tone with them just when they had learned their strength. In the
year 1764 that government, plunged in debt by its long wars with the
continental powers, (it amounted to $700,000,000,) and on the plea that
the colonies who had been protected, should bear a fair share of the
pecuniary burden, determined to impose taxes on them. Previously they had
restricted their commerce to English ports, had laid duties on various
imports, and assumed authority to change the governments of the colonies
without their consent. This had produced much dissatisfaction, but had
no further immediate effect than to lead them to remonstrance, evasion,
or legal resistance. The proposal to lay _internal taxes_ was quite
another affair. Submission to this they thought would be fatal to their
liberties. They resisted with general moderation, respectfully, but with
determined resolution.
The British ministry were provoked by this resistance, holding it to
be rebellion; and determined to put it down, by force, if need be.
The struggle continued for ten years with growing obstinacy on either
side. The home government was exceedingly obtuse or it would have
either proceeded to extremes at once or yielded the whole case, as it
finally determined to do in 1776, when it was too late. In this period
of lively discussion, and of organization to secure the strength of
union in resistance, the separate colonies were gradually moulded
into a nation, imbued with common sympathies and ideas, and moved by
common interests. They had not thought of independence during all this
preliminary struggle. The war had lasted a year before that idea became
prominent. That was not, even then, regarded as an _end_, so much as
an indispensable _means_ to secure their liberties. Thus we see that
no taint of _conspiracy_ attached to the revolutionary struggle. The
colonies were thoroughly loyal, until loyalty came to mean loss of
liberty, and the rights enjoyed by Englishmen in England. The exercise
of arbitrary power they felt it right to resist; but they exhausted all
other modes and means of resistance before they resorted to arms.
They did not even make a first attack. They waited till armies were sent
to subjugate them, and until those armies commenced the attack; then the
whole country rose in the stern resolve to right their wrongs.
1763.
The Peace of Paris was signed in February of this year. July 7th began
“Pontiac’s War,” with the simultaneous attack on all the forts in the
peninsula of Michigan, and the whole frontier of Pennsylvania and
Virginia. Pontiac was an Ottawa chief, of great ability, and had drawn
many Indian tribes into the war. It was virtually ended in September of
the same year.
1764.
April 5.—“The Sugar Act” was passed in the English
Parliament. This levied duties on coffee, pimento, French and
East India goods, and forbade iron and lumber to be exported
except to England. It was for the avowed purpose of raising
a revenue, and raised instead a storm of indignation. The
Massachusetts House of Representatives said: “If we are taxed
and not represented, we are slaves.”
1765.
Feb. 27—Was passed the obnoxious Stamp Act. Also the military
law was made to authorize the ministry to send any number of
troops to the colonies, for whom the colonists were to find
“quarters, fire-wood, bedding, drink, soap, and candles.”
May 29—Patrick Henry introduced five “Resolutions” into
the Virginia House of Burgesses, claiming for Virginians
the rights of British subjects; that only their own
representatives could lawfully tax them; declaring the
attempt to vest that power in any other hands subversive of
both British and American liberty.
Sept. 1—The Pennsylvania Assembly passed similar resolutions.
Oct. 7—A congress of delegates, or committees, from nine
colonies, met in New York. It was the first Continental
Congress. Its spirit harmonized with that of Massachusetts,
Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and its “Declaration of Rights
and Grievances” was cordially approved by all the colonial
assemblies.
1766.
Mar. 29—The Stamp Act could not be enforced in America, and
it was repealed by Parliament; but the repeal was followed by
another act asserting the power and right of Parliament “to
bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever.” Thus yielding the
_thing_ and asserting the _principle_, they both strengthened
the colonies by a sense of their power, and exasperated them
by a total denial of their Declaration of Rights.
May—Yet their triumph filled the colonies with joy, and
gratitude toward the King and their English friends. Virginia
voted the King a statue.
1767.
June—But their exultation was short-lived. In this year taxes
were levied on tea, paints, paper, glass, and lead. This led
to the determination, on the part of the colonies, to pay no
more taxes or duties at all.
Oct. 28—The Governor of Massachusetts having refused to
call the General Court (or legislative body of the colony)
together, a public meeting was held and resolutions passed
to encourage “economy, industry, and manufactures,” and a
committee appointed to get subscribers to an agreement to
discontinue the importation of British goods not absolute
necessaries. This was imitated in other colonies.
1768.
Feb. 11—Massachusetts General Court issues a general circular
to other colonial assemblies, inviting coöperation for the
defense of colonial rights. Those bodies mostly gave cordial
replies. This General Court having
July—been dissolved, the new one being called on to rescind
this circular, refused by a vote of ninety-two to seventeen.
These seventeen became the butt of public scorn.
Sept. 12—Four regiments of British troops ordered to Boston.
” 22—The governor had been desired, by a Boston “town
meeting,” to call a General Court. He refused, and the
“meeting” issued a call for delegates from the towns to
a colonial convention. More than a hundred towns were
represented in the convention meeting this day. Their main
effort was to vindicate the
” 28—colony from the charge of a rebellious spirit. The day
after this meeting adjourned two regiments of British troops
arrived in Boston.
1769.
Jan’y—Parliament severely censures all the colonial acts, and
directs that persons arrested in the colonies for treason be
sent to England, to be tried.
May—The Virginia Assembly take strong ground against this,
and agree with the Massachusetts Convention.
” 31—The Massachusetts General Court assembles, but refuses
to transact business in the midst of an armed force. After
long contest with them the Governor adjourned them to
Cambridge.
June 13—Required to support the troops, they respectfully
and temperately, but firmly, refuse, and decline to vote any
supplies for government till their grievances are redressed.
July 15—All the colonies manifest the same spirit.
1770.
Mar. 5—The indignation of Boston at the presence of troops
breaks out into an affray. The troops fire on the citizens.
Three are killed and five wounded. It was called the “Boston
Massacre.”
April—British Parliament repeals the last tax on all articles
but tea. The non-importation agreements had exerted a great
influence in promoting economy, encouraging manufactures, and
bringing “home-made” into fashion. The graduating class in
Harvard College took their degrees in “home-spun” this year.
1771.
Throughout this year the same disputes were maintained
between the governors and colonial legislatures as formerly;
but as the home government did not push the struggle to an
issue, there was comparative quiet, but no yielding.
1772.
June 10—The Gaspe, a British revenue schooner, burned by a
party from Providence, Rhode Island. Parliament offers six
hundred pounds sterling and a pardon to any accomplice who
will confess and give up the offenders. They were well known
by colonists, but no legal evidence could ever be obtained.
Oct. 28—A committee appointed in Boston to state the rights
of the colonists and correspond with other sections on this
subject. They publish an address, which is extensively
circulated. Franklin, agent for the colonies in England,
republishes it there.
1773.
March—This address led to the first measures for a political
union of the colonies.
July—The British ministry attempt to import tea into the
colonies.
Oct. 2—The people of Philadelphia declare that any one who
shall “aid or abet in unloading, receiving, or vending the
tea is an enemy to his country.”
Nov. 3—The Boston consignees required by the people to
resign. They refuse.
” 5-19—A legal town meeting takes them in hand, and at length
they resign.
Dec’r—Three ships loaded with tea having arrived, the
people labor for near a month to have them sent back. Not
succeeding, the cargoes are all emptied into the sea.
1774.
Mar. 25—Parliament retaliated by the “Boston Port Bill,”
closing it to commerce.
May 13-20—Meetings held in the principal cities to consider
the state of affairs, recommended the assembly of a
Continental Congress. This body was appointed in all the
provinces but Georgia. There were fifty-three delegates.
Sept. 4—These assemble at Philadelphia, and Peyton Randolph,
of Virginia, is chosen President. They publish a “Declaration
of Colonial Rights.” They agree on fourteen articles as the
basis of an “American Association” to support these rights.
