Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit
Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in
Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law
impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or
Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for
executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and
Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of
the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to
the Revision and Controul of the Congress.
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage,
keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement
or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War,
unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of
delay.
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 chuse by ballot one of them for President; and if no person
have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House
shall in like manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President,
the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State
having one vote; a 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 chuse from them by ballot the
Vice-President.
The Congress may determine the Time of chusing 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 to the Age of thirty-five
Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death,
Resignation or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the
said Office, the Same shall 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 encreased nor diminished during the
Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive
within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of
them.
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the
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.”
SECTION 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy
of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when
called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the
Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive
Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective
Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for
Offences against the United States, except in Cases of 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 and Consent 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.
SECTION 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information
of the state of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration
such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on
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.
SECTION 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 in 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 Behaviour, and
shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which
shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.
SECTION 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and
Equity, arising under this 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 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.
SECTION 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.
SECTION 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 Labour 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 Labour, but shall be
delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be
due.
SECTION 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union;
but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of
any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more
States, or Parts 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.
SECTION 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, any Thing in
the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the
several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both
of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or
Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall
ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under
the United States.
ARTICLE VII.
The ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient
for the Establishment of this 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 Independance of the United States of
America the Twelfth. IN WITNESS whereof We have hereunto subscribed our
Names,
Gᵒ: WASHINGTON—
_Presidt., and Deputy from Virginia_.
New Hampshire.
JOHN LANGDON,
NICHOLAS GILMAN.
Massachusetts.
NATHANIEL GORHAM,
RUFUS KING.
Connecticut.
WM. SAML. JOHNSON,
ROGER SHERMAN.
New York.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
New Jersey.
WIL: LIVINGSTON,
DAVID BREARLEY,
WM. PATERSON,
JONA. DAYTON.
Pennsylvania.
B. FRANKLIN,
THOMAS MIFFLIN,
ROBT. MORRIS,
GEO. CLYMER,
THOS. FITZSIMONS,
JARED INGERSOLL,
JAMES WILSON,
GOUV. MORRIS.
Delaware.
GEO. READ,
GUNNING BEDFORD, Jun.,
JOHN DICKINSON,
RICHARD BASSETT,
JACO: BROOM.
Maryland.
JAMES MCHENRY,
DAN. JENIFER, of St. Thomas,
DAN. CARROLL.
Virginia.
JOHN BLAIR,
JAMES MADISON, Jr.
North Carolina.
WM. BLOUNT,
RICH’D DOBBS SPEIGHT,
HUGH WILLIAMSON.
South Carolina.
J. RUTLEDGE,
CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY,
CHARLES PINCKNEY,
PIERCE BUTLER.
Georgia.
WILLIAM FEW,
ABR. BALDWIN.
Attest: WILLIAM JACKSON, _Secretary_.
ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA, PROPOSED BY CONGRESS, AND RATIFIED BY THE LEGISLATURES
OF THE SEVERAL STATES PURSUANT TO THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE ORIGINAL
CONSTITUTION.
[ARTICLE I.][1]
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 offence 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 defence.
[ARTICLE VII.]
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no
fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the
United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
[ARTICLE 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.][2]
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.][3]
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 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 lists they
shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the Government
of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;—The
President of the Senate shall, in the 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 numbers 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.][4]
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.
SECTION 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
[ARTICLE XIV.][5]
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.
SECTION 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several
States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number
of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the
right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for 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
crime, 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.
SECTION 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.
SECTION 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States,
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and
bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall
not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall
assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection
or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or
emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims
shall be held illegal and void.
SECTION 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article.
[ARTICLE XV.][6]
SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of
race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States
were proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the First
Congress, on the 25th September, 1789.
[2] The eleventh amendment to the Constitution of the United States was
proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Third Congress,
on the 5th of September, 1794; and was declared in a message from the
President to Congress, dated the 8th of January, 1798, to have been
ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the States. [POORE.]
[3] The twelfth amendment to the Constitution of the United States
was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Eighth
Congress, on the 12th of December, 1803, in lieu of the third paragraph
of the first section of the third article; and was declared in a
proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated the 25th of September,
1804, to have been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
States. [POORE.]
