^aleUnriBisibllib'a'^l 39002003906030 ^ '„ -f^ '- -irk rn. •¦ ''' *-'v hiCs*^ 9"*S -•''^»-' ,v vvsr -''V > -vJi. L, iS^^L DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF AMERICAN HISTORY 1606-1863 WITH INTRODUCTIONS AND REFERENCES BY HOWARD W. PRESTON NEW YORK & LOXDOX G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS i886 COPYRIGHT BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. 1886. E IV3 Press 0/ C. p. Putnam's Softs New York, TO MY FATHER. PREFACE. In his inaugural lecture at Oxford, October, 1884, Prof. Freeman declared that the historical professor " must ever bear in mind himself and ever strive to impress on the minds of others that the most ingenious and most eloquent of modern historical discourses can after all be nothing more than a comment on a text." A conviction of this truth was the incentive to this work. It is hoped that this presentation of a few of the more important documents, the original authorities and sources of our history, may promote in some degree a more accu rate knowledge of American history. Should this hope be realized the editor will be well repaid. Howard W. Preston. Providenxe, R. I. February 13, 1886. CONTENTS. PAGE First Virginia Ch.\rter — 1606 i Second Virginia Charter — 1609 14 Third Virginia Charter — 161 2 22 iVI.WFLOWER CoMr.VCT — 162O 29 Ordinance for Virgini.^ — 1621. 32 Mass.^chusetts Charter — 1629 36 Maryland Charter — 1632 62 Fundamental Orders of Connecticut — 1639 78 New England Confederation — 1643 85 Connecticut Charter — 1662 96 Rhode Island Charter — 1663 no Pennsylvania Charter — 1681 130 Penn's Plan of Union — 1697 146 Georgia Charter — 1732 148 Franklin's Plan of Union — 1754 170 Declaration of Rights — 1765 188 Declaration of Rights — 1774 192 Non-Importation Agreement — 1774 199 ViRGJUsiA^^iLLOF Rights— 1^76 206 Declaration of Independence — 1776 210 Articles of Confederation — 1777 218 Treaty of Peace — 1783 232 Northwest Ordinance — 1787 240 Constitution — 1787 251 Alien and Sedition Laws — 1798 277 Virginia Resolutions — 1798 283 Kentucky Resolutions — 1798 287 Kentucky Resolutions — 1799 295 Nullification Ordinance — 1832 299 Ordinance of Secession — 1860 304 South Carolina Declaration of iNDErEXDE.NCE — 1860 305 Emancipation Proclamation — 1863 313 References 317 Index of Documents 319 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. FIRST VIRGINIA CHARTER— 1606. The favorable report of the country brought home by the early English explorers, joined to English activity, led to the formation of the Vir ginia Company, on a plan somewhat similar to the famous East India Company. In 1606 James I. granted the necessary charter, and in the spring of the following year Jamestown was founded. " The first written charter of a permanent American colony, which was to be the chosen abode of liberty, gave to the mercantile corpora tion nothing but a desert territory, with the right of peopling it and defending it, and reserved to the monarch absolute legislative authority, the con trol of all appointments, and a hope of an ultimate revenue. The emigrants were subjected to the ordinances of a commercial corporation, of which they could not be members ; to the dominions of a domestic council, in appointing which they had no voice ; to the control of a superior council in 2 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE England, which had no sympathies with their rights ; and finally, to the arbitrary legislation of the sovereign." (Bancroft.) This charter is of especial interest as the first under which a permanent English settlement was planted in America. Consult Bancroft's U. S., isted., I., 120; Cente nary ed., I., 95 ; lasted., I., 85 ; Hildreth's U. S., I., 94; Doyle's English Colonies in America, 109; Bryant and Gay's U. S., I., 267 ; Cooke's Va., 16 ; Neil's Va. Co., 3 ; Stith' s Va.; Chalmers' Political Annals, 12. THE FIRST CHARTER OF VIRGINIA— 1606. JAMES, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scot land, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. Whereas our loving and well-disposed Subjects, Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir George Somers, Knights, Richard Hackluit, Clerk, Prebendary of Westminster, and Edward- Maria Wingfield, Thomas Hanham, and Ralegh Gilbert, Esqrs. William Parker, and George Popham, Gentlemen, and divers others of our loving Subjects, have been hum ble Suitors unto us, that We would vouchsafe unto them our Licence, to make Habitation, Plantation, and to de duce a colony of sundry of our People into that part of America commonly called Virginia, and other parts and Territories in America, either appertaining unto us, or which are not now actually possessed by any Christian Prince or People, situate, lying, and being all along the Sea Coasts, between four and thirty Degrees of Northerly Latitude from the Equinoctial Line, and five and forty Degrees of the same Latitude, and in the main Land be tween the same four and thirty and five and forty De- OF A.VERICAX HISTORY. , grees, and the Islands thereunto adjacent, or within one hundred Miles of the Coast thereof ; And to that End, and for the more speedy Accomplish ment of their said intended Plantation and Habitation there, are desirous to divide themselves into two several Colonies and Companies ; the one consisting of certain Knights, Gentlemen, Merchants, and other Adventurers, of our City of London and elsewhere, which are, and from time to time shall be, joined unto them, which do desire to begin their Plantation and Habitation in some fit and convenient Place, between four and thirty and one and forty Degrees of the said Latitude, alongst the Coasts of Virginia, and the Coasts of America aforesaid: And thc other consisting of sundry Knights, Gentlemen, Mer chants, and other Ad\cnturers, of our Cities of Bristol and Exeter, and of our Town of Plimouth, and of other Places, which do join themselves unto that Colony, which do desire to begin their Plantation and Habitation in some fit and convenient Place, between eight and thirty Degrees and five and forty Degrees of the said Latitude, all alongst the said Coasts of J'irgifiia and America, as that Coast lyeth : We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, here after tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propa gating of Oiristian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowl edge and Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels and Savages, living in those parts, to human Civility, and to a settled and quiet Government : DO, by these our Letters Patents, graciously accept of, and agree to, their humble and well-intended Desires ; And do therefore, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, GRANT and agree, that the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, and Edward-Maria Wingfield, Adventurers of and for our City of London, 4 DOCUMENTS ILL US TRA TIVE and all such others, as are, or shall be, joined unto them of that Colony, shall be called the first Colony ; And they shall and may begin their said first Plantation and Habi tation, at any Place upon the said Coast of Virginia or America, where they shall think fit and convenient, be tween the said four and thirty and one and forty De grees of the said Latitude ; And that they shall have all the Lands, Woods, Soil, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Marshes, Waters, Fishings, Commodi ties, and Hereditaments, whatsoever, from the said first Seat of their Plantation and Habitation by the Space of fifty Miles of English Statute Measure, all along the said Coast of Virginia and America, towards the West and Southwest, as the Coast lyeth, with all the Islands within one hundred Miles directly over against the same Sea Coast ; And also all the Lands, Soil, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Woods, Waters, Marshes, Fishings, Commodities, and Hereditaments, whatsoever, from the said Place of their first Plantation and Habita tion for the space of fifty like English Miles, all alongst the said Coasts of Virginia and America, towards the East and Northeast, or towards the North, as the Coast lyeth, together with all the Islands within one hundred Miles, directly over against the said Sea Coast ; And also all the Lands, Woods, Soil, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Marshes, Waters, Fishings, Commodi ties, and Hereditaments, whatsoever, from the same fifty Miles every way on the Sea Coast, directly into the main Land by the Space of one hundred like English Miles ; And shall and may inhabit and remain there ; and shall and may also build and fortify within any the same, for their better Safeguard and Defence, according to their best Discretion, and the Discretion of the Council of that Colony ; And that no other of our Subjects shall be permitted, or suffered, to plant or inhabit behind, or on the Backside of them, towards the main Land, without OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 5 the Express Licence or Consent of the Council of that Colony, thereunto in Writing first had and obtained. And we do likewise, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, by these Presents, Grant and agree, that the said Thomas Hanham, and Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, and George Popham, and all others of the Town of Plimouth in the County of Devon, or elsewhere, which are, or shall be, joined unto them of that Colony, shall be called the second Colony ; And that they shall and may begin their said Plantation and Seat of their first Abode and Habi tation, at any Place upon the said Coast of Virginia and America, where they shall think fit and convenient, be tween eight and thirty Degrees of the said Latitude, and five and forty Degrees of the same Latitude ; And that they shall have all the Lands, Soils, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Woods, Marshes, Waters, Fishings, Commodities, and Hereditaments, whatsoever, from the first Seat of their Plantation and Habitation by the Space of fifty like English Miles, as is aforesaid, all alongst the said Coasts of Virginia and America, towards the West and Souihzucst, or towards the South, as the Coast lyeth, and all the Islands within one hundred Miles, directly over against the said Sea Coast ; And also all the Lands, Soils, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Woods, Marshes, Waters, Fishings, Commodities, and Hereditaments, whatsoever, from the said Place of their first Plantation and Habitation for the Space of fifty like Miles, all alongst the said Coast of Virginia and America, towards the East and North east, or towards the North, as the Coast lyeth, and all the Islands also within one hundred Miles directly over against the same Sea Coast ; And also all the Lands, Soils, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers, Woods, Mines, Minerals, Marshes, Waters, Fishings, Commodities, and Hereditaments, whatsoever, from the same fifty Miles everyway on the Sea Coast, directly into the main Land, by the Space of one hundred like English Miles ; And 6 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE shall and may inhabit and remain there ; and shall and may also build and fortify within any the same for their better Safeguard, according to their best Discretion, and the Discretion of the Council of that Colony ; And that none of our Subjects shall be permitted, or suffered, to plant or inhabit behind, or on the back of them, towards the main Land, without express Licence of the Council of that Colony, in Writing thereunto first had and obtained. Provided always, and our Will and Pleasure herein is, that the Plantation and Habitation of such of the said Colonies, as shall last plant themselves, as aforesaid, shall not be made within one hundred like English Miles of the other of them, that first began to make their Plan tation, as aforesaid. And we do also ordain, establish, and agree, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, that each of the said Colonies shall have a Council, which shall govern and order all Matters and Causes, which shall arise, grow, or happen, to or within the same several Colonies, according to such Laws, Ordinances, and Instructions, as shall be, in that behalf, given and signed with Our Hand or Sign Man ual, and pass under the Privy Seal of our realm of Eng land ; Each of which Councils shall consist of thirteen Persons, to be ordained, made, and removed, from time to time, according as shall be directed and comprised in the same instructions ; And shall have a several Seal, for all Matters that shall pass or concern the same several Coun cils ; Each of which Seals, shall have the King's Arms engraven on the one Side thereof, and his Portraiture on the other; And that the Seal for the Council of the said first Colony shall have engraven round about, on the one Side, these Words ; Sigillum Regis Magnce Brit- annies, Francice, Sf Hibernice ; on the other Side this Inscription round about ; Pro Concilia primce Colonics Virginice. And the Seal for the Council of the said second Colony shall also have engraven, round about the OF AMERICAN HIS TOR Y. j one Side thereof, the aforesaid Words ; Sigillum Regis MagticB BritannicB, Franc iu-, &¦ Hibernicc , and on the other Side ; Pro Concilia secimdce Colonice I'irginics : And that also there shall be a Council, established here in Englatid, which shall, in like Manner, consist of thir teen Persons, to be, for that Purpose, appointed by Us, our Heirs and Successors, which shall be called our Conn- cil of Virginia ; And shall, from time to time, have the superior Managing and Direction, only of and for all Mat ters that shall or may concern the Government as well as of the said several Colonies, as of and for any other Part or Place, within the aforesaid Precincts of four and thirty and five and forty Degrees above mentioned ; Which Council shall, in like manner, have a Seal, for Matters con cerning the Council or Colonies, with the like Arms and Portraiture, as aforesaid, with this inscription, engraven round about on the one Side ; Sigillum Regis Magnce BritannicB, Francice, & Hibernice ; and round about on the other Side, Pro Concilia suo VirginicB. And moreover, we do GRANT and agree, for Us, our Heirs and Successors; that the said several Councils of and for the said several Colonies, shall and lawfully may, by Virtue hereof, from time to time, without any Interruption of Us, our Heirs or Successors, give and take Order, to dig, mine, and search for all Manner of Mines of Gold, Silver, and Copper, as well within any part of their said several Colonies, as for the said main Lands on the Backside of the same Colonies ; And to H.WE and enjoy the Gold, Silver, and Copper, to be got ten thereof, to the Use and Behoof of the same Colonies, and the Plantations thereof ; YIELDING therefore to Us, our Heirs and Successors, the fifth Part only of all the same Gold and Silver, and the fifteenth Part of all the same Copper, so to be gotten or had, as is aforesaid, with- out any other Manner of Profit or Account, to be given or yielded to Us, our Heirs, or Successors, for or in Re spect of the same : ¦g DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE And that they shall, or lawfully may, establish and cause to be made a Coin, to pass current there between the people of those several Colonies, for the more Ease of Traffick and Bargaining between and amongst them and the Natives there, of such Metal, and in such Man ner and Form, as the said several Councils there shall limit and appoint. And we do likewise, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, by these Presents, give full Power and Authority to the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hack luit, Edward-Maria Wingfield, Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, and George Popham, and to every of them, and to the said several Companies, Plan tations, and Colonies, that they, and every of them, shall ¦and may, at all and every time and times hereafter, have, take, and lead in the said Voyage, and for and towards the said several Plantations, and Colonies, and to travel thitherward, and to abide and inhabit there, in every the said Colonies and Plantations, such and so many of our Subjects, as shall willingly accompany them or any of them, in the said Voyages and Plantations ; With sufifi- ¦cient Shipping, and Furniture of Armour, Weapons, Ordinance, Powder, Victual, and all other things, neces sary for the said Plantations, and for their Use and De fence there : Provided always, that none of the said Persons be such, as shall hereafter be specially restrained by Us, our Heirs, or Successors. Moreover, we do, by these Presents, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors GiVE AND GRANT Licence unto the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, Edward-Maria Wingfield, Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gil bert, William Parker, and George Popham, and to every of the said Colonies, that they, and every of them, shall and may, from time to time, and at all times forever here after, for their several Defences, encounter, expulse, repel, and resist, as well by Sea as by Land, by all Ways and Means whatsoever, all and every such Person and Per- OF AMERICA.V II/STOR 1 '. g sons, as without the especial Licence of thc said several Colonies and Plantations, shall attempt to inhabit within the said several Precincts and Limits of the said several Colonies and Plantations, or anj- of them, or that shall enterprise or attempt, at any time hereafter, the Hurt, Detriment, or Annoyance, of the said several Colonies or Plantations: Giving and granting, b\' these Presents, unto the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, Edivard-Maria Wingfield, and their Associates of thc said first Colony, and unto the said Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert. William Parker, and George Popham, and their Associates of the said second Colony, and to every of them, from time to time, and at all times for ever hereafter. Power and Authority to take and surprise, by all Ways and Means \\hatsoever, all and every Person and Persons, with their Ships, Vessels, Goods and other Furniture, which shall be found trafficking, into any Harbour or Harbours, Creek or Creeks, or Place, within the Limits or Precincts of the said several Colonies and Plantations, not being of the same Colon}% until such time, as they, being of any Realms, or Dominions under our Obedience, shall pay, or agree to pay, to the Hands of the Treasurer of that Colony, within whose Limits and Precincts they shall so traffick, two and a half upon every Hundred, of any thing, so by them trafficked, bought, or sold ; And being Strangers, and not Subjects under our Obeysance, until they shall pay five upon every Hundred, of such Wares and Merchandise, as they shall traffick, buy, or sell, within the Precincts of the said several Colonies, wherein they shall so trafifick, buy, or sell, as aforesaid ; Which Sums of Money, or Bene fit, as aforesaid, for and during the Space of one and twenty Years, next ensuing the Date hereof, shall be wholly employed to the Use, Benefit, and Behoof of the said several Plantations, where such Traffick shall be made ; And after the said one and twenty Years ended. 1 0 DOCUMENTS ILL USTRA TIVE the same shall be taken to the Use of Us, our Heirs,, and Successors, by such Officers and Ministers as by Us, our Heirs, and Successors, shall be thereunto assigned or appointed. And we do further, by these Presents, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, Give and grant unto the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, and Edward-Maria Wingfield, and to their Associates of the said first Colony and Plantation, and to the said Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, and George Popham, and their Associates of the said second Colony and Plantation, that they, and every of them, by their Deputies, Ministers, and Factors, may transport the Goods, Chattels, Armour, Munition, and Furniture, needful to be used by them, for their said Apparel, Food, Defence, or otherwise in Respect of the said Plan tations, out of our Realms of England and Ireland, and all other our Dominions, from time to time, for and dur ing the Time of seven Years, next ensuing the Date hereof, for the better Relief of the said several Colonies and Plantations, without any Customs, Subsidy, or other Duty, unto Us, our Heirs, or Successors, to be yielded or payed for the same. Also we do, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, DE CLARE, by these Presents, that all and every the Persons being our Subjects, which shall dwell and inhabit within every or any of die said several Colonies and Planta tions, and every of their children, which shall happen to. be born within any of the Limits and Precincts of the said several Colonies and Plantations, shall HAVE and enjoy all Liberties, Franchises, and Immunities, within any of our other Dominions, to all Intents and Pur poses, as if they had been abiding and born, within this our Realm of England, or any other of our said Domin ions. Moreover, our gracious Will and Pleasure is, and we do, by these Presents, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors OF AMERICAN HISTORY. i j declare and set forth, that if any Person or Persons, which shall be of any of the said Colonies and Planta tions, or any other which shall traffick to the said Col onies and Plantations, or any of them, shall, at any time or times hereafter, transport any Wares, Merchandises, or Commodities, out of any of our Dominions, with a Pretence to land, sell, or otherwise dispose of the same, within any the Limits and Precincts of any of the said Colonies and Plantations, and yet nevertheless, being at Sea, or after he hath landed the same within any of the said Colonies and Plantations, shall carry the same into any other Foreign Country, with a Purpose there to sell or dispose of the same, without the Licence of Us, our Heirs, and Successors, in that Behalf first had and obtained ; That then, all the Goods and Chattels of such Person or Persons, so offending and transporting, together with the said Ship or Vessel, wherein such Transportation was made, shall be forfeited to Us, our Heirs, and Successors. Provided always, and our Will and Pleasure is, and we do hereby declare to all Christian Kings, Princes, and States, that if any Person or Persons which ;hall here after be of any of the said several Colonies and Planta tions, or any other, by his, their, or any of their Licence and Appointment, shall, at any Time or Times hereafter, rob or spoil, by Sea or Land, or do any Act of unjust and unlawful Hostility to any the Subjects of Us, our Heirs, or Successors, or any the Subjects of any King, Prince, Ruler, Governor, or State, being then in League or Amitie with Us, our Heirs, or Successors, and that upon such Injury, or upon just Complaint of such Prince, Ruler, Governor, or State, or their Subjects, We, our Heirs, or Successors, shall make open Proclamation, within any of the Ports of our Realm of England, com modious for that purpose. That the said Person or Per sons, having committed any such Robbery, or Spoil, shall. within the term