This body was henceforth the real government, all their
directions being obeyed by the people. They completed the
organization of the Union and took preliminary measures for
defense in case of attack.
1775.
Feb. 1—Lord Chatham introduced a bill in Parliament which
might have accommodated all differences, but it was treated
with great discourtesy. Parliament determines to humble and
subdue the colonies.
April 19—Battle of Lexington. General Gage sends eight
hundred British troops to destroy some colonial military
stores at Concord, twenty miles from Boston. The “minute
men” assembled at Lexington, are fired on and dispersed. The
troops march to Concord, destroy the stores, and hastily
retreat before the gathering minute men, who assail them on
all sides. They would have been completely destroyed but for
a timely reinforcement at Lexington of nine hundred men and
two cannon. The loss of British killed and wounded was nearly
three hundred; of the provincials eighty-five. Boston is
immediately beleagured by some twenty thousand minute men.
” 22—Massachusetts Legislature assembles. It sends
depositions, proving that the soldiers fired first, to
England, with an address to the English people, declaring
that they will “die or be free.” This body voted a levy of
thirteen thousand men for the protection of the colony.
May 10—The second Continental Congress assembled at
Philadelphia.
Colonels Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold surprise the
fortress of Ticonderoga, on Lake George, New York. Its small
force of three officers and forty-four privates cannot defend
it, and they surrender without fighting. Crown Point, on Lake
Champlain, is occupied without resistance.
Peyton Randolph again chosen President of Congress.
” 24—Peyton Randolph being called home, John Hancock, of
Massachusetts, is chosen President of Congress.
” 25—Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, with large British
reinforcements, arrived at Boston.
June 15—George Washington unanimously chosen
commander-in-chief of the Continental forces.
” 17—The battle of Bunker Hill (or Breed’s Hill), near
Boston. The British were twice repulsed, with great loss,
when the ammunition of the Americans failing, they retreated
in safety. British loss over one thousand; American, four
hundred and fifty. British forces engaged, three thousand;
American, less than fifteen hundred. The British commander
burned Charlestown during the battle. General Warren,
American, was killed.
” 23—Congress issue bills of credit for $2,000,000.
” 30—Articles of War are agreed to in Congress.
July 8—A last petition to the King is sent by Richard Penn,
grandson of William Penn.
” 17—Another million dollars in bills of credit is issued.
The liability for these was distributed among the Colonies.
” 26—Benjamin Franklin appointed first Postmaster General.
Aug. 30—General Schuyler embarks on Lake Champlain, for an
expedition against Canada. He leaves the command with General
Montgomery. Early in September General Arnold starts with
eleven hundred men to Canada by Maine.
Sept. 24—Ethan Allen is taken prisoner, near Montreal.
Oct. 18—Falmouth (now Portland, Maine) burned by the British.
” 22—Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, died. He was the first
President of Congress.
Nov. 3—Montgomery captures St. Johns, Canada.
” 13—Montreal surrendered to the Americans under Montgomery.
” 20—$3,000,000 more in bills of credit issued by Congress,
payable in eight years.
Dec. 7—Lord Dunmore, British Governor of Virginia, defeated
near Norfolk, Virginia.
” 13—A navy of thirteen vessels created by Congress. Letters
of marque and reprisal granted.
” 21—The British Parliament pass a bill declaring all
American vessels and goods, and those of all persons trading
with them, a lawful prize, and authorizing the impressment
of American sailors into the royal navy, where they might be
required to fight against their own cause and friends.
” 31—General Montgomery and Colonel Arnold make an
unsuccessful attack on Quebec. Montgomery is killed, Arnold
wounded, and four hundred men killed, wounded, or taken
prisoners. Arnold withdrew, but kept Quebec blockaded through
the winter.
1776.
Jan. 1—Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, ravages the
coast and burns Norfolk, but is obliged to fly to Bermuda.
” 20—Georgia prepares to join the other twelve colonies.
Feb. 4—McIntosh, with an American force, destroys several
vessels loading for England, near Savannah, Georgia.
” 17—Four millions more of paper money issued by Congress.
March 4—Washington fortifies Dorchester Heights, overlooking
Boston, which renders it untenable by the British.
” 10—The inhabitants and merchants of Boston plundered of
their lighter property by the British army.
” 17—The British embark for Halifax, and Washington occupies
the town.
” 18—Sir Archibald Campbell sails into Boston, and his whole
force of seventeen hundred men are taken prisoners.
” 23—Congress declares all British vessels a lawful prize.
April 26—Washington removes his army to New York.
May 3—Sir Peter Parker, with ten ships of war and seven
regiments, joins the force from Boston under General Clinton,
at Cape Fear.
” 15—Congress declared that all authority under the British
crown ought to be totally suppressed and government conducted
by colonial representatives alone. This was only an
expression of their sense of the danger to their interests
and liberties of allowing British agents to act.
June 7—Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, moved the Declaration
of Independence.
” 8—American army in Canada, under General Sullivan, make
an unsuccessful attack on the enemy. They are pressed by
superior numbers, and retreat in good order, though with a
loss of one thousand men prisoners, out of Canada, losing all
their conquests.
” 11—Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson, John Adams,
Benjamin Franklin, and Robert R. Livingston a committee to
prepare the Declaration of Independence.
” 28—British fleet attack Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan’s
Island, near Charleston, South Carolina, but were defeated
with loss of two hundred men, one vessel, and death of Lord
Campbell, the ex-royal Governor.
July 4—_Declaration of Independence_ by the Congress at
Philadelphia.
CHAPTER V.
FORMATION OF THE ORIGINAL UNION.
“The Boston Tea Party” provoked the English Parliament into passing
“The Boston Port Bill,” closing that city to commerce. This act led to
immediate measures for assembling delegates, representing twelve colonies
in North America (Georgia, only, was not represented), for the purpose
of consultation on the measures required for the protection of colonial
rights. This body, called “The Continental Congress,” assembled in
Philadelphia, September 5, 1774. It drew up a “Declaration of Colonial
Rights;” and, for the purpose of enforcing them, agreed to accept as
a basis of common action fourteen articles, known as “The American
Association.”
This was the origin of the American Union. Though it did not assume
organic political power, and its ordinances were only advisory in form,
it was better obeyed than most governments. Arrangements were made for
another Congress in May following. Its day of meeting was hastened by the
battle of Lexington, and it immediately proceeded to assume the powers
of a General Government, at the request of _some_ of the provincial
Legislatures, and with the tacit consent of _all_. It received its
authority from its representative character; from the imperious necessity
of a head to organize and direct; and from the voluntary obedience
rendered to its mandates. It performed all the functions of a government
until all prospect of reconciliation with Great Britain was lost, when,
June 11, 1776, a committee was appointed to prepare “A Declaration of
Independence.” This was adopted and signed July 4, 1776.
On the 12th of July, a committee of one from each State reported on the
terms of confederation, and the powers of Congress; but differences of
opinion, and the pressure of military affairs prevented action on it. On
the 9th of September, 1776, the name “United Colonies of America” was
discarded for that of “United States of America.” Georgia had appointed
delegates on the 4th of July, so that there were “Thirteen United States.”
On Saturday, November 15, 1777, “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual
Union of the United States of America” were agreed to in Congress, and
sent to the States for approval. Eight of the State Legislatures had
ratified these articles on the 9th of July, 1778; one ratified July 21st;
one July 24th; one November 26th, of this year; one February 22d, 1779;
and the last, March 1, 1781.
This document was little more than a digest of the powers before assumed
by Congress, and tacitly acknowledged by the States from the commencement
of the war. This, now legal, bond had existed before as a free, though
unspoken, submission to the dictates of prudence and patriotism.
CHAPTER VI.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
This immortal state paper—“the general effusion of the soul of the
country” at the imperiled state of liberty, and of the rights of
Englishmen—was given to the world on the 4th of July, 1776. The war of
the Revolution had been raging more than a year, and many of the leading
minds of the country had been actuated by the hope that their wrongs
would be redressed, and the mother country and her colonies reconciled.