[4] The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was
proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-eighth
Congress, on the first of February, 1865; and was declared, in a
proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated the 18th of December,
1865, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven of the
thirty-six States viz.: Illinois, Rhode Island, Michigan, Maryland,
New York, West Virginia, Maine, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Vermont, Tennessee, Arkansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire,
South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia. [POORE.]
[5] The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United
States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the
Thirty-ninth Congress, on the 16th of June, 1866. On the 21st of July,
1868, Congress adopted and transmitted to the Department of State a
concurrent resolution, declaring that “the legislatures of the States
of Connecticut, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, New York, Ohio,
Illinois, West Virginia, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Missouri, Indiana,
Minnesota, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas,
Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, South Carolina, and Louisiana, being
three-fourths and more of the several States of the Union, have ratified
the fourteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United
States, duly proposed by two-thirds of each House of the Thirty-ninth
Congress: Therefore, _Resolved_, That said fourteenth article is hereby
declared to be a part of the Constitution of the United States, and it
shall be duly promulgated as such by the Secretary of State.” [POORE.]
[6] The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States
was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Fortieth
Congress, on the 27th of February, 1869, and was declared, in a
proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated March 30, 1870, to have
been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-nine of the thirty-seven
States. [POORE.]
KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1798.
I. _Resolved_, that the several states composing the United States of
America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to
their General Government; but that by compact under the style and title
of a Constitution for the United States and of amendments thereto, they
constituted a General Government for special purposes, delegated to that
Government certain definite powers, reserving each state to itself, the
residuary mass of right to their own self-Government; and that whensoever
the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are
unauthoritative, void, and of no force: That to this compact each state
acceded as a state, and is an integral party, its co-states forming as
to itself, the other party: That the Government created by this compact
was not made the exclusive or final _judge_ of the extent of the powers
delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not
the constitution, the measure of its powers; but that as in all other
cases of compact among parties having no common Judge, each party has an
equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode
and measure of redress.
II. Resolved, that the Constitution of the United States having delegated
to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and
current coin of the United States, piracies and felonies committed on
the High Seas, and offences against the laws of nations, and no other
crimes whatever, and it being true as a general principle, and one of
the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, “that the powers
not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited
by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the
people,” therefore also the same act of Congress passed on the 14th day
of July, 1798, and entitled “An act in addition to the act entitled an
act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States;” as
also the act passed by them on the 27th day of June, 1798, entitled “An
act to punish frauds committed on the Bank of the United States” (and
all other their acts which assume to create, define, or punish crimes
other than those enumerated in the constitution) are altogether void and
of no force, and that the power to create, define, and punish such other
crimes is reserved, and of right appertains solely and exclusively to the
respective states, each within its own Territory.
III. Resolved, that it is true as a general principle, and is also
expressly declared by one of the amendments to the Constitution that
“the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively
or to the people;” and that no power over the freedom of religion,
freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to the
United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states,
all lawful powers respecting the same did of right remain, and were
reserved to the states, or to the people: That thus was manifested their
determination to retain to themselves the right of judging how far
the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without
lessening their useful freedom, and how far those abuses which cannot
be separated from their use, should be tolerated rather than the use be
destroyed; and thus also they guarded against all abridgement by the
United States of the freedom of religious opinions and exercises, and
retained to themselves the right of protecting the same as this state,
by a Law passed on the general demand of its Citizens, had already
protected them from all human restraint or interference: And that in
addition to this general principle and express declaration, another and
more special provision has been made by one of the amendments to the
Constitution which expressly declares, that “Congress shall make no laws
respecting an Establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,” thereby
guarding in the same sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of
religion, of speech, and of the press, insomuch, that whatever violates
either, throws down the sanctuary which covers the others, and that
libels, falsehoods, defamation, equally with heresy and false religion,
are withheld from the cognizance of federal tribunals. That therefore
the act of the Congress of the United States passed on the 14th day of
July, 1798, entitled “An act in addition to the act for the punishment of
certain crimes against the United States,” which does abridge the freedom
of the press, is not law, but is altogether void and of no effect.
