.z~- 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
 
THE 
 
 TRUE REPUBLICAN: 
 
 CONTAINING THE 
 
 INAUGURAL ADDRESSES, 
 
 TOGETHER WITH THE 
 
 FIRST ANNUAL ADDRESSES AND MESSAGES, 
 
 Of all the Presidents of the United States, from 1789 to 1857; 
 
 TOGETHER WITH THEIR 
 
 E;T FAREWELL ADDRESSES, , " 
 
 AND ILLUSTRATED WITH THE 
 
 f otimtt at mh f the 
 
 WITH AN APPENDIX, 
 
 CONTAINING THE 
 
 DECLARATION OP INDEPENDENCE AND CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 WITH THE AMENDMENTS AND SIGNERS NAMES. 
 
 ALSO, THE 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE MOST IMPORTANT STATES IN THE UNION, 
 
 BY JONATHAN FRENCH. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 J. B. SMITH & CO., 610 CHESTNUT ST. 
 1857. 
 
ffeitterert according to Act of Congress, in the year 1811, by D. RICHARDSOK, 
 In the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the United Slates in and lor uu 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania.] 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 PAGH 
 
 Declaration of Independence, - 5 
 
 Washington s Inaugural Address, - 10 
 
 Washington s First Annual Address, - 14 
 
 Washington s Farewell Address, 17 
 
 Adams Inaugural Address, - - 34 
 
 Adams First Annual Message, 40 
 
 Jefferson s Inaugural Address, - - 46 
 
 Jefferson s First Annual Message, 52 
 
 Madison s Inaugural Address, - - 61 
 
 Madison s First Annual Message, 64 
 
 Monroe s Inaugural Address, - - 69 
 
 Monroe s First Annual Message, - - 78 
 
 J. Q. Adams Inaugural Address, - - - 91 
 
 J. Q. Adams First" Annual Message, - 09 
 
 Jackson s Inaugural Address, - - 124 
 
 Jackson s First Annual Message, - - 127 
 
 Jackson s Farewell Address, - - - 156 
 
 Van Buren s Inaugural Address, - - 178 
 
 Van Bureivs First Annual Message, - - 188 
 
 Harrison s Inaugural Address, - 220 
 
 Tyler s Address, - 242 
 
 Tyler s First Message, - 247 
 
 Folk s Inaugural Address, - 263 
 
 Taylor s " " - 277 
 Pierce s ""---_ 281 
 
 Buchanan s " " - - 291 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Constitution of the United States, - - - 5 
 
 Constitution of Massachusetts, 21 
 
 Constitution of New York, - 61 
 
 Constitution of New Jersey, 94 
 
 Constitution of Pennsylvania, - 115 
 
 Constitution of Virginia, - - 137 
 
 Constitution of South Carolina, - 172 
 
 Constitution of Ohio, 187 
 Constitution of Kentucky, - ... 219 
 
THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 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 separation. 
 
 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 
 are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator 
 with certain uaalienable rights ; that among these are life, 
 liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure 
 these rights, governments are instituted among men, deri 
 ving their just powers from the consent of the governed; 
 and that, whenever any form of government becomes de 
 structive of these ends, it is the right of the people to 
 alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying 
 its foundations on such principles, 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 established, should not be 
 changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, 
 all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed 
 to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right them 
 selves by abolishing the forms to which they are accus 
 tomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpa 
 tions, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a de 
 sign 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 future security. Such 
 has been the patient sufferance of the colonies, and such 
 1* 
 
O THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 is now the necessity which constrains thorn to alter their 
 former systems of government. The history of the pre 
 sent king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries 
 and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the establish 
 ment of an absolute tyranny over these slates. To prove 
 this, let facts be submitted to a candid world: 
 
 He has refused his assent to laws the most wLtlesoms 
 and necessary for the public good. 
 
 He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of imme 
 diate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their 
 operations till his assent should be obtained; and, when 
 so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them 
 
 He has refused to pass other law* for the accommodation 
 of large districts of people, unless those people would re 
 linquish the right of representation in the legislature; a 
 right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 
 
 He has called together legislative bodies at places un 
 usual, uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of 
 their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing 
 them into compliance with his measures. 
 
 He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for 
 opposing with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights 
 of the people. 
 
 He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, 
 to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative pow 
 ers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the peo 
 ple at large for their exercise ; the state remaining, in the 
 mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from 
 without, and convulsions within. 
 
 He has endeavored to prevent the population of these 
 states ; for that purpose, obstructing the laws of naturali 
 zation of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage 
 their migration thither, and raising the conditions of new 
 appropriations of lands. 
 
 He has obstructed the administration of justice, by re- 
 fusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary piowers. 
 
 He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for 
 the tenure of their offices, and the amount 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. 
 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 7 
 
 He has kept among us in time of peace standing ar 
 mies, without the consent of our legislatures. 
 
 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 juris 
 diction 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 anj murders which they should commit on the inhabi 
 tants 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 benefit of trial 
 by jury. 
 
 For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pre 
 tended 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 va 
 luable laws, and altering, fundamentally, the forms of our 
 governments : 
 
 For suspending our 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 cru 
 elty 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 friends and brethren 
 or to fall themselves by their hands 
 
8 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 He has excited domestic insurrections amongstns, and 
 has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our fron 
 tiers, 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 our British 
 brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of 
 the attempts by their legislature, to extend an unwar 
 rantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them 
 of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement 
 here. We have appealed to their native justice and mag 
 nanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our 
 common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which 
 would inevitably interrupt our connections and corres 
 pondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of 
 justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, ac 
 quiesce 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 United Colonies are, and of right ought 
 to be, free and independent States ; that they are absolv 
 ed from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all 
 political connection between them and the state of Great 
 Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, 
 as free and independent States, they have full power to 
 levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish 
 commerce, and to do all other acts and things which in 
 dependent 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. 
 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 The foregoing declaration, was, by order of Congresg 
 engrossed, and signed by the following members : 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. 
 
 New Hampshire. 
 JOSIAH BARTLETT, 
 WILLIAM WHIPPLE, 
 MATTHEW THORNTON. 
 
 Massachusetts Bay. 
 SAMUEL ADAMS, 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 ROBERT TREAT PAINE, 
 ELBRIDGE GERRY. 
 
 Rhode Island. 
 STEPHEN HOPKINS, 
 WILLIAM ELLERY. 
 
 Connecticut. 
 ROGER SHERMAN, 
 SAMUEL HUNTINGTON, 
 WILLIAM WILLIAMS, 
 OLIVER W OLCOTT. 
 
 New York. 
 WILLIAM FLOYD, 
 PHILIP LIVINGSTON, 
 FRANCIS LEWIS, 
 LEWIS MORRIS. 
 
 New Jersey. 
 RICHARD STOCKTON, 
 JOHN WITHERSPOON, 
 FRANCIS HOPKINSON, 
 JOHN HART, 
 ABRAHAM CLARK. 
 
 Pennsylvania. 
 ROBERT MORRIS, 
 BENJAMIN RUSH, 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 JOHN MORTON, 
 GEORGE CLYMER, 
 JAMES SMITH, 
 
 GEORGE TAYLOR, 
 JAMES WILSON, 
 GEORGE Ross. 
 
 Delaware. 
 CAESAR RODNEY, 
 GEORGE READ, 
 THOMAS M KEAN. 
 
 Maryland. 
 SAMUEL CHASE, 
 WILLIAM PACA, 
 THOMAS STONE, 
 CHARLES CARROLL, of 
 Carrollton. 
 
 Virginia. 
 GEORGE WYTHE, 
 RICHARD HENRY LEE, 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON, 
 BENJAMIN HARRISON, 
 THOMAS NELSON, Jr. 
 FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEB, 
 CARTER BRAXTON. 
 
 North Carolina. 
 WILLIAM HOOPER, 
 JOSEPH HEWES, 
 JOHN PENN. 
 
 South Carolina 
 EDWARD RUTLEDGE, 
 THOMAS HEYWARD, Jr. 
 THOMAS LYNCH, Jr. 
 ARTHUR MIDDLETON. 
 
 Georgia. 
 
 BUTTON GWINNETT, 
 LYMAN HALL, 
 GEORGE WALTON 
 
10 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 WASHINGTON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 
 APRIL 30, 1789. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens of the Senate 
 
 and House of Representatives : 
 
 Among the vicissitudes incident to life, no event could 
 have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which 
 the notification was transmitted by your order, and re 
 ceived on the 14th day of the present month. On the one 
 hand, I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can 
 never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat 
 which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in 
 my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the 
 asylum of my declining years, a retreat which was ren 
 dered every day more necessary as well as more dear to 
 me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent 
 interruptions in my health, to the gradual waste committed 
 on it by time. On the ether hand, the magnitude and 
 difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country 
 called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and 
 most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny 
 into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with de 
 spondence, one, who, inheriting inferior endowments from 
 nature, and unpractised in the duties of civil administra 
 tion, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own defi- 
 ciences. In this conflict of emotions, all that I dare avei 
 is, that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty 
 from a just appreciition of every circumstance by which 
 it might be effected. All I dare hope is, that if in execu 
 ting this task I have been too much swayed by a grateful 
 remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate 
 Sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of 
 my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted 
 my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty 
 and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by 
 the motives which misled me, and its consequences be 
 judged by my country with some share ot the partiality 
 with which they originated. 
 
11 
 
 Such being the impressions under which I have, in obe 
 dience to the public summons, repaired to the present 
 station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this 
 first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty 
 Being who rules over the universe who presides in the 
 councils of nations and whose providential aids can 
 supply every human defect, that his benediction may con 
 secrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the 
 United States a government instituted by themselves for 
 these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument 
 employed in its administration to execute with success the 
 functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this ho 
 mage to the great Author of every public and private good, 
 I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less 
 than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, 
 less than either. No people can be bound to acknow 
 ledge and adore the invisible Hand which conducts the 
 affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. 
 Every step by which they have advanced to the character 
 of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished 
 by some token of providential agency; and in the impor 
 tant revolution just accomplished in the system of their 
 united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary 
 consent of so many distinct communities, from which the 
 event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means 
 by which most governments have been established, with 
 out some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble 
 anticipation of the future blessings which the past seems 
 to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present 
 crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to 
 be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in think 
 ing that there are none under the influence of which the 
 proceedings of a new and free government can more 
 auspiciously commence. 
 
 By the article establishing the executive department, it 
 is made *he duty of the President "to recommend to 
 your consideration such measures as he shall judge ne 
 cessary and expedient." The circumstances under which 
 I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that 
 subject farther than to refer to the great constitutional 
 charter under which you are assembled, and which, >n 
 
12 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 defining your powers, designates the objects to which youi 
 attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with 
 those circumstances, and far more congenial with the 
 feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a 
 recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is 
 due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which 
 adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. 
 In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges 
 *.hat, as on one side, no local prejudices or attachments, 
 no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the 
 comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over 
 this great assemblage of communities and interests: so, 
 on another, that the foundations of our national policy will 
 be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private 
 morality; and the pre-eminence of free government be 
 exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affec 
 tions of its citizens, and command the respect of the 
 world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction 
 which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since 
 there is no truth more thoroughly established than that 
 there exists in the economy and course of nature an in 
 dissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between 
 duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an 
 honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of 
 public prosperity and felicity ; since we ought to be no 
 less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can 
 never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal 
 rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained, 
 and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and 
 the destiny of the republican model of government, are 
 justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked on the 
 experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people. 
 Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it 
 will remain with your judgment to decide how far an ex 
 ercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth arti 
 cle of the constitution is rendered expedient at the pre 
 sent juncture by the nature of the objections which have 
 been urged against the system, or by the degree of in 
 quietude which has given birth to them. Instead of un 
 dertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in 
 which I could be guided by no lights derived from ofii- 
 
WASHINGTON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 13 
 
 cial opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire 
 confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public 
 good; for 1 assure myself that while you carefully avoid 
 every alteration which might endanger the benefits of a 
 united and effective government, or which ought to await 
 the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the cha 
 racteristic rights of freemen, and a regard for the pub 
 lic harmony, will sufficiently influence your deliberations 
 on the question how far the former can be more impreg- 
 nably fortified, or the latter be safely and advantageously 
 promoted. 
 
 To the preceding observations I have one to add, which 
 will be most properly addressed to the House of Repre 
 sentatives. It concerns myself, and will therefore be as 
 brief as possible. When I was first honored with a call 
 into the service of my country, then on the eve of an ar 
 duous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I con 
 templated my duty required that I should renounce every 
 pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in 
 no instance departed ; and being still under the impres 
 sions which produced it, I must decline, as inapplicable 
 to myself, any share in the personal emoluments which 
 may be indispensably included in a permanent provision 
 for the executive department, and must accordingly pray 
 that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I 
 am placed, may, during my continuance in it, be limited 
 to such actual expenditures as the public good may be 
 thought to require. 
 
 Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they 
 have been awakened by the occasion which brings us 
 together, I shall take my present leave, but not without 
 resorting once more to the benign Parent of the human 
 race, in humble supplication that, since he has been 
 pleased to favor the American people with opportunities 
 for deliberating in perfect tranquillity and dispositions for 
 deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of govern 
 ment for the security of their union and the advancement 
 of their happiness, so his divine blessing may be equally 
 conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consul 
 tations, and the wise measures on which the success of 
 lijis government must depend. 
 2 
 
14 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 WASHINGTON S FIRST ANNUAL ADDRESS, 
 JANUARY 8, 1790. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens of the Senate 
 
 and House of Representatives : 
 
 I embrace with great satisfaction the opportunity which 
 now presents itself of congratulating you on the present 
 favorable prospects of our public affairs. The recent ac 
 cession of the important state of North Carolina to the 
 constitution of the United States, (of which official in 
 formation has been received,) the rising credit and r& 
 spectability of our country, the general and increasing 
 good will towards the government of the Union, and the 
 concord, peace, and plenty, with which we are blessed, 
 are circumstances auspicious, in an eminent degree, to 
 our national prosperity. 
 
 In resuming your consultations for the general good, 
 you cannot but derive encouragement from the reflection 
 that the measures of the last session have been as satisfac 
 tory to your constituents, as the novelty and difficulty of 
 the work allowed you to hope. Still further to realize 
 their expectations, and to secure the blessings which a 
 gracious Providence has placed within our reach, will, in 
 the course of the present important session, call for the 
 cool and deliberate exertion of your patriotism, firmness, 
 and wisdom. 
 
 Among the many interesting objects which will engage 
 your attention, that of providing for the common defence 
 will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is 
 one of the most effectual means of preserving peace. 
 
 A free people ought not only to be armed, but disci 
 plined ; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is 
 requisite : and their safety and interest require that they 
 should promote such manufactures as tend to render them 
 independent of others for essential, particularly military 
 supplies. 
 
 The proper establishment of the troops which may be 
 deemed indispensable, will be entitled to mature conside 
 ration. In the arrangements which may be made re 
 specting it, it will be of importance to conciliate the com- 
 
WASHINGTON S FIRST ANNUAL ADDRESS. 15 
 
 fortable support of the officers and soldiers, with a du 
 regard to economy. 
 
 There was reason to hope that the pacific measures 
 adopted with regard to certain hostile tribes of Indians 
 would have relieved the inhabitants of our southern and 
 western frontiers from their depredations; but you will 
 perceive from the information contained in the papers 
 which I shall direct to be laid before you, (comprehend 
 ing a communication from the commonwealth of Vir 
 ginia,) that we ought to be prepared to afford protection 
 to those parts of the Union, and, if necessary, to punish 
 aggressors. 
 
 The interests of the United States require that our in 
 tercourse with other nations should be facilitated by such 
 provisions as will enable me to fulfil my duty in that re 
 spect, in the manner which circumstances may render 
 most conducive to the public good, and, to this end, that 
 the compensations to be made to the persons who may 
 be employed should, according to the nature of their 
 appointments, be defined by law; and a competent fund 
 designated for defraying the expenses incident to the con 
 duct of our foreign affairs. 
 
 Various considerations also render it expedient that the 
 terms on which foreigners may be admitted to the rights 
 of citizens, should be speedily ascertained by a uniform 
 rule of naturalization. 
 
 Uniformity in the currency, weights and measures of 
 the United States, is an object of great importance, and 
 will, I am persuaded, be duly attended to. 
 
 The advancement of agriculture, commerce and manu 
 factures, by all proper means, will not, I trust, need re 
 commendation; but I cannot forbear intimating to you the 
 expediency of giving effectual encouragement, as well 
 to the introduction of new and useful inventions from 
 abroad, as to the exertions of skill and genius in produ 
 cing them at home ; and of facilitating the intercourse 
 between the distant parts of our country by a due atten 
 tion to the post office and post roads. 
 
 Nor am I less persuaded that you will agree with me 
 in opinion, that there is nothing which can better deserve 
 ycmr patronage than the promotion of science and litera- 
 
"16 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 ture. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of 
 public happiness. In one in which the measures of go 
 vernment receive their impressions so immediately from 
 the sense of the community as in ours, it is proportiona- 
 bly essential. To the security of a free constitution it 
 contributes in various ways : by convincing those who 
 are intrusted with the public administration, that every 
 valuable end of government is best answered by the en 
 lightened confidence of the people ; and by teaching the 
 people themselves to know and to value their own rights; 
 to discern and provide against invasions of them ; to dis 
 tinguish between oppression anJ the necessary exercise 
 of lawful authority ; between burdens proceeding from a 
 disregard to their convenience, and those resulting from 
 the inevitable exigencies of society ; to discriminate the 
 spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness, cherishing 
 the first, avoiding the last, and uniting a speedy but tern 
 perate vigilance against encroachments, with an inviola 
 ble respect to the laws. 
 
 Whether this desirable object will be best promoted br 
 affording aids to seminaries of learning already establish 
 ed; by the institution of a national university; or by anp 
 other expedients, will be well worthy of a place in the de 
 liberations of the legislature. 
 
 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: 
 
 I saw with peculiar pleasure, at the close of the last 
 session, the resolution entered into by you, expressive of 
 your opinion that an adequate pro vision for the support of 
 the public credit, is a matter of high importance to the 
 national honor and prosperity. In this sentiment I en 
 tirely concur. And, to a perfect confidence in your best 
 endeavors to devise such a provision as will be truly con 
 sistent with the end, I add an equal reliance on the cheer 
 ful co-operation of the other branch of the legislature. 
 It would be superfluous to specify inducements to a mea 
 sure in which the character and permanent interest of the 
 United States are so obviously and so deeply concerned; 
 and which has received so explicit a sanction from your 
 declaration. 
 
17 
 
 Gentlemen of the Senate 
 
 and House of Representatives : 
 
 I have directed the proper officers to lay before you, 
 respectively, such papers and estimates as regard the af 
 fairs particularly recommended to your consideration, 
 and necessary to convey to you that information of the 
 state of the Union which it is my duty to afford. 
 
 The welfare of our country is the great object to which 
 our cares and efforts ought to be directed. And I shall 
 derive great satisfaction from a co-operation with you, in 
 the pleasing, though arduous task of insuring to our fel 
 low-citizens the blessings which they have a right to ex 
 pect from a free, efficient, and equal government. 
 
 WASHINGTON S FAREWELL ADDRESS, 
 
 SEPTEMBER 17, 1796. 
 
 Friends and Fellow- Citizens: 
 
 The period for a new election of a citizen to adminis 
 ter the executive government of the United States being 
 not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your 
 thoughts must be employed in designating the person who 
 is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to 
 me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more dis 
 tinct expression of the public voice that I should now 
 apprize you of the resolution I have formed, to decline 
 being considered among the number of those out of whom 
 the choice is to be made. 
 
 I beg you at the same time to do me the justice to be 
 assured, that this resolution has not been taken without a 
 strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the 
 relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country ; and 
 that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence 
 in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no di 
 minution of zeal for your future interest ; no deficiency 
 of grateful respect for your past kindness; but am sup- 
 
 2* 
 
THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 ported by a full conviction that the step is compatible 
 with both. 
 
 The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in the 
 office to which your suffrages have twice called me, have 
 been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of 
 duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be youi 
 desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much 
 earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I 
 was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retire 
 ment from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The 
 strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last 
 election, had even led to the preparation of an address to 
 declare it to you ; but mature reflection on the then per 
 plexed and critical posture of affairs with foreign nations, 
 and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my con 
 fidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. I rejoice that 
 the state of your concerns, external, as well as internal, 
 \io longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible 
 with the sentiment of duty or propriety; and am per 
 suaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my ser 
 vices, that in the present circumstances of our country 
 you will not disapprove of my determination to retire. 
 
 The impressions with which I first undertook the ar 
 duous trust, were explained on the proper occasion. In 
 the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, 
 with good intentions, contributed towards the organiza 
 tion and administration of the government the best exer 
 tions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not 
 unconscious, in the outset, of the inferiority of my quali 
 fications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more 
 in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to dif 
 fidence of myself; and, every day the increasing weight 
 of years admonishes me more and more, that the shade 
 of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. 
 Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar 
 value to my services, they were temporary, I have the 
 consolation to believe, that while choice and prudence 
 invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not 
 forbid it. 
 
 In looking forward to the moment which is to termi 
 nate the career of my political life, my feelings do not 
 
19 
 
 permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that 
 debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for 
 the many honors it has conferred upon me ; still more for 
 the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me: 
 and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of mani 
 festing my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and 
 persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. 
 If benefits have resulted to our country from these ser 
 vices, let it always be remembered to year praise, and as 
 instructive example in our annals, that under circum- 
 stan^es in which the passions, agitated in every direction, 
 were liable to mislead amidst appearances sometimes 
 dubious vicissitudes of fortunes often discouraging in 
 situations in which not unfrequently want of success has 
 countenanced the spirit of criticism the constancy of 
 your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a 
 guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Pro 
 foundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me 
 to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing wishes, 
 that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of 
 its beneficence that your union and brotherly affection 
 may be perpetual that the free constitution which is the 
 work of your hands may be sacredly maintained that its 
 administration in every department may be stamped with 
 wisdom and virtue that, in fine, the happiness of the 
 people of these states, under the auspices of liberty, may 
 be made complete, by so careful a preservation, and so 
 prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the 
 glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, 
 and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it. 
 Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for 
 your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the 
 apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge 
 me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your so 
 lemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent 
 review, some sentiments, which are the result of much 
 reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which 
 appear to me all-important to the permanency of your fe 
 licity as a people. These will be offered to you with the 
 more freedom, as you can only see in them the disin 
 terested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibiv 
 
THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can 1 
 forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent recep 
 tion of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar 
 occasion. 
 
 Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every liga 
 ment of our hearts, no recommendation of mine is neces 
 sary to fortify or confirm the attachment. 
 
 The unity of government, which constitutes you one 
 people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is 
 amain pillar in the edifice of your real independence ; 
 the support of your tranquillity at home ; your peace 
 abroad ; of yeur safety ; of your prosperity ; of that very 
 liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to 
 foresee, that from different causes and from different 
 quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices em 
 ployed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this 
 truth ; as this is the point in your political fortress against 
 which the batteries of internal and external enemies will 
 be most constantly and actively (though often covertly 
 and insidiously) directed; it is of infinite moment, that 
 you should properly estimate the immense value of your 
 national union to your collective and individual happi 
 ness ; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and 
 immoveable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to 
 think and to spcr.k of it as a palladium of your political 
 safety and prosp -rity ; watching for its preservation with 
 jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest 
 even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; 
 and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every 
 attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the 
 rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link toge 
 ther the various parts. 
 
 For this you have every inducement of sympathy and 
 interest. Citizens by birth or choice, of a common 
 country, that country has a right to concentrate your af 
 fections. The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you 
 in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride 
 of patriotism, more than any appellation derived from 
 local discriminations. With slight shades of difference 
 you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political 
 principle. You have, in a common cause, fought and 
 
WASHINGTON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 21 
 
 triumphed together; the independence and liberty you 
 possess, are the work of joint councils and joint efforts 
 of common dangers, sufferings, and success. 
 
 But these considerations, however powerfully they ad 
 dress themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweigh 
 ed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. 
 Here every portion of our country finds the most com 
 manding motives for carefully guarding and preserving 
 the union of the whole. 
 
 The north, in an unrestrained intercourse with the 
 south, protected by the equal laws of a common govern 
 ment, finds in the productions of the latter, great addi 
 tional resources of maritime and commercial euterprise, 
 and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The 
 south, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the same 
 agency of the north, sees its agriculture grow and its 
 commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels 
 the seamen of the north, it finds its particular navigation 
 invigorated and while it contributes in different ways to 
 nourish and increase the general mass of the national na 
 vigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime 
 strength, to which itself is unequally adapted. The east, 
 in like intercourse with the west, already finds in the pro 
 gressive improvement of interior communications by land 
 and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for 
 the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manu 
 factures at home. The west, derives from the east sup 
 plies requisite to its growth and comfort and what i? 
 perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity 
 owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for it? 
 own productions, to the weight, influence, and the future 
 maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, di 
 rected by an indissoluble community of interest as on* 
 nation. Any other tenure by which the west can hoh* 
 this essential advantage, whether derived from its owj 
 separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural con 
 nection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically 
 precarious. 
 
 While, then, every part of our country thus feels an 
 immediate and particular interest in union, all the parti 
 combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means 
 
THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 and efforts, greater strength, greater resource, propor 
 tionately greater security from external danger, a less 
 frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; 
 and what is of inestimable value, they must derive from 
 union an exemption from those broils and wars between 
 ^themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring coun 
 tries, not tied together by the same government, which 
 their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce ; 
 but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and 
 intrigues, would stimulate and embitter. Hence, like 
 wise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown 
 military establishments, which under any form of govern 
 ment are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be 
 regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. 
 In this sense it is, that your union ought to be considered 
 as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the 
 one ought to endear you to the preservation of the other. 
 
 These considerations speak a persuasive language to 
 every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the con 
 tinuance of the union as a primary object of patriotic 
 desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government 
 can embrace so large a sphere ? Let experience solve it. 
 To listen to mere speculation in such a case were crimi 
 nal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organiza 
 tion of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of govern 
 ments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy 
 issue of the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full 
 experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to 
 union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience 
 shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will 
 always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who 
 in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands. 
 
 In contemplating the causes ivhich may disturb our 
 union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any 
 ground should have been furnished for characterizing 
 parties, by geographical discriminations Northern and 
 Southern; Atlantic and Western; whence designing 
 men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real 
 difference of local interests and view?. One of the expe 
 dients of party to acquire influence within particular 
 districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other 
 
23 
 
 districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against 
 the jealousies and heart-burnings which spring from these 
 misrepresentations ; they tend to render alien to each 
 other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal 
 affection. The inhabitants of our western country have 
 lately had a useful lesson on this head. They have seen 
 in the negociation by the executive, and in the unanimous 
 ratification by the senate of the treaty with Spain, and in 
 the universal satisfaction at that event throughout the 
 United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the 
 suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the 
 general government, and in the Atlantic states, unfriend 
 ly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi. They 
 have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that 
 with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to 
 them every thing they could desire, in respect to our for 
 eign relations, toward confirming their prosperity. Will 
 it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these 
 advantages on the union by which they were procured ? 
 Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such 
 there are, who would sever them from their brethren, and 
 connect them with aliens ? 
 
 To the efficacy and permanency of your union, a 
 government for the whole is indispensable. No alliances, 
 however strict between the parts, can be an adequate 
 substitute; they must inevitably experience the infrac 
 tions and interruptions which alliances in all times have 
 experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you 
 have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of 
 a constitution of government better calculated than you 1 * 
 former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious 
 management of your common concern. This govern 
 ment, the offspring of your own choice, uninfluenced ana 
 unawed ; adopted upon full investigation and mature de 
 liberation; completely free in its principles; in the dis 
 tribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, 
 and containing within itself provision for its own amend 
 ment, has a just claim to your confidence and your 
 support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its 
 laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined 
 by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of 
 
24 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 our political system is the right of the people to make 
 and to alter their constitutions of government. But the 
 constitution which at any time exists, until changed by 
 an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sa 
 credly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power 
 and the right of the people to establish government, pre 
 supposes the duty of every individual to obey the esta 
 blished government. 
 
 All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all 
 combinations and associations, under whatever plausible 
 character, with the real design to direct, control, coun 
 teract, or awe the regular deliberations and action of the 
 constituted authorities, are destructive of this funda 
 mental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to 
 organize faction ; to give it an artificial and extraordinary 
 force ; to put in the place of the delegated will of the 
 nation, the will of party, often a small, but artful and en 
 terprising minority of the community ; and according to 
 the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the 
 public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and 
 incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of 
 consistent and wholesome plans, digested by common 
 counsels, and modified by mutual interests. 
 
 However combinations or associations of the above 
 description may now and then answer popular ends, they 
 are likely, in the course of time and things, to become 
 potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and un 
 principled men will be enabled to subvert the power of 
 the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of 
 government; destroying afterwards the very engines which 
 have lifted them to unjust dominion. 
 
 Towards the preservation of your government, and the 
 permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite 
 not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppo 
 sition to its acknowledged authority, but also that you 
 resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its princi 
 ples, however specious the pretext. One method of 
 assault may be to effect in the forms of the constitution 
 alterations which will impair the energy of the system, 
 and thus to undermine what cannot be directly over- 
 hrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, 
 
WASHINGTON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 25 
 
 remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to 
 fix the true character of governments, as of other human 
 institutions; that experience is the surest standard by 
 which to test the real tendency of the existing constitu 
 tions of a country; that facility in changes, upon the 
 credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to per 
 petual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and 
 opinion; and remember especially, that from the efficient 
 management of your common interests, in a country so 
 extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is 
 consistent with the perfect security of liberty, is indis 
 pensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government 
 with powers properly distributed- and adjusted, its surest 
 guardian. It is, indeeed, little else than a name, where 
 the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises 
 of faction, to confine each member of society within the 
 limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the 
 secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person 
 and property. 
 
 I have already intimated to you the danger of parties 
 in the state, with particular reference to the founding of 
 them upon geographical discriminations. Let me now 
 take a more comprehensive view, and warn you, in the 
 most solemn manner, against the baneful effects of the 
 spirit of party generally. 
 
 This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our na 
 ture, having its root in the strongest passions of the human 
 mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, 
 more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those 
 of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness, 
 and is truly their worst enemy. 
 
 The alternate -domination of one faction over another, 
 sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party 
 dissention, which in different ages and countries has per 
 petrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful 
 despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and 
 permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which 
 result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek secu 
 rity and repose in the absolute power of an individual; 
 and, sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction, 
 more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns 
 
THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on 
 the ruins of the public liberty. 
 
 Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, 
 (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight,) 
 the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party 
 are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise 
 people to discourage and restrain it. 
 
 It serves always to distract the public councils, and 
 enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the com 
 munity with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kin 
 dles the animosity of one part against another; foments 
 occasional riot and insurrection. It opens the door to 
 foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated 
 access to the government itself, through the channels of 
 party passion. Thus the policy and will of one country 
 are subjected to the policy and will of another. 
 
 There is an opinion that parties in free countries are 
 useful checks upon the administration of the government, 
 and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within 
 certain limits, is probably true ; and in governments of a 
 monarchial cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, 
 if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those 
 of popular character, in governments purely elective, it 
 is a spirit not to be encouraged. From the natural ten 
 dency, it is certain there will always be enough of that 
 spirit for every salutary purpose ; and there being constant 
 danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public 
 opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A. fire not to be 
 quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its 
 bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should 
 consume. 
 
 It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking, 
 in a free country, should inspire caution in those intrust 
 ed with its administration, to confine themselves within 
 their respective constitutional spheres; avoiding, in the 
 exercise of the powers of one department, to encroach 
 upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to con 
 solidate the powers of all the departments in one, and 
 thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real 
 despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and 
 proneness to abuse it, which predominate in the human 
 
WASHINGTON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 27 
 
 heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this posi 
 tion. The necessity of -reciprocal -checks in the exercise 
 of political power, by dividing and distributing into dif . 
 ferent depositories, and constituting each the guardian of 
 the public weal against invasions of the other, has been 
 evinced bv experiments, ancient and modern; some of 
 them in our country, and under our own eyes. To pre 
 serve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, 
 in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modifica 
 tion of the constitutional powers be, in any particular 
 wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way 
 in which the constitution designates. But let there be no 
 change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, 
 may be the instrument of good, it is .the customary wea 
 pon by which free governments are destroyed. The pre 
 cedent must always greatly overbalance, in permanent 
 evil, any partial or transient benefit which the use can at 
 any time yield. 
 
 Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to politi 
 cal prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable 
 supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of 
 patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pil 
 lars of human happiness these firmest props of the duties 
 of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with 
 the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A 
 volume could not trace all their connection with private 
 and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the 
 security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense 
 of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the 
 instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And 
 let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality 
 can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be 
 conceded to the influence of refined education on minds 
 of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid 
 us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclu 
 sion of religious principles. 
 
 It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a ne 
 cessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed 
 extends with more or less force to every species of free 
 government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look 
 with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation 
 of the fabric ? 
 
28 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 Promote, then, as an object of primary importance 
 institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In 
 proportion as the structure of a government gives force 
 to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should 
 be enlightened. 
 
 As a very important source of strength and security, 
 cherish public credit. One method of preserving it, is 
 te use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of 
 expense by cultivating peace, but remembering, also, that 
 timely disbursements to prepare for danger, frequently 
 prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding 
 likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning 
 occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time 
 of peace to discharge, the debts which unavoidable wars 
 have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon pos 
 terity the burdens which we ourselves ought to bear. The 
 execution of these maxims belongs to your representa 
 tives ; but it is necessary that public opinion should co 
 operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their 
 duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in 
 mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be 
 revenue ; that to have revenue there must be taxes ; that 
 no taxes can be devised which are not more or less incon 
 venient and unpleasant ; that the intrinsic embarrassment, 
 inseparable from the selection of the proper objects, 
 (which is always a choice of difficulties,) ought to be a 
 decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct 
 of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acqui 
 escence in the measures for obtaining revenue which the 
 public exigencies may at any time dictate. 
 
 Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; 
 cultivate peace and harmony with all ; religion and mo 
 rality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good policy 
 does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, 
 enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to 
 give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example 
 of a people always guided by an exalted justice and be 
 nevolence. Who can doubt but that in the course of 
 time and things the fruits of such a plan would richly re 
 pay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a 
 steady adherence to it? Can it be that Providence has 
 
WASHINGTON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 29 
 
 connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its 
 virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by 
 every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas ! 
 it is rendered impossible by its vices ! 
 
 In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more 
 essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies 
 against particular nations, and passionate attachment for 
 others, should be excluded; and that in the place of 
 them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be 
 cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another 
 an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some 
 degree, a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its 
 affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray 
 from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation 
 against another, disposes each more readily to offer insult 
 arid injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and 
 to be haughty and intractable when accidental or trifling 
 occcasions of dispute occur. 
 
 Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and 
 bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill will and 
 resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, 
 contrary to the best calculations of policy. The govern 
 ment sometimes participates in the national propensity, 
 and adopts through passion what reason would reject; 
 at other times it makes the animosity of the nation sub 
 servient to the projects of hostility, instigated by pride, 
 ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. 
 The peace often, sometimes, perhaps, the liberty of na 
 tions has been the victim. 
 
 So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for 
 another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the 
 favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary 
 common interest in cases where no real common interest 
 exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, 
 betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and 
 the wars of the latter, without adequate inducements or 
 justification. It leads, also, to concessions to the favorite 
 nation of privileges denied to others, which are apt 
 doubly to injure the nation making the concessions, by 
 unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been re 
 tained, and by exciting jealousy, ill will and a dispo 
 3* 
 
30 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 sition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privi 
 leges are withheld ; and it gives to ambitious, corrupt, or 
 deluded citizens, (who devote themselves to the favorite 
 nation,) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their 
 own country without odium, sometimes even with popu 
 larity ; gilding with the appearances of a virtuous sense 
 of obligation to a commendable deference for public opi 
 nion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or fool- 
 lish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. 
 
 As avenues to foreign influence, in innumerable ways, 
 such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly 
 enlightened and independent patriot. How many oppor 
 tunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, 
 to practise the art of seduction, to mislead public opinion, 
 to influence or awe the public councils ! Such an at 
 tachment of a small or weak, towards a great and power 
 ful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the 
 latter. Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence 
 (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy 
 of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since 
 history and experience prove that foreign influence is one 
 of the most baneful foes of republican government. But 
 that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial, else it be 
 comes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, 
 instead of a defence against it. Excessive partiality for 
 one foreign nation, and excessive dislike for another, 
 cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one 
 side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influ 
 ence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the 
 intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected 
 and odious ; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause 
 and confidence of the people to surrender their interests. 
 
 The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign 
 nations, is, in extending our commercial relations to have 
 with them as little political connection as possible. So 
 far as we have already formed engagements, let them be 
 fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 
 
 Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have 
 none, or a very remote relation. Hence, she must be 
 engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which 
 
31 
 
 are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, there* 
 fore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by 
 artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitude of her politics, 
 or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friend 
 ships or enmities. 
 
 Our detached and distant situation invites and enables 
 us to pursue a different course. If we remain one peo 
 ple, under an efficient government, the period is not far 
 off when we may defy material injury from external 
 annoyance ; when we may take such an attitude as will 
 cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon, to 
 be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, 
 under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, 
 will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when 
 we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by 
 justice, shall counsel. 
 
 Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation ? 
 Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground ? Why, 
 by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of 
 Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils 
 of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or ca 
 price ? 
 
 It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alli 
 ances with any portion of the foreign world ; so far I mean, 
 as we are now at liberty to do it ; for let me not be un 
 derstood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing 
 engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to 
 public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the 
 best policy. I repeat, therefore, let those engagements be 
 observed in their genuine sense. But in my opinion, it 
 is unnecessary, and would be unwise to extend them. 
 
 Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable 
 establishments, on a respectable defenri/e posture, we 
 may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary 
 emergencies. 
 
 Harmony, and a liberal intercourse with all nations, 
 are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. 
 But even our commercial policy should hold an equal 
 and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclu 
 sive favors or preferences ; consulting the natural course 
 of things ; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means th 
 
32 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 stream of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing 
 with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable 
 course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to 
 enable the government to support them, conventional 
 rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances 
 and natural opinion will permit, but temporary, and 
 liable to be, from time to time, abandoned or varied, as 
 experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly 
 keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for 
 disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with 
 a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept 
 under that character; that by such acceptance, it may 
 place itself in the condition of having given equivalents 
 for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with 
 ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater 
 error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from 
 nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience 
 must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. 
 
 In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of 
 an old affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make 
 the strong and lasting impression I could wish that they 
 will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent 
 our nation from running the course which has hitherto 
 marked the destiny of nations. But if I may even flatter 
 myself that they may be productive of some partial bene 
 fit, some occasional good; that they may now and then 
 recur to moderate the fury of party spirit; to warn against 
 the mischiefs of foreign intrigue; to guard against the 
 impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a 
 full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare by 
 which they have been dictated. 
 
 How far in the discharge of my official duties I have 
 been guided by the principles which have been delinea 
 ted, the public records and other evidences of my conduct 
 must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the 
 assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least 
 believed myself to be guided by them. 
 
 In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my 
 proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, is the index to 
 my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by 
 that of your representatives in both houses of Congress, 
 
33 
 
 the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, 
 uninfluenced by any attempts to d.eter or divert me from it. 
 After deliberate examination, with the aids of the best 
 lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our coun 
 try, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right 
 to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a 
 neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far 
 as should depend upon rne, to maintain it with modera 
 tion, perseverance and firmness. 
 
 The considerations which respect the right to hold 
 this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to de 
 tail. I will only observe, that according to my under 
 standing of the matter, that right, so far from being de 
 nied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually 
 admitted by all. 
 
 The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, 
 without any thing more, from the obligation which justice 
 and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which 
 it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of 
 peace and amity towards ther nations. 
 
 The inducements of interest for observing that con 
 duct, will best be referred to your own reflections and 
 experience. With me, a predominant motive has been to 
 endeavor to gain time to our country, to settle and mature 
 its yet recent institutions, and to progress, without inter 
 ruption, to that degree of strength and constancy, which 
 is necessary to give it, humanely speaking, the command 
 of its own fortune. 
 
 Though in reviewing the incidents of my administra 
 tion, I am unconscious of intentional error; I am ne 
 vertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it pro 
 bable that I may have committed many errors. What 
 ever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to 
 avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I 
 shall also carry with me the hope that my country will 
 never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, 
 after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service, 
 with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities 
 will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to 
 the mansions of rest. 
 
34 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and 
 actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natu 
 ral to a man who views in it the native soil of himself 
 and his progenitors for several generations ; I anticipate, 
 with pleasing expectation, that re treat, in which I promise 
 myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of 
 partaking in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign 
 influence of good laws, under a free government; the 
 ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, 
 as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors and dangers. 
 
 ADAMS INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 
 MARCH 4, 1797. 
 
 When it was first perceivecj, in early times, that no 
 middle course for America remained, between unlimited 
 submission to a foreign legislature, and a total indepen 
 dence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehen 
 sive of danger from the formidable power of fleets and 
 armies they must determine to resist, than from those 
 contests and dissensions which would certainly arise con 
 cerning the forms of government to be instituted over the 
 whole and over the parts of this extensive country. Rely 
 ing, however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice 
 of their cause, and the integrity and intelligence .of the 
 people, under an overruling Providence which had so sig 
 nally protected this country from the first, the represen 
 tatives of this nation, then consisting of little more than 
 half its present number, not only broke to pieces the 
 chains which were forging, and the rod of iron that was 
 lifted up, but frankly cut asunder the ties which had 
 bound them, and launched into an ocean of uncertainty. 
 
 The zeal and ardor of the people, during the revolu 
 tionary war, supplying the place of government, com 
 manded a degree of order, sufficient at least for the tem 
 porary preservation of society. The confederation whick 
 
35 
 
 was early felt to be necessary was prepared from the mo 
 dels of the Batavian and Helvetic confederacies : the only 
 examples which remain, with any detail and precision in 
 history, and certainly the only ones which the people at 
 large had ever considered. But, reflecting on the striking 
 difference in so many particulars, between this country 
 and those, where a courier may go from the seat of go 
 vernment to the frontier in a single day, it was then cer 
 tainly foreseen by some who assisted in Congress at the 
 formation of it, that it could not be durable. 
 
 Negligence of its regulations, inattention to its recom 
 mendations, if not disobedience to its authority, not only 
 in individuals, but in states, soon appeared with their mel 
 ancholy consequences; universal languor; jealousies and 
 rivalries of states ; decline of navigation and commerce; 
 discouragement of necessary manufactures ; universal fall 
 in the value of lands and their produce ; contempt of 
 public and private faith ; loss of consideration and credit 
 with foreign nations ; and, at length, in discontents, ani 
 mosities, combinations, partial conventions, and insurrec 
 tion, threatening some great national calamity. 
 
 In this dangerous crisis, the people of America were 
 not abandoned by their usual good sense, presence of 
 mind, resolution, or integrity. Measures were pursued 
 to concert a plan to form a more perfect union, establish 
 justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the com 
 mon defence, promote the general welfare, and secure 
 the blessings of liberty. The public disquisitions, dis 
 cussions and deliberations, issued in the present happy 
 constitution of government. 
 
 Employed irw the service of my country abroad during 
 the whole course of these transactions, I first saw the 
 constitution of the United States in a foreign country. 
 Irritated by no literary altercation, animated by no public 
 debate, heated by no party animosity, I read it with great 
 satisfaction, as a result of good heads, prompted by good 
 hearts ; as an experiment better adapted to the genius, 
 character, situation, and relations of this nation and 
 country, than any which had ever been proposed or sug 
 gested. In its general principles, and great outlines, it 
 
36 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 was conformable to such a system of government as I had 
 ever most esteemed, and some states, my own native 
 Btate in particular, had contributed to establish. Claim 
 ing a right of suffrage, in common with my fellow-citi 
 zens, in the adoption or rejection of a constitution which 
 was to rule me and my posterity, as well as them and 
 theirs, I did not hesitate to express my approbation of it, 
 on all occasions, in public and in private. It was not 
 then, nor has been since, any objection to it, in my mind, 
 that the executive and senate were not more permanent. 
 Nor have I ever entertained a thought of promoting any 
 alteration in it, but such as the people themselves, in the 
 course of their experience, should see and feel to be ne 
 cessary or expedient, and by their Representatives in Con 
 gress and the state legislatures, according to the consti 
 tution itself, adopt and ordain. 
 
 Returning to the bosom of my country, after a painful 
 separation from it for ten years, I had the honor to be 
 elected to a station under the new order of things, and I 
 have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious obli 
 gations to support the constitution. The operation of it 
 has equalled the most sanguine expectations of its friends ; 
 and, from an habitual attention to it, satisfaction in its 
 administration, and delight in its effects upon the peace, 
 order, prosperity, and happiness of the nation, I have ac 
 quired an habitual attachment to it and veneration for it. 
 
 What other form of government, indeed, can so well 
 deserve our esteem and love? 
 
 There may be little solidity in an ancient idea, that 
 congregations of men into cities and nations are the most 
 pleasing objects in the sight of superior intelligences : 
 but this is very certain, that, to a benevolent human mind, 
 there can be no spectacle presented by any nation more 
 pleasing, more noble, majestic, or august, than an as 
 sembly like that which has so often been seen in this 
 and the other chamber of Congress, of a government, in 
 which the executive authority, as well as that of all the 
 branches of the legislature, are exercised by citizens se- 
 .ected, at regular periods, by their neighbors, to make 
 and execute laws for the general good. Can any thing 
 
37 
 
 essential, any thing more than mere ornament and deco 
 ration, be added to this by robes -and diamonds? Can 
 authority be more amiable and respectable, when it de 
 scends from accidents, or institutions established in re 
 mote antiquity, than when it springs fresh from the hearts 
 and judgments of an honest and enlightened people ? 
 For it is the people only that are represented: it is their 
 power and majesty that is reflected, and only for their 
 good, in every legitimate government, under whatever 
 form it may appear. The existence of such a govern 
 ment as ours, for any length of time, is a full proof of a 
 general dissemination of knowledge and virtue through 
 out the whole body of the people. And what object or 
 consideration more pleasing than this, can be presented 
 to the human mind? If national pride is ever justifiable, 
 or excusable, it is when it springs, not from power or 
 riches, grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national 
 innocence, information and benevolence. 
 
 In the midst of these pleasing ideas, we should be un 
 faithful to ourselves, if we should ever lose sight of the 
 danger to our liberties, if any thing partial or extraneous 
 should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and in 
 dependent elections. If an election is to be determined 
 by a majority of a single vote, and that can be procured 
 by a party, through artifice or corruption, the government 
 may be the choice of a party, for its own ends, not of 
 the nation for the national good. If that solitary suffrage 
 can be obtained by foreign nations by flattery or menaces, 
 by fraud or violence, by terror, intrigue, or venality, the 
 government may not be the choice of the A merican peo 
 ple, but of foreign nations. It may be foreign nations 
 who govern us, and not we, the people, who govern our 
 selves. And candid men will acknowledge, that in such 
 cases, choice would have little advantage to boast of, over 
 lot or chance. 
 
 Such is the amiable and interesting system of govern 
 ment (and such are some of the abuses to which it may 
 be exposed) which the people of America have exhibited 
 to the admiration and anxiety of the wise and virtuous of 
 all nations for eight years, under the administration of a 
 citizen, who, by a long course of great actions, regulated 
 4 
 
38 THE TRUE REPDBI ICAN. 
 
 by prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, conduct* 
 ing a people, inspired with the same virtues, and anima 
 ted with the same ardent patriotism and love of liberty, 
 to independence and peace, to increasing wealth and un 
 exampled prosperity, has merited the gratitude of his fel 
 low-citizens, commanded the highest praises of foreign 
 nations, and secured immortal glory with posterity. 
 
 In that retirement which is his voluntary choice, may 
 he long live to enjoy the delicious recollection of his ser 
 vices, the gratitude of mankind, the happy fruits of them 
 to himself and the world, which are daily increasing, and 
 that splendid prospect of the future fortunes of this coun 
 try which is opening from year to year. His name may 
 be still a rampart, and the knowledge that he lives, a bul 
 wark against all open or secret enemies of his country s 
 peace. This example has been recommended to the imi 
 tation of his successors by both houses of Congress, and 
 by the \ >r ice of the legislatures and the people throughout 
 the nation. 
 
 On this subject it might become me better to be silent, 
 or to speak with diffidence ; but, as something may be ex 
 pected, the occasion, I hope, will be admitted as an apo 
 logy, if I venture to say, That, 
 
 If a preference, upon principle, of a free republican 
 government, formed upon long and serious reflection, after 
 a diligent and impartial inquiry after truth ; if an attach 
 ment to the constitution of the United States, and a con 
 scientious determination to support it, until it shall be al 
 tered by the judgments and wishes of the people, express 
 ed in the mode prescribed in it; if a respectful attention 
 to the constitutions of the individual states, and a con 
 stant caution and delicacy to wards the state governments; 
 if an equal and impartial regard to the rights, interest, 
 honor, and happiness of all the states in the Union, with 
 out preference or regard to a northern or southern, an 
 eastern or western position, their various political opi 
 nions on unessential points, or their personal attachments; 
 if a love of virtuous men of all parties and denomina 
 tions ; if a love of science and letters, and a wish to pa 
 tronize every rational effort to encourage schools, col 
 leges, universities, academies, and every institution for pro- 
 
pagating knowledge, virtue, and religion, among all classes 
 of the people, not only for their- benign inlluence on 
 the happiness of life in all its stages and classes, and of 
 society in all its forms, but as the only means of preserv 
 ing our constitution from its natural enemies, the spirit 
 of sophistry, the spirit of party, the spirit of intrigue, the 
 profligacy of corruption, and the pestilence of foreign in 
 fluence, which is the angel of destruction to elective go 
 vernments ; if a love of equal laws, of justice, and hu 
 manity in the interior administration; if an inclination to 
 improve agriculture, commerce, and manufactures for ne 
 cessity, convenience, and defence; if a spirit of equity 
 and humanity towards the aboriginal nations of America, 
 and a disposition to meliorate their condition by inclining 
 them to be more friendly to us, and our citizens to be 
 more friendly to them ; if an inflexible determination to 
 maintain peace and inviolable faith with all nations, and 
 that system of neutrality and impartiality among the bel 
 ligerent powers of Europe which has been adopted by 
 this government, and so solemnly sanctioned by both 
 houses of Congress, and applauded by the legislatures of 
 the states and the public opinion, until it shall be other 
 wise ordained by Congress; if a personal esteem foi the 
 French nation, formed in a residence of seven years, 
 chiefly among tbem, and a sincere desire to preserve 
 the friendship which has be?n so much for the honor and 
 interest of both nations ; if, while the conscious honor and 
 integrity of the people of America, and the internal senti 
 ment of their own power and energies must be preserved, 
 an earnest endeavor to investigate every just cause, and 
 remove every colorable pretence of complaint ; if an in 
 tention to pursue by amicable negociation a reparation for 
 the injuries that have been committed on the commerce 
 of our fellow-citizens by whatever nation; and if success 
 cannot be obtained, to lay the facts before the legislature, 
 that they may consider what further measures the honor 
 and interest of the government and its constituents de 
 mand ; if a resolution to do justice, as far as may depend 
 upon me, at all times and to all nations, and maintain 
 peace, friendship, and benevolence with all the world; 
 if an unshaken confidence in the honor, spirit, and re- 
 
40 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 sources of the American people, on which I have so often 
 hazarded my all, and never been deceived ; if elevated 
 ideas of the high destinies of this country and of my own 
 duties towards it, founded on a knowledge of the moral 
 principles and intellectual improvements of the people, 
 deeply engraven on my mind in early life, and not obscu 
 red, but exalted by experience and age; and, with humble 
 reverence, I feel it to be my duty to add, if a veneration 
 lor the religion of a people who profess and call themselves 
 Christians, and a fixed resolution to consider a decent re 
 spect for Christianity among the best recommendations 
 for the public service, can enable me, in any degree to 
 comply with your wishes, it shall be my strenuous endea 
 vor, that this sagacious injunction of the two houses shall 
 not be without effect. 
 
 With this great example before me, with the sense and 
 spirit, the faith and honor, the duty and interest, of the 
 same American people, pledged to support the constitu 
 tion of the United States, I entertain no doubt of its con 
 tinuance in all its energy, and my mind is prepared, with 
 out hesitation, to lay myself under the most solemn obli- 
 gations to support it to the utmost of my power. 
 
 And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Pa 
 tron of order, the Fountain of justice, and the Protector, 
 in all ages of the world, of virtuous liberty, continue his 
 blessing upon this nation and its government, and give it 
 all possible success and duration consistent with the ends 
 of his Providence. 
 
 ADAMS 1 FIRST ANNUAL ADDRESS, 
 NOVEMBER 23, 1797. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Senate 
 
 and House of Representatives : 
 
 I was for some time apprehensive that it would be ne 
 cessary, on account of the contagious sickness which af 
 flicted the city of Philadelphia, to convene the national 
 legislature at some other place. This measure it was 
 
41 
 
 desirable to avoid, because it would occasion much public 
 inconvenience, and a considerable public expense, and 
 add to the calamities of the inhabitants of this city, whose 
 sufferings must have excited the sympathy of all their fel 
 low-citizens ; therefore, after taking measures to ascer 
 tain the state and decline of the sickness, I postponed my 
 determination, having hopes, now happily realized, that, 
 without hazard to the lives of the members, Congress 
 might assemble at this place, where it was by law next 
 to meet. I submit, however, to your consideration, whe 
 ther a power to postpone the meeting of Congress, with 
 out passing the time fixed by the constitution, upon such 
 occasions, would not be a useful amendment to the law of 
 one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four. 
 
 Although I cannot yet congratulate you on the re-esta 
 blishment of peace in Europe, and the restoration of se 
 curity to the persons and properties of our citizens from 
 injustice and violence at sea; we have, nevertheless, 
 abundant cause of gratitude to the Source of benevolence 
 and influence, for interior tranquillity and personal secu 
 rity, for propitious seasons, prosperous agriculture, pro 
 ductive fisheries, and general improvements, and above 
 all, for a rational spirit of civil and religious liberty, and 
 a calm but steady determination to support our sovereign 
 ty, as well as our moral and religious principles, against 
 all open and secret attacks. 
 
 Our envoys extraordinary to the French republic em 
 barked, one in July, the other early in August to join 
 their colleague in Holland. I have received intelligence 
 of the arrival of both of them in Holland, from whence 
 they all proceeded on their journey to Paris, within a few 
 days of the 19th of September. Whatever may be the 
 result of this mission, I trust that nothing will have been 
 omitted, on my part, to conduct the negociation to a suc 
 cessful conclusion, on such equitable terms as may be 
 compatible with the safety, honor, and interest of the 
 United States. Nothing, in the mean time, will contri 
 bute so much to the preservation of peace, and the attain 
 ment of justice, as a manifestation of that energy and una 
 nimity, of which, on many former occasions, the people 
 of the United States have given such memorable proofs, 
 4* 
 
42 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN 
 
 and the exertion of those resources for national defence 
 which a beneficent Providence has kindly placed within 
 their power. 
 
 It may be confidently asserted, that nothing has occur 
 red, since the adjournment of Congress, which renders 
 inexpedient those precautionary measures recommended 
 by me to the consideration of the two houses, at the open 
 ing of your late extraordinary session. If that system 
 was then prudent, it is more so now, as increasing depre 
 dations strengthen the reasons for its adoption. 
 
 Indeed, whatever may be the issue of the negociation 
 with France, and whether the war in Europe is, or is not, 
 to continue, I hold it most certain, that permanent tran 
 quillity and order will not soon be obtained. The state 
 of society has so long been disturbed, the sense of moral 
 and religious obligations so much weakened, public faith 
 and national honor have been so impaired, tespect to trea 
 ties has been so diminished, and the law oi nations ha* 
 lost so much of its force; while pride, ambition, avarice, 
 and violence, have been so long unrestrained, there re 
 mains no reasonable ground on which to laise an expec 
 tation, that a commerce without protection or defence wil\ 
 not be plundered. 
 
 The commerce of the United States is essential, if not 
 to their existence, at least to their comfort, their growth, 
 prosperity, and happiness. The genius, character, am\ 
 habits of the people are highly commercial ; their cities 
 have been formed and exist upon commerce; our agri 
 culture, fisheries, arts, and manufactures, are connected 
 with and depend upon it. In short, commerce has made 
 this country what it is, and it cannot be destroyed or neg 
 lected without involving the people in poverty and dis 
 tress. Great numbers are directly and solely supported 
 by navigation ; the faith of society is pledged for the pre 
 servation of the rights of commercial and seafaring, no 
 less than of the other citizens. Under this view of our 
 affairs, I should hold myself guilty of a neglect of duty if 
 I forbore to recommend that we should make every exer 
 tion to protect our commerce, and to place our country in 
 suitable posture of defence, as the on*y sure means ol 
 preserving both. 
 
43 
 
 I have entertained an expectation that it would have 
 been in my power, at the opening of this session, tohava 
 communicated to you the agreeable information of the 
 due execution of our treaty with his Catholic majesty, re 
 specting the withdrawing of his troops from our territory, 
 and the demarkation of the line of limits ; but, by the 
 latest authentic intelligence, Spanish garrisons were still 
 continued within our country, and the running of the 
 boundary line had not been commenced ; these circum 
 stances are the more to be regretted, as they cannot fail to 
 affect the Indians in a manner injurious to the United 
 States. Still, however, indulging the hope that the 
 answers which have been given will remove the objec 
 tions offered by the Spanish officers to the immediate 
 execution of the treaty, I have judged it proper that we 
 should continue in readiness to receive the posts, and to 
 run the line of limits. Further information on this sub 
 ject will be communicated in the course of the session. 
 
 In connection with this unpleasant state of things on 
 our western frontier, it is proper for me to mention the 
 attempts of foreign agents to alienate the affections of 
 the Indian nations, and to excite them to actual hostili 
 ties against the United States; great activity has been ex 
 erted by those persons who have insinuated themselves 
 among the Indian tribes residing within the territory of 
 the United States, to influence them to transfer their af 
 fections and force to a foreign nation, to form them into 
 a confederacy, and prepare them for a war against the 
 United States. Although measures have been taken to 
 counteract these infractions of our rights, to prevent In- 
 dian hostilities, and to preserve entire their attachment 
 to the United States, itismy duty to observe, that, to give 
 a better effect to these measures, and to obviate the con 
 sequences of a repetition of such practices, a law provi 
 ding adequate punishment for such offences may be ne 
 cessary. 
 
 The commissioners appointed under the fifth article of 
 the treaty of amity, commerce and navigation between 
 the United States and Great Britain, to ascertain the river 
 which was truly intended under the name of the river St. 
 Croix, mentioned in the treaty of peace, met at Passa 
 
44 THE TRITE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 maquoddy Bay, in October, one thousand seven hundred 
 and ninety-six, and viewed the mouths of the rivers in 
 question, and adjacent shores on the islands; and being 
 of opinion, that actual surveys of both rivers, to their 
 sources, were necessary, gave to the agents of the two 
 nations instructions for that purpose, and adjourned to 
 meet at Boston, in August. They met; but the surveys 
 requiring more time than had been supposed, and not be 
 ing then completed, the commissioners again adjourned 
 to meet at Providence, in the state of Rhode Island, in 
 June next, when we may expect a final examination and 
 decision. 
 
 The commissioners appointed in pursuance of the sixth 
 article of the treaty, met at Philadelphia, in May last, to 
 examine the claims of British subjects for debts contract 
 ed before the peace, and still remaining due to them from 
 citizens or inhabitants of the United States. Various 
 causes have hitherto prevented any determinations ; but 
 the business is now resumed, and doubtless will be prose 
 cuted without interruption. 
 
 Several decisions on the claims of the citizens of the 
 United States for losses and damages sustained by reason 
 of irregular and illegal captures or condemnations of their 
 vessels or other property, have been made by the com 
 missioners in London, conformably to the seventh arti 
 cle of the treaty. The sums awarded by the commis 
 sioners have been paid by the British government; a con 
 siderable number of other claims, where costs and dama 
 ges, and not captured property, were the only objects in 
 question, have been decided by arbitration, and the sums 
 awarded to the citizens of the United States have also 
 been paid. 
 
 The commissioners appointed, agreeably to the twen 
 ty-first article of our treaty with Spain, met at Philadel 
 phia, in the summer past, to examine and decide on the 
 claims of our citizens for losses they have sustained in 
 consequence of their vessels and cargoes having been ta 
 ken by the subjects of his Catholic majesty, during the 
 ate war between Spain and France. Their sittings have 
 been interrupted, but are n*>w resumed. 
 
ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL ADDRESS. 45 
 
 The United States being obligated to make compensa 
 lion for the losses and damages sustained by British sub 
 jects, upon the award of the commissioners acting under 
 the sixth article of the treaty with Great Britain, and for 
 the losses and damages sustained by British subjects, by 
 reason of the capture of their vessels and merchandise, 
 taken within the limits and jurisdiction of the United 
 States, and brought into their ports, or taken by vessels 
 originally armed in ports of the United States, upon the 
 awards of the commissioners, acting under the seventh ar 
 ticle of the same treaty ; it is necessary that provision be 
 made for fulfilling these obligations. 
 
 The numerous captures of American vessels by the 
 cruisers of the French republic, and of some of those of 
 Spain, have occasioned considerable expenses in making 
 and supporting the claims of our citizens before their 
 tribunals. The sums required for this purpose, have, in 
 divers instances, been disbursed by the consuls of the 
 United States. By means of the same captures, great 
 numbers of our seamen have been thrown ashore in for 
 eign countries, destitute of all means of subsistence, and 
 the sick, in particular, have been exposed to grievous suf 
 ferings. The consuls have, in these cases also, advanced 
 money for their relief; for these advances they reasonably 
 expect reimbursements from the United States. 
 
 The consular act, relative to seamen, requires revision 
 and amendment ; the provisions for their support in for- 
 eign countries, and for their return, are found to be inade 
 quate and ineffectual. Another provision seems neces 
 sary to be added to the consular act; some foreign vessels 
 have been discovered sailing under the flag of the United 
 States, and with forged papers ; it seldom happens that 
 the consuls can detect this deception, because they have 
 no authority to demand an inspection of the registers and 
 sea-letters. 
 
 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives : 
 
 It is my duty to recommend to your serious considera 
 tion those objects, which, by the constitution, are placed 
 particularly within your sphere, the national debts and 
 taxes 
 
46 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN 
 
 Since the decay of the feudal system, by which the 
 puhlic defence was provided for chiefly at the expense of 
 individuals, the system of loans has been introduced; and 
 as no nation can raise within the year, by taxes, sufficient 
 sums for the defence and military operations in time of 
 war, the sums loaned and debts contracted have necessa 
 rily become the subjects of what have been called fund 
 ing systems. The consequences arising from the contin 
 ual accumulation of public debts in other countries, ought 
 to admonish us to be careful to prevent their growth in 
 our own. The national defence must be provided for, as 
 well as the support of government; but both should be 
 accomplished, as much as possible, by immediate taxes, 
 and as little as possible by loans. 
 
 The estimates for the service of the ensuing year, will 
 by my direction, be laid before you. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Senate, 
 
 and House of Representatives : 
 
 We are met together at a most interesting period. The 
 situations of the principal powers of Europe are singular 
 and portentous. Connected with some by treaties, and 
 with all by commerce, no important event there can be in 
 different to us. Such circumstances call with peculiar 
 importunity, not less for a disposition to unite in all those 
 measures on which the honor, safety, and prosperity ot 
 our country depend, than for all the exertions of wisdom 
 and firmness. 
 
 In all such measures, you may rely on my zealous and 
 hearty concurrence. 
 
 JEFFERSON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 
 MARCH 4, 1801. 
 
 Friends and Fellow-citizens : 
 
 Called upon to undertake the duties of the first execu 
 tive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence 
 of that portion of my fellow-citizens which is here as- 
 
47 
 
 sembled, to express ray grateful thanks for the favor with 
 which they have been pleased to look towards me, to de 
 clare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my 
 talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and aw 
 ful presentiments, which the greatness of the charge, and 
 the weakness of my powers, so justly inspire. A rising 
 nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all 
 the seas with the rich productions of their industry, en 
 gaged in commerce with nations who feel power and for 
 get right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach 
 of mortal eye; when I contemplate these transcendent 
 objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes 
 of this beloved country committed to the issue and the 
 auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and 
 humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. 
 Utterly indeed should I despair, did not the presence of 
 many whom I here see remind me that, in the other high 
 authorities provided by our constitution, I shall find re 
 sources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal, on which to 
 rely under all difficulties. To you. then, gentleman, who 
 are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, 
 and to those associated with you, I look with encourage 
 ment for that guidance and support which may enable us 
 to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all em 
 barked amid the conflicting elements of a troubled world. 
 
 During the contest of opinion through which we have 
 passed, the animation of discussion and of exertions has 
 sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on stran 
 gers unused to think freely, and to speak and to write 
 what they think; but this being now decided by the voice 
 of the nation, announced according to the rules of the 
 constitution, all will of course arrange themselves under 
 the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the 
 common good. All too will bear in mind this sacred 
 principle, that though the will of the majority is in all 
 cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reason 
 able ; that the minority possess their equal rights, which 
 equal law must protect, and to violate, would be oppres 
 sion. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart 
 and one mind, let us restore to social intercourse that 
 harmony, and affection, without which liberty, and even 
 life itself, are but dreary things. And let us reflect, that, 
 
48 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 having banished from our land that religious intolerance 
 under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have 
 yet gained little, if we countenance a political intole 
 rance, as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and 
 bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions 
 of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of in 
 furiated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his 
 long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation 
 of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful 
 shore ; that this should be more felt and feared by some, 
 and less by others ; that this should divide opinions as to 
 measures of safety ; but every difference of opinion is not 
 a difference of principle. We have called by different 
 names brethren of the same principle. We are all repub 
 licans; we are all federalists. If there be any among 
 us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change 
 its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monu 
 ments of the safety with which error of opinion may be 
 tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it. I know 
 indeed that some honest men fear that a republican gov 
 ernment cannot be strong ; that this government is not 
 strong enough. But would the honest patriot, in the full 
 tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which 
 has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and vis 
 ionary fear that this government, the world s best hope, 
 may, by possibility, want energy to preserve itself? I 
 trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest 
 government on earth. I believe it the only one where 
 every man, at the call of the laws, would fly to the stan 
 dard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public 
 order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said 
 that man cannot be trusted with the government of him 
 self. Can he then be trusted with the government of 
 others; or have we found angels in the forms of kings to 
 govern him? Let history answer this question. 
 
 Let us, then, with courage and confidence, pursue our 
 own federal and republican principles, our attachment to 
 our union and representative government. Kindly sepa 
 rated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating 
 havoc of one q*uarter of the globe; too high-minded to 
 enduie the degradations of the others ; possessing a 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 49 
 
 chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to 
 the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining 
 a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own fa 
 culties, to the acquisitions of our industry, to honor and 
 confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from 
 birth, but from our actions and their sense of them ; en 
 lightened by a benign religion, professed indeed and 
 practised in various forms, yet all of them including ho 
 nesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man, 
 acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, 
 which, by all its dispensations, proves that it delights in 
 the happiness of man here, and his greater happiness 
 hereafter ; with all these blessings, what more is neces 
 sary to make us a happy and prosperous people ? Still 
 one thing more, fellow-citizens a wise and frugal govern 
 ment, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, 
 shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pur 
 suits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from 
 the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the 
 sum of good government, and this is necessary to close 
 the circle of our felicities. 
 
 About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of du 
 ties which comprehend every thing dear and valuable to 
 you, it is proper that you should understand what I deem 
 the essential principles of our government, and conse 
 quently those which ought to shape its administration. I 
 will compress them within the narrowest compass they 
 will bear, stating the general principles, but not all its 
 limitations. Equaland exact justice to all men, of what 
 ever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, com 
 merce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling 
 alliances with none ; the support of the state govern 
 ments in all their rights, as the most competent adminis 
 trations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks 
 against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of 
 the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, 
 as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety 
 abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the 
 people; a mild and safe corrective of abuses, which are 
 opped by the sword of revolution, where peaceable re 
 medies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the d^- 
 5 
 
50 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 cisions of the majority, the vital principle of lepublics, 
 from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle 
 and immediate parent of despotism ; a well-disciplined 
 militia, our best reliance in peace, and for the first mo 
 ments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the suprem 
 acy of the civil over the military authority ; economy in 
 the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; 
 the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation 
 of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of 
 commerce as its handmaid ; the diffusion. of information, 
 and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public reason ; 
 freedom of religion ; freedom of the press ; and freedom 
 o*f person, under the protection of the habeas corpus ; 
 and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles 
 form the bright constellation which has gone before us, 
 and guided our steps through an age of revolution and 
 reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our 
 heroes have been devoted to their attainment: they should 
 be the creed of our political faith ; the text of civil in 
 struction ; the touchstone by which to try the services of 
 those we trust; and should we wander from them in mo 
 ments of error or alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, 
 and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liber 
 ty, and safety. 
 
 I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have 
 assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate of 
 fices to have seen the difficulties of this, the greatest of 
 all, 1 have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the 
 lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the 
 reputation and the favor which bring him into it. With 
 out pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in 
 our first and great revolutionary character, whose pre 
 eminent services had entitled him to the first place in his 
 country s love, and destined for him the fairest page in 
 the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence 
 only as may give firmness and effect to the legal admin 
 istration of your affairs. I shall often go wrong through 
 defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought 
 wrong by those whose positions willnotcommand a view 
 of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own 
 errors, which will never be intentional; and your sup 
 
JEFFERSON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 61 
 
 port against the errors of others, who may condem what 
 they \vould not, if seen in all its parts. The approhation 
 implied by your suffrage is a consolation to me for the 
 past ; and my future solicitude will be, to retain the good 
 opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance, to 
 conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my 
 power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and free 
 dom of all. 
 
 Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I 
 advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from 
 it whenever you become sensible how much better choices 
 it is in your power to make. And may that infinite Pow 
 er which rules the destinies of the universe, lead our 
 councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue 
 for your peace and prosperity. 
 
 DECEMBER 8, 1801. 
 
 SIR: The circumstances under which we find our 
 selves at this place rendering inconvenient the mode 
 heretofore practised, of making by personal address the 
 first communication between the legislative and executive 
 branches, I have adopted that by message, as used on all 
 subsequent occasions through the session. In doing this, 
 I have had principal regard to the inconvenience of the 
 legislature, to the economy of their time, to their relief 
 from the embarrassment of immediate answers on subjects 
 not yet fully before them, and to the benefits thence result 
 ing to the public affairs. Trusting that a procedure found 
 ed in these motives will meet their approbation, I beg 
 leave, through you, sir, to communicate the enclosed 
 message, with the documents accompanying it, to the 
 honorable the Senate, and pray you to accept, for your 
 self and them, the homage of my high respect and con 
 sideration 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 The Hon. the 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE. 
 
52 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN 
 
 JEFFERSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE 
 
 DECEMBER 8, 1801. 
 
 Fellow-citizens of the Senate, 
 
 and House of Representatives : 
 
 It is a circumstance of sincere gratification to me that, 
 on meeting the great council of our nation, I am able to 
 announce to them, on grounds of reasonable certainty, 
 that the wars and troubles which have for so many years 
 afflicted our sister-nations, have at length come to anenci, 
 and that the communications of peace and commerce are 
 once more opening among them. Whilst we devoutly re 
 turn thanks to the beneficent Being who has been pleased 
 to breathe into them the spirit of conciliation and forgive 
 ness, we are bound, with peculiar gratitude, to be thank 
 ful to him that our own peace has been preserved through 
 so perilous a season, and ourselves permitted quietly to 
 cultivate the earth, and to practise and improve those arts 
 which tend to increase our comforts. The assurances in 
 deed, of friendly disposition, received from all the powers 
 with whom we have principal relations, had inspired a 
 confidence that our peace with them would not have been 
 disturbed. But a cessation of irregularities which had af 
 fected the commerce of neutral nations, and of the irrita 
 tions and injuries produced by them, cannot but add to 
 this confidence, and strengthens, at the same time, the 
 hope that wrongs committed on unoffending friends, un 
 der a pressure of circumstances, will now be reviewed 
 with candor, and will be considered as founding just 
 claims of retribution for the past, and new assurances for 
 the future. 
 
 Among our Indian neighbors, also, a spirit of peace and 
 friendship generally prevails; and I am happy to inform 
 you that the continued efforts to introduce among them 
 the implements and the practice of husbandry ana of the 
 household arts, have not been without success ; that they 
 are becoming more and more sensible of the superiority 
 of this dependence for clothing and subsistence, over the 
 precarious lesources of hunting and fishing; and already 
 
JEFFERSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 53 
 
 we are able to announce that, instead of that constant di 
 minution of their numbers, produced by their wars and 
 heir wants, some of them begin to experience an increase 
 of population. 
 
 To this state of general peace with which we have 
 been blessed, one only exception exists. Tripoli, the least 
 considerable of the Barbary states, had come forward with 
 demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had 
 permitted itself to denounce war, on our failure to comply 
 before a given day. The style of the demand admitted 
 but one answer. I sent a small squadron of frigates into 
 the Mediterranean, with assurances to that power of our 
 sincere desire to remain in peace; but with orders to 
 protect our commerce against the threatened attack. The 
 measure was seasonable and salutary. The Bey had al 
 ready declared war. His cruisers were out. T\vo had 
 arrived at Gibralter. Our commerce in the Mediterranean 
 was blockaded, and that of the Atlantic in peril. The 
 arrival of our squadron dispelled the danger. One of the 
 Tripolitan cruisers, having fallen in with and engaged 
 the small schooner Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant 
 Sterret, which had gone as a tender to our larger vessels, 
 was captured after a heavy slaughter of her men, without 
 the loss of a single one on our part. The bravery exhi 
 bited by our citizens on that element will, I trust, be a 
 testimony to the world that it is not the want of that vir 
 tue which makes us seek. their peace, but a conscientious 
 desire to direct the energies of our nation to the multipli 
 cation of the human race, and not to its destruction. Un 
 authorized by the constitution, without the sanction of 
 Congress, to go beyond the line of defence, the vessel, 
 being disabled from committing further hostilities, was 
 liberated with its crew. The legislature will doubtless 
 consider whether, by authorizing measures of offence 
 also, they will place our foi ce on an equal footing with 
 that of its adversaries. I communicate all material infor 
 mation on this subject, that in the exercise of this impor 
 tant function confided by the constitution to the legisla 
 ture exclusively, their judgment may form itself on a 
 knowledge and consideration of every circumstance of 
 weight. 
 
 5* 
 
54 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 I wish I could say that our situation with all the other 
 Barbary states was entirely satisfactory. Discovering 
 that some delays had taken place in the performance of 
 certain articles stipulated by us, I thought it my duty, by 
 immediate measures for fulfilling them, to vindicate to 
 ourselves the right of considering the eifect of departure 
 from stipulation on their side. From the papers which 
 will be laid before you, you will be enabled to judge whe 
 ther our treaties are regarded by them as fixing at all the 
 measure of their demands, or as guarding from the exer 
 cise of force our vessels within their power; and to con 
 sider how far it will be safe and expedient to leave our af 
 fairs with them in their present posture. 
 
 I lay before you the result, of the census lately taken 
 of our inhabitants, to a conformity with which we are 
 now to reduce the ensuing ratio of representation and 
 taxation. You will perceive that the increase of num 
 bers, during the last ten years, proceeding in geometrical 
 ratio, promises a duplication in little more than twenty- 
 two years. . We contemplate this rapid growth, and the 
 prospect it holds up to us, not with a view to the injuries 
 it may enable us to do to others in some future day, but 
 to the settlement of the extensive country still remaining 
 vacant within our limits, to the multiplication of men sus 
 ceptible of happiness, educated in the love of order, ha 
 bituated to self-government, and valuing its blessings 
 above all price. 
 
 Other circumstances, combined with the increase of 
 numbers, have produced an augmentation of revenue 
 arising from consumption, in a ratio far beyond that of 
 population alone; and, though the changes of foreign 
 relations now taking place, so desirable for the world, 
 may for a season affect this branch of revenue, yet, weigh 
 ing all probabilities of expense, as well as of income, 
 there is reasonable ground of confidence that we may 
 now safely dispense with all the internal taxes compre 
 hending excise, stamps, auctions, licenses, carriages, and 
 refined sugars; to which the postage on newspapers may 
 be added, to facilitate the progress of information; and 
 that the remaining sources of revenue will be sufficient 
 *o provide for the support of government, to pay the inte- 
 
55 
 
 rest of the public debts, and to discharge the principals 
 within shorter periods than the laws of the general expec 
 tation had contemplated. War, indeed, and untoward 
 events, may change this prospect of things, and call for 
 expenses which the imposts could not meet. But sound 
 principles will not justify our taxing the industry of our 
 fellow-citizens to accumulate treasure for wars to happen 
 we know not when, and which might not perhaps happen, 
 but from the temptations offered by that treasure. 
 
 These views, however, of reducing our burdens, are 
 formed on the expectation that a sensible, and, at the 
 same time, a salutary reduction may take place in our ha 
 bitual expenditures. For this purpose, those of the civil 
 government, the army, and navy, will need revisal. 
 When we consider that this government is charged with 
 the external and mutual relations only of these states; 
 that the states themselves have principal care of our per 
 sons, our property, and our reputation, constituting the 
 great field of human concerns, we may well doubt whe 
 ther our organization is not too complicated, too expen 
 sive; whether offices and officers have not been multiplied 
 unnecessarily, and sometimes injuriously to the service 
 they were meant to promote. I will cause to be laid 
 before you, an essay towards a statement of those who, 
 under public employment of various kinds, draw money 
 from the treasury, or from our citizens. Time has not 
 permitted a perfect enumeration, the ramifications of of 
 fice being too multiplied and remote to be completely 
 traced in a first trial. Among those who are dependent 
 on executive discretion, I have begun the reduction of 
 what was deemed necessary. The expenses of diplomatic 
 agency have been considerably diminished. The inspec 
 tors of internal revenue, who were found to obstruct the 
 accountability of the institution, have been discontinued. 
 Several agencies, created by executive authority, on sala 
 ries fixed by that also, have been suppressed, and should 
 suggest the expediency of regulating that power by law, 
 so as to subject its exercises to legislative inspection and 
 sanction Other reformations of the same kind will be 
 pursued with that caution which is requisite, in removing 
 useless things, not to injure what is retained. But the 
 
66 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 great mass of public offices is established by law, and 
 therefore by law alone can be abolished. Should the le 
 gislature think it expedient to pass this roll in review, and 
 try all its parts by the test of public utility, they may be 
 assured of every aid and light which executive informa 
 tion can yield. Considering the general tendency to mul 
 tiply offices and dependencies, and to increase expense to 
 the ultimate term of burden which the citizen can bear, it 
 behoves us to avail ourselves of every occasion which pre 
 sents itself for taking off the surcharge ; that it never may 
 be seen here that, after leaving to labor the smallest por 
 tion of its earnings on which it can subsist, government 
 shall itself consume the whole residue of what it was in 
 stituted to guard. 
 
 In our care, too, of the public contributions intrusted 
 to our direction, it would be prudent to multiply barriers 
 against their dissipation, by appropriatingspecificsums to 
 every specific purpose susceptible of definition ; by dis 
 allowing all applications of money varying from the ap 
 propriation in object, or transcending it in amount; by re 
 ducing the undefined field of contingencies, and thereby 
 circumscribing discretionary powers over money ; and 
 by bringing back to a single department all accountabili 
 ties for money, where the examinations may be prompt, 
 efficacious, and uniform. 
 
 An account of the receipts and expenditures of the last 
 year, as prepared by the Secretary of the Treasury, will, 
 as usual, be laid before you. The success which has at 
 tended the late sales of the public lands shows that, with 
 attention, they may be made an important source of re 
 ceipt. Among the payments, those made in discharge of 
 the principal and interest of the national debt, will show 
 that the public faith has been exactly maintained. To 
 these will be added an estimate of appropriations neces 
 sary for the ensuing year. This last will, of course, be 
 effected by such modifications of the system of expense 
 as you shall think proper to adopt. 
 
 A statement has been formed by the Secretary of War, 
 on mature consideration, of all the posts and stations 
 where garrisons will be expedient, and of the number of 
 men requisite for each garrison. The whole amount ia 
 
JEFFERSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 57 
 
 considerably short of the present military establishment. 
 For the surplus no particular use can be pointed out. 
 For defence against invasion their number is as nothing; 
 nor is it conceived needful or safe that a standing army 
 should be kept up in time of peace for that purpose 
 Uncertain as we must ever be of the particular point in 
 our circumference where an enemy may choose to invade 
 us, the only force which can be ready at every point, and 
 competent to oppose them, is the body of neighboring 
 citizens as formed into a militia. On these, collected 
 from the parts most convenient, in numbers proportioned 
 to the invading foe, it is best to rely, not only to meet the 
 first attack, but, if it threatens to be permanent, to main 
 tain the defence until regulars may be engaged to relieve 
 them. These considerations render it important that we 
 should, at every session, continue to amend the defects 
 which from time to time show themselves in the laws for 
 regulating the militia, until they are sufficiently perfect; 
 uor should we now or at any time separate until we can 
 say we have done every thing for the militia which we 
 could do were an enemy at our door. 
 
 The provision of military stores on hand will be laid 
 before you, that you may judge of the additions still re 
 quisite. 
 
 With respect to the extent to which our naval prepara 
 tions should be carried, some difference of opinion may 
 be expected to appear; but just attention to the circum 
 stances of every part of the Union will doubtless recon 
 cile all. A small force will probably continue to be want 
 ed for actual service in the Mediterranean. Whatever an 
 nual sum beyond that you may think proper to appro 
 priate for naval preparations, would perhaps be better 
 employed in providing those articles which may be kept 
 without waste or consumption, and be in readiness when 
 any exigency calls them into use. Progress has been 
 made, as will appear by papers now communicated, in 
 providing materials for seventy-four gun ships as directed 
 by law. 
 
 How far the authority given by the legislature for pro 
 curing and establishing sites for naval purposes has been 
 perfectly understood and pursued in the execution, admits 
 
8 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 of some doubt. A statement of the expenses already in 
 curred on that subject is now laid before you. I have, in 
 certain cases, suspended or slackened these expenditures, 
 that the legislature might determine whether so many 
 yards are necessary as have been contemplated. Tha 
 works at this place are among those permitted to go on: 
 and live of the seven frigates directed to be laid up, have 
 been brought and laid up here, where, besides the safety 
 of their position, they are under the eye of the executive 
 administration, as well as of its agents, and where your 
 selves also will be guided by your own view in the legis 
 lative provisions respecting them which may from time to 
 time be necessary. They are preserved in such condi 
 tion, as well the vessels as whatever belongs to them, as 
 to be at all times ready for sea on a short warning. Two 
 others are yet to be laid up so soon as they shall have re 
 ceived the repairs requisite to put them also into sound 
 condition. As a superintending officer will be necessary 
 at each yard, his duties and emoluments, hitherto fixed by 
 the executive, will be a more proper subject for legisla 
 tion. A communication will also be made of our pro 
 gress in the execution of the law respecting the vessels 
 directed to be sold. 
 
 Th-a fortifications of our harbors, more or less ad 
 vanced, present considerations of great difficulty. While 
 some of them are on a scale sufficiently proportioned to 
 the advantages of their position, to the efficacy of their 
 protection, and the importance of the points within it, 
 others are so extensive, will cost so much in their first 
 erection, so much in their maintenance, and require such 
 a force to garrison them, as to make it questionable what 
 is best now to be done. A statement of those commenced 
 or projected, of the expenses already incurred, and esti 
 mates of their future cost, so far as can be foreseen, shall 
 be laid before you, that you may be enabled to judge 
 whether any attention is necessary in the laws respecting 
 this subject. 
 
 Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, 
 the four pillars of our prosperity, are then most thriving 
 when left most free to individual enterprise. Protection 
 from casual embarrassments, however, may sometimes be 
 
59 
 
 seasonably interposed. If, in the course of your observa 
 tions or inquiries, they should appear to need any aid 
 within the limits of our constitutional powers, your sense 
 of their importance is a sufficient assurance they will oc 
 cupy your attention. We cannot, indeed, but all feel an 
 anxious solicitude for the difficulties under which our car 
 rying trade will soon be placed. How far it can be re 
 lieved, otherwise than by time, is a subject of importani 
 consideration. 
 
 The judiciary system of the United States, and espe 
 cially that portion of it recently erected, will of course 
 present itself to the contemplation of Congress ; and that 
 they may be able to judge of the proportion which the 
 institution bears to the business it has to perform, I have 
 caused to be procured from the several states, and now 
 lay before Congress, an exact statement of all the causes 
 decided since the first establishment of the courts, and of 
 those which were depending when additional courts and 
 judges were brought in to their aid. 
 
 And while on the judiciary organization, it will be 
 worthy your consideration, whether the protection of the 
 inestimable institution of juries has been extended to all 
 the cases involving the security of our persons and pro 
 perty. Their impartial selection also being essential to 
 their value, we ought further to consider whether that is 
 sufficiently secured in those states where they are named 
 by a marshal depending on executive will, or designated 
 by the court, or by officers dependent on them. 
 
 I cannot omit recommending a revisal of the laws on 
 the subject of naturalization. Considering the ordinary 
 chances of human life, a denial of citizenship under a 
 residence of fourteen years, is a denial to a great propor 
 tion of those who ask it ; and controls a policy pursued, 
 from their first settlement, by many of these states, and 
 still believed of consequence to their prosperity. And 
 shall we refuse the unhappy fugitives from distress that 
 hospitality which the savages of the wilderness extended 
 to our fathers arriving in this land ? Shall oppressed hu 
 manity find no asylum on this globe? The constitution, 
 indeed, has wisely provided that, for admission to certain 
 offices of important trust, a residence shall be required 
 
60 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 sufficient to develope character and design. But might 
 not the general character and capabilities of a citizen be 
 safely communicated to every one manifesting a bona fide 
 purpose of embarking his life and fortunes permanently 
 with us ? with restrictions, perhaps, to guard against frau 
 dulent usurpation of our flag ; an abuse which brings so 
 much embarrassment and loss on the genuine citizen, and 
 so much danger to the nation of being involved in war, 
 that no endeavor should be spared to detect and suppres 
 it. 
 
 These, fellow-citizens, are the matters respecting the 
 state of the nation which I have thought of importance 
 to be submitted to your consideration at this time. Some 
 others of less moment, or not yet ready for communica 
 tion, will be the subject of separate messages. I am hap 
 py in this opportunity of committing the arduous affairs 
 of our government to the collected wisdom of the Union. 
 Nothing shall be wanting on my part to inform, as far as 
 in my power, the legislative judgment, nor to carry that 
 judgment into faithful execution. The prudence and 
 temperance of your discussions will promote, within your 
 own walls, that conciliation which so much befriends 
 rational conclusion ; and by its example will encourage 
 among our constituents that progress of opinion which is 
 tending to unite them in object and will. That all should 
 be satisfied with any one order of things is not to be ex 
 pected; but I indulge the pleasing persuasion that the 
 great body of our citizens will cordially concur in honest 
 and disinterested efforts, which have for their object to 
 preserve the general and state governments in their con 
 stitutional form and equilibrium ; to maintain peace 
 abroad, and order and obedience to the laws at home ; to 
 establish principles and practices of administration favor 
 able to the security of liberty and property, and to reduce 
 expenses to what is necessary for the useful purposes o< 
 government 
 
MADISON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 81 
 
 MADISON S INAUGURAL ADDPxESS, 
 MARCH 4, 1809. 
 
 Unwilling to depart from examples of the most revered 
 authority, I avail myself of the occasion now presented, 
 to express the profound impression made on me by the 
 call of ray country to the station, to the duties of which I 
 am about to pledge myself by the most solemn of sanc 
 tions. So distinguished a mark of confidence, proceed 
 ing from the deliberate and tranquil suffrage of a free and 
 virtuous nation, would, under any circumstances, have 
 commanded my gratitude and devotion, as well as filled 
 me with an awful sense of the trust to be assumed. Un 
 der the various circumstances which give peculiar solem 
 nity to the existing period, I feel that both the honor and 
 the responsibility allotted to me are inexpressibly en 
 hanced. 
 
 The present situation of the world is indeed without a 
 parallel ; and that of our own country full of difficulties. 
 The pressure of these too is the more severely felt, be 
 cause they have fallen upon us at a moment when the na 
 tional prosperity being at a height not before attained, 
 the contrast resulting from the change has been rendered 
 the more striking. Under the benign influence of our 
 republican institutions, and the maintenance of peace 
 with all nations, whilst so many of them were engaged in 
 bloody and wasteful wars, the fiuits of a just policy were 
 enjoyed in an unrivalled growth of our faculties and re 
 sources. Proofs of this were seen in the improvements 
 of agriculture ; in the successful enterprises of commerce ; 
 in the progress of manufactures and useful arts ; in the 
 increase of the public revenue, and the use made of it in 
 reducing the public debt ; and in the valuable works and 
 establishments every where multiplying over the face of 
 our land. 
 
 It is a precious reflection that the transition from this 
 prosperous condition of our country, to the scene which 
 has for some time been distressing us, is not chargeable 
 on any unwarrantable views, nor, as I trust, on any invoi- 
 
 6 
 
62 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 untary errors in the public councils. Indulging no pas 
 sions which tresspass on the rights or repose of other na 
 tions, it has been the true glory of the United States to 
 cultivate peace by observing justice ; and to entitle them 
 selves to the respect of the nations at war, by fulfilling 
 their neutral obligations with the most scrupulous impar 
 tiality. If there be candor in the world, the truth of 
 these assertions will notbe questioned; posterity, at least, 
 will do justice to them. 
 
 This unexceptionable course could not avail against the 
 injustice and violence of the belligerent powers. In their 
 rage against each other, or impelled by more direct 
 motives, principles of retaliation have been introduced, 
 equally contrary to universal reason and acknowledged 
 law. How long their arbitrary edicts will be continued, 
 in spite of the demonstrations that not even a pretext for 
 them has been given by the United States, and of the fair 
 and liberal attempt to induce a revocation of them, can 
 not be anticipated. Assuring myself that, under every 
 vicissitude, the determined spirit and united councils of 
 the nation will be safeguards to its honor and its essential 
 interests, I repair to the post assigned me with no other 
 discouragement than what springs from my own inade 
 quacy to its high duties. If I do not sink under the 
 weight of this deep conviction, it is because I find some 
 support in a consciousness of the purposes, and a confi 
 dence in the principles, which I bring with me into this 
 arduous service. 
 
 To cherish peace and friendly intercourse with all na 
 tions having corresponding dispositions ; to maintain sin 
 cere neutrality towards belligerent nations; to prefer in 
 all cases amicable discussion and reasonable accommoda 
 tion of differences to a decision of them by an appeal to 
 arms ; to exclude foreign intrigues and foreign partiali 
 ties, so degrading to all countries, and so baneful to free 
 ones; to foster a spirit of independence, too just to in 
 vade the rights of others, too proud to surrender our own, 
 too liberal to indulge unworthy prejudices ourselves, and 
 too elevated not to look down upon them in others; to 
 hold the union of the states as the basis of their peace 
 and happiness; to support the constitution, which is the 
 
MADISON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 63 
 
 cement of the Union, as well in its limitations as in its 
 authorities ; to respect the rights and authorities reserved 
 to the states and to the people, as equally incorporated 
 with, and essential to the success of, the general system; 
 to avoid the slightest interference with the rights of con 
 science or the functions of religion, so wisely exempted 
 from civil jurisdiction; to preserve in their full energy, 
 the other salutary provisions in behalf of private and per 
 sonal rights, and of the freedom of the press ; to observe 
 economy in public expenditures ; to liberate the public 
 resources by an honorable discharge of the public debts, 
 to keep within the requisite limits a standing military 
 force, always remembering that an armed and trained 
 militia is the firmest bulwark of republics that "without 
 standing armies their liberty can never be in danger, nor 
 with large ones safe ; to promote, by authorized means, 
 improvements friendly to agriculture, to manufactures, 
 and to external as well as internal commerce; to favor, in 
 like manner, the advancement of science and the diffu 
 sion of information as the best aliment to true liberty ; to 
 carry on the benevolent plans which have been so merito 
 riously applied to the conversion of our aboriginal neigh 
 bors from the degradation and wretchedness of savage 
 life, to a participation of the improvements of which the 
 human mind and manners are susceptible in a civilized 
 state: as far as sentiments and intentions such as these 
 can aid the fulfilment of my duty, they will be a resource 
 which cannot fail me. 
 
 It is my good fortune, moreover, to have the path in 
 which I am to tread, lighted by examples of illustrious 
 services, successfully rendered in the most trying difficul 
 ties, by those who have marched before me. Of those 
 of my immediate predecessor it might least become me 
 here to speak. I may, however, be pardoned for not sup 
 pressing the sympathy with which my heart is full, in the 
 rich reward he enjoys in the benedictions of a beloved 
 country, gratefully bestowed for exalted talents, zealously 
 devoted, through a long career, to the advancement of its 
 highest interest and happiness. 
 
 But the source to which I look for the aids which alone 
 can supply my deficiencies, is in the well-tried intelligence 
 
64 THE TRUE REPUBLIC AN. 
 
 and virtue ot my fellow-citizens, and in the counsels ot 
 those representing them in the best other departments 
 associated in the care of the national interests. In these 
 my confidence will under every difficulty be placed, next 
 to that in which we have all been encouraged to feel in 
 the guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Being 
 whose power regulates the destiny of nations, whose bless 
 ings have been so conspicuously dispensed to this rising 
 republic, and to whom we are bound to address our de 
 vout gratitude for the past, as well as our fervent suppli 
 cations and best hopes for the future. 
 
 MADISON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE, 
 NOVEMBER 29, 1809. 
 
 Fellow-citizens of the Senate, 
 
 and House of Representatives: 
 
 At the period of our last meeting, I had the satisfac 
 tion of communicating an adjustment with one of the 
 principal belligerent nations, highly important in itself, 
 and still more so, as presaging a more extended accom 
 modation. It is with deep concern I am now to inform 
 you, that the favorable prospect has been overclouded by 
 a refusal of the British government to abide by the act of 
 its minister plenipotentiary, and by its ensuing policy to 
 wards the United States, as seen through the communica 
 tions of the minister sent to replace him. 
 
 Whatever pleas may be urged for a disavowal of en 
 gagements formed by diplomatic functionaries, in cases 
 where, by the terms of the engagements, a mutual ratifi 
 cation is reserved ; or where notice at the time may have 
 been given of a departure from instructions ; or in extra 
 ordinary cases, essentially violating the principles of equi 
 ty: a disavowal could not have been apprehended in a 
 <5ase where no such notice or violation existed; where 
 no such ratification was reserved ; and, more especially, 
 
MADISON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 65 
 
 where, as is now in proof, an engagement, to be executed 
 without any such ratification, was contemplated by the 
 instructions given, and where it had, with good faith, been 
 carried into immediate execution on the part of the Uni 
 ted States. 
 
 These considerations not having restrained the British 
 government from disavowing the arrangement, by virtue 
 of which its orders in council were to be revoked, and 
 the event authorizing the renewal of commercial inter 
 course having thus not taken place, it necessarily became 
 a question of equal urgency and importance, whether the 
 act prohibiting that intercourse was not to be considered 
 as remaining in legal force. This question being, after 
 due deliberation, determined in the affirmative, a procla 
 mation to that effect was issued. It could not but hap 
 pen, however, that a return to this state of things, from 
 that which had followed an execution of the arrangement 
 by the United States, would involve difficulties. With a 
 view to diminish these as much as possible, the instruc 
 tions from the Secretary of the Treasury, now laid before 
 yon, were transmitted to the collectors of the several 
 ports. If, in permitting British vessels to depart without 
 giving bonds not to proceed to their own ports, it should 
 appear that the tenor of legal authority has not been 
 strictly pursued, it is to be ascribed to the anxious desire 
 which was felt that no individuals should be injured by so 
 unforeseen an occurrence : and I rely on the rega r <J of 
 Congress for the equitable itnerests of our own citizens, 
 to adopt whatever further provisions may be found requi 
 site for a general remission of penalties involuntarily in 
 curred. 
 
 The recall of the disavowed minister having been fol 
 lowed by the appointment of a successor, hopes were 
 indulged that the new mission would contribute to allevi 
 ate the disappointment which had been produced, and to 
 remove the causes which had so long embarrassed the 
 good understanding of the two nations. It could not be 
 doubted, that it would at least be charged with concilia 
 tory explanations of the steps which had been taken, and 
 with proposals to be substituted for the rejected arrange 
 ment. Reasonable and universal as this expectation was, 
 C* 
 
66 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 it also has not been fulfilled. From the first official dis 
 closures of the new minister, it was found that he had re 
 ceived no authority to enter into explanations relative to 
 either branch of the arrangement disavowed, nor any au 
 thority to substitute proposals, as to that branch whicn 
 concerned the British orders in council. And finally, 
 that his proposals with respect to the other branch, the 
 attack on the frigate Chesapeake, were founded on a pre 
 sumption, repeatedly declared to be inadmissible by the 
 United States, that the first step towards adjustment was 
 due from them; the proposals, at the same time, omitting 
 even a reference to the officer answerable for the murder 
 ous aggression, and asserting a claim not less contrary to 
 the British laws and British practice, than to the princi 
 pies and obligations of the United States. 
 
 The correspondence between the Department of State 
 and this minister will show how unessentially the features 
 presented in its commencement have been varied in its 
 progress. It will show, also, that, forgetting the respect 
 due to all governments, he did not refrain from imputa 
 tions on this, which required that no further communica 
 tions should be received from him. The necessity of this 
 step will be made known to his Britannic majesty, through 
 the minister plenipotentiary of the United States in Lon 
 don. And it would indicate a want of the confidence 
 due to a government which so well understands and ex 
 acts what becomes foreign ministers near it, not to infer 
 that the misconduct of its own representative will be 
 viewed in the same light in which it has been regarded 
 here. The British government will learn, at the same 
 time, that a ready attention will be given to communica 
 tions, through any channel which may be substituted 
 It will be happy, if the change in this respect should be 
 accompanied by a favorable revision of the unfriendly- 
 policy which has oeen so long pursued towards the Uni 
 ted States. 
 
 With France, the other belligerent, whose trespasses 
 on our commercial rights have long been the subject of 
 our just remonstrances, the posture of our relations does 
 not correspond with the measures taken on the part of 
 the United States to effect a favorable change. The re- 
 
MADISON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 67 
 
 eirlt of the several communications made to her govern 
 ment, in pursuance of the authorities vested by Congress 
 in the executive, is contained in the correspondence of 
 our minister at Paris now laid before you. 
 
 By some of the other belligerents, although professing 
 just and amicable dispositions, injuries materially affect 
 ing our commerce have not been duly controlled or re 
 pressed. In these cases, the interpositions deemed proper 
 on our part have not been omitted. But it well deserves 
 the consideration of the legislature, how far both the safe 
 ty and honor of the American flag may be consulted, by 
 adequate provision against that co lnsive prostitution of 
 it by individuals, unworthy of the /i nerican name, which 
 has so much favored the real or pretended suspicions, un 
 der which the honest commerce of their fellow-citizens 
 has suffered. 
 
 In relation to the powers on the coast of Barbary, no 
 thing has occurred which is not of a nature rather to in 
 spire confidence than distrust, as to the continuance of 
 the existing amity. With our Indian neighbors, the just 
 and benevolent system continued towards them, has alsc 
 preserved peace, and is more and more advancing habits 
 favorable to their civilization and happiness. 
 
 From a statement which will be made by the Secretary 
 of War, it will be seen that the fortifications on our mari 
 time frontier are in many of the ports completed, affording 
 the defence which was contemplated; and that a further 
 time will be required to render complete the works in the 
 harbor of New York, and in some other places. By the 
 enlargement of the works, and the employment of a great 
 er number of hands at the public armories, the supply of 
 small arms, of an improving quality, appears to be annu 
 ally increasing at a rate that, with those made on private 
 contract, may be expected to go far towards providing for 
 the public exigency. 
 
 The act of Congress providing for the equipment of 
 our vessels of war having been fully carried into execu 
 tion, I refer to the statement of the Secretary of the 
 Navy for the information which may be proper on that 
 subject. To that statement is added a view of the trans 
 fers of appropriations, authorized by the act of the ses 
 
68 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 sion preceding the last, and of the grounds on which the 
 transfers were made. 
 
 Whatever may be the course of your deliberations on 
 the subject of our military establishments, I should fail 
 in my duty in not recommending to your serious atten 
 tion the importance of giving to our militia, the great 
 bulwark of our security and resource of our power, an 
 organization the best adapted to eventual situations, for 
 which the United States ought to be prepared. 
 
 The sums which had been previously accumulated in 
 the treasury, together with the receipts during the year 
 ending on the 30th of Septembar last, (and amounting to 
 more than nine millions of dollars,) have enabled us to 
 fulfil all our engagements, and to defray the current ex 
 penses of government, without recurring to any loan. But 
 the insecurity of our commerce, and the consequent dimi 
 nution of the public revenue, will probably produce a de 
 ficiency in the receipts of the ensuing year, for which, and 
 for other details, I refer to the statements which will be 
 transmitted from the treasury. 
 
 In the state which has been presented of our affairs 
 with the great parties to a disastrous and protracted war, 
 carried on in a mode equally injurious and unjust to the 
 United States as a neutral nation, the wisdom of the na 
 tional legislature will be again summoned to the impor 
 tant decision on the alternatives before them. That these 
 will be met in a spirit worthy the councils of a nation 
 conscious both of its rectitude and of its rights, and 
 careful as well of its honor, as of its peace, I have an en 
 tire confidence. And that the result will be stamped by a 
 unanimity becoming the occasion, and be supported by 
 every portion of our citizens, with a patriotism enlight 
 ened and invigorated by experience, ought as little to be 
 doubted. 
 
 In the midst of the wrongs and vexations experienced 
 from external causes, there is much room for conpratula 
 tion on the prosperity and happiness flowing from our sit 
 uation at home. The blessing of health lias never been 
 nore universal. The fruits of the seasons, though in 
 particular articles and districts short of their usual redun 
 dancy, are more than sufficient for our wants and our com- 
 
69 
 
 torts. The face of our country every where presents the 
 evidence of laudable enterprise, of ex-tensive capital, and 
 of durable improvement. In the cultivation of the mate 
 rials, and the extension of useful manufactures, more es 
 pecially in the general application to household fabrics, we 
 behold a rapid diminution of our dependence on foreign 
 supplies. Nor is it unworthy of reflection, that this re 
 volution in our pursuits and habits is in no slight degree 
 a consequence of those impolitic and arbitrary edicts, by 
 which the contending nations, in endeavoring each of 
 them to obstruct our trade with the other, have so far 
 abridged our means of procuring the productions and 
 manufactures, of which our own are now taking the place. 
 Recollecting always, that, for every advantage which 
 may contribute to distinguish our lot from that to which 
 others are doomed by the unhappy spirit of the times, we 
 are indebted to that Divine Providence whose goodness 
 has been so remarkably extended to this rising nation, it 
 becomes us to cherish a devout gratitude, and to implore 
 from the same Omnipotent Source a blessing on the con 
 sultations and measures about to be undertaken for the 
 welfare of our beloved country. 
 
 MONROE S INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 
 MARCH 5, 1817. 
 
 I SHOULD be destitute of feeling if I was not deeply af 
 fected by the strong proof which my fellow-citizens have 
 given me of their confidence, in calling me to the high 
 office, whose functions I am about to assume. As the 
 expression of their good opinion of my conduct in the 
 public service, I derive fr,om it a gratification, which those 
 who are conscious of having done all that they could do 
 to merit it, can alone ieel. My sensibility is increased by 
 a just estimate of the importance of the trust, and of the 
 nature and extent of its duties ; with the proper discharge 
 of which the highest interests of a great and free people 
 
70 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 are intimately connected. Conscious of my own deficiency; 
 I cannot enter on these duties without great anxiety for the 
 result. From a just responsibility I will never shrink ; cal 
 culating with confidence, that in my hest efforts to promote 
 the public welfare, my motives will always be duly appre 
 ciated, and my conduct be viewed with that candor and 
 indulgence which I have experienced in other stations, 
 
 In commencing the duties of the chief executive office, 
 it has been the practice of the distinguished men who 
 have gone before me, to explain the principles which would 
 govern them in their respective administrations. In fol 
 lowing their venerated example, my attention is naturally 
 drawn to the greatcauses which have contributed, in a prin 
 cipal degree, to produce the present happy condition of 
 the United States. They will best explain the nature of 
 our duties, and shed much light on the policy which ought 
 to be pursued in future. 
 
 From the commencement of our revolution to the pre 
 sent day, almost forty years have elapsed, and from the 
 establishment of this constitution, twenty-eight. Through 
 this whole term, the government has been what may em 
 phatically be called, self-government; and what has been 
 the effect? To whatever object we turn our attention, 
 whether it relates to our foreign or domestic concerns, we 
 find abundant cause to felicitate ourselves in the excellence 
 of our institutions. During a period fraught with difficul 
 ties, and marked by very extraordinary events, the United 
 States have flourished beyond example. Their citizens, 
 individually, have been happy, and the nation prosperous. 
 
 Under this constitution our commerce has been wisely 
 regulated with foreign nations, and between the states ; 
 new states have been admitted into our Union ; our terri 
 tory has been enlarged by fair and honorable treaty, and 
 with great advantage to the original states ; the states re 
 spectively protected by the national government, under a 
 mild paternal system, against foreign dangers, and enjoy 
 ing within their separate spheres, by a wise partition of 
 power, a just proportion of the sovereignty, have improv 
 ed their police, extended their settlements, and attained a 
 strength and maturity which are the best proofs of whole 
 some laws well administered. And if we look to the 
 
MONROE S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 71 
 
 condition of individuals, what a proud spectacle does it 
 exhibit ? On whom has oppression fallen in any quarter 
 of our Union ? Who has been deprived of any right of 
 person or property ? Who restrained from offering his 
 vows, in the mode which he prefers, to the Divine Author 
 of his being? It is well known that all these blessings 
 have been enjoyed in their fullest extent; and I add, with 
 peculiar satisfaction, that there has been no example of a 
 capital punishment being inflicted on any one for the crime 
 of high treason. 
 
 Some who might admit the competency of our govern 
 ment to these beneficent duties, might doubt it in trials 
 which put to the test its strength and efficiency as a mem 
 ber of the great community of nations. Here, too, ex 
 perience has afforded us the most satisfactory proof in its 
 favor. Just as this constitution was put into action, sev 
 eral of the principal states of Europe had become much 
 agitated, and some of them seriously convulsed. Destruc 
 tive wars ensued, which have of late only been termina 
 ted. In the course of these conflicts, the United States 
 received great injury from several of the parties. It was 
 their interest to stand aloof from the contest, to demand 
 justice from the party committing the injury, and to cul 
 tivate by a fair and honorable conduct, the friendship of 
 all. VVar became at length inevitable, and the result has 
 shown that our government is equal to that, the greatest 
 of trials under the most unfavorable circumstances. Of 
 the virtue of the people, and of the heroic explr its of the 
 army, the navy, and the militia, I need not speak. 
 
 Such, then, is the happy government under which we 
 live ; a government adequate to every purpose for which 
 the social compact is formed ; a government elective in 
 all its branches, under which every citizen may, by his 
 merit, obtain the highest trust recognized by the con 
 stitution ; which contains within it no cause of discord ; 
 none to put at variance one portion of the commivnity 
 with another ; a government which protects every citizen 
 in the full enjoyment of his rights, and is able to protect 
 the nation against injustice from foreign powers. 
 
 Other considerations of the highest importance admo 
 nish us to cherish our union, and to cling to the govern- 
 
72 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 ment which supports it. Fortunate as we are in our po 
 litical institutions, we have not been less so in other cir 
 cumstances on which our prosperity and happiness essen 
 tially depend. Situated within the temperate zone, and 
 extending through many degrees of latitude along the 
 Atlantic, the United States enjoy all the varieties of cli 
 mate, and every production incident to that portion of the 
 globe. Penetrating, internally, to the great lakes, and be 
 yond the resources of the great rivers which communicate 
 through our whole interior, no country was ever happier 
 with respect to its domain. Blessed too with a fertile soil, 
 our produce has always been very abundant, leaving even 
 in years the least favorable, a surplus for the wants i>f 
 our fellow-men in other countries. Such is our peculiar 
 felicity, that there is not a part of our Union that is not 
 particularly interested in preserving it. The great agri 
 cultural interest of our nation prospers under its protec 
 tion. Local interests are not less fostered by it. Our 
 fellow-citizens of the north, engaged in navigation, find 
 great encouragement in being made the favored carriers 
 of the vast productions of the other portions of the Uni 
 ted States, while the inhabitants of these are amply re 
 compensed, in their turn, by the nursery for seamen and 
 naval force, thus formed and reared up for the support of 
 our common rights. Our manufacturers find a generous 
 encouragement by the policy which patronizes domestic 
 industry ; and the surplus of our produce, a steady and pro 
 fitable market by local wants in less favored parts at home. 
 
 Such, then, being the highly favored condition of our 
 country, it is the interest of every citizen to maintain it. 
 What are the dangers which menace us? If any exist, 
 they ought to be ascertained and guarded against. 
 
 In explaining my sentiments on this subject, it may 
 be asked, what raised us to the present happy state ? 
 How did we accomplish the revolution ? How remedy 
 the defects of the first instrument of our Union, by 
 infusing into the national government sufficient power 
 for national purposes, without impairing the just rights 
 of the states, or affecting those of individuals ? How 
 sustain and pass with glory through the late war? The 
 government has been in the hands of the people. To the 
 
MONROE S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 73 
 
 peopte, therefore, and to the faithful and able depositaries 
 of their trust, is the credit due. Had the people of the 
 United States been educated in different principles, had 
 they been less intelligent, less independent, or less virtu 
 ous, can it be believed that we should have maintained the 
 same steady and consistent career, orbeen blessed with the 
 same success? While then the constituent body retains 
 its present sound and healthful state, every thing will be 
 safe. They will choose competent and faithful represen 
 tatives for every department. It is only when the people 
 become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into 
 a populace, that they are incapable of exercising the sove 
 reignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an 
 usurper soon found. The people themselves become the 
 willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin. 
 Let us then look to the great cause, and endeavor to pre 
 serve it in full force. Let us by all wise and constitu 
 tional measures, promote intelligence among the people, 
 as the best means of preserving our liberties. 
 
 Dangers from abroad are not less deserving of atten 
 tion. Experiencing the fortune of other nations, the 
 United States may again be involved in war, and it may 
 in that event be the object of the adverse party to over 
 set our government, to break our union, and demolish us 
 as a nation. Our distance from Europe, and the just, 
 moderate, and pacific policy of our government may form 
 some security against these dangers, but they ought to be 
 anticipated and guarded against. Many of our citizens 
 are engaged in commerce and navigation, and all of them 
 are in a certain degree dependent on "their prosperous 
 state. Many are engaged in the fisheries. These inte 
 rests are exposed to invasion in the wars between other 
 powers, and we should disregard the faithful admonitions 
 of experience if we did not expect it. We must support 
 our rights, or lose our character, and with it, perhaps, our 
 liberties. A people who fail to do it, can scarcely be 
 said to hold a place among independent nations. National 
 honor is national property of the highest value. The 
 sentiment in the mind of every citizen, is national strength 
 It ought therefore to be cherished. 
 
 To secure us against these dangers, our coast and 
 
74 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 inland frontiers should be fortified, our army and navy 
 regulated upon just principles as to the force of each, be 
 kept in perfect order, and our militia be placed on the 
 best practicable footing. To put our extensive coast in 
 such a state of defence as to secure our cities and inte 
 rior from invasion, will be attended with expense, but the 
 work when finished will be permanent, and it is fair to 
 presume that a single campaign of invasion, by a naval 
 force, superior to our own, aided by a few thousand land 
 troops, would expose us to a greater expense, without 
 taking into the estimate the loss of property and distress 
 of our citizens, than would be sufficient for this great 
 work. Our land and naval forces should be moderate, 
 but adequate to the necessary purposes. The former to 
 garrison and preserve our fortifications, and to meet the 
 first invasions of a foreign foe; and while constituting 
 the elements of a greater force, to preserve the science, 
 as well as all the necessary implements of war, in a state 
 to be brought into activity in the event of war. The lat 
 ter, retained within the limits proper in state of peace, 
 might aid in maintaining the neutrality of the United 
 States with dignity, in the wars of other powers, and in 
 saving the property of their citizens from spoliation. ID 
 time of war, with the enlargement of which the great na 
 val resources of the country render it susceptible, and which 
 should be duly fostered in time of peace, it would contri 
 bute essentially, both as an auxiliary of defence and as a 
 powerful engine of annoyance, to diminish the calamities 
 of war, and to bring the war to a speedy and honorable 
 termination. 
 
 But it ought always to be held prominently in view, 
 that the safety of these states, and of every thing dear to 
 a free people, must depend in an eminent degree on the 
 militia. Invasions may be made too formidable to be re 
 sisted by any land and naval force, which it would com 
 port, either with the principles of our government, or the 
 circumstances of the United States to maintain. In such 
 cases, recourse must be had to the great body of the peo 
 ple, and in a manner to produce the best effect. It is of 
 the highest importance, therefore, that they be so orga 
 nized and trained as to be prepared for any emergency 
 
75 
 
 The arrangement should be such as to put at the com 
 mand of the government the ardent patriotism and youth 
 ful vigor of the country. If formed on equal and just 
 principles, it cannot be oppressive. It is the crisis which 
 makes the pressure, and not the laws which provide a re 
 medy for it. This arrangement should be formed, too, 
 in time of peace, to be the better prepared for war. With 
 such an organization of such a people, the United States 
 have nothing to dread from foreign invasion. At its ap 
 proach j an overwhelming force of gallant men might al 
 ways be put in motion. 
 
 Other interests of high importance will claim attention; 
 among which, the improvement of our country by roads 
 and canals, proceeding always with a constitutional sanc 
 tion, holds a distinguished place. By thus facilitating 
 the intercourse between the states, we shall add much to 
 the convenience and comfort of our fellow-citizens, much 
 to the ornament of the country, and what is of greater 
 importance, we shall shorten distances, and by making 
 each part more accessible to and dependent on the other, 
 we shall bind the union more closely together. Nature 
 has done so much for us by intersecting the country with 
 so many great rivers, bays, and lakes, approaching from 
 distant points so near to each other, that the inducement 
 to complete the work seems to be peculiarly strong. A 
 more interesting spectacle was perhaps never seen than is 
 exhibited within the limits of the United States a ter 
 ritory so vast, and advantageously situated, containing ob 
 jects so grand, so useful, so happily connected in all their 
 parts. 
 
 Our manufactures will, likewise, require the systematic 
 and fostering care of the government. Possessing, as we 
 do, all the raw materials, the fruit of our own soil and 
 industry, we ought not to depend in the degree we have 
 done, on supplies from other countries. While we are 
 thus dependent, the sudden event of war, unsought and 
 unexpected, cannot fail to plunge us into the most serious 
 difficulties. It is important, too, that the capital which 
 nourishes our manufactures should be domestic, as its in 
 fluence in that case, instead of exhausting, as it may do 
 iu foreign hands, would be felt advantageously on agri- 
 
76 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 culture, and every other branch of industry. Equally im 
 portant is it to provide at home a market for our raw ma 
 terials, as by extending the competition, it will enhance 
 the price, and protect the cultivator against the casualties 
 incident to foreign markets. 
 
 With the Indian tribes it is our duty to cultivate friendly 
 relations, and to act with kindness and liberality in all our 
 transactions. Equally proper is it to persevere in our ef 
 forts to extend to them the advantages of civilization. 
 
 The great amount of our revenue, and the flourishing 
 state of the treasury are a full proof of the competency of 
 the national resources for any emergency, as they are of 
 the willingness of our fellow-citizens to bear the burdens 
 which the public necessities require. The vast amount 
 of vacant lands, the value of which daily augments, 
 forms an additional resource of great extent and duration. 
 These resources, besides accomplishing every other ne 
 cessary purpose, puts it completely in the power of the 
 United States to discharge the national debt at an early 
 period. Peace is the best time for improvement and pre 
 parations of every kind : it is in peace that our commerce 
 flourishes most, that taxes are most easily paid, and that 
 the revenue is most productive. 
 
 The executive is charged, officially, in the departments 
 under it, with the disbursement of the public money, and 
 is responsible for the faithful application of it to the pur 
 poses for which it is raised. The legislature is the watch 
 ful guardian over the public purse. It is its duty to see 
 that the disbursement has been honestly made. To meet 
 the requisite responsibility, every facility should be afford 
 ed to the executive, to enable it to bring the public agents 
 intrusted with the public money, strictly and promptly to 
 account. Nothing should be presumed against them : 
 but if, with the requisite facilities, the public money is 
 suffered to lie long and uselessly in their hands, they will 
 not be the only defaulters, nor will the demoralizing ef 
 fect be confined to them. It will evince a relaxation and 
 want of tone in the administration, which will be felt by 
 the whole community. I shall do all (hat I can to secure 
 economy and fidelity in this important branch of the 
 administration and I doubt not that the legislature will 
 
77 
 
 perform its duty with equal zeal. A thorough examina- 
 *ion should be regularly made, and I will promote it. 
 
 It is particularly gratifying to me to enter on the dis- 
 change of these duties at a time when the United Slates 
 are blessed with peace. It is a state most consistent with 
 their prosperity and happiness. It will be my sincere 
 desire to preserve it, so far as depends on the executive, 
 on just principle with all nations, claiming nothing unrea 
 sonable of any, and rendering to each what is its due. 
 
 Equally gratifying is it to witness the increased harmo 
 ny of opinion which pervades our Union. Discord does 
 not belong to our system. Union is recommended, as 
 well by the free and benign principles of our government, 
 extending its blessings to every individual, as by the other 
 eminent advantages attending it. The American people 
 have encountered together great dangers, and sustained 
 severe trials with success. They constitute one great 
 family with a common interest. Experience has enlight 
 ened us on some questions of essential importance to the 
 country. The progress has been slow, dictated by a just 
 reflection, and a faithful regard to every interest connect 
 ed with it. To promote this harmony, in accordance 
 with the principles of our republican government, and in 
 a manner to give them the most complete effect, and to 
 advance, in all other respects, the best interests of our 
 country, will be the object of my constant and zealous ex 
 ertions. 
 
 Never did a government commence under auspices so 
 favorable, nor ever was success so complete. If we 
 look to the history of other nations, ancient or modern, 
 we find no example of a growth so rapid, so gigantic ; of 
 a people so prosperous and happy. In contemplating 
 what we have still to perform, the heart of every citizen 
 must expand with joy, when he reflects how near our go 
 vernment has approached to perfection ; that in respect 
 to it we have no essential improvement to make ; that 
 the great object is to preserve it in the essential principles 
 ani features which characterize it, and that that is to be 
 done by preserving the virtue and enlightening the minds 
 of the people ; and, as a security against foreign dangers, 
 to adopt such arrangements as are indispensable to thi 
 7* 
 
78 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 support of our independence, our rights and liberties. If 
 we persevere in the career in which we have advanced so 
 far, and in the path already traced, we cannot fail, under 
 the favor of a gracious Providence, to attain the high des 
 tiny which seems to await us. 
 
 In the administration of the illustrious men who have 
 preceded me in this high station, with some of whom I 
 have been connected by the closest ties from early life, 
 examples are presented which will always be found highly 
 instructive and useful to their successors. From these I 
 shall endeavor to derive all the advantages which they 
 may afford. Of my immediate predecessor, under whom 
 so important a portion of this great and successful expe 
 riment has been made, I shall be pardoned for expressing 
 my earnest wishes that he may long enjoy in his retire 
 ment the affections of a grateful country, the best reward 
 of exalted talents and the most faithful and meritorious 
 services. Relying on the aid to be derived from the other 
 departments of government, I enter on the trust to which 
 I have been called by the suffrages of my fellow-citizens, 
 with my fervent prayers to the Almighty that he will be 
 graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which 
 he has already so conspicuously displayed in our favor. 
 
 MONROE S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE, 
 DECEMBER 3, 1817. 
 
 Fellow- Citizens of the Senate 
 
 and House of Representatives : 
 
 At no period of our political existence had we so much 
 cause to felicitate ourselves at the prosperous and happy 
 condition of our country. The abundant fruits of the 
 earth have filled it with plenty. An extensive and profit 
 able commerce has greatly augmented our revenue. The 
 public credit has attained an extraordinary elevation. Our 
 preparations for defence, in case of future wars, from 
 which, by the experience of all nations, we ought not ex- 
 Dect to be exempted, are advancing, under a well-digested 
 
MONROE S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 79 
 
 system, with all the despatch which so important a work 
 will admit. Our free government, -founded on the inte 
 rests and affections of the people, has gained, and is daily 
 gaining strength. Local jealousies are rapidly yielding 
 to more generous, enlarged, and enlightened views of na 
 tional policy. For advantages so numerous and highly 
 important, it is our duty to unite in grateful acknowledg 
 ments to that Omnipotent Being, from whom they are 
 derived, and in unceasing prayer that he will endow us 
 with virtue and strength to maintain and hand them down, 
 in their utmost purity, to our latest posterity. 
 