The course of events had convinced them, however, that there would be no
redress, and that no reconciliation was possible other than that based on
a slavish surrender of rights and privileges dear to free men.
And hence a more decided course was approved by the people, and finally
adopted by their delegates in Congress, on the 2d day of July, 1776.
This resolution changed the old thirteen British colonies into free and
independent States. And now it remained to set forth the reason for this
act, together with the principles that should govern this new people.
By this declaration the new Republic, as it took its place among the
powers of the world, proclaimed its faith in the truth, reality, and
unchangeableness of freedom and virtue. And the astonished nations, as
they read that all men are created equal, started out of their lethargy,
like those who have been exiled from childhood when they suddenly hear
the dimly remembered accents of their mother tongue.
THE 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 inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any
form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the
right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
a new government, laying its foundation on such 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 by abolishing
the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train
of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object,
evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is
their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, and
to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been
the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the
necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems
of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain
is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having
in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over
these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid
world:
He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and
necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till
his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has
utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of
large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish
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 unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository 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 dissolution, to
cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers,
incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large
for their exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime,
exposed to all the danger of invasion from without, and
convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States;
for that purpose, obstructing the laws for naturalization
of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their
migration hither, and raising the conditions of new
appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing
his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
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.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies,
without the consent of our legislature.
He has affected to render the military independent of, and
superior to, the civil power.
He has combined with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction
foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws;
giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation.
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any
murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these
States:
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by
jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended
offenses:
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring
province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and
enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example
and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into
these colonies:
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable
laws, and altering fundamentally, the powers of our government:
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 work of death, desolation, and
tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and
perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and
totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the
high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become
the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall
themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has
endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the
merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for
redress, in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions
have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose
character is thus marked by every act which may define a
tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren.
We have warned them from time to time, of attempts made by
their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction
over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of
our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to
their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured
them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these
usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections
and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of
justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the
necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we
hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS assembled, appealing to the
Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions,
do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of
these colonies, solemnly publish and declare: That these United
Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT
STATES; that they are absolved 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
INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And, for the support of
this declaration, and in a firm reliance on the protection of
DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually pledge to each other our lives,
our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed,
and signed by the following members:
JOHN HANCOCK.
_New Hampshire._
JOSIAH BARTLETT,
WILLIAM WHIPPLE,
MATTHEW THORNTON.
_Rhode Island._
STEPHEN HOPKINS,
WILLIAM ELLERY.
_Connecticut._
ROGER SHERMAN,
SAMUEL HUNTINGTON,
WILLIAM WILLIAMS,
OLIVER WOLCOTT.
_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.
_Massachusetts Bay._
SAMUEL ADAMS,
JOHN ADAMS,
ROBERT TREAT PAINE,
ELBRIDGE GERRY.
_Delaware._
CÆSAR RODNEY,
GEORGE REED,
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, JUN.,
FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE,
CARTER BRAXTON.
_North Carolina._
WILLIAM HOOPER,
JOSEPH HEWES,
JOHN PENN.
_South Carolina._
EDWARD RUTLEDGE,
THOMAS HEYWOOD, JUN.,
THOMAS LYNCH, JUN.,
ARTHUR MIDDLETON.
_Georgia._
BUTTON GWINNETT,
LYMAN HALL,
GEORGE WALTON.
CHAPTER VII.
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION AND PERPETUAL UNION BETWEEN THE STATES.
_To all whom these Presents shall come, We, the undersigned Delegates of
the States affixed to our names, send greeting_—Whereas, the Delegates
of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, did, on the 15th
day of November, in the year of our Lord 1777, and in the Second Year of
the Independence of America, agree to certain Articles of Confederation
and Perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts
Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Georgia, in the words following, viz.:
_Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States of New
Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland,
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia._
ARTICLE 1. The style of this Confederacy shall be “The United States of
America.”
ART. 2. Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence,
and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this
confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress
assembled.
ART. 3. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of
friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of
their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves
to assist each other against all force offered to, or attacks made upon
them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any
other pretense whatever.
ART. 4. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and
intercourse among the people of the different States in this Union,
the free inhabitants of each of these States—paupers, vagabonds, and
fugitives from justice excepted—shall be entitled to all privileges and
immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the people of each
State shall have free ingress and egress to and from any other State, and
shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject
to the same duties, impositions, and restrictions, as the inhabitants
thereof respectively, provided that such restriction shall not extend so
far as to prevent the removal of property, imported into any State, to
any other State of which the owner is an inhabitant; provided, also, that
no imposition, duties, or restriction shall be laid by any State on the
property of the United States, or either of them.
If any person guilty of or charged with treason, felony, or other high
misdemeanor in any State, shall flee from justice, and be found in any of
the United States, he shall, upon demand of the Governor, or executive
power of the State from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the
State having jurisdiction of his offense.
Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these States, to the
records, acts, and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of
every other State.
ART. 5. For the more convenient management of the general interest of the
United States, Delegates shall be annually appointed, in such manner as
the legislature of each State shall direct, to meet in Congress on the
first Monday in November, in every year, with a power reserved to each
State, to recall its Delegates, or any of them, at any time within the
year, and to send others in their stead, for the remainder of the year.
No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor more than
seven members; and no person shall be capable of being a Delegate for
more than three years in any term of six years; nor shall any person,
being a Delegate, be capable of holding any office under the United
States, for which he, or another for his benefit, receives any salary,
fees or emolument of any kind.
Each State shall maintain its own Delegates in any meeting of the States,
and while they act as members of the Committee of the States.
In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, each
State shall have one vote.
Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or
questioned in any court or place, out of Congress, and the members
of Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and
imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from, and attendance
on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.
ART. 6. No State, without the consent of the United States in Congress
assembled, shall send an embassy to, or receive an embassy from, or
enter into any conference, agreement, alliance, or treaty with any King,
Prince, or State; nor shall any person holding any office of profit or
trust under the United States, or any of them, accept of any present,
emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever from any King, Prince,
or Foreign State; nor shall the United States in Congress assembled, or
any of them, grant any title of nobility.
No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or
alliance whatever between them, without the consent of the United States
in Congress assembled, specifying accurately the purposes for which the
same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue.
No State shall lay any imposts or duties which may interfere with any
stipulation in treaties, entered into by the United States in Congress
assembled, with any King, Prince, or State, in pursuance of any treaties
already proposed by Congress, to the Courts of France and Spain.
No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any State except
such number only, as shall be deemed necessary by the United States in
Congress assembled, for the defense of such State, or its trade; nor
shall any body of forces be kept up by any State in time of peace, except
such number only, as in the judgment of the United States in Congress
assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for
the defense of such State; but every State shall always keep up a well
regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutred,
and shall provide and have constantly ready for use, in public stores,
a due number of field-pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms,
ammunition, and camp equipage.
No State shall engage in any war without the consent of the United States
in Congress assembled, unless such State be actually invaded by enemies,
or shall have received certain advice of a resolution being formed by
some nation of Indians to invade such a State, and the danger is so
imminent as not to admit of a delay, till the United States in Congress
assembled can be consulted; nor shall any State grant commissions to any
ships or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except it be
after a declaration of war by the United States in Congress assembled,
and then only against the Kingdom or State, and the subjects thereof,
against which war has been so declared, and under such regulations
as shall be established by the United States in Congress assembled,
unless such State be infested by pirates, in which case vessels of war
may be fitted out for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger
shall continue, or until the United States in Congress assembled shall
determine otherwise.
ART. 7. When land forces are raised by any State for the common defense,
all officers of, or under the rank of colonel, shall be appointed by the
legislature of each State respectively, by whom such forces shall be
raised, or in such manner as such State shall direct, and all vacancies
shall be filled up by the State which first made the appointment.
