The South Carolina Declaration Of Rights

CiiAiu.KvroN-, s C., üec, 21, r(" Ml'V.vhij i:; l!ic dr-! ■■-.r.i ■-, of ( ausn -.i !n h justify t'.o s cosni in i f South C.iroüiin frojii (1 3 Fo.lsral Uninn s reportcd liv t'ia rommittee t i pnpire ' un adi'.r'j'ito t!ie peT'plc of tbc Sou State.: "Thé Stato of Siiirtli Cnroüan, having ili t, 'uiinrd to !i'5íiu;c a separate !id i ijunl raak aüio. .' ratrous, dojms il due in tiiTgi !f and to tlio rcinnitihig l S'a'cs of An.rrici :;i d tbc raliffl s of tbc wond t it s'.k' ó'.i JiLi d ;citro tbc causes w'.ucii led to tb et. In 1765 that }or( ion of' the Iritish enïpirt: cnbrieing (.ricat l'i'.taiü uudartoiik to i:i,ko lnws ■ : 11! : ' Of t fit: A:iKTJeaïl eolóSiící. A ftu' t lie viglit of selfoicnimenl cusued, ahich rcsulted, i.-.i the-lth ui' Ju!v. 1770, Üi ;i de!ratiou ln'fhé'coloniés tlfai rheyaïa a:;dffrigb( iiyh: ío be, !;oe aud iudependent Siates. tliej l.avcmü power lo !:vy war. cor.rludñ pcnèe, contract alüanccs, establish .oir.nicíce, and tu dn saeh tï.ias ; s inde)'O!id.'i:t States ! are t!ia ri'.t to do. Thoy further sulemly dct-larud tbat, vhcntv.r anjr foui of govoronient bcoouies deslractifo of UitMe uuds, i', is the cs'ab!is!;cd riht of.Lie pcoplfl lo , nHr pr aboliê!) it ai.d, irísi: tute a new i go'vcTimoi:t... Decnilng ilr.it tho Njjutof GïC.'if_lJntaiu bud betyuic destrjetirc'oï üioic c:ida, tl-.Jj doclaied t!-,j coloiiies frvo and absolved frotó allei-ineo to tho British crowu, aud the pojïtical bo.ijiectiou between (bem and Greaf Hritnin w;;s totally dissnlvcd. ''ihü cominittoo say thu riglit of a Stato toovcra tsolf', and tbe fijht of Uie pcsüjeto aboliph agovcrp.iuci;t when il Itewapt destructivu of tho endi tor w'íiebf it'4'flf instttuted, wcro cxpre8.-ed wlion the tSjloni&f separntod frem thé inofhór couutrT and bocame free a;;d indepéndeut States. Tbc partita anie'ndmg the coiislilution on the 17th of September, 1737, wc-re tho sereral soyereign States. "Oa the 23d of May, 17S3, South Carolina, by a conveuitíon of ber peoplc, aucutcd to the nmended constitutioa of the United State. Tifc fuüuro of one of tbe contracting parties to maintsin o.'iistiiutionol obügitious released tbe otbera. Fit'teen of the northorn States h:ivo doliberatelj refuscd, fjr years, to fulfill their constitutional obligstions. We would rofür to thosj States fur a pröor of thi When the fourth articl of the constitution was adopted, the greater nuiubcr of the contrácting parties luid slavss. Tbe hoatility of tho northrn State to tbe institution of slavery liad led them td disregard their constitutional obligations. Tho laws of the general government have ceased to effect tbe object8 of the coiistitution. Maine, New liampshirc, Vertuont, Mas8:iebusetts, Connectiout, Rhode Isiaud, New York, I Per.ríjlyaiiia, Illinois, Indiana, Obio I ■Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa hava cnaetcd laws oither nuilifying the cotislitution or rendering useless all atlerapta ! to exocuta the acts of öongress. In ' many of Jhese States fugitivos 'held to errice aud to labor' have been claimed; but in none of thejn has the State government complied with tbestipulation on thig subject made in tbe constitution. !Ii tho forniation of the Federal gov'ertinieiit eacb tute was recoguized as an equal; the riglit of property i;i laves was recognized by giving all free penona distinct political rights; by givmg thein tbe rigbt to represent and burdening them with direct tases for thrcfilths of tbeir slavcs; by authorizing the importation of gjaves for twecty years, and by stipvrlating f'or tho reudition ot' f.igitives froin labor. Tbc ends for fngh this government was instituted have been defeated, and the government itself made destruetive, by the actiou of thu uon-slaveholding States. Those States assume tbe right of deciding upou the proprioty of ourdomestic institutiona. Tbcy have danied the riglits of property cstablisbed iu fifteen States, and rocognized by the constitution. Tliey have denouuced as sinful the institution of slavery: have permittcd an open establishment of societies whose avowed object ij to distui"b t!ie pcaee and prsperity of the citizeus of otber Statts; they have oacouraged md asisted thousands of our s'aveg to learo their homes, and those who remain havo been incitcd by emiaB;irios, by books and picturen, to serviio iusurrectioD. Twentj'-five years thig ;:gitation has been steadily increasiug until tbey have secured the power of the comraon governmc:it. Observing the tbrius of tbe constitution, a uectional party has found within that articla estsbüshing an extcutire department iiK'ans of subverting thè oonstitutiou itself A geographieal line bas been drwn acrosa tho Union, and all States north of that line hare uüited in the elevador of a raau to the high office of President of tbs United States whose opinión and purposes aro hostüe to slavery. Ho is to beoutrusted with the üdmininration of the ommon government, bocauss it is deciared tbat a government cannot enduro permauuntly half slave and half free, and that tht public uiind munt rest in tbe belief tbiit glavery is in tbo course of ultímate extinction. X'he seotional combination for the subversión of the constitutioa has boen aided in the States by elcvatiug to citizonsbip persons, who by the supreme l.nv of the land, are incapable of becoming citizcus, and their votes have been used to inaugúrate the new policy hostile to the South and deutructive to its peace and safety. On tho 4th of Mareh next tbs party will take possession of the gorernineut. It has been announced tbat tbo South shall be excluded froni the eoinraon territory; that tho jndicial tribunals will be made sectioual; that war must bo waged against slavery until it shall ceaso tbroughout tbs United States. Tbe guáranteos of tbo constitution will theu uo longer exist- equ;il rights of the States will be lost - the t-laveholding States will uo longer have the power of self-goverument or selfprotection, and the Federal goverutnont will have beeoine tbeir eriemy. Sectioual intercitsaad animosity will deepen tbe irritation, aud all hope of reoiedy is rendircd vain by the fact that tho publie opiniou of the North bas iuvested tbc political error with the sanetion of a iuore rroneou reügious belief. "We, theretore, tbe peoplo of South Carolina, by our delcgates in convention awembled. appealing to the Supremo Judga of thii world for the rectitude of our iuteiitious, have solemnly deciared the Uuion beretofore existing betwaeu this St:ite and the other States of Nortb America djasolved, aud lliat tbe Statu of jouth Carolina, ha resamed her positiou amoug the natious of tbe world as a freo Rovorcin, indepeudeut State, with full power to levy war, eeaclude poaee, contract idliauoüs, eütablis'a euwmeree, aud do all othcr acts and tilinga bich indepeuiiant Stiites inay of right do; and lor the sappart of this declaratimi, with a ;':nij reliauco for protectiou on Divine l'royidonce, we mutually pledge eaoh otber ur lircg, our ioctuuu aud our Mcr.íl honor " jy; A little boy in Vermont who swaiiowed a eeat last summer ia tlyiug .y by copper poison. His luga have beeome usaless.