 I have the satisfaction to inform you, that an arrange 
 ment, which had been commenced by my predecessor, with 
 the British government, for the reduction of the naval force, 
 by Great Britain and the United States, on the lakes, has 
 been concluded ; by which it is provided, that neither 
 party shall keep in service on lake Champlain more than 
 one vessel ; on lake Ontario, more than one ; on lake 
 Erie and the upper lakes, more than two ; to be armed, 
 each with one cannon only, and that all the other armed 
 vessels of both parties, of which an exact list is inter 
 changed, shall be dismantled. It is also agreed, that the 
 force retained shall be restricted in its duty to the inter 
 nal purposes of each party ; and that the arrangement 
 shall remain in force until six months shall have expired 
 after notice having been given by one of the parties to 
 the other of its desire that it should terminate. By this 
 arrangement, useless expense on both sides, and what is 
 of greater importance, the danger of collision between 
 armed vessels in those inland waters, which was great, 
 is prevented. 
 
 I have the satisfaction also to state, that the commis 
 sioners under the fourth article of the treaty of Ghent, to 
 whom it was referred to decide to which party the several 
 islands in the bay of Passamaquoddy belonged, under the 
 treaty of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, 
 have agreed in a report, by which all the islands in the pos 
 session of each party before the late war have been decreed 
 to it. The commissioners acting under the other articles 
 of the treaty of Ghent, for the settlement of the bounda 
 ries, have also been engaged in the discharge of then 
 
80 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 respective duties, but have not yet completed them. The 
 difference which arose between the two governments 
 under the treaty, respecting the right of the United State. 
 to take and cure fish on the coast of the British pro 
 vinces, north of our limits, which had been secured by the 
 treaty of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, 
 is still in negotiation. The proposition made by this go 
 vernment, to extend to the colonies of Great Britain the 
 principle of the convention of London, by which the com 
 merce between the ports of the United States and British 
 ports of Europe had been placed on a footing of equali 
 ty, has been declined by the British government. This 
 subject having been thus amicably discussed between the 
 two governments, and it appearing that the British go 
 vernment is unwilling to depart from its present regula 
 tions, it remains for Congress to decide whether they will 
 make any other regulations in consequence thereof, for 
 the protection and improvement of our navigation. 
 
 The negotiation with Spain, for spoliations on our com 
 merce, and the settlement of boundaries, remains essen 
 tially in the state it held in tfce communications that were 
 made to Congress by my predecessor. It has been evi 
 dently the policy of the Spanish government to keep the 
 negotiation suspended, and in this the United States have 
 acquiesced, from an amicable disposition towards Spain, 
 and in the expectation that her government would, from 
 a sense of justice, finally accede to such an arrangement 
 as would be equal between the parties. A disposition 
 has been lately shown by the Spanish government to move 
 in the negotiation, which has been met by this govern 
 ment, and should the conciliatory and friendly policy 
 which has invariably guided our councils, be reciproca 
 ted, a just and satisfactory arrangement may be expected. 
 It is proper, however, to remark that no proposition has 
 yet been made from which such a result can be presumed. 
 
 It was anticipated, at an early stage, that the contest 
 between Spain and the colonies would become highly in 
 teresting to the United States. It was natural that our 
 citizens should sympathize in events which ariected their 
 neighbors. It seemed probable, also, that the prosecution 
 of the conflict, along our coast, and in contiifuoua coun- 
 
MONROE S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 81 
 
 tries, would occasionally interrupt our commerce, and 
 otherwise affect the persons and property of our citizens, 
 These anticipations have been realized. Such injuries 
 have been received from persons acting under the autho 
 rity of both the parties, and for which redress has, in 
 some instances been withheld. Through every stage of 
 the conflict, the United States have maintained an impar 
 tial neutrality, giving aid to neither of the parties in men, 
 money, ships, or munitions of war. They have regarded 
 the contest not in the light of an ordinary insurrection 
 or rebellion, but as a civil war between parties nearly 
 equal, having, as to neutral powers, equal rights. Oui 
 ports have been open to both, and every article the fruit 
 of our soil, or of the industry of our citizens, which ei 
 ther was permitted to take, has been equally free to the 
 other. Should the colonies establish their independence, it 
 is proper now to state that this government neither seeks 
 nor would accept from them any advantage in commerce 
 or otherwise, which will not be equally open to all other 
 nations. The colonies will in that event become inde 
 pendent states, free from any obligation to, or connexion 
 with us, which it may not then be their interest to form 
 on a basis of fair reciprocity. 
 
 In the summer of the present year, an expedition was 
 set on foot against East Florida, by persons claiming to 
 act under authority of some of the colonies, who took 
 possession of Amelia Island, at the mouth of St. Mary s 
 river, near the boundary of the state of Georgia. As the 
 province lies eastward of the Mississippi, and is bounded 
 by the United States and the ocean on every side, and 
 has been a subject of negotiation with the government 
 of Spain, as an indemnity for losses by spoliation, or in 
 exchange of territory of equal value, westward of the 
 Mississippi, a fact well known to the world, it excited 
 surprise that any countenance should be given to this 
 measure by any of the colonies. As it would be difficult 
 to reconcile it with the friendly relations existing between 
 the United States and the colonies, a doubt was enter 
 tained whether it had been authorized by them, or any 
 of them. This doubt has gained strength, by the cir 
 cumstances which have unfolded themselves in the prose- 
 
82 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 cution of the enterprise, which have marked it as a mere 
 private unauthorized adventure. Projected and com 
 menced with an incompetent force, reliance seems to 
 have been placed on what might be drawn, in defiance of 
 our laws, from within our limits ; and of late, as their 
 resources have failed, it has assumed a more marked cha 
 racter of unfriendliness to us, the island being made a 
 channel for the illicit introduction of slaves from Africa 
 into the United States, an asylum for fugitive slaves from 
 the neighboring states, and a port for smuggling of every 
 kind. 
 
 A similar establishment was made, at an earlier period, 
 by persons of the same description in the Gulf of Mexi 
 co, at a place called Galveston, within the limits of the 
 United States, as we contend, under the cession of Loui 
 siana. This enterprise has been marked in a more sig 
 nal manner by all the objectionable circumstances which 
 characterized the other, and more particularly by the 
 equipment of privateers which have annoyed our com 
 merce, and by smuggling. These establishments, if ever 
 sanctioned by any authority whatever, which is not be 
 lieved, have abused their trust and forfeited all claim to con 
 sideration. A just regard for the rights and interests of 
 the United States required that they should be suppressed, 
 and orders have accordingly been issued to that effect. 
 The imperious considerations which produced this mea 
 sure will be explained to the parties whom it may in any 
 degree concern. 
 
 To obtain correct information on every subject in which 
 the United States are interested ; to inspire just sentiments 
 in all persons in authority, on either side, of our friendly 
 disposition, so far as it may comport with an impartial 
 neutrality, and to secure proper respect to our commerce 
 in every port, and from every flag, it has been thought 
 proper to send a ship of war, with three distinguished 
 citizens along the southern coast, with instructions to 
 touch at such ports as they may find most expedient for 
 these purposes. With the existing authorities, with those 
 in the possession of, and exercising the sovereignty, must 
 the communication be held; from them alone can redress 
 Cor past injuries, committed by persons acting under them 
 
83 
 
 be obtained ; by them alone can the commission of the 
 like in future be prevented. 
 
 Our relations with the other powers of Europe have 
 experienced no essential change since the last session. 
 In our intercourse with each, due attention continues to 
 be paid to the protection of our commerce, and to every 
 other object in which the United States are interested. 
 A strong- hope is entertained, that by adhering to the 
 maxims of a just, candid, and friendly policy, we may 
 long preserve amicable relations with all the powers of 
 Europe, on conditions advantageous and honorable to our 
 country. 
 
 With the Barbary states and the Indian tribes, our pa 
 cific relations have been preserved. 
 
 In calling your attention to the internal concerns of 
 our country, the view which they exhibit is peculiarly 
 gratifying. The payments which have been made into 
 the treasury show the very productive state of the public 
 revenue. After satisfying the appropriations made by law 
 for the support of the civil government and of the mili 
 tary and naval establishments, embracing suitable provi 
 sion for fortification and for the gradual increase of the 
 navy, paying the interest of the public debt, and extin 
 guishing more than eighteen millions of the principal, 
 within the present year, it is estimated that a balance of 
 more than six millions of dollars will remain in the trea 
 sury on the first day of January, applicable to the current 
 service of the ensuing year. 
 
 The payments into the treasury during the year one 
 thousand eight hundred and seventeen, on account of im 
 ports and tonnage, resulting principally from duties which 
 have accrued in the present year, may be fairly estimated 
 at twenty millions of dollars ; internal revenues, at two 
 millions five hundred thousand ; public lands, at one mil 
 lion five hundred thousand ; bank dividends and inciden 
 tal receipts, at five hundred thousand ; making, in the 
 whole, twenty-four millions and five hundred thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 The annual permanent expenditure for the support of 
 the civil government, and of the army and navy, as now 
 established by law, amounts to eleven millions eight hun- 
 
84 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 dred thousand dollars ; and for the sinking fund, to ten 
 millions ; making, in the whole, twenty-one millions eight 
 hundred thousand dollars; leaving an annual excess of 
 revenue, beyond the expenditure, of two millions seven 
 hundred thousand dollars, exclusive of the balance esti 
 mated to be in the treasury on the 1st day of January 
 one thousand eight hundred and eighteen. 
 
 In the present state of the treasury, the whole of the 
 Louisiana debt may be redeemed in the year 1819 ; after 
 which, if the public debt continues as it now is, above 
 par, there will be annually about live millions of the sink 
 ing fund unexpended, until the year 1825, when the loan 
 of 1812, and the stock created by funding treasury notes 
 will be redeemable. 
 
 It is also estimated that the Mississippi stock will be 
 discharged during the year 1819, from the proceeds of 
 the public lands assigned to that object; after which the 
 receipts from those lands will annually add to the public 
 revenue the sum of one million five hundred thousand 
 dollars, making the permanent annual revenue amount to 
 *wenty-six millions of dollars, and leaving an annual ex 
 cess of revenue after the year 1819, beyond the perma 
 nent authorized expenditure, of more than four millions 
 of dollars. 
 
 By the last returns to the department of war, the mili 
 tia force of the several states may be estimated at eight 
 hundred thousand men, infantry, artillery, and cavalry. 
 Great part of this force is armed, and measures are taken 
 to arm the whole. An improvement in the organization 
 and discipline of the militia, is one of the great objects 
 which claim the unremitted attention of Congress. 
 
 The regular force amounts nearly to the number re* 
 quired by law, and is stationed along the Atlantic and in* 
 land frontiers. 
 
 Of the naval force, it has been necessary to maintain 
 strong squadrons in the Mediterranean and in the Gulf of 
 Mexico. 
 
 From several of the Indian tribes, inhabiting the coun 
 try bordering on Lake Erie, purchases have been made 
 of lands, on conditions very favorable to the United States 
 and, it is presumed, not less so to the tribes themse ves 
 
MONROE S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 85 
 
 By these purchases the Indian title, with moderate re 
 servations, has been extinguished to the whole of the land 
 within the state of Ohio, and to a great part of that in 
 Michigan territory, and of the state of Indiana. From the 
 Cherokee tribe a tract has been purchased in the state of 
 Georgia, and an arrangement made, by which, in exchange 
 for lands beyond the Mississippi, a great part, if not the 
 whole of the land belonging to the tribe, eastward of that 
 river, in the states of North Carolina, Georgia, and Ten 
 nessee, and in the Alabama territory, will soon be ac 
 quired. By these acquisitions, and others that may rea 
 sonably be expected soon to follow, we shall be enabled 
 to extend our settlements from the inhabited parts of the 
 state of Ohio, along Lake Erie, into the Michigan terri 
 tory, and to connect our settlements by degrees, through 
 the state of Indiana and the Illinois territory, to that of 
 Missouri. A similar and equally advantageous effect will 
 soon be produced to the south, through the whole extent 
 of the states and territory which border on the waters 
 emptying into the Mississippi and the Mobile. In this 
 progress, which the rights of nature demand, and nothing 
 can prevent, marking a growth rapid and gigantic, it is 
 our duty to make new efforts for the preservation, im 
 provement, and civilization of the native inhabitants. 
 The hunter state can exist only in the vast uncultivated 
 desert. It yields to the more dense and compact form 
 and greater force of civilized population ; and of right it 
 ought to yield, for the earth was given to mankind to sup 
 port the greatest number of which it is capable, and no 
 tribe or people have a right to withhold from the wants 
 of others more than is necessary for their own support 
 and comfort. It is gratifying to know that the reserva 
 tion of land made by the treaties with the tribes on Lake 
 Erie, were made with a view to individual ownership 
 among them, and to the cultivation of the soil by all, and 
 that an annual stipend has been pledged to supply their 
 other wants. It will merit the consideration of Congress, 
 whether other provisions, not stipulated by the treaty, 
 ought to be made for these tribes, and for the advance 
 ment of the liberal and humane policy of the United 
 States towards all the tribes within our limits, and more 
 8 
 
86 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 particularly for their improvement in the arts of civilized 
 life. 
 
 Among the advantages incident to these purchases, and 
 to those which have preceded the security which may 
 thereby be afforded to our inland frontier is peculiarly 
 important. With a strong barrier, consisting of our own 
 people thus planted on the lakes, the Mississippi and the 
 Mobile, with the protection to be derived from the regu 
 lar force, Indian hostilities, if they do not altogether 
 cease, will henceforth lose their terror. Fortifications in 
 those quarters to any extent will not be necessary, and the 
 expense attending them may be saved. A people accus 
 tomed to the use of fire-arms only, as the Indian tribes 
 are, will shun even moderate works which are defended 
 by cannon. Great fortifications will therefore be requi 
 site only in future along the coast, and at some points in 
 the interior connected with it. On these will the safety 
 of towns and the commerce of our rivers, from the bay 
 of Fundy to the Mississippi, depend. On these, there 
 fore, should the utmost attention, skill and labor be be 
 stowed. 
 
 A considerable and rapid augmentation in the value 
 of all the public lands, proceeding from these and other 
 obvious causes, may henceforward be expected. The dif 
 ficulties attending early emigrations will be dissipated even 
 in the most remote parts. Several new states have been 
 admitted into our Union to the west and south, and terri 
 torial governments, happily organized, established over 
 every other portion in which there is vacant land for sale. 
 In terminating Indian hostilities, as must soon be done, 
 in a formidable shape at least, the emigration, which has 
 heretofore been great, will probably increase, and the de 
 mand for land, and the augmentation in its value, be in 
 like proportion. The great increase of our population 
 throughout the Union will alone produce an important 
 effect, and in no quarter will it be so sensibly felt as in 
 those in contemplation. The public lands are a public 
 stock, which ought to be disposed of to the best advan 
 tage for the nation. The nation should, therefore, derive 
 the profit proceeding from the continual rise in their 
 value. Every encouragement should be given to the emi- 
 
MONROE S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 87 
 
 grants, consistent with a fair competition between them 
 but that competition should operate in the first sale to the 
 advantage of the nation rather than of individuals. Great 
 capitalists will derive all the benefit incident to their su 
 perior wealth, under any mode of sale which may be 
 adopted. But if, looking forward to the rise in the value 
 of the public lands, they should have the opportunity of 
 amassing, at a low price, vast bodies in their hands, the 
 profit will accrue to them, and not to the public. They 
 would also have the power, in that degree, to control the 
 emigration and settlement in such a manner as their opi 
 nion of their respective interests might dictate. I submit 
 the subject to the consideration of Congress, that such 
 further provision may be made of the sale of the public 
 lands, with a view to the public interest, should any be 
 deemed expedient, as in their judgment may be best adapt 
 ed to the object. 
 
 When we consider the vast extent of territory within 
 the United States, the great amount and value of its pro 
 ductions, the connection of its parts, and other circum 
 stances on which their prosperity and happiness depencf, 
 we cannot fail to entertain a high sense of the advantage 
 to be derived from the facility which may be afforded in 
 the intercourse between them, by means of good roads 
 and canals. Never did a country of such vast extent 
 offer equal inducements to improvements of this kind, nor 
 ever were consequences of such magnitude involved in 
 them. As this subject was acted on by Congress at the 
 last session, and there may be a disposition to revive it at 
 present, I have brought it into view for the purpose of 
 communicating my sentiments, on a very important cir 
 cumstance connected with it, with that freedom and can 
 dor which a regard for the public interest and a proper 
 respect for Congress require. A difference of opinion 
 has existed from the first formation of our constitution to 
 the present time, among our most enlightened and virtu 
 ous citizens, respecting the right of Congress to establish 
 such a system of improvement. Taking into view the 
 trust with which I am now honored, it would be improper 
 after what has passed, that this discussion should be re 
 vived with an uncertainty of my opinion respecting the 
 
88 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 right. Disregarding early impressions, I have bestowef 
 on the suhject all the deliberation which its great impor 
 tance, and a just sense of my duty, required, and the re 
 sult is a settled conviction in my mind that Congress do 
 not possess the light. It is not contained in any of the 
 specified powers granted to Congress, nor can I consider 
 it incidental to, or a necessary mean, viewed on the most 
 liberal scale, for carrying into effect any of the powers 
 which are specifically granted. In communicating this 
 result, I cannot resist the obligation which I feel, to sug 
 gest to Congress the propriety of recommending to the 
 states an adoption of an amendment to the constitution, 
 which shall give to Congress* the right in question. In 
 cases of doubtful construction, especially of such vital 
 interest, it comports with the nature and origin of our re 
 publican institutions, and will contribute much to pre 
 serve them, to apply to our constituents for an explicit 
 grant of the power. We may confidently rely, that if it 
 appears to their satisfaction that the power is necessary, 
 it will be granted. 
 
 In this case, I am happy to observe, that experience 
 has afforded the most ample proof of its utility, and that 
 the benign spirit of conciliation and harmony, which now 
 manifests itself throughout our Union, promises to such 
 a recommendation the most prompt and favorable result. 
 I think proper to suggest, also, in case this measure is 
 adopted, that it be recommended to the states to include 
 in the amendment sought, a right in Congress to insti 
 tute, likewise, seminaries of learning, for the all-impor 
 tant purpose of diffusing knowledge among our fellow- 
 citizens throughout the United States. 
 
 Our manufactures will require the continued atten 
 tion of Congress. The capital employed in them is con 
 giderable, and the knowledge required in the machinery 
 and fabric of all the most useful manufactures is of great 
 value. Their preservation, which depends on due en 
 couragement, is connected with the high interests of the 
 nation. 
 
 Although the progress of the public buildings has been 
 as favorable as circumstances have permitted, it is to be 
 fegictted the capitol is not yet in a state to receive you 
 
9 MONROE S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 89 
 
 There is good cause to presume that the two wings, the 
 Duly parts as yet commenced, will be prepared for that 
 purpose the next session. The time seems now to have 
 arrived, when this subject may be deemed worthy of the 
 attention of Congress, on a scale adequate to national 
 purposes. The completion of the middle building will 
 be necessary to the convenient accommodation of Con 
 gress, of the committees, and various officers belonging 
 to it. It is evident that the other public buildings are 
 altogether insufficient for the accommodation of the seve 
 ral executive departments ; some of whom are much 
 crowded, and even subject to the necessity of obtaining 
 it in private buildings, at some distance from the head of 
 the department, and with inconvenience to the manage 
 ment of the public business. Most nations have taken 
 an interest and a pride in the improvement and ornament 
 of their metropolis, and none were more conspicuous 
 in that respect than the ancient republics. The policy 
 which dictated the establishment of a permanent resi 
 dence for the national government, and the spirit in which 
 it was commenced and has been prosecuted, show that 
 such improvement was thought worthy the attention of 
 this nation. Its central position, between the northern 
 and southern extremes of our Union, and its approach to 
 the west, at the head of a great navigable river, which 
 interlocks witli the western waters, prove the wisdom of 
 the councils which established it. 
 
 Nothing appears to be more reasonable and proper, 
 than that convenient accommodation should be provided, 
 on a well-digested plan, for the heads of the several de 
 partments, and for the attorney-general; and it is believed 
 that the public ground in the city, applied to these 
 objects, will be found amply sufficient. I submit this 
 subject to the consideration of Congress, that such pro 
 vision may be made in it, as to them may seem proper. 
 
 In contemplating the happy situation of the United 
 States, our attention is drawn, with peculiar interest, to 
 the surviving officers and soldiers of our revolutionary 
 army, who so eminently contributed, by their services, to 
 lay its foundation. Most of those very meritorious citi 
 zens have paid the debt of nature and gone to repose, it 
 8* 
 
90 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 is oeheved, that among the survivors there are some not 
 provided for by existing laws, who are reduced to indi 
 gence, and even to real distress. These men have a 
 claim on the gratitude of their country, and it will do 
 honor to their country to provide for them. The lapse 
 of a few years more, and the opportunity will be forevei 
 lost ; indeed, so long already has been the interval, that 
 the number to be benefitted by any provision which may 
 be made, will not be great. 
 
 It appearing in a satisfactory manner that the revenue 
 arising from imposts and tonnage, and from the sale of 
 public lands, will be fully adequate to the support of the 
 civil government, of the present military and naval esta 
 blishments, including the annual augmentation of the lat 
 ter to the extent provided for, to the payment of the in 
 terests on the public debt, and to the extinguishment of it 
 at the times authorized, without the aid of the internal 
 taxes, I consider it my duty to recommend to Congress 
 their repeal. To impose taxes when the public exigen 
 cies require them, is an obligation of the most sacred 
 character, especially with a free people. The faithful fulfil 
 ment of it is among the highest proofs of their virtue and ca 
 pacity for self-government. To dispense with taxes, when 
 it may be done with perfect safety, is equally the duty of 
 their representatives. In this instance, we have the satis 
 faction to know that they are imposed when the demand 
 was imperious, and have been sustained with exemplary 
 fidelity. I have to add, that however gratifying it may be 
 to me, regarding the prosperous and happy condition of 
 our country, to recommend the repeal of these taxes at 
 this time, I shall, nevertheless, be attentive to event s, and 
 should any future emergency occur, be not less prompt 
 to suggest such measures and burdens as may Hunt K* 
 requisite and proper. 
 
3, Si, 
 
j. Q. ADAMS INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 91 
 
 J. Q. ADAMS INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 MARCH 4, 1825. 
 
 In compliance with a usage coeval with the existence 
 of our federal constitution, and sanctioned by the exam 
 ple of my predecessors in the career upon which I am 
 about to enter, I appear, my fellow-citizens, in your pre 
 sence, and in that of Heaven, to bind myself, by the so 
 lemnities of a religious obligation, to the faithful perform 
 ance of the duties allotted to me, in the station to which 
 I have been called. 
 
 In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which 
 I shall be governe d in the fulfilment of those duties 
 my first resort will be to that constitution, which I shall 
 swear, to the best of my ability, to preserve, protect, 
 and defend. That revered instrument enumerates the 
 powers and prescribes the duties of the executive magis 
 trate ; and, in its first words, declares the purposes to 
 which these, and the whole action of the government, in 
 stituted by it, should be invariably and sacredly devoted 
 to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure 
 domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, 
 promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of 
 liberty to the people of this Union, in their successive 
 generations. Since the adoption of this social compact, 
 one of these generations have passed away, ttis the work 
 of our forefathers. Administered by some of the most 
 eminent men who contributed to its formation, through 
 a most eventful period in the annals of the world, and 
 through all the vicissitudes of peace and war, incidental 
 to the condition of associated man, it has not disappointeo 
 the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious benefactors 
 of their age and nation. It has promoted the lasting 
 welfare of that country, so dear to us all ; it has, to an 
 extent far beyond the ordinary lot of humanity, secured 
 the freedom and happiness of this people We now re 
 ceive it as a precious inheritance from those to whom we 
 are indebted for its establishment, doubly bound by the 
 examples they have left us, and by the blessings which 
 
92 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN*. 
 
 we have enjoyed, as the fruit of their labors, to transmit 
 the same, unimpaired, to the succeeding generations. 
 
 In the compass of thirty-six years, since this great na 
 tional covenant was instituted, a body of laws enacted 
 under its authority, and in conformity with its provisions, 
 has unfolded its powers, and carried into practical opera 
 tion its effective energies. Subordinate departments have 
 distributed the executive functions in their various rela 
 tions tc foreign affairs, to the revenue and expenditures, 
 and to the military force of the Union by land and sea. 
 A co-ordinate department of the judiciary has expounded 
 the constitution and the laws; settling, in harmonious co 
 incidence with the legislative will, numerous weighty 
 questions of construction which the imperfection of hu 
 man language had rendered unavoidable. The year of 
 jubilee, since the first formation of our Union has just 
 elapsed ; that of the declaration of independence is at hand. 
 The consummation of both was effected by this constitu 
 tion. Since that period, a population of four millions has 
 multiplied to twelve. A territory, bounded by the Mis 
 sissippi, has been extended from sea to sea. New states 
 have been admitted to the Union, in numbers nearly equal 
 to those of the first confederation. Treaties of peace, 
 amity, and commerce, have been concluded with the prin 
 cipal dominions of the earth. The people of other na 
 tions, inhabitants of regions acquired, not byconquestbut 
 by compact, have been united with us in the participation 
 of our rights and duties, of our burdens and blessings. 
 The forest has fallen by the axe of our woodsman; the 
 soil has been made to teem by the tillage of our far 
 mers ; our commerce has whitened every ocean. The 
 dominion of man over physical nature has been extended 
 by the invention of our artists. Liberty and law have 
 marched hand in hand. All the purposes of human asso 
 ciation have been accomplished as effectively as under 
 any other government on the gjobe ; and at a cost, little 
 exceeding, in a whole generation, the expenditures of 
 Other nations in a single year. 
 
 Such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition 
 under a constitution founded upon the republican princi 
 ple of equal rights. To admit that this picture has its 
 
j Q. ADAMS INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 93 
 
 shades, is but to say that it is still the condition of men 
 upon earth. From evil, physical, moral and political, it 
 is not our claim to be exempt. We have suffered some 
 times by the visitation of Heaven, through disease ; often 
 by the wrong s and injustices of other nations, even to the 
 extremities of war; and lastly, by dissensions among our 
 selves dissensions, perhaps, inseparable from the enjoy 
 ment of freedom, but which have more than once appeared 
 to threaten the dissolution of the Union, and, with it the 
 overthrow of all the enjoyments of our present lot, and 
 all our earthly hopes of the future. The causes of these 
 dissensions have been various, founded upon differences 
 of speculation in the theory of republican government ; 
 upon conflicting views of policy, in our relations with 
 foreign nations; upon jealousies of partial and sectional 
 interests, aggravated by prejudices and prepossessions, 
 which strangers to each other are ever apt to entertain. 
 
 It is a source of gratification and of encouragement to 
 me, to observe that the great result of this experiment 
 upon the theory of human rights has, at the close of that 
 generation by which it was formed, been crowned with 
 success equal to the most sanguine expectations of its 
 founders. Union, justice, tranquillity, the common de 
 fence, the general welfare, and the ble.s^ings of liberty, all 
 have been promoted by the government under which we 
 have lived. Standing at this point of time ; looking back 
 to that generation which has gone by, and forward to that 
 which is advancing, we may at once indulge in grateful 
 exultation and in cheering hope. From the experience of 
 the past, we derive instructive lessons for the, future. Of 
 the two great political parties which have divided the 
 opinions and feelings of our country, the candid and the 
 just will now admit that both have contributed splendid 
 talents, spotless integrity, ardent patriotism and disinte 
 rested sacrifices, to the formation and administration, of this 
 government; and that both have required a liberal indul 
 gence for a portion of human infirmity and error The 
 revolutionary wars of Europe, commencing- precisely al 
 the moment when the government of the United States 
 first went into operation under this constitution, excited 
 a collision of sentiments and of sympathies, which kin- 
 
94 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 died all the passions, and embittered the conflict of par 
 ties till the nation was involved in war, and the Union 
 was shaken to its cen .re. This time of trial embraced a 
 period of fi ve-and-t\venty years, during which the policy 
 of the Union, in its relations with Europe, constituted 
 the principal basis of our political divisions, and the most 
 arduous part of the action of our federal government. 
 With the catastrophe in which the wars of the French 
 revolution terminated, and our own subsequent peace 
 with Great Britain, this baneful weed of party strife was 
 uprooted. From that time, no difference of principle, 
 connected either with the theory of government, or with 
 our intercourse with foreign nations has existed, or been 
 called forth in force sufficient to sustain a continued com 
 bination of parties, or give more than wholesome anima 
 tion to public sentiment or legislative debate. Our po 
 litical creed is, without a dissenting voice that can be 
 heard, that the will of the people is the source, and the 
 happiness of the people the end, of all legitimate govern 
 ment upon earth. That the best security for the benefi 
 cence, and the best guaranty against the abuse of power, 
 consists in the freedom, the purity, and the frequency of 
 popular elections. That the general government of the 
 Union, and the separate governments of the states, are 
 all sovereignties of legitimated powers ; fellow-servants 
 of the same masters, uncontrolled within their respective 
 spheres, uncontrollable by encroachments upon each 
 other. That the firmest security of peace is the pre 
 paration during peace of the defences of war. That a 
 rigorous economy, and accountability of public expendi 
 tures, should guard against the aggravation, and alleviate, 
 when possible, the burden of taxation. That the military 
 should be kept in strict subordination to the civil power. 
 That the freedom of the press and of religious opinion 
 should be inviolate. That the policy of our country is 
 peace, and the ark of our salvation, union, are articles 
 of faith upon which we are all agreed. If there have 
 been those who doubted whether a confederated represen 
 tative democracy were a government competent to the 
 wise and orderly management of the common concerns 
 of a mighty nation, those doubts have been dispelled. If 
 
93 
 
 there have been projects of partial confederacies to be 
 erected upon the ruins of the Union, they have been scat 
 tered to the winds. If there have been dangerous at 
 tachments to one foreign nation, and antipathies against 
 another, they have been extinguished. Ten years of 
 peace, at home and abroad, have assuaged the animosities 
 of political contention, and blended into harmony the most 
 discordant elements of public opinion. There still re 
 mains one effort of magnanimity, one sacrifice of prejudice 
 and passion, to be made by the individuals throughout the 
 nation, who have heretofore followed the standard of po 
 litical party. It is that of discarding every remnant of 
 rancor against each other ; of embracing as countrymen 
 and friends ; and of yielding to talents and virtue alone, 
 that confidence which, in times of contention for principle, 
 was bestowed only upon those who bore the badge of par 
 ty communion. * 
 
 The collisions of party spirit, which originate in specu 
 lative opinions, or in different views of administrative poli 
 cy, are in their nature transitory. Those which are found 
 ed on geographical divisions, adverse interests of soil, cli 
 mate, and modes of domestic life, are more permanent, 
 and therefore perhaps more dangerous. It is this which 
 gives inestimable value to the character of our govern 
 ment, at once federal and national. It holds out to us a 
 perpetual admonition to preserve alike, and with equal 
 anxiety, the rights of each individual state in its own 
 government, and the rights of the whole nation in that of 
 the Union. Whatever is of domestic concealment, un 
 connected with the other members of the Union, or with 
 foreign lands, belongs exclusively to the administration of 
 the state governments. Whatsoever directly involves the 
 rights and interests of the federative fraternity, or of for 
 eign powers, is of the resort of this general government. 
 The duties of both are obvious in the general principle, 
 though sometimes perplexed with difficulties in the detail. 
 To respect the rights of the state governments is the in 
 violable duty of that of the Union; the government of 
 every state will feel its own obligation to respect and pre 
 serve the rights of the whole. The prejudices every where 
 too commonly entertained against distant strangers are 
 
96 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 worn away, and the jealousies of jarring interests are al 
 layed by the composition and functions of the great na 
 tional councils annually assembled from all quarters of the 
 Union at this place. Here the distinguished men from 
 every section of our country, while meeting to deliberate 
 upon the great interests of those by whom they are depu 
 ted, learn to estimate the talents, and do justice to the 
 virtues of each other. The harmony of the nation is 
 promoted, and the whole Union is knit together by the 
 sentiments of mutual respect, the habits of social inter 
 course, and the ties of personal friendship, formed be 
 tween the representatives of its several parts, in the per 
 formance of their service at this metropolis. 
 
 Passing from this general review of the purposes and 
 injunctions of the federal constitution, and their results, 
 as indicating the first traces of the path of duty in the dis 
 charge of my public trust, I turn to the administration*of 
 my immediate predecessor, as the second. It has passed 
 away in a period of profound peace : how much to the 
 satisfaction of our country, and to the honor of our coun 
 try s name, is known to you all. The great features of 
 its policy, in general concurrence with the wfll of the le 
 gislature, have been to cherish peace while preparing 
 for defensive war; to yield exact justice to other nations, 
 and maintain the rights of our own ; to cherish the prin 
 ciples of freedom and of equal rights, wherever they were 
 proclaimed; to discharge with all possible promptitude the 
 national debt ; to reduce within the narrowest limits of 
 efficiency the military force ; to improve the organization 
 and discipline of the army ; to provide and sustain a 
 school of military science; to extend equal protection to 
 all the great interests of the nation ; to promote the civili 
 zation of the Indian tribes ; and to proceed in the great 
 system of internal improvements within the limits of the 
 constitutional power of the Union. Under the pledge of 
 these promises, made by that eminent citizen, at the time 
 of his first induction to this office, in his career of eight 
 years, the internal taxes have been repealed ; sixty mil 
 lions of the public debt have been discharged; provision 
 has been made for the comfort and relief of the a^ed and 
 indigent among the surviving warriors of the revolution ; 
 
j. Q. ADAMS INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 97 
 
 the regular armed force has been reduced, and its consti 
 tution revised and perfected ; the accountability for the 
 expenditures of public moneys has been made more effec 
 tive ; the Floridas have been peaceably acquired, and our 
 boundary has been extended to the Pacific ocean; the in 
 dependence of the southern nations of this hemisphere has 
 been recognized, and recommended l/y example and by 
 counsel to the potentates of Europe . progress has been 
 made in the defence of the country by fortifications, and 
 the increase of the navy towards the effectual suppres 
 sion of the African traffic in slaves in alluring the abori 
 ginal hunters of our land to the cultivation of the soil and 
 of the mrnd in exploring the interior regions of the 
 Union, and in preparing, by scientific researches and sur 
 veys, for the further application of our national resources 
 to the internal improvement of our country. 
 
 In this brief outline of the promise and performance of 
 my immediate predecessor, the line of duty for his suc 
 cessor is clearly delineated. To pursue to their consum 
 mation those purposes of improvement in our common 
 condition, instituted or recommended by him, will embrace 
 the whole sphere of my obligations. To the topic of in 
 ternal improvement, emphatically urged by him at his in 
 auguration, I recur with peculiar satisfaction. It is that 
 from which I am convinced that the unborn millions of 
 our posterity, who are in future ages to people this conti 
 nent, will derive their most fervent gratitude to the found 
 ers of the Union ; that in which the beneficent action of 
 its government will be most deeply felt and acknowledged. 
 The magnificence and splendor of their public works are 
 among the imperishable glories of the ancient republics. 
 The roads and aqueducts of Rome have been the admira 
 tion of all after-ages, and have survived thousands of years, 
 after all her conquests have been swallowed up in despo 
 tism, or become the spoil of barbarians. Some diversity 
 of opinion has prevailed with regard to the powers of 
 Congress for legislation upon objects of this nature. The 
 most respectful deference is due to doubts, originating in 
 pure patriotism, and sustained by venerated authority. 
 But nearly twenty years have passed since the construc 
 tion of the first national road was commenced. The au- 
 9 
 
98 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN 
 
 thority for its construction was then unquestioned. To 
 how many thousands of our countrymen has it proved a 
 benefit ? To what single individual has it ever proved an 
 injury ? Repeated, liberal and candid discussions in the 
 legislature have conciliated the sentiments, and approxi 
 mated the opinions of enlightened minds, upon the question 
 of constitutional power. I cannot but hope that, by the 
 same process of friendly, patient, and persevering delibe 
 ration, all constitutional objections will ultimately be re 
 moved. The extent and limitation of the powers of the 
 general government, in relation to this transcendently im 
 portant interest, will be settled and acknowledged to the 
 common satisfaction of all ; and every speculative scruple 
 will be solved by a practical public blessing. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, you are acquainted with the peculiar 
 circumstances of the recent elections, which have result 
 ed in affording me the opportunity of addressing you at 
 this time. You have heard the exposition of the princi 
 ples which will direct me in the fulfilment of the high 
 and solemn trust imposed upon me in this station. Less 
 possessed of your confidence in advance than any of my 
 predecessors, I am deeply conscious of the prospect that 
 I shall stand, more and oftener, in need of your indul 
 gence. Intentions, upright and pure ; a heart devoted to 
 the welfare of our country, and the unceasing applica 
 tion of the faculties allotted to me to her service, are all 
 the pledges that I can give to the faithful performance of 
 the arduous duties i am to undertake. To the guidance 
 of the legislative councils ; to the assistance of the exe 
 cutive and subordinate departments ; to the friendly co 
 operation of the respective state governments ; to the can 
 did and liberal support of the people, so far as it may be 
 deserved by honest industry and zeal, I shall look for 
 whatever success may attend my public service : and 
 knowing that, except the Lord keep the city, the watch 
 man waketh but in vain, with fervent supplications for his 
 favor, to his overruling providence I commit, with hum 
 ble but fearless confidence, my own fate and the future 
 destinies of my country. 
 
j. Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 99 
 
 J. Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE, 
 DECEMBER 6, 1825 
 
 To the Senate, and 
 
 House of Representatives of the United States : 
 
 In taking a general survey of the concerns of our be 
 loved country, with reference to subjects interesting to 
 the common welfare, the first sentiment which impresses 
 itself upon the mind, is of gratitude to the Omnipotent 
 Disposer of all good, for the continuance of the signal 
 blessings of his providence, and especially for that health, 
 which, to an unusual extent, has prevailed within our bor 
 ders : and for that abundance which, in the vicissitudes 
 of the seasons, has been scattered with profusion over our 
 land. Nor ought we less to ascribe to Him the glory, 
 that we are permitted to enjoy the bounties of his hand in 
 peace and tranquillity in peace with all the other nations 
 of the earth, in tranquillity among ourselves. There has, 
 indeed, rarely been a period in the history of civilized 
 man, in which the general condition of the Christian na 
 tions has been marked so extensively by peace and pros 
 perity. 
 
 Europe, with a few partial and unhappy exceptions, 
 has enjoyed ten years of peace, during which all her go 
 vernments, whatever the theory of their constitutions may 
 have been, are successively taught to feel that the end of 
 their institutions is the happiness of the people, and that 
 the exercise of power among men can be justified only by 
 the blessings it confers upon those over whom it is 
 extended. 
 
 During the same period, our intercourse with all those 
 nations has been pacific and friendly; it so continues. 
 Since the close of your late session, no material varia 
 tion has occurred in our relations with any one of them. 
 In the commercial and navigation system of Great Britain, 
 important changes of municipal regulations have recently 
 been sanctioned by the acts of parliament, the effect of 
 which upon the interests of other nations, and particular 
 ly upon ours, has not yet been fully developed. In the 
 
100 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 recent renewal of the diplomatic missions, on both sides, 
 between the two governments, assurances have been 
 given and received of the continuance and increase of 
 the mutual confidence and cordiality by which the adj-ust 
 ment of many points of difference has already been effect 
 ed, and which affords the surest pledge for the ultimate 
 satisfactory adjustment of those which still remain open, 
 or may hereafter arise. 
 
 The policy of the United States, in their commercial 
 intercourse with other nations, has always been of the 
 most liberal character. In the mutual exchange of their 
 respective productions, they have abstained altogether 
 from prohibitions ; they have interdicted themselves the 
 power of laying taxes upon exports, and whenever they 
 have favored their own shipping, by special preferences 
 or exclusive privileges in their own ports, it has been 
 only with a view to countervail similar favors and exclu 
 sions granted by the nations with whom we have been 
 engaged in traffic, to their own people or shipping, and to 
 the disadvantage of ours. Immediately after the close of 
 the last war, a proposal was fairly made by the act of Con 
 gress of the 3d March, 1815, to all maratime nations, to 
 lay aside the system of retaliating restrictions and exclu 
 sions, and to place the shipping of both parties to the 
 common trade on a footing of equality in respect to the 
 duties of tonnage and impost. This offer was partially 
 and successively accepted by Great Britain, Sweden, the 
 Netherlands, the Hanseatic cities, Prussia, Sardinia, the 
 Duke of Oldenburg, and Russia. It was also adopted, 
 under certain modifications, in our late commercial con 
 vention with France. And by the act of Congress of the 
 8th ot January, 1824, it has received a new confirmation 
 with all the nations who had acceded to it, and has been 
 offered again to all those who are or may hereafter be will 
 ing to abide in reciprocity by it. But all these regula 
 tions, whether established by treaty or by municipal 
 enactments, are still subject to one important restriction. 
 
 The removal of discriminating duties of tonnage and 
 impost, is limited to articles of the growth, produce, or 
 manufacture of the country to which the vessel belongs, 
 or to such articles as are most universally shipped from 
 
j. Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 101 
 
 her ports. It will deserve the serious consideration of 
 Congress, whether even this remnant of restriction may 
 not be safely abandoned, and whether the general tender 
 of equal competition, made in the act of 8th January, 
 1824, may not be extended to include all articles of mer 
 chandise not prohibited, of what country soever they may 
 be the produce or manufacture. Propositions to this 
 effect have already been made to us by more than one Eu 
 ropean government, and it is probable that if once esta 
 blished by legislation or compact with any distinguished 
 maratime state, it would recommend itself, by the experi 
 ence of its advantages, to the general accession of all. 
 
 The convention of commerce and navigation between 
 the United States and France, concluded on the 24th of 
 June, 1822, was, in the understanding and intent of both 
 parties, as appears upon its face, only a temporary ar 
 rangement of the points of difference between them of 
 the most immediate and pressing urgency. It was limit 
 ed, in the first instance, to two years from the first of 
 October, 1822, but with a proviso, that it should further 
 continue in force till the conclusion of a general and de 
 finitive treaty of commerce, unless terminated by a notice 
 six months in advance, of either of the parties to the 
 other. Its operation, so far as it extended, has been mu 
 tually advantageous ; and it still continues in force, by 
 common consent. But it left unadjusted several objects 
 of great interest to the citizens and subjects of both coun 
 tries, and particularly a mass of claims, to considerable 
 amount, of citizens of the United States upon the govern 
 ment of France, of indemnity for property taken or de 
 stroyed, under circumstances of the most aggravated and 
 outrageous character. In the long period during which 
 continued and earnest appeals have been made to the 
 equity and magnanimity of France, in behalf of those 
 claims, their justice has not been, as it could not be, de 
 nied. It was hoped that the accession of a new sovereign 
 to the throne, would have afforded a favorable opportu 
 nity for presenting them to the consideration of his go 
 vernment. They have been presented and urged, hither 
 to without effect. The repeated and earnest representa 
 tions of our minister at the court of France, remains a* 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 yet even without an answer. Were the demands of na 
 tions upon the justice of each other susceptible of adju 
 dication by the decision of an impartial tribunal, those to 
 whom I now refer would long since have been settled, 
 and adequate indemnity would have been obtained. There 
 are large amounts of similar claims upon the Nether 
 lands, Naples, and Denmark. For those upon Spain, 
 prior to 1819, indemnity was, after many years of patient 
 forbearance, obtained, and those of Sweden have been 
 lately compromised by a private settlement, in which the 
 claimants themselves have acquiesced. The governments 
 of Denmark and of Naples have been recently reminded 
 of those yet existing against them ; nor will any of them 
 be forgotten while a hope may be indulged of obtaining 
 iustice, by the means within the constitutional power of 
 the executive, and without resorting to those means of 
 self-redress, which, as well as the time, circumstances, 
 and occasion, which may require them, are within the 
 exclusive competency of the legislature. 
 
 It is with great satisfaction that I am enabled to bear 
 witness to the liberal spirit with which the republic of 
 Colombia has made satisfaction for well-established claims 
 of a similar character. And among the documents now 
 communicated to Congress, will be distinguished a treaty 
 of commerce and navigation with that republic, the rati 
 fications of which have been exchanged since the last re 
 cess of the legislature. The negotiation o** similar trea 
 ties with all the independent South American states, ha* 
 been contemplated, and may yet be accomplished. The 
 basis of them all, as proposed by the United States, has 
 been laid in two principles ; the one, of entire and un 
 qualified reciprocity ; the other, the mutual obligation of 
 the parties to place each other permanently on the footing 
 of the most favored nation. These principles are, indeed, 
 indispensible to the effectual emancipation of the Ameri 
 can hemisphere from the thraldom of colonizing monopo 
 lies and exclusions an event rapidly realizing in the pro 
 gress of human affairs, and which the resistance still op 
 posed in certain parts of Europe to the acknowledgment 
 of the Southern American republics as independent 
 itates, will, it is believed, contribute more effectually to 
 
j. Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 103 
 
 accomplish. The time has been, and that not remote 
 when some of these states might, in -their anxious desire 
 to obtain a nominal recognition, have accepted of a nomi 
 nal independence, clogged with burdensome conditions, 
 and exclusive commercial privileges, granted to the nation 
 from which they have separated, to the disadvantage of 
 all others. They now are all aware that such conces- 
 sbns to any European nation would be incompatible with 
 that independence which they have declared and main 
 tained. 
 
 Among the measures which have been suggested to 
 them by the new relations with one another, resulting 
 from the recent changes in their condition, is that of as 
 sembling at the Isthmus of Panama, a Congress, at which 
 each of them should be represented, to deliberate upon 
 objects important to the welfare of all. The republics 
 of Colombia, of Mexico, and of Central America, have 
 already deputed plenipotentiaries to such a meeting, and 
 they have invited the United States to be also represented 
 there by their ministers. The invitation has been accept 
 ed, and ministers on the part of the United States will 
 be commissioned to attend at those deliberations, and to 
 take part in them, so far as it may be compatible with 
 that neutrality from which it is neither our intention nor 
 the desire of the American states that we should depart. 
 
 The commissioners under the seventh article of the 
 treaty of Ghent have so nearly completed their arduous 
 labors, that, by the report recently received from the agent 
 on the part of the United States, there is reason to ex 
 pect that the commission will be closed at their next ses 
 sion, appointed for the 22d of May, of the ensuing year 
 
 The other commission appointed to ascertain the in 
 demnities due for slaves carried away from the United 
 States, after the close of the late war, have met with some 
 difficulty which has delayed their progress in the inquiry. 
 A reference has been made to the British government on 
 the subject, which, it may be hoped, will tend to hasten 
 the decision of the commissioners, or serve as a substi 
 tute for it. 
 
 Among the powers specifically granted to Congress by 
 the constitution, are those of establishing uniform law 
 
104 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United 
 States; and for providing for organizing, arming, and dis 
 ciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them 
 as may be employed in the service of the United States. 
 The magnitude and complexity of the interests affected 
 by legislation upon these subjects, may account for the 
 fact, that long and often as both of them have occupied 
 the attention, and animated the debates of Congress, no 
 systems have yet been devised for fulfilling, to the satis 
 faction of the community, the duties prescribed by these 
 grants of power. To conciliate the claim of the indi 
 vidual citizen to the enjoyment of personal liberty, with 
 the effective obligation of private contracts, is the difficult 
 problem to be solved by a law of bankruptcy. These are 
 objects of the deepest interest to society ; affecting all 
 that is precious in the existence of multitudes of persons, 
 many of them in the classes essentially dependent and 
 helpless; of the age requiring nurture, and of the sex en 
 titled to protection from the free agency of the parent and 
 the husband. The organization of the militia is yet more 
 indispensable to the liberties of the country. It is only 
 by an effective militia that we can at once enjoy the re 
 pose of peace, and bid defiance to foreign aggression ; it 
 is by the militia that we are constituted an armed nation, 
 standing in perpetual panoply of defence, in the presence 
 of all the other nations of the earth. To this end, it 
 would be necessary, if possible, so to shape its organiza 
 tion, as to give it a more united and active energy. There 
 are laws for establishing a uniform militia throughout the 
 United States, and for arming and equipping its whole 
 body. But it is a body of dislocated members, without 
 the vigor of unity, and having little of uniformity but the 
 name. To infuse into this most important institution the 
 power of which it is susceptible, and to make it available 
 for the defence of the Union, at the shortest notice, and 
 at the smallest expense possible of time, of life, and of 
 treasure, are among the benefits to be expected from the 
 persevering deliberations of Congress. 
 
 Among the unequivocal indications of our national pros- 
 oerity, is the flourishing state of our finances. The reve 
 nues of the present year, from all their principal sources, 
 
J Q. ADAMS* FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 105 
 
 will exceed the anticipations of the last. The balance 
 in the treasury on the first of January last, was a little 
 short of two millions of dollars, exclusive of two millions 
 and a half, being a moiety of the loan of five millions, 
 authorized by the act of the 26th May, 1824. The re 
 ceipts into the treasury from the first of January to the 30th 
 of September, exclusive of the other moiety of the same 
 loan, are estimated at sixteen millions five hundred thou 
 sand dollars ; and it is expected that those of the current 
 quarter will exceed five millions of dollars; forming an 
 aggregate of receipts of nearly twenty-two millions, inde 
 pendent of the loan. The expenditures of the year will 
 not exceed that sum more than two millions. By those 
 expenditures, nearly eight millions of the principal of the 
 public debt have been discharged. More than a million 
 and a half has been devoted to the debt of gratitude to the 
 warriors of the revolution ; a nearly equal sum to the 
 construction of fortifications and the acquisition of 
 ordnance, and other permanent preparations of national 
 defence ; half a million to the gradual increase of the 
 navy; an equal sum for purchases of territory from the 
 Indians, and payment of annuities to them; and upwards 
 of a million for objects of internal improvement, autho 
 rized by special acts of the last Congress. If we add to 
 these, four millions of dollars for payment of interest upon 
 the public debt, there remains a sum of about seven mil 
 lions, which have defrayed the whole expense of the ad 
 ministration of government, in its legislative, executive, 
 and judiciary departments, including the support of the 
 military and naval establishments, and all the occasional 
 contingencies of a government co-extensive with the 
 Union. 
 
 The amount of duties secured on merchandise import 
 ed, since the commencement of the year, is about twenty- 
 five millions and a half; and that which will accrue during 
 the current quarter, is estimated at five millions and a half; 
 from these thirty-one millions, deducting the drawbacks, 
 estimated at less than seven millions, a sum exceeding 
 twenty-four millions will constitute the revenue of the 
 year, and will exceed the whole expenditures of the year. 
 The entire amount of the public debt remaining due on 
 
106 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 ihe first of January next, will be short of eighty-one mil- 
 jions of dollars. 
 
 By an act of Congress on the 3d of March last, a loan 
 of twelve millions of dollars was authorized at four and 
 a half per cent., or an exchange of stock to that amount, 
 of four and a half per cent., for a stock of six per cent., 
 to create a fund fo" extinguishing an equal amount of the 
 public debt, bearing an interest of six per cent., redeema 
 ble in 1826. An account of the measures taken to give 
 effect to this act will be laid before you by the Secretary 
 of the Treasury. As the object which it had in view has 
 been but partially accomplished, it will be for the consi 
 deration of Congress, whether the power with which it 
 clothed the executive should not be renewed at an early 
 day of the present session, and under what modifications. 
 
 The act of Congress of the 3d of March last, directing 
 the Secretary of the Treasury to subscribe, in the name 
 and for the use of the United States, for one thousand five 
 hundred shares of the capital stock of the Chesapeake and 
 Delaware Canal company, has been executed by the ac 
 tual subscription for the amount specified ; and such 
 other measures have been adopted by that officer, under 
 the act, as the fulfilment of its intentions requires. The 
 latest accounts received of this important undertaking, au 
 thorize the belief that it is in successful progress. 
 
 The payments into the treasury from proceeds of the 
 sales of the public lands, during the present year, were 
 estimated at one million of dollars. The actual receipts 
 of the first two quarters have fallen very little short of 
 that sum : it is not expected that the second half of the 
 year will be equally productive ; but the income of the 
 year, from that source, may now be safely estimated at a 
 million and a half. The act of Congress of the 18th of 
 May, 1824, to provide for the extinguishment of the debt 
 due to the United States by the purchasers of publiclands, 
 was limited, in its operation of relief to the purchaser, to 
 the 10th of April last. Its effect at the end of the quar 
 ter during which it expired, was to reduce that debt from 
 ten to seven millions. By the operation of similar prior 
 laws of relief, from and since that of 2d March, 1821, 
 ihe debt had been reduced from upwards of twenty- two 
 
j. Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 107 
 
 millions to Yen. It is exceedingly desirable that it should 
 be extinguished altogether; and to facilitate that consum 
 mation, I recommend to Congress the revival, for one 
 year more, of the act of 18th of May, 1824, with such 
 provisional modification as may be necessary to guard the 
 public interests against fraudulent practices in the re-sale 
 of relinquished land. The purchasers of public lands are 
 among the most useful of our fellow-citizens ; and, since 
 the system of sales for cash alone has been introduced, 
 great indulgence has been justly extended to those who had 
 previously purchased upon credit. The debt which had 
 been contracted under the credit sales had become un- 
 wieldly, and its extinction was alike advantageous to the 
 purchaser and the public. Under the system of sales, ma 
 tured as it has been by experience, and adapted to the 
 exigencies of the times, the lands will continue, as they 
 have become, an abundant source of revenue ; and when 
 the pledge of them to the public creditor shall have been 
 redeemed, by the entire discharge of the national debt, the 
 swelling tide of wealth with which they replenish the com 
 mon treasury, may be made to reflow in unfailing streams 
 of improvement, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. 
 
 The condition of the various branches of the public 
 service resorting from the Department of War, and their 
 administration during the current year, will be exhibited 
 in the report of the Secretary of War, and the accompa 
 nying documents, herewith communicated. The organi 
 zation and discipline of the army are effective and satis 
 factory. To counteract the prevalence of desertion 
 among the troops, it has been suggested to withhold from 
 the men a small portion of their monthly pay, until the 
 period of their discharge ; and some expedient appears to 
 be necessary, to preserve and maintain among the officers 
 so much of the art of horsemanship as could scarcely fail 
 to be found wanting on the possibly sudden eruption of a 
 war, which should overtake us unprovided with a single 
 corps of cavalry. The Military Academy at West Point, 
 under the restrictions of a severe but paternal superinten 
 dence, recommends itself more and more to the patron 
 age of the nation ; and the number of meritorious offi 
 cers which it forms and introduces to the public ser- 
 
108 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 vice, furnishes the means of multiplying the undertaking 
 of public improvements, to which their acquirements at 
 that institution are peculiarly adapted. The school of 
 artillery practice, established at Fortress Monroe, is well 
 suited to the same purpose, and may need the aid of fur 
 ther legislative provision to the same end. The reports 
 of the various officers at the head of the administrative 
 branches of the military service, connected with the quar 
 tering, clothing, subsistence, health and pay of the army, 
 exhibit the assiduous vigilance of those officers in the per 
 formance of their respective duties, and the faithful ac 
 countability which has pervaded every part of the system. 
 
 Our relations with the numerous tribes of aboriginal 
 natives of this country, scattered over its extensive sur 
 face, and so dependent, even for their existence, upon our 
 power, have been during the present year highly interest 
 ing. An act of Congress of the 25th of May, 1824, 
 made an appropriation to defray the expenses of making 
 treaties of trade and friendship with the Indian tribes be 
 yond the Mississippi. An act of the 3d of March, 1825, 
 authorized treaties to be made with the Indians for their 
 consent to the making of a road from the frontier of Mis 
 souri to that of New Mexico. And another act, of the 
 same date, provided for defraying the expenses of hold 
 ing treaties with the Sioux, Chippewas, Menomonees, 
 Sacs, Foxes, &c., for the purpose of establishing boun 
 daries and promoting peace between said tribes. The 
 first and the last objects of these acts have been accom 
 plished ; and the second is yet in a process of execution. 
 The treaties which, since the last session of Congress, 
 have been concluded with the several tribes, will be laid 
 before the Senate for their consideration, conformably to 
 the constitution. They comprise large and valuable 
 acquisitions of territory; and they secure an adjustment 
 of boundaries, and give pledges of permanent peace be 
 tween several tribes which had been long waging bloody 
 wars against each other. 
 
 On the 1 2th of February last, a treaty was signed at 
 the Indian Springs, between commissioners appointed on 
 the part of the United States, and certain chiefs and indi- 
 
j. Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 109 
 
 viduals of the Creek nation of Indians, which was re 
 ceived at the seat of government only, a very few days be 
 fore the close of the last session of Congress and of the 
 late administration. The advice and consent of the Sen 
 ate was given to it on the third of March, too late for it to 
 receive the ratification of the then President of the United 
 States : it was ratified on the 7th of March, under the 
 unsuspecting impression that it had been negotiated iu 
 good faith and in the confidence inspired by the recom 
 mendation of the Senate. The subsequent transactions in 
 relation to this treaty will form the subject of a separate 
 communication. 
 
 The appropriations made by Congress for public works, 
 as well in the construction of fortifications, as for pur 
 poses of internal improvement, so far as they have been 
 expended, have been faithfully applied. Their progress 
 has been delayed by the want of suitable officers for su 
 perintending them. An increase of both the corps of 
 engineers, military and topographical, was recommended 
 by my predecessor at the last session of Congress. The 
 reasons upon which that recommendation was founded, 
 subsist in all their force, and have acquired additional 
 urgency since that time. It may also be expedient to 
 organize the topographical engineers into a corps similar 
 to the present establishment of the corps of engineers 
 The Military Academy at West Point will furnish, from 
 the cadets annually graduated there, officers well quali 
 fied for carrying this measure into effect. 
 
 The board of engineers for internal improvement, ap 
 pointed for carrying into execution the act of Congress 
 of 30th April, 1824, ** to procure the necessary surveys, 
 plans and estimates, on the subject of roads and canals, * 
 have been actively engaged in that service from the close 
 of the last session of Congress. They have completed 
 the surveys necessary for ascertaining the practicability 
 of a canal from the Chesapeake bay to the Ohio river, 
 and are preparing a full report on that subject, which 
 when completed, will be laid before you. The same ob 
 servation is to be made with regard to the two other ob 
 jects of national importance, upon which the board have 
 been occupied; namely, the accomplishment of a nation- 
 10 
 
110 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 al road from this city to New Orleans, and the practica 
 bility of uniting the waters of Lake Memphremagog with 
 Connecticut river, and the improvement of the naviga 
 tion of that river. The surveys have been made, and are 
 nearly completed. The report may be expected at an 
 early period during the present session of Congress. 
 
 The acts of Congress of the last session, relative to the 
 surveying, marking, or laying out roads in the territory 
 of Florida, Arkansas, and Michigan, from Missouri to 
 Mexico, and for the continuation of the Cumberland road, 
 are, some of them, fully executed, and others in the pro 
 cess of execution. Those for completing or commencing 
 fortifications, have been delayed only so far as the corps 
 of engineers have been inadequate to furnish officers for 
 the necessary superintendence of the works. Under the 
 act confirming the statutes of Virginia and Maryland, in 
 corporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, 
 three commissioners on the part of the United States have 
 been appointed for opening books and receiving subscrip 
 tions, in concert with alike number of commissioners 
 appointed on the part of each of those states. A meet 
 ing of the commissioners has been postponed, to await 
 the definitive report of the board of engineers. The light 
 houses and monuments for the safety of our commerce 
 and mariners ; the works for the security of Plymouth 
 Beach, and for the preservation of the islands in Boston 
 harbor, have received the attention required by tbe laws 
 relating to those objects, respectively. The continuation 
 of the Cumberland road, the most important of them all. 
 after surmounting no inconsiderable difficulty in fixing 
 upon the direction of the road, has commenced under 
 the most promising auspices, with the improvements of 
 recent invention in the mode of construction, and with 
 the advantage of a great reduction in the comparative 
 cost of the work. 
 
 The operation of the laws relating to the revolutionary 
 pensioners may deserve the renewed consideration of 
 Congress. The act of the 18th March, 1818, while it 
 made provision for many meritorious and indigent citi 
 zens who had served in the war of independence, opened 
 a door to numerous abuses and impositions. To remedy 
 
j. Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. Ill 
 
 this, the act of 1st May, 1820, exacted proofs of absolute 
 indigence, which many really in want were unable, and 
 all, susceptible of that delicacy which is allied to many 
 virtues, must be deeply reluctant to give. The result has 
 been, that some among the least deserving have been re 
 tained, and some in whom the requisites both of worth and 
 want were combined, have been stricken from the list. As 
 the numbers of these venerable relics of an age gone by, di 
 minish ; as the decays of body, mind and estate, of those 
 that survive, must, in the common course of nature, in 
 crease ; should not a more liberal portion of indulgence 
 be dealt out to them ? May not the want in most instances 
 be inferred from the demand, when the service can be 
 duly proved ; and may not the last days of human infirmity 
 be spared the mortification of purchasing a pittance of re 
 lief, only by the exposure of its own necessities ? I sub 
 mit to Congress the expediency of providing for individu 
 al cases of this description, by special enactment, or of 
 revising the act of the 1st of May, 1820, with a view to 
 mitigate the rigor of its exclusions, in favor of persons 
 to whom charity, now bestowed, can scarcely discharge 
 the debt of justice. 
 
 The portion of the naval force of the Union, in actual 
 service, has been chiefly employed on three stations : the 
 Mediterranean, the coasts of South America bordering 
 on the Pacific ocean, and the West Indies. An occasion 
 al cruiser has been sent to range along the African shores 
 most polluted by the traffic of slaves ; one armed vessel 
 has been stationed on the coast of our eastern boundary, 
 to cruise along the fishing grounds in Hudson s Bay, and 
 on the coast of Labrador ; and the first service of a new 
 frigate has been performed, in restoring to his native soil 
 and domestic enjoyments, the veteran hero whose youth 
 ful blood and treasure had freely flowed in the cause of 
 our country s independence, and whose whole life has 
 been a series of services and sacrifices to the improve 
 ment of his fellow-men. The visit of General Lafayette, 
 alike honorable to himself and to our country, closed, as 
 it had commenced, with the most affecting testimonials 
 of devoted attachment on his part, and of unbounded 
 gratitude of this people to him in return. It will form, 
 
112 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN 
 
 hereafter, a pleasing incident in the annals of our Union, 
 giving to real history the intense interest of romance, 
 and signally marking the unpurchasable tribute of a great 
 nation s social affections to the disinterested champion of 
 the liberties of human kind. 
 
 The constant maintenance of a small squadron in the 
 Mediterranean, is a necessary substitute for the humilia 
 ting alternative of paying tribute for the security of our 
 commerce in that sea, and for a precarious peace, at the 
 mercy of every caprice of four Barbary states, by whom 
 it was liable to be violated. An additional motive for 
 keeping a respectable force stationed there at this time, 
 is found in the maritime war raging between the Greeks 
 and the Turks ; and in which the neutral navigation of 
 this Union is always in danger of outrage and depreda 
 tion. A few instances have occurred of such depreda 
 tions upon our merchant vessels by privateers or pirates 
 wearing the Grecian flag, but without real authority from 
 the Greek or any other government. The heroic strug 
 gles of the Greeks themselves, in which our warmest sym 
 pathies as freemen and Christians have been engaged, have 
 continued to be maintained with vicissitudes of success 
 adverse and favorable. 
 
 Similar motives have rendered expedient the keep 
 ing of alike force on the coasts of Peru and Chili, on 
 the Pacific. The irregular and convulsive character of 
 the war upon the shores, has been extended to the con 
 flicts upon the ocean. An active warfare has been kept 
 up for years, with alternate success, though generally to 
 the advantage of the American patriots. But their naval 
 forces have not always been under the control of their 
 own governments. Blockades, unjustifiable under any ac 
 knowledged principles of international law, have been 
 proclaimed by officers in command ; and though disavow 
 ed by the supreme authorities, the protection of our own 
 commerce against them has been made a cause of com 
 plaint and erroneous imputations against some of the most 
 gallant officers of our navy. Complaints equally ground 
 less have been made by the commanders of the Spanish 
 royal forces in those seas ; but the most effective protec 
 tion to our commerce has been the flag and the firmness 
 
j. Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 113 
 
 of our own commanding officers. The cessation of the 
 war, by the complete triumph of the patriot cause, has 
 removed, it is hoped, all cause of dissention with one 
 party, and all vestige of force of the other. But an un 
 settled coast of many degrees of latitude, forming a part 
 of our own territory, and a flourishing commerce and fish 
 ery, extending to the islands of the Pacificf and to China, 
 still require that the protecting power of the Union 
 should be displayed under its flag, as well upon the ocean 
 as upon the land. 
 
 The objects of the West Indies squadron have been, 
 to carry into execution the laws for the suppression of the 
 African slave trade ; for the protection of our commerce 
 against vessels of piratical character, though bearing 
 commissions from either of the belligerent parties : for 
 its protection against open and unequivocal pirates. 
 These objects, during the present year, have been ac 
 complished more effectually than at any former period. 
 The African slave trade has long been excluded from the 
 use of our flag; and if some few citizens of our country 
 have continued to set the laws of the Union, as well as 
 those of nature and humanity, at defiance, by persevering 
 in that abominable traffic, it has been only by sheltering 
 themselves under the banners of other nations, less earn 
 est for the total extinction of the trade than ours. The 
 irregular privateers have, within the last year, been in a 
 great measure banished from those seas ; and the pirates, 
 for months past, appear to have been almost entirely 
 swept away from the borders and the shores of the two 
 Spanish islands in those regions. The active, perseve 
 ring, and unremitted energy of Captain Warrington, 
 and of the officers and men under his command, on that 
 trying and perilous service, have been crowned with sig 
 nal success, and are entitled to the approbation of their 
 country. But experience has shown that not even a 
 temporary suspension or relaxation from assiduity can be 
 indulged on that station without reproducing piracy and 
 murder in all their horrors ; nor is it probable that, for 
 years to come, our immensely valuable commerce in those 
 seas can navigate in security, without the steady contin 
 uance of an armed force devoted to its protection. 
 10* 
 
114 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 It were indeed a vain and dangerous illusion to believe 
 that in the present or probable condition of haman socie 
 ty, a commerce so extensive and so rich as> ours could 
 exist and be pursued in safety, without the continual sup 
 port of a military marine the only arm by which .the 
 power of this confederacy can be estimated or felt by 
 foreign nations, and the only standing militaiy force which 
 can never be dangerous to our own liberties at home. A 
 permanent naval peace establishment, therefore, adapted 
 to our present- condition, and adaptable to that gigantic 
 growth with which the nation is advancing in its career, 
 is among the subjects which have already occupied the 
 foresight of the last Congress, and which will deserve 
 your serious deliberations. Our navy, commenced at an 
 early period of our present political organization, upon a 
 scale commensurate with the incipient energies, the scan 
 ty resources, and the comparative indigence of our infan 
 cy, was even then found adequate to cope with all the 
 powers of Barbary, save the first, and with one of the 
 principal maritime powers of Europe. 
 
 At a period of further advancement, but with little ac 
 cession of strength, it not only sustained with honor the 
 most unequal of conflicts, but covered itself and our coun 
 try with unfading glory. But it is only since the close 
 of the late war that, by the numbers and force of the 
 ships of which it was composed, it could deserve the 
 name of a navy. Yet it retains nearly the same organi 
 zation as when it consisted of only five frigates. The 
 rules and regulations by which it is governed earnestly 
 call for revision ; and the \vant of a naval school of in 
 struction, corresponding with the Military Academy at 
 West Point, for the formation of scientific and accom 
 plished officers, is felt with daily increasing aggravation. 
 
 The act of Congress of 26th of May, 1824, authori 
 zing an examination and survey of the harbor of Charles 
 ton, in South Carolina, of St. Mary s, in Georgia, and of 
 the coast of Florida, and for other purposes, has been 
 executed so far as the appropriation would admit. Those 
 of the third of March last, authorizing the establish 
 ment of a navy yard and depot on the coast of Florida, 
 \n the Gulf of Mexico, and authorizing the building of 
 
j. Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 115 
 
 ten sloops of war, and for other purposes, are in the 
 course of execution : for the particulars of which and 
 other objects connected with this department, I refer to 
 the report of the Secretary of the Navy herewith commu 
 nicated. 
 
 A report from the Postmaster-general is also submit 
 ted, exhibiting the present flourishing condition of that 
 department. For the first time for many years, the re 
 ceipts for the year ending on the first of July las t, ex 
 ceeded the expenditures during the same period, to the 
 amount of more than forty-five thousand dollars. Other 
 facts, equally creditable to the administration of this de 
 partment, are, that in two years from the first of July, 
 1823, an improvement of more than one hundred and 
 eighty-five thousand dollars, in its pecuniary affairs, has 
 been realized ; that, in the same interval, the increase of 
 the transportation of the mail has exceeded one million 
 five hundred thousand miles annually ; and that one thou 
 sand and forty new post-offices have been established. 
 It hence appears, that under judicious management, the 
 income from this establishment may be relied on as fully 
 adequate to defray its expenses ; and that, by the discon 
 tinuance of post roads, altogether unproductive, others of 
 more useful character may be opened, till the circulation 
 of the mail shall keep pace with the spread of our popu 
 lation, and the comforts of friendly correspondence, the 
 exchanges of internal traffic, and the lights of the period 
 ical press, shall be distributed to the remotest corners of 
 the Union, at a charge scarcely perceptible to any indi 
 vidual, and without the cost of a dollar to the public trea 
 sury. 
 
 Upon this first occasion of addressing the legislature 
 of the Union, with which I have been honored, in pre 
 senting to their view the execution, so far as it has been 
 effected, of the measures sanctioned by them, for promo 
 ting the internal improvement of our country, I cannot 
 close the communication without recommending to their 
 calm and persevering consideration the general prin 
 ciple in a more enlarged extent. The great object of 
 the institution of civil government is the improvement 
 of the condition of those who are parties to the social 
 
116 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN 
 
 compact. And no government, in whatever form con 
 stituted, can accomplish the lawful ends of its institution, 
 but in proportion as it improves the condition of those 
 over whom it is established. Roads and canals, by mul 
 tiplying and facilitating the communications and inter 
 course between distant regions and multitudes of men, 
 are among the most important means of improvement. 
 But moral, political and intellectual improvement, are 
 duties assigned by the Author of our existence, to social, 
 no less than to individual man. For the fulfilment of 
 those duties, governments are invested with power; and, 
 to the attainment of the end, the progressive improve 
 ment of the condition of the governed, the exercise of 
 delegated powers is a duty as sacred and indispensable, 
 as the usurpation of powers not granted is criminal and 
 odious. Among the first, perhaps the very first instru 
 ment for the improvement of the condition of men, is 
 knowledge ; and to the acquisition of much of the know 
 ledge adapted to the wants, the comforts, and enjoyments 
 of human life, public institutions and seminaries of 
 learning are essential. So convinced of this was the 
 first of my predecessors in this office, now first in the 
 memory as, living, he was first in the hearts of our coun 
 try, that once and again, in his addresses to the Con 
 gresses with whom he co-operated in the public service, 
 he earnestly recommended the establishmentof seminaries 
 of learning, to prepare for all the emergencies of peace 
 and war a national university, and a military academy. 
 "With respect to the latter, had he lived to the present 
 day, in turning his eyes to the institution at West Point, 
 he would have enjoyed the gratification of his most ear 
 nest wishes. But, in surveying the city which has been 
 honored with his name, he would have seen the spot of 
 earth which he had destined and bequeathed to the use 
 and benefit of his country as the site for a university, still 
 bare and barren. 
 
 In assuming her station among the civilized nations of 
 the earth, it would seem that our country had contracted 
 the engagement to contribute her share of mind, of labor, 
 and of expense, to the improvement of those parts of 
 knowledge which He beyond the reach of individual 
 
j. Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE, 117 
 
 acquisition; and particularly to geographical arid astro 
 nomical science. Looking back to -the history only of 
 half the century since the declaration of our indepen 
 dence, and observing the generous emulation with which 
 the governments of France, Great Britain, and Russia, 
 have devoted the genius, the intelligence, the treasures 
 of their respective nations, to the common improvement 
 of the species in these branches of science, is it not in 
 cumbent upon us to inquire whether we are not bound 
 by obligations of a high and honorable character to con 
 tribute our portion of energy and exertion to the common 
 &tock? The voyages of discovery prosecuted in the 
 course of that time at the expense of those nations, have 
 not only redounded to their glory, but to the improvement 
 of human knowledge. We have been partakers of that 
 improvement, and owe for it a sacred debt, not only of 
 gratitude, but of equal and proportional exertion in the 
 same common cause. Of the cost of these undertakings, 
 if the mere expenditures of outfit, equipment, and com 
 pletion of the expeditions, were to be considered the 
 only charges, it would be unworthy of a great and gene 
 rous nation to take a second thought. One hundred 
 expeditions of circumnavigation, like those of Cook and 
 La Perouse, would not burden the exchequer of the na 
 tion fitting them out, so much as the ways and means of 
 defraying a single campaign in war. But if we take 
 into the account the lives of those benefactors of man 
 kind, of which their services in the cause of their species 
 were the purchase, how shall the cost of those heroic 
 enterprises be estimated ? And what compensation can 
 be made to them, or to their countries for them ? Is it 
 not by bearing them in affectionate remembrance ? Is it 
 not still more by imitating their example? by enabling 
 countrymen of our own to pursue the same career, and 
 to hazard their lives in the same cause ? 
 
 On inviting the attention of Congress on the subject of 
 internal improvements, upon a view thus enlarged, it is 
 not my design to recommend the equipment of an expe 
 dition for circumnavigating the globe for purposes of 
 scientific research and inquiry. We have objects of 
 usejful investigation nearer home, and to which our cares 
 
118 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 may be more beneficially applied. The inxM^or of our 
 own territories has yet been very imperfectly explored. 
 Our coasts, along manv degrees of latitude upon the 
 shores of the Pacific O3ean, though much frequented by 
 our spirited commercial navigators, have been barely 
 visited by our public ships. The river of the west, first 
 fully discovered and navigated by a countryman of our 
 own, still bears the name of the ship in which he as 
 cended its waters, and claims the protection of our armed 
 national (lag at its mouth. With the establishment of a 
 military post there, or at some other point of that coast, 
 recommended by my predecessor, and already matured 
 in the deliberations of the last Congress, I would suggest 
 the expediency of connecting the equipment of a public 
 ship for the exploration of the whole north-west coast of 
 this continent. 
 
 The establishment of a uniform standard of weights 
 and measures, was one of the specific objects contem 
 plated in the formation of our constitution ; and to fix 
 that standard was one of the powers delegated by express 
 terms, in that instrument, to Congress. The governments 
 of Great Britain and France have scarcely ceased to be 
 occupied with inquiries and speculations on the same 
 subject, since the existence of our constitution ; and 
 with them it has expanded into profound, laborious, and 
 expensive researches into the figure of the earth, and the 
 comparative length of the pendulum vibrating seconds in 
 various latitudes, from the equator to the pole. These 
 researches have resulted in the composition and publica 
 tion of several works highly interesting to the cause ot 
 science. The experiments are yet in the process of per 
 formance. Some of them have recently been made on 
 our own shores, within the walls of one of our own col 
 leges, and partly by one of our own fellow-citizens. It 
 would be honorable to our country if the sequel of the 
 same experiments should be countenanced by the patron 
 age of our government, as they have hitherto been by 
 those of France and Great Britain. 
 
 Connected with the establishment of a university, or 
 eparate from it, might be undertaken the erection G^. an 
 astronomical observatory, with provision for the support 
 
j. Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 119 
 
 of an astronomer, to be in constant attendance of ob 
 servation upon the phenomena of the heavens ; and fo* 
 the periodical publication of his observations. It is with 
 no feeling of pride, as an American, that the remark may 
 be made, that, on the comparatively small territorial surface 
 of Europe, there are existing upwards of one hundred and 
 thirty of these light-houses of the skies ; while through 
 out the whole American hemisphere there is not one. 
 If we reflect a moment upon the discoveries which, in 
 the last four centuries, have been made in the physical 
 constitution of the universe, by the means of these build 
 ings, and of observers stationed in them, shall we doubt 
 of their usefulness to every nation ? And while scarcely 
 a year passes over our heads without bringing some new 
 astronomical discovery to light, which we must fain re 
 ceive at second hand from Europe, are we not cutting 
 ourselves off from the means of returning light for light, 
 while we have neither observatory nor observer upon 
 our half of the globe, and the earth revolves in perpetual 
 darkness to our unsearching eyes? 
 
 When, on the 25th of October, 1791, the first Presi 
 dent of the United States announced to Congress the re 
 sult of the first enumeration of the inhabitants of this 
 Union, he informed them that the returns gave the plea 
 sing assurance that the population of the United States 
 bordered on four millions of persons. At the distance 
 of thirty years from that time, the last enumeration, five 
 years since completed, presented a population bordering 
 on ten millions. Perhaps of ail the evidences of a pros 
 perous and happy condition of human society, the rapid 
 ity of the increase of population is the most unequivo 
 cal. But the demonstration of our prosperity rests not 
 alone upon this indication. Our commerce, our wealth, 
 and the extent of our territories have increased in corres 
 ponding proportions ; and the number of independent 
 communities, associated in our federal Union, has, since 
 that time, nearly doubled. The legislative representation 
 of the states and people, in the two houses of Congress, 
 has grown with the growth of their constituent bodies. 
 The House, which then consisted of sixty-five members, 
 now numbers upwards of two hundred. The Senate, 
 
120 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 which consisted of twenty-six members, has now forty- 
 eight. But the executive, and still more the judiciary 
 departments, are yet in a great measure confined to theii 
 primitive organization, and are now not adequate to the 
 urgent wants of a still growing community. 
 
 The naval armaments, which at an early period forced 
 themselves upon the necessities of the Union, soon led 
 to the establishment of a department of the navy. But 
 the departments of foreign affairs and of the interior, 
 which, early after the formation of the government, had 
 been united in one, continue so united to this time to 
 the unquestionable detriment of the public service. The 
 multiplication of our relations with the nations and go 
 vernments of the old world, has kept pace with that of 
 our population and commerce, while, within the last ten 
 years, a new family of nations, in our own hemisphere, 
 has arisen among the inhabitants of the earth, with whom 
 our intercourse, commercial and political, would, of it 
 self, furnish occupation to an active and industrious de 
 partment. The constitution of the judiciary, experimen 
 tal and imperfect as it was, even in the infancy of our 
 existing government, is yet more inadequate to the admin 
 istration of national justice at our present maturity. Nine 
 years have elapsed since a predecessor in this office, now 
 not the last, the citizen who perhaps of all others through 
 out the Union, contributed most to the formation and 
 establishment of our constitution, in his valedictory ad 
 dress to Congress, immediately preceding his retirement 
 from public life, urgently recommended the revision of 
 the judiciary, and the establishment of an additional exe 
 cutive department. The exigencies of the public service 
 and its unavoidable deficiencies, as now in exercise, have 
 added yearly cumulative weight to the considerations pre 
 sented by him as persuasive to the measure; and in re 
 commending it to your deliberations, I am happy to have 
 the influence of his high authority in aid of the undoubt- 
 ing convictions of my own experience. 
 
 The laws relating to the administration of the Patent 
 Office are deserving of much consideration, and perhaps 
 susceptible of some improvement. The grant of power 
 to regulate the action of Congress on this subject, hai 
 
J. Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 121 
 
 pecified both the end to be obtained and the means by 
 which it is to be effected, " to promote the progress of 
 science and the useful arts, by securing, for limited times, 
 to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their re 
 spective writings and discoveries." If an honest pride 
 might be indulged in the reflection, that on the records 
 of that office are already found inventions, the usefulness 
 of which has scarcely been transcended in the annals of 
 human ingenuity, would not its exultation be allayed by 
 the inquiry, whether the laws have effectively insured to 
 tho inventors the reward destined to them by the consti 
 tution even a limited term of exclusive right to their dis 
 coveries ? 
 
 On the 24th of December, 1799, it was resolved by 
 Congress, that a marble monument should be erected by 
 the United States, in the capitol, at the city of Washing 
 ton ; that the family of General Washington should be 
 requested to permit his body to be deposited under it; and 
 that the monument be so designed as to commemorate 
 the great events of his military and political life. In re 
 minding Congress of this resolution, and that the monu 
 ment contemplated by it remains yet without execution, 
 I shall indulge only the remarks, that the works at the 
 capitol are approaching to completion ; that the consent 
 of the family, desired by the resolution, was requested and 
 obtained ; that a monument has been recently erected in 
 this city, over the remains of another distinguished patriot 
 of the revolution ; and that a spot has b( en reserved with 
 in the walls where you are deliberating for the benefit 
 of this and future ages, in which the mortal remains may 
 be deposited of him whose spirit hovers over you, and 
 listens with delight to every act of the representatives of 
 his nation which can tend to exalt and adorn his and their 
 country. 
 
 The constitution under which you are assembled, is a 
 charter of limited powers. After full and solemn delibe 
 ration upon all or any of the objects which, urged by an 
 irresistible sense of my own duty, I have recommended 
 to your attention, should you come to the conclusion, that, 
 however desirable in themselves, the enactment of laws 
 for effecting them would transcend the powers committed 
 11 
 
122 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 to you by that venerable instrument which we are ah 
 oound to support ; let no consideration induce you to as 
 sume the exercise of powers not granted to you by the 
 people. But ii the power to exercise exclusive legisla 
 tion in all cases wnatsoever, over the District of Colum 
 bia; if the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, 
 and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common 
 defence and general welfare of the United States; if the 
 power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and 
 among the several states, and with the Indian tribes ; tc 
 fix the standard of weights and measures; to establish 
 post-offices and post-roads ; to declare war ; to raise and 
 support armies ; to provide and maintain a navy ; to dis 
 pose ot and make all needful rules and regulations re 
 specting the territory or other property belonging to the 
 United States; and to make all laws which shall be ne 
 cessary and proper for carrying these powers into execu 
 tion : if these powers, and others enumerated in the con 
 stitution, may be effectually brought into action by laws 
 promoting the improvement of agriculture, commerce, 
 and manufactures, the cultivation and encouragement of 
 the mechanic and of the elegant arts, the advancement 
 of literature, and the progress of the sciences, orna 
 mental and profound ; to refrain from exercising them 
 for the benefit of the people themselves, would be to hide 
 in the earth the talent committed to our charge would be 
 treachery to the most sacred of trusts. 
 
 The spirit of improvement is abroad upon the earth. 
 It stimulates the hearts and sharpens the faculties, not of 
 our fellow-citizens alone, but of the nations of Europe, 
 and of their rulers. While dwelling with pleasing satis 
 faction upon the superior excellence of our political in 
 stitutions, let us not be unmindful that liberty is power ; 
 that the nation blessed with the largest portion of liberty, 
 must, in proportion to its numbers, be the most power 
 ful nation upon earth ; and that the tenure of power by 
 man is, in the moral purposes of his Creator, upon 
 condition that it shall be exercised to ends of beneficence, 
 to improve the condition of himself and his fellow-men. 
 While foreign nations, less blessed with that freedom 
 which is power than ourselves, are advancing with gigan- 
 
j Q. ADAMS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 12 J 
 
 tic strides in the career of public improvement; were we 
 10 slumber in indolence, or fold up our arms and proclaim 
 to the world that we are palsied by the will of our consti 
 tuents, would it not be to cast away the bounties of Pro 
 vidence, and doom ourselves to perpetual inferiority ? In 
 he course. of the year now drawing to its close, we have 
 DehelJ, under the auspices and expense of one state in our 
 Union, a new university unfolding its portals to the sons 
 of science, and holding up the torch of human improve 
 ment to eyes that seek the light. We have seen under 
 the persevering and enlightened enterprise of another 
 state, the waters of our western lakes mingle with those 
 of the ocean. If undertakingsjike these have been ac 
 complished in the compass of a few years, by the autho 
 rity of single members of our confederation, can we, the 
 representative authorities of the whole Union, fall behind 
 our fellow servants in the exercise of the trust committed 
 tons for the benefit of our common sovereign, by the ac- 
 complishment of works important to the whole, and to 
 which neither the authority nor the resources of any one 
 state can be adequate ? 
 
 Finally, fellow-citizens, I shall await, with cheering 
 hope and faithful co-operation, the result of your delibera 
 tions ; assured that, without encroaching upon the pow 
 ers reserved to the authorities of the respective states, or 
 to the people, you will, with a due sense of your obliga 
 tions to your country, and of the high responsibilities 
 weighing upon yourselves, give efficacy to the means com 
 mitted to you for the common good. And may He who 
 searches the hearts of the children of men, prosper your 
 exertions to secure the blessings of peace and promote 
 the highest welfare of our country. 
 
124 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 JACKSON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 
 MARCH 4, 1829. 
 
 Fellow Citizens: 
 
 About to undertake the arduous duties that I have been 
 appointed to perform, by the choice of a free people, I 
 avail myself of this customary and solemn occasion to ex 
 press the gratitude which their confidence inspires, and 
 to acknowledge the accountability which my situation en 
 joins. While the magnitude of their interests convinces 
 me that no thanks can be adequate to the honor they 
 have conferred, it admonishes me that the best return I 
 can make, is the zealous dedication of my humble abili 
 ties to their service and their good. 
 
 As the instrument of the federal constitution, it will 
 devolve upon me, for a stated period, to execute the laws 
 of the United States ; to superintend their foreign and 
 confederate relations ; to manage their revenue ; to com 
 mand their forces ; and, by communications to the legis 
 lature, to watch over and to promote their interests gene 
 rally. And the principles of action by which I shall 
 endeavor to accomplish this circle of duties, it is now 
 proper for me briefly to explain. 
 
 In administering the laws of Congress, I shall keep 
 steadily in view the limitations as well as the extent of 
 the executive power, trusting thereby to discharge the 
 functions of my office, without transcending its authority. 
 With foreign nations, it will be my study to preserve 
 peace, and to cultivate friendship on fair and honorable 
 terms ; and in the adjustment of any differences that may 
 exist or arise, to exhibit the forbearance becoming a 
 powerful nation, rather than the sensibility belonging to 
 a gallant people. 
 
 In such measures as I may be called on to pursue, in 
 regard to the rights of the separate states, I hope to be 
 animated by a proper respect for those sovereign members 
 of our Union; taking care not to confound the powers 
 they have reserved to themselves with those they have 
 granted to the confederacy. 
 
125 
 
 The management of the public revenue that search 
 ing operation of all governments is among the most 
 delicate and important trusts in ours ; and it will, of 
 course, demand no inconsiderable share of my official 
 solicitude. Under every aspect in which it can be con 
 sidered, it would appear that advantage must result from 
 the observance of a strict and faithful economy. This I 
 shall aim at the more anxiously, both because it will facili 
 tate the extinguishment of the national debt, the unne 
 cessary duration of which is incompatible with real inde 
 pendence, and because it will counteract that tendency 
 to public and private profligacy which a profuse expendi 
 ture of money by the government is but too apt to en 
 gender. Powerful auxiliaries to the attainment of this 
 desirable end, are to be found in the regulations provided 
 by the wisdom of Congress for the specific appropriation 
 of public money, and the prompt accountability of pub 
 lic officers. With regard to a proper selection of the 
 subjects of impost, with a view to revenue, it would seem 
 to me that the spirit of equity, caution, and compromise, 
 in which the constitution was formed, requires that the 
 great interests of agriculture, commerce and manufac 
 tures, should be equally favored, and that perhaps the only 
 exception to this rule should consist in the peculiar en 
 couragement of any products of either of them that may 
 be found essential to our national independence. 
 
 Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, 
 so far as they can be promoted by the constitutional acts 
 of the federal government, are of high importance. 
 
 Considering standing armies as dangerous to free go 
 vernments in time of peace, I shall not seek to enlarge 
 our present establishment, nor to disregard that salutary 
 lesson of political experience which teaches that the mili 
 tary should be held subordinate to the civil power. The 
 gradual increase of our navy, whose flag has displayed, in 
 distant climes, our skill in navigation, and our fame in 
 arms ; the preservation of our forts, arsenals, and dock 
 yards; and the introduction of progressive improvements 
 in the discipline and science of both branches of our 
 rtilitary service, are so plainly prescribed by piudence 
 that I should be excused for omitting their mention, sooner 
 11* 
 
126 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 than enlarging on their importance. But the bulwark 
 of our defence is the national militia, which, in the pre 
 sent state of our intelligence and population, must render 
 us invincible. As long as our government is administered 
 for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; 
 as long as it secures to us the right of person and pro 
 perty, liberty of conscience, and of the press, it will be 
 worth defending ; and so long as it is worth defending, a 
 patriotic militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis. 
 Partial injuries and occasional mortifications we may be 
 subjected to ; but a million of armed freemen, possessed 
 of the means of war, can never be conquered by a fo 
 reign foe. To any just system, therefore, calculated to 
 strengthen this natural safeguard of the country, I shall 
 cheerfully lend all the aid in my power 
 
 It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe 
 towards the Indian tribes within our limits, a just and 
 liberal policy ; and to give that, humane and considerate 
 attention to their rights and their wants, which are con 
 sistent with the habits of our government and the feelings 
 of our people. 
 
 The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes 
 on the list of executive duties, in characters too legible 
 to be overlooked, the task of reform ; which will require, 
 particularly the correction of those abuses that have 
 brought the patronage of the federal government into 
 conflict with the freedom of elections, and the counter 
 action of those causes which have disturbed the rightful 
 course of appointment, and have placed or continued 
 power in unfaithful or incompetent hands. 
 
 In the performance of a task thus generally delineated, 
 I shall endeavor to select men whose diligence and talents 
 will insure, in their respective stations, able and faithful 
 co-operation depending for the advancement of the pub 
 lic service, more on the integrity and zeal of the public 
 officers, than on their numbers. 
 
 A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications, 
 will teach me to look with reverence to the examples of 
 public virtue left by my illustrious predecessors, arid with 
 veneration to the lights that flow from the mind that found 
 ed and the mind that reformed our system. The samo 
 
127 
 
 diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid 
 from the co-ordinate branches of the government, and 
 for the indulgence and support of my fellow-citizens gene 
 rally. And a firm reliance on the goodness of that Pow 
 er whose providence mercifully protected our national 
 infancy, and has since upheld our liberties in various 
 vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my ardent suppli 
 cations that He will continue to make our beloved coun 
 try the object of his divine care and gracious benediction 
 
 JACKSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE, 
 DECEMBER 8, 1829. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens of the Senate, 
 
 and House of Representatives : 
 
 It affords me pleasure to tender my friendly greetings 
 to you on the occasion of your assembling at the seat of 
 government, to enter upon the important duties to which 
 you have been called by the voice of our countrymen. 
 The task devolves on me, under a provision of the consti 
 tution, to present to you, as the federal legislature of 
 twenty-four sovereign states, and twelve millrons of happy 
 people, a view of our affairs ; and to propose such mea 
 sures as, in the discharge of my official functions, have 
 suggested themselves as necessary to promote the objects 
 of our Union. 
 
 In communicating with you for the first time, it is to 
 me a source of unfeigned satisfaction, calling for mutual 
 gratulation and devout thanks to a benign Providence, 
 that we are at peace with all mankind ; and that our 
 country exhibits the most cheering evidence of general 
 we.fare and progressive improvement. Turning our eyes 
 to other nations, our great desire is to see our brethren 
 of the human race secured in the blessings they enjoy by 
 ourselves, and advancing in knowledge, in freedom, and 
 In social happiness. 
 
128 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 Our foreign relations, although in their general cha* 
 racter pacific and friendly, present subjects of difference 
 between us and other powers of deep interest, as well to 
 the country at large as to many of our citizens. To ef 
 fect an adjustment of these shall continue to be the ob 
 ject of my earnest endeavors ; and notwithstanding the 
 difficulties of the task, I do not allow myself to appre 
 hend unfavorable results. Blessed as our country is with 
 every thing which constitutes national strength, she is 
 fully adequate to the maintenance of all her interests. In 
 discharging the responsible trust confided to the executive 
 in this respect, it is my settled purpose to ask nothing 
 that is not clearly right, and to submit to nothing that is 
 wrong; and I flatter myself, that, supported by the other 
 branches of the government, and by the intelligence and 
 patriotism of the people, we shall be able, under the pro 
 tection of Providence, to cause all our just rights to be 
 respected. 
 
 Of the unsettled matters between the United States 
 and other powers, the most prominent of those which 
 have for years been the subject of negotiation with Eng 
 land, France, and Spain. The late periods at which 
 our ministers to those governments left the United States, 
 render it impossible, at this early day, to inform you of 
 what has been done on the subjects with which they have 
 been respectively charged. Relying upon the justice of 
 our views in relation to the points committed to negotia 
 tion, and the reciprocal good feeling which characterizes 
 our intercourse with those nations, we have the best rea 
 son to hope for a satifactory adjustment of existing dif 
 ferences. 
 
 With Great Britain, alike distinguished in peace and 
 war, we may look forward to years of peaceful, honora 
 ble, and elevated competition. Every thing in the condi 
 tion and history of the two nations is calculated-to inspire 
 sentiments of mutual respect, and to carry conviction to 
 the minds of both, that it is their policy to preserve the 
 most cordial relations. Such are my own views ; and it 
 is not to be doubted that such are also the prevailing sen- 
 iimenls of our constituents. Although neither time nor 
 opportunity has been afforded for a full development of 
 
125 
 
 the policy which the present cabinet of Great Britain de- 
 signs to pursue towards this country, I indulge the hope 
 that it will be of a just and pacific character ; and if this 
 anticipation be realized, we may look with confidence to 
 a speedy and acceptable adjustment of our affairs. 
 
 Under the convention for regulating the reference to 
 arbitration the disputed points of boundary under the 
 fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, the proceedings have 
 hitherto been conducted in the spirit of candor and libe 
 rality which ought ever to characterize the acts of sove 
 reign states, seeking to adjust, by the most unexception 
 able means, important and delicate subjects of contention. 
 The first statements of the parties have been exchanged, 
 and the final replication on our part is in a course of pre 
 paration. This subject has received the attention de 
 manded by its great and peculiar importance to a patriotic 
 member of this confederacy. The exposition of our 
 rights, already made, is such as from the high reputation 
 of the commissioners by whom it has been prepared, we 
 had a right to expect. Our interests at the court of the 
 sovereign who has evinced his friendly disposition, by 
 assuming the delicate task of arbitration, have been com 
 mitted to a citizen of the state of Maine, whose charac 
 ter, talents, and intimate acquaintance with the subject, 
 eminently qualify him for so responsible a trust. With 
 full confidence in the justice of our cause, and in the pro 
 bity, intelligence, and uncompromising independence of 
 the illustrious arbitrator, we can have nothing to appre 
 hend from the result. 
 
 From France, our ancient ally, we have a right to ex 
 pect that justice which becomes the sovereign of a pow 
 erful, intelligent, and magnanimous people. The benefi 
 cial effects produced by the commercial convention of 
 1822, limited as are its provisions, are too obvious not to 
 make a salutary impression upon the minds of those who 
 are charged with the administration of her government. 
 Should this result induce a disposition to embrace to theii 
 full extent the wholesome principles which constitute our 
 commercial policy, our minister to that court will be 
 found instructed to cherish such a disposition, and to aid 
 
130 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 in conducting 1 it to useful practical conclusions. Thi 
 claims of our citizens for depredations upon their pro 
 perty, long since committed under the authority, and in 
 many instances, by the express direction, of the then ex 
 isting 1 government of France, remained unsatisfied; and 
 must, therefore, continue, to furnish a subject of unplea 
 sant discussion, and possible collision, between the two 
 governments. I cherish, however, a lively hope, founded 
 as well on the validity of those claims, and the established 
 policy of all enlightened governments, as on the known 
 integrity of the French monarch, that the injurious delays 
 of the past will find redress in the equity of the future. 
 Our minister has been instructed to press these demands 
 on the French government with all the earnestness which 
 is called for by their importance and irrefutable justice; 
 and in a spirit that will evince the respect which is due 
 to the feelings of those from whom the satisfaction is re 
 quired. 
 
 Our minister recently appointed to Spain has been 
 authorized to assist in removing evils alike injurious to 
 both countries, either by concluding a commercial con 
 vention upon liberal and reciprocal terms; or by urging 
 the acceptance, in their full extent, of the mutually bene 
 ficial provisions of our navigation act. He has also been 
 instructed to make a further appeal to the justice of Spain, 
 in behalf of our citizens, for indemnity for spoliations 
 upon our commerce, committed under her authority an 
 appeal which the pacific and liberal course observed on 
 our part, and a due confidence in the honor of that go 
 vernment authorized us to expect will not he made in 
 vain. 
 
 With other European powers, our intercourse is on the 
 most friendly footing. In Russia, placed by her territo 
 rial limits, extensive population, and great power, high in 
 the rank of nations, the United States have always found 
 a steadfast friend. Although her recent invasions of Tur 
 key awakened a lively sympathy for those who were ex 
 posed to the desolations of war, we cannot but anticipate 
 that the result will prove favorable to the cause of civili 
 zation, and to the progress of human happiness. The 
 treaty of peace between these powers having been ratified, 
 
JACKSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 131 
 
 we cannot be insensible to the great benefit to be derived 
 oy the commerce of the United States from unlocking the 
 navigation of the Black Sea a free passage into which 
 is secured to all merchant vessels bound to ports of Rus 
 sia under a flag at peace with the Porte. This advan 
 tage, enjoyed upon conditions, by most of the powers ot 
 Europe, has hitherto been withheld from us. During 
 the past summer, an antecedent but unsuccessful attempt 
 to obtain it, was renewed under circumstances which pro 
 mised the most favorable results. Although these results 
 have fortunately been thus in part attained, further facili 
 ties to the enjoyment of this new field for the enterprise 
 of our citizens are, in my opinion, sufficiently desirable 
 to insure to them our most zealous attention. 
 
 Our trade with Austria, although of secondary import 
 ance, has been gradually increasing; and is now so ex 
 tended as to deserve the fostering care of the government. 
 A negotiation, commenced and nearly completed with 
 that power, by the late administration, has been consum 
 mated by a treaty of amity, navigation and commerce, 
 which will be laid before the Senate. 
 
 During the recess of Congress, our diplomatic relations 
 with Portugal have been resumed. The peculiar state 
 of things in that country caused a suspension of the 
 recognition of the representative who presented himself, 
 until an opportunity was had to obtain from our official 
 organ there, information regarding the actual, and, as far 
 as practicable, prospective condition of the authority by 
 which the representative in question was appointed. This 
 information being received, the application of the esta 
 blished rule of our government, in like cases, was no 
 longer withheld. 
 
 Considerable advances have been made during the 
 present year in the adjustment of claims of our citizens 
 upon Denmark for spoliations ; but all that we have a right 
 to demand from that government in their behalf has not 
 yet been conceded. From the liberal footing, however, 
 upon which this subject has, with the approbation of the 
 claimants, been placed by the government, together with 
 the uniformly just and friendly disposition which has been 
 evinced bv his Danish majesty, there is a reasonable 
 
132 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 ground to hope that this single subject of difference will 
 speedily be removed. 
 
 Our relations with the Barbary powers continue, as 
 they have long been, of the most favorable character. 
 The policy o4 keeping an adequate force in the Mediterra 
 nean, as security for the continuance of this tranquillity 
 will be persevered in ; as well as a similar one for the 
 protection of our commerce and fisheries in the Pacific 
 
 The southern republics of our hemisphere have not yet 
 realized all the advantages for which they have been so 
 long struggling. We trust, however, that the day is not 
 distant when the restoration of peace and internal quiet, 
 under permanent systems of government, securing the 
 liberty, and promoting the happiness of the citizens, will 
 crown, with complete success, their long and arduous 
 efforts in the cause of self-government ; and enable us to 
 salute them as friendly rivals in all that is truly great and 
 glorious. 
 
 The recent invasion of Mexico, and the effect thereby 
 produced upon her domestic policy, must have a control 
 ling influence upon the great question of South Ameri 
 can emancipation. We have seen the fell spirit of civil 
 dissension rebuked, and, perhaps, forever stifled in that 
 republic by the love of independence. If it be true, as 
 appearances strongly indicate, that the spiiit of indepen 
 dence is the master spirit; and if a corresponding senti 
 ment prevails in the other states, this devo ion to liberty 
 cannot be without a proper effect upon ths counsels of 
 the mother country. The adoption by Spain of a pacific 
 policy towards her former colonies an event consoling 
 to humanity, and a blessing to the world, in which she 
 herself cannot fail largely to participate may be most 
 reasonably expected. 
 
 The claims of our citizens upon the South American 
 governments generally, are in a train of settlement, while 
 the principal part of those upon Brazil have been adjusted ; 
 and a decree in council, ordering bonds to be issued by 
 the minister of the treasury for their amount, has received 
 the sanction of his imperial majesty. This event, toge 
 ther with the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty 
 negotiated and concluded in 1828, happily terminates all 
 eerious causes of difference with that power 
 
JACKSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 133 
 
 Measures have been taken to place our commercial re 
 lations with Peru upon a better footing than that upon 
 which they have hitherto rested ; and it met by a proper 
 disposition on the part of that government, important bene 
 fits may be secured to both countries. 
 
 Deeply interested as we are in the prosperity of our 
 sister republics ; and more particularly in that of our 
 immediate neighbor, it would be most gratifying to me 
 were 1 permitted to say, that the treatment which we have 
 received at her hands has been as universally friendly, as 
 the early and constant solicitude manifested by the United 
 States for her success, gave us a right to expect. But it 
 becomes my duty to inform you that prejudices long in 
 dulged by a portion of the inhabitants of Mexico against 
 the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of 
 the United States, have had an unfortunate influence upon 
 the affairs of the two countries ; and have diminished that 
 usefulness to his own which was justly to be expected 
 from his talents and zeal. To this cause in a great de 
 gree is to be imputed the failure of several measures 
 equally interesting to both parties ; but particularly that 
 of the Mexican government to ratify a treaty negotiated 
 and concluded in its own capital, and under its own eye. 
 Under these circumstances, it appeared expedient to give 
 to Mr. Poinsett the option either to return or not, as in 
 his judgment the interest of his country might require, 
 and instructions to that end were prepared ; but before 
 they could be despatched, a communication was received 
 from the government of Mexico, through its charge d af 
 faires here, requesting the recall of our minister. This 
 was promptly complied with ; and a representative of a 
 rank corresponding with that of the Mexican diplomatic 
 agent near this government was appointed. Our conduct 
 towards that republic has been uniformly of the most 
 friendly character ; and having thus removed the only 
 alleged obstacle to harmonious intercourse, I cannot but 
 hope that an advantageous change will occur in our affairs. 
 
 In justice to Mr. Poinsett, it is proper to say, that my 
 immediate compliance with the application for his recall, 
 and the appointment of a successor, are not to be ascri 
 bed to any evidence that the imputation of an improper 
 19 
 
134 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 interference by him, in the local politics of Mexico, wa 
 well founded ; nor to a want of confidence in his talents 
 or integrity ; and to add, that the truth of that charge has 
 never been affirmed by the federal government of Mexico, 
 in their communications with this. 
 
 I consider it one of the most urgent of my duties to 
 bring to your attention the propriety of amending that 
 jart of our constitution which relates to the election of 
 President and Vice-President. Our system of govern 
 ment was, by its framers, deemed an experiment; and 
 they, therefore, consistently provided a mode of remedy 
 ing its defects. 
 
 To the people belongs the right of electing their chief 
 magistrate ; it was never designed that their choice should, 
 in any case, be defeated, either by the intervention of 
 electoral colleges, or by the agency confided, under cer 
 tain contingencies, to the House of Representatives. Expe 
 rience proves, that, in proportion as agents to execute the 
 will of the people are multiplied, there is danger of their 
 wishes being frustrated. Some may be unfaithful; all are 
 liable to err. So far, therefore, as the people can, with con 
 venience, speak, it is safer for them to express their own 
 will. 
 
 The number of aspirants to the presidency, and the 
 diversity of the interests which may influence their claims, 
 leave little reason to expect a choice in the first instance ; 
 and, in that event, the election must devolve on the House 
 of Representatives, where, it is obvious, the will of the 
 people may not be always ascertained ; or, if ascertained, 
 may not be regarded. From the mode of voting by states. 
 the choice is to be made by twenty-four votes ; and i* 
 may often occur, that one of those will be controlled by 
 an individual representative. Honors and offices are a< 
 the disposal of the successful candidate. Repeated bal- 
 lottings may make it apparent that a single individual 
 holds the cast in his hand. May he not be tempted to 
 name his reward ? But even without corruption sup 
 posing the probity of the representative to be proof against 
 the powerful motives by which it may be assailed the 
 will of the people is still constantly liable to be misrepre 
 sented. One may err from ignorance of the wishes of 
 his constituents ; another, from the conviction that it is 
 
JACKSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 135 
 
 his duty to be governed by his own judgment of the fitness 
 of the candidates ; finally, although all were inflexibly 
 honest all accurately informed of the wishes of their 
 constituents yet, under the present mode of election, a 
 minority may often elect the President; aud when this 
 happens, it may reasonably be expected that efforts will 
 be made on the part of the majority to rectify this injuri 
 ous operation of their institutions. But although no evil 
 of this character should result from such a perversion of 
 the first principles of our system that the majority is to 
 govern it must be very certain that a President elected 
 by a minority cannot enjoy the confidence necessary to 
 the successful discharge of his duties. 
 
 In this, as in all other matters of public concern, policy 
 requires that as few impediments as possible should exist 
 to the free operation of the public will. Let us then 
 endeavor to so amend our system, that the office of chief 
 magistrate may not be conferred upon any citizen, but in 
 pursuance of a fair expression of the will of the majority. 
 
 I would therefore recommend such an amendment of 
 the constitution as may remove all intermediate agency 
 in the election of the President and Vice- President. The 
 mode may be so regulated as to preserve to each state its 
 present relative weight in the election ; and a failure in 
 the first attempt may be provided for, by confiding the 
 second to a choice between the two highest candidates. 
 In connection with such an amendment, it would seem 
 advisable to limit the service of the chief magistrate to a 
 single term of either four or six years. If, however, it 
 should not be adopted, it is worthy of consideration 
 whether a provision disqualifying for office, the represen 
 tatives in Congress on whom such an election may have 
 devolved, would not be proper. 
 
 While members of Congress can be constitutionally 
 apppointed to offices of trust and profit, it will be the 
 practice, even under the most conscientious adherence to 
 duty, to select them for such stations as they are believed 
 to be better qualified to fill than other citizens ; but the 
 purity of our government would doubtless be promoted 
 by their exclusion from all appointments in the gift of 
 the President, in whose election they may have been offi- 
 
136 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 cially concerned. The nature of the judicial office, <ir.q 
 the necessity of securing in the cabinet and diplomatic 
 stations of the highest rank, the best talents and political 
 experience, should, perhaps, except these from the ex 
 clusion. 
 
 There are perhaps few men who can for any great 
 \ength of time enjoy office and power, without being more 
 or less under the influence of feelings unfavorable to the 
 faithful discharge of their public duties. Their integrity 
 may be proof against improper considerations immcdi 
 ately addressed to themselves ; but they are apt to acquire 
 a habit of looking with indifference upon the public in 
 terests, and of tolerating conduct from which an unprac 
 tised man would revolt. Office is considered as a species 
 of property ; and government rather as a means of pro 
 moting individual interest, than as an instrument created 
 solely for the service of the people. Corruption in some, 
 and in others a perversion of correct feelings and princi 
 ples, divert government from its legitimate ends, and 
 make it an engine for the support of the few at the ex 
 pense of the many. The duties of all public officers are, 
 or at least admit of being made so plain and simple that men 
 of intelligence may readily qualify themselves for their 
 performance ; and I cannot but believe that more is lost 
 by the long continuance of men in office than is generally 
 to be gained by their experience. I submit therefore to 
 your consideration whether the efficiency of the govern 
 ment would not be promoted, and official industry and 
 integrity better secured by a general extension of the 
 law which limits appointments to four years. 
 
 In a country where offices are created solely for the 
 benefit of the people, no one man lias any more intrinsic 
 right to official station* than another. Offices were no* 
 established. to give support to particular men at the pub 
 lic expense. No individual wrong is therefore done by 
 removal, since neither appointment to nor continuance in 
 office is matter of right. The incumbent became an offi 
 cer with a view to the public benefits ; and when these 
 require his removal, they are not to be sacrificed to pri 
 vate interests. It is the people, and they alone, who have 
 a right to complain, when a bad officer is substituted for 
 
JACKSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 137 
 
 a good one. He who is removed has the same means of 
 obtaining a living that are enjoyed by the millions who 
 never held office. The proposed limitation would destroy 
 the idea of property, now so generally connected with 
 official station ; and although individual distress may be 
 sometimes produced, it would, by promoting that rotation 
 which constitutes a leading principle in the republican 
 creed, give healthful action to the system. 
 
 No very considerable change has occurred during the 
 recess of Congress, in the condition of either our agri 
 culture, co-mmerce, or manufactures. The operation of 
 the tariff has not proved so injurious to the two former, 
 or as beneficial to the latter, as was anticipated. Importa 
 tions of foreign goods have not been sensibly diminished ; 
 while domestic competition, under an illusive excitement, 
 has increased the production much beyond the demand 
 for home consumption. The consequences have been, 
 low prices, temporary embarrassment, and partial loss. 
 That such of our manufacturing establishments as are 
 based upon capital, and are prudently managed, will sur 
 vive the shock, and be ultimately profitable, there is 110 
 good reason to doubt. 
 
 To regulate its conduct, so as to promote equally the 
 prosperity of these three cardinal interests, is one of the 
 most difficult tasks of government; and it may be regret 
 ted that the complicated restrictions which now embarrass 
 the intercourse of nations, could not by common consent 
 be abolished ; and commerce allowed to flow in those 
 channels to which individual enterprise, always its surest 
 guide, might direct it. But we must ever expect selfish 
 legislation in other nations ; and are therefore compelled 
 to adapt our own to their regulations, in the manner best 
 calculated to avoid serious injury, and to harmonize the 
 conflicting interests of our agriculture, our commerce, and 
 our manufactures. Under these impressions, I invite 
 your attention to the existing tariff, believing that some 
 of its provisions require modification. 
 
 The general rule to be applied in graduating the duties 
 
 upon the articles of foreign growth or manufacture, is 
 
 that which will place our own in fair competition with 
 
 those of other countries : and the inducements to advance 
 
 12* 
 
138 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 even a step beyond this point, are controlling in regard 
 to those articles which are of primary necessity in time 
 of war. When we reflect upon the difficulty and delicacy 
 of this operation, it is important that it should never be 
 attempted but with the utmost caution. Frequent legis 
 lation in regard to any branch of industry, affecting its 
 value, and by which its capital may be transferred \onew 
 channels, must always be productive of hazardous specu 
 lation and loss. 
 
 In deliberating, therefore, on these interesting subjects, 
 local feelings and prejudices should be merged in the 
 patriotic determination to promote the great interests of 
 the whole. All the attempts to connect them with the 
 party conflicts of the day are necessarily injurious, and 
 should be discountenanced. Our action upon them 
 should be under the control of higher and purer motives. 
 Legislation, subjected to such influence, can never be 
 just ; and will not long retain the sanction of the people, 
 whose active patriotism is not bounded by sectional lim 
 its, nor insensible to that spirit of concession and for 
 bearance which gave life to our political compact, and 
 still sustains it. Discarding all calculations of political 
 ascendency, the north, the south, the east, and the west, 
 should unite in diminishing any burden, of which either 
 may justly complain. 
 
 The agricultural interest of our country is so essen 
 tially connected with every other, and so superior in im 
 portance to them all, that it is scarcely necessary to invite 
 to it your particular attention. It is principally as ma 
 nufactures and commerce tend to increase the value of 
 agricultural productions, and to extend their application 
 to the wants and comforts of society, that they deserve 
 the fostering care of government. 
 
 Looking forward to the period, not far distant, when a 
 sinking fund will no longer be required, the duties on 
 those articles of importation which cannot come in com 
 petition with our own productions, are the first that 
 should engage the attention of Congress in the modifica 
 tion of the tariff. Of these, tea and coffee are the most 
 prominent; they enter largely into the consumption of 
 the country, and have become articles of necessity to all 
 
139 
 
 classes. A reduction, therefore, of the existing duties, 
 will be felt as a common benefit ; but, like all other legis 
 lation connected with commerce, to be efficacious, and 
 not injurious, it should be gradual and certain. 
 
 The public prosperity is evinced in the increased reve 
 nue arising from the sales of public lands ; and in the 
 steady maintenance of that produced by imposts and ton 
 nage, notwithstanding the additional duties imposed by 
 the act of 19th May, 1828, and the unusual importations 
 in the early part of that year. 
 
 The balance in the treasury on the 1st January, 1829, 
 was $5,972,435 81. The receipts of the current year 
 are estimated at $24,602,230 ; and the expenditures for 
 the same time at $26,164,595. Leaving a balance in the 
 treasury, on the 1st of January next, of $4,410,070 81. 
 
 There will have been paid on account of the public 
 debt during the present year, the sum of $12,405,005 80 ; 
 reducing the whole debt of the government on the first 
 of January next, to $48,565,406 50, including seven 
 millions of five per cent, stock subscribed to the Bank 
 of the United States. The payment on account of the 
 public debt, made on the first of July last, was $8,715,462 
 87 cents. It was apprehended that the sudden withdrawal 
 of so large a sum from the banks in which it was deposit 
 ed, at a time of unusual pressure in the money market, 
 might cause much injury to the interests dependent on 
 bank accommodations. But this evil was wholly averted 
 by an early anticipation of it at the treasury, aided by the 
 judicious arrangements of the officers of the Bank of the 
 United States. 
 
 The state of the finances exhibits the resources of the 
 nation in an aspect highly flattering to its industry, and 
 auspicious of the ability of the government, in a very 
 short time to extinguish the public debt. When this 
 shall be done, our population will be relieved from a con 
 siderable portion of its present burdens ; and will find 
 not only new motives to patriotic affection, but additional 
 means for the display of individual enterprise. The fis 
 cal power of the states will also be increased ; and may 
 be more extensively exerted in favor of education and 
 other public objects ; while ample means will remain 
 
140 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 in the federal government to promote the general weal, in 
 all the modes permitted to its authority. 
 
 After the extinction of the public debt, it is not proba 
 ble that any adjustment of the tariff, upon principles 
 satisfactory to the people of the Union, will, until a re 
 mote period, if ever, leave the government without a 
 considerable surplus in the treasury, beyond what may 
 be required for its current service. As, then, the period 
 approaches when the application of the revenue to pav 
 ment of the debt will cease, the disposition of the sin 
 plus will present a subject for the serious deliberation 01 
 Congress ; and it may be fortunate for the country that 
 it is yet to be decided. Considered in connection with 
 the difficulties which have heretofore attended appropria 
 tions for purposes of internal improvement, and with those 
 which this experience tells us will certainly arise, when 
 ever power over such subjects may be exercised by the 
 general government ; it is hoped that it may lead to the 
 adoption of some plan which will reconcile the diversi 
 fied interests of the states, and strengthen the bonds which 
 unite them. Every member of the Union, in peace and 
 in war, will be benentted by the improvement of inland 
 navigation, and the construction of highways in the seve 
 ral states. Let us then endeavor to attain this benefit in 
 a mode that will be satisfactory to all. That hitherto 
 adopted has, by many of our fellow-citizens, been depre 
 cated as an infraction of the constitution ; while by others 
 it has been viewed as inexpedient. All feel that it has been 
 employed at the expense of harmony in the legislative 
 councils. 
 
 To avoid these evils, it appears to me that the most 
 safe, just, and federal disposition which could be made 
 of this surplus revenue, would be its apportionment 
 among the several states, according to their ratio of re 
 presentation ; and should this measure not be found war 
 ranted by the constitution, that it would be expedient to 
 propose to the states an amendment authorizing it. I 
 regard an appeal to the source of power, in all cases of 
 real doubt, and where its exercise is deemed advisable to 
 the general welfare, as among the most sacred of all our 
 obligations. Upon this country, more than any other 
 
JACKSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 141 
 
 has, in the Providence of God, been cast the special 
 guardianship of the great principle of adherence to writ 
 ten constitutions. If it fail here, all hope in regard to it 
 will be extinguished. That this was intended to be a 
 government of limited and specific, and not general pow 
 ers, must be admitted by all ; and it is our duty to pre 
 serve for it the character intended by its framers. If 
 experience points out the necessity for an enlargement 
 of these powers, let us apply for it to those for whose 
 benefit it is to be exercised ; and not undermine the 
 whole system by a resort to overstrained constructions. 
 The scheme has worked well. It has exceeded the hopes 
 of those who devised it, and become an object of admira 
 tion to the world. We are responsible to our country 
 and to the glorious cause of self-government, for the 
 preservation of so great a good. The great mass of legis 
 lation relating to our internal affairs, was intended to be 
 left where the federal convention found it in the state 
 governments. Nothing is clearer, in my view, than that 
 we are chiefly indebted for the success of the constitution 
 under which we are now acting, to the watchful and aux 
 iliary operation of the state authorities. This is not the 
 reflection of a day, but belongs to the most deeply rooted 
 convictions of my mind. I cannot, therefore, too strong 
 ly or too earnestly, for my own sense of its importance, 
 warn you against all encroachment upon the legitimate 
 sphere of state sovereignty. Sustained by its healthful 
 and invigorating influence, the federal system can never 
 fall. 
 
 In the collection of the revenue, the long credits au 
 thorized on goods imported from beyond the Cape of 
 Good Hope are the chief cause of the losses at present 
 sustained. If these were shortened to six, nine, and 
 twelve months, and warehouses provided by government, 
 sufficient to receive the goods offered in deposite for se 
 curity and for debenture ; and if the right of the United 
 States to a priority of payment out of the estates of its 
 insolvent debtors was more effectually secured, this evil 
 would in a great measure be obviated. An authority to 
 construct such houses is, therefore, with the proposed 
 alteration of the credits, recommended to your attention. 
 
142 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 It is worthy of notice, that the laws for the collection 
 and security of the revenue arising from imposts, were 
 chiefly framed when the rates of duties on imported 
 goods presented much less temptation for illicit trade 
 than at present exists. There is reason to believe that 
 these laws are, in some respects, quite insufficient for the 
 proper security of the revenue, and the protection of the 
 interests of those who are disposed to observe them. The 
 injurious and demoralizing tendency of a successful sys 
 tem of smuggling is so obvious as not to require com 
 ment, and cannot be too carefully guarded against. I 
 therefore suggest to Congress the propriety of adopting 
 efficient measures to prevent this evil, avoiding, however, 
 as much as possible, every unnecessary infringement of 
 individual liberty, and embarrassment of fair and lawful 
 business. 
 
 On an examination of the records of the treasury, I 
 have been forcibly struck with the large amount of pub 
 lic money which appears to be outstanding. Of this sum 
 thus due from individuals to the government, a conside 
 rable portion is undoubtedly desperate ; and in many in 
 stances, has probably been rendered so by remissness in 
 the agents charged with its collection. By proper exer 
 tions, a great part, however, may yet be recovered ; and 
 whatever may be the portions respectively belonging to 
 these two classes, it behoves the government to ascertain 
 the real state of the fact. This can be done only by the 
 prompt adoption of judicious measures for the collection 
 of such as may be made available. It is believed that a 
 very large amount has been lost through the inadequacy 
 of the means provided for the collection of debts due to 
 the public ; and that this inadequacy lies chiefly in the 
 want of legal skill, habitually and constantly employed 
 in the direction of the agents engaged in the service. It 
 must, I think, be admitted, that the supervisory power 
 over suits brought by the public, which is now vested in 
 an accounting officer of the treasury, not selected with a 
 view to his legal knowledge, and encumbered as he is 
 with numerous other duties, operates unfavorably to the 
 public interest. 
 
 It is important that tbi branch of the public service 
 
JACKSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 148 
 
 should be subject to the supervision of such professional 
 skill as will give it efficacy. The expense attendant upon 
 such a modification of the executive department, would 
 be justified by the soundest principles of economy. I 
 would recommend, therefore, that the duties now assigned 
 to the agent of the treasury, so far as they relate to the 
 superintendence and management of legal proceedings 
 on the part of the United States, to be transferred to the 
 attorney-general ; and that this officer be placed on the 
 same footing in all respects, as the heads of the other 
 departments receiving like compensation, and having 
 such subordinate officers provided for his department, as 
 may be requisite for the discharge of these additional 
 duties. The professional skill of the attorney-general, 
 employed in directing the conduct of marshals and dis 
 trict attorneys, would hasten the collection of debts now 
 in suit, and hereafter save much to the government. It 
 might be further extended to the superintendence of all 
 criminal proceedings for offences against the United States. 
 In making this transfer, great care should be taken, how 
 ever, that the power necessary to the treasury depart 
 ment be not impaired ; one of its greatest securities con 
 sisting in a control over all accounts until they are audited 
 or reported for suit. 
 
 In connexion with the foregoing views, I would sug 
 gest, also, an inquiry, whether the provisions of the act 
 of Congress, authorizing the discharge of the persons of 
 debtors to the government from imprisonment, may not, 
 consistently with the public interest, be extended to the 
 release of the debt, where the conduct of the debtor is 
 wholly exempt from the imputation of fraud. Some more 
 liberal policy than that which now prevails in reference 
 to this unfortunate class of citizens is certainly due to 
 them, and would prove beneficial to the country. The 
 continuance of the liability after the means to discharge 
 it had been exhausted, can only serve to dispirit the 
 debtor ; or where his resources are but partial, the want 
 of power in the government to compromise and release 
 the demand, instigates to fraud, as the only resource for 
 securing a support to his family. He thus sinks into a 
 state of apathy, or becomes a useless drone in society, 01 
 
144 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 a vicious member of it, if not a feeling- witness of the ri 
 gor and inhumanity of his country. All experience proves 
 that an oppressive debt is the bane of enterprise ; and it 
 should be the care of a republic not to exert a grinding 
 power over misfortune and poverty. 
 