to be limited by such Proclamation.?, 1 2 DOCUMENTS ILL USTRA TIVE make full Restitution or Satisfaction of all such Injuries done, so as the said Princes, or others so complaining, may hold themselves fully satisfied and contented ; And, that if the said Person or Persons, having committed such Robbery or Spoil, shall not make, or cause to be made Satisfaction accordingly, within such Time so to be limited. That then it shall be lawful to Us, our Heirs, and Successors, to put the said Person or Persons, hav ing committed such Robbery or Spoil, and their Procur ers, Abettors, and Comforters, out of our Allegiance and Protection ; And that it shall be lawful and free, for all Princes, and others to pursue with hostility the said of fenders, and every of them, and their and every of their Procurers, Aiders, abettors, and comforters, in that be half. And finally, we do for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, Grant and agree, to and with the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, Edward-Maria Wingfield, and all others of the said first colony, that We, our Heirs and Successors, upon Petition in that Be half to be made, shall, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of England, Give and Grant, unto such Per sons, their Heirs and Assigns, as the Council of that Col ony, or the most part of them, shall, for that Purpose, nominate and assign all the Lands, Tenements, and Her editaments, which shall be within the Precincts limited for that Colony, as is aforesaid. To BE HOLDEN of Us, our Heirs and Successors, as of our Manor at East-Green wich, in the County of Kent, in free and common Soc- cage only, and not in Capita : And do in like Manner, Grant and Agree, for Us, our Heirs and Successors, to and with the said Thomas Han ham, Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, and George Popham, and all others of the said second Colony, That We our Heirs, and Successors, upon Petition in that Behalf to be made, shall, by Letters-Patent, under the Great Seal of England, Give and Grant, unto such Persons, their OF AMt KICAN HISTORY. i , Heirs and Assigns, as the Council of that Colony, or the most Part of them, shall for that Purpose nominate and assign, all the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, which shall be w ithin the Precincts limited for that Col ony, as is aforesaid. To BE HOLDEN of Us, our Heirs, and Successors, as of our Manor of East-Greenwicli, in the County of Kent, in free and common Soccage only, and not in Capite : All which Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, so to be passed by the said several Letters-Patent, shall be sufficient Assurance from the said Patentees, so distrib uted and divided amongst the Undertakers for the Plan tation of the said several Colonies, and such as shall make their Plantations in either of the said several Col onies, in such Manner and Form, and for such Estates, as shall be ordered and set down by the Council of the said Colony, or the most part of them, respectively, within which the same Lands, Tenements, and Hered itaments shall lye or be ; Although express Mention of the true yearly Value or Certainty of the Premisses, or any of them, or of any other Gifts or Grants, by Us or any of our Progenitors or Predecessors, to the aforesaid Sir Thomas Gates, Knt. Sir George Somers, Knt. Richard Hackluit, EdwardMaria Wingfield, Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, and George Popham, or any of them, heretofore made, in these Presents, is not made ; Or any Statute, Ac*, Ordinance, or Provision, Proclamation, or Restraint, to the contrary hereof had, made, ordained, or any other Thing, Cause, or Matter whatsoever, in any wise notwithstanding. In Witness whereof, we have caused these our Letters to be made Patents ; Witness Ourself at Westminster, the tenth Day of April, in the fourth Year of our Reign oi England, France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the nine and thir tieth. LUKIN Per breve de private Sigillo. 14 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE SECOND VIRGINIA CHARTER— 1609. In the hope of improving the wretched state of affairs the Virginia Company, in 1609, obtained a more specific charter, extending their authority and transferring to the company powers previously re served to the king. The government now vested in " The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London, for the first Colony in Virginia." The company left no means untried, and the general interest in the adventure is shown by the long list of patentees, numbering over 650 names, together with 59 of the London companies. The social standing of the patentees ranged from the great lords of the realm to the fishmongers. The Lord Mayor is said to have urged upon the great livery companies the neces sity of aiding the enterprise, and the indefatigable Hakluyt published " Virginia Newly Valued," to excite interest in the undertaking. The charter was sealed .May 23, 1609. Only the more important provisions of this charter are here inserted. THE SECOND CHARTER OF VIRGINIA— 1609. JAMES, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scot land, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all, to whom these Presents shall come. Greeting. Whereas, at the humble Suit and Request of sundry 14 OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 15 our loving and well-disposed Subjects, intending to de duce a Colony, and to make Habitation and Plantation of sundry our People in that Part of America commonly called VlRGlNI.v, and othcr Parts and Territories in America, either appertaining unto Us, or which are not actually possessed of an)- Christian Prince or People, Avithin certain Bounds and Regions, We have formerly, b\- our Letters patents, bearing Date the tenth Day of April, in the fourth Year of our Reign of England, France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the nine and thirti eth. Granted to Sir Thomas Gatcs, Sir George Somers, and others, for the more speedy Accomplishment of the said Plantation and Habitation, that they should divide themselves into two Colonies (the one consisting of divers Knights, Gentlemen, Merchants, and others, of our City of London, called the First Colony; And the other consisting of divers Knights, Gentlemen, and others, of our Cities of Bristol, Exeter, and Town of Plimouth, and other Places, called the SECOND COLONY). And have yielded and granted many and sundry Privileges and Liberties to each Colony, for their quiet settling and good Government therein, as by the said Letters-patents more at large appeareth. Now, forasmuch as divers and sundry of our loving Subjects, as well Adventurers, as Planters, of the said first Colony, which have already engaged themselves in furthering the Business of the said Colony and Planta tion, and do further intend, by the Assistance of Al mighty God, to prosecute the same to a happy End, have of late been humble Suitors unto Us, that (in Re spect of their great Charges and the Adventure of many of their Lives, which they have hazarded in the said Discovery and Plantation of the said Country) We would be pleased to grant them a further Enlargement and Ex planation of the said Grant, Privileges, and Liberties, and that such Counsellors, and other Officers, may be appointed amongst them, to manage and direct their l6 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE affairs, as are willing and ready to adventure with them, as also whose Dwellings are not so far remote from the City of London, but they may, at convenient Times, be ready at Hand, to give their Advice and Assistance, upon all Occasions requisite. We greatly affecting the effectual Prosecution and happy success of the said Plantation, and commen'd- ing their good desires therein, for their further Encour agement in accomplishing so excellent a Work, much pleasing to God, and profitable to our Kingdom, do of our especial Grace, and certain Knowledge, and mere Motion, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, Give, GRANT, and Confirm, to our trusty and well-beloved Subjects, Robert, Earl of Salisbury, (and others) .... and to such and so many as they do, or shall hereafter admit to be joined with them, in the form hereafter in these pres ents expressed, whether they go in their Persons to be Planters there in the said Plantation, or whether they go cot, but adventure their monies, goods, or Chatties, that they shall be one Body or Commonalty perpetual, and shall have perpetual Succession and one common Seal to serve for the said Body or Commonalty, and that they and their Successors shall be known, called, and incor porated by the Name of The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London, for the first Colony in Virginia. And that they and their Suc cessors shall be from henceforth forever enabled to take, acquire, and purchase by the Name aforesaid (Licence for the same from Us, our Heirs, and Successors, first had and obtained) any Manner of Lands, Tenements, and Hered itaments, Goods and Chatties, within our Realm of Eng land, and Dominion of Wales. And that they, and their Successors, shall likewise be enabled by the Name afore said, to plead and be impleaded, before any of our Judges or Justices in any of our Courts, and in any Ac tions or Suits whatsoever. And we do also of our special Grace, certain Knowledge, and mere Motion, give, grant OF A.MERICAX HISTORY. I? and confirm, unto thc said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, under the Reserxations, Limitations, and Declarations hereafter expressed, all those Lands, Countries, and Territories, situate, lying, and being in that Part of America, called Virginia, from the Point of Land, called Cape or Point Comfort, all along the Sea Coast to the Northward, two hundred miles, and from the said Point of Cape Comfort, all along the Sea Coast to the Southward, two hundred Miles, and all that Space and Circuit of Land, lying from the Sea Coast of the Precinct aforesaid, up into the Land throughout from Sea to Sea, West and Northwest ; And also all the Islands lying within one hundred Miles along the Coast of both Seas of the Precinct aforesaid. ********* * And forasmuch as the good and prosperous Success of the said Plantation, cannot but chiefly depend next under the Blessing of God, and the Support of our Royal Authority, upon the provident and good Direction of the whole Enterprise, by a careful and understanding Coun cil, and that it is not convenient, that all the Adventurers shall be so often drawn to meet and assemble, as shall be requisite for them to have Meetings and Conference about the Affairs thereof ; Therefore we DO ordain, establish and confirm, that there shall be perpetually one Council here resident, according to the Tenour of our former Let ters-Patents ; Which Council shall have a Seal for the better Government and Administration of the said Plan tation, besides the legal Seal of the Company or Corpo ration, as in our former Letters-Patents is also expressed. ********* * And the said Thomas Smith, We DO ORDAIN to be Treasurer of the said Company ; which Treasurer shall have Authority to give Order for the Warning of the Council, and summoning the Company to their Courts and Meetings. And the said Council and Treasurer, or any of them shall be from henceforth nominated, chosen,. 1 S DOCUMENTS ILL USTRA TIVE continued, displaced, changed, altered and supplied, as Death, or other several Occasions shall require, out of the Company of the said Adventurers, by the Voice of the greater part of the said Company and Adventurers, in their Assembly for that Purpose : PROVIDED always. That every Counsellor so newly elected, shall be pre sented to the Lord Chancellor of England, or to the Lord High Treasurer of England, or to the Lord Cham berlain of the Household of Us, our Heirs and Succes sors for the Time being, to take his Oath of a Counsellor to Us, our Heirs and Successors, for the said Company of Adventurers and Colony in Virginia. ********* * And further, of our special Grace, certain Knowledge, and mere Motion, for Us, our Heirs and Successors, we do, by these Presents, Give and Grant full Power and Authority to our said Council here resident, as well at this present time, as hereafter from time to time, to nom inate, make, constitute, ordain and confirm, by such Name or Names, Stile or Stiles, as to them shall seem good. And likewise to revoke, discharge, change, and alter, as well all and singular Governors, Officers, and Ministers, which already have been made, as also which hereafter shall be by them thought fit and needful to be made or used for the Government of the said Colony and Plantation : And also to make, ordain, and establish all Manner of Orders, Laws, Directions, Instructions, Forms and Ceremonies of Government and Magistracy, fit and necessary for and concerning the Government of the said Colony and Plantation ; And the same, at all Times hereafter, to abrogate, revoke, or change, not only within the Precincts of the said Colony, but also upon the Seas, in going and coming to and from the said Colony, as they in their good Discretion, shall think to be fittest for the ¦Good of the Adventurers and inhabitants there. OF A.MERICAX HISTOR Y. j g And we do further by these presents Okd.vin and establish, that the said Treasurer and Council here resi dent, and their successors or any four of them being assembled (the Treasurer being one) shall from time to time have full Power and Authority to admit and receive an}' other Person into their Company, Corporation, and Freedom ; And further in a General Assembly of Adven turers, with the consent of the greater part upon good Cause, to disfranchise and put out any Person or Persons out of the said Freedom or Company. ********* And forasmuch as it shall be necessary for all such our loving Subject as shall inhabit within the said Precincts of Virginia aforesaid, to determine to live together in the Fear and true Worship of Almighty God, Christian Peace and Civil Quietness each with other, whereby every one may with more Safety, Pleasure and Profit enjoy that whereunto they shall attain with great Pain and Peril ; We for Us, our Heires, and Successors are likewise pleased and contented, and by these Presents do GIVE and GRANT unto the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, and to such Governors, Officers, and Ministers, as shall be by our said Council constituted and appointed according to the Natures and Limits of their Offices and Places respectively, that they shall and may from Time to Time, for ever hereafter, within the said Precincts of Virginia, or in the way by Sea thither and from thence, have full and absolute Power and Authority to correct, punish, pardon, govern, and rule all such the Subjects of Us, our Heires, and Successors as shall from Time to Time adventure themselves in any Voyage thither, or that shall at any Time hereafter, inhabit in the Precincts and Territories of the said Colony as aforesaid, according to such Orders, Ordinances, Constitutions, Directions, and Instructions, as by our said Council as aforesaid, shall be established ; And in Defect thereof in case of Necessity, according to the good Discretion of 20 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE the said Governor and Officers respectively, as well in Cases capital and criminal, as civil, both Marine and other ; So always as the said Statutes, Ordinances and Proceedings as near as conveniently may be, be agreeable to the Laws, Statutes, Government, and Policy of this our Realm of England. And we do further of our special Grace, certain Knowledge, and mere Motion, GRANT, DECLARE, and ORDAIN, that such principal Governor, as from Time to Time shall duly and lawfully be authorized and appointed io Manner and Form in these Presents heretofore expressed, shall have full Power and Authority, to use and exercise Martial Law in Cases of Rebellion or Mutiny, in as large and ample Manner as our Lieuten ants in our Counties within this our Realm of England have or ought to have, by Force of their Commissions of Lieutenancy. -»***»**»* And lastly, because the principal Effect which we can desire or expect of this Action, is the Conversion and Reduction of the People in those Parts unto the true Worship of God and Christian Religion, in which Respect we should be loath that any Person should be permitted to pass that we suspected to affect the Superstitions of the Church of Rome, we do hereby DECLARE, that it is our Will and Pleasure that none be permitted to pass in any Voyage from Time to Time to be made into the said Country, but such as first shall have taken the Oath of Supremacy; For which Purpose, we do by these Presents give full Power and Authority to the Treasurer for the Time being, and any three of the Council, to tender and exhibit the said Oath, to all such Persons as shall at any Time be sent and employed in the said Voyage. AL THOUGH express Mention of true yearly Value or Cer tainty of the Premisses, or any of them, or of any other Gifts or Grants by Us, or any of our Progenitors or Pre decessors to the aforesaid Treasurer and Company here tofore made in these Presents, is not made ; Or any Act, OF A.UERICAN HISTORY. 21 Statute, Ordinance, I'roxision, I'roclamation, or Restraint, to the contrary hereof had, made, ordained, or provided, or any other Thing, Cause, or Matter whatsoever in any wise notwithstanding. In Witness whereof. We have caused these our Letters to be made Patent. Witness ourself at /fVj/;«/'«.y/'f;', the 23d Day of May, in the sev enth Year of our Reign of England, France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the **** Per Ipsum REGEM. LUKIN. 22 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE THIRD VIRGINIA CHARTER— 1612. The desirability of the Bermudas was first brought to the notice of the Company by Sir Thomas Gates and his companions, who were there shipwrecked on their way to Virginia in 1609, and lived for nine months on the resources of the islands. As the Company's patent limited their possessions to islands within one hundred leagues of the coast, they petitioned for a new charter ex tending their limits. More important than the acquisition of Bermu da was the improvement in the government of the Company providing for weekly meetings. The Company sold its rights to the Bermudas to some of its own members, who obtained a charter in 16 14. The Third Virginia Charter was sealed March 12, 1612. Of this charter, as of the second, the most essen tial articles only are given THE THIRD CHARTER OF VIRGINIA— 161 1-12. JAMES, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scot- land, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith ; To all to whom these Presents shall come. Greeting. WHERE AS at the humble Suit of divers and sundry our loving Subjects, as well Adventurers as Planters of the first Colony in Virginia, and for the Propagation of Christian Religion, and Reclaiming of People barbarous, to Civility and Humanity, We have, by our Letters-Patents, bearing: OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 33 Date at Westminster, the three-and-twentieth Day of ALiy, in the seventh Year of our Reign of England, France, and Ireland, and the two-and-forticth of Scotland, GiVEN and Granted unto them that they and ail such and so man)' of our loving Subjects as should from time to time, for ever after, be joined with them as Planters or Adven turers in the said Plantation, and their Successors, for ever, should be one Body politick, incorporated b)- the Name of The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters af tlie City of London for the first Colony in Vir ginia ; And whereas also for the greater Good and Bene fit of the said Compan)-, and for the better Furtherance, Strengthening, and Establishing of the said Plantation, we did further GiVE, GRANT and CONFIRM, by our Let ters-patents unto the said Company and their Successors, for ever, all those Lands, Countries or Territories, situate, lying and being in that Part of America called Virginia, from the Point of Land called Cape or Point Comfort all along the Sea Coasts to the Northward two hundred Miles ; and from the said Point of Cape Comfort all along the Sea Coast to the Southward two hundred Miles ; and all that Space and Circuit of Land lying from the Sea Coast of the Precinct aforesaid, up into the Land through out from Sea to Sea West and North-West; and also all the Islands lying within one hundred Miles along the Coast of both the Seas of the Precinct aforesaid ; with divers other Grants, Liberties, Franchises and Prehemi- nences. Privileges, Profits, Benefits, and Commodities granted in and by our said Letters-patents to the said Treasurer and Company and their Successors for ever. Now forasmuch as we are given to understand, that in those Seas adjoining to the said Coasts of Virginia, and without the Compass of those two hundred Miles by Us so granted unto the said Treasurer and Company as aforesaid, and yet not far distant from the said Colony in Virginia, there are or may be divers Islands lying deso late and uninhabited, some of which are already made 24 DOCUMENTS ILL USTRA TIVE known and discovered by the Industry, Travel, and Ex pences of the said Company, and others also are supposed to be and remain as yet unknown and undiscovered, all and every of which it may import the said Colony both in Safety and Policy of Trade to populate and plant ; in Regard whereof, as well for the preventing of Peril, as for the better Commodity of the said Colony, they have been humble suitors unto Us, that We would be pleased to grant unto them an Enlargement of our said former Letters-patents, as well for z. more ample Extent of their Limits and Territories into the Seas adjoining to and upon the Coast of Virginia, as also for some other Mat ters and Articles concerning the better government of the said Company and Colony, in which Point our said former Letters-Patents do not extend so far as Time and Experience hath found to be needful and convenient : We therefore tendering the good and happy Success of the said Plantation, both in Regard of the General Weal of human Society, as in Respect of the Good of our own Estate and Kingdoms, and being willing to give Further ance unto all good Means that may advance the Benefit of the said Company, and which may secure the Safety of our loving Subjects planted in our said Colony, under the Favour and Protection of God Almighty, and of our P..oyal Power and Authority, have therefore of our especial Grace, certain Knowledge, and mere Motion, given, granted, and confirmed, and for Us, our Heirs and Suc cessors, we do by these Presents give, grant, and confirm to the said Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the city of London for the first Colony in Vir ginia, and to their Heirs and Successors for ever, all and singular those Islands whatsoever situate and being in any Part of the Ocean Seas bordering upon the Coast of our said first Colony in Virginia, and being within three Hundred Leagues of any of the Parts heretofore granted to the said Treasurer and Company in our said former Letters-Patents as aforesaid, and being within or between OF AMERICAN IIISTORY. 