Submit to the Constitution, but Resist the First Attempt
to Enforce the Principles of the Republican Party
The Kentucky Statesman,
Lexington, November 13, 1860
Pending the canvass just closed we repeatedly expressed the opinion that
the election of Lincoln per se, under all the forms of
law, ought not to be made the occasion of severing the present relations
of the States and disrupting the confederacy. We assumed that position
in full view of the movements which have been subsequently initiated,
and now, with our most unwelcome expectations realized, we adhere to
it. We would that Kentucky, by unanimous voice, could be induced thus
to define her position. The attitude of our State demands at this juncture
that her position be taken with great care; that our people be neither
swayed by vain and senseless cries of “Union!” “Union!”
nor be moved by what we must regard as a natural and just sympathy with
our sister States of the South. Let Kentucky stand square up to the
Union mark, but let her stand as firmly and boldly to the Constitution;
let her be for the Union, but as firmly let her demand an observance
of the Constitution. In a word, let her pledge no allegiance in advance
to a union under a violated Constitution.Our position seems to us right
and susceptible of clear and brief statement. We do not receive the
success of the Republican party as the “fate of war.” It
can not be regarded as the mere triumph of one man over another, or
as the success of one political organization over a contending party.
The verdict of the people on 6th of November can not be received and
bowed to with the deference we are accustomed in this country to accord
to the will of the majority. On the contrary, that verdict was wrong,
radically, vitally wrong; it can not be reconciled with any reasonable
hope of permanent union, nor can its enforcement be submitted to. The
only hope of union is in the reversal of that verdict. The slave States
can not and will never submit to the administration of the government
upon the principles and policy as embodied in the platform of the Republican
party. The principles enunciated in that instrument are directly opposed
to the Constitution, are utterly subversive of the equality of the States,
are destructive to all the rights of African slavery, and if enforced,
must inevitably upturn our whole social system in the South and destroy
the present Union. We flatly reject the cardinal idea of the Republican
party, viz: the doctrine of an “Irrepressible Conflict,”
as antagonistic to the fundamental article of the compact of union between
the States, and we hold that any attempt to employ the arm of the Federal
Government upon either side of that “conflict” will and
ought to divide the confederacy. The Southern States will not and ought
not to submit to the inauguration of these Republican principles into
the Federal administration, but should resist them even to the dissolution
of the Union.We, therefore, counsel acquiescence in Lincoln’s
election, or rather in the recent verdict of the people, upon the distinct
and unequivocal expression of strong hope, if not belief, that no real
attempt will be made to carry but the measures avowed by his party.
If we believed that the Federal administration would and could now be
used to carry out the aggressions of fanaticism against slavery, our
voice would now be for resistance. But we cling yet to a hope for the
Union.We are now for submitting to the Constitution, and not to the
carrying out of Republican principles. The South has never yet resisted
the Constitution nor violated any of its provisions. Let us adhere to
that position. Let us submit to the Constitution, under the forms of
which Mr. Lincoln has been elected; but inasmuch as the Constitution
does not compel us to submit to such infractions of its provisions as
would degrade us, we would urge resistance to an attempted enforcement
of Republican principles to the bitter end.Our position is, then, briefly
this: as partizans we opposed Lincoln because of the enunciation of
his platform; as citizens we must measure our loyalty by his official
acts. Then we would acquiesce in his inauguration and submit to his
administration as long as he infracts none of the guarantees of the
Constitution, but resist the moment he employs his official authority
to carry out the purposes of the Republican party, submit to Lincoln,
but resist the exponent of Republicanism. As an individual citizen duly
elected, let him have our allegiance; but as the representative of the
“Irrepressible Conflict” doctrine, never submit to his official
authority. Let us do all the Constitution requires—only that and
nothing more.We are neither submissionists nor secessionist. We stand
by the Constitution and advise no submission to its violation. Lincoln’s
election per se is not an infraction of any provision of the
Constitution, and we submit; his attempt to carry out the avowed purposes
of his party, to use the Federal authority on the side of free labor,
in the irrepressible conflict, would be a violation of the Constitution,
and when that is proposed we are for resistance to the death.To our
Southern friends we would appeal to postpone this resistance until the
Republican platform is actually made the basis of Lincoln’s official
administration. Don’t resist to the point of revolution a party
platform, but await an attempt to enforce it by official acts. Let revolution
come when the Constitution is trampled upon; let not resistance be predicated
upon the purpose of even a successful party, to trample upon it. There
is hope that Lincoln will not be so insane as to attempt to meet the
purposes of his party, and there is stronger hope that he will not have
the power to do it. Let us exhaust this hope, and when the proper time
comes let us stand together. Let the Southern States, identified as
they are in interest, act in concert. Wait, wait, wait, and if we fail
to preserve the Union with a Constitution intact, then let us have a
UNITED SOUTH.
