m ^iiRiiiiiiiSiiiiiiii^iiillii CciJ^'/T/fO ^'^4^%tts^r ,,•7/-/; /.//.y y/fj/r/ 3sr O T E s ON HISTORICAL EVIDENCE IN REPBEBNCB TO ADVERSE THEORIES ORiailSr AISTD JSTATURE &OVEENIENT OF TEE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. BY JOHN B. DILLON, AUTHOB OF A HISTOKT OF INDIANA. " Contemporanea expositio est optima et fortissima in lege." — A aoniemporaneous exposition is the best and strongest in law. Wharton's Legal Maxims. NE'W YORK: PRINTED BY S. W. GREEN. No. 16 JACOB STEEET. 1871. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S71, by JOHN B. DILLON, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Q{jfl, i^f^i Electrotjrped by Smith & McDodgal, 82 Beekma* Street. PBEFATORY NOTE. Many good reasons have induced me to "believe that a fair consideration of the historical facts which have been compUed from various authentic sources, and em bodied in the following Notes, will help, in no small degree — First, To weaken the power of certain political errors, which, from the beginning of the Government of the United States to the present time, have constantly exer cised a disturbing influence on the administration of the National Affairs. And, Secondly, To promote the growth, and the perpetuity, of sound and harmonious opinions on important questions which relate to the Origin and Nature of the Government of the United States, to the Constitutional powers of Congress, and to the reserved Eights of the several States of the Union. J. B. D. New Yoek, November, 1871. CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. PAGE John Adams on Party Divisions 11 John Adams on Lost History 11 Disputes on Nature of Government 12 Theory of Sovereignty of the People 12 Theory of State Sovereignty 13 Views in favor of State Sovereignty 18 Sovereignty " Retained " 14 Congress, in 1777, on Articles of Confederation 14 Congress, in 1779, on the Internal Policy of a State 14 Luther Martin on State Sovereignty, and James Madison on Luther Martin 15,16 Justice Samuel Chase on State Sovereignty 16 ¦Virginia Resolutions of 1798 16 Views of Virginia House of Delegates in 1799-1800 17 Kentucky Resolutions of 1799 17 Tucker's Blackstone on State Sovereignty 18 John Taylor, of Virginia, on State Sovereignty 19 Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina, on State Sovereignty and Powers of Congress 30 John C. Calhoun on State Sovereignty 22 John C. Calhoun on Powers of the General Government 33 South Carolina Convention of 1833, on State Sovereignty S3 Nashville Convention of 1850, on the Right of Secession 33 National Democratic Convention of 1856, on Kentucky and Virginia. Resolutions 34 National Whig Convention of 1856, on the Nature of the Government of the United States 34 Daniel Webster on State Sovereignty 34 William H. Seward on State Sovereignty 35 Chief Justice Taney on State Sovereignty and the Nature of the Government of the United States 35 Justice Catron on State Sovereignty 36 James Buchanan on Grants of Specific Powers by the States 36 Jefferson Davis on State Sovereignty 36 Shars wood's Blackstone on State Sovereignty 37 VI CONTENTS. FAQS New American Cyclopaedia on Powers not Expressly Granted to the Federal Government 37 Geographical Dictionary on Powers not Expressly Conceded to the General Government 37 Justice Clifford on State Sovereignty 28 Chief Justice Chase on State Sovereignty 38 Edward Everett on Sovereign Republics 38 CHAPTEE II. Influence of Authorities 29 Contradictory Theories 30 Relating to Evidence SO Contemporaneous Construction 30 Rules of Construction 31 CHAPTEE III. Definitions 33 Grotius on Sovereignty 33 Blackstone on Sovereignty 34 Bouvier on Sovereignty 34 Political Sovereignty 34 Story on Sovereignty 35 Justice Blair on Sovereignty, and the word " Retain " 35 Nathan Dane on Sovereignty 36 Austin on Sovereignty 33 M. D'Alembert on the Sovereign Power in a Republic 37 James Madison on Sovereignty 37 Lewis Cass on Sovereignty in the United States 37 CHAPTEE IV. Of Nations and states. Noah Webster's definition of a Nation 39 Encyclopaedia Britannica on the word Nation 39 PhiUimore on a State gg Judge Story on a Sovereign State 40 Wheaton on Independent States .>. . 40 James Madison on the term States 40 New American Cyclopaedia on the Sovereignty of a State 41 Montesquieu on Sovereign Stat-es, and Crab on the term States 41 The State of Great Britain 42 San Marino, a State 43 Tobasco, a State '. 43 Austin on Confederated States 43 Mr. Pendleton, of Virginia, in 1788, on the phrase " We, the People ". . 43 Mr. Corbin, of Virginia, in 1788, on " We, the People " 43 Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania, in 1788, on "We, the People of the United States " 43 CONTENTS. VU FAGS James Madison on " We, the People " 44 Mr. Nicholas, of Virginia, in 1788, on " We, the People " 44 Bayard on " the People of the United States " 45 CHAPTEE V. Virginia House of Burgesses, in 1774 46 General Congress proposed, in 1774 46 Massachusetts House of Representatives, in 1774 47 Meeting of Continental Congress, in 1774 47 Object of the Revolutionary Movement 47 On Voting in Congress, in 1774 48 Association formed in Congress, 1774 48 Resolution adopted by Ofilcers of Dunmore's Expedition, in 1774 48 Resolution adopted by Inhabitants of Westmoreland County, Pennsyl vania, in 1775 49 Mechlenburg Declaration, in 1775 49 " Defense of American Liberty " 50 " The Defense of America" 50 The Union, in 1775 50 Address to the People of Ireland, in 1775 51 On Colonial Petitions, in 1775 51 " The Cause of American Liberty," in 1775 63 Exports from certain Colonies, permitted by Congress, in 1775 53 America " has a blank sheet to write upon," in 1775 53 Sermon at Philadelphia, in 1775 53 Whigs and Tories, in 1775 53 Provincial Congress, at Watertown, in 1775 54 Thomas Jefferson's Views, in 1775 54 James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, on the Declaration of Independence. . . 55 Views of the Colonists at the beginning of the Revolution 55 Germans, in 1775 56 CHAPTEE VI. Congress recommends the Adoption of State Governments ^ 57 Delegates in Congress from Virginia instructed to propose Declaration of Independence 58 Virginia BUI of Bights, in 1776 53 Declaration of Independence • 59/ Declaration to be Proclaimed in each of the United States 59 New York Convention, in 1776 ¦- 60 Resolution of Congress, in 1776 » 60 Resolution of Congress, in 1776 60 Resolution of Congress, in 1776 61 Resolution of Congress, in 1776 61 John Hancock's Views, in 1776 61 Battalions to be Enlisted, in 1776 • • • 63 Population of the Union, in 1775 63 Vm CONTENTS. FAGB Instructions to Commissioners, in 1776 63 United Colonies changed to United States, in 1776 64 America to be " great among the Nations of the Earth " 64 United States " free and independent," in 1776 64 CHAPTEE VII. Articles of Confederation proposed 65 Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania, on Confederation 65 John Adams on Confederation 66 Congress on Confederation, in 1777 66 "Address of Congress to the Inhabitants of the United States of America,"in 1778 67 Treaty of 1778 67 Treaty of 1778 07 Maryland Gazette, in 1778 68 Mio TorkJowrnal,m 1778 08 Ifew Jersey Gazette, in 1779 68 King of France, in 1780 68 Anthony Wayne and other officers, in 1780 69 Proclamation by Congress, in 1781 69 John Adams, in 1781 69 Pennsylvania Journal, in 1783 69 House of Delegates of Virginia, in 1783 70 Congress, in 1783 70 Secretary of Foreign Afiairs, in 1783 70 Congress, in 1783 71 Treaty of 1783 71 Treaty of 1785 71 Lord Sheffield, in 1783 72 The Sardinian Minister, in 1783 72 Congress, in 1783 73 Oration at Boston, in 1783 73 Washington, in 1783 73 Dr. Witherspoon's Opinion 74 Pennsylvania Journal, of 1783 74 ¦Washington, in 1783 74 CHAPTEE VIII. Proclamation by Congress, in 1784 75 Thomas Jefferson's Views, in 1785 76 Congress, in 1785 76 Thomas Jefferson, in 1786 76 General Assembly of Virginia, in 1786 78 Congress, in 1786 78 Noah Webster, in 1786 79 Thomas Jefferson on Coercing States 80 Thomas Jefferson on the Confederation 80 Resolution of Congress, in 1787 80 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTEE IX. PAGE Resolution of Congress, in 1787 81 Theory of State Sovereignty, in the Convention of 1787 81 National Government and State Governments 82 Opinions of Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania, in 1787 83 Opinions of Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, in 1787 83 Opinions of James Madison, in 1787 83 Opinions of Alexander Hamilton, in 1787 84 Views of Washington, in 1787 84 Opinion of Luther Martin, in 1788 85 Views of Dr. Benjamin Bush, in 1787 05 Popular Opinion at Philadelphia, in 1788 86 Opinion of James Madison, in 1788 86 Opinion of John Marshall, in 1788 87 Opinion of Mr. Corbin, of Virginia, in 1788 87 Opinion of Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania, in 1788 87 Opinion of Mr. Innis, of Virgima, in 1788 87 Opinions of Rawlins Lowndes and of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, in 1788 88 Opinion of George Bancroft 89 Opinion of Governor Randolph, of Virginia, in 1788 00 Opinionsof Henry Lee, of Virginia, in 1788 90 CHAPTEE X. Opinions of Mr. Page, of Virginia, in 1789 91 Opinions of James Madison, in 1789 91 Vote in 1780, on Restricting Congress to the Exercise of Powers " ex pressly " granted 93 Erroneous use of the word " Expressly " 93 Views of Chief Justice Jay, in 1793 93 Views of Justice Paterson, in 1795 94 Passages in Washington's Farewell Address 94 John Adams, in 1799 95 Views of Chief Justice Marshall, in 1819 95 Views of Andrew Jackson, in 1833 95 Opinions of Joseph Story 00 Views of Daniel Webster 97 Opinion of John C. Calhoun 97 Views of William H. Seward 98 Opinion of John Quincy Adams 98 Views of Chief Justice Chase 98 James Madison, on certain Political Errors 99 James Madison, on " a fundamental error " 99 Views of the Supreme Court of the L'^nitcd States 100 CONTENTS. CHAPTEE XI. PAGB Opinions expressed in Kent's Commentaries 101 Phrases used by Congress, before the Declaration of Independence. . . . 101 Declaration of Independence did not form Thirteen Separate Sovereign States 103 Resolutions of Congress relating to the Union 103 Views of Charles D. Drake, on the Origin of the Union 103 Of Thirteen Sovereign States or Nations 104 Of the Evidence contained in these Notes 105 CHAPTEE XII. Views of James Madison, in 1830 106 What the Evidence in these Notes seems to prove 106 Congress is not Restricted to the Exercise of Powers "expressly" granted by the Constitution 103 Specific Powers and General Powers — State Rights 109 Of National Authority and State Authority 110 State Rights and Constitutional Prohibitions 110-117 CHAPTEE XIII. Prohibitions to Prevent the Exercise of Arbitrary Power 118 Patriotism of the Defenders of the Nation Il8 Restoration of Harmony among the Citizens of the Union 119 CHAPTEE XIV. Growth of the Region West of the Alleghany Mountains 120 Western Pioneers 130 Commingling of Diverse Races 123 Immigrants 133 Forming a New Nation 123 The Strong Supports of a Great Nation 134 APPENDIX. Declaration of Independence 125 Articles of Confederation 138 Constitution of the United States 133 CHAPTER I. I. John Adams on Party Divisions. In a letter that was ¦written more than fifty years ago, by John Adams, who was the second President of the United States of America, and one of the signers of the Declaration of American Independence, Mr. Adams said : " You say that our divisions began with Federalism and Anti-Federalism. Alas ! they began with human nature. They have existed in America from the first plantation. In every colony di-visions always prevailed. In New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Massachusetts, and all the rest, a court and a country party have always contended. Whig and Tory disputed very sharply before the Eevolu- tion, and in every step during the Eevolution. Every measure of Congress, from 1774 to 1788, inclusively, was disputed -with acrimony." — WorJcs of John Adams, Vol. X, p. 23. II. John Adams on Lost History. In a note dated "Quincy, Jan. 3, 1817," and addressed to the editor of NUes' Eegister, Mr. Adams said: "In plain English, and in a few words, Mr. NUes, I consider the true history of the American Eevolution, and of the 12 GOVERNMENT OF THE establishment of our present constitutions, as lost forever. And nothing but misrepresentations, or partial accounts of it, ever will be recovered." — Niles' Register, Jan. 18, 1817. III. Disputes on Nature of Oomrnment. It is a very remarkable example, either of the imper fection of human knowledge, or of the perversity of human nature, that, from the 4th of July, 1776, to the present time (1871), the people of the United States of America have not been able to settle, amicably and definitely, a great, vexatious, and dangerous political controversy in reference to the origin and nature of their own Government IV. Theory of Sovereignty of the People. The supporters of the theory of the Sovereignty of the People of the Nation, believe that the Declaration of the Independence of the United States of America was made " in the name and by the authority of the good people" of thirteen united British colonies ; that it was an act of original inherent sovereignty, done by the people them selves in a state of revolution ; that the Articles of Con federation, which went into force on the first of March, 1781, were not formed as treaties and alliances are formed between sovereign and independent States ; that the powers and rights granted or reserved to the several States, emanated from the sovereign power of the nation ; that the Constitution of the United States of America was ordained and established by the wiU of the people of the United States ; and that its powers are granted UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 13 by them, "and are to be exercised directly on them, and for their benefit." — Wheaton) s Reports, Vol. IV, p. 316. This theory of the nature of the Government of the United States has been steadily maintained and carried into effect, not-withstanding the disturbing influence of an unceasing opposition on the part of able, numerous, and powerful adversaries, who have asserted — V. Of the Theory of State Sovereignty : — That when the thirteen British colonies in America renounced their allegiance to the government Of Great Britain, they became, severally, sovereign and indepen dent States; that the Articles of Confederation were made, by these States, as treaties of alliance are made by sovereign and independent nations ; that the Con stitution of the United States was not ordained and estab lished by the will of the people of the United States ; that the Constitution is a compact between sovereign and independent States ; that it contains grants, from sovereign and independent States, to the National Con gress, of certain enumerated and restricted powers ; and that Congress can only lawfully exercise powers which are specifically or expressly granted, or which may be necessary and proper to carry such powers into effect. VI. Views in Favor of State Sovereignty. These views of the nature of the Government of the United States of America have been spread abroad among the people of the nation by the writings and the speeches of distinguished public men ; by the acts of State Legislatures ; by resolutions set forth in the 14 GOVERNMENT OF THE platforms of a powerful political party ; by obiter opinions, or the sayings of Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States ; by editors of newspapers, and by authors of literary publications which are, in many respects, accurate and valuable. For example — VII. Sovereignty '¦'¦retained)^ The Articles of Confederation, which went into force on the first of March, 1781, declared that each State retained its "sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right" which was not, by the Confederation, "expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled." VIII. Congress of 1777. "Let them" (the Articles of Confederation) "be can didly reviewed under a sense of the difl&culty of combin ing in one general system the various sentiments and interests of a continent divided into so many sovereign and independent communities, under a conviction of the absolute necessity of uniting all our councils, and all our strength, to maintain and defend our common liberties." — Circular Letter, agreed to in Congress, Nov. 17, 1777. IX. Congress of 1779. In Congress, June 28, 1779:— "The committee, con sisting of Mr. McKean, Mr. Lovell, and Mr. Paca, to whom was referred the memorial of Messrs. John Cox and Charles Petit, Assistant Quartermaster-General, re- UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 15 port that they have come to the following resolution thereupon, viz. : — That Congress cannot, in any manner, control the Legislature of New Jersey in the internal police of said State. That it is not to be presumed that any citizen will be unjastly or oppressively taxed in any State, without remedy, by appeal or otherwise, -within the same. "Eesolved, That Congress agree to said Eeport." X. Views of Luther Martin. The published opinions of Luther Martin, of Maryland, who was a member of the convention that formed the Constitution of the United States, contain the following passages : "When the States threw off their allegiance to Great Britain, they became independent of her and of each other."— Mliot's Debates, Vol. I, p. 423. "The separation from Great Britain placed the thirteen States in a state of nature towards each other." — Madison Papers, Supplement to Elliots Debates, Vol. V, p. 213. "Every argument which shows one man ought not to have more votes than another, because he is wiser, stronger, or wealthier, proves that one State ought not to have more votes than another, because it is stronger, richer, or more populous." — EllioV s Debates, Vol. I, p. 353. "Everything which relates to the formation, the disso lution, or the alteration of a federal government over States equally free, sovereign, and independent, is the peculiar province of the States in their sovereign or politi cal capacity, in the same manner as what relates to forming aUianoes or treaties of peace, amity, or commerce ; * * * the people at large, in their individual capacity, have no more right to interfere in the one case than in the other." — Elliot's Debates, Vol. I, p. 387. 16 GOVERNMENT OF THE James Madison on Imther Martin. * * * In a letter under the date of June 5, 1835, James Madison said: "The passions and prejudices of Mr. L. Martin, betrayed in his published letter, could not fail to discolor his representations. He also left the Conven tion before the completion of their work. I have heard, but -will not vouch for the fact, that he became sensible of and admitted his error. Certain it is, that he joined the party who favored the Constitution in its most liberal construction." — Writings of James Madison, Vol. IV, p. 381. XI. Opinion of Justice Samuel Chase. In 1796, Mr. Justice Samuel Chase, of the Supreme Court of the United States, in referring to the Decla ration of American Independence, said : "I consider this as a declaration^ not that the united colonies jointly, in a collective capacity, were independent States, &c., but that each of them had a right to govern itself by its o-wn authority, and its own laws, without any control from any other power upon earth." — Dallas' Reports, Vol. Ill, p. 224. Mr. Chase was one of the signers of the Decla ration of Independence. XII. Virginia Resolutions of 1798. The Virginia Eesolutions of 1798, adopted by the House of Delegates, December 21, and by the Senate, De cember 24, declare, "explicitly and peremptorily," that the General Assembly of Virginia "views the powers of the Federal Government as resulting from the compact to which the States are parties, as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting that compact, UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 17 as no farther valid than they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact ; and that in case of a de liberate, 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 interpose, for arresting the progress of the e-vil, and for maintaining -within their respective limits, the authorities, rights, and liberties appertaining to them." XIIL Virginia House of Delegates, 1799 — ^1800. Extract from a report of a Committee of the Virginia House of Delegates, at the session of 1799—1800: "The States, then, being the parties to the Constitutional compact, and in their sovereign capacity, it follows of necessity that there can be no tribunal above their authority to decide, in the last resort, whether the com pact made by them be violated ; and, consequently, that, as the parties to it, they must themselves decide, in the last resort, such questions as may be of sufficient magni tude to require their interposition." — Madison's WorTcs, Vol. IV, p. 517. XIV. Kentucliy Resolutions, 1799. The Kentucky Eesolutions, of 1799, declare that the several States "by compact, under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto," "constituted a General Govern ment for special purposes, delegated to that Govern ment certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their o-wn self- govemment; and that whensoever the General Govern ment assumes undelegated powers, its acts are un- 2 18 GOVERNMENT OP THE authoritative, void, and of no force ; that to this com pact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party; its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party;" and "that, as in aU other cases of compact among parties ha-ving no common judge, each party has a right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress." XV. Tucker's Blackstone. The Appendix to the first volume of Tucker's* Blackstone, published in Philadelphia in 1803, contains the following passages: "Whatever political relation existed between the American colonies antecedent to the Eevolution, as constituent parts of the British em pire, or as dependencies upon it, that relation was com pletely dissolved and annihilated from that period. From the moment of the Eevolution they became seve rally independent and sovereign States, possessing all the rights, jurisdictions, and authority that other sove reign States, however constituted, or by whatever title denominated, possess ; and bound by no ties but of their own creation, except such as all other civilized nations are equally bound by, and which together con stitute the customary law of nations." — Appendix, p. 150. "The right of sovereignty, therefore, in all cases not •expressly ceded to the United States by the Constitution, or prohibited by it to the several States, remains in- ¦violably with the States respectively." — Appendix, p. 176. The Federal Government, then, appears to be the organ through which the United Eepublics Communicate * St. George Tucker was Professor of Law in the University of William and Mary, in Virginia, and one of the Judges of the General Court of that State. UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 19 -with foreign nations, and with each other. Their sub mission to its operation is voluntary : its councils, its engagements, its authority are theirs, modified and united. Its sovereignty is an emanation from theirs, not a flame by which they have been consumed, nor a vortex in which they are swallowed up. Each is stUl a perfect State, still sovereign, stUl independent, and still capable, should the occasion require, to resume the exercise of its functions, as such, in the most un limited extent." — Appendix, p. 187. XVI. John Taylor, of Virginia. A work that was -written by John Taylor, of Virginia, and published in 1820, contains the following passages : "The State sovereignties made, may revoke, or can alter the Constitution itself ; and therefore the supremacy be stowed upon the Constitution, being some power sub servient to the State sovereignties, demonstrates that the word 'supreme' was used in a sense subordinate to these sovereignties ; and being used in that sense, it is impossible that the people intended it as a revocation of those powers, or of any of their appurtenances, or of the spherical sovereignties, previously bestowed, never recalled, and specially reserved to the State governments by the sovereignties, to whom the whole Constitution and all its words are subordinate." * * * "Pre-viously to the Union, the States were in the enjoyment of sove reignty or supremacy. Not ha-ving relinquished it by the Union, in fact having then exercised it, there was no occasion, in declaring the supremacy of the Constitu tion and laws made in piu'suance thereof, to notice that portion of State supremacy, originally attached to, not severed from, and of course remaining vnth the 20 GOVERNMENT OP THE powers not delegated to the Federal Government ; whilst it was necessary to recognize that other portion of supremacy attached to the special powers transferred from the States to the Federal Government." * * * "The States by common consent may dissolve or modify the Union, over which, by the natural right of self-govern ment, which they have never relinquished, they retain a complete supremacy." — Construction Construed, pp. 122, 127, 143. xvn. Views of Robert T. Hayne, of South Carolina. On the 27th of January, 1830, in the Senate of the United States, Eobert Y. Hayne, a distinguished Senatoi^ from South Carolina, delivered a speech in which the foUovdng passages appear : "Nothing can be clearer than that, under such a system, the Federal Government, exercising strictly dele gated powers, can have no right to act beyond the pale of its authority, and that all such acts are void. A State, on the contrary, retaining aU powers not expressly given away, may lawfully act in aU cases where she has not voluntarily imposed restrictions on herself." * * * "AU sovereigns are of necessity equal; and any one State, however small in population or territory, has the same rights as the rest, just as the most insignificant nation in Europe is as much sovereign as France, or Eussia, or England." * * * "It is clear that questions of sovereignty are not the proper subjects of judicial investigation. They are much too large, and of too delicate a nature, to be brought within the jurisdiction of a court of justice. Courts, whether supreme or subordinate, are the mere creatures of the sovereign power, designed to expound and carry into effect its sovereign wiU. No independent State ever UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 21 yet submitted to a judge on the bench the true con struction of the compact between himself (?) and another sovereign." * '^ * "I think I have now sho-svn that the right of a State to judge of infractions of the Constitution, on the part of the Federal Government, results from the very nature of the compact ; and that, neither by the express pro visions of that instrument, nor by any fair implication, is such a power exclusively reserved to the Federal Government, or any of its departments — executive, legis lative, or judicial." * * * "No doubt can exist, that, before the States entered into the compact, they possessed the right, to the fuUest extent, of determining the limits of their own powers — it is incident to all sovereignty. Now, have they given away that right, or agreed to limit or restrict it in any respect ? Assuredly not. They have agreed that certain specific powers shall be exercised by the Federal Govern ment, but the moment that Government steps beyond the limits of its charter, the right of the States ' to interpose for arresting the progress of the e-vil, and maintaining, -within their respective limits, the authorities, rights, and liberties appertaining to them,' is as fuU and complete as it was before the Constitution was formed. It was plenary then, and never having been surrendered, must be plenary now. But what then ? asks the gentleman. A State is brought into collision with the United States in relation to the exercise of unconstitutional power: who is to decide between them ? Sir, it is the common case of difference of opinion between sovereigns as to the true construction of a- compact. Does such a differ ence of opinion necessarily produce war? No. And if not among rival nations, why should it do so among friendly States?" * * *— Gales and Seaton's Register of Debates in Congress. 