 Since the last session of Congress, numerous frauds 
 en the treasury have been discovered, whicli I thought it 
 my duty to bring under the cognizance of the United 
 States Court, for this district, by a criminal prosecution. 
 It was rny opinion, and that of able counsel who were 
 consulted, that the cases came within the penalties of the 
 act of the 17th Congress, approved 3d March, 1823, pro 
 viding for the punishment of frauds committed on the 
 government of the United States. Either from some de 
 fect in the law or in its administration, every effort to bring 
 the accused to trial under its provisions proved ineffectu 
 al, and the government was driven to the necessity of 
 resorting to the vague and inadequate provisions of the 
 common law. It is therefore my duty to call your atten 
 tion to the laws which have been passed for the protection 
 of the treasury. If, indeed, there is no provision by 
 which those who may be unworthily intrusted with its 
 guardianship, can be punished for the most flagrant vio 
 lation of duty, extending even to the most fraudulent 
 appropriation of the public funds to their own use, it is 
 lime to remedy so dangerous an omission. Or, if the 
 law has been perverted from its original purposes, and 
 criminals deserving to be punished under its provisions, 
 have been rescued by legal subtil ties, it ought to be made 
 so plain, by amendatory provisions, as to baffle the arts of 
 perversion, and accomplish the ends of its original enact 
 ment. 
 
 In one of the most flagrant cases, the court decided 
 that the prosecution was barred by the statute which limits 
 prosecutions for fraud to two years. In this case all the 
 evidences of the fraud, and indeed all knowledge that a 
 fraud had been committed, were in the possession of the 
 party accused, until after the two years had elapsed. 
 Surely the statute ought not to run in favor of any man 
 while he retains all the evidences of his crime in his own 
 possession ; add least of all, in favor of a public officer 
 
JACKSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 145 
 
 who continues to defraud the treasury, and conceal the 
 transaction for the brief term of two years. I would 
 therefore recommend such an alteration of the law as will 
 give the injured party and the government two years after 
 the disclosure of the fraud, or after the accused is out of 
 office, to commence their prosecution. 
 
 In connection with this subject, I invite the attention 
 of Congress to a general and minute inquiry into the 
 condition of the government; with a view to ascertain 
 what offices can be dispensed with, what expenses re 
 trenched, and what improvements may be made in the 
 organization of its various parts to secure the proper re 
 sponsibility of public agents, and promote efficiency and 
 justice in all its operations. 
 
 The report of the Secretary of War will make you 
 acquainted with the condition of our army, fortifications, 
 arsenals, and Indian affairs. The proper discipline of 
 the army, the training and equipment of the militia, the 
 education bestowed at West Point, and the accumulation 
 of the means of defence, applicable to the naval force, 
 will tend to prolong the peace we now enjoy, and which 
 every good citizen, more especially those who have felt 
 the miseries of even a successful warfare, most ardently 
 desire to perpetuate. 
 
 The returns from the subordinate branches of this 
 service exhibit a regularity and order highly creditable 
 to its character : both officers and soldiers seem imbued 
 with a proper sense of duty, and conform to the restraints 
 of exact discipline with that cheerfulness which becomes 
 the profession of arms. There is need, however, of fur 
 ther legislation to obviate the inconveniences specified 
 in the report under consideration ; to some of which it 
 is proper that I should call your particular attention. 
 
 The act of Congress of the 2d March, 1821, to reduce 
 and fix the military establishment, remaining unexecuted 
 as it regards the command of one of the regiments of 
 artillery, cannot now be deemed a guide to the executive 
 in making the proper appointment. An explanatory act, 
 designating the class of officers out of which this grade 
 is to be filled whether from the military list, as existing 
 prior to the act of 1821, or from it, as it has been fixed 
 13 
 
146 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 by that act would remove this difficulty. It is also inv 
 portant that the laws regulating the pay and emoluments 
 of the officers generally, should be more specific than 
 they now are. Those, for example, in relation to the 
 paymaster and surgeon-general, assign to them an annual 
 salary of $2,500 ; but are silent as to allowances which, 
 in certain exigencies of the service, may be deemed in 
 dispensable to the discharge of their duties. This cir 
 cumstance has been the authority for extending to them 
 various allowances at different times under former admi 
 nistrations ; but no uniform rule has been observed on 
 the subject. Similar inconveniences exist in other cases, 
 in which the construction put upon the laws by the pub 
 lic accountants may operate unequally, produce confu 
 sion, and expose officers to the odium of claiming what 
 is not their due. 
 
 I recommend to your fostering care, as one of our 
 safest means of national defence, the Military Academy. 
 This institution has already exercised the happiest influ 
 ence upon the moral and intellectual character of our 
 army ; and such of the graduates as, from various causes, 
 may not pursue the profession of arms, will be scarcely- 
 less useful as citizens. Their knowledge of the mili 
 tary art will be advantageously employed in the militia 
 service ; and in a measure secure to that class of troops 
 the advantages which in this respect belong to standing 
 armies. 
 
 I would also suggest a review of the pension law, foi 
 the purpose of extending its benefits to every revolution 
 ary soldier who aided in establishing our liberties, and 
 who is unable to maintain himself in comfort. Those 
 relics of the war of independence have strong claims upon 
 their country s gratitude and bounty. The law is de 
 fective in not embracing within its provisions all those 
 who were during the last war disabled from supporting 
 themselves by manual labor. Such an amendment would 
 add but little to the amount of pensions, and is called for 
 by the sympathies of the people, as well as by considera 
 tions of sound policy. It will be perceived that a large 
 addition to the list of pensioners has been occasioned by 
 an order of the late administration, departing materially 
 
JACKSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 147 
 
 from the rules which had previously prevailed. Consider 
 ing it an act of legislation, I suspended its operation as 
 soon as I was informed that it had commenced. Before 
 this period, however, applications under the new regula 
 tion had been preferred, to the number of one hundred 
 and fifty-four: of which, on the 27th March, the date 
 of its revocation, eighty-seven were admitted. For the 
 amount there was neither estimate nor appropriation ; 
 and besides this deficiency, the regular allowances, ac 
 cording to the rules which have heretofore governed the 
 department, exceed the estimate of its late secretary, by 
 about fifty thousand dollars, for which an appropriation is 
 asked. 
 
 Your particular attention is requested to that part of 
 the report of the Secretary of War which relates to the 
 money held in trust for the Seneca tribe of Indians. It 
 will be perceived that, without legislative aid, the execu 
 tive cannot obviate the embarrassments occasioned by 
 the diminution of the dividends on that fund, which ori 
 ginally amounted to $100,000, and has recently been 
 vested in the United States three per cent, stock. 
 
 The condition and ulterior destiny of the Indian tribes 
 within the limits of some of our states, have become ob 
 jects of much interest and importance. It has long been 
 the policy of government to introduce among them the 
 arts of civilization, in the hope of gradually reclaiming 
 them from a wandering life. This policy has, however, 
 been coupled with another wholly incompatible with its 
 success. Professing a desire to civilize and settle them, 
 we have at the same time lost no opportunity to purchase 
 their lands, and thrust them further into the wilderness. 
 By this means they have not only been kept in a wander 
 ing state, but been led to look upon us as unjust and in 
 different to their fate. Thus, though lavish in expendi 
 tures upon the subject, government has constantly defeat 
 ed its own policy; and the Indians, in general, rece 
 ding further and further to the west, have retained their 
 savage habits. A portion, however, of the southern 
 tribes, having mingled much with the whites, and made 
 some progress in the arts of civilized life, have lately at- 
 lempted to erect an independent government within the 
 
148 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 limits of Georgia and Alabama. These states, claiming 
 to be the only sovereigns within their territories, extend 
 ed their laws over the Indians ; which induced the latter 
 to call upon the United States for protection. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the question presented was, 
 whether the general government had a right to sustain 
 those people in their pretensions. The constitution de 
 clares, that * no new state shall be formed or erected 
 within the jurisdiction of any other state," without the 
 consent of its legislature. If the general government is 
 not permitted to tolerate the erection of a confederate 
 state within the territory of one of the members of this 
 Union, against her consent, much less coula it allow a 
 foreign and independent government to establish itself 
 there. Georgia became a member of the confederacy 
 which eventuated in our federal union, as a sovereign 
 state, always asserting her claim to certain limits ; which 
 having been originally defined HI her colonial charter, and 
 subsequently recognized in the treaty of peace, she has 
 ever since continued to enjoy, except as they have been 
 circumscribed by her own voluntary transfer of a portion 
 of her territory to the United States, in the articles of 
 cession of 1802. Alabama was admitted into the Union 
 on the same footing with the original states, with boun 
 daries which were prescribed by Congress. There is no 
 constitutional, conventional, or legal provision, which 
 allows them less power over the Indians within their bor 
 ders, than is possessed by Maine or New York. Would 
 the people of Maine permit the Penobscot tribe to erect an 
 independent government within their state? and unless 
 they did, would it not be the duty of the general govern 
 ment to support them in resisting such a measure? 
 Would the people of New York permit each remnant of 
 the Six Nations within her borders, to declare itself an 
 independent people under the protection of the United 
 States? Could the Indians establish a separate republic 
 in each of their reservations in Ohio ? and if they were 
 go disposed, would it be the duty of this government to 
 protect them in the attempt? If the principle involved 
 in the obvious answer to these questions be abandoned. 
 it will follow that the objects of this government are . * 
 
149 
 
 versed ; and that it has become a part of its duty to aid 
 in destroying the states which it was established to pro 
 tect. 
 
 Actuated by this view of the subject, I informed the 
 Indians inhabiting parts of Georgia and Alabama, that 
 their attempt to establish an independent government 
 would not be countenanced by the executive of the Uni 
 ted States ; and advised them to emigrate beyond the 
 Mississippi, or submit to the laws of those states. 
 
 Our conduct towards these people is deeply interesting 
 to our national character. Their present condition, con 
 trasted with what they once were, makes a most powerful 
 appeal to our sympathies. Our ancestors found them the 
 uncontrolled possessors of these vast regions. By per 
 suasion and force they have been made to retire from 
 river to river, and from mountain to mountain, until some 
 of the tribes have become extinct, and others have left 
 but remnants, to preserve, for a while, their once terrible 
 names. Surrounded by the whites, with their arts of ci 
 vilization, which, by destroying the resources of the sa 
 vage, doom him to weakness and decay ; the fate of the 
 Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the Delaware, is fast 
 overtaking the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek. 
 That this fate surely awaits them if they remain within 
 the limits of the states, does not admit of a doubt. Hu 
 manity and national honor demand that every effort 
 should be made to avert so great a calamity. It is too 
 late to inquire whether it was just in the United States to 
 include them and their territory within the bounds of new 
 states whose limits they could control. That step can 
 not be retraced. A state cannot be dismembered by 
 Congress, or restricted in the exercise of her constitu 
 tional power. But the people of those states, and of 
 every state, actuated by feelings of justice and a regard 
 for our national honor, submit to you the interesting 
 question, whether something cannot be done, consistently 
 with the rights of the states, to preserve this much inju 
 red race. 
 
 As a means of effecting this end, I suggest for your 
 consideration the propriety of setting apart an ample dis 
 trict west of the Mississippi, and without the limits of 
 13* 
 
150 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 any state or territory now formed, to be guaranteed t<u the 
 Indian tribes, as long as they shall occupy it; each tribe 
 having a distinct control over the portion designated for 
 its use. There they may be secured in the enjoyment oi 
 governments of their own choice, subject to no oiher con 
 trol from the United States than such as may be neces 
 sary to preserve peace on the frontier, and between tne 
 several tribes. There the benevolent may endeavor to 
 teach them the arts of civilization; and, by promoting 
 union and harmony among them, to raise up an interest 
 ing commonwealth, destined to perpetuate the. race, and 
 to attest the humanity and justice of this government. 
 
 This emigration should be voluntary ; for it would be 
 as cruel as unjust to compel the aborigines to abandon the 
 graves of their fathers, and seek a home in a distant land. 
 But they should be distinctly informed that, if they re 
 main within the limits of the states, they must be subject 
 to their laws. In return for their obedience as individu 
 als, they will, without doubt, be protected in the enjoy 
 ment of those possessions which they have improved by 
 their industry. But it seems to me visionary to suppose, 
 that in this state of things, claims can be allowed on 
 tracts of country on which they have neither dwelt nor 
 made improvements, merely because they have seen them 
 from the mountain, or passed them in the chase. Sub- 
 netting to the laws of the states, and receiving, like 
 other citizens, protection in their persons, and property* 
 they will ere long become merged in the mass of our 
 population. 
 
 The accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy 
 will make you acquainted with the condition and useful 
 employment of that branch of our service during the 
 present year. Constituting, as it does, the best stand 
 ing security of this country against foreign aggression, it 
 claims the especial attention of government. In this 
 spirit, the measures which, since the termination of the 
 last war, have been in operation for its arradual enlarge 
 ment were adopted ; and it should continue to be che 
 rished as the offspring of our national experience. Ii 
 will be seen, however, that notwithstanding the great so 
 licitude which has been manifested for the perfect orga- 
 
JACKSON S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 151 
 
 nizalion of this arm, and the liberality of the appropria 
 tions which that solicitude has suggested, this object has 
 in many important respects, not been secured. 
 
 In time of peace we have need of no more ships of 
 war than aie requisite to the protection of our commeice 
 Those not wanted for this object, must lay in the harbors, 
 where, without proper covering, they rapidly decay ; and 
 even under the best precautions for their preservation, 
 must soon become useless. Such is already the case with 
 many of our finest vessels ; which< though unfinished, will 
 now require immense sums of money to be restored to 
 the condition in which they were when committed to their 
 proper element. On this subject there can be little doubt 
 that our best policy would be to discontinue the building 
 of the first and second class, and look rather to the pos 
 session of ample materials, prepared for the emergencies 
 of war, than to the number of vessels which we can float 
 in a season of peace, as the index of our naval power. 
 Judicious deposites in the navy-yards, of timber and other 
 materials, fashioned under the hands of skilful workmen, 
 and fitted for prompt application to their various purposes, 
 would enable us, at all times, to construct vessels as fast 
 as they can be manned ; and save the heavy expense of 
 repairs, except to such vessels as must be employed in 
 guarding our commerce. The proper points for the esta 
 blishments of these yards are indicated with so much 
 force in the report of the Navy Board, that, in recom 
 mending it to your attention, I deem it unnecessary to do 
 more than express my hearty concurrence in their views. 
 The yard in this district, being already furnished with 
 most of the machinery necessary for ship building, wilJ 
 be competent to the supply of the two selected by the 
 board as the best for the concentration of materials ; and 
 from the facility and certainty of communication between 
 them, it will be useless to incur, at those depots, the ex 
 pense of similar machinery, especially that used in pre^ 
 paring the usual metallic and wooden furniture of vessels 
 
 Another improvement would be effected by dispensing 
 altogether with the Navy Board, as now constituted, and 
 suostituting in its stead, bureaus similar to those already 
 existing in the War department. Each member of the 
 
152 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 board, transferred to the head of a separate bureau charged 
 with specific duties, would feel, in its highest degree, that 
 wholesome responsibility which cannot be divided without 
 a far more proportionate diminution of its force. Their 
 valuable services would become still more so when sepa 
 rately appropriated to distinct portions of the great inte 
 rests of the navy ; to the prosperity of which each would 
 be impelled to devote himself by the strongest motives. 
 Under such an arrangement, every branch of this impor 
 tant service would assume a more simple and precise 
 character: its efficiency would be increased, and scrupu 
 lous economy in the expenditure of public money pro 
 moted. 
 
 I would also recommend that the marine corps be 
 merged in the artillery, or infantry, as the best mode of 
 curing the many delects in its organization. But little 
 exceeding in number any of the regiments of infantry, 
 that corps has, besides its lieutenant-colonel commandant, 
 five brevet lieutenant-colonels, who receive the full pay 
 and emoluments of their brevet rank, without rendering 
 proportionate service. Details for marine service could 
 as well be made from the artillery or infantry there being 
 no peculiar training requsite for it. 
 
 With these improvements, and such others as zealous 
 watchfulness and mature consideration may suggest, there 
 can be little doubt that, under an energetic administration 
 of its affairs, the navy may soon be made every thing that 
 the nation wishes it to be. Its efficiency in the suppres 
 sion of piracy in the West India seas, and wherever its 
 squadrons have been employed in securing the interests 
 of the country, will appear from the report of the secre 
 tary to which I refer you, for other interesting details. 
 Among these I would bespeak the attention of Congress 
 from the views presented in relation to the inequality 
 between the army and navy as to the pay of officers. 
 No such inequality should prevail between these brave 
 defenders of their country ; and where it does exist, it is 
 ^submitted to Congress whether it ouMit not to be recti 
 fied. 
 
 The report of the Postmaster-general is referred to as 
 exhibiting a highly satisfactory administration of tha 
 
153 
 
 department. Abuses have been reformed ; increased ex 
 pedition in the transportation of the mail secured; and 
 its revenue much improved. In a political point of view 
 this department is chiefly important as affording the means 
 of diffusing knowledge. It is to the body politic whaX 
 the veins and arteries are to the natural conveying ra 
 pidly and regularly to the remotest parts of the system, 
 correct information of the operations of the government ; 
 and bringing back to it the wishes and feelings of the 
 people. Through its agency, we have secured to our 
 selves the full enjoyment of the blessings of a free press. 
 
 In this general survey of our affairs, a subject of high 
 importance presents itself in the present organization of 
 the judiciary. A uniform operation of the federal go 
 vernment in the different states is certainly desirable ; 
 and existing as they do in the Union, on the basis of per 
 fect equality, each state has a right to expect that the 
 benefits conferred on the citizens of others should be ex 
 tended to kers. The judicial system of the United States 
 exists in all its efficiency in only fifteen members of the 
 Union : to three others, the circuit courts, which consti 
 tute an important part of that system, have been imper 
 fectly extended; and to the remaining six, altogether de 
 nied. The effect has been to withhold from the inhabi 
 tants of the latter, the advantages afforded (by the supreme 
 court) to their fellow-citizens in other states, in the whole 
 extent of the criminal, and much of the civil authority of 
 the federal judiciary. That this state of things ought to 
 be remedied, if it can be done consistently with the pub 
 lic welfare, is not to be doubted : neither is it to be dis 
 guised that the organization of our judicial system is 
 at once a difficult and delicate task. To extend the 
 circuit courts equally throughout the different parts of 
 the Union, and at the same time, to avoid such a mul 
 tiplication of members as would encumber the supreme 
 appellate tribunal, is the object desired. Perhaps it 
 might be accomplished by dividing the circuit judges into 
 two classes, and providing that the supreme court should 
 be held by those classes alternately the chief justice 
 always presiding. 
 
 If an extension of the circuit court system to those 
 
154 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 states which do not now enjoy its benefits should bo de 
 termined upon, it would of course be necessary to revise 
 the present arrangements of the circuits ; and even ir that 
 system should not be enlarged, such a revision is recom 
 mended. 
 
 A provision for taking the census of the people of the 
 United States will, to insure the completion of that work 
 within a convenient time, claim the early attention of 
 Congress. 
 
 The great and constant increase of business in the De 
 partment of State forced itself, at an early period, upon 
 the attention of the executive. Thirteen years ago, it 
 was in Mr. Madison s last message to Congress made the 
 subject of an earnest recommendation, which has been re 
 peated by both of his successors ; and my comparatively 
 limited experience has satisfied me of its justness. It 
 has arisen from many causes, not the least of wmch is 
 the large addition that has been made to the family of in 
 dependent nations, and the proportionate extension of our 
 foreign relations. The remedy proposed was tae esta 
 blishment of a Home Department a measure which does 
 not appear to have met the views of Congress, on account 
 of its supposed tendency to increase gradually, and im 
 perceptibly* the already too strong bias of the federal 
 system towards the exercise of authority not delegated to 
 it. I am not, therefore, disposed to revive the recommen 
 dation ; but am not the less impressed with the impor 
 tance of so organizing that department, that its secretary 
 may devote more of his time to our foreign relations. 
 Clearly satisfied that the public good would be promoted 
 by some suitable provision on the subject, I respectfully 
 invite your attention to it. 
 
 The charter of the Bank of the United States expires 
 in 1836, and its stockholders will most probably apply for 
 a renewal of their privileges. In order to avoid the evils 
 resulting from precipitancy in a measure involving such 
 important principles, and such deep pecuniary interests, 
 I feel that I cannot, in justice to the parties interested, 
 too soon present it to the deliberate consideration of the 
 legislature and the people. Both the constitutionality and 
 the expediency of the law creating this bank are well 
 
155 
 
 questioned by a large portion of our fellow-citizens ; anc 
 it must be admitted by all, that it has failed in the great 
 end of establishing a uniform and sound currency. 
 
 Under these circumstances, if such an institution is 
 deemed essential to the fiscal operations of the govern 
 ment, I submit to the wisdom of the legislature whether 
 a national one, founded upon the credit of the govern 
 ment and its revenues, might not be devised, which would 
 avoid all constitutional difficulties ; and at the same time, 
 secure all the advantages to the government and country 
 that were expected to result from the present bank. 
 
 I cannot close this communication without bringing to 
 your view the just claim of the representatives of Com 
 modore Decatur, his officers and crew, arising from the 
 re-capture of the frigate Philadelphia, under the heavy 
 batteries of Tripoli. Although sensible, as a general rule, 
 of the impropriety of executive interference under a gov 
 ernment like ours, where every individual enjoys the 
 right of directly petitioning Congress ; yet viewing this 
 case as one of very peculiar character, [ deem it my duty 
 to recommend it to your favorable consideration. Be 
 sides the justice of this claim, as corresponding to those 
 which have been since recognized and satisfied, it is the 
 fruit of a deed of patriotic and chivalrous daring, which 
 infused life and confidence into our infant navy, and con 
 tributed, as much as any exploit in its history, to elevate 
 our national character. Public gratitude, therefore, 
 stamps iier seal upon it; and the meed rhould not be 
 withheld which may hereafter operate 93 a stimulus to 
 our gallant tars. 
 
 I now commend you, fellow-citizens, to the guidance 
 of Almighty God, with a full reliance, on his merciful 
 providence for the maintenance of our free institutions ; 
 and with an earnest supplication, that ^hatftver errors it 
 may be my lot to commit, in discharging th*? arduous du 
 ties which have devolved on me, wi-.* &n<i * tem+*\y in 
 the harmony and wisdom of your cou ^cli. 
 
156 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 JACKSON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 Fellow Citizens: 
 
 Being about to retire finally from public life, I beg leave 
 to offer you my grateful thanks for the many proofs of 
 kindness and confidence which I have received at your 
 hands. It has been my fortune, in the discharge of public 
 duties, civil and military, frequently to have found myself 
 in difficult and trying situations, where prompt decision 
 and energetic action were necessary, and where the inte 
 rests of the country required that high responsibilities 
 should be fearlessly encountered ; and it is with the deep 
 est emotions of gratitude that I acknowledge the continued 
 and unbroken confidence with which you have sustained 
 me in every trial. My public life has been a long one, 
 and I cannot hope that it has at all times been free from 
 errors. 
 
 But I have the consolation of knowing that if mistakes 
 have been committed, they have not seriously injured the 
 country I so anxiously endeavored to serve ; and at the 
 moment when I surrender my last public trust, 1 leave this 
 great people prosperous and happy; in the full enjoyment 
 of liberty and peace ; and honored and respected by every 
 nation of the world. 
 
 If my humble efforts have, in any degree, contributed 
 to preserve to you these blessings, I have been more than 
 rewarded by the honor you have heaped upon me ; and, 
 above all, by the generous confidence with which you 
 have supported me in every peril, and with which you 
 have continued to animate and cheer my path to the 
 closing hour of my political life. The time has now come, 
 when advanced age and a broken frame warn me to re 
 tire from public concerns ; but the recollection of the 
 many favors you have bestowed upon me is engraven 
 upon my heart, and I have felt that I could not part from 
 your service without making this public acknowledgment 
 of the grratitude I owe you. And if I use the occasion to 
 offer to you the counsels of age and experience, you will, 
 I trust, receive them with the same indulgent kindness 
 which you have so often extended to me ; ami will, at least, 
 
JACKSON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 157 
 
 see in them an earnest desire to perpetuate, in this favor 
 ed land, the blessings of liberty and equal laws. 
 
 We have now lived almost fifty years under the consti 
 tution framed by the sages and patriots of the revolution. 
 The conflicts in which the nations of Europe were en 
 gaged during a great part of this period ; the spirit in 
 which they waged war with each other ; and our intimate 
 commercial connections with every part of the civilized 
 world, rendered it a time of much difficulty for the go 
 vernment of the United States. We have had our sea 
 sons of peace and of war, with all the evils which precede 
 or follow a state of hostility with powerful nations. We 
 encountered these trials with our constitution yet in its 
 infancy, and under the disadvantages which a new and 
 untried government must always feel when it is called to 
 put forth its whole strength, without the lights of expe 
 rience to guide it, or the weight of precedent to justify its 
 measures. But we have passed triumphantly through all 
 these difficulties. Our constitution is no longer a doubtful 
 experiment ; and at the end of nearly half a century, we 
 find that it has preserved unimpaired the liberties of the 
 people, secured the rights of property, and that our coun 
 try has improved, and is flourishing beyond any former 
 example in the history of nations. 
 
 In our domestic concerns, there is every thing to en 
 courage us ; and if you are true to yourselves, nothing 
 can impede your march to the highest point of national 
 prosperity. The states which had so long been retarded 
 in their improvement, by the Indian tribes residing in the 
 midst of them, are at length relieved from the evil ; and 
 this unhappy race the original dwellers in our land are 
 now placed in a situation where we may well hope that 
 they will share in the blessings of civilization, and be 
 saved from that degradation and destruction to which they 
 were rapidly hastening while they remained in the states ; 
 and while the safety and comfort of our own citizens 
 have been greatly promoted by their removal, the philan 
 thropist will rejoice that the remnant of that ill-fated race 
 has been at length placed beyond the reach of injury or 
 oppression, and that the paternal care of the general 
 
158 THE TRtlE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 government will hereafter watch over them and protect 
 them 
 
 If we turn to our relations with foreign powers, we 
 find our condition equally gratifying. Actuated by the 
 sincere desire to do justice to every nation, and to pre 
 serve the blessing of peace, our intercourse with them 
 has been conducted on the part of this government in 
 the spirit of frankness, and I take pleasure in saying that 
 it has generally been met in a corresponding temper. 
 Difficulties of old standing have been surmounted by 
 friendly discussion and the mutual desire to be just ; and 
 the claims of our citizens, which had been long withheld, 
 have at length been acknowledged and adjusted, and satis 
 factory arrangements made for their final payment ; and 
 with a limited, and, 1 trust, a temporary exception, our 
 relations with every foreign power are now of the most 
 friendly character, our commerce continually expanding, 
 and our flag respected in every quarter of the world. 
 
 These cheering and grateful prospects, and these mul 
 tiplied favors, we owe, under Providence, to the adoption 
 of the federal constitution. It is no longer a question 
 whether this great country can remain happily united, and 
 flourish under our present form of government. Expe 
 rience, the unerring test of all human undertakings, has 
 shown the wisdom and foresight of those who framed it ; 
 and has proved, that in the union of these states there is 
 a sure foundation for the brightest hopes of freedom, and 
 for the happiness of the people. At every hazard, and 
 by every sacrifice, this union must be preserved. 
 
 The necessity of watching with jealous anxiety for the 
 preservation of the union, was earnestly pressed upon his 
 fellow-citizens by the father of his country, in his fare 
 well address. He has there told us, that " while expe 
 rience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, 
 there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of 
 those who, in any quarter, may endeavor to weaken its 
 bonds;" and he has cautioned us in the strongest terms 
 against the formation of parties, on geographical discri 
 minations, as one of the means which might disturb our 
 union, and to which designing men would be likely to 
 resort. 
 
JACKSON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 159 
 
 The lessons contained in this invaluable legacy of 
 Washington to his countrymen, should be cherished in 
 the heart of every citizen to the latest generation ; and, 
 perhaps, at no period of time could they be more usefully 
 remembered than at the present moment. For when we 
 look upon the scenes that are passing around us, and 
 dwell upon the pages of his parting address, his paternal 
 counsels would seem to be not merely the offspring of 
 wisdom and foresight, but the voice of prophecy foretell 
 ing events, and warning us of the evil to come. Forty 
 years have passed since this imperishable document was 
 given to his countrymen. The federal constitution was 
 then regarded by him as an experiment, and he so speaks 
 of it in his address ; but an experiment upon the success 
 of which the best hopes of his country depended, and we 
 all know that he was prepared to lay down his life, if 
 necessary, to secure to it a full and fair trial. The trial 
 has been made. It has succeeded beyond the proudest 
 hopes of those who framed it. Every quarter of this 
 widely extended nation has felt its blessings, and shared 
 in the general prosperity produced by its adoption. But 
 amid this general prosperity and splendid success, the 
 dangers of which he warned us are becoming every day 
 more evident, and the signs of evil are sufficiently appa 
 rent to awaken the deepest anxiety in the bosom of the 
 patriot. We behold systematic efforts publicly made to 
 sow the seeds of discord between different parts of the 
 United States, and to place party divisions directly upon 
 geographical distinctions ; to excite the south against the 
 north, and the north against the south, and to force into 
 the controversy the most delicate and excited topics upon 
 which it is impossible that a large portion of the Union 
 can ever speak without strong emotions. Appeals, too, 
 are constantly made to sectional interests, in order to in 
 fluence the election of the chief magistrate, as if it were 
 desired that he should favor a particular quarter of the 
 country, instead of fulfilling the duties of his station with 
 impartial justice to all ; and the possible dissolution of the 
 Union has at length become an ordinary and famibar 
 subject of discussion. Has the warning voice of Wash 
 ington been forgotten ? or have designs already been 
 
160 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 formed to sever the Union ? Let it not be supposed that 
 I impute to all of those who have taken an active part in 
 these unwise and unprofitable discussions a want of patri 
 otism or of public virtue. The honorable feeling of state 
 pride and Jlocal attachments, find a place in the bosoms 
 of the most enlightened and pure. But while such men 
 are conscious of their own integrity and honesty of pur 
 pose, they ought never to forget that the citizens of other 
 states are their political brethren ; and that, however mis 
 taken they may be in their views, the great body of thorn 
 are equally honest and upright with themselves. Mutual 
 suspicions and reproaches may in time create mutual 
 hostility, and artful and designing men will always be 
 found, who are ready to foment these fatal divisions, and 
 to inflame the natural jealousies of different sections of 
 the country. The history of the world is full of such 
 examples, and especially the history of republics. 
 
 What have you to gain by division and dissention ? 
 Delude not yourselves with the belief that a breach once 
 made may be afterwards repaired. If the Union is once 
 severed, the line of separation will grow wider and wider, 
 and the controversies which are now debated and settled 
 in the halls of legislation, will then be tried in fields of 
 battle, and be determined by the sword. Neither should 
 you deceive yourselves with the hope, that the first lino 
 of separation would be the permanent one, and that no 
 thing but harmony and concord would be found in the 
 new associations, formed upon the dissolution of this 
 Union. Local interests would still be found there, and 
 unchastened ambition. And if the recollection of com 
 mon dangers, in which the people of these United States 
 stood side by side against the common foe ; the memory 
 of victories won by their united valor ; the prosperity and 
 happiness they have enjoyed under the present constitu 
 tion ; the proud name they bear as citizens of this great 
 republic ; if these recollections and proofs of common 
 interest are not strong enough to bind us together as one 
 people, what tie will hold this Union dissevered ? The 
 first line of separation would not last for a single genera 
 tion ; new fragments would be torn off: new leaders would 
 spring up i and this great and glorious republic would soon 
 
161 
 
 
 
 be broken into a multitude of pefty states ; armed for 
 mutual aggressions ; loaded with taxes to pay armies and 
 leaders ; seeking aid against each other from foreign pow 
 ers ; insulted and trampled upon by the nations of Eu 
 rope, until harassed with conflicts, and humbled and de 
 based in spirit, they would be ready to submit to the 
 absolute dominion of any military adventurer, and to sur 
 render their liberty for the sake of repose. It is impossi 
 ble to look on the consequences that would inevitably 
 follow the destruction of this government, and not feel 
 indignant when we hear cold calculations about the value 
 of the Union, and have so constantly before us a line of 
 conduct so well calculated to weaken its ties. 
 
 There is too much at stake to allow pride or passion 
 to influence your decision. Never for a moment believe 
 that the great body of the citizens of any state or states 
 can deliberately intend to do wrong. They may, under 
 the influence of temporary excitement or misguided opi 
 nions, commit mistakes ; they may be misled for a time 
 by the suggestions of self-interest ; but in a community 
 so enlightened and patriotic as the people of the United 
 States, argument will soon make them sensible of their 
 errors ; and when convinced, they will be ready to repair 
 them. If they have no higher or better motives to govern 
 them, they will at least perceive that their own interest 
 requires them to be just to others as they hope to receive 
 justice at their hands. 
 
 But in order to maintain the Union unimpaired, it is 
 absolutely necessary that the laws passed by the constitu 
 ted authorities should be faithfully executed in every part 
 of the country, and that every good citizen should, at all 
 times, stand ready to put down, with the combined force 
 of the nation, every attempt at unlawful resistance, under 
 whatever pretext it may be made, or whatever shape it 
 may assume. Unconstitutional or oppressive laws may 
 no doubt be passed by Congress, either from erroneous 
 views or the want of due consideration ; if they are within 
 reach of judicial authority, the remedy is easy and peace 
 ful ; and if, from the character of the law, it is an abuse 
 of power not within the control of the judiciary, then free 
 discussion and calm appeals to reason and to the justice 
 14* 
 
162 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 of the people, will riot fail tc redress the wrong. Bui 
 until the law shall be declared void by the courts, or re 
 pealed by Congress, no individual or combination of indi 
 viduals, can be justified in forcibly resisting its execution 
 It is impossible that any government can continue to ex 
 ist upon any other principles. It would cease to be a 
 government, and be unworthy of the name, if it had not the 
 power to enforce the execution of its own laws within its 
 own sphere of action. 
 
 It is true that cases may be imagined disclosing such a 
 settled purpose of usurpation and oppression, on the par 
 of the government, as would justify an appeal to arms. 
 These, however, are extreme cases, which we have no 
 reason to apprehend in a government where the power is 
 in the hands of a patriotic people; and no citizen who 
 loves his country, would in any case whatever resort to 
 forcible resistance, unless he clearly saw that the time had 
 come when a freeman should prefer death to submission ; 
 for if such a struggle is once begun, and the citizens of 
 one section of the country, arrayed in arms against those 
 of another, in doubtful conflict, let the battle result as it 
 may, there will be an end of the Union, and with it an end 
 of the hopes of freedom. The victory of the injured 
 would not secure to them the blessings of liberty ; it 
 would avenge their wrongs, but they would themselves 
 share in the common ruin. 
 
 But the constitution cannot be maintained, nor the 
 Union preserved, in opposition to public feeling, by the 
 mere exertion of the coercive powers confided to the 
 general government. The foundations must be laid in 
 the affections of the people ; in the security it gives to 
 life, liberty, character, and property, in every quarter of 
 the country ; and in the fraternal attachments which the 
 citizens of the several states bear to one another, as mem 
 bers of one political family, mutually contributing to pro 
 mote the happiness of each other. Hence the citizens of 
 every state should studiously avoid everything calculated 
 to wound the sensibility or offend the just pride of the 
 people of other states ; and they should frown upon any 
 proceedings within their own borders likely to disturb the 
 tranquillity of their political brethren in other portions of 
 
JACKSON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 163 
 
 the Union. In a country so extensive as the United 
 States, and with pursuits so varied, the internal regula- 
 i.ons of the several states must frequently differ from one 
 another in important particulars ; and this difference is un 
 avoidably increased by the varying principles upon which 
 the American colonies were originally planted ; princi 
 ples which had taken deep root in their social relations 
 before the revolution, and therefore, of necessity, influen 
 cing their policy since they became free and independent 
 states. But each state has the unquestionable right to 
 regulate its own internal concerns according to its 
 own pleasure ; and while it does not interfere with the 
 rights of the people of other states, or the rights of the 
 Union, every state must be the sole judge of that measure 
 proper to secure the safety of its citizens and promote 
 their happiness ; and all efforts on the part of the people 
 of other states to cast odium upon their institutions, and 
 all measures calculated to disturb their rights of property, 
 or to put in jeopardy their peace and internal tranquillity, 
 are in direct opposition to the spirit in which the Union 
 was formed, and must endanger its safety. Motives of 
 philanthropy may be assigned for this unwarrantable in 
 terference ; and weak men may persuade themselves for 
 a moment that they are laboring in the cause of humanity, 
 and asserting the rights of the human race; but every 
 one, upon sober reflection, will see that nothing but mis 
 chief can come from these improper assaults upon the feel 
 ings and rights of others. Rest assured, that the men 
 found busy in this work of discord are not worthy of your 
 confidence, and deserve your strongest reprobation. 
 
 In the legislation of Congress, also, and in every mea 
 sure of the general government, justice to every portion 
 of the United States should be faithfully observed. No 
 free government can stand without virtue in the people, 
 and a lofty spirit of patriotism ; and if the sordid feelings 
 of mere selfishness shall usurp the place which ought to 
 be filled by public spirit, the legislation of Congress will 
 soon be converted into a scramble for personal and sec 
 tional advantages. Under our free institutions the citi 
 zens in every quarter of our country are capable of attain 
 ing a high degree of prosperity and happiness, withou 
 
164 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN 
 
 seeking to profit themselves at the expense of other*; and 
 every such attempt must in the end fail to succeed, for 
 the people in every part of the United States are too en 
 lightened not to understand their own rights and interests, 
 and to detect and defeat every effort to gain undue advan 
 tages over them ; and when sucli designs are discovered 
 it naturally provokes resentments which cannot be always 
 allayed. Justice, full and ample justice, to every portion 
 of the United States, should be the ruling principle of 
 every freeman, and should guide the deliberations of 
 every public body, whether it, be state or national. 
 
 It is well known that there have always been those 
 among us who wish to enlarge the powers of the general 
 government ; and experience would seem to indicate that 
 there is a tendency on the part of this government to 
 overstep the boundaries marked out for it by the consti 
 tution. Its legitimate authority is abundantly sufficient 
 for all the purposes for which it is created ; and its pow 
 ers being expressly enumerated, there can be no justifica 
 tion for claiming any thing beyond them. Every attempt 
 to exercise power beyond these limits should be promptly 
 and firmly opposed. For one evil example will lead to 
 other measures still more mischievous ; and if the prin 
 ciple of constructive powers, or supposed advantages, or 
 temporary circumstances, shall ever be permitted to jus* 
 tify the" assumption of a power not given by the constitu 
 tion, the general government will before long absorb all the 
 powers of legislation, and you will have in effect, but one 
 consolidated government. From the extent of our coun 
 try, its diversified interests, different pursuits, and diffe 
 rent habits, it is too obvious for argument that a single 
 consolidated government would be wholly inadequate to 
 watch over and protect its interests ; and every friend of 
 our free institutions should be always prepared to main 
 tain unimpaired and in full vigor the rights and sove 
 reignty of the states, and to confine the action of the 
 general government strictly to the sphere of its appropri 
 ate duties. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no one of the powers conferred on 
 the federal government so liable to abuse as the taxing 
 power. The most productive and convenient sources o r 
 
JACKSON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 165 
 
 revenue were necessarily given to it, that it might perform 
 the important duties imposed upon it; and the taxes 
 which it lays upon commerce being concealed from the 
 real payer in the price of the article, they do not so rea 
 dily attract the attention of the people as smaller sums 
 demanded from them directly by the tax-gatherer. But 
 the tax imposed on goods, enhances by so much the price 
 of the commodity to the consumer ; and as many of these 
 duties are imposed on articles of necessity which are 
 daily used by the great body of the people, the money 
 raised by these imposts is drawn from their pockets. Con 
 gress has no right under the constitution to take money 
 from the people unless it is required to execute some one 
 of the specific powers intrusted to the government : and 
 if they raise more than is necessary for such purposes, 
 it is an abuse of the power of taxation, and unjust and 
 oppressive. It may indeed happen that the revenue 
 will sometimes exceed the amount anticipated when the 
 taxes were laid. When, however, this is ascertained, it 
 is easy to reduce them ; and, in such a case, it is unques 
 tionably the duty of the government to reduce them, for 
 no circumstances can justify it in assuming a power not 
 given to it by the constitution, nor in taking away the 
 money of the people when it is not needed for the legiti 
 mate wants of the government. 
 
 Plain as these principles appear to be, you will find 
 that there is a constant effort to induce the general go 
 vernment to go beyond the limits of its taxing power, and 
 to impose unnecessary burdens upon the people. Many 
 powerful interests are continually at work to procure heavy 
 duties on commerce, and to swell the revenue beyond 
 the real necessities of the public service ; and the country 
 has already felt the injurious effects of their combined in 
 fluence. They succeeded in obtaining a tariff of duties 
 bearing most oppressively on the agricultural and laboring 
 classes of society, and producing a revenue that could 
 not be usefully employed within the range of the powers 
 conferred upon Congress; and, in order to fasten upon 
 the people this unjust and unequal system of taxation, 
 extravagant schemes of internal improvement were got up, 
 in various quarters, to squander the money and to pur- 
 
166 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 chase support. Thus, one unconstitutional measure was 
 intended to be upheld by another, and the abuse of the 
 power of taxation was to be maintained by usurping the 
 power of expending the money in internal improvements. 
 You cannot have forgotten the severe and doubtful strug 
 gle through which we passed, when the executive depart 
 ment of the government, by its veto, endeavored to arrest 
 this prodigal scheme of injustice, and to bring back the 
 legislation of Congress to the boundaries prescribed by 
 the constitution. The good sense and practical judgment 
 of the people, when the subject was brought before them, 
 sustained the course of the executive ; and this plan of 
 unconstitutional expenditure for the purposes of corrupt 
 influence is, I trust, finally overthrown. 
 
 The result of this decision has been felt in the rapid 
 extinguishment of the public debt, and the large accumu 
 lation of a surplus in the treasury, notwithstanding the 
 tariff was reduced, and is now far below the amount ori 
 ginally contemplated by its advocates. But, rely upon it, 
 the design to collect an extravagant revenue, and to bur 
 den you with taxes beyond the economical wants of the 
 government is not yet abandoned. The various interests 
 which have combined together to impose a heavy tariff, 
 and to produce an overflowing treasury, are too strong, 
 and have too much at stake, to surrender the contest. 
 The corporations and wealthy individuals who are en 
 gaged in large manufacturing establishments, desire a high 
 tariff to increase their gains. Designing politicians will 
 support it to conciliate their favor, and to obtain the 
 means of profuse expenditure, for the purpose of purcha 
 sing influence in other quarters ; and since the people 
 have decided that the federal government cannot be per 
 mitted to employ its income in internal improvements, 
 efforts will be made to seduce and mislead the citizens 
 of the several states by holding out to them the deceitful 
 prospect of benefits to be derived from a surplus revenue 
 collected by the general government, and annually divi 
 ded among the states. And if encouraged by these falla 
 cious hopes, the states should disregard the principles of 
 economy which ought to characterize every republican 
 government, and should indulge in lavish expenditures 
 
JACKSON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 167 
 
 exceeding their resources, they will, before long, find 
 themselves oppressed with debts which they are unable 
 to pay, and the temptation will become irresistible to sup 
 port a high tariff, in order to obtain a surplus distribution 
 Do not allow yourselves, my fellow-citizens, to be mis 
 led on this subject. The federal government cannot col 
 lect a surplus for such purposes, without violating the 
 principles of the constitution, and assuming powers which 
 have not been granted. It is, moreover, a system of in 
 justice, and, if persisted in, will inevitably lead to cor 
 ruption and must end in ruin. The surplus revenue will 
 be drawn from the pockets of the people from the far 
 mer, the mechanic, and the laboring classes of society ; 
 but who will receive it when distributed among the states, 
 where it is to be disposed of by leading politicians who 
 have friends to favor, and political partisans to gratify ? 
 It will certainly not be returned to those who paid it, 
 and who have most need of it, and are honestly entitled 
 to it. There is but one safe rule, and that is, to confine 
 the general government rigidly within the sphere of its 
 appropriate duties. It has no power to raise a revenue, 
 or impose taxes, except, for the purposes enumerated in 
 the constitution ; and if its income is found to exceed these 
 wants, it should be forthwith reduced, and the burdens of 
 the people so far lightened. 
 
 In reviewing the conflicts which have taken place be 
 tween different interests in the United States, and the 
 policy pursued since the adoption of our present form of 
 government, we find nothing that has produced such 
 deep-seated evil as the course of legislation in relation to 
 the currency. The constitution of the United States un 
 questionably intended to secure the people a circulating 
 medium of gold and silver. But the establishment of a 
 national bank by Congress, with the privilege of issuing 
 paper money receivable in the payment of the public dues, 
 and the unfortunate course of legislation in the several 
 states upon the same subject, drove from general circula 
 tion the constitutional currency, and substituted one of 
 paper in its place. 
 
 It was not easy for men engaged in the ordinary pur 
 suits of business, whose attention had not been particu- 
 
168 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 larly drawn to the subject, to foresee all the consequence* 
 of a currency exclusively of paper : and we ought not, 
 on that account, to be surprised at the facility with which 
 laws were obtained to carry into effect the paper system 
 Honest, and even enlightened men are sometimes misled 
 by the specious and plausible statements of the designing. 
 But experience has now proved the mischiefs and dangers 
 of a paper currency, and it rests with you to determine 
 whether the proper remedy shall be applied. 
 
 The paper system being founded on public confidence, 
 and having of itself no intrinsic value, it is liable to 
 great and sudden fluctuations ; thereby rendering pro 
 perty insecure, and the wages of labor unsteady and 
 uncertain. The corporations which create the paper 
 money cannot be relied upon to keep the circulating 
 medium uniform in amount. In times of prosperity, 
 when confidence is high, they are tempted, by the pros 
 pect of gain, or by the influence of those who hope to 
 profit by it, to extend their issues of paper beyond the 
 bounds of discretion and the reasonable demands of 
 business. And when these issues have been pushed on, 
 from day to day, until public confidence is at length 
 shaken, then a reaction takes place, and they immedi 
 ately withdraw the credits they have given ; suddenly 
 curtail their issues ; and produce an unexpected and 
 ruinous contraction of the circulating medium, which is 
 felt by the whole community. The banks, by this means, 
 save themselves, and the mischievous consequences of 
 their imprudence or cupidity are visited upon the public. 
 Nor does the evil stop here. These ebbs and flows in 
 the currency, and these indiscreet extensions of credit, 
 naturally engender a spirit of speculation injurious to the 
 habits and character of the people. We have already 
 seen its effects in the wild spirit of speculation in the 
 public lands, and various kinds of stocks, which within 
 the last year or two, seized upon such a multitude of our 
 citizens, and threatened to pervade all classes of society, 
 and to withdraw their attention from the sober pursuits 
 of honest industry. It is not by encouraging this spirit 
 that we shall best preserve public virtue, and promote 
 the true interests of our country. But if your currency 
 
JACKSON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 169 
 
 continues as exclusively paper as it now is, it will foster 
 this eager desire to amass wealth without labor ; it will 
 multiply the number of dependents on bank accommo 
 dations and bank favors ; the temptations to obtain money 
 at any sacrifice will become stronger and stronger, and 
 inevitably lead to corruption, which will find its way into 
 your public councils, and destroy, at no distant day, the 
 purity of your government. Some of the evils which 
 arise from this system of paper, press with peculiar hard 
 ship upon the class of society least able to bear it. A 
 portion of this currency frequently becomes depreciated 
 or worthless, and all of it is easily counterfeited, in such 
 a manner as to require peculiar skill and much experience 
 to distinguish the counterfeit from the genuine notes. 
 
 These frauds are most generally perpetrated in the 
 smaller notes, which are used in the daily transactions of 
 ordinary business ; and the losses occasioned by them 
 are commonly thrown upon the laboring classes of society, 
 whose situation and pursuits put it out of their power 
 to guard themselves from these impositions, and whose 
 daily wages are necessary for their subsistence. It is the 
 duty of every government so to regulate its currency, as 
 to protect this numerous class as far as practicable from 
 the impositions of avarice and fraud. It is more espe 
 cially the duty of the United States, where the govern 
 ment is emphatically the government of the people, and 
 where this respectable portion of our citizens are so 
 proudly distinguished from the laboring classes of all 
 other nations, by their independent spirit, their love of 
 liberty, their intelligence, and their high tone of moral 
 character. Their industry in peace, is the source of our 
 wealth ; and their bravery in war, has covered us with 
 glory , and the government of the United States will but 
 ill discharge its duties, if it leaves them a prey to such 
 dishonest impositions. Yet it is evident that their interests 
 cannot be effectually protected, unless silver and gold are 
 restored to circulation. 
 
 These views alone, of the paper currency, are sufficient 
 10 call for immediate reform ; but there is another consi 
 deration which should still more strongly press it upon 
 your attention. 
 15 
 
170 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 Recent events have proved that the paper money sys 
 tem of this country, may be used as an engine to under 
 mine your free institutions ; and that those who desire to 
 engross all power in the hands of the few, and to govern 
 by corruption or force, are aware of its power, and pre 
 pared to employ it. Your banks now furnish your only 
 circulating medium, and money is plenty or scarce, ac 
 cording to the quantity of notes issued by them. While 
 they have capitals not greatly disproportioned to each 
 other, they are competitors in business, and no one of 
 them can exercise dominion over the rest; and although, 
 in the present state of the currency, these banks may 
 and do operate injuriously upon the habits of business, 
 the pecuniary concerns, and the moral tone of society; 
 yet, from their number and dispersed situation, they can 
 not combine for the purposes of political influence ; and 
 whatever may be the dispositions of some of them, their 
 power of michief must necessarily be confined to a 
 narrow space, and felt only in their immediate neigh 
 borhood. 
 
 But when the charter for the Bank of the United 
 States was obtained from Congress, it perfected the 
 schemes of the paper system, and gave its advocates the 
 position they have struggled to obtain, from the com 
 mencement of the federal government down to the pre 
 sent hour. The immense capital, the peculiar privileges 
 bestowed upon it, enabled it to exercise despotic sway 
 over the other banks in every part of the country. From 
 its superior strength, it could seriously injure, if not de 
 stroy the business of any one of them which might incur 
 its resentment; and it openly claimed for itself the power 
 of regulating the currency throughout the United States. 
 In other words, it asserted (and undoubtedly possessed) 
 the power to make money plenty or scarce, at its pleasure, 
 at any time, and in any quarter of the Union by con 
 trolling the issues of other banks, and permitting an 
 expansion, or compelling a general contraction, of the 
 circulating medium, according to its own will. The 
 other banking institutions were sensible of its strength, 
 and they soon generally became its obedient instruments, 
 ready at all times, to execute its mandates ; and with the 
 
JACKSON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 171 
 
 banks necessarily went also that numerous class of per 
 sons in our commercial cities, who depend altogether on 
 bank credits for their solvency and means of business ; 
 and who are, therefore, obliged, for their own safety, to 
 propitiate the favor of the money power by distinguished 
 zeal and devotion in its service. The result of the ill- 
 advised legislation which established this great monop-.oly 
 was to concentrate the whole moneyed power of the 
 Union, with its boundless means of corruption, and its 
 numerous dependents, under the direction and command 
 of one acknowledged head ; thus organizing this particu 
 lar interest as one body, and securing to it unity and 
 concert of action throughout the United States, and ena 
 bling it to bring forward, upon any occasion, its entire 
 and undivided strength to support or defeat, any measure 
 of the government. In the hands of this formidable 
 power, thus perfectly organized, was also placed unlimited 
 dominion over the amount of the circulating medium, 
 giving it the power to regulate the value of property and 
 the fruit of labor in every quarter of the Union ; and to 
 bestow prosperity, or bring ruin upon any city or section 
 of the country, as might best comport with its own inte 
 rest or policy. 
 
 We are not left to conjecture how the moneyed power, 
 thus organized, and with such a weapon in its hands, 
 would be likely to use it. The distress and alarm which 
 pervaded and agitated the whole country, when the Bank 
 of the United States waged war upon the people, in order 
 to compel them to submit to its demands, cannot yet be 
 forgotten. The ruthless and unsparing temper with which 
 whole cities and communities were oppressed, individu 
 als impoverished and ruined, and a scene of cheerful 
 prosperity suddenly changed into one of gloom and 
 despondency, ought to be indelibly impressed on the 
 memory of the people of the United States, If such 
 was its power in a time of peace, what would it not have 
 been in a season of war, with an enemy at your doors ? 
 No nation but the freemen of the United States could 
 have come out victorious from such a contest ; yet, if you 
 had not conquered, the government would have passed 
 from the hands of the many to the hands of the few 
 
172 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 and this organized money power, from its secret con 
 clave, would have dictated the choice of your highest 
 officers, and compelled you to make peace or war, as best 
 suited their own wishes. The forms of your govern 
 ment might, for a time, have remained ; but its living 
 spirit would have departed from it. 
 
 The distress and sufferings inflicted on the people by 
 the bank, are some of the fruits of that system of policy 
 which is continually striving to enlarge the authority of 
 the federal government beyond the limits fixed by the 
 constitution. The powers enumerated in that instru 
 ment do not confer on Congress the right to establish 
 such a corporation as the Bank of the United States ; 
 and the evil consequences which followed may warn us 
 of the danger of departing from the true rule of con 
 struction, and of permitting temporary circumstances, or 
 the hope of better promoting the public welfare, to influ 
 ence in any degree our decision upon the extent of the 
 authority of the general government. Let us abide by 
 the constitution as it is written, or amend it in the con 
 stitutional mode if it is found defective. 
 
 The severe lessons of experience will, I doubt not, be 
 sufficient to prevent Congress from again chartering 
 such a monopoly, even if the constitution did not pre 
 sent an insuperable objection to it. But you must re 
 member, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the 
 people is the price of liberty; and that you must pay the 
 price if you wish to secure the blessing. It behoves 
 you, therefore, to be watchful in your states, as well as 
 in the federal government. The power which the mo 
 neyed interest can exercise, when concentrated under a 
 single head and with our present system of currency, 
 was sufficiently demonstrated in the struggle made by the 
 United States Bank. Defeated in the general govern 
 ment, the same class of intriguers and politicians will 
 now resort to the states, and endeavor to obtain there the 
 same organization, which they failed to perpetuate in 
 the Union ; and with specious and deceitful plans of pub 
 lic advantages, and state interests, and state pride, they 
 will endeavor to establish, in the different states, one 
 moneyed institution with overgrown capital, and exclu- 
 
JACKSON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 171 
 
 aive privileges sufficient to enable it to control the ope 
 rations of other banks. Such an institution will be 
 pregnant with the same evils produced by the Bank of 
 the United States, although its sphere of action is more 
 confined ; and in the state in which it is chartered, the 
 money power will be able to embody its whole strength, 
 and to move together with undivided force, to accomplish 
 any object it may wish to attain. You have already had 
 abundant evidence of its powers to inflict injury upon the 
 agricultural, mechanical, and laboring classes of society ; 
 and over those whose engagements in trade or specula 
 tion render them dependent on bank facilities, the domi 
 nion of the state monopoly will be absolute, and their 
 obedience unlimited. With such a bank and a paper 
 currency, the money power would in a few years govern 
 the state and control its measures ; and if a sufficient 
 number of states can be induced to create such estab 
 lishments, the time will soon come when it will again take 
 the field against the United States, and succeed in per 
 fecting and perpetuating its organization by a charter 
 from Congress. 
 
 It is one of the serious evils of our present system of 
 banking that it enables one class of society and that by 
 no means a numerous one by its control over the cur 
 rency, to act injuriously upon the interests of all the 
 others, and to exercise more than its just proportion of 
 influence in political affairs. The agricultural, the me 
 chanical, and the laboring classes, have little or no share 
 in the direction of the great moneyed corporations ; and 
 from their habits and the nature of their pursuits, they 
 are incapable of forming extensive combinations to act 
 together with united force. Such concert of action may 
 sometimes be produced in a single city, or in a small dis 
 trict of country, by means of personal communications 
 with each other ; but they have no regular or active cor 
 respondence with those who are engaged in similar pur 
 suits in distant places ; they have but little patronage to 
 give to the press, and exercise but a small share of influ 
 ence over it ; they have no crowd of dependents about 
 them, who hope to grow rich without labor, by their 
 countenance and favor, and who are, therefore., always 
 15* 
 
174 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 ready to execute their wishes. The planter, the farmer, 
 the mechanic, and the laborer, all know that their suc 
 cess depends upon their own industry and economy, and 
 that they must not expect to become suddenly rich by the 
 fruits of their toil. Yet these classes form the great body 
 of the people of the United States; they are the bone 
 and sinew of the country ; men who love liberty, and 
 desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws, and who, 
 moreover, hold the great mass of our national wealth, al 
 though it is distributed in moderate amounts among the 
 millions of freemen who possess it. But, with overwhelm- 
 ng numbers and wealth on their side, they are in con 
 stant danger of losing their fair influence in the govern 
 ment, and with difficulty maintain their just rights against 
 the incessant efforts daily made to encroach upon them. 
 
 The mischief springs from the power which the mo 
 neyed interest derives from a paper currency, which they 
 are able to control, from the multitude of corporations 
 with exclusive privileges, which they have succeeded in 
 obtaining in the different states, and which are employed 
 altogether for their benefit, and unless you become more 
 watchful in your states, and check this spirit of monopo 
 ly and thirst for exclusive privileges, you will, in the end, 
 find that the most important powers of government have 
 been given or bartered away, and the control over your 
 dearest interests has passed into the hands of these cor 
 porations. 
 
 The paper-moneyed system, and its natural associates, 
 monopoly and exclusive privileges, have already struck 
 their roots deep in the soil, and it will require all your 
 efforts to check its further growth, and to eradicate the 
 evil. The men who profit by the abuses, ancf desire to 
 perpetuate them, will continue to besiege the halls of 
 legislation in the general government as well as in the 
 states, and will seek, by every artifice, to mislead and de 
 ceive the public servants. It is to yourselves that you 
 must look for safety and the means of guarding and per 
 petuating your free institutions. In your hands is right 
 fully placed the sovereignty of the country, and to you 
 e^ery one placed in authority is ultimately responsible. 
 It is always in your power to see that the wishes of thft 
 
176 
 
 people are carried into faithful execution, and their will, 
 when once made known, must sooner or later be obeyed. 
 And while the people remain, as I trust they ever will, 
 uncorrupted and incorruptible, and continue watchful and 
 jealous of their rights, the government is safe, and the 
 cause of freedom will continue to triumph over all its 
 enemies. 
 
 But it will require steady and persevering exertions on 
 your part to rid yourselves of the iniquities and mischiefs 
 of the paper system, and to check the spirit of monopoly 
 and other abuses which have sprung up with it, and of 
 which it is the main support. So many interests are uni 
 ted to resist all reform on this subject, that you must not 
 hope the conflict will be a short one, nor success easy. 
 My humble efforts have not been spared, during my ad 
 ministration of the government, to restore the constitu 
 tional currency of gold and silver; and something, I trust, 
 has been done towards the accomplishment of this most 
 desirable object. But enough yet remains to require all 
 your energy and perseverance. The power, however, is 
 in your hands, and the remedy must and will be applied 
 if you determine upon it. 
 
 While I am thus endeavoring to press upon your atten 
 tion the principles which I deem of vital importance to 
 the domestic concerns of the country, I ought not to pass 
 over without notice, the important considerations which 
 should govern your policy towards foreign powers. It is 
 unquestionably our true interest to cultivate the most 
 friendly understanding with every nation, and to avoid, 
 by every honorable means, the calamities of war; and we 
 shall best attain that object by frankness and sincerity in 
 our foreign intercourse, by the prompt and faithful exe 
 cution of treaties, and by justice and impartiality in our 
 conduct to all. But no nation, however desirous of peace, 
 can hope to escape collisions with other powers ; and 
 the soundest dictates of policy require that we should 
 place ourselves in a condition to assert our rights, if a 
 resort to force should ever become necessary. Our local 
 situation, our long line of sea-coast, indented by nume 
 rous bays, with deep rivers opening into the interior, as 
 well as her extended and still increasing- commerce, point 
 
176 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN 
 
 to the navy as our natural means of defence. It will, in 
 the end, be found to be the cheapest and most effectual ; 
 and now is the time, in a season of peace, and with an 
 overflowing revenue, that we can year after year add to 
 its strength, without increasing the burdens of the peo 
 ple. It is your true policy. For your navy will not only 
 protect your rich and flourishing commerce in distant 
 seas, but enable you to reach and annoy the enemy, and 
 will give to defence its greatest efficiency, by meeting 
 danger at a distance from home. It is impossible by any 
 line of fortifications to guard every point from attack 
 against a hostile force advancing from the ocean, and se- 
 ecting its object ; but they are indispensable to prevent 
 cities from bombardment ; dock-yards and navy arsenals 
 from destruction ; to give shelter to merchant vessels in 
 time of war, and to single ships of weaker squadrons 
 when pressed by superior force. Fortifications of this 
 description cannot be too soon completed and armed, and 
 placed in a condition of the most perfect preparation. 
 The abundant means we now possess cannot be applied 
 in any manner more useful to the country ; and when this 
 is done, and our naval force sufficiently strengthened, and 
 our military armed, we need not fear that any nation will 
 wantonly insult us, or needlessly provoke hostilities. We 
 shall more certainly preserve peace, when it is well un 
 derstood that we are prepared for war. 
 
 In presenting to you, my fellow-citizens, these parting 
 counsels, I have brought before you the leading principles 
 upon which I endeavored to administer the government 
 in the high office with which you twice honored me 
 Knowing that the path of freedom is continually beset by 
 enemies, who often assume the disguise of friends. I have 
 devoted the last hours of my public life to warn you of 
 the dangers. The progress of the United States, under 
 our free and happy institutions, has surpassed the most 
 sanguine hopes of the founders of the republic. Oui 
 growth has been rapid beyond all former example, in 
 numbers, in wealth, in knowledge, and all the useful arts 
 which contribute to the comforts and convenience of man; 
 and from the earliest ages of history to the present day, 
 Jhere never have been thirteen millions of people asso 
 
JACKSON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 177 
 
 elated together in one political body, who enjoyed s<? 
 much freedom and happiness as the people of these United 
 States. You have no longer any cause to fear danger 
 from abroad ; your strength and power are well known 
 throughout the civilized world, as well as the high and 
 gallant bearing of your sons. It is from within, among 
 yourselves, from cupidity, from corruption, from disap 
 pointed ambition, and inordinate thirst for power, that 
 factions will be formed and liberty endangered. It is 
 against such designs, whatever disguise the actors may 
 assume, that you have especially to guard yourselves. 
 You have the highest of human trusts committed to your 
 care. Providence has showered on this favored land 
 blessings without number, and has chosen you, as the 
 guardians of freedom, to preserve it for the benefit of the 
 human race. May He, who holds in his hands the desti 
 nies of nations, make you worthy of the favors he has 
 bestowed, and enable you, with pure hearts, and pure 
 hands, and sleepless vigilance, to guard and defend to the 
 end of time the great charge he has committed to your 
 keeping. 
 
 My own race is nearly run ; advanced age and failing 
 health warn me that before long I must pass beyond the 
 reach of human events, and cease to feel the vicissitudes 
 of human affairs. I thank God that my life has been 
 spent in a land of liberty, and that he has given me a 
 heart to love my country with the affection of au"i. And 
 filled with gratitude for your constant and unwavering 
 kindness, I bid you a last and affectionate farewell- 
 
178 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN 
 
 VAN BUREN S INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 
 MARCH 4, 1837. 
 
 Fellow- Citizens : 
 
 The practice of all my predecessors imposes on me an 
 obligation I cheerfully fulfil, to accompany the first and 
 solemn act of my public trust with an avowal of the prin 
 ciples that will guide me in performing it, and an expres 
 sion of my feelings on assuming a charge so responsible 
 and vast. In imitating their example, I tread in the foot 
 steps of illustrious men, whose superiors it is our happi 
 ness to believe are not found on the executive calendar of 
 any country. Among them we recognize the earliest and 
 firmest pillars of the republic ; those by whom our na 
 tional independence was first declared ; him who, above 
 all others, contributed to establish it on the field of battle ; 
 and those whose expanded intellect and patriotism con 
 structed, improved and perfected the inestimable institu 
 tions under which we live. If such men, in the position 
 I now occupy, felt themselves overwhelmed by a sense 
 of gratitude for this, the highest of all marks of their 
 country s confidence, and by a consciousness of their in 
 ability adequately to discharge the duties of an office so 
 difficult and exalted, how much more must these conside 
 rations affect one, who can rely on no such claim for fa 
 vor or forbearance. Unlike all who have preceded me, 
 the revolution that gave us existence as one people, was 
 achieved at the period of my birth; and whilst I contem 
 plate, with grateful reverence, that memorable event, I 
 feel that I belong to a later age, and that I may not ex 
 pect my countrymen to weigh my actions with the same 
 kind and partial hand. 
 
 So sensibly, fellow-citizens, do these circumstances 
 press themselves upon me, that I should not dare to en- 
 ter upon my path of duty, did I not look for the gene 
 rous aid of those who will be associated with me in the 
 various and co-ordinate branches of the government ; did 
 t not repose with unwavering reliance on the patriotism, 
 the intelligence and the kindness of a people who nevei 
 
 >< * Jf- * 
 
 : **- 
 ? **i 
 
 i<4 
 
 *</ 
 
VAN BUREN S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 178 
 
 yet deserted a public servant honestly laboring in their 
 cause ; and, above all, did I not permit myself humbly to 
 hope for the sustaining support of an ever- watchful and 
 beneficent Providence. 
 
 To the confidence and consolation derived from these 
 sources, it would be ungrateful not to add those which 
 spring from our present fortunate condition. Though 
 not altogether exempt from embarrassments that disturb 
 our tranquillity at home and threaten it abroad, yet, in all 
 the attributes of a great, happy, and flourishing people, 
 we stand without a parallel in the world. Abroad, we 
 enjoy the respect, and, with scarcely an exception, the 
 friendship of every nation ; at home, while our govern 
 ment quietly, but efficiently performs the sole legitimate 
 end of political institutions, in doing the greatest good to 
 the greatest number, we present an aggregate of human 
 prosperity surely not elsewhere to be found. 
 
 How imperious, then, is the obligation imposed upon 
 every citizen, in his own sphere of action, whether limit 
 ed or extended, to exert himself in perpetuating a condi 
 tion of things so singularly happy. All the lessons of 
 history and experience must be lost upon us, if we are 
 content to trust alone to the peculiar advantages we hap 
 pen to possess. Position and climate, and the bounteous 
 resources that nature has scattered with so liberal a 
 hand even the diffused intelligence and elevated cha 
 racter of our people will avail us nothing, if we fail 
 sacredly to uphold those political institutions that were 
 wisely and deliberately formed, with reference to every 
 circumstance that could preserve, or might endanger the 
 blessings we enjoy. The thoughtful framers of our con 
 stitution legislated for our country as they found it. Look 
 ing upon it with the eyes of statesmen and of patriots, 
 they saw all the sources of rapid and wonderful prospe 
 rity; but they saw, also, that various habits, opinions, and 
 institutions, peculiar to the various portions of so vast a 
 region, were deeply fixed. Distinct sovereignties were 
 in actual existence, whose cordial union was essential to 
 the welfare and happiness of all. Between many of them 
 there was, at least to some extent, a real diversity of in 
 terests, liable to be exaggerated through sinister designs ; 
 
180 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 they differed in size, in population, in wealth, and in actual 
 and prospective resources and power; they varied in the 
 character of their industry arid staple productions ; and 
 in some existed domestic institutions, which, unwisely 
 disturbed, might endanger the harmony of the whole 
 Most carefully were all these circumstances weighed, and 
 the foundation of the government laid upon principles of 
 mutual concession and equitable compromise. The jea- 
 .ousies which the smaller states might entertain of the 
 power of the rest, were allayed by a rule of representation 
 confessedly unequal at the time, and designed forever to 
 remain so. A natural fear that the broad scope of gene 
 ral legislation might bear upon and unwisely control par 
 ticular interests, was counteracted by limits strictly drawn 
 around the action of the federal authority; and to the 
 people and the states was left unimpaired their sovereign 
 power over the innumerable subjects embraced in the 
 internal government of a just republic, excepting such 
 only as necessarily appertain to the concerns of the whole 
 confederacy, or its intercourse, as a united community, 
 with the other nations of the world. 
 
 This provident forecast has been verified by time. 
 Half a century, teeming with extraordinary events, and 
 elsewhere producing astonishing results, has passed along; 
 but on our institutions it has left no injurious mark. From 
 a small community, we have risen to a people powerful 
 in numbers and in strength ; but with our increase has 
 gone hand in hand the progress of just principle; the 
 privileges, civil and reWgious, of the humblest individual 
 are sacredly protected at home : and while the valor and 
 fortitude of our people have removed far from us the 
 slightest apprehension of foreign power, they have not 
 yet induced us, in a single instance, to forget what is 
 right. Our commerce has been extended to the remotest 
 nations ; the value, and even nature of the productions 
 has been greatly changed; a wide difference has arisen 
 in the relative wealth and resources of every portion of 
 our country ; yet the spirit of mutual regard and of faith 
 ful adherence to existing compacts, has continued to 
 prevail in our councils, and never long been absent from 
 our conduct. We have learned by experience a fruitful 
 
VAX BUREN S INAUGURA.L ADDRESS. 181 
 
 lesson; that an implicit and undeviating adherence to 
 the principles on which we set out can carry us prosper 
 ously onward through all the conflicts of circumstances, 
 and the vicissitudes inseparable from the lapse of years. 
 The success that has thus attended our great experi 
 ment, is, in itself, sufficient cause for gratitude, on ac 
 count of th happiness it has actually conferred, and the 
 example it has unanswerably given. But to me, my fel 
 low-citizens, looking forward to the far distant future, 
 with ardent prayers and confiding hopes, this retrospect 
 presents a ground for still deeper delight. It impresses 
 on my mind a firm belief that the perpetuity of our in 
 stitutions depends upon themselves; that, if we maintain the 
 principles on which they were established, they are des 
 tined to confer their benefits on countless generations yet 
 to come ; and that America will present to every friend of 
 mankind the cheering proof, that a popular government, 
 wisely formed, is wanting in no element of endurance or 
 strength. Fifty years ago its rapid failure was predicted. 
 Latent and uncontrollable causes of dissolution were sup 
 posed to exist, even by the wise and good ; and not only 
 did unfriendly or speculative theorists anticipate for us the 
 fate of past republics, but the fear of many an honest patriot 
 overbalanced his sanguine hopes. Look back on these 
 forebodings, not hastily, but reluctantly made, and see 
 how, in every instance, they have completely failed. 
 
 An imperfect experience, during the struggles of the re 
 volution, was supposed to warrant a belief that the peo 
 ple would not bear the taxation requisite to the discharge 
 of an immense public debt already incurred, and to de 
 fray the necessary expenses of government. The cost of 
 two wars has been paid, not only without a murmur, but 
 with unequalled alacrity. No one is now left to doubt 
 that every burden will be cheerfully borne that may be ne 
 cessary to sustain our civil institutions, or guard our ho 
 nor or our welfare. Indeed, all experience has shown 
 that the willingness of the people to contribute to these 
 ends, in cases of emergency, has uniformly outrun the 
 confidence of their representatives. 
 
 In the early stages of the new government, when all 
 felt the imposing influence, as they recognized the une- 
 16 
 
182 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN , 
 
 quailed services of the first President, it was a common 
 sentiment, that the great weight of his character couid 
 alone bind the discordant materials of our government to 
 gether, and save us from the violence of contending fac 
 tions. Since his death, nearly forty years are gone. 
 Party exasperation has been often carried to its highest 
 point; the virtue and fortitude of the people have some 
 times been greatly tried; yet our system, purified and en 
 hanced in value by all it has encountered, still preserves 
 its spirit of free and fearless discussion, blended with un 
 impaired fraternal feeling. 
 
 The capacity of the people for self-government, and 
 their willingness from a high sense of duty, and without 
 those exhibitions of coercive power so generally employ 
 ed in other countries, to submit to all needful restraints 
 and exactions of the municipal law, have also been favor 
 ably exemplified in the history of the American states. 
 Occasionally it is true, the ardor of public sentiment, out 
 running the regular process of the judicial tribunals, or 
 seeking to reach cases not denounced as criminal by the 
 existing law, has displayed itself in a manner calculated to 
 give pain to the friends of free government, and to en 
 courage the hopes of those who wish for its overthrow. 
 These occurrences, however, have been less frequent in 
 our country than any other of equal population on the 
 globe ; and with the diffusion of intelligence, it may well 
 be hoped that they will constantly diminish in frequency 
 and violence. The generous patriotism and sound com 
 mon sense of the great mass of our fellow-citizens, will 
 assuredly, in time, produce this result ; for as every as 
 sumption of illegal power not only wounds the majesty 
 of the law, but furnishes a pretext for abridging the liber 
 ties of the people, the latter have the most direct and per 
 manent interest in preserving the great landmarks of so 
 cial order, and maintaining, on all occasions, the inviola 
 bility of those constitutional and legal provisions which 
 they themselves have made. 
 
 In a supposed unfitness of our institutions for those 
 hostile emergencies which no country can always avoid, 
 their friends found a fruitful source of apprehension 
 
VAN BURFN S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 183 
 
 taeir enemies of hope. While they forsaw less prompt 
 ness of action than in governments differently formed, 
 they overlooked the far more important considerations, 
 that with us war could never be the result of individual 
 or irresponsible will, but must be a measure of redress for 
 injuries sustained, voluntarily resorted to by those who 
 were to bear the necessary sacrifice, who would conse 
 quently feel an individual interest in the contest, and 
 whose energy would be commensurate with the difficul 
 ties to be encountered. Actual events have proved their 
 error : the last war, far from impairing, gave new confi 
 dence to our government ; and amid recent apprehensions 
 of a similar conflict, we saw that the energies of our 
 country would not be wanting in ample season to vindi 
 cate its rights. We may not possess, as we should not 
 desire to possess, the extended and ever ready military 
 organization of other nations ; we may occasionally suf 
 fer in the outset for the want of it, but, among ourselves, 
 all doubt upon this great point has ceased, while a salu 
 tary experience will prevent a contrary opinion from in 
 viting aggression from abroad. 
 
 Certain danger was foretold from the extension of our 
 territory, the multiplication of states, and the increase of 
 population. Our system was supposed to be adapted on 
 ly to boundaries comparatively narrow. These have been 
 widened beyond conjecture ; the members of our confed 
 eracy are already doubled ; and the numbers of our peo 
 ple are incredibly augmented. The alleged causes of 
 danger have long surpassed anticipation, but none of the 
 consequences have followed. The power and influence 
 of the republic have risen to a height obvious to all man 
 kind ; respect for its authority was not more apparent at 
 its ancient than it is at its present limits ; new and inex 
 haustible sources of general prosperity have been opened; 
 the effects of distance have been averted by the inventive 
 genius of our people, developed and fostered by the spirit 
 of our institutions ; and the large variety and amount of 
 interests, productions, and pursuits, have strengthened the 
 chain of mutual dependence, and formed a circle of 
 mutual benefits, too apparent ever to be overlooked. 
 
184 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 In justly balancing the powers of the federal and state 
 authorities, difficulties nearly insurmountable arose at the 
 outset, and subsequent collisions were deemed inevitable. 
 A.mid these, it was scarcely believed possible that a 
 scheme of government so complex in construction, could 
 remain uninjured. From time to time, embarrassments 
 have certainly occurred ; but how just is the confidence 
 of future safety imparted by the knowledge that each in 
 succession has been happily removed. Overlooking par 
 tial and temporary evils as inseparable from the practical 
 operation of all human institutions, and looking only to 
 the general result, every patriot has reason to be satisfied. 
 While the federal government has successfully performed 
 its appropriate functions in relation to foreign affairs, and 
 concerns evidently national, that of every state has re 
 markably improved in protecting and developing local 
 interests and individual welfare ; and if the vibrations of 
 authority have occasionally tended too much towards one 
 or other, it is unquestionably certain that the ultimate 
 operation of the entire system has been to strengthen all 
 the -existing institutions, and to elevate our whole country 
 in prosperity and renown. 
 
 The last, perhaps the greatest, of the prominent 
 sources of discord and disaster supposed to lurk in our 
 political condition, was the institution of domestic slavery. 
 Our forefathers were deeply impressed with the delicacy 
 of this subject, and they treated it with a forbearance so 
 evidently wise, that, in spite of every sinister foreboding, 
 it never, until the present period, disturbed the tranquillity 
 of our common country. Such a result is sufficient 
 evidence of the justice and the patriotism of their course ; 
 it is evident not to be mistaken, that an adherence to it 
 can prevent all embarrassment from <>his, as well as every 
 other anticipated cause of difficui y or danger. Have 
 not recent events made it obvious to the slightest reflec 
 tion, that the least deviation from this spirit of forbearance 
 is injurious to every interest, that of humanity included? 
 
 Amidst the violence of excited passions, this generous 
 and fraternal feeling has been sometimes disregarded ; and 
 standing as I now do before my countrymen, in this high 
 place of honor and trust, I cannot refrain from anxiously 
 invoking my fellow-citizens neve- tj be deaf to its die- 
 
VAN BUREN S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 185 
 
 tales. Perceiving, before my election, the deep interest 
 this subject was beginning to excite, I believed it a so 
 lemn duty fully to make known my sentiments in regard 
 to it ; and now, when every motive for misrepresentation 
 has passed away, I trust that they will be candidly weigh 
 ed and understood. At least they will be my standard of 
 conduct in the path before me. I then declared that, if 
 the desire of those of my countrymen who were favorable 
 to my election was gratified, "I must go into the presi 
 dential chair the inflexible and uncompromising opponent 
 of every attempt, on the part of Congress, to abolish sla 
 very in the District of Columbia, against the wishes of 
 the slaveholding states ; and also with a determination 
 equally decided to resist the slightest interference with it 
 in the states where it exists." I submitted also to my fel 
 low-citizens, with fulness and frankness, the reasons which 
 led me to this determination. The result authorizes me 
 to believe that they have been approved, and are confided 
 in by a majority of the people of the United States, in 
 cluding those whom they most immediately affect. It 
 now only remains to add, that no bill conflicting with 
 these views can ever receive my constitutional sanction. 
 These opinions have been adopted in the firm belief that 
 they are in accordance with the spirit that actuated the 
 venerated fathers of the republic, and that succeeding ex 
 perience has proved them to be humane, patriotic, expe 
 dient, honorable and just. If the agitation of this subject 
 was intended to reach the stability of our institutions, 
 enough has occurred to show that it has signally failed; 
 and that in this, as in every other instance, the apprehen 
 sions of the timid and the hopes of the wicked for the 
 destruction of our government, are again destined to be 
 disappointed. Here and there, indeed, scenes of dan 
 gerous excitement have occurred ; terrifying instances of 
 local violence have been witnessed ; and a reckless disre 
 gard of the consequences of their conduct has exposed 
 individuals to popular indignation ; but neither masses of 
 the people nor sections of country have swerved from 
 their devotion to the bond of union, and the principles it 
 has made sacred- It will be ever thus. Such attempts 
 at agitation may periodically return, but with each the 
 16* 
 
i86 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 object will be better understood. That predominating 
 affection for our political system which prevails through 
 out our territorial limits; that calm and enlightened judg 
 ment which ultimately governs our people as one vast 
 body, will always be at hand to resist and control every 
 effort, foreign or domestic, which aims or would lead to 
 overthrow our institutions. 
 
 What can be more gratifying than such a retrospect ae 
 this ? We look back on obstacles avoided and dangers 
 overcome ; on expectations more than realized, and pros 
 perity perfectly secured. To the hopes of the hostile, 
 the fears of the timid, and the doubts of the anxious, 
 actual experience has given the conclusive reply. We 
 have seen time gradually dispel every unfavorable fore 
 boding, and our constitution surmount every adverse cir 
 cumstance, dreaded at the outset as beyond control. Pre 
 sent excitement will, at all times, magnify present dangers ; 
 but true philosophy must teach us that none more threat 
 ening than the past can remain to be overcome ; and we 
 ought, for we have just reason, to entertain an abiding 
 confidence in the stability of our institutions, and an 
 entire conviction that if administered in the true form, 
 character and spirit in which they were established, they 
 are abundantly adequate to preserve to us and our children 
 the rich blessings already derived from them ; to make our 
 beloved land, for a thousand generations, that chosen spot 
 where happiness springs from a perfect equality of politi 
 cal rights. 
 
 For myself, therefore, I desire to declare, that the prin 
 ciple that will govern me in the high duty to which my 
 country calls me, is a strict adherence to the letter and 
 spirit of the constitution, as it was designed by those who 
 framed it. Looking back to it as a sacred instrument, 
 carefully and not easily framed ; remembering that it was 
 throughout a work of concession and compromise, view- 
 ing it as limited to national objects ; regarding .t as leav 
 ing to the people and the states all power not explicitly 
 parted with, I shall endeavor to preserve, protect and de 
 fend it, by anxiously referring to its provisions for direc. 
 tion in every action. To matters of domestic concern 
 vnent which it has entrusted to the federal government 
 
187 
 
 and to such as relate to our intercourse with foreign na 
 tions, I shall zealously devote myself ; beyond those lim 
 its I shall never pass. 
 
 To enter, on this occasion, into a further or more mi. 
 nute exposition of my views on the various questions of 
 domestic policy, would be as obtrusive as it is probably 
 unexpected. Before the suffrages of my countrymen were 
 conferred upon me, I submitted to them, with great pre 
 cision, my opinions on all the most prominent of these 
 subjects. Those opinions I shall endeavor to carry out 
 with the utmost ability. 
 
 Our course of foreign policy has been so uniform and 
 intelligible, as to constitute a rule of executive conduct 
 which leaves little to my discretion, unless, indeed,! were 
 willing to run counter to the lights of experience, and the 
 known opinions of my constituents. We sedulously 
 cultivate the friendship of all nations, as the condition 
 most compatible with our welfare, and the principles of 
 our government. We decline alliances, as adverse to our 
 peace. We desire commercial relations on equal terms, 
 being ever willing to give a fair equivalent for advantages 
 received. We endeavor to conduct our intercourse with 
 openness and sincerity ; promptly avowing our objects, 
 and seeking to establish that mutual frankness which is 
 as beneficial in the dealings of nations as of men. We 
 have no disposition, and we disclaim all right to meddle 
 in disputes whether internal or foreign, that may molest 
 other countries ; regarding them in their actual state, as 
 social communities, and preserving a strict neutrality in 
 all their controversies. Well knowing the tried valor of 
 our people, and our exhaustless resources, we neither an 
 ticipate nor fear any designed aggression ; and in the con 
 sciousness of our own just conduct, we feel a security that 
 we shall never be called upon to exert our determination, 
 never to permit an invasion of our rights, without punish 
 ment or redress. 
 
 In approaching, then, in the presence of my assembled 
 countrymen, to make the solemn promise thatyet remains, 
 and to pledge myself that I will faithfully execute the of 
 fice I am about to fill, I bring with me a settled purpose 
 to maintain the institutions of my country, which, I trust, 
 will atone for the errors I commit. 
 
188 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 in receiving from the people the sacred trust twice con 
 fided to my illustrious predecessor, and which he has dis 
 charged so faithfully and so well, I know that I cannot ex. 
 pect to perform the arduous task with equal ability and 
 success. But, united as I have been in his counsels, a 
 daily witness of his exclusive and unsurpassed devotion 
 to his country s welfare, agreeing with him in sentiments 
 which his countrymen have warmly supported, and per 
 mitted to partake largely of his confidence, I may hope 
 that somewhat of the same cheering approbation will be 
 found to attend upon my path. For him, I but express, 
 with my own, the wishes of all, that he may yet long live 
 to enjoy the brilliant evening of his well-spent life, and 
 for myself, conscious of but one desire, faithfully to serve 
 my country, I throw myself, without fear, on its justice 
 and kindness. Beyond that, I only look to the gracious 
 protection of that Divine Being whose strengthening sup 
 port I humbly solicit, and whom I fervently pray to look 
 down upon us all. May it be among the dispensations of 
 his providence to bless our beloved country with honors 
 and with length of days ; may her ways be ways of plea 
 santness, and all her paths be peace. 
 
 VAN BUREN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE, 
 DECEMBER 4, 1837. 
 
 To the Senate, 
 
 and House of Representatives : 
 
 We have reason to renew the expression of our devod* 
 gratitude to the Giver of all good for his benign protec 
 tion. Our country presents on every side the evidences 
 of that continued favor under whose auspices it has 
 gradually risen from a few feeble and dependent colo 
 nies to a prosperous and powerful confederacy. We are 
 blessed with domestic tranquillity and all the elements of 
 national prosperity. The pestilence which, invading for 
 
 time some flourishing portions of the Union, interrupted 
 
VAN BI7REN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE 189 
 
 the general prevalence of unusual health, has happily 
 been limited in extent, and arrested in its fatal career 
 The industry and prudence of our citizens are gradually 
 relieving them from the pecuniary embarrassments un 
 der which portions of them have labored ; judicious le 
 gislation, and the natural and boundless resources of the 
 country, have afforded wise and timely aid to private 
 enterprise ; and the activity always characteristic of our 
 people has already in a great degree resumed its usual 
 and profitable channels. 
 
 The condition of our foreign relations has not mate 
 rially changed, since the last annual message of my pre 
 decessor. We remain in peace with all nations ; and no 
 efforts on my part, consistent with the preservation of our 
 rights and the honor of our country, shall be spared to 
 maintain a position so consonant to our institutions. We 
 have faithfully sustained the foreign policy with which the 
 United States, under the guidance of their first President, 
 took their stand in the family of nations that of regula 
 ting their intercourse with other powers by the approved 
 principles of private life ; asking and according equal 
 rights and equal privileges ; rendering and demanding 
 justice in all cases ; advancing their own and discussing 
 the pretensions of others, with candor, directness and sin 
 cerity ; appealing at all times to reason, but never yield-* 
 ing to force, nor seeking to acquire any thing for them 
 selves by its exercise. 
 
 A rigid adherence to this policy has left this govern 
 ment with scarcely a claim upon its justice, for injuries 
 arising from acts committed by its authority. The most 
 imposing and perplexing of those of the United States 
 upon foreign governments for aggressions upon our citi 
 zens, were disposed of by my predecessor. Independent 
 ly of the benefits conferred upon our citizens by restoring 
 to the mercantile community so many millions of which 
 they had been wrongfully divested, a great service was also 
 rendered to his country by the satisfactory adjustment of 
 so many ancient and irritating subjects of contention ; 
 and it reflects no ordinary credit on his successful ad 
 ministration of public affairs, that this great object was 
 accomplished without compromising on any occasion, 
 cither the honor or the peace otthe nation. 
 
190 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 With European powers, no new subjects of difficulty 
 have arisen; and those which were under discussion, al 
 though not terminated, do not present a more unfavorable 
 aspect for the future preservation of that good understand 
 ing which it has ever been our desire to cultivate. 
 
 Of pending questions, the most important is that xhich 
 exists with the government of Great Britain, in respect to 
 our north-eastern boundary. It is with unfeigned regret 
 that the people of the United States most look back upon 
 the abortive efforts made by the executive, for a period 
 of more than half a century, to determine, what no nation 
 should suffer long to remain in dispute, the true line 
 which divides its possessions from those of other powers 
 The nature of the settlement on the borders of the United 
 States, and of the neighboring territory, was for a season 
 such, that this perhaps was not indispensable to a faith 
 ful performance of the duties of the federal government. 
 
 Time has, however, changed this state of things ; and 
 has brought about a condition of affairs, in which the 
 true interests of both countries imperatively require that 
 this question should be put at rest. It is not to be dis 
 guised, that with full confidence, often expressed, in the 
 desire of the British government to terminate it, we are 
 apparently as far from its adjustment as we were at the 
 time of signing the treaty of peace in 1783. The sole 
 result of long-pending negotiations, and a perplexing ar 
 bitration, appears to be a conviction, on its part, that a 
 conventional line must be adopted, from the impossibility 
 of ascertaining the true one according to the description 
 contained in that treaty. Without coinciding in this opi 
 nion, which is not thought to be well founded, my pre 
 decessor gave the strongest proof of the earnest desire of 
 the United States to terminate satisfactorily this dispute, 
 by proposing the substitution of a conventional line, if the 
 consent of the states interested in the question could be 
 obtained. 
 
 To this proposition, no answer has yet been received. 
 The attention of the British government, however, has 
 been earnestly invited to the subject, and its reply cannot, 
 I am confident, be much longer delayed. The general 
 relations between Great Britain and the United States are 
 
TAN BUREN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 191 
 
 of the most friendly character, and I am well satisfied of 
 the sincere disposition of that government to maintain 
 them upon their present footing. This disposition has 
 also, I am persuaded, become more general with the peo 
 ple of England than at any previous period. It is scarcely 
 necessary to say to you, how cordially it is reciprocated 
 by the government and the people of the United States 
 The conviction which must be common to all, of the 
 injurious consequences that result from keeping open 
 this irritating question, and the certainty that its final 
 settlement cannot be muoh longer deferred, will, I trust, 
 lead to an early and satisfactory adjustment. At your 
 last session I laid before you the recent communications 
 between the two governments and between this govern 
 ment mid that of the stale of Maine, in whose solicitude, 
 concerning a subject in which she has so deep an inte 
 rest, every portion of the Union participates. 
 
 The feelings produced by a temporary interruption of 
 those harmonious relations between France and vhe United 
 States, which are due as well to tne recollections of for 
 mer times as to a correct appreciation of existing inte 
 rests, have been happily succeeded by a cordial dispo 
 sition on both sides to cultivate an active friendship in 
 their future intercourse. The opinion, undoubtedly cor 
 rect, and steadily entertained by us, that the commercial 
 relations at present existing between the two countries, 
 are susceptible of great and reciprocally beneficial im 
 provements, is obviously gaining ground in France ; and 
 I am assured of the disposition of that government in 
 favor the accomplishment of such an object. This dispo 
 sition shall be met in a proper spirit on our part. The 
 few and comparatively unimportant questions that re 
 main to be adjusted between us, can, I have no doubt, be 
 settled with entire satisfaction, and without difficulty. 
 
 Between Russia and the United States, sentiments of 
 good-will continue to be mutually cherished. Our mi 
 nister recently accredited to that court, has been received 
 with a frankness and cordiality, and with evidences of 
 respect for his country, which leaves us no room to doubt 
 the preservation in future of those amicable and liberal 
 relations which have so long and so uninterruptedly ex 
 
192 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 isted between the two countries. On the few subjects 
 under discussion between us, an early and just decision 
 is confidently anticipated. ; 
 
 A correspondence has been opened with the govern 
 ment of Austria, for the establishment of diplomatic rela 
 tions, in conformity with the wishes of Congress, as in 
 dicated by an appropriation act of the session of 1837, 
 and arrangements made for the purpose, which will be 
 duly carried into effect. 
 
 With Austria and Prussia, and with the states of the 
 German empire, now composing with the latter the Com 
 mercial League, our political relations are of the most 
 friendly character, while our commercial intercourse is gra 
 dually extending, with benefit to all who are engaged in it. 
 
 Civil war yet rages in Spain, producing intense suffer 
 ing to its own people, and to other nations inconvenience 
 and regret. Our citizens who have claims upon that 
 country will be prejudiced for a time by the condition of 
 its treasury, the inevitable consequence of long-continued 
 and exhausting internal wars. The last instalment of the 
 interest of the debt due under the convention with the 
 queen of Spain has not been paid ; and similar failures 
 may be expected to happen until a portion of the resources 
 of her kingdom can be devoted to the extinguishment of 
 its foreign debt. 
 
 Having received satisfactory evidence that discrimina 
 ting tonnage duties were charged upon vessels of the Uni 
 ted States in the ports of Portugal, a proclamation was 
 issued on the llth day of October last, in compliance 
 with the act of May 25th, 1832, declaring that fact, and 
 the duties on foreign tonnage, which were levied upon 
 Portuguese vessels in the United States, previously to the 
 passage of that act, are accordingly revived. 
 
 The act of July 4th, 1836, suspending the discrimina 
 ting duties upon the produce of Portugal imported into 
 this country in Portuguese vessels, was passer!, upon the 
 application of that government, through its representa 
 tives here, under the belief that no similar discrimination 
 existed in Portugal to the prejudice of the United States. 
 [ regret to state that such duties are now exacted in that 
 
TAN BUREN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 193 
 
 countiy, upon the cargoes of American vessels ; and as 
 the act referred to, vests no discretion in the Executive, it 
 is for Congress to determine upon the expediency of fur 
 ther legislation upon the subject. Against these discri 
 minations, affecting the vessels of this country and their 
 cargoes, seasonable remonstrance was made, and notice 
 ^as g iven to the Portuguese government, that unless they 
 should be discontinued, the adoption of countervailing 
 measures on the part of the United States would become 
 necessary; but the reply of that government received at 
 the department of state through our charge d affaires 
 at Lisbon, in the month of September last, afforded no 
 ground to hope for the abandonment of a system, so little 
 in harmony with the treatment shown to the vessels of 
 Portugal and their cargoes, in the ports of this country, 
 and so contrary to the expectations we had a right to 
 entertain. 
 
 With Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Naples, and Bel 
 gium, a friendly intercourse has been uninterruptedly 
 maintained. 
 
 With the government of the Ottoman Porte, and its 
 dependencies on the coast of the Mediterranean, peace 
 and good-will are carefully cultivated, and have been fos 
 tered by such good offices as the relative distance and the 
 condition of those countries would permit. 
 
 Our commerce with Greece is carried on under the 
 laws of the two governments, reciprocally beneficial to 
 the navigating interests of both ; and I have reason to 
 look forward to the adoption of other measures which 
 will be more extensively and permanently advantageous. 
 
 Copies of the treaties concluded with the governments 
 of Siam and Muscat are transmitted for the information 
 of Congress, the ratifications having been received, and 
 the treaties made public, since the close of the last an 
 nual session. Already have we reason to congratulate 
 ourselves on the prospect of considerable commercial 
 benefit ; and we have, besides, received from the Sultan 
 of Muscat, prompt evidence of his desire to cultivate the 
 most friendly feelings, by liberal acts towards one of our 
 vessels, bestowed in a manner so striking as to require oil 
 onr part a grateful acknowledgment. 
 17 
 
194 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 Our commerce with the island of Cuba and Porto Rico, 
 still labors under heavy restriction, the continuance of 
 which is a subject of regret. The only effect of an adherence 
 to them will be to benefit the navigation of other coun 
 tries, at the expanse both of the United States and Spain. 
 
 The independent nations of this continent have, ever 
 since they emerged from the colonial state, experienced 
 severe trials in their progress to the permanent establish 
 ment of liberal political institutions. Their unsettled 
 condition not only interrupts their own advances to pros 
 perity, but has often seriously injured the other powers 
 of the world. The claims of our citizens upon Peru, 
 Chili, Brazil, the Argentine Republic, the governments 
 formed out of the republics of Colombia and Mexico, 
 are still pending, although many of them have been pre 
 sented for examinations more than twenty years. New 
 Grenada, Venezuela, and Ecuador, have recently formed 
 a convention for the purpose of ascertaining and adjusting 
 the claims upon the republic of Colombia, from which it 
 is earnestly hoped our citizens will, ere long, receive full 
 compensation for the injuries originally inflicted upon them, 
 and for the delay in affording it. 
 
 An advantageous treaty of commerce has been concluded 
 by the United States with the Peru-Bolivian Confedera 
 tion, which wants only the ratification of that government. 
 The progress of a subsequent negotiation for the settle- 
 rr^nt of claims upon Peru, has been unfavorably affected 
 b/ the war between that power and Chili, and the Argen 
 tine Republic ; and the same event is likely to produce 
 delays in the settlement of our demands on those powers. 
 
 The aggravating circumstances connected with our 
 claims upon Mexico, and a variety of events touching 
 ;he honor and integrity of our government, led my pre 
 decessor to make, at the second session of the last Con 
 gress, a special recommendation of the course to be pur 
 sued to obtain a speedy and final satisfaction of the 
 njuries complained of by this government and by oui 
 citizens. He recommended a final demand of redress with 
 a contingent authority to the Executive to make reprisals, if 
 that de.nand should be made in vain. From the proceed 
 ngs of Congress on that recommendation, it appeared 
 the* the opinion of both branches of the legislature coin- 
 
VAN BUREN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 195 
 
 eided with that of the Executive, that any mode of re 
 dress known to the law of nations might justifiably be used. 
 [t was obvious, too, that Congress believed, with the 
 President, that another demand should be made, in order 
 to give undeniable and satisfactory proof of our desire to 
 avoid extremities with a neighboring power ; but that 
 there was an indisposition to vest a discretionary authori 
 ty in the Executive to take redress, should it unfortunate 
 ly be either denied or unreasonably delayed by the Mexi 
 can government. 
 
 So soon as the necessary documents were prepared, af 
 ter entering upon the duties of my office, a special mes 
 senger was sent to Mexico, to make a final demand of re 
 dress, with the documents required by the provisions of 
 our treaty. The demand was made on the 20th of July 
 last. The reply, which bears date the 29th of the same 
 month, contains assurances of a desire, on the part of 
 that government, to give a prompt and explicit answer re 
 specting each of the complaints, but that the examination 
 of them would necessarily be deliberate ; that in this ex 
 amination it would be guided by the principles of public 
 law and the obligation of treaties ; that nothing should be 
 left undone that might lead to the most equitable adjust 
 ment of our demands ; and that its determination, in re 
 spect to each case, should be communicated through the 
 Mexican minister here. 
 
 Since that time, an envoy extraordinary and minister 
 plenipotentiary has been accredited to this government 
 by *hat of the Mexican republic. He brought with him 
 assurances of a sincer^ Jesire that the pending differences 
 between the two governments should be terminated in a 
 manner satisfactory to both. He was received with re- 
 cipi-ocal assurances, and a hope was entertained that his 
 mission would lead to a speedy, satisfactory, and final ad 
 justment of all existing subjects of complaint. A sin- 
 cere believer in the wisdom of the pacific policy by which 
 the United States have always been governed in their 
 intercourse with foreign nations, it was my particular 
 desire, from the proximity of the Mexican republic, and 
 well known occurrences on our frontier, to be instrumen 
 tal in obviating all existing difficulties with that govern 
 ment, and in restoring to the intercourse between the two 
 
196 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 republics, that liberal and friendly character by which 
 they should always be distinguished. I regret, therefore, 
 the more deeply, to have found in the recent com munica 
 tions of that government, so little reason to hope that any 
 efforts of mine for the accomplishment of those desirable 
 objects would be successful. 
 
 Although the larger number, and many of them aggra 
 vated cases of personal wrongs have been now for years 
 before the Mexican government, and some of the causes 
 of national complaint, and those of the most offensive cha 
 racter, admitted of immediate, simple and satisfactory re 
 plies, it is only within a few days past that any specific 
 communication in answer to our last demand, made five 
 months ago, has been received from the Mexican minister. 
 By the report of the secretary of state, herewith presented, 
 and the accompanying documents, it will be seen, that 
 for not one of our public complaints has satisfaction been 
 given or offered ; that but one of the causes of personal 
 wrong has been favorably considered ; and that b ut four 
 cases of both descriptions, out of all those formally pre 
 sented, and earnestly pressed, have as yet been decided 
 upon by the Mexican government. 
 
 Not perceiving in what manner any of the powers 
 given to the Executive alone, could be further usefully em 
 ployed in bringing this unfortunate controversy to a satis 
 factory termination, the subject was, by my predecessor, 
 referred to Congress, as one calling for its interposition 
 In accordance with the clearly understood wishes of the 
 legislature, another and formal demand for satisfaction has 
 been made upon the Mexican government, with what suc 
 cess the documents now communicated will show. On 
 a careful and deliberate examination of their contents, and 
 considering the spirit manifested by the Mexican govern 
 ment, it has become my painful duty to return the sub 
 ject, as it now stands, to Congress, to whom it belongs 
 to decide upon the time, the mode, and the measures of 
 redress. Whatever may be your decision, it shall be 
 faithfully executed, confident that it will be characterized 
 by that moderation and justice which will, I trust, under 
 all circumstances, govern the councils of our country. 
 
 The balance in the treasury on the first day of January, 
 1837, was forty -five millions nine hundred and sixty-eight 
 
VAN BUKEN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 197 
 
 thousand five hundred and twenty-three dollars. The 
 receipts during the present year from all sources, inclu 
 ding the amount of treasury notes issued, are estimated 
 at twenty-three millions four hundred and ninety-nine 
 thousand nine hundred and eighty-one dollars, constitu 
 ting an aggregate of sixty-nine millions four hundred and 
 sixth-eight thousand five hundred and four dollars. Of 
 this amount, about thirty-five millions two hundred and 
 eighty-one thousand three hundred and sixty-one dollars 
 will have been expended, at the end of the year, on appro 
 priations made by Congress , and the residue, amounting 
 to thirty-four millions one hundred and eighty-seven thou 
 sand one hundred and forty-three dollars, will be the 
 nominal balance in the treasury on the first of January next. 
 But of that sum, only one million eighty-five thousand four 
 hundred and ninety-eight dollars is considered as imme 
 diately available for, and applicable to, public purposes. 
 
 Those portions of it which will be for some time una 
 vailable, consist chiefly of sums deposited with the states, 
 and due from the former deposit banks. The details 
 upon this subject will be found in the annual report of 
 the secretary of the treasury. The amount of treasury 
 notes which it will be necessary to issue during the year 
 on account of those funds being unavailable, wijl, it is 
 supposed, not exceed four and a half millions. It seemed 
 proper in the condition of the country, to have the esti 
 mates on all subjects made as low as practicable, without 
 prejudice to iny great public measures. The departments 
 were, therefore, desired to prepare their estimates accord 
 ingly ; and I am happy to find that they have been able 
 to graduate them on so economical a scale. 
 
 In the great arid often unexpected fluctuations to 
 which the revenue is subjected, it is not possible to com 
 pute the receipts beforehand with great certainty ; bul 
 should they not differ essentially from present anticipa 
 tions, and should the appropriations not much exceed the 
 estimates, no difficulty seems likely to happen in defray 
 ing the current expenses with promptitude and fidelity 
 
 Notwithstanding the great embarrassments which have 
 recently occurred in commercial affairs, and the liberal 
 indulgence which, in consequence of those embarrass- 
 17* 
 
198 THR TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 ments, has been extended to both the merchants and the 
 banks, it is gratifying to be able to anticipate that tl:n 
 treasury notes, which have been issued during the present 
 year will be redeemed, and that the resources oi the trea 
 sury, without any resort to loans or increased taxes, will 
 prove ample for defraying all charges imposed on it du 
 ring 1838. 
 
 The report of the secretary of the treasury will afford 
 you a more minute exposition of all matters connected 
 with the administration of the finances during the current 
 year ; a period which, for the amount of public moneys 
 disbursed and deposited with the states, as well as the 
 financial difficulties encountered and overcome, has few 
 parallels in our history. 
 
 Your attention was, at the last session, invited to the 
 .necessity of additional legislative provisions in respect 
 to the collection, safe-keeping, and transfer of the public 
 money. No law having been then matured, and not un 
 derstanding the proceedings of Congress as intended to 
 be final, it becomes my duty again to bring the subject to 
 your notice. 
 
 On that occasion, three modes of performing this 
 branch of the public service were presented for conside 
 ration. These were, the creation of a national bank ; 
 the revival, with modifications, of the deposit system esta 
 blished by the ant of the 23d June, 1830, permitting the 
 use of the public moneys by the banks ; and the discon 
 tinuance of the use of such institutions for the purposes 
 referred to, with suitable provisions for their accomplish 
 ment through the agency of public officers. Considering 
 the opinions of both houses of Congress on the two first 
 propositions as expressed in the negative, in which I en 
 tirely concur, it is unnecessary for me aga ; n to recur to them. 
 In respect to the last, you have had an jpportunity, since 
 youi idjournment, not only to test still further the expedi 
 ency of the measure, by the continued practical operation 
 of such parts of it as are now in force, but also to discover 
 what should ever be sought for and regarded with the 
 utmost deference the opinions and wishes of the people. 
 
 The national will is the supreme law of the republic, 
 and on all subjects within the limits of Us constitutions] 
 
VAN BUREN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 199 
 
 powers, should be faithfully obeyed by the public servant. 
 Since the measure in question was submitted to your con 
 sideration, most of you have enjoyed the advantage of 
 personal communication with your constituents. For one 
 state only has an election been held for the federal go 
 vernment ; but the early day at which it took place, de 
 prives the measure under consideration of much of the 
 support it might otherwise have derived from the result. 
 Local elections for state officers have, however, been held 
 in several of the states, at which the expediency of the 
 plan proposed by the executive has been more or less dis 
 cussed. You will, I am confident, yield to their results 
 the respect due to every expression of the public voice. 
 Desiring, however, to arrive at truth and a just view oi 
 the subject in all its bearings, you will at the same time 
 remember, that questions of far deeper and more imme 
 diate local interest than the fiscal plans of the national 
 treasury were involved in those elections. 
 
 Above all, we cannot overlook tho striking fact, that 
 there were, at the time, in those states, more than one 
 hundred and sixty millions of bank capital, of which large 
 portions were subject to actual forfeiture other large 
 portions upheld only by special and limited legislative 
 indulgencies and most of it, if not all, to a greater or 
 less extent, dependent for a continuance of its corporate 
 existence upon the will of the state legislatures to be then 
 chosen. Apprised of this circumstance, you will judge 
 whether it is not most probable that the peculiar condi 
 tion of that vast interest in these respects, the extent to 
 which it has been spread through all the ramifications oi 
 society, its direct connection with the then pending elec 
 tions, and the feelings it was calculated to infuse into 
 the canvass, have not exercised a far greater influence 
 over the result than any which could possibly have been 
 produced by a conflict of opinion in respect to a ques 
 tion in the administration of the general governmsnt, 
 more remote and far less important in its bearing upon that 
 interest. 
 
 I have found no reason to change my own opinion as to 
 the expediency of adopting the system proposed, being per 
 fectly satisfied that there will be neither stability nor safe- 
 
200 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 ty, either in the fiscal affairs of the government, or in the 
 pecuniary transactions of individuals and corporations, 
 so long as a connection exists between them, which, like 
 the past, offers such strong inducements to make them 
 the subjects of political agitation. Indeed, I am more 
 than ever convinced of the dangers to which the free and 
 unbiassed exercise of political opinion the only sure 
 foundation and safeguard of republican government- 
 would be exposed by any further increase of the already 
 overgrown influence of corporate authorities I cannot, 
 therefore, consistently with my views of duty, advise a 
 renewal of a connection which circumstances have dis 
 solved. 
 
 The discontinuance of the use of state banks for fiscal 
 purposes ought not to be regarded as a measure of hosti 
 lity towards these institutions. Banks properly establish 
 ed and conducted, are highly useful to the business of the 
 country, and doubtless will continue to exist in the states 
 so long as they conform to their laws, and are found to 
 be safe and beneficial. How they should be created, 
 what privileges they should enjoy, under what responsi 
 bilities they should act, and to what restrictions they 
 should be subject, are questions which, as I observed on 
 a previous occasion, belong to the states to decide. Upon 
 their rights, or the exercise of them, the general govern 
 ment can have no motive to encroach. Its duty toward 
 them is well performed, when it refrains from legislating 
 for their special benefit, because such legislation would 
 violate the spirit of the constitution, and be unjust to other 
 interests ; when it takes no steps to impair their useful 
 ness, but so manages its own affairs as to make it the 
 interest of those institutions to strengthen and improve 
 their condition for the security and welfare of the com 
 munity at large. They have no right to insist on a 
 connection with the federal government, nor on the use 
 of the public money for their own benefit. 
 
 The object of the measure under consideration is, to 
 avoid for the future a compulsory connection of this kind. 
 It proposes to place the general government, in regard to 
 the essential points of the collection, safe-keeping ah-.i 
 transfer of the public money, in a situation Wiiich s-iiaj 
 
VAN BUREN S FIRST AXNUAL MESSAGE. 201 
 
 relieve it from all dependence on the will of irresponsible 
 individuals or corporations ; to withdraw those moneys 
 from the uses of private trade, and confine them to agents 
 constitutionally selected and controlled by law ; to abstain 
 from improper interference with the industry of the peo 
 ple, and withhold inducements to improvident dealings 
 on the part of individuals ; to give stability to the con 
 cerns of the treasury ; to preserve the measures of the 
 government from the unavoidable reproaches that flow 
 from such a connection, and the banks themselves from 
 the injurious effects of a supposed participation in the 
 political conflicts of the day, from which they will other 
 wise find it difficult to escape. 
 
 These are my views upon this important subject; form 
 ed after careful reflection, and with no desire but to arrive 
 at what is most likely to promote the public interest. 
 They are now, as they were before, submitted with an 
 unfeigned deference for the opinions of others. It was 
 hardly to be hoped that changes so important, on a sub 
 ject so interesting, could be made without producing a 
 serious diversity of opinion ; but so long as those con 
 flicting views are kept above the influence of individual 
 or local interests ; so long as they pursue only the gene 
 ral good, and are discussed with moderation and candor, 
 such diversity is a benefit, not an injury. If a majority 
 of Congress see the public welfare in a different light ; 
 and more especially if they should be satisfied that the 
 measure proposed would not be acceptable to the people ; 
 I shall look to their wisdom to substitute such as may be 
 more conducive to the one, and more satisfactory to the 
 other. In any event, they may confidently rely on rny 
 hearty co-operation to the fullest extent which my views 
 of the constitution and my sense of duty will permit. 
 
 It is obviously important to this branch of the public 
 service, and to the business and quiet of the country, that 
 the whole subject should in some way be settled and regu 
 lated by law ; and, if possible, at your present session. 
 Besides the plan above referred to, I am not aware that 
 any one has been suggested, except that of keeping the 
 public money in the state banks, in special deposit. This 
 plan is, to some extent, in accordance with the practice 
 
202 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 of the government, and which, except, perhaps during the 
 operation of the late deposit act, has always been allowed, 
 even during the existence of a national bank, to make a 
 temporary use of the state banks, in particular places, for 
 the safe-keeping of portions of the revenue. 
 
 This discretionary power might be continued, if Con- 
 gress deem it desirable, whatever general system may be 
 adopted. So long as the connection is voluntary, we need 
 perhaps anticipate few of those difficulties, and little of 
 that dependence on the banks, which must attend every 
 such connection when compulsory in its nature, and when 
 so arranged r as to make the banks a fixed part of the 
 machinery of government. It is undoubtedly in the pow 
 er of Congress so to regulate and guard it as to prevent 
 the public money from being applied to the use, or inter 
 mingled with the affairs, of individuals. Thus arranged, 
 although it would not give to the government that control 
 over its own funds which I desire to secure to it by the 
 plan I have proposed, it would, it must be admitted, in 
 a great degree, accomplish one of the objects which 
 has recommended that plan to my judgment the sepa 
 ration of the fiscal concerns of the government from those 
 of individual? or corporations. 
 
 With these observations, I recommend the whole mat 
 ter to your dispassionate reflection ; confidently hoping 
 that some conclusion may be reached by your delibera 
 tions, which, on the one hand, shall give stability to the 
 fiscal operations of the government, and be consistent, 
 on the other, with the genius of our institutions, and with 
 the interests and wishes of the great mass of our con 
 stituents. 
 
 It was my hope that nothing would occur to make ne 
 cessary, on this occasion, any allusion to the late national 
 bank. There are circumstances, however, connected 
 with the present state of its affairs, that bear so directly on 
 the character of the government and the welfare of the 
 citizen, that I should not feel myself excused in neglect 
 ing to notice them. The charter which terminated its 
 banking privileges on the fourth of March, 1836, con 
 tinued its corporate powers two years more, for the 
 cole purpose of closing its affairs, with authority " to 
 
VAN BC/RKN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 203 
 
 use the corporate name, style and capacity, for the pur 
 pose of suits, for a final settlement and liquidation of the 
 affairs and acts of the corporation, and for the sale and 
 disposition of their estate, real, personal and mixed, but 
 for no other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever." 
 Just before the banking privileges ceased, its effects were 
 transferred by the bank to a new state institution, then 
 recently incorporated, in trust, for the discharge of its 
 debts and the settlement of its affairs. 
 
 With this trustee, by authority of Congress, an adjust 
 ment was subsequently made of the large interest which 
 the government had in the stock of the institution. The 
 manner in which a trust unexpectedly created upon the 
 act granting the charter, and involving such great public 
 interests, has been executed, would, under any circum 
 stance, be a fit subject of inquiry ; but much more does it 
 deserve your attention when it embraces the redemption 
 of obligations to which the authority and credit of the 
 United States have given value. The two years allowed 
 are now nearly at an end. It is well understood that the 
 trustee has not redeemed and cancelled the outstanding 
 notes of the bank, but has re-issued, and is continually re 
 issuing, since the 3d of March, 1836, the notes which 
 have been received by it to a vast amount. 
 
 According to its own official statement, so late as the 
 first of October last, nineteen months after the banking 
 privileges given by the charter had expired, it had under 
 its control uncancelled notes of the late bank of the United 
 States to the amount of twenty-seven millions five hun 
 dred and sixty-one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six 
 dollars, of which six millions one hundred and seventy- 
 five thousand eight hundred and sixty-one dollars were in 
 actual circulation, one million four hundred and sixty- 
 eight thousand six hundred and twenty seven dollars at 
 state bank agencies, and three millions two thousand three 
 hundred and ninety dollars in transitu : thus showing that 
 upwards of ten millions and a half of the notes of the old 
 bank were then still kept outstanding. 
 
 The impropriety of this procedure is obvious ; it being 
 the duty of the trustee to cancel and not to put forth the 
 notes of an institution, whose concerns it had undertaken 
 
204 THE TITS REPUBLICAN. 
 
 to wind up. If the ttr.ftee has a right to re-issue tnes 
 notes now, I can see no reason why he may not continue? 
 to do so after the expiration of the two years. As no ono 
 could have anticipated a course so extraordinary, the pro 
 hibitory clause of the charter above quoted was not accom 
 panied by any penalty or other special provision for en* 
 forcing it ; nor have we any general law for the prevention 
 of similar acts in future. 
 
 But it is not in this view of the subject alone that your 
 interposition is required. The United States, in settling 
 with the trustee for their stock, have withdrawn their 
 funds from their former direct liability to the creditors of 
 the old bank, yet notes of the institution continue to be 
 sent forth in its name, and apparently upon the authority 
 of the United States. The transactions connected with 
 the employment of the bills of the old bank are of vast 
 extent; and should they result unfortunately, the interests 
 of individuals may be deeply compromised. Without un 
 dertaking to decide how far, or in what form, if any, the 
 trustee could be made liable for notes which contain no 
 obligation on his part ; or the old bank, for such as are 
 put in circulation after the expiration of its charter, and 
 without its authority ; or the government for indemnity in 
 case of loss, the question still presses itself upon your 
 consideration, whether it is consistent with the duty and 
 good faith on the part of the government, to witness this 
 proceeding without a single effort to arrest it. 
 
 The report of the Commissioner of the General Land 
 Office, which will be laid before you by the secretary of 
 the treasury, will show how the affairs of that office have 
 been conducted for the past year. The disposition of the 
 public lands is one of the most important trusts confided 
 to congress. The practicability of retaining the title and 
 control of such extensive domains in the general govern 
 ment, and at the same time admitting the territories em 
 bracing them into the federal union, as co-equal with the 
 original states, was seriously doubted by many of our 
 wisest statesmen. All feared that they would become a 
 scource of discord, and many carried their apprehen 
 sions so far as to see in them the seeds of a future 
 dissolution of the confederacy. But happily oui expe- 
 
VAN BUREN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 205 
 
 lience has already been sufficient to quiet, in a great de 
 gree, all such apprehensions. The position, at one tim& 
 assumed that the admission of new states into the Union 
 on the same footing with the original states, was incom 
 patible with a right of soil in the United States, and ope 
 rated as a surrender thereof, notwithstanding the terms of 
 the compacts by which their admission was designed to 
 be regulated has been wisely abandoned. 
 
 Whether in the new or the old states, all now agree 
 that the right of soil to the public lands remains in the 
 federal government, and that these lands constitute a com 
 mon property, to be disposed of for the common benefit 
 of all the states, old and new. Acquiescence in this just 
 principle by the people of the new states has naturally 
 promoted a disposition to adopt the most libernl policy in 
 the sale of the public lands. A policy which should be 
 limited to the mere object of selling the lands for the 
 greatest possible sum of money, without regard to higher 
 considerations, finds but few advocates. On the contrary 
 it is generally conceded, that while the mode of dispo 
 sition adopted by the government, should always be a 
 prudent one, yet its leading object ought to be the early 
 settlement, and cultivation of the lands sold ; and that it 
 should discountenance, if it cannot prevent, the accumu 
 lation of large tracts in the same hands, which must ne 
 cessarily retard the growth of the new states, or entail 
 upon them a dependent territory and its attendant 
 evils. 
 
 A question embiacing such important interests, and so 
 well calculated to enlist the feelings of the people in every 
 quarter of the Union, has very naturally given rise to 
 numerous plans for the improvement of the existing sys 
 tem. The distinctive features of the policy that has 
 hitherto prevailed, are, to dispose of the public lands at 
 moderate prices, thus enabling a greater number to enter 
 into competition for their purchase, and accomplishing a 
 double object of promoting their rapid settlement by the 
 purchasers, and at the same time increasing the receipts 
 of the treasury ; to sell for cash, thereby preventing the 
 disturbing influence of a large mass of private citizen* 
 indebted to the government which they have a voice ig 
 
 18 
 
206 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 controlling j to bring them into market no faster than good 
 lands are supposed to be wanted for improvements, there. 
 by preventing the accumulation of large tracts in few 
 hands ; and to apply the proceeds of the sales to the 
 general purposes of the government; thus diminishing 
 the amount to be raised from the people of the states by 
 taxation, and giving each state its portion of the benefits 
 to be derived from this common fund in a manner the 
 most quiet, and at the same time, perhaps the most equi 
 table that can be devised. 
 
 These provisions, with occasional enactments in be 
 half of special interests deemed entitled to the favor o t 
 government, have in their execution, produced results as 
 beneficial upon the whole as could reasonably be expected 
 in a matter so vast, so complicated, and so exciting. Up 
 wards of seventy millions of acres have been sold, the great 
 er part of which is believed to have been purchased for 
 actual settlement. The population of the new states 
 and territories created out of the public domain, in 
 creased between 1800 and 1830, from less than sixty 
 thousand, to upwards of two millions three hundred 
 thousand souls, constituting, at the latter period, about one 
 fifth of the whole people of the United States. The in 
 crease since cannot be accurately known, but the whole 
 may now be safely estimated at over three and a half 
 millions of souls; composing nine states, the representa 
 tives of which constitute above one third of the Senate, 
 and over one sixth of the House of the Representatives of 
 the United States. 
 
 Thus has been formed a body of free and independent 
 landholders, with a rapidity unequalled in the history of 
 mankind ; and this great result has been produced with 
 out leaving any thing for future adjustment between the 
 government and its citizens. The system under which 
 so much has been accomplished cannot be intrinsically 
 bad, and with occasional modifications, to correct abuses, 
 and adapt it to changes of circumstances, may I think, 
 be safely trusted for the future. There is, in the 
 management of such extensive interests, much virtue in 
 stability ; and although great and obvious improvements 
 ihould not be declined, changes should never be mad* 
 
VAN BUREN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 207 
 
 without the fullest examination, and the clearest demon 
 stration of their practical utility. 
 
 In the history of the past, we have an assurance thai 
 this safe rule of action will not be departed from in rela 
 tion to the public lands ; nor is it believed that any ne 
 cessity exists for interfering with the fundamental princi 
 pies of the system, or that the public mind, even in the 
 new states, is desirous of any radical alterations. On the 
 contrary, the general disposition appears to be, to make 
 such modifications and additions only as will more ef 
 fectually carry out the original policy of filling our new 
 states and territories with an industrious and independent 
 population. 
 
 The modification most perseveringly pressed upon Con 
 gress, which has occupied so much of its time for years 
 past, and will probably do so for a long time to come, if 
 not sooner satisfactorily adjusted, is a reduction in the 
 cost of such portions of the public lands as are ascertained 
 to be unsaleable at the rate now established by law, and 
 a graduation, according to their relative value, of the 
 prices at which they may hereafter be sold. It is worthy 
 of consideration whether justice may not be done to every 
 interest in this matter, and a vexed question set at rest, 
 perhaps forever, by a reasonable compromise of conflict 
 ing opinions. Hitherto, after being offered at public 
 sale, lands have been disposed of at one uniform price, 
 whatever difference there might be in their intrinsic 
 value. 
 
 The leading considerations urged in ravor of the mea 
 sure referred to, are, that in almost all the land districts, 
 and particularly in those in which the idmls have been 
 long- surveyed and exposed to sale, there are still remain 
 ing numerous and large tracts of every gradation of value, 
 from the government price downward ; that these lands 
 will not be purchased at the government price, so long as 
 better can be conveniently obtained for the same amount ; 
 that there are large tracts which even the improvements 
 o the aJjacent lands will never raise to that price; and 
 that the present uniform price, combined with their irre 
 gular value, operates to prevent a desirable compactness 
 of 9tiiement in the new states, and to retard the full de- 
 
208 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 velopement of that wise policy on which our land system 
 js founded, to the injury not only of the several states 
 where the lands lie, i.-ut of the United States as a whole. 
 
