For the Massachusetts Gazette.
To the Inhabitants of this State.
(Concluded from our last.)
The 3d section, in article IV. also provides, that Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property of the United States; and nothing in this constitution shall be construed as a prejudice to the claims of the United States, or any particular state.
There is not, certainly, anything contained in the aforementioned clause, which can be opposed on reasonable grounds. It is certainly necessary that Congress should have power to make all needful rules and regulations respecting the concerns of the Union; and if they exceed what is necessary, their regulations will be of no effect; for whatever is done by them, which the constitution does not warrant, is null and void, and can be no more binding on the inhabitants of America, than the edicts of the grand signior of Turkey.
You will remember, my countrymen, that the words of the constitution are, “All Powers Herein Granted.”
Section 4, of article IV. says, The United States shall guarantee to every state in the Union a Republican Form of Government; [pg 044] and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.—At the perusal of this clause, anti-federalism must blush, and opposition hide its head. Could anything have more openly, or more plainly evinced to the world, the noble motives which influenced the conduct of the delegates of America, than the clause aforementioned? it provides, that a republican form of government shall be guaranteed to each state in the Union. The inhabitants of America are surely acquainted with the principles of republicanism, and will certainly demand the establishment of them, in their fullest extent.
The section just mentioned, secures to us the full enjoyment of every thing which freemen hold dear, and provides for protecting us against every thing which they can dread.
This article, my countrymen, is sufficient to convince you of the excellency of that constitution which the federal convention have formed; a constitution founded on the broad basis of liberty, and, should the citizens of America happily concur in adopting it, its pillars may be as fixed as the foundations of created nature.
Say, ye mighty cavillers, ye inconsistent opposers of the new plan of government, of what avail, to the thinking part of the community, do you suppose will be all your clamours about a bill of rights? Does not the abovementioned section provide for the establishment of a free government in all the states? and if that freedom is encroached upon, will not the constitution be violated? It certainly will; and its violators be hurled from the seat of power, and arraigned before a tribunal where impartial justice will no doubt preside, to answer for their high-handed crime.