IV. Resolved, that alien friends are under the jurisdiction and
protection of the laws of the state wherein they are; that no power
over them has been delegated to the United States, nor prohibited to
the individual states distinct from their power over citizens; and it
being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the
Constitution having also declared, that “the powers not delegated to
the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the states
are reserved to the states respectively or to the people,” the act of
the Congress of the United States passed on the 22d day of June, 1798,
entitled “An act concerning aliens,” which assumes power over alien
friends not delegated by the Constitution, is not law, but is altogether
void and of no force.
V. Resolved, that in addition to the general principle as well as the
express declaration, that powers not delegated are reserved, another
and more special provision inserted in the Constitution from abundant
caution has declared, “that 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 1808.” That
this Commonwealth does admit the migration of alien friends described as
the subject of the said act concerning aliens; that a provision against
prohibiting their migration, is a provision against all acts equivalent
thereto, or it would be nugatory; that to remove them when migrated
is equivalent to a prohibition of their migration, and is, therefore
contrary to the said provision of the Constitution, and void.
VI. Resolved, that the imprisonment of a person under the protection of
the Laws of this Commonwealth on his failure to obey the simple _order_
of the President to depart out of the United States, as is undertaken
by the said act entitled “An act concerning Aliens,” is contrary to the
Constitution, one amendment to which has provided, that “no person shall
be deprived of liberty without due process of law,” and that another
having provided “that in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall
enjoy the right to a public trial by an impartial jury, to be informed
of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the
witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses
in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence,”
the same act undertaking to authorize the President to remove a person
out of the United States who is under the protection of the Law, on his
own suspicion, without accusation, without jury, without public trial,
without confrontation of the witnesses against him, without having
witnesses in his favour, without defence, without counsel, is contrary
to these provisions also of the Constitution, is therefore not law but
utterly void and of no force.
That transferring the power of judging any person who is under the
protection of the laws, from the Courts to the President of the United
States, as is undertaken by the same act concerning Aliens, is against
the article of the Constitution which provides, that “the judicial power
of the United States shall be vested in the Courts, the Judges of which
shall hold their offices during good behaviour,” and that the said
act is void for that reason also: and it is further to be noted, that
this transfer of Judiciary power is to that magistrate of the General
Government who already possesses all the Executive, and a qualified
negative in all the Legislative powers.
VII. Resolved, that the construction applied by the General Government
(as is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to those parts of the
Constitution of the United States which delegate to Congress a power
to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; to pay the
debts, and provide for the common defence, and general welfare of the
United States, and to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper
for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in
the Government of the United States, or any department thereof, goes
to the destruction of all the limits prescribed to their power by the
Constitution—That words meant by that instrument to be subsidiary only
to the execution of the limited powers, ought not to be so construed as
themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part so to be taken, as to
destroy the whole residue of the instrument: That the proceedings of
the General Government under colour of these articles, will be a fit
and necessary subject for revisal and correction at a time of greater
tranquillity, while those specified in the preceding resolutions call for
immediate redress.
VIII. Resolved, that the preceding Resolutions be transmitted to the
Senators and Representatives in Congress from this Commonwealth, who are
hereby enjoined to present the same to their respective Houses, and to
use their best endeavours to procure at the next session of Congress, a
repeal of the aforesaid unconstitutional and obnoxious acts.
