To Be (in the Union) or Not to Be
- Jackson moves on to what he thinks is the craziest part of the whole ordinance: the threat to secede.
- South Carolina obviously thinks that because the nation is a compact of sovereign states answerable to no higher authority, they can break from it whenever they want.
- Now, this may give the states a sense of pride, but it's total erroneous if you would just take the time to read the Constitution, people.
- The people, not the states, elect the president. Congress represents the people, not just their own states. Congressmen are paid by the feds, not the states. They're supposed to see the big national picture, not only the interests of their constituents.
- Get it?
- This is a nation, not a club.
- The states are free to retain all the powers they didn't cede to the federal government by ratifying the Constitution.
- If you say that any state can secede from the Union, then we're not really a country at all.
- Jackson acknowledges that secession may be seen as a morally justified act in response to extreme oppression, but it's not a Constitutional right.
- Calling it a right is just a way of persuading people to go along with it.
- The Constitution is a binding agreement; you can't depart from it just because you're unhappy about something.
- Any attempt to destroy a government, as opposed to leaving a league between independent nations, is an offense.
- And guess what—the government has the right to punish whoever's doing it.
- Still, says Jackson, no one has more respect for legit states' rights than he does; he'd do anything to prevent them from being violated.
- But this particular situation isn't one of those violations. It's an interference with the rights the states have given the nation.
- Jackson admits that reasonable men may differ in their interpretation of some parts of the Constitution, there's no doubt about the question of secession: it's totally unconstitutional.
- Jackson knows that South Carolina's argument is based I part on a claim that states still retain independent sovereignty. He thinks this is hogwash.
- The states gave up their sovereign powers when they signed the Constitution—they can't make treaties anymore or declare war, for example.
- The citizens of the states became citizens of the United States, and that's whose laws they have to obey.
- If the citizens are obeying U.S. law, how can the states claim to be sovereign?
- Plus, who punishes treason? The U.S., that's who, because treason is an offense sovereignty.
- And if that doesn't convince everyone, how about this: treaties and alliances were made by the U.S.; an Army was raised for the defense of everyone.
- Jackson can't see how anyone could fall for this sovereignty argument.