labor in any State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, shall
escape therefrom, the party to whom such service or labor may be due,
his, her, or their agent or attorney, may apply to any court of record
therein, or judge thereof in vacation, and make satisfactory proof to
such court, or judge in vacation, of the escape aforesaid, and that the
person escaping owed service or labor to such party. Whereupon the court
shall cause a record to be made of the matters so proved, and also a
general description of the person so escaping with such convenient
certainty as may be; and a transcript of such record, authenticated by
the attestation of the clerk and of the seal of the said court, being
produced in any other State, Territory, or district in which the person
so escaping may be found, and being exhibited to any judge,
commissioner, or other officer authorized by the law of the United
States to cause persons escaping from service or labor to be delivered
up, shall be held and taken to be full and conclusive evidence of the
fact of the escape, and that the service or labor of the person escaping
is due to the party in such record mentioned. And upon the production by
the said party of other and further evidence if necessary, either oral
or by affidavit, in addition to what is contained in the said record of
the identity of the person escaping, he or she shall be delivered up to
the claimant. And the said court, commissioner, judge, or other person
authorized by this act to grant certificates to claimants of fugitives,
shall, upon the production of the record and other evidences aforesaid,
grant to such claimant a certificate of his right to take any such
person identified and proved to be owing service or labor as aforesaid,
which shall authorize such claimant to seize or arrest and transport
such person to the State or Territory from which he escaped. _Provided_,
That nothing herein contained shall be construed as requiring the
production of a transcript of such record as evidence as aforesaid. But
in its absence the claim shall be heard and determined upon other
satisfactory proofs, competent in law.
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
ADOPTED MARCH 6, 1820.
_An Act to authorize the People of the Missouri Territory to form a
Constitution and State Government, and for the Admission of such
State into the Union on an equal Footing with the original States,
and to prohibit Slavery in certain Territories._
(All the previous sections of this act relate entirely to the
formation of the Missouri Territory in the usual form of
territorial bills, the 8th section only relating to the slavery
question.)
_And be it further enacted_, That in all that Territory ceded by France
to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of
thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, not included
within the limits of the State contemplated by their act, slavery and
involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes,
whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be, and is
hereby, forever prohibited. _Provided always_, That any person escaping
into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed, in any
State or Territory of the United States, such fugitive may be lawfully
reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or
service as aforesaid.
THE STATES OF THE UNION.
The following is a list of the States constituting the Union, with the
dates of their admission. The thirty-six stars in our national flag are
therefore designated as under:
Delaware Dec. 7, 1787.
Pennsylvania Dec. 12, 1787.
New Jersey Dec. 13, 1787.
Georgia Jan. 2, 1788.
Connecticut Jan. 9, 1788.
Massachusetts Feb. 6, 1788.
Maryland April 28, 1788.
South Carolina May 23, 1788.
N. Hampshire June 21, 1788.
Virginia June 26, 1788.
New York July 26, 1788.
N. Carolina Nov. 21, 1789.
Rhode Island May 29, 1790.
Vermont March 4, 1791.
Kentucky June 1, 1792.
Tennessee June 1, 1796.
Ohio Nov. 29, 1802.
Louisiana April 8, 1812.
Indiana Dec. 11, 1816.
Mississippi Dec. 16, 1817.
Illinois Dec. 3, 1818.
Alabama Dec. 14, 1819.
Maine March 15, 1820.
Missouri Aug. 10, 1821.
Arkansas June 15, 1836.
Michigan Jan. 26, 1837.
Florida March 3, 1845.
Texas Dec. 29, 1845.
Iowa Dec. 28, 1846.
Wisconsin May 29, 1848.
California Sept. 9, 1850.
Minnesota Dec., 1857.
Oregon Dec., 1858.
Kansas March, 1862.
West Virginia Feb., 1863.
Nevada Oct., 1864.
INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.
FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, DELIVERED 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 received on the fourteenth 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
rendered 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 other 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 despondence one who,
inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and unpracticed in the
duties of civil administration, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his
own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions, all I dare aver is, that
it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just
appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I
dare hope is, that if, in executing this task, I have been too much
swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by any
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 of the partiality
with which they originated.
Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience 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 consecrate 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 homage 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 acknowledge 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 important 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 without some return of pious
gratitude along with a humble anticipation of the future blessings which
the past seem 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 thinking 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 the duty
of the President "to recommend to your consideration such measures as he
shall judge necessary 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 in defining your powers designates the objects to
which your 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 that as
on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views, no
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 affections 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 indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between
duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and
magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of the 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 entrusted 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 exercise of
the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution
is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of the
objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree
of inquietude which has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking
particular recommendations on this subject in which I could be guided by
no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to
my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good,
for I assure myself that while you carefully avoid every alteration
which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government,
or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence
for the characteristic rights of freemen, and a regard for the public
harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question,
how far the former can be more impregnably 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 Representatives. 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
arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my
duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From
this resolution I have in no instance departed, and being still under
the impressions 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 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 government 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 consultations, and the
wise measures on which the success of this government must depend.
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS.
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS--The period for a new election of a citizen
to administer the executive government of the United States not being
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 distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now
apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered
among the number of those out of whom a 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
diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful
respect for your past kindness, but am supported 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 your 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 retirement from which I had been
reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous
to the last election, had been led to the preparation of an address to
declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and
critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous
advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the
idea.
I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal,
no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the
sentiment of duty or propriety; and am persuaded, whatever partiality
may be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of
our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.
The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were
explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will
only say, that I have with good intentions contributed toward the
organization and administration of the government the best exertions of
which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the
outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience, in my own
eyes--perhaps still more in the eyes of others--has strengthened the
motives to diffidence 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 intended to terminate the
career of my public life, my feelings do not 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 manifesting my inviolable
attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness
unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these
services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an
instructive example in our annals, that, under circumstances in which
the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead; amid
appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune 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. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall
carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows
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 the adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to
it.
Here, perhaps, I ought to stop; but a solicitude for your welfare,
which can not 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 solemn 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 felicity as a people. These will be afforded to you
with the more freedom, as you can only see them in the disinterested
warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive
to bias his counsel; nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your
indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar
occasion.
Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts,
no recommendation of mine is necessary 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 a main pillar in the edifice of
your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your
peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty
which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to forsee that from
different causes and from different quarters much pains will be taken,
many artifices employed, 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 happiness; that
you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it,
accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of
your political safety and prosperity; 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
together 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 affections. 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 principles. You have, in a common cause, fought
and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the
work of joint counsels and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings,
and successes.
But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to
your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more
immediately to your interest; here every portion of our country finds
the most commanding 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 government, finds, in the productions of the
latter, great additional resources of maritime and commercial
enterprise, and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South,
in the same intercourse, benefiting by the 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 navigation, 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,
and, in the progressive improvement of interior communication, by land
and water, will more and more find, a valuable vent for the commodities
which it brings from abroad or manufactures at home. The West derives
from the East supplies requisite for its growth and comfort, and, what
is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must, of necessity, owe the
secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the
weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side
of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one
nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential
advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength or from an
apostate and unnatural connection 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 parts combined can not fail to
find, in the united mass of means and efforts, greater strength, greater
resource, proportionably 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 countries, 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, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those
over-grown military establishments, which, under any form of government,
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 the main prop of your liberty, and
that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the
other.