t the
national power is the highest, and that every citizen owes the
highest allegiance to the General Government and not to his State.
In other words, we are not Virginians or Mississippians or Delawareans
--we are Americans. The great Republic is a free Nation, and the
States are but parts of that Nation. The doctrine of State
Sovereignty was born of the institution of slavery. In the history
of our country, whenever anything wrong was to be done, this doctrine
of State Sovereignty was appealed to. It protected the slave-trade
until the year 1808. It passed the Fugitive Slave Law. It made
every citizen in the North a catcher of his fellow-man--made it
the duty of free people to enslave others. This doctrine of State
Rights was appealed to for the purpose of polluting the Territories
with the institution of slavery. To deprive a man of his liberty,
to put him back into slavery, State lines were instantly obliterated;
but whenever the Government wanted to protect one of its citizens
from outrage, then the State lines became impassable barriers, and
the sword of justice fell in twain across the line of a State.

People forget that the National Government is the creature of the
people. The real sovereign is the people themselves. Presidents
and congressmen and judges are the creatures of the people. If we
had a governing class--if men were presidents or senators by virtue
of birth--then we might talk about the danger of centralization;
but if the people are sufficiently intelligent to govern themselves,
they will never create a government for the destruction of their
liberties, and they are just as able to protect their rights in
the General Government as they are in the States. If you say that
the sovereignty of the State protects labor, you might as well say
that the sovereignty of the county protects labor in the State and
that the sovereignty of the town protects labor in the county.

Of all subjects in the world the Democratic party should avoid
speaking of "a critical period of our financial affairs, resulting
from over taxation." How did taxation become necessary? Who
created the vast debt that American labor must pay? Who made this
taxation of thousands of millions necessary? Why were the greenbacks
issued? Why were the bonds sold? Who brought about "a critical
period of our financial affairs"? How has the Democratic party
"averted disaster"? How could there be a disaster with a vast
surplus