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wholesome laws to provide for the welfare and lasting prosperity of the State. Although many of us have been delegated by comparatively small portions of the people, yet when assembled here, we are to consider ourselves as agents of the whole State, and to consult the particular interests of our local constituents only so far as may be consistent with the duty which we owe to the community; and in all our deliberations, it behooves us, while sacredly adhering to the constitution as our guide, to divest ourselves of sectional and partial prejudices, and to act together in harmony and patriotism, with the single view to promote the public good.

From the complicated concerns of our national affairs generally we are relieved by a judicious reference of them, under the federal constitution, to the President and Congress of the United States. But as citizens of this extended republic we are all immediately and deeply interested in the measures and policy which they may adopt and pursue. And at the present time, in an especial manner, our attention is necessarily directed towards them by the consideration that some of our most important interests and claims as a separate State, are directly dependent upon, or under the control of the general government. For the faithful and prudent management of these concerns, we must rely upon those public agents, to whom the nation has confided the important trust. It becomes, therefore, highly interesting to this people, that nothing should occur to interrupt the harmony and good understanding, which have heretofore existed between the national and state authority. The relative and corresponding rights and obligations of each are prescribed and defined in the federal constitution, or are necessarily inferred from the nature and intent of that original compact. While the government shall keep within the strict limits of their constitutional power, shall preserve inviolate the rights and sovereignty of the States, and impartially consult and promote the general welfare of the nation, this State, as a constituent member of the American confederation,