22 GOVERNMENT OP THE XVIII. Views of John C. Calhoun. In an " Address on the relation which the States and General Government bear to each other," John C. Cal houn, of South Carolina, said : " The great and leading principle is, that the General Government emanated from the people of the several States, forming distinct political communities, and acting in their separate and sovereign capacity, and not from all the people forming our aggre gate political community ; that the Constitution of the United States is, in fact, a compact to which each State is a party, in the character already described ; and that the several States, or parties, have a right to judge of its infractions ; and in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of power not delegated, they have the right, in the last resort, to use the language of the Vir ginia Eesolutions, 'to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining, within their respective limits, the authorities, rights, and liberties appertaining to them.' This right of interposition, solemnly asserted by the State of Virginia, be it called what it may — State right, veto, nullification, or by any other name — I con ceive to be the fundamental principle of our system, resting on facts historically as certain as our Eevolution itself, and deductions as simple and demonstrative as that of any political or moral truth whatever ; and I firmly believe that on its recognition depend the stability and safety of our political institutions." * * * "That different opinions are entertained on this subject, I con sider but as an additional evidence of the great diversity of the human intellect." * * * "The error may possibly be with me, but if so, I can only say that, after the most mature and conscientious examination, I have not been able to detect it." — Calhoun! s Works, Vol. VI, pp. 60-63. UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 23 XIX. John C. Calhoun. "The General Government is one of specific powers; and it can rightfully exercise only the powers expressly granted, and those that may be necessary and proper to carry them into gSqcV— Calhoun's Works, Vol. VI, p. 2. XX. Nullification Convention of 1833. The Eeport of a Committee of twenty-one members, appointed by the Nullification Convention of South Caro lina in 1832, contains the foUo-vdng passage: "Before the Federal Government had thus been called into being, the several States unquestionably possessed as full sover eignty, and were as independent 4Df each other, as the most powerful nations of the world. — President Jackson' s Message and accompanying documents, transmitted to Congress, January 16, 1833. I XXL Nashville Convention, 1850. A Convention, in which the States of Alabama, Flori^ da, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee were represented, re-assembled at Nashville, Tennessee, in November, 1850, and adopted a Preamble and Eesolutions, in which it is asserted that, when the Constitution of the United States was adopted, "the States of this Confederacy acceded to that compact, each State for itself, and ratified it as States ;" and that "if the non-slaveholding States, who are parties to that compact, disregard its provisions and endanger our peace and ex istence by united and deliberate action, we have a right, 24 GOVERNMENT OP THE as States, there being no common arbiter, to secede." — Cluskey's Political Text-Book, p. 534. XXII. National Derrwcratic Convention, 1856. The National Democratic Convention of 1856 resolved : " That the Democratic party will faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid do-wn in the Kentucky and Virginia Eesolutions of 1798, and in the Eeport of Mr. Madison to the Virginia Legislature in 1799 ; that it adopts those principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their obvious meaning and import." — Cluskey's Political Text-Book, p. 127. • XXIII. National Whig Convention, 1856. The National Whig Convention of 1856 resolved: "That the Government of the United States was formed by the conjunction in political unity of wide-spread geographical sections, materially differing, not only in climate and products, but in social and domestic institu tions." * * * XXIV. Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster said : " The Confederation was, in strict ness, a compact ; the States, as States, were parties to it." — Webster's Works, Vol. Ill, p. 346. "The States are unquestionably sovereign, so far as their sovereignty is not affected by this supreme law" (the Constitution of the United States).— TFeSsiJer's Works, Vol. Ill, p. 321. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 25 XXV. William H. Seward. William H. Seward said: "The public lands were ceded by the several States and acquired by the United States of America before the Federal Constitution was adopted, and at a time when the United States of America was that mere confederacy of independent sovereign States that South Carolina, in 1833, insisted that it continued to be, not-withstanding the adoption of the Federal Consti tution. — Seward's Works, Vol. II, p. 415. XXVI. Views of Chief Justice Taney. In delivering the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Dred Scott versus John F. A. Sandford, Mr. Chief Justice Taney said: "We must recur to the governments and institutions of the thirteen Colonies, when they separated from Great • Britain and formed new sovereignties, and took their places in the family of independent nations." * * * "What was" [in 1784] " called the United States, were thirteen separate, sovereign, independent States, which had entered into a league or confederation for their mutual protection and advantage, and the Congress of the United States was composed of the representatives of these separate sover eignties." * * * "It was little more than a Congress of ambassadors, authorized to represent separate nations, in matters in which they had a common concern." * * * "It must be borne in mind that the same States that formed the Confederation also formed and adopted the new Government, to which so large a portion of their former sovereign powers were surrendered." * * * "The principle upon which our governments rest, and 26 GOVERNMENT OP THE upon which alone they continue to exist, is the union of States, sovereign and independent -within their own limits in their internal and domestic concerns, and bound to gether as one people by a General Government, possessing certain enumerated and restricted powers, delegated to it by the people of the several States, and exercising supreme authority -withiu the scope of the powers granted to it, throughout the dominion of the United States." — Howard's Reports, Vol. XIX, pp. 407, 434, 438, 447, 448. XXVIL Mr. Justice Catron. Mr. Justice Catron, of the Supreme Court of the United States, said : "Before the new Constitution was adopted, she" (Virginia) "had as much right to treat and agree as any European government had." — Howard's Reports, Vol. XIX, p. 523. XXVIIL James Buchanan. James Buchanan, when he was President of the United States, said : "The Federal Constitution is a grant from the States to Congress of certain specific powers." — Inau gural Address. XXIX. Jefferson Davis. In a speech delivered in the Senate of the United States, on the 13th of August, 1850, Jefferson Davis said : "This, sir, is a Union of sovereign States, under a com pact which delegated certain powers to the General Gov ernment and reserved aU else to the States respectively, or to the people." UlTITED STATES OP AMERICA. 27 XXX. Sharswood's Blackstone. Professor Sharswood's Blackstone (Vol. I, p. 48, note), says: "The Declaration of Independence was the joint and several act of the Colonies, and its effect was to con stitute each separate colony a free and independent State." XXXI. American Cyclopcedia. The New American Cyclopcedia (Vol. XV, p. 735), says: "The several States of the Union, as far as their internal affairs are concerned, are sovereign and inde pendent ; while for the common interest of all they dele gate a portion of their powers to a central government, whose edicts and laws, so long as they are not in conflict with the Constitution, are paramount to State authority. All powers not expressly granted by the Constitution to the Federal Government, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people. XXXII. Geographical Dictionary. A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer, or Geographical Dictionary of the World (1866, p. 1997), says: "The Government of the United States is a confederation of various States, delegating a portion of their power to a central government, whose edicts and laws, so far as granted constitutionally, are always paramount to State authority ; but aU powers not expressly conceded by that Constitution are tacitly reserved to the States." 28 GOVERNMENT OF THE XXXIII. Mr. Justice Clifford. Mr. Justice Clifford, of the Supreme Court of the United States, says: "Counties and other municipal corporations were created by the States; but the States were not created by the United States, as the States existed as independent sovereignties before even the Union was formed." — Printed Copy of Judge Clifford' s Opinion, among the papers in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, of the United States Boston. XXXIV. Chief Justice Chase. Mr. Chief Justice Chase, of the Supreme Court of the United States, says: "Under the Articles of Confedera tion each State retained its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, not expressly delegated to the United States." — Wallace's Reports, Vol. VII, p. 725. XXXV. Edward Everett. Edward Everett said: "The framers of the Consti tution devised a scheme of confederate and representative sovereign Eepublics, united in a happy distribution of powers, which, reserving to the separate States all the political functions essential to local administration and private justice, bestowed upon the General Government those, and those only, required for the service of the ^\o\q." —Everett' s Orations and beeches, Vol. I, p. 167. UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 29 CHAPTER II, I. Influence of Authorities. By the instruction of the numerous and influential authorities which are cited in the preceding chapter, and by the -writings and the speeches of a great number of politicians (who, if they are less distinguished than these authorities, have been very earnestly engaged in the work of disseminating their -views), a large part of the population of the United States have been induced to believe that the Declaration of American Independence made thirteen separate, sovereign, and independent States — ^that these thirteen separate, sovereign, and inde pendent States formed for themselves Articles of Con federation, as treaties of alliance, commerce, &c. are formed between sovereign and independent nations — that the Constitution of the United States was not ordained and established by the -will of "the people of the United States," but that it was established as a compact between sovereign and independent States — and that the Congress of the United States can lawfully exercise only such powers as are expressly granted by the Constitution, or those which may be necessary and proper to carry such powers into effect. 30 GOVERNMENT OF THE II. Contradictory Tlieories. The two contradictory theories relating to the origin and nature of the Government of the United States of America, ought to be treated as questions which can be rightfully decided only in the light of e-vidence arisiug from history, from the principles of international law, and from the legislation and general jurisprudence of the nation. HI. Evidence. The acts, opinions, and intentions of the statesmen who proclaimed the Declaration of American Independ ence, and adopted the Articles of Confederation, and the acts, opinions, and intentions of the statesmen who framed the Constitution of the United States, ought to be ad mitted as e-vidence of the highest authority on the sub jects to which they are relative; and as conclusive evidence on certain questions concerning the true princi ples on which the Government of the United States of America is founded. IV. Contemporaneous Construction. Presumptive evidence of the state of public opinion in the United States, in reference to the nature of the Gov ernment during the time that elapsed between the years 1776 and 1788, may be based upon the statements of eminent men of that period. " Great regard," says Lord Coke, "ought, in construiag a statute, to be paid to the construction which the sages of the law who lived about the time or soon after it was made, put upon it ; because UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 31 they were best able to judge of the intention of the makers at the time when the law was made." The same principle has been applied in the United States, to a certain extent, in the construction of constitutions." — Sedgwick's Treatise, p. 251. V. Rules of Construction. The unreasonable and profitless controversies which are still maintained, relative to the true meaning of certaia words, or phrases, which appear in the Declara tion of Independence, in the Articles of Confederation, and in the Constitution of the United States, ought to be definitively settled in conformity with the most reasonable and equitable rules which have been estab lished among enlightened nations, for the interpretation of contracts, laws, and constitutions. According to these rules, it is necessary — 1st. — To make, in all the particular cases which pre sent themselves, a just application of what has been decreed in a general manner. 2d. — As soon as we meet "with any obscurity in a document, we should seek for what was probably in the thoughts of those who drew it up ; and we ought to interpret it accordingly. 3d. — Every interpretation that leads to an absurdity ought to be rejected. 4th. — Words ought to be construed according to the intent of those who use them, and not otherwise. 5th. — ^Ambiguous words, or words having a double sense, are to be construed so as to make them stand -with law and equity. 6th. — Words which are in themselves uncertain, may be made certain by subsequent words. aa GOVERNMENT OP THE 7th. — In every agreement the intent is the chief thing to be considered. 8th. — In an Act of Parliament the intention appear ing iu the Preamble shall control the letter of the law. 9th. — ^When a word, or a sentence, is capable of several significations, conjectures are necessary to find out the true one. 10th. — Obscure expressions must not have meanings put upon them, contrary to express declarations, 11th. — "Where the language of a document, of what ever description, is doubtful, its meaning is best under stood by reference to, and consideration of, the circum stances attending its original formation." — Wharton's Legal Maxims, p. 41. 12th. — When the subject relates to things favorable, we ought to give the terms all the extent they are capable of in common use ; and, if a term has many significations, the most extensive ought to be preferred. — Vide Grotius on the Rights of War and Peace, B. II, ch. xvi ; Pufen- dorf on the Law of Nature and Nations, B. V, ch. xii ; Vattel's Law of Nations, B. II, ch. xvii; Rutherforfh' s Institutes of Natural Law, B. II, ch. -vii ; Sedgwick's Treatise, p. 231 ; Jac. Law Die, "Intention"; Ayliff^s Civil Law, B. I, tit. x. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 33 CHAPTER III. Definitions. It seems that the principal difficulties which prevent a satisfactory settlement of popular disputes on the origin and nature of the Government of the United States, grow out of controversies concerning the true meanings of certain words and phrases which appear either in the Declaration of American Independence, in the Articles of Confederation, or in the acts and proceedings of the Con vention that framed the National Constitution. These difficulties would, perhaps, disappear if the disputants would -wisely agree to accept, from the highest authorities, definitions of the real meanings of such words and phrases as ''¦ Sovereignty," ''¦State," ''Nation," "Sovereign and Independent State," and " We, the People of the United States." IL Grotius on Sovereignty. Sovereign power, according to Grotius, "is perfectly or completely independent of other human power, inso much that its acts cannot be annulled by any human -will 34 GOVERNMENT OP THE other than its own." ^-Austin's Province of Jurispru dence Determined, Vol. I, p. 189. IIL Blackstone on Sovereignty, However governments began, "or by what right soever they subsist, there is and must be in aU of them, a supreme, irresistible, absolute, uncontrolled authority, in which the jura summi imperii, or the rights of sove reignty, iceBidiG."— Blackstone s Com. (Sharswood's ed.), Vol. I, p. 48. IV. Bouvier on Sovereignty. Sovereignty is "the union and exercise of aU human power possessed in a State ; it is a combination of all power ; it is the power to do every thing in a State with out accountability ; to make laws, to execute and apply them ; to impose and collect taxes, and to levy contribu tions ; to make war or peace ; to form treaties of alliance or of commerce vdth foreign nations, and the Kke." — Bouvier' s Law Die, Vol. II, p. 537. V. Political Sovereignty. No form of human government can exist -without the controlling presence of that political power > which is called Sovereignty, Where sovereignty does not exist in one person, nor in a few persons, nor in the mass of the people, there is no government. There may be, in such a case, popular excitement, contention, anarchy, and war fare ; but there cannot be any form of government. The UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 35 , sovereign power of an independent State, or nation, is vested with an exclusive right to make, execute, and change laws, and to regulate persons and things, vdthin its own territory, according to its own wHl. VL Story on Sovereignty. Mr. Justice Story, in his Commentaries on the Consti tution of the United States, says : " The term ' sovereign ' or ' sovereignty ' is used in different senses, which often leads to a confusion of ideas, and sometimes to very mis chievous and unfounded conclusions. By ' sovereignty ' in its largest sense is meant supreme, absolute, uncon trollable power, the jus summi imperii, the absolute right to govern."— B. II, p. 207. * * * " Strictly speak ing, in our republican forms of government, the absolute sovereignty of the nation is in the people of the nation ; and the residuary sovereignty of each State, not granted to any of its public functionaries, is in the people of the State."— B. II, p. 209. VII. Views of Mr. Justice Blair. In 1795, Justice Blair, of the Supreme Court of the United States, said: "It is true, ^Aa^ instrument" (the Articles of Confederation) "is worded in a manner, on which some stress is laid, that the several States should retain their sovereignties, and all powers not thereby expressly delegated to Congress, as if they were, till the ratification of that compact, in possession of aU the powers thereby delegated ; but it seems to me that it would be going too far, from a single expression, used perhaps in a loose sense, to draw an inference so contrary 36 GOVERNMENT OF THE to a known fact, to -wit, that Congress was, -with the approbation of the States, in possession of some of the powers therein mentioned, which, yet, if the word ' retain' be taken in so strict a sense, it must be supposed they never had." — Dallas' Reports, Vol. Ill, p. 113. VIII. Nathan Dane on Sovereignty. Nathan Dane, who was a member of Congress in 1787, in referring to the use of the word "sovereignty" in the Articles of Confederation, says : "The word ' sovereignty,' in this case, is evidently used in a subordinate sense. Though the words sovereign and sovereignty are cer tainly too convenient, in speaking and writing, to be disused, yet it is clear that, in the strict and accurate use of words, they cannot be properly used as a part of our constitutional language in a constitutional sense; and this distinction is generally to be regarded." — Dane's Ab. Am. Law, Vol. IX, Appendix. IX. Austin on Sovereignty. Mr. Austin, in the Province of Jurisprudence Deter mined, Vol. I, p. 178, says : " The definition of the ab stract term independent political society, (including the definition of the correlative term sovereignty,) cannot be rendered in expressions of perfectly precise import, and is therefore a fallible test of specific or particular cases. The least imperfect definition which the abstract term wiU take, would hardly enable us to fix the class of every possible society." * * * "it ¦5vould hardly enable us to determine ot ev&cj political society, whether it were inde pendent or subordinate." UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 37 X. M. D'Alembert. M. D'Alembert, in an Analysis of Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, says: "We may distinguish three sorts of governments — the republican, the monarchic, the des potic. In the republican, the people in a body possess the sovereign power." XI. Views of James Madison on Sovereignty. In 1835, James Madison said: "It is so difficult to argue intelligibly concerning the compound system of govemnjent in the United States, vsdthout admitting the divisibility of sovereignty, that the idea of sovereignty, as di-vided between the Union and the members composing the Union, forces itself into the -view, and even into the language, of those most strenuously contending for the unity and indivisibility of the moral being created by the social compact." — Selections from the Private Correspon dence of James Madison, p. 374. In the same volume, pp. 412-413, Mr. Madison says : " Those who deny the possibility of a di-vided political system, -with a divided sovereignty Kke that of the United States, must choose between a government purely consolidated and an asso ciation of governments purely federal." XIL Opinion of Lewis Cass. In a speecb delivered in the Senate of the United States on the 23d of January, 1850, Lewis Cass said: "In the people of the United States resides the sove- 38 GOVERNMENT OP THE reignty of this country, and no department of their government can claim that high prerogative, nor assume any functions arising out of it not to be found in that great act of the people which brought them into political existence." UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 39 CHAPTER lY. Of Nations and States. According to the definition of Noah Webster, a Nation is " a body of people inhabiting the same coimtry, or united under the same sovereign or government, as the English nation, the French nation. * * * Nation, as its etymology imports, originally denoted a family or race of men descended from a common progenitor, like tribe; but, by emigration, conquest, and intermixture of men of dififerent families, this distinction .is, in most countries, lost." II. Encyclopcedia Britannica. The word Nation is "a collective term used for a con siderable number of people inhabiting a certaia extent of land, confined within fixed limits, and under the same government."— -E^cg/. Brit., Vol. XV, p. 737. in. PhiUimore. PhiUimore defines a yS'fefe as "a people permanently occupying a fixed territory, bound together by common 40 GOVERNMENT OP THE laws, habits, and customs, into one body politic, exercis ing, through the medium of an organized government, independent sovereignty and control over all persons and things vdthin its boundaries, capable of making war and peace, and of entering into international relations -with other communities."— iVe«o Amer. Cyclopcedia, Vol. X, p. 360. rv. Judge Story. Judge Story says: "Whatever may be the internal organization of the government of any State, if it has the sole power of governing itself, and is not dependent on any foreign State, it is called a sovereign State : that is, it is a State having the same rights, privileges, and powers as other independent States. i V. Wheaton' s Elementary International Law. "Every independent State is entitled to the exclusive power of legislation in respect to the personal rights, and civil state and condition of its citizens, and in respect to aU real and personal property situated within its territory, whether belonging to citizens or aliens."— TF^eafo?i' 5 El. Int. Law, p. 113. "Every nation possesses and exer cises exclusive sovereignty and jurisdiction throughout the full extent of its territory."