25 the one-and-fortieth and thirtieth Degrees of Northerly Latitude. ********** And we do hereby ordain and grant by these Presents, that the said Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters aforesaid, shall and may, once every week, or oftener, at their Pleasure, hold, and keep a Court and Assembly for the better Order and Government of thc said Plantation, and such Things as shall concern the same ; And that any five Persons of our Council for the said first Colony in I'irgittia, for the Time being, of which Company the Treasurer, or his Deputy, to be always one, and the Number of fifteen others, at the least, of the Generality of the said Company, assembled together in such Manner, as is and hath been heretofore used and accustomed, shall be said, taken, held, and reputed to be, and shall be a sufficient Court of the said Company, for the handling and ordering, and dispatch ing of all such casual and particular Occurrences, and accidental Matters, of less Consequence and \\^eight, as shall from Time to Time happen, touching and concern ing the said Plantation : And that nevertheless, for the handling, ordering, and disposing of Matters and Affairs of greater Weight and Importance, and such as shall or ma)', in any Sort, concern the Weal Publick and general Good of the said Company and Plantation, as namely, the Manner of Government from Time to Time to be used, the ordering and Disposing of the Lands and Pos sessions, and the settling and establishing of a Trade there, or such like, there shall be held and kept every Year, upon the last Wednesday, save one, of Hillary Term, Easter, Trinity, and Michaelmas Terms, for ever, one great, general, and solemn Assembly, which four Assemblies shall be stiled and called, Thc four Great and General Courts of the Council and Company of Adve?iturers for Virginia ; In all and every of which said Great and General Courts, so assembled, our Will and 26 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE Pleasure is, and we do, for Us, our Heirs and Successors,, for ever. Give and Grant to the said Treasurer and Com pany, and their Successors for ever, by these Presents, that they, the said Treasurer and Company, or the greater Number of them, so assembled, shall and may have full Power and Authority, from Time to Time,, and at all times hereafter, to elect and chuse discreet Persons, to be of our said Council for the said first Col ony in Virginia, and to nominate and appoint such offi cers as they shall think fit and requisite, for the Govern ment, managing, ordering, and dispatching of the Affairs of the said Company ; And shall likewise have full Power and Authority, to ordain and make such Laws and Ordinances, for the Good and Welfare of the said Plantation, as to them from Time to Time, shall be thought requisite and meet : So always, as the same be not contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this our Realm of England. ******** And for the more effectual Advancing of the said Plantation, We do further, for Us, our Heirs, and Suc cessors, of our especial Grace and favour, by Virtue of our Prerogative Royal, and by the Assent and Consent of the Lords and others of our Privy Council, Give and Grant, unto the said Treasurer and Company, full Power and Authority, free Leave, Liberty, and Licence, to set forth, erect, and publish, one or more Lottery or Lotteries, to have Continuance, and to endure and be held, for the Space of our whole Year, next after the opening of the same ; And after the End and Expiration of the said Term, the said Lottery or Lotteries to con tinue and be further kept, during our Will and Pleasure only, and not otherwise. And yet nevertheless, we are contented and pleased, for the Good and Welfare of the said Plantation, that the said Treasurer and Company shall, for the Dispatch and Finishing of the said Lottery or Lotteries, have six Months Warning after the said OF A MERICA . \ ' HIS JORY. ., - Year ended, before our Will and Pleasure shall, for and on that Behalf, be construed, deemed, and adjudged, to be in an)' wise altered and determined. And our further Will and Pleasure is, that the said Lottery and Lotteries shall and may be opened and held, within our City of London, or in any other City or Town, or elsewhere, within this our Realm of England, with such Prizes, Arti cles, Conditions, and Limitations, as to them, the said Treasurer and Company, in their Discretions, shall seem convenient : And it shall and may be lawful, to and for the said Treasurer and Company, to elect and choose Receivers. Surveyors, Auditors, Commissioners, or any other Officers whatsoever, at their Will and Pleasure, for the better marshalling, disposing, guiding, and govern ing, of the said Lottery and Lotteries ; And that it shall likewise be lawful, to and for the said Treasurer and any two of the said Council, to minister to all and every such Person, so elected and chosen for Officers, as aforesaid, one or more Oaths, for their good Behaviour, just and true Dealing, in and about the said Lottery or Lotteries, to the Intent and Purpose, that none of our loving Sub jects, putting in their Names, or otherwise adventuring in the said general Lottery or Lotteries, may be, in any wise, defrauded and deceived of their said Monies, or evil and indirectly dealt withal in their said Adventures. And we further GRANT, in Manner and Form aforesaid, that it shall and may be lawful, to and for the said Treasurer and Company, under the Seal of our said Council for the Plantation, to publish, or to cause and procure to be published by Proclamation, or otherwise (the said Proclamation to be made in their Name, by Virtue of these Presents) the said Lottery or Lotteries, in all Cities, Towns, Burroughs, and other Places, within our said Realm of Englatid ; And we Will and Command all Mayors, Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Bailiffs, Constables, and other Officers and loving Sub jects, whatsoever, that in no wise, they hinder or delay 28 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE the Progress and Proceedings of the said Lottery or Lot teries, but be therein, touching the Premises, aiding and assisting, by all honest, good, and lawful Means and Endeavours. And further, our Will and Pleasure is, that in all Questions and Doubts, that shall arise, upon any Difficulty of Construction or Interpretation of any Thing, contained in these, or any other our former Letters-pat ents, the same shall be taken and interpreted, in most ample and beneficial Manner for the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, and every Member thereof. And lastly, we do, by these Presents, RATIFY and CONFIRM unto the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, for ever, all and all Manner of Privi leges, Franchises, Liberties, Immunities, Preheminences, Profits, and Commodities, whatsoever, granted unto them in any our former Letters-patents, and not in these Presents revoked, altered, changed, or abridged. AL THOUGH express Mention of the true Yearly Value or Certainty of the Premises, or any of them, or of any other Gift or Grant, by Us or any our Progenitors or Predecessors, to the aforesaid Treasurer and Company heretofore made in these Presents is not made ; Or any Statute, Act, Ordinance, Provision, Proclamation, or Restraint, to the contrary thereof heretofore made, ordained, or provided, or any other Matter, Cause, or Thing, whatsoever, to the contrary, in any wise, notwith standing. In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patents. Witness Ourself, at Westminster, the twelfth Day of March, in the ninth Year of our Reign of England, France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the five and fortieth. OF A.MERICA.V HISTORY. oc, MAYFLOWER COMPACT— 1620. The need of this compact is thus set forth by one of the Pilgrims : " Some of the strangers among them had let fall from them in the ship that when they came ashore they would use their own liberty, for none had power to command them, the patent they had being for Virginia and not for New England, which belonged to another government, with which the Virginia Company had nothing to do." Bancroft lauds it in the highest terms : " Here was the birth of popular constitu tional liberty. The middle ages had been familiar with charters and constitutions ; but they had been merely compacts for immunities, partial enfran chisements, patents of nobility, concessions of mu nicipal privileges, or limitations of the sovereign power in favor of feudal institutions. In the cabin of the Mayflower humanity recovered its rights, and instituted government on the basis of ' equal laws,' enacted by all the people for the 'general good.'" (For a different estimate, see Scott 's Developmetit of Constitutional Liberty, p. 84, and Crane and Moses' Politics, p. 103.) John Quincy Adams regarded it as " perhaps the only instance in human history of the positive original social compact, which speculative phi losophers have imagined as the only legitimate source of government." Somewhat similar com- 20 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE pacts were drawn up by the settlers of Portsmouth, R. I., 1638, and Newport, 1639, and Exeter, N. H., 1639. Plymouth obtained a patent for their lands from the New England Company, and though never suc cessful in their numerous applications for a royal charter maintained an independent existence until its incorporation with Massachusetts in i6gi. Consult Bancroft's Hist. U. S., ist ed. 1,309; Cen. ed. I., 143 ; lasted. I., 206 ; Hildreth's Hist. U. S.,l., 158; Palfrey's Hist. New England, I., 165; Bryant and Gay's U. S., I., ^^Z; Barry's Hist. Mass., First Period, 83 ; Webster 's Plymouth Ora tion, see Works ; Frot hingham 's Pise of the Repub lic of the U. 6"., 1 5 ; Doyle's English Colonies, 158. THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT. In the name of God, Amen ; We, whose names are underwritten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland King, defender of the faith, etc., haveing undertaken, for the glorie of God, and advance- mente of the Christian faith and honor of our king and countrie, a voyage to plant the first colonic in the North- erne parts of Virginia, doe, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civili body politick, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; and, by vertue heareof, to enacte, constitute, and frame, such just and equall laws, ordenances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and convenient for the generall good of the Colonic. Unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 31 Avitnes whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names, at Cap Codd, the nth of November, in the year of the raigne of our sovereigne lord. King James, of England, France, and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini, 1620. 32 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE ORDINANCE FOR VIRGINIA— 1621. Sir George Yeardley, appointed by the Virginia Company Governor of Virginia in 16 18, received instructions from the treasurer of the Company "that the planters might have a hand in the gov erning of themselves." Yeardley, accordingly, summoned the council of state and two burgesses. to meet at Jamestown, July 30, 1619. Two years later the Virginia Company passed the following ordinance, giving to the colony the guarantee of a written constitution. The Tory historian, Chal mers, characterizes this ordinance " as no less re markable for the wisdom of its provisions than for being the principal step in the progress of free dom." The proceedings of the first assembly are printed in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., id series, vol. III., p. 331, from a copy found in the Record Office in Eng land. Consult also Bancroft's Hist. U. S., ist ed. vol. I., p. 153; Centenary ed. I., 119; last ed. I., no; Hildreth 's U.S.,\.,2\\; Bryant and Gay 's U. S., I., 306 ; Neil's Va. Co., 139; Chalmers' Political Annals, 43. OF AMERICAN II/STOR Y. AN ORDINANCE AND CONSTITUTION OF THE TREASURER, COUNCIL, AND COMPANY IN ENGLAND FOR A COUNCIL OF STATE AND GENERAL ASSEMBLY. DATED JULY 21. 1621. To all People, to whom these Presents shall come, be seen, or heard, The Treasurer, Council, and Company of Adventurers and Planters for the city of London for the first Colony of Virginia, send Greeting. Know ye, that we, the said Treasurer, Council, and Company, taking into our careful Consideration the present State of the said Colony of Virginia, and intending, by the Divine Assistance, to settle a Form of Government there, as may be to the greatest Benefit and Comfort of the Peo ple, and whereby all Injustice, Grievances, and Oppres sion may be prevented and kept off as much as possible from the said Colony, have thought fit to make our En trance by ordering and establishing such Supreme Coun cils, as may not only be assisting to the Governor for the Time being, in the Administration of Justice, and the executing of other Duties to this Office belonging; but also by their vigilant Care and Prudence, may provide, as well for a Remedy of all Inconveniences, growing from time to time, as also for the advancing of Increase, Strength, Stability and Prosperity of the said Colony : We therefore, the said Treasurer, Council, and Com pany, by Authority directed to us from his Majesty under the Great Seal, upon mature Deliberation, Do hereby order and declare, that, from henceforward, there shall be Two Supreme Councils in Virginia, for the better government of the Colony aforesaid. One of which Councils to be called the Council of State (and whose office shall chiefly be assisting, with their Care, Advice, and Circumspection, to the said Governor) shall be chosen, nominated, placed, and dis- 3 34 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE placed, from time to time, by us, the safd Treasurer, Council, and Company, and our Successors : Which Council of State shall consist for the present, only of these persons, as are here inserted, viz., Sir Francis Wyat, Governor of Virginia, Captain Francis West, Sir George Yeardley, Knight, Sir William Neuce, Knight, Marshal of Virginia, Mr. George Sandys, Treasurer, Mr. George Thorpe, Deputy of the College, Captain Thomas Neuce, Deputy for the Company, Mr. Pawlet, Mr. Leech, Captain Nathaniel Powell, Mr. Christopher Davidson, Secretary, Dr. Pots, Physician to the Company, Mr. Roger Smith, Mr. John Berkeley, Mr. John Rolfe, Mr. Ralph Hamer, Mr. John Pountis, Mr. Michael Lapworth, Mr. Harwood, Mr. Samuel Macock : Which said Coun sellors and Council we earnestly pray and desire, and in his Majesty's Name strictly charge and command, that all Factions, Partialities, and sinister respect laid aside, they bend their Care and Endeavours to assist the said Governor; first and principally, in the Advancement of the Honour and Service of God, and the Enlargement of his Kingdom amongst the Heathen People ; and next, in erecting of the said Colony in due obedience to his Majesty, and all lawful Authority from his Majesty's Directions ; and lastly, in maintaining the said People in Justice and Christian Conversation amongst themselves, and in Strength and Ability to withstand their Enemies. And this Council, to be always, or for the most Part, residing about or near the Governor. The other, more generally to be called by the Gov ernor, once Yearly, and no oftener, but for very extraor dinary and important Occasions, shall consist, for the present, of the said Council of State, and of two Bur gesses out of every Town, Hundred, or other particular Plantation, to be respectively chosen by the Inhabitants : Which Council shall be called the General Assembly, wherein (as also in the said Council of State) all Matters shall be decided, determined, and ordered, b)'^ the greater OF A.MFRJCA.V HISTORY. ,? Part of the Voices then present ; reserving to the Gov ernor always a Negative \^oice. And this General As sembly shall have free Power to treat, consult and con clude, as well of all emergent Occasions concerning thc Public Weal of the said Colony and every Part thereof, as also to make, ordain, and enact such general Laws and Orders, for the Behoof of the said Colony, and the good Government thereof, as shall from time to time appear necessary or requisite : Whereas in all other Things, we require the said Gen eral Assembly, as also the said Council of State, to imi tate and follow the Policy of the Form of Government, Laws, Customs, and Manner of Trial and other Admin istration of Justice, used in the Realm of England, as near as may be, even as ourselves, b)' his Majesty's Let ters-patent, are required : Provided, that no Law or Ordinance, made in the said General Assembly, shall be or continue in Force or Va lidity, unless the same shall be solemnly ratified and confirmed, in a General Quarter Court of the said Com pany here in England, and so ratified, be returned to them under our Seal : It being our Intent to afford the like Measure also unto the said Colony that after the Government of the said Colony shall once have been well framed and settled accordingly, which is to be done by Us, as by Authority derived from his Majesty, and the same shall have been so by Us declared, no Orders of Court afterwards shall bind the said Colony, unless they be ratified in like Manner in the General Assem blies. In Witness whereof we have hereunto set our Com mon Seal, the 24th of July, 162 1, and in the Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, James, King of Eng land, etc., the .... and of Scotland the .... 36 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE MASSACHUSETTS BAY CHARTER— 1629. The interest awakened by the little colony planted at Cape Ann in 1625 by Rev. John White, of Dorchester, England, led to the forma tion of the company known as " The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England." They first obtained a patent for lands from the Council for New England (Mar. 14, 1628) and then, in order to exercise power of gov ernment, a charter from the king Mar. 4, 1629. The same year they transferred the government and charter to New England. As to the legality of this step historians and jurists have been di vided. From the first there was a constant strug gle on the part of the colonists to preserve the charter and to resist any infringement of it. The contest ended in the forfeiture of the charter in 1684, and the consolidation of the northern colo nies under Sir Edmund Andros. After the accession of William and Mary, Mas sachusetts solicited the restoration of the charter, but instead, in 169 1, through the agency of In crease Mather, a new charter was issued. But the old liberty was lost, for the king reserved to himself the appointment of the governor, lieuten ant-governor, and secretary. This, together with the supplementary charter of 1 726, remained the fundamental law of Massachusetts till the State constitution of 1 780, which is still in force. OF AMERICAN HIS TOR Y. 3 7 Consult Palfrey's Hist. N. E., I., 290; Win sor' s Memorial Hist. Boston, I., 87 ; Barry's Hist. Mass.. First Period, 158 ; Bancroft's U. 554 ; Burnet' s Northwestern Territory,, 37. THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIAL GOVERN MENT— 1787. [The Confederate Congress, July 13, 1787.J An Ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio. Section i. Be it ordained by the United States in Con gress assembled. That the said Territory, for the purpose of temporary government, be one district, subject, how ever, to be divided into two districts, as future circum stances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expe dient. Sec. 2. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates both of resident and non-resident proprietors in the said territory, dying intestate, shall descend to, and be distributed among, their children and the descendants of a deceased child in equal parts, the descendants of a deceased chUd or grandchild to take the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them ; and where there shall be no children or descendants, then in equal parts to the next of kin, in equal degree ; and among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of the intestate shall have, in equal parts among them, their deceased parent's share ; and there shall, in no case, be a distinction between kindred of the whole and half blood ; saving in all cases to the widow of the intestate, her third 16 .242 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE part of the real estate for life, and one-third part of the personal estate ; and this law relative to descents and dower, shall remain in full force until altered by the legislature of the district. And until the governor and judges shall adopt laws as hereinafter mentioned, estates in the said territory may be devised or bequeathed by wills in writing, signed and sealed by him or her in whom the estate may be, (being of full age,) and attested by three witnesses ; and real estates may be conveyed by lease and release, or bargain and sale, signed, sealed, and delivered by the person, being of full age, in whom the estate may be, and attested by two witnesses, provided such wills be duly proved, and such conveyances be ac knowledged, or the execution thereof duly proved, and be recorded within one year after proper magistrates, courts, and registers, shall be appointed for that purpose ; and personal property may be transferred by delivery, saving, however, to the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers of the Kaskaskies, Saint Vincents, and the neighboring villages, who have heretofore professed themselves citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among them, relative to the descent and conveyance of property. Sec. 3. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid. That there shall be appointed, from time to time, by Congress, a govemor, whose commission shall continue in force for the term of three years, unless sooner revoked by Con gress ; he shall reside in the district, and have a freehold estate therein, in one thousand acres of land, while in the exercise of his office. Sec. 4. There shall be appointed from time to time, by Congress, a secretary, whose commission shall continue in force for four years, unless sooner revoked ; he shall re side in the district, and have a freehold estate therein, in five hundred acres of land, while in the exercise of his office. It shall be his duty to keep and preserve the acts and laws passed by the legislature, and the pubHc OF A.MERICAN HISTORY. 