Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/127

 ''Died for Their State." 121

the laying of the cornerstone of the Confederate monument at Montgomery, he said: " I have come to join you in the performance of a sacred task, to lay the foundation of a monument at the cradle of the Confederate Government which shall commemorate the gal- lant sons of Alabama who died for their country, who gave their lives a freewill offering in defence of the rights of their sires, won in the war of the Revolution, the State sovereignty, freedom and inde- pendence, which were left to us as an inheritance to their posterity forever." These masterful words, "the rights of their sires, won in the war of the Revolution, the State sovereignty, freedom and inde- pendence, which were left to us as an inheritance to their posterity forever," are the whole case, and they are not only a statement, but a complete justification of the Confederate cause to all who are ac- quainted with the origin and character of the American Union.

When the original thirteen colonies threw off their allegiance to Great Britain, they became independent States, " independent of her and of each other," as the great Luther Martin expressed it in the Federal Convention. This independence was at first a revolutionary one, but afterwards, by its recognition by Great Britain, it became legal. The recognition was of the States separately, each by name, in the treaty of peace which terminated the war of the Revolution. And that this separate recognition was deliberate and intentional, with the distinct object of recognizing the States as separate sover- eignties, and not as one nation, will sufficiently appear by reference to the sixth volume of Bancroft's History of the United States. The Articles of Confederation between the States declared, that "each State retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence." And the Constitution of the United States, which immediately followed, was first adopted by the States in convention, each State casting one vote, as a proposed plan of government; and then ratified by the States separately, each State acting for itself in its sovereign and independent capacity, through a convention of its people. And it was by this ratification that the Constitution was established, to use its own words, "between the States so ratifying the same." It is then a compact between the States as sovereigns, and the Union created by it is a federal partnership of States, the Federal Govern- ment being their common agent for the transaction of the Federal business within the limits of the delegated powers. As to the new States, which have been formed from time to time from the terri- tories, when they were in the territorial condition, the sovereignty over them, respectively, was in the States of the Union, and when