And this brings me to the next form of this necessity and duty, as they
appear in the guaranty clause of the Constitution. It is expressly
declared that “the United States shall guaranty to every State in this
Union a republican form of government.” These words, when properly
understood, leave no alternative. They speak to us with no uncertain
voice. But they must be understood. The Rebel States, while providing
constitutional safeguards for property in man, and, according to the
vaunt of their Vice-President, making Slavery the corner-stone of the
new Government, yet follow our Constitution in the formal guaranty
of a republican form of government.[46] Defiantly they assume that
Slavery is not inconsistent with such a government. To this degrading
assumption we must reply, not only for the national cause, but that
republican governments may not suffer.
The magnitude of the question before us is seen in the postulate with
which I begin. Assuming that there has been a lapse of government in
any State, so as to impose upon the United States the duty of executing
this guaranty, then do I insist that it is a bounden duty to see that
such State has a “republican form of government,” and, in the discharge
of this bounden duty, we must declare that a State, which, in the
foundation of its government, sets aside “the consent of the governed,”
which imposes taxation without representation, which discards the
principle of Equal Rights, and lodges power exclusively with an
Oligarchy, Aristocracy, Caste, or Monopoly, cannot be recognized as
a “republican form of government,” according to the requirement of
American institutions. Even if it may satisfy some definition handed
down from antiquity or invented in monarchical Europe, it cannot
satisfy the solemn injunction of our Constitution. For this question
I now ask a hearing. Nothing in the present debate can equal it in
importance. Its correct determination will be an epoch for our country
and for mankind.
Believe me, Sir, this is no question of theory or abstraction. It is
a practical question, which you are summoned to decide. Here is the
positive text of the Constitution, and you must affix its meaning. You
cannot evade it, you cannot forget it, without abandonment of duty.
Others in vision or aspiration have dwelt on the idea of a Republic,
and they have been lifted in soul. You must consider it not merely
in vision or aspiration, but practically, as legislators, seeking a
precise definition, to the end that the constitutional “guaranty” may
be performed. Your powers and duties are involved in this definition.
The character of the Government founded by our fathers is also involved
in it.
There is another consideration not to be forgotten. In affixing the
proper meaning to the text, and determining what is a “republican form
of government,” you act as a court in the last resort, from which there
is no appeal. You are sole and exclusive judges. You may decide as you
please. Rarely in history has such an opportunity been offered to the
statesman. You may raise the name of Republic to majestic heights of
justice and truth, or you may let it drag low down in the depths of
wrong and falsehood. You may make it fulfil the idea of John Milton,
when he said that “a commonwealth ought to be but as one huge Christian
personage, one mighty growth and stature of an honest man, as big and
compact in virtue as in body”;[47] or you may let it shrink into the
ignoble form of a pretender, with the name of Republic, but without its
soul.
Before considering this vital question, it is proper to regard the
origin of this “guaranty,” and see how it obtained place in the
Constitution. Perhaps there was no clause more cordially welcomed; nor
does it appear that it was subjected to any serious criticism in the
National Convention or in any State Convention. It is not found in
the Articles of Confederation; but we learn from the “Federalist”[48]
that the want of this provision was felt as a capital defect in the
plan of the Confederation. Mr. Madison, in a private record, made
in advance of the National Convention, and which has only recently
seen the light, enumerates among defects of the Confederation what he
calls “want of guaranty to the States of their Constitutions and laws
_against internal violence_”; and he then proceeds to anticipate danger
from Slavery, which could be counteracted only by such “guaranty.”
Showing why this was needed, he says, that, “according to _republican
theory_, right and power, being both vested in the majority, are held
to be synonymous; according to fact and experience, a minority may, in
an appeal to force, be an overmatch for the majority”; and he remarks,
in words which furnish a key to the “guaranty” afterwards adopted,
“Where Slavery exists, the _republican theory_ becomes still more
fallacious,”--thus showing, that, at its very origin, it was regarded
as a check upon Slavery.[49]
Hamilton was not less positive than Madison. In his sketch of a
Constitution, communicated to Madison, and preserved by him,[50]
this “guaranty” is found; and in the elaborate brief of his argument
on the Constitution, it is specified as one of its “miscellaneous
advantages.” The last words of this remarkable paper are “guaranty of
republican governments.”[51] Randolph, of Virginia, in his sketch of a
Constitution, proposed the “guaranty,” and, in a speech setting forth
the evils of the old system, he said of the remedy, that “the basis
must be the _republican principle_.”[52] Colonel Mason, of Virginia,
taking up the same strain, said, that, though the people might be
unsettled on some points, they were settled as to others, among which
he put foremost “an attachment to _republican government_.”[53]
The proposition in its earliest form was, “that a republican
government, and the territory of each State, except in the instance
of a voluntary junction of government and territory, ought to be
guarantied by the United States to each State.”[54] This was afterward
altered so as to read, “that a republican Constitution and its existing
laws ought to be guarantied to each State by the United States.”
