was occupied by an American army. After a brilliant war which ended by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Rio Grande was acknowledged as the southern boundary of Texas, and New Mexico and Upper California were ceded to the United States. By the provision of this treaty, the territory thus annexed including that part of New Mexico east of the Rio Grande which was claimed by Texas and for which Texas was afterward paid $10,000,000 by the United States, added to the area of our country 545,783 square miles. This territory was somewhat augmented by the Gadsden purchase. Thus under the sway of the Democratic party, vast domains have been added to the United States, furnishing peaceful and happy homes to the oppressed of the world. and to countless thousands yet to be. CHAPTER VI. A THE PRINCIPLE OF STATE RIGHTS. QUESTION that has had a large share of attention given it, and one on which there has arisen great differences of opinion even in the ranks of the Democratic party, is that of State Rights. The view of Andrew Jackson upon this question is the one that has always prevailed in Democratic National Conventions, and the opinions of these great gatherings are the only ones that can be allowed as settling questions for the whole party represented. Jackson held that the general government is one of expressly granted powers, in the exercise of which it is supreme; that these powers, faithfully and vigorously carried out are necessary to the general welfare of the whole; that all powers not expressly granted in the Constitution to the Federal government in the language of that instrument itself are reserved to the States and to the people. This doctrine was set forth by the Republican party at the time of its organization, and in their platform at Chicago when Abraham Lincoln was first nominated for President. At that time they resolved "that the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or territory, no matter under what pretext, as one of the gravest of crimes." To this idea the National Democratic party still adheres, clinging to it as unalterably fixed in its creed; but it has not since appeared in any Republican platform from the time of Lincoln till the present, while it has been reaffirmed by the Democratic party at each one of their National Conventions. The true relation of the States to the general government as understood by the Democratic party, is well expressed by Jackson in his immortal proclamation in the following terms: "The Constitution of the United States then, forms a government, not a league; whether it be formed by compact between the States or otherwise, or in any other manner, its character is the same, it is a governmeni in which the people are represented, which operates directly on the people individually, not upon the State; they retain all the power they did not grant. But each State having expressly parted with so many powers as to constitute jointly with the other States, a single nation, cannot from that period possess any right to secede, because such secession does not break a league, but destroys the unity of a nation; and any injury to that unity is not only a breach which would result from the contravention of a contract, but it is an offense against the whole Union. To say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union, is to say that the United States is not a nation; because it would be a solecism to contend that any part of a nation might dissolve its connection with the other parts, to their injury and ruin, without committing any offense. Secession, like any other revolutionary act, may be morally justified by the extremity of oppression; but to call it a constitutional right, is confounding the meaning of terms, and can only be done through gross error or to deceive those who are willing to assert a right, but would pause before they made a revolution, or incur the penalties consequent on a failure." In these terms, remarkable for their clearness, are set forth the principles on the rights of a State adhered to by |