ART. 8. All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred
for the common defense or general welfare, and allowed by the United
States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury,
which shall be supplied by the several States, in proportion to the value
of all land within each State, granted to or surveyed for any person, as
such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall be estimated
according to such mode as the United States in Congress assembled
shall, from time to time, direct and appoint. The taxes for paying that
proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the
legislatures of the several States, within the time agreed upon by the
United States in Congress assembled.
ART. 9. The United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole
and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, except
in the cases mentioned in the sixth article—of sending and receiving
ambassadors—entering into treaties and alliances: provided that no treaty
of commerce shall be made whereby the legislative power of the respective
States shall be restrained from imposing such imposts and duties on
foreigners as their own people are subjected to, or from prohibiting
the exportation or importation of any species of goods or commodities
whatsoever—of establishing rules for deciding in all cases what captures
on land or water shall be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land
or naval forces in the service of the United States shall be divided
or appropriated—of granting letters of marque and reprisal in times of
peace—appointing courts for the trial of piracies and felonies committed
on the high seas, and establishing courts for receiving and determining
finally appeals in all cases of captures, provided that no member of
Congress shall be appointed a judge of any of the said courts.
The United States in Congress assembled shall also be the last resort on
appeal in all disputes and differences now subsisting, or that hereafter
may arise, between two or more States concerning boundary, jurisdiction,
or any other cause whatever, which authority shall always be exercised
in the manner following: Whenever the legislative or executive authority
or lawful agent of any State in controversy with another shall present
a petition to Congress, stating the matter in question, and praying for
a hearing, notice thereof shall be given by order of Congress, to the
legislative or executive authority of the other State in controversy, and
a day assigned for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents,
who shall then be directed to appoint, by joint consent, commissioners
or judges to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter
in question; but if they cannot agree, Congress shall name three persons
out of each of the United States, and from the list of such persons each
party shall alternately strike out one, the petitioners beginning, until
the number shall be reduced to thirteen, and from that number not less
than seven nor more than nine names, as Congress shall direct, shall,
in the presence of Congress, be drawn out by lot, and the persons whose
names shall be so drawn, or any five of them, shall be commissioners
or judges to hear and finally determine the controversy, so always as
a major part of the judges who shall hear the cause shall agree in the
determination; and if either party shall neglect to attend at the day
appointed, without showing reasons which Congress shall judge sufficient,
or, being present, shall refuse to strike, the Congress shall proceed
to nominate three persons out of each State, and the Secretary of
Congress shall strike in behalf of such party absent or refusing; and the
judgment and sentence of the court to be appointed, in the manner above
prescribed, shall be final and conclusive; and if any of the parties
shall refuse to submit to the authority of such court, or to appear or
defend their claim or cause, the court shall, nevertheless, proceed to
pronounce sentence or judgment, which shall in like manner be final and
decisive, the judgment or sentence and other proceedings being in either
case transmitted to Congress and lodged among the acts of Congress for
the security of the parties concerned: provided that every commissioner,
before he sits in judgment, shall take an oath, to be administered by
one of the judges of the Supreme or Superior Court of the State where
the cause shall be tried, “well and truly to hear and determine the
matter in question, according to the best of his judgment, without favor,
affection, or hope of reward:” provided also that no State shall be
deprived of territory for the benefit of the United States.
All controversies concerning the private right of soil claimed under
different grants of two or more States, whose jurisdictions, as they may
respect such lands and the States which passed such grants, are adjusted,
the said grants, or either of them, being at the same time claimed to
have originated antecedent to such settlement of jurisdiction, shall, on
the petition of either party to the Congress of the United States, be
finally determined, as near as may be, in the same manner as is before
prescribed for deciding disputes respecting territorial jurisdiction
between different States.
The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole
exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin
struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective States;
fixing the standard of weights and measures throughout the United States;
regulating the trade and managing all affairs with the Indians not
members of any of the States—provided that the legislative right of any
State within its own limits be not infringed or violated; establishing
or regulating post offices from one State to another, throughout all the
United States, and exacting such postage on the papers passing through
the same as may be requisite to defray the expenses of the said office;
appointing all officers of the land forces in the service of the United
States, except regimental officers; appointing all the officers of the
naval forces, and commissioning all officers whatever in the service of
the United States; making rules for the government and regulation of the
said land and naval forces, and directing their operations.
The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority to appoint
a committee to sit in the recess of Congress, to be denominated “A
Committee of the States,” and to consist of one delegate from each
State, and to appoint such other committees and civil officers as may be
necessary for managing the general affairs of the United States under
their direction; to appoint one of their number to preside—provided that
no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one
year in any term of three years; to ascertain the necessary sums of money
to be raised for the service of the United States, and to appropriate
and apply the same for defraying the public expenses; to borrow money
or emit bills on the credit of the United States, transmitting every
half year to the respective States an account of the sums of money so
borrowed or emitted; to build and equip a navy; to agree upon the number
of land forces, and to make requisitions from each State for its quota,
in proportion to the number of white inhabitants in such State, which
requisition shall be binding; and thereupon the legislatures of each
State shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the men, and clothe,
arm and equip them in a soldierlike manner, at the expense of the United
States; and the officers and men so clothed, armed, and equipped, shall
march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the United
States in Congress assembled; but if the United States in Congress
assembled shall, on consideration of circumstances, judge proper that any
State should not raise men, or should raise a smaller number than its
quota, and that any other State should raise a greater number of men than
the quota thereof, such extra number shall be raised, officered, clothed,
armed and equipped in the same manner as the quota of such State, unless
the legislature of such State shall judge that such extra number cannot
be safely spared out of the same, in which case they shall raise,
officer, clothe, arm and equip as many of such extra number as they judge
can be safely spared; and the officers and men so clothed, armed and
equipped shall march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed
on by the United States in Congress assembled.
The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage in a war, nor
grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of peace, nor enter into any
treaties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the value thereof,
nor ascertain the sums and expenses necessary for the defense and welfare
of the United States, or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money on
the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money, nor agree upon
the number of vessels of war to be built or purchased, or the number of
land or sea forces to be raised, nor appoint a commander-in-chief of the
army or navy, unless nine States assent to the same; nor shall a question
on any other point, except for adjourning from day to day, be determined
unless by the votes of a majority of the United States in Congress
assembled.
The Congress of the United States shall have power to adjourn to any
time within the year, and to any place within the United States, so that
no period of adjournment be for a longer duration than the space of six
months; and shall publish the journal of their proceedings monthly,
except such parts thereof relating to treaties, alliances, or military
operations, as in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays
of the delegates of each State on any question shall be entered on the
journal when it is desired by any delegate; and the delegates of a State,
or any of them, at his or their request, shall be furnished with a
transcript of the said journal, except such parts as are above excepted,
to lay before the legislatures of the several States.
ART. 10. The committee of the States, or any nine of them, shall be
authorized to execute, in the recess of Congress, such of the powers
of Congress as the United States in Congress assembled, by the consent
of nine States, shall, from time to time, think expedient to vest them
with; provided that no power, be delegated to the said committee, for the
exercise of which, by the Articles of Confederation, the voice of nine
States, in the Congress of the United States assembled is requisite.
ART. 11. Canada, acceding to this confederation and joining in the
measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and entitled to
all the advantages of, this union; but no other colony shall be admitted
into the same unless such admission be agreed to by nine States.
ART. 12. All bills of credit emitted, moneys borrowed, and debts
contracted by or under the authority of Congress, before the assembling
of the United States, in pursuance of the present confederation, shall be
deemed and considered as a charge against the United States, for payment
and satisfaction whereof, the said United States and the public faith are
solemnly pledged.