 The remedy proposed has been a reduction in prices 
 according to the length of time the lands have been in the 
 market, without reference to any other circumstances. 
 The certainty that the efflux of time would not always in 
 such cases, and perhaps not even generally, furnish a true 
 criterion of value ; and the probability that persons resid 
 ing in the vicinity, as the period for the reduction of prices 
 approached, would postpone purchases they would other 
 wise make, for the purpose of availing themselves of the 
 lower price, with other considerations of a similar cha 
 racter, have hitherto been successfully urged to defeat the 
 graduation upon time. 
 
 May not all reasonable desires upon this subject be sa 
 tisfied without encountering any of these objections ? All 
 will concede the abstract principle, that the price of the 
 public lands should be proportioned to their relative value, 
 so far as that can be accomplished without departing frorr 
 the rule heretofore observed, requiring fixed prices in 
 cases of private entries. The difficulty of the subject 
 seems to lie in the mode of ascertaining what that value 
 is. Would not the safest plan be that which has been 
 adopted by many of the states as to the basis of taxation 
 an actual valuation of lands and classifications of them 
 into different rates ? 
 
 Would it not be practicable and expedient to cause the 
 relative value of the public lands in the old districts, which 
 have been for a certain length of time in market, to be 
 appraised and classed into two or more rates below the 
 present minimum price, by the officers now employed in 
 this branch of the public service, or in any other mode 
 deemed preferable, and to make those prices permanent, 
 if upon the coming in of the report they shall prove sa 
 tisfactory to Congress ? Cannot all the objects of gradu 
 ation be accomplished in this way, and the objections 
 which have hitherto been urged against it, avoided ? It 
 would seem to me that such a step, with a restriction of 
 the sales to limited quantities, and for actual improvement, 
 Would be free from aU just exceptions. 
 
VAN BURE./3 FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 209 
 
 By the full exposition of the value of the lands thus 
 furnished and extensively promulgated, persons living at 
 a distance would be informed of their true condition, and 
 enabled to enter into competition with those residing in 
 the vicinity ; the means of acquiring an independent home 
 would be brought within the reach of many who are 
 unable to purchase at present prices ; the population of 
 the new states would be more compact, and large tracts 
 would be sold which would otherwise remain on hand ; 
 not only would the land be brought within the means of a 
 large number of purchasers, but many persons possessed 
 of greater means would be content to settle on a large? 
 quantity of the poorer lands, rather than emigrate 
 farther west in pursuit of a smaller quantity of better 
 lands. 
 
 Such a measure would also seem to be more consistent 
 with the policy of the existing laws that of converting 
 the public domain into cultivated farms owned by their 
 occupants. That policy is not best promoted by sending 
 emigration up the almost interminable streams of the west, 
 to occupy in groups the best spots of land, leaving im 
 mense wastes behind them, and enlarging the frontier be 
 yond the means of the government to afford it adequate 
 protection ; but in encouraging it to occupy, with reasona 
 ble denseness, the territory over which it advances, and 
 find its best defence in the compact front which it presents 
 to the Indian tribes. Many of you will bring to the con 
 sideration of the subject the advantage of local knowledge 
 3nd greater experience, and all will be desirous of 
 making an early and final disposition of every disturb 
 ing question in regard to this important interest. If these 
 suggestions shall in any degree contribute to the accom 
 plishment of so important a result, it will afford me 
 sincere satisfaction. 
 
 In some sections of the country most of the public 
 lands have been sold, and the registers and receivers have 
 little to do. It is a subject worthy of inquiry whether, 
 in many cases, two or more districts may not be consoli 
 dated, and the number of persons employed in this busi 
 ness considerably reduced. Indeed, the time will come, 
 when it will be the true policy of the general government 
 
210 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 as to some of the states, to transfer to them, for a reasona* 
 ble equivalent, all the refuse and unsold lands, and t6 
 withdraw the machinery of the federal land offices alto 
 gether. All who take a comprehensive view of our fede 
 ral system, and believe that one of its greatest excellen 
 cies consists in interfering as little as possible with the 
 internal concerns of the stated; look forward with grea 
 interest to this result. 
 
 A modification of the existing laws in respect to the 
 prices of the public lands, might also have a favorable in 
 fluence on the legislation of Congress, in relation to 
 another branch of the subject. Many who have not the 
 ability to buy at present prices, settle on those lands, with 
 the hope of acquiring from their cultivation the mean* of 
 purchasing under pre-emption laws, from time to time 
 passed by Congress. For this encroachment on the rights 
 of the United States, they excuse themselves under the 
 plea of their own necessities ; the fact that they dispossess 
 nobody, and only enter upon the waste domain ; that 
 they give additional value to the public Innds in their 
 vicinity, and their intention ultimately to pay the govern 
 ment price. So much weight has from time to time been 
 attached to these considerations, that Congress have passed 
 laws giving actual settlers on the public lands a right of 
 pre-emption to the tracts occupied by them, at the mini 
 mum price. 
 
 These laws have in all instances been retrospective in 
 their operations ; but in a few years after their passage, 
 crowds of new settlers have been found on the public 
 lands, for similar reasons, and under like expectations, 
 who have been indulged with the same privilege. This 
 course of legislation tends to impair public respect for the 
 laws of the country. Either the laws to prevent intrusion 
 upon tho public lands should be executed, or, if that 
 should be impracticable or inexpedient, they should be 
 modified or repealed. If the public lands are to be con 
 sidered as open to be occupied by any, they should, by 
 law, be thrown open to all. 
 
 That which is intended, in all instances, to be legalized, 
 should at once be made legal, that those who are dis 
 posed to conform to the laws, may enjoy at least equal 
 
VAN BUREN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 21 
 
 privileges with those who are not. But it is not believed 
 *o be the disposition of Congress to open the public lands 
 to occupancy without regular entries and payment of the 
 government price, as such a course must tend to worse 
 evils than the credit system, which it was found necessary 
 to abolish. 
 
 It would seem, therefore, to be the part of wisdom and 
 sound policy to remove, as far as practicable, the causes 
 which produce intrusions upon the public lands, and then 
 take efficient steps to prevent them in future. Would any 
 single measure be so effective in removing all plausible 
 grounds for these intrusions as the graduation of price al 
 ready suggested ? A short period of industry and econo 
 my in any part of our country would enable the poorest 
 citizen to accumulate the means to buy him a home at the 
 lowest prices, and leave him without apology for settling 
 on lands not his own. If he did not, under such circum 
 stances, he would enlist no sympathy in his favor ; and 
 the laws would be readily executed without doing violence 
 to public opinion. 
 
 A large portion of our citizens have seated themselves 
 on the public lands, without authority, since the passage 
 of the last pre-emption law, and now ask the enactment 
 of another, to enable them to retain the lands occupied, 
 upon payment of the minimum government price. They 
 ask that which has been repeatedly granted before. If 
 the future may be judged of by the past, little harm can 
 be done to the interests of the treasury by yielding to their 
 request. Upon a critical examination, it is found that the 
 lands sold at the public sales since the introduction of 
 cash payments in 1820, have produced, on an average, 
 the nett of only six cents an acre more than the minimum 
 government price. There is no reason to suppose that 
 future sales will be more productive. The government, 
 therefore, has no adequate pecuniary interest to induce it 
 to drive those people from the lands they occupy, for the 
 purpose of selling them to others. 
 
 Entertaining these views, I recommend the passage of 
 a pre-emption law for their benefit, in connection with 
 the preparatory steps towards the graduation of the price 
 of the public lands, and farther and more effectual pro- 
 
212 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 visions to prevent intrusions hereafter. Indulgence to 
 those who have settled on these lands with expectations 
 that past legislation would be made a rule for the fuiure, 
 and at the same time removing the most plausible ground 
 on which intrusions are excused, and adopting more effi 
 cient means to prevent them hereafter, appears to me the 
 most judicious disposition which can be made of this dif 
 ficult subject. 
 
 The limitations and restrictions to guard against abuses 
 in the execution of the pre-emption law, will necessarily 
 attract the attention of Congress : but under no circum 
 stances is it considered expedient to authorize floating 
 claims in any shape. They have been heretofore, and 
 doubtless would be hereafter, most prolific sources of fraud 
 and oppression, and instead of operating to confer thr* 
 favor of the government on industrious settlers, are often 
 used only to minister to a spirit of cupidity at the expense 
 of the most meritorious of that class. 
 
 The accompanying report of the secretary of war will 
 bring to your view the state of the army, and all the va 
 rious subjects confided to the superintendence of that 
 officer. 
 
 The principal part of the army has been concentrated 
 in Florida, with a view and in the expectation of bring 
 ing the war in that territory to a speedy close. The ne 
 cessity of stripping the posts on the maritime and inland 
 frontiers, of their entire garrisons, for the purpose of as 
 sembling in the field an army of less than four thousand 
 men, would seem to indicate the necessity of increasing 
 our regular forces ; and the superior efficiency as well a 
 greatly diminished expense of that description of troops, 
 recommend this measure as one of economy, as well as of 
 expediency. I refer to the report for the reasons which 
 have induced the secretary of war to urge the re-organiza 
 tion and enlargement of the staff of the army, an I of the 
 ordnance corps, in which I fully concur. 
 
 It is not, however, compatible with the interest of the 
 people to maintain, in time of peace, a regula/ I jrce ade 
 quate to the defence of our extensive frontier. In pe 
 riods of danger and alarm, we must rely principally npoL 
 a well-organized militia; and some general arrangemefc 
 
313 
 
 thai will render this description of force more efficient, 
 has long been a subject of anxious solicitude. It was re 
 commended to the first Congress by General Washington, 
 and has since been frequently brought to your notice, and 
 recently its importance strongly urged by my immediate 
 predecessor. 
 
 The provision in the constitution that renders it neces 
 sary to adopt a uniform system of organization for th jj 
 militia throughout the United States, presents an insur 
 mountable obstacle to an efficient arrangement by the 
 classification heretofore proposed, and I invite your atten 
 tion to the plan which will be submitted by the secretary 
 of war, for the organization of the volunteer corps, and 
 the instruction of militia officers, as more simple and prac 
 ticable, if not equally advantageous, as a general arrange 
 ment of the whole militia of the United States. 
 
 A moderate increase of the corps both of military and 
 topographical engineers, has been more than once recom 
 mended by my predecessor, and my conviction of the pro 
 priety, not to say necessity of the measure, in order to 
 enable them to perform tne various and important duties 
 imposed upon them, induces me to repeat the recommen 
 dation. 
 
 The Military Academy continues to answer all the pur 
 poses of its establishment, and not only furnishes well- 
 educated officers of the army, but serves to diffuse through 
 out the mass of our citizens, individuals possessed of mi- 
 /itary knowledge, and the scientific attainments of civil 
 and military engineering. At present, the cadt t is bound, 
 with the consent of -his parents or guardians, to remain in 
 service five years from- the period of his enlistment, unless 
 sooner discharged, thus exacting only one year s service 
 in the army after his education is completed. This does 
 not appear to me sufficient. Government ought to com 
 mand for a longer period the services of those who are 
 educated at the public expense ; and I recommend that 
 the time of enlistment be extended to seven years, and the 
 terms of the engagement strictly enforced. 
 
 The creation of a national foundry for cannon, to be 
 common to the service of the army and navy of the Uni 
 ted States, has been heretofore recommended, and ap 
 
214 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 pears to be required in order to place our ordnance on an 
 equal footing with that of other countries, and to enable 
 that branch of the service to control the prices of those 
 articles, and graduate the supplies to the wants of the 
 government, as well as to regulate their quality and insure 
 their uniformity. 
 
 The same reasons induce me to recommend the erec 
 tion of a manufactory of gunpowder, to be under the di 
 rection of the ordnance office. The establishment of a 
 Manufactory of small arms west of the. Alleghany moun 
 tains, upon the plan proposed by the secretary of war, 
 will contribute to extend throughout that country the im 
 provements which exist in establishments of a similar 
 description in the Atlantic states, and tend to a much more 
 economical distribution of the armament required in the 
 western portion of our Union. 
 
 The system of removing the Indians west of the Mis 
 sissippi, commenced by Mr. Jefferson, in 1804, has been 
 steadily persevered in by every succeeding President, and 
 may be considered the settled policy of the country. Un 
 connected at first with any well-defined system for their 
 improvement, the inducements held out to the Indians 
 were confined to the greater abundance of game to be found 
 in the west ; but when the beneficial effects of their re 
 moval were made apparent, a more philanthropic and en 
 lightened policy was adopted, in purchasing their lands 
 east of the Mississippi. Liberal prices were given, and 
 provisions inserted in all the treaties with them for the 
 application of the funds they received in exchange, to such 
 purposes as were best calculated to promote their present 
 welfare, and advance their future civilization. These 
 measures have been attended thus far with the happiest 
 results. 
 
 It will been seen, by referring to the report of the com 
 missioner of Indian affairs, that the most sanguine expec 
 tations of the friends and promoters of this system have 
 been realized. The Choctaws, Cherokees, and otK. t - 
 tribes that first emigrated beyond the Mississippi, havft 
 for the most part, abandoned the hunter state and be 
 come cultivators of .the soil. The improvement of 
 their coviifvPA has been rapid, and it is believed that 
 
rAN BUREN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 215 
 
 they a r e now fitted to enjoy the advantages of a simple 
 form of government, which has been submitted to them 
 and received their sanction ; and I cannot too strongly 
 urge this subject upon the attention of Congress. 
 
 Stipulations have been made with all the Indian tribes 
 *o remove them beyond the Mississippi, except with the 
 band of the Wyandotts, the Six Nations, in New York, 
 the Menomonees, Mandans, and Stockbridges, in Wis 
 consin, and Miamies, in Indiana. With all but the 
 Menomonees, it is expected that arrangements for their 
 emigration will be completed the present year. The 
 resistance which has been opposed to their removal by 
 some tribes, even after treaties had been made with them 
 to that effect, has arisen from various causes, operating 
 differently on each of them. 
 
 In most instances they have been instigated to resist 
 ance by persons to whom the trade with them and the 
 acquisition of their annuities were important; and in 
 some by the personal influence of interested chiefs. 
 These obstacles must be overcome ; for the government 
 cannot relinquish the execution of this policy with 
 out sacrificing important interests, and abandoning the 
 tribes remaining east of the Mississippi to certain destruc 
 tion. 
 
 The decrease in numbers of the tribes within the limit? 
 of the states and territories has been most rapid. If they 
 be removed, they can be protected from those associa 
 tions and evil practices which exert so pernicious and 
 destructive an influence over their destinies. They can 
 be induced to labor, and to acquire property, and its ac 
 quisition will inspire them with a feeling of independence. 
 Their minds can be cultivated, and they can be taught the 
 value of salutary and uniform laws, and be made sensible 
 of the blessings of free government, and capable of enjoy 
 ing its advantages. 
 
 In the possession of property, knowledge, and a good 
 government, free to give what direction they please tc 
 their labor, and sharers in the legislation by which their 
 persons and the profits of their industry are to be protect 
 ed and secured, they will have an ever present convic 
 tion of the importance of union, of peace aruoug 
 
THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 themselves, and of the preservation of amicable relations 
 with us. 
 
 The interests of the United States would also be greatly 
 promoted by freeing the relations between the genera 1 
 and state governments, from what has proved a most em 
 barrassing incumbrance, by a satisfactory adjustment of 
 conilicting titles to lands, caused by the occupation of the 
 Indians, and by causing the resources of the whole coun 
 try to be developed by the power of the state and general 
 governments, and improved by the enterprise of a white 
 population. 
 
 Intimately connected with this subject is the obligation 
 of the government to fulfil its treaty stipulations, and to 
 protect the Indians thus assembled " at their new resi 
 dence from all interruptions and disturbances from any 
 other tribes or nations of Indians, or from any other per 
 son or persons whatsoever," and the equally solemn ob 
 ligation to guard from Indian hostilities its own border 
 settlements stretching along a line of more than one thou 
 sand miles. To enable the government to redeem their 
 pledge to the Indians, and to afford adequate protection to 
 its own citizens, will require the continual presence of a 
 considerable regular force on the frontiers, and the estab 
 lishment of a chain of permanent posts. Examinations 
 of the country are now making, with a view to decide 
 on the most suitable points for the erection of fort 
 resses and other works of defence, the results of which 
 will be presented to you by the secretary of war at an 
 early duy, together with a plan for the effectual protec 
 tion of friendly Indians, and the permanent defence of 
 the frontier states. 
 
 By the report of the secretary of the navy, herewith 
 communicated, it appears that unremitted exertions have 
 been made at the different navy-yards, to carry into effect 
 all authorized measures for the extension and employ 
 ment of our naval force. The launching and prepa 
 ration of the ship of the line Pennsylvania, and the 
 complete repairs of the ships of the line Ohio, Del-aware, 
 and Columbus, may be noticed, as forming a respectable 
 addition to this important arm of our national defence. 
 Our commerce and navigation have received increased 
 
217 
 
 aid and protection during the present year. Our squad 
 rons in the Pacific and on the Brazilian station have been 
 much increased, and that in the Mediterranean, although 
 small, is adequate to the present wants of our com 
 merce in that sea. Additions have been made to our 
 squadron on the West India station, where the large 
 furce under Commodore Dallas has been most actively 
 ttnd efficiently employed in protecting our commerce, in 
 preventing the importation of slaves, and in co-operating 
 with the officers of the army in carrying on the war in 
 Florida. 
 
 The satisfactory condition of our naval force abroad, 
 leaves at our disposal the means of conveniently provid 
 ing for a home squadron, for the protection of commerce 
 upon our extensive coast. The amount of appropriations 
 required for such a squadron will be found in the general 
 estimates for the naval service, for the year 1838. 
 
 The naval officers engaged upon our coast survey, 
 have rendered important service to our navigation. The 
 discovery of a new channel into the harbor of New York, 
 through which our largest ships may pass without 
 danger, must afford important commercial advantages to 
 that harbor, and add greatly to its value as a naval station. 
 The accurate survey of Georges shoals, off the coast of 
 Massachusetts, lately completed, will render compara 
 tively safe, a navigation hitherto considered dangerous. 
 
 Considerable additions have been made to the number 
 of captains, commanders, lieutenants, surgeons and assist 
 ant surgeons in the navy. These additions were ren 
 dered necessary, by the increased number of vessels put 
 in commission, to answer the exigencies of our growing 
 commerce. 
 
 Your attention is respectfully invited to the various 
 suggestions of the secretary, for the improvement of the 
 naval service. 
 
 The report of the postmaster-general exhibits the pro 
 gress and condition of the mail service. The operations 
 of the post-office department, constitutes one of the 
 most active elements of our national prosperity, aud it 
 is gratifying to observe with what vigor they are con 
 ducted. The mail routes of the United States cover an 
 
 19 
 
218 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 extent of about one hundred and forty-two thousand eitrlit 
 hundred and seventy-seven miles, having- been increased 
 about thirty-seven thousand one hundred and three miles, 
 within the last two years. 
 
 The annual mail transportation on these routes is about 
 <?6,228,962 miles, having been increased about 10,359,- 
 476 miles within the same period. The number of post- 
 offices has also been increased from 10,770, to 12,099, 
 very few of which receive the mails less than once a 
 week, and a large portion of them daily. Contractors 
 and post-masters in general are represented as attend 
 ing to their duties with most commendable zeal and 
 fidelity. 
 
 The revenue of the department within the year ending 
 on the 30th of June last, was $4,137,066 59 ; and its lia 
 bilities accruing within the same time, were $3,380,847 
 75. The increase of revenue over that of the preceding 
 year, was $708,166 41. 
 
 For many interesting details, I refer you to the report 
 of the postmaster-general, with the accompanying paper. 
 Your particular attention is invited to the necessity of pro 
 viding a more safe and convenient building for the accom 
 modation of the department. 
 
 I lay before Congress copies of reports, submitted in 
 pursuance of a call made by me upon the heads of depart 
 ments, for such suggestions as their experience might 
 enable them to make, as to what further legislative pro 
 visions may be advantageously adopted to secure the 
 faithful application of public money to the objects for which 
 they are appropriated ; to prevent their misapplication or 
 embezzlement by those intrusted with the expenditure of 
 them ; and generally to increase the security of the 
 government against losses in their disbursement. It is 
 needless to dilate on the importance of providing such 
 new safeguards as are within the power of legislation 
 to promote these ends ; and I have little to add to 
 the recommendations submitted in the accompanying 
 papers. 
 
 By law, the terms of service of our most important 
 collecting and disbursing officers in the civil departments, 
 are limited to four years, and when re-appointed, their 
 
VAN BUREN S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 219 
 
 bonds are required to be renewed. The safety of the 
 public is much increased by this feature of the law, and 
 there can be no doubt that its application to all officers 
 intrusted with the collection or disbursement of the pub 
 lic money, whatever may be the tenure of their offices, 
 would be equally beneficial. I therefore recommend, in 
 addition to such of the suggestions presented by the heads 
 of department as you may think useful, a general provi 
 sion that all officers of the army or navy, or in the civil 
 department, intrusted with the receipt or payment of the 
 public money, and whose term of service is either un 
 limited or for a longer time than four years, be required 
 to give bonds, with good and sufficient securities, at the 
 expiration of every such period. 
 
 A change in the period of terminating the fiscal year, 
 from the first of October to the first of April, has been 
 frequently recommended, and appears to be desirable. 
 
 The distressing casualties in steamboats, which have 
 so frequently happened, during the year, seem to evince 
 the necessity of attempting to prevent them by means of 
 severe provisions connected with their custom-house 
 papers. This subject was submitted to the attention of 
 Congress by the secretary of the treasury, in his last 
 annual report, and will be again noticed at the present 
 session, with additional details. It will doubtless receive 
 that early and careful consideration which its pressing 
 importance appears to require. 
 
 Your attention has heretofore been frequently called 
 to the affairs of the District of Columbia, and I should 
 not again ask it, did not their entire dependence on Con 
 gress give them a constant claim upon its notice. Sepa 
 rated by the constitution from the rest of the Union, 
 limited in extent, and aided by no legislature of its own, 
 it would seem to be a spot where a wise and uniform sys 
 tem of local government might have been easily adopted. 
 
 This district, however, unfortunately, has been left to 
 linger behind the rest of the Union ; its codes, civil and 
 criminal, are not only very defective, but full of obsolete 
 or inconvenient provisions; being formed of portions of 
 two states, discrepancies in the laws prevail in different 
 carts of the territory, small as it is ; and although it was 
 
220 THE TRUE Rte d-flLICAN. 
 
 selected as the seat of the general government, the site 
 of its public edifices, the depository of its archives, and 
 the residence of officers intrusted with large amounts of 
 public property, and the management of public business, 
 yet it has never been subjected to, or received, that spe 
 cial and comprehensive legislation which these circum 
 stances peculiarly demand. 
 
 I am well aware of the various subjects of greater 
 magnitude and immediate interest, that press themselves 
 on the consideration of Congress ; but I believe ihere is 
 no one that appeals more directly to its justice, man a 
 liberal and even generous attention to the interests of rhe 
 District of Columbia, and a thorough and caretul revi 
 sion of its Ideal government. 
 
 HARRISON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 
 MARCH 4 1841. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens : 
 
 Called from a retirement which I had supposed was to 
 continue for the residue of my life, to fill the Chief Ex 
 ecutive office of this great and free nation, I appear before 
 you, to take the oaths which the Constitution prescribes, 
 as a necessary qualification for the performance of its du 
 ties. And in obedience to a custom coeval with our go 
 vernment and what I believe to be your expectations, I 
 proceed to present to you a summary of the principles 
 which will govern me in the discharge of the duties which 
 I shall be called upon to perform. 
 
 It was the remark of a Roman Consul, in an early pe- 
 riod of that celebrated republic, that a most striking con 
 trast was observable in the conduct of candidates for of 
 fices of power and trust, before and after obtaining them 
 they seldom carrying out, in the latter case, the pledges 
 and promises made in the former. However much the 
 world may have improved, in many respects, in the lapse 
 
HARRISON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 221 
 
 of upwards of two thousand years since the remark was 
 made by the virtuous and indignant Roman, I fear that a 
 strict examination of the annals of some of the modern 
 elective governments, would develope similar instances 
 of violated confidence. 
 
 Although the fiat of the people has gone forth, pro 
 claiming me the Chief Magistrate of this glorious Union, 
 nothing upon their part remaining to be done, it .may be 
 thought that a motive may exist to keep up the delusion 
 under which they may be supposed to have acted in rela 
 tion to my principles and opinions ; and perhaps there 
 may be some in this assembly who have come here either 
 prepared to condemn those I shall now deliver, or, ap 
 proving them, to doubt the sincerity with which they are 
 uttered. But the lapse of a few months will confirm or 
 dispel their fears. The outline of principles to govern, 
 and measures to be adopted, by an Administration not yet 
 begun, will soon be exchanged for immutable history, and 
 I shall stand, either exonerated by my countrymen, or class 
 ed with the mass of those who promised that they might 
 deceive, and flattered with the intention to betray. How 
 ever strong may be my present purpose to realize the 
 expectations of a magnanimous and confiding people, I 
 too well understand the dangerous temptations to which 
 I shall be exposed, fron the magnitude of the power which 
 it has been the pleasure of the people to commit to my 
 hands, not to place my chief confidence upon the aid of 
 that Almighty power which has hitherto protected me, 
 and enabled me to bring to favorable issues other impor 
 tant but still greatly inferior trusts, heretofore confided to 
 me by my country. 
 
 The broad foundation upon which our Constitution 
 rests being the people a breath of theirs having made, 
 as a breath can unmake, change or modify it it can be 
 assigned to none of the great divisions of Government, 
 but to that of democracy. If such is its theory, those 
 who are called upon to administer it must recognize, as 
 its leading principle, the duty of.shaping their measures 
 so as to produce the greatest good to the greatest number. 
 But, with those broad admissions, if we would compare 
 the sovereignty acknowledged to exist in the mass of our 
 19* 
 
222 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 people, with tne ^ower claimed by other sovereigntiee, 
 even by those which have been considered most purely 
 democratic, we shall find a most essential difference. 
 All others lay claim to power limited only by their own 
 will. The majority of our citizens, on the contrary, pos 
 sess a sovereignty with an amount of power precisely 
 equal to that which has been granted to them by the par 
 ties to the national compact, and nothing beyond. We 
 admit of no Government by divine right. Believing that, 
 so far as power is concerned, the Beneficent Creator has 
 made no distinction amongst men, that all fcre upon an 
 equality, and that the only legitimate right to govern is 
 an express grant of power from the governed. The Con 
 stitution of the United States is the instrument containing 
 this grant of power to the several departments composing 
 the Government. On an examination of that instrument, 
 it will be found to contain declarations of power granted 
 and of power withheld. The latter is also susceptible of 
 division, into power which the majority had the right to 
 grant, but which they did not think proper to intrust to 
 their agents, and that which they could not have granted, 
 not being possessed by themselves. In other words, 
 there are certain rights possessed by each individual Ame 
 rican citizen, which, in his compact with the others, he 
 has never surrendered. Some of them, indeed, he is un 
 able to surrender, being in the language of our system un- 
 alienable. The boasted privilege of a Roman citizen was 
 to him a shield only against a petty provincial ruler, 
 whilst the proud democrat of Athens could console him 
 self under the sentence of death, for a supposed violation 
 of the national faith, which no one understood, and which 
 at times was the subject of the mockery of all, or the ba 
 nishment from his home, his family and his country, with 
 or without an alleged cause ; that it was the act, not of a 
 single tyrant, or hated aristocracy, but of his assembled 
 countrymen. Far different is the power of our sove 
 reignty. It can interfere with no one s faith, prescribe 
 forms of worship for no one s observance, inflict no pun 
 ishment but after well ascertained guilt, the result of in 
 vestigation under rules prescribed by the Constitution it 
 self. These precious privileges, and those scarcely less 
 
HARRISON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS?. 223 
 
 important, of giving expression to his thoughts and opin 
 ions, either by writing or speaking, unrestrained but by 
 the liability for injury to others, and that of a full partici 
 pation in all the advantages which flow from the Govern 
 ment, the acknowledged property of all, the American 
 citizen derives from no charter granted by his fellow man. 
 He claims them because he is himself a man, fashioned 
 by the same Almighty hand as the rest of his species, 
 -^ and entitled to a full share of the blessings with which he 
 has endowed them. Notwithstanding the limited sove 
 reignty possessed by the people of the United States, and 
 the restricted grant of power to the Government which 
 they have adopted, enough has been given to accomplish 
 all the objects for which it was created. It has been 
 found powerful in war, and, hitherto, justice has been ad 
 ministered, an intimate union effected, domestic tranquil 
 lity preserved, and personal liberty secured to the citi 
 zen. As was to be expected, however, from the defect 
 of language, and the necessarily sententious manner in 
 which the Constitution is written, disputes have arisen as 
 to the amount of power which it has actually granted, or 
 was intended to grant. 
 
 This is more particularly the case in relation to that 
 part of the instrument which treats of the legislative 
 branch. And not only as regards the exercise of powers 
 claimed under a general clause, giving that body the au 
 thority to pass all laws necessary to carry into effect the 
 specified powers, but in relation to the latter also. It is, 
 however, consolatory to reflect, that most of the instances 
 of alleged departure from the letter or spirit of the Consti 
 tution, have ultimately received the sanction of a majority 
 of the people. And the fact that many of our statesmen, 
 most distinguished for talent and patriotism, have been 
 at one time or other of their political career, on both sides 
 of each of the most warmly disputed questions, forces upon 
 is the inference that the errors if errors they were, are at 
 tributable to the intrinsic difficulty, in many instances, of 
 ascertaining the intentions of the framers of the Constitution, 
 rather than the influence of any sinister or unpatriotic mo 
 tive. But the great danger to our institutions does nol 
 appear to me to be in a usurpation by the Government of 
 
224 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 power not granted by the people, but by the accumulatiof 
 in one of the departments, of that which was assigned to 
 others. Limited as are the powers which have been 
 granted, still enough have been granted to constitute a 
 despotism, if concentrated in one of the departments. 
 This danger is greatly heightened, as it has been always 
 observable that men are less jealous of encroachments of 
 one department upon another, than upon their own re 
 served rights. When the Constitution of the United States 
 first came from the hands of the Convention which form 
 ed it, many of the sjternest republicans of the day were 
 alarmed at the extent of the power which had been grant 
 ed to the federal government, and more particularly of that 
 portion which had been assigned to the Executive branch. 
 There were in it features which appeared not to beinhar 
 mony with their ideas of a simple representative of De 
 mocracy, or Republic. And knowing the tendency of 
 power to increase itself, particularly when exercised by 
 a single individual, predictions were made that, at no very 
 remote period, the Government would terminate in virtual 
 monarchy. It would not become me to say that the fears 
 of these patriots have been already realized. But, as I 
 sincerely believe that the tendency of measures, and of 
 men s opinions, for some years past, has been in that di 
 rection, it is, I conceive, strictly proper that I should take 
 this occasion to repeat the assurances I have heretofore 
 given, of my determination to arrest the progress of that 
 tendency, if it really exists, and restore the Government t<f 
 ; ts pristine health and vigor, as far as this can be effected 
 in any legitimate exercise of the power placed in my 
 hands. 
 
 I proceed to state, in as summary a manner as I can, my 
 opinion of the sources of the evils which have been so ex 
 tensively complained of, and the correctives which may 
 be applied. Some of the former are unquestionably to be 
 found in the defects of the Constitution ; others, in my 
 judgment, are attributable to a misconstruction of some 
 of its provisions. Of the former is the eligibility of the 
 same individual to a second term of the Presidency. The 
 sagacious mind of Mr. Jefferson early saw and lamented 
 this error, and attempts have been made, hitherto without 
 
HARRISON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS 225 
 
 success, to apply the amendatory power of the States, to 
 its correction. As, however, one mode of correction is 
 in the power of every President, and consequently in 
 mine, it would be useless, and perhaps invidious to enu 
 merate the evils of which, in the opinion of many of ou( 
 fellow-citizens, this error of the sages who framed the 
 Constitution, may have been the source, and the bitter 
 fr.iits vvhicli we are still to gather from it, if ii continues 
 to disfigure our system. It may be observed, however, 
 as a general remark, that republics can commit no greater 
 error than to adopt or continue any feature in their sys 
 tems of government which may be calculated to create or 
 increase the love of power in the bosoms of those to whom 
 necessity obliges them to commit the management of their 
 affairs. And surely nothing is more likely to produce 
 such a state of mind than the long continuance of an office 
 of high trust. Nothing can be more corrupting. 
 Nothing more destructive of all those noble feel 
 ings which belong to the character of a devoted re 
 publican patriot. When this corrupting passion once 
 takes possession of the human mind, like the love of gold, 
 it becomes insatiable. It is the never-dying worm in his 
 bosom, grows with his growth and strengthens with the 
 declining years of its victim. If this is true, it is the part 
 of wisdom for a Republic to limit the service of that offi 
 cer, at least, to whom she has entrusted the managemen* 
 of her foreign relations, the execution of her laws, and 
 the command of her armies and navies, to a period so 
 short as to prevent his forgetting that he is the accounta 
 ble agent, not the principal ; the servant not the master. 
 Until an amendment of the Constitution can be effected, 
 public opinion may secure the desired object. I give my 
 aid to it, by renewing the pledge heretofore given, that un 
 der no circumstances, will I consent to serve a second teim. 
 But if there is danger to public liberty from the ac 
 knowledged defects of the Constitution, in the want of 
 limit to the continuance of the Executive power in the 
 same hands, there is, I apprehend, not much less from a 
 misconstruction of that instrument, as it regards the 
 powers actually given. I cannot conceive that by a fair 
 construction, any or either of its provisions would b 
 
226 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 found to constitute the President a part of the legislative 
 power. It cannot be claimed from the power to recom 
 mend, since, although enjoined as a duty upon him, it is 
 a privilege which he holds in common with every othei 
 citizen. And although there may be something more of 
 confidence in the propriety of the measures recommended 
 in the one case than in the other, in the obligations of 
 ultimate decision there can be no difference. In the lan 
 guage of the Constitution, " all the legislative powers" 
 which ft grants " are vested in the Congress of the United 
 States." It would be a solecism in language to say that 
 any portion of these is not included in the whole. 
 
 It may be said, indeed, that the Constitution has given 
 the Executive the power to annul the acts of the legisla 
 tive body, by refusing to them his assent. So a similar 
 power has necessarily resulted from that instrument to 
 the judiciary, and yet the judiciary forms no part of the 
 legislature. There is, it is true, this difference between 
 these grants of power; the Executive can put his nega 
 tive upon the acts of the legislature for other causes than 
 that of want of conformity to the Constitution, whilst the 
 judiciary can only declare void those which violate that 
 instrument. But the decision of the judiciary is final in 
 such a case, whereas in every instance where the veto of 
 the Executive is applied it may be overcome by a vote of 
 two-thirds of both Houses of Congress. The negative 
 upon the acts of the legislature, by the Executive autho 
 rity, and that in the hands of one individual, would seem 
 to be an incongruity in our system. Like some others of 
 a similar character, however, it appears to be highly ex 
 pedient, and if used only with the forbearance, and in the 
 spirit which was intended by its authors, it may be pro 
 ductive of great good, and be found one of the bet safe 
 guards to the Union. At the period of the formation of 
 the Constitution, the principle does not appear to have 
 enjoyed much favor in the State Governments. It existed 
 but in two, and in one of these there was a plural Execu 
 tive. If we should search for the motives which ope 
 rated upon the purely patriotic and enlightened assembly 
 which framed the Constitution, for the adoption of a pro 
 vision so apparently repugnant to the leading democratic 
 
HARRISON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 227 
 
 principles, that the majority should govern, we must re 
 ject the idea that they anticipated from it any benefit to 
 the ordinary course of legislation. They knew too well 
 the high degree of intelligence which existed among the 
 people, and the enlightened character of the State Legis 
 latures, not to have the fullest confidence that the two bo 
 dies elected by them would be worthy representatives of 
 such constituents, and, of course, that they would require 
 no aid in conceiving and maturing measures which the 
 circumstances of the country might require. And it is 
 preposterous to suppose that a thought could for a mo 
 ment have been entertained, that the President, placed at 
 the Capital, in the centre of the country, could better un 
 derstand the wants and wishes of the people than their 
 own immediate representafives, who spent a part of every 
 year among them, living with them, often laboring with 
 them, and bound to them by the triple tie of interest, 
 duty and affection. To assist or control Congress then 
 in its ordinary legislation, could not, I conceive, have been 
 the motive for conferring the veto power on the President. 
 This argument acquires additional force from the fact of 
 its never having been thus used by the first six Presidents, 
 and two of them were members of the Convention, one 
 presiding over its deliberations, and the other bearing a 
 larger share in consummating the labors of that august 
 body than any other person. But if bills never were re 
 turned to Congress by either of the Presidents above re 
 ferred to, upon the ground of their being inexpedient, or 
 -not as well adapted as they might be to the wants of the 
 people, the veto was applied upon that of want of confor 
 mity to the Constitution, or because errors had been com 
 mitted from a too hasty enactment. 
 
 There is another ground for the adoption of the veto 
 principle, which had probably more influence in recom 
 mending it to the Convention than any other. I refer to 
 the security which it gives to the just and equitable action 
 of the legislature upon all parts of the Union. It couH 
 not but have occurred to the Convention that, in a country 
 so extensive, embracing so great a variety of soil and cli 
 mate and consequently of products, and which, from the 
 ame causes, must ever exhibit a great difference in tke 
 
228 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 amount of the population of its various sections, calling 
 for a great diversity in the employments of the people, 
 that the legislation of the majority might not always just 
 ly regard the rights and interests of the minority. And 
 that acts of this character might be passed, under an ex 
 press grant by the words of the Constitution, and, there- 
 fore, not within the competency of the judiciary to declare 
 void. That however enlightened and patriotic they might 
 suppose, from past experience, the members of Congress 
 might be, and however largely partaking, in the general, 
 of the liberal feelings of the people, it was impossible to 
 expect that bodies so constituted should not sometimes be 
 controlled by local interests and sectional feelings. It 
 was proper, therefore, to provide some umpire, from 
 whose situation and mode of appointment more indepen 
 dence and freedom from such influences might be expect 
 ed. Such a one was afforded by the Executive depart 
 ment, constituted by the Constitution. A person elected 
 to that high office, having his constituents in every sec 
 tion, state and sub-division of the Union, must consider 
 himself bound by the most solemn sanctions, to guard, 
 protect, and defend the rights of all, and of every portion, 
 great or small, from the injustice and oppression of the 
 rest. I consider the veto power, therefore, given by the 
 Constitution to the Executive of the United States, solely 
 as a conservative power. To be used only, first, to pro 
 tect the Constitution from violation ; 2dly, the people 
 from the effects of hasty legislation where their will has 
 been probably disregarded or not well understood ; and, 
 3dly, to prevent the effects of combinations violative of 
 the rights of minorities. In reference to the second of 
 these objects, I may observe that I consider it the right 
 and privilege of the people to decide disputed points of 
 the Constitution, arising from the general grant of power 
 to Congress to carry into effect the powers expressly 
 given. And I believe with Mr. Madison, " that repeated 
 recognitions, under varied circumstances, in acts of the 
 legislature, executive, and judicial branches of the Go 
 vernment, accompanied by indications, indifferent modes, 
 of the concurrence of the general will of the nation, as af 
 fording to the President sufficient authority for his consi 
 dering sue/h disputed points as settled. 
 
HARRISON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 229 
 
 Upwards of half a century has elapsed since the adop 
 tion of the present form of Government. It would be an 
 object more highly desirable than the gratification of the 
 curiosity of speculative statesmen, if its precise situation 
 could be ascertained, a fair exhibit made of the operations 
 of each of its departments, of the powers which they re 
 spectively claim and exercise, of the collisions which 
 have occurred between them, or between the whole Go 
 vernment and those of the States, or either of them. We 
 could then compare our actual condition, after fifty years 
 trial of our system, with what it was in the commence 
 ment of its operations, and ascertain whether the predic 
 tions of the patriots who opposed its adoption, or the con 
 fident hopes of its advocates have been best realized. The 
 great dread of the former seems to have been, that the re 
 served powers of the states would be absorbed by those 
 of the Federal Government, and a consolidated power es 
 tablished, leaving to the states the shadow only of that 
 independent action for which they had so zealously con 
 tended, and on the preservation of which they relied as 
 the last hope of liberty. Without denying that the result 
 to which they looked with so much apprehension is in the 
 way of being realized, it is obvious that they did not 
 clearly see the mode of its accomplishment. The gene 
 ral Government has seized upon none of the reserved 
 rights of the states. As far as any open warfare may have 
 gone, the state authorities have amply maintained their 
 rights. To a casual observer, our system presents no ap 
 pearance of discord between the different members which 
 compose it. Even the addition of many new ones has 
 produced no jarring. They move in their respective or 
 bits in perfect harmony with the central head, and with 
 each other. 
 
 But there is still an under current at work, by which, 
 if not seasonably checked, the worst apprehensions of our 
 anti-federal patriots will be realized ; and not only will 
 the State authorities be overshadowed by the great in 
 crease of power in the Executive department of the gene 
 ral Government, but the character of that Government, if 
 not its designation, be essentially and radically changed 
 This state of things has been in part effected by causes 
 20 
 
230 THE TRITE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 inherent in the Constitution and in part by the never fail 
 ing tendency of political power to increase itself. By 
 making the President the sole distributor of all the patron 
 age of the Government, the framers of the Constitution 
 do not appear to have anticipated at how short a period 
 it would become a formidable instrument to control the 
 free operations of the state Governments. Of trifling im 
 portance at first, it had, early in Mr. Jefferson s adminis 
 tration, become so powerful as to create great alarm in 
 the mind of that patriot from the potent influence it might 
 exert in controlling the freedom of the elective franchise. 
 If such could then have been the effects of its influence, 
 how much greater must be the danger at this time, quad 
 rupled in amount, as it certainly is, and more completely 
 under the control of the Executive will than their con 
 struction of their powers allowed, or the forbearing cha 
 racters of all the early Presidents permitted them to make. 
 But it is not by the extent of its patronage alone that the 
 Executive department has become dangerous, but by the 
 use which it appears may be made of the appointing pow 
 ers to bring under its control the whole revenues of the 
 country. The Constitution has declared it to be the duty 
 of the President to see that the laws are executed, and it 
 makes him the C jmmandcr-in-chief of the Armies and 
 Navy of the Unittd States. If the opinion of the most 
 approved writers upon that species of mixed Government, 
 which, in modern Europe is termed monarchy in contra 
 distinction to despotism, is correct, there was wanting no 
 other addition to the powers of our Chief Magistrate to 
 f tamp a monarchical character on our Government, but the 
 control of the public finances. And to me it appears 
 strange, indeed, that and one should doubt, that the en 
 tire control which the President possesses over the offi 
 cers who have the custody of the public money, by the 
 power of removal, with or without cause, does, for all 
 mischievous purposes at least, virtually subject the trea 
 sures also to his disposal. The first Roman Emperor, 
 in his attempt to seize the sacred treasure, silenced the 
 opposition of the officer to whose charge it had been com 
 mitted by a significant allusion to his sword. By a se 
 lection of political instruments for the care of the public 
 
231 
 
 money, a reference to their commission by a President, 
 would be quite as effectual an argument as that of Caesar 
 to the Roman Kuight. I am not insensible of the great 
 difficulty that exists in drawing a proper plan for the safe 
 keeping and disbursement of the public revenues, and I 
 know the importance which has been attached by men of 
 great abilities and patriotism to the divorce, as it is called, 
 of the treasury from the banking institutions. It is not 
 the divorce which is complained of, but the unhallowed 
 union of the Treasury with the Executive department, 
 which has created such extensive alarm. To this danger 
 to our republican institutions, and that created by the in 
 fluence given to the Executive, through the instrumentality 
 of the federal officers, I propose to apply all the remedies 
 which may be at my command. It was certainly a great 
 error in the framers of the Constitution, not to have made 
 the officer at the head of the treasury department entirely 
 independent of the Executive. He should at least have 
 been removable only upon the demand of the popular 
 branch of the legislature. I have determined never to re 
 move a Secretary of the Treasury, without communicating 
 all the circumstances attending such removal to both 
 Houses of Congress. 
 
 The influence of the Executive in controlling the free 
 dom of the elective franchise through the medium of the 
 public officers, can be effectually checked by renew 
 ing the prohibition published by Mr. Jefferson forbid 
 ding their interference in elections further than giving 
 their own votes, and their own independence secured 
 by an assurance of perfect immunity, in exercising 
 this sacred privilege of freemen under the dictates of 
 their own unbiassed judgments. Never, with my con 
 sent, shall an officer of the people, compensated for his 
 services out of their pockets, become the pliant instrument 
 of Executive will. 
 
 There is no part of the means placed in the hands of 
 the Executive which might be used with greater effect, 
 for unhallowed purposes, than the control of the public 
 press. The maxim which our ancestors derived from the 
 mother country, that "the freedom of the press is the 
 great bulwark of civil and religious liberty,* is one of the 
 
t32 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 most precious legacies which they have left us. We have 
 learned, too, from our own, as well as the experience o| 
 other countries, that golden shackles, by whomsoever 01 
 by whatever pretence imposed, are as fatal to it as the 
 iron bonds of despotism. The presses in the necessary 
 employment of the Government should never be \ised "to 
 clear the guilty, or to varnish crime." A decent and 
 manly examination of the acts of the government should 
 be not only tolerated but encouraged. 
 
 Upon another occasion I have given my opinion, at 
 some length, upon the impropriety of Executive inter 
 ference in the legislation of Congress. That the article 
 in the Constitution making it the duty of the President to 
 communicate information, and authorising him to recom 
 mend measures, was not intended to make him the source 
 in legislation, and, in particular, that he should never be 
 looked to for schemes of finance. It would be very 
 strange, indeed, that the Constitution should have strictly 
 forbidden one branch of the legislature from interfering in 
 the organization of such bills, and that it should be consi 
 dered proper that an altogether different department of 
 the government should be permitted to do so. Some of 
 our best political maxims and opinions have been drawn 
 from our parent Isle. There are others, however, which 
 cannot be introduced into our system without singular 
 incongruity and the production of much mischief. And 
 this I conceive to be one. No matter in which of the 
 houses of Parliament a bill may originate, nor by whom 
 introduced, a minister or a member of the opposition, by 
 the fiction of law, or rather of constitutional principle, the 
 sovereign is supposed to have prepared it agreeably to his 
 will, and then submitted it to Parliament for their advice 
 and consent. Now, the very reverse is the case here, 
 not only with regard to the principle, but the forms pre 
 scribed by the Constitution. The principle certainly 
 assigns to the only body constituted by the Constitution 
 (the legislative body) the power to make laws, and the 
 forms even direct that the enactment should be as ascribed 
 to them. The Senate in relation to revenue bills, have 
 the right to propose amendments ; and so has the Execu 
 tive, by the power given him, to return them to the House 
 
233 
 
 of Representatives with his objections. It is inhia power, 
 also, to propose amendments to the existing- revenue laws, 
 suggested by his observations upon their defective or in 
 jurious operation. But the delicate duty of devising 
 schemes of revenue should be left where the Constitution 
 has placed it with the immediate representatives of the 
 people. For similar reasons, the mode of keeping the 
 public treasure should be prescribed by them, and the 
 farther it is removed from the control of the Executive, the 
 more wholesome the arrangement, and the more in accor 
 dance with republican principle. 
 
 Connected with this subject is the character of the cur 
 rency. The idea of making it exclusively metallic, how 
 ever well intended, appears to me to be fraught with more 
 fatal consequences than any other scheme, having no re 
 lation to the personal rights of the citizens, that has ever 
 been devised. If any single scheme could produce the 
 effect of arresting, at once, that mutation of condition by 
 which thousands of our most indigent fellow-citizens, by 
 their industry and enterprise, are raised to the possession 
 of wealth, that is the one. If there is one measure better 
 calculated than another to produce that state of things so 
 much deprecated by all true Republicans, by which the 
 rich are daily adding to their hoards, and the poor sinking 
 deeper into penury, it is an exclusive metallic currency. 
 Or if there is a process by which the character of the 
 country for generosity and nobleness of feeling, may be 
 destroyed by the great increase and necessary toleration 
 of usury, it is an exclusive metallic currency. 
 
 Amongst the other duties of a delicate character which 
 the President is called upon to perform, is the supervision 
 of the government of the Territories of the United States. 
 Those of them which are destined to become members of 
 our great political family, are compensated by their rapid 
 progress from infancy to manhood, for the partial and tem 
 porary deprivation of their political rights. It is in this Dis 
 trict only, where American citizens can be found, who, un 
 der a settled policy,are deprived of many important political 
 privileges, without inspiring hope as to the future. Their 
 only consolation under circumstances of such deprivation, 
 is that of the devoted exterior guards of a camp that 
 20* 
 
234 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 their sufferings secure tranquillity and safety within. 
 Are there any of their countrymen who would subject 
 them to greater sacrifices, to any other humiliations than 
 those essentially necessary to the security of the object 
 for which they were thus separated from their fellow 
 citizens ? Are their rights alone not to be guaranteed by 
 *he application of those great principles upon which all 
 
 ir Constitutions are founded ? We are told by the 
 greatest of British orators and statesmen, that at the com 
 mencement of the war of the Revolution, the most stupid 
 men in England spoke of " their American subjects." 
 Are there indeed citizens of any of our States who have 
 dreamed of their subjects in the District of Columbia? 
 Such dreams can never be realized by any agency of 
 mine. The people of the District of Columbia are not 
 the subjects of the people of the States, but free American 
 citizens. Being in the latter condition when the Consti 
 tution was formed, no words used in that instrument could 
 have been intended to deprive them of that character. If 
 there is any thing in the great principle of unalienable 
 rights, so emphatically insisted upon in our Declaration 
 of Independence, they could neither make, nor the Uni 
 ted States accept, a surrender of their liberties, and be 
 come the subjects, in other words, the slaves, of their 
 former fellow-citizens. If this be true (and it will scarce 
 ly be denied by any one who has a correct idea of his 
 own rights as an American citizen) the grant to Congress 
 of exclusive jurisdiction in the District of Columbia can 
 be interpreted, so far as respects the aggregate people of 
 the United States, as meaning nothing more than to allow 
 to Congress the controlling power necessary to afford a 
 free and safe exercise of the functions assigned to the ge 
 neral Government by the Constitution. In all other re 
 spects, the legislation of Congress should be adapted to 
 their peculiar condition and wants, and be conformable 
 with their deliberate opinions of their own interests. 
 
 I have spoken of the necessity of keeping the respec 
 tive departments of the Government, as well as all the 
 other authorities of our country, within their appropriate 
 orbits. This is a matter of difficulty in some cases, as 
 the powers which they respectively claim are often not 
 defined bv any distinct lines. Mischievous, however, in 
 
HARRISON S INMJGITRAL ADDRESS. 235 
 
 their tendencies, as collisions of this kind may be, those 
 which arise between the respective communities which, 
 for certain purposes, compose one nation, are much more 
 so ; for no such nation can long exist without the careful 
 culture of those feelings of confidence and affection which 
 are the effective bonds of union between free and confe 
 derated states. Strong as is the tie of interest, it has 
 been often found ineffectual. Men, blinded by their pas 
 sions, have been known to adopt measures for their coun 
 try in direct opposition to all the suggestions of policy. 
 The alternative, then, is, to destroy or keep down a bad 
 passion by creating and fostering a good one ; and this 
 seems to be the corner-stone upon which our American 
 political architects have reared the fabric of our Govern 
 ment. The cement which was to bind it, and perpetuate 
 its existence, was the affectionate attachment between all 
 its members. To insure the continuance of this feeling 
 produced at first by a community of dangers, of suffer 
 ings, and of interests, the advantages of each were made 
 accessible to all. No participation in any good, possess 
 ed by any member of our extensive confederacy, except 
 in domestic government, was withheld from the citizen 
 of any other member. By a process attended with no dif 
 ficulty, no delays, no expense but that of removal, the citi 
 zen of one might become the citizen of any other, and suc 
 cessively of the whole. The lines, too, separating powers 
 to be exercised by the citizens of one state from those of 
 another, seemed to be so distinctly drawn as to leave no 
 room for misunderstanding. The citizens of each state 
 unite in their persons all the privileges which that cha 
 racter confers, and all that they may claim as citizens of 
 the United States ; but in no case can the same person, 
 at the same time, act as the citizen of two separate states, 
 and he is therefore positively precluded from any inter 
 ference with the reserved powers of any state, but that 
 of which he is, for the time being, a citizen. He may 
 indeed offer to the citizens of other states his advice as to 
 their management, and the form in which it is tendered is 
 left to his own discretion and sense of propriety. It may be 
 observed, however, that organized associations of citizens; 
 requiring compliance with their wishes, too much resemble 
 ;he recommendations of Athens to her allies supported 
 
236 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 by an armed and powerful fleet. It was, indeed, to the 
 ambition of the leading states of Greece to control the do 
 mestic concerns of the others, that the destruction of that 
 celebrated confederacy, and subsequently of all its mem 
 bers, is mainly to be attributed. And it is owing to the 
 absence of that spirit that the Helvetic confederacy has 
 for so many years been preserved. Never has there been 
 seen in the institutions of the separate members of any 
 confederacy more elements of discord. In the principles 
 and forms of government and religion, as well as in the 
 circumstances of the several cantons, so marked a discre 
 pance was observable, as to promise any thing but har 
 mony in their intercourse, or permanency in their alliance; 
 and yet, for ages neither has been interrupted. Content 
 with the positive benefits which their union produced, 
 with the independence and safety from foreign aggression 
 which it secured, these sagacious people respected the in 
 stitutions of each other, however repugnant to their own 
 principles ;md prejudices. 
 
 Our confederacy, fellow-citizens, can only be preserved 
 by the same forbearance. Our citizens must be content 
 with the exercise of the powers with which the Consti 
 tution clothes them. The attempt of those of one state 
 to control the domestic institutions of another, can only 
 result in feelings of distrust and jealousy, the certain har 
 bingers of disunion, violence, civil war, and the ultimate 
 destruction of our free institutions. Our confederacy is 
 perfectly illustrated by the terms and principles governing 
 a common co-partnership. There is a fund of power to 
 be exercised under the direction of the joint councils ol 
 the allied members, but that which has been reserved by 
 the individual members is intangible by the common go 
 vernment, or the individual members composing it. To 
 attempt it finds no support in the principles of our Con 
 stitution. 
 
 It should be our constant and earnest endeavor mutual 
 ly to cultivate a spirit of concord and harmony among the 
 various parts of our confederacy. Experience has abun 
 dantly taught us, that the agitation, by citizens of one 
 part of the Union, of a subject not confided to the gene 
 ral Government, but exclusively under the guardianship 
 
HARRISON S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 237 
 
 of the local authorities, is productive of no other conse 
 quences than bitterness, alienation, discord, and injury 
 to the. very cause which is intended to be advanced. Of 
 all the great interests which appertain to our country, 
 that of union cordial, confiding, fraternal union is by 
 far the most important, since it is the only true and sure 
 guaranty of all others. 
 
 In consequence of the embarrassed state of business and 
 the currency, some of the states may meet with difficulty 
 in their financial concerns. However deeply we may re 
 gret any thing imprudent or excessive, in the engagements 
 into which states have entered for purposes of their own, 
 it does not become us to disparage the state Governments, 
 nor to discourage them from making proper efforts for 
 their own relief. On the contrary, it is our duty to en 
 courage them, to the extent of our constitutional authority, 
 to apply their best means, and cheerfully to make all ne 
 cessary sacrifices, and submit to all necessary burdens, 
 to fulfil their engagements and maintain their credit ; for 
 the character and credit of the several states form a 
 part of the character and credit of the whole country. 
 The resources of the country are abundant; the enter 
 prise and activity of our people proverbial ; and we 
 may well hope that wise legislation and prudent adminis 
 tration, by the respective governments, each acting within 
 its own sphere, will restore former prosperity. 
 
 Unpleasant and even dangerous as collisions may some 
 times be between the constituted authorities or the citi 
 zens of our country, in relation to the lines which sepa 
 rate their respective jurisdictions, the results can be of 
 no vital injury to our institutions, if that ardent patriotism, 
 that devoted attachment to liberty, that spirit of modera 
 tion and forbearance for which our countrymen were 
 once distinguished, continue to be cherished. If this con 
 tinues to be the ruling passion of our souls, the weaker 
 feeling of the mistaken enthusiast will be corrected, the 
 Utopian dreams of the scheming politician dissipated, and 
 the complicated intrigues of tiie demagogue rendered 
 harmless. The spirit of liberty is the sovereign balm for 
 every injury which our institutions may receive. On the 
 contrary, no care that can be used in the construction of 
 our Government, no division of powers, no distribution 
 
238 THE TRUE* RE PUBLIC AN 
 
 of checks in its several departments, will prove effectual 
 to keep us a free people, if this spirit is suffered to decay 
 and decay it will without constant nurture. To the neg 
 lect of this duty the best historians agree in attributing 
 the ruin of all the republics with whose existence and fall 
 their writings have made us acquainted. 
 
 The same causes will ever produce the same effects; 
 and as long as the love of power is a dominant passion of 
 the human bosom, and as long as the understandings of 
 men can be warped and their affections changed, by ope 
 rations upon their passions and prejudices, so long will 
 the liberties of a people depend on their own constant 
 attention to its preservation. The danger to all well- 
 established free Governments arises from the unwilling 
 ness of the people to believe in its existence, or from the 
 influence of designing men, diverting their attention from 
 th-e quarter whence it approaches to a source from which 
 it can never come. This is the old trick of those who 
 would usurp the government of their country. In the 
 name of democracy they speak, warning the people against 
 the influence of wealth, and the danger of aristocracy. 
 History, ancient and modern, is full of such examples. 
 Cassar became the master of the Roman people and the 
 Senate, under the pretence of supporting the democratic 
 claims of the former against the aristocracy of the latter. 
 Cromwell, in the character of Protector of the liberties 
 of the people, became the Director of England, and 
 Bolivar possessed himself of unlimited power with the 
 title of his country s Liberator. There is, on the contrary, 
 no single instance on record, of an extensive and well-es 
 tablished republic being changed into an aristocracy. 
 The tendencies of all such governments, in their decline, 
 is to monarchy : and the antagonist principle to liberty, 
 there, is the spirit of faction a spirit which assumes the 
 character, and in times of great excitement imposes itself 
 upon the people as the genuine spirit of freedom, and, 
 like the false Christs, whose coming was foretold by the 
 Saviour, seeks, and were it possible, would impose upon the 
 true and most faithful disciples of liberty. It is in periods 
 like this that it behooves the people to be most watchful of 
 those to whom they have entrusted power. Arid although 
 
239 
 
 there is at times much difficulty in distinguishing the false 
 from the true spirit, a calm and dispassionate investigation 
 will detect the counterfeit, as well by the character of its 
 operations, as the results that are produced. The true 
 spirit of liberty, although devoted, persevering, bold, and 
 uncompromising in principle that secured is mild, and 
 tolerant, and scrupulous as to the means it employs; 
 whilst the spirit of party, assuming to be that of liberty, 
 is harsh, vindictive and intolerant, and totally reckless as 
 to the character of the allies which it brings to the aid 01 
 Us cause. When the genuine spirit of liberty animates 
 the body of a people to a thorough examination of their 
 affairs, it leads to the excision of every excrescence which 
 may have fastened itself upon any of the departments 
 of the Government, and restores the system to its pristine 
 health and beauty. But the reign of an intolerant spirit 
 of party, amongst a free people, seldom fails to result in 
 a dangerous accession to the Executive power intro 
 duced and established amidst unusual professions of devo 
 tion to democracy. 
 
 The foregoing remarks relate, almost exclusively, to 
 matters connected with our domestic concerns. It may 
 be proper, however, that I should give some indications 
 to my fellow-citizens of my proposed course of conduct 
 in the management of our foreign relations. I assure 
 them, therefore, that it is my intention to use every means 
 in my power to preserve the friendly intercourse which 
 now so happily subsists with every foreign nation. And 
 that although, of course, not well informed as to the state 
 of pending negotiations with any of them, I see, in the 
 personal characters of their sovereigns, as well as in the 
 mutual interests of our own, and of the governments with 
 which our relations are most intimate, a pleasing guaranty 
 that the harmony so important to the interests of their 
 subjects, as wel as of our citizens, will not be interrupted 
 by the advancement of any claim or pretension upon their 
 part to which our honor would not permit us to yield. 
 Long the defender of my country s rights in the field, I 
 trust that my fellow citizens will not see, in my earnest 
 desire to preserve peace with foreign powers, any indi 
 cation that their rights will ever be sacrificed, or the 
 
240 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 honor of the nation tarnished, by any admission on the 
 part of their Chief Magistrate, unworthy of their former 
 glory. In our intercourse with our aboriginal neighbours, 
 the same liberality and justice which marked the course 
 prescribed to me by two of my illustrious predecessors, 
 when acting under their direction in the discharge of the 
 duties of Superintendent and Commissioner, shall be 
 strictly observed. I can conceive of no more sublime 
 spectacle none more likely to propitiate an impartial and 
 common Creator than a rigid adherence to the principles 
 of justice, on the part of a powerful nation, in its transac 
 tion with a weaker and uncivilized people, whom circum 
 stances have placed at its disposal. 
 
 Before concluding, fellow citizens, I must say some 
 thing to you on the subject of the parties at this time ex 
 isting in our country. To me it appears perfectly clear 
 that the interest of that country requires that the violence of 
 the spirit by which those parties are at this time governed, 
 must be greatly mitigated, if not entirely extinguished or 
 consequences will ensue which are apalling to be thought of. 
 
 If parties in a Republic are necessary to secure a degree 
 of vigilance sufficient to keep the public functionaries 
 within the bounds of law and duty, at that point their use 
 fulness ends: beyond that, they become destructive of 
 public virtue, the parent of a spirit antagonist to that of 
 liberty, and eventually its inevitable conqueror. We 
 have examples of republics, where the love of country 
 and of liberty at one time were, the dominant passions of 
 the whole mass of citizens, and yet, with the continuance 
 of the name and forms of free government, not a vestige of 
 these qualities remaining in the bosoms of any one of 
 its citizens. It was the beautiful remark of a distin 
 guished English writer, that "In the Roman Senate, 
 Octavius had a party, and Anthony a party, but the 
 Commonwealth had none." Yet the Senate con 
 tinued to meet in the Temple of Liberty, to talk of the 
 sacredness and beauty of the Commonwealth, and gaze 
 at the statues of the elder Brutus and of the Curtii and 
 Decii ; and the people assembled in the forum, not as in 
 the days of Camillus and the Scipios, to cast their free 
 votes for annual magistrates, or pass upon the acts of the 
 
341 
 
 Senate, but to receive from the hands of the leaders of 
 the respective paties their share of the spoils, and to shout 
 for one or the other, as those collected in Gaul or Egypt 
 and the lesser Asia would furnish the larger dividend. 
 The spirit of liberty had fled, and avoiding the abodes of 
 civilized man had sought protection in the wilds of Scythia 
 Scandinavia. And so under the operation of the same 
 causes and influences it will fly from our Capital and our 
 forums. A calamity so awful, not only to our country, 
 but to the world, must be deprecated by every patriot, 
 and every tendency to a state of things likely to produce 
 it immediately checked. Such a tendency has existed 
 does exist. Always the friend of my countrymen, never 
 their flatterer, it becomes my duty to say to them, from 
 this high place to which their partiality has exalted me, 
 that there exists in the land a spirit hostile to their best 
 inteiests hostile to liberty itself. It is a spirit contracted 
 in its views selfish in its objects. It looks to the 
 aggrandizement of a few even to the destruction of the 
 interest of the whole. 
 
 The entire remedy is with the people. Something, 
 however, may be effected, by the means which they have 
 placed in my hands. It is union that we want, not of a 
 party for the sake of that party, but a union of the whole 
 country, lor the sake of the whole country. For the de 
 fence of its interests and its honor against foreign aggres 
 sion for he defence of those principles for which our 
 ancestor so gloriously contended. As far as it depends 
 upon me, it shall be accomplished. All the influence that 
 I possess shall be exerted to prevent the formation at 
 least of an Executive party in the halls of the legislative 
 body. I wish for the support of no member of that body 
 to any measure of mine that does not satisfy his judgment 
 and his sense of duty to those from whom he holds his 
 appointment. Nor any confidence in advance from the 
 people but that asked for by Mr. Jefferson, " to give 
 firmness and effect to the legal administration of their af 
 fairs." 
 
 I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and 
 solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens 
 a profound reverence for the Christian religion and a 
 21 
 
242 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 thorough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, 
 and a just sense of religious responsibility, are essential 
 ly connected with all true and lasting happiness. And to 
 that good Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil 
 and religious freedom who watched over and prospered 
 the labors of our fathers, and has hitherto preserved to 
 us institutions far exceeding in excellence those of any 
 other people, let us unite in fervently commending every 
 interest of our beloved country in all future time. [Oath 
 administered.] 
 
 Fellow-citizens : Being fully invested with that high of 
 fice to which the partiality of my countrymen has called 
 me, I now take an affectionate leave of you. You will 
 bear with you to your homes the remembrance of the 
 pledge I have this day given, to discharge all the high 
 duties of my exalted station according to the best of my 
 ability ; and I shall enter upon their performance with en 
 tire confidence in the support of a just and generous 
 people. 
 
 TYLER S ADDRESS. 
 APRIL 9, 1841. 
 
 Fellow- Citiz ens : 
 
 Before my arrival at the seat of Government, the pain 
 ful communication was made to you by the officers pre 
 siding over the several Departments, of the deeply regret 
 ted death of WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, late President 
 of the United States. Upon him you had conferred your 
 suffrages for the first office in your gift, and had selected 
 him as your chosen instrument to correct and reform all 
 such errors and abuses as had manifested themselves 
 from time to time in the practical operation of the Go 
 vernment. While standing at the threshold of this great 
 work, he has, by the dispensation of an all-wise Provi 
 dence, been removed from amongst us, and by the provi 
 sions of the Constitution the efforts to be directed to the 
 

143 
 
 accomplishing of this vitally important task have devolved 
 upon myself. This same occurrence has subjected the 
 wisdom and sufficiency of our institutions to a new test. 
 For the first time in our history the person elected to the 
 Vice Presidency of the United States, by the happening 
 of a contingency provided for in the Constitution, has had 
 devolved upon him the Presidential office. The spirit of 
 faction, which is directly opposed to the spirit of a lofty 
 patriotism, may find in this occasion for assaults upon 
 my administration. And in succeeding, under circum 
 stances so sudden and unexpected, and to responsibilities 
 so greatly augmented, to the administration of public af 
 fairs, I shall place in the intelligence and patriotism of the 
 people my only sure reliance. My earnest prayer shall be 
 constantly addressed to the all-wise and all-powerful Being, 
 who made me, and by whose dispensation I am called to 
 the high office of President of this confederacy, under- 
 standingly to carry out the principles of that Constitution 
 which I have sworn to protect, preserve, and defend. 
 
 The usual opportunity which is afforded to a Chief 
 Magistrate upon his induction to office of presenting to 
 his countrymen an exposition of the policy which would 
 guide his administration, in the form of an inaugural ad 
 dress, not having, under the peculiar circumstances which 
 have brought me to the discharge of the high duties of 
 President of the United States, been afforded to me, a 
 brief exposition of the principles which will govern me in 
 the general course of my administration of public affairs 
 would seem to be due as well to myself as to you. In re 
 gard to foreign nations, the groundwork of my policy will be 
 justice on our part to all, submitting to injustice from none. 
 While I shall sedulously cultivate the relations of peace 
 and amity with one and all, it shall be my most imperative 
 duty to see that the honor of the country shall sustain no 
 blemish. With a view to this, the condition of our mili 
 tary defences will become a matter of anxious solicitude. 
 The Army, which has in other days covered itself with 
 renown, and the Navy not inappropriately termed the 
 right arm of the public defence, which has spread a light 
 of glory over the American standard in all the waters oi 
 ihe earth, should be rendered replete with efficiency. 
 
244 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 In view of the fact, well avouched by history, that the 
 tendency of all human institutions is to concentrate pow 
 er in the hands of a single man, and that their ultimate 
 downfal has proceeded from this cause, I deem it of the 
 most essential importance that a complete separation 
 should take place between the sword and the purse. No 
 matter where or how the public moneys shall be deposit 
 ed, so long as the President can exert the power of ap 
 pointing and removing, at his pleasure, the agents select 
 ed for their custody, the Commander-in-chief of the Army 
 and Navy is in fact the Treasurer. A permanent and 
 radical change should therefore be decreed. The patro 
 nage incident to the presidential office, already great, is 
 constantly increasing. Such increase is destined to keep 
 pace with the growth of our population, until without a 
 figure of speech, an army of office-holders may be spread 
 over the land. The unrestrained power exerted by a 
 selfishly ambitious man, in order either to perpetuate his 
 authority, or to hand it over to some favorite as his suc 
 cessor, may lead to the employment of all the means with 
 in his control to accomplish his object. The right to re 
 move from office, while subjected to no just restraint, is 
 inevitably destined to produce a spirit of crouching ser 
 vility with the official corps, which, in order to uphold 
 the hand which feeds them, would lead to direct and ac 
 tive interference in the elections, both state and federal, 
 thereby subjecting the course of state legislation to the 
 dictation of the Chief Executive Officer, and making the 
 will of that officer absolute and supreme. I will, at a pro 
 per time, invoke the action of Congress upon this subject, 
 and shall readily acquiesce in the adoption of all proper 
 measures which are calculated to arrest these evils, so full 
 of danger in their tendency. I will remove no incumbent 
 from office who has faithfully and honestly acquitted him 
 self of the duties of his office, except in such cases where 
 such officer has been guilty of an active partizanship, or 
 by secret means the less manly, and therefore the more 
 objectionable has given his official influence to the pur 
 poses of party, thereby bringing the patronage of the go 
 vernment in conflict with the freedom of election. Nu 
 merous removals may become necessary under this rule 
 
245 
 
 These will be made by me through no acerbity of feeling 
 1 have had no cause to cherish or indulge unkind feel 
 ings towards any, but my conduct will be regulated by a 
 profound sense of what is due to the country and its in 
 stitutions ; nor shall I neglect to apply the same unbend 
 ing rule to those of my own appointment. Freedom of 
 opinion will be tolerated, the full enjoyment of the right 
 of suffrage will be maintained as the birthright of every 
 American citizen, but I say emphatically to the official 
 corps, thus far and no farther. I have dwelt longer 
 upon this subject, because removals from office are likely 
 often to arise, and I would have my countrymen to un 
 derstand the principle of the Executive action. 
 
 In all public expenditures the most rigid economy 
 should be resorted to, and, as one of its results, a public 
 debt in time of peace be sedulously avoided. A wise and 
 patriotic constituency will never object to the imposition 
 of necessary burdens for useful ends ; and true wisdom 
 dictates the resort to such means, in order to supply de 
 ficiencies in the revenue, rather than to those doubtful 
 expedients, which, -ultimating in a public debt, serve to 
 embarrass the resources of the country and to lessen its 
 ability to meet any great emergency which may arise. 
 All sinecures should be abolished. The appropriations 
 should be direct and explicit, so as to leave as limited a 
 share of discretion to the disbursing agents as may be found 
 compatible with the public service. A strict responsi 
 bility on the part of all the agents of the Government 
 should be maintained, and peculation or defalcation 
 visited with immediate expulsion from office and the 
 most condign punishment. 
 
 The public interest also demands that, if any war has 
 existed between the Government and the currency, it 
 shall cease. Measures of a financial character, now hav 
 ing the sanction of legal enactment, shall be faithfully en 
 forced until repealed by the legislative authority. But I owe 
 it to myself to declare that I regard existing enactments as 
 unwise and impolitic, and in a high degree oppressive. I 
 shall promptly give my sanction to any constitutional mea- 
 ure which, originating in Congress, shall have for ite cb- 
 20 
 
246 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 ject the restoration of a sound circulating medium, so essen 
 tially necessary to give confidence in all the transactions 
 of life, to secure to industry its just and adequate rewards, 
 and to re-establish the public prosperity. In deciding 
 upon the adaption of any such measure to the end pro 
 posed as well as its conformity to the Constitution, 1 
 shall resort to the Fathers of the great Republican school 
 for advice and instruction, to be drawn from their sage 
 views of our system of Government, and the light of 
 their ever glorious example. 
 
 The institutions under which we live, my country 
 men, secure each person in the perfect enjoyment of all 
 his rights. The spectacle is exhibited to the world of a 
 Government deriving its powers from the consent of the 
 governed, and having imparted to it only so much power 
 as is necessary for its successful operation. Those who 
 are charged with its administration should carefully ab 
 stain from all attempts to enlarge the range of powers 
 thus granted to the several departments of the Govern 
 ment, other than by an appeal to the People for additional 
 grants, lest by so doing they disturb that balance which 
 the patriots and statesmen who framed the Constitution 
 designed to establish between the Federal Government 
 and the States composing the Union. The observance 
 of these rules is enjoined upon us by that feeling of re 
 verence and affection which finds a place in the heart of 
 every patriot for the preservation of union and the bless 
 ings of union for the good of our children and our 
 children s children, through countless generations. An 
 opposite course could not fail to generate factions, intent 
 upon the gratification of their selfish ends ; to give birth 
 to local and sectional jealousies, and to ultimate either in 
 breaking asunder the bonds of union, or in building up a 
 central system, which would inevitably end in a bloody 
 sceptre and an iron crown. 
 
 In conclusion, I beg you to be assured that I shall exert 
 myself to carry the foregoing principles into practice during 
 my administration of the Government, and, confiding in the 
 protecting care of an ever-watchful and overruling Provi 
 dence, it shall be my first and highest duty to preserve 
 
247 
 
 unimpaired the free institutions under which we live, and 
 transmit them to those who shall succeed me in their full 
 force and vigor. 
 
 TYLER S FIRST MESSAGE, 
 JUNE 1, 1841. 
 
 To the, Senate, and 
 
 House of Representatives of the United States: 
 
 Fellow-Citizens: You have been assembled, in your 
 respective halls of legislation, under a proclamation bear 
 ing the signature of the illustrious citizen who was so 
 lately called by the direct suffrages of the people to the 
 discharge of the important functions of their chief execu 
 tive office. Upon the expiration of a single month from 
 the day of his installation, he has paid the great debt of 
 nature, leaving behind him a name associated with the re 
 collection of numerous benefits conferred upon the coun 
 try during a long life of patriotic devotion. With this 
 public bereavement are connected other considerations 
 which will not escape the attention of Congress. The 
 preparations necessary for his removal to the seat of Go 
 vernment in view of a residence of four years, must have 
 devolved upon the late President heavy expenditures, 
 which, if permitted to burden the limited resources of his 
 private fortune, may tend seriously to the embarrassment 
 of his surviving family ; and it is therefore respectfully 
 submitted to Congress whether the ordinary principles of 
 justice would not dictate the propriety of its legislative 
 interposition. By the provisions of the fundamental 
 law, the powers and duties of the high station to which 
 he was elected have devolved upon me, and in the disposi 
 tion of the representatives of the States and of the people 
 will be found to a great extent a solution of the problem 
 TO which our institutions are for the first time subjected. 
 
248 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 In entering upon the duties of this office, I did not fee -, 
 that it would be becoming in me to disturb what had been 
 ordered by my lamented predecessor. Whatever, there 
 fore, may have been my opinion, originally, as to the pro- 
 priety of convening Congress at so early a day from that 
 of its late adjournment, I found a new and controlling in 
 ducement not to interfere with the patriotic desires of the 
 late President, in the novelty of the situation in which I was 
 so unexpectedly placed. My first wish, under such cir 
 cumstances, would necessarily have been to have called 
 to my aid, in the administration of public affairs, the com 
 bined wisdom of the two Houses of Congress, in order to 
 take their counsel and advice as to the best mode of extri 
 cating the Government and the country from the embar 
 rassments weighing heavily on both. I am then most 
 happy in finding myself, so soon after my accession to 
 the Presidency, surrounded by the immediate representa 
 tives of the states and people. 
 
 No important changes having taken place in our for 
 eign relations since the last session of Congress, it is not 
 deemed necessary on this occasion to go into a detailed 
 statement in regard to them. I am happy to say that 1 
 see nothing to destroy the hope of being able to preserve 
 peace. 
 
 The ratification of the treaty with Portugal has been 
 duly exchanged between the two Governments. This Go 
 vernment has not been inattentive to the interests of those 
 of our citizens who have claims on the Government of 
 Spain founded on express treaty stipulations ; arid a hope is 
 indulged that the representations which have been made 
 to that Government on this subject may lead ere long to 
 beneficial results. 
 
 A correspondence has taken place between the Secre 
 tary of State and the Minister of Her Britannic Majesty 
 accredited to this Government, on the subject of Alexan 
 der McLeod s indictment and imprisonment, copies of 
 which are herewith communicated to Congress. 
 
 In addition to what appears from these papers, it may 
 be proper to state that Alexander McLeod has been heard 
 by the Supreme Court of the State of New York on his 
 motion to be discharged from imprisonment, and that the 
 decision of that oourt has not as yet been pronounced. 
 
249 
 
 The Secretary of State has addressed to me a papei 
 upon two subjects, interesting to the commerce of the 
 country, which will receive my consideration, and which 
 I have the honor to communicate to Congress. 
 
 So far as it depends on the course of this Government, 
 our relations of good will and friendship will be sedu 
 lously cultivated with all nations. The true American 
 policy will be found to consist in the exercise of a spirit 
 of justice to be manifested in the discharge of all our in 
 ternational obligations, to the weakest of the family of na 
 tions, as well as to the most powerful. Occasional con 
 flicts of opinion may arise, but when the discussions in 
 cident to them are conducted in the language of truth, and 
 with a strict regard to justice, the scourge of war will for 
 the most part be avoided. The time ought to be regard 
 ed as having gone by when a resort to arms is to be es 
 teemed as the only proper arbiter of national differences. 
 
 The census recently taken shows a regularly progres 
 sive increase in our population. On the breaking out of 
 the war of the revolution, our numbers scarcely equalled 
 three millions of souls ; they already exceed seventeen 
 millions, and will continue to progress in a ratio which 
 duplicates in a period of about twgnty-three years. The 
 old States contain a territory sufficient n itself to maintain 
 a population of additional millions, and the most populous 
 of the new States may even yet be regarded as but partial 
 ly settled, while of the new lands on this side of the 
 Rocky mountains, to say nothing of the immense region 
 which stretches from the base of those mountains to the 
 mouth of the Columbia river, about 270,000,000 of acres, 
 ceded and u needed, still remain to be browht into mar 
 ket. We hold out to the people of other countries an in 
 vitation to come and settle among us as members of our 
 rapidly growing family, and, for the blessings which we 
 offer them, we require them to look upon our country, as 
 iheir country, and to unite with us in the great task of pre 
 serving our institutions, and thereby perpetuating our liber 
 ties. No motive exists for foreign conquests. We desire but 
 to reclaim our almost illimitable wilderness, and thereby 
 to introduce into their depths the light of civilization. 
 While we shall at all times be prepared to vindicai* t^a 
 
250 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 national honor, our most earnest desire will be to main 
 tain an unbroken peace. 
 
 In presenting the foregoing views, I cannot withhold 
 the expression of the opinion that there exists nothing in 
 the extension of our empire over our acknowledged pos 
 sessions to excite the alarm of the patriot for the safety of 
 our institutions. The federative system, leaving to each 
 state the care of its domestic concerns, and devolving on 
 the federal government those of general import, admits in 
 safety of the greatest expansion, but at the same time I 
 deem it proper to add that there will be found to exist at 
 all times an imperious necessity for restraining all the 
 functionaries of this Government within the range of their 
 respective powers, thereby preserving a just balance be 
 tween the powers granted to this Government and those 
 reserved to the States and to the people. 
 
 From the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, you 
 will perceive that the fiscal means present and accruing, 
 are insufficient to supply the wants of the Government 
 for the current year. The balance in the Treasury on 
 the 4th day of March last, not covered by outstanding 
 drafts, and exclusive of trust funds, is estimated at $860, 
 000. This includes the sum of $215,000 deposited in 
 the mint and its brandies to procure metal for coining and 
 in process of coinage, and which could not be withdrawn 
 without inconvenience ; thus leaving subject to draft in the 
 various depositories, the sum of $645,000. By virtue of 
 two several acts of Congress, the Secretary of the Treasu 
 ry was authorized to issue, on and after the 4th of March 
 last, Treasury Notes to the amount of $5,413,000, making 
 an aggregate available fund of $6,058,000 on hand. 
 
 But this fund was chargeable with outstanding Trea 
 sury Notes redeemable in the current year and interest 
 thereon to the estimated amount of five millions two hun 
 dred and eighty thousand dollars. There is also thrown 
 upon the Treasury the payment of a large amount of de 
 mands accrued in whole or in part in former years, which 
 will exhaust the available means of the Treasury, and 
 leave the accruing revenue reduced as it is in amount, 
 burdened with debt, and charged with the current ex 
 penses of the Government. The aggregate amount of 
 
TYLER S FIRST MESSAGE. 251 
 
 outstanding appropriations on the 4th of March last was 
 $33,429,616 50, of which $24,210,300 will be re 
 quired during the current year, and there will also be re 
 quired for the use of the War Department additional ap 
 propriations to the amount of two millions five hundred 
 and eleven thousand one hundred and thirty two dollars 
 and ninety eight cents, the especial objects of which will 
 be seen by reference to the report of the Secretary of War 
 
 The anticipated means of the Treasury are greatly in 
 adequate to this demand. The receipts for customs 
 for the last three quarters .of the last year, amount 
 ed to $12,100,000; the receipts for lands for the same time 
 to $2,742,450 ; showing an average revenue from both 
 sources of $1,236,780 per month. A gradual expan 
 sion of trade growing out of a restoration of confidence, 
 together with a reduction in the expenses of collecting, 
 and punctuality on the part of collecting officers, may 
 cause an addition to the monthly receipt from the customs. 
 They are estimated for the residue of the year, from the 
 fourth of March, $12,000,000; the receipts from the pub 
 lic land for the same time are estimated at $2,600,000; 
 and from miscellaneous sources at $170,000; making an 
 aggregate of available fund within the year of $14,670,000; 
 which will leave a probable deficit of $11,406,132 98. 
 To meet this, some temporary provision is necessary, un 
 til the amount can be absorbed by the excess of revenues, 
 which are anticipated to accrue at no distant day. 
 
 There will fall due within the next three months, 
 Treasury Notes of the issues of 1840, including interest, 
 about $2,850,000. There is chargeable in the same pe 
 riod for arrearages for taking the sixth census $294,000 ; 
 and the estimated expenditures for the current service are 
 about $3,100,000, making the aggregate demands upon 
 the Treasury, prior to the first of September next, about 
 $11,340,000. The ways and means in the Treasury, 
 and estimated to accrue within the above named period, 
 consist of about $694,000 of funds available on the 28th 
 ultimo ; an unissued balance of Treasury Notes authori 
 zed by the act of 1841, amounting to $1,955,000, and es 
 timated receipts from all sources of $3,800,000, making 
 an aggregate of about $6,450,000, and leaving a probable 
 deficit on the 1st of September next of $4,845,000. 
 
252 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 In order to supply the wants of the Government, an 
 intelligent constituency, in view of the best interests, will, 
 without hesitation, submit to all necessary burdens. But 
 it is nevertheless important so to impose them as to avoid 
 defeating the just expectations of the country, growing 
 out of pre-existing laws. The act of 2d March, 1833, 
 commonly called the Compromise Act, should not be al 
 tered except under urgent circumstances, which are not 
 believed at this time to exist. One year only remains to 
 complete the series of reductions provided for by that law, 
 at which time provisions made by the same law, and 
 whicti will then be brought actively in aid of the manu 
 facturing interests of the Union, will not fail to produce 
 the most beneficial results. Under a system of discrimi 
 nating duties imposed for purposes of revenue, in unison 
 with the provisions of existing laws, it is to be hoped that 
 our policy will, in the future, be fixed and permanent, so 
 as to avoid those constant fluctuations which defeat the 
 very object they have in view. We shall thus best main 
 tain a position which, while it will enable us the more 
 readily to meet the advances of other countries calculated 
 to promote our trade and commerce, and will at the same 
 time leave in our own hands the means of retaliating with 
 greater effect unjust regulations. 
 
 In intimate connexion with the question of revenue is 
 that which makes provision for a suitable fiscal agent ca 
 pable of adding increased facilities in the collection and 
 disbursement of the public revenues, rendering more se 
 cure their custody, and consulting a true economy in the 
 great multiplied and delicate operations of the Treasury 
 Department. Upon such an agent, depends, in an emi 
 nent degree, the establishment of a currency uniform in 
 value, which is of so great importance to all the essential 
 interests of society ; and on the wisdom to be manifested 
 in its creation much depends. 
 
 So intimately interwoven are its operations, not only 
 with the interests of individuals, but with those of the 
 States, that it may be regarded in a great degree as con 
 trolling both. If paper be used as the chief medium of 
 circulation, and the power be vested in the Government 
 of using it at pleasure, either in the form of Treasury 
 
TYLER S FIRST MESSAGE. 253 
 
 drafts or any other, or if banks be used as the public de 
 positories, with liberty to regard all surpasses, from day 
 to day as so much added to their active capital, prices are 
 exposed to constant fluctuations, and industry to severe 
 suffering. In the one case, political considerations, di 
 rected to party purposes, may control, while excessive 
 cupidity may prevail in the other. The public is thus 
 constantly liable to imposition. Expansions and contrac 
 tions may follow each other in rapid succession, the one 
 engendering a reckless spirit of adventure and speculation, 
 which embraces States as well as individuals ; the other 
 causing a fall in prices, and accomplishing an entire 
 change in the aspect of affairs. Stocks of all kinds ra 
 pidly decline individuals are ruined, and States embar 
 rassed even in their efforts to meet with punctuality the 
 interest on their debts. Such, unhappily, is the state of 
 things now existing in the United States. These effects 
 may readily be traced to the causes above referred to. 
 The public revenues, on being removed from the Bank of 
 the United States, under an order of the late President, 
 were placed in selected Banks, which actuated by the 
 double motive of conciliating the Government and aug 
 menting their profits to the greatest possible extent, en 
 larged extravagantly their discounts, thus enabling all 
 other existing banks to do the same. 
 
 Large dividends were declared, which, stimulating the 
 cupidity of capitalists, caused a rush to be made to the 
 legislatures of the respective States for similar acts of in 
 corporation, which, by many of the States, under a tem 
 porary infatuation, were readily granted, and thus the 
 augmentation of the circulating medium, consisting al 
 most exclusively of paper, produced a most fatal delusion. 
 An illustration, derived from the land sales of the period 
 alluded to, will serve best to show the effect of the whole 
 system. The average sales of the public lands, for a 
 period often years prior to 1834, had not much exceeded 
 $2,000,000 per annum. In 1834 they attained in round 
 numbers, to the amount of $6,000,000. In the succeeding 
 year, of 1835, they reached $16,000,000. And the next 
 year, of 1836, they amounted to the enormous sum of 
 625,000,000. Thus crowded into the short space of three 
 22 
 
254 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 years upwards of twenty-three years pin chase of the 
 public domain. So apparent had become the necessity 
 of arresting this course of things, that the Executive de 
 partment assumed the highly questionable power of dis 
 criminating in the funds to be used in payment by dif 
 ferent classes of public debtors a discrimination which 
 was doubtless designed to correct this most ruinous state 
 of things by the exaction of specie in all payments for 
 the public lands, but which could not at once arrrest the 
 tide which had so strongly set in. Hence the demands 
 for specie became unceasing, and corresponding prostra 
 tion rapidly ensued under the necessities created with the 
 banks to curtail their discounts, and thereby to reduce 
 their circulation. I recur to these things with no dispo 
 sition to censure pre-existing administrations of the Go 
 vernment, but simply in exemplification of the truth of 
 the position which I have assumed. If, then, any fiscal 
 agent which may be created, shall be placed, without 
 due restrictions, either in the hands of the administrators 
 of the Government, or those of private individuals, the 
 temptation to abuse will prove resistless. 
 
 Objects of political aggrandizement may seduce the 
 first, and the promptings of a boundless cupidity will as 
 sail the last. Aided by the experience of the past, it will 
 be the pleasure of Congress so to guard and fortify the 
 public interests in the creation of any new agent, so as to 
 place them, so far as human wisdom can accomplish it, 
 on a footing of perfect security. Within a few years past, 
 three different schemes have been before the country. The 
 charter of the Bank of the United States expired by its 
 own limitation in 1836. An effort was made to renew 
 it, which received the sanction of the two houses of Con 
 gress, but then the President of the United States exer 
 cised the veto power, and the measure was defeated. A 
 regard to truth requires me to say that the President was 
 fully sustained in the course he had taken, by the popu 
 lar voice. His successor to the Chair of State unquali 
 fiedly pronounced his opposition to any new charter of a 
 similar institution ; and not only the popular election 
 which brought him into power, but the elections through 
 much of his term, seemed clearly to indicate a concur- 
 
TYLER S FIRST MESSAGE 255 
 
 rence with him in sentiment, on .the part of the people. 
 After the public moneys were withdrawn from the United 
 States Bank, they were placed in deposit with the State 
 Banks, and the result of that policy has been before the 
 country. To say nothing as to the question whether that 
 experiment was made under propitious or adverse circum 
 stances, it may safely be asserted that it did receive the un 
 qualified condemnation of most of its early advocates, and 
 it is believed was also condemned by the popular senti 
 ment. The existing Sub-Treasury system does not seem 
 to stand in higher favor with the people, but has recently 
 been condemned in a manner too plainly indicated to 
 admit of a doubt. Thus, in the short period of eight 
 years, the popular voice may be regarded as having suc 
 cessfully condemned each of the three schemes of finance 
 to which I have adverted. 
 
 As to the first, it was introduced at a time (1816) when 
 the State banks then comparatively few in number, had 
 been forced to suspend specie payments, by reason of the 
 war which had previously prevailed with Great Britain. 
 Whether, if the United States Bank charter which ex 
 pired in 1811 had been renewed in due season, it would 
 have been enabled to continue specie payments during 
 the war and the disastrous period to the commerce of the 
 country which immediately succeeded, is, to say theleast, 
 problematical ; and whether the United States Bank of 
 1816 produced a restoration of specie payments, or the 
 same was accomplished through the instrumentality of 
 other means, was a matter of some difficulty at that time 
 to determine. Certain it is, that for the first years of the 
 operation of that bank, its course was as disastrous as for 
 the greater part of its subsequent career it became emi 
 nently successful. 
 
 As to the second, the experiment was tried with a re 
 dundant Treasury, which continued to increase until it 
 seemed to be the part of wisdom to distribute the surplus 
 revenue among the States, which, operating at the same 
 time with the specie circular, and the causes before ad 
 verted to, caused them to suspend specie payments, and 
 involved the country in the greatest embarrassment. And, 
 is to the third, if carried through all the stages of trans* 
 
256 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 formation, from paper and specie to nothing but tne pre 
 cious metals, to say nothing of the insecurity of the pub 
 lic moneys, its injurious effects have been anticipated by 
 the country in its unqualified condemnation. 
 
 What is now to be regarded as the judgment of the 
 American people on this whole subject, I have no accu 
 rate means of determining, but by appealing to their more 
 immediate representatives. The late contest which termi 
 nated in the election of General Harrison to the Presiden 
 cy, was decided on principles well known and openly 
 declared and while the Sub-Treasury received in the 
 result the most decided condemnation, no other scheme 
 of finance seemed to have been concurred in. To you, 
 then, who have come more immediately from the body 
 of our common constituents, I submit the entire question, 
 as best qualified to give a full exposition of their wishes 
 and opinions. I am ready to concur with you in the adop 
 tion of such system as you may propose, reserving to 
 myself the ultimate power of rejecting any measure which 
 may in my view of it conflict with the Constitution, or 
 otherwise jeopard the prosperity of the country a power 
 which I could not part with even if I would, but which I 
 will not believe any act of yours will call into requisition. 
 I cannot avoid recurring, in connexion with this subject, 
 to the necessity which exists for adopting some suitable 
 measure whereby the unlimited creation of banks by the 
 States may be corrected in future. Such result can be 
 most readily achieved by the consent of the States, to be 
 expressed in the form of a compact among themselves, 
 which they can only enter into with the consent and ap 
 probation of this Government; a consent which might, in 
 the present emergency of the public demands, justifiably 
 be given in advance of any action by the States, as an in 
 ducement to such action upon terms well defined by the 
 act of the tender. Such a measure addressing itself to 
 the calm reflection of the States, would find in the expe 
 rience of the past, and the condition of the present, much 
 to sustain it- And it is greatly to be doubted whether 
 any scheme of finance can prove for any length of time 
 successful, while the States shall continue in the unre 
 strained exercise of the power of creating banking corpo 
 
257 
 
 rations. This power can only be limited by their con 
 sent. 
 
 With the adoption of a financial agency of a satisfactory 
 character, the hope may be indulged that the country will 
 once more return to a state of prosperity. Measures 
 auxiliary thereto, and in some measure inseparably con 
 nected with its success, will doubtless claim the attention 
 of Congress. Among such, a distribution of the proceeds 
 of the sales of the public lands, provided such distribution 
 does not force upon Congress the necessity of imposing 
 upon commerce heavier burthens than those contemplated 
 by the act of 1833, would act as an efficient remedial 
 measure by being brought directly in aid of the States. 
 As one sincerely devoted to the task of preserving a just 
 balance in our system of Government, by the maintenance 
 of the States in a condition the most free and respectable, 
 and in the full possession of all their power, I can no 
 otherwise than feel desirous for their emancipation from 
 the situation to which the pressure of their finances now 
 subjects them. 
 
 And, while I must repudiate as a measure founded in 
 eiror, and wanting constitutional sanction, the slightest 
 approach to an assumption by this Government of the 
 debts of the States, yet I can see in the distribution ad 
 verted to, much to recommend it. The compacts between 
 the proprietor States and this Government, expressly 
 guaranty to the States all the benefits which may arise 
 from the sales. The mode by which this is to be effected 
 addresses itself to the discretion of Congress, as the trus 
 tee for the States ; and its exercise, after the most bene 
 ficial manner, is restrained by nothing in the grants or in 
 the Constitution, so long as Congress shall consult that 
 equality in the distribution which the compacts require. 
 
 In the present condition of some of the States, the ques 
 tion of distribution may be regarded as substantially a 
 question between direct and indirect taxation. If the dis 
 tribution be not made in some form or other, the necessi 
 ty will daily become more urgent with the debtor States for 
 a resort to an oppressive system of direct taxation, or 
 their credit, and necessarily their power and influence, 
 will be greatly diminished. The payment of taxes, aftei 
 22* 
 
258 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 the most inconvenient and oppressive mode, will "be ex* 
 acted in place of contributions for the most part volun 
 tarily made, and therefore comparatively unoppressive 
 The States are emphatically the constituents of this Go 
 vernment ; and we should be entirely regardless of the 
 objects held in view by them in the creation of this 
 Government, if we could be indifferent to their good. 
 The happy effects of such a measure upon all the States 
 would immediately be manifested. With the debtor 
 States it would effect the relief to a great extent of the 
 citizens from a heavy burden of direct taxation, which 
 presses with severity on the laboring classes, and emi 
 nently assist in restoring the general prosperity. An im 
 mediate advance would take place in the price of the 
 State securities, and the attitude of the States would be 
 come once more, as it should ever be, lofty and erect. 
 With States laboring under no extreme pressure from 
 debt, the fund which they would derive from this source 
 would enable them to improve their condition in an emi 
 nent degree. 
 
 So far as this government is concerned, appropriations 
 to domestic objects, approaching in amount the revenue 
 derived from the land sales, might be abandoned, and thus 
 a system of unequal and therefore unjust legislation would 
 be substituted by one dispensing equality to all the mem 
 bers of this confederacy. Whether such distribution 
 should be made directly to the States in the proceeds of 
 the sales, or in the form of profits by virtue of the opera 
 tions of any fiscal agency having these proceeds as its ba 
 sis, should such measure be contemplated by Congress, 
 would well deserve its consideration. Nor would such 
 disposition of the proceeds of the public sales in any 
 manner prevent Congress from time to time from passing 
 all necessary pre-emption laws for the benefit of actual 
 settlers, or from making any new arrangement as to the 
 price of the public lands which might in future be esteem 
 ed desirable. 
 
 I beg leave particularly to call your attention to the ac 
 companying report from the Secretary of War. Be 
 sides the present state of the war which has long afflicted 
 the Territory of Florida, and the various other matters of 
 
TYLER S FIRST MESSAGE. 259 
 
 interest therein referred to, you will learn from it that the 
 Secretary has instituted an inquiry into abuses which pro 
 mises to develope gross enormities in connection with In- 
 dran treaties which have been negotiated, as well as the 
 expenditures for the removal and subsistence of the In 
 dians. He represents, also, other irregularities of a se 
 rious nature that have grown up in the practice of the In 
 dian department, which will require the appropriation of 
 upwards of $200,000 to correct, and which claim the im 
 mediate attention of Congress. 
 
 In reflecting on the proper means of defending the coun 
 try, we cannot shut our eyes to the consequences which 
 the introduction and use of the power of steam upon the 
 ocean are likely to produce in wars between maritime 
 States. We cannot yet see the extent to which this pow 
 er may be applied in belligerent operations, connecting it 
 self as it does with recent improvements in the science of 
 gunnery and projectiles ; but we need have no fear of be 
 ing left, in regard to these things, behind the most active 
 and skilful of other nations, if the genius and enterprise 
 of our fellow-citizens receive proper encouragement and 
 direction from Government. 
 
 True wisdom would, nevertheless, seem to dictate the 
 necessity of placing in perfect condition those fortifica 
 tions which are designed for the protection of our princi 
 pal cities and railroads. For the defence of our extended 
 maritime coast, our chief reliance should be placed on our 
 Navy, aided by those inventions which are destined to re 
 commend themselves to public adoption. But no time 
 should be lost in placing our principal cities on the sea 
 board and the lakes in a state of entire security from for 
 eign assault. Separated as we are from the countries of the 
 old world, and in much unaffected by their policy, we are 
 happily relieved from the necessity of maintaining large 
 standing armies in times of peace. The policy which 
 was adopted by Mr. Monroe, shortly after the conclusion 
 of the late war with Great Britain, of preserving a regular 
 organized staff sufficient for the command of a large mil 
 itary force, should a necessity for one arise, is founded as 
 well in economy as in true wisdom. Provision is thus 
 made, upon filling up the rank and file, which can readily 
 
260 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 be done on any emergency, for the introduction of a sys 
 tem of discipline both promptly and efficiently. All thai 
 is required in time of peace is to maintain a sufficient num 
 ber of men to guard our fortifications, to meet any sudden 
 contingency, and to encounter the first shock of war. Our 
 chief reliance must be placed on the militia. They con 
 stitute the great body of national guards, and, inspired by 
 an ardent love of country, will be found ready at all times, 
 and at all seasons, to repair with alacrity to its defence. 
 It will be regarded by Congress, I doubt not, at a suitable 
 time, as one of its highest duties to attend to their com 
 plete organization and discipline. 
 
 The state of the Navy Pension Fund requires the imme 
 diate attention of Congress. By tlie operation of the act 
 of the 3d of March, 1837, entitled "An act for the more 
 equitable administration of the Navy Pension Fund," that 
 fund has been exhausted. It will be seen from the ac 
 companying report of the Commissioner of pensions that 
 there will be required for the payment of Navy pension 
 ers, on the first of July next, $84,006 06j, and on 
 the first of January, 1842, the sum of $60,000. In addi 
 tion to these sums, about $6,000 will be required to pay 
 arrears of pensions, which will probably be allowed be 
 tween the first of July and the first of January, 1842, 
 making in the whole, $150,006 06j. To meet these 
 payments there is within the control of the department the 
 sum of $28,040, leaving a deficit of $121,966 06j. The 
 public faith requires that immediate provision should be 
 made for the payment of these sums. 
 
 In order to introduce into the Navy a desirable effi 
 ciency, a new system of accountability may be found to 
 be indispensably necessary. To mature a plan having 
 for its object the accomplishment of an end so important, 
 and to meet the just expectations of the country, require 
 more time than has yet been allowed to the Secretary at 
 the head ef the department. The hope is indulged that 
 by the time of your next regular session measures of im 
 portance, in connexion with this branch of the public ser 
 vice, may be matured for your consideration. 
 
 A though the laws regulating the Post-Office depart 
 ment only require from the officer charged wth its direction 
 
TYLER S FIRST MESSAGE. 261 
 
 to report at the usual annual session of Congress, the Post 
 Master General has presented to me some facts connected 
 with the financial condition of the Department which are 
 deemed worthy the attention of Congress. 
 
 By the accompanying report of that officer, it appears 
 that the existing liabilities of that Department beyond the 
 means of payment at its command cannot be less than 
 five hundred thousand dollars. As the laws organizing 
 that branch of the public service confine the expenditure 
 to its own revenues, deficiencies therein cannot be pre 
 sented under the usual estimates for the expenses of Gov 
 ernment. It must therefore be left to Congress to deter 
 mine whether the moneys now due to contractors shall 
 be paid from the public "Treasury, or whether that De 
 partment shall continue under its present embarrassments. 
 It will be seen by the report of the Post Master General, 
 that the recent lettings of contracts in several of the 
 States, have been made at such reduced rates of compen 
 sation as to encourage the belief that, if the department 
 was relieved from existing difficulties its future operations 
 might be conducted without any further call upon the 
 general Treasury. 
 
 The power of appointing to office is one of a charactei 
 the most delicate and responsible. The appointing pow 
 er is evermore exposed to be led into error. With anx 
 ious solicitude to select the most trustworthy for official 
 stations, I cannot be supposed to possess a personal 
 knowledge of the Qualifications of every applicant. I 
 deem it therefore proper, in this most public manner, to 
 invite, on the part of the Senate, a just scrutiny into the 
 charactp^ and pretensions of every person whom I may 
 bring to their notice in the regular form of a nomination 
 for office. Unless persons every way trustworthy are 
 employed in the public service, corruption and irregularity 
 will inevitably follow. I shall with the greatest cheerful 
 ness, acquiesce in the decision of that body, and, it is 
 wisely constituted to the Executive department in the pei- 
 formance of this delicate duty, I shall look to its consen 4 
 and advice, as given only in furtherance of the best in 
 terests of the country. 
 
262 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 I shall, also, at the earliest proper occasion, invite the 
 attention of Congress to such measures as in my judg 
 ment will be best calculated to regulate and control the 
 Executive power in reference to this vitally important 
 subject. 
 
 1 shall also, at the proper season, invite your personal 
 attention to the statutory enactments for the suppression 
 of the slave trade, which may require to be rendered more 
 efficient in their provisions. There is reason to believe 
 that the traffic is on the increase. Whether such increase 
 is to be ascribed to the abolition of slave labor in the 
 British possessions in our vicinity, and an attendant dimi 
 nution in the supply of those articles which enter into the 
 general consumption of the world, thereby augmenting 
 the demand from other quarters, and thus calling for ad 
 ditional labor, it were needless to inquire. The highest 
 considerations of public honor as well as the strongest 
 promptings of humanity, require a resort to the most vi 
 gorous efforts to suppress the trade. 
 
 In conclusion, I beg to invite your particular attention 
 to the interests of this District. Nor do I doubt that, in 
 a liberal spirit of legislation, you will seek to advance its 
 commercial as well as its local interests. Should Con 
 gress deem it to be its duty to repeal the existing Sub- 
 Treasury law, the necessity of providing a suitable place 
 of deposit for the public moneys which may be required 
 within the District must be apparent to all. 
 
 I have felt it to be due to the country to present the 
 foregoing topics to your consideration and reflection. 
 Others, with which it might not seem proper to trouble 
 you at an extraordinary session, will be laid before you 
 at a future day. I am happy in committing the important 
 affairs of the country into your hands. The tendency of 
 public sentiment, I am pleased to believe, is towards the 
 adoption, in a spirit of union and harmony, of such mea 
 sures as will fortify the public interests. 
 
 To cherish such a tendency of public opinion is the 
 task of an elevated patriotism. That differences of 
 opinion as to the means of accomplishing these desirable 
 objects should exist, is reasonably to be expected. Nor 
 can all be made satisfied with any system of measures 
 But I flatter myself with the hope that the great body of 
 
FOLK S INAUGURAL ADDRESS 263 
 
 the people will readily unite in suppport of those whose 
 efforts spring from a disinterested desire to promote their 
 happiness ; to preserve the Federal and State Govern 
 ments within their respective orbits; to cultivate peace 
 with all the nations of the earth, on just and honorable 
 grounds ; to exact obedience to the laws ; to entrench 
 liberty and property in full security, and, consulting the 
 most rigid economy, to abolish all useless expenses. 
 
 FOLK S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 MARCH 4, 1845. 
 
 FELLOW CITIZENS : Without solicitation on my part, 
 I have been chosen by the free and voluntary suffrages 
 of my countrymen to the most honorable and most 
 responsible office on earth. I am deeply impressed with 
 gratitude for the confidence reposed in me. Honored 
 with this distinguished consideration at an earlier period 
 of life than any of my predecessors, I cannot disguise 
 the diffidence with which 1 am about to enter on the dis 
 charge of my official duties. 
 
 If the more aged and experienced men who have filled 
 the office of President of the United Stales, even in the 
 infancy of the republic, distrusted their ability to dis 
 charge the duties of that exalted station, what ought not 
 to be the apprehensions of one so much younger and 
 less endowed, now that our domain extends from ocean 
 to ocean, that our people have so greatly increased in 
 numbers, and at a time when so great diversity of 
 opinion prevails in regard to the principles and policy 
 which should characterize the administration of our 
 government? Well may the boldest fear, and the 
 wisest tremble, when incurring responsibilities on which 
 may depend our country s peace and prosperity, and, in 
 some degree, the hopes and happiness of the whole 
 human family. 
 
 In assuming responsibilities so vast, I fervently invoke 
 the aid of that Almighty Ruler o the universe, in whosn 
 
264 FOLK S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 hands are the destinies of nations and of men, to guard 
 tliis heaven-favored land against the mischiefs which, 
 without his guidance, might arise from an unwise pub 
 lic policy. With a firm reliance upon the wisdom of 
 Omnipotence to sustain and direct me in the path of duty 
 which I am appointed to pursue, I stand in the presence 
 of this assembled multitude of my countrymen, to take 
 upon myself the solemn obligation, " to the best of my 
 ability, to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution 
 of the United States." 
 
 A concise enumeration of the principles which will 
 guide me in the administrative policy of the government, 
 is not only in accordance with the examples set me by 
 all my predecessors, but is eminently befitting the occasion. 
 
 The constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the 
 safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of con 
 cession and compromise, binding together in the bonds 
 of peace and union this great and increasing family of 
 free and independent States, will be the chart by which I 
 shall be directed. 
 
 It will be my first care to administer the government 
 in the true spirit of that instrument, and to assume no 
 powers not expressly granted, or clearly implied in its 
 terms. The government of the United Slates is one of 
 delegated and limited powers ; and it is by a strict ad 
 herence to the clearly granted powers, and by abstaining 
 from the exercise of doubtful or unauthorized implied 
 powers, that we have the only sure guaranty against the 
 recurrence of those unfortunate collisions between the 
 Federal and State authorities, which have occasionally 
 so much disturbed the harmony of our system, and even 
 threatened the perpetuity of our glorious Union. 
 
 " To the States respectively, or to the people," 
 have been reserved " the powers not delegated to the 
 United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to 
 the States." Each State is a complete sovereignty with 
 in the sphere of its reserved powers. The government 
 of the Union, acting within the sphere of its delegated 
 authority, is also a complete sovereignty. While the 
 general government should abstain from the exercise of 
 authority not clearly delegated to it, the States should be 
 
POLE S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 26f 
 
 equally careful that, in the maintenance of their rights, 
 they do not overstep the limits of powers reserved to 
 them. One of the most distinguished of my predeces 
 sors attached deserved importance to " the support of the 
 State governments in all their rights, as the most compe 
 tent administration for our domestic concerns, and the 
 surest bulwark against anti-republican tendencies ;" and 
 to the * preservation of the general government in its 
 whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our 
 peace at home, and safety abroad." 
 
 To the government of the United States has been in 
 trusted the exclusive management of our foreign affairs. 
 Beyond that, it wields a few general enumerated powers. 
 It does not force reform on the States. It leaves indi 
 viduals, over whom it casts its protecting influence, en 
 tirely free to improve their own condition by the legitimate 
 exercise of all their mental and physical powers. It is 
 a common protector of each and all the States ; of every 
 man who lives upon our soil, whether of native or foreign 
 birth ; of every religious sect, in their worship of the* 
 Almighty according to the dictates of their own con 
 science ; of every shade of opinion, and the most free 
 inquiry ; of every art, trade, and occupation, consistent 
 with the laws of the States. And we rejoice in the 
 general happiness, prosperity, and advancement of our 
 country, which have been the offspring of freedom, and 
 not of power. 
 
 This most admirable and wisest system of well-regu 
 lated self government among men, ever devised by human 
 minds, has been tested by its successful operation for 
 more than half a century ; and, if preserved from the 
 usurpations of the federal government on the one hand, 
 and the exercise by the States of powers not reserved to 
 them on the other, will, I fervently hope and believe, 
 endure for ages to come, and dispense the blessings of 
 civil and religious liberty to distant generations. To ef 
 fect objects so dear to every patriot, I shall devote my 
 self with anxious solicitude. It will be my desire to 
 guard against that most fruitful source of danger to the 
 harmonious action of our system, which consists in sub- 
 dtituting the mere discretion and caprice of the executive. 
 
166 
 
 or of majorities in the legislative department of the 
 government, for powers which have been withheld from 
 the federal government by the constitution. By the 
 theory of our government, majorities rule ; but this right 
 is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be 
 exercised in subordination to the constitution, and in 
 conformity to it. One great object of the constitution 
 was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities, or 
 encroaching upon their just rights. Minorities have a 
 right to appeal to the constitution, as a shield against 
 such oppression. 
 
 That the blessings of liberty which our constitution 
 secures may be enjoyed alike by minorities and majori 
 ties, the executive has been wisely invested with a quali 
 fied veto upon ths acts of the Legislature. It is a nega 
 tive power, and is conservative in its character. It 
 arrests for the time, hasty, inconsiderate, or unconstitu 
 tional legislation; invites reconsideration, and tranfers 
 questions at issue between the legislative and executive 
 departments to the tribunal of the people. Like all 
 other powers, it is subject to be abused. When judi 
 ciously and properly exercised, the constitution itself 
 may be saved from infraction, and the rights of all pre 
 served and protected. 
 
 The inestimable value of our federal Union is felt and 
 acknowledged by all. By this system of united and 
 confederated States, our people are permitted, collectively 
 and individually, to seek their own happiness in their 
 own way ; and the consequences have been most auspi 
 cious. Since the Union was formed, the number of the 
 States has increased from thirteen to twenty-eight : two 
 of these have taken their positions as members of the 
 confederacy within the last week. Our population has 
 increased from three to twenty millions. New commu 
 nities and States are seeking protection under its segis, 
 and multitudes from the Old World are nocking to our 
 shores to participate in its blessings. Beneath its be 
 nign sway, peace and prosperity prevail. Freed from 
 the burdens and miseries of war, our trade and inter 
 course have extended throughout the world. Mind, no 
 longer tasked in devising means to accomplish or resist 
 
FOLK S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 237 
 
 schemes of ambition, usurpation, or conquest, is devo 
 ting itself to man s true interests, in developing his 
 faculties and powers, and the capacity of nature to minis 
 ter to his enjoyments. Genius is free to announce its 
 inventions and discoveries ; and the hand is free to ac 
 complish whatever the head conceives, not incompatible 
 with the rights of a fellow being. All distinctions of 
 birth or of rank have been abolished. All citizens, 
 whether native or adopted, are. placed upon terms of 
 precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and 
 equal protection. No union exists between church and 
 state, and perfect freedom of opinion is guarantied to all 
 sects and creeds. 
 
 These are some of the blessings secured to our happy 
 land by our federal Union. To perpetuate them, it is 
 our sacred duty to preserve it. Who shall assign limits 
 to the achievements of free minds and free hands, under 
 the protection of this glorious Union ? No treason to 
 mankind, since the organization of society, would be 
 equal in atrocity to that of him who would lift his hand 
 to destroy it. He would overthrow the noblest struc 
 ture of human wisdom, which protects himself and his 
 fellow-man. He would stop the progress of free govern 
 ment, and involve his country either in anarchy or despo 
 tism. He would extinguish the fire of liberty which warms 
 and animates the hearts of happy millions, and invites all 
 the nations of the earth to imitate our example. If he say 
 that error and wrong are committed in the administration 
 of the government, let him remember that nothing human 
 can be perfect; and that under no other system of gov 
 ernment revealed by Heaven, or devised by man, has 
 reason been allowed so free and broad a scope to combat 
 error. Has the sword of despots proved to be a safer or 
 surer instrument of reform in government than en 
 lightened reason ? Does he expect to find among the 
 ruins of this Union a happier abode for our swarming 
 millions than they now have under it ? Every lover of 
 his country must shudder at the thought of the possibility 
 of its dissolution, and will be ready to adopt the patriotic 
 sentiment, " Our federal Union it must be preserved." 
 To preserve it, the compromises which alone enabled 
 
268 FOLK S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 our fathers to form a common constitution for the govein 
 ment and protection of so many States, and distinct com 
 munities, of such diversified habits, interests, and do 
 mestic institutions, must be sacredly and religiously ob 
 served. Any attempt to disturb or destroy these com 
 promises, being terms of the compact of Union, can lead 
 to none other than the most ruinous and disastrous con 
 sequences. 
 
 It is a source of deep regret that, in some sections of 
 our country, misguided persons have occasionally in 
 dulged in schemes and agitations, whose object is the 
 destruction of domestic institutions existing in other 
 sections institutions which existed at the adoption of 
 the constitution, and were recognized and protected by 
 it. All must see that if it were possible for them to be 
 successful in attaining their object, the dissolution of the 
 Union, and the consequent destruction of our happy form 
 of government, must speedily follow. 
 
 I am happy to believe that at every period of our 
 existence as a nation, there has existed, and continues 
 to exist, among the great mass of our people, a devotion 
 to the Union of the States, which will shield and pro 
 tect it against the moral treason of any who would seri 
 ously contemplate its destruction. To secure a continu 
 ance of that devotion, the compromises of the constitu 
 tion must not only be preserved, but sectional jealousies 
 and heart-burnings must be discountenanced ; and all 
 should remember that they are members of the same 
 political family, having a common destiny. To increase 
 the attachment of our people to the Union, our laws 
 should be just. Any policy which shall tend to favor 
 monopolies, or the peculiar interests of sections or classes, 
 must operate to the prejudice of the interests of their 
 fellow-citizens, and should be avoided. If the comprom 
 ises of the constitution be preserved, if sectional 
 jealousies and heart-burnings be discountenanced, if 
 our laws be just, and the government be practically ad 
 ministered strictly within the limits of power prescribed 
 to it, we may discard all apprehensions for the safety 
 of the Union. 
 
 With these views of the nature, character, and objects 
 
POL^S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 269 
 
 of the government, and the value of the Union, I shall 
 steadily oppose the creation of those institutions and sys 
 tems which, in their nature, tend to pervert it from its 
 legitimate purposes, and make it the instrument of sec 
 tions, classes, and individuals. We need no national 
 banks, or other extraneous institutions, planted around 
 the government to control or strengthen it in opposition 
 to the will of its authors. Experience has taught us 
 how unnecessary they are as auxiliaries of the public 
 authorities, how impotent for good, and how powerful 
 for mischief. 
 
 Ours was intended to be a plain and frugal govern 
 ment ; and 1 shall regard it to be my duty to recommend 
 to Congress, and, as far as the executive is concerned, 
 to enforce by all the means within my power, the strict 
 est economy in the expenditure of the public money, 
 which may be compatible with the public interest. 
 
 A national debt has become almost an institution of 
 European monarchies. It is viewed, in some of them, 
 as an essential prop to existing governments. Melan 
 choly is the condition of that people whose government 
 can be sustained only by a system which periodically 
 transfers large amounts from the labor of the many to the 
 coffers of the few. Such a system is incompatible with 
 the ends for which our republican,, government was insti 
 tuted. Under a wise policy, the debts contracted in our 
 revolution, and djjring the war of 1812, have been hap 
 pily extinguished. By a judicious application of the 
 revenues, not required for other necessary purposes, it 
 is not doubted that the debt which has grown out of the 
 circumstances of the last few years may be speedily 
 paid off. 
 
 I congratulate my fellow-citizens on the entire restora 
 tion of the credit of the general government of the Union, 
 and that of many of the States. Happy would it be for 
 the indebted States if they were freed from their liabili 
 ties, many of which were incautiously contracted. Al 
 though the government of the Union is neither in a legal 
 nor a moral sense bound for the debts of the States, and 
 it would be a violation of our compact of Union to as- 
 aume them, yet we cannot but feel a deep interest in 
 23* 
 
270 
 
 seeing all the States meet their public liabilities, and pay 
 off their just debts, at the earliest practicable period. 
 That they will do so, as soon as it can be done without 
 imposing too heavy burdens on their citizens, there is no 
 reason to doubt. The sound, moral, and honorable 
 feeling of the people of the indebted States, cannot be 
 questioned ; and we are happy to perceive a settled dis 
 position on their part, as their ability returns, after a 
 season of unexampled pecuniary embarrassment, to pay 
 off all just demands, and to acquiesce in any reasonable 
 measures to accomplish that object. 
 
 One of the difficulties which we have had to encoun 
 ter in the practical administration of the government, 
 consists in the adjustment of our revenue laws, and the 
 levy of the taxes necessary for the support of the govern 
 ment. In the general proposition, that no more money 
 shall be collected than the necessities of an economical 
 administration shall require, all parties seem to acquiesce. 
 Nor does there seem to be any material difference of 
 opinion as to the absence of right in the government to 
 tax one section of country, or one class of citizens, or 
 one occupation, for the mere profit of another. " Jus 
 tice and sound policy forbid the federal government to 
 foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, 
 or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of 
 another portion of our common country." I have here 
 tofore declared to my fellow-citizens that, in "my judg 
 ment, it is the duty of the government to extend, as far 
 as it may be practicable to do so, by its revenue laws, 
 and all other means within its power, fair and just protec 
 tion to all the great interests of the whole Union, embra 
 cing agriculture, manufactures, the mechanic arts, c,o 
 merce and navigation." I have also declared my opinion to 
 be "in favor of a tariff for revenue, and that " in adjusting 
 the details of such a tariff, I have sanctioned such mode 
 rate discriminating duties as would produce the amount 
 of revenue needed, and at the same time, afford reason 
 able incidental protection to our home industry," and 
 that I was " opposed to a tariff for protection merely, 
 ind not for revenue." 
 
 The power * to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, 
 
f 
 
 FOLK S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 271 
 
 and excises," was an indispensable one to be conferred 
 on the federal government, which, without it, would 
 possess no means of.providing for its own support. In 
 executing this power, by levying a tariff* of duties foi 
 the support of government, the raising of revenue should 
 be the object, and protection the incident. To reverse 
 this principle, and make protection the object, and 
 revenue the incident, would be to inflict manifest injus 
 tice upon all other than the protected interests. In levy 
 ing duties for revenue, it is doubtless proper to make 
 such discriminations within the revenue principle, as 
 will afford incidental protection to our home interests. 
 Witnin the revenue limit, there is discretion to discrim 
 inate ; beyond that limit, the rightful exercise of the 
 power is not conceded. The incidental protection af 
 forded to our home interests by discriminations within 
 the revenue range, it is believed will be ample. In 
 making discriminations, all our home interests should, 
 as far as practicable, be equally protected. The largest 
 portion of our people are agriculturists. Others are em 
 ployed in manufactures, commerce, navigation, and the 
 mechanic arts. They are all engaged in their respective 
 pursuits, and their joint labors constitute the national or 
 home industry. To tax one branch of this home indus 
 try for the benefit of another, would be unjust No one 
 of these interests can rightfully claim an advantage over 
 the others, or to be enriched by impoverishing the others. 
 All are equally entitled to the fostering care and protec 
 tion of the government. In exercising a sound discre 
 tion in levying discriminating duties within the limit 
 prescribed, care -should be taken that it be done in a 
 manner not to benefit the wealthy few, at the expense 
 of the toiling millions, by taxing lowest the luxuries of 
 life, or articles of superior quality and high price, which 
 can only be consumed by the wealthy ; and highest the 
 necessaries of life, or articles of course quality and low 
 price, which the poor and great mass of our people must 
 consume. The burdens of government should, as far as 
 practicable, be distributed justly and equally among all 
 classes of our population. These general views, long 
 entertained on this subject, 1 have deemed it proper to 
 
272 FOLK S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 reiterate. It is a subject upon which conflicting interests 
 of sections and occupations are supposed to exist, and a 
 spirit of mutual concession and compromise in adjusting 
 its details should be cherished by every part of our wide 
 spread country, as the only means of preserving harmo 
 ny and a cheerful acquiescence of all in the operation of 
 our revenue laws. Our patriotic citizens in every part 
 01 the Union will readily submit to the payment of such 
 taxes as shall be needed for the support of their govern 
 ment, whether in peace or in war, if they are so levied as 
 to distribute the burdens as equally as possible among them. 
 