IX. Resolved lastly, that the Governor of this Commonwealth be, and is
hereby authorized and requested to communicate the preceding Resolutions
to the Legislatures of the several States, to assure them that this
Commonwealth considers Union for specified National purposes, and
particularly for those specified in their late Federal Compact, to be
friendly to the peace, happiness, and prosperity of all the states: that
faithful to that compact according to the plain intent and meaning in
which it was understood and acceded to by the several parties, it is
sincerely anxious for its preservation: that it does also believe, that
to take from the states all the powers of self government, and transfer
them to a general and consolidated Government, without regard to the
special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact,
is not for the peace, happiness, or prosperity of these states: And
that therefore, this Commonwealth is determined, as it doubts not its
Co-states are, to submit to undelegated & consequently unlimited powers
in no man or body of men on earth: that if the acts before specified
should stand, these conclusions would flow from them; that the General
Government may place any act they think proper on the list of crimes
& punish it themselves, whether enumerated or not enumerated by the
Constitution as cognizable by them: that they may transfer its cognizance
to the President or any other person, who may himself be the accuser,
counsel, judge, and jury, whose _suspicions_ may be the evidence, his
order the sentence, his officer the executioner, and his breast the
sole record of the transaction: that a very numerous and valuable
description of the inhabitants of these states, being by this precedent
reduced as outlaws, to the absolute dominion of one man and the barrier
of the Constitution thus swept away from us all, no rampart now remains
against the passions and the powers of a majority of Congress, to protect
from a like exportation or other grievous punishment the minority of
the same body, the Legislature, Judges, Governors, & Counsellors of
the states, nor their other peaceable inhabitants who may venture to
reclaim the constitutional rights & liberties of the state & people,
or who for other causes, good or bad, may be obnoxious to the views
or marked by the suspicions of the President, or be thought dangerous
to his or their elections or other interests public or personal: that
the friendless alien has indeed been selected as the safest subject of
a first experiment; but the citizen will soon follow, or rather has
already followed; for already has a Sedition Act marked him as its prey:
that these and successive acts of the same character, unless arrested
on the threshold, may tend to drive these states into revolution and
blood, and will furnish new calumnies against Republican Governments,
and new pretexts for those who wish it to be believed, that man cannot
be governed but by a rod of iron: that it would be a dangerous delusion
were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for
the safety of our rights: that confidence is everywhere the parent of
despotism: free government is founded in jealousy and not in confidence;
it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited Constitutions
to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power: that our
Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which and no further
our confidence may go; and let the honest advocate of confidence read
the Alien and Sedition Acts, and say if the Constitution has not been
wise in fixing limits to the Government it created, and whether we should
be wise in destroying those limits? Let him say what the Government
is if it be not a tyranny, which the men of our choice have conferred
on the President, and the President of our choice has assented to and
accepted over the friendly strangers, to whom the mild spirit of our
country and its laws had pledged hospitality and protection: that the men
of our choice have more respected the bare suspicions of the President
than the solid rights of innocence, the claims of justification, the
sacred force of truth, and the forms & substance of law and justice. In
questions of power then let no more be heard of confidence in man, but
bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. That this
Commonwealth does therefore call on its co-States for an expression of
their sentiments on the acts concerning Aliens, and for the punishment of
certain crimes herein before specified, plainly declaring whether these
acts are or are not authorized by the Federal Compact? And it doubts
not that their sense will be so announced as to prove their attachment
unaltered to limited Government, whether general or particular, and that
the rights and liberties of their Co-states will be exposed to no dangers
by remaining embarked on a common bottom with their own: That they will
concur with this Commonwealth in considering the said acts as so palpably
against the Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration,
that the Compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the
General Government, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these
states of all powers whatsoever: That they will view this as seizing
the rights of the states and consolidating them in the hands of the
general government with a power assumed to bind the states (not merely in
cases made federal) but in all cases whatsoever, by laws made, not with
their consent, but by others against their consent: That this would be
to surrender the form of Government we have chosen, and live under one
deriving its powers from its own will, and not from our authority; and
that the Co-states, recurring to their natural right in cases not made
federal, will concur in declaring these acts void and of no force, and
will each unite with this Commonwealth in requesting their repeal at the
next session of Congress.
EDMUND BULLOCK, _S. H. R._
JOHN CAMPBELL, _S. S. P. T._
Passed the House of Representatives, Nov. 10th, 1798.
_Attest_, THOMAS TODD, _C. H. R._
In Senate, November 13th, 1798, unanimously concurred in,
_Attest_, B. THURSTON, _Clk. Sen._
Approved November 16th, 1798.
JAMES GARRARD, _G. K._
By the Governor,
HARRY TOULMIN,
_Secretary of State_.
VIRGINIA RESOLUTIONS OF 1798.
VIRGINIA _to wit_,
IN THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES,
Friday, December 21st, 1798.
