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RIGHT OF SECESSION.

A REVIEW

OF THE MESSAGE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS TO THE CONGRESS

OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES.

BY JOEL PARKER.

CAMBRIDGE:

WELCH, BIGELOW, AND COMPANY,

PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.

MEMORANDUM.

The substance of the argument contained in the following pages was originally delivered as a Lecture to the students in the Law School of Harvard College, in the discharge of the regular duties of the author as Royall Professor of Law in that Institution.

The Editor of the North American Review, desirous of giving it a wider circulation, requested that the matter might be drawn up in the form of an Article adapted to that periodical; in consequence of which it was revised, and is published in the July number of the Review; extra copies being printed for the use of the students of the Law School who were desirous of its publication, and of others who may feel an interest in the subject.

CAMBRIDGE, July 1, 1861.

THE RIGHT OF SECESSION.

"MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT DAVIS."

SUCH is the title of a document which occupies more than four columns of the National Intelligencer of the 7th of May last. It is signed by Jefferson Davis, and purports to have been addressed to the "Gentlemen of the Congress" of the Confederate States, convened by special summons at Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, on the 29th of April, being the second session of the Congress; and to have been prepared in the execution of the duties of the author as President of the Confederation. The reason for the special convocation of the body to which it is addressed is stated to be the "declaration of war made against this Confederacy by Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in his proclamation issued on the 15th day of the present month" (April); and in the paragraph which follows this statement the writer speaks of the occasion as "indeed an extraordinary one," which justifies him "in a brief review of the relations heretofore existing between us and the States which now unite in warfare against us, and in a succinct statement of the events which have resulted in this warfare; to the end that mankind may pass intelligent and impartial judgment on its motives and objects."

This document therefore must be regarded as an authoritative exposition of the views entertained by the leaders of

the Confederacy upon the subjects thus indicated. We extract that portion immediately following, which speaks of the former relations of the States.

"During the war waged against Great Britain by her colonies on this continent, a common danger impelled them to close alliance and to the formation of a Confederation, by the terms of which the colonies, styling themselves States, entered severally into a firm league of friendship with each other for their common defence, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force offered to or attacks made upon them or any of them on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever.'

"In order to guard against any misconstruction of their compact, the several States made explicit declaration, in a distinct article, that 'each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled.'

"Under this contract of alliance the war of the Revolution was successfully waged, and resulted in the treaty of peace with Great Britain in 1783, by the terms of which the several States were each by name recognized to be independent.

"The Articles of Confederation contained a clause whereby all alterations were prohibited, unless confirmed by the Legislatures of every State, after being agreed to by the Congress; and in obedience to this provision, under the resolution of Congress of the 21st February, 1787, the several States appointed delegates who attended a Convention for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and reporting to Congress and the several Legislatures such alterations and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the States, render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union.'

"It was by the delegates chosen by the several States, under the resolution just quoted, that the Constitution of the United States was framed in 1787, and submitted to the several States for ratification, as shown by the 7th article, which is in these words: —

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