043 records of the district, and the proceedings of the govern or in his executive department, and transmit authentic copies of such acts and proceedings every si.x months to the Secretary of Congress. There shall also be appointed a court, to consist of three judges, any two of whom to form a court, who shall have a common-law jurisdiction and reside in the district, and have each therein a free hold estate, in five hundred acres of land, while in the exercise of their offices ; and their commissions shall con tinue in force during good behavior. Sec. 5. The governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the district such laws of the original States, criminal and civil, as may be nec essary, and best suited to the circumstances of the dis trict, and report them to Congress from time to time, which laws shall be in force in the district until the organization of the general assembly therein, unless dis approved of by Congress ; but afterwards the legislature shall have authority to alter them as they shall think fit. Sec. 6. The governor, for the time being, shall be com mander-in-chief of the militia, appoint and commission aU officers in the same below the rank of general offi cers ; all general officers shall be appointed and commis sioned by Congress. Sec. 7. Previous to the organization of the general assembly the governor shall appoint such magistrates, and other civil officers, in each county or township, as he shaU find necessary for the preservation of the peace and good order in the same. After the general assembly shall be organized the powers and duties of magistrates and other civil officers shall be regulated and defined by the said assembly; but all magistrates and other civil officers, not herein otherwise directed, shall, during the continuance of this temporary government, be appointed by the governor. Sec. 8. For the prevention of crimes, and injuries, the laws to be adopted or made shall have force in all parts 244 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE of the district, and for the execution of process, criminal and civil, the governor shall ,make proper divisions thereof ; and he shall proceed, from time to time, as cir cumstances may require, to lay out the parts of the dis trict in which the Indian titles shall have been extin guished, into counties and townships, subject, however, to such alterations as may thereafter be made by the legislature. Sec. 9. So soon as there shall be five thousand free male inhabitants, of full age, in the district, upon giving proof thereof to the governor, they .shall receive author ity, with time and place, to elect representatives from their counties or townships, to represent them in the general assembly : Provided, That for every five hundred free male inhabitants there shall be one representative, and so on, progressively, with the number of free male inhabitants, shall the right of representation increase, un til the number of representatives shall amount to twenty- five ; after which the number and proportion of repre sentatives shall be regulated by the legislature ; Pro vided, That no person be eligible or qualified to act as a representative, unless he shall have been a citizen of one of the United States three years, and be a resident in the district, or unless he shall have resided in the district three years ; and, in either case, shall likewise hold in his own right, in fee-simple, two hundred acres of land within the same : Provided also. That a freehold in fifty acres of land in the district, having been a citizen of one of the States, and being resident in the district, or the like freehold and two years' residence in the district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector of a representative. Sec. io. The representatives thus elected shall serve for the term of two years ; and in case of the death of a representative, or removal from office, the governor shaU issue a writ to the county or township, for which he was OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. 24 ? a member, to elect another in his stead, to serve for the residue of the term. Sec. II. The general assembly, or legislature, shall consist of the governor, legislative council, and a house of representatives. The legislative council shall consist of five members, to continue in office five years, unless sooner removed by Congress ; any three of whom to be a quorum ; and the members of the councU shall be nominated and appointed in the following manner, to wit : As soon as representatives shall be elected the gov ernor shall appoint a time and place for them to meet together, and when met the)' shall nominate ten persons, resident in the district, and each possessed of a freehold in five hundred acres of land, and return their names to Congress, five of whom Congress shall appoint and com mission to serve as aforesaid ; and whenever a vacancy shall happen in the council, by death or removal from office, the house of representatives shall nominate two persons, qualified as aforesaid, for each vacancy, and re turn their names to Congress, one of whom Congress shall appoint and commission for the residue of the term ; and every five years, four months at least before the expiration of the time of service of the members of the council, the said house shall nominate ten persons, qualified as aforesaid, and return their names to Con gress, five of whom Congress shall appoint and commis sion to serve as members of the council five years, unless sooner removed. And the governor, legislative council, and house of representatives shall have authority to make laws in all cases for the good government of the district, not repugnant to the principles and articles in this ordinance established and declared. And all bills, having passed by a majority in the house, and by a majority in the council, shall be referred to the governor for his assent ; but no bill, or legislative act whatever, shall be of any force without his assent. The governor shall have power to convene, prorogue, and dissolve the 246 DOCUMENTS ILL USTRA TIVE general assembly when, in his opinion, it shall be expe dient. Sec. 12. The governor, judges, legislative council, secretary, and such other officers as Congress shall ap point in the district, shall take an oath or affirmation of fidelity, and of office ; the governor before the President of Congress, and all other officers before the govemor. As soon as a legislature shall be formed in the district, the council and house assembled, in one room, shall have authority, by joint ballot, to elect a delegate to Con gress, who shall have a seat in Congress, with a right of debating, but not of voting, during this temporary gov ernment. Sec. 13. And for extending the fundamental princi ples of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions, are erected ; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions, and governments, which for ever hereafter shall be formed in the said territory ; to provide, also, for the establishment of States, and per manent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the Federal councils on an equal footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be consist ent with the general interest : Sec. 14. It is hereby ordained and declared, by the authority aforesaid, that the foUowing articles shall be considered as articles of compact, between the original States and the people and States in the said territory, and forever remain unalterable, unless by common con sent, to wit : ARTICLE I. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship, or religious sentiments, in the said territory. OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. 247 ARTICLE II. The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writs of habeas corpus, and of the trial by jury ; of a proportionate representation of the people in the legislature, and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law. All persons shall be bailable, unless for capital offences, where the proof shall be evident, or the presumption great. All fines shall be moderate ; and no cruel or unusual punish ments shall be inflicted. No man shall be deprived of his liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land, and should the public exigencies make it necessary, for the common preservation, to take any person's property, or to demand his particular ser vices, full compensation shall be made for the samc. And, in the just preservation of rights and property, it is understood and declared, that no law ought ever to be made or have force in the said territory, that shall, in any manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts, or engagements, bona fide, and without fraud previously formed. ARTICLE III. Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent ; and in their property, rights, and liberty they never shall be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress ; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall, from time to time, be made, for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friend ship with them. ^48 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE ARTICLE IV. The said territory, and the States which may be formed therein, shall forever remain a part of this con federacy of the United States of America, subject to the articles of Confederation, and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made ; and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assem bled, conformable thereto. The inhabitants and settlers in the said territory shall be subject to pay a part of the Federal debts, contracted, or to be contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of government to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other States ; and the taxes for paying their proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the district, or districts, or new States, as in the original States, within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. The legislatures of those districts, or new States, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Con gress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bana-fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States ; and in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and Saint Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any other States that may be admitted into the confederacy, with out any tax, impost, or duty therefor. OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. 340 ARTICLE V. There shall be formed in the said territory not less than three nor more than five States ; and the bounda ries of the States, as soon as Virginia shaU alter her act of cession and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit : The western State, in the said territory, shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Wabash Rivers ; a direct line drawn fromithe Wabash and Post Vincents, due north, to the territorial line between the United States and Canada ; and by the said territorial line to the Lake of the Woods and Mississippi. The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash from Post Vincents to the Ohio, by the Ohio, by a direct line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami to the said territo rial line, and by the said territorial line. The eastern State shall be bounded by the last-mentioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said territorial line : Provided, hozvever. And it is further understood and de clared, that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered, that, if Congress shall here after find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And whenever any of the said States shall have sixty thou sand free inhabitants therein, such State shall be admitted by its delegates, into the Congress of the United States, on an equal footing with the original States, in all re spects whatever ; and shall be at liberty to form a per manent constitution and State government : Provided, The constitution and government, so to be formed, shall be republican, and in conformity to the principles con tained in these articles, and, so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the confederacy, such admis sion shall be allowed at an earlier period, and when there 250 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE may be a less number of free inhabitants in the State than sixty thousand. ARTICLE VI. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servi tude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punish ment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted : Provided always. That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid. That the res olutions of the 23d of April, 1784, relative to the subject of this ordinance, be, and the same are hereby, repealed, and declared null and void. Done by the United States, in Congress assembled, the 13th day of July, in the year of our Lord 1787, and of their sovereignty and independence the twelfth. OF A.MERICAN HISTORY. 251 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. At the close of the revolution it was evident that the Articles of Confederation were not suited to the exigencies of the nation. Suggestions of a convention to revise the Articles came from vari ous quarters, but led to no result till the Virginia Legislature, in January, 1786, appointed commis sioners to meet such as might be appointed by other states "to take into consideration the trade of the United States ; to examine the relative sit uations and trade of the said states ; to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial reg ulations may be necessary to their common inter est and their permanent harmony ; and to report to the several states such an act relative to this great object as, when unanimously ratified by them, will enable the United States in Congress assembled effectually to provide for the same," Accordingly twelve commissioners from the five states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia met at Annapolis, September 11, 1786, and, after a short session, adjourned, recommending that a full convention of delegates from all the states be held at Philadelphia, May 2d next, to mature plans for adapting the federal government "to the exigency of the union." The Congress ofthe Confederation, Feb. 21, 1787, recommended ¦ 252 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRA TIVE to the several states that a convention be held at Philadelphia " for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and re porting to Congress and the several legislatures, such alterations and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the States, render the Federal Constitution adequate, to the exigencies of Government and the preserva tion of the union." How closely the convention followed these instructions is well known. The convention, consisting of fifty delegates, from twelve states (all but Rhode Island), met at Philadelphia, May 14, 1787, and sat with closed doors till September 17, 1787, when Washington transmitted, as the result of their labors, the Con stitution to Congress. Congress transmitted the Constitution to the several legislatures, and, September 13, 1788, eleven states having ratified it, passed resolutions provid ing for the choosing of electors for President and Vice-President. The dates of the ratification of the Constitution by the several states are as follows : — Delaware, December 7, 1787; Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787; New Jersey, December 18, 1787; Georgia, January 2, 1788; Connecticut, January 9, 1788; Massachusetts, February 6, 1788; Maryland, April 28, 1788; South Carolina, May 23, 1788; New Hampshire, June 21, 1788 ; Virginia, June 26, 1788 ; New York, July 26, 1788 ; North Caro lina, November 21, 1789; Rhode Island, May 29, 1790. OF AMERICA.X HISTOR Y. ^ r , Consult Bancroft's Hist, of the Constitution; Bancroft's U. S, last ed., vol. VI. ; Story's Com mentary on thc Constitution, especially vol. I., book III., chaps, i. and ii. ; Hildreth's U S., III., 482 ; Bryant and Gay's U. S., vol. IV., Curtis' Hist. Constitution; Frothingham's Rise of the Republic, 589; Tow le's Constittitio7i ; Elliott's Debates; Schouler' s U. S., I., 36-78 McMaster's, U. S., I., 43 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES— 1787. We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domes tic Tranquillity, provide for the common defence, pro mote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and estabUsh this CONSTITUTION for the United States of America, ARTICLE I. Section i. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. 254 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Num ber of Free persons, including those bound" to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumera tion shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and with in every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Represent atives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative ; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massa chusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Planta tions one, Connecticut five. New York six. New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five. South Carolina five, and Georgia three. When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies. The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers ; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. Section 3. The Senate of the United States shaU be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. Immediately after they shall be assembled in Conse quence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expira tion of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expi ration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one-third may be OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. ., r c chosen every second Year ; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies. No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have at tained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shaU not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen. The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice Presi dent, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States. The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeach ments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside : and no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present. Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor. Trust or Profit under the United States : but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. Section 4. The Times, Places and manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof ; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of cbusing Senators. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shaU be on the first Monday in 256 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day. Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Mem bers, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business ; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide. Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceed ings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member. Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the Journal. Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shaU, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shalt receive a Compensation for their services, to be ascer tained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time ; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. -^cy be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office. Section 7. All bills for raising Revenue shall origi nate in the House of Representatives ; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be re turned by the President within ten Days (Sundays ex cepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law. Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Con currence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjourn ment) shaU be presented to the President of the United States ; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. Section 8. The Congress shall have Power to lay and 17 258 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States ; To borrow Money on the credit of the United States ; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes ; To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies through out the United States ; To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Meas ures ; To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States ; To establish Post Offices and post Roads ; To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Dis coveries ; To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court ; To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Na tions ; To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water ; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years ; To provide and maintain a Navy ; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces ; To provide for caUing forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel In vasions ; OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. 250 To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserv ing to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia accord ing to the discipline prescribed by Congress ; To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatso ever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, ai-id the Accept ance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over aU Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shaU be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock- Yards, and other needful Buildings; — And To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Gov ernment of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person. The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or In vasion the public Safety may require it. No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. No Capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein be fore directed to be taken. No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of 26o DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another : nor shaU Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another. No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Ex penditures of aU public Money shaU be published from time to time.- No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States : And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Con gress, accept of any present. Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. Section io. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation ; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal ; coin Money ; emit Bills of Credit ; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts ; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, ex cept what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws : and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States ; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Con- troul of the Congress. No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay. OF A.MERICAN HISTOR Y. 26 1 ARTICLE II. Section i. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, to gether with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legis lature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress : but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each ; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Repre sentatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest num ber of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Rep resentatives shall immediately chuse by ballot one of them for President ; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House shall in like manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote ; a quo rum for this purpose shall consist of a member or mem bers from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all 262 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE the States shaU be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by ballot the Vice-President. The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shaU give their Votes ; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States. No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President ; neither shall any Person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall de volve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resigna tion or Inability, both of the President and Vice Presi dent, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the DisabiUty be removed, or a President shall be elected. The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be en- creased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them. Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the foUowing Oath or Affirmation : — " I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I wiU faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and wiU to the best of OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 263 my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitu tion of the United States." Section 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States ; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeach ment. He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Con sent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur ; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Offi cers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be estab lished by Law : but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. The President shaU have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session. Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient ; he may, on extra ordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and, in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper ; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers ; he 264 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE shall take Care that the Laws be faithfuUy executed, and shall Commission aU the Officers of the United States. Section 4. The President, Vice President and aU civil Officers of the United States, shaU be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of. Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. ARTICLE III. Section i. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such infe rior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office. Section 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitu tion, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority ; — to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls ; — to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Juris diction ; — to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party ; — to Controversies between two or more States ; — between a State and Citizens of another State ; — between Citizens of different States, — between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of differ ent States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects. In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Min isters and Consuls, and those in which a State shaU be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction, In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regula tions as the Congress shall make. OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 265 The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeach ment, shall be by Jury ; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been com mitted ; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed. Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in lev)'ing War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Tes timony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punish ment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted. ARTICLE IV. Section i. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Pro ceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof. Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be en titled to all Privileges and immunities of Citizens in the several States. A person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime. No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be dis- 266 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE charged from such Service or Labour, but shall be deliv ered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due. Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Con gress into this Union ; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State ; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as weU as of the Congress. The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Terri tory or other Property belonging to the United States ; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State. Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Govern ment, and shall protect each of them against Invasion ; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Execu tive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence. ARTICLE V. The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legisla tures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress ; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any OF A.MERICA.V IIISTORY. 267 Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article ; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. ARTICLE VI. AU Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as vaUd against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof ; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land ; and the Judges in everj'^ State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution ; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. ARTICLE VII. The ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitu tion between the States so ratifying the Same. Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven, and of the Independance of the United 268 DOCUMENTS ILL USTRA TIVE States of America the Twelfth. In ff itness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names, G°: WASHINGTON— Presidt., attd Deputy from Virginia. Nezv Hampshire. John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman. Massachusetts. Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King. Connecticut. Wm. Saml. Johnson, Roger Sherman. New York. Alexander Hamilton. New Jersey. Wil : Livingston, Wm. Paterson, David Brearley, Jona. Dayton. Pennsylvania. B. Franklin, Thos. Fitzsimons, Thomas Mifflin, Jared Ingersoll, Robt. Morris, James Wilson, Geo. Clymer, Gouv. Morris. Delaware. Geo. Read, Richard Bassett, Gunning Bedford, Jun., Jaco : Broom. John Dickinson, Maryland. James McHenry, Dan. Carroll. Dan. Jenifer, of St. Thomas, Virginia. John Blair, James Madison, Jr. North Carolina. -Wm. Blount, Hugh Williamson. Rich'd Dobbs Speight, South Carolina. J. Rutledge, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Pierce Butler. OF A.MERICAN HISTORY. o5„ Georgia. William Few, Abr. Baldwin. Attest : WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary. ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PROPOSED BY CONGRESS, AND RATIFIED BY THE LEG ISLATURES OF THE SEVERAL STATES PURSUANT TO THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF TIIE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION. [ARTICLE I.]* Congress shall make no law respecting an establish ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. [ARTICLE II.j A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the secur ity of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arpas, shall not be infringed. [ARTICLE III.j No Soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. [ARTICLE IV.] The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches * The first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States were proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the First Con gress, on the 25th September, 1789. 270 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. [ARTICLE v.] No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or in dictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger ; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of Hfe or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any Criminal Case to be a witness against himself, nor be de prived of Hfe, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. [ARTICLE VL] In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. [ARTICLE VIL] In suits at common law, where the value in Controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rule? of the common law. OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. 371 [ARTICLE VIII.j Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. [ARTICLE IX.] The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shaU not be construed to deny or disparage others re tained by the people. [ARTICLE X.] The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are re served to the States respectively, or to the people. [ARTICLE XI.]* The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, com menced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State. [ARTICLE Xll.Jt The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of * The eleventh amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Third Congress, on the 5th of September, 1794 ; and was declared in a message from the Presi dent to Congress, dated the Sth of January, 1798, to have been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the States. [Poore.] t The twelfth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed" to the legislatures of the several States by the Eighth Congress, on the I2th of December, 1803, in lieu of the third paragraph of the first section of the third article ; and was declared in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated the 25th of September, 1804, to have been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the States. [Poore.] 272 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves ; they shall name in their ballots. the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vite-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate ; — The President of the Senate shall, in the pres ence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted ; — The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the Hoiise of Repre sentatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the Pres ident. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state hav ing one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-president, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the pur pose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be OF AMERICA N HISTOR Y. ny, necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. [ARTICLE XIII.]* Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. [ARTICLE XIV.] t Section i. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are * The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-eighth Con gress, on the first of February, 1865 ; and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated the i8th of December, 1865, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven of the thirty-six States viz. : Illinois, Rhode Island, Michigan, Maryland, New York, West Virginia, Maine, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Ne vada, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont, Tennessee, Ar kansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia. [Poore.] t The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-ninth Con gress, on the i6th of June, i865. On the 21st of July, 1868, Congress adopted and transmitted to the Department of State a concurrent resolution, declaring that " the legislatures of the States o£ Connecticut, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois, West Virginia, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Ala bama, South Carolina, and Louisiana, being three-fourths and more of the several States of the Union, have ratified the fourteenth article of amend ment to the Constitution of the United States, duly proposed by two-thirds of each House of the Thirty-ninth Congress : Therefore, Resolved, That said fourteenth article is hereby declared to be a part of the Constitution of the United States, and it shall be duly promulgated as such by the Secretary of State." [Poore.] 18 2 74 DOCUMENTS ILL USTRA TIVE citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shaU make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citi zens of the United States ; nor shaU any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due pro cess of law ; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for Pres ident and Vice President of the United States, Represent atives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, be ing twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebeUion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the num ber of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Represent ative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-Pres ident, or hold any office, civil, or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State Legis lature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts in curred for payment of pensions and bounties for services OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. ., _ - in suppressing insurrection or rebeUion, shall not be ques tioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebeUion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave ; but aU ^uch debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. Section 5. The Congress shaU have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. [ARTICLE XV.]* Section i. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shaU not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or pre vious condition of servitude. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO, AND AMEND MENT OF, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE U-NITED STATES, PROPOSED BY CONGRESS, BUT NOT RATIFIED BY THE LEGISLA TURES OF THE SEVERAL STATES, PUR SUANT TO THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION. PROPOSED BY THE FIRST CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION, MARCH 4, 1789. Article I. After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution, there shall be one Representative for every thirty thousand, until the num- * The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Fortieth Congress, on the 27th of February, 1869, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated March 30, 1870, to have been ratified by the legis latures of twenty-nine of the thirty-seven States. [Poore.] 276 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE ber shall amount to one hundred, after which, the pro portion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shaU be not less than one hundred Representatives, nor less than one Representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to two hundred, after which the proportion ^all be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than two hundred Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every fifty thousand persons. Art. II. No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shaU have in tervened. PROPOSED BY THE ELEVENTH CONGRESS, SECOND SES SION, NOVEMBER 27, 1809. If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain any title of nobility or honor, or shall, without the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office or emolument of any kind what ever, from any emperor, king, prince, or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them. PROPOSED BY THE THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION, MARCH 2, 1861. Article XIII. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State. OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. ^yy ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS— 1798. During the French excitement the Federalists pushed through Congress two acts which proved the ruin of their party. The Alien Act of June 25, 1795, "which stands without a parallel in Ameri can legislation," was followed, July 6, by a sec;ond act directed against " Alien Enemies." The Alien Act passed the house by a close vote of 46 to 40. The Sedition Act of July 14, 1798, passed the house by a still closer vote of 44 to 41. Five years before (1792) England had passed an alien act followed by other acts of similar tenor. The first prosecution under the Sedition Act was peculiar. Matthew Lyon, M.C., from Ver mont, was tried, convicted and sentenced to four months' imprisonment and $1000 fine. In 1840, long after Lyon's death. Congress restored to his heirs the fine paid, with the accrued interest. The opposition to these acts formulated itself in numerous petitions from all sections, north as well as south, and finally in the Virginia and Kentucky Revolutions. Consult Schouler' s U. S., I., 393 ; Stevens' Al bert Gallatin, 156; Von Hoist's Cons, Hist. U.S., I., 142; Bryant and Gay's U. S., IV., 129; McMaster's U. S, IL, 393; Hildreth's U. S, V., 216 and 225 ; Gibbs' Washington and Adams, II., 73; Hamilton's Republic, VIL, 156, 276, 341. 278 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE AN ACT CONCERNING ALIENS. Section i. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That it shall be lawful for the President of the United States at any time during the continuance of this act to order all such aliens as he shall judge danger ous to the peace and safety of the United States, or shall have reasonable grounds to suspect are concerned in any treasonable or secret machinations against the gov ernment thereof, to depart out of the territory of the United States, within such time as shall be expressed in such order, which order shall be served on such alien by delivering him a copy thereof, or leaving the same at his usual abode, and returned to the office of the Secre tary of State, by the marshal or other person to whom the same shall be directed. And in case any alien, so ordered to depart, shall be found at large within the United States after the time limited in such order for his departure, and not having obtained a licence from the Pres ident to reside therein, or having obtained such licence shall not have conformed thereto, every such alien shall, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned for a term not exceed ing three years, and shall never after be admitted to be come a citizen of the United States. Provided always, and be it further enacted, that if any alien so ordered to depart shall prove to the satisfaction of the President, by evidence to be taken before such person or persons as the President shall direct, who are for that purpose hereby authorized to administer oaths, that no injury or danger to the United States will arise from suffering such alien to reside therein, the President of the United States may grant a licence to such alien to remain within the United States for such time as he shall judge proper, and at such place as he may designate. And the President may also require of such alien to enter into a bond to the United States, in such penal sum as OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. 3 70 he may direct, with one or more sufficient sureties to the satisfaction of the person authorized by the President to take the same, conditioned for the good behavior of such alien during his residence in the United States, and not violating his licence, which licence the President may revoke whenever he shall think proper. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be law ful for the President of the United States, whenever he may deem it necessary for the public safety, to order to be removed out of the territory thereof, any alien, who may or shall be in prison in pursuance of this act ; and to cause to be arrested and sent out of the United States such of those aliens as shall have been ordered to depart therefrom and shall not have obtained a licence as aforesaid, in all cases where, in the opinion of the Presi dent, the public safety requires a speedy removal. And if any alien so removed or sent out of the United States by the President, shall voluntarily return thereto, unless by permission of the President of the United States, such alien on conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned so long as, in the opinion of the President, the public safety may require. Sec. 3. And be it further enacted. That every master or commander of any ship or vessel which shall come into any port of the United States after the first day of July next, shall immediately on his arrival make report in writing to the collector or other chief officer of the cus toms of such port, of all aliens, if any, on board his ves sel, specifying their names, age, the place of nativity, the country from which they shall have come, the nation to which they belong and owe allegiance, their occupation and a description of their persons, as far as he shall be in formed thereof, and on failure, every such master and commander shall forfeit and pay three hundred dollars, for the payment whereof on default of such master or commander, such vessel shall also be holden, and may by such coUector or other officer of the customs be de- 28o DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE tained. And it shall be the duty of such collector or other officer of the customs, forthwith to transmit to the office of the department of State true copies of aU such returns. Sec. 4. And be it further enacted. That the circuit and district courts of the United States, shall respectively have cognizance of all crimes and offences against this act. And all marshalls and other officers of the United States are required to execute all precepts and orders of the President of the United States issued in pursuance or by virtue of this act. Sec. 5. And be it further enacted. That it shall be law ful for any alien who may be ordered to be removed from the United States, by virtue of this act, to take with him such part of his goods, chattels, or other prop erty as he may find convenient ; and all property left in the United States by any alien, who may be removed, as aforesaid, shall be, and remain subject to his order and disposal, in the same manner as if this act had not been passed. Sec. 6. And be it further enacted. That this act shall continue and be in force for and during the term of two years from the passing thereof. Approved June 25, 1798. AN ACT IN ADDITION TO THE ACT ENTI TLED "AN ACT FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF CERTAIN CRIMES AGAINST THE UNITED STATES. Section r. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America assembled. That if any persons shall unlawfully combine or conspire together, with intent to oppose any measure or measures of the government of the United States, which are or shall be directed by proper authority, or to impede the operation of any law of the United States, or to intimi- OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. 