Description
Excerpt from The Lecompton Question: Governor Wise''s Tammany, Philadelphia and Illinois Letters, Together With Letters to Charles W. Russell, Esq.
There is no mobocracy in that idea. It is even, just, steady, organized, free republican action; the law of popular liberty, de fined by citizenship and the rule of election, and is the true example of essential sovereignty in the people. Instead of so submitting this proposed Constitution by the mere agent, the Convention, deferentially to the principals, the organized sovereign people, there was a usurpation - a withholding from them of a fair, free, full and equal election to choose or not to choose their own Constitution of self-government. It was ex parte; it was all 011 one side; it was, in gambling phrase, the foul Heads I win and tails you lose the Constitution was obliged to be adopted, with the clause or without the clause; the vote was bound to be for the Constitution it was all pro and no con, and we may say that was 110 submission to an election at all. Election is choice of alternatives - to adopt as well as reject. There was no choice''in this case, and no equality of voters in this case. Three men went to the polls: A said, I vote for the Constitution, with or without the clause, but B and C said, We vote against it, with or without the clause A''s vote was counted, B''s and C''s were not to be counted, and thus one was made not only to offset two, but to be sole substitute in fact for three against the majority of two to one out of three.
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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
There is no mobocracy in that idea. It is even, just, steady, organized, free republican action; the law of popular liberty, de fined by citizenship and the rule of election, and is the true example of essential sovereignty in the people. Instead of so submitting this proposed Constitution by the mere agent, the Convention, deferentially to the principals, the organized sovereign people, there was a usurpation - a withholding from them of a fair, free, full and equal election to choose or not to choose their own Constitution of self-government. It was ex parte; it was all 011 one side; it was, in gambling phrase, the foul Heads I win and tails you lose the Constitution was obliged to be adopted, with the clause or without the clause; the vote was bound to be for the Constitution it was all pro and no con, and we may say that was 110 submission to an election at all. Election is choice of alternatives - to adopt as well as reject. There was no choice''in this case, and no equality of voters in this case. Three men went to the polls: A said, I vote for the Constitution, with or without the clause, but B and C said, We vote against it, with or without the clause A''s vote was counted, B''s and C''s were not to be counted, and thus one was made not only to offset two, but to be sole substitute in fact for three against the majority of two to one out of three.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Details
Publisher - Forgotten Books
Author(s) - Henry Alexander Wise
Hardback
Published Date -
ISBN - 9780331154405
Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 0.7 cm
Page Count - 71
Paperback
Published Date -
ISBN - 9781330890493
Dimensions -
Page Count -
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