ART. 13. Every State shall abide by the determinations of the
United States in Congress assembled on all questions which, by this
confederation, are submitted to them. And the articles of this
confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the union
shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be
made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress
of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of
every State.
_And whereas_, It hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to
incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in
Congress to approve of and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles
of Confederation and perpetual union: Know ye that we, the undersigned
delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that
purpose, do by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our
respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and
every of the said Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, and all
and singular the matters and things therein contained. And we do further
solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respective constituents,
that they shall abide by the determinations of the United States in
Congress assembled on all questions which, by the said confederation,
are submitted to them; and that the articles thereof shall be inviolably
observed by the States we respectively represent, and that the union
shall be perpetual. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in
Congress. Done at Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, the ninth
day of July, in the year of our Lord 1778, and in the third year of the
Independence of America.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR FROM 1776 TO 1783.
July 4—The British troops had been driven from Boston
about the middle of March. From that time to the last of
June no British soldiers had a foothold anywhere in the
thirteen colonies. England had been preparing, however. The
aid of German troops had been secured, and an expedition
made ready. It was a fortunate respite, after a great
success, and finding the mother country inexorable in her
determination, in which to carefully consider the situation.
That consideration had produced that noble protest of freemen
against tyranny—The Declaration of Independence. It now
remained to make it good by force of arms against a rich and
powerful European empire, which was summoning its energies
to the work of subjugation. On the 28th of June General Howe
landed the late garrison of Boston, and other troops, on
Staten Island.
July 12—Lord Howe arrived from England; Gen. Clinton returned
from his repulse at Fort Moultrie, several Hessian regiments
soon after arrived, and the British force amounted to 24,000;
Gen. Carleton was near Lake Champlain with 13,000 men. The
forces under Washington did not amount to half as many, but
the British had a salutary respect for American prowess, and
were laboring to win the American leaders back by promises of
pardon.
Aug. 27—The battle of Long Island. The Americans, 9,000
strong, are attacked by the British, 15,000 strong. The
Americans are worsted, but hold their intrenched camp.
Washington silently and safely retreats during the night.
The Americans lost 1,600 in killed, wounded and prisoners.
British killed and wounded, 400.
Sept. 1—General Howe sends General Sullivan (American, taken
prisoner in the late battle), to Congress to discuss a
compromise of the dispute between England and the Colonies.
Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge, are
appointed to meet English commissioners. They meet on Staten
Island, but can make no arrangements.
Sept. 15—British army takes possession of New York. General
Washington’s army being largely made up of militia, which
come and go, he adopts “The Fabian Policy” of avoiding
general engagements, keeping the enemy harrassed and in
constant movement. This saved the American cause.
Sept. 26—Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee
appointed commissioners to France.
Nov. 1—Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, chosen President of
Congress.
Nov. 16—Fort Washington, at the north end of Manhattan
Island, assaulted by the British, in force. The fort was
taken with 2,000 prisoners. The British loss was 1,200 in
killed and wounded.
Nov. 18—Americans evacuate Fort Lee, on the Hudson, above New
York.
Nov. 28—Washington retreats across the Delaware into
Pennsylvania.
Dec. 7—Gen. Lee disobeys the instructions of Washington and
is taken prisoner by the British.
Dec. 8—A British naval force takes possession of Newport,
Rhode Island.
Dec. 12—The British army being stationed along the Delaware,
in New Jersey, Congress adjourns from Philadelphia to
Baltimore.
Dec. 26-27—Washington suddenly crosses the Delaware and
surprises Trenton. He captures 1,000 Hessians and six cannon,
with a loss of four killed. In this year about 350 British
merchant vessels had been taken by Americans.
1777.
Jan. 2—Washington having re-occupied Trenton, Lord Cornwallis
marches a strong force to attack him.
Jan. 3—The American army silently retreat in the night and
capture Princeton, with 300 prisoners. British loss in killed
and wounded, 100. American loss about the same. General
Mercer killed.
Feb. 6—Letters of Marque and Reprisal granted by the English
against American commerce.
March 4—Congress returns to Philadelphia.
” 23—American stores destroyed at Peekskill, New York.
April 26—Danbury, Connecticut, burned by the British.
May 24—This outrage is retaliated by Colonel Meigs, of
Connecticut, who lands on Long Island with 200 men, destroys
twelve vessels, large quantities of provision and forage,
takes ninety prisoners, and retreats without the loss of a
man.
May 27—Button Gwinnett, of Georgia, one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence, is killed in a duel.
June 22—Gen. Howe evacuates New Brunswick, New Jersey, and
retires in order to draw Washington into a battle. Washington
advances till he penetrates the design of the enemy, when he
retreats to a strong position and foils the British.
June 30—General Howe embarks 16,000 troops at Staten Island
for Philadelphia. About this time the French Marquis De
Lafayette, a youth of nineteen, arrived in America, with
twelve other foreign officers, to aid the American cause.
July 1—British Gen. Burgoyne appears before Fort Ticonderoga.
” 5—Americans evacuate Ticonderoga.
” 7—Americans retreating from Ticonderoga, are defeated at
Hubbardton.
” 7—United States frigate Hancock captured by three English
vessels.
” 29—Burgoyne’s army, constantly victorious, reaches the
Hudson.
Aug. 3—British Gen. St. Leger invests Fort Stanwix (Utica,
New York).
” 6—American Gen. Herkimer defeated near Fort Stanwix.
American loss 400. Gen. Herkimer killed.
” 16—Battle of Bennington, Vermont. A victory for the “Green
Mountain Boys.” British lost 200 killed, 600 prisoners, 1,000
stand of arms, 1,000 swords, and four cannon. American loss
fourteen killed and forty-two wounded. This turned the tide
against Burgoyne.
” 22—Gen. Arnold raises the siege of Fort Stanwix. St. Leger
loses his artillery, tents, and stores.
” 11—Washington’s army defeated by the British at the battle
of the Brandywine, near Wilmington, Delaware. Washington
retreats in good order.
” 18—Congress adjourns from Philadelphia to Lancaster,
Pennsylvania.
” 19—Battle of Stillwater between Gates, American, and Gen.
Burgoyne. Burgoyne held the field, but lost 500 men; Gates
300.
Sept. 16—Washington advances across the Schuylkill to attack
the British, when a violent storm stops the conflict. The
arms of the Americans are rendered unserviceable by the rain.
” 20—Gen. Wayne, surprised at Paoli, retreats with loss of
300 men.
” 26—The British enter Philadelphia.
Oct. 4—Battle of Germantown. Washington, with an inferior
army, is again defeated. British loss 600. American loss over
1,000.
” 7—Battle of Saratoga. Burgoyne is defeated, and part of
his camp with stores and ammunition, much needed by the
Americans, captured. British loss 400. They retreated in the
night.
” 15—Kingston, New York, burned by the British. They had taken
forts Clinton and Montgomery, defending the river below,
October 6th. This was an effort to aid Burgoyne, but it
failed, being too late, and they retreated down the river.
” 17—Gen. Burgoyne surrenders his whole army to Gen. Gates.
The prisoners amounted to 5,647. Burgoyne had lost about
4,000 since his capture of Ticonderoga. Thirty-five brass
field-pieces and 5,000 stand of arms fell into the hands
of the Americans. Washington, as commander-in-chief, had
diminished his own army till it was much inferior to the
British he was facing, to secure the success of the northern
army against Burgoyne. This was the turning point of the war.
Its immediate result was a treaty of alliance with France.
” 22—Count Donop, with 1,200 Hessians, attacks the American
fort at Red Bank, below Philadelphia, and is repulsed by
Colonel Green with 400 men. Donop is killed, and the British
retire with a loss of 500 men and two vessels of war.
Nov. 15—“The Articles of Confederation” adopted by Congress.
” 16-18—Americans abandon Mud Island, and Fort Mercer, below
Philadelphia.
