results the evils imposed upon society by the necessity of governments will be reduced to the lowest possible minimum. For, it is now a universally accepted maxim that the world is governed too much, and also that the objects of legislation should be as few as possible.

The power to make laws should be kept near the people, who are the best, as they are of right, the only judges of that which will best conduce to their welfare. Jefferson happily alluded to this principle in his inaugural address.

"Sometimes it is said that man cannot be entrusted with the government of himself. Can he be then entrusted with the government of others? Or, have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer." From what has been so far recorded, the following axioms may be confidently asserted:

1st. The people to govern (demos krateo). 2d. The will of the majority is the will of the people.

3d. The popular expression of that will is law.

4th. The law, until repealed, must be observed.

From these general principles the deduction has been made, that the Constitution, being the properly expressed will of the majority, is binding on all. And that it may not be terminated at the will of an individual.

The further deduction then follows, that the Constitution includes the delegation of a portion

of the sovereignty to the general government for special purposes, to which extent the United States are superior to, and its laws have priority over any other legislative body.

It has also been still further shown that the people of the States have erected a tribunal— the United States Supreme Court to which to refer all controversies arising out of the establishment of this limited central government. And that the people of any State, acting in opposition to this Constitution are guilty of resistance to the regularly constituted authority, which constitutes treason.

These facts fully confute the assertion of the Northern and Southern Radicals, that the principles of the Democratic party sustained the secession of the South.

It has also been shown that the Democratic party opposed and defeated "Nullification," which was founded on the peculiar doctrine, that a State may oppose and nullify a law of the United States; and that it also opposed secession, grounded upon the same belief, supporting Mr. Douglas, who openly declared his purpose to uphold and sustain the Union in the event of the election of Mr. Lincoln. (See Life of Douglas, p. 120).

The party was also opposed to and prevented the waste of the public money by the United States Bank, and instituted the United States Treasury, in which the public money is kept by

the government's officers. It has also uniformly favored a low tariff, with incidental protection, as the interests of consumers, as well as producers, ought to be consulted, and the greatest good to the greatest number should continue always to be the rule.

The party has also proposed an amendment to the Constitution doing away with the agency of the Electoral College, and submitting the choice of the Presidency to the direct vote of the people. This measure, so eminently wise and democratic, was strongly recommended by General Jackson, and should still be continuously brought before the people until consummated. And the party has also always been in favor of a plain, economical administration of the government, and opposed to the extravagant habits of public men, which has lately necessitated so large an increase in their salaries.

To conclude, the Democratic principle-the people to govern-is a practical rule by which all public acts can be measured, a compass by which every man can, and if he knows his own interest, will direct his political course.

To illustrate, suppose the question should arise, shall the President continue to appoint the vast army of some 70,000 government officials? this rule gives the answer without hesitation: should some Hamilton suggest that the people don't know enough to govern themselves, a Democratic Jefferson is ready with the reply, kings and presidents are but men.

In view of all these facts, the Democratic party must be in the future, as in the past, the party of the people. Vindicated from the unjust accusations of its enemies, it will always aim to promote the true interests of the people in their right of self-government.

Leaving the dead issues of the past, it recognizes the futility of again "threshing the old straw," and now proposes to meet the issues of to-day in the establishment of a government "of the people for the people."

The Term Not Understood at the North-New England Confederation of 1643-Congress of 1774 and Articles of Confederation-Views of Leading Statesmen on the Adoption of the Constitution-Attempts to Destroy the Union—Shay's Rebellion-Whiskey Insurrection-Hartford Convention-Nullification— General Jackson's Opinion of State Rights -Two Half Shears of Disunion.

IN 1861, Dr. Russell, the correspondent of the London Times, was ascending the Mississippi river in a steamboat, on board of which were a number of Confederate troops. One poor fellow, wounded and wasted by disease, said to him: "Stranger, if I die, remember I die for State Rights. Put that in the papers, won't you?" Robert Fallon died for State Rights. Mr. Parton, who relates the above incident in his very readable biography of John Randolph, truly remarks that seven-tenths of the voters at the North hardly know what this man man meant by "State Rights."

In the following pages it is proposed to give a comprehensive account of the formation of the Union of the United States, and of the different attempts that have been made to oppose or destroy it. In doing so, quotations will be freely given from the speeches and writings of the principal actors in the scenes, or from the his