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The Constitution not a compact between sovereign states
The Constitution not a compact between sovereign states Author:Daniel Webster Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: The prisoners had been again confined, in pursuance of the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States. And to our court, constituted as above, they again... more » applied for a discharge. The application was denied. But it was understood that one Judge favored the application, that another opposed it, and that Judge Paine, because of his former relations to the parties, declined to give any opinion in the case. In' the spring of 1860 an election was to take place for a Chief Justice in place of Chief Justice Dixon, whose appointment would then expire. , The canvass for his successor at once commenced. As he had decided to follow the judgment of the Federal Court, a very lively interest was manifested to secure a successor who would concur in issuing the order for the defiance of the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States. Had that effort succeeded, it is not easy to see how Wisconsin could have escaped an open rupture with the National Government; so that Mr. Lincoln, upon his advent to the Presidency, would have found instead of one, two hostile forces in the field, having not the least sympathy with each other, yet both denying the National authority. It was during that canvass that your essay made its first appearance. It was admitted then to be a very candid, dispassionate, and able discussion of the question. It contained the most complete presentation of the authorities bearing upon the question which had appeared in the whole course of the debate. It is not too much to claim that it had an important influence in producing the happy result of that struggle. But notwithstanding the masterly array of authorities you presented on the National side, it is somewhat doubtful if they were then considered with that enlightened candor to which they were entitl...« less