 The Republic of Texas has made known her desire to 
 come into our Union, to form a part of our confederacy, 
 and enjoy with us the blessings of liberty secured and 
 guarantied by our constitution. Texas was once a part 
 of our country was unwisely ceded away to a foreign 
 power is now independent and possesses an undoubted 
 right to dispose of a part or the whole of her territory, 
 and to merge her sovereignty, as a seperate and indepen 
 dent State, in ours. I congratulate my country that, by 
 an act of the late Congress of the United States, the as 
 sent of this government has been given to the re-union ; 
 and it only remains for the two countries to agree upon 
 the terms, to consummate an object so important to both. 
 
 I regard the question of annexation as belonging ex 
 clusively to the United States and Texas. They are in 
 dependent powers, competent to contract ; and foreign 
 nations have no right to interfere with them, or to take 
 exceptions to their re-umon. Foreign powers do not 
 deem to appreciate the true character of our government 
 Our Union is a confederation of independent States, 
 whose policy is peace with each other and all the world. 
 To enlarge its limits ; .s to extend the dominion of peace 
 over additional territories and increasing millions. The 
 world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our 
 government. While the chief magistrate and the popu 
 lar branch of Congress are elected for short terms by the 
 suffrages of those millions who must, in their own per 
 sons, bear all the burdens and miseries of war, our gov 
 ernment cannot be otherwise than pacific. Foreign 
 powers should, therefore, look on the annexation of Tex- 
 
POLK INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 273 
 
 as to the United States, not as the conquest of a nation 
 seeking to extend her dominions by arms and violence, 
 but as the peaceful acquisition of a territory once hei 
 own, by add.ng another member to our confederation, 
 with the consent of that member thereby diminishing 
 the chanches of war, and opening to them new and ever- 
 increasing markets for their products. 
 
 To Texas the re-union is important, because the strong 
 protecting arm of our government would be extended 
 over her, and the vast resources of her fertile soil and 
 genial climate would be speedily developed ; while the 
 safety of New Orleans, and of our whole southwestern 
 frontier against hostile aggression, as well as the interests 
 of the whole Union, would be promoted by it. 
 
 In the earlier stages of our national existence, the 
 opinion prevailed with some, that our system of confe 
 derated States could not operate successfully over an ex 
 tended territory, and serious objections have, at different 
 times, been made to the enlargement of our boundaries. 
 These objections were earnestly urged when we acquired 
 Louisiana. Experience has shown that they were not 
 well founded. The title of numerous Indian tribes to 
 vast tracts of country has been extinquished. New States 
 have been admitted into the Union : new Territories have 
 been created, and our jurisdiction and laws extended 
 over them. As our population has expanded, the Union 
 has been cemented and strengthened ; as our boundaries 
 have been enlarged, and our agricultural population has 
 been spread over a large surface, our federative system 
 has acquired additional strength and security. It may 
 well be doubted whether it would not be in greater dan 
 ger of overthrow if our present population were confined 
 to the comparatively narrow limits of the original thirteen 
 States, than it is, now that they are sparsely settled over 
 a more expanded territory. It is confidently believed 
 that our system may be safely extended to the utmost 
 bounds of our territorial limits; and that, as it shall be 
 extended, the bonds of our Union, so far from being 
 weakened, will become stronger. 
 
 None can fail to see the danger to our safety and future 
 peace, if Texas remains an independent State, or becomes 
 
274 POLR S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 an ally or dependency of some foreign nation more pow 
 erful than herself. Is there one among our citizens who 
 would not prefer perpetual peace with Texas, to occa 
 sional wars, which so often occur between bordering in 
 dependent nations ? Is there one who would not prefe 
 frf? intercourse with her, to high duties on all our pro 
 ducts and manufactures which enter her ports or cross 
 her frontiers ? Is there one who would not prefer an 
 unrestricted communication with her citizens, to the 
 frontier obstructions which must occur if she remains out 
 of the Union ? Whatever is good or evil in the local 
 institutions of Texas, will remain her own, whether an 
 nexed to the United States or not. None of the present 
 States will be responsible for them, any mor than they 
 are for the local institutions of each other. p hey have 
 Confederated together for certain specified objects. Upon 
 the same principle that they would refuse to form a per 
 petual union with Texas, because of her local institutions, 
 our forefathers would have been prevented from forming 
 our present Union. Perceiving no valid objection to the 
 measure, and many reasons for its adoption, vitally affect 
 ing the peace, the safety, and the prosperity of both 
 countries, I shall, on the broad principle which formet" 
 the basis and produced the adoption of our constitution, 
 and not in any narrow spirit of sectional policy, endea 
 vor, by all constitutional, honorable, and appropriate 
 means, to consummate the expressed will of the people 
 and government of the United States, by the re-annexa 
 tion of Texas to our Union at the earliest practicable pe 
 riod. 
 
 Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to assert 
 and maintain, by all constitutional means, the right of the 
 United States to that portion of our territory which lies 
 beyond the Rocky mountains. Our title to the country 
 of the Oregon is * clear and unquestionable ;" and al 
 ready are our people preparing to perfect that title, by 
 occupying it with their wives and children. But- eighty 
 years ago, our population was confined on the west by 
 the ridge of the Alleghanies. Within that period within 
 the lifetime, I might say, of some of my hearers our 
 people, increasing ts many millions, hare fii ed the east- 
 
POLK S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 275 
 
 cm valley of the Mississippi; adventurously ascended 
 the Missouri to its head springs ; and are already engaged 
 in establishing the blessings of self-government in val 
 leys, of which the rivers flow to the Pacific. The world 
 beholds the peaceful triumphs of the industry of our 
 emigrants. To us belongs the duty of protecting them, 
 adequately, wherever they may be upon our soil. The 
 jurisdiction of our laws, and the benefits of our republi 
 can institutions, should be extended over them in the dis 
 tant regions which they have selected for their homes. 
 The increasing facilities of intercourse will easily bring 
 the States, of which the formation in that part of our 
 territory cannot be long delayed, within the sphere of 
 our federative Union. In the mean time, every obliga 
 tion imposed by treaty or conventional stipulations should 
 be sacredly respected. 
 
 In the management of our foreign relations, it will be 
 my aim to observe a careful respect for the rights of other 
 nations, while our.owu will be the subject of constant 
 watchfulness. Equal and exact justice should charac 
 terize all our intercourse with foreign countries. All 
 alliances having a tendency to jeopard the welfare and 
 honor of our country, or sacrifice any one of the national 
 interests, will be studiously avoided ; and yet no oppor 
 tunity will be lost to cultivate a favorable understanding 
 with foreign governments, by which our navigation and 
 commerce may be extended, and the ample products of 
 our fertile soil, as well as the manufactures of our skillful 
 artizans, find a ready market and remunerating prices in 
 foreign countries. 
 
 In taking " care that the laws be faithfully executed," 
 a strict performance of duty will be exacted from all 
 public officers. From those officers, especially, who are 
 charged with the collection and disbursement of the pub 
 lie revenue, will prompt and rigid accountability be re 
 quired. Any culpable failure or delay on their part to 
 account for the moneys intrusted to them, at the times 
 and in the manner required by law, will, in every instance, 
 terminate the official connexion of such defaulting officei 
 with the government. 
 
 Although, in our country, the chief magistrate must 
 
276 FOLK S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 almost of necessity be chosen by a party, and stand 
 pledged to its principles and measures, yet, in his official 
 action, he should not be the President of a part only, 
 but of the whole people of the United States. While 
 he executes the laws with an impartial hand, shrinks from 
 no proper responsibility, and faithfully carries out in the 
 executive department of the government the principles 
 and policy of those who have chosen him, he should not 
 be unmindful that our fellow citizens who have differed 
 with him in opinion, are entitled to the full arid free ex 
 ercise of their opinions and judgments, and that the rights 
 of all are entitled to respect and regard. 
 
 Confidently relying upon the aid and assistance of the 
 co-ordinate departments of the government in conducting 
 our public affairs,! enter upon the discharge of the high 
 duties which have been assigned me by the people, again 
 humbly supplicating that Divine Being who has watched 
 over and protected our beloved country from its infancy 
 to the present hour, to continue His gracious benedictions 
 upon us, that we may continue to be a prosperous and 
 happy people. 
 
TAYLORS INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 277 
 
 TAYLOR S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 MARCH 5, 1849. 
 
 Elected by the American people to the highest office 
 Known to our laws, I appear here to take the oath pre 
 scribed by the Constitution, and in compliance with the 
 time-honoured custom, to address those who are now 
 assembled. 
 
 The confidence and respect shown by my country 
 men in calling me to be the Chief Magistrate of a Re 
 public holding a high rank among the nations of the 
 earth, have inspired me with feelings of the most pro 
 found gratitude ; but when I reflect that the acceptance 
 of the office which their partiality has bestowed imposes 
 the discharge of the most arduous duties, involves the 
 weightiest obligations, I am conscious that the position 
 which I have been called to fill, though sufficient to 
 satisfy the loftiest ambition, is surrounded by fearful 
 responsibilities. Happily, however, in the performance 
 of my new duties, I shall not be without able co-opera 
 tion. The legislative and judicial branches of the 
 government present prominent examples of distinguished 
 civil attainments and matured experience, and it shall 
 be my endeavour to call to my assistance, in the exe 
 cutive departments, individuals whose talents, integrity, 
 and purity of character, will furnish ample guarantees 
 for the faithful and honourable performance of the trusts 
 to be committed to their charge. With such aid, and 
 an honest purpose to do whatever is right, I hope to 
 execute diligently, impartially, and for the best interests 
 of the country, the manifold duties devolved upon me. 
 
 In the discharge of these duties, my guide will be the 
 Constitution, which I this day swear to preserve, protect, 
 and defend. For the interpretation of that instrument, 
 I shall look to the decisions of the judicial tribunals 
 established by its authority, and to the practice of 
 government under the earlier Presidents, who had so 
 large a share in its formation. To the example of those 
 illustrious patriots I shall always defer with reverence, 
 24 
 
278 THE TRUI REPUBLICAN. 
 
 and especially to his example who was, by so many 
 titles, the Father of his Country. 
 
 To command the army and navy of the United 
 States ; with the advice and consent of the Senate, to 
 make treaties, appoint ambassadors and other officers , 
 to give to Congress information of the state of the Union, 
 and recommend such measures as he shall judge to be 
 necessary, and to take care that the laws shall be faith 
 fully executed these are the most important functions 
 intrusted to the President by the Constitution, and it 
 may be expected that I shall briefly indicate the principles 
 which will control me in their execution. 
 
 Chosen by the body of the people, under the assu 
 rance that my administration should be devoted to the 
 welfare of the whole country and not to the support of 
 any particular section, or merely local interests, I this 
 day renew the declarations I have heretofore made, and 
 proclaim my fixed determination to maintain, to the ex 
 tent of my ability, the Government in its original purity, 
 and to adopt as the basis of my public policy those great 
 Republican doctrines which constitute the strength of 
 our national existence. 
 
 In reference to the army and navy, lately employed 
 with so much distinction in active service, care shall be 
 taken to insure the highest condition of efficiency, and 
 in furtherance of that object, the Military and Naval 
 Schools, sustained by the liberality of Congress, shall 
 receive the special attention of the Executive. 
 
 As American freemen, we cannot but sympathize in 
 all efforts to extend the blessings of civil and political 
 liberty ; but at the same time we are warned by the 
 admonitions of history and the voice of our own beloved 
 Washington to abstain from entangling alliances with 
 foreign nations. In all disputes between conflicting 
 governments, it is our interest, not less than our duty, 
 to remain strictly neutral ; while our geographical posi 
 tion, the genius of our institutions and our people, the 
 advancing spirit of civilization, and, above all, the dictates 
 of religion, direct us to the cultivation of peaceful and 
 friendly relations with all other powers. It is to be 
 hoped that no international question can now arise which 
 
TAYLOR S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 279 
 
 a government, confident in its own strength, and resolved 
 to protect its own just rights, may not settle by wise 
 negotiation, and it eminently becomes a government like 
 our own, founded on the morality and intelligence of its 
 citizens, and upheld by their affections, to exhaust every 
 resort of honourable diplomacy before appealing to arms. 
 In the conduct of our foreign relations I shall conform 
 to these views, as I believe them essential to the best 
 interests and true honour of the country. 
 
 The appointing power vested in the President imposes 
 delicate and onerous duties. So far as it is possible to 
 be informed, I shall make honesty, capacity, and fidelity 
 indispensable pre-requisites to the bestowal of office ; 
 and the absence of either of these qualities shall be 
 deemed sufficient cause for removal. 
 
 It shall be my study to recommend such constitutional 
 measures to Congress as may be necessary and proper 
 to secure encouragement and protection to the great 
 interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, to 
 improve our rivers and harbours, to provide for the 
 speedy extinguishment of the public debt, to enforce a 
 strict accountability on the part of all officers of the 
 government, and the utmost economy in all public ex 
 penditures. But it is for the wisdom of Congress itself, 
 in which all legislative powers are vested by the Consti 
 tution, to regulate these and other matters of domestic 
 policy. I shall look with confidence to the enlightened 
 patriotism of that body to adopt such measures of con 
 ciliation as may harmonize conflicting interests, and tend 
 to perpetuate that union which should be the paramount 
 object of our hopes and affections. In any action calcu 
 lated to promote an object so near the heart of every one 
 who truly loves his country, I will zealously unite with 
 the co-ordinate branches of the government. 
 
 In conclusion, I congratulate you, my fellow-citizens, 
 upon the high state of prosperity to which the goodness 
 of Divine Providence has conducted our common country. 
 Let us invoke a continuance of the same protecting care 
 which has led us through small beginnings, to the emi 
 nence to which we have this day arrived, and let us seek 
 to deserve that continuance by prudence and moderation 
 
280 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 in our councils, by well directed attempts to assuage tho 
 bitterness which too often marks unavoidable differences 
 of opinion, by the promulgation and practice of just and 
 liberal principles, and by an enlarged patriotism, which 
 shall acknowledge no limits but those of our own wide 
 spread Republic. 
 
 President Taylor died at the Executive Mansion, in 
 Washington City, on the night of the 9th of July, 1850. 
 Vice-President Fillmore, the next morning, transmitted the 
 following message to Congress, then in session, and at once 
 entered upon the duties of his new office, as the 13th Presi 
 dent of the United States : 
 
 PRESIDENT FILLMORE S MESSAGE. 
 Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives : 
 
 A great man has fallen among us, and a whole community 
 is called to an occasion of unexpected, deep, and general 
 mourning. I recommend to the two Houses of Congress 
 to adopt such measures as, in their discretion, may seem 
 proper to perform with due solemnities the funeral obse 
 quies of Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, 
 and thereby to signify the great and affectionate regard of 
 the American people for the memory of one whose life ha. 
 been devoted to the public service whose career in arms has 
 not been surpassed in usefulness or brilliancy who has 
 been so recently raised by the unsolicited voice of the people, 
 to the highest civil authority in the government, which he 
 administered with so much honour and advantage to his 
 country, and by whose sudden death so many hopes of 
 future usefulness are blighted for ever. To you, Senators 
 and Representatives of a nation in tears, I can say nothing 
 which can alleviate the sorrow with which you are op 
 pressed. I appeal to you to aid me under the trying cir 
 cumstances which surround me in the discharge of the 
 duties, from which, however much I may be oppressed by 
 them, I dare not shrink: and I rely upon Him, who holds 
 in His hands the destinies of nations, to endow me with 
 the requisite strength for the task, and to avert from our 
 country the evils apprehended from the heavy calamity 
 which has befallen us. I shall most readily concur in 
 whatever measures the wisdom of the two Houses may 
 suggest as befitting this deeply melancholy occasion. 
 
 M1LLARD FILLMORE. 
 
 Washington, July 10, 1850. 
 
PIERCE S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 281 
 
 PIERCE S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 MARCH 4, 1853. 
 
 MY COUNTRYMEN : It is a relief to feel that no heart 
 but my qwn can know the personal regret and bitter 
 sorrow, over which I have been borne to a position, so 
 suitable for others, rather than desirable for myself. 
 
 The circumstances, under which I have been called, 
 for a limited period, to preside over the destinies of the 
 Republic fill me with a profound sense of my responsi 
 bility but with nothing like shrinking apprehension. I 
 repair to the post assigned me, not as to one sought, but 
 in obedience to the unsolicited expression of your will, 
 answerable only for a fearless, faithful, and diligent exer 
 cise of my best powers. 
 
 I ought to be, and am, truly grateful for the rare mani 
 festation of the nation s confidence ; but this, so far from 
 lightening my obligations, only adds to their weight. You 
 bave summoned me in my weakness ; you must sustain 
 me by your strength. When looking for the fulfilment 
 of reasonable requirements, you will not be unmindful 
 of the great changes which have occurred, even within 
 the last quarter of a century, and the consequent augmen 
 tation and complexity of duties imposed, in the adminis 
 tration both of your home and foreign affairs. 
 
 Whether the elements of inherent force in the Repub 
 lic have kept pace with its unparalleled progression in 
 Territory, population, and wealth, has been the subject 
 of earnest thought and discussion, on both sides of the 
 ocean. Less than sixty-three years ago, the Father of 
 his Country made " the" then " recent accession of the 
 important State of North Carolina to the Constitution of 
 tne United States," one of the subjects of his special con 
 gratulation. At that moment, however, when the agita 
 tion consequent upon the revolutionary struggle had hardly 
 subsided, when we were just emerging from the weak 
 ness and embarrassment of the Confederation, there was 
 an evident consciousness of vigor equal to the great mis- 
 won so wisely and bravely fulfilled by our fathers,, It 
 34* 
 
282 
 
 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 was not a presumptuous assurance, but a calm faith, 
 springing from a clear view of the sources of power, in 
 a government constituted like ours. 
 
 It is no paradox to say that, although comparatively 
 weak, the new-born nation was intrinsically strong. In 
 considerable in population and apparent resources, it 
 was upheld by a broad and intelligent comprehension of 
 rights, and an all-pervading purpose to maintain them, 
 stronger than armaments. It came from the furnace of the 
 revolution, tempered to the necessities of the times. The 
 thoughts of the men of that day were as practical as their 
 sentiments were patriotic. They wasted no portion of 
 their energies upon idle and delusive speculations, but 
 with a firm and fearless step advanced beyond the go 
 vernmental landmarks, which had hitherto circumscribed 
 the limits of human freedom, and planted their standard 
 where it has stood, against dangers, which have threatened 
 from abroad, and internal agitation, which has at times 
 fearfully menaced at borne. 
 
 They approved themselves equal to the solution of the 
 great problem to understand which their minds had been 
 illuminated by the dawning lights of the revolution. 
 The object sought was not a thing dreamed of it was 
 a thing realized. They had exhibited not only the power 
 to achieve, but what all history affirms to be so much 
 more unusual, the capacity to maintain. The oppressed 
 throughout the world, from that day to the present, 
 have turned their eyes hitherward, not, to find those 
 lights extinguished, or to fear lest they should wane, 
 but to be constantly cheered by their steady and increas 
 ing radiance. 
 
 In this, our country has in my judgment thus far ful 
 filled its highest duty to suffering humanity. It has 
 spoken, and will continue to speak, not only by its words 
 but by its acts, the language of sympathy, encourage 
 ment, and hope, to those, who earnestly listen to tones, 
 which pronounce for the largest rational liberty. But, 
 after all, the most animating encouragement and potent 
 appeal for freedom will be its own history, its trials and 
 is triumphs. Pre-eminently, the power of our advocacy 
 reposes in our example ; but no example, be it remem- 
 
283 
 
 bered, can be powerful for lasting good, whatever appa 
 rent advantages may be gatned, which is not based upon 
 eternal principles of right and justice. Our fathers de 
 cided for themselves, both upon >he hour to declare and 
 the hour to strike. 
 
 They were their own judges of the circumstances, 
 under which it became them to pledge to each other 
 " their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honour," for 
 the acquisition of the priceless inheritance transmitted 
 to us. The energy, with which that great conflict was 
 opened, and under the guidance of a manifest and bene 
 ficent Providence, the uncomplaining endurance, with 
 which it was prosecuted to its consummation, were only 
 surpassed by the wisdom and patriotic spirit of conces 
 sion, which characterized all the counsels of the early 
 fathers. 
 
 One of the most impressive evidences of that wisdom is 
 to be found in the fact, that the actual working of our 
 system has dispelled a degree of solicitude, which, at the 
 outset, disturbed bold hearts and far-reaching intellects. 
 The apprehension of dangers from extended territory, 
 multiplied States, accumulated wealth, and augmented 
 population, has proved to be unfounded. The stars upon 
 your banner have become nearly three-fold their original 
 number, your densely populated possessions skirt the 
 shores of the two great oceans, and yet this vast increase 
 of people and territory has not only shown itself compa 
 tible with the harmonious action of the States and the 
 Federal government in their respective constitutional 
 spheres, but has afforded an additional guarantee of the 
 strength and integrity of both. 
 
 With an experience thus suggestive and cheering, the 
 policy of my administration will not be controlled by 
 any timid forebodings of evil from expansion. Indeed, it 
 is not to be disguised that our attitude as a nation, and 
 our position on the globe, render the acquisition of certain 
 possessions, not witihn our jurisdiction, eminently impor 
 tant for our protection, if not, in the future, essential for 
 the preserva jon of the rights of commerce and the peace 
 of the worlo Should they be obtained, it will be through 
 no graspiiyr spirit, but with a view to obvious national 
 
884 PIERCE S INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 
 
 interest and security, and in a manner entirely consisten 
 with the strictest observance of national faith. 
 
 We have nothing in our history or position to invite 
 aggression, we have every thing to beckon us to the culti 
 vation of relations of peace and amity with all nations 
 Purposes, therefore, at once just and pacific, will be signi 
 ficantly marked in the conduct of our foreign affairs. I 
 intend that my administration shall leave no blot upon our 
 fair record, and I trust that I may safely give the assurance 
 that no act within the legitimate scope of my constitutional 
 control will be tolerated, on the part of any portion of our 
 citizens, which cannot challenge a ready justification be 
 fore the tribunal of the civilized world. 
 
 An administration would be unworthy of confidence 
 at home, or respect abroad, should it cease to be influ 
 enced by the conviction, that no apparent advantage can 
 be purchased at a price so dear as that of national wrong 
 or dishonour. It is not your privilege, as a nation, to 
 speak of a distant past. The striking incidents of your 
 history, replete with instruction, and furnishing abundant 
 grounds for hopeful confidence, are comprised in a period 
 comparatively brief. But if your past is limited, your 
 future is boundless. Its obligations throng the unex 
 plored pathway of advancement, and will be limitless 
 as duration. Hence, a sound and comprehensive policy 
 should embrace, not less the distant future, than the ur 
 gent present. 
 
 The great objects of our pursuits, as a people, are -^est 
 to be attained by peace, and are entirely consistent with 
 the tranquillity and interests of the rest of mankind. With 
 the neighbouring nations upon our continent, we should 
 cultivate kindly and fraternal relations. We can desire 
 nothing in regard to them so much, as to see them conso 
 lidate their strength, and pursue the paths of prosperity 
 and happiness. If, in the course of their growth, we 
 should open new channels of trade and create additional 
 facilities for friendly intercourse, the benefits realized will 
 be equal and mutual. 
 
 Of the complicated European systems of national po 
 lily we have heretofore been independent. From their 
 wars, their tumults and anxieties, we have been, happily 
 
PIERCE & INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 295 
 
 almost entirely exempt. Whilst these are confined to 
 the nations which gave them existence, and within their 
 legitimate jurisdiction, they cannot affect us, except as 
 they appeal to our sympathies in the cause of human 
 freedom and universal advancement. But the vast inte 
 rests of commerce are common to all mankind, and the 
 advantages of trade and international intercourse must 
 always present a noble field for the moral influence of a 
 great people. 
 
 With these views firmly and honestly carried out, we 
 have a right to expect, and shall under all circumstan 
 ces require, prompt reciprocity. The rights, which be 
 long to us as a nation, are not alone to be regarded, but 
 those which pertain to every citizen in his individual 
 capacity, at home and abroad, must bfc sacredly main 
 tained. So long as he can discern every star in its place 
 upon that ensign, without wealth to purchase for him 
 preferment, or title to secure for him place, it will be 
 his privilege, and must be his acknowledged right to stand 
 unabashed even in the presence of princes, with a proud 
 consciousness that he is himself one of a nation of sove 
 reigns, and that he cannot, in legitimate pursuit, wan 
 der so far from home, that the agent, whom he shall leave 
 behind in the place which I now occupy, will not see that 
 no rude hand of power or tyrannical passion is laid upon 
 him with impunity. He must realize, that upon every 
 sea, and on every soil, where our enterprise may right 
 fully seek the protection of our flag, American citizen 
 ship is an inviolable panoply for the security of American 
 rights. And in this connexion, it can hardly be neces 
 sary to re-affirm a principle which should now be re 
 garded as fundamental. The rights, security, and re 
 pose of this Confederacy reject the idea of interference 
 or colonization, on this side of the ocean, by any foreign 
 power, beyond present jurisdiction, as utterly inadmis 
 sible. 
 
 The opportunities of observation, furnished by my brief 
 experience as a soldier, confirmed in my own mind the. 
 opinion, entertained and acted upon by others from the 
 formation of the government, that the maintenance of 
 large standing armies in our country would be not only 
 
286 PIERCE S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 dangerous, but unnecessary. They also illustrated the 
 importance, I might well say the absolute necessity, of 
 the military science and practical skill furnished, in such 
 an eminent degree, by the institution, which has made 
 your army what it is, under the discipline and instruction 
 of officers not more distinguished for their solid attain 
 ments, gallantry, and devotion to the public service, than 
 for unobtrusive bearing and high moral tone. 
 
 The army, as organized, must be the nucleus, around 
 which, in every time of need, the strength of your mili 
 tary power, the sure bulwark of your defence a na 
 tional militia may be readily formed into a well disci 
 plined and efficient organization. And the skill and self- 
 devotion of the navy assure you that you may take the 
 performance of the past as a pledge for the future, and 
 may confidently expect that the flag, which has waved 
 its untarnished folds over every sea, will still float in 
 imdiminished honour. But these, like many other sub 
 jects, will be appropriately brought, at a future time, 
 to the attention of the co-ordinate branches of the go 
 vernment, to which I shall always look with profound 
 respect, and with trustful confidence that they will ac 
 cord to me the aid and support, which I shall so much 
 need, and which their experience and wisdom will readily 
 suggest. 
 
 In the administration of domestic affairs, you expect a 
 devoted integrity in the public service, and an observance 
 of rigid economy in the departments, so marked as never 
 justly to be questioned. If this reasonable expectation 
 be not realized, I frankly confess that one of your lead 
 ing hopes is doomed to disappointment, and that my ef 
 forts, in a very important particular, must result in a 
 humiliating failure. Offices can be properly regarded 
 only in the light of aids for the accomplishment of these 
 objects; and as occupancy can confer no prerogative, nor 
 importunate desire for preferment any claim, the public 
 interest imperatively demands that they be considered 
 with sole reference to the duties to be performed. Good 
 citizens may well claim the protection of good laws and 
 ihe benign influence of good government; but a claim 
 
287 
 
 for office is what the people of a republic should never 
 lecognize. 
 
 No reasonable man of any party will expect the admi 
 nistration to be so regardless of its responsibility, and of 
 the obvious elements of success, as to retain persons, 
 known to be under the influence of political hostility and 
 partisan prejudice, in positions, which will require, not 
 only severe labour, but cordial co-operation. Having no 
 implied engagements to ratify, no rewards to bestow, no 
 resentments to remember, and no personal wishes to con 
 sult, in selections for official station, I shall fulfil this dif 
 ficult and delicate trust, admitting no motive as worthy 
 either of my character or position, which does not contem 
 plate an efficient discharge of duty and the best interests 
 of my country. 
 
 I acknowledge my obligations to the masses of my 
 countrymen, and to them alone. Higher objects than 
 personal aggrandizement gave direction and energy to 
 their exertion in the late canvass, and they shall not be 
 disappointed. They require at my hands diligence, inte 
 grity, and capacity, wherever there are duties to be per 
 formed. Without these qualities in their public servants, 
 more stringent laws, for the prevention or punishment of 
 fraud, negligence and peculation, will be vain. With 
 them, they will be unnecessary. 
 
 But these are not the only points, to which you look 
 for vigilant watchfulness. The dangers of a concentra 
 tion of all power in the general government of a con 
 federacy so vast as ours, are too obvious to be disre 
 garded. You have a right, therefore, to expect your 
 agents, in every department, to regard strictly the limits 
 mposed upon them by the Constitution of the United 
 Slates. The great scheme of our constitutional liberty 
 rests upon a proper distribution of power between the 
 State and Federal authorities ; and experience has 
 shown, that the harmony and happiness of our people 
 must depend upon a just discrimination between the se 
 parate rights and responsibilities of the States, and your 
 common rights and obligations under the general govern 
 ment. 
 
 And here, in my opinion, are the considerations, which 
 
288 
 
 should form the true basis of future concord in regard to 
 the questions which have most seriously disturbed public 
 tranquillity. If the Federal Government will confine it 
 self to the exercise of powers clearly granted by the Con 
 stitution, it can hardly happen that its actions upon any 
 questions should endanger the institutions of the States, 
 or interfere with their right to manage matters strictly 
 domestic according to the will of their own people. 
 
 In expressing briefly my views upon an important sub 
 ject, which has recently agitated the nation to almost a 
 fearful degree, I am moved by no other impulse than a 
 most earnest desire for the perpetuity of that Union which 
 has made us what we are ; showering upon us blessings, 
 and conferring a power and influence which our fathers 
 could hardly have anticipated, even with their most 
 sanguine hopes directed to a far-off future. The sen 
 timents I now announce were not unknown before the 
 expression of the voice which called me here. My own 
 position upon this subject was clear and unequivocal, 
 upon the record of my words and my acts, and it is only 
 recurred to at this time because silence might, perhaps, 
 be misconstrued. 
 
 With the Union, my best and dearest earthly hopes are 
 entwined. Without it, what are we, individually or col 
 lectively? What becomes of the noblest field ever opened 
 for the advancement of our race, in religion, in govern 
 ment, in the arts, and in all that dignifies and adorns 
 mankind ? From that radiant constellation, which both 
 illumines our own way and points out to struggling na 
 tions their course, let but a single star be lost, and, if 
 there be not utter darkness, the lustre of the whole is 
 dimmed. Do my countrymen need any assurance that 
 such a catastrophe is not to overtake them, while I pos 
 sess the power to stay it? 
 
 It is with me an earnest and vital belief, that as the 
 Union has been the source, under Providence, of our 
 prosperity to this time, so it is the surest pledge of a con 
 tinuance of the blessings we have enjoyed, and which 
 we are sacredly bound to transmit undiminished to our 
 children. The field of free and calm discussion in our 
 country is open, and will always be so, but it never has 
 
289 
 
 been and never can be traversed for good in a spirit of 
 sectionalism and uncharitableness. 
 
 The founders of the Republic dealt with things as they 
 were presented to them, in a spirit of self-sacrificing pa 
 triotism, and, as time has proved, with a comprehensive 
 wisdom, which it will always be safe for us to consult. 
 Every measure, tending to strengthen the fraternal feel 
 ings of all the members of our Union, has had my heart 
 felt approbation. To every theory of society or govern 
 ment, whether the offspring of feverish ambition or of 
 morbid enthusiasm, calculated to dissolve the bonds of law 
 and affection which unite us, I shall interpose a ready 
 and stern resistance. 
 
 I believe that involuntary servitude, as it exists in dif 
 ferent States of this confederacy, is recognized by the 
 Constitution. I believe that it stands like any other ad 
 mitted right, and that the States where it exists are en 
 titled to efficient remedies to enforce the constitutional 
 provisions. I hold that the laws of 1850, commonly 
 called the " Compromise Measures," are strictly consti 
 tutional, and to be unhesitatingly carried into effect. I 
 believe that the constituted authorities of this Republic 
 are bound to regard the rights of the South in this 
 respect, as they would view any other legal and con 
 stitutional right, ana tnat the laws to enforce them should 
 be respected and obeyed, not with a reluctance en 
 couraged by abstract opinions as to their propriety in a 
 different state of society, but cheerfully, and acccording 
 to the decisions of the tribunal to which their exposition 
 belongs. Such have been, and are, my convictions, and 
 upon them I shall act. I fervently hope that the question 
 is at rest, and that no sectional, or ambitious, or fanatical 
 excitement may again threaten the durability of our insti 
 tutions, or obscure the light of our prosperity. 
 
 But let not the foundation of our hopes rest upon man s 
 wisdom. It will not be sufficient that sectional prejudices 
 find no place in the public deliberations. It will not be 
 sufficient that the rash counsels of human passion are 
 rejected. It must be felt that there is no national security 
 but in the nation s humble, acknowledged dependence 
 upon God and his overruling providence. 
 25 
 
290 PIERCE S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 We have been carried in safety through a perilous 
 crisis. Wise counsels, like those which gave us the 
 Constitution, prevailed to uphold it. Let the period be 
 remembered as an admonition, and not as an encourage 
 ment, in any section of the Union, to make experiments 
 where experiments are fraught with such fearful hazard. 
 Let it be impressed upon all hearts, that beautiful as our 
 fabric is, no earthly power or wisdom could ever re-unite 
 its broken fragments. 
 
 Standing as I do almost within view of the green slopes 
 of Monticello, and as it were, within reach of the tomb 
 of Washington, with all the cherished memories of the 
 past gathering round me, like so many eloquent voices of 
 exhortation from heaven, I can express no better hope for 
 my country, than that the kind Providence which smiled 
 upon our Fathers, may enable their children to preserve 
 the blessings which they have inherited. 
 
BUCHANAN S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 291 
 
 BUCHANAN S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 MARCH 4, 1857. 
 
 Fellow- Citizens : 
 
 I appear before you this day to take the solemn oath, 
 "that I will faithfully execute the office of President of 
 the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, pre 
 serve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United 
 States." In entering upon this great office, I most humbly 
 invoke the God of our fathers for wisdom and firmness to 
 execute its high and responsible duties in such a manner 
 as to restore harmony and ancient friendship among the 
 people of the several States, and to preserve our free in 
 stitutions throughout many generations. Convinced that 
 I owe my election to the inherent love for the Constitution 
 and the Union which still animates the hearts of the 
 American people, let me earnestly ask their powerful sup 
 port in sustaining all just measures calculated to perpe 
 tuate these, the richest political blessings which Heaven 
 has ever bestowed upon any nation. Having determined 
 not to become a candidate for re-election, I shall have no 
 motive to influence my conduct in administering the 
 government, except the desire ably and faithfully to serve 
 my country and to live in the grateful memory of my 
 countrymen. We have recently passed through a Presi 
 dential contest in which the passions of our fellow-citizens 
 were excited to the highest degree by questions of deep 
 and vital importance. But, when the people proclaimed 
 their will, the tempest at once subsided, and all was calm. 
 The voice of the majority, speaking in the manner pre 
 scribed by the Constitution, was heard, and instant sub 
 mission followed. Our own country could alone have 
 exhibited so grand and striking a spectacle of the capacity 
 of man for self-government. What a happy conception, 
 then, was it for Congress to apply this simple rule "that 
 the will of the majority shall govern" to the settlement 
 of the question of domestic slavery in the territories! 
 Congress is neither "to legislate slavery into any territory 
 nor to exclude it therefrom," but to leave the people 
 
292 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic 
 institutions in their own way, subject only to the Consti 
 tution of the United States. As a natural consequence, 
 Congress has also prescribed that, when the Territory of 
 Kansas shall be admitted as a State, it shall be received 
 into the Union with or without slavery, as their own Con 
 stitution may prescribe at the time of their admission. A 
 different opinion has arisen in regard to the point of time 
 when the people of a territory shall decide the question 
 for themselves. This is happily a matter of but little 
 practical importance; besides, it is a judicial question, 
 which legitimately belongs to the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it 
 is understood, be speedily and finally settled. To their 
 decision, in common with all good citizens, I shall cheer 
 fully submit, whatever that may be; though it has ever 
 been my individual opinion that, under the Nebraska- 
 Kansas act, the appropriate period will be when the num 
 ber of actual residents in the territory shall justify the 
 formation of a constitution, with a view to its admission 
 as a State into the Union. But, be this as it may, it is 
 the imperative and indispensable duty of the government 
 of the United States to secure to every resident inhabitant 
 the free and independent expression of his opinion by his 
 vote. This sacred right of each individual must be pre 
 served. This being accomplished, nothing can be fairer 
 than to leave the people of a territory free from all foreign 
 interference, to decide their own destiny for themselves, 
 subject only to the Constitution of the United States. 
 The whole territorial question being thus settled upon the 
 principle of popular sovereignty a principle as ancient 
 as free government itself every thing of a practical nature 
 has been decided. No other question remains for adjust 
 ment, because all agree that, under the Constitution, 
 slavery in the States is beyond the reach of any human 
 power except that of the respective States themselves 
 wherein it exists. May we not, then, hope that the long 
 agitation on this subject is approaching its end, and that 
 the geographical parties to which it has given birth so 
 much dreaded by the Father of his Country will speedily 
 become extinct? Most happy will it be for the country 
 
BUCHANAN S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 293 
 
 when the public mind shall be diverted from this ques 
 tion to others of more pressing and practical importance. 
 Throughout the whole progress of this agitation, which 
 has scarcely known any intermission for more than twenty 
 years, whilst it has been productive of no positive good 
 to. any human being, it has been a prolific source of great 
 evils to the master, to the slave, and to the whole country. 
 It has alienated and estranged the people of sister States 
 from each other, and has even seriously endangered the 
 very existence of the Union. Nor has the danger yet 
 entirely ceased. Under our system there is a remedy for 
 all mere political evils in the sound sense and sober judg 
 ment of the people. Time is a great corrective. Political 
 subjects which but a few years ago excited and exaspe 
 rated the public mind have passed away and are now 
 nearly forgotten. But the question of domestic slavery 
 is of far greater importance than any mere political 
 question; because, should the agitation continue, it may 
 eventually endanger the personal safety of a large portion 
 of our countrymen where the institution exists. In that 
 event no form of government, however admirable in itself, 
 however productive of material benefits, can compensate 
 for the loss of peace and domestic security around the 
 family altar. Let every Union-loving man, therefore, 
 exert his best influence to suppress this agitation, which, 
 since the recent legislation of Congress, is without any 
 legitimate object. It is an evil omen of the times that 
 men have undertaken to calculate the mere material value 
 of the Union, and that estimates have been presented of 
 the pecuniary profits and local advantages which would 
 result to different States and sections from its dissolution, 
 and of the comparative injuries which such an event 
 would inflict on other States and sections. Even descend 
 ing to this low and narrow view of the mighty question, 
 all such calculations are at fault ; the bare reference to a 
 single consideration will be conclusive on this point. We 
 at present enjoy a free trade throughout our extensive and 
 expanding country such as the world never witnessed. 
 This trade is conducted on railroads and canals, on noble 
 rivers and arms of the sea, which bind together the North 
 and the South, the East and the West, of our confederacy. 
 25* 
 
294 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 Annihilate this trade, arrest its free progress by the geo 
 graphical lines of jealous and hostile States, and you de 
 stroy the prosperity and onward march of the whole and 
 every part, and involve all in one common ruin. But 
 such considerations, important as they are in themselves, 
 sink into insignificance when we reflect on the terrific evils 
 which would result from disunion to every portion of the 
 confederacy, to the North not more than to the South 
 to the East not more than to the West. These I shall not 
 attempt to portray, because I feel an humble confidence 
 that the kind Providence which inspired our fathers with 
 wisdom to frame the most perfect form of government and 
 union ever devised by man will not suffer it to perish 
 until it shall have been peacefully instrumental, by its 
 example, in the extension of civil and religious liberty 
 throughout the world. 
 
 Next in importance to the maintenance of the Consti 
 tution and the Union, is the duty of preserving the govern 
 ment free from the taint or even the suspicion of corrup 
 tion. Public virtue is the vital spirit of republics; and 
 history proves that when this has decayed and the love of 
 money has usurped its place, although the forms of free 
 government may remain for a season, the substance has 
 departed forever. 
 
 Our present financial condition is without a parallel in 
 history. No nation has ever before been embarrassed from 
 too large a surplus in its treasury. This almost necessarily 
 gives birth to extravagant legislation. It produces wild 
 schemes of expenditures, and begets a race of speculators 
 and jobbers whose ingenuity is exerted in contriving 
 and promoting expedients to obtain public money. The 
 purity of official agents, whether rightfully or wrongfully, 
 is suspected, and the character of the government suffers in 
 the estimation of the people. This is in itself a very great 
 evil. The natural mode of relief from this embarrassment 
 is to appropriate the surplus in the Treasury to great 
 national objects, for which a clear warrant can be found 
 in the Constitution. Among these I might mention the 
 extinguishment of the public debt, a reasonable increase 
 of the Navy, which is at present inadequate to the pro 
 tection of our vast tonnage afloat, now greater than that 
 
BUCHANAN S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 295 
 
 of any other nation, as well as to the defence of our ex 
 tensive sea-coast. It is beyond all question the principle 
 that no more revenue ought to be collected from the people 
 than the amount necessary to defray the expenses of a wise, 
 economical, and efficient administration of the government. 
 To reach this point, it was necessary to resort to a modi 
 fication of the tariff, and this has, I trust, been accom 
 plished in such a manner as to do as little injury as may 
 have been practicable to our domestic manufactures, 
 especially those necessary for the defence of the country. 
 Any discrimination against a particular branch, for the 
 purpose of benefiting favored corporations, individuals 
 or interests, would have been unjust to the rest of the 
 community, and inconsistent with that spirit of fairness 
 and equality which ought to govern in the adjustment of 
 a revenue tariff. But the squandering of the public money 
 sinks into comparative insignificance, as a temptation to 
 corruption, when compared with the squandering of the 
 public lands. No nation, in the tide of time, has ever 
 been blessed with so rich and noble an inheritance as we 
 enjoy in the public lands. In administering this important 
 trust, whilst it may be wise to grant portions of them for 
 the improvement of the remainder, yet we should never 
 forget that it is our cardinal policy to preserve these lands, 
 as much as may be, for actual settlers, and this at moderate 
 prices. We shall thus not only best promote the pros 
 perity of the new States and Territories by furnishing 
 them a hardy and independent race of honest and indus 
 trious citizens, but shall secure homes for our children and 
 our childrens children, as well as for those exiles from 
 foreign shores who may seek in this country to improve 
 their condition and to enjoy the blessings of civil and 
 religious liberty. Such emigrants have done much to 
 promote the growth and prosperity of the country. They 
 have proved faithful both in peace and in war. After 
 becoming citizens, they are entitled, under the Constitution 
 and laws, to be placed on perfect equality with native-born 
 citizens; and in this character they should ever be kindly 
 recognised. The Federal Constitution is a grant from the 
 Staters to Congress of certain specific powers, and the 
 question whether this grant should be liberally or strictly 
 
296 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 construed has more or less divided political parties from 
 the beginning. Without entering into the argument, I 
 desire to state, at the commencement of my administration, 
 that long experience and observation have convinced me 
 that a strict construction of the powers of the government 
 is the only true, as well as the only safe, theory of the Con 
 stitution. Whenever, in our past history, doubtful powers 
 have been exercised by Congress, these have never failed 
 to produce injurious and unhappy consequences. Many 
 such instances might be adduced if this were the proper 
 occasion. Neither is it necessary for the public service 
 to strain the language of the Constitution, because all the 
 great and useful powers required for a successful admi 
 nistration of the government, both in peace and in war, 
 have been granted either in express terms, or by the 
 plainest implication. Whilst deeply convinced of these 
 truths, I yet consider it clear that, under the war-making 
 power, Congress may appropriate money towards the con 
 struction of a military road, when this is absolutely neces 
 sary for the defence of any State or Territory of the Union 
 against foreign invasion. Under the Constitution, Con 
 gress has power "to declare war" "to raise and support 
 armies" " to provide and maintain a navy," and to call 
 forth the militia to "repel invasion." Thus endowed in 
 an ample manner with the war-making power, the corre 
 sponding duty is secured that "the United States shall 
 protect each of them (the States) against invasion." 
 Now, is it possible to afford this protection to California 
 and our Pacific possessions except by means of a military 
 road through the territories of the United States, over 
 which men and munitions of war may be speedily trans 
 ported from the Atlantic States to meet and repel the 
 invader? In the event of a war with a naval power much 
 stronger than our own, we should then have no other 
 available access to the Pacific coast, because such a power 
 would instantly close the route across the Isthmus of Cen 
 tral America. It is impossible to conceive that, whilst the 
 Constitution has expressly required Congress to defend all 
 the States, it should yet deny to them by any fair con 
 struction the only possible means by which one of these 
 States can be defended. Besides, the government, ever 
 
BUCHANAN S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 297 
 
 since its origin, has been in the constant practice of con 
 structing military roads. It might also be wise to consider 
 whether the love for the Union which now animates our 
 fellow-citizens on the Pacific coast may not be impaired 
 by our neglect or refusal to provide for them, in their re 
 mote and isolated condition, the only means by which the 
 power of the States on this side of the Rocky Mountains 
 can reach them in sufficient time to protect them against 
 invasion. 
 
 I forbear for the present from expressing an opinion as 
 to the wisest and most economical mode in which the go 
 vernment can lend its aid in accomplishing this great and 
 necessary work. I believe that many of the difficulties in 
 the way, which now appear formidable, will in a great 
 degree vanish as soon as the nearest and best route shall 
 have been satisfactorily ascertained. It may be right that 
 on this occasion I should make some brief remarks in 
 regard to our rights and duties as a member of the great 
 family of nations. In our intercourse with them there 
 are some plain principles approved by our own experience, 
 from which we should never depart. 
 
 We ought to cultivate peace, commerce, and friendship 
 with all nations; and this, not merely as the best means 
 of promoting our own material interests, but in a spirit 
 of Christian benevolence towards fellow-men wherever 
 their lot may be cast. 
 
 Our diplomacy should be direct and frank, neither 
 seeking to obtain more, nor accepting less, than is our due. 
 We ought to cherish a sacred regard for the independence 
 of all nations, and never attempt to interfere in the do 
 mestic concerns of any, unless this shall be imperatively 
 required by the great law of self-preservation. To avoid 
 entangling alliances has been a maxim of our policy ever 
 since the days of Washington, and its wisdom no one will 
 attempt to dispute. 
 
 In short, we ought to do justice in a kindly spirit to all 
 nations, and require justice from them in return. 
 
 It is our glory that, whilst other nations have extended 
 their dominions by the sword, we have never acquired any 
 territory except by fair purchase, or, as in the case of 
 Texas, by the voluntary determination of a brave, kindred, 
 
298 THE TRUE REPUBLICAN. 
 
 and independent people to blend their destinies with our 
 own. Even our acquisitions from Mexico form no excep 
 tion. Unwilling to take advantage of the fortune of war 
 against a sister republic, we purchased these possessions 
 under the treaty of peace for a sum which was considered 
 at the time a fair equivalent. Our past history forbids 
 that we sHould in the future acquire territory, unless this 
 be sanctioned by the laws of justice and honour. Acting 
 on this principle, no nation will have a right to interfere 
 or to complain if, in the progress of events, we shall still 
 further extend our possessions. Hitherto, in all our ac 
 quisitions, the people under the protection of the Ame 
 rican flag have enjoyed civil and religious liberty, as well 
 as equal and just laws, and have been contented, pros 
 perous, and happy. Their trade with the rest of the world 
 has rapidly increased, and thus every commercial nation 
 has shared largely in their successful progress. I shall 
 now proceed to take the oath prescribed by the Constitu 
 tion whilst humbly invoking the blessings of Divine 
 Providence on this great people. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 WE, the People of the United States, in order to form a 
 more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic 
 tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote 
 the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty 
 to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish 
 this Constitution for the United States of America. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 SEC. I. All legislative powers herein granted shall be 
 vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall 
 consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. 
 
 SEC. II. I. The House of Representatives shall be 
 composed of members chosen every eecond year, by the 
 people of the several states : and the electors in each 
 state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of 
 the most numerous branch of the state legislature. 
 
 2. No person shall be a representative who shall not 
 have attained the age of twenty-five years, and been seven 
 years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, 
 when elected, be an inhabitant of the state in which he 
 shall be chosen. 
 
 3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportion 
 ed among the several states which may be included within 
 this union, according to their respective numbers, which 
 shall be determined by adding to the whole number of 
 free persons, including those bound to service for a term 
 of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of 
 all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made 
 within three years after the first meeting of the Congress 
 of the United States, and within every subsequent term 
 often years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. 
 The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for 
 every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least 
 one representative : and until such enumeration shall be 
 made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to 
 
 26 
 
6 CONSTITUTION 
 
 choose three ; Massachusetts, eight ; Rhode Island and 
 Providence Plantations, one ; Connecticut, five ; New 
 Fork,six; New Jersey, four-, Pennsylvania, eight; Dela 
 ware, one ; Maryland, six ; Virginia, ten ; North Caroli 
 na, five; South Carolina, five; Georgia, three. 
 
 4. When vacancies happen in the representation from 
 any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs 
 of election to fill such vacancies. 
 
 5. The House of Representatives shall choose their 
 speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole power 
 of impeachment. 
 
 SEC. III. 1. The Senate of the United States shall 
 be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by 
 the legislature thereof, for six years ; and each senator 
 shall have one vote. 
 
 2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in conse 
 quence of the first election, they shall be divided, as 
 equally as may be, into three classes. The seats of the 
 senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expira 
 tion of the second year, of the second class at the expi 
 ration of the fourth year, and the third class at the expi 
 ration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen 
 every second year ; and if vacancies happen by resig 
 nation or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature 
 of any state, the executive thereof may make temporary 
 appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, 
 which shall then fill such vacancies. 
 
 3. No person shall be a senator who shall not have 
 attained the age of thirty years, and been nine years a 
 citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when 
 elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall 
 be chosen. 
 
 4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be 
 President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless 
 they be equally divided. 
 
 5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also 
 a president pro tempore in the absence of the Vice Pre 
 sident, or when he shall exercise the office of President 
 of the United States. 
 
 6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all im 
 peachments When sitting for that purpose, they shall be 
 
OF THE UNITED STATES. 7 
 
 on oath or affirmation. When the President of the Uni 
 ted States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside; and 
 no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of 
 two-thirds of the members present. 
 
 7. Judgment in cases of impeachment, shall not extend 
 further than to removal from office, and disqualification to 
 hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under 
 the United States ; but the party convicted shall, never 
 theless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judg 
 ment, and punishment according to law. 
 
 SEC. IV. 1. The times, places, and manner of hold 
 ing elections for senators and representatives shall be 
 prescribed in each state, by the legislature thereof; but 
 the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter 
 such regulations, except as to the places of choosing 
 senators. 
 
 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every 
 year; and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in 
 December, unless they shall by law appoint a different 
 day. 
 
 SEC. V. 1 . Each house shall be judge of the elec 
 tions, returns and qualifications of its own members; and 
 a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do busi 
 ness ; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, 
 and may be authorized to compel the attendance of ab 
 sent members, in such manner, and under such penalties, 
 as each house may provide. 
 
 2. Each house may determine the rules of its pro 
 ceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and 
 with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. 
 
 3. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, 
 and from time to time publish the same, excepting such 
 parts as may, in their judgment, require secrecy; and the 
 yeas and nays of the members of either house on any 
 question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, 
 be entered on the journal. 
 
 4. Neither house, during the session of Congress, 
 shall, 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. 
 
 SEC. VI. 1. The senators and representatives shall 
 receive a compensation for their services, to b ascertain- 
 
8 CONSTITUTION 
 
 cd by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United 
 States. They shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, 
 and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest, during 
 their attendance at the session of their respective houses, 
 and in going to and returning from the same; and for any 
 speech or debate in either house, they shall not be ques 
 tioned in any other place. 
 
 2. No senator or representative shall, during the time 
 for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office 
 under the authority of the United States, which shall have 
 been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been 
 increased, during such time; and no person holding any 
 office under the United States, shall be a member of either 
 house, during his continuance in office. 
 
 SKC. VII. 1. All bills for raising revenue shall ori 
 ginate in the House of Representatives ; but the Senate 
 may propose or concur with amendments as on other 
 bills. 
 
 2. Every bill which shall have passed the House of 
 Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become 
 a law, be presented to the President of the United States ; 
 if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return 
 it with his objections, to that house in which it shall have 
 originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their 
 journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such re 
 consideration, two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass 
 the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to 
 the other house, and if approved by two-thirds of that 
 house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the 
 votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and 
 nays; and the names of the persons votingfor and against 
 the bill, shall be entered on the journals of each house 
 respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the 
 President within ten days (Sundays excepled) after it 
 shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, 
 in like manner as if he had signed it, unless Congress, by 
 their adjournment prevent its return; in which case it 
 shall not be a law. 
 
 3. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the con 
 currence of the Senate and House of Representative? 
 
OF THE UNITED STATES. 9 
 
 may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) 
 shall be presented to the President of the United States; 
 and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved 
 by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed 
 by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representa 
 tives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in 
 the case of a bill. 
 
 SEC. VIII. The Congress shall have power 
 
 1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and ex 
 cises ; to pay the debts and provide for the common de 
 fence and general welfare of the United States ; but all 
 duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout 
 the United States : 
 
 2. To borrow money on the credit of the United 
 States : 
 
 3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations and 
 among the several states, and with the Indian tribes : 
 
 4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and 
 uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies, throughout 
 the United States : 
 
 5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of 
 foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and mea 
 sures : 
 
 6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting 
 the securities and current coin of the United States: 
 
 7. To establish post offices and post roads : 
 
 8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, 
 by securing for limited times, to authors and inventors, 
 the exclusive right to their respective writings and dis 
 coveries : 
 
 9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme 
 court : 
 
 10. To define and punish piracies and felonies commit 
 ted on the high seas, and offences against the law of na 
 tions : 
 
 11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and re 
 prisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and 
 water : 
 
 12. To raise and support armies; but no appropria- a 
 tion of money to that use shall be fora longer term than 
 two years 
 
10 CONSTITUTION 
 
 13. To provide and maintain a navy: 
 
 14. To make rules for the government and regulation 
 of the land and naval forces : 
 
 15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute 
 the la\\ s of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel 
 invasions: 
 
 16. To provide for organizing, arming and disciplining 
 the militia, and for governing such part of them as may 
 be employed in the service of the United States, reserv 
 ing to the states respectively the appointment of the offi 
 cers, and the authority of training the militia, according 
 to the discipline prescribed by Congress : 
 
 17. To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases what 
 soever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) 
 as may, by cession of particular states, and the accept 
 ance of Congress, become the seat of government of the 
 United States, and to exercise like authority over all places 
 purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state 
 in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, 
 magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful build 
 ings: And, 
 
 18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and 
 proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, 
 and all other powers vested by this constitution in the 
 government of the United States, or in any department 
 or officer thereof. 
 
 SEC. IX. 1. The migration or importation of such 
 persons as any of the states, now existing, shall think 
 proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress 
 prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, 
 but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, 
 not exceeding ten dollars for each person. 
 
 2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not 
 be suspended, unless, when, in cases of rebellion or inva 
 sion, the public safety may require it. 
 
 3. No bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, shall be 
 passed. 
 
 4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, un- 
 less in proportion to the census or enumeration herein 
 
 before directed to be taken. 
 
OP THE UNITED STATES. 11 
 
 5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported 
 from any state. No preference shall be given, by any 
 regulation of commerce or revenue, to the ports of one 
 state over those of another ; nor shall vessels bound to or 
 from one state be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties 
 in another. 
 
 6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in 
 consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regu 
 lar statement and account of the receipts and expendi 
 tures o all public money shall be published from time to 
 lime. 
 
 7. NVJ title of nobility shall be granted by the United 
 States; and no person holding any office of profit or trust 
 under them shall, without the consent of the Congress, 
 accept of any present, emolument, office or title of any 
 kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state. 
 
 SEC. X. 1. No state shall enter into any treaty, alli 
 ance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and repri 
 sal; coin money; emit bills of credit; matae any thing 
 but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts ; 
 pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law im 
 pairing the obligation of contracts ; or grant any title of 
 nobility. 
 
 2. No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, 
 lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except 
 what may he absolutely necessary for executing its in 
 spection laws ; and the net produce of all duties and im 
 ports laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for 
 the use of the treasury of the United States, and all 
 such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of 
 the Congress. No state shall, without the consent of 
 Congress, lay any duty on tonnage, keep troops or ships 
 of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or 
 compact with another state or with a foreign power, or 
 engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such immi 
 nent danger as will not admit of delay. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 SEC. 1 The executive powei shall be vested in a 
 President of the United States of America. He shall 
 his office during the term of four years, and, together 
 
12 
 
 CONSTITUTION 
 
 with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term, be 
 elected as follows : 
 
 2. Each state shall appoint in such manner as the le 
 gislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal 
 to the whole number of senators and representatives to 
 which the state may be entitled in the Congress ; but no 
 senator or representative, or person holding an office of 
 trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed 
 an elector. 
 
 3. [Annulled. See Amendments, art. 12.] 
 
 4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing 
 the electors, and the day on which they shall give their 
 votes ; which day shall be the same throughout the Uni 
 ted States. 
 
 5. No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citi 
 zen of the United States at the time of the adoption of 
 this constitution, shall be eligible to the office of Presi 
 dent; neither shall any person be eligible to that office, 
 who shall not have attained the age of thirty-five years, 
 and been fourteen years a resident within the United 
 States. 
 
 6. In case of the removal of the President from office, 
 or of his death, resignation or inability to discharge the 
 powers and duties of said office, the same shall devolve 
 on the Vice-President; and the Congress may by law 
 provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or in 
 ability, both of the President and Vice-President, decla 
 ring what officer shall then act as President, and such offi 
 cer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, 
 or a President shall be elected. 
 
 7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his 
 services a compensation which shall neither be increased 
 nor diminished during the period for which he shall have 
 been elected; and he shall not receive, within that period, 
 any other emolument from the United States, or any of 
 them. 
 
 8. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he 
 shall take the following oath or affirmation : 
 
 "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully 
 execute the office of President of the United States, and 
 will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and de 
 fend the constitution of the United States." 
 
OF THE UNITED STATES. 13 
 
 SEC II. 1. The President shall be commander-in 
 rhief of the army and navy of the United States, and of 
 the militia of the several states, when called into the ac 
 tual service of the United States: he may require the 
 opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the 
 executive departments, upon any subject relating to the 
 duties of their respective offices; and he shall have power 
 to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the 
 United States, except in cases of impeachment. 
 
 2. He shall 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 shall nominate, 
 and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, 
 shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and 
 consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all other offi 
 cers of the United States, whose appointments are not 
 herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be esta 
 blished by law. But the Congress may, by law, vest the 
 appointment of such interior offices as they think proper, 
 in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the 
 heads of departments. 
 
 3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacan 
 cies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by 
 granting commissions which shall expire at the end of 
 their next session. 
 
 SEC. III. 1. He shall, from time to time, give to the 
 Congress information of the state of the union, and re 
 commend to their consideration such measures as he 
 shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extra 
 ordinary occasions, convene both houses, or either of 
 them, and in case of disagreement between them, with 
 respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them 
 o such time as he may think proper ; he shall receive 
 ambassadors, and other public ministers ; he shall take 
 care that the laws be faithfully executed ; and shall com 
 mission all the officers of the United States. 
 
 SKC. IV. I The President, Vice-President, and all 
 civil oflicers of the United States, shall be removed from 
 office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, 
 bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 
 
14 CONSTITUTION 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 SEC. I. 1. The judicial power of the United States 
 <*hall be vested in one supreme court, and ii such inferior 
 courts as the Congress may, from time to time, ordain and 
 establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior 
 Courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and 
 rfhall at stated times, receive for their services a compen 
 sation which shall not be diminished during their contin 
 uance in office. 
 
 SEC. II. 1. The judicial power shall extend to all 
 *,ases in law and equity arising under this constitution, the 
 laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which 
 shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting 
 ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls ; to all 
 cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to contro 
 versies to which the United States shall be a party; to 
 controversies between two or more states; between a 
 state and citizens of another state; between citizens of 
 different states ; between citizens of the same state, claim 
 ing lands under grants of different states, and between 
 a state, of the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citi 
 zens or subjects. 
 
 2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public mi 
 nisters and consuls, and those in which a state shall be a 
 party, the supreme court shall have original jurisdiction. 
 In a) I other cases before mentioned, the supreme court 
 shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, 
 with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the 
 Congress shall make. 
 
 3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeach 
 ment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the 
 state where the said crimes shall have been committed ; 
 but when not committed within any state, the trial shall 
 be at such place or places as the Congress may by law 
 have directed. 
 
 SEC. III. 1. Treason against the United States shall 
 consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering 
 to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No per 
 son shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony 
 of two witnesses to the same overt act, or confessions in 
 open court. 
 
OF THE UNITED STATES. 16 
 
 2. The Congress shall have power to declare the pun- 
 ishment of treason ; but no attainder of treason shall 
 work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the 
 life of the person attainted. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 SEC. I. 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each 
 state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings 
 of every other state. And the Congress may, by general, 
 laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, 
 and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 
 
 SEC. II. 1. The citizens of each state shall be enti 
 tied to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the 
 several states. 
 
 2. A person charged in any state with treason, felony, 
 or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found 
 in another state, shall, on demand of the executive au 
 thority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up to 
 be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. 
 
 3. No person held to service or labor in one state, un 
 der the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in con 
 sequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged 
 from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on 
 claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be 
 due. 
 
 SEC. III. 1. New states maybe admitted by the Con 
 gress into this union; but no new state shall be formed 
 or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state ; nor 
 any state be formed by the junction of two or more 
 states or parts of states, without the consent of the legis 
 lature of the states concerned, as well as of the Congress. 
 
 2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and 
 make all needful rules and regulations respecting the 
 territory or other property belonging to the United States ; 
 and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as 
 to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any 
 particular state. 
 
 SEC IV. 1. The United States shall guarantee to 
 every state in this union, a republican form of govern 
 ment, and shall protect each of them against invasion , 
 
16 CONSTITUTION 
 
 and, on application of the legislature, or of the execu 
 tive, (when the legislature cannot be convened,) against 
 domestic violence. 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 
 1. The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses 
 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 
 tor proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be 
 valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this constitu 
 tion, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of 
 the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths 
 thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may 
 be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amend 
 ment which may be made prior to the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner affect the 
 first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first 
 article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be 
 deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 
 1. All debts contracted, and engagements entered into 
 before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as valitf 
 against the United States under this constitution, as undei 
 the confederation. 
 
 2. This constitution, and the laws of the United States 
 which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all trea 
 ties made, or which shall be made under the authority of 
 the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land ; 
 and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby ; any 
 thing in the constitution or laws of any state to the con 
 trary notwithstanding. 
 
 3. The senators and representatives before mentioned, 
 and the members of the several state legislatures, and all 
 executive and judicial officers, both of the United States 
 and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affir 
 mation to support this constitution ; but no religious test 
 shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or 
 public trust under the United States. 
 
OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 17 
 
 ARTICLE VII. 
 
 1. The ratification of the conventions of nine states 
 shall be sufficient for the establishment of this constitu 
 tion between the states so ratifying the same. 
 
 Done in convention, by the unanimous consent of the 
 states present, the seventeenth day of September, in 
 the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and 
 eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United 
 States of America, the twelfth. In witness whereof, 
 we have hereunto subscribed our names. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 
 President, and Deputy from Virginia. 
 
 New Hampshire. 
 JOHN LANGDON, 
 NICHOLAS GILMAN. 
 
 Massachusetts. 
 NATHANIEL GORHAM, 
 RUFUS KING. 
 
 Connecticut. 
 
 WM. SAMUEL JOHNSON, 
 ROGER SHERMAN. 
 
 New York. 
 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
 
 New Jersey. 
 WILLIAM LIVINGSTON, 
 DAVID BREARLEY, 
 WILLIAM PATTERSON. 
 JONATHAN DAYTON. 
 
 Pennsylvania. 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 THOMAS MIFFLIN, 
 ROBERT MORRIS, 
 GEORGE CLYMER, 
 THOMAS FITZSIMONS, 
 JARED INGERSOLL, 
 JAMES WILSON, 
 GOVERNEUR MORRIS. 
 
 Delaware^ 
 GEORGE REED, 
 GUNNING BEDFORD, Jr 
 JOHN DICKERSON, 
 RICHARD BASSETT, 
 JACOB BROOM. 
 
 Maryland. 
 JAMES M HENRY, 
 DANIEL JENIFER, of St. Tho, 
 DANIEL CARROLL. 
 
 Virginia. 
 JOHN BLAIR. 
 JAMES MADISON, Jr. 
 
 North Carolina. 
 WILLIAM BLOUNT, 
 RICH. DOBBS SPAIGHT, 
 HUGH WILLIAMSON. 
 
 South Carolina. 
 JOHN RUTLEDGE, 
 CHARLES C. PINCKNEST, 
 CHARLES PINCKNEY, 
 PIERCE BUTLER. 
 
 Georgia. 
 WILLIAM FEW, 
 ARRAHAM BALDWIN. 
 
 27 
 
 Attest, 
 
 WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary 
 
18 CONSTITUTION 
 
 AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 ART. I. Congress shall make no law respecting an 
 establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exer 
 cise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of 
 the press; or the right of the people peaceably to as 
 semble and to petition the government for a redress of 
 grievances. 
 
 ART. II. A well-regulated militia being necessary to 
 the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep 
 and bear arms shall not be infringed. 
 
 ART. JTI. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quar 
 tered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor 
 in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 
 
 ART. IV. The right of the people to be secure in 
 their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unrea 
 sonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and 
 no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, support 
 ed by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the 
 place to be searched, and the persons or things to be 
 seized. 
 
 ART. V. No person shall be held to answer for a capi 
 tal, 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 militia when in actual 
 service, in time of war or public danger; nor shall any 
 person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in 
 jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled, in any 
 criminal case, to be witness against himself, nor be de 
 prived of life, liberty, or property, without due process 
 of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use 
 without just compensation. 
 
 ART. VI. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused 
 shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an 
 impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime 
 shall have been committed, which district shall have been 
 previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the 
 nature and cause of the accusation ; to be conhontod 
 with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory pro- 
 
OF THE UNITED STATES. 19 
 
 cess for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the 
 assistance of counsel for his defence. 
 
 ART. VII. In suits of 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 com 
 mon law. 
 
 ART. VIII. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor 
 excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punish 
 ments inflicted. 
 
 ART. IX. The enumeration in the constitution, of 
 certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage 
 others retained by the people. 
 
 ART. X. The powers not delegated to the United 
 States by the constitution, nor prohibited to it by the 
 states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the 
 people. 
 
 ART. XI. The judicial power of the United States 
 shall 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. 
 
 ART. XII. 1. The electors shall meet in their respec 
 tive states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice- 
 President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabi 
 tant of the same state with themselves ; they shall name 
 in their ballots the persons voted for as President, and in 
 distinct ballots the persons voted for as Vic e-President; 
 and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted lor 
 as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-Presi 
 dent, and of the number of votes for each ; which lists 
 they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat 
 of government of the United States, directed to the 
 President of the Senate. The President of the Senate 
 shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Re 
 presentatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall 
 then be counted; the person having the greatest number 
 of votes for President, shall be President, if such number 
 be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, 
 and if no person have such majority, then from the per- 
 
20 
 
 CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 sons having the highest number, not exceeding three on 
 the list of those voted for as President, the House of Re 
 presentatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the Pre. 
 sident. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be 
 taken by states, the representation from each state having 
 one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a 
 member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a 
 majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. 
 And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a 
 President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon 
 them, before the fourth day of March next following, 
 then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the 
 case of the death or other constitutional disability of the 
 President. 
 
 2. The person having the greatest number of votes as 
 Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number 
 be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; 
 and if no person have a majority, then from thetwohigh- 
 est numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice- 
 President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two- 
 thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority 
 of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. 
 
 3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office 
 of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President 
 of the United States. 
 
 ART. XIII. If any citizen of the United States shall 
 accept, claim, receive, o v retain any title of nobility or 
 honor, or shall, without the consent of Congress, accept 
 or retain any present, pension, office, or emolumentof any 
 kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, or for 
 eign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the 
 United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office 
 of trust or profit under them, or either of them. 
 
21 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 PART I. 
 
 A Declaration of Rights of the Inhabitants of the Com 
 monwealth of Massachusetts. 
 
 Article 1. All men are born free and equal, and have 
 certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights : among 
 which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defend 
 ing their lives and liberties ; that of acquiring, possessing 
 and protecting property ; in fine, that of seeking and ob 
 taining their safety and happiness. 
 
 2. It is the right, as well as the duty, of all men in 
 society, publicly and at stated seasons, to worship the 
 Supreme Being, the Great Creator and Preserver of the 
 Universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or 
 restrained in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping 
 God in the manner and seasons most agreeable to the 
 dictates of his own conscience ; or for his religious pro 
 fession or sentiments ; provided he doth not disturb the 
 public peace, or obstruct others in their religious wor 
 ship. 
 
 3. As the happiness of a people, and the good order 
 and preservation of civil government, essentially depend 
 upon piety, religion, and morality; and as these cannot 
 be generally diffused throughout the community, but by 
 the institution of a public worship of God, and of public 
 institutions in piety, religion, and morality ; therefore, to 
 promote their happiness, and to secure the good order 
 and preservation of their government, the people of this 
 commonwealth have a right to invest their legislature 
 with power to authorize and require, and the legislature 
 shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the 
 several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies politic, 
 or religious societies, to make suitable provision, at theii 
 own expense, for the institution of the public worship of 
 God, and for the support and maintenance of public protes- 
 tant teachers of piety, religion, and morality in all cases 
 where such provision shall net be made voluntarily 
 
22 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 All the people of the commonwealth have also a right 
 to, and do, invest their legislature with authority to enjoin 
 upon all the subjects an attendance upon the instructions 
 ot the public teachers, as aforesaid, at stated times and 
 seasons, if their be any one whose instructions they can 
 conscientiously and conveniently attend : 
 
 Provided, notwithstanding, that the several towns, 
 parishes, precincts, and other bodies politic, or religious 
 societies, shall, at all times, have the exclusive right of 
 electing their public teachers, and of contracting with 
 them for their support and maintenance. 
 
 All moneys paid by the subject to the support of public 
 worship, and of the public teachers aforesaid, shall, if he re 
 quire it, be uniformly applied to the support of the public 
 teacher or teachers of his own religious sect or denomi 
 nation, provided there be any, on whose instruction he 
 attends; otherwise it may be paid towards the support ot 
 the teacher or teachers of the parish or precinct in which 
 the said moneys are raised. 
 
 And every denomination of Christians, demeaning 
 themselves peaceably, and as good subjects of the com 
 monwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the 
 law ; and no subordination of any sect or denomination 
 to another shall ever be established by law. 
 
 4. The people of the commonwealth have the sole and 
 exclusive right of governing themselves, as a free, sove 
 reign, and independent State : and do, and for ever here 
 after shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, 
 and right, which is not, or may not hereafter be by them 
 expressly delegated to the United States of America, in 
 congress assembled. 
 
 5. All power residing originally in the people, and 
 being derived from them, the several magistrates and of 
 ficers of government vested with authority, whether legis 
 lative, executive, or judicial, are their substitutes and 
 agents, and are at all times accountable to them. 
 
 6. No man, or corporation, or association of men, have 
 any other title to obtain advantages, or particular and ex 
 clusive privileges, distinct from those of the community, 
 than what arises from the consideration of services ren 
 dered to the public And this title being, in nature 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 28 
 
 neither hereditary nor transmissible to children 01 de 
 scendants, or relations of blood, the idea of a man born a 
 magistrate, lawgiver, or judge, is absurd and unnatural. 
 
 7. Government is instituted for the common good : for 
 the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the 
 people : and not for the profit, honor, or private interest 
 of any one man, family, or any one class of men. There 
 fore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, 
 and indefeasible right to institute government, and to re 
 form, alter, or totally change the same, when their pro 
 tection, safety, prosperity and happiness require it. 
 
 8. In order to prevent those who are vested with autho 
 rity from becoming oppressors, the people have a right, 
 at such periods and in such manner as they shall establish 
 by the frame of Government, to cause their public officers 
 to return to private life, and to fill up vacant places by 
 certain and regular elections and appointments. 
 
 9. All elections ought to be free : and all the inhabi 
 tants of this commonwealth, having such qualifications 
 as they shall establish by their frame of Government, 
 have an equal right to elect officers, and to be elected for 
 public employments. 
 
 10. Each individual of the society has a right to be 
 protected by it, in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and 
 property, according to the standing laws. He is obliged, 
 consequently, to contribute his share to the expense of 
 this protection ; to give his personal service, or an equi 
 valent, when necessary. But no part of the property of 
 any individual can, with justice, be taken from him, or 
 applied to the public use, without his own consent, or 
 that of the representative body of the people. In fine 
 the people of this commonwealth are not controllable by 
 any other laws than those to which their constitutional 
 representative body have given their consent. And 
 whenever the public exigencies require that the property 
 of any individual should be appropriated to public uses, 
 he shall receive a reasonable compensation therefor. 
 
 11. Every subject of the commonwealth ought to find 
 a certain remedy, by having recourse to the laws, for ali 
 injuries or wrongs which he may receive, in his person, 
 property, or chaiacter. He ought to obtain right and 
 
24 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 justice freely, and without being obliged to purchase it 
 completely, and without any denial promptly, and with 
 out delay conformably to the laws. 
 
 12. No person shall be held to answer for any crime 
 or offence, until the same is fully and plainly, substantial 
 ly and formally, described to him ; or be compelled to 
 accuse or furnish evidence against himself. And every 
 person shall have a right to produce all proofs that may 
 be favorable to him ; to meet the witnesses against him, 
 face to face, and be fully heard in his defence, by himself, or 
 his counsel, at his election. And no person shall be arrested, 
 imprisoned, or despoiled or deprived of his property, im 
 munities, or privileges, pdt out of the protection of the 
 law, exiled, or deprived of his life, liberty, or estate, but 
 by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land. 
 
 And the legislature shall not make any law that shall 
 subject any person to a capital or infamous punishment 
 (excepting for the Government of the army and navy) 
 without trial by jury. 
 
 13. In criminal prosecutions the verifications of facts, 
 in the vicinity where they happen, is one of the greatest 
 securities of the life, liberty, and property of the citi 
 zen. 
 
 14. Every person has a right to be secure from all 
 unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, his 
 house, his papers, and all his possessions. All warrants, 
 therefore, are contrary to this right, if the cause or foun 
 dation of them be not previously supported by oath or 
 affirmation ; and if the order, in a warrant to a civil offi 
 cer, to make search in all suspected places, or to arrest 
 one or more suspected persons, or to seize their property, 
 be not accompanied with a special designation of the per 
 sons, or objects of search, arrest, or seizure. And no 
 warrant ought to be issued but in such cases, and with 
 the formalities prescribed by the laws. 
 
 15. In all controversies concerning property, and in all 
 suits between two or more persons, (except in cases in 
 which it has heretofore been otherwise used and prac 
 tised,) the parties have a right to a trial by jury ; and this 
 method of procedure shall be held sacred, unless, in 
 cases arising on the high seas, and such AS relate to mu- 
 
CONSTITUTION OP MASSACHUSETTS. 25 
 
 liner s wages, the legislature shall hereafter find it neces 
 sary to alter it. 
 
 16. The liberty of the press is essential to security of 
 freedom in a state ; it ought not, therefore, to be restrain 
 ed in this commonwealth. 
 
 17. The people have a right to keep and to bear arms 
 for the common defence. And as, in time of peace, 
 armies are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be 
 maintained, without the consent of the legislature : and 
 the military power shall always be held in exact subordi 
 nation to the civil authority, and be governed by it. 
 
 18. A frequent recurrence to the fundamental princi 
 ples of the Constitution, and a constant adherence to those 
 of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and 
 frugality, are absolutely necessary to preserve the advan 
 tages of liberty, and to maintain a free government. The 
 people ought, consequently, to have a particular attention 
 to all those principles, in the choice of their officers and 
 representatives, and they have a right to require of their 
 lawgivers, and magistrates, an exact and constant obser 
 vance of them, in the formation and execution of all laws 
 necessary for the good administration of the common 
 wealth. 
 
 19. The people have a right, in an orderly and peace 
 able manner, to assemble upon the common good, give 
 instruction to their representatives ; and to request of the 
 legislative body, by the way of addresses, petitions, or 
 remonstrances, redress of the wrongs done them, and of 
 the grievances they suffer. 
 
 20. The power of suspending the laws, or the execu 
 tion of the laws, ought never to be exercised but by the 
 legislature : or by authority derived from it, to be exer 
 cised in such particular cases only as the legislature shall 
 expressly provide for. 
 
 21. The freedom of deliberation, speech, and debate, 
 in either house of the legislature, is so essential to the 
 rights of the people, that it cannot be the foundation of 
 any accusation or prosecution, action or complaint, in any 
 other court or pln^e whatsoever. 
 
 22. The legislature ought frequently to assemble, for 
 the redress of grievances, for correcting, strengthening, 
 
26 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 and confirming the laws, and for making new laws, as 
 die common good may require. 
 
 23. No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or duties, ought 
 to be established, fixed, laid, or levied, under any pretext 
 whatever, without the consent of the people, or their re 
 presentatives in the legislature. 
 
 24. Laws made to punish for actions done before the 
 existence of such laws, and which have not been declared 
 crimes by preceding laws, are unjust, oppressive, and in 
 consistent with the fundamental principles of a free govern 
 ment. 
 
 25. No person ought, in any case, or in any time, to 
 be declared guilty of treason or felony by the legislature. 
 
 26. No magistrate, or court of law, shall demand ex 
 cessive bail or sureties, impose excessive fines, or inflict 
 cruel or unusual punishments. 
 
 27. In time of peace, no soldier ought to be quartered 
 in any house, without the consent of the owner; and in 
 time of war, such quarters ought not to be made, but by 
 the civil magistrates, in manner ordained by the legislature. 
 
 28. No person can, in any case, be subjected to law 
 martial, or to any penalties or pains by virtue of that 
 law, (except those employed in the army or navy, and 
 except the militia in actual service,) but by the authority 
 of the legislature. 
 
 29. It is essential to the preservation of the rights of 
 every individual, his life, liberty, property, and charac 
 ter, that there be an impartial interpretation of the laws, 
 and administrati > of justice. It is the right of every citi 
 zen to be tried by judges as free, impartial, and indepen 
 dent, as the lot of humanity will admit. It is, therefore, 
 not only the best policy, but for the security of the rights 
 of the people, and of every citizen, that the judges of the 
 supreme judicial court should hold their offices as long 
 as they behave themselves well ; and that they should 
 have honorable salaries, ascertained and established by 
 standing laws. 
 
 30. In the government of this commonwealth, the le 
 gislative department shall never exercise the executive 
 and judicial powers, or either of them ; the executive 
 shall never exercise the legislative and judicial power*. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS, 27 
 
 or either of them ; the judicial shall never exercise the 
 legislative and executive powers, or either of them : to 
 the end that it may be a government of laws, and not of men. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Frame of Government. 
 
 The people inhabiting the territory formerly called the 
 province of Massachusetts Bay, do hereby solemnly and 
 mutually agree with each other to form themselves into a 
 free, sovereign, and independent body politic, or state, by 
 the name of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SECTION 1. THE LEGISLATIVE POWER. 
 The General Court. 
 
 Article 1. The department of legislation shall be form 
 ed by two branches, a Senate and House of Representatives : 
 each of which shall have a negative on the other. 
 
 The legislative body shall assemble every year, on the 
 last Wednesday of May, and at such other times as they 
 shall judge necessary ; and shall dissolve and be dissolved 
 on the day next preceding the last Wednesday in May ; 
 and shall be styled, The General Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 2. No bill or resolve of the Senate or House of Repre 
 sentatives shall become a law, and have force as such, un 
 til it shall have been laid before the Governor for his re- 
 visal; and if he, upon such revision, approve thereof, he 
 shall signify his approbation by signing the same. But, 
 if he have any objection to the passing of such bill or re 
 solve, he shall return the same, together with his objec 
 tions thereto, in writing, to the Senate or House of Repre 
 sentatives, in whichsoever the same shall have originated , 
 who shall enter the objections sent down by the Governor, 
 at large, on their records, and proceed to reconsider the 
 said bill or resolve ; but if, after such reconsideration 
 two-thirds of the said Senate or House of Representatives 
 
28 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 shall, notwithstanding the said objections, agree to pass 
 fhe same, it shall, together with the objections, be sent 
 to the other branch of the legislature, where it shall also 
 be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of the mem 
 bers present, it shall have the force of a law ; but in all 
 such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined 
 by yeas and nays : and the names of the persons voting 
 for or against the said bill or resolve, shall be entered 
 upon the public records of the commonwealth. 
 
 And, in order to prevent unnecessary delays, if any bill 
 or resolve shall not be returned by the Governor within 
 five days after it shall have been presented, the same shall 
 have the force of a law. 
 
 3. The general court shall for ever have full power 
 and authority to erect and constitute judicatories, and 
 courts of record, or other courts, to be held in the name 
 of the commonwealth, for the hearing, trying, and de 
 termining of all manner of crimes, offences, pleas, pro 
 cesses, plaints, actions, matters, causes, and things what 
 soever, arising or happening within the commonwealth, 
 or between or concerning persons inhabiting, or residing, 
 or brought within the same ; whether the same be crimi 
 nal or civil ; or whether the said crimes be capital or not 
 capital, or whether the said pleas be real, personal, or 
 mixed ; and for the awarding and making out of execution 
 thereupon ; to which courts and judicatories are hereby 
 given and granted full power and authority, from time to 
 time, to administer oaths or affirmations, for the better 
 discovery of truth in any matter in controversy or depend 
 ing before them. 
 
 4. And further, full power and authority are hereby 
 given and granted to the said general court, from time to 
 time, to make, ordain and establish all manner of whole 
 some and reasonable orders, laws, statutes, ordinances, 
 directions, and instructions, either with penalties or 
 without (so as the same be not repugnant or contrary 
 to this Constitution,) as they shall judge to be for the good 
 and welfare of this commonwealth, and for the govern 
 ment and ordering thereof, and of the citizens of the same, 
 Rnd for the necessary support and defence of the govern 
 ment thereof; and to name and settle annually, or pro- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 29 
 
 vide by fixed laws for the naming and settling all civil 
 officers, within the said commonwealth, the election and 
 constitution of whom are not hereafter, in this form of 
 government, otherwise provided for: and to set forth the 
 several duties, powers, and limits of the several civil and 
 military officers of this commonwealth, and the forms of 
 such oaths or affirmations shall be respectively adminis 
 tered unto them for the execution of their several offices 
 and places, so as the same be pot repugnant or contrary 
 to this Constitution ; and to impose and levy proportion 
 able and reasonable assessments, rates, and taxes upon all 
 thfe inhabitants of, and persons resident, and estates lying 
 within the said commonwealth; and also to impose and 
 levy reasonable duties and excises upon any produce, 
 goods, wares, merchandises, and commodities whatso 
 ever, brought into, produced, manufactured, or being 
 within the same ; to be issued and disposed of by warrant 
 under the hand of the Governor of this commonwealth 
 for the time being, with the advice and consent of the 
 council, for the public service, in the necessary defence 
 and support of the government of the said commonwealth, 
 and the protection and preservation of the citizens thereof, 
 according to such acts as are or shall be in force within 
 the same. 
 
 And while the public charges of government, or any 
 part thereof, shall be assessed on polls and estates in the 
 manner that has hitherto been practised ; in order that such 
 assessments may be made with equality, there shall be a 
 valuation of estates within the commonwealth taken anew 
 once in every ten years, at the least, and as much oftener 
 as the general court shall order. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 SECTION 2. Senate. 
 
 Article 1 There shall be annually elected by the free 
 holders and other inhabitants of this commonwealth, 
 qualified as in this Constitution is provided, forty persons 
 to be counsellors and senators for the year ensuing their 
 election ; to be chosen by the inhabitants of the districts 
 28 
 
30 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 into which the commonwealth may from time to time b> 
 divided by the genera] court for that purpose. And the 
 general court, in assigning the numbers to be elected by 
 the representative districts, shall govern themselves by 
 the proportion of the public taxes paid by the said dis 
 tricts ; and timely make known to the inhabitants of the 
 commonwealth, the limits of each district, and the num 
 bers of counsellors and senators to be chosen therein : 
 provided that the number,of such districts shall be never 
 less than thirteen ; and that no district be so large as to 
 entitle the same to choose more than six senators. 
 
 And the several counties in this commonwealth shall, 
 until the general court shall determine it necessary to alter 
 the said districts, be districts for choice of counsellors and 
 senators, (except that the counties of Dukes county and 
 Nan tucket shall form one district for that purpose, )and shall 
 elect the following number for counsellors and senators, viz.: 
 
 Suffolk six 
 
 Essex six 
 
 Middlesex .... five 
 Hampshire .... four 
 
 Plymouth three 
 
 Barnstable .... one 
 Bristol three 
 
 York two 
 
 Dukes county and 
 
 Nantucket $ 
 
 one 
 
 Worcester five 
 
 Cumberland .... one 
 
 Lincoln one 
 
 Berkshire , . . two 
 
 2. The Senate shall be the first branch of the legisla 
 ture : and the senators shall be chosen in the following 
 manner, viz : There shall be a meeting on the first Mon 
 day in April, annually forever, of the inhabitants of each 
 town in the several counties of this commonwealth ; to 
 be called by the selectmen, and warned in due course of 
 law, at least seven days before the first Monday in April, 
 for the purpose of electing persons to be senators and 
 counsellors. And at such meetings every male inhabitant, 
 of twenty-one years of age and upwards, having a free 
 hold estate within the commonwealth of the annual in 
 come of three pounds, or any estate of the value of sixty 
 pounds, shall have a right to give in his vote for the sen 
 ators for the district of which he is an inhabitant. And to 
 remove all doubts concerning the word " inhabitant" in 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 31 
 
 thib Constitution, every person shall be considered as an 
 inhabitant (for the purpose of electing and being elected 
 into any office or place within this state) in that town, 
 district, or plantation, where hedwelleth or hath his home. 
 
 The selectmen of the several towns shall preside at such 
 meetings impartially ; and shall receive the votes of all the 
 inhabitants of such towns, present and qualified to vote for 
 senators; and shall sort and count them in open town n.eet 
 ing, and in presence of the town clerk, who shall make a fail 
 record, in presence of the selectmen, and in open town 
 meeting, of the name of every person voted for, and of the 
 number of votes against his name ; and a fair copy of this 
 record shall be attested by the selectmen and the town 
 clerk, and shall be sealed up, directed to the secretary of 
 the commonwealth for the time being, with a superscrip 
 tion, expressing the purports of the contents thereof, and 
 delivered by the town clerk of such town to the sheriff 
 of the county in which such town lies, thirty days at 
 least before the last Wednesday in May, annually ; or it 
 shall be delivered into the secretary s office seventeen 
 days at least before the said last Wednesday in May ; 
 and the sheriff of each county shall deliver all such certi 
 ficates by him received into the secretary s office, seven 
 teen days before the said last Wednesday in May. 
 
 And the inhabitants of plantations unincorporated, 
 (qualified as this Constitution provides,) who are or shall 
 be empowered and required to assess taxes upon them 
 selves, toward the support of government, shall have the 
 same privilege of voting for counsellors and senators in 
 the plantations where they reside, as town inhabitants 
 have in their respective towns ; and the plantation meet 
 ings for that purpose shall be held annually on the same 
 first Monday in April, at such place in the plantations re 
 spectively as the assessors thereof shall direct ; which as 
 sessors shall have like authority for notifying the electors, 
 collecting and returning the votes, as the selectmen and 
 town clerks have in their several towns, by this Constitu 
 tion ; and all other persons, living in places unincorpora 
 ted, (qualified as aforesaid,) who shall be assessed to the 
 support of government by the assessors of an adjacent 
 town, -shall have the privilege of giving in then votes for 
 
32 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 counsellors and senators in the town where they shall be 
 assessed, and be notified of the place of meeting, by the 
 selectmen of the town where they shall be assessed, lor 
 that purpose, accordingly. 
 
 3. And that there may be a due convention of senators 
 on the last Wednesday in May annually, the Governor 
 and five of the council, for the time being, shall, as soon 
 as niay be, examine the returned copies of such records ; 
 and, fourteen days before the said day, he shall issue his 
 summons to such persons as shall appear to be chosen by 
 the majority of votes, to attend on that day and take their 
 seats accordingly : provided, nevertheless, that, for the 
 first year, the said returned copies shall be examined by 
 the president and five of the council of the former Consti 
 tution of government : and the said president shall, in like 
 manner, issue his summons to the persons so elected, that 
 they may take their seats as aforesaid. 
 
 4. The Senate shall be the final judge of the elections, 
 returns, and qualifications of their own members, as 
 pointed out in the Constitution ; and shall, on the said 
 last Wednesday in May, annually, determine and declare 
 who are elected by each district, to be senators, by a ma 
 jority of votes : and in case there shall not appear to be 
 the full number of senators returned, elected by a majori 
 ty of votes for any district, the deficiency shall be sup 
 plied in the following manner, viz. : The members of the 
 House of Representatives, and such senators as shall be de 
 clared elected, shall take the names of such persons as 
 shall be found to have the highest number of votes in such 
 district, and not elected, amounting to twice the number 
 of senators wanting, if there be so many voted for; and 
 out of these shall elect, by ballot, a number of senators 
 sufficient to fill up the vacancies in such district ; and in 
 this manner all such vacancies shall be filled in every dis 
 trict of the commonwealth: and, in liks manner, all va 
 cancies in the Senate, arising by death, removal out of 
 the state, or otherwise, shall be supplied as soon as may 
 be after such vacancies shall happen : 
 
 5. Provided, nevertheless, that no person shall be ca 
 pable of being elected a senator, who is not seized in his 
 own right of a freehold within this commonwealth of the 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 33 
 
 ralue of three hundred pounds at least, or possessed of per 
 sonal estate to the value of six hundred pounds at least, 
 or of both to the amount of the same sum ; and who has 
 not been an inhabitant of this commonweal th for the space 
 of five years immediately preceding his election ; arid at 
 the time of his election he shall be an inhabitant in the 
 district for which he shall be chosen. 
 
 6. The Senate shall have power to adjourn themselves, 
 provided such adjournments do not exceed two days at a 
 time. 
 
 7. The Senate shall choose its own president, appoint 
 its own officers, and determine its own rules of proceedings. 
 
 8. The Senate shall be a court with full authority to 
 hear and determine all impeachments made by the House 
 of Representatives, against any officer or officers of the 
 commonwealth, for misconduct, and maladministration in 
 their offices. But, previous to the trial of every impeach 
 ment, the members of the Senate shall respectively be 
 sworn, truly and impartially to try and determine the 
 charge in question, according to evidence. Their judgment, 
 however, shall not extend further than to removal from 
 office, and disqualification to hold or enjoy any place of 
 honor, trust, or profit, under this commonwealth : but the 
 part/ so convicted shall be, nevertheless, liable to im 
 peachment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to 
 the laws of the land. 
 
 9. Not less than sixteen members of the Senate shall 
 constitute a quorum for doing business. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SECTION 3. House of Representatives. 
 
 Article 1. There shall be, in the legislature of this 
 commonwealth, a representation of the people, annually 
 elected, and founded upon the principle of equality. 
 
 2. And in order to provide for a representation of the 
 citizens of this commonwealth, founded on the principles 
 of equality, every corporate town containingone hundred 
 and fifty ratable polls may elect one representative ; eve- 
 y corporate town containing three hundred and seventy- 
 
34 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 five ratable polls may elect two representatives : every 
 corporate town containing six hundred ratable polls, may 
 elect three representatives ; and proceeding in that man- 
 ner, making two hundred and twenty-five ratable polls 
 the mean increasing number for every additional repre 
 sentative : 
 
 Provided, nevertheless, that each town now incorpora 
 ted, not having one hundred and fifty ratable polls, may 
 elect one representative. But no place shall hereafter be 
 incorporated with the privilege of electing a representa 
 tive, unless there are, within the same, one hundred and 
 fifty ratable polls. 
 
 And the House of Representatives shall have power, 
 from time to time, to impose fines upon such towns as 
 shall neglect to choose and return members to the same, 
 agreeably to this Constitution. 
 
 The expenses of travelling to the general assembly, 
 and returning home, once in every session, and no more, 
 shall be paid by the government, out of the public trea 
 sury, to every member who shall attend as seasonably as 
 he can,- in the judgment of the House, and does not de 
 part without leave. 
 
 3. Every member of the House of Representatives shall 
 be chosen by written votes ; and for one year at least next 
 preceding his election shall have been an inhabitant of, 
 and have been seized in his own right of a freehold of 
 the value of one hundred pounds within the town he shall 
 be chosen to represent, or any ratable estate, to the value 
 of two hundred pounds ; and he shall cease to represent 
 the said town immediately on his ceasing to be qualified 
 as aforesaid. 
 
 4. Every male person (being twenty-one years of age, 
 and resident of any particular town in this commonwealth, 
 for the space of one year next preceding) having a free 
 hold estate within the same town, of the annual income of 
 three pounds, or any estate of the value of sixty pounds, 
 shall have a right to vote in the choice of a representa 
 tive, or representatives for the said town. 
 
 5. The members of the House of Representatives shall 
 be chosen annually, in the month of May, ten days, at 
 east, before the last Wednesday of that month. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 35 
 
 6. The House of Representatives shall he the grand in* 
 % quest of this commonwealth ; and all impeachments, 
 made by them, shall be heard and tried by the Senate. 
 
 7. All money bills shall originate in the House of Re 
 presentatives : but the Senate may propose or concur with 
 amendments as on other bills. 
 
 8. The House of Representatives shall have power to 
 adjourn themselves ; provided such adjournment shall not 
 exceed two days at a time. 
 
 9. Not less than sixty members of the House of Repre 
 sentatives shall constitute a quorum for doing business. 
 
 10. The House of Representatives shall be the judge of 
 the returns, elections, and qualifications of its own mem 
 bers, as pointed out in the constitution ; shall choose their 
 own speaker ; appoint their own officers, and settle their 
 rules and orders of proceeding in their own house. They 
 shall have authority to punish, by imprisonment, every 
 person (not a member) who shall be guilty of disrespect 
 to the House, by any disorderly or contemptuous beha 
 vior : n its presence ; or who, in the town where the gen 
 eral court is sitting, shall threaten harm to the body or 
 estate of any of its members, for any thing said or done in 
 the House; or who shall assault any of them therefor; 
 or who shall assault or arrest any witness or other person, 
 ordered to attend the House in his way in going or re 
 turning ; or who shall rescue any person arrested by the 
 order of the House. 
 
 And no member of the House of Representatives shall 
 be arrested or held to bail on mesne process, during his 
 going into, returning from, or his attending the general as 
 sembly 
 
 11. The Senate have the same powers in the like 
 cases ; and the Governor and Council shall have the same 
 authority to punish in like cases : provided, that no im 
 prisonment, on the warrant or order of the Governcr, 
 Council, Senate, or House of Representatives, for either 
 of the above described offences, be for a term exceeding 
 thirty days. 
 
 And the Senate and House of Representatives may try 
 and determine all cases where their rights and privileges 
 
36 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 are concerned, and which, by the Constitution, they havi 
 authority to try and determine, by committees of theif 
 own members, or in such other way as they may respec 
 tively think best. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SECTION 1. EXECUTIVE POWER. 
 
 Governor 
 
 Article 1. There shall be a supreme executive magis 
 trate, who shall be styled the Governor of the Common 
 wealth of Massachusetts ; and whose title shall be, His 
 Excellency. 
 
 2. The Governor shall be chosen annually: and no per 
 son shall be eligible to this office, unless at the time of 
 his election he shall have been an inhabitant of this com 
 monwealth for seven years next preceding; and unless 
 he shall, at the same time, be seized, in his own right, 
 of a freehold within the commonwealth of the value of 
 one thousand pounds ; and unless he shall declare him 
 self to be of the Christian religion. 
 
 3. Those persons who shall be qualified to vote for 
 senators and representatives, within the several towns of 
 this commonwealth, shall, at a meeting to be called for 
 that purpose, on the first Monday of April, annually, give 
 in their votes for a Governor to the selectmen, who shall 
 preside at such meetings ; and the town clerk, in the pre 
 sence, and with the assistance of the selectmen, shall, in 
 open town meeting, sort and count the votes, and form a 
 list of the persons voted for, with the number of votes for 
 each person, against his name : and shall make a fair 
 record of the same in the town books, and a public decla 
 ration thereof in the said meeting ; and shall, in the pre 
 sence of the inhabitants, seal up copies of the said litits, 
 attested by him and the selectmen, and transmit the same 
 to the sheriff of the county, thirty days at least before the 
 .ast Wednesday in May : and the sheriff shall transmit 
 the same to the secretary s office seventeen days at least 
 before the said last Wednesday in May ; or the selectmen 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 37 
 
 may cause returns of the same to be made to the office 
 of the secretary of the commonwealth, seventeen days 
 at least before the said day ; and the secretary shall 
 lay the same before the Senate and House of Repre 
 sentatives on the last Wednesday in May, to be by them 
 examined: and in case of an election by a majority of all 
 the votes returned, the choice shall be by them declared 
 and published. But if no person shall have a majority 
 of votes, the House of Representatives shall, by ballot, 
 elect two out of four persons, who had the highest num 
 ber of votes, if so many shall have been voted for: but, 
 if otherwise, out of the number voted for; and make return 
 to the Senate of the persons so elected; on which the 
 Senate shall, by ballot, elect one who shall be declared 
 Governor. 
 
 4. The Governor shall have authority from time to 
 time, at his discretion, to assemble and call together the 
 counsellors of this commonwealth for the time being ; 
 and the Governor, with the said counsellors, or five of 
 them at least, shall, and may from time to time, hold and 
 keep a council, for the ordering and directing the affairs 
 of the commonwealth, agreeably to the Constitution and 
 laws of the land. 
 
 5. The Governor, with the advice of council, shall 
 have full power and authority, during the session of the 
 general court, to adjourn or prorogue the same, to ,any 
 time the two Houses shall desire ; and to dissolve the same 
 on the day next preceding the last Wednesday in May, 
 and in the recess of the said court to prorogue the same, 
 from time to time, not exceeding ninety days in any one 
 recess : and to call it together sooner than the time to 
 which it may be adjourned or prorogued, if the welfare 
 of the commonwealth shall require the same. And in 
 case of any infectious distemper prevailing in the place 
 where the said court is next, at any time, to convene, or 
 any cause happening, whereby danger may arise to the 
 health or lives of the members from their attendance, he 
 may direct the session to be held at some other of the 
 most convenient places within the State. 
 
 And the Governor shall dissolve the said general court 
 on the day next preceding the last Wednesday in May 
 
38 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ft. In cases of disagreement between the two Houses 
 with regard to the necessity, expediency, or time of ad 
 journment, or prorogation, the Governor, with advice of 
 the council, shall have a right to adjourn or prorogue the 
 general court, not exceeding ninety days, as he shall de 
 termine, and the public good shall require. 
 
 7. The Governor of this commonwealth, for the time 
 being, shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy, 
 and of all the military forces of the State, by sea and 
 land ; and shall have full power, by himself, or by any 
 commander, or other officer or officers, from time to time, 
 to train, instruct, exercise, and govern the militia and 
 navy; and, for the special defence and safety of the com 
 monwealth, to assemble in martial array, and put in war 
 like posture, the inhabitants thereof; and to lead and 
 conduct them, and with them to encounter, repel, resist, 
 expel, and pursue, by force of arms, as well by sea as by 
 land, within or without the limits of this commonwealth ; 
 and also to kill, slay, and destroy, if necessary, and con 
 quer, by all fitting ways, enterprises, and means whatso 
 ever, all and every such person or persons, as shall at 
 any time hereafter, in a hostile manner, attempt or enter 
 prise the destruction, invasion, detriment, or annoyance 
 of this commonwealth; and to use and exercise over the 
 army and navy, and over the militia in actual service, the 
 law martial, in time of war or invasion, and also in time 
 of rebellion, (declared by the legislature to exist,) as oc 
 casion shall necessarily require ; and to take and surprise, 
 by all ways and means whatsoever, all and every such 
 person or persons (with their ships, arms, ammunition, 
 and goods) as shall, in a hostile manner, invade, or at 
 tempt the invading, conquering, or annoying this com 
 monwealth : and that the Governor be intrusted with all 
 these and other powers incident to the offices of captain- 
 general, and commander-in-chief, and admiral, to be ex 
 ercised agreeably to the rules and regulations of the Con 
 stitution, and the laws of the land, and not otherwise. 
 
 Provided, that the said Governor shall not, at any time 
 hereafter, by virtue of any power by this Constitution 
 granted, or hereafter to be granted to him by ihe legisla 
 ture, transport any of the inhabitants of this common 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 39 
 
 wealth, or oblige them to march out of the limits of the 
 same, without their free and voluntary consent, or the 
 consent of the general court ; except so far as may be ne 
 cessary to march or transport them by land or water, for 
 tbe defence of such part of the State, to which they can 
 not conveniently have access. 
 
 8. The power of pardoning offences, except such as 
 persons may be convicted of before the Senate by an im 
 peachment of the House, shall be in the Governor, by 
 and with the advice of council; but no charter of pardon, 
 granted by the Governor, with advice of the council, be 
 fore conviction, shall avail the party pleading the same, 
 notwithstanding any general or particular expressions 
 contained therein, descriptive of the offence or offences 
 intended to be pardoned. 
 
 9. All judicial officers, the attorney-general, the soli 
 citor-general, all sheriffs, coroners, and registers of pro 
 bate, shall be nominated and appointed by the Governor, 
 by and with the advice and consent of the council ; and 
 every such nomination shall be made by the Governor, and 
 made at least seven days prior to such appointment. 
 
 10. The captains and subalterns of the militia shall be 
 elected by the written votes of the train band and alarm 
 list of their respective companies, of twenty-one years of 
 age and upwards. The field officers of regiments shall 
 be elected by the written votes of the captains and sub 
 alterns of their respective regiments. The brigadiers 
 shall be elected, in like manner, by the field officers of 
 their respective brigades. And such officers, so elected, 
 shall be commissioned by the Governor, who shall deter 
 mine their rank. 
 
 The legislature shall, by standing laws, direct the time 
 and manner of convening the electors, and of collecting 
 votes, and of certifying to the Governor the officers elected 
 
 The major-generals shall be appointed by the Senate 
 and House of Representatives, each having a negative 
 upon the other; and be commissioned by the Governor. 
 
 And if the electors of brigadiers, field officers, captains, 
 or subalterns, shall neglect or refuse to make such elec 
 tions, after being duly notified according to the laws of 
 the time being, then the Governor with advice of council 
 shall apuoint suitable persons to fill such offices 
 
40 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 And no officer, duly commissioned to command in the 
 militia, shall be removed from his office, but by the ad 
 dress of both Houses to the Governor, or by fair trial in 
 court-martial, pursuant to the laws of the commonwealth 
 for die time being. 
 
 The commanding officers of regiments shall appoint 
 their adjutants and quarter-masters ; the brigadiers their 
 brigade-majors; and the major-generals their aids; and 
 the Governor shall appoint the adjutant-general. 
 
 The Governor, with advice of council, shall appoint all 
 officers of the continental army, whom (by the confedera 
 tion of the United States) it is provided that this com 
 monwealth shall appoint, as also all officers of forts and 
 garrisons. 
 
 The divisions of the militia into brigades, regiments, 
 and companies, made in pursuance of the militia laws 
 now in force, shall be considered as the proper divisions 
 of the militia of this commonwealth, until the same shall 
 be altered in pursuance of some future law. 
 
 11. No moneys shall be issued out of the treasury of 
 this commonwealth, and be disposed of (except such 
 sums as may be appropriated for the redemption of bills 
 of credit or treasurer s notes, or for the payment of inte 
 rest arising thereon) but by warrant, under the hand of the 
 Governor for the time being, with the advice and consent 
 of the council, for the necessary defence and support of 
 the commonwealth, and for the protection and preserva 
 tion of the inhabitants thereof, agreeably to the act and 
 resolves of the general court. 
 
 12. All public boards, the commissary-general, all su 
 perintending officers of public magazines and stores, be 
 longing to this commonwealth, and all commanding offi 
 cers of forts and garrisons within the same, shall, once in 
 every three months, officially* and without requisition, 
 and at other times, when required by the Governor, deli 
 ver to him an account of all goods, stores, provisions, 
 ammunition, cannon, with their appendages, and small 
 arms, with their accoutrements, and of all other public 
 property whatever, under their care respectively ; distin 
 guishing the quantity, number, quality, and kind of each, 
 as particular as may be ; together with the condition of 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 41 
 
 such forts and garrisons. And the said commanding of 
 ficer shall exhibit to the Governor, when required by 
 him, true and exact plans of such forts, and of the land 
 und sea, harbor or harbors, adjacent. 
 
 And the said boards and all public officers shall com 
 municate to the Governor, as soon as may be, after re 
 ceiving the same, all despatches and intelligence of a pub 
 lic nature, which shall be directed to them respectively. 
 
 13. As the public good requires that the Governor 
 should not be under the influence of any of the members 
 of the general court, by a dependence on them for his 
 support: that he should in all cases act with freedom for 
 the benefit of the public ; that he should not have his at 
 tention necessarily diverted from that object, to his pri 
 vate concerns ; and that he should maintain the dignity 
 of the commonwealth, in the character of its chief magis 
 trate it is necessary that he should have an honorable 
 stated salary, of a fixed and permanent value, amply suf 
 ficient for those purposes, and established by standing 
 laws ; and it shall be among the first acts of the general 
 court, after the commencement of this Constitution, to es 
 tablish such salary by law accordingly. 
 
 Permanent and honorable salaries shall also be esta 
 blished by law for the justices of the supreme judicial 
 court. 
 
 And if it shall be found that any of the salaries afore 
 said, so established, are insufficient, they shall, from 
 time to time, be enlarged, as the general court shall judge 
 proper. 
 
 CHAPTER II. SECTION 2. 
 Lieutenant- Governor. 
 
 Article 1 . There shall be annually elected a Lieutenant- 
 Governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, whoso 
 title shall be, His Honour ; and who shall be qualified, 
 in point of religion, property, and residence in the com 
 monwealth, in the same manner with the Governor ; and 
 the day and manner of his election, and the qualifications 
 of the electors, shall be the same as are required m the 
 29 
 
42 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 election of a Governor. The return of the votes for this 
 officer, and the declaration of his election, shall be in the 
 same manner : and if no one person shall be found to have a 
 majority of all the votes returned, the vacancy shall be 
 filled by the Senate and House of Representatives, in the 
 same manner as the Governor is to be elected, in case no 
 one person shall have a majority of the votes of the peo 
 ple, to be Governor. 
 
 2. The Governor, and, in his absence, the Lieutenant- 
 Governor, shall be the president of the council ; but shall 
 have no vote in council ; and the Lieutenant-Governor 
 shall always be a member of the council, except when 
 the chair of the Governor shall be vacant. 
 
 3. Whenever the chair of the Governor shall be vacant 
 by reason of his death, or absence from the common 
 wealth, or otherwise, the Lieutenant-Governor for the 
 time being shall, during such vacancy, perform all the 
 duties incumbent upon the Governor, and shall have and 
 exercise all the power and authorities which, by this Con 
 stitution, the Governor is vested with, when personally 
 present. 
 
 CHAPTER II. SECTION 3. 
 
 Council, and the manner of settling Elections by the 
 Legislature. 
 
 Article 1. There shall be a council for advising the 
 Governor in the Executive part of the Government, to 
 consist of nine persons, besides the Lieutenant-Governor, 
 whom the Governor, for the time being, shall have full 
 power and authority from time to time, at his discretion, 
 to assemble and call together: and the Governor, with the 
 said counsellors, or five of them at least, shall and may, 
 from time to time, hold and keep a council, for the order 
 ing and directing the affairs of the commonwealth, accord 
 ing to the laws of the land. 
 
 2. Nine counsellors shall be annually chosen from 
 among the persons returned from the counsellors and 
 senators, on the last Wednesday in May, by the joint 
 ballot of the senators and representatives, assembled in 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 43 
 
 one room : and in case there shall not be found, upon the 
 first choice, the whole number of nine persons, who wiL 
 accept a seat in the council, the deficiency shall be made 
 up by the electors aforesaid, from among the people at 
 large ; and the number of senators left shall constitute the 
 Senate for the year. The seats for the persons thus 
 elected from the Senate, and accepting the trust, shall be 
 vacated in the Senate. 
 
 3. The counsellors, in the civil arrangements of the 
 commonwealth, shall have rank next after the Lieutenant- 
 Governor. 
 
 4. Not more than two counsellors shall be chosen out 
 of any one district of this commonwealth. 
 
 5. The resolutions and advice of the council shall be 
 recorded in a register; and signed by the members pre 
 sent: and this record may be called for at any time by 
 either house of the legislature ; and any member of the 
 council may insert his opinion, contrary to the resolution 
 of the majority. 
 
 6. Whenever the office of Governor and Lieutenant- 
 Governor shall be vacant, by reason of death, absence, or 
 otherwise, then the council, or the major part of them, 
 shall, during such vacancy, have full power and authority 
 to do and to execute all and every such acts, matters, and 
 things, as the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor might or 
 could, by virtue of this Constitution, do or execute, if 
 they or either of them were personally present. 4) 
 
 7. And whereas the elections appointed to be made by 
 ihis Constitution, on the last Wednesday in May annual 
 ly, by the two Houses of the legislature, may not be com 
 pleted on that day, the said elections may be adjourned 
 from day to day until the same shall be completed. And 
 the order of election shall be as follows : the vacancies in 
 the Senate, if any, shall first be filled up ; the Governor 
 and Lieutenant-Governor shall then be elected, provided 
 there shall be no choice of them by the people ; and after 
 wards the two Houses shall proceed to the election of the 
 council. 
 
44 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 CHAPTER II. SECTION 4. 
 Secretary, Treasurer, Commissary, fyc. 
 
 Article 1. The secretary, treasurer, and receiver-gene 
 ral, and the commissary-general, notaries public, and na 
 val officers, shall be chosen annually, by joint ballot o( 
 the senators arid representatives, in one room ; and that 
 the citizens of this commonwealth may be assured, from 
 time to time, that the moneys remaining in the public 
 treasury upon the settlement and liquidation of the public 
 accounts, are their property, no man shall be eligible aa 
 treasurer and receiver-general more than five years suc 
 cessively. 
 
 2. The records of the commonwealth shall be kept in 
 the office of the secretary, who may appoint his deputies, 
 for whose conduct he shall be accountable ; and he shall 
 attend the Governor and council, the Senate and House 
 of Representatives, in person, or by his deputies, as they 
 shall respectively require. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Judiciary Power. 
 
 Article 1. The tenure that all commission officers shall, 
 by ]MV, have in their offices, shall be expressed in their 
 respective commissions ; all judicial officers, duly appoint 
 ed, commissioned, and sworn, shall hold their offices 
 during good behaviour ; excepting such concerning whom 
 there is different provision made in this Constitution: Pro 
 vided, nevertheless, the Governor, with consent of the 
 council, may remove them upon the address of both 
 Houses of the legislature. 
 
 2. Each branch of the legislature, as well as the Go 
 vernor and council, shall have authority to require the 
 opinions of the justices of the supreme judicial court, up 
 on important questions of law, and upon solemn occa 
 sions. 
 
 3. In order that the people may not suffer from the 
 k>ng continuance in place of any justice of the peace, who 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 45 
 
 shall fail of discharging the important duties of his office 
 with ability or fidelity, all commissions of justices of the 
 peace shall expire and become void in the term of seven 
 years from their respective dates ; and upon the expira 
 tion of any commission, the same may, if necessary, be 
 renewed, or another person appointed, as shall most con 
 duce to the well-being of the commonwealth. 
 
 4. The judges of probates of wills, and for granting 
 letters of administration, shall hold their courts at such 
 place or places, on fixed days, as the convenience of the 
 people may require : and the legislature shall, from time 
 to time hereafter, appoint such times and places : until 
 which appointments, the said courts shall be holden at 
 the times and places which the respective judges shall di 
 rect. 
 
 5. All the causes of marriage, divorce, and alimony, 
 and all appeals from the judges of probate, shall be heard 
 and determined by the Governor and council, until the 
 legislature shall, by law, make other provisions. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Delegates to Congress. 
 
 The Delegates of this commonwealth to the Congress 
 of the United States shall, some time in the month of 
 June annually, be elected by joint ballot of the Senate 
 and House of Representatives, assembled together in one 
 room ; to serve in Congress for one year, to commence 
 on the first Monday in November the next ensuing. 
 They shall have commission under the hand of the Go 
 vernor, and the great seal of the commonwealth ; but 
 may be recalled at any time within the year, and others 
 chosen and commissioned in the same manner, in theii 
 stead, 
 
 29* 
 
46 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 To the University at Cambridge, and Encouragement 
 of Literature, fyc. 
 
 SECTION 1. THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 Article 1. Whereas our wise and pious ancestors, so 
 early as the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-six, 
 laid the foundation of Harvard college, in which univer 
 sity many persons of great eminence have, by the bless 
 ing of God, been initiated into those arts and sciences 
 which qualified them for public employments both in 
 church and state: and whereas the encouragement of arts 
 and sciences, and all good literature, tends to the honor of 
 God, the advantage of the Christian religion, and the 
 great benefit of this and the other United States 
 of America, it is declared that the president and 
 fellows of Harvard college in their corporate capa 
 city, and their successors in that capacity, their offi 
 cers and servants, shall have, hold, use, exercise, and en 
 joy, all the powers, authorities, rights, liberties, privileges, 
 immunities, and franchises, which they now have, or are 
 entitled to have, hold, use, exercise, and enjoy : and the 
 same are hereby ratified and confirmed unto them, the 
 said president, and fellows of Harvard college, and to their 
 successors, and to their officers and servants, respective 
 ly, for ever. 
 
 2. And whereas there have been, at sundry times, by 
 divers persons, gifts, grants, devises of houses, lands, 
 tenements, goods, chattels, legacies, and conveyances, 
 heretofore made, either to Harvard college, in Cambridge, 
 in New England, or to the president and fellows of Har 
 vard college, or to the said college, by some other descrip 
 tion, under several charges successively it is declared, 
 that all the said gifts, grants, devises, legacies, and con 
 veyances, are hereby for ever confirmed unto the presi 
 dent and fellows of Harvard college, and to their successors 
 in the capacity aforesaid, according to the true intent and 
 Jtoeaning of the donor or donors, grantor and grantors, de- 
 lisor or devisors. 
 
CONSTITUTION* OF MASSACHUSETTS. 47 
 
 3. And whereas, by an act of the general court of the 
 colony of Massachusetts Bay, passed in the year one 
 thousand six hundred and forty-two, the Governor, and de 
 puty-Governor, for the time being, and all the magistrates 
 of that jurisdiction, were, with the president and a num 
 ber of the clergy in the said act described, constituted the 
 overseers of Harvard college : and it being necessary in 
 this new constitution of government, to ascertain who 
 shall be deemed successors to the said Governor, deputy- 
 Governor,and magistrates, it is declared that the Governor, 
 Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and Senate of this common 
 wealth, are and shall be deemed their successors : who, 
 with the president of Harvard college, for the time being, 
 together with the ministers of the congregational churches 
 in the towns of Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, 
 Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester, mentioned in the said 
 act, shall be, and hereby are, vested with all the powers 
 and authority belonging, or in any way appertaining to 
 the overseers of Harvard college : provided, that nothing 
 herein shail be construed to prevent the legislature of this 
 commonwealth from making such alterations in the go 
 vernment of the said university as shall be conducive to 
 its advantage, and the interest of the republic of letters 
 in as full a manner as might have been done by the legis 
 lature of the late province of the Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SECTION 2. The Encouragement of Literature. 
 
 Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused gen 
 erally among the body of the people, being necessary for 
 the preservation of their rights and liberties, and as these 
 depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of 
 education in the various parts of the country, and among 
 the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of 
 the legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of 
 this commonwealth, to cherish the interest of literature 
 and the sciences, and all seminaries of them : especially 
 the university at Cambridge, public schools, and grammar 
 schools in the towns ; to encourage private societies ana 
 
48 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 public institutions, by rewards and immunities for the 
 promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce,, trades, 
 manufactures, and a natural history of the country ; to 
 countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and 
 general benevolence, public and private charity, industry 
 and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings 
 sincerity, good humor, and all social affections and gene 
 rous sentiments among the people. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Oaths and subscriptions ; incompatibility of , and exclusion from, 
 offices ; pecuniary qualifications ; commissions , writs , confirma 
 tion of laws ; habeas corpus ; the enacting style ; continuance 
 of officers , provision for a future revisal of the Constitution, $~c. 
 
 Article 1. Any person chosen Governor, or Lieute 
 nant-Governor, counsellors, senator, or representative, and 
 accepting the trust, shall, before he proceed to execute 
 the duties of his place or office, take, make, and sub 
 scribe the following declaration, viz. : 
 
 "I, A. B., do declare that I believe the Christian reli 
 gion, and have a firm persuasion of its truth ; and 
 that I am seized and possessed, in my own right, of 
 the property required by the Constitution, as one 
 qualification for the office or place to which I arn 
 elected." 
 
 And the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and counsel 
 lors, shall make and subscribe the said declaration in the 
 presence of the two Houses of Assembly ; and the sena 
 tors and representatives first elected under this Constitu 
 tion, before the president and five of the council of the 
 former Constitution ; and, for ever afterwards, before the 
 Governor and council for the time being. 
 
 And every person chosen to either of the y laces or 
 offices aforesaid, as also any person appointed or com 
 missioned to any judicial, executive, military, or other 
 office, under the government, shall, before he enter on the 
 discharge of the business of his place or office, take arid 
 subscribe the following declaration and oaths, or affirma 
 tions, viz. : 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 4$ 
 
 "I, A. B., do truly and sincerely acknowledge, pro 
 fess, testify, and declare, that the commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts is, and of right ought to be, a free, 
 sovereign, and independent state ; and I do swear that 
 I will bear true faith and allegiance to the said com 
 monwealth, and I will defend the same against trai 
 torous conspiracies, and all hostile attempts whatso 
 ever : and that I do renounce and abjure all allegi 
 ance, subjection, and obedience to the king, queen, 
 or government of Great Britain, as the case may be, 
 and every foreign power whatsoever: and that no 
 foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, 
 hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, superiority, 
 pre-eminence, authority, dispensing or other power, 
 in any matter, civil, ecclesiastical, or spiritual, with 
 in this commonwealth, except the authority and 
 power which is or may be vested by their constitu 
 ents in the Congress of the United States : And I 
 do further testify and declare, that no man or body of 
 men hath or can have any right to absolve or dis 
 charge me from the obligation of this oath, declara 
 tion, or affirmation ; and that I do make this acknow 
 ledgment, profession, testimony, declaration, denial 
 renunciation, and abjuration heartily and truly, ac 
 cording to the common meaning and acceptation of 
 the foregoing words, without any equivocation, men- 
 tal evasion, or secret reservation whatsoever. So 
 help me God. 
 
 I, A. B., do solemnly swear and affirm, that I will 
 faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all 
 the duties incumbent on me as , accord 
 ing to the best of my abilities and understanding, 
 agreeably to the rules and regulations of the Consti 
 tution, and the laws of this commonwealth. So 
 help me God" 
 
 Provided always, that when any person chosen or ap 
 pointed as aforesaid shall be of the denomination of the 
 people called Quakers, and shall decline taking the said 
 oaths, he shall make his affirmation, in the foregoing 
 form, and subscribe the same, omitting the words, */ do 
 swear," "and abjure," " oath," " and abjuration, 19 in 
 
50 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the first oath ; and in the second oath, the words " swear 
 and," and in each of them the words " so helpme God ;" 
 subjoining instead thereof, " This I do under the pains 
 ami penalties of perjury." 
 
 And in the said oaths or affirmations shall be taken and 
 subscribed by the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and 
 counsellors, before the president of the Senate, in the pre 
 sence of two Houses of Assembly : and by the senators 
 and representatives first elected under this Constitution, 
 before the president and five of the council of the former 
 Constitution ; and, for ever afterwards, before the Gover 
 nor and Council for the time being; and by the residue 
 of the officers aforesaid, before such persons as, from 
 time to time, shall be prescribed by the legislature. 
 
 2. No Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or judge of the 
 supreme judicial court, shall hold any office or place under 
 the authority of this commonwealth, except such as by 
 this Constitution they are admitted to hold, saving that 
 the judges of the said court may hold the offices of jus 
 tices of the peace throughout the State ; nor shall they 
 hold any other place or odice, or receive any pension or 
 salary, from any other State, or Government, or power 
 whatever. 
 
 No person shall be capable of holding or exercising, at 
 the same time, more than one of the following offices 
 within this State, viz. : judge of probate, sheriff, register 
 of probate, or register of deeds : and never more tlian any 
 two offices, which are to be held by appointment of the 
 Governor, or the Governor and council, or the Senate, 
 or the House of Representatives, or by election of 
 the people of the State at large, or of the peo 
 ple of any county, (military officer and the office of jus 
 tice of the peace excepted,) shall be held by one person. 
 