38 1 date or prevent any person holding a place or office in or under the government of the United States, from undertaking, performing or executing his trust or duty ; and if any person or persons, with intent as aforesaid, shall counsel, advise or attempt to procure any insurrec tion, riot, unlawful assembly, or combination, whether such conspiracy, threatening, counsel, advice, or attempt shall have the proposed effect or not, he or they shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and on conviction, before any court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars and by imprisonment during a term not less than six months nor exceeding five years ; and further at the discretion of the court may be holden to find sureties for his good behavior in such sum, and for such time, as the said court may direct. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted. That if any person shall write, print, utter or publish, or shall cause or pro- Cure to be written, printed, uttered or published or shall knowingly and willingly assist or aid in writing, printing, uttering or publishing any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States, with in tent to defame the said government, or either house of the said Congress, or the said President, or to bring them or either of them, into contempt or disrepute ; or to excite against them, or either, or any of them, the hatred of the good people of the United States, or to stir up sedition within the United States, or to excite any unlawful combinations therein, for opposing or re sisting any law of the United States, or any act of the President of the United States, and one in pursuance of any such law, or of the powers in him vested by the constitution of the United States, or to resist, oppose, or defeat any such law or act, or to aid, encourage or abet any hostile designs of any foreign nation against 282 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE the United States, their people or government, then such person, being thereof convicted before any court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment not exceeding two years. Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, and declared. That if any person shall be prosecuted under this act, for the writing or publishing any libel aforesaid, it shall be lawful forthe defendant, upon the trial of the cause, to give in evidence in his defence, the truth ofthe matter contained in the publication charged as a libel. And the jury who shall try the cause, shall have a right to determine the law and the fact, under the direction of the court, as in other cases. Sec. 4. Atid be it further enacted, That this act shall continue and be in force until the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and one, and no longer: Provided, that the expiration of the act shall not prevent or defeat a prosecution and punishment of any offence against the law, during the time it shall be in force. Approved, July 14, 1798. OF A.MERICAN HISTORY. ^83 THE VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, the expression of the opposition to the Alien and Sedition laws originated in a conference at Mon- ticello between Thos. Jefferson and two brothers, Geo. Nicholas, of Kentucky, and Wm. C. Nicholas, of Virginia, while Madison may have been present. As a result, Jefferson drafted the Kentucky res olutions and Madison, the Virginia. Jefferson's resolutions were passed by the Kentucky legis lature November 10, 1798, and Madison's, by the Virginia legislature December 21, 1798. These resolutions were forwarded to the legislatures of the several states and elicited decidedly unfavor able replies from the states north of the Potomac. In answer to these replies the Kentucky resolu tions of 1 799 were adopted. Jefferson's latest biographer, John T. Morse, says the Kentucky Resolutions " remained a foundation and sufficient precedent and authority for all the subsequent secession doctrines of the Eastern states, for the nullification proceedings of South Carolina, almost, if not quite, for the Re bellion of 1861." The Kentucky legislature somewhat modified Jefferson's draft, striking out the nullification 284 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE clause, which, however, appeared in the final res olution in the next year, 1 799. Consult Schouler' s U. S., I., 423; Bryant and Gay's U. 6"., IV., 130; Von Hoist's Const. Hist. U. S, I., 143 ; Hildreth's U. S, V., 272 ; McMaster's U. S, II. , 419 ; Morse' s Jefferson, 193. The orig inal draft of the Kentucky Resolution is in Jef ferson's Works, IX., 494. The replies of the States to the Resolutions, together with Madi son's Report in the replies, are in Elliot 's Debates, vol. IV. VIRGINIA RESOLUTIONS OF 1798. Virginia to wit. In the House of Delegates, Friday, December 21st, 1798. Resolved, that the General Assembly of Virginia doth unequivocally express a firm resolution to maintain and defend the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of this state, against every aggression, either foreign or domestic, and that they will support the gov ernment of the United States in all measures, warranted by the former. That this Assembly most solemnly declares a warm attachment to the union of the states, to maintain which, it pledges its powers ; and that for this end, it is their duty, to watch over and oppose every infraction of those principles, which constitute the only basis of that union, because a faithful observance of them, can alone secure its existence, and the public happiness. That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the powers of the Federal Govern ment, as resulting from the compact, to which the states are parties ; as limited by the plain sense and intention of OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 285 the instrument constituting that compact ; as no farther valid than they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact, and that in case of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous exercise of other powers not granted by the said compact, the states who are parties thereto have the right, and are in duty bound, to inter pose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for main taining, within their respective limits, the authorities, rights, and liberties appertaining to them. That the General Assembly doth also express its deep regret, that a spirit has, in sundry instances, been mani fested by the Federal Government, to enlarge its powers by forced constructions of the constitutional charter which defines them ; and that indications have appeared of a design to expound certain general phrases (which having been copied from the very limited grant of pow ers in the former articles of confederation were the less liable to be misconstrued) so as to destroy the meaning and effect of the particular enumeration, which necessarily explains and limits the general phrases; and so as to con solidate the states by degrees into one sovereignty, the obvious tendency and inevitable consequence of which would be, to transform the present republican system of the United States, into an absolute, or at best a mixed monarchy. That the General Assembly doth particularly protest against the palpable and alarming infractions of the con stitution, in the two late cases of the " Alien and Sedi tion acts," passed at the last session of Congress ; the first of which exercises a power nowhere delegated to the Federal Government ; and which by uniting legislative and judicial powers, to those of executive, subverts the general principles of free government, as well as the par ticular organization and positive provisions of the federal constitution: and the other of which acts, exercises in like manner a power not delegated by the constitution, but'on the contrary expressly and positively forbidden by 286 DOCUMENTS ILL USTRA TIVE one of the amendments thereto ; a power which more than any other ought to produce universal alarm, be cause it is levelled against that right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communica tion among the people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed, the only effectual guardian of every other right. That this state having, by its convention which rati fied the federal constitution, expressly declared, " that among other essential rights, the liberty of conscience and the press cannot be cancelled, abridged, restrained or modified by any authority of the United States," and from its extreme anxiety to guard these rights from every possible attack of sophistry and ambition, having with other states recommended an amendment for that purpose, which amendment was in due time annexed to the constitution, it would mark a reproachful inconsist ency and criminal degeneracy, if an indifference were now shewn to the most palpable violation of one of the rights thus declared and secured, and to the establish ment of a precedent which may be fatal to the other. That the good people of this Commonwealth having ever felt and continuing to feel the most sincere affec tion for their brethren of the other states, the truest anxiety for establishing and perpetuating the union of all, and the most scrupulous fidelity to that constitu tion which is the pledge of mutual friendship, and the instrument of mutual happiness : the General Assembly doth solemnly appeal to the like dispositions of the other states, in confidence that they will concur with this com monwealth in declaring, as it does hereby declare, that the acts aforesaid are unconstitutional, and that the necessary and proper measures will be taken by each for cooperating with this state, in maintaining unimpaired the authorities, rights, and liberties, reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. That the Governor be desired to transmit a copy ofthe OF A.MERICAN HISTORY. 287 foregoing resolutions to the executive authority of each of the other states, with a request, that the same may be communicated to the legislature thereof. And that a copy be furnished to each of the Senators and Representatives representing this state in the Congress of the United States. Attest, John Stewart, C. H. D. 1798, December the 24th. Agreed to by the Senate. H. Brooke, C. S. KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1798. I. Resolved, that the several states composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government ; but that by compact under the style and title of a Con stitution for the United States and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for spe cial purposes, delegated to that Government certain defi nite powers, reserving each state to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-Government ; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force : That to this compact each state acceded as a state, and is an integral party, its co-states forming as to itself, the other party : That the Government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself ; since that would have made its discretion, and not the constitution, the measure of its powers ; but that as in all other cases of compact among parties having no com mon Judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress. II. Resolved, that the Constitution of the United States having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the 288 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE United States, piracies and felonies committed on the High Seas, and offences against the laws of nations, and no other crimes whatever, and it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, "that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people," therefore also the same act of Congress passed on the 14th day of July, 1798, and entitled " An act in addition to the act entitled an act for the punish ment of certain crimes against the United States ; " as also the act passed by them on the 27th day of June, 1798, entitled "An act to punish frauds committed on the Bank of the United States " (and all other their acts which assume to create, define, or punish crimes other than those enumerated in the constitution) are alto gether void and of no force, and that the power to create, define, and punish such other crimes is reserved, and of right appertains solely and exclusively to the respective states, each within its own Territory. III. Resolved, that it is true as a general principle, and is also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the Constitution that " the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people ; " and that no power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to the United States by the Constitu tion, nor prohibited by it to the states, all lawful pow ers respecting the same did of right remain, and were reserved to the states, or to the people : That thus was manifested their determination to retain to themselves the right of judging how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom, and how far those abuses which cannot be separated from their use, should be tolerated rather than the use be destroyed ; and thus also they guarded OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 289 against all abridgement by the United States of the free dom of religious opinions and exercises, and retained to themselves the right of protecting the same, as this state, by a Law passed on the general demand of its Citi zens, had already protected them from all human re straint or interference : And that in addition to this gen eral principle and express declaration, another and more special provision has been made by one of the amend ments to the Constitution which expressly declares, that " Congress shall make no laws respecting an Establish ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press," thereby guarding in the same sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press, insomuch, that whatever violates either, throws down the sanctuary which covers the others, and that libels, falsehoods, defamation, equally with heresy and false religion, are withheld from the cognizance of federal tribunals. That therefore the act of the Con gress of the United States passed on the 14th day of July, 1798, entitled "An act in addition to the act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States," which does abridge the freedom of the press, is not law, but is altogether void and of no effect. IV. Resolved, that alien friends are under the jurisdic tion and protection of the laws of the state wherein they are ; that no power over them has been delegated to the United States, nor prohibited to the individual states distinct from their power over citizens ; and it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that " the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states re spectively or to the people," the act of the Congress of the United States passed on the 22d day of June, 1798, entitled "An act concerning aliens," which assumes 19 2go DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE power over alien friends not delegated by the Constitu tion, is not law, but is altogether void and of no force. V. Resolved, that in addition to the general principle as well as the express declaration, that powers not dele gated are reserved, another and more special provision inserted in the Constitution from abundant caution has declared, " that the migration or importation of such per sons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808." That this Commonwealth does admit the migration of alien friends described as the subject of the said act concerning aliens ; that a provision against prohibiting their migration, is a provision against all acts equivalent thereto, or it would be nugatory ; that to remove them when migrated is equivalent to a prohibi tion of their migration, and is, therefore contrary to the said provision of the Constitution, and void. VI. Resolved, that the imprisonment of a person under the protection of the Laws of this Commonwealth on his failure to obey the simple order of the President to de part out of the United States, as is undertaken by the said act entitled " An act concerning Aliens," is contrary to the Constitution, one amendment to which h,as pro vided, that " no person shall be deprived of liberty with out due process of law," and that another having pro vided " that in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a public trial by an impartial jury, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence," the same act undertaking to authorize the President to re move a person out of the United States who is under the protection of the Law, on his own suspicion, without accusation, without jury, without public trial, without confrontation of the witnesses against him, without hav ing witnesses in his favour, without defence, without OF A.MERICAN HISTORY. 291 counsel, is contrary to these provisions also of the Con stitution, is therefore not law but utterly void and of no force. That transferring the power of judging any per son who is under the protection of the laws, from the Courts to the President of the United States, as is under taken by the same act concerning Aliens, is against the article of the Constitution which provides, that "the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in the Courts, the Judges of which shall hold their offices during good behaviour," and that the said act is void for that reason also ; and it is further to be noted, that this transfer of Judiciary power is to that magistrate of the General Government who already possesses all the Execu tive, and a qualified negative in all the Legislative power>. VII. Resolved, that the construction applied by the General Government (as is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate to Congress a power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises ; to pay the debts, and provide for the common defence, and general welfare of the United States, and to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in the Govern ment of the United States, or any department thereof, goes to the destruction of all the limits prescribed to their power by the Constitution — That words meant by that instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of the limited powers, ought not to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part so to be taken, as to destroy the whole residue of the instrument: That the proceedings of the General Government under colour of these articles, will be a fit and necessary subject for revisal and correction at a time of greater tranquillity, while those specified in the preceding resolutions caU for immediate redress. VIII. Resolved, that the preceding Resolutions be 2Q2 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE transmitted to the Senators and Representatives in Con gress from this Commonwealth, who are hereby enjoined to present the same to their respective Houses, and to use their best endeavours to procure at the next session of Congress, a repeal of the aforesaid unconstitutional and obnoxious acts. IX. Resolved lastly, that the Governor of this Com monwealth be, and is hereby authorized and requested to communicate the preceding Resolutions to the Legisla tures of the several States, to assure them that this Com monwealth considers Union for specified National pur poses, and particularly for those specified in their late Federal Compact, to be friendly to the peace, happiness, and prosperity of all the states : that faithful to that compact according to the plain intent and meaning in which it was understood and acceded to by the several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its preservation : that it does also believe, that to take from the states all the powers of self government, and transfer them to a gen eral and consolidated Government, without regard to the special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness, or pros perity of these states : And that therefore, this Com monwealth is determined, as it doubts not its Co-states are, to submit to undelegated & consequently unlim ited powers in no man or body of men on earth : that if the acts before specified should stand, these conclusions would flow from them ; that the General Government may place any act they think proper on the list of crimes & punish it themselves, whether enumerated or not enumerated by the Constitution as cognizable by them : that they may transfer its cognizance to the President or any other person, who may himself be the accuser, coun sel, judge, and jury, whose suspicions may be the evi dence, his order the sentence, his officer the executioner, and his breast the sole record of the transaction : that a very numerous and valuable description of the inhabi- OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. OQ ? tants of these states, being by this precedent reduced as outlaws, to the absolute dominion of one man and the bar rier of the Constitution thus swept away from us all, no rampart now remains against the passions and the pow ers of a majority of Congress, to protect from a like ex portation or other grievous punishment the minority of the same body, the Legislature, Judges, Governors, & Counsellors of the states, nor their other peaceable inhab itants who may venture to reclaim the constitutional rights & liberties of the state & people, or who for other causes, good or bad, may be obnoxious to the views or marked by the suspicions of the President, or be thought dangerous to his or their elections or other interests public or personal : that the friendless alien has indeed been selected as the safest subject of a first exper iment : but the citizen will soon follow, or rather has already followed ; for already has a Sedition Act marked him as its prey : that these and successive acts of the same character, unless arrested on the threshold, may tend to drive these states into revolution and blood, and will furnish new calumnies against Republican Govern ments, and new pretexts for those who wish it to be be lieved, that man cannot be governed but by a rod of iron : that it would be a dangerous delusion were a con fidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights : that confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism : free government is founded in jealousy and not in confidence ; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited Constitutions to bind down those whom we are obHged to trust with power : that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which and no further our confidence may go ; and let the honest advocate of confidence read the Alien and Se dition Acts, and say if the Constitution has not been wise in fixing limits to the Government it created, and whether we should be wise in destroying those Hmits ? Let him say what the Government is if it be not a tyr- 294 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE anny, which the men of our choice have conferred on the President, and the President of our choice has assented to and accepted over the friendly strangers, to whom the mild spirit of our country and its laws had pledged hos pitality and protection: that the men of our choice have more respected the bare