The Works of John C. Calhoun Volume 6 by John C. Calhoun

Author:John C. Calhoun [Calhoun, John C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Politikwissenschaft
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 2018-03-19T23:00:00+00:00

I answer—no; neither after, nor before admission. If the right exist at all, it must be either a natural or acquired right. It cannot be the former; because all such rights belong to man in what is called the state of nature,—that is, in the state which is supposed to precede the existence of government,—or, what is called, the political state. Although the human race cannot exist without society, nor society without government, yet, in the order of things, man must have existed before society, and society before government.

And hence it has not been unusual for elementary writers on morals and politics, in treating of the rights and duties of man, to regard him in each of these states. In his natural state, he is considered simply as an individual, with no superior; and his rights and duties are deduced from those faculties and endowments, physical, intellectual, and moral, —which are common to the race. Regarded in this state, all are equal in rights. In it, each individual is the sole master of his own actions; and there are neither majorities nor minorities,—nor the rights of majorities and minorities.

In the other, or political state, he ceases to be regarded in this isolated and independent character, and is viewed as a member of a body politic, or a State;—that is, a society organized under a government, which represents its sovereign will, and through which it acts. It is in this state, and this only, that majorities and minorities are known, or have, as such, any rights. Whatever rights they possess, are political rights,—the whole class of which are acquired,—and are called conventional; that is, rights derived from agreement or compact, expressed or implied. How absurd, then, is it, to suppose the right of a majority to alter or abolish the Constitution is a natural right, —a right belonging to man regarded as existing in a state of nature,—when, in that state, majorities and minorities are unknown.

If, then, the right of the majority exist at all, it must be as a conventional right; and fortunately for the decision of the question, if it really exists in that character in our system, there will be no difficulty in finding it. The provident foresight of our ancestors has not left to conjecture or implication, in whom the right to abolish constitutions, or forms of government, resides; or how, for the most part, it is to be exercised. In every case (including the Federal Constitution) except New Jersey and Virginia,—and recently Rhode Island,—the authority by which it is to be exercised, and in what manner, is designated in the constitutions themselves. In all, if my memory be correct, the agency of the Government, in some form, is required, to alter or amend the Constitution. In a few, it may be done by the State Legislatures, according to the forms prescribed, without the express sanction of the people; but in all such cases, more than a mere numerical majority of the members is required. The most

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