 No person holding the office of judge of the supreme judi 
 cial court, secretary , attorney-general, solicitor-general, 
 treasurer, or receiver-general, judge of probate, commissa 
 ry-general, president, professor, or instructor of Harvard 
 college, sherilT, clerk of the House of Representatives, re 
 gister of probate, register of deeds, clerk of the supreme ju 
 dicial court, clerk of the inferior court of common pleas, 01 
 office of the customs, (including in this description naval 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 51 
 
 officers,) shall at the same time have a seat in the Senate 
 or House of Representatives; but, their being chosen or 
 appointed to, and accepting the same, shall operate as a re 
 signation of their seat in the Senate or House of Represen 
 tatives ; and the places so vacated shall be filled up. 
 
 And the same rule shall take place in case any judge 
 of the said supreme judicial court, or judge of probate, 
 shall accept a seat in council, or any counsellor shall ac 
 cept of either of those offices or places. 
 
 And no person shall ever be admitted to hold a seat in 
 the legislature, or any office of trust or importance under 
 the government of this commonwealth, who shall, in the 
 due course of law, have been convicted of bribery or cor 
 ruption in obtaining an election or appointment. 
 
 3. In all cases where sums of money are mentioned in 
 this Constitution, the value thereof, shall be computed in 
 silver, at six shillings and eight pence per ounce : and it 
 shall be in the power of the legislature from time to time, 
 to increase such qualifications, as to property, of the per 
 sons to be elected into offices, as the circumstances of the 
 commonwealth shall require. 
 
 4. All commissions shall be in the name of the com 
 monwealth of Massachusetts; signed by the Governor, 
 and attested by the secretary or his deputy, and have the 
 great seal of the commonwealth affixed thereto. 
 
 5. All writs issuing out of the clerk s office in any of 
 the courts of law, shall be in the name of the common 
 wealth of Massachusetts ; they shall be under the 
 seal of the court from whence they issue ; they 
 shall bear test of the first justice of the court to which 
 they shall be returnable, (who is nota party,) and be sign 
 ed by the clerk of such court. 
 
 6. All the laws which have heretofore been adopted, 
 cised, and approved of in the province, colony, or State 
 of Massachusetts Bay, and usually practised on in the 
 courts of law, shall still remain and be in full force, until 
 altered or repealed by the legislature : such parts only 
 excepted as are repugnant to the rights and liberties con 
 tained in this Constitution. 
 
 7. The privilege and benefit of the writ of habeas cor 
 pus shall be enjoyed in this commonwealth in the mos! 
 
52 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 free, easy, cheap, expeditious, and ample manner ; and 
 shall not be suspended by the legislature, except upon 
 the most urgent and pressing occasions, and for a limited 
 time, not exceeding twelve months. 
 
 8. The enacting style, in making and passing all acts, 
 statutes, and laws, shall be, " lie it enacted by the Senate 
 and House of Representatives, in general court asscm~ 
 bled, and by the authority of the same." 
 
 9. To the end there may be no failure of justice, 01 
 danger arise to the commonwealth, from a change of the 
 form of government, all officers, civil and military, hold 
 ing commissions under the government and people of 
 Massachusetts Bay in New England, and all other officers 
 of said government and people, at the time this Con- 
 stitutkm shall take effect, shall have, hold, use, exercise, 
 and enjoy, all the powers and authority to them granted 
 or committed, until other persons shall be appointed in 
 their stead ; and all courts of law shall proceed in the ex 
 ecution of the business of their respective departments : 
 and all the executive and legislative officers, bodies, and 
 powers, shall continue in full force in the enjoyment and 
 exercise of all their trusts, employment, and authority, 
 until the general court, and the supreme and executive 
 officers, under this Constitution, are designated and in 
 vested with their respective trusts, powers, and authouty. 
 
 10. In order more effectually to adhere to the princi 
 ples of the Constitution, and correct those violations 
 which by any means may be made therein, as well as to 
 form such alterations as from experience shall be found 
 necessary, the general court which shall be in the year of 
 our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, 
 shall issue precepts to the selectmen of the several towns, 
 and to the assessors of the unincorporated plantations, di 
 recting .them to convene the qualified voters of their re 
 spective towns and plantations, for the purpose of collect 
 ing their sentiments on the necessity of expediency of 
 revising the Constitution, in order to amendments. 
 
 And if it shall appear, by the returns made, that two- 
 Ihirds of the qualified voters throughout the State, who 
 uhall assemble and vote in consequence of the said pre 
 cepts are in favor of such revision or amendment, the 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 53 
 
 general court shall issue precepts, or direct them to be 
 issued from the secretary s office, to the several towns, to 
 elect delegates to meet in Convention, for the purpose 
 aforesaid. 
 
 The said delegates to be chosen in the same manner 
 and proportion, as their representatives in the second 
 branch of the legislature are by this Constitution to be 
 chosen. 
 
 11, This form of Government shall be enrolled on 
 parchment, and deposited in the secretary s office, and be 
 a part of the laws of the land : and printed copies thereof 
 shall be prefixed to the book containing the laws of this 
 commonwealth, in all future editions of the said laws. 
 JAMES BOWDOIN, President. 
 
 Attest, SAMUEL BARRET, Secretary. 
 
 AMENDMENTS. 
 
 Article 1. If any bill or resolve shall be objected to, 
 and not approved of by the Governor ; and if the general 
 court shall adjourn within five days after the same shall 
 have been laid before the Governor for his approbation, 
 and thereby prevent his returning it, with his objections, 
 as provided by the Constitution ; such bill or resolve 
 shall not become a law, nor have force as such. 
 
 Art. 2. The general court shall have full power and au 
 thority to erect or constitute municipal or city govern 
 ments in any corporate town or towns, in this common 
 wealth, and to grant to the inhabitants thereof such 
 powers, privileges, and immunities, not repugnant to the 
 Constitution, as the general court shall deem necessary or 
 expedient, for the regulation and Government thereof, 
 and to prescribe the manner of calling and holding public 
 meetings of the inhabitants in wards, or otherwise, fo* 
 the election of officers, under the Constitution, and tht? 
 manner of returning the votes given at such meetings* 
 provided, that no such Government shall be erected or 
 constituted in any town not containing twelve thousand 
 inhabitants, nor unless it be with the consent, and on the 
 application of a majority of the inhabitants of such town, 
 present and voting thereon, pursuant to a vote at a meet- 
 30 
 
54 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ing duly warned and holden for that purpose : and pro 
 vided, also, that all by-laws, made by such municipal or 
 city government, shall be subject, at all times, to be an 
 nulled by the general court. 
 
 Art. 3. Every male citizen of twenty-one years of age, 
 and upwards, (excepting paupers and persons under 
 guardianship,) who shall have resided within the com 
 monwealth one year, and within the town or district in 
 which he may claim a right to vote, six calendar months 
 next preceding any election of Governor, Lieutenant- 
 Governor, senators, representatives, and who shall have 
 paid, by himself or his parent, master or guardian, any 
 state or county tax, which shall, within two years next 
 preceding such election, have been assessed upon him, 
 in any town or district of this commonwealth : and also 
 every citizen, who shall be by law exempt from taxation, 
 and who shall be in all other respects qualified as above 
 mentioned, shall have a right to vote in such election of 
 Governor, and Lieutenarit-Governor, senators, and repre 
 sentatives ; and no other person shall be entitled to a 
 vote in such election. 
 
 Art. 4. Notaries public shall be appointed by the Go 
 vernor, in the same manner as judicial officers are ap 
 pointed, and shall hold their offices during seven years, 
 unless sooner removed by the Governor, with the con 
 sent of the council, and upon the address of both [louses 
 of the legislature. 
 
 In case the office of secretary or treasurer of the common 
 wealth shall become vacant from any cause, during the re 
 cess of the general court, the Governor, with the consent of 
 the council shall nominate and appoint, under such regula 
 tions as may be prescribed by law, a competent and suitable 
 person to such vacan office, who shall hold the same until a 
 successor shall be ?appointed by the general court. 
 
 Whenever the exigencies of the commonwealth shall 
 require the appointment of a commissary-general, he shall 
 be nominated, appointed, and commissioned, in such 
 manner as the legislature may, by law, prescribe. 
 
 All officers commissioned to command in the militia, 
 may be removed from office in such manner as the legis 
 lature may, by law, prescribe. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 65 
 
 Art. 5. In the election of captains and subalterns of the 
 militia, all the members of their respective companies, as 
 well as those under, as those above the age of twenty-one 
 years, shall have a right to vote. 
 
 Art. 6. Instead of the oath of allegiance, prescribed by 
 the Constitution, the following oath shall be taken and 
 subscribed by every person chosen or appointed to any 
 office, civil or military, under the government of this com 
 monwealth, before he shall enter upon the duties of his 
 office, to wit : 
 
 " I, A. B., do solemnly swear, that I will bear true 
 faith and allegiance to the commonwealth of Massachu 
 setts, and will support the Constitution thereof. So help 
 me God." 
 
 Provided, that when any person shall be of the denomi 
 nation called Quakers, and shall decline taking said oath, 
 he shall make his affirmation in the foregoing form, 
 omitting the word " swear," and inserting, instead there 
 of, the word " affirm," and omitting the words " so help 
 me God," and subjoining, instead thereof, the words 
 * this I do under the pains and penalties of perjury." 
 
 Art. 7. No oath, declaration, or subscription, except 
 ing the oath prescribed in the preceding article, and the 
 oath of office, shall be required of the Governor, Lieute- 
 nant-Governor, counsellors, senators, or representatives, to 
 qualify th^m to perform the duties of their respective 
 offices. 
 
 Art. 8. No judge of any court of this commonwealth, 
 (except the court of sessions,) and no person holding any 
 office under the authority of the United States, (post mas 
 ters excepted,) shall, at the same time, hold the office of 
 Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or counsellor, or have a 
 seat in the Senate or House of Representatives of this 
 commonwealth; and no judge of any court in this com 
 monwealth, (except the court of sessions,) nor the attor 
 ney-general, solicitor-general, county attorney, clerk of 
 any court, sheriff, treasurer, and receiver-general, registei 
 of probate, nor register of deeds, shall continue to hold 
 his said office after being elected a member of the Con 
 gress of the United States, and accepting that trust ; but 
 ne acceptance of such trust, by any of the officers afore- 
 
56 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 said, shall be deemed and taken to be a resignation of hi* 
 said office ; and judges of the courts of common pleas 
 shall hold no other office, under the government of this 
 commonwealth, the office of the justice of the peace and 
 militia officers excepted. 
 
 Art. 9. If at any time hereafter, any specific and particu 
 lar amendment, or amendments to the Constitution bo 
 proposed in the general court, and agreed to by a majori 
 ty of the senators, ana two-thirds of the members of the 
 House of Representatives present and voting thereon, such 
 proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on 
 the journals of the two Houses, with the yeas and nays 
 taken thereon, and referred to the general court then next 
 to be chosen, and shall be published ; and if in the general 
 court then next chosen, as aforesaid, such proposed 
 amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a ma 
 jority of the senators and two-thirds of the members of 
 the House of Representatives present and voting thereon ; 
 then it shall be the duty of the general court to submit 
 such proposed amendment or amendments to the people ; 
 and if they shall be approved and ratified by a majority 
 of the qualified voters voting thereon, at meetings legally 
 warned and holden for that purpose, they shall become 
 part of the Constitution of this commonwealth. 
 
 Resolved, That the above recited articles of amendment, 
 shall be enrolled on parchment, and deposited in the 
 secretary s office, as a part of the Constitution and funda 
 mental laws of this commonwealth, and published in im 
 mediate connexion therewith, in all future editions of 
 the laws of this commonwealth, printed by public autho 
 rity. And in order that the said amendments may be 
 promulgated and made known to the people of this com 
 monwealth, without delay, it is further 
 
 Resolved, That his excellency, the Governor, be, and 
 he hereby is authorized and requested to issue his procla 
 mation, reciting the articles aforesaid ; announcing that 
 the same have been duly adopted and ratified by the peo 
 ple of this commonwealth, and become a part of the Con 
 stitution thereof; and requiring all magistrates, officers, 
 civil and military, and all the citizens of this common 
 wealth, to take notice thereof, and govern themselves ac 
 cordingly. 
 
CONSTITUTION OP MASSACHUSETTS. 57 
 
 Now, therefore, I, John Brooks, Governor of the 
 commonwealth of Massachusetts, by virtue of the au 
 thority to me given by the resolution last above written, 
 do issue this my proclamation, and I do hereby announce, 
 that the several articles aforesaid have been duly ratified 
 and adopted by the people of this commonwealth, and 
 have become a part of the Constitution thereof. And al) 
 magistrates, officers, civil and military, and all th 
 citizens of the commonwealth, are required to take 
 notice thereof, and govern themselves accordingly. 
 Given at the council chamber, in Boston, the day and 
 year first above written, and in the forty-fifth year of 
 the independence of the United States. 
 
 JOHN BROOKS. 
 By his Excellency, the Governor, 
 
 ALDEN BRADFORD, Secretary. 
 God save the commonwealth of Massachusetts ! 
 
 ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT. 
 
 ADOPTED MARCH 24, 1837, AS THE 12lH ARTICLE OP THE COH- 
 STITUTION. 
 
 IN order to provide for a representation of the citizens 
 of this commonwealth, founded upon the principles of 
 equality, a census of the rateable polls in each city, town, 
 and district of the commonwealth, on the first day of May, 
 shall be taken and returned into the secretary s office, in 
 such manner as the legislature shall provide, within the 
 month of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
 hundred and thirty- seven, and in every tenth year there 
 after in the month of May, in manner aforesaid; and each 
 town or city having three hundred rateable polls at the 
 last preceding decennial census of polls, may elect one re 
 presentative, and for every four hundred and fifty rateable 
 polls in addition to the first three hundred, one represen 
 tative more. 
 
 Any town having less than three hundred rateable polls, 
 
58 CONSTITUTION OP MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 shall be represented thus : the whole number of rateable 
 polls, at the last preceding decennial census of polls, shall 
 be multiplied by ten, and the product divided by three 
 hundred, and such town may elect one representative as 
 many years within ten years as three hundred is contained 
 in the product aforesaid. 
 
 Any city or town having rateable polls enough to elect 
 one or more representatives, with any number of polls be 
 yond the necessary number, may be represented as to that 
 surplus number by multiplying such surplus number by 
 ten, and dividing the product by four hundred and fifty; 
 and such city or town may elect one additional represen 
 tative as many years within the ten years as four hundred 
 and fifty is contained in the product aforesaid. 
 
 Any two or more of the several towns and districts may, 
 by consent of a majority of the legal voters present at a 
 legal meeting in each of said towns and districts respect 
 ively, called for that purpose and held previous to the first 
 day of July, in the year in which the decennial census of 
 polls shall be taken, form themselves into a representative 
 district, to continue until the next decennial census of 
 polls, for the election of a representative or representatives ; 
 and such district shall have all the rights, in regard to re 
 presentation, which would belong to a town containing the 
 same number of rateable polls. 
 
 The governor and council shall ascertain and determine, 
 within the months of July and August, in the year of our 
 Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, ac 
 cording to the foregoing principles, the number of repre 
 sentatives which each city, town, and representative dis 
 trict is entitled to elect, and the number of years within 
 the period of ten years then next ensuing, that each city, 
 town, and representative district may elect an additional 
 representative; and where any town has not a sufficient 
 number of polls to elect a representative each year, then 
 how many years within the ten years such town may elect 
 a representative; and the same shall be done once in ten 
 years thereafter, by the governor and council, and the 
 number of rateable polls in each decennial census of polls, 
 shall determine the number of representatives which each 
 
CONSTITUTION OP MASSACHUSETTS. 59 
 
 city, town, and representative district may elect as afore 
 said; and when the number of representatives, to be 
 elected by each city, town, or representative district, is 
 ascertained or determined as aforesaid, the governor shall 
 cause the same to be published forthwith for the informa 
 tion of the people, and that number shall remain fixed 
 and unalterable for the period of ten years. 
 
 All the provisions of the existing constitution, incon 
 sistent with the provisions herein contained, are hereby 
 wholly annulled. 
 
 ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT. 
 
 ADOPTED APRIL 17, 1840, AS THE 13TH ARTICLE OF THE CONSTI 
 TUTION. 
 
 A CENSUS of the inhabitants of each city and town, on 
 the first day of May, shall be taken and returned into the 
 secretary s office, on or before the last day of June, of the 
 year one thousand eight hundred and forty, and of every 
 tenth year thereafter, which census shall determine the 
 apportionment of senators and representatives for the term 
 of ten years. 
 
 The several senatorial districts now existing shall be 
 permanent. The senate shall consist of forty members; 
 and in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty, and 
 every tenth year thereafter, the governor and council shall 
 assign the number of senators to be chosen in each dis 
 trict, according to the number of inhabitants in the same. 
 But in all cases, at least one senator shall be assigned to 
 each district. 
 
 The members of the house of representatives shall be 
 apportioned in the following manner : every town or city 
 containing twelve hundred inhabitants may elect one re 
 presentative ; and two thousand four hundred inhabitants 
 
60 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 shall be the mean increasing number which shall entitle 
 it to an additional representative. 
 
 Every town containing less than twelve hundred inha 
 bitants shall be entitled to elect a representative as many 
 times, within ten years, as the number one hundred and 
 sixty is contained in the number of the inhabitants of said 
 town. 
 
 Such towns may also elect one representative for the 
 year in which the valuation of estates within the com 
 monwealth shall be settled. 
 
 Any two or more of the several towns may, by consent 
 of a majority of the legal voters present at a legal meet 
 ing, in each of said towns respectively, called for that pur 
 pose, and held before the first day of August in the year 
 one thousand eight hundred and forty, and every tenth 
 year hereafter, form themselves into a representative dis 
 trict, to continue for the term of ten years ; and such dis 
 trict shall have all the rights, in regard to representation, 
 which would belong to a town containing the same number 
 of inhabitants. 
 
 The number of inhabitants which shall entitle a town 
 to elect one representative, and the mean increasing num 
 ber which shall entitle a town or city to elect more than 
 one, and also the number by which the population of towns, 
 not entitled to a representative every year, is to be divided, 
 shall be increased, respectively, by one-tenth of the num 
 bers above mentioned, whenever the population of the 
 commonwealth shall have increased to seven hundred 
 and seventy thousand, and for every additional increase 
 of seventy thousand inhabitants, the same addition of one- 
 tenth shall be made, respectively, to the said numbers 
 above mentioned. 
 
 In the year of each decennial census the governor and 
 council shall, before the first day of September, apportion 
 the number of representatives which each city, town, and 
 representative district is entitled to elect, and ascertain 
 how many years, within ten years, any town may elect a 
 representative, which is not entitled to elect one every 
 year;, and the governor shall cause the same to be pub 
 lished forthwith. 
 
CONSTITUTION OP NEW YORK. 61 
 
 Nine counsellors shall be annually chosen from among 
 the people at large, on the first Wednesday of January, 
 or as soon thereafter as may be, by the joint ballot of the 
 senators and representatives assembled in one room, who 
 shall, as soon as may be, in like manner, fill up any va 
 cancies that may happen in the council, by death, resig 
 nation, or otherwise. No person shall be elected a coun 
 sellor, who has not been an inhabitant of this commonwealth 
 for the term of five years immediately preceding his elec 
 tion ; and not more than one counsellor shall be chosen 
 from any one senatorial district in the commonwealth. 
 
 No possession of a freehold, or of any other estate, shall 
 be required as a qualification for holding a seat in either 
 branch of the general court, or in the executive council. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 ARTICLE 1. 
 
 SECTION 1. No member of this State shall be disfran 
 chised, or deprived of any of the rights or privileges se 
 cured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of the 
 land, or the judgment of his peers. 
 
 2. The trial by Jury, in all cases in which it has been 
 heretofore used, shall remain inviolate forever. But a 
 jury trial may be waived by the parties in all civil cases, 
 in the manner to be prescribed by law. 
 
 3. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious pro 
 fession and worship, without discrimination or preference, 
 shall forever be allowed in this State to all mankind ; and 
 no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness 
 on account of his opinions on matters of religious belief; 
 but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be 
 so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or jus 
 tify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of thij 
 State. 
 
62 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 4. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
 not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or 
 invasion, the public safety may require its suspension. 
 
 5. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive 
 fines imposed, nor shall cruel and unusual punishments 
 be inflicted, nor shall witnesses be unreasonably detained. 
 
 6. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or 
 otherwise infamous crime (except in cases of impeach 
 ment, and in cases of the militia, when in actual service; 
 and the land and naval forces in time of war, or which 
 this State may keep with the consent of Congress in 
 time of peace; and in cases of petit larceny, under the 
 regulation of the Legislature), unless on presentment or 
 indictment of a grand jury, and in any trial in any court 
 whatever, the party accused shall be allowed to appear 
 and defend in person and with counsel, as in civil actions. 
 No person shall be subject to be twice put in jeopardy 
 for the same offence ; nor shall he be compelled 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. 
 
 7. When private property shall be taken for any pub 
 lic use, the compensation to be made therefor, when such 
 compensation is not made by the State, shall be ascer 
 tained by a jury, or by not less than three commission 
 ers appointed by a court of record, as shall be prescribed 
 by law. Private roads may be opened in the manner to 
 be prescribed by law ; but in every case the necessity of 
 the road, and the amount of all damage to be sustained 
 by the opening thereof, shall be first determined by a 
 jury of freeholders, and such amount, together with the 
 expenses of the proceeding, shall be paid by the person 
 to be benefitted. 
 
 8. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish 
 his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the 
 abuse of that right ; and no law shall be passed to restrain 
 or abridge the liberty of speech, or of the press. In all 
 criminal prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth 
 may be given in evidence to the jury ; and if it shall ap 
 pear to the jury, that the matter charged as libellous is 
 true, and was published with good motives, and for justi* 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 63 
 
 fiable ends, the party shall be acquitted ; and the jury 
 shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. 
 
 9. The assent of two-thirds of the members elected 
 to each branch of the Legislature, shall he requisite to 
 every bill appropriating the public moneys or property 
 for local or private purposes. 
 
 10. No law shall be passed, abridging the right of 
 the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the gov 
 ernment, or any department thereof, nor shall any divorce 
 be granted, otherwise than by due judicial proceedings, nor 
 shall any lottery hereafter be authorized or any sale of 
 lottery tickets allowed within this State. 
 
 11. The People of this State, in their right of sov 
 ereignty, are deemed to posess the original and ultimate 
 property in and to all lands within the jurisdiction of the 
 State ; and all lands the title to which shall fail, from a 
 defect of heirs, shall revert, or escheat to the people. 
 
 12. All feudal tenures of every description, with all 
 their incidents, are declared to be abolished, saving how 
 ever, all rents and services certain which at any time 
 heretofore have been lawfully created or reserved. 
 
 13. All lands within this State are declared to be allo 
 dial, so that, subject only to the liability to escheat, the 
 entire and absolute property is vested in the owners ac 
 cording to the nature of their respective estates. 
 
 14. No lease or grant of agricultural land, for a longer 
 period than twelve years, hereafter made, in which shall 
 be reserved any rent or service of any kind, shall be 
 valid. 
 
 15. All fines, quarter sales, or other like restraints 
 upon alienation reserved in any grant of land, hereafter to 
 be made, shall be void. 
 
 16. No purchase or contract for the sale of lands in 
 this State, made since the fourteenth day of October, 
 one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five ; or which 
 may hereafter be made, of, or with the Indians, shall be 
 valid, unless made under the authority, and with the 
 consent of the Legislature. 
 
 17. Such parts of the common law, and of the acts of 
 the Legislature of the colony of New-York, as together 
 did form the law of the said colony, on the nineteenth 
 day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy 
 
64 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 five, and the resolutions of the Congress of the said col 
 ony, and of the Convention of the State of New-York, 
 in force on the twentieth day of April, one thousand 
 seven hundred and seventy-seven, which have not since 
 expired, or been repealed or altered ; and such acts of 
 the Legislature of this State as are now in force, shall 
 be and continue the law of this State, subject to such 
 alterations as the Legislature shall make concerning the 
 same. But all such parts of the common law, and such 
 of the said acts, or parts thereof, as are repugnant to 
 this Constitution, are hereby abrogated ; and the Legis 
 lature, at its first session after the adoption of this Con 
 stitution, shall appoint three commissioners, whose duty 
 it shall be to reduce into a written and systematic code 
 the whole body of the.law of this State, or so much and 
 such parts thereof as to the said commissioners shall 
 seem practicable and expedient. And the said commis 
 sioners shall specify such alterations and amendments 
 therein as they shall deem proper, and they shall at all 
 times make reports of their proceedings to the Legis 
 lature, when called upon to do so ; and the Legislature 
 shall pass laws regulating the tenure of office, the filling 
 of vacancies therein, and the compensation of the said 
 commissioners ; and shall also provide for the publication 
 of the said code, prior to its being presented to the Legis- 
 islature for adoption. 
 
 18. All grants of land within this State, made by the 
 King of Great Britain, or persons acting under his au 
 thority, after the fourteenth day of October, one thou 
 sand seven hundred and seventy-five, shall be null and 
 void ; but nothing contained in this Constitution shall 
 affect any grants of land within this State, made by the 
 authority of the said king or his predecessors, or shall 
 annul any charters to bodies politic and corporate, by 
 him or them made, before that day ; or shall affect any 
 such grants or charters since made by this State, or by 
 persons acting under its authority, or shall impair the 
 obligation of any debts contracted by this State, or in 
 dividuals, or bodies corporate, or any other rights of 
 property, or any suits, actions, rights of action, or other 
 proceedings in courts of justice. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 65 
 
 ARTICLE 2. 
 
 SECTION 1. Every male citizen of the age of twenty- 
 one years, who shall have been a citizen for ten days, 
 and an inhabitant of this State one year next preceding 
 any election, and for the last four months a resident of 
 the county where he may offer his vote, shall be entitled 
 to vote at such election in the election district of which 
 he shall at the time be a resident, and not elsewhere, foi 
 all officers that now are or hereafter may be elective by 
 the people ; but such citizen shall have been for thirty 
 days next preceding the election, a resident of the dis 
 trict from which the officer is to be chosen for whom he 
 offers his vote. But no man of color, unless he shall have 
 been for three years a citizen of this State, and for one 
 year next preceding any election shall have been seized 
 and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of two 
 hundred and fifty dollars, over and above all debts and 
 incumbrances charged thereon, and shall have been actu 
 ally rated and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to 
 vote at such election. And no person of color shall be 
 subject to direct taxation unless he shall be seized and 
 possessed of such real estate as aforesaid. 
 
 2. Laws may be passed excluding from the right of 
 suffrage all persons who have been or may be convicted 
 of bribery, of larceny, or of any infamous crime ; and for 
 depriving every person who shall make, or become di 
 rectly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager de 
 pending upon the result of any election, from the right 
 to vote at such election. 
 
 3. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be 
 deemed to have gained or lost a residence, by reason of 
 his presence or absence, while employed in the service 
 of the United States ; nor while engaged in the naviga 
 tion of the waters of this State, or of the United States, 
 or of the high seas ; nor while a student of any seminary 
 of learning ; nor while kept at any alms house, or other 
 asylum, at public expense ; nor while confined in any 
 public prison. 
 
 4. Laws shall be made for ascertaining by proper 
 proofs the citizens who shall be entitled to the right of 
 suffrage hereby established. 
 
 31 
 
66 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 5. All elections by the citizens shall be by ballot, ex 
 cept for such town officers as may by law be directed 
 to be otherwise chosen. 
 
 ARTICLE 3. 
 
 SECTION 1. The legislative power of this State shall 
 be vested in a Senate and Assembly. 
 
 2. The Senate shall consist of thirty-two members, 
 and the Senators shall be chosen for two years. 
 
 The Assembly shall consist of one hundred and twen 
 ty-eight members, who shall be annually elected. 
 
 3. The State shall be divided into thirty-two districts, 
 to be called Senate districts, each of which shall choose 
 one Senator. The districts shall be numbered from one 
 to thirty-two inclusive. 
 
 1 )istrict number one (1) shall consist of the counties of 
 Suffolk, Richmond and Queens. 
 
 District number two (2) shall consist of the county of 
 Kings. 
 
 /Districts number three (3) number four (4) number 
 five (5) and number six (6) shall consist of the city and 
 county of New-York; and the board of supervisors of 
 said city and county shall, on or before the first day of 
 May one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, divide 
 the said city and county into the number of Senate Dis 
 tricts, to which it is entitled, as near as may be of an 
 equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens and per 
 sons of color not taxed, and consisting of convenient 
 and contiguous territory ; and no Assembly District shall 
 be divided in the formation of a Senate District. The 
 board of supervisors, when they shall have completed 
 such division, shall cause certificates thereof, stating the 
 number and boundaries of each district and the popula 
 tion thereof, to be filed in the office of the Secretary of 
 State, and of the clerk of the said city and county. 
 
 District number seven (7) shall consist of the counties 
 of Westchester, Putnam and Rockland. 
 
 District number eight (8) shall consist of the counties 
 of Dutch ess and Columbia. 
 
 District number nine (9) shall consist, of the counties 
 af Orange and Sullivan. 
 
 District number ten (10) shall consist of the counties 
 af Ulster and Greene. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK 67 
 
 District number eleven (11) shall consist of the coun 
 ties of Albany and Schenectady. 
 
 District number twelve (12) shall consist of the coun 
 ty of Rensselaer. 
 
 District number thirteen (13) shall consist of the coun- 
 ties of Washington arid Saratoga. 
 
 District number fourteen (14) shall consist of the 
 counties of Warren, Essex and Clinton. 
 
 District number fifteen (15) shall consist of the coun 
 ties of St. Lawrence and Franklin. 
 
 District number sixteen (16) shall consist of the coun 
 ties of Herkimer, Hamilton, Fulton and Montgomery. 
 
 District number seventeen (17) shall consist of the 
 counties of Schoharie and Delaware. 
 
 District number eighteen (18) shall consist of the 
 counties of Otsego and Chenango. 
 
 District number nineteen (19) shall consist of the 
 county of Oneida. 
 
 District number twenty (20) shall consist of the coun 
 ties of Madison and Oswego. 
 
 District number twenty-one (21) shall consist of the 
 counties of Jefferson and Lewis. 
 
 District number twenty-two (22) shall consist of the 
 county of Onondaga. 
 
 District number twenty-three (23) shall consist of the 
 counties of Cortland, Broome and Tioga. 
 
 District number twenty-four (24) shall consist of the 
 counties of Cayuga and Wayne. 
 
 District number twenty-five (25) shall consist of the 
 counties of Tomkins, Seneca and Yates. 
 
 District number twenty-six (26) shall consist of the 
 counties of Steuben and Chemung. 
 
 District number twenty-seven (27) shall consist of the 
 county of Monroe. 
 
 District number twenty-eight (28) shall consist of the 
 counties of Orleans, Geneseeand Niagara. 
 
 District number twenty-nine (29) shall consist of the 
 counties of Ontario and Livingston. 
 
 District number thirty (30) shall consist of the coun 
 ties of Allegheny and Wyoming. 
 
 District number thirty-one (31) shall consist of tht 
 county of Erie. 
 
OO CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 District number thirty-two (32) shall consist of the 
 counties of Chautauque and Cattaraugus. 
 
 4. An enumeration of the inhabitants of the State shalV 
 be taken, under the direction of the Legislature, in the 
 year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, and at 
 the end of every ten years thereafter ; and the said dis 
 tricts shall be so altered by the Legislature, at the first 
 session after the return of every enumeration, that each 
 Senate district shall contain, as nearly as may be, an 
 equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, and per 
 sons of color not taxed ; and shall remain unaltered un 
 til the return of another enumeration, and shall at all 
 times consist of contiguous territory ; and no county 
 shall be divided in the formation of a Senate district, 
 except such county shall be equitably entitled to two or 
 more Senators. 
 
 5. The members of Assembly shall be apportioned 
 among the several counties of this State, by the Legis 
 lature, as nearly as may be, according to the number of 
 their respective inhabitants, excluding aliens, and persons 
 of color not taxed, and shall be chosen by single districts. 
 
 The several boards of supervisors in such counties of 
 this State, as are now entitled to more than one member 
 of Assembly, shall assemble on the first Tuesday of Ja 
 nuary next, and divide their respective counties into 
 Assembly districts equal to the number of members of 
 Assembly to which such counties are now severally en 
 titled by law, and shall cause to be filed in the offices of 
 the Secretary of State and the clerks of their respective 
 counties, a description of such Assembly districts, speci 
 fying the number of each district and the population 
 thereof, according to the last preceding State enumeration, 
 is near as can be ascertained. Each Assembly district 
 shall contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of in 
 habitants, excluding aliens and persons of color not taxed, 
 and shall consist of convenient and contiguous territory; 
 but no town shall be divided in the formation of Assem 
 bly districts. 
 
 The Legislature, at its first session after the return of 
 every enumeration, shall re-apportion the members of 
 Assembly among the several counties of this State, in 
 manner aforesaid, and the boards of supervisors in such 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 69 
 
 counties as may be entitled, under such re-appointment, 
 to more than one member, shall assemble at such time as 
 the Legislature making such re-appointment shall pre 
 scribe, and divide such counties into Assembly districts, 
 in the manner herein directed ; and the appointment 
 and districts so to be made, shall remain unaltered until 
 another enumeration shall be taken under the provisions 
 of the preceding section. 
 
 Every county heretofore established and separately or 
 ganized, except the county of Hamilton, shall always be 
 entitled to one member of the Assembly, and no new 
 county shall be hereafter erected, unless its population 
 shall entitle it to a member. 
 
 The county of Hamilton shall elect with the county of 
 Fulton, until the population of the county of Hamilton 
 shall, according to the ratio, be entitled to a member. 
 
 6. The members of the Legislature shall receive for 
 their services a sum not exceeding three dollars a day, 
 from the commencement of the session ; but such pay 
 shall not exceed in the aggregate three hundred dollars 
 for per diem allowance, except in proceedings for im 
 peachment. The limitation as to the aggregate compen 
 sation shall not take effect until the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and forty-eight. When convened in extra 
 session by the Governor, they shall receive three dollars 
 per day. They shall also receive the sum of one dollar 
 for every ten miles they shall travel, in going to and re 
 turning from their place of meeting, on the most usual 
 route. The Speaker of the Assembly shall, in virtue of 
 his office, receive an additional compensation equal to 
 one third of his per diem allowance as a member. 
 
 7. No member of the Legislature shall receive any 
 civil appointment within this State, or to the Senate of 
 the United States, from the Governor, the Governor and 
 Senate, or from the Legislature, during the term for 
 which he shall have been elected ; and all such appoint 
 ments, and all votes given for any such member, for any 
 Biich office or appointment shall be void. 
 
 8. No person being a member of Congress, or hold 
 ing any judicial or military office under the United 
 States, shall hold a seat in the Legislature. And if any 
 person shall, after his election as a member of the Leg- 
 
 31* 
 
70 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 islature, be elected to Congress, or appointed to any 
 office, civil or military, under the government of the Uni 
 ted States, his acceptance thereof shall vacate his seat. 
 
 9. The elections of Senators and members of Assem 
 bly, pursuant to the provisions of this Constitution, shall 
 be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of 
 November, unless otherwise directed by the Legislature. 
 
 10. A majority of each house shall constitute a 
 quorum to do business. Each house shall determine the 
 rules of its own proceedings, and be the judge of the 
 elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members, 
 shall choose its own officers; and the Senate shall choose 
 a temporary president, when the Lieutenant-Governor 
 shall not attend as president, or shall act as Governor. 
 
 11. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceed 
 ings, and publish the same, except such parts as may 
 require secrecy. The doors of each house shall be kept 
 open, except when the public welfare shall require se 
 crecy. Neither house shall, without the consent of the 
 other, adjourn for more than two days. 
 
 12 For any speech or debate in either house of the 
 Legislature, the members shall not be questioned in any 
 other place. 
 
 13. Any bill may originate in either house of the 
 Legislature, and all bills passed by one house may be 
 amended by the other. 
 
 14. The enacting clause of all bills shall be " The 
 people of the State of New York, represented in Senate 
 and Assembly, do enact as follows," and no law shall be 
 enacted except by bill. 
 
 15. No bill shall be passed unless by the assent of a 
 majority of all the members elected to each branch of the 
 Legislature, and the question upon the final passage 
 ihall be taken immediately upon its last reading, and the 
 yeas and nays entered on the journal. 
 
 16. No private or local bill, which may be passed by 
 the Legislature, shall embrace more than one subject, 
 and that shall be expressed in the title. 
 
 17. The Legislature may confer upon the boards of 
 supervisors of the several counties of the State, such 
 further powers of local legislation and administration, as 
 they shall from time to time prescribe. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 71 
 
 ARTICLE 4. 
 
 SECTION 1. The executive power shall be vested in a 
 Governor, who shall hold his office for two years ; a Lieu 
 tenant-Governor shall be chosen at the same time, and 
 for the same term. 
 
 2. No person, except a citizen of the United States, 
 shall be eligible to the office of Governor, nor shall any 
 person be eligible to that office, who shall not have at 
 tained the age of thirty years, and who shall not have 
 been five years next preceding his election, a resident 
 within this State. 
 
 3. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor shall be 
 elected at the times and places of choosing members of the 
 Assembly. The persons respectively having the high 
 est number of votes for Governor and Lieutenant Gov 
 ernor shall be elected ; but in case two or more shall 
 have an equal and the highest number of votes for Gov 
 ernor, or for Lieutenant Governor, the two houses of 
 the Legislature, at its next annual session, shall, forth 
 with, by joint ballot, choose one of the said persons so 
 having an equal and the highest number of votes for Go- 
 venor, or Lieutenant Governor.. 
 
 4. The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the 
 military and naval forces of the State. He shall have 
 power to convene the Legislature (or the Senate only) 
 on extraordinary occasions. He shall communicate by 
 message to the Legislature, at every session, the condi 
 tion of the State, and recommend such matters to them 
 as he shall judge expedient. He shall transact ail neces 
 sary business with the officers of government, civil and 
 military. He shall expedite all such measures, as may 
 be resolved upon by the Legislature, and shall take care 
 that the laws are faithfully executed. He shall, at stated 
 times, receive for his services a compensation to be esta 
 blished by law, which shall neither be increased nor di 
 minished after his election and during his continuance in 
 office. 
 
 5. The Governor shall have the power to grant re 
 prieves, commutations, and pardons after conviction, for 
 all offences except treason and cases of impeachment, 
 upon such conditions, and with such restrictions and li 
 
72 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 mitations, as he may think proper, subject to such regu 
 lation as may be provided by law relative to the manner 
 of applying for pardons. Upon conviction for treason, 
 he shall have power to suspend the execution of the sen 
 tence until the case shall be reported to the Legislature 
 at its next meeting, when the Legislature shall either 
 pardon, or commute the sentence, direct the execution of 
 the sentence, or grant a further reprieve. He shall an 
 nually communicate to the Legislature each case of re 
 prieve, commut tion or pardon granted ; stating the name 
 of the convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the 
 sentence and its date, and the date of the commutation, 
 pardon or reprieve. 
 
 6. In case of the impeachment of the Governor, or 
 his removal from office, death, inability to discharge the 
 powers and duties of the said office, resignation or 
 absence from the State, the powers and duties of the 
 office shall devolve upon the Lieutenant-Governor for 
 the residue of the term, or until the disability shall cease. 
 But when the Governor shall, with the consent of the 
 Legislature, be out of the State in time of war, at the 
 head of a military force thereof, he shall continue com- 
 mander-in-chief of all the military force of the State. 
 
 7. The Lieutenant-Governor shall possess the same 
 qualifications of eligibility for office as the Governor. 
 He shall be President of the Senate, but shall only have 
 a casting vote therein. If during a vacancy of the office 
 of Governor, the Lieutenant-Governor shall be impeach 
 ed, displaced, resign, die, or become incapable of per 
 forming the duties of his office, or be absent from the 
 State, the President of the Senate shall act as Gover 
 nor, until the vacancy be filled, or the disability shall 
 cease. 
 
 8. The Lieutenant-Governor shall, while acting as 
 such, receive a compensation which shall be fixed by 
 law, and which shall not be increased or diminished 
 during his continuance in office. 
 
 9. Every bill which shall have passed the Senate and 
 Assembly, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented 
 to the Governor: if he approve, he shall sign it ; but if 
 not, he shall return it with his objections to that house, 
 in which it shall have originated ; who shall enter the 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 73 
 
 objections at large on their journal and proceed to recon 
 sider it. If after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the 
 members present shall agree to. pass the bill, it shall be 
 sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by 
 which it shall likewise be reconsidered ; and if approved 
 by two-thirds of all the members present, it shall become 
 a law, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. 
 But in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall bo 
 determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the mem 
 bers voting for and against the bill, shall be entered on 
 the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall 
 not be returned by the Governor within ten days (Sun 
 days excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, 
 the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had sign 
 ed it, unless the Legislature shall, by their adjournment, 
 prevent its return ; in which case it shall not be a law. 
 
 ARTICLE 5. 
 
 SECTION 1. The Secretary of State, Comptroller, 
 Treasurer and Attorney-General, shall be chosen at a 
 general election, and shall hold their offices for two years. 
 Each of the officers in this article named (except the 
 Speaker of the Assembly), shall at stated times, during 
 his continuance in office, receive for his services, a com 
 pensation, which shall not be increased or diminished 
 during the term for which he shall have been elected ; 
 nor shall he receive, to his use, any fees or perquisites 
 of office, or other compensation. 
 
 2. A State Engineer and Surveyor shall be chosen at 
 a general election, and shall hold his office two years, 
 but no person shall be elected to said office who is no* 
 a practical engineer. 
 
 3. Three Canal Commissioners shall be chosen at 
 the general election which shall be held next after the 
 adoption of this Constitution, one of whom shall hold his 
 office for one year, one for two years, and one for three 
 years. The Commissioners of the Canal Fund shall 
 meet at the Capitol on the first Monday of January, next 
 after such election, and determine by lot which of said 
 Commissioners shall hold his office for one year, which 
 for two, and which for three years ; and there shall ba 
 
74 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 elected annually, thereafter, one Canal Commissioner, 
 who shall hold his office for three years. 
 
 4. Three Inspectors of State Prisons, shall be elected 
 at the general election which shall be held next after the 
 adoption of this Constitution, one of whom shall hold 
 his office for one year, one for two years, and one for 
 three years. The Governor, Secretary of State, and 
 Comptroller, shall meet at the Capitol on the first Mon 
 day of January next succeeding such election, and deter 
 mine by lot which of said Inspectors shall hold his office 
 for one year, which for two, and which for three years ; 
 and there shall be elected annually thereafter one Inspec 
 tor of State Prisons, who shall hold his office for three 
 years. Said Inspectors shall have the charge and super 
 intendence of the State prisons, and shall appoint all the 
 officers therein. All vacancies in the office of such In 
 spector shall be filled by the Governor, till the next elec 
 tion. 
 
 5. The Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the Assem 
 bly, Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, Attor 
 ney-General and State Engineer and Surveyor, shall be 
 the Commissioners of the Land-Office. 
 
 The Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, Comp 
 troller, Treasurer, and Attorney-General, shall be the 
 Commissioners of the Canal Fund. 
 
 The Canal Board shall consist of the Commissioners 
 of the Canal Fund, the State Engineer and Surveyor, 
 and the Canal Commissioners. 
 
 6. The powers and duties of the respective boards 
 and of the several officers in ihis Article mentioned, 
 shall be such as now are or hereafter may be prescribed 
 by law. 
 
 .7. The Treasurer may be suspended from office by 
 the Governor, during the recess of the Legislature, and 
 until thirty days after the commencement of the next ses 
 sion of the Legislature, whenever it shall appear to him 
 that such Treasurer has, in any particular, violated his 
 duty. The Governor shall appoint a competent person 
 to discharge the duties of the office, during such suspen 
 sion of the Treasurer. 
 
 8. All offices for the weighing, gauging measuring, 
 culling or inspecting any merchandize, produce, manu- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW. YORK. 75 
 
 facture or commodity, whatever, are hereby abolished, 
 and no such office shall hereafter be created by law ; but 
 nothing in this section contained, shall abrogate any 
 office created for the purpose of protecting the public 
 health or the interests of the State in its property, re 
 venue, tolls, or purchases, or of supplying the people 
 with correct standards of weights and measures, or shall 
 prevent the creation of any office for such purpose here 
 after. 
 
 ARTICLE 6. 
 
 SECTION 1. The Assembly shall have the power of 
 impeachment, by the vote of a majority of all the mem 
 bers elected. The court for the trial of impeachments, 
 shall be composed of the President of the Senate, the 
 Senators, or a major part of them, and the judges of the 
 court of appeals, or a major part of them. On the trial 
 of an impeachment against the Governor, the Lieutenant- 
 Governor shall ilot act as a member of the court. No ju 
 dicial officer shall exercise his office after he shall have 
 been impeached, until he shall have been acquitted. Be 
 fore the trial of an impeachment, the members of the 
 court shall take an oath or affirmation, truly and impar 
 tially to try the impeachment, according to evidence ; 
 and no person shall be convicted, without the concur 
 rence of two-thirds of the members present. Judg 
 ment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further 
 than to removal from office, or removal from office, and 
 disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, 
 trust or profit under this State ; but the party impeached 
 shall be liable to indictment, and punishment according 
 to law. 
 
 2. There shall be a Court of Appeals, composed of 
 eight judges, of whom four shall be elected by the elec 
 tors of the State for ei^ht years, and four selected from 
 the class of Justices of the Supreme Court having the 
 shortest time to serve. Provision shall be made by law, 
 for designating one of the number elected, as chief judge, 
 and for selecting such Justices of the Supreme Court, 
 from time to time, and for so classifying those elected, 
 th;?t one shall be elected every second year. 
 
76 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK, 
 
 3. There shall be a Supreme Court having general 
 jurisdiction in law and equity. 
 
 4. The State shall be divided into eight judicial dis 
 trials, of which the city of New-York shall be one ; the 
 others to he bounded by county lines and to be compact 
 and equal in population as nearly as may be. There 
 shall be four Justices of the Supreme Court in each di.s- 
 trict, and as many more in the district composed of the 
 city of New-York, as may from time to time be author 
 ized by law, but not to exceed in the whole such number 
 in proportion to its population, as shall be in conformity 
 with the number of such judges in the residue of the 
 State in proportion to its population. They shall be 
 classified so that one of the justices of each district shall 
 go out of office at the end of every two years. After the 
 expiration of their terms under such classification, the 
 term of their office shall be eight years. 
 
 5. The Legislature shall have the same powers to al 
 ter and regulate the jurisdiction and proceedings in law 
 and equity, as they have heretofore possessed. 
 
 6. Provision may be made by law for designating from 
 time to time, one or more of the said justices, who is 
 not a judge of tbe Court of Appeals, to preside at 
 the general terms of the said Court to be held in the 
 several districts. Any three or more of the said justices, 
 of whom one of the said justices so designated shall 
 always be one, may hold such general terms. And any 
 one or more of the justices may hold special terms and 
 circuit courts, and any one of them may preside in courts 
 of oyer and terminer in any county. 
 
 7. The Judges of the Court of Appeals and justices of 
 the Supreme Court shall severally receive at stated times 
 for their services, a compensation to be established by 
 law, which shall not be increased or diminished during 
 their continuance in office. 
 
 8. They shall not hold any other office or public trust 
 All votes for either of them, for any elective office (ex 
 cept that of Justice of the Supreme Court, or judge of 
 the court of appeals), given by the Legislature or the 
 people, shall be void. They shall not exercise any 
 power of appointment to public office. Any male citi 
 zen of the age of twenty-one years, of good moral char- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW .YORK. 77 
 
 acter, and who possesses the requisite qualifications of 
 learning and ability, shall be entitled to admission to 
 practice in all the courts of this State. 
 
 9. The classification of the Justices of the Supreme 
 Court ; the times and place of holding the terms of the 
 court of appeals, and of the general and special terms of 
 the Supreme Court within the several districts, and the 
 circuit courts and courts of oyer and terminer within the 
 several counties, shall he provided for by law. 
 
 10. The testimony inequity cases shall be taken in 
 like manner as in cases at law. 
 
 11. Justices of the Supreme Court and judges of the 
 Court of Appeals, may be removed by concurrent reso 
 lution of both houses of the Legislature, if two-thirds of 
 all the member* elected to the Assembly, and a majority 
 of all the members elected to the Senate, concur therein. 
 
 All judicial officers, except those mentioned in this 
 section, and except justices of the peace, and judges and 
 justices of inferior courts not of record may be removed 
 by the Senate, on the recommendation of the Governor; 
 but no removal shall be made by virtue of this section, 
 unless the cause thereof be entered on the journals, nor 
 unless the party complained of, shall have been served 
 with a copy of the complaint against him, and shall have 
 had an opportunity of being heard in his defence. On 
 the question of removal, the ayes and noes shall be en 
 tered on the journals. 
 
 12. The judge of the Court of Appeals shall be elected 
 by the electors of the State, and the j.ustices of the Su 
 preme Court by the electors of the several judicial dis 
 tricts, at such time.s as may be prescribed by law. 
 
 13. In case the office of any judge of the Court of 
 Appeals, or justice of the Supreme Court, shall become 
 vacant before the expiration of the regular term for which 
 he was elected, the vacancy may be filled by appoint 
 ment by the Governor, until it shall be supplied at the 
 next general election of judges, when it shall be filled by 
 election for the residue of the unexpired term. 
 
 14. There shall be elected in each of the counties of 
 this State, except the city and county of New-York, one 
 county judge, who shall hold his office for four years. 
 tie shall hold the county court, and perform the duties 
 
 32 
 
78 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 of the office of surrogate. The county court shall hava 
 such jurisdiction in cases arising injustices courts, and 
 in special cases, as the Legislature may prescribe ; bu 
 shall have no original civil jurisdiction, except in such 
 special cases 
 
 The county judge, with two justices of the peace, to 
 be designated according to law, may hold courts of ses 
 sions with such criminal jurisdiction as the Legislature 
 shall prescribe, and perform such other duties as may be 
 required by law. 
 
 The county judge shall receive an annual salary, to be 
 fixed by the board of supervisors, which shall be neither 
 increased nor diminished during his continuance in office. 
 
 The justices of the peace, for services in courts of ses 
 sions, shall be paid a per diem allowance out of the 
 county treasury. 
 
 - In counties having a population exceeding forty thou 
 sand, the Legislature may provide for the election of 
 a separate officer to perform the duties of the office of 
 surrogate. 
 
 The Legislature may confer equity jurisdiction in spe 
 cial cases upon the county judge. 
 
 Inferior local courts, of civil and criminal jurisdiction, 
 may be established by the Legislature in cities ; and 
 such courts, except for the cities of New-York and Buf 
 falo, shall have an uniform organization and jurisdiction 
 in such cities. 
 
 15. The Legislature may, on application of the board 
 of supervisors, provide for the election of local offi 
 cers, not to exceed two in any county, to discharge the 
 duties of county judge and of surrogate, in cases of 
 their inability or a vacancy, and to exercise such other 
 powers in special cases as may be provided by law. 
 
 16. The Legislature may reorganize the judicial dis 
 tricts at the first session after the return of every enume 
 ration under this constitution, in the manner provided 
 for in the fourth section of this article, and at no other 
 time ; and they may, at such session, increase or dimin 
 ish the number of districts, but such increase or diminu 
 tion shall not be more than one district at any one time. 
 Each district shall have four justices of the Supreme 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NFW YORK. 79 
 
 Court; but no diminution of the districts shall have the 
 effect to remove a judge from office. 
 
 17. The electors of the several towns, shall, at their 
 annual town meeting, and in su&h manner as the Legis 
 lature may direct, elect justices of the peace, whose 
 term of office shall be four years. In case of an elec 
 tion to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of a 
 full term, they shall hold for the residue of the unex- 
 pired term. Their number and classification may be re 
 gulated by law. Justices of the peace and judges or 
 justices of inferior courts not of record and their clerks 
 may be removed after due notice and an opportunity of 
 being heard in their defence by such county, city or state 
 courts as may be prescribed by law, for causes to be as 
 signed in the order of removal. 
 
 18. All judicial officers of the cities and villages, and 
 all such judicial officers as may be created therein by law, 
 shall be elected at such times and in such manner as the 
 Legislature may direct. 
 
 19. Clerks of the several counties of this State shall 
 be clerks of the Supreme Court, with such powers and 
 duties as shall be prescribed by law. A clerk for the 
 Court of Appeals, to be ex-officio clerk of the Supreme 
 Court, and to keep his office at the seat of government, 
 shall be chosen by the electors of the State ; he shall 
 hold his office for three years, and his compensation 
 shall be fixed by law and paid out of the public Trea 
 sury. 
 
 20. No judicial officer, except justices of the peace, 
 shall receive to his own use, any fees or perquisites of 
 office. . 
 
 21. The Legislature may authorize the judgments, 
 decrees and decisions of any local inferior court of re 
 cord of original civil jurisdiction, established in a city, 
 to be removed for review directly into the Court of Ap 
 peals. 
 
 22. The Legislature shall provide for the speedy 
 publication of all statute laws, and of such judicial 
 decisions as it may deem expedient. And all laws 
 anri judicial decisions shall be free for publication by any 
 persoi 
 
 23 Tribunals of conciliation may be established. 
 
80 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 with such powers and duties as may be prescribed by 
 law, but such tribunals shall have no power to render 
 judgment to be obligatory on the parties, except they 
 voluntarily submit, their matters in difference and agree 
 to abide the judgment, or assent thereto, in the presence 
 of such tribunal, in such cases as shall be prescribed by 
 law. 
 
 24. The Legislature at its first session after the adop 
 tion of this Constitution, shall provide for the appoint 
 ment of three commissioners, whose duty it shall be to 
 revise, reform, simplify and abridge the rules and pruc- 
 tice, pleadings, forms and proceedings of the courts of 
 record of this State, and to report thereon to the Legis 
 lature, subject to their adoption and modification from 
 time to time 
 
 25. The Legislature at its first session after the adopr 
 tion of this Constitution, shall provide for the organiza 
 tion of the Court of Appeals, and for transferring to it 
 the business pending in the Court for the Correction of 
 Errors, and for the allowance of writs of error and ap 
 peals to the Court of Appeals, from the judgments and 
 decrees of the* present Court of Chancery and Supreme 
 Court, and of the courts that may be organized under this 
 Constitution. 
 
 ARTICLE 7. 
 
 SECTION 1. After paying the expenses of collection, 
 superintendance and ordinary repairs, there shall be ap 
 propriated and set apart in each fiscal year, out of the 
 revenues of the State canals, commencing on the hist 
 day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, 
 the sum of one million and three hundred thousand dol 
 lars until the first day of June, one thousand eight hun 
 dred and fifty-five, and from that time the sum of one 
 million and seven hundred thousand dollars in each fiscal 
 year, as a sinking fund, to pay the interest and redeem 
 the principal of that part of the State debt called the 
 canal debt, as it existed at the time first aforesaid, -and 
 including three hundred thousand dollars then to be bor 
 rowed, until the same shall be wholly paid; and the 
 principal and income of the said sinking fund shall be 
 sacredly applie*d to that purpose. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 81 
 
 2. After complying with the provisions of the first 
 section of this article, there shall be appropriated and 
 set apart out of the surplus revenues of the State canals, 
 in each fiscal year, commencing on the first day of June, 
 one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, the sura of 
 three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, until the time 
 when a sufficient sum shall have been appropriated and 
 set apart, under the said first section, to pay the interest 
 and extinguish the entire principal of the canal debt; and 
 after that period, then the sum of one million and five hun 
 dred thousand dollars in each fiscal year, as a sinking 
 fund, to pay the interest and redeem the principal of that 
 part of the State debt called the Genejral Fund Debt, 
 including the debt for loans of the State credit to rail 
 road companies which have failed to pay the interest 
 thereon, and also the contingent debt on State stocks 
 loaned to incorporated companies which have hitherto 
 paid the interest thereon, -whenever and as far as any 
 part thereof may become a charge on the Treasury or 
 General Fund, until the same shall be wholly paid; 
 and the principal and income of the said last mentioned 
 sinking fund shall be sacredly applied to the purpose 
 aforesaid; and if the payment of any part of the moneys 
 to the said sinking fund shall at any time be deferred, 
 by reason of the priority recognized in the first section 
 of this article, the sum so deferred, with quarterly in 
 terest thereon, at the then current rate, shall be paid to 
 the last mentioned sinking fund, as soon as it can be 
 done consistently with the just rights of the creditors 
 holding said canal debt. 
 
 3. After paying the said expenses of superintendance 
 and repairs of the canals, and the sums appropriated by 
 the first and second sections of this Article, there shall 
 be paid out of the surplus revenues of the canals, to the 
 Treasury of the State, on or before the thirtieth day of 
 September, in each year, for the use and benefit of the 
 General Fund, such sum, not exceeding two hundred 
 thousand dollars, as may be required to defray the ne 
 cessary expenses of the State ; an-d the remainder of 
 the revenues of the said canals shall, in each fiscal year, 
 be applied, in such manner as the Legislature shall 
 direct, to the completion of the Erie Canal enlargement, 
 
 32* 
 
O^ CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 and the Genesee Valley and Black River canals, until 
 the said canals shall be completed. 
 
 If at any time after the period of eight years from the 
 adoption of this Constitution, the revenues of the State, 
 unappropriated by this article, shall not be sufficient to 
 defray the necessary expenses of the government, with 
 out continuing or laying a direct tax, the Legislature 
 may, at its discretion, supply the deficiency, in whole or 
 in part, from the surplus revenues of the canals, after 
 complying with the provisions of the first two sections 
 of this article, for paying the interest and extinguishing 
 the principal of the Canal and General Fund Debt ; but 
 the sum thus Appropriated from the surplus revenues of 
 the canals shall not exceed annually three hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars, including the sum of two hundred 
 thousand dollars, provided for by this section for the ex 
 penses of the government, until the General Fund Debt 
 shall be extinguished, or until the Erie Canal enlargement 
 and Genesee Valley and Black River Canals shall be com 
 pleted, and after that debt shall be paid, or the said 
 canals shall be completed, then the sum of six hundred 
 and seventy-two thousand five hundred dollars, or 
 so much thereof as shall be necessary, may be annually 
 appropriated to defray the expenses of the government. 
 
 4. The claims of the State against any incorporated 
 company to pay the interest and redeem the principal 
 of the stock of the State loaned or advanced to such com 
 pany, shall be fairly enforced, and not released or 
 compromised ; and the moneys arising from such claims 
 shall be set apart and applied as part of the sinking 
 fund provided in the second section of this article. But 
 the time limited for the fulfilment of any condition of 
 any release or compromise heretofore made or provided 
 for, may be extended by law. 
 
 5. If the sinking funds, or either of them, provided in 
 this article, shall prove insufficient to enable the State, 
 on the credit of such fund, to procure the means to satisfy 
 the claims of the creditors of the State as they become 
 payable, the Legislature shall, by equitable taxes, so 
 increase the revenues of the said funds as to make them, 
 respectively, sufficient perfectly to preserve the public 
 faith. Every contribution or advance to the canals, of 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 83 
 
 their debt, finm any source, other than their direct re 
 venues, shall, with quarterly interest, at the rates then 
 current, be repaid into the Treasury, for the use of the 
 State, out of the canal revenues, as soon as itcan be done 
 consistently with the just rights of the creditors holding 
 the said canal debt. 
 
 6. The Legislature shall not sell, lease, or otherwise 
 dispose of any of the canals of the State ; but they shall 
 remain the property of the State and under its manage 
 ment, forever. 
 
 7. The Legislature shall never sell or dispose of the 
 salt springs belonging to this State. The lands conti 
 guous thereto and which may be necessary and conveni 
 ent for the use of the salt springs, may be sold by 
 authority of law and under the direction of the com 
 missioners of the land office, for the purpose of investing 
 the moneys arising therefrom in other lands alike conve 
 nient ; but by such sale and purchase the aggregate 
 quantity of these lands shall not be diminished. 
 
 8. No moneys shall ever be paid out of the Treasury 
 of this State, or any of its funds, or any of the funds 
 under its management, except in pursuance of an appro 
 priation by law ; nor unless such payment be made 
 within two years next after the passage of such appro 
 priation act ; and every such law, making anew appro 
 priation, or continuing or reviving an appropriation, 
 shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated, and the ob 
 ject to which it is to be applied ; and it shall notbe sufficient 
 for such law to refer to any other law to fix such sum. 
 
 9. The credit of the State shall not, in any manner, 
 be given or loaned to, or in aid of any individual as 
 sociation or corporation. 
 
 10. The State may, to meet casual deficits or failures 
 in revenues, or for expenses not provided for, contract 
 debts, but such debts, direct and contingent, singly or in 
 the aggregate, shall not at any time, exceed one million 
 of dollars ; and the moneys arising from the loans cre 
 ating such debts, shall be applied to the purpose for 
 which they were obtained, or to repay the debts so con 
 tracted, and to no other purpose whatever. 
 
 11. In addition to the above limited power to contract 
 debts, the State may contract debts to repel invasion, 
 
84 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 suppress insurrection, or defend the State in war; bu 
 the money arising from the contracting of such debts 
 shall be applied to the purpose for which it was raised, 
 or to repay such debts, and to no other purpose what 
 ever. 
 
 12. Except the debts specified in the tenth and 
 eleventh sections of this article, no debt shall be here 
 after contracted by or on behalf of this State, unless such 
 debt shall be authorized by a law, for some single work 
 or object, to be distinctly specified therein; and such 
 law shall impose and provide for the collection of a di 
 rect annual tax to pay, and sufficient to pay the interest 
 on such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge 
 the principal of such debt within eighteen years from 
 the time of the contracting thereof. 
 
 No such law shall take effect until it shall, at a general 
 election, have been submitted to the people, and have 
 received a majority of all the votes cast for and against 
 it, at such election. 
 
 On the final passage of such bill in either house of 
 the Legislature, the question shall be taken by ayes and 
 noes, to be duly entered on the journals thereof, and shall 
 be : Shall this bill pass and ought the same to receive 
 the sanction of the people ?" 
 
 The Legislature may at any time, after the approval of 
 such law by the people, if no debt shall have been con 
 tracted in pursuance thereof, repeal the same ; and may 
 at any time, by law, forbid the contracting of any 
 further debtor liability under such law ; but the tax im 
 posed by such act, in proportion to the debt and liability 
 which may have been contracted, in pursuance of such 
 law, shall remain in force and be irrepealable, and be 
 annually collected, until the proceeds thereof shall 
 have made the provision herein before specified 1 to pay 
 and discharge the interest and principal of such debt and 
 liability. 
 
 The money arising from any loan or stock creating 
 such debt or liability, shall be applied to the work or 
 object specified in the act authorizing such debt or liabi 
 lity, or for the repayment of such debt or liability, and 
 for no other purpose whatever. 
 
 No such .aw shall be submitted to be voted on, within 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW. YORK. 85 
 
 three months after its passage, or at any general election/ 
 when any other law, or any bill, or any amendment to 
 the Constituiion, shall be submitted to be voted for 01 
 against. 
 
 13. Every law which imposes, continues or levives a 
 tax, shall distinctly state the tax and the object to which 
 it is to be applied ; and it shall not be sufficient to refer 
 to any other law to fix such tax or object. 
 
 14. On the final passage, in either house of the Legis 
 lature, of every act which imposes, continues, or revives 
 a tax, or creates a debt or charge, or makes, continues 
 or revives any appropriation of public or trust money or 
 properly, or releases, discharges, or commutes any 
 claim or demand of the state, the question shall be taken 
 by ayes and noes, which shall be duly entered on the 
 journals, and three-fifths of all the members elected to 
 either house, shall, in all such cases, be necessary to 
 constitute a quorum therein. 
 
 ARTICLE 8. 
 
 SECTION 1. Corporations may be formed under gen 
 eral laws ; but shall not be created by special act, except 
 for municipal*purposes, and in cases where in the judg 
 ment of the Legislature, the objects of the corporation 
 cannot be attained under general laws. All general laws 
 and special acts passed pursuant to this section, may be 
 altered from time to time or repealed. 
 
 2. Dues from corporations shall be secured by 
 such individual liability of the corporators and other 
 means as may be prescribed by law. 
 
 3. The term corporations as used in this article, shall 
 be construed to include all associations and joint-stock 
 companies having any of the powers or privileges of cor 
 porations not possessed by individuals or partnerships. 
 And all corporations shall have the right to sue and shall 
 be subject to be sued in all courts in like cases as natural 
 persons. 
 
 4. The Legislature shall have no power to pass any 
 act granting any special charter for banking purposes , 
 but corporations or associations may be formed for such 
 purposes under general laws. 
 
86 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 5. The Legislature shall have no power to pass any 
 law sanctioning in any manner, directly or indirectly, 
 the suspension of specie payments, by any person, asso* 
 ciation or corporation issuing- bank notes of any descrip 
 tion. 
 
 G. The Legislature shall provide by law for the regis 
 try of all bills or notes, issued or put in circulation as 
 money, and shall require ample security for the redemp 
 tion of the same in specie 
 
 7. The stockholders in every corporation and joint- 
 stock association for banking purposes, issuing bank 
 notes or any kind of paper credits to circulate as money, 
 after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred 
 and fifty, shall be individually responsible to the amount 
 of their respective share or shares of stock in any such 
 corporation or association, for all its debts and liabilities 
 of every kind, contracted after the said first day of Ja 
 nuary, one thousand eight hundred and fifty. 
 
 8. Incase of the insolvency of any bank or banking 
 association, the bill-holders thereof shall be entitled to 
 preference in payment, over all other creditors of such 
 bank or association. 
 
 9. It shall be the duty of the Legislature to provide for 
 the organization of cities and incorporated villages, and 
 to restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing 
 money, contracting debts and loaning their credit, so as 
 to prevent abuses in assessments, and in contracting debt 
 by such municipal corporations. 
 
 ARTICLE 9 
 
 SECTION 1. The capital of the Common School Fund; 
 the capital of the Literature Fund; and the capital of the 
 United States Deposite Fund, ghall be respectively 
 preserved inviolate. The revenue of the said Common 
 School Fund shall be applied to the support of common 
 schools; the revenues of the said Literature Fund shall 
 be applied to the support of academies, and the sum of 
 twenty-five thousand dollars of the revenues of the United 
 States Deposite Fund shall each year be appropriated to 
 and made a part of the capital of the said Common School 
 Fund. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 87 
 
 ARTICLE 10. 
 
 SECTION 1. Sheriffs, clerks of counties, including the 
 register and clerk of the city and county of New- York, 
 coroners, and district attorneys, shall be chosen, by the 
 electors of the respective counties, once in every three 
 years and as^often as vacancies shall happen. Sheriffs 
 shall hold no other office, and be ineligible for the next 
 three years after the termination of their offices. They 
 may be required by law, to renew their security, from 
 time to time ; and in default of giving such new secu 
 rity, their offices shall be deemed vacant. But the 
 county shall never be made responsible for the acts of 
 the sheriff. 
 
 The Governor may remove any officer, in this section 
 mentioned, within the term for which he shall have been 
 elected; giving to such officer a copy of the charges 
 against him, and an opportunity of being heard in his de 
 fence. 
 
 2. All county officers whose election or appointment 
 is not provided for, by this Constitution, shall be elected 
 by the electors of the respective counties, or appointed 
 by the boards of supervisors, or other county authori 
 ties, as the Legislature shall direct. All city, town and 
 village officers, whose election or appointment is not 
 provided for by this Constitution, shall be elected by 
 the electors of such cities, towns and villages, or of some 
 division thereof, or appointed by such authorities thereof, 
 as the Legislature shall designate for that purpose. All 
 other officers whose election or appointment is not pro 
 vided for by this Constitution, and all officers whose 
 offices may hereafter be created by law, shall be elected 
 by the people or appointed, as the Legislature may 
 direct. 
 
 3. When the duration of any office, is not provided by 
 this Constitution, it may be declared by law, and if not 
 so declared, such office shall be held, during the pleasure 
 of the authority making the appointment. 
 
 4. The time of electing all officers named in this arti 
 cle shall be prescribed by law. 
 
 5. The Legislature shall provide for filling vacancies 
 in office, and in case of elective officers, no person ap 
 pointed to fill a vacancy shall hold his office by virtue 
 
88 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 of such appointment longer than the commencement of 
 the political year next succeeding the first annual election 
 after the happening of the vacancy. 
 
 6. The political year and legislative term, shall begin 
 on the first day of January ; and the Legislature shall 
 every year assemble on the first Tuesday in January, 
 unless a different day shall be appointed by law. 
 
 7. Provisions shall be made by law for the removal 
 for misconduct or malversation in office of all officers 
 (except judicial) whose powers and duties are not local 
 or legislative, and who shall be elected at general elections, 
 and also for supplying vacancies created by such re 
 moval. 
 
 8. The Legislature may declare the cases in which 
 any office shall be deemed vacant, where no provision is 
 made for that purpose in this Constitution. 
 
 ARTICLE 11. 
 
 SECTION 1. The militia of this State, shall at all times 
 hereafter, be armed and disciplined, and in readiness for 
 service ; but all such inhabitants of this Stale of any re 
 ligious denomination whatever as from scruples of con 
 science may be averse to bearing arms, shall be excused 
 therefrom, upon such conditions as shall be prescribed by 
 law. 
 
 2. Militia officers shall be chosen, or appointed, as 
 follows; captains, subalterns and non-commissioned 
 officers shall be chosen by the written votes of the mem 
 bers of their respective companies. Field officers of 
 regiments and separate battalions, by the written votes 
 of the commissioned officers of the respective regiments 
 and separate battalions; brigadier-generals and brigade 
 inspectors by the field officers of their respective bri 
 gades ; major generals, brigadier generals and command 
 ing officers of regiments or separate battalions, shall 
 appoint the staff officers in their respective divisions, 
 brigades, regiments or separate battalions. 
 
 3. The Governor styall nominate, and with the consent 
 of the Senate, appoint all major generals, and the com 
 missary general. The adjutant general and other chiefs 
 of staff departments, and the aids-de-cnmp of the coni- 
 mander-in-chief shall be appointed by the Governor, and 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORE. 89 
 
 their commissions shall expire with the time for which 
 the Governor shall have been elected. The commis 
 sary general shall hold his office for two years. He 
 shall give security for the faithful execution of the duties 
 f his office, in such manner and amount as shall be 
 prescribed by law. 
 
 4. The Legislature shall, by law, direct the time and 
 manner of electing militia officers, and of certifying 
 their elections to the Governor. 
 
 5. The commissioned officers of the militia shall be 
 commissioned by the Governor; and no commissioned 
 officer shall be removed from office, unless by the Senate 
 on the recommendation of the Governor, stating the 
 grounds on which such removal is recommended, or by 
 the decision of a court martial, pursuant to law. The 
 present officers .of the militia shall hold their commissions 
 subject to removal, as before provided. 
 
 6. In case the mode of election and appointment of 
 militia officers hereby directed, shall not be found con 
 ducive to the improvement of the militia, the Legislature 
 may abolish the same, and provide by law for their ap 
 pointment and removal, if two -thirds of the members 
 present in each house shall concur therein. 
 
 ARTICLE 12. 
 
 SECTION 1. Members of the Legislature and all offi 
 cers, executive and judicial, except such inferior officers 
 as may be by law exempted, shall, before they enter on 
 the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe 
 the following oath or affirmation : 
 
 " I do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) 
 that I will support the Constitution of the United States, 
 and the Constitution of the State of New-York ; and that 
 I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of 
 according to the best of my ability.* 
 
 And no other oath, declaration, or test shall be required 
 as a qualification for any office or public trust. 
 
 33 
 
90 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ARTICLE 13. 
 
 SECTION 1. Any amendment or amendments to this 
 Constitution may be proposed in the Senate and Assem 
 bly ; and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of 
 the members elected to each of the two houses, such 
 proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on 
 their journals with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and 
 referred to the Legislature, to be chosen at the next ge 
 neral election of Senators, and shall be published for 
 three months previous to the time of making such choice, 
 and if in the Legislature so next chosen, as aforesaid 
 such proposed amendment or amendments, shall be 
 agreed to, by a majority of all the members elected to 
 each house, then it shall be the duty of the Legislature 
 to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to 
 the people, in such manner and at such time as the Le 
 gislature shall prescribe; and if the people shall approve 
 and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majo 
 rity of the electors qualified to vote for members of the 
 Legislature, voting thereon, such amendment or amend 
 ments shall become part of the Constitution. 
 
 2. At the general election to be held in the year 
 eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and in each twentieth 
 year thereafter, and also at such time as the Legislature 
 may by law provide, the question, " Shall there be a 
 Convention to revise the Constitution, and amend the 
 same?" shall be decided by the electors qualified to vote 
 for members of the Legislature ; and in case a majority 
 of the electors so qualified, voting at such election, shall 
 decide in favor of a Convention for such purpose, the 
 Legislature at its next session, shall provide by law for 
 the election of delegates to such Convention. 
 
 ARTICLE 14. 
 
 SECTION 1. The first election of Senators and mem 
 bers of Assembly, pursuant to the provisions of this Con 
 stitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the 
 first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred 
 and forty-seven. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 91 
 
 The Senators and members of Assembly who may be 
 in office on ihe first day of January, one thousand eight 
 hundred and forty-seven, shall hold their offices until and 
 including the thirty-first day of December following, and 
 no longer. 
 
 2. The first election of Governor and Lieutenant- 
 Governor under this Constitution, shall be held on the 
 Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, one 
 thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; and the Go 
 vernor and Lieutenant-Governor in office when this Con 
 stitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices 
 until and including the thirty-first day of December of 
 that year. 
 
 3. The Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, 
 Attorney-General, District-Attorney, Surveyor-General, 
 Canal Commissioners, and inspectors of State prisons, 
 in office when this Constitution shall take effect, shall 
 hold their respective offices until and including the thirty- 
 first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and 
 forty-seven, and no longer. 
 
 4. The first election of judges and clerk of the Court 
 of Appeals, justices of the Supreme Court, and county 
 judges, shall take place at such time between the first 
 Tuesday of April and the second Tuesday of June, one 
 thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, as may be pre 
 scribed by law. The said courts shall respectively enter 
 upon their duties, on the first Monday of July, next 
 thereafter; but the term of office of said judges, clerk 
 and justices as declared by this Constitution, shall be 
 deemed to commence on the first day of January, one 
 thousand eight hundred and forty-eight. 
 
 5. On the first Monday of July, one thousand eight 
 hundred and forty-seven, jurisdiction of all suits and 
 proceedings then pending in the present Supreme Court 
 and Court of Chancery, and all suits and proceedings 
 originally commenced and then pending in any court of 
 common pleas, (except in the city and county of New- 
 York), shall become vested in the Supreme Court hereby 
 established. Proceedings pending in courts of common 
 pleas and in suits originally commenced injustices courts 
 hall be transferred to the county courts provided for in 
 
92 CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 this Constitution, in such manner and form and undei 
 such regulation, as shall be provided by law. The 
 courts of oyer and terminer hereby established shall, in 
 their respective counties, have jurisdiction, on and 
 after the day last mentioned, of all indictments and pro 
 ceedings then pending in the present courts of oyer and 
 terminer, and also of all indictments and proceedings 
 then pending in the present courts of general sessions of 
 the peace, except in the city of New- York, and except 
 in cases of which the courts of sessions hereby established 
 may lawfully take cognisance ; and of such indictments 
 and proceedings the courts of sessions hereby established 
 shall have jurisdiction on and after the day last men 
 tioned. 
 
 6. The Chancellor and the present Supreme Court 
 shall, respectively, have power to hear and determine 
 any of such suits and proceedings ready on the first 
 Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty- 
 seven, for hearing or decision, and shall, for their services 
 therein, be entitled to their present rates of compensation 
 until the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred 
 and forty-eight, or until all such suits and proceedings 
 shall be sooner heard and determined. Masters in 
 Chancery may continue to exercise the functions of their 
 office in the court of chancery, so long as the Chancellor 
 shall continue to exercise the functions of his office 
 under the provisions of this Constitution. 
 
 And the Supreme Court hereby established shall also 
 have power to hear and determime such of said suits and 
 proceedings as may be prescribed by law. 
 
 7. In case any vacancy shall occur in the office of 
 chancellor or justice of the present Supreme Court, pre 
 viously to the first day of July, one thousand eight hun 
 dred and forty-eight, the Governor may nominate, and 
 by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint 
 a proper person to fill such vacancy. .Any judge of the 
 Court of Appeals or justice of the Supreme Court, elected 
 under this Constitution, may receive and hold such ap 
 pointment. 
 
 8. The offices of Chancellor, justice of the existing 
 Supreme Court, circuitjudge, vice-chancellor, assistant 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK. 93 
 
 vice-chancellor, judge of the existing county courts of each 
 county, Supreme Court commissioner, master in chan 
 cery, examiner in chancery, and surrogate, (except as 
 herein otherwise provided,) are abolished from and after 
 
 he first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and 
 
 oriy-seven, (1847.) 
 
 9. The Chancellor, the justices of the present Supreme 
 Court, and the circuit judges, are hereby declared to be 
 severally eligible to any office at the first election under 
 this Constitution. 
 
 10. Sheriffs, clerks of counties, (including the register 
 and clerk of the city and county of New-York) and 
 justices or the peace, and coroners, in office, when this 
 Constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective 
 offices until the expiration of the term for which they 
 were respectively elected. 
 
 11. Judicial officers in office when this Constitution 
 shall take effect may continue to receive such fees and 
 perquisites of office as are now authorized by law, until 
 the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and 
 forty-seven, notwithstanding the provisions of the twen 
 tieth section of the sixth article of this Constitution. 
 
 12. All local courts established in any city or village, 
 including the superior court, common pleas, sessions 
 and surrogate s courts of the city and county of New 
 York, shall remain, until otherwise directed by the 
 Legislature, with their present powers and jurisdictions ; 
 and the judges of such courts and any clerks thereof in 
 office on the first day of January one thousand eight 
 hundred and forty-seven, shall continue in office until 
 the expiration of their terms of office, or until the Le 
 gislature shall otherwise direct. 
 
 13. This Constitution shall be in force from and in 
 eluding the first day of January, one thousand eight 
 hundred and forty-seven, except as is herein otherwise 
 provided. 
 
 DONE, In Convention, at the Capitol, in the city of Al 
 bany, the ninth day of October, in the year one thou 
 sand eight hundred and forty-six, and of the Indepen 
 dence of the United States of America the seventy-first. 
 33* 
 
94 CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed out 
 names. 
 
 JOHN TRACY, President, 
 And Delegate from the County of Chenango 
 
 JAMES F. STARBUCK, ~) 
 
 H. W. STRONG, I Secretaries. 
 
 FR. SEGER, J 
 
 STATE OF NEW-YORK, 
 Secretary s Office. 5 
 
 I have compared the preceding with the original en 
 grossed Constitution deposited in this office oh the ninth 
 day of October, 1846, and Do Certify, that the same is 
 a correct transcript therefrom, and of the whole of said 
 original. 
 
 ******* Given under my hand and seal of office at 
 
 *L. S.$ the City of Albany, the tenth day of October, 
 ******* in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
 hundred and forty-six. 
 
 N. S. BENTON, 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 We, the people of the State of New Jersey, grateful to 
 Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which 
 He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to 
 Him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 95 
 
 transmit the same unimpaired to succeeding generations, 
 do ordain and establish this Constitution. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 Rights and Privileges. 
 
 1. All men are by nature free and independent, and 
 have certain natural and unalienable rights, among which 
 are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, ac 
 quiring, possessing, and protecting property, and of 
 pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness. 
 
 2. All political power is inherent in the people. 
 Government is instituted for the protection, security 
 
 and benefit of the people, and they have the right, at all 
 times to alter or reform the same, whenever the public 
 good may require it. 
 
 3. No person shall be deprived of the inestimable 
 privilege of worshipping Almighty God in a manner 
 agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience, nor under 
 any pretence, whatever, be compelled to attend any 
 place of worship contrary to his faith and judgment; 
 nor shall any person be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, 
 or other rates for building or repairing any church or 
 churches, place or places of worship, or for the main- 
 tainance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what 
 he believes to be right, or has deliberately and voluntari 
 ly engaged to perform. 
 
 4. There shall be no establishment of one religious 
 sect in preference to another. No religious test shall be 
 required as a qualification for any office or public trust; 
 and no person shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil 
 right merely on account of his religious principles. 
 
 5. Every person may freely speak, write, and pub 
 lish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for 
 the abuse of that right. No law shall be passed to 
 restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the 
 press. 
 
 In all prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth 
 may be given in evidence to the jury ; and if it shall ap 
 pear to the jury that the matter charged as libellous is 
 true, and was published with good motives, and for jus- 
 
96 CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 tifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted ; and the jury 
 shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. 
 
 6. The right of the people to be secure in their per 
 sons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable 
 searches and seizures, shall not be violated ; and no 
 warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported 
 by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the 
 place to be searched, and the papers and things to be 
 seized. 
 
 7. The right of trial by jury, shall remain inviolate; 
 but the Legislature may authorize the trial of civil suits, 
 when the matter in dispute does not exceed fifty dollars, 
 by a jury of six men. 
 
 8. Jn all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have 
 the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial 
 jury ; to be informed of the nature and cause of the ac 
 cusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses against 
 him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses 
 in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel in his 
 defence. 
 
 9. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal 
 offence, unless on the presentment or indictment of a 
 grand jury, except in cases of impeachment, or in cases 
 cognizable by justices of the peace, or arising in the 
 army or navy, or in the militia, when in actual service in 
 time of war or public danger. 
 
 10. No person shall, after acquittal, be tried for the 
 same offence. All persons shall, before conviction, be 
 bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offences, 
 when the proof is evident or presumption great. 
 
 11. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
 not be suspended, unless in case of rebellion or invasion 
 the public safety may require it. 
 
 12. The military shall be in strict subordination to the 
 civil power. 
 
 13. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in 
 any house without the consent of the owner, nor in 
 time of war, except in a manner prescribed by law. 
 
 14. Treason against the State, shall consist only in 
 levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, 
 giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be con- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 97 
 
 victed of treason, unless on the testimony of two witness 
 es to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. 
 
 15. Excessive bail shall not be required, excessive 
 fines shall not be imposed, and cruel and unusual pun 
 ishments shall not be inflicted. 
 
 16. Private property shall not be taken for public use 
 without just compensation ; but land may be taken for 
 public highways as heretofore, until the Legislature shall 
 direct compensation to be made. 
 
 17. No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any 
 action, or on any judgment founded upon contract, unless 
 in cases of fraud ; nor shall any person be imprisoned for 
 a militia fine, in time of peace. 
 
 18. The people have the right freely to assemble 
 together, to consult for the common good, to make 
 known their opinions to their representatives, and to peti 
 tion for redress of grievances. 
 
 19. This enumeration of rights and privileges shall 
 not be construed to impair or deny others retained by 
 the people. 
 
 ARTICLE 2. 
 Right of Suffrage. 
 
 1. Every white male citizen of the United States, of 
 the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resi 
 dent of this State one year, and of the county in which 
 he claims his vote five months next before the election, 
 shall be entitled to vote for all officers that now are, or 
 hereafter may be elective by the people ; provided, that 
 no per.son in the military, naval, or marine service of the 
 United States shall be considered a resident in this State, 
 by being stationed in any garrison, barrack, or military 
 or naval place or station within this State ; and no pauper, 
 idiot, insane person, or person convicted of a crime 
 which now excludes him from being a witness, unless 
 pardoned or restored by law to the right of suffrage, shall 
 enjoy the right of an elector. 
 
 2. The Legislature may pass laws to deprive persons 
 of the right of suffiage, who shall be convicted of bribery 
 at elections. 
 
98 CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 ARTICLE 3. 
 
 Distribution of the Powers of Government. 
 
 1. The powers of the government shall be divided 
 into three distinct departments, the Legislative, Execu 
 tive, and Judicial ; and no person or persons belonging 
 to, or constituting one of these departments, shall exer 
 cise any of the powers properly belonging to either of 
 the others, except as herein expressly provided. 
 
 ARTICLE 4. 
 
 Legislative. 
 
 SEC. I. 1. The legislative power shall be vested ill 
 a Senate and General Assembly. 
 
 2. No person shall be a member of the Senate, who 
 shall not have attained the age of thirty years, and have 
 been a citizen and inhabitant of the State for four years, 
 and of the county for which he shall be chosen one year, 
 next before his election ; and no person shall be a mem 
 ber of the General Assembly, who shall not have attained 
 the age of twenty-one years, and have been a citizen and 
 inhabitant of the State for two years, and of the county 
 for which he shall be chosen one year, next before his 
 election ; provided, that no person shall be eligible as a 
 member of either house of the Legislature, who shall 
 not be entitled to the right of suffrage. 
 
 3. Members of the Senate and General Assembly 
 shall be elected yearly, and every year, on the second 
 Tuesday of October ; and the two houses shall meet 
 seperately on the second Tuesday in January next, 
 after the said day of election, at which time of meeting, 
 the legislative year shall commence; but the time of 
 holding such election may be altered by the Legislature. 
 
 SEC. II. 1. The Senate shall be composed of one 
 senator from each county in the state, elected by the 
 legal voters of the counties, respectively, for three years. 
 
 2. As soon as the Senate shall meet, after the first 
 election to be held in pursuance of this Constitution, they 
 ihall be divided, as equally as may be, into three classes 
 The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vaca 
 ted at the expiration of the first year ; of the second 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 99 
 
 class, at the expiration of the second year ; and of the 
 ihird class, at the expiration of the third year ; so that 
 one class may be elected every year ; and if vacancies 
 happen, by resignation or otherwise, the persons elect 
 ed to supply such vacancies, shall be elected for the 
 unexpired terms only. 
 
 SEC. Ill 1. The General Assembly shall be composed 
 of members annually elected by the legal voters of the 
 counties, respectively, who shall be apportioned among 
 the said counties, as nearly as may be, according to the 
 number of their inhabitants. The present apportionment 
 shall continue until the next census of the United States 
 shall have been taken, and an apportionment of members 
 of the General Assembly shall be made by the Legisla 
 ture, at its first session after the next and every subse 
 quent enumeration or census, and when made, shall 
 remain unaltered until another enumeration shall have 
 been taken ; provided, that each county shall at all 
 times be entitled to one member; and the whole num 
 ber of members shall never exceed sixty. 
 
 SEC. IV. 1. Each house shall direct writs of election 
 for supplying vacancies, occasioned by death, resignation, 
 or otherwise ; but if vacancies occur during the recess 
 of the Legislature, the writs may be issued by the Govern 
 or, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. 
 
 2. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, re 
 turns, and qualifications of its own members, and a 
 majority of each siiall constitute a quorum to do busi 
 ness; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to 
 day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of 
 absent members, in such manner, and under such penal 
 ties as each house may provide. 
 
 3. Each house shall choose its own officers, deter 
 mine the rules of its proceeding, punish its members for 
 disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of two- 
 thirds, may expel a member. 
 
 4. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, 
 and from time to time publish the same ; and the yeas 
 and nays of the members of either house, on any ques 
 tion, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be 
 entered on the journal. 
 
100 CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 5. Neither house, during the session of the Legislsu 
 ture, shall, 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. 
 
 6. All bills and joint resolutions shall be read three 
 times in each house, before the final passage thereof, 
 and no bill or joint resolution shall pass, unless there be 
 a majority of all the members of each body personally 
 present, and agreeing thereto ; and the yeas and nays of 
 members voting on such final passage shall be entered 
 on the journal. 
 
 7. Members of the Senate and General Assembly 
 shall receive a compensation for their services, to be as 
 certained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the 
 State ; which compensation shall not exceed the sum of 
 three dollars per day, for the period of forty days from 
 the commencement of the session ; and shall not exceed 
 the sum of one dollar and fifty cents per day for the re 
 mainder of the session. When convened in extra ses 
 sion by the Governor, they shall receive such sum 
 as shall be fixed for the first forty days of the ordinary 
 session. They shall also receive the sum of one dollar 
 for every ten miles they shall travel, in going to and re 
 turning from their place of meeting, on the most usual 
 route. The president of the Senate and the speaker of 
 the House of Assembly, shall, in virtue of their offices, 
 receive an additional compensation, equal to one third 
 of their per diem allowance as members. 
 
 8. Members of the Senate and of the General Assem 
 bly, shall, in all cases except treason, felony, and breach 
 of peace, be privileged from arrest during their attend 
 ance at the sitting of their respective houses, and in going 
 to and returning from the same : and for any speech or 
 debate, in either house, they shall not be questioned in 
 any other place. 
 
 SEC. V. 1. No member of the Senate or General 
 Assembly shall, during the time for which he was elect 
 ed, be nominated or appointed by the Governor, or by 
 the LegisUiture in joint meeting, to any civil office under 
 the authority of this State which shall have been created 
 or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased, 
 during such time. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 101 
 
 2. If any member of the Senate or General Assembly 
 shall be elected to represent this State in the Senate or 
 House of Representatives of the United States, and shall 
 accept thereof, or shall accept of any office or appoint 
 ment under the government of the United States, his seat 
 in the Legislature of this State shall thereby be vacated. 
 
 3. No justice of the Supreme Court, nor judge of any 
 other court, sheriff, justice of the peace, nor any person 
 or persons possessed of any office of profit under the 
 government of this State, shall be entitled to a seat either 
 in the Senate or in the General Assembly ; but, on being 
 elected and taking his seat, his office shall be considered 
 vacant ; and no person holding any office of profit under 
 the government of the United States shall be entitled to 
 a seat in either house. 
 
 SEC. VI. 1. All bills for raising revenue shall origi 
 nate in the House of Assembly ; but the Senate may pro 
 pose or concur with amendments, as on other bills. 
 
 2. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but 
 for appropriations made by law. 
 
 3. The credit of the State shall not be directly or in 
 directly loaned in any case. 
 
 4. The Legislature shall not, in any manner, create 
 any debt or debts, liability or liabilities, of the State, 
 which shall singly, or in the aggregate with any previous 
 debts or liabilities, at any time exceed one hundred thou 
 sand dollars, except for purposes of war, or to repel 
 invasion, or to suppress insurrection, unless the same 
 shall be authorized by a law for some single object or 
 work, to be distinctly specified therein : which law shall 
 provide the ways and means, exclusive of loans, to pay 
 the interest of such debt or liability as it falls due, and 
 also, to pay and discharge the principal of such debt or 
 liability within thirty-five years from the time of the con 
 tracting thereof, and shall be irrepealable until such 
 debt or liability, and the interest thereon, are fully paid 
 and discharged ; and no such law shall take effect until 
 it shall, at a general election, have been submitted to the 
 people, and have received the sanction of a majority of all 
 the votes cast for and against it at such election ; and all 
 money to be raised by the authority of such law shall be 
 
102 CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 applied only to the specific object stated therein, and t* 
 the payment of the debt thereby created. This section 
 shall not be construed to refer to any money that has 
 been, or may be deposited with this State, by the govern 
 ment of the United States. 
 
 SEC. VII. 1. No divorce shall be granted by the 
 Legislature. 
 
 2. No lottery shall be authorized by this Stale ; and 
 no tickets in any lottery not authorized by a law of this 
 State, shall be bought or sold within the State. 
 
 3. The Legislature shall not pass any bill of attainder, 
 ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of con 
 tracts, or depriving a party of any remedy for enforcing 
 a contract, which existed when the contract was made. 
 
 4. To avoid improper influences which may result from 
 intermixing in one and the same act, such things as have 
 no proper relation to each other, every law shall embrace 
 but one object, and that shall be expressed in the title. 
 
 5. The laws of this state shall begin in the following 
 style : Be it enacted by the Senate and General As 
 sembly of the State of New Jersey." 
 
 6. The fund for the support of free schools, and all 
 money, stock, and other property, which may hereafter 
 be appropriated for that purpose, or received into the 
 treasury under the provision of any law heretofore passed 
 to augment the said fund, shall be securely invested, and 
 remain a perpetual fund ; and the income thereof, except 
 so much as it may be judged expedient to apply to an 
 increase of the capital, shall be annually appropriated to 
 the support of public schools, for the equal benefit of all 
 the people of the State ; and it shall not be competent 
 for the Legislature to borrow, appropriate, or use the 
 said fund, or any part thereof, for any other purpose, un 
 der any pretence whatever. 
 
 7. No private or special law shall be passed, authori 
 zing the sale of any lands belonging in whole or in part 
 to a minor or minors, or other persons who may at the 
 time be under any legal disability to act for themselves. 
 
 8 The assent of three-fifths of the members elected 
 to each house shall be requisite to the passage ol every 
 aw for granting, continuing, altering, amending, or re- 
 
CONSTITUTION 7 OF NEW JERSEY. 103 
 
 newing charters for banks, or money corporations ; and 
 all such charters shall be limited to a term not exceeding 
 twenty years. 
 
 9. Individuals, or private corporations shall not bo 
 authorized to take private property for public use, with 
 out just compensation first made to the owners. 
 
 10. The Legislature may vest in the Circuit Courts, 
 or Courts of Common Pleas, within the several counties 
 of this State, Chancery powers, so far as relates to the 
 foreclosure of mortgages, and sale of mortgaged premises, 
 
 SEC. VIII. 1. Members of the Legislature shall, be 
 fore they enter on the duties of their respective offices, 
 take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation : 
 
 " I do solemnly swear, (or affirm, as the case may be,) 
 that I will support the constitution of the United States, 
 and the constitution of the State of New Jersey and that 
 I will faithfully discharge the duties of senator (or mem 
 ber of the General Assembly, as the case may be,) ac 
 cording to the best of my ability." 
 
 And members elect of the Senate or General Assembly, 
 are hereby empowered to administer to each other the 
 said oath or affirmation. 
 
 ARTICLE 5. 
 Executive. 
 
 1. The executive power shall be vested in a Governor. 
 
 2. The Governor shall be elected by the legal voters 
 of the State. The person having the highest number of 
 votes shall be the Governor ; but if two or more shall be 
 equal, and highest in votes, one of them shall be chosen 
 Governor by the votes of the majority of the members of 
 both houses in joint meeting. Contested elections for 
 the office of Governor shall be determined in such man 
 ner as the Legislature shall direct by law. When a 
 Governor is to be elected by the people, such election 
 shall be held at the time when, and at the places where the 
 people shall respectively vote for members of the 
 Legislature. 
 
 3. The Governor shall hold his office for three years, 
 to commence on the third Tuesday of January next en 
 suing the election for Governor by the people, and to end 
 
104 CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 on the Monday preceding the third Tuesday of January, 
 three years thereafter ; and he shall be incapable of hold 
 ing that office for three years next after his term of ser 
 vice shall have expired ; and no appointment or nomina 
 tion to office shall be made by the Governor during the 
 last week of his said term. 
 
 4. The Governor shall be not less than thirty years ol 
 age, and shall have been for twenty years, at least, a 
 citizen of the United States, and a resident of this State 
 seven years next before his election, unless he shall 
 hive been absent during that time, on the public business 
 of the United States, or of this State. 
 
 5. The Governor shall, at stated times, receive for his 
 services a compensation which shall be neither increased 
 nor diminished during the period for which he shall have 
 been elected. 
 
 6. He shall be the commander-in-chief of all the military 
 and naval forces of the State ; he shall have power to 
 convene the Legislature, whenever, in his opinion, pub 
 lic necessity requires it; he shall communicate, by mes 
 sage, to the Legislature at the opening of each session, 
 and at such other times as he may deem necessary, the 
 condition of the State, and recommend such measures as 
 he may deem expedient; he shall take care that the laws 
 be faithfully executed, and grant, under the great seal of 
 the State, commissions to all such officers as shall be re 
 quired to be commissioned. 
 
 7. Every bill which shall have passed both houses, 
 shall be presented to the Governor: if he approve, he 
 shall sign it, but if not, he shall return it, with his ob 
 jections, to the house in which it shall have originated, 
 who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, 
 and proceed to re-consider it ; if, after such re-considera 
 tion, a majority of the whole number of that house shall 
 agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the 
 objections, to the other house, by whom it shall likewise 
 be re-considered, and if approved of by a majority of the 
 whole number of that house,, it shall become a law ; but 
 in neither house shall the vote be taken on the same day 
 on which the bill shall be returned to it : and in all such 
 eases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas 
 
CONSTITUTION OP NEW JERSEY. 105 
 
 and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and 
 against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each 
 house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by 
 the Governor, within five days (Sundays excepted) after 
 it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a 
 law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the 
 Legislature, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in 
 which case it shall not be a law. 
 
 8. No member of Congress, or person holding an of 
 fice under ihe United States, or this State, shall exercise 
 the office of Governor ; and in case the Governor, or per 
 son administering the government, shall accept any of 
 fice under the United States, or this State, his office of 
 Governor shall thereupon be vacant. 
 
 9. The Governor, or person administering the govern 
 ment, shall have power to suspend the collection of fines 
 and forfeitures, and to grant reprieves, to extend until the 
 expiration of a time not exceeding ninety days after con 
 viction ; but this power shall not extend to cases of im 
 peachment. 
 
 10. The Governor, or person administering the 
 government, the Chancellor, and the six judges of the 
 Court of Errors and Appeals, or a major part of them, 
 of whom the Governor, or person administering the gov 
 ernment shall be one, may remit fines and forfeitures, 
 and grant pardons after conviction, in all cases except 
 impeachment. 
 
 11. The Governor, and all other civil officers under 
 this State shall be liable to impeachment for misdemean 
 or in office, during their continuance in office, and for 
 two years thereafter. 
 
 12. In case of the death, resignation, or removal from 
 office of the Governor, the powers, duties, and emolu 
 ments of the office shall devolve upon the President of 
 the Senate ; and in case of his death, resignation, or re 
 moval, then upon the Speaker of the House of Assem 
 bly, for the time being, until another Governor shall be 
 elected and qualified ; but in such case, another Governor 
 shall be chosen at the next election for members of the 
 State Legislature, unless death, resignation, or removal 
 shall occur within thirty days immediately preceding such 
 
 34* 
 
106 CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 next election, in which case a Governor shall be chosen 
 at the second succeeding election for members of the 
 Legislature. When a vacancy happens, during the re 
 cess of the Legislature, in any office which is to be filled 
 by the Governor and Senate, or by the Legislature in 
 joint meeting, the Governor shall fill such vacancy, and 
 the commission shall expire at the end of the next ses 
 sion of the Legislature, unless a successor shall be sooner 
 appointed : when a vacancy happens in the office of clerk 
 or surrogate of any county, the Governor shall fill such 
 vacancy, and the commission shall expire when a suc 
 cessor is elected and qualified. 
 
 13. In case of the impeachment of the Governor, his 
 absence from the State, or inability to discharge the du 
 ties of his office, the powers, duties, and emoluments of 
 the office shall devolve upon the President of the Senate; 
 and in case of his death, resignation, or removal, then 
 upon the Speaker of the House of Assembly for the time 
 being, until the Governor, absent or impeached, shall re 
 turn or be acquitted, or until the disqualification or inabili 
 ty shall cease, or until a new Governor be elected and 
 qualified. 
 
 14. In case of a vacancy in the office of Governor, 
 from any other cause than those herein enumerated, or 
 in case of the death of the Governor elect, before he is 
 qualified into office, the powers, duties, and emoluments 
 of the office shall devolve upon the President of the 
 Senate, or Speaker of the House of Assembly, as above 
 provided for, until a new Governor be elected and qualified. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 Judiciary. 
 
 SEC. I. 1. The judicial power shall be vested in a 
 Court of Errors and Appeals, in the last resort in all 
 causes, as heretofore ; a Court for the trial of Impeach 
 ments ; a Court of Chancery; a Prerogative Court ; a Su 
 preme Court ; Circuit Courts, and such inferior Courts as 
 HOW exist, and as may be hereafter ordained and estab 
 lished by law ; which inferior Courts the Legislature may 
 alter or abolish, as the public good shall require. 
 
 SEC. II. 1. The Court of Errors and Appeals shall 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 107 
 
 consist of the Chancellor, the justice of the Supreme 
 Court, and six judges, or a major part of them ; which 
 judges are to be appointed for six years. 
 
 2. Immediately after the Court shall first assemble, the 
 six judges shall arrange themselves in such manner that 
 the seat of one of them shall be vacated every year, 
 in order that thereafter one judge may be annually ap 
 pointed. 
 
 3. Such of the six judges as shall attend the Court 
 shall receive, respectively, a per diem compensation, to 
 be provided by law. 
 
 4. The Secretary of State shall be the clerk of this Court. 
 
 5. When an appeal from an order or decree shall be 
 heard, the Chancellor shall inform the Court, in writing, 
 of the reasons for his order or decree ; but he shall not 
 sit as a member, or have a voice in tiie hearing or final 
 sentence. 
 
 6. When a writ of error shall be brought, no justice 
 who has given a judicial opinion in the cause, in favor 
 of or against any error complained of, shall sit as a mem 
 ber, or have a voice on the hearing, or for its affirmance 
 or reversal ; but the reasons for such opinion shall be 
 assigned to the court in writing. 
 
 SEC. III. 1. The House of Assembly shall have the 
 sole power of impeaching, by a vote of a majority of all 
 the members ; and all impeachments shall be tried by the 
 Senate : the members, when sitting for that purpose, to 
 be on oath or affirmation " truly and impartially to try 
 and determine the charge in question according to evi 
 dence :" and no person shall be convicted without the 
 concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of the Se 
 nate. 
 
 2. Any judicial officer impeached shall be suspended 
 from exercising his office until his acquittal. 
 
 3. Judgment, in cases of impeachment shall not ex 
 tend farther than to removal from office and to disquali 
 fication to hold and enjoy any office of honor, profit, or 
 trust under this State ; but the party convicted shall never 
 theless be liable to indictment, trial, and punishment, 
 according to law. 
 
 4. The Secretary of State shall be the clerk of this Court 
 
108 CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 SEC. IV. 1. The Court of Chancery shall consist 
 of a Chancellor. 
 
 2. The Chancellor shall be the ordinary, or surrogate 
 general, and judge of the Prerogative Court. 
 
 3. All persons aggrieved by any order, sentence, or 
 decree of the Orphans Court may appeal from the same, 
 or from any part thereof, to the Prerogative Court ; but 
 such order, sentence, or decree shall not be removed into 
 the Supreme Court, or Circuit Court, if the subject matter 
 thereof be within the jurisdiction of the Orphans Court. 
 
 4. The Secretary of State shall be the register of the 
 Prerogative Court, and shall perform the duties required 
 of him by law in that respect. 
 
 SEC. V. 1. The Supreme Court shall consist of a 
 chief justice and four associate justices. The number of 
 associate justices may be increased or decreased by law, 
 but shall never be less than two. 
 
 2. The Circuit Courts shall be held in every county 
 of this State, by one or more of the justices of the Su 
 preme Court, or a judge appointed for that purpose ; and 
 shall in all cases within the county, except in those of 
 a criminal nature, have common law jurisdiction concur 
 rent with the Supreme Court; and any final judgment 
 of a Circuit Court may be docketed in the Supreme 
 Court, and shall operate as a judgment obtained in the 
 Supreme Court, from the time of such docketing. 
 
 3. Final judgments in any Circuit Court may be 
 brought, by writ of error, into the Supreme Court, or 
 directly into the Court of Errors and Appeals. 
 
 SEC. VI. 1. There shall be no more than five judges 
 of the inferior Court of Common Pleas in each of the 
 counties in this State after the terms of the judges of said 
 court now in office shall terminate. One judge for each 
 county shall be appointed every year, and no more, ex 
 cept to fill vacancies, which shall be for the unexpired 
 term only. 
 
 2. The commissions for the first appointments of 
 judges of said Court shall bear date and take effect on the 
 first day of April next; and all subsequent commissions 
 for judges of said Court shall bear date and take effect on 
 the first day of April in every successive year, except 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 109 
 
 commissions to fill vacancies, which shall bear date and 
 take effect when issued. 
 
 SEO.VII. I. There may be elected under this Consti 
 tution two, and not more than five, justices of the peace in 
 each of the townships of the several counties of this state, 
 and in each of the wards, in cities that may vote in 
 wards. When a township or ward contains two thou 
 sand inhabitants, or less, it may have two justices ; when 
 it contains more than two thousand inhabitants, and not 
 more than four thousand, it may have four justices ; 
 and when it contains more than four thousand inhabi 
 tants, it may have five justices ; provided, that whenever 
 any township, not voting in wards, contains more than 
 seven thousand inhabitants, such township may have an 
 additional justice for each additional three thousand in 
 habitants above four thousand. 
 
 2. The population of the townships in the several 
 counties of the State and of the several wards shall be 
 ascertained by the last preceding census of the United 
 States, until the Legislature shall provide by law some 
 Other mode of ascertaining it. 
 
 ARTICLE VII. 
 
 Appointing Power and Tenure of Office. 
 SEC. I. MILITIA OFFICERS. 1. The Legislature shall 
 provide by law for enrolling, organizing, and arming the 
 militia. 
 
 2. Captains, subalterns, and non-commissioned officers 
 shall be elected by the members of their respective com 
 panies. 
 
 3. Field officers of regiments, independent battallions, 
 and squadrons shall be elected by the commissioned offi 
 cers of their respective regiments, battallions. orsquadrons. 
 
 4. Brigadier generals shall be elected by the field offi 
 cers of their respective brigades. 
 
 5. Major generals shall be nominated by the Govern 
 or, and appointed by him, with the advice and consent 
 of the Senate. 
 
 6. The Legislature shall provide by law, the time and 
 manner of electing militia officers, and of certifying their 
 elections to the Governor, who shall grant their commis- 
 
 8* 
 
110 CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 sions and determine their rank, when not determined by 
 law : and no commissioned officer shall be removed from 
 office but by the sentence a court martial, pursuant to 
 law. 
 
 7. In case the electors of subalterns, captains, or field 
 officers, should refuse or neglect to make such elections, 
 the Governor shall have power to appoint such officers, 
 and to fill all vacancies caused by such refusal or neglect. 
 
 8. Brigade inspectors shall be chosen by the field offi 
 cers of their respective brigades. 
 
 9. The Governor shall appoint the adjutant general, 
 quarter master general, and all other militia officers 
 whose appointment is not otherwise provided for in this 
 Constitution. 
 
 10. Major generals, brigadier generals, and command 
 ing officers of regiments, independent battallions, and 
 squadrons shall appoint the staff officers of their divisions, 
 brigades, regiments, independent battallions, and squad 
 rons, respectively. 
 
 SEC. II. CIVIL OFFICERS. 1. Justices of the Su 
 preme Court, Chancellor, and judges of the Court of 
 Errors and Appeals, shall be nominated by the Governor, 
 and appointed by him, with the advice and consent of 
 the Senate. The justices of the Supreme Court and 
 Chancellor shall hold their offices for the term of seven 
 years ; shall, at stated times, receive for their services a 
 compensation, which shall not be diminished during the 
 term of their appointments ; and they shall hold no other 
 office under the government of this State, or of the 
 United States. 
 
 2. Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas shall be ap 
 pointed by the Senate and General Assembly, in joint 
 meeting. They shall hold their offices for five years ; 
 but when appointed to fill vacancies, they shall hold for 
 the unexpired term only. 
 
 3. The State Treasurer and the keeper and inspectors 
 of the State prison shall be appointed by the Senate and 
 General Assembly, in joint meeting. They shall hold 
 their offices for one year, and until their successors shall 
 be qualified into office. 
 
 4. The Attorney General, prosecutors of the Pleas, 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. Ill 
 
 clerk of the Supreme Court, clerk of the Court of Chan 
 cery, and Secretary of State, shall be nominated by the 
 Governor, and appointed by him, with the advice and con 
 sent of the Senate. They shall hold their offices for 
 five years. 
 
 5. The law reporter shall be appointed by the justices 
 of the Supreme Court, or a majority of them ; and the 
 chancery reporter shall be appointed by the Chancellor. 
 They shall hold their offices for five years. 
 
 6. Clerks and surrogates of counties shall be elected by 
 the people of their respective counties, at the annual 
 elections for members of the General Assembly, they 
 shall hold their offices for five years. 
 
 7. Sheriffs and coroners shall be elected annually, by 
 the people of their respective counties, at the annual 
 elections for members of the General Assembly. They 
 may be re-elected until they shall have served three 
 years, but no longer ; after which, three years must 
 elapse before they can be again capable of serving. 
 
 8. Justices of the peace shall be elected, by ballot, at 
 the annual meetings of the townships in the several 
 counties of the State, and of the wards in cities that may 
 vote in wards, in such manner, and under such regula 
 tions as may be hereafter provided by law. They shall 
 be commissioned for the county, and their commissions 
 shall bear date, and take effect on the first day of May 
 next after their election. They shall hold their offices 
 for five years 5 but when elected to fill vacancies, they 
 shall hold for the unexpired term only ; provided, that 
 the commission of any justice, of the peace shall become 
 vacant upon his ceasing to reside in the township in 
 which he was elected. The first election for justices of 
 the peace shall take place at the next annual town meet 
 ings of the townships of the several counties of the State, 
 and of the wards in cities that may vote in wards. 
 
 9. All other officers, whose appointments are not 
 otherwise provided for by law, shall be nominated by 
 the Governor, and appointed by him, with the advice 
 and consent of the Senate ; and shall hold their office* 
 for the time prescribed by law. 
 
 10. All civil officers elected or appointed pursuant to 
 
112 CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 the provisions of this Constitution shall be commissioned 
 by the Governor. 
 
 11. The term of office of all officers elected or ap 
 pointed pursuant to the provisions of this Constitution, 
 except when herein otherwise directed, shall commence 
 on the day of the date of their respective commissions ; 
 but no commission for any office shall bear date prior to 
 the expiration of the term of the incumbent of said office 
 
 ARTICLE VIII. 
 General Provision. 
 
 1. The Secretary of State shall be ex-officio an audi 
 tor of the accounts of the Treasurer, and, as such, it shall 
 be his duty to assist the Legislature in the annual ex 
 amination and settlement of said accounts, until otherwise 
 provided by law. 
 
 2. The seal of the State shall be kept by the Governor, 
 or person administering the government, and used by him 
 officially, and shall be called the Great Seal of the State 
 of New Jersey. 
 
 3. All grants and commissions shall be in the name 
 and by the authority of the State of New Jersey, sealed 
 with the great seal, signed by the Governor or person 
 administering the government, and countersigned by the 
 Secretary of State, and shall run thus : " The State of 
 
 New Jersey to , greeting." All writs shall be 
 
 in the name of the State ; and all indictments shall con 
 clude in the following manner, viz.: " against the peace 
 of this State, the government and dignity of the same." 
 
 4. This Constitution shall take effect and go into 
 operation on the second day of September, in the year 
 of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-four. 
 
 ARTICLE IX. 
 Amendments. 
 
 \. Any specific amendment or amendments to the 
 Constitution may be proposed in the Senate or General 
 Assembly, and if the same shall be agreed to by a ma 
 jority of the members elected to each of the two houses, 
 such proposed amendment or amendments shall be enter- 
 d on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken there- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 113 
 
 on, and referred to the Legislature then next to be 
 chosen, and shall be published, for three months previous 
 to making such choice, in at least one newspaper of each 
 county, if any be published therein ; and if in the Legis 
 lature next chosen, as aforesaid, such proposed amend 
 ment or amendments, or any of them, shall be agreed to 
 by a majority of all the members elected to each house, 
 then it shall be the duty of the Legislature to submit such 
 proposed amendment or amendments, or such of them 
 as may have been agreed to as aforesaid, by the two 
 Legislatures to the people, in such manner and at such 
 time, at least four months after the adjournment of the 
 Legislature as the Legislature shall prescribe : and if the 
 people, at a special election to be held for that purpose 
 only, shall approve and ratify such amendment or amend 
 ments, or any of them, by a majority of the electors 
 qualified to vote for members of the Legislature voting 
 thereon, such amendment or amendments, so approved 
 and ratified, shall become part of the Constitution ; pro 
 vided, that if more than one amendment be submitted, 
 they shall be submitted in such manner and form that the 
 people may vote for or against each amendment sepa 
 rately and distinctly ; but no amendment or amendments 
 shall be submitted to the people by the Legislature often- 
 er than once in five years. 
 
 ARTICLE X. 
 Schedule. 
 
 That no inconvenience may arise from the change in 
 the Constitution of this State, and in order to carry the 
 same into complete operation, it is hereby declared and 
 ordained, that 
 
 1. The common law and statute laws now in force, 
 not repugnant to this Constitution, shall remain in force 
 until they expire by their own limitation, or be altered 
 or repealed by the Legislature ; and all writs, actions, 
 causes of action, prosecutions, contracts, claims, and 
 rights of individuals, and of bodies corporate, and of the 
 State, and all charters of incorporation shall continue, 
 and all indictments which shall have been found, or 
 which may hereafter be found, for any crime or offence 
 36 
 
114 CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 committed before the adoption of this Constitution, may 
 be proceeded upon as if no change had taken place. 
 The several courts of law and equity, except as herein 
 otherwise provided, shall continue with the like powers 
 and jurisdiction as if this Constitution had not been 
 adopted. 
 
 2. All officers now filling any office or appointment, 
 shall continue in the exercise of the duties thereof, ac 
 cording to their respective commissions or appointments, 
 unless, by this Constitution it is otherwise directed. 
 
 3. The present Governor, Chancellor, and Ordinary 
 or Surrogate General, and Treasurer, shall continue in 
 office until successors elected or appointed under this 
 Constitution shall be sworn into office. 
 
 4. In case of the death, resignation, or disability of 
 the present Governor, the person who may be Vice Pre 
 sident of Council at the time of the adoption of this con 
 stitution shall continue in office, and administer the 
 government, until a Governor shall have been elected 
 and sworn or affirmed into office under this Constitu 
 tion. 
 
 5. The present Governor, or in case of his death, or 
 inability to act, the Vice President of Council, together 
 with the present members of the Legislative Council and 
 Secretary of State shall constitute a board of Slate can 
 vassers, in the manner now provided by law, for the 
 purpose of ascertaining and declaring the result of 
 the next ensuing election for Governor, members of the 
 House of Representatives, and electors of President and 
 Vice President. 
 
 6. The returns of the votes for Governor, at the said 
 next ensuing election shall be transmitted to the Secre 
 tary of State, the votes counted, and the election de 
 clared., in the manner now provided by law in the 
 case of the election of electors of President and Viet* 
 President. 
 
 7. The election of clerks and surrogates in those 
 counties where the term of office of the present incum 
 bents shall expire previous to the general election of 
 eighteen hundred and forty-five, shall be held at the 
 general election next ensuing the adoption of this Con- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NEW JERSEY. 115 
 
 stitution ; the vesult of which election shall be ascertain 
 ed in the manner now provided by law for the election 
 <)f sheriffs. 
 
 8. The elections for the year eighteen hundred and 
 forty-four shall take place as now provided by law. 
 
 9. It shall be the duty of the Governor to fill all -va 
 cancies in office happening between the adoption of this 
 Constitution and the first session of the Senate, and not 
 otherwise provided for ; and the commissions shall 
 expire at the end of the first session of the Senate, or 
 when successors shall be elected, or appointed and 
 qualified. 
 
 10. The restriction of the pay of members of the 
 Legislature, after forty days from the commencement of 
 the session, shall not be applied to the first Legislature 
 convened under this Constitution. 
 
 11. Clerks of counties shall be clerks of the inferior 
 Courts of Common Pleas and Quarter-Sessions of the 
 several counties, and perform the duties, and be subject 
 to the regulations, now required of them by law, until 
 otherwise ordained by the Legislature. 
 
 12. The Legislature shall pass all laws necessary to 
 carry into effect the provisions of this Constitution. 
 
 Done in convention at the State House, in Trenton, 
 on the twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord 
 one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, and of the 
 Independence of the United States of America the sixty- 
 eighth. ALEXANDER WURTS, 
 
 President of the Convention. 
 WILLIAM PATTERSON, Secretary. 
 TH. J. SAUNDERS, Assistant Secretary. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 ARTICLE 1. 
 
 SEC. 1. The legislative power of this commonwealth 
 shall be vested in a general Assembly, which shall con- 
 iist in a Senate, and House of Representatives. 
 
116 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 2. The representatives shall be chosen annually, by ilie 
 citizens of the city of Philadelphia, and of each county 
 respectively, on the second Tuesday of October. 
 
 3. No person shall be a representative who shall not 
 have attained the age of twenty-one years, and have been 
 a citizen and inhabitant of the State three years next pre 
 ceding his election, and the last year thereof an inhabitant 
 of the district in and for which he shall be chosen a re 
 presentative, unless he shall have been absent on the pub 
 lic business of the United States or of this State. 
 
 4. Within three years after the first meeting of the 
 general Assembly, and within every subsequent term 
 of seven years, an enumeration of the taxable inhabi 
 tants shall be made in such manner as shall be di 
 rected by law. The number of representatives shall at 
 the several periods of making such enumeration, be fixed 
 by the legislature, and apportioned among the city of 
 Philadelphia and the several counties, according to the 
 number of taxable inhabitants in each : and shall never 
 be less than sixty nor greater than one hundred. Each 
 county shall have at least one representative, but no 
 county hereafter erected shall be entitled to a separate re 
 presentation until a sufficient number of taxable inhabi 
 tants shall be contained within it, to entitle them to one 
 representative, agreeably to the ratio which shall then be 
 established. 
 
 5. The senators shall be chosen for three years by the 
 citizens of Philadelphia and of the several counties, at 
 the same time, in the same manner, and at the same places 
 where they shall vote for representatives. 
 
 6. The number of senators shall, at the several periods 
 of making the enumeration before mentioned, be fixed by 
 the legislature, and apportioned among the districts form 
 ed as hereinafter directed, according to the number of 
 taxable inhabitants in each ; and shall never be less than 
 one-fourth, nor greater than one-third, of the number of re 
 presentatives. 
 
 7. The senators shall be chosen in districts, to be so form 
 ed by the legislature ; but no district shall be so formed as to 
 entitle it to elect more than two senators, unless the num 
 ber of taxable inhabitants in any city or county shall, at 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 117 
 
 any time, be such as to entitle it to elect more than two 
 but no city or county shall be entitled to elect more than 
 four senators; when a district shall be composed of two 
 or more counties, they shall be adjoining; neither the 
 city of Philadelphia nor any county shall be divided in 
 forming a district. 
 
 8. No person shall be a senator who shall not have at 
 tained the age of twenty-five years, and have been a citi 
 zen and inhabitant of the State four years next before his 
 election, and the last year thereof an inhabitant of the dis 
 trict for which he shall be chosen, unless he shall have 
 been absent on the public business of the United States 
 or of this State ; and no person elected as aforesaid shall 
 hold said office after he shall have removed from such 
 district. 
 
 9. The senators who may be elected at the first gene 
 ral election after the adoption of the amendments to the 
 Constitution, shall be divided by lot into three classes. 
 The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vaca 
 ted at the expiration of the first year; of the second class 
 at the expiration of the second year ; and of the third 
 class at the expiration of the third year; so that thereafter 
 one-third of the whole number of senators may be chosen 
 every year. The senators elected before the amendments 
 to the Constitution shall be adopted shall hold their 
 offices during the terms for which they shall respectively 
 have been elected. 
 
 10. The general Assembly shall meet on the first 
 Tuesday of January, in every year, unless sooner con 
 vened by the governor. 
 
 11. Each House shall choose its speaker and other 
 officers; and the Senate shall also choose a speaker pro 
 tempore, when the speaker shall exercise the office of 
 Governor. 
 
 12. Each House shall judge of the qualifications of its 
 members. Contested elections shall be determined by a 
 committee to be selected, formed and regulated in such 
 manner as shall be directed by law. A majority of each 
 House shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a 
 smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may 
 
 be authorized by law to compel the attendance of absent 
 35* 
 
118 
 
 CONSTITUTION OP PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 members, in such manner and under such penalties aa 
 may be provided. 
 
 13. Each House may determine the rules of its pro* 
 ceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, 
 and with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member, 
 but not a second time for the same cause ; and shall have 
 all other powers necessary for a branch of the legislature 
 of a free State. 
 
 - 14. The legislature shall not have power to enact laws 
 annulling the contract of marriage in any case where, by 
 law, the courts of this commonwealth are, or hereafter 
 may be, empowered to decree a divorce. 
 
 15. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceed 
 ings, and publish them weekly, except such parts as 
 may require secrecy: and the yeas and nays of the mem 
 bers on any question shall, at the desire of any two of 
 them, be entered on the journals. 
 
 16. The doors of each House and of committees of the 
 whole shall be open, unless when the business shall be 
 such as ought to be kept secret. 
 
 17. Neither House shall, 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. 
 
 18. The senators and representatives shall receive a 
 compensation for their services to be ascertained by law, 
 and paid out of the treasury of the commonwealth. They 
 shall in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach or 
 surety of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their 
 attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and 
 in going to and returning from the same. And for any 
 speech or debate in either House, they shall not be ques 
 tioned in any other place. 
 
 19. No senator or representative shall, during the time 
 for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any 
 civil office under this commonwealth which shall have 
 been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been 
 increased during such time ; and no member of Congress 
 or other person holding any office, (except of attorney at 
 law and in the militia) under the United States or this 
 commonwealth, shall be a member of either House du 
 ting his continuance in Congress or in office 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 119 
 
 20. When vacancies happen in either House, the 
 speaker shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. 
 
 21. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the 
 House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose 
 amendments as in other bills. 
 
 22. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in 
 consequence of appropriations made by law. 
 