Gouverneur Morris thought that the proposition in this form was “very
objectionable,” and he added, that “he should be very unwilling
that such laws as exist in Rhode Island should be guarantied.” On
discussion, it was amended, at the motion of Mr. Wilson, the learned
and philosophical delegate from Pennsylvania, afterward of the Supreme
Court of the United States, so as to read, “that _a republican form
of government_ shall be guarantied to each State, and that each State
shall be protected against foreign and domestic violence,” and in
this form it was unanimously adopted.[55] Afterward it underwent
modification in the Convention and in the Committees of Detail
and Revision, until it received the final form it now has in the
Constitution:[56]--
“_The United States shall guaranty to every State in this Union
a republican form of government_, 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.”
Thus stands the “guaranty.” If further reason be required for its
introduction into the Constitution, it will be found in the prophetic
language of the “Federalist”:--
“It may possibly be asked, what need there could be of such
a precaution, and whether it may not become a pretext for
alterations in the State governments without the concurrence of
the States themselves. These questions admit of ready answers.
If the interposition of the General Government should not be
needed, the provision for such an event will be a harmless
superfluity only in the Constitution. _But who can say what
experiments may be produced by the caprice of particular
States, by the ambition of enterprising leaders, or by the
intrigues and influence of foreign powers?_”[57]
The very crisis anticipated has arrived. “The caprice of particular
States,” and “the ambition of enterprising leaders” have done their
worst. And now the “guaranty” must be performed, not only for the sake
of individual States, but for the sake of the Union to which they
all belong, and to advance the declared objects of the Constitution,
specified in its preamble.
The text of this great contract is worthy of study. No stronger or
more comprehensive words could be employed, whether we regard the
object, the party guarantying, or the party guarantied. The express
object is “a republican form of government.” This is plain. The party
guarantying is not merely the Executive or some specified branch of the
National Government, but “the United States,” or, in other words, the
Nation. The Republic, which is the impersonation of all, guaranties
“a republican form of government”; and every branch of the National
Government must sustain the guaranty, including especially Congress,
where is the collected will of the people. The obligation is not less
broad, when we consider the party guarantied. Here there can be no
evasion. The guaranty is not merely for the advantage of individual
States, but for the common defence and the general welfare. It is a
guaranty to each in the interest of all, and therefore a guaranty
to all. And such is the solidarity of States in the Union, that the
good of all is involved in the good of each. For each and all, then,
this guaranty must be performed, when the _casus fœderis_ arrives. As
guarantor, the Republic, according to a familiar principle, is to act
on default of the party guarantied; and then the duty is fixed in all
its amplitude.
The testimony is complete. This clause was no hasty or accidental
amendment, creeping into the Constitution by stealth or compromise,
obscure in language and open to various interpretation, but a solemn
act, couched in few, lucid, unmistakable words; and its precise purpose
was just what so plainly appears,--to keep all the States truly
“republican,” and make the whole numerous people, in the development
of the future, homogeneous and one. By these words the Nation is not
only empowered, but commanded, to perform the great guaranty. Power and
duty here concur. Mr. Webster was right, when he called this provision
“a very stringent article, drawing after it the most important
consequences, and all of them good consequences.”[58]
The question, then, returns, What is “a republican form of government,”
according to the requirement of the National Constitution? Mark, if
you please, that it is not the meaning of this term according to Plato
and Cicero, not even according to examples of history, nor according
to definitions of monarchical writers or lexicographers,--but what
is “a republican form of government” according to the requirements
of the National Constitution? Of course these important words were
not introduced and unanimously adopted without purpose. They must be
interpreted so as to have real meaning. Any interpretation rendering
them insignificant must be discarded as irrational and valueless,
if not dishonest. They cannot be treated as a phrase only, nor a
dead letter, nor an empty figure-head. Nor can they be treated as
profession and nothing more, so that the Constitution shall merely
_seem_ to be republican, reversing the old injunction, “To be rather
than to seem,”--_Esse quam videri_. They must be treated as real.
Thus interpreted, they become at once a support of Human Rights and a
balance-wheel to our whole political system.
In determining their signification, I begin by putting aside what is
vague, unsatisfactory, and inapplicable, in order to bring the inquiry
directly to American institutions.
