But it is a State which you are to admit. What is a State in the sense
of the Constitution? It is not a State in the general--but a State as
you find it in the Constitution. A State, generally, is a body politic
or independent political society of men. But the State which you are to
admit must be more or less than this political entity. What must it be?
Ask the constitution. It shows what it means by a State by reference to
the parties to it. It must be such a State as Massachusetts, Virginia,
and the other members of the American confederacy--a State with full
sovereignty except as the constitution restricts it.
* * * * *
In a word, the whole amount of the argument on the other side is, that
you may refuse to admit a new State, and that therefore if you admit,
you may prescribe the terms.
The answer to that argument is--that even if you can refuse, you can
prescribe no terms which are inconsistent with the act you are to do.
You can prescribe no conditions which, if carried into effect, would
make the new State less a sovereign State than, under the Union as it
stands, it would be.
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