— 75. p. 113. VL James Madison. James Madison said: "It is indeed true that the term 'States'' is sometimes used ia a vague ^ense, and UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 41 sometimes in different senses, according to the subject to which it is applied. Thus it sometimes means the separate sections of territory occupied by the political societies -within each ; sometimes the political governments established by these societies ; sometimes those societies, as organized into those particular governments ; and, lastly, it means the people composing those political societies, in their highest sovereign capacity." — Report in the Virginia Legislature, in January, 1800, cited in Elliot's Debates, Vol. I, p. 65. VIL New American Cyclopcedia. The New American Cyclopcedia (Vol. X, p. 360), says : "The sovereignty of a State depends upon its existence de facto as a State ; and until this is recognized by other nations, the State enjoys no share in international rights." VIIL Montesquieu. Montesquieu says : " Every nation that governs itself, under what form soever, vnthout dependence on any foreign power, is a sovereign State." Crabb. "A petty principality in Germany, and the whole German (or Eussian) Empire are alike termed States." — Crabb' s Eng. Syn., p. 190. 43 GOVERNMENT OP THE IX. The Declaration of American Independence mentions the "State" of Great Britain. X. The State of San Marino, which is known as a Ee- public, is one of the States of the Kingdom of Italy, which is a Nation and a sovereign independent State ; but San Marino is not a Nation ; nor was it, at any period of its existence, a sovereign and independent State. XL The State of Tobasco is one of the States of the Ee- public of Mexico, which is a sovereign and independent State ; but Tobacco is not, nor was it at any time, a sovereign and independent State. XII. Mr. Austin. In a work entitled " The Province of Jurisprudence Determined," the author, John Austin, says : "A system of confederated States, and a number of independent governments connected by an ordinary alliance, cannot be distinguished precisely through general or abstract expressions." — ^Vol. 1, p. 224. XIIL Mr. Pendleton, of Virginia. When the adoption of the Constitution of the United States of America was under consideration, in the Vir- UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 43 ginia Convention, on the 6th of June, 1788, Mr. Pendle ton, one of the members of the Convention, said : "The expression, ' We, the People,' is thought improper. Permit me to ask the gentleman who made this objection. Who but the People can delegate powers ? Who but the People have a right to form government ? The expression is a common one, and a favorite one with me. ''* * ¦* If the objection be that the Union ought to be not of the people, but of the State governments, then I think the choice of the former very happy and proper. What have the State governments to do with it?" — Elliot's Debates, Vol. Ill, p. 37. XIV. Mr. Corbin, of Virginia. Mr. Corbin, in the Virginia Convention, on the seventh of June, 1788, said: "The introductory expression of 'We, the People,' has been thought improper by the honorable gentieman. I expected no such objection as this. Ought not the People, sir, to judge of that govern ment whereby they are to be ruled? We are, sir, de liberating on a question of great consequence to the people of America, and to the world in general." — Debates in the Convention of Virginia, 1788, p. 83. XV. Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania. In 1788, when the adoption of the Constitution of the United States was under consideration in the Pennsyl vania Convention, Mr. Wilson, a member of that body, said: "I had occasion to describe what I meant by a Democracy, and I think I termed it, that government in which the People retain the supreme power, and exercise 44 GOVERNMENT OP THE it either collectively or by representation. This Consti tution declares this principle in its terms and in its conse quences, which is evident from the manner in which it is announced, ' We, the People of the United States.' After all the examination which I am able to give the subject, I -view this as the only sufficient and most honorable basis, both for the People and the Government, on which our Constitution can possibly rest. What are aU the contrivances of States, Kingdoms, and Empires ? What are they all intended for ? They are aU intended for man. * * * I am astonished to hear the ill-founded doctrine that States alone ought to be represented in the Federal Government : these must possess sovereign authority, forsooth, and the people be forgot. No. Let us re-ascend to first principles." — Elliot's Debates, Vol. II, p. 478. XVI. James Madison. James Madison, of Virginia, said: "The question whether 'We, the People,' means the people in their aggregate capacity, acting by a numeriqal majority of the whole, or by a majority in each of all the States, the authority being equally valid and binding, the question is interesting but as an historical fact of speculative curiosity." — Writings of James Madison, Vol. IV, p. 423. XVII. Mr. Nicholas, of Virginia. In the Virginia Convention, June 6, 1788, Mr. Nicho las said : "The Confederation being found utterly defec tive, vsaU he deny our right to alter or abolish it ? But he objects to the expression, "We, the People,' and UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 45 demands the reason why they had not said 'We, the United States of America ? ' In my opinion the expres sion is highly proper — it is submitted to the people, because on them it is to operate — ^till adopted, it is but a dead letter, and not binding on any one — when adopted, it becomes binding on the people who adopt it. It is proper on another accoimt. We are under great obli gations to the Federal Convention for recurring to the people, the source of all power." — Debates of the Con vention of Virginia, 1788, p. 79. XVIII. Mr. Bayard. Bayard's Brief Exposition of the Constitution of the United States (p. 42), says: "The origin of the General Government, the source of all its power, was a matter too important to be left in doubt, and it is there fore declared to be ordained and established by 'the People of the United States.' " 46 GOVERNMENT OP THE CHAPTER Y. Virginia House of Burgesses in 1774. In 1774, when the people of the colony of Massachu setts were protesting against the arbitrary colonial policy of the British Government, the Virginia House of Bur gesses passed some resolutions in which they implored the Divine power " to give them one heart and one mind, firmly to oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to American rights." On the publication of these resolutions, the royal governor of Virginia, John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, dissolved the House of Burgesses ; but before the separation of the members, eighty-nine of them formed an Association, and signed an agreement, in which they declared " that an attack made on one of our sister colonies" (alluding to Massachusetts) "to compel sub mission to arbitrary taxes, is an attack made on all British America, and threatens ruin to the rights of all, unless the united wisdom of the whole be applied."— Jefferson's Comp. Works, Vol. I, pp. 7-123. IL General Congress Proposed by Virginia. The Association, thus formed in Virginia, instructed its Committee of Correspondence to propose to the Corres- UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 47 pondence Committees of the other British Colonies in America, to appoint deputies to meet annually in a general Congress, in such place as should be convenient, to direct, from time to time, the measures required by the general inteTest.—Jqff'erson's Comp. WorJcs, Vol. I, p. 123. III. Massachusetts. The proposal to organize a general Congress having been made, about the same time, by the Massachusetts House of Eepresentatives, was favored by nearly all of the colonial committees ; and it was agreed that the first Congress should meet at the city of Philadelphia, on the fifth day of September, 1774. — Holmes' Annals, Vol. II, p. 187. IV. Meeting of Continental Congress. On that day the Continental Congress met at Carpen ters' Hall, in Philadelphia, to deliberate upon the "state of British America," and to take measures " to effect the purpose of describing with certainty the rights of Ameri cans, repairing the breach made in those rights, and guarding for the future from any such -violations done under the sanction of public authority." — Newburn, N C, Resolutions.— Journals of Congress, September 14, 1774. V. Object of the Revolutionary Movement in 1774. The object of the revolutionary movement in 1774 was, according to the declarations of Congress, designed, by 48 GOVERNMENT OP THE "the united efforts of North America," to adopt mea sures "for the preservation of the liberties of America." — Jours, of Cong. VI. Congress in 1774. On the 6th of September, 1774, Congress resolved "That, in determining questions in this Congress, each Colony or Province shall have one vote — The Congress not being possessed of, or at present able to procure, proper materials for ascertaining the importance of each Colony." — Jours, of Cong. VII. Association formed in 1774. In Congress, October 20, 1774, an "Association" was formed and signed by fifty-three Delegates " of the several colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Ehode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl vania, the three lower counties of New-Castle, Kent and Sussex, on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, deputed to represent them in a Con tinental Congress." The object of the "Association" was to obtain redress of grievances which threatened "des truction to the lives, liberty, and property of his [Brit annic] majesty's subjects in North America." — Journals of Congress. VIIL Resolution adopted by Officers of Dunmore's Expedi tion in 1774. On the 5th of November, 1774, the officers of an expe dition that marched, under the command of Governor Dunmore, of Virginia, against the Indian tribes of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 49' northwest, held a public meeting, at the mouth of the Hockhocking river, on the northwestern side of the Eiver Ohio, and passed resolutions, from which the follow ing is ^n extract : — "As the love of liberty, and attach ments to the real interests and just rights of America, outweigh every other consideration, we resolve that we -win exert every power within us for the defense of Ameri can liberty, and for the supporting of her just rights and privileges ; not in any precipitate, riotous, and, tumul tuous manner, but when regularly called forth by the unanimous voice of our coimtrymen." — Amer. Archives,. Uh Series, Vol. I, p. 963. IX. Resolution of Inhabitants of Westmoreland Co., Penn sylvania, in 1775. At a general meeting of the inhabitants of the county of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, held at Hanna's Town, on the 16th of May, 1775, an Association was formed, by which, among other resolves, the inhabitants declared as follows: "We wUl coincide in any plan that may be formed for the defense of America in general, or Pennsyl-. vania in particular." — Amer. Archives, Vol. II, p. 616. Mecklenburgh, N. C, Declaration of Independence, in 1775. On the 20th of May, 1775, at a large meeting of citizens; of Mecklenburgh County, North Carolina, several resolu tions were adopted, among which the most memorable are — 1st. — "Eesolved, That we, the citizens of Mecklen burgh County, do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the Mother Country, and" 4 50 GOVERNMENT OF THE hereby absolve ourselves from aU allegiance to the British crown, and abjure all political connection, contract, or association with that nation, who have wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties, and inhumanly shed the inno cent blood of American patriots at Lexington." 2d. — " Eesolved, That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people ; are, and of right ought to be, a sovereign and self-governing Association, under the control of no other power than that of God, and the general government of the Congress ; to the maintenance of which independence we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual co-operation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor." — Amer. Archives, Vol. II, p. 857. — 4:th Series. XL George Washington. On the 17th of June, 1775, George Washington was appointed, by Congress, "General and Commander-in- Chief of the Army of the United Colonies," and of all forces raised "for the defense of American liberty." — Journals of Congress. XIL Congress of 1775. On the 34th of June, 1775, Congress "resolved that a committee of seven be appointed to devise ways and means to put the Militia of America in a proper state for the defense of America." — Journals of Congress. XIIL Congress of 1775. On the 6th of July, 1775, the Congress of "the United Colonies of America" published a declaration, in which UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 51 they said: "Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources are great ; and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly attainable." * * * "We exhibit to mankind the remarkable example of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies." — Journals of Con gress. XIV. Add/ress to the People of Ireland in 1775. In an Address to the people of Ireland, which was prepared and adopted by the Continental Congress on the 28th of July, 1775, the following passage appears : "Blessed with an indissoluble Union, with a variety of internal resources, and with a firm reliance on the justice of the Supreme Disposer of aU human events, we have no doubt of rising superior to aU the machinations of e-vil and abandoned ministers. We already anticipate the golden period, when liberty, with all the gentle arts of peace and humanity, shall establish mild dominion in this western world, and erect eternal monuments to the memory of those -virtuous patriots and martyrs who shall have fought, and bled, and suffered in her cause." — Journals of Congress. XV. Congress in 1775. In Congress, December 4, 1775, it was " Eesolved that, in the present situation of affairs, it wUl be very danger ous to the liberties and welfare of America, if any colony should separately petition the King or either house of Parliament." — Journals of Congress. 53 GOVERNMENT OP THE XVI. Congress in 1775 On the 6th of December, 1775, Congress prepared and agreed to a Proclamation, in which the following passage appears : "We, therefore, in the name of the People of these United Colonies, and by authority, according to the purest maxims of representations derived from them, de clare, that whatever punishment shaU be inflicted upon any person in the power of our enemies, for favoring, aiding, or abetting the cause of American liberty, shall be retaliated in the same kind and in the same degree, upon those in our power, who have favored, aided, or abetted, or shall favor, aid, or abet, the system of minis terial oppression." — Journals of Congress. XVII. Congress in 1775. In Congress, December 39, 1775, it was "Eesolved, That the Colonies of Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina, be permitted to export produce from their re spective colonies to any part of the world, except Great Britain, Ireland, the islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Alderney and Man, and the British West India Islands ; and in turn to import so much salt from any part of the world, not prohibited by the Association, as the conven tions or councils of safety of the two former colonies, and the pro-vincial council of the other, shall judge necessary for the use of the inhabitants thereof, now suffering great distress by the scarcity of that necessary article, proper caution being taken to prevent any abuse of this indul gence, by exceeding in the quantities exported or im ported, and that no pro-visions, slaves, or naval stores be exported, if other commodities may answer the purpose." — Journals of Congress. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 53 xvin. Pennsylvania Journal in 1775. The writer of an article published in the Pennsylva nia Journal, of April 34, 1775, said: "Can this Conti nent be happy under the government of Great Britain, or not ? Secondly, Can she be happy under a" government of our own ? * * * The answer to the second question — can America be happy under a government of her o-wn, is short and simple, viz. : As happy as she pleases ; she has a blank sheet to write upon. Put it not off too long." XIX. Sermon in 1775. On the 33d of June, 1775, at the "request of the officers of the Third Battalion of the City of Philadelphia and dis trict of Southwark," a sermon was preached in Christ Church, by William Smith, D.D., who said : " As we know that our civil and religious rights are linked together in one indissoluble bond, we -neither have, nor seek to have, any interest separate from that of our country, nor can we advise a desertion of its cause. Eeligion and libe^y must flourish or faU together in America. We pray that both may be T^QvpeiViSl." ^Principles and Acts of the Revolution, p. 330. XX. Boston Gazette, 1775. In 1775, the author of a "History of the Dispute with America, from its origin in 1754" (published in the Boston Gazette), said : " The grand aphorism of the policy of the Whigs has been to unite the people of America, and divide those of Great Britain, The reverse of this has 54 GOVERNMENT OP THE been the maxim of the Tories, -viz. : to unite the people of Great Britain, and divide those of America. All the movements, marches, and counter-marches of both parties, on both sides of the Atlantic, may be reduced to one or the other of these rules. I have shown that the people of America are united more perfectly than the most sanguine Whig could ever have hoped, or than the most timid Tory could have feared." — Remenibrancer, for 1775, published in London, Vol. I, p. 13. XXI. Provincial Congress, at Watertown, Mass., in 1775. It seems that, in 1775, the idea of American Inde pendence was not in the minds of many of the people of the United Colonies. In the Provincial Congress, at Waterto-wn, Massachusetts, on the 36th of April, 1775, an "Address to the inhabitants of Great Britain " was adopted. It contained the folio-wing passage : "They" [the British Ministry] "have not yet detached us from our Eoyal Sovereign ; we profess to be his loyal and dutiful subjects ; and, so hardly dealt -with as we have been, are stiU ready, with our lives and fortunes, to defend his person, family, crown, and dig nity ; nevertheless, to the persecution and tyranny of his cruel Ministry, we -wUl not tamely submit." — Remem brancer, Vol. I, p. 71. xxn. Thomas Jefferson, in 1775. In a letter dated "MonticeUo, August 35, 1775," Thomas Jefferson said, he "would rather be in depen dence on Great Britain, properly limited, than on any other nation upon the earth, or than on no nation. But," he continued, "I am one of those too, who, rather than UNITED STATES OP AMERICA, 55 submit to the rights of legislating for us, assumed by the British Parliament, and which late experience has shown they wUl so cruelly exercise, would lend my hand to sink the whole island in the ocean." — Jefferson's Complete Works, Vol. I, p. 201. XXIIL James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, on the Declaration of Independence. James Wilson, in a letter addressed "to the citizens of Pennsylvania," said: "When the measure" [the Declaration of American Independence] "began to be an object of contemplation in Congress, the Delegates of Pennsylvania were expressly restricted from consenting to it. My uniform language in Congress was, that I never would vote for it, contrary to my instructions. I went further, and declared that I never would vote for it, without your authority." ¦* •* * " When your authority was communicated by the conference of Committees from the several counties of the State, I then stood upon very different grounds : I declared so in Congress. I spoke and voted for the measure." * * ¦* " Some who would not accede to the Declaration of Independence when it was made, have ever since shone in the number of its most determined and most Ulustrious supporters." — Pennsylvania Journal, Oct. 18, 1780. XXIV. Examination of Joseph Galloway, in 1779. Extracts from "The Examination of Joseph Galloway, Esq., late Speaker of the House of Assembly of Pennsyl vania, before the House of Commons, in a Committee on the American Papers" — ^Mr. Montagu in the chair- June 16, 1779 : 66 GOVERNMENT OF THE " Question. — How long have you lived in America ? Answer. — I have lived in America from my nativity to the month of October last, about forty- eight years. * * * Question. — At the beginning of the present rebellion, when the inhabitants took up arms, had the people, in general, independence in view? Answer. — ^I do not believe, from the best knowledge I have of the state of America at that time, that one-fifth of the people had inde pendence in view. * * * Question. — That part of the rebel army that enlisted in the service of the Congress, were they chiefly composed of the natives of America, or were the greatest part of them English, Scotch and Irish ? Answer. — The names and places of their nativity being taken down, I can answer the question with precision. There were scarcely one-fourth natives of America — about one-half Irish — the other fourth were English and Scotch." XXV. Germans in 1775. A letter dated " PhUadelphia, June 30, 1775," says: " It is amazing to see the spirit of the Germans among us. Thousands of them have served as soldiers in their own country. They speak -with inflnite pleasure of sacrificing their lives and property for the preservation of liberty, which they know full well how to value from its depri vation by despotic princes." — London "Remembrancer" for 1775, p. 144. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 57 CHAPTER YI. Congress of 1776. On the 15th of May, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted a Preamble, which contains the following pas sage: "And, whereas, it appears absolutely irreconcUe- able to good reason and conscience, for the people of these Colonies now to take the oaths and affirmations necessary for the support of any government under the crown of Great Britain, and it is necessary that the exer cise of every kind of authority under the said crown should be totally suppressed, and all the powers of government exerted, under the authority of the people of the Colonies, for the preservation of internal peace, virtue, and good order, as well as for the defense of their lives, liberties, and properties, against the hostile in- vasipns and cruel depredations of their enemies, There fore — " Eesolved, That it be recommended to the respective assemblies and conventions of the United Colonies, where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs hath been hitherto established, to adopt such government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, 68 GOVERNMENT OF THE best conduce to the happiness and safety of their consti tuents, in particular, and America in general." — Journals of Congress. IL Delegates in Congress from Virginia instructed to pro pose Declaration of Independence. On the 15th of May, 1776, the members of the Vir ginia Convention instructed the Delegates in Congress from Virginia "to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to or dependence upon the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain." The Virgima Delegates in Congress were also instructed to favor a confederation of the Colonies, "provided that the power of forming government for, and the regulation of the in ternal concerns of each Colony, be left to the respective Colonial legislatures." — Jefferson's Complete Works, Vol. I, p. 13. — Diary of the Amer. Rev., Vol. I, p. 343. III. Virginia Bill of Rights, 1776. On the 13th of June, 1776, nearly one month before the Declaration of American Independence was pro claimed by the Continental Congress, the representatives of the people of Virginia, in Convention assembled, passed a BUI of Eights, in which the foUowiag declara tions appear : — 1st. — "That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by compact, deprive or divest their posterity ; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, -with the means of acquiring UNITED STATES OP AMERICA, 59 and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety." 3d. — "That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people." 3d. — "That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community." — Code of Va., 1849, p. 33. IV. Declaration of Independence, 1776. On the 4th of July, 1776, in the Continental Congress, the representatives of the United States of America, "in the name and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies," proclaimed the independence of the United States of America. The fi^rst paragraph of the Declara tion of Independence contains an intimation of the unity and nationality of the people in behalf of whom the Declaration was made — ^viz. : "When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them -with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station ¦* to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the sepa ration." V. Congress of 1776. On the 4th of July, 1776, after the Declaration of In dependence was engrossed and signed. Congress resolved * Not stations. 