Dec. 11—Washington establishes his army in winter quarters
at Valley Forge. During this year American prisoners were
treated with great cruelty at New York. General Gates, who
had really succeeded in capturing Burgoyne only by the aid of
Generals Schuyler and Arnold, intrigues against Washington.
When this became known the general indignation killed the
scheme.
1778.
The American cause was really gained by the war of the previous year. The
Americans were so far unanimous, and so spirited, that the British had
not been able to get a permanent hold on any part of the country, save
what was occupied by their armies in force.
Jan. 30—A treaty of alliance is made with France.
Mar. 4—The American frigate Alfred, of twenty guns, captured
by two English vessels of war.
” 20—The American Minister presented at the French Court.
Apr. 18—Count d’Estaing leaves Toulon, France, with a fleet
to aid the Americans in the war.
Jun. 12—Philip Livingston, of New York, one of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence, died.
” 17—The British Parliament having appointed three
Commissioners, the Earl of Carlisle, Lord Auckland, and
Governor Johnstone, to treat for peace with the colonies,
on the basis of granting everything they had asked, except
independence, Congress replies, refusing all intercourse
unless the independence of the States were first recognized,
and the English army withdrawn. Two years before, this
would have been eagerly accepted. England had lost, at the
beginning of this year, twenty thousand men, and 550 vessels,
taken by American cruisers, worth twelve million dollars, and
had spent one hundred million dollars on military armaments
in America.
” 18—The English, afraid of being blockaded in the Delaware
river, by the French fleet, evacuate Philadelphia.
Jun. 28—Battle of Morristown; Washington wins. The British
retreat in the night. Lord Cornwallis commanded.
July 4-5—“The massacre of Wyoming” by the Indians, under Tory
influence. About 400 troops, and most of the inhabitants
killed.
Aug. 15—General Sullivan besieges the English in Newport.
” 28-29—Count d’Estaing, who was to have supported General
Sullivan by a naval attack on Newport, Rhode Island, having
suffered severe loss in an engagement with the English fleet,
and withdrawn to Boston to refit, Sullivan retires, but is
attacked by the British. He repulses them, and retreats from
Rhode Island.
Dec. 29—Savannah, Geo., taken by the British.
1779.
The British direct their main efforts, this year, to the Southern States,
and overrun Georgia and part of South Carolina.
Mar. 3—American force under Ashe surprised by
Brigadier-General Prevost; loss 1,600.
May 2—Verplank’s Point, on the Hudson river, surrenders to
British forces.
” 10—Norfolk and Portsmouth taken and partially burned by
the British. Stony Point, on the Hudson, evacuated by the
Americans and occupied by the British.
” 12—Prevost makes an attempt on Charleston, South Carolina,
but fails.
June 6—Patrick Henry, a distinguished patriot, died, aged 63.
” 20—Gen. Lincoln, American, attacks Prevost, at Stone River.
He is repulsed, and Prevost retires to Georgia.
July 4—Governor Tryon makes a descent, in Connecticut,
destroys the shipping at New Haven, and burns Fairfield,
Norwalk, and Greenwich. He is called off
July 16—from this barbarous work by the alarm of Gen. Clinton
at the attack of Gen. Wayne on Stony Point. It was a
complete surprise. Sixty of the British were killed and 550
made prisoners. American loss, 100.
” 19—Major Lee (“Light Horse Harry”) captured the garrison at
Paulus’ Hook (Jersey City). The British lost 30 killed, and
159 prisoners.
Aug. 29—Gen. Sullivan is sent with an army to punish the
Indians for the massacre of Wyoming and Cherry Valley. He
defeats them in a fight near Elmira, New York, and lays waste
their country. He burned more than forty of their towns, and
destroyed their provisions and crops.
Sept. 24—Paul Jones, in a desperate naval engagement with
seven English vessels, on the coast of Scotland, captures two
of the enemy’s vessels.
Oct. 9—The combined French and American forces make an attack
on Savannah, Geo. They are repulsed with a loss of 1,000 men.
Count Pulaski was killed.
Joseph Hewes, of N. C., Thomas Lynch, of S. C., and George
Ross, of Pa., signers of the Declaration of Independence,
died during this year.
1780.
Jan.—The British send a large force to capture Charleston, S.
C., and overrun that State.
Feb. 11—British troops are landed on St. Johns Island, and
the fleet blockades Charleston.
May 6—Fort Moultrie, being invested by sea and land,
surrenders to the British.
” 12—Charleston surrendered by Gen. Lincoln.
” 29—Col. Tarleton surprises Buford, American, at Waxhaws.
Buford is totally defeated. South Carolina is now treated
as a royal province, all opposition being overcome, for the
present.
June 23—A sharp action between the British Generals
Kniphausen and Clinton, with 6,000 troops, and Gen. Greene,
with 1,500. The town of Springfield was burned, but Greene,
taking a strong position, stopped the advance of the enemy,
and he retired to Staten Island.
July 10—The Count de Rochambeau, with a fleet and 6,000
French troops, arrives at Newport, R. I. They are blockaded
by the British.
Aug. 6—Col. Sumter gains a brilliant victory at Hanging Rock,
S. C.
” 16—Battle of Camden, between Lord Cornwallis and Gen. Gates.
The American army was superior in numbers (5,600; Cornwallis
not much more than 2,000). Gates’ army was largely composed
of militia, which caught a panic at the first attack. The
Americans lost 1,800 killed, wounded, and prisoners. British
loss, 325.
” 18—Tarleton surprises and totally defeats Sumter.
Sept. 21—Major André, of the British army, arranges with
Arnold for the surrender of the fortress of West Point, on
the Hudson, to the British. The plot miscarries, Arnold
escapes, and André is captured.
Oct. 2—Major André is hung as a spy.
” 7—The British commander, Ferguson, is defeated and killed
by a body of American back-woodsmen, at Kings Mountain,
South Carolina. 300 British killed and wounded, and 800 made
prisoners.
John Hart, of New Jersey, one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence, died this year.
1781.
Jan.—An insurrection broke out among the Pennsylvania and
other troops of the American army in this month, on account
of the failure of Congress to pay them. It threatened serious
consequences, but was subdued by the moderation and influence
of Washington.
” 4—Arnold, the traitor, landed in Virginia, and laid waste the
country.
” 17—Battle of the “Cowpens,” South Carolina. Colonel Morgan,
American, totally defeated Colonel Tarleton, who lost six
hundred men, with his baggage and artillery. Morgan lost
eighty men.
Feb. 23—George Taylor, of Pennsylvania, signer of the
Declaration of Independence, died.
” 28—Richard Stockton, of New Jersey signer of the Declaration
of Independence, died.
” 15—Battle of Guildford Court House North Carolina. Gen.
Greene, American commander, and Lord Cornwallis, after long
skirmishing, came to a battle. Greene’s army was mostly
raw militia, which broke and fled. Greene was worsted, but
retreated in quiet. His loss was 400; Cornwallis’, 500. So
heavy a loss was as bad as a defeat to Cornwallis.
Apr. 25—Battle of Hobkirks Hill. General Greene attacked by
Lord Rawdon. The Americans driven from the field. Loss on
each side, 250.
May 10—Lord Rawdon evacuates Camden, South Carolina.
” 21—Several British forts in South Carolina captured by Marion
and Sumter, the British losing in them 800 troops.
” 28—The American frigate Alliance captures two British sloops
of war.
June 5—General Pickens, with militia, captures Augusta,
Georgia. Lafayette had been maneuvering with the British
forces in Virginia since April, with great ability. Though
much inferior, he constantly held them in check, and avoided
a battle.
July 6—Cornwallis, after a sharp skirmish with Lafayette,
at Jamestown, retires to Portsmouth, Virginia. The British
troops had, in three months, destroyed $10,000,000 worth of
property in Virginia.
Aug. 1—Cornwallis takes post at Yorktown, Virginia, and
fortifies it. His force consists of 8,000 men.