 23. Every bill which shall have passed both Houses 
 shall be presented to the Governor. If he approve, he 
 shall sign it, but if he shall not approve, he shall return it 
 with his objections to the House in which it shall have 
 originated, \vhoshallentertheobjections atlarge upon their 
 journals, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such /econ- 
 sideration, two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the 
 bill, it shall be sent with the objections to the other House, 
 by which likewise itshall be reconsidered, and if approved 
 by two-thirds of that House, it shall bealaw. But in such 
 cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas 
 and nays, and the names of the persons voting for or against 
 the bill shall be entered on the journals of each House re 
 spectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the Go 
 vernor within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall 
 have been presented to him, it shall be a law in like 
 manner as if he had signed it, unless the general As 
 sembly, by their adjournment, prevented its return, in 
 which case it shall be a law, unless sent back within three 
 days after their next meeting. 
 
 24. Every order, resolution or vote, to which the con 
 currence of both Houses may be necessary (except on a 
 question of adjournment) shall be presented to the Go 
 vernor, and before it shall take effect, be approved by 
 
 .him, or being disapproved, shall be repassed by two- 
 thirds of both Houses according to the rules and limita 
 tions prescribed in case of a bill. 
 
 25. No corporate body shall be hereafter created, re 
 newed or extended with banking or discounting privi 
 leges, without six months previous public notice of the 
 intended application for the same in such manner as shall 
 be prescribed by law. Nor shall any charter for the pur 
 poses aforesaid, be granted for a longer period than twen 
 ty years, and every such charter shall contain a clause re 
 
120 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 serving to the legislature the power to alter, revoke 01 
 annul the same, whenever in their opinion it may be in 
 jurious to the citizens of the commonwealth, in such man 
 ner, however, that no injustice shall be done to the cor 
 porators. No law hereafter enacted, shall create, renew, 
 or extend the charter of more than one corporation. 
 
 ARTICLE 2. 
 
 SEC. 1. The supreme executive power "of this com 
 monwealth shall be vested in a Governor. 
 
 2. The Governor shall be chosen on the second Tues 
 day of October, by the citizens of the commonwealth, at 
 the places where they shall respectively vote for repre 
 sentatives. The returns of every election for Governor 
 shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of govern 
 ment, directed to the speaker of the Senate, who shall 
 open and publish them in the presence of the members of 
 both Houses of the legislature. The person having tho 
 highest number of votes shall be Governor. But if two 
 or more shall be equal and highest in votes, one of them 
 shall be chosen Governor by the joint vote of the mem 
 bers of both Houses. Contested elections shall be de 
 termined by a committee to be selected from both Houses 
 of the legislature, and formed and regulated in such man 
 ner as shall be directed by law. 
 
 3. The Governor shall hold his office during three 
 years from the third Tuesday of January next ensuing 
 his election, and shall not be capable of holding it longer 
 than six in any term of nine years. 
 
 4. He shall be at least thirty years of age, and have 
 been a citizen and an inhabitant of this State seven years 
 next before his election ; unless he shall have been ab 
 sent on the public business of the United States, or of 
 this State. 
 
 5. No member of Congress or person holding any of 
 fice under the United States, or this State, shall exercise 
 the office of Governor. 
 
 6. The Governor shall nt stated times receive for his 
 services a compensation, which shall be neither increased 
 nor diminished during the period for which he shall have 
 been elected. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 121 
 
 7. He shall be commander-in-chief of the Army and 
 Navy of this commonwealth, and of the militia, except 
 when they shall be called into the actual service of the 
 United States. 
 
 8. He shall appoint a secretary of the commonwealth 
 during pleasure, and he shall nominate, and by and with 
 the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint all judicial 
 officers of courts of record, unless otherwise provided for 
 in this Constitution. He shall have power to fill all va 
 cancies that may happen in such judicial offices during 
 the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which 
 shall expire at the end of their next session : Provided, 
 that in acting on executive nominations the Senate shall 
 sit with open doors, and in confirming or rejecting the 
 nominations of the Governor, the vote shall be taken by 
 yeas and nays. 
 
 9. He shall have power to remit fines and forfeitures, 
 and grant reprieves and pardons, except in cases of im 
 peachment. 
 
 10. He may require information in writing, from the 
 officers in the executive department, on any subject re 
 lating to the duties of their respective offices. 
 
 11. He shall, from time to time, give to the general 
 Assembly information of the state of the commonwealth, 
 and recommend to their consideration .such measures as 
 he shall judge expedient. 
 
 12. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the 
 general Assembly ; and in case of disagreement between 
 the two Houses, with respect to the time of adjournment, 
 adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper, not 
 exceeding four months. 
 
 13. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully exe 
 cuted. 
 
 14. Tn case of the death or resignation of the Gover 
 nor, or his removal from office, the speaker of the Senate 
 shall exercise the office of Governor, until another Gover. 
 nor shall be duly qualified ; but in such case another Govet- 
 nor shall be chosen at the next annual election of repre- 
 sentatives, unless such death, resignation, or removal, 
 shall occur within three calendar months immediately pre 
 ceding such next annual election, in which case a Governoi 
 
122 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 shall be chosen at the second succeeding annual election 
 of representatives. And if the trial of a contested elec 
 tion shall continue longer than until the third Monday of 
 January next ensuing 1 the election of Governor, the Go 
 vernor of the last year, or the speaker of the Senate who 
 may be in the exercise of the executive authority, shall 
 continue therein until the determination of such contested 
 election, and until a Governor shall be duly qualified as 
 aforesaid. 
 
 15. The secretary of the commonwealth shall keep a 
 fair register of all the official acts and proceedings of the 
 Governor, and shall, when required, lay the same and 
 all papers, minutes and vouchers relative thereto, before 
 either branch of the legislature, and shall perform such 
 >ther duties as shall be enjoined him by law. 
 
 ARTICLE 3. 
 
 SEC. 1. In elections by the citizens, every white free 
 man of the age of twenty-one years, having resided in 
 this State one year, and in the election district where he 
 offers to vote, ten days immediately preceding such elec 
 tion, and within two years paid a State or county tax, 
 which shall have been assessed at least ten days before 
 the election, shall enjoy the rights of an elector. But a 
 citizen of the United States, who had previously been a 
 qualified voter of this State, and removed therefrom and 
 returned, and who shall have resided in the election dis 
 trict, and paid taxes as aforesaid, shall be entitled to vote, 
 after residing in the State six months : Provided, that 
 white freemen, citizens of the United States, between the 
 ages of twenty-one and twenty-two years, and having re 
 sided in the State one year, and in the election district 
 ten days as aforesaid, shall be entitled to vote, although 
 they shall not have paid taxes. 
 
 2. All elections shall be by ballot, except those by per 
 sons in their representative capacities, who shall vote 
 viva voce. 
 
 3. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony, 
 and breach of surety of the peace, be privileged from ar 
 rest during their attendance on elections, and in going to 
 and returning from them. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 123 
 
 ARTICLE 4. 
 
 SEC. 1. The House of Representatives shall have the 
 power of impeaching. 
 
 2. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate*, 
 when sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be upon 
 oath or affirmation. No person shall be convicted, with 
 out the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. 
 
 3. The Governor, and all other civil officers under 
 this commonwealth, shall be liable to impeachment for 
 any misdemeanor in office ; but judgment, in such cases, 
 shall not extend further than to removal from office, and 
 disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or pro 
 fit, under this commonwealth : the party, whether con 
 victed or acquitted, shall, nevertheless, bs liable to in 
 dictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to 
 law. 
 
 ARTICLE 5. 
 
 SEC. 1. The judicial power of this commonwealth 
 shall be vested in a supreme court, in courts of oyer and 
 tenniner and general jail delivery, in a court of common 
 pleas, orphans court, register s court, and a court of 
 quarter sessions of the peace, for each county; in jus 
 tices of the peace, and in such other courts as the legisla 
 ture may, from time to time establish. 
 
 2. The judges of the supreme court, of the several 
 courts of common pleas, and of such other courts of re 
 cord as are or shall be established by law, shall be nomina 
 ted by the Governor, and by and with the consent of the 
 Senate appointed and commissioned by him. The 
 judges of the supreme court shall hold their offices for 
 the term of fifteen years, if they shall so long behave 
 themselves well. The president judges of the several 
 courts or common pleas, and of such other courts of record 
 as are or shall be established by law, and all other judges 
 required to be learned in the law, shall hold their offices 
 for the term of ten years, if they shall so long behave 
 themselves well. The associate judges of the courts of 
 common pleas shall hold their offices for the term of five 
 years, if they shall so long behave themselves well. But 
 !o/ any reasonable cause, which shall not be sufficient 
 
124 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 ground of impeachment, the Governor may remove any 
 of them on the address of two-thirds of each branch of 
 the legislature. The judges of the supreme court, and 
 the presidents of the several courts of common pleas, 
 shall at stated times receive for their services an adequate 
 compensation to be fixed by law, which shall not be di 
 minished during their continuance in office ; but they 
 shall receive no fees or perquisites of office, nor huld any 
 other office of profit under this commonwealth. 
 
 3. Until otherwise directed by law, the courts of com 
 mon pleas shall continue as at present established. Not 
 more than five counties shall at any time be included in 
 one judicial district organized for said courts. 
 
 4. The jurisdiction of the supreme court shall extend 
 over the State ; and the judges thereof shall, by virtue of 
 their offices, be justices of oyer and terminer and general 
 jail delivery, in the several counties. 
 
 5. The judges of the court of common pleas, in each 
 county, shall, by virtue of their offices, be justices of oyer 
 and terminer and general jail delivery, for the trial of 
 capital and other offenders therein ; any two of said 
 judges, the president being one, shall be a quorum ; but 
 they shall not hold a court of oyer and terminer, or jail 
 delivery, in any county, when the judges of the supreme 
 court, or any of them shall Jbe sitting in the same county 
 The party accused, as well as the commonwealth, may, 
 under such regulations as shall be prescribed by law, re 
 move the indictment and proceedings, or a transcript 
 thereof, into the supreme court. 
 
 6. The supreme court, and the several courts of com 
 mon pleas, shall, beside the powers heretofore usually 
 exercised by them, have the powers of a court of chance 
 ry, so far as relates to the perpetuating of testimony, the 
 obtaining of evidence from places not within the State, 
 and the care of the persons and estates of those who are 
 non compotes mentis. And the legislature shall vest in 
 the said courts such other powers to grant relief in equity, 
 as shall be found necessary; and may, from time to time, 
 enlarge or diminish those powers or vest them in suok 
 other courts as they shall judge proper, for the due 
 ministration of justice. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 125 
 
 7. The judges of the court of common pleas of each 
 county, any two of whom shall be a quorum, shall com 
 pose the court of quarter sessions of the peace, and or 
 phans court thereof; and the register of wills, together 
 with the said judges, or any two of them, shall compose 
 the register s court of each county. 
 
 8. The judges of the courts of common pleas shall, 
 within their respective counties, have like powers with 
 the judges of the supreme court, to issue writs of certio- 
 rari to the justices of the peace, and to cause their pro 
 ceedings to be brought before them, and the like right 
 and justice to be done. 
 
 9. The president of the court in each circuit within 
 such circuit, and the judges of the court of common pleas 
 within their respective counties, shall be justices of the 
 peace, so far as relates to criminal matters. 
 
 10. A register s office, for the probate of wills and 
 granting letters of administration, and an office for there- 
 cording of deeds, shall be kept in each county. 
 
 11. The style of all process shall be " The Common 
 wealth of Pennsylvania." All prosecutions shall be car 
 ried on in the name and by the authority of the common 
 wealth of Pennsylvania, and conclude, " against the peace 
 and dignity of the same." 
 
 ARTICLE 6. 
 
 SEC. 1. Sheriffs and coroners shall, at the times and 
 places of election of representatives, be chosen by the 
 citizens of each county. One person shall be chosen for 
 each office, who shall be commissioned by the Governor. 
 They shall hold their offices for three years, if they shall 
 so long behave themselves well, and until a successor be 
 duly qualified ; but no person shall be twice chosen or 
 appointed sheriff in any term of six years. Vacancies in 
 either of the said offices shall be filled by an appointment, 
 to be made by the Governor, to continue until the next 
 general election, and until a successor shall be chosen and 
 qualified as aforesaid. 
 
 2. The freemen of this commonwealth shall be armed, 
 organized, and disciplined for its defence, when and in 
 euch manner as may be directed by law Those who 
 36 J J 
 
126 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 conscientiously scruple to bear arms, shall not be com 
 pelled to do so, but shall pay an equivalent for persona] 
 service. 
 
 3. Prothonotaries of the supreme court shall be ap 
 pointed by the said court for the term of three years, if 
 they so long behave themselves well. Prothonotaries 
 and clerks of the several other courts, recorders of deeds, 
 and registers of wills, shall at the times and places of 
 election of representatives, be elected by the qualified 
 electors of each county, or the districts over which the 
 Jurisdiction of said courts extends, and shall he commis- 
 
 oned by the governor. They shall hold their offices 
 lor three years, if they shall so long behave themselves 
 well, and until their successors shall he duly qualified. 
 The legislature shall provide by law the number of per 
 sons in each county who shall hold said offices, and how 
 many and which of said offices shall be held by one per 
 son. Vacancies in any of the said offices shall be filled 
 by appointments to be made by the Governor, to con 
 tinue until the next general election, and until successors 
 shall be elected and qualified as aforesaid. 
 
 4. Prothonotaries, clerks of the peace and orphans 
 courts, recorders of deeds, registers of wills, and sheriffs, 
 shall keep their offices in the county town of the county 
 in which they, respectively, shall be officers, unless when 
 the Governor shall, for special reasons, dispense therewith, 
 tor any term not exceeding five years after the county 
 shall have been erected. 
 
 5. All commissions shall be in the name and by the 
 authority of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and be 
 sealed with the state seal, and signed by the Governor. 
 
 6. A state treasurer shall be elected annually, by joint 
 >ote of both branches of the legislature. 
 
 7. Justices of the peace or aldermen, shall be elected 
 in the several wards, boroughs and townships, at the time 
 of the election of constables by the qualified voters thereof, 
 in such number as shall be directed by law, and shall be 
 commissioned by the Governor for a term of five years. 
 But no township, ward or borough, shall elect more than 
 two justices of the peace or aldermen without the consent 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 127 
 
 w{ % -majority of the qualified electors within such town- 
 sh.j>, ward or borough. 
 
 8. A.1I officers whose election or appointment <s not 
 provided for in this constitution, shall be elected or ap 
 pointed as shall be directed by law. No person shall be 
 appointed to any office within any county who shall not 
 have been a citizen and an inhabitant therein one year 
 next before hw appointment, if the county shall have been 
 so long erected; but if it shall not have been so long 
 erected, then trithin the limits of the county or counties 
 out of which it shall have been taken. No member of 
 Congress from tms state, or any person holding or exer 
 cising any office ur appointment of trust or profit under 
 the United States, shall at the same time hold or exercise 
 any office in this State, to which a salary is, or fees or 
 perquisites are, by law, annexed ; and the legislature may 
 by law declare what state offices are incompatible. No 
 member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives 
 shall be appointed by the Governor to any office during 
 the term for which he shall have been elected. 
 
 9. All officers for a term of years shall hold their offices 
 for the terms respectively specified, only on the condition 
 that they so long behave themselves well ; and shall be 
 removed on conviction of misbehaviour in office or of any 
 infamous crime. 
 
 10. Any person who shall, after the adoption of the 
 amendments proposed by this Convention to the Consti 
 tution, fight a duel, or send a challenge for that purpose, 
 or be aider or abettor in fighting a duel, shall be deprived 
 of the right of holding any office of honor or profit in 
 this S*ate, and shall be punished otherwise in such man 
 ner as is, or may be prescribed by law ; but the executive 
 may remit the said offence and all its disqualifications. 
 
 ARTICLE 7. 
 
 SEC. 1. The legislature shall, as soon as conveniently 
 may be, provide, by law, for the establishment of schools 
 throughout the State, in such manner that the pooi may 
 be taught gratis. 
 
 2. The arts and sciences shall be promoted in one or 
 more seminaries of learning. 
 
128 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 3. The rights, privileges, immunities and estates of 
 religious societies and corporate bodies, shall remain as 
 if the Constitution of this State had not been altered 01 
 amended. 
 
 4. The legislature shall not invest any corporate body 
 or individual with the privilege of taking private property 
 for public use, without requiring such corporation or in 
 dividual to make compensation to the owners of said pro 
 perty, or give adequate security therefor, before such pro 
 perty shall be taken. 
 
 ARTICLE 8. 
 
 Members of the general Assembly and all officers, ex 
 ecutive and judicial, shall be bound by oath or affirmation 
 to support the Constitution of this commonwealth, and 
 to perform the duties of their respective offices with 
 fidelity. 
 
 ARTICLE 9. 
 
 That the general, great and essential principles of liberty and 
 free government may be recognized and unalterably established, 
 we declare.- 
 
 1. That all men are born equally free and independent, 
 and have certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among 
 which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, 
 of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property and 
 reputation, and of pursuing their own happiness. 
 
 2. That all power is inherent in the people, and all 
 free governments are founded on their authority, and in 
 stituted for their peace, safety, and happiness : For the 
 advancement of those ends, they have, at all times, an 
 unalienable and indefeasible right to alter, reform, or 
 abolish their government, in such manner as they may 
 think proper 
 
 3. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right 
 to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of 
 their own consciences ; that no man can, of right, be com 
 pelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, 
 or to maintain any ministry against his consent; that no 
 human authority can, in any case whatever, control o* 
 interfere with the rights of conscience ; and that no pre- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 129 
 
 ference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious 
 establishments or modes of worship. 
 
 4. That no person who acknowledges the being of a 
 God and i f A ure state of rewards and punishments, shall, 
 on account of his religious sentiments, be disqualified to 
 hold any office or place of trust or profit under this com 
 monwealth. 
 
 5. That elections shall be free and equal. 
 
 6. That trial by jury shall be as heretofore, and the 
 right thereof remain inviolate. 
 
 7. That the printing presses shall be free to every per 
 son who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the 
 legislature or any branch of government : and no law shall 
 ever be made to restrain the right thereof. The free 
 communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the 
 invaluable rights of man ; and every citizen may freely 
 speak, write and print on any subject, being responsible 
 for the abuse of that liberty. In prosecutions for the 
 publication of papers, investigating the official conduct of 
 officers, or men in a public capacity, or where the matter 
 published is proper for public information, the truth there 
 of may be given in evidence; and, in all indictments for 
 libels, the jury shall have a right to determine the law 
 and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other 
 cases. 
 
 8. That the people shall be secure in their persons, 
 houses, papers and possessions, from unreasonable 
 searches and seizures ; and that no warrant to search any 
 place, or to seize any person or things, shall issue with 
 out describing them as nearly as may be, nor without 
 probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation. 
 
 9. That in all criminal prosecutions, the accused hath 
 a right to be heard by himself and his counsel, to demand 
 the nature and cause of the accusation against him, to 
 meet the witnesses face to face, to have compulsory pro 
 cess for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and in prosecu 
 tions by indictment or information, a speedy trial by an 
 rmpartial jury of the vicinage: that he cannot be compel 
 led to give evidence against himself, nor can he be de 
 prived of his life, liberty or property, unless by the judg 
 ment of his peers or the law of the land. 
 
 36* 
 
130 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 10. That no person shall, for any indictable offence^ 
 be proceeded against criminally by information ; except 
 in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia 
 when in actual service in time of war or public danger; 
 or by leave of the court for oppression and misdemeanor 
 in office. No person shall for the same offence be twice 
 put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall any man s pro 
 perty be taken, or applied to public use, without the consent 
 of his representatives, and without just compensation be 
 ing made. 
 
 11. That all courts shall be open, and every man for 
 an injury done him in his lands, goods, person or repu 
 tation, shall have remedy by the due course of law, and 
 right and justice administered without sale, denial or de 
 lay. Suits may be brought against the commonwealth 
 in such manner, in such courts, and in such cases, as the 
 legislature may, by law, direct. 
 
 12. That no power of suspending laws shall be exer 
 cised, unless by the legislature, or its authority. 
 
 13. That excessive bail shall not be required, nor ex 
 cessive fines imposed, nor cruel punishments inflicted. 
 
 14. That all prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient 
 sureties, unless for capital offences, when the proof is 
 evident or presumption great: and the privilege of the 
 writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless 
 when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety 
 may require it. 
 
 15. That no commission of oyer and terminer or jail 
 delivery shall be issued. 
 
 16. That the person of a debtor, where there is not 
 strong presumption of fraud, shall not be continued in 
 prison after delivering up his estate for the benefit of his 
 creditors in such manner as shall be prescribed by law. 
 
 17. That no ex post facto law, nor any law impairing 
 contracts, shall be made. 
 
 18. That no person shall be attainted of treason or felo 
 ny by the legislature. 
 
 19. That no attainder shall work corruption of blood ; 
 nor, except during the life of the offender, forfeiture of 
 estate to the commonwealth : that the estates of such per 
 sons as shall destroy their own lives, shall descend or 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 131 
 
 vest as in case of natural death ; and if any person shall 
 be killed by casualty, there shall be no forfeiture by reason 
 thereof. 
 
 20. That the citizens have a right, in a peaceful man 
 ner, to assemble together for their common good, and to 
 apply to those invested with the powers of government 
 for redress of grievances, or other proper purposes, by 
 petition, redress, or remonstrance. 
 
 21. That the right of the citizens to bear arms, in de 
 fence of themselves and the State, shall not be questioned. 
 
 22. That no standing army shall, in time of peace, be 
 kept up, without the consent of the legislature ; and the 
 military shall, in all cases, and at all times, be in strict 
 subordination to the civil power. 
 
 23. That no soldier shall, in time of peace, be quarter 
 ed in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor 
 in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 
 
 24. That the legislature shall not grant any title of no 
 bility or hereditary distinction, nor create any office the 
 appointment to which shall be for a longer term than du 
 ring good behaviour. 
 
 25. That emigration from the State shall not be pro 
 hibited. 
 
 26. To guard against transgressions of the high pow 
 ers which we have delegated, we declare, that every 
 thing in this article is excepted out of the general powers 
 of government, and shall forever remain inviolate. 
 
 ARTICLE 10. 
 
 Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may 
 be proposed in the Senate or House of Representatives, 
 and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the 
 members elected to each house, such proposed amend 
 ment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, 
 with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and the secretary 
 of the commonwealth shall cause the same to be publish 
 ed three months before the next election, in at least one 
 newspaper in every county in which a newspaper shall 
 be published ; and if in the legislature next afterwards 
 chosen, such proposed amendment or amendments shall 
 be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to 
 
132 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 each House, the secretary of the commonwealth shall 
 cause the same again to be published in manner aforesaid, 
 and such proposed amendment or amendments shall be 
 submitted to the people in such manner and at such time, 
 at least three months after being so agreed to by the two 
 Houses, as the legislature shall prescribe; and if the peo 
 ple shall approve and ratify such amendment or amend 
 ments by a majority of the qualified voters of this State 
 voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall 
 become a part of the Constitution, but no amendment or 
 amendments shall be submitted to the people oftener than 
 once in five years : Provided, that if more than one 
 amendment be submitted, they shall be submitted in such 
 manner and form, that the people may vote for or against 
 each amendment separately and distinctly. 
 
 SCHEDULE. 
 
 That no inconvenience may arise from the alterations and 
 amendments of the constitution of this commonwealth, 
 and in order to carry the same into complete operation, 
 it is hereby declared and ordained, that : 
 
 1. ALL laws of this commonwealth in force at the time 
 when the said alterations and amendments in the said con 
 stitution shall take effect, and not inconsistent therewith, 
 and all rights, prosecutions, actions, claims, and contracts, as 
 well of individuals as of bodies corporate, shall continue as if 
 the said alterations and amendments had not been made. 
 
 2. The alterations and amendments in the said consti 
 tution shall take effect from the first day of January, 
 eighteen hundred and thirty-nine. 
 
 3. The clauses, sections, and articles of the said consti 
 tution which remain unaltered shall continue to be con 
 strued and have effect as if the said constitution had not 
 been amended. 
 
 4. The general assembly which shall convene in De 
 cember, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, shall continue 
 its session, as heretofore, notwithstanding the provision in 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 133 
 
 the eleventh section of the first article, and shall at all 
 times be regarded as the first general assembly under the 
 amended constitution. 
 
 5. The governor who shall be elected in October, 
 eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, shall be inaugurated 
 on the third Tuesday in January, eighteen hundred and 
 thirty-nine ; to which time the present executive term is 
 hereby extended. 
 
 6. The commissions of the judges of the supreme court 
 who may be in office on the first day of January next 
 shall expire in the following manner : The commission 
 which bears the earliest date shall expire on the first day 
 of January, anno doniini one thousand eight hundred and 
 forty-two : the commission next dated shall expire on the 
 first day of January, anno domini one thousand eight 
 hundred and forty-five : the commission next dated shall 
 expire on the first day of January, anno domini one 
 thousand eight hundred and forty-eight : the commission 
 next dated shall expire on the first day of January, anno 
 domini one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one : and the 
 commission last dated shall expire on the first day of 
 January, anno domini one thousand eight hundred and 
 fifty-four. 
 
 7. The commissions of the president judges of the 
 several judicial districts, and of the associate law judges 
 of the first judicial district, shall expire as follows : The 
 commissions of one-half of those who shall have held 
 their offices ten years or more, at the adoption of the 
 amendments to the constitution, shall expire on the 
 twenty-seventh day of February, one thousand eight 
 hundred and thirty-nine : the commission of the other 
 half of those who shall have held their offices ten years 
 or more, at the adoption of the amendments to the con 
 stitution, shall expire on the twenty-seventh day of Feb 
 ruary, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two : the 
 first half to embrace those whose commissions shall bear 
 the oldest date. The commissions of all the remaining 
 judges who shall not have held their offices for ten years 
 at the adoption of the amendments to the constitution, shall 
 expire on the twenty-seventh day of February next after 
 the end of ten years from the date of their commissions. 
 
134 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 8. The recorders of the several mayors courts, and 
 other criminal courts in this commonwealth, shall be ap 
 pointed for the same time and in the same manner as the 
 president judges of the several judicial districts : of those 
 now in office, the commission oldest in date shall expire 
 on the twenty-seventh day of February, one thousand 
 eight hundred and forty-one, and the others every two 
 years thereafter according to their respective dates : those 
 oldest in date expiring first. 
 
 9. The legislature, at its first session under the amended 
 constitution, shall divide the other associate judges of the 
 state into four classes. The commissions of those of the 
 first class shall expire on the twenty-seventh day of Feb 
 ruary, eighteen hundred and forty : of those of the second 
 class on the twenty-seventh day of February, eighteen 
 hundred and forty-one : of those of the third class on the 
 twenty-seventh day of February, eighteen hundred and 
 forty-two : and of those of the fourth class, on the twenty- 
 seventh day of February, eighteen hundred and forty- 
 three. The said classes, from the first to the fourth, shall 
 be arranged according to the seniority of the commissions 
 of the several judges. 
 
 10. Prothonotaries, clerks of the several courts, (except 
 of the supreme court,) recorders of deeds, and registers 
 of wills, shall be first elected under the amended consti 
 tution, at the election of representatives, in the year 
 eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, in such manner as 
 may be prescribed by law. 
 
 11. The appointing power shall remain as heretofore, 
 and all officers in the appointment of the executive de 
 partment shall continue in the exercise of the duties of 
 their respective offices until the legislature shall pass such 
 laws as may be required by the eighth section of the sixth 
 article of the amended constitution, and until appoint 
 ments shall be made under such laws ; unless their com 
 missions shall be superseded by new appointments, or shall 
 sooner expire by their own limitations, or the said offices 
 shall become vacant by death or resignation, and such 
 laws shall be enacted by the first legislature under the 
 amended constitution. 
 
 12. The first election for aldermen and justices of the 
 
CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 135 
 
 peace shall be held in the year eighteen hundred and 
 forty, at the time fixed for the election of constables. 
 The legislature, at its first session under the amended 
 constitution, shall provide for the said election, and for 
 subsequent similar elections. The aldermen and justices 
 of the peace now in commission, or who may in the in 
 terim be appointed, shall continue to discharge the duties 
 of their respective offices until fifteen days after the day 
 which shall be fixed by law for the issuing of new com 
 missions, at the expiration of which time their commis 
 sions shall expire. 
 
 In testimony that the foregoing is the amended con 
 stitution of Pennsylvania, as agreed to in conven 
 tion, we, the officers and members of the convention, 
 have hereunto signed our names, at Philadelphia, 
 the twenty-second day of February, anno domini 
 one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and 
 of the independence of the United States of Ame 
 rica the sixty-second. 
 
 JOHN SERGEANT, President. 
 (Attest) S. SCHOCH, Secretary. 
 
 GEORGE L. FAUSS, ) A . . . 
 J. WILLIAMS, \ Assistant 
 
 AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE 6, SECTION 2. 
 
 ADOPTED IN 1850. 
 
 THE judges of the supreme court, of the several courts 
 of common pleas, and of such other courts of record as 
 are or shall be established by law, shall be elected by the 
 qualified electors of the commonwealth in the manner 
 following, to wit : The judges of the supreme court, by 
 the qualified electors of the commonwealth at large. The 
 president judges of the several courts of common pleas 
 and of such other courts of record as are or shall be 
 established by law, and all other judges required to be 
 learned in the law, by the qualified electors of the re 
 spective districts over which they are to preside or act as 
 
136 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 judges. And the associate judges of the courts of com 
 mon pleas by the qualified electors of the counties re 
 spectively. The judges of the supreme court shall hold 
 their offices for the term of fifteen years, if they shall so 
 long behave themselves well, (subject to the allotment 
 hereinafter provided for, subsequent to the first election :) 
 The president judges of the several courts of common 
 pleas, and of such other courts of record as are or shall 
 be established by law, and all other judges required to be 
 learned in the law, shall hold their offices for the term of 
 ten years, if they shall so long behave themselves well : 
 The associate judges of the courts of common pleas shall 
 hold their offices for the term of five years, if they shall 
 so long behave themselves well : all of whom shall be 
 commissioned by the governor, but for any reasonable 
 cause which shall not be sufficient grounds of impeach 
 ment, the governor shall remove any of them on the 
 address of two-thirds of each branch of the legislature. 
 The first election shall take place at the general election 
 of this commonwealth next after the adoption of this 
 amendment, and the commissions of all the judges who 
 may be then in office shall expire on the first Monday of 
 December following, when the terms of the new judges 
 shall commence. The persons who shall then be elected 
 judges of the supreme court shall hold their offices as 
 follows : one of them for three years, one for six years, 
 one for nine years, one for twelve years, and one for fifteen 
 years ; the term of each to be decided by lot by the said 
 judges, as soon after the election as convenient, and the 
 result certified by them to the governor, that the commis 
 sions may be issued in accordance thereto. The judge 
 whose commission will first expire shall be chief justice 
 during his term, and thereafter each judge whose com 
 mission shall first expire shall in turn be the chief justice, 
 and if two or more commissions shall expire on the same 
 day, the judges holding them shall decide by lot which 
 shall be the chief justice. Any vacancies happening by 
 death, resignation, or otherwise, in any of the said courts, 
 shall be filled by appointment by the governor, to continue 
 till the first Monday of December succeeding the next 
 general election. The judges of the supreme court and 
 
CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 137 
 
 the presidents of the several courts of common pleas shall, 
 at stated times, receive for their services an adequate com 
 pensation, to be fixed by law, which shall not be diminished 
 during their continuance in office, but they shall receive 
 no fees or perquisites of office, nor hold any other office 
 of profit under this commonwealth, or under the govern 
 ment of the United States, or any other state of this 
 Union. The judges of the supreme court during their 
 continuance in office shall reside within this commonwealth, 
 and other judges durin g their continuance in office shall 
 reside within the district or county for which they were 
 respectively elected. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 BILL OF RIGHTS. 
 [PASSED JUNE 12, 1776.] 
 
 ADOPTED WITHOUT ALTERATION BY THE CONVENTION OF 1829-30, 
 AND KEADOPTED WITH AMENDMENTS BY THE CONVENTION OP 
 1850-51. 
 
 A. Declaration of Rights made by the Representatives of 
 the good people of VIRGINIA, assembled in full and free 
 Convention, which rights do pertain to them and their 
 posterity as the basis and foundation of government. 
 
 1. THAT all men are by nature equally free and inde 
 pendent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when 
 they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any 
 compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the 
 enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring 
 and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining hap 
 piness and safety. 
 
 2. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived 
 from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and 
 servants, and at all times amenable to them. 
 
 3. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for 
 the common benefit, protection, and security of the peo 
 ple, nation, or community : of all the various modes and 
 
 37 
 
138 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 forms of government, that is best, which is capable of pro 
 ducing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is 
 most effectually secured against the danger of maladminis 
 tration ; and that, when any government shall be found 
 inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of 
 the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and inde 
 feasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner 
 as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal. 
 
 4. That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclu 
 sive or separate emoluments or privileges from the com 
 munity, but in consideration of public services: which 
 not being descendible, neither ought the offices of ma 
 gistrate, legislator, or judge to be hereditary. 
 
 5. That the legislative and executive powers of the 
 State should be separate and distinct from the judiciary ; 
 and that the members of the two first may be restrained 
 from oppression, by feeling and participating the burthens 
 of the people, they should, at fixed periods, be reduced to 
 a private station, return into that body from which they 
 were originally taken, and the vacancies be supplied by 
 frequent, certain, and regular elections, in which all, or 
 any part of the former members, to be again eligible, or 
 ineligible, as the laws shall direct. 
 
 6. That elections of members to serve as representa 
 tives of the people, in Assembly, ought to be free ; and 
 that all men having sufficient evidence of permanent com 
 mon interest with, and attachment to, the community, 
 have the right of suffrage, and cannotbe taxed or deprived 
 of their property for public uses, without their own con 
 sent, or that of their representatives so elected, nor bound 
 by any law to which they have not, in like manner as 
 sented, for the public good. 
 
 7. That all power of suspending laws, or the execu 
 tion of laws, by any authority, without consent of the re 
 presentatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, 
 and oucrht not to be exercised. 
 
 8. That, in all capital or criminal prosecutions, a man 
 hath a right to demand the ?ause and nature of his accu 
 sation, to be confronted with the accusers and witnesses, 
 to call for evidence in his favor, and to a speedy trial by 
 an impartial jury of his vicinage, without whose unani- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 139 
 
 mous consent he cannot be found guilty; nor canhe be corn, 
 pelled to give evidence against himself; that no man be 
 deprived of his liberty except by the la\v of the land, or 
 the judgment of his peers. 
 
 9. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor 
 excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punish 
 ments inflicted. 
 
 10. That general warrants, whereby an officer or mes 
 senger may be commanded to search suspected places 
 without evidence of a fact committed, or to seize any per 
 son or persons not named, or whose offence is not par 
 ticularly described and supported by evidence, are griev 
 ous and oppressive, and ought not to be granted. 
 
 11. That, in controversies respecting property, and in 
 suits between man and man, the ancient trial by jury is 
 preferable to any other, and ought to be held sacred. 
 
 12. That the freedom of the press is one of the great 
 bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by 
 despotic governments. 
 
 1 3. That a well regulated militia, composed of the body 
 of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and 
 safe defence of a free State ; that standing armies, in time 
 of peace, should be avoided, as dangerous to liberty ; and 
 that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subor 
 dination to, and governed by, the civil power. 
 
 14. That the people have a right to uniform govern 
 ment ; and, therefore, that no government separate from, 
 or independent of, the government of Virginia, ought to 
 be erected or established within the limits thereof. 
 
 15. That no free government, or the blessings of liber 
 ty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adhe 
 rence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and 
 virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental princi 
 ples. 
 
 16. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our 
 Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed 
 only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; 
 and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free ex 
 ercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience, 
 and that it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian 
 forbearance, love, and charity towards each other. 
 
140 CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 
 
 CONSTITUTION. 
 
 WHEREAS, the delegates and representatives of the 
 good people of Virginia, in convention assembled, on the 
 twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord one 
 thousand seven hundred and seventy-six: reciting and 
 declaring, that whereas George the Third, king of. Great 
 Britain and Ireland and elector of Hanover, before that 
 time intrusted with the exercise of the kingly office in 
 the government of Virginia, had endeavored to pervert 
 the same into a detestable and insupportable tyranny, by 
 putting his negative on laws the most wholesome and ne 
 cessary for the public good ; by denying his governors 
 permission to pass laws of immediate and pressing im 
 portance, unless suspended in their operation for his assent, 
 and when so suspended neglecting to attend to them for 
 many years ; by refusing to pass certain other laws, unless 
 the persons to be benefited by them would relinquish the 
 inestimable right of representation in the legislature ; by 
 dissolving legislative assemblies repeatedly and continually, 
 for opposing with manly firmness his invasions of the rights 
 of the people ; when dissolved, by refusing to call others 
 for a long space of time, thereby leaving the political 
 system without any legislative head ; by endeavouring to 
 prevent the population of our country, and for that 
 purpose obstructing the laws for the naturalization of 
 foreigners; by keeping among us, in time of peace, stand 
 ing armies and ships of war ; by affecting to render the 
 military independent of and superior to the civil power ; 
 by combining with others to subject us to a foreign juris 
 diction, giving his assent to their pretended acts of legis 
 lation; for quartering large bodies of armed troops among 
 us, for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world, 
 for imposing taxes on us without our consent, for depriv 
 ing us of the benefit of the trial by jury, for transporting 
 us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences, for sus 
 pending our own legislatures and declaring themselves 
 invested with power to legislate for us in all cases what 
 soever; by plundering our seas, ravaging our coasts, 
 burning our towns, and destroying the lives of our 
 
CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 141 
 
 people; by inciting insurrections of our fellow-subjects 
 with the allurements of forfeiture and confiscation; by 
 prompting our negroes to rise in arms among us, those 
 very negroes whom by an inhuman use of his negative he 
 had refused us permission to exclude by law ; by endea 
 vouring 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 of existence; by transporting hither a large 
 army of foreign mercenaries, to complete the work of 
 death, desolation, and tyranny, then already^ begun with 
 circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, unworthy the head 
 of a civilized nation ; by answering our repeated petitions 
 for redress with a repetition of injuries ; and finally, by 
 abandoning the helm of government, and declaring us out 
 of his allegiance and protection; by which several acts 
 of misrule, the government of this country, as before ex 
 ercised under the crown of Great Britain, was totally dis 
 solved : did, therefore^ having maturely considered the 
 premises, and viewing with great concern the deplorable 
 condition to which this once happy country would be 
 reduced, unless some regular adequate mode of civil polity 
 should be speedily adopted, and in compliance with the 
 recommendation of the general congress, ordain and de 
 clare a form of government of Virginia : 
 
 And whereas, a convention held on the first Monday in 
 October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and 
 twenty-nine, did propose to the people of the common 
 wealth an amended constitution or form of government, 
 which was ratified by them : 
 
 And whereas, the general assembly of Virginia, by an 
 act passed on the fourth of March, in the year one thou 
 sand eight hundred and fifty, did provide for the election, 
 by the people, of delegates to meet in general convention, 
 to consider, discuss, and propose a new constitution, or 
 alterations and amendments to the existing constitution 
 of this commonwealth; and by an act, passed on the 
 thirteenth of March, in the year one thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty-one, did further provide for submitting 
 the same to the people, for ratification or rejection : 
 
 ^Ye, therefore, the delegates of the good people of 
 37* 
 
142 CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Virginia, elected and in convention assembled, in pursu 
 ance of said acts, do propose to the people the following 
 constitution and form of government for this common 
 wealth : 
 
 ARTICLE 1. Bill of Right*. 
 
 The declaration of rights, as amended and prefixed to 
 this constitution, shall have the same relation thereto as 
 it had to the former constitution. 
 
 ARTICLE 2. Division of Powers, 
 
 The legislative, executive, and judiciary departments 
 shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercise the 
 powers properly belonging to either of the others ; nor 
 shall any person exercise the powers of more than one of 
 them at the same time, except that justices of the peace 
 shall be eligible to either house of assembly. 
 
 ARTICLE 3. Qualification of Voters. 
 
 1. Every white male citizen of the commonwealth, of 
 the age of twenty-one years, who has been a resident of the 
 state for two years, and of the county, city, or town where 
 he offers to vote for twelve months next preceding an 
 election, and no other person, shall be qualified to vote 
 for members of the general assembly and all officers elect 
 ive by the people : but no person in the military, naval, 
 or marine service of the United States shall be deemed a 
 resident of this state, by reason of being stationed therein. 
 And no person shall have the right to vote, who is of 
 unsound mind, or a pauper, or a non-commissioned officer, 
 soldier, seaman, or marine in the service of the United 
 States, or who has been convicted of bribery in an election, 
 or of any infamous offence. 
 
 2. The general assembly at its first session after the 
 adoption of this constitution, and afterwards as occasion 
 may require, shall cause every city or town, the white 
 population of which exceeds five thousand, to be laid off 
 into convenient wards, and a separate place of voting to 
 be established in each, and thereafter no inhabitant of 
 
CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 143 
 
 such city or town shall be allowed to vote except in the 
 ward in which he resides. 
 
 3. No voter during the time for holding any election 
 at which he is entitled to vote, shall be compelled to per 
 form military service, except in time of war or public 
 danger ; to work upon the public roads, or to attend any 
 court as suitor, juror, or witness; and.no voter shall be 
 subject to arrest under any civil process during his attend 
 ance at elections, or in going to and returning from them. 
 
 4. In all elections, votes shall be given openly, or viva 
 voce, and not by ballot. But dumb persons, entitled to 
 suffrage, may vote by ballot. 
 
 ARTICLE 4. Legislative Department. 
 
 1. The legislature shall be formed of two distinct 
 branches, which together shall be a complete legislature 
 and shall be called the general assembly of Virginia. 
 
 HOUSE OP DELEGATES. 
 
 2. One of these shall be called the house of delegates, 
 and shall consist of one hundred and fifty-two members, 
 to be chosen biennially for and by the several counties, 
 cities, and towns of the commonwealth, and distributed 
 and apportioned as follows : 
 
 The counties of Augusta and Rockingham and the city 
 of Richmond shall each elect three delegates : 
 
 The counties of Albemarle, Bedford, Berkeley, Camp 
 bell, Fauquier, Franklin, Frederick, Halifax, Hampshire, 
 Harrison, Jefferson, Kanawha, Loudoun, Marion, Monon- 
 galia, Monroe, Norfolk, Pittsylvania, Preston, Rockbridge, 
 Shenandoah, and Washington shall each elect two delegates. 
 
 The counties of Betetourt and Craig shall together elect 
 two delegates : 
 
 The counties of Accomac, Alexandria, Amherst, Appo- 
 mattox, Barbour, Brunswick, Buckingham, Cabell, Caro 
 line, Carroll, Charlotte, Chesterfield, Clarke, Culpepper, 
 Dinwiddie, Fairfax, Floyd, Fluvanna, Giles, Gloucester, 
 Goochland, Grayson, Greenbrier, Hanover, Hardy, Hen- 
 rice, Henry, Highland, Isle of Wight, Jackson, King 
 William, Lee, Lewis, Louisa, Lunenberg, Madison, Mar- 
 
144 CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 shall, Mason, Mercer, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Morgan, 
 Nansemond, Nelson, Northampton, Page, Patrick, Pen- 
 dleton, Pocahontas, Princess Anne, Prince Edward, Prince 
 William, Pulaski, Putnam, Randolph, Rappahannock, 
 Roanoke, Scott, Smyth, Southampton, Spottsylvania, 
 Taylor, Upshur, Warren, Wayne, Wetzel, Wood, and 
 Wythe, and the cities of Norfolk and Petersburg, shall 
 each elect one delegate : 
 
 The counties of Lee and Scott, in addition to the dele 
 gate to be elected by each, shall together elect one delegate. 
 
 The following counties and cities shall compose election 
 districts : Alleghauy and Bath : Amelia and Nottoway : 
 Logan, Boone, and Wyoming : Braxton and Nicholas : 
 Charles City, James City, and New Kent : Cumberland 
 and Powhatan : Doddridge and Tyler : Elizabeth City, 
 Warwick, York, and the City of Williamsburg : Essex 
 and King and Queen : Fayette and Raleigh : Gilmer and 
 Wirt, Greene and Orange : Greenesville and Sussex : King 
 George and Stafford : Lancaster and Northumberland : 
 Mathews and Middlesex : Pleasants and Ritchie : Prince 
 George and Surry : and Richmond and Westmoreland : 
 each of which districts shall elect one delegate. 
 
 At the first general election under this constitution the 
 county of Ohio shall elect three delegates, and the counties 
 of Brooke and Hancock shall together elect one delegate; 
 at the second general election the county of Ohio shall 
 elect two delegates, and the counties of Brooke and Han 
 cock shall each elect one delegate ; and so on, alternately, 
 at succeeding general elections. 
 
 At the first general election the county of Russell shall 
 elect two delegates, and the county of Tazewcll shall elect 
 one delegate ; at the second general election the county 
 of Tazewell shall elect two delegates, and the county of 
 Russell shall elect one delegate; and so on, alternately, 
 at succeeding general elections. 
 
 The general assembly shall have power upon application 
 of a majority of the voters of the county of Campbell to 
 provide, that instead of the two delegates to be elected by 
 said county, the town of Lynchburg shall elect one dele 
 gate, and the residue of the county of Campbell shall 
 elect one delegate. 
 
CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 145 
 
 3. The other house of the general assembly shall be 
 called the senate, and shall consist of fifty members, to be 
 elected for the term of four years; for the election of 
 whom, the counties, cities, and towns shall be divided into 
 fifty districts : each county, city, and town of the respective 
 districts, at the time of the first election of its delegate or 
 delegates under this constitution, shall vote for one senator, 
 and the sheriffs or other officers holding the election for 
 each county, city, and town, within five days at farthest 
 after the last election in the district, shall meet at the 
 court-house of the county or city first named in the dis 
 trict, and from the polls so taken in their respective 
 counties, cities, and towns, return as senator the person 
 who has received the greatest number of votes in the 
 whole district. Upon the assembling of the senators so 
 elected, they shall be divided into two equal classes, to be 
 numbered by lot. The term of service of the senators of 
 the first class shall expire with that of the delegates first 
 elected under this constitution; and of the senators of the 
 second class at the expiration of two years thereafter : and 
 this alternation shall be continued, so that one-half of the 
 senators may be chosen every second year. 
 
 SECTION IV. THE SENATE. 
 
 I. For the election of senators, the counties of Accomac 
 and Northampton shall form one district : 
 
 II. The city of Norfolk shall be another district : 
 
 in. The counties of Norfolk and Princess Anne shall 
 form another district : 
 
 IV. The counties of Isle of Wight, Nansemond, and 
 Surry, shall form another district : 
 
 V. The counties of Sussex, Southampton, and Greenes- 
 ville, shall form another district : 
 
 VI. The city of Petersburg and the county of Prince 
 George shall form another district : 
 
 vn. The counties of Dinwiddie, Amelia, and Bruns 
 wick, shall form another district : 
 
 viii. The counties of Powhatan, Cumberland, and 
 Chesterfield, shall form another district : 
 
 IX. The counties of Lunenburg, Nottoway, and Prince 
 Edward, shall form another district: 
 
146 CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 
 
 X. The counties of Mecklenburg and Charlotte shall 
 form another district : 
 
 XI. The county of Pittsylvania shall be another district : 
 
 XII. The county of Halifax shall be another district: 
 
 XIII. The counties of Henry, Patrick, and Franklin, 
 shall form another district : 
 
 XIV. The county of Bedford shall be another district : 
 
 XV. The counties of Campbell and Appomattox shall 
 form another district : 
 
 xvi. The city of Williamsburg, and the counties of 
 James City, Charles City, New Kent, York, Elizabeth 
 City, and Warwick, shall form another district : 
 
 xvn. The counties of Henrico and Hanover shall form 
 another district : 
 
 xvin. The city of Richmond shall be another district : 
 
 xix. The counties of Gloucester, Mathews, and Mid 
 dlesex, shall form another district : 
 
 XX. The counties of Richmond, Lancaster, Northum 
 berland, and Westmoreland, shall form another district: 
 
 xxi. The counties of King and Queen, King William, 
 and Essex, shall form another district : 
 
 xxn. The counties of Caroline and Spottsylvania shall 
 form another district : 
 
 xxni. The, counties of Stafford, King George, and 
 Prince William, shall form another district : 
 
 xxiv. The counties of Fairfax and Alexandria shall 
 form another district : 
 
 XXV. The county of Loudoun shall be another district : 
 
 xxvi. The counties of Fauquier and llappahannock 
 shall form another district : 
 
 xxvii. The counties of Madison, Culpepper, Orange, 
 and Greene, shall form another district : 
 
 xxvin. The county of Albeinarle shall be another 
 district : 
 
 xxix. The counties of Louisa, Goochland, and Flu- 
 vauna, shall form another district : 
 
 xxx. The counties of Nelson, Amherst, and Bucking 
 ham, shall form another district : 
 
 xxxi. The counties of Jefferson and Berkeley shall 
 form another district : 
 
CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 147 
 
 xxxii. The counties of Hampshire, Hardy, and Mor 
 gan, shall form another district : 
 
 xxxin. The counties of Frederick, Clarke, and War 
 ren, shall form another district : 
 
 xxxiv. The counties of Shenandoah and Page shall 
 form another district : 
 
 xxxv. The counties of Rockingham and Pendleton 
 shall form another district : 
 
 xxxvi. The county of Augusta shall be another dis 
 trict : 
 
 xxxvii. The counties of Bath, Highland, and Rock- 
 bridge, shall form another district : 
 
 xxxvui. The counties of Botetourt, Alleghany, 
 Roanoke, and Craig, shall form another district : 
 
 xxxix. The counties of Carroll, Floyd, Grayson, 
 Montgomery, and Pulaski, shall form another district : 
 
 XL. The counties of Mercer, Monroe, Giles, and Taze- 
 well, shall form another district : 
 
 XLI. The counties of Smyth, Wythe, and Washington, 
 shall form another district : 
 
 XLII. The counties of Scott, Lee, and Russell, shall 
 form another district : 
 
 XLIII. The counties of Boone, Logan, Kanawha, Put 
 nam, and Wyoming, shall form another district : 
 
 XLIV. The counties of Nicholas, Fayette, Pocahontas, 
 Raleigh, Braxton, and Greenbrier, shall form another 
 district : 
 
 XLV. The counties of Mason, Jackson, Cabell, Wayne, 
 and Wirt, shall form another district : 
 
 XLVI. The counties of Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, 
 Pleasauts, and Wood, shall form another district : 
 
 XL vii. The counties of Wetzel, Marshall, Marion, and 
 Tyler, shall form another district : 
 
 XLVIII. The counties of Upshur, Barbour, Lewis, Gil- 
 mer, and Randolph, shall form another district : 
 
 XLIX. The counties of Monongalia, Preston, and Taylor, 
 shall form another district : 
 
 L. The counties of Brooke, Hancock, and Ohio, shall 
 form another district. 
 
148 CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 5. It shall be the duty of the general assembly in the 
 year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and in 
 every tenth year thereafter, in case it can agree upon a 
 principle of representation, to re-apportion representation 
 in the senate and house of delegates in accordance there 
 with ; and in the event the general assembly, at the first 
 or any subsequent period of re-apportionment, shall fail 
 to agree upon a principle of representation and to re-ap 
 portion representation in accordance therewith, each house 
 shall separately propose a scheme of representation, con 
 taining a principle or rule for the house of delegates, in 
 connection with a principle or rule for the senate. And 
 it shall be the duty of the general assembly, at tue ?ame 
 session, to certify to the governor, the principles or rules 
 of representation which the respective houses may sepa 
 rately propose, to be applied in making re-apportionments 
 in the senate and in the house of delegates : and the 
 governor shall, as soon thereafter as may be, by proclama 
 tion, make known the propositions of the respective houses, 
 and require the voters of the commonwealth to assemble 
 at such time as he shall appoint, at their lawful places of 
 voting, and decide by their votes between the propositions 
 thus presented. In the event the general assembly shall 
 fail, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
 five, or in any tenth year thereafter, to make such re-ap- 
 portionment or certificate, the governor shall, immediately 
 after the adjournment of the general assembly, by procla 
 mation, require the voters of the commonwealth to as 
 semble, at such time as he shall appoint, at their lawful 
 places of voting, and to declare by their votes : 
 
 First, whether representation in the senate and house 
 of delegates shall be apportioned on the "Suffrage Basis;" 
 that is, according to the number of voters in the several 
 counties, cities, towns, and senatorial districts of the com 
 monwealth : 
 
 Or second, whether representation in both houses shall 
 be apportioned on the "Mixed Basis;" that is, according 
 to the number of white inhabitants coutained ; and the 
 
CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 149 
 
 amount of all state taxes paid, in the several counties, 
 cities, and towns of the commonwealth, deducting there 
 from all taxes paid on licenses and law process, and any 
 capitation tax on free negroes, allowing one delegate for 
 every seventy-sixth part of said inhabitants, and one dele- 
 
 fate for every seventy-sixth part of said taxes, and distri- 
 uting the senators in like manner : 
 
 Or third, whether representation shall be apportioned 
 in the senate on taxation ; that is, according to the amount 
 of all state taxes, paid in the several counties, cities, and 
 towns of the commonwealth, deducting therefrom all taxes 
 paid on licenses and law process, and any capitation tax 
 on free negroes, and in the house of delegates on the 
 " Suffrage Basis" as aforesaid: 
 
 Or fourth, whether representation shall be apportioned 
 in the senate on the " Mixed Basis" as aforesaid, and in 
 the house of delegates on the " Suffrage Basis" as afore 
 said : and each -voter shall cast his vote in favor of one 
 of said schemes of apportionment, and no more. 
 
 6. It shall be the -duty of the sheriffs and other officers 
 taking said polls, to keep the same open for the period of 
 three days, and within five days after they are closed, to 
 certify true copies thereof to the governor, who shall, as 
 early as may be, ascertain the result of said vote, and 
 make proclamation thereof; and in case it is ascertained 
 that a majority of all the votes cast is in favor of either 
 of the principles of representation, referred as aforesaid 
 to the choice of the voters, the governor shall communi 
 cate the result of such vote to the general assembly at its 
 first regular session thereafter; but in case it is ascertained 
 that a majority of all the votes cast is not in favor of 
 either of the principles of representation referred as afore 
 said to the choice of the voters, it shall be the duty of the 
 governor, as soon as may be after ascertaining that fact, 
 in like manner to cause the voters to decide between the 
 two principles of representation which shall, at such pre 
 vious voting, have received the greatest number of votes } 
 and he shall ascertain and make proclamation of the result 
 of the said last vote, and communicate the same to the 
 general assembly at its next regular session; and in either 
 38 
 
150 CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 
 
 case the general assembly, at the regular session thereof 
 which shall be held next after the taking of the vote, the 
 result of which shall have been so communicated to it by 
 the governor, shall re-apportion representation in the two 
 houses respectively in accordance with the principle of 
 representation in each, for which a majority of the votes 
 cast were given; and it shall be the duty of the general 
 assembly in every tenth year thereafter to re-apportion and 
 distribute the number of senators and delegates in accord 
 ance with the same principle. 
 
 7. Any person may be elected senator, who, at the time 
 of election, has attained the age of twenty-five years, and 
 is actually a resident within the district, and qualified to 
 vote for members of the general assembly, according to 
 this constitution. And any person may be elected a 
 member of the house of delegates, who, at the time of 
 election^ has attained the age of twenty-one years, and is 
 actually a resident within the county, city, town, or elec 
 tion district, qualified to vote for members of the general 
 assembly, according to this constitution; but no person 
 holding a lucrative office, no minister of the gospel or 
 priest of any religious denomination, no salaried officer of 
 any banking corporation or company, and no attorney for 
 the commonwealth, shall be capable of being elected a 
 member of either house of assembly. The removal of 
 any person elected to either branch of the general assembly 
 from the county, city, town, or district for which he was 
 elected, shall vacate his office. 
 
 8. The general assembly shall meet once in every two 
 years, and not oftener, unless convened by the governor 
 in the manner prescribed in this constitution. No session 
 of the general assembly, after the first under this consti 
 tution, shall continue longer than ninety days, without the 
 concurrence of three-fifths of the members elected to each 
 house, in which case the session may be extended for a 
 further period, not exceeding thirty days. Neither house, 
 during the session of the general assembly, shall, 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. A majority of each house shall 
 constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number 
 
CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 151 
 
 may adjourn from day to day, and shall be authorized to 
 compel the attendance of absent members in such manner 
 and under such penalties as each house may provide. 
 
 9. The house of delegates shall choose its own speaker, 
 and in the absence of the lieutenant-governor, or when he 
 shall exercise the office of governor, the senate shall choose 
 from their own body, a president pro tempore : and each 
 house shall appoint its own officers, settle its own rules of 
 proceeding, and direct writs of election for supplying inter 
 mediate vacancies : but if vacancies shall occur during the 
 recess of the general assembly, such writs may be issued 
 by the governor, under such regulations as may be pre 
 scribed by law. Each house shall judge of the election, 
 qualifications, and returns of its members, may punish 
 them for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence 
 of two-thirds, expel a member, but not a second time for 
 the same offence. 
 
 10. The members of the assembly shall receive for their 
 services a compensation, to be ascertained by law, and paid 
 out of the public treasury; but no act increasing such 
 compensation shall take effect until after the end of the 
 term for which the members of the house of delegates 
 voting thereon were elected. And no senator or delegate, 
 during the term for which he shall have been elected, 
 shall be appointed to any civil office of profit under the 
 commonwealth, which has been created, or the emoluments 
 of which have been increased, during such term, except 
 offices filled by elections by the people. 
 
 11. Bills and resolutions may originate in either of the 
 two houses of the general assembly, to be approved or 
 rejected by the other, and may be amended by either 
 house, with the consent of the other. 
 
 12. Each house of the general assembly shall keep a 
 journal of its proceedings, which shall be published from 
 time to time, and the yeas and nays of the members of 
 either house, on any question, shall, at the desire of one- 
 fifth of those present, be entered on the journal. No bill 
 shall become a" law, until it has been read on three dif 
 ferent days of the session, in the house in which it ori 
 ginated, unless two-thirds of the members elected to that 
 house shall otherwise determine. 
 
152 CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 13. The whole number of members to which the state 
 may at any time be entitled in the house of representatives 
 of the United States shall be apportioned, as nearly as 
 may be, amongst the several counties, cities, and towns of 
 the state, according to their respective numbers, which 
 shall be determined by adding to the whole number of 
 free persons, including those bound to service for a term 
 of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of 
 all other persons. 
 
 14. In the apportionment, the state shall be divided 
 into districts corresponding in number with the represen 
 tatives to which it may be entitled in the house of repre 
 sentatives of the congress of the United States, which 
 shall be formed respectively of contiguous counties, cities, 
 and towns, be compact, and include, as nearly as may be, 
 an equal number of the population upon which is based 
 representation in the house of representatives of the United 
 States. 
 
 15. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not, 
 in any case, be suspended. The general assembly shall 
 not pass any bill of attainder; or any ex post facto law; 
 or any law impairing the obligation of contracts; or any 
 law whereby private property shall be taken for public 
 uses without just compensation ; or any law abridging the 
 freedom of speech or of the press. No man shall be 
 compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, 
 place, or ministry, whatsoever ; nor shall any man be en 
 forced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or 
 goods, or otherwise suffer, on account of his religious 
 opinions or belief; but all men shall be free to profess, 
 and by argument to maintain, their opinions, in matters of 
 religion, and the same shall in no wise affect, diminish, or 
 enlarge their civil capacities. And the general assembly 
 shall not prescribe any religious test whatever; or confer 
 any peculiar privileges or advantages on any sect or deno 
 mination; or pass any law requiring or authorizing any 
 religious society, or the people of any district within this 
 commonwealth, to levy on themselves or others any tax 
 for the erection or repair of any house for public worship, 
 or for the support of any church or ministry; but it shall 
 be left free to every person to select his religious instructor, 
 
CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 153 
 
 and to make for his support such private contract as he 
 shall please. 
 
 16. No law shall embrace more than one object, which 
 shall be expressed in its title : nor shall any law be revived 
 or amended by reference to its title, but the act revived, 
 or section amended, shall be re-enacted and published at 
 length. 
 
 17. The general assembly may provide that no person 
 shall be capable of holding, or being elected to, any post 
 of profit, trust, or emolument, civil or military, legislative, 
 executive or judicial, under the government of this com 
 monwealth, who shall hereafter fight a duel, or send or 
 accept a challenge to fight a duel, the probable issue of 
 which may be the death of the challenger or challenged, 
 or who shall be second to either party, or shall in any 
 manner aid or assist in such duel, or shall be knowingly 
 the bearer of such challenge or acceptance ; but no person 
 shall be so disqualified by reason of his having heretofore 
 fought such duel, or sent or accepted such challenge, or 
 been second in such duel, or bearer of such challenge or 
 acceptance. 
 
 18. The governor, lieutenant-governor, judges, and all 
 others offending against the state, by maladministration, 
 corruption, neglect of duty, or other high crime or mis 
 demeanor, shall be irnpeachable by the house of delegates, 
 and be prosecuted before the senate, which shall have the 
 sole power to try impeachments. When sitting for that 
 purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation; and no per 
 son shall be convicted without the concurrence of two- 
 thirds of the members present. Judgment in case of 
 impeachment shall not extend further than to removal 
 from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any 
 office of honor, trust, or profit under the commonwealth; 
 but the party convicted shall nevertheless be subject to 
 indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according 
 to law. The senate may sit during the recess of the 
 general assembly for the trial of impeachments. 
 
 SLAVES AND FREE NEGROES. 
 
 19. Slaves hereafter emancipated shall forfeit their 
 freedom by remaining in the commonwealth more than 
 
 38* 
 
154 CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 twelve months after they become actually free, and shall 
 be reduced to slavery, under such regulations as may be 
 prescribed by law. 
 
 20. The general assembly may impose such restrictions 
 and conditions as they shall deem proper on the power of 
 slave owners to emancipate their slaves ; and may pass 
 laws for the relief of the commonwealth from the free 
 negro population by removal or otherwise. 
 
 21. The general assembly shall not emancipate any 
 slave, or the descendant of any slave, either before or after 
 the birth of such descendant. 
 
 TAXATION AND FINANCE. 
 
 22. Taxation shall be equal and uniform throughout 
 the commonwealth, and all property, other than slaves, 
 shall be taxed in proportion to its value, which shall be 
 ascertained in such manner as may be prescribed by law. 
 
 23. Every slave who has attained the age of twelve 
 years shall be assessed with a tax equal to and not exceed 
 ing that assessed on land of the value of three hundred 
 dollars. Slaves under that age shall not be subject to 
 taxation; and other taxable property may be exempted 
 from taxation, by the vote of a majority of the whole 
 number of members elected to each house of the general 
 assembly. 
 
 24. A capitation tax, equal to the tax assessed on land 
 of the value of two hundred dollars, shall be levied on 
 every white male inhabitant who has attained the age of 
 twenty-one years : and one equal moiety of the capitation 
 tax upon white persons shall be applied to the purposes 
 of education in primary and free schools ; but nothing 
 herein contained shall prevent exemptions of taxable polls 
 in cases of bodily infirmity. 
 
 25. The general assembly may levy a tax on incomes, 
 salaries, and licenses ; but no tax shall be levied on pro 
 perty from which any income so taxed is derived, or on 
 the capital invested in the trade or business in respect to 
 which the license so taxed is issued. 
 
 26. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in 
 pursuance of appropriations made by law; and a statement 
 
CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 155 
 
 of the receipts, disbursements, appropriations, and loans 
 shall be published after the adjournment of each session 
 of the general assembly, with the acts and resolutions 
 thereof. 
 
 27. On the passage of every act which imposes, con 
 tinues, or revives a tax, or creates a debt or charge, or 
 makes, continues, or revives any appropriation of public 
 or trust money or property, releases, discharges, or com 
 mutes any claim or demand of the state, the vote shall be 
 determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the per 
 sons voting for and against the same shall be entered on 
 the journals of the respective houses, and a majority of all 
 the members elected to each house shall be necessary to 
 give it the force of a law. 
 
 28. The liability to the state of any incorporated com 
 pany or institution, to redeem the principle and pay the 
 interest of any loan heretofore made, or which may here 
 after be made, by the state, to such company or institution, 
 shall not be released; and the general assembly shall not 
 pledge the faith of the state, or bind it in any form, for 
 the debts or obligations of any company or corporation. 
 
 29. There shall be set apart annually, from the accruing 
 revenue, a sum equal to seven per cent, of the state debt 
 existing on the first day of January in the year one 
 thousand eight hundred and fifty-two. The fund thus 
 set apart shall be called the sinking fund, and shall be 
 applied to the payment of the interest of the state debt, 
 and the principal of such part as may be redeemable. If 
 no part be redeemable, then the residue of the sinking 
 fund, after the payment of such interest, shall be invested 
 in the bonds or certificates of debt of this commonwealth, 
 or of the United States, or of some of the states of this 
 Union, and applied to the payment of the state debt, as 
 it shall become redeemable. Whenever, after the said 
 first day of January, a debt shall be contracted by the 
 commonwealth, there shall be set apart in like manner, 
 annually, for thirty-four years, a sum exceeding by one 
 per cent, the aggregate annual interest agreed to be paid 
 thereon, at the time contracted, which sum shall be part 
 of the sinking fund, and shall be applied in the manner 
 before directed. The general assembly shall not other- 
 
156 CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 wise appropriate any part of the sinking fund or its ac 
 cruing interest, except in time of war, insurrection, or 
 invasion. 
 
 30. The general assembly may, at any time, direct a 
 sale of the stocks held by the commonwealth in internal 
 improvement and other companies; but the proceeds of 
 such sale, if made before the payment of the public debt, 
 shall constitute a part of the sinking fund and be applied 
 in like manner. 
 
 31. The general assembly shall not contract loans or 
 cause to be issued certificates of debt or bond of the state ; 
 irredeemable for a period greater than thirty-four years. 
 
 GENERAL PROVISIONS. 
 
 32. The general assembly shall not grant a charter of 
 incorporation to any church or religious denomination, but 
 may secure the title to church property to an extent to be 
 limited by law. 
 
 33. No lottery shall hereafter be authorized by law, and 
 the buying, selling, or transferring of tickets or chances 
 in any lottery not now authorized by a law of this state, 
 shall be prohibited. 
 
 34. No new county shall be formed with an area less 
 than six hundred square miles; nor shall the county or 
 counties from which it is formed be reduced below that 
 area; nor shall any county, having a white population less 
 than five thousand, be deprived of more than one-fifth of 
 such population ; nor shall a county having a larger white 
 population be reduced below four thousand. But any 
 county, the length of which is three times its mean 
 breadth, or which exceeds fifty miles in length, may be 
 divided at the discretion of the general assembly. In all 
 general elections the voters in any county, not entitled 
 to separate representation, shall vote in the same election 
 district. 
 
 35. The general assembly shall confer on the courts the 
 power to grant divorces, change the names of persons, and 
 direct the sale of estates belonging to infants and other 
 persons under legal disabilities, but shall not, by special 
 legislation, grant relief in such cases, or in any other case 
 
CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 157 
 
 of which the courts or other tribunals may have jurisdic 
 tion. 
 
 36. The general assembly shall provide for the periodical 
 registration, in the several counties, cities, and towns, of 
 the voters therein, and for the annual registration of the 
 births, marriages, and deaths in the white population, and 
 of the births and deaths in the colored population of the 
 same, distinguishing between the numbers of free colored 
 persons and slaves. 
 
 37. The general assembly, at intervals of five years from 
 the dates of the returns of the census of the United States, 
 shall cause to be taken a census and such statistics of this 
 state as may be prescribed by law j which census and sta 
 tistics shall be returned to the secretary of the common 
 wealth, who shall compare and correct the returns and 
 report the same to the general assembly. 
 
 38. The manner of conducting and making returns of 
 elections, of determining contested elections, and of filling 
 vacancies in office, in cases not specially provided for by 
 this constitution, shall be prescribed by law ; but special 
 elections to fill vacancies in the office of judge of any court 
 shall be for a full terra. And the general assembly may 
 declare the cases in which any office shall be deemed va 
 cant, when no provision is made for that purpose in this 
 constitution. 
 
 ARTICLE 5. Executive Department. 
 
 GOVERNOR. 
 
 1. The chief executive power of this commonwealth 
 shall be vested in a governor. He shall hold the office 
 
 for the term of four years, to commence on the day 
 
 of next succeeding his election, and be ineligible to 
 
 the same office for the term next succeeding that for which 
 he was elected, and to any other office during his term of 
 service. 
 
 2. The governor shall be elected by the voters, at the 
 times and places of choosing members of the general as 
 sembly. Keturns of the election shall be transmitted, 
 under seal, by the proper officers to the secretary of the 
 
158 CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 
 
 common weal th, who shall deliver them to the speaker of 
 the house of delegates, on the first day of the next session 
 of the general assembly. The speaker of the house of 
 delegates shall within one week thereafter, in the presence 
 of a majority of the senate and house of delegates, open 
 the said returns, and the votes shall then be counted. The 
 person having the highest number of votes shall be de 
 clared elected; but if two or more shall have the highest 
 and an equal number of votes, one of them shall be chosen 
 governor by the joint vote of the two houses of the general 
 assembly. Contested elections for governor shall be de 
 cided by a like vote, and the mode of proceeding in such 
 cases shall be prescribed by law. 
 
 3. No person shall be eligible to the office of governor 
 unless he has attained the age of thirty years, is a native 
 citizen of the United States, and has been a citizen of 
 Virginia for five years next preceding his election. 
 
 4. The governor shall reside at the seat of government; 
 shall receive five thousand dollars for each year of his ser 
 vice, and, while in office, shall receive no other emolument 
 from this or any other government. 
 
 5. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully exe 
 cuted ; communicate to the general assembly at every ses 
 sion the condition of the commonwealth; recommend to 
 their consideration such measures as he may deem expe 
 dient; and convene the general assembly on application 
 of a majority of the members of both houses thereof, or 
 when in his opinion the interests of the commonwealth 
 may require it. He shall be commander-in-chief of the 
 land and naval forces of the state ; have power to embody 
 the militia to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, and 
 enforce the execution of the laws ; conduct, either in 
 person or in such other manner as shall be prescribed by 
 law, all intercourse with other and foreign states ; and, 
 during the recess of the general assembly, fill pro tcmpore 
 all vacancies in those offices for which the constitution and 
 laws make no provision: but his appointments to such 
 vacancies shall be by commissions to expire at the end of 
 thirty days after the commencement of the next session 
 of the general assembly. He shall have power to remit 
 
CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 159 
 
 fines and penalties, in such cases^nd under such rules 
 and regulations, as may be prescribed by law; and, except 
 when the prosecution has been carried on by the house of 
 delegates, or the law shall otherwise particularly direct, to 
 grant reprieves and pardons after conviction, and to 
 commute capital punishment. But he shall communicate 
 to the general assembly, at each session, the particulars 
 of every case of fine or penalty remitted, of reprieve 
 or pardon granted, and of punishment commuted, with 
 his reasons for remitting, granting, or commuting the 
 same. 
 
 6. He may require information in writing from the 
 officers in the executive department upon any subject 
 relating to the duties of their respective offices; and 
 may also require the opinion in writing of the attorney- 
 general upon any question of law connected with his official 
 duties. 
 
 7. Commissions and grants shall run in the name of the 
 commonwealth of Virginia, and be attested by the governor 
 with the seal of the commonwealth annexed. 
 
 LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR. 
 
 8. A lieutenant-governor shall be elected at the same 
 time, and for the same term, as the governor : and his 
 qualification and the manner of his election in all respects 
 shall be the same. 
 
 9. In case of the removal of the governor from office, 
 or of his death, failure to qualify, resignation, removal 
 from the state, or inability to discharge the powers and 
 duties of the office, the said office, with its compensation, 
 shall devolve upon the lieutenant-governor; and the 
 general assembly shall provide by law for the discharge 
 of the executive functions in other necessary cases. 
 
 10. The lieutenant-governor shall be president of the 
 senate, but shall have no vote; and, while acting as such, 
 shall receive a compensation equal to that allowed to the 
 speaker of the house of delegates. 
 
160 CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH, TREASURER, AND 
 AUDITOR. 
 
 11. A secretary of the commonwealth, treasurer, and 
 an auditor of public accounts, shall be elected by the joint 
 vote of the two houses of the general assembly, and con 
 tinue in office for the term of two years, unless sooner 
 removed. 
 
 12. The secretary shall keep a record of the official 
 acts of the governor, which shall be signed by the governor 
 and attested by the secretary; and when required, he shall 
 lay the same, and any papers, minutes, and vouchers per 
 taining to his office, before either house of the general 
 assembly ; and shall perform such other duties as may be 
 prescribed by law. 
 
 13. The powers and duties of the treasurer and auditor 
 shall be such as now are, or may be hereafter, prescribed 
 by law. 
 
 BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS. 
 
 14. There shall be a board of public works, to consist 
 of three commissioners. The state shall be divided into 
 three districts, containing as nearly as may be equal num 
 bers of voters, and the voters of each district shall elect 
 one commissioner, whose term of office shall be six years; 
 but of those first elected, one, to be designated by lot, 
 shall remain in office for two years only, and one other, to 
 be designated in like manner, shall remain in office for 
 four years only. 
 
 15. The general assembly, at its first session after the 
 adoption of this constitution, shall provide for the election 
 and compensation of the commissioners, and the organiza 
 tion of the board. The commissioners first elected shall 
 assemble on a day to be appointed by law, and decide by 
 lot the order in which their term of service shall expire. 
 
 16. The board of public works shall appoint all officers 
 employed on the public works, and all persons representing 
 the interest of the commonwealth in works of internal 
 improvement, and shall perform such other duties as may 
 be prescribed by law. 
 
CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 161 
 
 17. The members of the board of public works may be 
 removed by the concurrent vote of a majority of all the 
 members elected to each house of the general assembly ; 
 but the cause of removal shall be entered on the journal 
 of each house. 
 
 18. The general assembly shall have power, by a vote 
 of three-fifths of the members elected to each house, to 
 abolish said board whenever in their opinion a board of 
 public works shall no longer be necessary. 
 
 MILITIA. 
 
 19. The manner of appointing militia officers shall be 
 prescribed by law. 
 
 ARTICLE 6. Judiciary Department. 
 
 1. There shall be a supreme court of appeals, district 
 courts, and circuit courts. The jurisdiction of these tri 
 bunals, and of the judges thereof, except so far as the 
 same is conferred by this constitution, shall be regulated 
 by law. 
 
 JUDICIAL DIVISIONS. 
 
 2. The state shall be divided into twenty-one judicial 
 circuits, ten districts, and five sections. 
 
 I. The counties of Princess Anne, Norfolk, Nansemond, 
 Isle of Wight, Southampton, Greenesville, Surry, and 
 Sussex, and the city of Norfolk, shall constitute the first 
 circuit. 
 
 II. The counties of Prince George, Dinwiddie, Bruns 
 wick, Mecklenburg, Lunenburg, Nottoway, Amelia, Ches 
 terfield, and Powhatan, and the city of Petersburg, shall 
 constitute the second circuit. 
 
 in. The counties of Cumberland, Buckingham, Appo- 
 mattox, Campbell, Prince Edward, Charlotte, and Halifax, 
 and the town of Lynchburg, shall constitute the third 
 circuit. 
 
 iv. The counties of Pittsylvania, Bedford, Franklin, 
 Patrick, and Henry, shall constitute the fourth circuit. 
 39 
 
162 CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 
 
 V. The counties of Accouiac and Northampton shall 
 constitute the fifth circuit. 
 
 VI. The counties of Elizabeth City, "Warwick, York, 
 Gloucester, Mathews, Middlesex, Henrico, New Kent, 
 Charles City, and James City, and the city of Williams- 
 burg, shall constitute the sixth circuit. 
 
 vn. The city of Richmond shall be the seventh circuit. 
 
 Vlii. The counties of Lancaster, Northumberland, 
 Richmond, Westmoreland, King George, Spottsylvania, 
 Caroline, Hanover, King William, King and Queen, and 
 Essex, shall constitute the eighth circuit. 
 
 IX. The counties of Stafford, Prince "William, Alex 
 andria, Fairfax, Loudoun, Fauquier, and Rappahaunock, 
 shall constitute the ninth circuit. 
 
 X. The counties of Culpeper, Madison, Greene, Orange, 
 Albernarle, Louisa, Fluvanna, and Goochland, shall con 
 stitute the tenth circuit. 
 
 XI. The counties of Nelson, Amherst, Rockbridge, 
 Augusta, and Bath, shall constitute the eleventh circuit. 
 
 xii. The counties of Pendleton, Highland, Rockingham, 
 Page, Shenandoah, Warren, and Hardy, shall constitute 
 the twelfth circuit. 
 
 xni. The counties of Clarke, Frederick, Hampshire, 
 Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson, shall constitute the 
 thirteenth circuit. 
 
 xiv. The counties of Monroe, Greenbrier, Pocahontas, 
 Allcghany, Botetourt, Roanoke, and Craig, shall constitute 
 the fourteenth circuit. 
 
 xv. The counties of Giles, Mercer, Raleigh, Wyoming, 
 Logan, Boone, Fayette, and Nicholas, shall constitute the 
 fifteenth circuit. 
 
 xvi. The counties of Grayson, Carroll, Wythe, Floyd, 
 Pulaski, and Montgomery, shall constitute the sixteenth 
 circuit. 
 
 xvil. The counties of Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, 
 Russell, Scott, and Lee, shall constitute the seventeenth 
 circuit. 
 
 XViii. The counties of Wayne, Cabcll. Mason, Jackson, 
 Putnam, and Kanawha, shall constitute the eighteenth 
 circ iiit. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 163 
 
 XIX. The counties of Wood, Wirt, Gilmer, Braxton, 
 Lewis, Ritchie, Doddridge, and Pleasants, shall constitute 
 the nineteenth circuit. 
 
 xx. The counties of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, 
 Wetzel, Tyler, and Monongalia, shall constitute the twen 
 tieth circuit. 
 
 xxi. And the counties of Harrison, Marion, Taylor, 
 Preston, Barbour, Randolph, and Upshur, shall constitute 
 the twenty-first circuit. 
 
 3. The first and second circuits shall constitute the first 
 district; the third and fourth circuits, the second district; 
 the fifth, sixth, and seventh circuits, the third district; 
 the eighth and ninth circuits, the fourth district; the 
 tenth and eleventh circuits, the fifth district; the twelfth 
 and thirteenth circuits, the sixth district; the fourteenth 
 and fifteenth circuits, the seventh district; the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth circuits, the eighth district; the eighteenth 
 and nineteenth circuits, the ninth district; and the twen 
 tieth and twenty-first circuits, the tenth district. 
 
 4. The first and second districts shall constitute the first 
 section; the third and fourth districts, the second section; 
 the fifth and sixth districts, the third section; the seventh 
 and eighth districts, the fourth section; and the ninth and 
 tenth districts, the fifth section. 
 
 5. The general assembly may, at the end of eight years 
 after the adoption of this constitution, and thereafter at 
 intervals of eight years, rearrange the said circuits, dis 
 tricts, and sections, and place any number of circuits in 
 a district, and of districts in a section; but each circuit 
 shall be altogether in one district, and each district in one 
 section; and there shall not be less than two districts and 
 four circuits in a section, and the number of sections shall 
 not be increased or diminished. 
 
 CIRCUIT COURTS. 
 
 6. For each circuit, a judge shall be elected by the 
 voters thereof, who shall hold his office for the term of 
 eight years, unless sooner removed in the manner pre 
 scribed by this constitution. He shall at the time of his 
 
164 CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 
 
 election be at least thirty years of age, and, during his 
 continuance in office, shall reside in the circuit of which 
 he is judge. 
 
 7. A circuit court shall be held at least twice a year by 
 the judge of each circuit, in every county and corporation 
 thereof, wherein a circuit court is now or may hereafter 
 be established. But the judges in the same district may 
 be required or authorized to hold the courts of their re 
 spective circuits alternately, and a judge of one circuit to 
 hold a court in any other circuit. 
 
 DISTRICT COURTS. 
 
 8. A district court shall be held, at least once a year, 
 in every district, by the judges of the circuits constituting 
 the section and the judge of the supreme court of appeals 
 for the section of which the district forms a part, any 
 three of whom may hold a court; but no judge shall sit 
 or decide upon any appeal taken from his own decision. 
 The judge of the supreme court of appeals of one section 
 may sit in the district courts of another section, when 
 required or authorized by law to do so. 
 
 9. The district courts shall not have original jurisdic 
 tion, except in cases of habeas corpus, mandamus, and 
 prohibition. 
 
 COURTS OF APPEALS. 
 
 10. For each section a judge shall be elected by the 
 voters thereof, who shall hold his office for the term of 
 twelve years, unless sooner removed in the manner pre 
 scribed by this constitution. He shall at the time of his 
 election be at least thirty-five years of age, and during his 
 continuance in office, reside in the section for which he is 
 elected. 
 
 11. The supreme court of appeals shall consist of the 
 five judges so elected, any three of whom may hold a court. 
 It shall have appellate jurisdiction only, except in cases 
 of habeas corpus, mandamus, and prohibition. It shall 
 not have jurisdiction in civil causes where the matter in 
 controversy, exclusive of costs, is less in value or amount 
 
CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 165 
 
 than five hundred dollars, except in controversies concern 
 ing the title or boundaries of land, the prob ate of a will, 
 the appointment or qualification of a personal representa 
 tive, guardian, committee, or curator; or concerning a mill, 
 road, way, ferry, or landing, or the right of a corporation 
 or of a county to levy tolls or taxes; and except in cases 
 of habeas corpus, mandamus, and prohibition, and cases 
 involving freedom, or the constitutionality of a law. 
 
 12. Special courts of appeals, to consist of not less than 
 three nor more than five judges, may be formed of the 
 judges of the supreme court of appeals, and of the circuit 
 courts, or any of them, to try any cases remaining on the 
 dockets of the present court of appeals when the judges 
 thereof cease to hold their offices; or to try any cases which 
 may be on the dockets of the supreme court of appeals 
 established by this constitution, in respect to which a 
 majority of the judges of said court may be so situated 
 as to make it improper for them to sit on the hearing 
 thereof. 
 
 13. When a judgment or decree is reversed or affirmed 
 by the supreme court of appeals, the reasons therefor shall 
 be stated in writing, and preserved with the record of the 
 case. 
 
 GENERAL PROVISIONS. 
 
 14. Judges shall be commissioned by the governor, 
 and shall receive fixed and adequate salaries, which shall 
 not be diminished during their continuance in office. The 
 salary of a judge of the supreme court of appeals shall 
 not be less than three thousand dollars and that of a judge 
 of a circuit court not less than two thousand dollars per 
 annum, except that of the judge of the fifth circuit, which 
 shall not be less than fifteen hundred dollars per annum; 
 and each shall receive a reasonable allowance for necessary 
 travel. 
 
 15. No judge during his term of service shall hold any 
 other office, appointment, or public trust, and the accept 
 ance thereof shall vacate his judicial office; nor shall he 
 during such term, or within one year thereafter, be eligible 
 to any political office. 
 
 89* 
 
166 CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 
 
 16. No election of judge shall be held within thirty 
 days of the time of holding any election of electors of 
 president and vice president of the United States, of 
 members of congress, or of the general assembly. 
 
 17. Judges may be removed from office by a concurrent 
 vote of both houses of the general assembly, but a ma 
 jority of all the members elected to each house must con 
 cur in such vote; and the cause of removal shall be entered 
 on the journal of each house. The judge, against whom 
 the general assembly may be about to proceed, shall receive 
 notice thereof, accompanied by a copy of the causes 
 alleged for his removal, at least twenty days before the 
 day on which either house of the general assembly shall 
 act thereupon. 
 
 18. The officers of the supreme court of appeals and of 
 the district courts shall be appointed by the said courts 
 respectively, or by the judges thereof in vacation. Their 
 duties, compensation, and tenure of office, shall be pre 
 scribed by law. 
 
 19. The voters of each county or corporation in which 
 a circuit court is held shall elect a clerk of such court, 
 whose term of office shall be six years. The attorney for 
 the commonwealth elected for a county or corporation 
 wherein a circuit court is directed to be held, shall be at 
 torney for the commonwealth for that court. But in case 
 a circuit court is held for a city, or for a county and city, 
 there shall be an attorney for the commonwealth for such 
 court, to be elected by the voters of such city, or county 
 and city, and to continue in office for the term of four 
 years. The duties and compensation of these officers, and 
 the mode of removing them from office, shall be prescribed 
 by law. 
 
 20. When a vacancy shall occur in the office of clerk 
 of any court, such court may appoint a clerk pro tcmporc, 
 who shall discharge the duties of the office until the 
 vacancy is filled. 
 
 21. The general assembly shall provide for the compen 
 sation of jurors, but appropriations for that purpose shall 
 not be made from the state treasury, except in prosecutions 
 for felony and misdemeanor. 
 
CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 167 
 
 22. At every election of a governor, an attorney-general 
 snail be elected by the voters of the commonwealth, for 
 the term of four years. He shall be commissioned by the 
 governor, shall perform such duties and receive such 
 compensation as may be prescribed by law, and be re 
 movable in the manner prescribed for the removal of 
 judges. 
 
 23. Judges and all other officers, whether elected or 
 appointed, shall continue to discharge the duties of their 
 respective offices after their terms of service have expired, 
 until their successors are qualified. 
 
 24. Writs shall run in the name of the commonwealth 
 of Virginia and be attested by the clerks of the several 
 courts. Indictments shall conclude, Against the peace 
 and dignity of the commonwealth. 
 
 COUNTY COURTS. 
 
 25. There shall be in each county of the commonwealth 
 a county court, which shall be held monthly, by not less 
 than three nor more than five justices, except when the 
 law shall require the presence of a greater number. 
 
 26. The jurisdiction of the said court shall be the same 
 as that of the existing county courts, except so far as it 
 is modified by this constitution or may be changed by 
 law. 
 
 27. Each county shall be laid off into districts, as 
 nearly equal as may be in territory and population. In 
 each district there shall be elected, by the voters thereof, 
 four justices of the peace, who shall be commissioned by 
 the governor, reside in their respective districts, and hold 
 their office for the term of four years. The justices so 
 elected shall choose one of their own body, who shall*" be 
 the presiding justice of the county court, and whose duty 
 it shall be to attend each term of said court. The other 
 justices shall be classified by law for the performance of 
 their duties in court. 
 
 28. The justices shall receive for their services in court 
 a per diem compensation, to be ascertained by law, and 
 
168 CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 paid out of the county treasury- and shall not receive any 
 fee or emolument for other judicial services. 
 
 29. The power and jurisdiction of justices of the peace 
 within their respective counties shall be prescribed by law. 
 
 COUNTY OFFICERS. 
 
 30. The voters of each county shall elect a clerk of the 
 county court, a surveyor, an attorney for the common 
 wealth, a sheriff, and so many commissioners of the revenue 
 as may be authorized by law, who shall hold their re 
 spective offices as follows: The clerk and the surveyor, 
 for the term of six years; the attorney, for the term of 
 four years; the sheriff and the commissioners, for the 
 term of two years. Constables, and overseers of the 
 
 rr, shall be elected by the voters as may be prescribed 
 law. 
 
 31. The officers mentioned in the preceding section, 
 except the attorneys, shall reside in the counties or dis 
 tricts for which they were respectively elected. No person 
 elected for two successive terms to the office of sheriff 
 shall be re-eligible to the same office for the next succeed 
 ing term; nor shall he, during his term of service, or 
 within one year thereafter, be eligible to any political 
 office. 
 
 32. The justices of the peace, sheriffs, attorneys for 
 the commonwealth, clerks of the circuit and county courts, 
 and all other county officers, shall be subject to indictment 
 for malfeasance, misfeasance, or neglect of official duty, 
 and, upon conviction thereof, their offices shall become 
 vacant. 
 
 CORPORATION COURTS AND OFFICERS. 
 
 33. The general assembly may vest such jurisdiction 
 as shall be deemed necessary in corporation courts, and 
 in the magistrates who may belong to the corporate 
 body. 
 
 34. All officers appertaining to the cities and other 
 municipal corporations shall be" elected by the qualified 
 voters, or appointed by the constituted authorities of such 
 cities or corporations as may be prescribed by law. 
 
CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 169 
 
 Done in convention, in the city of Richmond, on the 
 first day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty-one, and in the seventy-sixth year 
 of the commonwealth of Virginia. 
 
 JOHN Y. MASON, President of the Convention. 
 
 S. D. WHITTLE Secretary of the Convention. 
 
 SCHEDULE. 
 
 1. It shall be the duty of the president of this conven 
 tion, immediately on its adjournment, to certify to the 
 governor a copy of the bill of rights and constitution 
 adopted, together with this schedule. 
 
 2. Upon the receipt of such certified copy, the governor 
 shall, forthwith, announce the fact by proclamation, to be 
 published in such newspapers of the state as may be 
 deemed requisite for general information ; and shall annex 
 to his. proclamation a copy of the bill of rights and con 
 stitution, together with this schedule : which proclamation, 
 bill of rights, constitution, and schedule, shall be published 
 in the manner indicated for the period of one month; and 
 ten printed copies thereof shall, by the secretary of the 
 commonwealth, be immediately transmitted, by mail, to 
 the clerk of each county and corporation court in this 
 commonwealth, to be by such clerk submitted to the exa 
 mination of any person desiring the same. 
 
 3. The officers authorized by existing laws to conduct 
 general elections shall, at the places appointed for holding 
 the same, open a poll book on the fourth Thursday in 
 October next, to be headed, "The Constitution as 
 amended, and Schedule," and to contain two separate 
 columns ; the first column to be headed " For Ratifying;" 
 the other to be headed, " For Rejecting." And such 
 oflicers, keeping said polls open for the space of three days, 
 shall then and there receive, and record in said poll book, 
 the votes for and against this constitution and schedule, 
 of all persons qualified, under the existing or amended 
 constitution, to exercise the right of suffrage. 
 
 4. The taking of the polls, the duties to be performed 
 by the officers, the privilege of the voters, and the penalties 
 attaching for misconduct on the part of any person, shall 
 
170 CONSTITUTION OP VIRGINIA. 
 
 Ibe, in all things, as prescribed by the second, third, fourth, 
 seventh, eighth, and ninth sections of the act of the general 
 assembly, passed March the fourth, one thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty, entitled, "An act to take the sense of 
 the people upon the call of a convention, and providing 
 for organizing the same," so far as the provisions of said 
 section may be applicable. 
 
 5. It shall be the duty of the governor, upon receiving 
 the returns of said officers, to ascertain the result thereof, 
 and forthwith to declare the same by his proclamation, 
 stating the aggregate vote in the state for and against the 
 ratification of the amended constitution and schedule, 
 which shall be published at least once a week until the 
 second Monday in December next, in such newspapers as, 
 in his opinion, will be best calculated to diffuse general 
 information thereof: and if it appear that a majority of 
 the votes cast is in favor of ratification, the governor, at 
 the same time, and in like manner, shall make proclama 
 tion for holding, on the day last mentioned, a general 
 election throughout the state for delegates and senators to 
 the general assembly, according to the apportionment and 
 districts prescribed in this constitution; and also for the 
 election of a governor, lieutenant-governor, and attorney- 
 general. 
 
 6. The officers authorized by existing laws to hold and 
 conduct general elections shall hold and conduct the 
 elections herein required, and such officers and all other 
 persons shall be governed and controlled therein by the 
 provisions of said laws, so far as the same may be appli 
 cable to, and necessary for, the proper conducting of the 
 said elections. Duplicate polls shall be separately kept 
 for governor and lieutenant-governor, for attorney-general, 
 and for senators and delegates to the general assembly, 
 which shall be verified by the oaths of the officers con 
 ducting the elections. 
 
 7. The verified duplicate polls for governor, lieutenant- 
 governor, and attorney-general, shall be deposited with the 
 clerks of the several counties and cities, who shall retain 
 one in their respective offices, and transmit the other, by 
 mail, to the secretary of the commonwealth. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA. 171 
 
 8. In the election of senators and delegates for districts 
 formed of more than one county and city, the officers 
 conducting the same, at the court-houses of the several 
 counties and cities forming each district, shall assemble 
 on the eighth day after the commencement of the said 
 election at the court-house of the county or city first 
 named as one of the counties of the district, shall com 
 pare the polls and ascertain the result, and shall deliver 
 and return certificates of election according to the laws 
 now in force. 
 
 9. The members of the general assembly so elected shall 
 meet at the capitol, in the city of Richmond, on the second 
 Monday in January, in the year one thousand eight hun 
 dred and fifty-two, and then and there organize as the 
 general assembly of Virginia; but before such organization 
 they shall respectively take the oath of fidelity to the 
 commonwealth, and the other oaths of office required by 
 the laws now in force. 
 
 10. The election of members of the general assembly 
 under this constitution shall vacate the seats of those 
 elected under the present constitution 
 
 11. The official term of the delegates first elected to the 
 general assembly under this constitution shall expire on 
 the thirtieth day of June, in the year one thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty-three. 
 
 12. The official term of the first governor, lieutenant- 
 governor, and attorney-general elected under this consti 
 tution, shall expire on the thirty-first day of December, 
 in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five. 
 
 13. The present judges of the supreme court of appeals 
 and of the circuit courts, and their successors, who may 
 be appointed under the existing constitution, shall remain 
 in office until such time as the law may prescribe for the 
 commencement of the official terms of the judges under 
 the amended constitution, and no longer : which time shall 
 not be more than six months after the termination of the 
 first session of the general assembly under the amended 
 constitution. 
 
 14. The executive department of the government shall 
 remain as at present organized; and the governor and 
 
172 CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 councillors of state, and their successors appointed under 
 the existing constitution, shall continue in office until a 
 governor elected under this constitution shall be qualified; 
 and all other persons in office when this constitution is 
 adopted, except as is herein otherwise expressly directed, 
 shall continue in office until their successors are quali 
 fied : and vacancies in office, happening before such quali 
 fication, shall be filled in the manner now prescribed by 
 law. 
 
 15. All the courts of justice now existing shall contine 
 with their present jurisdiction until and except so far as 
 the judicial system may or shall be otherwise organized; 
 and all laws in force when this constitution is adopted, 
 and not inconsistent therewith, and all rights, prosecutions, 
 actions, claims, and contracts, shall remain and continue as 
 if this constitution was not adopted. 
 
 16. The general assembly shall pass all laws neces 
 sary for carrying this constitution into full effect and 
 operation. 
 
 Done in convention, in the city of Richmond, on the 
 first day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty-one, and in the seventy-sixth year 
 of the commonwealth of Virginia. 
 
 JOHN Y. MASON, President of the Convention. 
 
 S. D. WHITTLE, Secretary of the Convention. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA 
 
 ARTICLE 1. 
 
 SEC. 1. The legislative authority of this state shall be vest 
 ed in a general assembly, which shall consist of a Senate 
 and House of Representatives. 
 
 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
 members chosen by ballot, every second year, by the 
 citizens of this State, qualified as in this Constitution is 
 provided. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CA.ROLINA, 
 
 173 
 
 3. The several election districts in this State shall elect 
 the following number of representatives, viz.: 
 
 Charleston, including St. Philip and St. Michael, fifteen 
 members; Christ Church, three members; St. John, 
 Berkely, three members ; St. Andrew, three members ; 
 St. George, Dorchester, three members ; St. James, 
 Goose Creek, three members ; St. Thomas and St. Den 
 nis, three members ; St. Paul, three members ; St. Bar 
 tholomew, three members ; St. James, Santee, three 
 members ; St. John, Colleton, three members ; St. Ste 
 phen, three members ; St. Helena, three members ; St. 
 Luke, three members ; Prince William, three members ; 
 St. Peter, three members; All Saints, (including its ancient 
 boundaries,) one member . Winyaw, (not including any 
 part of All Saints,) three members : Kingston, (not inclu 
 ding any part of All Saints,) two members ; Williamsburgh, 
 two members ; Liberty, two members ; Marlborough, 
 two members ; Chesterfield, two members ; Darlington, 
 two members ; York, three members ; Chester, two 
 members ; Fairfield, two members ; Richland, two mem 
 bers ; Lancaster, two members ; Kershaw, two members; 
 Claremont, two members ; Clarendon, two members ; 
 Abbeville, three members; Edgefield, three members ; 
 Newberry, (including the fork between Broad and Salu- 
 da rivers,) three members ; Laurens, three members ; 
 Union, two members ; Spartan, two members ; Green 
 ville, two members ; Pendleton, three members ; St. 
 Matthew, two members ; Orange, two members ; .Win- 
 ton, (including the district between Savannah river, and 
 ihe north fork of Edisto, three members ; Saxe Gotha, 
 three members. 
 
 4. Every free white man, of the age of twenty-one 
 years, being a citizen of this State, and having resided 
 therein two years previous to the day of election, and 
 who hath a freehold of fifty acres of land, or a town lot, 
 of which he hath been legally seized and possessed, at 
 least six months before such election, or, not having such 
 freehold or town lot, hath been a resident in the election 
 district, in which he offers to give his vote, six months 
 
174 CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 before the said election, and hath paid a tax the preceding 
 year of three shillings sterling towards the support of this 
 government, shall have a right to vote for a member or 
 members, to serve in either branch of the legislature, 
 for the election district in which he holds such property, 
 or is so resident. 
 
 5. The returning officer, or any other person present, 
 entitled to vote, may require any person who shall offer 
 his vote at an election, to produce a certificate of his citi 
 zenship 1 , and a receipt from the tax collector of his having 
 paid a tax, entitling him to vote, or to swear, or affirm, 
 that he is duly qualified to vote agreeably to this Con 
 stitution. 
 
 6. No person shall be eligible to a seat in the House 
 of Representatives, unless he is a free white man, of the 
 age of twenty-one years, and hath been a citizen and 
 resident in this State three years previous to his election. 
 If a resident in the election district, he shall not be eli 
 gible to a seat in the House of Representatives, unless 
 he be legally seized and possessed, in his own right, of 
 a settled freehold estate of five hundred acres of land, and 
 ten negroes ; or of a real estate, of the value of one hun 
 dred and fifty pounds sterling, clear of debt. If a non 
 resident, he shall be legally seized and possessed of a 
 settled freehold estate therein, of the value of five hun 
 dred pounds sterling, clear of debt. 
 
 7. The Senate shall be composed of members to be 
 chosen for four years, in the following proportions, by 
 the citizens of this State, qualified to elect members to 
 the House of Representatives, at the same time, in the 
 same manner, and at the same places, where they shall 
 vote for representatives, viz.: 
 
 Charleston, (including St. Philip and St. Michael,) 
 two members; Christ church, one member; St. John, 
 Berkeley, one member; St. Andrew, one member; St. 
 George, one member; St. James, Goose Creek, one 
 member; St. Thomas and St. Dennis, one member; St. 
 Paul, one member; St. Bartholomew, one member; St 
 Tames, Santee, one member ; St. John, Colleton, one 
 oiember ; St. Stephens, one member ; St. Helena, one 
 
CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 175 
 
 member, St. Luke, one member; Prince William, one 
 member; St. Peter, one member; All Saints, one mem 
 ber; Winya .v and Williamsburgh, one member; Liberty 
 and Kingston one member; Marlborough, Chesterfield, 
 and Darlington, two members ; York, one member ; Fair- 
 field, Richland and Chester, one member; Lancaster and 
 Kershaw, one member ; Claremont and Clarendon, one 
 member; Abbeville, one "member; Edgefield, one mem 
 ber ; Nevvbury, (including the fork between Broad and 
 Saluda rivers,) one member ; Laurens, one member ; 
 Union, one member ; Spartan, one member; Greenville, 
 one member; Pendleton, one member; St. Matthew and 
 Orange, one member ; Winton, (including the district be 
 tween Savannah river and the north fork of Edisto,) one 
 member ; Saxe Gotha, one member. 
 
 8. No person shall be eligible to a seat in the Senate, 
 unless he is a free white man, of the age of thirty years, 
 and hath been a citizen and resident in this State for five 
 years previous to his election. If a resident in the elec 
 tion district, he shall not be eligible unless he be legally 
 seized and possessed, in his own right, of a settled free 
 hold estate of the value of three hundred pounds sterling, 
 clear of debt. If a non-resident in the election district, 
 he shall not be eligible unless he be legally seized and 
 possessed, in his own right, of a settled freehold estate, 
 in the said district, of the value of one thousand pounds 
 sterling, clear of debt. 
 
 9. Immediately after the senators shall be assembled, 
 in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided 
 by lot into two classes. The seats of the senators of the 
 first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second 
 year, and of the second class, at the end of the fourth 
 year ; so that one-half thereof, as near as possible, may 
 be chosen, for ever thereafter, every second year, for the 
 term of four years. 
 
 10. Senators and members of the House of Represen 
 tatives, shall be chosen on the second Monday in Octo 
 ber next, and the day following : and on the same days 
 in ever) T second year thereafter, in such manner, and at 
 -uch times, as are herein directed ; and shall meet on the 
 
176 CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 fourth Monday in November annually, at Columbia, 
 (which shall remain the seat of government until other 
 wise determined, by the concurrence of two-thirds ol 
 both branches of the whole representation.) unless the 
 casualties of war, or contagious disorders should render 
 it unsafe to. meet there ; in either of which cases, the 
 Governor or cornmander-in-chief for the time being, may, 
 by proclamation, appoint a more secure and convenient 
 place of meeting. 
 
 11. Each House shall judge of the elections, returns, 
 and qualifications of its own members ; and a majority of 
 each House shall constitute a quorum to do business : but 
 a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may 
 be authorized to compel the attendance of absent mem 
 bers, in such manner and under such penalties as may be 
 provided by law. 
 
 12. Each House shall choose by ballot its own officers, 
 determine its rules .of proceedings, punish its members 
 for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two- 
 thirds, expel a member, but not a second time for the 
 same cause. 
 
 13. Each House may punish, by imprisonment, during 
 sitting, any person, not a member, who shall be guilty of 
 disrespect to the House, by any disorderly or contemptu 
 ous behavior in its presence or who, during the time of 
 its sitting, shall threaten harm to body or estate of any 
 member, for any thing said or done in either House; or 
 who shall assault any of them therefor ; or who shall as 
 sault or arrest any witness or other person ordered to at 
 tend the House, in his going to or returning therefrom ; 
 or who shall rescue any person arrested by order of the 
 House. 
 
 14. The members of both Houses shall be protected in 
 their persons and estates, during their attendance on, go 
 ing to, and returning from the legislature, and ten days 
 previous to their sitting, and ten days after the adjourn 
 ment of the legislature. But these privileges shall not be 
 extended so as to protect any member who shall be 
 charged with treason, felony, or breach of the peace. 
 
 15. Bills for raising a revenue shall originate in the 
 
CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 177 
 
 House of Representatives, but may be altered, amended 
 or rejected by the Senate. 
 
 All other bills may originate in either House, and may 
 be amended, altered, or rejected by the other. 
 
 16. No bill or ordinance shall have the force of law, 
 until it shall have been read three times, and on three se 
 veral days, in each House, has had the great seal affixed 
 to it, and has been signed, in the Senate-House, by the 
 President of the Senate and Speakerof the House of Repre 
 sentatives. 
 
 17. No money shall be drawn out of the public trea 
 sury, but by the legislative authority of the State. 
 
 18. The members of the legislature, who shall assem 
 ble under this Constitution, shall be entitled to receive 
 out of the public treasury, as a compensation for their ex 
 penses, a sum not exceeding seven shillings sterling a 
 day, during their attendance on, going to, and returning 
 from the legislature : but the same may be increased or 
 diminished by law, if circumstances shall require ; but 
 no alterations shall be made by any legislature, to take 
 effect during the existence of the legislature which shall 
 make such alteration. 
 
 19. Neither House shall, during their session, 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. 
 
 20. No bill or ordinance, which shall have been reject 
 ed by either House shall be brought in again during the 
 sitting, without leave of the House, and notice of six days 
 being previously given. 
 
 2 1 . No person shall be eligible to a seat in the legislature 
 whilst he holds any office of profit or trust under this 
 State, the United States, or either of them, or under any 
 other power except officers in the militia, army, or 
 navy of this State, justices of the peace, or justices of the 
 county courts, while they receive no salaries ; nor shall 
 any contractor of the army or navy of this State, the 
 United States, or either of them, or the agents of such 
 contractor be eligible to a seat in either House. And if 
 any member shall accept or exercise any of said disquali 
 fymg officers, he shall vacate his seat. 
 
178 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 22. If any election district shall neglect to choose a 
 member or members, on the days of election, or if any 
 person chosen a member of either House shall refuse to 
 qualify and take his seat, or should die, depart the State, 
 or accept any disqualifying office, a writ of election shall 
 be issued by the President of the Senate, or Speaker of 
 the House of Representatives, as the case may be, for the 
 purpose of filling up the vacancy thereby occasioned, for 
 the remainder of the term for which the person so refusing 
 to qualify, dying, departing the State, or accepting a dis 
 qualifying office, was elected to serve. 
 
 23. And whereas the ministers of the gospel are, by 
 their profession, dedicated to the service of God, and the 
 care of souls, and ought not to be diverted from the great 
 duty of their functions : therefore, no minister of the gos 
 pel, or public preacher, of any religious persuasion, whilst 
 he continues in the exercise of his pastoral functions, shall 
 be eligible to the office of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, 
 or a seat in the Senate or House of Representatives. 
 
 ARTICLE 2. 
 
 SEC. 1. The executive authority of this state shall be in 
 vested in a Governor, to be chosen in manner following : as 
 soon as may be, after the first meeting of the Senate and 
 House of Representatives and at every first meeting of the 
 House of Representatives thereafter, when a majority of 
 both Houses shall be present, the Senate and House 
 of Representatives, shall, jointly, in the House of Repre 
 sentatives, choose, by ballot, a Governor, to continue for 
 two years, and until a new election shall be made. 
 
 2. No person shall be eligibly to the office of Governor, 
 unless he hath attained the age of thirty years, and hath 
 resided within this State, and been a citizen thereof, ten 
 years, and unless he be seized and possessed of a settled 
 estate within the same, in his own right, of the value of 
 fifteen hundred pounds sterling, clear of debt. 
 
 No person, having served two years as Governor, shall 
 be re-eligible to that office, till after the expiration of foui 
 years. 
 
 No person shall hold the office of Governor, or any 
 other office or commission, civil or military, except in the 
 
CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 179 
 
 militia, either in this State, or under any State, or thfl 
 United States, or in any other power, at one and the 
 same time. 
 
 3. A Lieu tenant-Governor shall be chosen at the ^ame 
 time, in the same manner, continue in office for the &ame 
 period, and be possessed of the same qualifications as the 
 Governor. 
 
 4. A member of the Senate or House of Representa 
 tives, being chosen, and acting as Governor or Lieutenant- 
 Governor, shall vacate his seat, and another person shall 
 be elected in his stead. 
 
 5. In case of the impeachment of the Governor, or his 
 removal from office, death, resignation, or absence from 
 the State, the Lieutenant-Governor shall succeed to his 
 office. And in case of the impeachment of the Lieute 
 nant-Governor, or his removal from office, death, resigna 
 tion, or absence from the State, the President of the Senate 
 shall succeed to his office, till a nomination to those offices 
 respectively shall be made by the Senate and House of 
 Representatives, for the remainder of the time for which 
 the officer so impeached, removed from office, dying, re 
 signing, or being absent, was elected. 
 
 6. The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the 
 army and navy of this State, and of the militia, except 
 when they shall be called into the actual service of the 
 United States. 
 
 7. He shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons, 
 after conviction, except in cases of impeachment, in such 
 manner, on such terms, and under restrictions, as he 
 shall think proper, and he shall have power to remil 
 fines and forfeitures, unless otherwise directed by 
 law. 
 
 8. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully exe 
 cuted in mercy. 
 
 9. He shall have power to prohibit the exportation of 
 provision, for any time not exceeding thirty days. 
 
 10. He shall at stated times, receive for his services a 
 compensation, wh ich shall neither be increased or di 
 minished during the period for which he shall have been 
 iiected. 
 
180 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 11. All officers in the executive department, when re 
 quired by the Governor, shall give him information, in 
 writing, upon any subject relating to the duties of their 
 respective offices. 
 
 12. The Governor shall from time to time, give to the 
 general Assembly information of the condition of the 
 State, and recommend to their consideration such mea 
 sures as he shall judge necessary or expedient. 
 
 13. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the 
 general Assembly, and, in case of disagreement between 
 the two Houses with respect to the time of adjournment, 
 adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper, not 
 beyond the fourth Monday in the month of November 
 then ensuing. 
 
 ARTICLE 3. 
 
 SEC. 1. The judicial power shall be vested in such su 
 perior and inferior courts of law and equity, as the legis 
 lature shall, from time to time, direct and establish. 
 
 The judges of each shall hold their commissions du 
 ring good behavior; and judges of the superior courts 
 shall, at stated times, receive a compensation for their 
 services, which shall neither be increased or diminished 
 during their continuance in office: but they shall receive 
 no fees or perquisites of office, nor hold any other office 
 of profit or trust, under this State, the United States, or 
 any other power. 
 
 2. The style of all processes shall be, lf the State of 
 South Carolina." All prosecutions shall be carried on in 
 the name and by the authority of the State of South Car 
 olina, and conclude "against the peace and dignity of 
 the same." 
 
 ARTICLE 4. 
 
 All persons who shall be chosen or appointed to any 
 office of profit or trust, before entering on the execution 
 thereof, shall take the following oath: " I do swear (or 
 affirm) that I am duly qualified, according to the Consti 
 tution of this State, to exercise the office to which I have 
 been appointed, and will, to the beat of my abilities, dis- 
 
CONSTITUTIOX OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 181 
 
 charge the duties thereof, and preserve, protect, and de 
 fend the Constitution of this State, and of the United 
 States." 
 
 ARTICLE 5. 
 
 SEC 1. That the House of Representatives shall ha Tr e 
 the sole power of impeaching ; but no impeachment shall 
 be made, unless with the concurrence of two-thirds of 
 the House of Representatives. 
 
 2. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate. 
 When sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be on 
 oath or affirmation : and no person shall be convicted 
 without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members 
 present. 
 
 3. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and all the 
 civil officers, shall be liable to impeachment for any mis 
 demeanor in office ; but judgment in such cases shall not 
 extend further than to a removal from office, and dis 
 qualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit, 
 under this State. The party convicted shall, neverthe 
 less, be liable to indictment, trial, judgment, and punish 
 ment, according to law. 
 
 ARTICLE 6. 
 
 SEC. 1. The judges of the superior courts, the com 
 missioners of the treasury, secretary of the State, and sur 
 veyor-general, shall be elected by the joint ballot of both 
 Houses, in the House of Representatives. The commis 
 sioners of the treasury, secretary of this State, and sur 
 veyor-general, shall hold their offices for four years : but 
 shall not be eligible again for four years after the expira 
 tion of the time for which they shall have been elected. 
 
 2. All other officers shall be appointed as they hither 
 to have been, until otherwise directed by law ; but she 
 riffs shall hold their offices for four years, and not be 
 again eligible for four years after the tewn for which they 
 shall have been elected. 
 
 3. All commissions shall be in the name and by the au 
 thority of the State of South Carolina, and be sealed with 
 the seal of the State, and be signed by the Governor. 
 
182 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 ARTICLE 7. 
 
 All laws in force in this State at the passing of this 
 Constitution, shall so continue until altered or repealed 
 by the legislature : except where they are temporary, in 
 which case they shall expire at times respectively limited 
 for their duration, if not continued by -act of the legisla 
 ture. 
 
 ARTICLE 8. 
 
 SEC. 1. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious 
 profession and worship, without discrimination or pre 
 ference, shall, for ever hereafter, be allowed within this 
 State to all mankind : Provided, that the liberty of con 
 science thereby declared, shall not be so construed as to 
 excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsis 
 tent with the peace or safety of this State. 
 
 2. The rights, privileges, immunities, and estates of 
 both civil and religious societies and of corporated bodies, 
 shall remain as if the Constitution of this State had not 
 been altered or amended. 
 
 ARTICLE 9. 
 
 SEC. 1. All power is originally vested in the people , 
 and all free governments are founded on their authority, 
 and are instituted for their peace, safety," and happiness. 
 
 2. No freeman of this State shall be taken, or impri 
 soned, or disseized of his freehold, liberties, or privileges, 
 or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, or 
 deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the 
 judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land: nor 
 shall any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law im 
 pairing the obligation of contracts, ever be passed by the 
 legislature of this State. 
 
 3. The military shall be subordinate to the civil power. 
 
 4. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive 
 fines imposed, nor cruel punishments inflicted. 
 
 5. The legislature shall not grant any title of nobility 
 or hereditary distinction, nor create any office, the ap 
 pointment to which shall be for any longer time than du 
 ring good behavior. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 183 
 
 6. The trial by jury, as heretofore used in this State, 
 and the liberty of the press, shall be for ever inviolably 
 preserved. 
 
 ARTICLE 10. 
 
 SEC. 1. The business of the treasury shall be in future 
 conducted by two treasurers, one of whom shall hold his 
 office and reside in Columbia ; and the other shall hold 
 his office and reside in Charleston. 
 
 2. The secretary of state and surveyor-general shall 
 hold their offices both in Columbia and in Charleston. 
 They shall reside at one place, and their deputies at the 
 other. 
 
 3. At the conclusion of the circuits, the judges shall 
 meet and sit at Columbia, for the purpose of hearing and 
 determining all motions which may be made for new 
 trials, and in arrest of judgments, and such points of law 
 as may be submitted to them. From Columbia they shall 
 proceed to Charleston, and there hear and determine all 
 such motions for new trials, and in arrest of judgment, 
 and such points of law as may be submitted to them. 
 
 4. The Governor shall always preside, during the sit 
 ting of the legislature, at the place where their sessions 
 may be held, and at all other times, wherever, in his 
 opinion, the public good may require. 
 
 5. The legislature shall, as soon as may be convenient, 
 pass laws for the abolition of the rights of primogenitures, 
 and for giving an equitable distribution of the real estate 
 of intestates. 
 
 ARTICLE 11. 
 
 No Convention of the people shall be called, unless by 
 the concurrence of two-thirds of both branches of the 
 whole representation. 
 
 No part of this Constitution shall be altered, unless a bill 
 to alter the same shall have been read three times in the 
 House of Representatives, and three times in the Senate, 
 and agreed to by two-thirds of both branches of the whole 
 representation ; neither shall any alteration take place until 
 the bill so agreed to be published three months previous 
 to a new election for members to the House of Repre 
 
184 CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 aentatives ; and if the alteration proposed by the legisla 
 ture shall be agreed to in their first session by two-thirds 
 of the whole representation in both branches of the legis 
 lature, after the same shall have been read three times, 
 on three several days in each House, then, and not other 
 wise, the same shall become a part of the Constitution. 
 Done in Convention, at Columbia, in the State oi 
 South Carolina, the third day of June, in the year 
 of our Lord 1790, and in the fourteenth year of the 
 Independence of the United States of America. 
 
 By the unanimous order of the Convention, 
 
 CHARLES PINCKNEY, President. 
 
 AMENDMENTS. 
 AMENDMENTS RATIFIED DECEMBER 17, 1808* 
 
 The following sections, in amendment of the third, 
 seventh, and ninth sections of the first article of the Con 
 stitution of this State, shall be, and they are hereby de 
 clared to be, valid parts of the said Constitution ; and the 
 said third, seventh, and ninth sections, or such parts 
 thereof as are repugnant to such amendments, are hereby 
 repealed and made void. 
 
 The House of Representatives shall consist of one hun 
 dred and twenty-four members, to be apportioned among 
 the several election districts of the State, according to the 
 number of white inhabitants contained, and the amount 
 of all taxes raised by the legislature, whether direct or in 
 direct, or of whatever species, paid in each, deducting 
 therefrom all taxes paid on account of property held in 
 any other district, and adding thereto all taxes elsewhere 
 paid on account of property held in such district. An 
 enumeration of the white inhabitants, for this purpose, 
 shall be made in the year one thousand eight hun 
 dred and nine, and in the course of every tenth year 
 thereafter, in such manner as shall be by law directed 
 
CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 185 
 
 and representatives shall be assigned to the different dis- 
 *ricts in the above-mentioned proportion, by act of the 
 legislature, at the session immediately succeeding the 
 above enumeration. 
 
 if the enumeration herein directed should not be made 
 in the course of the year appointed for the purpose by 
 these amendments, it shall be the duly of the (Governor 
 to have ii effected as soon thereafter as shall be practica 
 ble. 
 
 In asHgning representatives to the several districts of 
 the State, the legislature shall allow onereprf sentative for 
 eveiy sixty-second part of the whole number of white in 
 habitants in the State ; and one representative also for 
 every sixty-second part of the whole taxes raised by the 
 legislature of the JStatCi The legislature shall further 
 allow one representative for such fractions of the sixty- 
 second purl of the white inhabitants of the Slate, anil of 
 the sixty-second part of the taxes raised by the legi^.t- 
 ture of the State, as, when added together, form a unit. 
 
 In every apportionment of representation under these 
 amendments, which shall take place after the first appor 
 tionment, the amount of taxes shall be estimated from the 
 average of the ten preceding years ; but the first appor 
 tionment shall be founded upon the tnx of the preceding 
 year, excluding from the amount thereof the whole pro 
 duce of the tax on sales at public auction. 
 
 If, in the apportionment of representatives under these 
 amendments, any election district shall appear not to be 
 entitled, from its population and its taxes, to a represen 
 tative, such election district shall, nevertheless, send one 
 representative ; and, if there should still be a deficiency 
 of the number of representatives required by these amend 
 ments, such deficiency shall be supplied by assigning re 
 presentatives to those election districts having the largest 
 surplus fractions ; whether those fractions consist of a 
 combination of population and of taxes, or of population 
 or of taxes separately, until the number of one hundred 
 and twenty-four members be provided. 
 
 No apportionment, under these amendments shall be 
 construed to take effect, in any manner, antil the gene 
 ral election which shall succeed such apportionment. 
 
186 CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 The election districts, for members of the House of 
 Representatives, shall be and remain as heretofore esta 
 blished, except Saxe Gotha and Newberry ; in which the 
 boundaries shall be altered, as follows, viz. : That part 
 of Lexington in the fork of Broad and Saluda rivers shall 
 no longer compose a part of the election district of New- 
 berry, but shall be henceforth attached to, and form a par* 
 of, Sixe Gotha. And, also, except Orange and Barn- 
 well, or Winton, in which the boundaries shall be alter 
 ed, as follows, viz.: That part of Orange in the fork of 
 Edisto shall no longer compose a part of the election dis 
 trict of Barnwell, or Winton, but shall be henceforth at 
 tached to, and form a part of, Orange election district. 
 
 The Senate shall be composed of one member from 
 each election district, as now established for the election 
 of members of the House of Representatives, except the 
 district formed by the parishes of St. Philip and St. Mi 
 chael, to which shall be allowed two senators as hereto 
 fore. 
 
 The seats of those senators who under the Constitu 
 tion shall represent two or more election districts, on the 
 day preceding the second Monday of October, which will 
 be in the year one thousand eight hundred and ten, shall 
 be vacated on that day, and the new senators who shall 
 represent such districts under these amendments, shall, 
 immediately after they shall have been assembled under 
 the first election, be divided by lots into two classes ; the 
 seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at 
 the expiration of the second year, and of the second class, 
 at the expiration of the fourth year ; and the number in 
 these classes shall be so proportioned, that one-half of the 
 whole number of senators may, as nearly as possible, 
 continue to be chosen thereafter every second year. 
 
 None of these amendments becoming parts of the Con 
 stitution of this State shall be altered, unless a bill to alter 
 the same shall have been read on three several days in 
 the House of Representatives, and on three several days 
 in the Senate, and agreed to at the second and third read 
 ing by two-thirds of the whole representation in each 
 branch of the legislature ; neither shall any alteration take 
 place, until the bill so agreed to be published three months 
 
CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 187 
 
 previous to a new election for members to the House of 
 Representatives ; and if the alteration proposed by the 
 legislature shall be agreed to in their first session, by two- 
 thirds of the whole representation, in each branch of the 
 legislature, after the same shall have been read on three 
 several days in each House, then, and not otherwise, the 
 same shall become a part of the Constitution. 
 
 AMENDMENT RATIFIED DECEMBER 19, 1816. 
 
 That the third section of the tenth article of the Con 
 stitution of this State be altered and amended to read as 
 follows : The judges shall, at such times and places as 
 shall be prescribed by act of the legislature of this State, 
 meet and sit for the purpose of hearing and determining 
 all motions which may be made for new trials, and in ar 
 rest of judgment, and such points of law as may be sub 
 mitted to them. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 WE, the people of the state of Ohio, grateful to Al 
 mighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and 
 promote our common welfare, do establish this constitution. 
 
 ARTICLE 1. Bill of Rights. 
 
 1. All men are by nature free and independent, and 
 have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of 
 enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, pos 
 sessing, and protecting property, and seeking and obtaining 
 happiness and safety. 
 
 2. All political power is inherent in the people. Go 
 vernment is instituted for their equal protection and 
 benefit, and they have the right to alter, reform, or abolish 
 the same, whenever they may deem it necessary; and no 
 special privileges or immunities shall ever be granted that 
 
188 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 may not be altered, revoked, or repealed by the general 
 assembly. 
 
 3. The people have a right to assemble together in a 
 peaceable manner, to consult for their common good, to 
 instruct their representatives, and to petition the general 
 assembly for the redress of grievances. 
 
 4. The people have the right to bear arms for their 
 defence and security; but standing armies in time of peace 
 are dangerous to liberty, and shall not be kept up; and 
 the military shall be in strict subordination to the civil 
 power. 
 