60 GOVERNMENT OP THE that the Declaration "be proclaimed in each of the United States, and at the head of the Army." — Journals of Congress. VL New York Convention in 1776. In Convention of the Eepresentatives of the State of New York, at White Plains, July 9, 1776, it was "Re solved unanimously. That the Delegates of this State, in the Continental Congress, be, and they are hereby, autho rized to concert and adopt all such measures as they may deem conducive to the happiness and welfare of the United States of America." — Journals of Cong., Vol. I, p. 410. VII. Congress of 1776. In Congress, July 9, 1776, it was resolved, "That the Delegates of Virginia be empowered to -write to the several County Committees in that State where they think it most proper and probable for the men to be raised, requesting the said Committees to recommend officers for the appoint ment of Congress, to fiU up Colonel Stevenson's regiment; the officers so recommended to have power immediately to enlist their men, and commissions to be sent to them as soon as possible." * * * — Journals of Cong. VIIL Congress of 1776. In Congress, on the 11th of July, 1776, it was resolved that "Congress wUl observe the same rule of conduct towards New Jersey as towards other Colonies." — Jour nals of Congress. UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 61 IX. Congress of 1776. In Congress, July 11, 1776, it was resolved, "that it be notified to the Convention of Virginia, that the Con gress are -wUling to take into Continental possession, the forts at the mouths of Wheeling and the great Kanhaway, and the fort at Pittsburg, now in possession of that Colony, and also to receive on the Continental Establish ment, the garrisons in these forts, if the said Convention shall desire it." — Journals of Congress. X. Congress of 1776. In Congress, on the 19th of July, 1776, it was resolved that a copy of certain circular letters, and a declaration from Lord Howe, "be published in the several gazettes, that the good people of these United States may be in formed of what nature are the commissioners, and what the terms, with expectation of which, the insidious Court of Great Britain has endeavored to amuse and disarm them, and that the few, who still remain suspended by a hope founded either in the justice or moderation of their late king, may now, at length, be convinced, that the valor alone of their country is to save its liberties." — Journals of Congress. XL John Hancock, President of Congress, 1776. In a letter signed by John Hancock, President of Congress, dated PhUadelphia, September 34, 1776, and addressed to the assemblies of the several States, the 63 GOVERNMENT OP THE foUowing passage appears : "If we do but remain firm, if we are not dismayed at the little shocks of fortune, and are determined at all hazards that we -will be free, I am persuaded, under the gracious smUes of Providence, assisted by our own most strenuous endeavors, we shaU finally succeed agreeably to our -wishes, and thereby establish the independence, the happiness, and the glory of the United States of America." — American Archives, fifth series, Vol. II, p. 490. XII. Congress of 1776. In Congress, September 16, 1776, it was resolved, "That 88 Battalions be enlisted as soon as possible, to serve during the present war, and that each State furnish their respective quotas in the foUo-wing projJortions, viz. : Battalions. Batttdions. New Hampshire, - - 3 Delaware, - - - - 1 Massachusetts, - - - 15 Maryland, - - 8 Ehode Island, - - - 3 Virginia, - - - 15 Connecticut, - - - 8 North Carolina, - 9 New York, - - - - 4 South Carolina, - - 6 New Jersey - - - - 4 Georgia, - - - - 1 Pennsylvania, - - - 12 American Archives, fifth series, Vol. II, p. 1341. XIII Population of the Union in 1775. The population of the United American Colonies in 1775, was estimated, by members of the Continental Con gress, as foUows : UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 63 Inhabitants. New Hampshire, 100,000 Massachusetts, 150,000 Ehode Island, 58,000 Connecticut, 200,000 New York, - • 200,000 New Jersey, 130,000 Pennsylvania, 300,000 Delaware, - - - - . 30,000 Maryland, 250,000 Virginia, 400,000 North Carolina, 200,000 South Carolina, - . - . 200,000 Georgia, 30,000 "Georgia," says Mr. Jefferson, "had not joined the revolutionary Colonies when the estimate was made ; but the population of that Colony, in 1776, was about 30,000. This estimate of the population of the United American Colonies amounted aggregately to two mUlions four hundred and forty-eight thousand persons of every condition." * — Jefferson's Complete Works, Vol. IX, pp. 272, 273. XIV. Instructions to Commissioners in 1776. On the 23d of October, 1776, Benjamin Franklin, SUas Deane, and Arthur Lee, were appointed Commissioners to negotiate a treaty between France and the United States. The commission which was issued to these nego tiators, by Congress, contains the following passage : "A trade upon equal terms, between the subjects of his most Christian majesty the King of France and the people of these States, -wUl be beneficial to both Nations.' jj * According to another estimate, the population, in July, 1775, amounted to 3,000,000.— Fi(Z« y^art's J>ip. Cor. ofBev., Vol. VI, p. S35. 64 GOVERNMENT OP THE XV. Congress of 1776. In Congress, September 9, 1776, it was "Eesolved, that in all Continental Commissions,, and other instru ments, where, heretofore, the words 'United Colonies' have been used, the style be altered, for the future, to the 'United States.' " — Journals of Congress. XVL Pennsylvania Evening Post of 1776. An article published in the Universal Intelligencer and Pennsylvania Evening Post, of October 8, 1776, said: "Let us remember that America is free and inde pendent ; that she is, and -will be, with the blessing of the Almighty, great among the Nations of the earth." — Diary of Amer. Rev., Vol. I, p. 284. XVII. Congress of 1776. An Address of Congress to the People, adopted at PhUadelphia, December 10, 1776, says: "It is weU known to you, that at the universal desire of the people, and Vidth the hearty approbation of every province, the Congress declared the United States free and independent, — a measure not only just, but which had become abso lutely necessary." — Amer. Archives, fifth series, Vol. Ill, p. 1150. UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 65 CHAPTER YII. Committee appointed to prepare Form o Confederation. On the 12th of June, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a Committee, consisting of one member from each Colony, to "prepare and digest the form of a con federation to be entered into between the Colonies." The Committee agreed as to the terms of the Confederation, and made a report to Congress on the 12th of July, one month after their appointment. Their report was con sidered amended, and postponed from time to time, untU Articles of Confederation were agreed to on the 15th of November, 1777 ; engrossed, and signed by delegates in Congress, from eight States, on the 9th of July, 1778 ; and went into effect on the 1st of March, 1781. The Constitu tion of the United States went into force on Wednesday, March 4, 1789. n. Views of Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania, on Confedera tion, in 1776. In Congress, in 1776, when the Articles of Confedera tion were under consideration, Mr. WUson, of Pennsyl vania, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and, in 1787, a member of the Convention that framed the Constitution of the United States, said: 5 66 GOVERNMENT OF THE "It has been said that Congress is a representation of States, not of individuals. I say, that the objects of its care, are aU. the individuals of the States. It is strange that annexing the name of ' State ' to ten thousand men, should give them an equal right with forty thousand. This must be the effect of magic, not of reason." * * * "It is asked, ShaU nine colonies put it into the power of four to govern them as they please ? I invert the ques tion, and ask, Shall two millions of people put it into the power of one mUlion to govern them as they please ? It is pretended, too, that the smaUer colonies vdU be in danger from the greater. Speak in honest language and say, the minority -will be in danger from the majority. And is there an assembly on earth, where this danger may not be equally pretended." * * * "I defy the wit of man to invent a possible case, or to suggest any one thing on earth, which shaU be for the interest of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, and which will not also be for the interest of the other States." — Jefferson's Com plete Works, Vol. I, p. 35. IIL John Adams, in 1777. In a debate, in Congress, on the Articles of Confedera tion, in July, 1777, John Adams said: "We stand here as the representatives of the people ; that in some States the people are many, in others they are few ; that, there fore, their vote here should be proportioned to the num bers from whom it comes." — Elliot's Debates, Vol. I, p. 76. IV. Congress of 1777. In a circular letter, agreed to in Congress, November, 17, 1777, the Articles of Confederation are mentioned as UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 67 " a plan of confederacy for securing the freedom, sove reignty, and independence of the United States;" and, referring to the ratification of the Articles, the letter says, "it seems essential to our very existence as a free people." — Journals of Congress. V. Congress of 1778. An "Address of Congress to the inhabitants of the United States of America," May 8, 1778, says: "Your interests wUl be fostered and nourished by governments that derive their power from your grant, and -wiU there fore be obUged, by the influence of cogent necessity, to exert it in your favor." — Journals of Congress. VL Treaty of 1778. The treaty of amity and commerce concluded between France and the United States, in 1778, mentions " the two parties," "the two contracting parties," "the two Na tions," — meaning, in each case, the United States and France. VIL Treaty of 1778. The 2d Article of the " Treaty of alliance eventual and defensive," negotiated at Paris on the 6th of February, 1778, is in the words following, via. : "Art. 2.— The essen tial and direct end of the present defensive aUiance, is, to maintain effectually, the liberty, sovereignty, absolute and unlimited, of the United States, as weU in matters of government as commerce." 68 GOVERNMENT OF THE VIIL Maryland Gazette of 1778. "An Address to the Americans," published in the Maryland Gazette, and reprinted in the Remembrancer for the year 1778, says : " Every circumstance favorable to mankind, concurs to facUitate the independence, the splendor, and the felicity of the American Nation." — Re- memb. for 1778, p. 339. IX. New York Journal of 1778. The New York Journal, of August 24, 1778, says: "It is the Almighty who raiseth up: He hath stationed America among the powers of the earth, and clothed her in robes of sovereignty." X. New Jersey Gazette of 1779. Toast, at PhUadelphia, February 6, 1779, on the anni versary of forming the aUiance between the United States and France: "The memory of the patriots who have nobly fallen in defense of the liberty and independence of America." — New Jersey Gazette, Feb. 17, 1779. XL Prance in 1780. A "Declaration of the King" of France, in 1780, says: "His Majesty, in order to give the United States of America a new proof of his affection, as well as his desire to confirm the union and good correspondence established between the two States, has been pleased to pay a regard UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 69 to their representations." — Journals of Congress, July 11, 1780. XIL Anthony Wayne, and other Officers, in 1780. The General and Field Officers, Captains and Subal terns, of the American Army in Philadelphia, on the 5th of AprU, 1780, adopted the foUowing Eesolution, which was signed by Anthony Wayne, and others: "Eesolved, That we -wiU not associate, or hold communication, with any person, or persons, who have exhibited by their con*- duct an enemical disposition, or even lukewarmness, to the independence of America." — Remembrancer, Vol. X, p. 60. XIIL Congress of 1781. A proclamation agreed to in Congress, March 20, 1781, refers to the connection between the United States and France, as " a mutual and lastiug benefit to both nations." — Journals of Congress. XIV. John Adams, in 1781. "The people who at this time compose the United States of America," is a phrase that appears in a Memo rial, dated April 19, 1781, and written by John Adams, Agent for the American Congress. — Remembrancer, Vol. XI, p. 350. XV. Pennsylvania Journal of 1782. An Address to the People of America, published in iha Pennsylvania Journal, of AprU 3, 1783, says: "Gov- 70 GOVERNMENT OP THE ernment and the People do not, in America, constitute distinct bodies. They are one, and their interest is the same. Members of Congress, members of Assembly or CoimcU, or by any other name they may be called, are only a selected part of the people. They are the repre sentatives of maj esty, but not maj esty itself. That dignity exists inherentiy in the universal multitude ; and though it may be delegated, cannot be alienated." XVL House of Delegates of Virginia, in 1782. On the 34th of May, 1783, the House of Delegates of Virginia passed the foUowing resolution : " Eesolved, unanimously, that a proposition from the enemy for treat ing with any assembly or body of men in America, other than the Congress of these United States, is insidious and inadmissible." XVII. Congress of 1783. In a Convention, ratified by Congress, on the 33d of January, 1783, the United Netherlands and the United States of America are caUed "the two Nations." — Jour nals of Congress. XVIII. Secretary of Foreign Affairs, in 1783. On the 12th of AprU, 1783, Eobert E. Livingston, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, in a letter addressed to the Governor of Virginia, said: "A national character is now to be acquired. I venture to hope that it will be vrorthy of the struggles by which we became a Nation." UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 71 XIX. Congress of 1783. Extract from an " Address to the States, by the United States in Congress assembled," agreed to in Congress, AprU 24, 1783: "No instance has heretofore occurred, nor can any instance be expected hereafter to occur, in which the unadulterated forms of republican government can pretend to so fair an opportunity of justifying them selves by their fruits. In this view the citizens of the United States are responsible for the greatest trust ever confided to a poUtical society." — Journals of Congress. XX. Treaty of 1783. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce which was con cluded between Sweden and the United States of America, on the 3d of April, 1783, mentions "the two parties," "the two contracting parties," and "both nations" — meaning Sweden and the United States. — FolwelVs Laws of the United States, Vol. II, p. 248. XXL Treaty of 1785. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce which was negoti ated between the United States of America and Prussia, on the 10th of September, 1785, mentions "both parties," and "the two contracting parties," meaning, in each case, the United States and Prussia. 72 GOVERNMENT OF THE XXII. Lord Sheffield, in 1783. In a pamphlet -written by Lord Sheffield, a member of the British ParUament, the writer said: "It vtUI be a long time before the American States can be brought to act as a Nation ; neither are they to be feared as such by us." — Pennsylvania Journal, Dec. 20, 1783. XXIIL Views of the Sardinian Minister, in 1783. Extract of a letter from John Adams to Eobert E. Livingston, dated "The Hague, July 31, 1783," — giving an account of the views of Count Montagnini de Mirabel, the Minister Plenipotentiary from the King of Sardinia : "The Count said his advice to Congress would be to write a Circular letter to every power in Europe, as soon as the definitive treaty should be signed, and transmit with it a printed copy of the Treaty. In the letter, Con gress should announce that on the 4th of July, 1776, the United States had declared themselves a sovereign State, under the style and title of the United States of America ; that France, on the 6th of February, 1778, had acknowl edged them ; that the States-General had done the same, on the 19th of April, 1782 ; that Great Britain, on the 30th of November, 1782, had signed with them a treaty of peace, in which she had fully acknowledged their sovereignty ; that Sweden had entered into a treaty with them, on the 5th of February, 1783 ; and that Great Britain had concluded the definitive treaty, under the mediation of the two empires, if that should be the fact, ko,:'— Sparks' Dip. Cor. of Re}}., Vol. VI, p. 122. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 73 XXIV. Congress of 1783, Extract from a "Proclamation by the United States in Congress assembled," October 18, 1783: "And whereas, by the blessing of Di-vine Providence on our cause and our arms, the glorious period is arrived when our national independence and sovereignty are established, and we enjoy the prospect of a permanent and honorable peace." — Journals of Congress. XXV. Oration in 1783. Extract from an Oration by Dr. Thomas Welsh, de livered at Boston, March 5, 1783: "America, separated from the nations of Europe by a mighty ocean, and from Britain by the mightier hand of heaven, is acknowledged an independent nation: she has now to maintain her dignity and importance among the kingdoms of the earth." — Principles and Acts of the Revolution, p. 58. XXVL Washington, in 1783. In Congress, December 23, 1783, on resigning the office of Commander-in-Chief, Washington said: "Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States of becoming a respectable nation, I resign with satisfaction the appointment I accepted with diffidence ; a diffidence in my abUities to accomplish so arduous a task ; which, however, was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of the supreme power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven." — Journals of Congress. 74 GOVERNMENT OF THE XXVIL Dr. Wither spoon. Dr. John Witherspoon, who was a signer of the Dec laration of Independence, and who, as a Delegate in Congress from the State of New Jersey, signed the Arti cles of Confederation, said: "The Congress is, properly speaking, the representative of the great body of the people of North America." — Witherspoon' s Works, Vol. IX, p. 73. XXVIIL Pennsylvania Journal of 1783. Extract from an article which was published in the Pennsylvania Journal, of April 19, 1783 : " Our citizen ship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular State is only our local dis tinction. By the latter we are known at home ; by the former, to the world. Our great title is Americans ; our inferior one varies with the place." XXIX. Washington, in 1783. In a letter dated December 2, 1783, and addressed to the "Members of the Volunteer Association, and other inhabitants of the Kingdom of Ireland, who have lately arrived in the city of New York," George Washington said : "The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions ; whom we shall welcome to a participation of aU our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct, they appear to merit the enjoyment." — London " Remembran cer" for Yf^^,-^. 194. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 75 CHAPTER YIII. I. Proclamation by Congress, 1784. On the ratification of the Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and Great Britain, the "United States in Congress assembled" issued a Proclamation, from which the foUo-wing extract is copied: "We have thought proper, by these presents, to notify the premises to aU the good citizens of these United States, hereby re quiring and enjoining all bodies of magistracy, legis lative, executive, and judiciary, aU persons bearing office, civU or mUitary, of whatever rank, degree and powers, and aU others the good citizens of these States, of every vocation and condition, that reverencing those stipulations entered into on their behalf, under the authority of that federal bond by which their existence as an independent people is bound up together, and is kno-wn and acknowl edged by the nations of the world, and with that good faith which is every man's surest guide, within their several offices, jurisdictions and vocations, they carry into effect the said definitive articles, and every clause and sentence thereof, sincerely, strictly and completely." " Given under the seal of the United States. Witness his exceUency Thomas Mifflin, our President, at AnnapoUs, this 14th day of January, in the year of our Lord 1784, and of the sovereignty and independence of the United States of America the eighth." — Journals of Congress. 76 GOVERNMENT OP THE IL Thomas Jefferson, in 1785. In a letter dated "Paris, June, 1785," and addressed to Col. [James] ¦ Monroe, of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson said: "I am very differently affected toward the new plan of opening our Land Office, by dividing the lands among the States, and selUng them at vendue. It sepa rates still more the interests of the States, which ought to be made joint in every possible instance, in order to cul tivate the idea of our being one nation, and to multiply the instances in which the people shaU look up to Con gress as their head." — Jefferson's Complete Works, Vol. I, p. 347. III. Congress of 1785. In Congress, January 27, 1785, it was ordered that "the oath of fidelity" to be taken by the Secretary of War, his assistants and clerks, should be in the words foUowing : " I, A. B., appointed to the office of , do acknowledge that I owe faith and true aUegiance to the United States of America ; and I do swear (or affirm) that I -wUl, to the utmost of my power, support, maintain, and defend the said United States in their freedom, sove reignty, and independence, against all opposition what soever." — Journals of Congress. IV. Thomas J^erson, in 1786. In a letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, under date of "Paris, 27 August, 1786," Mr. Jefferson says: "M. de Meusnier" [author of an Encyclopgedia] "was introduced to me by the Due de la Eochefoucauld. He asked of me information on the subject of our States, UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 77 and left with me a number of queries to answer. Know ing the importance of setting to rights a book so univer- saUy diffused, and which -wUl go down to late ages, I answered his queries as fuUy as I was able, went into a great many calculations for him, and offered to give fur ther information where necessary." — Works of John Adams, Vol. VIII, p. 413. In a written answer to some of M. de Meusnier' s questions, Mr. Jefferson said: "The ninth Article of Confederation, section six, evidently es tablishes three orders of questions in Congress. First, The greater ones, which relate to making peace or war, aUiances, coinage, requisitions for money, raising mUitary force, or appointing its Commander-in-Chief. Secondly, The lesser ones, which comprehend aU other matters sub mitted by the confederation to the federal head. Thirdly, The single question of adjourning from day to day. This gradation of questions is distinctly characterized by the Article. In proportion to the magnitude of these questions, a greater concurrence of the voices composing the Union was thought necessaryl Three degrees of con currence, weU distinguished by substantial circumstances, offered themselves to notice. First — A concurrence of a majority of the people of the Union. It was thought that this would be insured by requiring the voices of nine States ; because, according to the loose estimates which had been made of the inhabitants, and the proportion of them which were free, it was believed that even the nine smallest would include a majority of the free citizens of the Union. The voices, therefore, of nine States were required in the greater questions." * — Jefferson's Com plete Works, Vol. IX, p. 244. * June 23, 1778, the Delegates in Congress from Massachusetts moved, on behalf of their State, that the sixth section of the ninth Article of Confeder ation " be re-considered so far as it makes the assent of nine States necessary to exercise the powers with which Congress " was " thereby invested." — The motion failed. — Journals of Congress. 78 GOVERNMENT OF THE General Assembly of Virginia, in 1786, At a session of the General Assembly of the State of Virginia, which commenced on the 16th of October, 1786, an Act was passed for appointing Delegates to a Conven tion proposed to be held in PhUadelphia, in May, 1787, for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, In the Preamble to the Act the following passage appears : "And, whereas, the General Assembly of this Common wealth, taking into view the actual situation of the Con federacy, as well as reflecting on the alarming represen tations made, from time to time, by the United States in Congress, particularly in their Act of the 15th of February last, can no longer doubt that the crisis is arrived at which the good people of America are to decide the solemn question, whether they -wiU, by -wise and magnani mous efforts, reap the just fruits of that independence which they have so gloriously acquired, and of that Union which they have cemented with so much of their common blood, or whether, by gi-ving way to unmanly jealousies and prejudices, or to partial and transitory interests, they will renounce the auspicious blessings prepared for them by the Eevolution, and furnish to its enemies an eventual triumph over those by whose virtue and valor it has been accompUshed." VI. Congress of 1786, On the 15th of February, 1786, Congress agreed to a Eeport which contains the foUowing views: "The com mittee are of opinion, that it has become the duty of Congress to declare most explicitly, that the crisis has arrived, when the people of these United States, by whose UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 79 will, and for whose benefit the Federal Government was instituted, must decide whether they -wiU support their rank as a nation, by maintaining the pubUc faith at home and abroad ; or whether, for want of a timely exertion in estabUshing a general revenue, and thereby giving strength to the Confederacy, they -will hazard not only the existence of the Union, but of those great and invaluable privileges for which they have' so arduously and so honorably Gon\Bia.diQdL."—JournMs of Congress. VII. Noah Webster, in 1786. In articles which were published in the Pennsylvania Journal (of January 21, and February 1, 1786), Noah Webster, jr., said: "All power is vested in the people. That this is their natural and inalienable right, is a posi tion that will not be disputed. The only question is how this power shall be exerted to effect the ends of govern ment." * * * " The idea of each State preserving its sovereignty and independence in their full latitude, and yet holding up the appearance of a Confederacy and a concert of measures, is a solecism in politics that will sooner or later dissolve the pretended Union, or work other mischiefs sufficient to bear conviction to every mind." * * * " 'VVe ought to generalize our ideas and our measures. We ought not to consider ourselves as inhabitants of a particular State only, but as Americans ; as the common subjects of a great empire." * * * "As a member of a famUy, every individual has some domes tic interests ; as a member of a corporation he has other interests ; as an inhabitant of a State he has a more ex tensive interest ; as a citizen and subject of the American empire, he has a national interest far superior to aU others." 