Resolved, that the General Assembly of Virginia doth unequivocally
express a firm resolution to maintain and defend the constitution of
the United States, and the constitution of this state, against every
aggression, either foreign or domestic, and that they will support the
government of the United States in all measures, warranted by the former.
That this Assembly most solemnly declares a warm attachment to the union
of the states, to maintain which, it pledges its powers; and that for
this end, it is their duty, to watch over and oppose every infraction of
those principles, which constitute the only basis of that union, because
a faithful observance of them, can alone secure its existence, and the
public happiness.
That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it
views the powers of the Federal Government, as resulting from the
compact, to which the states are parties; as limited by the plain sense
and intention of the instrument constituting that compact; as no farther
valid than they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact,
and that in case of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous exercise of
other powers not granted by the said compact, the states who are parties
thereto have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose for arresting
the progress of the evil, and for maintaining, within their respective
limits, the authorities, rights, and liberties appertaining to them.
That the General Assembly doth also express its deep regret, that
a spirit has, in sundry instances, been manifested by the Federal
Government, to enlarge its powers by forced constructions of the
constitutional charter which defines them; and that indications have
appeared of a design to expound certain general phrases (which having
been copied from the very limited grant of powers in the former articles
of confederation were the less liable to be misconstrued) so as to
destroy the meaning and effect of the particular enumeration, which
necessarily explains and limits the general phrases; and so as to
consolidate the states by degrees into one sovereignty, the obvious
tendency and inevitable consequence of which would be, to transform the
present republican system of the United States, into an absolute, or at
best a mixed monarchy.
That the General Assembly doth particularly protest against the palpable
and alarming infractions of the constitution, in the two late cases of
the “Alien and Sedition acts,” passed at the last session of Congress;
the first of which exercises a power nowhere delegated to the Federal
Government; and which by uniting legislative and judicial powers, to
those of executive, subverts the general principles of free government,
as well as the particular organization and positive provisions of the
federal constitution: and the other of which acts, exercises in like
manner a power not delegated by the constitution, but on the contrary
expressly and positively forbidden by one of the amendments thereto; a
power which more than any other ought to produce universal alarm, because
it is levelled against that right of freely examining public characters
and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon, which
has ever been justly deemed, the only effectual guardian of every other
right.
That this state having, by its convention which ratified the federal
constitution, expressly declared, “that among other essential rights,
the liberty of conscience and the press cannot be cancelled, abridged,
restrained or modified by any authority of the United States,” and from
its extreme anxiety to guard these rights from every possible attack
of sophistry and ambition, having with other states recommended an
amendment for that purpose, which amendment was in due time annexed to
the constitution, it would mark a reproachful inconsistency and criminal
degeneracy, if an indifference were now shewn to the most palpable
violation of one of the rights thus declared and secured, and to the
establishment of a precedent which may be fatal to the other.
That the good people of this Commonwealth having ever felt and continuing
to feel the most sincere affection for their brethren of the other
states, the truest anxiety for establishing and perpetuating the union
of all, and the most scrupulous fidelity to that constitution which is
the pledge of mutual friendship, and the instrument of mutual happiness:
the General Assembly doth solemnly appeal to the like dispositions of the
other states, in confidence that they will concur with this commonwealth
in declaring, as it does hereby declare, that the acts aforesaid are
unconstitutional, and that the necessary and proper measures will
be taken by each for cooperating with this state, in maintaining
unimpaired the authorities, rights, and liberties, reserved to the states
respectively, or to the people.
That the Governor be desired to transmit a copy of the foregoing
resolutions to the executive authority of each of the other states, with
a request, that the same may be communicated to the legislature thereof.
And that a copy be furnished to each of the Senators and Representatives
representing this state in the Congress of the United States.
_Attest_, JOHN STEWART, _C. H. D._
1798, December the 24th. Agreed to by the Senate.
H. BROOKE, _C. S._
THE KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1799.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
Thursday, Nov. 14, 1799.