” 17—It is arranged that the combined French and American
forces shall attack Cornwallis, in Virginia.
” 25—Supplies and money for the American armies landed at
Boston, from France.
Sept. 5—Forts Trumbull and Griswold, in Connecticut, taken
by the British, under Arnold, with circumstances of great
atrocity, and New London burned.
” 8—Battle of Eutaw Springs. Both sides claim the victory.
The loss was about equal—seven hundred on each side. The
advantage, in the end, was in favor of the Americans, though
they were repulsed. The British soon retired.
” 10—The French fleet enter the Chesapeake Bay with heavy
artillery for the siege of Yorktown, while De Grasse, the
French Admiral, with a large squadron, guards the entrance
against the British.
Oct. 6—The allied army, 16,000 strong, commence the siege of
Yorktown.
” 19—Cornwallis surrenders Yorktown, and 7,000 troops,
prisoners of war.
” 25—Colonel Willett repulses 600 tories, at Johnstown, New
York, with loss.
Dec. 31—Henry Laurens, United States Minister to France,
sometime a prisoner in London, England, was exchanged for
Gen. Burgoyne.
1782.
The war was now practically concluded. The finances of the United States,
the sad condition of which had so much interfered with the collection and
support of strong and well-disciplined armies, had been lately supported
by loans from France and Holland. The Americans were stronger than ever,
the British could not hold possession even of the Southern States, where
there were more royalist inhabitants than further north; and the aid of
France on the sea really made the Americans invincible. England could no
longer raise the money or the troops to continue the struggle.
The year 1782 was mostly spent in negotiations. The difficulties of
arranging the terms were great; and the boundaries of the new Government
were a subject of much dispute.
Mar. 4—Resolutions were passed in the English Parliament, in
favor of peace.
Apr. 19—Holland acknowledges American independence.
July 11—Savannah, Georgia, evacuated by the British, and
occupied by General Wayne. The British carried off 5,000
negroes. Great discontent arose in the army in regard to
pay, and only the great influence of Washington, and the
wise moderation of American statesmen in Congress, prevented
serious outbreaks.
Franklin, Adams, Jay, and Laurens, were the American
Commissioners who arranged terms of peace.
Various Indian wars raged on the frontiers during this year.
1783.
Jan. 20—The preliminary treaty, providing for the cessation
of hostilities between England and the United States, was
signed.
Feb. 5—The Independence of the United States acknowledged by
Sweden.
Mar. 24—The Independence of the United States acknowledged by
Denmark. The Independence of the United States acknowledged
by Spain.
Apr. 19—Cessation of hostilities officially proclaimed in the
United States—just eight years from the beginning of the war.
Estimated loss of men during the war, seventy thousand.
CHAPTER IX.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1787.
The successful termination of the Revolutionary War of seven years made
the United Colonies which had commenced it, in fact, as well as in their
Declaration, Free and Independent States. Toward the close of the war
they had adopted Articles of Confederation. These were soon found to
be inadequate to secure the general welfare, and without sufficient
authority to carry their measures into effect. No sufficient means were
supplied by them to maintain the public credit, and all the interests of
the country languished.
They formed the Bond of Union for six years or more, and served an
excellent purpose in calling the attention of statesmen and the people to
the points most important in the constitution of a vigorous government.
It was the trial essay, and the intelligence of the leading men of that
period turned it to great profit.
In 1786 the legislature of Virginia proposed a convention of
commissioners to improve the condition of trade and commerce. These
commissioners met and recommended Congress to call a General Convention
to revise the Articles of Confederation. This convention assembled in
May, 1787, in Philadelphia; all the States except Rhode Island being
represented. George Washington was chosen president. The members of
this convention were the representatives of a people who had proved
their firmness and attachment to liberty during a long war and against
great difficulties. The delegates were men of tried patriotism, and the
event has proved their wise and discriminating foresight. The system
of government they planned is their most eloquent eulogy. The severe
tests to which the expansion of the nation and the conflicts of sections
and interests have subjected it, have served only the more fully to
reveal how perfectly they comprehended the principles of a republican
government, and their singular skill in arrangement. They combined the
utmost vigor with the greatest security of rights. It is a glorious
monument to their political insight. They, themselves, were not aware how
profound was the wisdom, how complete the adaptation of its provisions.
They signed it with many misgivings, on the 17th of September, 1787,
after four months of diligent labor. It was then presented to the people
for their ratification. They were cautious and prudent in those times,
and could not appreciate as we do now, the extreme value of the work that
had been accomplished. Time was required to bring out its excellences,
and show how few and comparatively unimportant were its defects. It was
examined with careful attention, and finally adopted as follows:
By Convention of Delaware 7th December, 1787
” ” Pennsylvania 12th December, 1787
” ” New Jersey 18th December, 1787
” ” Georgia 2d January, 1788
” ” Connecticut 9th January, 1788
” ” Massachusetts 6th February, 1788
” ” Maryland 28th April, 1788
” ” South Carolina 3rd May, 1788
” ” New Hampshire 21st June, 1788
” ” Virginia 26th June, 1788
” ” New York 26th July, 1788
” ” North Carolina 21st November, 1789
” ” Rhode Island 29th May, 1790
As shown above, two years passed before it was finally ratified by all
the States. Both the delay and the final unanimity in its acceptance,
giving testimony to the prudence and thoughtfulness of the people.
Electors of President and Vice-President were chosen in the winter of
1788-1789. March 4th had been appointed as the time for the government
to go into operation, but a delay in assembling the members of Congress
deferred the inauguration of Washington, as first President, until
April 30th. Congress immediately organized the new government, and, in
conjunction with the President, appointed the necessary officers. Some
minor provisions were added or changed by the first Congress in the
manner provided by the Constitution itself, that is, by a two-thirds vote
in both Houses, and ratification by three-fourths of the States.
Ten amendments were made at this time. The eleventh amendment was added
in 1794. The twelfth in 1803. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments have been added since 1863.
A resolution to amend is passed by the requisite majorities in both
Houses, sent to the legislatures of the States, and, when three-fourths
of them have approved it, the Secretary of State causes the resolution
and amendment to be published in all the States and Territories, and it
becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
Containing the wisest provisions of English law, it rejects all that is
not in harmony with our circumstances, and our fundamental doctrine that
all men have equal rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
This it keeps continually in view, and, by the sense of dignity and worth
which it tends to promote in the humblest man, gradually educates him up
to the standard necessary for a free citizen, and, by its respect for the
rights of all, tends to induce in each the same disposition.
The wisest men of the Republic, by infusing into this document their own
self-respect, and respect for others, gave tone and direction to all the
future. Their own _characters_ were so far imparted to their work as to
exert a salutary influence on the destiny of the people whose fundamental
law they compiled.
This document is the law of the land, obliging the highest to obedience,
to justice, and right, and raising the lowest to an equal share in its
political privileges, and to its vigorous protection. Consequently
a steady improvement in these respects has marked the growth of the
country, and the benign influence of this respect for _man_ and his
_rights_ has gone forth from the American Republic as a Regenerator among
the nations of the earth.
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND ITS AMENDMENTS.
We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect
union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the
common defense, 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.
SECTION 1. 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. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen
every second year by the people of the several States, and the electors
in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the
most numerous branch of the State Legislature.
No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the
age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State
in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several
States which may be included within this Union, according to their
respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole
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 of ten 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 choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey
four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North
Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the Executive
authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other
officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
SEC. 3. 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.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence 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
expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of
the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth
year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies
happen by resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature
of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary appointments until
the next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to 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.
The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate,
but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President _pro
tempore_, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise
the office of President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When
sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the
President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside.
And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of
the members present.
Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further than to
removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of
honor, trust, or profit under the United States; but the party convicted
shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment,
and punishment according to law.