80 GOVERNMENT OP THE VIIL In 1786, Thomas Jefferson said : "When any one State in the American Union refuses obedience to the Confederation by which they have bound themselves, the rest have a natural right to compel them to obedience. Congress would probably exercise long patience before they would recur to for(^e ; but if the case ultimately re quired it, they would use that recurrence. Should the case ever arise, they wUl probably coerce by a naval force, as being more easy, less dangerous to liberty, and less likely to produce much bloodshed."— J'^erso?^'* Complete Works, Vol. IX, pp. 291, 292. IX. Jefferson on the Confederation. Thomas Jefferson said: " The fundamental defect of the Confederation was, that Congress was not authorized to act immediately on the people, by its own officers. Their power was only requisitory, and these requisitions were addressed to the several legislatures, to be by them carried into execution, without other coercion than the moral principle of duty." — Jefferson' s Complete Works, Vol. I, p. 78. Congress of 1787. On the 21st of March, 1787, Congress unanimously' resolved, "That the Legislatures of the several States cannot of right pass any act or acts for interpreting, ex plaining, or construing a national treaty, or any part or clause thereof; nor for restraining, limiting, or in any manner impeding, retarding, or counteracting the opera tion and execution of the same." — Journals of Congress. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 81 CHAPTER IX. L Congress of 1787. In Congress, on the 21st of February, 1787, it was " Eesolved, That in the opinion of Congress, it is expedi ent, that on the second Monday in May next, a Convention of Delegates, who shall have been appointed by the several States, be held at PhUadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of re-vising the Articles of Confederation, and reporting to Congress and the several legislatures such alterations and pro-visions therein as shaU, when agreed to in Congress, and confirmed by the States, render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of govern ment and the preservation of the Vmon." —Journals of Congress. IL Convention of 1787, In the Convention that met at Philadelphia on the 14th of May, 1787, to form a Constitution for the United States of America, there was a smaU number of Delegates who supported the theory of the sovereignty and inde pendence of each State ; and these Delegates wished to estabUsh a federal government by the authority of the States in their sovereign capacity — that is, by compact, 6 82 GOVERNMENT OF THE or in the same manner as treaties and aUiances are formed by iadependent nations. "It was urged," says Luther Martin, who was a Delegate in the Convention from the State of Maryland, "that instead of the [national] Legislature consisting of two branches, one was sufficient, whether examined by the dictates of reason, or the experience of ages : that the representatives, instead of being drawn from the people at large, as individuals, ought to be drawn from the States, as States, in their sovereign capacity; that, in a federal government, the parties to a compact are not the people, as individuals, but the States, as ^iaAj&s." —Luther Martin' s Address to the Legislature of Maryland in 1788.— Elliot' s Debates, Vol. I, p. 345, &c. III. Convention of 1787. On the 30th of May, 1787, the foUo-wing Eesolution was before the Convention : "Eesolved, That a National Government ought to be established, consisting of a supreme judicial, legislative, and executive." "The term 'Supreme,'" says Judge Yates, "re quired explanation. It was asked whether it was in tended to annihUate State governments. It was answered, only so far as the powers intended to be granted to the new Government should clash with the States, when the latter were to yield." Of the eight States represented in the Convention on that day, six voted in favor of the Eesolution. — Judge Yates' Minutes. — Elliot's Debates, VoL I, p. 392. IV. Mr. Wilson, in Convention, 1787. In Convention, June 25, 1787, Mr. Wilson, of Penn sylvania, said : "A citizen of America may be considered UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 83- in two points of view — as a citizen of the General Govern ment, and as a citizen of the particular State in which he may reside. We ought to consider in what character he acts in forming a General Government. I am both a citizen of Pennsylvania and of the United States. I must, therefore, lay aside my State connections, and act for the general good of the whole. We must forget our local habits and attachments. The General Government should not depend on the State governments." — Elliot's De bates, Vol. I, pp. 445, 446. Charles Pinckney, in 1787. In Convention, June 25, 1787, Mr. Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, said: "Our Government must be made suitable to the people ; and we are, perhaps, the only people in the world who ever had sense enough to appoint delegates to establish a General Government. I believe that the proposition from Virginia, with some amendments, -wiU satisfy the people. But a General Government must not be dependent on the State Govern ments." — Elliot's Debates, Vol. I, p. 444. VI. James Madison, in 1787. In Convention, June 39, 1787, James Madison said : " Some contend that States are sovereign, when in fact th^y are only poUtical societies. There is a gradation of power in aU societies, from the lowest corporation to the highest sovereign. The States never possessed the essen tial rights of sovereignty. These were always vested in Congress. Their voting, as States, in Congress, is no evidence of sovereignty. The State of Maryland voted 84 GOVERNMENT OF THE by counties. Did this make the counties sovereign? The States, at present, are only great corporations, having the power of making by-laws, and these are effectual only if they are not contradictory to the general Confederation. The States ought to be placed under the control of the General Government — at least as much so as they formerly were under the King and British Parlia ment. The arguments, I observe, have taken a different turn, and I hope may tend to convince all of the necessity of a strong, energetic government, which would equaUy tend to give energy to and protect the State govern ments."— j&ZZio^'s Debates, Vol. I, p. 461. VII. Alexander Hamilton, in 1787. In Convention, June 29, 1787, Alexander HamUton said: "The question, after aU, is, Is it our interest, in modifying this General Government, to sacrifice indi vidual rights to the preservation of the rights of an artificial being caUed States? There can be no truer principle than this — that every individual of the com munity at large has an equal right to the protection of government. If, therefore, three States contain a ma jority of the inhabitants of America, ought they to be governed by a minority?" — Elliot's Debates, Vol. I, p. 463. VIIL George Washington, President of the Convention of 1787. Extract from a Communication, prepared in the Con vention that formed the Constitution of the United States, dated September 17, 1787 : "In aU our deUberations on this subject, we kept steadUy in our view, that which appears to us as the greatest interest of every true American, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 85 consohdation of our Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national ex istence. This important consideration, seriously and deeply impressed on our minds, led each State in the Convention to be less rigid on points of inferior magni tude, than might have been otherwise expected; and thus the Constitution which we now present is the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession which the pecuUarity of our situation rendered indispensable." — Signed by "George Washington, Presi dent." — "By unanimous order of the Convention," and addressed to "His ExceUency the President of Congress." — Elliot's Debates, Vol. I, p. 305. — Hickey's Constitu tion, p. 188, IX. Opinion of Luther Martin, in 1788. Luther Martin, Attorney- General of the State of Mary land, and for a time a distinguished Delegate in the Convention that formed the Constitution of the United States, said, in 1788: "It" [the Constitution] "is, in its very introduction, declared to be a compact between the people of the United States as indi-viduals ; and it is to be ratified by the people at large, in their capacity as individuals."— -E^ZMo^' 5 Debates, Vol. I, p. 360. X. Views of Dr. Benjamin Rush, in 1787. In 1787, Benjamin Eush, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of American Independence, said : "There are two errors or prejudices on the subject of government in America, which lead to the most dangerous consequences. It is often said, 'that the sovereign and aU other power is seated in the people.' This idea is un- 86 GOVERNMENT OP THE happUy expressed. It should be — ' aU power is derived irom the people.' " * * * " The people of America have mistaken the meaning of the word sovereignty ; hence each State pretends to be sovereign. In Europe it is appUed only to those States which possess the power of making war and peace — of forming treaties, and the like. As this power belongs only to Congress, they are the only sovereign power in the United States." * * * "We commit a simUar mistake in our ideas of the word inde pendent. No indi-vidual State, as such, has any claim to independence. She is independent only in a union with her sister States in Congress." — Acts and Principles of the Revolution, p. 403. XL Opinion at Philadelphia, in 1788. , At PhUadelphia, July 4, 1788, at a great celebration of the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, on "Union Green," where about seventeen thousand persons were assembled, the first regular toast was in these words : " The People of the United States." — Haz^ Register, Vol. I, p. 424. XIL James Madison, in 1788. "In December, 1788, James Madison said, that it was the object of those who opposed the adoption of the Con stitution, "to bring about another general Convention, which would either agree on nothing, as would be agree-, able to some, and throw every thing into confusion, or expunge from the Constitution parts which are held by its friends to be essential to it." — Madison's Writings, Vol. I, p. 445. UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 87 XIIL John Marshall, in 1788. In the Virginia Convention on the adoption of the Con stitution, June 10, 1788, John MarshaU said: "We are told that many in the States were violently opposed to it" [the Constitution]. " They are more mindful of local in terests. They wUl never propose such amendments as they think would be obtained. Disunion wiU be their object." — Debates in Va. Conven., p. 165. XIV. Mr. Corbin, of Virginia, in 1788. On the 14th of June, 1788, in the Virginia Convention on the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, Mr. Corbin said : " The gentleman had told us that noth ing could be more humiliating than that the State govern ments could not control the General Government. He thought the gentleman might as weU have complained that one county could not control the State at large." — Elliot's Debates, Vol. Ill, p. 417. XV. Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania, in 1788. In the Pennsylvania Convention on the adoption of the Constitution, in 1788, Mr. WUson said : " State sover eignty, as it is called, is far from being able to support its yj^l^i."— Elliot's Debates, Vol. II, p. 457. XVI. Mr. Innis, of Virginia, in 1788. In the Virginia Convention, June 25, 1788, Mr. Innis said: "I consider Congress as ourselves, as our feUow- 88 GOVERNMENT OP THE citizens, and no more different from us than our Delegates in the Legislature. I consider them aU as having a feUow- feeUng for us, and that they wUl never forget that this Government is that of the ^eoj^le." —Elliot' s Debates, Vol. Ill, p. 637. XVII. Mr. Lowndes, of South Carolina, in 1788. In the South CaroUna Convention on the adoption of the Constitution, January 17, 1788, Mr. Eawlins Lo-wndes said : "The treaty of peace expressly agreed to acknowl edge us as free, sovereign, and independent States, which privileges we lived at present in the exercise of. But this new Constitution at once swept those pri-vUeges away; being sovereign over aU ; so that this State would dvdndle into a mere skeleton of what it was." — Elliot's Debates, Vol. IV, p. 287. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South Carolina, in 1788. In the South Carolina Convention, January 18, 1788, in answer to Mr. Lowndes, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney said : "The gentleman had mentioned the treaty of peace in a manner as if our independence had been granted us by the King of Great Britain. But that was not the case. We were independent before the treaty, which does not in fact grant, but acknowledges our independence. We ought to date that invaluable blessing from a much older charter than the treaty of peace — from a charter which our babes should be taught to Usp in their cradles. ¦* * * I mean the Declaration of Independence made in Congress the 4th of July, 1776. This admirable manifesto, which, for importance of matter, and elegance of composition, stands unrivaUed, sufficiently confutes the honorable gen tleman' s doctrine of the individual sovereignty and inde- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 89 pendence of the several States. In that Declaration the several States are not even enumerated ; but after reciting, in nervous language, and with convincing arguments, our right to independence and the tyranny which compeUed us to assert it, the Declaration is made in the foUowing words : ' We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America in general Congress assembled, appeal ing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.' The separate inde pendence and individual sovereignty of the several States were never thought of by the enlightened band of patriots who framed the Declaration ; the several States are not even mentioned by name in any part of it— as if it was in tended to impress this maxim on America, that our free dom and independence arose from our Union, and that -without it we could neither be free nor independent. Let us, then, consider aU attempts to weaken this Union, by maintaining that each State is separately and individuaUy independent, as a species of political heresy, which can never benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distresses." — Elliot's Debates, Vol. IV, p. 301. General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was a soldier of the Eevolutionary War; an aide-de-camp to General Washington, at Brandyvdne and Germantowii; and a member of the Convention that formed the Constitution of the United States. XVIII. George Bancroft. George Bancroft, the historian, says : " The inefficiency of the Confederate Government having been proved by ex perience in -war and in peace, the UnitGd States proceeded 90 GOVERNMENT OP THE to the greatest achievement in the civU history of man, ¦ the formation of a more perfect Union, by the deliberate act and choice of the people." — Bancroft' s Introduction to Hunt's Life of Livingston, p. xiv. XIX. Governor Randolph, of Virginia, in 1788. When the adoption of the Constitution of the United States was under consideration in the Virginia Convention, June 9, 1788, Governor Eandolph, one of the Delegates, said: "When I had the honor of being deputed to the Federal Convention to revise the existing system, I was impressed with the necessity of a more energetic govern ment, and thoroughly persuaded that the salvation of the people of America depended on an intimate and firm union." — Debates in Va. Conven., p. 140. XX. Henry Lee, of Virginia, in 1788. In the Virginia Convention, June 9, 1788, Henry Lee, of Westmoreland county, said : " The people of America, sir, are one people. I love the people of the north, not because they have adopted the Constitution, but because I fought with them as my countrymen, and because I consider them as such." * * * "In aU local matters I shall be a Virginian : in those of a general nature, I shaU not forget that I am an American." — Debates in Va. Conven., p. 134. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 91 CHAPTER X, I. Mr. Page, of Virginia, in 1789. On the 15th of August, 1789, at the first session of the first Congress under the authority of the new Constitution, Mr. Page, a member of the House of Eepresentatives, from Virginia, said : " AU power vests hi the people of the United States. It is, therefore, a government of the people — a Democracy. If it were consistent with the peace and tranquillity of the inhabitants, every freeman would have a right to come and give his vote on the law ; but inasmuch as this cannot be done, by reason of the extent of the territory, and some other causes, the people have agreed that their representatives shall exercise a part of their authority." — Annals of Congress. IL James Madison, in 1789. In Congress, on the 18th of August, 1789, Mr. Madison, of Virginia, said: "It was impossible to confine govern ment to the exercise of express powers ; there must necessarily be admitted powers by implication unless the Constitution descended to recount every minutia. He remembered the word 'expressly' had been moved in 02 GOVERNMENT OP THE the Convention in Virginia, by the opponents of the ratifi cation, and, after fuU and fair discussion, was given up by them, and the system aUowed to retain its present form." — Annals of Congress. III. Congress in 1789. In Congress, on the 21st of August, 1789, the House proceeded to the consideration of certain amendments to the Constitution, reported by the Committee of the whole. Mr. Gerry proposed to amend the ninth proposition by inserting the word "expressly," so as to read "the powers not expressly delegated by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the States, are reserved to the States re spectively, or to the people." As he thought this amend ment of great importance, he requested that the Yeas and Nays might be taken. He was supported in his request by one-fifth of the members present : whereupon the yeas and nays were taken, and were as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Burke, of South Carolina ; Coles, of Virginia ; Floyd, of New York ; Gerry, of Massachusetts ; Hathorn, of New York ; Grout, of Massachusetts ; Jack son, of Georgia ; Livermore, of NeAv Hampshire ; Page, of Virginia ; Parker, of Virginia ; Partridge, of Massa chusetts ; Van Eensselaer, of New York ; Smith, of South Carolina ; Stone, of Maryland ; Sumter, of South Caro Una ; Thatcher, of Massachusetts ; and Tucker, of South Carolina. — 17 Yeas. Nays — Messrs. Ames, of ]\iassachusetts ; Benson, of New York ; Boudinot, of New Jersey ; Brown, of Vir ginia ; Cadwallader, of New Jersey ; Carroll, of Mary land ; Clymer, of Pennsylvania ; Foster, of New Hamp shire ; Gale, of Maryland ; Fitzsimmons, of Pennsylvania ; Gilman, of New Hampshire ; Goodhue, of Massachusetts ; Hartley, of Pennsylvania ; Heister, of Pennsylvania ; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 93 La-wrence, of New York ; Lee, of Virginia ; Madison, of Virginia ; Moore, of Virginia ; Muhlenburg, of Pennsyl vania ; Schureman, of New Jersey ; Scott, of Pennsyl vania ; Sedgwick, of Massachusetts ; Seney, of Maryland ; Sherman, of Connecticut ; Sylvester, of New York ; Sin- nickson, of New Jersey ; Smith, of Maryland ; Sturges, of Connecticut ; TrumbuU, of Connecticut ; Vining, of Delaware ; Wadsworth, of Connecticut ; and Wynkoop, of Pennsylvania. — 32 Nays. IV. Erroneous Use of the Word "Expressly." It is not possible to find grounds on which to raise a presumption of an intentional misrepresentation on the part of the eminent pubUc characters who, on many different occasions, have confidently asserted that the Congress of the United States is restricted to the exercise of powers expressly granted by the Constitution of the United States ; but the inexcusable carelessness of these political instructors of a large number of the people of the nation, is a matter which may be regarded -with mingled feeUngs of great astonishment and profound regret. V. Views of Chief Justice Jay, in 1793. In 1793, Chief Justice Jay, of the Supreme Court of the United States, said : "The Eevolution, or rather the Declaration of Independence, found the people already united for general purposes, and at the same time pro viding for their more domestic concerns, by State Con ventions, and other temporary arrangements. From the Cro-wn of Great Britain the sovereignty of their country passedto the people of it." * * * " At the Eevolution, 94 GOVERNMENT OF THE the sovereignty devolved on the people; and they are truly the sovereigns of the country, but they are sovereigns without subjects (unless the African slaves among us may be so caUed), and have none to govern but them selves ; the citizens of America are equal as feUow- citizens, and as joint-tenants in the sovereignty." — Dallas Reports, Vol. II, pp. 470, 471, 473. VI. Views of Justice Paterson, in 1795. Justice Paterson, of the Supreme Court of the United States, in 1795, said: "The truth is, that the States individually, were not known or recognized as sovereign by foreign nations, nor are they now; the States collectively, under Congress as their connecting point, or head, were acknowledged by foreign powers as sovereign, particularly in that acceptation of the term which is applicable to all great national concerns, and in the exercise of which other sovereigns would be more im mediately interested ; such, for instance, as the rights of war and peace, of making treaties, and sending and re ceiving ambassadors." — Dallas' Reports, Vol. Ill, p. 81. VIL Washington's Farewell Address. In Washington's Farewell Address "to the People of the United States," the following passages appear : "The free Constitution -which is the work of your hands." — "The unity of government which constitutes you one people." — " The name of American which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appeUation derived from local discriminations." — " Community of interests UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 95 as one nation." — " To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No aUiance, however strict, between the parts, can be an adequate substitute." VIIL John Adams, in 1799. On the 33d of December, 1799, John Adams, President of the United States, in referring to the death of Wash ington, said: "Among aU our original associates in that memorable league of the Continent in 1774, which first expressed the sovereign -wiU of a free nation in America, he was the only one remaining in the general govern ment." — Journals U. S. Senate. IX. Chief Justice Marshall, in 1819. In the case of McCuUoch vs. State of Maryland, de cided by the Supreme Court of the United States, in 1819, Chief Justice Marshall, in delivering the opinion of the Court, said : " The government of the Union, then (what ever may be the influence of this fact on the case), is, em phatically and 'truly, a government of the people. In form and in substance it emanated from them. Its powers are granted by them, and are to be exercised directly on them, and for their \iQm>'^i." — Wheaton' s Reports, Vol, IV, p, 405. Andrew Jackson, in 1833. In a Proclamation issued by Andrew Jackson, Presi dent of the United States, on the 10th of December, 1832, concerning the Nullification movements in South Carolina, 96 GOVERNMENT OF THE the foUo-wing -views are published: — "It" [the Govern ment of the United States] "is a Government in which all the people are represented, which operates directly on the people individually, not upon the States." * * * " The unity of our poUtical character (as has been sho-wn for another purpose), commenced -with its very existence. Under the royal government we had no separate character. Our opposition to its oppressions began as United Colo nies. We were the United States under the Confedera tion, and the name was perpetuated, and the Union ren dered more perfect, by the Federal Constitution, In none of these stages did we consider ourselves in any other Ught than as forming one nation," XL Opinions of Joseph Story. Judge Story, in his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, says : " The declaration of the inde pendence of aU the Colonies was the united act of aU. It was " a Declaration by the Eepresentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled," "by the Dele gates appointed by the good people of the Colonies," as in a prior declaration they were caUed. It was not an act done by the State governments then organized ; nor by persons chosen by them. It was emphaticaUy the act of the whole people of the United Colonies, by the instrumen- taUty of their representatives, chosen for that among other purposes. It was an act not competent to the State govern ments, or any of them, as organized under their charters, to adopt. Those charters neither contemplated the case, nor provided for it. It was an act of original, inherent sovereignty, by the people themselves, resulting from their right to change the form of government, and to institute a new government whenever necessary for their safety and UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 97 happiness. So the Declaration of Independence treats it," —Story's Crni., B. H, p, 211.— Elliot' s Debates, Vol, I, p. 66, XIL Views of Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster said : "It is, sir, the people's Consti tution, the people's Government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people. The people of the United States have declared that this Con stitution shaU be the supreme law," * * * "We are aU agents of the same supreme power, the people. The General Government and the State governments derive their authority from the same source." * * * "The national Government possesses those powers which it can be sho-wn the people have conferred on it, and no more. AUthe rest belongs to the State. governments, or to the people themselves." — Works of Daniel Webster, Vol. Ill, pp. 321, 322, XIII, John C. Calhoun. * * * "K by the people be meant the people col lectively, and not the people of the several States taken separately ; and if it be true, indeed, that the Constitu tion is the work of the American people collectively ; if it originated -with them, and derives its authority from their will, then there is an end of the argument. The right claimed for a State of defending her reserved powers against the General Government, -would be an &\)BVixdaij."