suspicions of the President than the solid rights of innocence, the claims of justification, the sacred force of truth, and the forms & substance of law and justice. In questions of power then let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. That this Commonwealth does therefore call on its co-States for an expression of their sentiments on the acts concerning Aliens, and for the punishment of certain crimes herein before specified, plainly declaring whether these acts are or are not authorized by the Federal Compact ? And it doubts not that their sense will be so announced as to prove their attachment unaltered to limited Government, whether general or particular, and that the rights and liberties of their Co-states will be exposed to no dangers by remaining embarked on a common bottom with their own : That they will concur with this Commonwealth in considering the said acts as so palpably against the Con stitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration, that the Compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the General Government, but that it will pro ceed in the exercise over these states of all powers whatsoever: That they will view this as seizing the rights of the states and consolidating them in the hands of the general government with a power assumed to bind the states (not merely in cases made federal) but in all cases whatsoever, by laws made, not with their consent, but by others against their consent : That this would be to surrender the form of Government we have chosen, and live under one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from our authority ; and that the Co- states, recurring to their natural right in cases not made OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 295 federal, will concur in declaring these acts void and of no force, and will each unite with this Commonwealth in requesting their repeal at the next session of Congress. EDMUND BULLOCK, 5. //. R. JOHN CAMPBELL, S. S. P. T. Passed the House of Representatives, Nov. loth, 1798. Attest, THOMAS TODD, C. H. R. In Senate, November 13th, 1798, unanimously concur red in, Attest, B. THRUSTON, Clk. Sen. Approved November i6th, 1798. JAMES GARRARD, G. K: By the Governor, Harry Toulmin, Secretary of State. THE KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1799. House of Representatives, Thursday, Nov. 14, 1799. The house, according to the standing order of the day, resolved itself into a committee, of the whole house, on the state of the commonwealth, (Mr. Desha in the chair,) and, after some time spent therein, the speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Desha reported that the committee had taken under consideration sundry resolutions passed by several state legislatures, on the subject of the Alien and Sedition Laws, and had come to a resolution thereupon, which he delivered in at the clerk's table, where it was read and unanimously agreed to by the House as fol lows : — The representatives of the good people of this com monwealth, in General Assembly convened, having ma turely considered the answers of sundry states in the Union to their resolutions, passed the last session, re- .296 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE specting certain unconstitutional laws of Congress, com monly called the Alien and Sedition Laws, would be faithless indeed to themselves, and to those they repre sent, were they silently to acquiesce in the principles and doctrines attempted to be maintained in all those answers, that of Virginia only accepted. To again enter the field of argument, and attempt more fully or forcibly to ex pose the unconstitutionality of those obnoxious laws, would, it is apprehended, be as unnecessary as unavailing. We cannot, however, but lament that, in the discussion of those interesting subjects by sundry of the legislatures of our sister states, unfounded suggestions and uncandid insinuations, derogatory to the true character and prin ciples of this commonwealth, have been substituted in place of fair reasoning and sound argument. Our opin ions of these alarming measures of the general govern ment, together with our reasons for those opinions, were detailed with decency and Vi^ith temper, and submitted to the discussion and judgment of our fellow-citizens throughout the Union. Whether the like decency and temper have been observed in the answers of most of those States who have denied or attempted to obviate the great truths contained in those resolutions, we have now only to submit to a candid world. Faithful to the true principles of the federal Union, unconscious of any de signs to disturb the harmony of that Union and anxious only to escape the fangs of despotism, the good people of this commonwealth are regardless of censure or ca lumniation. Lest, however, the silence of this common wealth should be construed into an acquiescence in the doctrines and principles advanced, and attempted to be maintained by the said answers or, at least those of our fellow-citizens, throughout the Union, who so widely differ from us on those important subjects, should be de luded by the expectation that we shall be deterred from what we conceive our duty, or shrink from the principles contained in those resolutions, — therefore. OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. ^ay Resolved, That this Commonwealth considers the Federal Union upon the terms and for the purposes specified inthe late compact, conducive to the liberty and happiness of the several States : That it does now un equivocally declare its attachment to the Union, and to that compact, agreeably to its obvious and real intention, and will be among the last to seek its dissolution : That, if those who administer the general government be per mitted to transgress the limits fixed by that compact, b)- a total disregard to the special delegations of power therein contained, an annihilation of the State govern ments, and the creation, upon their ruins of a general consolidated government, will be the inevitable conse quence: That the principle and construction, contended for by sundry of the state legislatures, that the general government is the exclusive judge of the extent of the powers delegated to it, stop not short of despotism — since the discretion of those who administer the government, and not the Constitution, would be the measure of their powers : That the several States who formed that in strument, being sovereign and independent, have the un questionable right to judge of the infraction ; and. That a nullification, by those sovereignties of all unauthorized acts done under color of that instrument, is the rightful rettiedy : That this Commonwealth does, under the most deliberate reconsideration, declare, that the said Alien and Sedition Laws are, in their opinion, palpable viola tions of the said Constitution ; and, however cheerfully it may be disposed to surrender its opinion to a majority of its sister States, in matters of ordinary or doubtful policy, yet, in momentous regulations like the present, which so vitally wound the best rights of the citizen, it would consider a silent acquiescence as highly criminal : That, although this Commonwealth, as a party to the Federal compact, will bow to the laws of the Union, yet it does, at the same time, declare, that it will not now, or ever hereafter, cease to oppose, in a constitutional 298 DOCUMENTS ILL USTRA TIVE manner, every attempt, at what quarter so ever offered, to violate that compact : And finally, in order that no pretext or arguments may be drawn from a supposed acquiescence, on the part of this Commonwealth, in the constitutionality of those laws, and be thereby used as precedents for similar future violations of the federal compact, this Commonwealth does now enter against them its solemn Protest. Extract, etc. Attest, THOMAS TODD, C. H. R. In Senate, Nov. 22, 1799. — Read and concurred in. Attest, B. THURSTON, C. S. OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. 299 ORDINANCE OF NULLIFICATION— 1832. The protection tariff of 1828 gave great dissat isfaction to the Southern states, some legislatures even pronouncing it unconstitutional. The tariff of 1832, though reducing the duties, failed to sat isfy the South while Calhoun's development of the doctrine of nullification incited to more decided action. Accordingly a state convention assem bling at Charleston, S. C, passed the following or dinance of nullification Nov. 24, 1S32, to take ef fect the first of the ensuing February. The con vention merely carried out the principles of the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1 798 and 1 799. President Jackson promptly issued a proclamation against nullification (Dec. 10, 1832), answering the arguments of the nullifiers, and asserted his deter mination to maintain the Union. Congress, after heated discussion, passed a bill for enforcing the tariff ; but all trouble was averted by the passage of Clay's Compromise Tariff, providing for a grad ual reduction, of duties till Sep. 30, 1842, after which time duties were to be uniformly 20 per cent. The bill was signed by the President Mar. 2, 1833, and on Mar. 16, South Carolina repealed the nulli fication ordinance. By this compromise harmony was restored ; but the final settlement of the nullification question was merely postponed. 300 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE Consult Bryant and Gay's U. 6"., IV. ; Von Hoist's Cons. Hist. U. S., I., 475 ; Benton's Thirty Years' View, I., 297-361 ; Sumner's Jackson, 291 ; Von Hoist's Calhoun, 104; Parton' s Jackson, IIL, 457- An ordinance to nullify certain acts of the Congress of the United States, purporting to be laws laying duties and imposts on the itnportation of foreign commodities. Whereas the Congress of the United States by various acts, purporting to be acts laying duties and imposts on foreign imports, but in reality intended for the protec tion of domestic manufactures, and the giving of boun ties to classes and individuals engaged in particular employments, at the expense and to the injury and oppression of other classes and individuals, and by wholly exempting from taxation certain foreign commod ities, such as are not produced or manufactured in the United States, to afford a pretext for imposing higher and excessive duties on articles similar to those intended to be protected, hath exceeded its just powers under the constitution, which confers on it no authority to afford such protection, and hath violated the true meaning and intent of the constitution, which provides for equality in imposing the burdens of taxation upon the several States and portions of the confederacy : And whereas the said Congress, exceeding its just power to impose taxes and collect revenue for the purpose of effecting and accom plishing the specific objects and purposes which the constitution of the United States authorizes it to effect and accomplish, hath raised and collected unnecessary revenue for objects unauthorized by the constitution. We, therefore, the people of the State of South Caro lina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the several acts OF A.MERICA.V HISTOR Y. 30 1 and parts of acts of the Congress of the United States, purporting to be laws for the imposing of duties and imposts on the importation of foreign commodities, and now having actual operation and effect within the United States, and, more especially, an act entitled "An act in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on imports," approved on the nineteenth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight, and also an act entitled " An act to alter and amend the several acts imposing du ties on imports," approved on the fourteenth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, are unau thorized by the constitution of the United States, and violate the true meaning and intent thereof and are null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this State, its officers or citizens ; and all promises, contracts, and obligations, made or entered into, or to be made or entered into, with purpose to secure the duties imposed by said acts, and all judicial proceedings which shall be hereafter had in affirmance thereof, are and shall be held utterly null and void. And it is further ordained, that it shall not be lawful for any of the constituted authorities, whether of this State or of the United States, to enforce the payment of duties imposed by the said acts within the limits of this State ; but it shall be the duty of the legislature to adopt such measures and pass such acts as may be neces sary to give full effect to this ordinance, and to prevent the enforcement and arrest the operation of the said acts and parts of acts of the Congress of the United States within the Hmits of this State, from and after the 1st day of February next, and the duty of all other consti tuted authorities, and of all persons residing or being within the Hmits of this State, and they are hereby required and enjoined to obey and give effect to this ordinance, and such acts and measures of the legislature as may be passed or adopted in obedience thereto. And it is further ordained, that in no case of law or 302 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE equity, decided in the courts of this State, wherein shall be drawn in question the authority of this ordinance, or the validity of such act or acts of the legislature as may be passed for the purpose of giving effect thereto, or the validity of the aforesaid acts of Congress, imposing duties, shall any appeal be taken or allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States, nor shall any copy of the record be permitted or allowed for that purpose ; and if any such appeal shall be attempted to be taken, the courts of this State shall proceed to execute and enforce their judgments according to the laws and usages of the State, without reference to such attempted appeal, and the person or persons attempting to take such appeal may be dealt with as for a contempt of the court. And it is further ordained, that all persons now hold ing any office of honor, profit, or trust, civil or military, under this State (members of the legislature excepted), shall, within such time, and in such manner as the legisla ture shall prescribe, take an oath well and truly to obey, execute, and enforce this ordinance, and such act or acts of the legislature as may be passed in pursuance thereof, according to the true intent and meaning of the same ; and on the neglect or omission of any such person or persons so to do, his or their office or offices shall be forthwith vacated, and shall be filled up as if such person or persons were dead or had resigned'; and no person hereafter elected to any office of honor, profit, or trust, civil or military (members of the legislature excepted), shall, until the legislature shall otherwise provide and direct, enter on the execution of his office, or be in any respect competent to discharge the duties thereof until he shall, in like manner, have taken a similar oath ; and no juror shall be empannelled in any of the courts of this State, in any cause in which shall be in question this ordinance, or any act of the legislature passed in pursu ance thereof, unless he shall first, in addition to the usual oath, have taken an oath that he will well and truly obey. OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 303 execute, and enforce this ordinance, and such act or acts of the legislature as may be passed to carry the same into operation and effect, according to the true intent and meaning thereof. And we, the people of South CaroHna, to the end that it may be fully understood by the government of the United States, and the people of the co-States, that we are determined to maintain this our ordinance and dec laration, at every hazard, do further declare that we will not submit to the application of force on the part of the federal government, to reduce this State to obedience ; but that we will consider the passage, by Congress, of any act authorizing the employment of a military or naval force against the State of South Carolina, her con stitutional authorities or citizens ; or any act abolishing or closing the ports of this State, or any of them, or otherwise obstructing the free ingress and egress of ves sels to and from the said ports, or any other act on the part of the federal government, to coerce the State, shut up her ports, destroy or harass her commerce, or to enforce the acts hereby declared to be null and void, otherwise than through the civil tribunals of the country, as inconsistent with the longer continuance of South Carolina in the Union ; and that the people of this State will henceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligation to maintain or preserve their political connec tion with the people of the other States ; and will forth with proceed to organize a separate government, and do all other acts and things which sovereign and independ ent States may of right do. Done in convention at Columbia, the twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, and, in the fifty-seventh year of the declaration of the independence of the United States of America. 304 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE ORDINANCE OF SECESSION— 1860. On receiving the news of Lincoln's election the South Carolina legislature called a convention which passed the Ordinance of Secession Decem ber 20,, i860. This was done because, as the South Carolina declaration of independence stated : " A geographical line had been drawn across the Union, and all the states north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery." Copies of this ordinance were forwarded to the other Southern states which passed similiar ordinances, as follows : Mississippi, January 9, 1861 ; Florida, January 10; Alabama, January 1 1 ; Georgia, January 19 ; Louis iana, January 26 ; Texas, February i. Delegates from the seceded states met at Montgomery, Ala bama, February 4, 1861, and organized a provisional government. These states were afterwards joined by Virginia, April 1 7 ; Arkansas, May 6 ; and North Carolina, May 20. Consult Lossing's Civil War, I., 103; Comte de Paris' Civil War, I., 122 ; Greeley's American Confiict, I., 344; Draper's Civil War, I., 514. OF A.M ERIC A .V HISTOR Y. ,05 ORDINANCE OF SECESSION— 1860. An ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina and other States united with her under the compact entitled " The Constitution of the United States of America." We, the People of the State of South Carolina, in Con vention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the Ordinance adopted by us in Convention, on the Twenty-third of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified, and also all other Acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly of the State ratifying amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, and the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the United States of America, is here by dissolved. In justification of the preceding ordinance was issued the following : SOUTH CAROLINA DECLARATION OF IN DEPENDENCE. The State of South Carolina, having determined to resume her separate and equal place among nations, deems it due to herself, to the remaining United States of America, and to the nations of the world, that she should declare the causes which have led to this act. Inthe year 1765, that portion of the British empire em bracing Great Britain, undertook to make laws for the government of that portion composed of the thirteen American colonies. A struggle for the right of self- government ensued, which resulted, on the 4th of July, 1776, in a declaration by the colonies, "that they are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states. 3o6 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, to conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do." They further solemnly declared, that whenever any " form of government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the right of that people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government." Deeming the government of Great Britain to have be- eome destructive of these ends, they declared that the colonies " are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the states of Great Britain is and ought to be totally •dissolved." In pursuance of this declaration of independence, each of the thirteen states proceeded to exercise its separate sovereignty ; adopted for itself a constitution, and ap pointed officers for the administration of government in all its departments — legislative, executive, and judicial. For purpose of defense, they united their arms and their ¦counsels ; and, in 1778, they united in a league, known as the articles of confederation, whereby they agreed to in trust the administration of their external relations to a com mon agent, known as the Congress of the United States, expressly declaring in the first article, " that each state re tains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not, by this ¦confederation, expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled." Under this consideration the war of the Revolution was carried on, and on the 3d of September, 1783, the contest ended, and a definite treaty was signed by Great Britain, in which she acknowledged the independence of the colonies in the following terms : Article I. His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz.: New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantation, Connecti^ OF AMERICAN HISTOR \ '. -q» cut. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to be free, sovereign, and independent states ; that he treats them as such ; and for himself, his heirs, and successors, reUnquishes aU claim to the government, proprietary and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof. Thus was established the two great principles asserted by the colonies, namely, the right of a state to govern itself, and the right of a people to abolish a government when it becomes destructive of the ends for which it was instituted. And concurrent with the establishment of these principles was the fact, that each colony became and was recognized by the mother country as a free, sovereign, and independent state. In 1787, deputies were appointed by the states to revise the articles of confederation, and on September 17th, 1787, the deputies recommended for the adoption of the states the articles of union known as the constitution of the United States. The parties to whom the constitution was submitted were the several sovereign states ; they were to agree or disagree, and when nine of them agreed, the compact was to take effect among those concurring ; and the general government, as the common agent, was then to be invested with their authority. If only nine of the thirteen states had concurred, the other four would have remained as they then were — sep arate, sovereign states, independent of any of the pro visions of the constitution. In fact, two of the states did not accede to the constitution until long after it had gone into operation among the other eleven ; and during that interval, they exercised the functions of an in dependent nation. By this constitution, certain duties were charged on the several states, and the exercise of certain of their powers not delegated to the United States by the con- 2o8 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE stitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. On the 23d of May, 1788, South Carolina, by a convention of peo ple, passed an ordinance assenting to this constitution, and afterwards altering her own constitution to conform herself to the obligation she had undertaken. Thus was established, by compact between the states, a government with defined objects and powers, limited to the express words of the grant, and to so much more only as was necessary to execute the power granted. The limitations left the whole remaining mass of power subject to the clause reserving it to the state or to the people, and rendered unnecessary any specification of reserved powers. We hold that the government thus established is subject to the two great principles asserted in the dec laration of independence, and we hold further that the mode of its formation subjects it to a third fundamental principle, namely — the law of compact. We maintain that in every compact between two or more parties, the obligation is mutual — that the failure of one of the con tracting parties to perform a material part of the agree ment entirely released the obligation of the other, and that, where no arbiter is appointed, each party is re mitted to his own judgment to determine the fact of fail ure with all its consequences. In the present case that fact is established with cer tainty. We assert that fifteen of the states have delib erately refused for years past to fulfil their constitu tional obligation, and we refer to their own statutes for the proof. The constitution of the United States, in its fourth article, provides as follows : " No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in conse quence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from any service or labor, but shall be delivered up, on OF A.MERICA.V HISTORY. ,qq claim of party to whom such service or labor may be due." This stipulation was so material to the compact that without it that compact would not have been made. The greater number of the contracting parties held slaves, and the state of Virginia had previously declared her estimate of its value by making it the condition of cession of the territory which now compose the states north of the Ohio river. The same article of the constitution stipulates also for the sedition by the several states of fugitives from justice from the other states. The general government, as the common agent, passed laws to carry into effect these stipulations of the states. For many years these laws were executed. But an increasing hostility on the part of the northern states to the institution of slavery has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the general govern ment have ceased to effect the objects of the constitution. The states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Mas sachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Penn sylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa have enacted laws which either nullify the acts of Congress, or render useless any attempt to execute them. In many of these states the fugitive is discharged fromthe service of labor claimed, and in none of them has the state government complied with the stipulation made in the constitution. The state of New Jersey, at an early day, passed a law for the rendition of fu gitive slaves in conformity with her constitutional under taking ; but the current of anti-slavery feeling has led her more recently to enact laws which render imperative the remedies provided by her own law, and by the laws of Congress. In the state of New York even the right of transit for a slave has been denied by her tribunals, and the states of Ohio and Iowa have refused to surrender to justice fugitives charged with murder and inciting servile 2 IO DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRA TIVE insurrection in the state of Virginia. Thus the constitu tional compact has been deliberately broken and disre garded by the non-slaveholding states, and the conse quence follows that South Carolina is released from its obligation. The ends for which this constitution was framed are declared by itself to be " to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquiUity, provide for the common defence, protect the general welfare, and se cure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and posterity." These ends it endeavored to accomplish by a federal government, in which each state was recognized as an equal, and had separate control over its own institutions. The right of property in slaves was recognized by giving to free persons distinct political rights ; by giving them the right to represent, and burdening them with direct taxes for three-fifths of their slaves ; by authorizing the importation of slaves for twenty years, and by stipulating for the rendition of fugitives from labor. We affirm that these ends for which this government was instituted have been defeated, and the government itself has been made destructive of them by the action of the non-slaveholding state. These states have assumed the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic institutions, and have denied the rights of property estab lished in fifteen of the states and recognized by the con stitution ; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery ; they have permitted the open establishment among them of societies whose avowed object is to dis turb the peace and claim the property of the citizens of other states. They have encouraged and assisted thou sands of our slaves to leave their homes, and those who remain have been incited by emissaries, books, and pict ures to servile insurrection. For twenty-five years this agitation has been steadily increasing, until it has now secured to its aid the power of the common government. Observing the forms of the OF A.MERICA.V HISTOR Y. , j j constitution, a sectional party has found within that ar ticle establishing the executive department the means of subverting the constitution itself. A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and aU the states north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opin ions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be en trusted with the administration of the common govern ment, because he has declared that that "government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free," and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction. This sectional combination for the subversion of the constitution has been aided in some of the states by ele vating to citizenship persons who, by the supreme law of the land, are incapable of becoming citizens, and their votes have been used to inaugurate a new policy hostile to the south, and destructive of its peace and safety. On the 4th of March next, this party will take posses sion of the government. It has announced that the south shall be excluded from the common territory ; that the judicial tribunals shall be made sectional, and that a war must be waged against slavery until it shall cease through out the United States. The guarantees of the constitution will then no longer exist ; the equal rights of the states will be lost. The slaveholding states will no longer have the power of self- government or self-protection, and the federal govern ment will have become their enemies. Sectional interest and animosity will deepen the irrita tion, and all hope of remedy is rendered vain by the fact that public opinion at the north has invested a great po litical error with the sanctions of a more erroneous relig ious belief. We, therefore, the people of South Carolina, by our delegates in convention assembled, appealing to the Su preme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our inten- 312 DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE tions, have solemnly declared that the union heretofore •existing between this state and the other states of North America is dissolved, and that the state of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the world as a free, sovereign, and independent state, with full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, es tablish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may, of right, do. And, for the support of this declaration, with a firm re liance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutu ally pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. , j , EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION— 1863. September 22, 1862, after the battle of Antietam, President Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring : "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- three, all persons held as slaves within any state, or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." Accord ingly, January i, 1863, the Emancipation Proclama tion was issued, placing the war on its true footing. This proclamation was confirmed by the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution, adopted Decem ber 18, 1865. Consult Wilson 's Rise and Fall of Slave Power in America, III., 380; Lossing's Civil War; Comte de Paris' Civil War, 1 1., 745; Greeley's American Conflict, 1 1., 249; Draper's Civil War, II., 607 ; Arnold's Lincoln, 252. EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION BY ABRA HAM LINCOLN, JANUARY i, 1863. Whereas, On the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing among other things the following, to wit: "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 3 1 4 DOCUMENTS ILL USTRA TIVE sixty-three, aU persons held as slaves within any state, or designated part of the state, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free ; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons or any of them in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom ; that the Execu tive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proc lamation, designate the states, and parts of states, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States ; and the fact that any state, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such states shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such state, and the people thereof, be not then in rebellion against the United States." Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war-measure for suppressing said re bellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the states and parts of states, wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the foUowing, to wit: Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre- OF AMERICAN HISTOR Y. , , r Bonne, Lafourche, Ste. Marie, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as \\'est \^irginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Ac- comac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anna, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are, for the pres ent, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. And b}- virtue of the power, and for the purpose afore said, I do order and declare, that all persons held as slaves within said designated states and parts of states, are and henceforward shall be free ; and that the executive gov ernment of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, \\ill recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessar>' self-defense ; and I recommend to them, that in all cases, when allowed, they labor faith fuUy for reasonable wages. And I further declare and make known, that such persons, of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States, to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of jus tice, warranted by the constitution upon military ne cessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my name, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By the President : William H. Seward, Secretary of State. REFERENCES. Ad.inis (J. Q.), N. E. Confederacy of 1643, Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. Arnold (I. N.), Life of Abraham Lincoln. Arnold (S. G.), History of Rhode Island, 2 v. Bancroft (George), History of the United States. Barry (J. S.), History of M.Tssafliusetts, 3 v. Benton (T. H.), Thirty Years' View, 2 v. Bognian (J. L.), History of Maryland. Browne (W. H), Maryland. (American Commonwealths.) Bryant (W. C.) and Gay (S. H.), Popular History of the U. S., 4 v. Burnet (Jacob), Notes on Early Settlement of the Nuuh-wcst Territory. Chalmers (George), Political Annals. " " Revolt of the American Colonies, 2 v. Chamberlin (Mellin), Authentification of the Declaration of Independence, Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc. Cooke (J. E.), Virginia. (American Commonwealths.) Curtis (Geo. T.), History of the Formation and Adoption of the Constitu tion of the United States, 2 v. Curtis (Geo. T.), The Treaty of Peace and Independence, Harpers' Maga zine, LXVI. Davis (J. C. B.), Treaties and Conventions, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 36, Forty- First Congress, 3d Session. Donaldson (Thomas), The Public Domain, H. Mis. Doc. 45, pt. 4, 47th Congress, 2d Session. Doyle (J. A. ), The English Colonies in America. Draper (J. W.), History of the American Civil War, 3 v. Elliot (Jonathan), Debates on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution. Fiske (John), Political Consequences of Cornwallis' Surrender, Atlantic Monthly. Frothingham (Richard), Rise of the Republic of the U. S. Gibbs (George), Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and Adams, 2 v. Greeley (Horace), American Confiict, 2 v. Greene (G. W.), Historical View of the American Revolution. " " Short History of Rhode Island. Hamilton (J. C), History of the United States, 7 v. Hildreth (Richard), History of the United States, 6 v. Hoist (H. von). Constitutional History of the United States, J v. " " John C. Calhoun. (American Statesmen.) 317 3i8 REFERENCES. Jefferson (Thomas), Works, 9 v. Lossing (Benson J.), Pictorial History of the Civil War. McMaster (John B.), History of the People o£ the United States, 2 v. Morse (J. T.), Thomas Jefferson. (American Statesmen.) Neil (E. D.), English Colonization. " " Virginia Company. Palfrey (J. G.), History of New England, 4 v. Paris (Comte de). History of the Civil War in America, 3 v. Parton (James), Life of Andrew Jackson. Pitkin (Timothy), Political and Civil History of the United States, 2 v. Poole (W. F.), Dr. Cutter and the Ordinance of 1787, North American Revie-w, v. 122. Poore (B. P.), Federal and State Constitution. Prince (L. B. ), The Articles of Confederation vs. The Constitution. Proud (Robert), History of Pennsylvania. Schouler (James), History of the United States under the Constitution, 3 v. Stevens (J. A.), Albert Gallatin. (American Statesmen.) Story (Joseph), Commentaries on the Constitution, 3 v. Sumner (W. G. ), Andrew Jackson. (American Statesmen.) Towle (N. C), History and Analysis of the Constitution of the United States. Webster (Daniel), Works, 6 v. Wilson (Henry), History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 3 v. Wenser (Justin), and others. Memorial History of Boston, 4 v. INDEX OF DOCUMENTS. Alien Law, 277. Articles of Confederation, 218. Association of 1774, 199. Bill of Rights of Va., 206. Charter of Conn., 96; Ga., 148; Md.,62; Mass., 36; Penn., 130; R. I., no; Va. 1st, I ; Va. 2d, 14 ; Va. 3d, 22. Confederation, .\rticles of, 218. " New England, 85. Connecticut, Fundamental Order of, 78. " Charter of, 96. Constitution of U. S. and Amendments, 251. Declaration of Independence U. S., 210. " " S. C, 305. " Rights, 1765, 188; 1774, 192. Emancipation Proclamation, 313. Franklin's Plan of Union, 170. Fundamental Orders of Conn., 78. Georgia Charter, 14S Kentucky, Resolutions of 1798, 2^7; of 1799, 295. Maryland Charter, 62. Massachusetts Charter, 36. Mayflower Compact, 29. New England Confederation, 85. Non-Importation Agreement, 199. North-west Ordinance, 240. Nullification Ordinance, 299. Ordinance for Virginia, 32. " North-west, 240 ; Nullification, 299. " of Secession, 304. 319 320 INDEX OF DOCUMENTS. Peace, Treaty of, 232. Penn's Plan of Union, 146. Pennsylvania Charter, 130. Plan of Union, Franklin's, 170 ; Penn's, 146. Resolution, Kentucky, 1798, 287; 1799, 295; Virginia, 283. Rhode Island Charter, no. Rights, Bill of, Virginia, 206; Declaration of 1765, 188; 1774, 192. Secession, Ordinance of, 304. Sedition Law, 280. South Carolina, Declaration of Independence, 305. Treaty of Peace, 232. Union, Franklin's Plan of, 170; Penn's Plan of, 146. Virginia, First Charter, i ; Second, 14; Third, 22; Ordinance for, 32; Bill of Rights of, 206 ; Resolution of, 283. Illustrations of History, and Examples of Oratory. AMERICAN ORATIONS, from the Colonial Period to the Prese.n'T Time. — Selected as specimens of Eloquence, and with special reference to their value in throwing light upon the more important epochs and issues of Americ.-in Iiistory. Edited, with introductions and note.=;, by Alexander Johnston, Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Economy in the College of New Jersey. Tliree volumes, l6mo. Uniform with " Prose Masterpieces." $,i.y5. Contents. — Colanialism : Henry, Hamilton, Wa.shingtou. Constitu tional Goz-emme-fit : Ames, Nicholas. Rise of Devtocracy : Jefferson, Nott, Randolph, Quincy, Clay. Rise of E'atioimlity ; Calhoun, lI.Tyne, \\'ebster. Anti-Slavery Struggle : Phillips, Calhoun, Webster. Clay, .(holition Movc- metit ; Phillips. Kansas-Nebraska Bill : Chase, Sumner, Douglas. Crime against Kansas : Sumner ; Preston S. Brooks' Reply to Sumner. Defence of Massachusetts : Burlingame. On Debates in Congress ; Clingman. Lin coln on his Nomination ; Douglas in reply. Breckenridge and Seward on Slavery. Secession . Crittenden, Iverson, Toombs, Hale, Stevens, Cox. Ci-iHl IVar anJ Reconstruction : Lincoln, Davis (Jefferson), Stevens, Doug las, Vallandighara, Schurz, Beecher, Lincoln (."second inaugural address), Davis (H. W.), Pendleton, Sherman, Stevens, Garfield, Blackburn, Hay- good. Protection and Er..- Trade: Clay, Hurd. "The idea, the plan, and the execution of the work are admirable." — Boston .Advertiser. "The best method, in our judgment, to acquire a truly fine style either for the pen or the platform is by reading and re-reading the best specimens of English ; and for the orator, whether at the bar, on the platform, or in the pulpit, a careful reading of these volumes will be an admirable educa tion." — Christian Union, New York. BRITISH ORATIONS.— A selection of the more important and representative Political Addresses of ihe past two centuries. Edited, with introductions and notes, by Charles K. 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Volumes I and II, comprising the period, 1607-1765. Large Svo, about 700 pages, handsomely bound in cloth, extra, gilt top, $6.00 ; half calf, extra, $ll 00 The History of American Literature, now offered to the public, is the first at- 'tempt ever made to give a systematic and critical account of the literary development ¦of the American people. It is not a mere cyclopaedia 01 literature, or a series ot de- 'tached biographical sketches accompanied by literary extracts: but an analytic and sustained narrative of our literary history from the earliest English settlement in America down to the present time. The work is the result of original and independent studies prosecuted by the author for the past ten years, and gives an altogether new .aiM.lysis of American literary forces and results during nearly three centuries. The ipresent two volumes— a complete work in themselves — cover the whole field of our iaistory during the colonial time. " An important national work." — New York Tribune. " The literary event of the deca.de."— -Har i/brd Courant. " A book more interesting than half the new novels." — The Nation. "¦ A work of great and permanent importance." — New York Evening Post. '^ One of the most valuable publications of the century." — Boston Post. " A book actually fascinating from beginning to end. — Frest. J. B. Angell. " As the work stands, it may rightfully claim a place on the library table of every 'cultivated American." — New York Times. "¦ No work of similar scope and magnitude and erudition exists, or has been at tempted in this country." — New York Evangelist. " A unique and valuable work " — Chicago Tribune. " A work which will rank with those ot Sismondi, Ticknor, and Taine." — New York Evening Express. " It is this philosophical character ofthe work which brings it not far distant from 'the works of Taine, of Buckle, and of Lecky." — Stiff alo Express. " One can hardly speak too strongly in praise of these conscientious, careful and ¦successful volumes, w^hich deserve to be studied alike by scholars and patriots." — Rev. Henry Martyn Dexter. D.D. " But the plan of Professor Tyler's book is so vast and its execution so fearless, that no reader can expect or wish to agree with all its personal judgments. It is a book truly admirable, both, in design and in general execution ; the leaming is great, the treatment wise, the style fresh and vigorous. Here and there occurs a phrase which a severer revision would perhaps exclude, but all such criticisms are trivial in view of so signal a success. Like Parkman, Professor Tyler may almost be said to have created, Jiot merely his volumes, but their theme. Like Parkman, at any rate, he has taken a whole department of human history, rescued it front oblivion, and made it hencefor ward a matter of deep interest to every thinking mind." — T. W, Higginson, in The Natioti . "The work betrays acute philosophical insight, a rare power of historical re search, and a cultivated Uterary habit, which was perhaps no less essential than the two former conditions, to its successful accomplishment. The style of the author is marked by vigor, originality, comprehensiveness, and a curious instinct in the selection of words. In this latter respect, though not in the moulding of sentences, the reader may perhaps be reminded ofthe choice and fragrant vocabulary of Washington Irving, Tvhose words alone often leave an exquisite odor like the perfume of sweet-briar and arbutus." — George Ripley, in the Tribune. '' Professor Moses CoiL Tyler's ' History of American Literature,' of which the 'first two volumes have just been issued, will take rank at once as a book of lasting value, even though the author should advance no further than he has already done in the scheme of his work. We are not unmindful of the eminent historians this country 'has produced, when we express our opinion that his history is the best study of Amen, -can historic material that has been written by an American. There has been manifestly no limit to the enthusiasm, conscientiousness and industry with which he has possessed iiimself ot the entire body ofthe literature of which he treats, and at the same time he ^as displayed the qualities of a true literary artist in giving form, color and peryiective •¦o his work."— David Gray, in the Buffalo Courier, YALE UNIVERSITY 339002 003906030b K'^^^': ..*v«^. rr- ''• ^ ,i-: r^fr,t t/"-,:-, :f^ ;?.«» v.-;:;!;/^ '»!*. ,^- m