xpressly declared in the acts for their admission, on a footing of
perfect equality in every respect with the original members. This
equality is as complete as the equality, before the laws, of the son
with the father, immediately on the attainment by the former of his
legal majority, without regard to the prior condition of dependence and
tutelage. The relations of the original States to one another and to the
Union can not be affected by any subsequent accessions of new members,
as the Constitution fixes those relations permanently, and furnishes the
normal standard which is applicable to all. The Boston memorial to
Congress, referred to in a foregoing chapter, as prepared by a committee
with Mr. Webster at its head, says that the new States "are universally
considered as admitted into the Union upon the same footing as the
original States, and as possessing, in respect to the Union, the same
rights of _sovereignty, freedom, and independence_, as the other
States."

But, with regard to States formed of territory acquired by purchase from
France, Spain, and Mexico, it is claimed that, as they were bought by
the United States, they belong to the same, and have no right to
withdraw at will from an association the property which had been
purchased by the other parties.

Happy would it have been if the equal rights of the people of _all_ the
States to the enjoyment of territory acquired by the common treasure
could have been recognized at the proper time! There would then have
been no secession and no war.

As for the sordid claim of ownership of States, on account of the money
spent for the land which they contain--I can understand the ground of a
claim to some interest in the soil, so long as it continues to be public
property, but have yet to learn in what way the United States ever
became purchaser of the _inhabitants_ or of their political rights.

Any question in regard to property has always been admitted to be matter
for fair and equitable settlement, in case of the withdrawal of a State.

The treaty by which the Louisiana territory was ceded to the United
States expressly provided that the inhabitants thereof should be
"admitted, as soon as possible, according to the principles of the
Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages,
and immunities of citizens of the United States."[104] In all other
acquisitions of territory the same stipulation is either expressed or
implied. Indeed, the