— Calhoun's Works, Vol, VI, p. 146. 7 98 GOVERNMENT OP THE XIV, William H. Seward. In the Senate of the United States, on the 11th of March, 1850, WiUiam H. Seward said: "The United States are a political State, or organized society, whose end is government, for the security, welfare, and happi ness of aU who live under its protection. The theory I am combating reduces the objects of government to the mere spoUs of conquest. Contrary to a theory so de basing, the preamble of the Constitution not only asserts the sovereignty to be, not in the States, but in the People, but also promulgates the objects of the Constitution," * * * " I know only one country and one sovereign — the United States of America and the American People." XV, John Quincy Adams. "John Quincy Adams said: "The Declaration of Independence was a social compact, by which the whole people covenanted with each citizen of the United Colo nies, and each citizen with the whole people, that the United Colonies were, and of right ought to be, free and independent States," — Oration of J. Q. Adams. XVI. Views of Chief Justice Chase. Mr. Chief Justice Chase, in delivering an opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States, at the December Term of 1868, said: "The poverty of language often compels the employment of terms in quite different signi fications ; and of this hardly any example more signal is to be found than in the use of the word [State] we are UNITED STATES OP AMERICA, 99 now considering." * * * "In the Constitution the term State most frequently expresses the combined idea just noticed, of people, territory, and government. A State, in the ordinary sense of the Constitution, is a poUtical community of free citizens, occupying a territory of defined boundaries, and organized under a government sanctioned and limited by a written constitution, and estabUshed by the consent of the governed. It is the union of such States, under a common Constitution, which forms the distinct and greater political unit which that Constitution designates as the United States, and makes of the people and States which compose it one people and one country." — Wallace's Reports, Vol. VII, pp, 730, 731. XVII. James Madison. James Madison opposed the -views of certain parties who, " -with a boldness truly astonishing, do say, that the Constitution of the United States, which, as such, and under that name, was presented to and accepted by those who ratified it ; which has been so deemed and so called by those Uving under it for nearly half a century ; and, as such, sworn to by every officer. State as weU as federal, is yet no Constitution, but a treaty, or league, or, at most, a confederacy among nations, as independent and sovereign in relation to each other as before the charter which caUs itself a Constitution was formed."— Selections from the Private Correspondence of James Madison, p. 405. xvin. James Madison. In a letter addressed to Daniel Webster, on the 15th of March, 1833, James Madison said : " It is fortunate when 100 GOVERNMENT OP THE disputed theories can be decided by xmdisputed facts. And here the undisputed fact is, that the Constitution was made by the people, but as imbodied into the several States who were parties to it, and, therefore, made by the States in their highest authoritative capacity," — Selec tions from the Private Correspondence of James Madi son, p. 399. * * * "A fundamental error Kes in supposing the State governments to be the parties to the constitutional compact from which the government of the United States results."— 75., p. 118. XIX. Supreme Court of the United States. In the case of Martin vs. Hunter's Lessee, decided in 1816, the Supreme Court of the United States said : "The Constitution of the United States was ordained and estabUshed, not by the States in their sovereign capaci ties, but emphaticaUy, as the preamble of the Constitu tion declares, by 'the people of the United States.'"— Wheaton' s Reports, Vol. I, p. 324. UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 101 CHAPTER XI, Kent's Commentaries. Kent says : " The association of the American people into one body politic, took place whUe they were Colonies of the British Empire, and owed aUegiance to the British crown." ¦» * * "The Delegates to the Congress of 1774 met, -with authority and direction to 'consult to gether for the common welfare.' " * * * "The Dele gates to the Congresses of 1774 and 1775 were chosen ' partly by the popular branch of the Colonial Legisla tures when in session, but principally by Conventions of the people in the several Colonies.' " — Kent's Comm., Vol. I, pp. 213, 313, 318. II. Phrases used by Congress before the Declaration of Independence. The acts and proceedings of the Continental Con gresses, before the 4th of July, 1776, contain the foUo-wing phrases in reference to the origin of the "Union" which stUl exists, viz. : "The union of these Colonies."— "The consolidated powers of North America." — "Our Con- 103 GOVERNMENT OF THE federation." — " Our joint exertions." — " The united efforts of North America." — "The people of America." — "Citi zens of America." — " Eights of Americans." — "United by the indissoluble bands of affection and interest." — "Our union is perfect." — "These United Colonies," &c. III. Declaration of Independence did not form Thirteen Separate Sovereign States. The Declaration of Independence did not dissolve the Union; nor did it form thirteen separate "new sover eignties," which " took their places in the family of independent nations." On the 4th of July, 1776, the first Eesolution adopted by Congress, after the Declaration was signed by the members, was in the words foUowing, -viz. : "Eesolved, That copies of the Declaration be sent to the several assembUes, conventions and committees, or councUs of safety, and to the several commanding officers of the Contiuental troops ; that it be proclaimed in each of the United States, and at the head of the Army." On the same day, after the adoption of the foregoing Eesolution, it was "Eesolved, That Dr. Frank lin, Mr. J. Adams, and Mr, Jefferson, be a committee to prepare a device for a seal for the United States of America," — Journals of Congress. IV, The Union. A resolution agreed to-iu Congress, February 15, 1786, refers to engagements entered into "for the common benefit of the Union." On the 31st of February, 1787, the Con gress of the Confederation adopted a resolution relating to "the preservation of the Union," The Constitution of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 103 the United States was ordained and estabUshed "in order to form a more perfect Union," &c. The Constitution de clares that representatives and direct taxes shaU be appor tioned among the States of "this Union."— That the Presi dent shaU give to the Congress "information of the state of the Union."— That new States may be admitted "into this Union."— And that "the United States shaU guar antee to every State in this Union a Eepublican form of Government," V, The Union. In a speech that was delivered in the Senate of the United States, on the 6th of February, 1868, by Charles D. Drake, who is, at the present time, the Chief Justice of the United States Court of Claims, the foUowing passages appear : " The Union dates not from the Constitution, nor from the Articles of Confederation, nor from the Declara tion of Independence, but ante-dates them all. Its birth day was the 6th of September, 1774 — a day yet to be fitly commemorated, I hope, by this nation — when was assem bled that noble band of patriots which constituted the grand old Continental Congress. They were the repre sentatives, not of the chartered organizations known as the Colonies, but of the people thereof, receiving their appointments from the popular or representative branch of the Colonial Legislatures, or from Conventions of the people of the Colonies, and styling themselves in their more formal acts ' the delegates appointed by the good people of these Colonies.' In them the people of the Colonies were together, and thefr acts were the acts of the people, before any State had an existence. From the day they came together tUl this hour, the American people, first as Colonists and British subjects, and then as Ameri can citizens, have been a united people. 104 GOVERNMENT OF THE " On the 4th of July, 1776, they formaUy declared that they were ' one people,' and their representatives, claiming to act and acting ' in the name and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies,' put forth that Declara tion of Independence which announced a new birth into the famUy of nations. Though the Union had existed for nearly two years, here was the point at which the nation stepped into the arena of the world. It could not, whUe in a condition of Colonial dependence, call itself a nation ; but when it renounced dependence and proclaimed itself free and independent, then it entered on its career of nationality, assuming the responsibilities, acknowledging the obligations, -wielding the powers, and accepting the destiny, for weal or for woe, of a nation." VI. Of Thirteen Sovereign States or Nations. After taking into consideration the historical facts which appear in the preceding chapters, and the true meaning of the words ", sovereign and independent," it is not possible to believe that the patriots who, "in the name and by the authority of the good people" of thirteen British Colonies, proclaimed the Declaration of Indepen dence, intended, by that act, to dissolve the Union and to establish thirteen separate sovereign and independent States, or nations — each, in the words of the Declaration, having " fuU power to le-vy war, conclude peace, contract alUances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts - and things which Independent States may of right do." It is impossible to believe that the Eevolutionary patriots of Delaware, which State, in 1776, contained about thirty thousand inhabitants, intended at that time to separate themselves from the Union, and to take their station, as a sovereign and independent State, among the nations of the earth. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 105 VIL Of the Evidence contained in the Preceding Notes. The weighty and definite evidence which has been coUected from a great number of authorities, and cited in these Notes, seems to prove, conclusively, 1st, that the Government of the United States of America did not originate in any aUiance, confederation, or compact, formed by separate sovereign and independent States ; and, 3dly, that aU political theories which are founded only on a presumption of the original sovereignty and independence of each of the thirteen revolutionary States of the Union, are errors, which, if they cannot be cor rected, may continue to be the sources of unfriendly and bitter controversies among the people of the United States in relation to the Constitutional powers of their own Na tional Government, and to the nature and Umitations of State Eights. 106 GOVERNMENT OP THE CHAPTER XII, James Madison, in 1830. In a letter addressed to Daniel Webster, on the 37th of May, 1830, James Madison said : " The actual system of Government for the United States is so unexampled in its origin, so complex in its structure, and so pecuUar in some of its features, that, in describing it, the political vocabulary does not furnish terms sufficiently distinctive and appropriate, without a detailed resort to the facts of the case." — Madison' s Writings, Vol. IV, p. 85. In view of the opinion which was expressed by John Adams,* who was one of the most distinguished patriots among those who laid the foundations 'of the Government of the United States, it is probable that some of the com plex and peculiar difficulties to which Mr. Madison refers, in his letter to Mr. Webster, can never be wholly removed by the force of any conclusive evidence that can be dra-wn from "a detaUed resort to the facts of the case." IL What the foregoing Evidence seems to Prove. When the people of the United American Colonies undertook, in a state of revolution, "to alter or to * Vide Chap. I, Note 3. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 107 abolish" a form of government under which they were deprived of many of their political rights and privUeges, the -views and intentions of the revolutionists respecting the precise nature of such new government, were neither matured, harmonious, nor definite. Nevertheless, the historical evidence which has been submitted to the con sideration of the reader of these Notes, seems to prove — First. That the sovereignty of tlie People of the United States was acknowledged by the Declaration of Indepen dence, which declares that "governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;" and, "that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive" of certain unalienable rights, "it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its founda tion on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shaU seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." Secondly. That the truth of the theory of the nation ality, unity, and sovereignty of the People of the United States was acknowledged by Congressional acts and pro ceedings, before the Articles of Confederation went into force — whUe those Ajiicles were in force — and was con firmed by an expUcit declaration inserted in the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. Thirdly. That only the sovereign power of a nation is, primarily, vested -with authority to grant political powers and to concede political rights to subordinate poUtical organizations, existing within the limits of its territorial jurisdiction. Fourthly. That all grants of poUtical power which have been made to the National Government of the United States of America, have been made by the authority of the sovereign power of the nation. Fifthly. That, after the Declaration of Independence, and before the Articles of Confederation went into force, 108 GOVERNMENT OF THE the people of each of the States of the Union, in subordina tion to the sovereign authority of the people of the United States, were authorized to exercise aU the local and muni cipal rights, privUeges, and franchises which they claimed under their several charters, or constitutions : And, that aU the "sovereignty,* freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right," retained by each State, according to the 2d Article of Confederation, were so retained by the sovereign authority of the nation. Sixthly. That, in the Constitution of the United States, the prohibitions which are applicable to the National Government, as weU as those which are appUcable to the several State governments, are recorded expressions of the ¦wiU of the sovereign power of the nation. Seventhly. That, by the authority of the sovereign power of the nation, "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." III. Congress not Restricted to the Exercise of Powers "Expressly" Granted by the Constitution. The work of forming the Government of the United States of America was not finished by the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence and the adoption of a National Constitution. Those memorable productions contain strongly marked , outlines of a grand design. They are bold and clear sketches of a new and beneficent form of popular government. But, the question of form ing specific rules for the administration of the new Government, involved problems which baffled even the ¦wisdom and patriotism of the guardians of the infancy of * Yiie Chap. II, Note 5.— Chap. Ill, Note 7. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 109 the nation. It was, indeed, impossible for the framers of the Constitution of the United States to set forth, in that great charter, specific instructions and exact restrictions, for the guidance of the People's Agent, the National Government, in its dealings with the various kno-wn and unknown difficulties and dangers which the new nation would be forced to meet and overcome, in its progress toward a condition of freedom, strength and prosperity. It was impossible to name, define, and fix, expressly, with unquestionable certainty, the nature and the Umits of the different powers which it was necessary and proper to delegate, on behalf of the People of the United States, first to the National Government, and secondly to the several State governments, in order to enable these authorities to "form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquiUity, pro-vide for the com mon defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty" to the people of the nation. "It would have been," said Chief Justice MarshaU, "anun- ¦wise attempt to provide, by immutable rules, for exigen cies which, if forseen at aU, must have been seen dimly, and which can be best pro-pided for as they occur." — Wheaton' s Reports, Vol. IV, p. 415. IV. Specific Powers and General Powers Granted to Con gress. — State Rights. In ordaining and estabUshing their National Consti tution, the People of the United States delegated specific powers and general powers to their National Government, and they reserved to the several State governments many powers which are called State Eights, and which include the exclusive right to regulate and control those internal municipal affairs which concern only a State directly and 110 GOVERNMENT OP THE immediately. But, neither the General Government, nor any State government, is vested with a right to do any act that wiU destroy, or weaken, the influence of those general principles which are clearly stated in the first paragraph of the Constitution. V. Of National Authority and State Authority. In a case reported in 5th Wheaton (p. 49, and Ap pendix, p. 162), the Supreme Court of the United States says that the powers granted to Congress are not ex clusive of simUar powers existing in the States, unless where the Constitution has expressly in terms given an exclusive power to Congress, or the exercise of a Uke power is prohibited to the States, or there is a direct repugnancy or incompatibUity in the exercise of it by the State. But in cases of concurrent authority, where the laws of the States and of the Union are in direct and manifest coUision on the same subject, those of the Union being the supreme law of the land, are of paramount authority, and the State laws, so far, and so far only, as such incompatibUity exists, must necessarUy yield. VI. State Rights. The rights of the several States of the Union remained, after the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, what they were before, except so far as they had been abridged by that instrument. — Kent's Comm., Vol. I, p. 435 ; Uh Wheaton, p. 193. The phi-ase "State Eights" is in harmony -with the Constitution, which grants, or reserves, to the States, severaUy, certain rights which are specifically mentioned, and other rights, by fair and UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. HI necessary impUcation. But, for the protection of the rights and liberties of the citizens, individually, and to insure for each State in the Union, a republican form of government, the powers of the States, severaUy, and the powers of the Congress of the United States, are Umited by the prohibitions which are now clearly set forth in the national Constitution, and by those which, by fair impU cation, it contains. For example — Constitutional Prohibitions. No State shaU form a Constitution, or make laws, which shaU be in conflict with the Constitution of the United States, or with the laws of the United States which shaU be made in pursuance thereof. No State shaU enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation. No State shaU grant Letters of Marque and Eeprisal. No State shaU coin Money. No State shall emit BiUs of Credit. No State shall make any thing but gold and sUver coin a Tender in Payment of Debts. No State shall pass any Bill of Attainder. No State shaU pass aiaj ex post facto Law. No State shaU pass any Law impairing the ObUgation of Contracts. No State shaU grant any Title of Nobility. No State shaU, without the consent of Congress, lay any Duty on Tonnage. No State shaU, -without the consent of Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its in spection Laws. No State shaU, without the consent of Congress, keep Troops, or Ships of War, in time of Peace. No State shaU, without the consent of Congress, enter 112 GOVERNMENT OF THE into any Agreement or Compact -with another State, or with a Foreign Power. No State shaU, without the consent of Congress, en gage in AVar, unless actuaUy invaded, or in such immi nent Danger as -wiU not admit of Delay. No State shaU deprive any person of life. Liberty, or Property, -without due process of law. No State shaU deny to any person -within its jurisdic tion the Equal Protection of the Laws. No State shall assume or pay any Debt or ObUgation incurred in aid of Insurrection or EebeUion against the United States, or any claim for the Loss or Emancipation of any Slave. The Constitution of the United States contains the foUo-wing specific prohibitions, -viz. : The Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises, levied by Congress, shaU not be other-wise than uniform throughout the United States. Congress shaU not pass Naturalization laws, nor laws on the subject of Bankruptcy, unless such laws shall be uniform throughout the United States. No appropriation of money, by Congress, to raise and support Armies, shaU be for a longer term than two years. The States, severally, shaU not be deprived of the right of appointing officers of such of their MiUtia as may be engaged in the service of the United States. The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shaU not be suspended, unless when in cases of EebeUion or Inva sion the public safety may require it. No bUl of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. No Capitation or other direct Tax shaU be laid, un less iu proportion to the Census. * * * UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 113 No tax or duty shaU be laid on Articles exported from any State. No preference shaU be given by any Eegulation of Commerce or Eevenue to the Ports of one State over those of another : nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obUged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another. No Money shaU be drawn from the Treasury [of the United States] but in consequence of appropriations made by Law. No title of NobUity shaU be granted by the United States. No person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under the United States, shaU, -without the consent of Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or titie, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. No Senator or Eepresentative, or person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shaU be appointed an Elector of President and Vice-President of the United States. No person except a natural bom citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the Con stitution, shaU be eUgible to the office of President; neither shaU 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. The compensation of the President of the United States shaU neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shaU have been elected, and he shaU not re ceive -within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them. The President shaU not grant pardons or reprieves for offences against the United States, in cases of Impeach ment. The compensation of the Judges, both of the Supreme and inferior Courts of the United States, shaU not be diminished during their continuance in office. 8 114 GOVERNMENT OF THE The trial of aU Crimes, except in cases of Impeachment, shaU be by Jury. No person shaU be convicted of Treason unless on the testimony of two vritnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open Court. No Attainder of Treason shaU work corruption of Blood or Forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted. No new State shaU 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 con cerned as weU as of the Congress. Nothing in the Constitution of the United States shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular State. No religious Test shaU ever be required as a Quali fication to any Office or public Trust under the United States. No person shaU be Eepresentative in Congress who shaU not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shaU not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. No person shaU be a Senator in Congress who shaU not have attained 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 shaU be chosen. In trials of Impeachment, by the Senate of the United States, no person shaU be con-victed without the concur rence of two-thirds of the members present. Judgments in cases of Impeachment shaU not extend further than to removal from office, and disquaUfica- tion to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States : but the party convicted shall UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 115 nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment, and Punishment, according to Law. 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. Senators and Eepresentatives, for any speech or debate in either House of Congress, shall not be questioned in any other place. No Senator or Eepresentative shaU, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civU office under the authority of the United States, which shaU have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time ; and no person holding any office under the United States, shaU be a member of either House during his continuance in office. Congress shaU make no law respecting an estabUsh- ment of EeUgion ; Congress shaU make no law prohibiting the free exer cise of Eeligion ; Congress shaU make no law abridging the freedom of Speech or of the Press ; Congress shaU make no law abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Govern ment for a redress of grievances. The right of the people to keep and bear arms shaU not be infringed. No soldier shaU, 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. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shaU not be violated, and no warrant shaU issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or 116 GOVERNMENT OP THE affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. No person shaU be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the MUitia, when in actual service in time of war, or pubUc danger. No person, for the same offence, shaU be subject to be t-wice put in jeopardy of life or limb. No person shall be compeUed in any criminal case to be a -witness against himself. No person shaU be deprived of life, liberty, or pro perty, -without due process of law. No private property shaU be taken for public use, -without just compensation. In suits at common law, where the value in contro versy shall exceed twenty doUars, the right of trial by jury shaU be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shaU be other-wise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. Excessive baU shall not be required ; Excessive fines shaU not be imposed ; Cruel and unusual punishments shaU not be inflicted. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others re tained by the people. The Judicial power of the United States shaU 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. The [Presidential] Electors shall meet in their respec tive States, and vote by baUot for President and Vice- President, one of whom, at least, shaU not be an inhabi tant of the same State -with themselves. No person constitutionaUy ineligible to the office of UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 117 President, shaU be eUgible to that of Vice-President of the United States. Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shaU have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Certain persons who have engaged in insurrection or rebeUion against the United States, or have given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof, shaU be ineUgible to any office, civil or mUitary, under the United States, or under any State. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disabUity. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing in surrection or rebeUion, shaU not be questioned. Neither the United States, nor any State, shaU assume or pay any debt or obUgation incurred in aid of insurrec tion or rebeUion against the United States, or any claim .for the loss or emancipation of any slave ; but aU such debts, obligations, and claims, shaU be held Ulegal and void. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 118 GOVERNMENT OF THE CHAPTER XIII, Prohibitions to Prevent the Exercise of Arbitrary Power. The speciflc Prohibitions which appear in the Constitu tion of the United States were placed in it to prevent the exercise of arbitrary power, either by the authority of the General Government, or by that of any State government, over the freedom of religious worship, the freedom of speech, the freedom of the Press, or over any of those constitutional rights of life, liberty, and property, to which every citizen of the nation hasa just claim. "Constitu tions are made to restraiu Governments. Laws are made to restrain Persons." II. Patriotism of the Defenders of the Nation. The great civU war of modern times having resulted, not only in the faUure of a very powerful effort to dissolve the Union, but in the destruction of that system of human slavery which was introduced into the English Colonies in America by the poUcy of the British government, the friends of " Liberty and Union," in aU future times, ought to remember with gratitude the patriotism, courage, and sufferings of the soldiers and the statesmen who carried UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 119 the Nation triumphantly through the sanguinary conflict that it was forced to maintain in defense of the freedom, sovereignty, and unity of the people of the United States. III. Restoration of Harmony among the Citizens of the Union. The Government of the United States has passed through the period of danger from the hostUity of ex ternal enemies ; and, henceforth, the People, from whom it derives its strength, look for a wise, beneflcent, and con stitutional exercise of its great powers. In pursuing a ¦wise policy, it wiU, by the use of aU proper means, pro mote, between the steady friends of the Union and those who were its enemies, that kind of reconcUiation which wUl be favorable to the pubUc weKare, and to a restora tion of friendly and fraternal personal intercourse among the citizens of the United States. 130 GOVERNMENT OF THE CHAPTER XIY. L Growth of the Region West of the Alleghany Moun tains. The most remarkable results which have been pro duced by the influence of the general principles of the Government of the United States of America, appear in those numerous and wonderful changes and improvements which have been made, since the year 1776, vrithin the boundaries of the national territory westward of the AUe- ghany mountains. History does not contain another ex ample of a national growth so marveUous in a period so brief. The strength and the patriotism of the people of this vast region were triumphantly manifested in the great war for the preservation of the Union. II. Western Pioneers. The names of the early settlers of the regions lying westward of the Alleghany mountains show that those settlers were emigrants, directly or remotely, from Eng land, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, HoUand, and France. Different, in some respects, from any of these, and different UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 121 from each other, were the emigrants from the New Eng land States, of which Massachusetts was the type, and the emigrants from the Southern States, of which Virginia was the type. Each of the different races of Western Pioneers could remember -with pleasure many bright pages in the history of the nation, or State, from which they emigrated ; and each race knew, perhaps, that there were, imprinted in its history, dark pages enough to restrain a disposition to in- ¦^dulge in arrogant claims of superiority over other races. It is probable that the people of every Christian nation would, if they could, blot out from the pages of History, and from the memory of mankind, the records and the recoUections of their national crimes, and leave, for the admiration of the world, only the memorials of the Chris tian virtues of their ancestors, and of their triumphs in the works of science, industry, and peace. The people who emigrated from old nations, or States, to estabUsh new communities in a vast wilderness, carried with them, not only their religious creeds, their political opinions, their various manners and customs, and their knowledge of the sciences and of the industrial arts, but also the popular superstitions, the old plays, the old stories and traditions, and the old songs and baUads of the nations or States from which they emigrated. Conse quently, legends, and stories, and songs, and old baUads concerning Eobin Hood, and Fairies, and Hobgoblins, and Ghosts, and Banshees, and Wolterkens, and Witches, were brought from France, and Germany, and Ireland, and Scotland, and old England, and New England, to be repeated at every pioneer settlement on the western side of the AUeghany mountains ; and mingled -with Indian traditions relating to the existence of spirits, good and evU, in rocks, caves, lakes, mountains, and springs. 122 GOVERNMENT OP THE III. Commingling of Diverse Races. A writer in the North British Review says: "Ee- markable as are many of the phenomena presented to us in the New World, the most remarkable, as it seems to us, is the extraordinary commingling of diverse races which is being accompUshed on its soU. Navigation has now so bridged the ocean, that from every country in Europe settlers have reached the American shores ; and EaUways have so facUitated locomotion by land, and so quickened the movements of social life, that these diverse peoples from Europe are shaken together and amalga mated in the New World, tiU the original distinctions disappear, and a new national type is formed." IV. Immigrants. In a late special Eeport of the Bureau of Statistics, of the Treasury Department, it is stated that seven miUion five hundred and fifty-three thousand eight hundred and sixty-five "alien passengers arrived in the United States during the fifty-one years ended December 31, 1870." Of this number of persons, 2,700,495 emigrated from Ireland. 2,267,600 emigrated from Germany. 516,192 emigrated from England. 245,812 emigrated from France. 153,928 emigrated from Sweden and Norway. 109,502 emigrated from China. 84,623 emigrated from Scotland. 61,672 emigrated from Switzerland. 31,118 emigrated from HoUand. 23,998 emigrated from Italy. UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 123 23,435 emigrated from Denmark. 33,314 emigrated from Spain. 17,278 emigrated fr-om Belgium. 12,435 emigrated from Wales. V. Forming a New Nation. Some theoretical statesmen say that there are irre movable antipathies existing between people of different races, or nations; and that, "in order \ha,t a, government may be successful -with one race, it must be suited to its peculiar character ; and, when suited to this character it is unsuitable to aU others which differ from it." It is certainly true that hard and uncharitable conflicts of opinion cannot be avoided in the progress of the work of forming a new and powerful nation, by the interming- Ung of peoples differing from each other "in language, in character, in their religious sentiments, in their moral and inteUectual powers, and in their geographical distri bution." Nevertheless, throughout the United States of America, the names of counties, to-wnships, cities, -vil lages, creeks, post-offices, mountains, and vaUeys — the names of the officers and soldiers of our Army and Navy — ^the names of the "statesmen, legislators, and jurists of the Union — and the names of distinguished men in the various reUgious organizations in the country — ^aU exhibit interesting proof of the gradual commingling of peoples of many different nations, or races, under the Government of the United States. VI. The Strong Supports of a Great Nation. A great Nation, however, cannot, even under the Government of the United States, be established on solid 124 GOVERNMENT OF THE and lasting foundations, merely by the political inter mingling of peoples of different races. It must, con stantly, be supported and made strong by those active - moral forces which flow from public virtue, popular education, and Christian principles. In Syria, different races of men have Uved under almost all forms of govern ment — ^patriarchal, monarchic, aristocratic, and despotic — and, for many years, the inhabitants sinned and suffered in that miserable state of unrestrained liberty in which " every man did that which was right in his own eyes." * Jews, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Eo- mans, Arabs, and Turks, intermingling in some degree, have successively exercised dominion over Syria, for more than two thousand years. Damascus, the oldest city in the world, is stiU standing on the beautiful plain where it stood when Eliezur, the steward of Abraham, dwelt in it. The name of Christian was first used at Antioch ; yet, owing to the perpetuation of popular errors, and the repetition of national vices and crimes, from generation to generation, for so many centuries, a very large majority of the people of Syria, -without Christian civUization, are stUl suffering under the grievous burdens of poverty, ignorance, and despotism. Nations, not less than indi-viduals, ought to remember their Creator in the days of their youth. "If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures ; but if they obey not, they shaU perish by the sword, and they shaU die vdthout knowledge. * * * When He giveth quietness, who then can make trouble ? And when He hideth his face, who then can behold Him ? whether it be done against a Nation, or against a man only." * Judges xvii, 6. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. A DECLARATION BY THE EEPEESENTATIVES OF THE HOTTED STATES OP AMEKIOA, m C0NGEES3 ASSEMBLED. When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political hands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ; that they are en dowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ; that, whenever any form of -government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such prin ciples, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long eetab- llshed, should not he changed for light and transient causes ; and, accordingly, all experi ence hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are Bufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their fiiture security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having. In direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world : He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, un less suspended In their operation tiU his assent should be obtained ; and, when so sus pended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, un less those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature ; a right ines timable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them mto com pliance with his measures. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, Ms Invasions on the rights of the people. , .. , , Hehasrefnsed, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; Whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise ; the State remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the danger ofinvasion from without, and convulsions within. , ,^ ^ ¦,. . » He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States ; for that purpose, obstruct ing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; reflisiug to pass others to encourage then- migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. 126 DECLAEATION OP INDEPENDENCE. He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for estab lishing judiciary powers. He has made judges dependent on his wiU alone for the tenure of their ofllces, and the amoimt and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislature. He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws ; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation : For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us : For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States : For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: For imposing taxes on us without our consent : For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury ; For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences : For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies : For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, funda mentally, the powers of our governments : For suspending onr own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their Mends and brethren, or to fell themselves by their hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms ; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have we been wanting in attention to onr British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts made by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable juris diction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settle ment here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have con jured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends. We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these -Pnited Colonies are, and of right ought to be. Free and Independent States ; that they are absolved from aU allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dis solved ; and that, as Free and Independent States, they have fuU power to levy war, con clude peace, contract alliances, establish 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 reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. DECLAEATION OP INDEPENDENCE. 127 The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed, and signed by the follow ing members : JOHN HANCOCK. New Sampshire. Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton. Shade Island. Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery. Cm/Mctieut. Boger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, WiUiam Williams, Oliver Wolcott. New York. WiUiam Floyd, PhiUp Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris. New Jersey. Hichard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark. Pennsyliiania. Eobert Morris, Benjamin Hush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James WUson, George Boss. Massachusetts Bay. Samuel Adams, John Adams, Bobert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry. Delaware. Csesar Bodney, George Bead, Thomas M'Kean. Maryland. Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles CarroU, of CarroUton. Virginia. George Wythe, Bichard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, jun., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton. North Carolina. William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn. South Carolina. Edward Eutledge, Thomas Heyward, jun., Thomas Lynch, jun., Arthur Middleton. Button Gwinnett, Lyman HaU, George Walton. ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. To all to whom these presents shaUcome, we the undersigned delegates of the States affixed to our names, send greeting.— Whereas the Delegates of the United States of America iu Congress assembled did on the IBth day of November in the Tear of our Lord 1777, and in the Second Year of the Independence of America agree to certain articles of Confed eration and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay, Bhode-island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Penn sylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, in the words following, viz. : *'ABTICLE9 OV CONFEDERATION AND PERPETUAi UNION BETWEEN THE STATES OT NEV?- HAMPSHIRE, MASSACHUSETTS-BAT, IinODE-ISLANI) AND PKOVIDENCB PLANTATIONS, CON NECTICUT, NEW-TOEK, NEW-JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA, DELAWARE, MARYLAND, -VIRGINIA, NOBTH-CAKOLINA, SOUTH-OAEOLINA, AND GEORGIA. ARTICLE I. The Stile of this confederacy shaU be " The United States of America." AETICLE U. Each state retains 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. ABTICLE in. The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for then- common defence, the security of their Liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever. AETICLE IV. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different states in this union, the free inhabitants of each of these states, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from Justice excepted, shaU be entitled to all priv ileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States ; and the people of each state Siiall have free ingress and regress to and from any other state, and shaU enjoy therein all the privUeges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions and restric tions as the inhabitants thereof respectively, provided that such restriction shaU not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property imported into any state, to any other state of which the Owner is an inhabitant; provided also that no imposition, duties or restriction shall be laid by any state, on the property of the United States, or either of them. If any person guilty of, or charged with treason, felony, or other high misdemeanor iu any state, shall floe from Justice, and be found in any of the United States, he shall upon demand of the Governor or executive power, of the state from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the state having jurisdiction of his offence. FuU faith and credit shaU be given in each of these states to the records, acts, and judi cial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other state. ARTICLE V. For the more convenient management of the general interest of the United States, delegates shaU be annually appointed in such manner as the legislature of each state ShaU direct, to meet in congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a power reserved to each state, to recal Its delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their stead, for the remainder of the Year. No state shall be represented in congress by less than two, nor by more than seven members ; and no person shall be capable of being a delegate for more than three years In any term of six years; nor shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under the United States, for which he, or another for hia benefit receives any salary, fees or emolument of any kind. AETICLES OP CONPEDERATION. 129 Each state shaU maintain its own delegates in any meeting of the states, and whUe thev act as members of the committee of the states. Li determining questions in the United States, in congress assembled, each state shall have one vote. Freedom of speech and debate in congress shaUnot be impeached or questioned in any Court, or place out of congress, and the members of congress shall be protected in their pe"r- sons from arrests and imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from, and atten dance on congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace. AETICLE YL No state without the Consent of the United States in congress assembled, shaU send any embassy to, or receive any embassy from, or enter into any conference, agree ment, aUiance or treaty with any King, prince or state ; nor shaU any person holding any office of profit or trust under the United States, or any of them, accept of any present, emol ument, office or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince or foreign state ; nor shaU the United States in congress assembled, or any of them, grant any title of nobUity. No two or more states shaU enter into any treaty, confederation or alliance whatever between them, without the consent of the United States in congress assembled, specifying accurately the purposes for which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shaU continue. No state shaU lay any imposts or duties, which may interfere with any stipulations in treaties, entered into by the United States in congress assembled, -with any king, prince or state, in pursuance of any treaties already proposed by congress, to the courts of France and Spain. No vessels of war shall be kept up iu time of peace by any state, except such number only, as shaU be deemed necessary by the United States in congress assembled, for the defence of such state, or its trade ; nor shaU any body of forces be kept up by any state, in time of peace, except such number only, as in the judgment of the United States, in con gress assembled, shaU be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for the defence of such state ; but every state shall always keep up a well regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutred, and shaU provide and have constantly ready for use, in public stores, a due number of field pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammu nition and camp equipage. No state shaU engage in any war without the consent of the United States in congress assembled, unless such state he actuaUy invaded by enemies, or shaU have received certain advice of a resolution being formed by some nation of Indians to invade such state, and the danger Is so imminent as not to admit of a delay, tiU the United States in Congress assem bled can be consulted ; nor shaU any state grant commissions to any ships or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except it be after a declaration of war by the United States In congress assembled, and then only against the kingdom or state and the subjects thereof, against which war has been so declared, and under such regulations as shall be established by the United States in congress assembled, unless such state be infested by pirates, in which case vessels of war may be fitted out for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger shaU continue, or until the United States in congress assembled shaU determine otherwise, ABTICLE "VIL When land-forces are raised by any state for the common defence, all officers of or under the rank of colonel, shaU be appointed by the legislature of each state respectively by whom such forces shall be raised, or in such manner as such state shaU direct, and aU vacancies shaU be fiUed up by the state which first made the appointment. AETICLE -vni. All charges of war, and aU other expenses that shaU be incurred for the common defence or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in congress assem bled, ShaU be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shaU be supplied by the several states, in proportion to the value of all land within each state, granted to or surveyed for any Person, as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall be estimated according to such mode as the United States in congress assembled, shaU from time to tune, direct and appoint. The taxes for paying that proportion shaU be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the several states withhi the time agreed upon by the United States in congress assembled. ABTICLE IX. The United States in congress assembled, shall have the sole and exclu sive right and power of determining on peace and war, except in the cases mentioned in the 6th article— of sending and receiving ambassadors— entering into treaties and alliances, pro vided that no treaty of commerce shaU be made whereby the legislative power of the respec tive states ShaU be restrained from imposing such imposts and duties on foreigners, as their own people are subjected to, or from prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever— of establishing rules for deciding in aU cases, what cap- 130 AETICLES OP CONPEDEEATION. tures on land or water shaU be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces in the service of the United States shaU be divided or appropriated— of granting letters of marque and reprisal in times of peace— appointing courts for the trial of piracies and fel onies committed on the high seas and establishing courts for receiving and determining finally appeals iu aU cases of captures, provided that no member of congress shall be appointed a judge of any of the said courts. The United States in congress assembled shall also be the last resort on appeal in aU dis putes and differences now subsisting or that hereafter may arise