I put aside all illustration derived from the speculations of ancient
philosophers, because, on careful examination, it appears that the
term “Republic,” as used by them, was so absolutely different from any
idea among us as to exclude their definition from the debate. This
captivating term is of Roman origin. It is the same as “commonwealth,”
and means the public interest. As originally employed, it was not
a specific term, describing a particular form of government, but a
general term, embracing all governments, whether kingly, aristocratic,
democratic, or mixed. Its equivalent in Greece was “polity,” being
the general term for all governments. Therefore the definition of a
Republic, according to these ancients, is simply the definition of
an organized government, whether kingly, aristocratic, democratic,
or mixed. Following this definition, the words of the Constitution
are only the guaranty of an organized government, without determining
its character. This, of course, leaves open the very question under
consideration.
While the ancient nomenclature cannot be cited in determining the
definition of a Republic, we may be encouraged by it in demanding
that all government, whatever name it bears, shall be designed to
establish justice and secure the general welfare. Thus, Plato, who
commenced these interesting speculations, likens government to a just
man, delighting in justice always, however treated by others; and
the philosopher insists that every man is a government to himself as
every community is a government to itself. His ideal commonwealth
appears in a good man, and this analogy testifies to the government he
conceived. Aristotle, in a different vein, and with more precision,
opens by declaring that “every state is a certain community” or
“partnership.”[59] This idea appears again when he says, “Nothing more
characterizes a complete citizen than _having a share_ in the judicial
and executive part of the government.”[60] In various places he speaks
of “the common good” as a special object,--as, “when the One, the Few,
or the Many govern for the common good, theirs must be called a good
government”[61]; and he defines a democracy as “where the freemen and
the poor, being the majority, are masters of the government.”[62]
The same ideas find new fervor and expansion, when Cicero says, “A
republic is the interest of the people. But by the people I do not mean
every assemblage of men, gathered together anyhow, but a body of men
associated through agreement in right and community of interest.”[63]
And then again, in another place, the Roman philosopher says, “Only
in a state where the power of the people is supreme has Liberty any
abode, and, _where not equal_, it is not really Liberty.”[64] But all
these requirements or aspirations are applicable to any government, of
whatever form; and it is well known that Cicero recorded his preference
for a government tempered by admixture of the three different kinds;
so that we are not advanced in our definition, unless we insist
that our Republic should have all the virtues accorded to the ideal
commonwealth. And yet there are two principles which all these
philosophers teach: the first is justice; and the second is the duty of
seeking the general welfare.
I next put aside the examples of history, as absolutely fallacious and
inapplicable. In all ages, governments have been called Republics.
Tacitus speaks of Rome under the tyranny of the Empire as the Republic;
and Marcus Aurelius, while Emperor, pledges himself to the Republic.
Indeed, there is hardly a government, from that of the great hunter
Nimrod down to insulted and partitioned Poland, which has not been
called Republic. In 1773, only a few years before the adoption of the
National Constitution, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, after dividing
Poland, undertook to establish fundamental laws for this conquered
country, where was this declaration:--
“The government of Poland shall be forever free, independent,
_and of a republican form_: the true principle of said
government consisting in the strict execution of its laws, and
the equilibrium of the three estates, namely, the king, the
senate, and the equestrian order.”[65]
But a government thus composed cannot be recognized in this debate as
“of a republican form.”
At the adoption of the Constitution, the most competent persons,
who disagreed on other things, agreed in discarding these examples.
Alexander Hamilton and John Adams met here on common ground. The
former, in the Brief of his Argument, exhibits the various forms of
government to which the term “Republic” has been applied.
“A Republic, a word used in various senses. Has been applied
to aristocracies and monarchies. (1.) To Rome under the
Kings. (2.) To Sparta, though a Senate for life. (3.) To
Carthage, though the same. (4.) To United Netherlands, though
Stadtholder, hereditary nobles. (5.) To Poland, though
aristocracy and monarchy. (6.) To Great Britain, though
monarchy, &c.”[66]
John Adams, in his Defence of the American Constitutions, written
immediately anterior to the National Constitution, concurs with
Hamilton.
“But, of all the words in all languages, perhaps there has
been none so much abused in this way as the words _Republic_,
Commonwealth, and Popular State. In the _Rerum-Publicarum
Collectio_, of which there are fifty and odd volumes, and many
of them very incorrect, France, Spain, and Portugal, the four
great Empires, the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman, and
even the Ottoman, are all denominated Republics.”[67]
In his old age the patriarch expressed himself in the same sense, and
with equal force.
“The customary meanings of the words _Republic_ and
_Commonwealth_ have been infinite. They have been applied to
every government under heaven: that of Turkey, and that of
Spain, as well as that of Athens and of Rome, of Geneva and San
Marino.”[68]