The phrase
"to execute the laws," was an expression which General Jackson applied
to the case of a State refusing to obey the laws while yet a member of
the Union. That is not the case which is now presented. The laws are to
be executed over the United States, and upon the people of the United
States. They have no relation to any foreign country. It is a perversion
of terms, at least it is a great misapprehension of the case, which
cites that expression for application to a State which has withdrawn
from the Union. You may make war on a foreign State. If it be the
purpose of gentlemen, they may make war against a State which has
withdrawn from the Union; but there are no laws of the United States
to be executed within the limits of a seceded State. A State finding
herself in the condition in which Mississippi has judged she is, in
which her safety requires that she should provide for the maintenance of
her rights out of the Union, surrenders all the benefits (and they are
known to be many), deprives herself of the advantages (they are known
to be great), severs all the ties of affection (and they are close and
enduring) which have bound her to the Union; and thus divesting herself
of every benefit, taking upon herself every burden, she claims to be
exempt from any power to execute the laws of the United States within
her limits.
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