between two or more states concerning boundary, jurisdiction or any other cause whatever ; which authority shaU always be exercised in the manner foUowing. -Whenever the legislative or executive authority or lawM agent of any state in controversy with another shall present a petition to congress, stating the matter in question and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shaU be given by order of congress to the legislative or executive authority of the other state in controversy, and a day assigned for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents, who shaU then be directed to appoint by joint consent, commissioners or judges to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter in question ; but if they cannot agree, congi-ess shall name three persons out of each of the United States, and from the Ust of such persons each party shall alternately strike out one, the petitioners beginning, untU the number shall be reduced to thirteen ; and from that number not less than seven, nor more than nine names as congress shall direct, shaU iu the presence of congress be drawn out by lot, and the per sons whose names shall be so drawn or any five of them, shall be commissioners or judges, to hear and finaUy determine the controversy, so always as a major part of the judges who shaUhear the cause shall agree in the determination: and if either party shaU neglect to attend at the day appointed, without showing reasons, which congress shall judge sufficient, or being present shall reflise to strike, the congress shaU proceed to nominate three persona out of each state, and the secretary of congress shaU strike in behalf of such party absent or refusing ; and the judgment and sentence of the court to be appointed, in the manner before prescribed, shaU be final and conclusive ; and if any of the parties shall refase to submit to the authority of such court, or to appear or defend their claim or cause, the court shaU nevertheless proceed to pronounce sentence, or judgment, which shall in like manner be final and decisive, the judgment or sentence and other proceedings being in either case transmitted to congress, and lodged among the acts of congress for the security of the parties concerned : provided that every commissioner, before he sits in judgment, shaU take an oath to be administered by one of the judges of the supreme or superior court of the state, where the cause shaU be tried, " well and truly to hear and determine the matter in question, according to the best of his judgment, without favour, affection or hope of reward:" pro vided also that no state shaU be deprived of territory for the benefit of the United States, AU controversies concerning the private right of soil claimed vmder different grants of two or more states, whose jurisdictions as they may respect such lands, and the states which passed such grants are adjusted, the said grants or either of them being at the same time claimed to have originated antecedent to such settlement of jurisdiction, shall on the petition of either party to the congress of the United States, be finally determined as near as may be iu the same manner as is before prescribed for deciding disputes respecting territorial juris diction between different states. The United States In congress assembled shaU also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the aUoy and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective states— fixing the standard of weights and measures throughout the United States— regtdating the trade and managing aU affairs with the Indians, not members of any of the states, provided that the legislative right of any state within its own limits he not in- fringed or violated— estabUshing or regulating post-offices from one state fo another, throughout aU the United States, and exacting such postage on the papers passing thro' the same as may be requisite to defray the expenses of the said office — appointing all officers of the land forces, in the service of the United States, excepting regimental officers— appoint ing aU the officers of the naval forces, and commissioning aU officers whatever in the service of the United States— making rules for the government and regulation of the said land and naval forces, and directing their operations. The United States in congress assembled shall have authority to appoint a committee, to sit in the recess of congress, to be denominated " A Committee of the States," and to con sist of one delegate from each state ; and to appoint such other committees and civil officers as maybenecessai-y for managing the general affairs of the United States under their direc tion—to appoint one of their number to preside, provided that no person be aUowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any term of three years ; to ascertain the necessary sums of Money to be raised for the service of the United States, and to appro priate and apply the same for defraying the public expenses— to bonow money, or emit bills AETICLES OP CONPEDEEATION. 131 on the credit of the United States, transmitting every half year to the respective states an account of the sums of money so borrowed or emitted,— to build and equip a navy— to agree upon the number of land forces, and to make requisitions fi-om each state for its quota, in proportion to the number of white inhabitants in such state ; which requisition shall be binding, and thereupon the legislature of each state ehaU appoint the regimental officers, raise the men and cloath, arm and equip them in a soldier like manner, at the expense of the United States ; and the officers and men so cloathed, armed and equipped shaU march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the United States in congress assem bled : But if the United States in congress assembled shaU, on consideration of circum stances judge proper that any state should not raise men, or should raise a smaUer number than its quota, and that any other state should raise a greater number of men than the quota thereof, such extra number shaU be raised, officered, cloathed, armed and equipped in the same manner as the quota of such state, unless the legislature of such state shaU judge that such extra number cannot be safely spared out of the same, in which case they shaU raise, officer, cloath, arm and equip as many of such extra number as they judge can be safely spared. And the officers and men so cloathed, armed and equipped, shaU march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the United States in congress assembled. The United States in congress assembled shall never engage in a war, nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of peace, nor enter into any treaties or aUiances, nor coin money, nor regulate the value thereof, nor ascertain the sums and expenses necessary for the defence and welfere of the United States, or any of them, nor emit biUs, nor borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of war, to be built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, nor appoint a commander in chief of the army or navy, unless nine states assent to the same : nor shaU a question on any other point, except for adjourning from day to day be de termined, unless by the votes of a majority of the United States in congress assembled. The congress of the United States shall have power to adjourn to any time within the year, and to any place within the United States, so that no period of adjotimment be for a longer duration than the space of six months, and shaU publish the Journal of their pro ceedings monthly, except such parts thereof relating to treaties, aUiances or miUtary opera tions, as in their judgment require secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the delegates of each state on any question shaU be entered on the Journal, when it is desired by any delegate ; and the delegates of a state, or any of them, at his or their request shaU be famished with a transcript of the said Journal, except such parts as are above excepted, to lay before the legislatures of the several states, AETICLE X. The committee of the states, or any nine of them, shaU bo authorized to execute, in the recess of congress, such of the powers of congress as the United States iu congress assembled, by the consent of nine states, shaU from time to time think expedient to vest them with ; provided that no power be delegated to the said committee, for the exer cise of which, by the articles of confederation, the voice of nine states in the congress of the United States assembled is requisite, AETICLE XL Canada acceding to this confederation, and joining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and entitled to aU the advantages of this union: but no other colony shaU be admitted into the same, unless such admission be agreed to by nine states. AETICLE Xn. AU biUs of credit emitted, monies borrowed and debts contracted by, or under the authority of congress, before the assembling of the United States, in pursuance of, the present confederation, shaU he deemed and considered as a charge against the United States, for payment and satisfaction whereof the said United States, and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged. AETICLE Xni, Every state shaU abide by the determinations of the United States in congress assembled, on aU questions which by this confederation is submitted to them. And the Articles of this confederation shaU, be inviolably observed by every state, and the union shaU be perpetual ; nor shaU any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them ; unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the United States, and be after wards confirmed by the legislatures of every state. And TOc;-«os it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in congress, to approve of, and to authorize us lo ratiiy the said articles of confederation and perpetual union. Know Ye that we the under- siroportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken. No Tax or Duty shaU be laid on Articles exported from any State. No Preference shaU be given by any Eegulation of Commerce or Eevenue 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 shaU be dra-wn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law ; and a regular Statement and Account of the Beceipts and Expenditures of aU public Money shall be published from time to time. No Title of Nobility shaU be granted by the United States : And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shaU, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present. Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. of 136 CONSTITUTION OP THE Sbotion 10. No State shaU enter into any Treaty, AUiance, or Confederation ; grant Letters of Marque and Eeprisal; coin Money ; emit BiUs 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 NobUity. No State shaU, without the consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Im ports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws : and the net Produce of aU Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Ex ports, ShaU be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States ; and aU such Laws shaU be subject to the Bevision and Controul of the Congress. No State shaU, 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 actuaUy invaded, or in such imminent Danger as wiU not admit of Delay. AETICLE II. Section 1, The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shaU hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together -with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as foUows Each State shaU appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Eepresentatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress : but no Senator or Eepresentative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shaU be appointed an Elector. [* The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, whom one at least shaU 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 shaU sign and certiiy, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, dfrected to the -president of the Senate. The President of the Senate shaU, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Bepresentatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shaU then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shaU 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 Eepresentatives shall Immediately chuse by BaUot one of them for President ; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shaU in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shaU be taken by States, the Bepresentation from each State ha-vlug one Vote ; A Quorum for this Purpose shall consist ot a Member or Members from two- thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall 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 ^11 chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.] The Congress may determine the Tune 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 bom Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shaU be eligible to the Office of President ; neither shaU any Person he eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty- five Years, and been fourteen Years a Besideut withiu the United States. In Case of the Bemoval of the President from Office, or of his Death, Eesignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shaU devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Bemoval, Death, Eesignation, or InabUity, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, untU the DisabiUty be removed, or a President shaU be elected. The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shaU neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shaU have been elected, and he shaU not receive within tljat 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 oj; Affirmation :— " I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I wUl faithfully execute the Office of President of " the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the " Constitution of the United States." * This clause withiu brackets has been superceded and annulled by the 12th amendment. UNITED STATES OP AMEEICA. 137 Section 2. The President shaU be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the MUitia 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 thefr respective Offices, and he shaU have Power to grant Eeprieves and Pardons for Offences a<'ainst the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. " He ShaU have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur ; and he shaU nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shaU appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and aU other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shaU be estabUshed 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 shall have Power to fill up aU Vacancies that may happen during the Eecess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shaU expfre at the End of their next Session. Section 3. He shaU 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 extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and iu Case of Disagreement between them, with Bespect to the Time of Adjourn ment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper ; he shaU receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers : he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfuUy executed, and shall Commission all the officers of the United States. Section 4. The President, Vice President and all 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. AETICLE III. Section 1. The judicial Power of the United States, shaU be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and estab Ush. The Judges, both of the supreme and Inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for thefr Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office. Section 2. The judicial Power shaU extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under thefr Authority ;— to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers, and Consuls ; — to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction ; — to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party ; — to Controversies between two or more States ; — ^lietween a State and Citizens of an other State;— between Citizens of different States,— between Citi zens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects. In aU Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall he Party, the supreme Court shaU have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shaU have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Begulations as the Congress shall make. The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, ehaU be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State wKere the said Crimes shaU have been committed ; but -when not committed within any State, the Trial shaU be at such Place or Places as the Congress m'ay by law have directed. Section 3. Treason against the United States, shaU consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shaU work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Per son attainted. AETICLE IV. Section 1. FuU Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Eecords, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws pre- 138 CONSTITUTION OF THE scribe the Manner in which such Acts, Becords and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof. Section 2. The Citizens of each State shaU be entitled to aU Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shaU flee from Justice, and be found in another State, BhaU on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be deUvered up, to be removed to the State having JuriBdiction ot the Crime. No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shaU, in Consequence of any Law or Eegulatlbn therein, be discharged from Buch Service or Labour, but BhaU be deUvered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due. Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress 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 ofStates, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as weU as of the Congress. The Congress shaU have Power to dispose of and make all needfiil Eules and Begulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States ; and nothing in this Constitution shaU he so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State. Section 4. The United States shaU guarantee to every State in this Union a Eepublican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion, and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) agamst domestic Violence. AETICLE V. The Congress, whenever two thirds of bothHouses shall deem It necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, BhaU be valid to aU 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 tfiereof, as the one or the other Mode of Eatification may be proposed by the Congress ; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight shaU in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article ; and that no State, without its Consent, shaU be deprived of its equal Sufil-age in the Senate, AETICLE VI AU Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Consti tution, shall be as valid against the United States under thlB Constitution, as under the Con federation, This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shaU be made iu Pursuance thereof; and aU Treaties made, or which shaU be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land ; and the Judges in every State shaU be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. The Senators and Bepresentatives 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, shaU be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution ; but no religious Test shaU ever be required as a Qualiflcatiou to any Office or public Ti-ust under the United States, AETICLE -VII, The Eatification of the Conventions of nine States, BhaU be sufficient for the EstabUsh- ment of this Constitution between the States bo 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 Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth, In Witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names, GEO WASHINGTON- Presidt and deputy from Virginia. UNITED STATES OP AMEEICA. 139 JOHH LAHGDON, Nathaniel Gorhau, Wm. Saml. Johnson, Alexander Hautlton. Wil: Livtngbton, Wm. Paterson, B. Franklin, Bobt. Morris, Tho: Fitzsimons, James Wilson, Geo: Bead, John Dickinson, Jaoo: Broom. James M'Hbnrt, Danl. Carroll, John Blair, Wm. Blount, Hu. Williamson. J. Eutledge, Charles Pincknet, William Few, Attest: NEW HAMPSHIEE. MASSACHUSETTS. CONNECTICUT. NEW YOEK. NEW JEESEY, PENNSYLVANIA, DELAWAEE,mabyland. -viegiota. Nicholas Gilmah. Burus B^g, Boger Shebmait. David Beearlbt, Jona, Dayton, Thomas MnrpLm, Geo : Clymer, Jared Ingersoll, Gouv: Morris. Gunning Bedpoed, Jun'r, ElOHARD BASSETT, Dan: of St, Thos, Jbhipee, James Madison, Jr, NOETH CAROLINA. Eich'd Dobes Spaight, SOUTH CAEOLINA, GEOEQLA, Charles Cotesworth Ptnoknet, PrEROE Butler. Ajbr. Bald-win. ¦WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary. ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF, THE CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES OF AMEEICA. Article I. — Congress shall make no law respecting an estabUshment of reUgion, 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.— A weU regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shaU not be infringed. Article in.— No Soldier shaU, 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 and seizures, shaU not be violated, and no Warrants shaU 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 shaU be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the MUitia, when in actual service in time of War or pubhc danger; nor shaU any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of Ufe or limb ; nor shaU be compeUed in any Criminal Case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. Article VI.— In aU criminal prosecutions, the accused shaU enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shaU have been committed, which district shaU 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 favour, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. Article "VII. — 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 rules of the common law. Article -VUL— Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Article IX. — The enumeration iu the Constitution, of certain rights, shaU not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Article X.— Tbe 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. Article XI.— The Judicial power of the United States shaU not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State. Article XII.- The Electors shaU meet In their respective States, and vote by baUot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shaU not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves : they shaU name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in dlBtinct baUots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shaU make distinct lists of aU persons voted for as President, and of aU persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which Usts they shaU sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the Government cf the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;— The President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Eepresentatives, open aU the certificates, and the votes shaU then bo counted;— The person AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 141 having the greatest number of votes for President, shaU 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 House of Eepresentatives shaU choose immediately by baUot, the President. But in choosing, the President, the votes shaU be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose BhaU consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of aU the States shaU be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Eepresentatives shaU not choose a President whenever the right of choice shaU devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next foUowuig, then the Vice-PreBldent shaU act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disabUity of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shaU 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 Ust, the Senate shaU choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose shaU consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shaU be necessary to a choice. But no person constitu tionally ineligible to the office of President shaU be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. Article XIH.— Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punish ment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, fihaU exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shaU have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Article XIV.— Section 1. AU persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of tlie United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shaU make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privUeges or immunities of citizens of the United States ; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, -without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its juris diction the equal protection of the laws. Section 2. Eepresentatives shaU bo appointed 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 President and Vice-President of the United States, representatives in Congress, the execu tive or judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being 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 number of such male citizens shaU bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in Buch State. Section S. No person shaU be a Senator or Eepresentative in Congress, 6r elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civU 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 tbe United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shaU 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, in cluding debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties lor services in suppressing insurrection or rebeUion, shall not be questioned. 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 such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. Section 5. Congi-ess shaU have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the pro visions of this article. Article IN.—Seclicm 1. The rights of citizens of tbe 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. Congress shaU have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.