
of tiie states,” are the terms re
ferred to. By some, who use these
terms, the General Assembly of the
State is considered as the State
itself, possessed of all its rights and
sovereign powers; hv others, the
executive officers of the State Got -
erutment are held to be the Slate,
and to have the possession, during
their continuance in office, of tin
rights and sovereignty of the State
by others again, the Senators and
Represent; fives in Congress from a
State, are supposed to represent the
sovereignty of the State itself; and
to hold in their hands, for the time
being, the same high rights and sove
reign powers. All these opinions
are held to he erroneous, and with
out accumulating authorities and
quotations, it may be laid down in
brief and plain language, that the
quAi.ii t ed. voters of a State, to the
exclusion of the General Assembly,
lie executive officers and the mem
bers of Congress, constitute the
sovereignty of the state, and holds
its rights in th ir hands. Who
these qualified voters shall l>e, de
pet- upon themselves, through
their Representatives in convention
or General Assembly, to say ; hut
whosoever they may be, whether
freeholders householders or holders
of no property at all; they hold in
their hands the rights and sove
reignty ot’ the State, and all the public
officers arc nothing inure than their
servants. The members of the
General Assembly, the members ot
C- ..-rest*, and the executive officers,
m>' nothing but agents for the real
sovereigns, confined to the exercise
of delegated powers, and become
ore usurpers; if they presume to
. i rcise the powers of sovereignty.
From these positions, it results that
these agents may loose a part ot
heir powers, not only without di
minishing the s; vercignty of a State,
but, in reality, to produce the effect
of increasing that sovereignty by so
much as is taken from the servants
and restored to the master. This is
believed to he the exact case which
is now presented for decision in the
point of objection first luted. The
Stale Legislatures now possess the
riglit to say whether electors shall
he chosen by districts, or by a gen
eral ticket ; and some of them with
out establishing a clear right, exer
cise the privilege of choosing the
electors thorns; h- s. By the propo
sed amendment, it is admitted, as
objected, that these several powers
will be taken from tho Legislature,
and that a uniform mode of voting
by districts will be substituted, which
they cannot change. But, so far
from admitting that, the sovereignly
of the State loses any thing by this
operation, the direct reverse is main
tained; the servants only being the
losers, while the real sovereigns gain.
For it is not to be questioned, but
that the district system gives the
fairest play to every voter, and the
fullest effect to every vote; nor can
it be denied that it conforms to the
intention of the present Constitution,
which, in giving an independent vote
to every elector, instead f u consoli
dated vote to the c<.. go of electors,
goverm,,y a majority, manifestly
...ed that each mass of citizens,
entitled to choose one elector, should
have the right of disposing of one
vote according to thoir own sense of
their own inti rest. It is a fact of his
torical notriotv, that the general
ticket plan of election has been
adopted in some States for the avow
ed purpose of controling this inten
tion of the Constitution ; and for the
purpose of subjecting the weaker
section : ' the State to the policy
■f the ■ ■ •nger; thus giving, on a
smaller sea' . and in reference to
Counties a ! State divisions, an ex
ample of that tendency of the strong
oppress the weak, which is one of
the main objections to the consoli
dation of these Confederated States.
The objection, that the establish
ment i a uniform mode of election
by districts, will trench upon the
rights of the States, cannot be admit
ted. Uniformity, as such, cannot be
an evil; and, if it was, the infliction
of it could not be avoided by reject
ing the Committee’s plan of amend
ment For, if uniformity by districts
is not established by the tree consent
of*the States, uniformity by general
ticket or Legislative ballot must be
imposed by necessity. For, when
he large' States consolidate their
votes to overwhelm the small ones,
those, in tin it turn, roust concen
trate their own strength to resist
them. A few States may persevere
for some time, in what they believe
to be tiuc fairest system; but, when
they see the unity ol action which
others derive from the general ticket
and Legislative modes of election,
they wifi not, and, w;th due regard to
their own safety, they cannot, resist
the temptation of following the same
few Hence, uniformity will be im-