SEC. 4. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators
and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature
thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such
regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.
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. 5. Each house shall be the judge of the election, returns, and
qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall
constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from
day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent
members in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide.
Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members
for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a
member.
Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time
publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require
secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house on any
question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered
on the journal.
Neither house, during the session of Congress, 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. 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for
their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of
the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, felony, and
breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance
at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning
from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House they shall
not be questioned in any other place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was
elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the
United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof
shall have been 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.
SEC. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of
Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as
on other bills.
Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the
Senate, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of
the United States; if he approve he shall sign it; but if not, he shall
return it, with his objections, to that House in which it shall have
originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal,
and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds
of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together
with the objection, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be
reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall
become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be
determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for
and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House
respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within
ten 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 Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it
shall not be a law.
Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate
and House of Representatives 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 Representatives, according to the rules and limitations
prescribed in the case of a bill.
SEC. 8. The Congress shall have power—
To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts
and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United
States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout
the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States,
and with the Indian tribes;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the
subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix
the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and
current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the progress of sciences and useful arts, by securing, for
limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their
respective writings and discoveries;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas,
and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules
concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use
shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval
forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the
Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions;
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, reserving to the States respectively the appointment of
the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the
discipline prescribed by Congress.
To exercise legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district (not
exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States and
the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the 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 buildings; and
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into
execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this
Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department
or officer thereof.
SEC. 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States
now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the
Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a
tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars
for each person.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended,
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may
require it.
No bill of attainder or _ex post facto_ law shall be passed.
No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to
the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken.
No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State.
No preference shall be given by any regulation of 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.
No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of
appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the
receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from
time to time.
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; and no person
holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the
consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or
title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State.
SEC. 10. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or
confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit
bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in
payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, _ex post facto_ law, or law
impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or
duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary
for executing its inspection laws, and the net produce of all duties and
imposts laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be for the use of
the Treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to
the revision and 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 imminent danger as will not admit of
delay.
ARTICLE II.
SECTION 1. The Executive power shall be vested in a President of the
United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of
four years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same
term, be elected as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may
direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and
Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but
no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or
profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
[The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot
for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the
same State with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons
voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall
sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government
of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The
President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House
of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then
be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the
President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors
appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and
have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall
immediately choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person
have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House
shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the President,
the vote 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. In every case, after the choice of the
President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors
shall be the Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more
who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the
Vice-President.][1]
[1] This clause within brackets has been superseded and
annulled by the 12th amendment.
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 United States.
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United
States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be
eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible
to that office who shall not have attained the age of thirty-five years,
and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.
In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death,
resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the
said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the
Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation,
or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring
what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act
accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be
elected.
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.
Before he enters 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 defend the Constitution of the United
States.”
SEC. 2. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy
of the United States, and of the militia of the several States, when
called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the
opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the Executive
departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective
offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardon for
offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
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 of the Senate, shall appoint
ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme
Court, and all other officers of the United States whose appointments
are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by
law; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior
officers as they think proper in the President alone, in the courts of
law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen
during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall
expire at the end of their next session.
SEC. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress information
of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration
such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on
extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and
in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of
adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper;
he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take
care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the
officers of the United States.
SEC. 4. The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the
United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and
conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
ARTICLE III.
SECTION 1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one
Supreme Court, and 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 shall, at
stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not
be diminished during their continuance in office.
SEC. 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity,
arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and
treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;—to all
cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls;—to all
cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;—to controversies to which
the United States shall be a party;—to controversies between two or more
States;—between a State and citizens of another State;—between citizens
of different States;—between citizens of the same State claiming lands
under grants of different States, and between a State, or the citizens
thereof, and foreign States, citizens, or subjects.
In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls,
and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have
original jurisdiction.
In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have
appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions,
and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, 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. 3. 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 person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony
of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but
no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture,
except during the life of the person attainted.
ARTICLE IV.
SECTION 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. 2. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges
and immunities of citizens in the several States.
A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who
shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall, on demand
of the Executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered
up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.
No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof,
escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation
therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered
up on the claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.
SEC. 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but
no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any
other State; nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more
States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of
the States concerned, as well as of the Congress.
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. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union
a Republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against
invasion, and on application of the Legislature, or of the Executive
(when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence.
ARTICLE V.
The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary,
shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application
of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a
convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be
valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when
ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or
by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of
ratification may be proposed by the Congress. Provided that no amendment
which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight
shall in any 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.
All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the adoption
of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under
this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made
in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made,
under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the
land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in
the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the
several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both
of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or
affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall
ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under
the United States.
ARTICLE VII.
The ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be sufficient
for the establishment of this Constitution 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.
GEO. WASHINGTON,
_President, and Deputy from Virginia_.
_New Hampshire._
JOHN LANGDON,
NICHOLAS GILMAN.
_Massachusetts._
NATHANIEL GORHAM,
RUFUS KING.
_Connecticut._
WM. SAM’L JOHNSON,
ROGER SHERMAN.
_New York._
ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
_New Jersey._
WIL. LIVINGSTON,
WM. PATERSON,
DAVID BREARLEY,
JONA. DAYTON.
_Pennsylvania._
B. FRANKLIN,
ROBT. MORRIS,
THOS. FITZSIMONS,
JAMES WILSON,
THOMAS MIFFLIN,
GEO. CLYMER,
JARED INGERSOLL,
GOUV. MORRIS.
_Delaware._
GEO. READ,
JOHN DICKINSON,
JACO. BROOM,
GUNNING BEDFORD, JUN’R,
RICHARD BASSETT.
_Maryland._
JAMES M’HENRY,
DANL. CARROLL,
DAN. OF ST. THOS. JENIFER.
_Virginia._
JOHN BLAIR,
JAMES MADISON, JR.
_North Carolina._
WM. BLOUNT,
HU. WILLIAMSON,
RICH’D DOBBS SPAIGHT.
_South Carolina._
J. RUTLEDGE,
CHARLES PINCKNEY,
CHAS. COTESWORTH PINCKNEY,
PIERCE BUTLER.
_Georgia._
WILLIAM FEW,
ABR. BALDWIN.
WILLIAM JACKSON, _Secretary_.
ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDATORY OF, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several
States, pursuant to the fifth article of the original Constitution.
ARTICLE I.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
ARTICLE II.
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.
ARTICLE III.
No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without
the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be
prescribed by law.
ARTICLE IV.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported
by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
ARTICLE V.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous
crime, unless on a presentment or 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 offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life
or limb; nor shall 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.
ARTICLE 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 confronted with the witnesses against him;
to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to
have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
ARTICLE VII.
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no
fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the
United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
ARTICLE VIII.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor
cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
ARTICLE IX.
The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
ARTICLE X.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively,
or to the people.
ARTICLE 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.
ARTICLE XII.
The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot
for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an
inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their
ballots the person to be voted for as President, and in distinct ballots
the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct
lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted
for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which list
they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the
government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate.
The President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of
Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be
counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for President,
shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number
of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from
the persons having the highest number not exceeding three on the list of
those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose
immediately, by ballot, the President. 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. The person having the
greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President,
if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed,
and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on
the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the
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. But no
person Constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be
eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.
ARTICLE XIII.
SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction.
SEC. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
ARTICLE XIV.
SECTION 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States,
and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any
law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty,
or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
SEC. 2. Representatives shall be appointed among the several States
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of
persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed; but when the right
to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and
Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the
executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the
Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such
State, being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United States,
or in any way abridged except for participation in rebellion or other
crimes, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the
proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole
number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
SEC. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress,
or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil
or military, under the United States or under any State, who, having
previously taken an oath as a Member of Congress, or as an officer of
the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an
executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution
of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion
against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such
disability.