 5. The right of trial by jury shall be inviolate. 
 
 6. There shall be no slavery in this state, nor involun 
 tary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime. 
 
 7. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to 
 worship Almighty Grod according to the dictates of their 
 own conscience. No person shall be compelled to attend, 
 erect, or support any place of worship, or maintain any 
 form of worship, against his consent; and no preference 
 shall be given by law to any religious society; nor shall 
 any interference with the rights of conscience be per 
 mitted. No religious test shall be required as a qualifica 
 tion for office, nor shall any person be incompetent to be 
 a witness on account of his religious belief; but nothing 
 herein shall be construed to dispense with oaths and affir 
 mations. Religion, morality, and knowledge, however, 
 being essential to good government, it shall be the duty 
 of the general assembly to pass suitable laws to protect 
 every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment 
 of its own mode of public worship, and to encourage 
 schools and the means of instruction. 
 
 8. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not 
 be suspended, unless in cases of rebellion or invasion, and 
 the public safety require it. 
 
 (1 >. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, 
 for c pital oil ences, where the proof is evident, or 
 the }>resu. option great. E.vee sive bail shall not be re 
 quire.! , nor excessive lines imposed; nor cruel and uu- 
 usuni punishments i:ii)icted. 
 
 in cases of impeachment, and cases arising 
 in tiu . , . iia -^ ; N} ; *. ! iu the militia when in actual 
 
CONSTITUTION OP OHIO. 189 
 
 service in time of war or public danger, and in cases of 
 petit larceny and other inferior offences, no person shall 
 be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous 
 crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a grand 
 jury. In any trial, in any court, the party accused shall 
 be allowed to appear and defend in person and with 
 counsel ; to demand the nature and cause of the accusa 
 tion against him, and to have a copy thereof; to meet the 
 witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process to 
 procure the attendance of witnesses in his* behalf, and a 
 speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or 
 district in which the offence is alleged to have been com 
 mitted ; nor shall any person be compelled, in any criminal 
 case, to be a witness against himself, or be twice put in 
 jeopardy for the same offence. 
 
 11. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish, 
 his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the 
 abuse of the right ; and no law shall be passed to restrain 
 or abridge the liberty of speech, or of the press. In all 
 criminal prosecutions for libel, the truth may be given in 
 evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury, 
 that the matter charged as libellous is true, and was pub 
 lished with good motives, and for justifiable ends, the 
 party shall be acquitted. 
 
 12. No person shall be transported out of the state, for 
 any offence committed within the same ; and no conviction 
 shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture of estate. 
 
 13. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in 
 any house, without the consent of the owner ; nor in time 
 of war, except in the manner prescribed by law. 
 
 14. The right of the people to be secure in their per 
 sons, houses, papers, and possessions, against unreasonable 
 searches and seizures, shall not be violated ; and no war 
 rant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by 
 oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be 
 searched, and the person and things to be seized. 
 
 15. No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any 
 civil action or mesne or final process, unless in cases 
 of fraud. 
 
 16. All courts shall be open, and every person, for an 
 injury done him in his land, goods, person, or reputation, 
 
 41* 
 
190 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 shall have remedy by due course of law; and justice ad 
 ministered without denial or delay. 
 
 17. No hereditary emolument s, honors, or privileges 
 shall ever be granted or conferred by this state. 
 
 18. No power of suspending laws shall ever be exercised, 
 except by the general assembly. 
 
 19. Private property shall ever be held inviolate, but 
 subservient to the public welfare. When taken in time 
 of war or other public exigency, imperatively requiring 
 its immediate seizure, or for the purpose of making or 
 repairing roads, which shall be open to the public without 
 charge, a compensation shall be made to the owner, in 
 money; and, in all other cases where private property 
 shall be taken for public use, a compensation therefor 
 shall be first made in money, or first secured by a deposit 
 of money ; and such compensation shall be assessed by a 
 jury, without deduction for benefits to any property of the 
 owner. 
 
 20. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed 
 to impair or deny others retained by the people ; and all 
 powers, not herein delegated, remain with the people. 
 
 ARTICLE 2. Legislative. 
 
 1. The legislative power of this state shall be vested 
 in a general assembly, which shall consist of a senate and 
 house of representatives. 
 
 2. Senators and representatives shall be elected bien 
 nially, by the electors in the respective counties or districts, 
 on the second Tuesday of October : their term of office 
 shall commence on the first day of January next there 
 after, and continue two years. 
 
 3. Senators and representatives shall have resided in 
 their respective counties, or districts, one year next pre 
 ceding their election, unless they shall have been absent 
 on the public business of the United States, or of this 
 state. 
 
 4. No person holding office under the authority of the 
 United States, or any lucrative office under the authority 
 of this state, shall be eligible to, or have a seat in, the 
 general assembly ; but this provision shall not extend to 
 
CONSTITUTION OP OHIO. 191 
 
 township officers, justices of the peace, notaries public, or 
 officers of the militia. 
 
 5. No person hereafter convicted of an embezzlement 
 of the public funds shall hold any office in this state ; 
 nor shall any person, holding public money for disburse 
 ment, or otherwise, have a seat in the general assembly, 
 until he shall have accounted for and paid such money 
 into the treasury. 
 
 6. Each house shall be judge of the election, returns, 
 and qualifications of its own members; a majority of all 
 the members elected to each house shall be a quorum to 
 do business; but a less number may adjourn from day to 
 day, and compel the attendance of absent members, in 
 such manner, and under such penalties, as shall be pre 
 scribed by law. 
 
 7. The mode of organizing the house of representatives, 
 at the commencement of each regular session, shall be 
 prescribed by law. 
 
 8. Each house, except as otherwise provided in this 
 constitution, shall choose its own officers, may determine 
 its own rules of proceeding, punish its members for dis 
 orderly conduct, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, 
 expel a member, but not the second time for the same 
 cause ; and shall have all other powers, necessary to pro 
 vide for its safety, and the undisturbed transaction of its 
 business. 
 
 9. Each house shall keep a correct journal of its pro 
 ceedings, which shall be published. At the desire of any 
 two members, the yeas and nays shall be entered upon the 
 journal ; and, on the passage of every bill, in either house, 
 the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and entered 
 upon the journal ; and no law shall be passed, in either 
 house, without the concurrence of a majority of all the 
 members elected thereto. 
 
 10. Any member of either house shall have the right 
 to protest against any act or resolution thereof; and such 
 protest, and the reasons therefor, shall, without alteration, 
 commitment, or delay, be entered upon the journal. 
 
 11. All vacancies which may happen in either house 
 shall, for the unexpired term, be filled by election, as shall 
 be directed by law. 
 
192 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 12. Senators and representatives, during the session of 
 the general assembly, and in going to and returning from 
 the same, shall be privileged from arrest, in all cases 
 except treason, felony, or breach of the peace j and for 
 any speech, or debate, in either house, they shall not be 
 questioned elsewhere. 
 
 13. The proceedings of both houses shall be public, 
 except in cases which, in the opinion of two-thirds of 
 those present, require secrecy. 
 
 14. Neither house shall, without the consent of the 
 other, adjourn for more than two days, Sundays excluded ; 
 nor to any other place than that in which the two houses 
 shall be in session. 
 
 15. Bills may originate in either house; but may be 
 altered, amended, or rejected in the other. 
 
 16. Every bill shall be fully and distinctly read, on 
 three different days, unless, in case of urgency, three- 
 fourths of the house, in which it shall be pending, shall 
 dispense with this rule. No bill shall contain more than 
 one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title; 
 and no law shall be revived, or amended, unless the new 
 act contain the entire act revived, or the section or sections 
 amended ; and the section or sections so amended shall 
 be repealed. 
 
 17. The presiding officer of each house shall sign, pub 
 licly, in the presence of the house over which he presides, 
 while the same is in session, and capable of transacting 
 business, all bills and joint resolutions passed by the 
 general assembly. 
 
 18. The style of the laws of this state shall be, u Be 
 it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of 
 Ohio." 
 
 19. No senator or representative shall, during the term 
 for which he shall have been elected, or for one year 
 thereafter, be appointed to any civil office under this state, 
 which shall be created, or the emoluments of which shall 
 have been increased, during the term for which he shall 
 have been elected. 
 
 20. The general assembly, in cases not provided for in 
 this constitution, shall fix the term of office and the com 
 pensation of all officers; but no change therein shall affect 
 
CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 193 
 
 the salary of any officer during his existing term, unless 
 the office be abolished. 
 
 21. The general assembly shall determine, by law, 
 before what authority, and in what manner, the trial of 
 contested elections shall be conducted. 
 
 22. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, except 
 in pursuance of a specific appropriation, made by law; 
 and no appropriation shall be made for a longer period 
 than two years. 
 
 23. The house of representatives shall have the sole 
 power of impeachment, but a majority of the members 
 elected must concur therein. Impeachments shall be tried 
 by the senate; and the senators, when sitting for that 
 purpose, shall be upon oath or affirmation to do justice 
 according to law and evidence. No person shall be con 
 victed without the concurrence of two-thirds of the 
 senators. 
 
 24. The governor, judges, and all state officers, may be 
 impeached for any misdemeanor in office; but judgment 
 shall not extend further than removal from office, and 
 disqualification to hold any office under the : authority of 
 this state. The party impeached, whether convicted or 
 not, shall be liable to indictment, trial, and judgment, 
 according to law. 
 
 25. All regular sessions of the general assembly shall 
 commence on the first Monday of January, biennially. 
 The first session, under this constitution, shall commence 
 on the first Monday of January, one thousand eight hun 
 dred and fifty-two. 
 
 26. All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform 
 operation throughout the state ; nor shall any act, except 
 such as relates to public schools, be passed, to take effect 
 upon the approval of any other authority than the gene 
 ral assembly, except as otherwise provided in this consti 
 tution. 
 
 27. The election and appointment of all officers, and 
 the filling of all vacancies, not otherwise provided for by 
 this constitution, or the constitution of the United States, 
 shall be made in such manner as may be directed by law; 
 but no appointing power shall be exercised by the general 
 assembly, except as prescribed in this constitution, and in 
 
194 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 the election of United States senators ; and in these cases 
 the vote shall be taken "viva voce." 
 
 28. The general assembly shall have no power to pass, 
 but may, by general laws, authorize courts to carry into 
 effect, upon such terms as shall be just and equitable, the 
 manifest intention of parties and officers, by curing omis 
 sions, defects, and errors, in instruments and proceedings, 
 arising out of their want of conformity with the laws of 
 this state. 
 
 29. No extra compensation shall be made to any officer, 
 public agent, or contractor, after the service shall have 
 been rendered, or the contract entered into; nor shall any 
 money be paid, on any claim, the subject-matter of which 
 shall not have been provided for by pre-existing law, unless 
 such compensation, or claim, be allowed by two-thirds of 
 the members elected to each branch of the general as 
 sembly. 
 
 30. No new county shall contain less than four hundred 
 square miles of territory, nor shall any county be reduced 
 below that amount; and all laws creating new counties, 
 changing county lines, or removing county seats, shall, 
 before taking effect, be submitted to the electors of the 
 several counties to be affected thereby, at the next general 
 election after the passage thereof, and be adopted by a 
 majority of all the electors voting at such election, in each 
 of said counties; but any county now or hereafter con 
 taining one hundred thousand inhabitants may be divided 
 whenever a majority of the voters, residing in each of the 
 proposed divisions, shall approve of the law passed for that 
 purpose; but no town or city within the same shall be 
 divided, nor shall either of the divisions contain less than 
 twenty thousand inhabitants. 
 
 81. The members and officers of the general assembly 
 shall receive a fixed compensation, to be prescribed by 
 law, and no other allowance or perquisites, either in the 
 payment of postage or otherwise; and no change in their 
 compensation shall take effect during their term of office. 
 
 82. The general assembly shall grant no divorce, 
 nor exercise any judicial power, not herein expressly 
 conferred. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 195 
 
 ARTICLE 3. Executive. 
 
 1. The executive department shall consist of a 
 governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, auditor, 
 treasurer, and an attorney-general, who shall be chosen by 
 the electors of the state, on the second Tuesday of October, 
 and at the places of voting for members of the general 
 assembly. 
 
 2. The governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, 
 treasurer, and attorney-general, shall hold their offices for 
 two years; and the auditor for four years. Their terms 
 of office shall commence on the second Monday of January 
 next after their election, and continue until their successors 
 are elected and qualified. 
 
 3. The returns of every election for the officers named 
 in the foregoing section shall be sealed up and transmitted 
 to the seat of government, by the returning officers, di 
 rected to the president of the senate, who, during the 
 first week of the session, shall open and publish them, 
 and declare the result, in the presence of a majority of 
 the members of each house of the general assembly. The 
 person having the highest number of votes shall be de 
 clared duly elected; but if any two or more shall be 
 highest and equal in votes for the same office, one of 
 them shall be chosen by the joint vote of both houses. 
 
 4. Should there be no session of the general assembly 
 in January next after an election for any of the officers 
 aforesaid, the returns of such election shall be made to 
 the secretary of state, and opened, and the result declared 
 by the governor, in such manner as may be provided by 
 law. 
 
 5. The supreme executive power of this state shall be 
 vested in the governor. 
 
 6. He may require information, in writing, from the 
 officers in the executive department, upon any subject re 
 lating to the duties of their respective offices; and shall 
 see that the laws are faithfully executed. 
 
 7. He shall communicate at every session, by message, 
 to the general assembly, the condition of the state, and 
 recommend such measures as he shall deem expedient. 
 
196 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 8. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the 
 general assembly by proclamation, and shall state to both 
 houses, when assembled, the purpose for which they have 
 been convened. 
 
 9. In case of disagreement between the two houses in 
 respect to the time of adjournment, he shall have power 
 to adjourn the general assembly to such time as he may 
 think proper, but not beyond the regular meetings thereof. 
 
 10. He shall be Commander-in-chief of the military 
 and naval forces of the state, except when they shall be 
 called into the service of the United States. 
 
 11. He shall have power, after conviction, to grant re 
 prieves, commutations, and pardons, for all crimes and 
 ofl ences, except treason and cases of impeachment, upon 
 such conditions as he may think proper; subject, however, 
 to such regulations, as to the manner of applying for par 
 dons, as may be prescribed by law. Upon conviction for 
 treason, he may suspend the execution of the sentence, 
 and report the case to the general assembly, at its next 
 meeting, when the general assembly shall either pardon, 
 commute the sentence, direct its execution, or grant a 
 further reprieve. He shall communicate to the general 
 assembly, at every regular session, each case of reprieve, 
 commutation, or pardon granted, stating the name and 
 crime of the convict, the sentence, its date, and the date 
 of the commutation, pardon, or reprieve, with his reasons 
 therefor. 
 
 12. There shall be a seal of the state, which shall be 
 kept by the governor, and used by him officially, and shall 
 be called "The Great Seal of the State of Ohio." 
 
 13. All grants and commissions shall be issued in the 
 name, and by the authority, of the state of Ohio; sealed 
 with the Great Seal ; signed by the governor, and counter 
 signed by the secretary of state. 
 
 14. No member of congress, or other person holding 
 office under the authority of this state or of the United 
 States, shall execute the office of governor, except as 
 herein provided. 
 
 15. In case of death, impeachment, resignation, re 
 moval, or other disability of the governor, the powers and 
 duties of the office, for the residue of the term, or until 
 
CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 197 
 
 he shall be acquitted, or the disability removed, shall de 
 volve upon the lieutenant-governor. 
 
 16. The lieutenant-governor shall be president of the 
 senate, but shall vote only when the senate is equally 
 divided; and in case of his absence, or impeachment, or 
 when he shall exercise the office of governor, the senate 
 shall choose a president pro tempore. 
 
 17. If the lieutenant-governor, while executing the 
 office of governor, shall be impeached, displaced, resign, 
 or die, or otherwise become incapable of performing the 
 duties of the office, the president of the senate shall act 
 as governor, until the vacancy is filled, or the disability 
 removed ; and if the president of the senate, for any of 
 the above causes, shall be rendered incapable of perform 
 ing the duties pertaining to the office of governor, tho 
 same shall devolve upon the speaker of the house of repre 
 sentatives. 
 
 18. Should the office of auditor, treasurer, secretary, 
 or attorney-general, become vacant for any of the causes 
 specified in the fifteenth section of this article, the governor 
 shall fill the vacancy until the disability is removed, or a 
 successor elected and qualified. Every such vacancy shall 
 be filled by election, at the first general election that 
 occurs more than thirty days after it shall have happened ; 
 and the person chosen shall hold the office for the full 
 term fixed in the second section of this article. 
 
 19. The officers mentioned in this article shall, at stated 
 times, receive for their services a compensation to be 
 established by law, which shall neither be increased nor 
 diminished during the period for which they shall have 
 been elected. 
 
 20. The officers of the executive department, and of 
 the public state institutions, shall, at least five days pre 
 ceding each regular session of the general assembly, 
 severally report to the governor, who shall transmit such 
 reports, with his message, to the general assembly. 
 
 ARTICLE 4. Judicial. 
 
 1. The judicial power of the state shall be vested in 
 a supreme court, in district courts, courts of common 
 42 
 
198 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 pleas, courts of probate, justices of the peace, and in such 
 other courts, inferior to the supreme court, in one or more 
 counties, as the general assembly may fro in time to time 
 establish. 
 
 2. The supreme court shall consist of five judges, a 
 majority of whom shall be necessary to form a quorum, or 
 to pronounce a decision. It shall have original jurisdic 
 tion in quo warranto, mandamus, habeas corpus, and pro- 
 cedendo, and such appellate jurisdiction as may be pro 
 vided by law. It shall hold at least one term in each 
 year, at the seat of government, and such other terms, 
 at the seat of government, or elsewhere, as may be pro 
 vided by law. The judges of the supreme court shall be 
 elected by the electors of the state at large. 
 
 3. The state shall be divided into nine common pleas 
 districts, of which the county of Hamilton shall constitute 
 one, of compact territory, and bounded by county lines ; 
 and each of said districts, consisting of three or more 
 counties, shall be subdivided into three parts, of compact 
 territory, bounded by county lines, and as nearly equal in 
 population as practicable; in each of which, one judge of 
 the court of common pleas for the said district, and re 
 siding therein, shall be elected by the electors of said 
 subdivision. Courts of common pleas shall be held, by 
 one or more of these judges, in every county in the dis 
 trict, as often as may be provided by law; and more than 
 one court, or sitting thereof, may be held at the same time 
 in each district. 
 
 4. The jurisdiction of the courts of common pleas, and 
 of the judges thereof, shall be fixed by law. 
 
 5. District courts shall be composed of the judges of 
 the courts of common pleas of the respective districts, 
 and one of the judges of the supreme court, any three of 
 whom shall be a quorum, and shall be held in each county 
 therein, at least once in each year; but, if it shall be 
 found inexpedient to hold such court annually, in each 
 county, of any district, the general assembly may, for 
 such district, provide that said court shall hold at least 
 three annual sessions therein, in not less than three places: 
 Provided, that the general assembly may, by law, authorize 
 
CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 199 
 
 the judges of each district to fix the times of holding the 
 courts therein. 
 
 6. The district court shall have like original jurisdic 
 tion with the supreme court, and such appellate jurisdic 
 tion as may be provided by law. 
 
 7. There shall be established in each county a probate 
 court, which shall be a court of record, open at all times, 
 and holden by one judge, elected by the voters of the 
 county, who shall hold his office for the term of three 
 years, and shall receive such compensation, payable out 
 of the county treasury, or by fees, or both, as shall be 
 provided by law. 
 
 8. The probate court shall have jurisdiction in probate 
 and testamentary matters, the appointment of adminis 
 trators and guardians, the settlement of the accounts of 
 executors, administrators, and guardians, and such juris 
 diction in habeas corpus, the issuing of marriage-licenses, 
 and for the sale of land by executors, administrators, and 
 guardians, and such other jurisdiction, in any county or 
 counties, as may be provided by law. 
 
 9. A competent number of justices of the peace shall 
 be elected, by the electors, in each township in the several 
 counties. Their term of office shall be three years, and 
 their powers and duties shall be regulated by law. 
 
 10. All judges, other than those provided for in this 
 constitution, shall be elected by the electors of the judicial 
 district for which they may be created, but not for a longer 
 term of office than five years. 
 
 11. The judges of the supremfe court shall, immediately 
 after the first election under this constitution, be classified 
 by lot, so that one shall hold for the term of one year, 
 one for two years, one for three years, one for four years, 
 and one for five years; and at all subsequent elections 
 the term of each of the said judges shall be for five years. 
 
 12. The judges of the courts of common pleas shall, 
 while in office, reside in the district for which they are 
 elected; and their term of office shall be for five years. 
 
 13. In case the office of any judge shall become vacant, 
 before the expiration of the regular term for which he 
 was elected, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by 
 the governor, until a successor is elected and qualified ; 
 
200 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 and such successor shall be elected for the unexpired term, 
 at the first annual election that occurs more than thirty 
 days after the vacancy shall have happened. 
 
 14. The judges of the supreme court, and of the court 
 of common pleas, shall, at stated times, receive, for their 
 services, such compensation as may be provided by law, 
 which shall not be diminished, or increased, during their 
 term of office; but they shall receive no fees or perquisites, 
 nor hold any other office of profit or trust, under the 
 authority of this state, or the United States. All votes 
 for either of them, for any elective office, except a judicial 
 office, under the authority of this state, given by the 
 general assembly, or the people, shall be void. 
 
 15. The general assembly may increase or diminish the 
 number of the judges of the supreme court, the number 
 of the districts of the court of common pleas, the number 
 of judges in any district, change the districts, or the sub 
 divisions thereof, or establish other courts, whenever two- 
 thirds of the members elected to each house shall concur 
 therein; but no such change, addition, or diminution, shall 
 vacate the office of any judge. 
 
 16. There shall be elected in each county, by the electors 
 thereof, one clerk of the -court of common pleas, who shall 
 hold his office for the term of three years, and until his 
 successor shall be elected and qualified. He shall, by 
 virtue of his office, be clerk of all other courts of record 
 held therein; but the general assembly may provide, by 
 law, for the election of a clerk, with a like term of office, 
 for each or any other courts of records, and may authorize 
 the judge of the probate court to perform the duties of 
 clerk for his court, under such regulations as may be 
 directed by law. Clerks of courts shall be removable for 
 such cause, and in such manner, as shall be prescribed by 
 law. 
 
 17. Judges may be removed from office, by concurrent 
 resolutions of both houses of the general assembly, if two- 
 thirds of the members, elected to each house, concur 
 therein; but no such removal shall be made, except upon 
 complaint, the substance of which shall be entered on the 
 journal, nor until the party charged shall have had notice 
 thereof, and an opportunity to be heard. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 201 
 
 18. The several judges of the supreme court, of the 
 common pleas, and of such other courts as may be created, 
 shall, respectively, have and exercise such power and 
 jurisdiction, at chambers, or otherwise, as may be directed 
 by law. 
 
 19. The general assembly may establish courts of con 
 ciliation, and prescribe their powers and duties; but such 
 courts shall not render final judgment, in any case, except 
 upon submission, by the parties, of the matter in dispute, 
 and their agreement to abide such judgment. 
 
 20. The style of all process shall be, "The State of 
 Ohio ;" all prosecutions shall be carried on in the name, 
 and by the authority, of the state of Ohio; and all in 
 dictments shall conclude, "against the peace and dignity 
 of the state of Ohio." 
 
 ARTICLE 5. Elective Franchise. 
 
 1. Every white male citizen of the United States, of 
 the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident 
 of the state one year next preceding the election, and of 
 the county, township, or ward in which he resides, such 
 time as may be provided by law, shall have the quali 
 fications of an elector, and be entitled to vote at all 
 elections. 
 
 2. All elections shall be by ballot. 
 
 3. Electors, during their attendance at elections, and 
 in going to and returning therefrom, shall be privileged 
 from arrest, in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach 
 of the peace. 
 
 4. The general assembly shall have power to exclude 
 from the privilege of voting, or of being eligible to oifice, 
 any person convicted of bribery, perjury, or otherwise in 
 famous crime. 
 
 5. No person in the military, naval, or marine service 
 of the United States, shall, by being stationed in any 
 garrison, or military or naval station, within the state, be 
 considered a resident of this state. 
 
 6. No idiot, or insane person, shall be entitled to the 
 privileges of an elector. 
 
 42* 
 
202 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 ARTICLE 6. Education. 
 
 1. The principal of all funds, arising from the sale, 
 or other disposition of lands, or other property, granted 
 or intrusted to this state for educational and religious 
 purposes, shall forever be preserved inviolate and undi- 
 miuished; and the income arising therefrom shall be 
 faithfully applied to the specific objects of the original 
 grants, or appropriations. 
 
 2. The general assembly shall make such provisions, by 
 taxation, or otherwise, as, with the income arising from 
 the school trust fund, will secure a thorough and efficient 
 system of common schools throughout the state ; but no 
 religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any ex 
 clusive right to, or control of, any part of the school 
 funds of this state. 
 
 ARTICLE 7. Public Institutions. 
 
 1. Institutions for the benefit of the insane, blind, 
 and deaf and dumb, shall always be fostered and supported 
 by the state, and be subject to such regulations as may 
 be prescribed by the general assembly. 
 
 2. The directors of the penitentiary shall be appointed 
 or elected in such manner as the general assembly may 
 direct ; arid the trustees of the benevolent, and other state 
 institutions, now elected by the general assembly, and of 
 such other state institutions as may be hereafter created, 
 shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the ad 
 vice and consent of the senate; and upon all nominations 
 made by the governor, the question shall be taken by 
 yeas and nays and entered upon the journals of the senate. 
 
 3. The governor shall have power to fill all vacancies 
 that may occur in the offices aforesaid, until the next ses 
 sion of the general assembly, and until a successor to his 
 appointee shall be confirmed and qualified. 
 
 ARTICLE 8. Public Debt and Public Works. 
 
 1. The state may contract debts, to supply casual 
 deficits or failures in revenues, or to meet expenses not 
 
CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 203 
 
 otherwise provided for; but the aggregate amount of such 
 debts, direct and contingent, whether contracted by virtue 
 of one or more -acts of the general assembly, or at different 
 periods of time, shall never exceed seven hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars; and the money, arising from the 
 creation of such debts, shall be applied to tne purpose for 
 which it was obtained, or to repay the debts so contracted, 
 and to no other purpose whatever. 
 
 2. In addition to the above limited power, the state 
 may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, 
 defend the state in war, or to redeem the present out 
 standing indebtedness of the state; but the money, arising 
 from the contracting of such debts, shall be applied to the 
 purpose for which it was raised, or to repay such debts, 
 and to no other purpose whatever; and all debts, incurred 
 to redeem the present outstanding indebtedness of the 
 state, shall be so contracted as to be payable by the sink 
 ing fund, hereinafter provided for, as the same shall accu 
 mulate. 
 
 3. Except the debts above specified in sections one and 
 two of this article, no debt whatever shall hereafter be 
 created by, or on behalf of, the state. 
 
 4. The credit of the state shall not, in any manner, be 
 given or loaned to, or in aid of, any individual association 
 or corporation whatever ; nor shall the state ever hereafter 
 become a joint owner, or stockholder, in any company or 
 association, in this state, or elsewhere, formed for any 
 purpose whatever. 
 
 5. The state shall never assume the debts of any 
 county, city, town, or township, or of any corporation 
 whatever, unless such debt shall have been created to 
 repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the state 
 in war. 
 
 6. The general assembly shall never authorize any 
 county, city, town, or township, by vote of its citizens, or 
 otherwise, to become a stockholder in any joint-stock 
 company, corporation, or association whatever; or to raise 
 money for, or. loan its credit to, or in aid of, any such 
 company, corporation, or association. 
 
 7. The faith of the state being pledged for the pay 
 ment of its public debt, in order to provide therefor, there 
 
204 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 shall be created a sinking fund, which shall oe sufficient 
 to pay the accruing interest on such debt, and annually to 
 reduce the principal thereof by a sum not less than one 
 hundred thousand dollars, increased yearly, and each and 
 every year, ^y compounding, at the rate of six per cent, 
 per annum. The said sinking fund shall consist of the 
 net annual income of the public works and stocks owned 
 by the state, or any other funds or resources that are, or 
 may be, provided by law, and of such further sum, to be 
 raised by taxation, as may be required for the purposes 
 aforesaid. 
 
 8. The auditor of state, secretary of state, and attorney- 
 general, are hereby created a board of commissioners, to 
 be styled " The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund/ 
 
 9. The commissioners of the sinking fund shall, imme 
 diately preceding each regular session of the general as 
 sembly, make an estimate of the probable amount of the 
 fund provided for in the seventh section of this article, 
 from all sources except from taxation, and report the same, 
 together with all their proceedings relative to said fund 
 and the public debt, to the governor, who shall transmit 
 the same, with his regular message, to the general assembly; 
 and the general assembly shall make all necessary provi 
 sion for raising and disbursing said sinking fund, in pur 
 suance of the provisions of this article. 
 
 10. It shall be the duty of the said commissioners 
 faithfully to apply said fund, together with all moneys 
 that may be, by the general assembly, appropriated to that 
 object, to the payment of the interest, as it becomes due, 
 and the redemption of the principal of the public debt 
 of the state, excepting only the school and trust funds 
 held by the state. 
 
 11. The said commissioners shall, semi-annually, make 
 a full and detailed report of their proceedings to the 
 governor, who shall immediately cause the same to be 
 published, and shall also communicate the same to the 
 general assembly, forthwith, if it be in session, and if 
 not, then at its first session after such report shall be 
 made. 
 
 12. So long as this state shall have public works, which 
 require superintendence, there shall be a board of public 
 
CONSTITUTION OP OHIO. 205 
 
 works, to consist of three members, who shall be elected 
 by the people, at the first general election after the adop 
 tion of this constitution, one for the term of one year, 
 one for the term of two years, and one for the term of 
 three years; and one member of said board shall be 
 elected annually thereafter, who shall hold his office for 
 three years. 
 
 13. The powers and duties of said board of public 
 works and its several members, and their compensation, 
 shall be such as now are, or may be, prescribed by law. 
 
 ARTICLE 9. Militia. 
 
 1. All white male citizens, residents of this state, 
 being eighteen years of age, and under the age of forty- 
 five years, shall be enrolled in the militia, and perform 
 military duty, in such manner, not incompatible with the 
 constitution and laws of the United States, as may be 
 prescribed by law. 
 
 2. Majors-general, brigadiers-general, colonels, lieu 
 tenant-colonels, majors, captains, and subalterns, shall be 
 elected by the persons subject to military duty, in their 
 respective districts. 
 
 3. The governor shall appoint the adjutant-general, 
 quartermaster-general, and such other staff officers as may 
 be provided for by law. Majors-general, brigadiers- 
 general, colonels or commandants of regiments, battalions, 
 or squadrons, shall, severally, appoint their staff, and 
 captains shall appoint their non-commissioned officers and 
 musicians. 
 
 4. The governor shall commission all officers of the line 
 and staff, ranking as such, and shall have power to call 
 forth the militia, to execute the laws of the state, to sup 
 press insurrection and repel invasion. 
 
 5. The general assembly shall provide by law for the 
 protection and safe-keeping of the public arms. 
 
 ARTICLE 10. County and Township Organizations. 
 
 1. The general assembly shall provide, by law, for 
 the election of such county and township officers as may 
 be necessary. 
 
206 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 2. County officers shall be elected on the second Tues 
 day of October, until otherwise directed by law, by the 
 qualified electors of each county, in such manner, and for 
 such term, not exceeding three years, as may be provided 
 by law. 
 
 3. No person shall be eligible to the office of sheriff, or 
 county treasurer, for more than four years in any period 
 of six years. 
 
 4. Township officers shall be elected on the first Monday 
 of April, annually, by the qualified electors of their re 
 spective townships, and shall hold their offices for one 
 year, from the Monday next succeeding their election, 
 and until their successors are qualified. 
 
 5. No money shall be drawn from any county or town 
 ship treasury, except by authority of law. 
 
 6. Justices of the peace, and county and township offi 
 cers, may be removed, in such manner and for such cause, 
 as shall be prescribed by law. 
 
 7. The commissioners of counties, the trustees of town 
 ships, and similar boards, shall have such power of local 
 taxation, for police purposes, as may be prescribed by law. 
 
 ARTICLE 11. Apportionment. 
 
 1. The apportionment of this state for members of 
 the general assembly shall be made every ten years, after 
 the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the 
 following manner : The whole population of the state, as 
 ascertained by the federal census, or in such other mode 
 as the general assembly may direct, shall be divided by 
 the number "One hundred," and the quotient shall be 
 the ratio of representation in the house of representatives 
 for ten years next succeeding such apportionment. 
 
 2. Every county, having a population equal to one-half 
 of said ratio, shall be entitled to one representative; every 
 county, containing said ratio, and three-fourths over, shall 
 be entitled to two representatives ; every county, contain 
 ing three times said ratio, shall be entitled to three repre 
 sentatives: and so on, requiring after the first two an 
 entire ratio for each additional representative. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 207 
 
 3. When any county shall have a fraction above the 
 ratio, so large that, being multiplied by five, the result 
 will be equal to one or more ratios, additional representa 
 tives shall be apportioned for such ratios, among the 
 several sessions of the decennial period, in the following 
 manner: If there be only one ratio, a representative shall 
 be allotted to the fifth session of the decennial period ; if 
 there are two ratios, a representative shall be allotted to 
 the fourth and third sessions respectively; if three, to 
 the third, second, and first sessions respectively; if four, 
 to the fourth, third, second, and first sessions respectively. 
 
 4. Any county forming with another county or counties 
 a representative district during one decennial period, if it 
 have acquired sufficient population at the next decennial 
 period, shall be entitled to a separate representation, if 
 there shall be left, in the district from which it shall have 
 been separated, a population sufficient for a representative; 
 but no such change shall be made, except at the regular 
 decennial period for the apportionment of representatives. 
 
 5. If, in fixing any subsequent ratio, a county, pre 
 viously entitled to a separate representation, shall have 
 less than the number required by the new ratio for a re 
 presentative, such county shall be attached to the county 
 adjoining it having the least number of inhabitants; and 
 the representation of the district so formed shall be 
 determined as herein provided. 
 
 6. The ratio for a senator shall, forever hereafter, be 
 ascertained by dividing the whole population of the state 
 by the number thirty-five. 
 
 7. The state is hereby divided into thirty- three sena 
 torial districts, as follows : The county of Hamilton shall 
 constitute the first senatorial district; the counties of 
 Butler and Warren, the second; Montgomery and Preble, 
 the third; Clermont and Brown, the fourth; Greene, 
 Clinton, and Fayette, the fifth; Ross and Highland, the 
 sixth; Adams, Pike, Scioto, and Jackson, the seventh; 
 Lawrence, Gallia, Meigs, and Vinton, the eighth; Athens, 
 Hocking, and Fairfield, the ninth; Franklin and Pick- 
 away, the tenth; Clark, Champaign, and Madison, the 
 eleventh; Miami, Darke, and Shelby, the twelfth ; Logan, 
 Union, Marion, and Hardin, the thirteenth; Washington 
 
208 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 and Morgan, the fourteenth; Muskingum and Perry, the 
 fifteenth; Delaware and Licking, the sixteenth; Knox 
 and Morrow, the seventeenth; Coshocton and Tuscarawas, 
 the eighteenth ; Guernsey and Monroe, the nineteenth ; 
 Belmont and Harrison, the twentieth; Carroll and Stark, 
 the twenty-first; Jefferson and Columhiana, the twenty- 
 second; Trumbull and Mahoning, the twenty-third; Ash- 
 tabula, Lake, and Geauga, the twenty-fourth; Cuyahoga, 
 the twenty-fifth; Portage and Summit, the twenty-sixth; 
 Medina and Lorain, the twenty-seventh; Wayne and 
 Holmes, the twenty-eighth; Ashland and Biehland, the 
 twenty-ninth ; Huron, Erie, Sandusky, and Ottawa, the 
 thirtieth; Seneca, Crawford, and Wyandot, the thirty- 
 first; Mercer, Auglaize, Allen, Van Wert, Paulding, De 
 fiance, and Williams, the thirty-second ; and Hancock, 
 Wood, Lucas, Fulton, Henry, and Putnam, the thirty- 
 third. For the first decennial period after the adoption 
 of this constitution, each of said districts shall be entitled 
 to one senator, except the first district, which shall be 
 entitled to three senators. 
 
 8. The same rules shall be applied, in apportioning the 
 fractions of senatorial districts, and in annexing districts 
 which may hereafter have less than three-fourths of a 
 senatorial ratio, as are applied to representative dis 
 tricts. 
 
 9. Any county forming part of a senatorial district, 
 having acquired a population equal to a full senatorial 
 ratio, shall be made a separate senatorial district, at any 
 regular decennial apportionment, if a full senatorial ratio 
 shall be left in the district from which it shall be taken. 
 
 10. For the first ten years after the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty-one, the apportionment of repre 
 sentatives shall be as provided in the schedule, and no 
 change shall ever be made in the principles of represen 
 tation, as herein established, or in the senatorial districts, 
 except as above provided. All territory, belonging to a 
 county at the time of any apportionment, shall, as to the 
 right of representation and suffrage, remain an integral 
 part thereof during the decennial period. 
 
 11. The governor, auditor, and secretary of state, or 
 any two of them, shall, at least six mouths prior to the 
 
CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 209 
 
 October election in the year one thousand eight hundred 
 and sixty-one, and at each decennial period thereafter, 
 ascertain and determine the ratio of representation, accord 
 ing to the decennial census, the number of representatives 
 and senators each county or district shall be entitled to 
 elect, and for what years, within the next ensuing ten 
 years ; and the governor shall cause the same to be pub 
 lished, in such manner as shall be directed by law. 
 
 JUDICIAL APPORTIONMENT. 
 
 12. For judicial purposes, the state shall be appor 
 tioned as follows : 
 
 The county of Hamilton shall constitute the first dis- 
 trict, which shall not be subdivided; and the judges 
 therein may hold separate courts, or separate sittings of 
 the same court, at the same time. 
 
 The counties of Butler, Preble, and Darke shall con 
 stitute the first subdivision, Montgomery, Miami, and 
 Champaign, the second, and Warren, Clinton, Greene, 
 and Clark, the third subdivision, of the second district; 
 and, together, shall form such district. 
 
 The counties of Shelby, Auglaize, Allen, Hardin, Logan, 
 Union, and Marion shall constitute the first subdivision, 
 Mercer, Van Wert, Putnam, Paulding, Defiance, Williams, 
 Henry, and Fulton, the second, and Wood, Seneca, Han 
 cock, Wyandot, and Crawford, the third subdivision, 
 of the third district; and, together, shall form such dis 
 trict. 
 
 The counties of Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, Erie, and 
 Huron shall constitute the first subdivision, Lorain, 
 Medina, and Summit, the second, and the county of 
 Cuyahoga, the third subdivision, of the fourth district; 
 and, together, shall form such district. 
 
 The counties of Clermont, Brown, and Adams shall 
 constitute the first subdivision, Highland, Ross, and 
 Fayette, the second, and Pickaway, Franklin, and Madison 
 the third subdivision, of the fifth district: and, together, 
 shall form such district. 
 
 The counties of Licking, Knox, and Delaware shall 
 constitute the first subdivision, Morrow, Kichland, and 
 43 
 
210 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 Ashland, the second, and Wayne, Holmes, and Coshocton, 
 the third subdivision, of the sixth district; and, together, 
 shall form such district. 
 
 The counties of Fairfield, Perry, and Hocking shall 
 constitute the first subdivision, Jackson, Vinton, Pike, 
 Scioto, and Lawrence, the second, and Gallia, Meigs, 
 Athens, and Washington, the third subdivision, of the 
 seventh district; and, together, shall form such district. 
 
 The counties of Muskingum and Morgan shall consti 
 tute the first subdivision, Guernsey, Belmont, and Monroe, 
 the second, and Jefferson, Harrison, and Tuscarawas, the 
 third subdivision, of the eighth district; and, together, 
 shall form such district. 
 
 The counties of Stark, Carroll, and Columbiana shall 
 constitute the first subdivision, Trumbull, Portage, and 
 Mahoning, the second, and Geauga, Lake, and Ash tabula, 
 the third subdivision, of the ninth district; and, together, 
 shall form such district. 
 
 13. The general assembly shall attach any new counties, 
 that may hereafter be erected, to such districts, or sub 
 divisions thereof, as shall be most convenient. 
 
 ARTICLE 12. Finance and Taxation. 
 
 1. The levying of taxes, by the poll, is grievous and 
 oppressive; therefore, the general assembly shall never 
 levy a poll tax, for county or state purposes. 
 
 2. Laws shall be passed, taxing, by a uniform rule, all 
 moneys, credits, investments in bonds, stocks, joint-stock 
 companies, or otherwise: and also all real and personal 
 property, according to its true value in money; but bury- 
 ing-grounds, public school-houses, houses used exclusively 
 for public worship, institutions of purely public charity, 
 public property used exclusively for any public purpose, 
 and personal property, to an amount not exceeding in 
 value two hundred dollars for each individual, may, by 
 general laws, be exempted from taxation : but all such 
 laws shall be subject to alteration or repeal; and the value 
 of all property, so exempted, shall, from time to time, be 
 ascertained and published, as may be directed by law. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 211 
 
 3. The general assembly shall provide by law for tax 
 ing the notes and bills discounted or purchased, moneys 
 loaned, and all other property, effects, or dues of every 
 description (without deduction) of all banks, now existing, 
 or hereafter created, and of all bankers, so that all pro 
 perty employed in banking shall always bear a burden of 
 taxation equal to that imposed on the property of indi 
 viduals. 
 
 4. The general assembly shall provide for raising revenue, 
 sufficient to defray the expenses of the state, for each year, 
 and also a sufficient sum. to pay the interest on the state 
 debt. 
 
 5. No tax shall be levied, except in pursuance of law; 
 and every law imposing a tax shall state, distinctly, the 
 object of the same, to which only it shall be applied. 
 
 6. The state shall never contract any debt for purposes 
 of internal improvement. 
 
 ARTICLE 13. Corporations. 
 
 1. The general assembly shall pass no special act con 
 ferring corporate powers. 
 
 2. Corporations may be formed under general laws; 
 but all such laws may, from, time to time, be altered or 
 repealed. 
 
 3. Dues from corporations shall be secured, by such 
 individual liability of the stockholders, and other means, 
 as may be prescribed by law; but, in all cases, each stock 
 holder shall be liable, over and above the stock by him or 
 her owned, and any amount unpaid thereon, to a further 
 sum, at least equal in amount to such stock. 
 
 4. The property of corporations, now existing or here 
 after created, shall forever be subject to taxation, the 
 same as the property of individuals. 
 
 5. No right of way shall be appropriated to the use of 
 any corporation, until full compensation therefor be first 
 made in money, or first secured by a deposit of money, to 
 the owner, irrespective of any benefit from any improve 
 ment proposed by such corporation : which compensation 
 shall be ascertained by a jury of twelve men, in a court 
 of record, as shall be prescribed by law. 
 
212 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 6. The general assembly shall provide for the organiza 
 tion of cities, incorporated villages, by general laws; and 
 restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing 
 money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as 
 to prevent the abuse of such power. 
 
 7. No act of the general assembly, authorizing associa 
 tions with banking powers, shall take eifect, until it shall 
 be submitted to the people, at the general election next 
 succeeding the passage thereof, and be approved by a 
 majority of all the electors voting at such election. 
 
 .ARTICLE 14. Jurisprudence. 
 
 1. The general assembly, at its first session after the 
 adoption of this constitution, shall provide for the appoint 
 ment of three commissioners, and prescribe their tenure 
 of office, compensation, and the mode of filling vacancies 
 in said commission. 
 
 2. The said commissioners shall revise, reform, simplify, 
 and abridge the practice, pleadings, forms, and proceed 
 ings of the courts of record of this state ; and, as far as 
 practicable and expedient, shall provide for the abolition 
 of the distinct forms of action at law, now in use, and 
 for the administration of justice by a uniform mode of 
 proceeding, without reference to any distinction between 
 law and equity. 
 
 3. The proceedings of the commissioners shall, from 
 time to time, be reported to the general assembly, and be 
 subject to the action of that body. 
 
 ARTICLE 15. Miscellaneous. 
 
 1. Columbus shall be the seat of government, until 
 otherwise directed by law. 
 
 2. The printing of the laws, journals, bills, legislative 
 documents, and papers for each branch of the general 
 assembly, with the printing required for the executive 
 and other departments of state, shall be let, on contract, 
 to the lowest responsible bidder, by such executive officers, 
 and in such manner, as shall be prescribed by law. 
 
 3. An accurate and detailed statement of the receipts 
 
CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 213 
 
 and expenditures of the public money, the several amounts 
 paid, to whom, and on what account, shall, from time to 
 time, be published, as shall be prescribed by law. 
 
 4. No person shall be elected or appointed to any office 
 in this state, unless he possess the qualifications of an 
 elector. 
 
 5. No person who shall hereafter fight a duel, assist in 
 the same as second, or send, accept, or knowingly carry 
 a challenge therefor, shall hold any office in this state. 
 
 6. Lotteries, and the sale of lottery tickets, for any 
 purpose whatever, shall forever be prohibited in this state. 
 
 7. Every person chosen or appointed to any office under 
 this state, before entering upon the discharge of his 
 duties, shall take an oath or affirmation, to support the 
 constitution of the United States, and of this state, and 
 also an oath of office. 
 
 8. There may be established, in the secretary of state s 
 office, a bureau of statistics, under such regulations as 
 may be prescribed by law. 
 
 ARTICLE 16. Amendments. 
 
 1. Either branch of the general assembly may propose 
 amendments to this constitution ] and, if the same shall 
 be agreed to by three-fifths of the members elected to 
 each house, such proposed amendments shall be entered 
 on the journals, with the yeas and nays, and shall be pub 
 lished in at least one newspaper in each county of the 
 state, where a newspaper is published, for six months pre 
 ceding the next election for senators and representatives, 
 at which time the same shall be submitted to the electors, 
 for their approval or rejection ; and if a majority of the 
 electors, voting at such election, shall adopt such amend 
 ments, the same shall become a part of the constitution. 
 When more than one amendment shall be submitted at 
 the same time, they shall be so submitted, as to enable 
 the electors to vote on each amendment separately. 
 
 2. Whenever two-thirds of the members elected to each 
 branch of the general assembly shall think it necessary 
 to call a convention, to revise, amend, or change this con 
 stitution, they shall recommend to the electors to vote, at 
 
 43* 
 
214 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 the next election for members of the general assembly, 
 for or against a convention; and if a majority of all the 
 electors, voting at said election, shall have voted for a con 
 vention, the general assembly shall, at their next session, 
 provide, by law, for calling the same. The convention 
 shall consist of as many members as the house of repre 
 sentatives, who shall be chosen in the same manner, and 
 shall meet within three months after their election, for the 
 purpose aforesaid. 
 
 3. At the general election, to be held in the year one 
 thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, and in each 
 twentieth year thereafter, the question, " Shall there be 
 a Convention to revise, alter, or amend the Constitution?" 
 shall be submitted to the electors of the state; and in 
 case a majority of all the electors, voting at such election, 
 shall decide in favor of a convention, the general assem 
 bly, at its next session, shall provide, by law, for the elec 
 tion of delegates, and the assembling of such convention 
 as is provided in the preceding section; but no amend 
 ment of this constitution, agreed upon by any convention 
 assembled in pursuance of this article, shall take effect, 
 until the same shall have been submitted to the electors 
 of the state, and adopted by a majority of those voting 
 thereon. 
 
 SCHEDULE. 
 
 1. All laws of this state, in force on the first day of 
 September, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, not 
 inconsistent with this constitution, shall continue in force, 
 until amended or repealed. 
 
 2. The first election for members of the general as 
 sembly, under this constitution, shall be held on the 
 second Tuesday of October, one thousand eight hundred 
 and fifty-one. 
 
 3. The first election for governor, lieutenant-governor, 
 auditor, treasurer, and secretary of state, and attorney- 
 general, shall be held on the second Tuesday of October, 
 one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one. The persons, 
 holding said offices on the first day of September, one 
 
CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 215 
 
 thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, shall continue there 
 in, until the second Monday of January, one thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty-two. 
 
 4. The first election for judges of the supreme court, 
 courts of common pleas, and probate courts, and clerks of 
 the courts of common pleas, shall be held on the second 
 Tuesday of October, one thousand eight hundred and 
 fifty-one, and the oflicial term of said judges and clerks, 
 so elected, shall commence on the second Monday of 
 February, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two. 
 Judges and clerks of the courts of common pleas and 
 supreme court, in office on the first day of September, 
 one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, shall continue 
 in office with their present powers and duties, until the 
 second Monday of February, one thousand eight hundred 
 and fifty-two. No suit or proceeding, pending in any of 
 the courts of this state ; shall be affected by the adoption 
 of this constitution. 
 
 5. The register and receiver of the land office, directors 
 of the penitentiary, directors of the benevolent institutions 
 of the state, the state librarian, and all other officers, not 
 otherwise provided for in this constitution, in office on the 
 first day of September, one thousand eight hundred and 
 fifty-one, shall continue in office until their terms expire, 
 respectively, unless the general assembly shall otherwise 
 provide. 
 
 6. The superior and commercial courts of Cincinnati, 
 and the superior court of Cleveland, shall remain, until 
 otherwise provided by law, with their present powers and 
 jurisdiction ; and the judges and clerks of said courts, in 
 office on the first day of September, one thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty-one, shall continue in office, until the 
 expiration of their terms of office, respectively, or until 
 otherwise provided by law; but neither of said courts 
 shall continue after the second Monday of February, one 
 thousand eight hundred and fifty-three ; and no suit shall 
 be commenced in said two first-mentioned courts, after the 
 second Monday of February, one thousand eight hundred 
 and fifty-two, nor in said last-mentioned court, after the 
 second Monday in August, one thousand eight hundred 
 and fifty-two; and all business in. either of said courts, not 
 
216 CONSTITUTION OF OHIO. 
 
 disposed of within the time limited for their continuance 
 as aforesaid, shall be transferred to the court of common 
 pleas. 
 
 7. All county and township officers and justices of the 
 peace, in office on the first day of September, one thou 
 sand eight hundred and fifty-one, shall continue in office 
 until their terms expire, respectively. 
 
 8. Vacancies in office, occurring after the first day of 
 September, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, 
 shall be filled as is now prescribed by law, and until offi 
 cers are elected or appointed, and qualified under this 
 constitution. 
 
 9. This constitution shall take effect on the first day of 
 September, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one. 
 
 10. All officers shall continue in office until their suc 
 cessors shall be chosen and qualified. 
 
 11. Suits pending in the supreme court in bane shall 
 be transferred to the supreme court, provided for in this 
 constitution, and be proceeded in according to law. 
 
 12. The district courts shall, in their respective coun 
 ties, be the successors of the present supreme court; and 
 all suits, prosecutions, judgments, records, and proceed 
 ings, pending and remaining in said supreme court, in 
 the several counties of any district, shall be transferred to 
 the respective district courts of such counties, and be 
 proceeded in, as though no change had been made in said 
 supreme court. 
 
 13. The said courts of common pleas shall be the suc 
 cessors of the present courts of common pleas in the 
 several counties, except as to probate jurisdiction ; and all 
 suits, prosecutions, proceedings, records, and judgments, 
 pending or being in said last-mentioned courts, except as 
 aforesaid, shall be transferred to the courts of common 
 pleas created by this constitution, and proceeded in as 
 though the same had been therein instituted. 
 
 14. The probate courts provided for in this constitu 
 tion, as to all matters within the jurisdiction conferred 
 upon said courts, shall be the successors, in the several 
 counties, of the present courts of common pleas; and the 
 records, files, and papers, business and proceedings, apper 
 taining to said jurisdiction, shall be transferred to said 
 
CONSTITUTION OP OHIO. 217 
 
 courts of probate, and be there proceeded in, according 
 to law. 
 
 15. Until otherwise provided by law, elections for 
 judges and clerks shall be held, and the poll books re 
 turned, as is provided for governor, and the abstract there 
 from, certified to the secretary of state, shall be by him 
 opened, in the presence of the governor, who shall de 
 clare the result, and issue commissions to the persons 
 elected. 
 
 16. Where two or more counties are joined in a sena 
 torial, representative, or judicial district, the returns of 
 elections shall be sent to the county having the largest 
 population. 
 
 17. The foregoing constitution shall be submitted to 
 the electors of the state, at an election to be held on the 
 third Tuesday of June, one thousand eight hundred and 
 fifty-one, in the several election districts of this state. 
 The ballots at such election shall be written or printed as 
 follows: Those in favor of the constitution, "New Con 
 stitution, Yes;" those against the constitution, "New 
 Constitution, No." The polls at the said election shall 
 be opened between the hours of eight and ten o clock, 
 A.M., and closed at six o clock, P.M.; and the said elec 
 tion shall be conducted, and the returns thereof made and 
 certified, to the secretary of state, as provided by law for 
 annual elections of state and county officers. Within 
 twenty days after such election, the secretary of state shall 
 open the returns thereof, in the presence of the governor; 
 and if it shall appear that a majority of all the votes, cast 
 at such election, are in favor of the constitution, the 
 governor shall issue his proclamation, stating that fact, 
 and said constitution shall be the constitution of the state 
 of Ohio, and not otherwise. 
 
 18. At the time when the votes of the electors shall be 
 taken for the adoption or rejection of this constitution, 
 the additional section, in the words following, to wit : 
 "No license to traffic in intoxicating liquors shall here 
 after be granted in this state ; but the general assembly 
 may, by law, provide against evils resulting therefrom/ 
 shall be separately submitted to the electors for adoption 
 or rejection, in form following, to wit : A separate ballot 
 
218 CONSTITUTION OP OHIO. 
 
 may be given by every elector and deposited in a separate 
 box. Upon the ballots given for said separate amend 
 ment shall be written or printed, or partly written and 
 partly printed, the words: "License to sell intoxicating 
 liquors, Yes;" and upon the ballots given against said 
 amendment, in like manner, the words : " License to sell 
 intoxicating liquors, No." If, at the said election, a ma 
 jority of all the votes given for and against said amend 
 ment shall contain the words : " License to sell intoxi 
 cating liquors, No," then the said amendment shall be a 
 separate section of article fifteen of the constitution. 
 
 19. The apportionment for the house of representatives, 
 during the first decennial period under this constitution, 
 shall be as follows : 
 
 The counties of Adams, Allen, Athens, Auglaize, Car 
 roll, Champaign, Clark, Clinton, Crawford, Darke, Dela 
 ware, Erie, Fayette, Gallia, Geauga, Greene, Hancock, 
 Harrison. Hocking, Holmes, Lake, Lawrence, Logan, 
 Madison, Marion, Meigs, Morrow, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, 
 Preble, Sandusky, Scioto, Shelby, and Union, shall, seve 
 rally, be entitled to one representative, in each session of 
 the decennial period. 
 
 The counties of Franklin, Licking, Montgomery, and 
 Stark, shall each be entitled to two representatives, in each 
 session of the decennial period. 
 
 The counties of Ashland, Coshockton, Highland, Huron, 
 Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Miami, Portage, Seneca, 
 Summit, and Warren, shall, severally, be entitled to one 
 representative, in each session ; and one additional repre 
 sentative, in the fifth session of the decennial period. 
 
 The counties of Ashtabula, Brown, Butler, Clermont, 
 Fairfield, Guernsey, Jefferson, Knox, Monroe, Morgan, 
 liichland, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, and Washington, shall, 
 severally, be entitled to one representative, in each session; 
 and two additional representatives, one in the third, and 
 one in the fourth, session of the decennial period. 
 
 The counties of Belmont, Columbiana, lloss, and Wayne, 
 shall, severally, be entitled to one representative, in each 
 session ; and three additional representatives, one in the 
 first, one in the second, and one in the third, session of 
 each decennial period. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 219 
 
 The county of Muskingum shall be entitled to two re 
 presentatives, in each session ; and one additional repre 
 sentative, in the fifth session of the decennial period. 
 
 The county of Cuyahoga shall be entitled to two repre 
 sentatives, in each session ; and two additional representa 
 tives, one in the third, and one in the fourth, session of 
 the decennial period. 
 
 The county of Hamilton shall be entitled to seven 
 representatives, in each session; and four additional re 
 presentatives, one in the first, one in the second, one in 
 the third, and one in the fourth, session of the decennial 
 period. 
 
 The following counties, until they shall have acquired 
 a sufficient population to entitle them to elect, separately, 
 under the fourth section of the eleventh article, shall form 
 districts in manner following, to wit : The counties of 
 Jackson and Vinton, one district ; the counties of Lucas 
 and Fulton, one district; the counties of Wyandot and 
 Hardin, one district; the counties of Mercer and Van 
 Wert, one district; the counties of Paulding, Defiance, 
 and Williams, one district; the counties of Putnam and 
 Henry, one district; and the counties of Wood and Ot 
 tawa, one district ; each of which districts shall be 
 entitled to one representative, in every session of the 
 decennial period. 
 
 Done in convention, at Cincinnati, the tenth day of 
 March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun 
 dred and fifty-one, and of the Independence of the United 
 States the seventy-fifth. 
 
 WILLIAM MEDILL, President. 
 (Attest) WM. H. GriLL, Secretary. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 PREAMBLE. 
 
 WE, the representatives of the people of the state of 
 Kentucky, in convention assembled, to secure to all the 
 
220 CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 
 
 citizens thereof the enjoyment of the rights of life, 
 liberty, and property, and of pursuing happiness, do 
 ordain and establish this constitution for its government : 
 
 ARTICLE 1. Concerning the Distribution of the Powers 
 of Government. 
 
 1. The powers of the government of the state of 
 Kentucky shall be divided into three distinct depart 
 ments, and each of them be confided to a separate body of 
 magistracy, to wit : those which are legislative to one, 
 those which are executive to another, and those which are 
 judiciary to another. 
 
 2. No person, or collection of persons, being of one 
 of those departments, shall exercise any power properly 
 belonging to either of the others, except in the instances 
 hereinafter expressly directed or permitted. 
 
 ARTICLE 2. Concerning the Legislative Department. 
 
 1. The legislative power shall be vested in a house 
 of representatives and senate, which together shall be 
 styled the general assembly of the commonwealth of 
 Kentucky. 
 
 2. The members of the house of representatives shall 
 continue in service for the term of two years from the day 
 of the general election, and no longer. 
 
 3. Representatives shall be chosen on the first Mon 
 day in August, in every second year, and the mode of 
 holding the elections shall be regulated by law. 
 
 4. No person shall be a representative, who, at the 
 time of his election, is not a citizen of the United States, 
 has not attained the age of twenty-four years, and who 
 has not resided in this state two years next preceding his 
 election, and the last year thereof in the county, town, or 
 city, for which he may be chosen. 
 
 5. The general assembly shall divide each county of 
 this commonwealth into convenient election precincts, or 
 may delegate power to do so to such county authorities as 
 may be designated by law; and elections for representa 
 tives for the several counties shall be held at the places 
 
CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 221 
 
 of holding their respective courts, and in the several elec 
 tion precincts into which the counties may be divided : 
 Provided, that when it shall appear to the general assem 
 bly that any city or town hath a number of qualified voters 
 equal to the ratio then fixed, such city or town shall be 
 invested with the privilege of a separate representation, 
 in either or both houses of the general assembly, which 
 shall be retained so long as such city or town shall con 
 tain a number of qualified voters equal to the ratio which 
 may, from time to time, be fixed by law; and, thereafter, 
 elections for the county in which such city or town is 
 situated, shall not be held therein ; but such city or town 
 shall not be entitled to a separate representation, unless 
 such county, after the separation, shall also be entitled to 
 one or more representatives. That whenever a city or 
 town shall be entitled to a separate representation in 
 either house of the general assembly, and by its numbers 
 shall be entitled to more than one representative, such 
 city or town shall be divided, by squares which are con 
 tiguous, so as to make the most compact form, into repre 
 sentative districts, as nearly equal as may be, equal to the 
 number of representatives to which such city or town may 
 be entitled ; and one representative shall be elected from 
 each district. In like manner shall said city or town be 
 divided into senatorial districts, when, by the apportion 
 ment, more than one senator shall be allotted to such city 
 or town ; and a senator shall be elected from each senatorial 
 district ; but no ward or municipal division shall be di 
 vided by such division of senatorial or representative 
 districts, unless it be necessary to equalize the elective, 
 senatorial, or representative districts. 
 
 6. Representation shall be equal and uniform in this 
 commonwealth, and shall be forever regulated and ascer 
 tained by the number of qualified voters therein. In the 
 year 1850, again in the year 1857, and every eighth year 
 thereafter, an enumeration of all the qualified voters of 
 the state shall be made ; and to secure uniformity and 
 equality of representation, the sate is hereby laid off into 
 ten districts. The first district shall be composed of the 
 counties of Fulton, Hickman, Ballard, McCracken, Graves, 
 Galloway, Marshall, Livingston, Crittenden, Union, Hop- 
 44 
 
222 CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 
 
 kins, Caldwell, and Trigg. The second district shall be 
 composed of the counties of Christian, Muhlenburg, Hen 
 derson, Daviess, Hancock, Ohio, Breckinridge, Meade, 
 Grayson, Butler, and Edmonson. The third district shall 
 be composed of the counties of Todd, Logan, Simpson, 
 Warren, Allen, Monroe, Barren, and Hart. The fourth 
 district shall be composed of the counties of Cumberland, 
 Adair, Green, Taylor, Clinton, Russell, Wayne, Pulaski, 
 Casey, Boyle, and Lincoln. The fifth district shall be 
 composed of the counties of Hardin, Larue, Bullitt, 
 Spencer, Nelson, Washington, Marion, Mercer, and An 
 derson. The sixth district shall be composed of the 
 counties of Garrard, Madison, Estill, Owsley, Rockcastle, 
 Laurel, Clay, Whitley, Knox, Harlan, Perry, Letcher, 
 Pike, Floyd, and Johnson. The seventh district shall be 
 composed of the counties of Jefferson, Oldham, Trimble, 
 Carroll, Henry, and Shelby, and the city of Louisville. 
 The eighth district shall be composed of the counties of 
 Bourbon, Fayette, Scott, Owen, Franklin, Woodford, and 
 Jessamine. The ninth district shall be composed of the 
 counties of Clarke, Bath, Montgomery, Fleming, Lewis, 
 Greenup, Carter, Lawrence, Morgan, and Breathitt. The 
 tenth district shall be composed of the counties of Mason, 
 Bracken, Nicholas, Harrison, Pendleton, Campbell, Grant, 
 Kenton, Boone, and Gallatin. The number of represen 
 tatives shall, at the several sessions of the general assembly 
 next after the making of the enumerations, be apportioned 
 among the ten several districts, according to the number 
 of qualified voters in each; and the representatives shall 
 be apportioned, as near as may be, among the counties, 
 towns, and cities in each district; and in making such 
 apportionment the following rules shall govern, to wit: 
 Every county, town, or city having the ratio shall have 
 one representative; if double the ratio, two representa 
 tives, and so on. Next, the counties, towns, or cities 
 having one or more representatives, and the largest num 
 ber of qualified voters above the ratio, and counties having 
 the largest number under the ratio shall have a represen 
 tative, regard being always had to the greatest number of 
 qualified voters : Provided, that when a county may not 
 have a sufficient number of qualified voters to entitle it 
 
CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 223 
 
 ^ 
 
 to one representative, then such county may be joined to 
 some adjacent county or counties, which counties shall 
 send one representative. When a new county shall be 
 formed of territory belonging to more than one district, it 
 shall form a part of that district having the least number 
 of qualified voters. 
 
 7. The house of representatives shall choose its 
 speaker and other officers. 
 
 8. Every free white male citizen, of the age of twenty- 
 one years, who has resided in the state two years, or in 
 the county, town, or city, in which he offers to vote, one 
 year next preceding the election, shall be a voter; but 
 such voter shall have been, for sixty days next preceding 
 the election, a resident of the precinct in which he offers 
 to vote, and he shall vote in said precinct, and not else 
 where. 
 
 9. Voters, in all cases except treason, felony, breach 
 or surety of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest 
 during their attendance at, going to, and returning from 
 elections. 
 
 10. Senators shall be chosen for the term of four 
 years, and the senate shall have power to choose its officers 
 biennially. 
 
 11. Senators and representatives shall be elected, 
 under the first apportionment after the adoption of this 
 constitution, in the year 1851. 
 
 12. At the session of the general assembly next after 
 the first apportionment under this constitution, the senators 
 shall be divided by lot, as equally as may be, into two 
 classes : the seats of the first class shall be vacated at the 
 end of two years from the day of the election, and those 
 of the second class at the end of four years, so that one- 
 half shall be chosen every two years. 
 
 13. The number of representatives shall be one hun 
 dred, and the number of senators thirty-eight. 
 
 14. At every apportionment of representation, the 
 state shall be laid off into thirty-eight senatorial districts, 
 which shall be so formed as to contain, as near as may be, 
 an equal number of qualified voters, and so that no county 
 shall be divided in the formation of a senatorial district, 
 except such county shall be entitled, under the enumera- 
 
224 CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 tion, to two or more senators ; and where two or more 
 counties compose a district they shall be adjoining. 
 
 15. One senator for each district shall be elected by 
 the qualified voters therein, who shall vote in the precincts 
 where they reside, at the places where elections are by 
 law directed to be held. 
 
 16. No person shall be a senator who, at the time of 
 his election, is not a citizen of the United States; has 
 not attained the age of thirty years, and who has not re 
 sided in this state six years next preceding his election, 
 and the last year thereof in the district for which he may 
 be chosen. 
 
 17. The election for senators, next after the first 
 apportionment under this constitution, shall be general 
 throughout the state, and at the same time that the election 
 for representatives is held, and thereafter, there shall be 
 a biennial election for senators to fill the places of those 
 whose term of service may have expired. 
 
 18. The general assembly shall convene on the first 
 Monday in November, after the adoption of this constitu 
 tion, and again on the first Monday in November, 1851, 
 and on the same day of every second year thereafter, 
 unless a different day be appointed by law, and their ses 
 sions shall be held at the seat of government. 
 
 19. Not less than a majority of the members of each 
 house of the general assembly shall constitute a quorum 
 to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from 
 day to day, and shall be authorized by law to compel the 
 attendance of absent members in such manner and under 
 such penalties as may be prescribed thereby. 
 
 20. Each house of the general assembly shall judge 
 of the qualifications, elections, and returns of its members ; 
 but a contested election shall be determined in such man 
 ner as shall be directed by law. 
 
 21. Each house of the general assembly may deter 
 mine the rules of its proceedings, punish a member for 
 disorderly behavior, arid, with the concurrence of two- 
 thirds, expel a member; but not a second time for the 
 same cause. 
 
 22. Each house of the general assembly shall keep 
 and publish, weekly, a journal of its proceedings, and the 
 
CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 225 
 
 yeas and nays of the members on any question shall, 
 at the desire of any two of them, be entered on their 
 journal. 
 
 23. Neither house, during the session of the general 
 assembly, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn 
 for more than three days, nor to any other place than that 
 in which they may be sitting. 
 
 24. The members of the general assembly shall seve 
 rally receive from the public treasury a compensation for 
 their services, which shall be three dollars a day during 
 their attendance on, and twelve and a half cents per 
 mile for the necessary travel in going to and returning 
 from, the sessions of their respective houses : Provided, 
 that the same may be increased or diminished by law ; 
 but no alteration shall take effect during the session at 
 which such alteration shall be made ; nor shall a session 
 of the general assembly continue beyond sixty days, ex 
 cept by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to 
 each house, but this shall not apply to the first session 
 held under this constitution. 
 
 25. The members of the general assembly shall, in 
 all cases except treason, felony, breach or surety of the 
 peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance 
 at the sessions of their respective houses, and in going to 
 and returning from the same ; and for any speech or de 
 bate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any 
 other place. 
 
 26. No senator or representative shall, during the 
 term for which he was elected, nor for one year thereafter, 
 be appointed or elected to any civil office of profit under 
 this commonwealth, which shall have been created, or the 
 emoluments of which shall have been increased, during 
 the said term, except to such offices or appointments as 
 may be filled by the election of the people. 
 
 27. No person, while he continues to exercise the 
 functions of a clergyman, priest, or teacher of any reli 
 gious persuasion, society, or sect, nor while he holds or 
 exercises any office of profit uuder this commonwealth, or 
 under the government of the United States, shall be 
 eligible to the general assembly, except attorneys-at-law, 
 justices of the peace, and militia officers : Provided, that 
 44* 
 
226 CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 
 
 attorneys for the commonwealth, who receive a fixed an 
 nual salary, shall be ineligible. 
 
 28. No person who, at any time, may have been a 
 collector of taxes or public moneys for the state, or the 
 assistant or deputy of such collector, shall be eligible to 
 the general assembly unless he shall have obtained a 
 quietus, six mouths before the election, for the amount 
 of such collection, and for all public moneys for which he 
 may have been responsible. 
 
 29. No bill shall have the force of a law until, on 
 three several days, it be read over in each house of the 
 general assembly, and free discussion allowed thereon, 
 unless, in cases of urgency, four-fifths of the house, where 
 the bill shall be depending, may deem it expedient to 
 dispense with this rule. 
 
 30. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the 
 house of representatives, but the senate may propose 
 amendments, as in other bills : Provided, that they shall 
 not introduce any new matter, under color of amendment, 
 which does not relate to raising revenue. 
 
 31. The general assembly shall regulate, by law, by 
 whom and in what manner writs of election shall be issued 
 to fill the vacancies which may happen in either branch 
 thereof. 
 
 32. The general assembly shall have no power to grant 
 divorces, to change the names of individuals, or direct the 
 sales of estates belonging to infants, or other persons 
 laboring under legal disabilities, by special legislation \ 
 but by general laws shall confer such powers on the courts 
 of justice. 
 
 33. The credit of this commonwealth shall never be 
 given or loaned in aid of any person, association, muni 
 cipality, or corporation. 
 
 34. The general assembly shall have no power to pass 
 laws to diminish the resources of the sinking fund, as now 
 established by law, until the debt of the state be paid, 
 but may pass laws to increase them; and the whole re 
 sources of said fund, from year to year, shall be sacredly 
 set apart and applied to the payment of the interest and 
 principal of the state debt, and to no other use or pur- 
 
CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 227 
 
 pose, until the whole debt of the state is fully paid and 
 satisfied. 
 
 35. The general assembly may contract debts to meet 
 casual deficits or failures in the revenue, but such debts, 
 direct or contingent, singly or in the aggregate, shall not 
 at any time exceed five hundred thousand dollars ; and 
 the moneys arising from loans creating such debts shall 
 be applied to the purposes for which they were obtained, 
 or to repay such debts : Provided, that the state may 
 contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, 
 or, if hostilities are threatened, provide for the public 
 defence. 
 
 36. No act of the general assembly shall authorize 
 any debt to be contracted on behalf of the commonwealth, 
 except for the purposes mentioned in the thirty-fifth sec 
 tion of this article, unless provisions be made therein to 
 lay and collect an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest 
 stipulated, and to discharge the debt within thirty years : 
 nor shall such act take effect until it shall have been sub 
 mitted to the people at a general election, and shall have 
 received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it: 
 Provided, that the general assembly may contract debts, 
 by borrowing money to pay any part of the debt of the 
 state, without submission to the people, and without 
 making provision in the act authorizing the same for a 
 tax to discharge the debt so contracted, or the interest 
 thereon. 
 
 37. No law, enacted by the general assembly, shall 
 relate to more than one subject, and that shall be ex 
 pressed in the title. 
 
 38. The general assembly shall not change the venue 
 in any criminal or penal prosecution, but shall provide for 
 the same by general laws. 
 
 39. The general assembly may pass laws authorizing 
 writs of error in criminal or penal cases, and regulating 
 the right of challenge of jurors therein. 
 
 40. The general assembly shall have no power to pass 
 any act, or resolution, for the appropriation of any money, 
 or the creation of any debt, exceeding the sum of one hun 
 dred dollars, at any one time, unless the same, on its final 
 passage, shall be voted for by a majority of all the nieni- 
 
228 CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 
 
 bers then elected to each branch of the general assembly, 
 and the yeas and nays thereon entered on the journal. 
 
 ARTICLE 3. Concerning the Executive Department. 
 
 1. The supreme executive power of the common 
 wealth shall be vested in a chief magistrate, who shall be 
 Styled the governor of the commonwealth of Kentucky. 
 
 J 2. The governor shall be elected for the term of four 
 years, by the qualified voters of the state, at the time 
 when, and places where, they shall respectively vote for 
 jcepresentatives. The person having the highest number 
 of votes shall be governor ; but if two or more shall be 
 equal and highest in votes, the election shall be deter 
 mined by lot, in such manner as the general assembly 
 may direct. 
 
 3. The governor shall be ineligible for the succeeding 
 four years after the expiration of the term for which he 
 shall have been elected. 
 
 4. He shall be at least thirty-five years of age, and a 
 citizen of the United States, and have been an inhabit 
 ant of this state at least six years next preceding his 
 election. 
 
 5. He shall commence the execution of the duties of 
 his office on the fifth Tuesday succeeding the day of the 
 general election on which he shall have been chosen, and 
 shall continue in the execution thereof until his successor 
 shall have taken the oaths, or affirmations, prescribed by 
 this constitution. 
 
 6. No member of Congress, or person holding any 
 office under the United States, or minister of any. reli 
 gious society, shall be eligible to the office of governor. 
 
 7. The governor shall, at stated times, receive for his 
 services a compensation, which shall neither be increased 
 nor diminished during the term for which he was elected. 
 
 8. He shall be commander-in-chief of the army and 
 navy of this commonwealth, and of the militia thereof, 
 except when they shall be called into the service of the 
 United States ; but he shall not command personally in 
 the field, unless advised so to do by a resolution of the 
 general assembly. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 229 
 
 9. He shall have power to fill vacancies that may 
 occur, by granting commissions, which shall expire when 
 such vacancies shall have been filled according to the pro 
 visions of this constitution. 
 
 10. He shall have power to remit fines and forfeitures, 
 grant reprieves and pardons, except in cases of impeach^ 
 nient. In cases of treason, he shall have power to grant 
 reprieves until the end of the next session of the general 
 assembly, in which the power of pardoning shall be 
 vested ; but he shall have no power to remit the fees of 
 the clerk, sheriff, or commonwealth s attorney, in penal or 
 criminal cases. 
 
 11. He may require information, in writing, from the 
 officers in the executive department, upon any subject re 
 lating to the duties of their respective offices. 
 
 12. He shall, from time to time, give to the general 
 assembly information of the state of the commonwealth, 
 and recommend to their consideration such measures as 
 he may deem expedient. 
 
 13. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the 
 general assembly at the seat of government, or at a differ 
 ent place if that should have become, since their last ad 
 journment, dangerous from an enemy, or from contagious 
 disorders ; and in case of disagreement between the two 
 houses, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may 
 adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper, not 
 exceeding four months. 
 
 14. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully 
 executed. 
 
 15. A lieutenant-governor shall be chosen at every 
 regular election for governor, in the same manner, to con 
 tinue in office for the same time, and possess the same 
 qualifications, as the governor. In voting for governor 
 and lieutenant-governor, the electors shall state for whom 
 they vote as governor, and for whom as lieutenant-go 
 vernor. 
 
 16. He shall, by virtue of his office, be speaker of 
 the senate, have a right, when in committee of the whole, 
 to debate and vote on all subjects, and, when the senate 
 are equally divided, to give the casting vote. 
 
 17. Should the governor be impeached, removed from 
 
230 CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 
 
 office, die, refuse to qualify, resign, or be absent from the 
 state, the lieutenant-governor shall exercise all the power 
 and authority appertaining to the office of governor, until 
 another be duly elected and qualified, or the governor ab 
 sent or impeached shall return or be acquitted. 
 
 18. Whenever the government shall be administered 
 by the lieutenant-governor, or he shall fail to attend as 
 speaker of the senate, the senators shall elect one of their 
 own members as speaker for that occasion. And if, during 
 the vacancy of the office of governor, the lieutenant- 
 governor shall be impeached, removed from office, refuse 
 to qualify, resign, die, or be absent from the state, the 
 speaker of the senate shall, in like manner, administer 
 the government : Provided, that whenever a vacancy 
 shall occur in the office of governor, before the first two 
 years of the term shall have expired, a new election for 
 governor shall take place to fill such vacancy. 
 
 19. The lieutenant-governor, or speaker pro tempore 
 of the senate, while he acts as speaker of the senate, shall 
 receive for his services the same compensation which shall, 
 for the same period, be allowed to the speaker of the 
 house of representatives, and no more j and during the 
 time he administers the government, as governor, shall re 
 ceive the same compensation which the governor would 
 have received had he been employed in the duties of his 
 office. 
 
 20. If the lieutenant-governor shall be called upon 
 to administer the government, and shall, while in such 
 administration, resign, die, or be absent from the state 
 during the recess of the general assembly, it shall be 
 the duty of the secretary of state, for the time-being, 
 to convene the senate for the purpose of choosing a 
 speaker. 
 
 21. The governor shall nominate, and, by and with 
 the advice and consent of the senate, appoint, a secretary 
 of state, who shall be commissioned during the term for 
 which the governor was elected, if he shall so long be 
 have himself well. He shall keep a fair register, and 
 attest all the official acts of the governor, and shall, when 
 required, lay the same, and all papers, minutes, and 
 Touchers relative thereto, before either house of the 
 
CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 23l 
 
 goneral assembly; and shall perform such other duties as 
 may be required of him by law. 
 
 22. Every bill which shall have passed both houses 
 shall be presented to the governor. If he approve, he 
 shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objec 
 tions, to the house in which it originated, who shall enter 
 the objections at large upon their journal, and proceed to 
 reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, a majority 
 of all the members elected to that house shall agree to 
 pass the bill, it shall be sent, with the objections, to the 
 other house, by which it shall likewise be considered, and 
 if approved by a majority of all the members elected to 
 that house, it shall be a law \ but in such cases the votes 
 of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and 
 the names of the members voting for and against the bill 
 shall be entered upon the journals of each house, re 
 spectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the 
 governor within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it 
 shall have been presented to him, it shall be a law, in 
 like manner as if he had signed it, unless the general 
 assembly, by their adjournment, prevent its return ; in 
 which case it shall be a law, unless sent back within three 
 days after their next meeting. 
 
 23. Every order, resolution, or vote, in which the 
 concurrence of both houses may be necessary, except 
 on a question of adjournment, shall be presented to the 
 governor, and, before it shall take effect, be approved by 
 him ; or, being disapproved, shall be repassed by a ma 
 jority of all the members elected to both houses, accord 
 ing to the rules and limitations prescribed in case of a 
 bill. 
 
 24. Contested elections for governor and lieutenant- 
 governor shall be determined by both houses of the gene 
 ral assembly, according to such regulations as may be 
 established by law. 
 
 25. A treasurer shall be elected by the qualified 
 voters of the state, for the term of two years; and an 
 auditor of public accounts, register of the land-office, and 
 attorney-general, for the term of four years. The duties 
 and responsibilities of these officers shall be prescribed by 
 law: Provided, that inferior state officers, not specially 
 
232 CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 
 
 provided for in this constitution, may be appointed, or 
 elected, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law, for 
 a term not exceeding four years. 
 
 26. The first election, under this constitution, for 
 governor, lieutenant-governor, treasurer, auditor of public 
 accounts, register of the land-office, and attorney-general, 
 shall be held on the first Monday in August in the year 
 1851. 
 
 ARTICLE 4. Concerning the Judicial Department. 
 
 1. The judicial power of this commonwealth, both as 
 to matters of law and equity, shall be vested in one 
 supreme court, (to be styled the court of appeals,) the 
 courts established by this constitution, and such courts, 
 inferior to the supreme court, as the general assembly 
 may, from time to time, erect and establish. 
 
 CONCERNING THE COURT OF APPEALS. 
 
 2. The court of appeals shall have appellate jurisdic 
 tion only, which shall be coextensive with the state, 
 under such restrictions and regulations, not repugnant to 
 this constitution, as may, from time to time, be prescribed 
 by law. 
 
 3. The judges of the court of appeals shall, after 
 their first term, hold their offices for eight years from 
 and after their election, and until their successors shall be 
 duly qualified, subject to the conditions hereinafter pre 
 scribed ] but for any reasonable cause, the governor shall 
 remove any of them on the address of two-thirds of each 
 house of the general assembly: Provided, however, that 
 the cause or causes for which such removal may be re 
 quired shall be stated at length in such address, and on 
 the journal of each house. They shall, at stated times, 
 receive for their services an adequate compensation, to be 
 fixed by law, which shall not be diminished during the 
 time for which they shall have been elected. 
 
 4. The court of appeals shall consist of four judges, 
 any three of whom may constitute a court for the transac 
 tion of business. The general assembly, at its first session 
 
CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 233 
 
 after the adoption of this constitution, shall divide the 
 state, by counties, into four districts, as nearly equal in 
 voting population, and with as convenient limits as may 
 be, in each of which the qualified voters shall elect one 
 judge of the court of appeals : Provided, that whenever 
 a vacancy shall occur in said court, from any cause, the 
 general assembly shall have the power to reduce the num 
 ber of judges and districts ; but in no event shall there 
 be less than three judges and districts. Should a change 
 in the number of the judges of the court of appeals be 
 made, the term of office and number of districts shall be 
 so changed as to preserve the principle of electing one 
 judge every two years. 
 
 5. The judges shall, by virtue of their offices, be con 
 servators of the peace throughout the state. The style 
 of all process shall be, " The Commonwealth of Ken 
 tucky." All prosecutions shall be carried on in the name 
 and by the authority of the commonwealth of Kentucky, 
 and conclude " against the peace and dignity of the same." 
 
 6. The judges first elected shall serve as follows, to 
 wit : one shall serve until the first Monday in August, 
 1852 j one until the first Monday in August, 1854 ; one 
 until the first Monday in August, 1856; and one until the 
 first Monday in August, 1858. The judges, at the first 
 term of the court succeeding their election, shall deter 
 mine, by lot, the length of time which each one shall 
 serve; and at the expiration of the service of each, an 
 election in the proper district shall take place to fill the 
 vacancy. The judge having the shortest time to serve 
 shall be styled the chief justice of Kentucky. 
 
 7. If a vacancy shall occur in said court from any 
 cause, the governor shall issue a writ of election to the 
 proper district to fill such a vacancy for the residue of the 
 term : Provided, that if the unexpired term be less than 
 one year, the governor shall appoint a judge to fill such 
 vacancy. 
 
 8. No person shall be eligible to the office of judge 
 of the court of appeals, who is not a citizen of the United 
 States, a resident of the district for which he may be a 
 candidate two years next preceding his election, at least 
 thirty years of age, and who has not been a practising 
 45 
 
234 CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 
 
 lawyer eight years, or whose service upon the bench of 
 any court of record, when added to the time he may have 
 practised law, shall not be equal to eight years. 
 
 9. The court of appeals shall hold its sessions at the 
 seat of government, unless otherwise directed by law ; but 
 the general assembly may, from time to time, direct that 
 said court shall hold sessions in any one or more of said 
 districts. 
 
 10. The first election of the judges and clerk or 
 clerks of the court of appeals shall take place on the 
 second Monday in May, 1851, and thereafter, in each 
 district, as a vacancy may occur by the expiration of the 
 term of office; and the judges of the said court shall be 
 commissioned by the governor. 
 
 11. There shall be elected, by the qualified voters of 
 this state, a clerk of the court of appeals, who shall hold 
 his office, from the first election, until the first Monday in 
 August, 1858, and thereafter for the term of eight years 
 from and after his election ; and should the general assem 
 bly provide for holding the court of appeals in any one 
 or more of said districts, they shall also provide for the 
 election of a clerk by the qualified voters of such district, 
 who shall hold his office for eight years, possess the same 
 qualifications and be subject to removal in the same man 
 ner as the clerk of the court of appeals ; but if the gene 
 ral assembly shall, at its first or any other session, direct 
 the court of appeals to hold its sessions in more than one 
 district, a clerk shall be elected by the qualified voters of 
 such district. And the clefk, first provided for in this 
 section, shall be elected by the qualified voters of the 
 other district or districts. The same principle shall be 
 observed whenever the court shall be directed to hold its 
 sessions in either of the other districts. Should the num 
 ber of judges be reduced, the term of the office of clerk 
 shall be six years. 
 
 12. No person shall be eligible to the office of clerk 
 of the court of appeals, unless he be a citizen of the 
 United States, a resident of the state two years next pre 
 ceding his election, of the age of twenty-one years, and 
 have a certificate from a judge of the court of appeals, or 
 a judge of the circuit court, that he has been examined 
 
CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 235 
 
 by the clerk of his court, under his supervision, and 
 that he is qualified for the office for which he is a candi 
 date. 
 
 13. Should a vacancy occur in the office of clerk of 
 the court of appeals, the governor shall issue a writ of 
 election, and the qualified voters of the state, or of the 
 district in which the vacancy may occur, shall elect a 
 clerk of the court of appeals, to serve until the end of 
 the term for which such clerk was elected : Provided, that 
 when a vacancy shall occur from any cause, or the clerk 
 be under charges upon information, the judges of the 
 court of appeals shall have power to appoint a clerk pro 
 tern., to perform the duties of clerk until such vacancy 
 shall be filled or the clerk acquitted : And provided 
 further, that no writ of election shall issue to fill a vacancy 
 unless the unexpired term exceed one year. 
 
 14. The general assembly shall direct, by law, the 
 mode and manner of conducting and making due returns 
 to the secretary of state, of all elections of the judges and 
 clerk or clerks of the court of appeals, and of deter 
 mining contested elections of any of these officers. 
 
 15. The general assembly shall provide for an addi 
 tional judge or judges, to constitute, with the remaining 
 judge or judges, a special court for the trial of such cause 
 or causes as may, at any time, be pending in the court of 
 appeals, on the trial of which a majority of the judges can 
 not sit, on -account of interest in the event of the cause, or 
 on account of their relationship to either party, or when a 
 judge may have been employed in or decided the cause in 
 the inferior court. 
 
 CONCERNING THE CIRCUIT COURTS. 
 
 16. A circuit court shall be established in each 
 county now existing, or which may hereafter be erected, 
 in this commonwealth. 
 
 17. The jurisdiction of said court shall be and re 
 main as now established, hereby giving to the general 
 assembly the power to change or alter it. 
 
 18. The right to appeal or sue out a writ of error to 
 the court of appeals shall remain as it now exists, until 
 
236 CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 altered by law, hereby giving to the general assembly the 
 power to change, alter, or modify said right. 
 
 19. At the first session after the adoption of this con 
 stitution, the general assembly shall divide the state into 
 twelve judicial districts, having due regard to business, 
 territory, and population : Provided, that no county shall 
 be divided. 
 
 20. They shall, at the same time that the judicial 
 districts are laid off, direct elections to be held in each 
 district, to elect a judge for said district, and shall pre 
 scribe in what manner the election shall be conducted. 
 The first election of judges of the circuit court shall take 
 place on the second Monday in May, 1851, and after 
 wards on the first Monday in August, 1856, and on the 
 first Monday in August in every sixth year thereafter. 
 
 21. All persons qualified to vote for members of the 
 general assembly, in each district, shall have the right to 
 vote for judges. 
 
 22. No person shall be eligible as judge of ttie circuit 
 court who is not a citizen of the United States, a resident 
 of the district for which he may be a candidate two years 
 next preceding his election, at least thirty years of age, 
 and who has not been a practising lawyer eight years, or 
 whose service upon the bench of any court of record, 
 when added to the time he may have practised law, shall 
 not be equal to eight years. 
 
 23. The judges of the circuit court shall, after their 
 first term, hold their office for the term of six years from 
 the day of their election. They shall be commissioned 
 by the governor, and continue in office until their suc 
 cessors be qualified, but shall be removable from office in 
 the same manner as the judges of the court of appeals; 
 and the removal of a judge from his district shall vacate 
 his office. 
 
 24. The general assembly, if they deem it necessary, 
 may establish one additional district every four years ; but 
 the judicial districts shall not exceed sixteen, until the 
 population of this state shall exceed one million five hun 
 dred thousand. 
 
 25. The judges of the circuit courts shall, at stated 
 times, receive for their services an adequate compensation, 
 
CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 237 
 
 to be fixed by law, which shall be equal and uniform 
 throughout the state, and which shall not be diminished 
 during the time for which they were elected. 
 
 26. If a vacancy shall occur in the office of judge of 
 the circuit court, the governor shall issue a writ of election 
 to fill such vacancy for the residue of the term : Provided, 
 that if the unexpired term be less than one year, the 
 governor shall appoint a judge to fill such vacancy. 
 
 27. The judicial districts of this state shall not be 
 changed, except at the first session after an enumeration, 
 unless when a new district may be established. 
 
 28. The general assembly shall provide by law for hold 
 ing circuit courts, when, from any cause, the judge shall 
 fail to attend, or, if in attendance, cannot properly preside. 
 
 CONCERNING COUNTY COURTS. 
 
 29. A county court shall be established in each county 
 now existing, or which may hereafter be erected, within 
 this commonwealth, to consist of a presiding judge, and 
 two associate judges, any two of whom shall constitute a 
 court for the transaction of business : Provided, the general 
 assembly may at any time abolish the office of the associate 
 judges, whenever it shall be deemed expedient; in which 
 event they may associate with said court any or all of the 
 justices of the peace for the transaction of business. 
 
 30. The judges of the county court shall be elected 
 by the qualified voters in each county, for the term of four 
 years, and shall continue in office until their successors be 
 duly qualified, and shall receive such compensation for 
 their services as may be provided by law. 
 
 31. The first election of county court judges shall 
 take place at the same time of the election of judges of 
 the circuit court. The presiding judge first elected shall 
 hold his office until the first Monday in August, 1854. 
 The associate judges shall hold their offices until the first 
 Monday in August, 1852, and until their successors be 
 qualified ; and afterwards elections shall be held on the 
 first Mondays in August, in the years in which vacancies 
 regularly occur. 
 
 32. No person shall be eligible to the office of pre- 
 45* 
 
238 CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 siding or associate judge of the county court, unless he be 
 a citizen of the United States, over twenty-one years of 
 age, and shall have been a resident of the county in which 
 he shall be chosen one year next preceding the election. 
 
 33. The jurisdiction of the county court shall be re 
 gulated by law, and, until changed, shall be the same now 
 vested in the county courts of this state. 
 
 34. Each county in this state shall be laid off into 
 districts of convenient size, as the general assembly may, 
 from time to time, direct. Two justices of the peace shall 
 be elected in each district, by the qualified voters therein, 
 at such time and place as may be prescribed by law, for 
 the term of four years, whose jurisdiction shall be coex 
 tensive with the county : no person shall be eligible as a 
 justice of the peace, unless he be a citizen of the United 
 States, twenty-one years of age, and a resident of the 
 district in which he may be a candidate. 
 
 35. Judges of the county court, and justices of the 
 peace, shall be conservators of the peace. They shall be 
 commissioned by the governor. County and district officers 
 shall vacate their offices by removal from the district or 
 county in which they shall be appointed. The general 
 assembly shall provide, by law, the manner of conducting 
 and making due return of all elections of judges of the 
 county court and justices of the peace, and for determining 
 contested elections, and provide the mode of filling vacan 
 cies in ,these offices. 
 
 36. Judges of the county court and justices of the 
 peace, sheriffs, coroners, surveyors, jailers, county assessor, 
 attorney for the county, and constables, shall be subject 
 to indictment or presentment for malfeasance or misfeas 
 ance in office, or wilful neglect in the discharge of their 
 official duties, in such mode as may be prescribed by law, 
 subject to appeal to the court of appeals; and, upon con 
 viction, their offices shall become vacant. 
 
 37. The general assembly may provide, by law, that 
 the justices of the peace in each county shall sit at the 
 court of claims and assist in laying the county levy and 
 making appropriations only. 
 
 38. When any city or town shall have a separate 
 representation, such city or town, and the county in which 
 
CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 239 
 
 it is located, may have such separate municipal courts and 
 executive and ministerial officers as the general assembly 
 may, from time to time, provide. 
 
 39. The clerks of the court of appeals, circuit and 
 county courts, shall be removable from office by the court 
 of appeals, upon information and good cause shown. The 
 court shall be judges of the fact as well as the law. Two- 
 thirds of the members present must concur in the sentence. 
 
 40. The Louisville chancery court shall exist under 
 this constitution, subject to repeal, and its jurisdiction to 
 enlargement and modification by the general assembly. 
 The chancellor shall have the same qualifications as a 
 circuit court judge, and the clerk of said court as a clerk 
 of a circuit court, and the marshal of said court as a 
 sheriff; and the general assembly shall provide for the 
 election, by the qualified voters within its jurisdiction, of 
 the chancellor, clerk, and marshal of said court, at the 
 same time that the judge and clerk of the circuit court 
 are elected for the county of Jefferson, and they shall hold 
 their offices for the same time, and shall be removable in 
 the same manner: Provided, that the marshal of said 
 court shall be ineligible for the succeeding term. 
 
 41. The city court of Louisville, the Lexington city 
 court, and all other police courts established in any city 
 or town, shall remain, until otherwise directed by law, with 
 their present powers and jurisdictions; and the judges, 
 clerks, and marshals of such courts shall have the same 
 qualifications, and shall be elected by the qualified voters 
 of such cities or towns, at the same time, and in the same 
 manner, and hold their offices for the same term, as county 
 judges, clerks, and sheriffs, respectively, and shall be 
 liable to removal in the same manner. The general as 
 sembly may vest judicial powers, for police purposes, in 
 mayors of cities, police judges, and trustees of towns. 
 
 ARTICLE 5. Concerning Impeachments. 
 
 1. The house of representatives shall have the sole 
 power of impeachment. 
 
 2. All impeachments shall be tried by the senate. 
 When sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be upon 
 
240 CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 
 
 oath or affirmation. No person shall be convicted without 
 the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. 
 
 3. The governor and all civil officers shall be liable 
 to impeachment for any misdemeanor in office; but judg 
 ment in such cases shall not extend further than to re 
 moval from office, and disqualification to hold any office of 
 honor, trust, or profit, under this commonwealth; but the 
 party convicted shall, nevertheless, be subject and liable 
 to indictment, trial, and punishment by law. 
 
 ARTICLE 6. Concerning Executive and Ministerial 
 Officers for Counties and Districts. 
 
 1. A commonwealth s attorney for each judicial dis 
 trict, and a circuit court clerk for each county, shall be 
 elected, whose term of office shall be the same as that of 
 the circuit judges; also, a county court clerk, an attorney, 
 surveyor, coroner, and jailer, for each county, whose term 
 of office shall be the same as that of the presiding judge 
 of the county court. 
 
 2. No person shall be eligible to the offices mentioned 
 in this article, who is not at the time twenty-four years 
 old, (except clerks of county and circuit courts, sheriffs, 
 constables, and county attorneys, who shall be eligible at 
 the age of twenty-one years,) a citizen of the United States, 
 and who has not resided two years next preceding the 
 election, in the state, and one year in the county or dis 
 trict for which he is a candidate. No person shall be eli 
 gible to the office of commonwealth s or county attorney, 
 unless he shall have been a licensed practising attorney 
 for two years. No person shall be eligible to the office of 
 clerk unless he shall have procured from a judge of the 
 court of appeals, or a judge of the circuit court, a certifi 
 cate that he has been examined by the clerk of his court, 
 under his supervision, and that he is qualified for the 
 office for which he is a candidate. 
 
 3. The commonwealth s attorney and circuit court 
 clerk shall be elected at the same time as the circuit judge, 
 the commonwealth s attorney by the qualified voters of 
 the district, the circuit court clerk by the qualified voters 
 of the county. The county attorney, clerk, surveyor, 
 
CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 241 
 
 coroner, and jailer, shall be elected at the same time, and 
 in the same manner, as the presiding judge of the county 
 court. 
 
 4. A sheriff shall be elected in each county, by the 
 qualified voters thereof, whose term of office shall, after 
 the first term, be two years, and until his successor be 
 qualified ; and he shall be re-eligible for a second term ; 
 but no sheriff shall, after the expiration of the second 
 term, be re-eligible, or act as deputy, for the succeeding 
 term. The first election of sheriff shall be on the second 
 Monday in May, 1851; and the sheriffs then elected shall 
 hold their offices until the first Monday in January, 1853, 
 and until their successors be qualified ; and on the first 
 Monday in August, 1852, and on the first Monday of 
 August in every second year thereafter, elections for 
 sheriffs shall be held: Provided, that the sheriffs first 
 elected shall enter upon the duties of their respective 
 offices on the first Monday in June, 1851, and after the 
 first election on the first Monday in January next suc 
 ceeding their election. 
 
 5. A constable shall be elected in every justice s dis 
 trict, who shall be chosen for two years, at such time and 
 place as may be provided by law, whose jurisdiction shall 
 be coextensive with the county in which he may reside. 
 
 6. Officers for towns and cities shall be elected for 
 such terms, and in such manner, and with such qualifica 
 tions, as may be prescribed by law. 
 
 7. Vacancies in offices under this article shall be filled, 
 until the next regular election, in such manner as the 
 general assembly may provide. 
 
 8. When a new county shall be erected, officers for 
 the same, to serve until the next stated election, shall be 
 elected or appointed in- such way and at such times as 
 the general assembly may prescribe. 
 
 9. Clerks, sheriffs, surveyors, coroners, constables, 
 and jailers, and such other officers as the general assembly 
 may from time to time require, shall, before they enter 
 upon the duties of their respective offices, and as often 
 thereafter as may be deemed proper, give such bond and 
 security as shall be prescribed by law. 
 
 10. The general assembly may provide for the election 
 
242 CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 
 
 or appointment, for a term not exceeding four years, of 
 such other county or district ministerial and executive 
 officers as shall, from time to time, be necessary and 
 proper. 
 
 11. A county assessor shall be elected in each county 
 at the same time and for the same term that the presiding 
 judge of the county court is elected, until otherwise pro 
 vided for by law. He shall have power to appoint such 
 assistants as may be necessary and proper. 
 
 ARTICLE 7. Concerning the Militia. 
 
 1. The militia of this commonwealth shall consist of 
 all free, able-bodied male persons (negroes, rnulattoes, and 
 Indians excepted) resident in the same, between the ages 
 of eighteen and forty-five years; except such persons as 
 now are, or hereafter may be, exempted by the laws of the 
 United States or of this state; but those who belong to 
 religious societies whose tenets forbid them to carry arms 
 shall not be compelled to do so, but shall pay an equiva 
 lent for personal services. 
 
 2. The governor shall appoint the adjutant-general, 
 and his other staff-officers; the major-generals, brigadier- 
 generals, and commandants of regiments, shall, respect 
 ively, appoint their staff-officers; and commandants of 
 companies shall appoint their non-commissioned officers. 
 
 3. All militia officers, whose appointment is not herein 
 otherwise provided for, shall be elected by persons subject 
 to military duty, within their respective companies, bat 
 talions, regiments, brigades, and divisions, under such 
 rules and regulations, and for such terms, not exceeding 
 six years, as the general assembly may, from time to time, 
 direct and establish. 
 
 ARTICLE 8. General -Provisions, 
 
 1. Members of the general assembly, and all officers, 
 before they enter upon the execution of the duties of their 
 respective offices, and all members of the bar, before they 
 enter upon the practice of their profession, shall take the 
 following oath or affirmation : 1 do solemnly swear (or 
 
CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 243 
 
 affirm, as the case may be) that I will support the consti 
 tution of the United States, and the constitution of this 
 state, and be faithful and true to the commonwealth of 
 Kentucky, so long as I continue a citizen thereof, and 
 that I will faithfully execute, to the best of my abilities, 
 the office of , according to law; and I do further 
 
 solemnly swear (or affirm) that since the adoption of the 
 present constitution, I, being a citizen of this state, have 
 not fought a duel, with deadly weapons, within this state 
 nor out of it, with a citizen of this state, nor have I sent 
 or accepted a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons 
 with a citizen of this state ; nor have I acted as second in 
 carrying a challenge, or aided or assisted any person thus 
 offending : so help me God. 
 
 2. Treason against the commonwealth shall consist 
 only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its 
 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 his own confession in 
 open court. 
 
 3. Every person shall be disqualified from holding any 
 office of trust or profit for the term for which he shall 
 have been elected, who shall be convicted of having given 
 or offered any bribe or treat to procure his election. 
 
 4. Laws shall be made to exclude from office and from 
 suffrage those who shall thereafter be convicted of bribery, 
 perjury, forgery, or other crimes or high misdemeanors. 
 The privilege of free suffrage shall be supported by la\rs 
 regulating elections, and prohibiting, under adequate 
 penalties, all undue influence thereon from power, bribery, 
 tumult, or other improper practices. 
 
 5. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in 
 pursuance of appropriations made by law; nor shall any 
 appropriations of money for the support of an army be 
 made for a longer time than two years, and a regular state 
 ment and account of the receipts and expenditures of all 
 public money shall be published annually. 
 
 6. The general assembly may direct, by law, in what 
 manner, and in what courts, suits may be brought against 
 the commonwealth. 
 
 7. The manner of administering an oath or affirmation 
 
244 CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 
 
 shall be such as is most consistent with the conscience of 
 the deponent and shall be esteemed by the general assem 
 bly the most solemn appeal to God. 
 
 8. All laws which, on the first day of June, one thou 
 sand seven hundred and ninety-two, were in force in the 
 state of Virginia, and which are of a general nature, and 
 not local to that state, and not repugnant to this constitu 
 tion nor to the laws which have been enacted by the 
 general assembly of this commonwealth, shall be in force 
 within this state, until they shall be altered or repealed by 
 the general assembly. 
 
 9. The compact with the state of Virginia, subject to 
 such alterations as may be made therein agreeably to the 
 mode prescribed by the said compact, shall be considered 
 as part of this constitution. 
 
 10. It shall be the duty of the general assembly to 
 pass such laws as shall be necessary and proper to decide 
 differences by arbitrators, to be appointed by the parties 
 who may choose that summary mode of adjustment. 
 
 11. All civil officers for the commonwealth at large 
 shall reside within the state, and all district, county, or 
 town officers, within their respective districts, counties, or 
 towns, (trustees of towns excepted,) and shall keep their 
 offices at such places therein as may be required by law : 
 and all militia officers shall reside in the bounds of the 
 division, brigade, regiment, battalion, or company, to 
 which they may severally belong. 
 
 - 12. Absence on the business of this state, or the 
 United States, shall not forfeit a residence once obtained, 
 so as to deprive any one of the right of suffrage, or of 
 being elected or appointed to any office under this com 
 monwealth, under the exception contained in this consti 
 tution. 
 
 13. It shall be the duty of the general assembly to 
 regulate, by law, in what cases, and what deductions from 
 the salaries of public officers shall be made for neglect of 
 duty in their official capacity. 
 
 14. lleturns of all elections by the people shall be 
 made to the secretary of state for the time-being, except 
 in those cases otherwise provided for in this constitution, 
 or which shall be otherwise directed by law. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 245 
 
 15. In all elections by the people, and also by the 
 senate and house of representatives, jointly or separately, 
 the votes shall be personally and publicly given, viva voce: 
 Provided, that dumb persons, entitled to suffrage, may 
 vote by ballot. 
 
 16. All elections by the people shall be held between 
 the hours of six o clock in the morning and seven o clock 
 in the evening. 
 
 17. The general assembly shall, by law, prescribe the 
 time when the several officers authorized or directed by 
 this constitution to be elected or appointed shall enter 
 upon the duties of their respective offices, except where 
 the time is fixed by this constitution. 
 
 18. No member of congress, nor person holding or 
 exercising any office of trust or profit under the United 
 States, or either of them, or under any foreign power, 
 shall be eligible as a member of the general assembly of 
 this commonwealth, or hold or exercise any office of trust 
 or profit under the same. 
 
 19. The general assembly shall direct, by law, how 
 persons who now are, or who may hereafter become, se 
 curities for public officers, may be relieved or discharged 
 on account of such securityship. 
 
 20. Any person who shall, after the adoption of this 
 constitution, either directly or indirectly, give, accept, or 
 knowingly carry a challenge to any person or persons, to 
 fight in single combat, with a citizen of this state, with 
 any deadly weapon, either in or out of the state, shall be 
 deprived of the right to hold any office of honor or profit 
 in this commonwealth, and shall be punished otherwise in 
 such manner as the general assembly may prescribe by 
 law. 
 
 21. The governor shall have power, after five years 
 from the time of the offence, to pardon all persons who 
 shall have in any wise participated in a duel, either as 
 principals, seconds, or otherwise, and to restore him or 
 them to all the rights, privileges, and immunities to which 
 he or they were entitled before such participation. And 
 upon the presentation of such pardon, the oath prescribed 
 in the first section of this article shall be varied to suit 
 the case. 
 46 
 
246 CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 22. At its first session after the adoption of this con 
 stitution the general assembly shall appoint not more than 
 three persons, learned in the law, whose duty it shall be 
 to revise and arrange the statute laws of this common 
 wealth, both civil and criminal, so as to have but one law 
 on any one subject; and also three other persons, learned 
 in the law, whose duty it shall be to prepare a code of 
 practice for the courts, both civil and criminal, in this 
 commonwealth, by abridging and simplifying the tules of 
 practice and laws in relation thereto; all of whom shall, 
 at as early a day as practicable, report the result of their 
 labors to the general assembly, for their adoption or modi 
 fication. 
 
 23. So long as the board of internal improvement 
 shall be continued, the president thereof shall be elected 
 by the qualified voters of this commonwealth, and hold 
 the office for the term of four years, and until another be 
 duly elected and qualified. The election shall be held at 
 the same time, and be conducted in the same manner, as 
 the election of governor of this commonwealth under this 
 constitution; but nothing herein contained shall prevent 
 the general assembly from abolishing said board of in 
 ternal improvement, or the office of president thereof. 
 
 24. The general assembly shall provide, by law, for 
 the trial of any contested election of auditor, register, 
 treasurer, attorney-general, judges of circuit courts, and 
 all other officers not otherwise herein specified. 
 
 25. The general assembly shall provide by law for the 
 making of the returns, by the proper officers, of the elec 
 tion of all officers to be elected under this constitution ; 
 and the governor shall issue commissions to the auditor, 
 register, treasurer, president of the board of internal im 
 provement, superintendent of public instruction, and such 
 other officers as he may be directed, by law, to commission, 
 as soon as he has ascertained the result of the election of 
 those officers respectively. 
 
 26. When a vacancy shall happen in the office of 
 attorney-general, auditor of public accounts, treasurer, 
 register of the land-office, president of the board of in 
 ternal improvement, or superintendent of public instruc 
 tion, the governor, in the recess of the senate, shall have 
 
CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 247 
 
 power to fill the vacancy by granting commissions which 
 shall expire at the end of the next session, and shall fill 
 the vacancy for the balance of the time by and with the 
 advice and consent of the senate. 
 
 ARTICLE 9. Concerning the Seat of Government. 
 
 The seat of government shall continue in the city of 
 Frankfort, until it shall be removed by law: Provided, 
 however, that two-thirds of all the members elected to 
 each house of the general assembly shall concur in the 
 passage of such law. 
 
 ARTICLE 10. Concerning Slaves. 
 
 1. The general assembly shall have no power to pass 
 laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent 
 of their owners, or without paying their owners, previous 
 to such emancipation, a full equivalent in money for the 
 slaves so emancipated, and providing for their removal 
 from the state. They shall have no power to prevent 
 immigrants to this state from bringing with them such 
 persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any of the 
 United States, so long as any person of the same age or 
 description shall be continued in slavery by the laws of 
 this state. They shall pass laws to permit owners of slaves 
 to emancipate them, saving the rights of creditors, and to 
 prevent them from remaining in this state after they are 
 emancipated. They shall have full power to prevent 
 slaves being brought into this state as merchandise. 
 They shall have full power to prevent slaves being brought 
 into this state, who have been, since the first day of 
 January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, or 
 may hereafter be, imported into any of the United States 
 from a foreign country. And they shall have full power 
 to pass such laws as maybe necessary to oblige the owners 
 of slaves to treat them with humanity; to provide for 
 them necessary clothing and provision; to abstain from 
 all injuries to them, extending to life or limb; and, in 
 case of their neglect or refusal to comply with the direc- 
 
248 CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 tions of such laws, to have such slave or slaves sold for 
 the benefit of their owner or owners. 
 
 2. The general assembly shall pass laws providing 
 that an} 7 free negro or mulatto hereafter immigrating to, 
 and any slave hereafter emancipated in and refusing to 
 leave, this state, or, having left, shall return and settle 
 within this state, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and 
 punished by confinement in the penitentiary thereof. 
 
 3. In the prosecution of slaves for felony, no inquest 
 by a grand jury shall be necessary; but the proceedings 
 in such prosecutions shall be regulated by law, except 
 that the general assembly shall have no power to deprive 
 them of the privilege of an impartial trial by a petit 
 jury. 
 
 ARTICLE 11. Concerning Education. 
 
 1. The capital of the fund called and known as the 
 "Common-School Fund/ consisting of one million two 
 hundred and twenty-five thousand seven hundred and 
 sixty-eight dollars and forty-two cents, for which bonds 
 have been executed by the state to the board of educa 
 tion, and seventy-three thousand five hundred dollars of 
 stock in the Bank of Kentucky also, the sum of fifty- 
 one thousand two hundred and twenty-three dollars and 
 twenty-nine cents, balance of interest on the school-fund 
 for the year 1848, unexpended, together with any sum 
 which may be hereafter raised in the state by taxation, or 
 otherwise, for the purposes of education, shall be held in 
 violate, for the purpose of sustaining a system of common 
 schools. The interest and dividends of said funds, together 
 with any sum which may be produced for that purpose by 
 taxation or otherwise, may be appropriated in aid of com 
 mon schools, but for no other purpose. The general as 
 sembly shall invest said fifty-one thousand two hundred 
 and twenty-three dollars and twenty-nine cents in some 
 safe and profitable manner; and any portion of the in 
 terest arid dividends of said school fund, or other money 
 or property raised for school purposes, which may not be 
 needed in sustaining common schools, shall be invested in 
 like manner. The general assembly shall make provision, 
 
CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 249 
 
 by law, for the payment of the interest of said school 
 fund : Provided, that each county shall be entitled to its 
 proportion of the income of said fund, and, if not called 
 for, for common-school purposes, it shall be reinvested 
 from time to time for the benefit of such county. 
 
 2. A superintendent of public instruction shall be 
 elected by the qualified voters of this commonwealth, at 
 the same time the governor is elected, who shall hold his 
 office for four years, and his duties and salary shall be 
 prescribed and fixed by law. 
 
 ARTICLE 12. Mode of Revising the Constitution. 
 
 1. When experience shall point out the necessity of 
 amending this constitution, and when a majority of all 
 the members elected to each house of the general as 
 sembly shall, within the first twenty days of any regular 
 session, concur in passing a law for taking the sense of 
 the good people of this commonwealth as to the necessity 
 and expediency of calling a convention, it shall be the 
 duty of the several sheriffs, and other officers of elections, 
 at the next general election which shall be held for repre 
 sentatives to the general assembly after the passage of 
 such law, to open a poll for, and make return to the 
 secretary of state for the time-being, of the names of all 
 those entitled to vote for representatives, who have voted 
 for calling a convention; and if, thereupon, it shall ap 
 pear that a majority of all the citizens of this state en 
 titled to vote for representatives have voted for calling a 
 convention, the general assembly shall, at their next 
 regular session, direct that a similar poll shall be opened, 
 and return made for the next election for representatives; 
 and if, thereupon, it shall appear that a majority of all 
 the citizens of this state entitled to vote for representa 
 tives have voted for calling a convention, the general 
 assembly shall, at their next session, pass a law calling a 
 convention, to consist of as many members as there shall 
 be in the house of representatives, and no more, to be 
 chosen on the first Monday in August thereafter, in the 
 game manner and proportion, and at the same places, and 
 possessed of the same qualifications of a qualified elector, 
 46* 
 
250 CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 by citizens entitled to vote for representatives; and to 
 meet within three months after their election, for the pur 
 pose of readopting, amending, or changing this constitu 
 tion ; but if it shall appear by the vote of either year, as 
 aforesaid, that a majority of all the citizens entitled to 
 vote for representatives did not vote for calling a conven 
 tion, a convention shall not then be called. And for the 
 purpose of ascertaining whether a majority of the citizens 
 entitled to vote for representatives did or did not vote for 
 calling a convention, as above, the general assembly pass 
 ing the law authorizing such vote shall provide for ascer 
 taining the number of citizens entitled to vote for repre 
 sentatives within the state. 
 
 2. The convention, when assembled, shall judge of 
 the election of its members and decide contested elections; 
 but the general assembly shall, in calling a convention, 
 provide for taking testimony in such cases and for issuing 
 a writ of election in case of a tie. 
 
 ARTICLE 13. Bill of Rights. 
 
 That the general, great, and essential principles of 
 liberty and free government may be recognised and esta 
 blished ; WE DECLARE, 
 
 1. That all freemen, when they form a social com 
 pact, are equal, and that no man, or set of men, are en 
 titled to exclusive, separate public emoluments or pri 
 vileges from the community, but in consideration of 
 public services. 
 
 2. That absolute, arbitrary power over the lives, 
 liberty, and property of freemen exists nowhere in a 
 republic, not even in the largest majority. 
 
 3. The right of property is before and higher than 
 any constitutional sanction; and the right of the owner 
 of a slave to such slave, and its increase, is the same, and 
 as inviolable, as the right of the owner of any property 
 whatever. 
 
 1. That all power is inherent in the people, and all 
 free governments are founded on their authority, and in 
 stituted for their peace, safety, happiness, security, and 
 the protection of property. For the advancement of these 
 
CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 251 
 
 ends, they have at all times an inalienable and indefeasible 
 right to alter, reform, or abolish their government in such 
 manner as they may think proper. 
 
 5. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right 
 to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of 
 their own consciences; that no man shall be compelled to 
 attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to main 
 tain any ministry, against his consent; that no human 
 authority ought, in any case whatever, to control or inter 
 fere with the rights of conscience; and that no preference 
 shall ever be given, by law, to any religious societies or 
 modes of worship. 
 
 6. That the civil rights, privileges, or capacities of 
 any citizen shall in no wise be diminished or enlarged on 
 account of his religion. 
 
 7. That all elections shall be free and equal. 
 
 8. That the ancient mode of trial by jury shall be 
 held sacred, and the right thereof remain inviolate, sub 
 ject to such modifications as may be authorized by this 
 constitution. 
 
 9. That printing-presses shall be free to every person 
 who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the gene 
 ral assembly, or any branch of government, and no law 
 shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof. The 
 free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of 
 the invaluable rights of man, and every citizen may freely 
 speak, write, and print on any subject, being responsible 
 for the abuse of that liberty. 
 
 10. In prosecutions for the publication of papers in 
 vestigating the official conduct of officers or men in a 
 public capacity, or where the matter published is proper 
 for public information, the truth thereof may be given in 
 evidence ; and in all indictments for libels, the jury shall 
 have a right to determine the law and the facts, under the 
 direction of the court, as in other cases. 
 
 11. That the people shall be secure in their persons, 
 houses, papers, and possessions, from unreasonable seizures 
 and searches, and that no warrant to search any place, or 
 to seize any person or thing, shall issue, without describ 
 ing them as nearly as may be, nor without probable cause, 
 supported by oath or affirmation. 
 
252 CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 
 
 12. That in all criminal prosecutions the accused 
 hath a right to be heard by himself and counsel ; to 
 demand the nature and cause of the accusation against 
 him ; to meet the witnesses face to face ; to have com 
 pulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and, 
 in prosecutions by indictment or information, a speedy 
 public trial by an impartial jury of the vicinage; that he 
 cannot be compelled to give evidence against himself; nor 
 can he be deprived of his life, liberty, or property, unless 
 by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the laud. 
 
 13. That no person shall, for any indictable offence, 
 be proceeded against criminally, by information, except in 
 cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia 
 when in actual service, in time of war or public danger, 
 or by leave of the court, for oppression or misdemeanor 
 in office. 
 
 14. No person shall, for the same offence, be twice 
 put in jeopardy of his life or limb; nor shall any man s 
 property be taken or applied to public use, without the 
 consent of his representatives, and without just compen 
 sation being previously made to him. 
 
 15. That all courts shall be open, and every person, 
 for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person, or 
 reputation, shall have remedy by the due course of law, 
 and right and justice administered, without sale, denial, 
 or delay. 
 
 16. That no power of suspending laws shall be exer 
 cised, unless by the general assembly or its authority. 
 
 17. That excessive bail shall not be required, nor 
 excessive fines imposed, nor cruel punishments inflicted. 
 
 18. That all prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient 
 securities, unless for capital offences, when the proof is 
 evident or presumption great ; and the privilege of the 
 writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when 
 in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may 
 require it. 
 
 19. That the person of a debtor, where there is not 
 strong presumption of fraud, shall not be continued 
 in prison after delivering up his estate for the benefit 
 of his creditors, in such manner as shall be prescribed by 
 law. 
 
CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 253 
 
 20. That no ex post facto law, nor any law impairing 
 contracts, shall be made. 
 
 21. That no person shall be attainted of treason or 
 felony by the general assembly. 
 
 22. That no attainder shall work corruption of blood, 
 nor, except during the life of the offender, forfeiture of 
 estate to the commonwealth. 
 
 23. That the estates of such persons as shall destroy 
 their own lives shall descend or vest as in case of natural 
 death; and, if any person shall be killed by casualty, 
 there shall be no forfeiture by reason thereof. 
 
 24. That the citizens have a right, in a peaceable 
 manner, to assemble together for their common good, and 
 to apply to those invested with the powers of government, 
 for redress of grievances, or other proper purposes, by 
 petition, address, or remonstrance. 
 
 25. That the rights of the citizens to bear arms ill 
 defence of themselves and the state shall not be ques 
 tioned ; but the general assembly may pass laws to pre 
 vent persons from carrying concealed arms. 
 
 26. That no standing army shall, in time of peace, 
 be kept up, without the consent of the general assembly; 
 and the military shall, in all cases and at all times, be in 
 strict subordination to the civil power. 
 
 27. That no soldier shall, in time of peace, be 
 quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; 
 nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by 
 law. 
 
 28. That the general assembly shall not grant any 
 title of nobility or hereditary distinction, nor create any 
 office the appointment to which shall be for a longer time 
 than for a term of years. 
 
 29. That emigration from the state shall not be 
 prohibited. 
 
 80. To guard against transgressions of the high 
 powers which we have delegated, WE DECLARE that 
 every thing in this article is excepted out of the general 
 powers of government, and shall forever remain in 
 violate ; and that all laws contrary thereto, or contrary to 
 this constitution, shall be void. 
 
254 CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 SCHEDULE. 
 
 That no inconvenience may arise from the alterations 
 and amendments made in the constitution of this com 
 monwealth, and in order to carry the same into complete 
 operation, it is hereby declared and ordained : 
 
 1. That all the laws of this commonwealth in force 
 at the time of the adoption of this constitution, and not 
 inconsistent therewith, and all rights, actions, prosecu 
 tions, claims, and contracts, as well of individuals as of 
 bodies corporate, shall continue as if this constitution had 
 not been adopted. 
 
 2. The oaths of office herein directed to be taken may 
 be administered by any judge or justice of the peace, 
 until the general assembly shall otherwise direct. 
 
 3. No office shall be superseded by the adoption of 
 this constitution, but the laws of the state relative to the 
 duties of the several officers, legislative, executive, judicial, 
 and military, shall remain in full force, though the same 
 be contrary to this constitution, and the several duties 
 shall be performed by the respective officers of the state, 
 according to the existing laws, until the organization of 
 the government, as provided for under this constitution, 
 and the entering into office of the officers to be elected or 
 appointed under said government, and no longer. 
 
 4. It shall be the duty of the general assembly which 
 shall convene in the year 1850 to make an apportionment 
 of the representation of this state, upon the principle set 
 forth in this constitution; and, until the first apportion 
 ment shall be made as herein directed, the apportionment 
 of senators and representatives among the several districts 
 and counties in this state shall remain as at present fixed 
 by law : Provided, that on the first Monday in August, 
 1850, all senators shall go out of office, and on that day 
 sin election for senators and representatives shall be held 
 throughout the state, aiid those then elected shall hold 
 their offices for one year, and no longer : Provided, fur 
 ther, that at the elections to be held in the year 1850, 
 that provision in this constitution which requires voters 
 
CONSTITUTION OP KENTUCKY. 255 
 
 to vote in the precinct within which they reside shall not 
 apply. 
 
 5. All recognisances heretofore taken, or which may 
 be taken before the organization of the judicial depart 
 ment under this constitution, shall remain as valid as 
 though this constitution had not been adopted, and may 
 be prosecuted in the name of the commonwealth. All 
 criminal prosecutions and penal actions which have arisen, 
 or may arise before the reorganization of the judicial de 
 partment under this constitution, may be prosecuted to 
 judgment and execution, in the name of the common 
 wealth. 
 
 " We, the representatives of the freemen of Kentucky, 
 in convention assembled, in their name, and by the 
 authority of the commonwealth of Kentucky, and in 
 virtue of the powers vested in us as delegates from the 
 counties respectively affixed to our names, do ordain and 
 proclaim the foregoing to be the constitution of the com 
 monwealth of Kentucky from and after this day. 
 
 " Done at Frankfort this eleventh day of June, in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty, 
 and in the fifty-ninth year of the commonwealth." 
 
 JAMES GUTHRIE, 
 
 President of the Convention, 
 and member from the city of Louisville. 
 
 THE END. 
 
JAN 4 1963 
 
M316027