The house, according to the standing order of the day, resolved itself
into a committee, of the whole house, on the state of the commonwealth,
(Mr. Desha in the chair,) and, after some time spent therein, the
speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Desha reported that the committee had
taken under consideration sundry resolutions passed by several state
legislatures, on the subject of the Alien and Sedition Laws, and had come
to a resolution thereupon, which he delivered in at the clerk’s table,
where it was read and _unanimously_ agreed to by the House as follows:
The representatives of the good people of this commonwealth, in General
Assembly convened, having maturely considered the answers of sundry
states in the Union to their resolutions, passed the last session,
respecting certain unconstitutional laws of Congress, commonly called
the Alien and Sedition Laws, would be faithless indeed to themselves,
and to those they represent, were they silently to acquiesce in the
principles and doctrines attempted to be maintained in all those answers,
that of Virginia only accepted. To again enter the field of argument,
and attempt more fully or forcibly to expose the unconstitutionality of
those obnoxious laws, would, it is apprehended, be as unnecessary as
unavailing. We cannot, however, but lament that, in the discussion of
those interesting subjects by sundry of the legislatures of our sister
states, unfounded suggestions and uncandid insinuations, derogatory
to the true character and principles of this commonwealth, have been
substituted in place of fair reasoning and sound argument. Our opinions
of these alarming measures of the general government, together with our
reasons for those opinions, were detailed with decency and with temper,
and submitted to the discussion and judgment of our fellow-citizens
throughout the Union. Whether the like decency and temper have been
observed in the answers of most of those States who have denied or
attempted to obviate the great truths contained in those resolutions,
we have now only to submit to a candid world. _Faithful to the true
principles of the federal Union, unconscious of any designs to disturb
the harmony of that Union_ and anxious only to escape the fangs of
despotism, the good people of this commonwealth are regardless of
censure or calumniation. Lest, however, the silence of this commonwealth
should be construed into an acquiescence in the doctrines and principles
advanced, and attempted to be maintained by the said answers or, at least
those of our fellow-citizens, throughout the Union, who so widely differ
from us on those important subjects, should be deluded by the expectation
that we shall be deterred from what we conceive our duty, or shrink from
the principles contained in those resolutions,—therefore,
_Resolved_, That this Commonwealth considers the Federal Union upon the
terms and for the purposes specified in the late compact, conducive
to the liberty and happiness of the several States: That it does now
unequivocally declare its attachment to the Union, and to that compact,
agreeably to its obvious and real intention, and will be among the last
to seek its dissolution: That, if those who administer the general
government be permitted to transgress the limits fixed by that compact,
by a total disregard to the special delegations of power therein
contained, an annihilation of the State governments, and the creation,
upon their ruins of a general consolidated government, will be the
inevitable consequence: That the principle and construction, contended
for by sundry of the state legislatures, that the general government is
the exclusive judge of the extent of the powers delegated to it, stop
not short of _despotism_—since the discretion of those who administer
the government, and not the _Constitution_, would be the measure of
their powers: That the several States who formed that instrument, being
sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of
the infraction; and, _That a nullification, by those sovereignties
of all unauthorized acts done under color of that instrument, is the
rightful remedy_: That this Commonwealth does, under the most deliberate
reconsideration, declare, that the said Alien and Sedition Laws are, in
their opinion, palpable violations of the said Constitution; and, however
cheerfully it may be disposed to surrender its opinion to a majority of
its sister States, in matters of ordinary or doubtful policy, yet, in
momentous regulations like the present, which so vitally wound the best
rights of the citizen, it would consider a silent acquiescence as highly
criminal: That, although this Commonwealth, as a party to the Federal
compact, _will bow to the laws of the Union_, yet it does, at the same
time, declare, that it will not now, or ever hereafter, cease to oppose,
in a constitutional manner, every attempt, at what quarter so ever
offered, to violate that compact: And finally, in order that no pretext
or arguments may be drawn from a supposed acquiescence, on the part of
this Commonwealth, in the constitutionality of those laws, and be thereby
used as precedents for similar future violations of the federal compact,
this Commonwealth does now enter against them its solemn PROTEST.
Extract, etc.
_Attest_, THOMAS TODD, _C. H. R._
In Senate, Nov. 22, 1799.—Read and concurred in.
_Attest_, B. THURSTON, _C. S._
END OF VOL. III.