Sec. 8. [Among the enumerated powers of Congress are the following, which give it full authority to abolish the internal slave-trade and slavery in the District of Columbia, viz :] The Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, &c. The Congress shall have power to exercise exclusive 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. [A similar power, also, extends to the territories, as appears from] Art. IV. Sec. 3. The Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory and other property belonging to the United States, &c. Sec. 2. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. 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 claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. Sec. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every state in the 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. ART. 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 threefourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress. AMENDMENT 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 petition the government for a redress of grievances. AMENDMENT VI. 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. AMENDMENT VII. 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. AMENDMENT IX. 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 reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. CONSTITUTION OF MAINE. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of this liberty. No laws shall be passed regulating or restraining the freedom of the press. The liberty of the press is essential to security of freedom in a state; it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this commonwealth. NEW HAMPSHIRE. The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state; it ought, therefore, to be inviolably preserved. VERMONT. The people have a right to a freedom of speech, and of writing and publishing their sentiments concerning the transactions of government, and, therefore, the freedom of the press ought not to be restrained. Motto." FREEDOM AND LIBERTY." CONNECTICUT. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. No law shall ever be passed to curtail or restrain the liberty of speech or of the press. NEW YORK. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech, or of the press. In all prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury, that the matter charged as libellous is true, and was published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. Arms-RISING SUN. Supporters-LIBERTY AND JUSTICE. PENNSYLVANIA. The printing presses shall be free to every person who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the legislature, or any branch of the government; and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man; and every citizen may freely speak, write, and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. Motto-VIRTUE, LIBERTY AND Independence. DELAWARE. The press shall be free to every citizen who undertakes to examine the official conduct of men acting in a public capacity; and any citizen may print on any such subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. MARYLAND. The liberty of the press ought to be inviolably preserved. VIRGINIA. The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments. The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and, therefore, ought never to be restrained. Arms-LIBERTY AND PLENTY. SOUTH CAROLINA. The trial by jury, as heretofore used in this state, and the liberty of the press, shall be for ever inviolably preserved. GEORGIA. Freedom of the press, and trial by jury, as heretofore used in this state, shall remain inviolate ; and no ex post facto law shall be passed. Arms-TEMPLE OF LIBERTY. KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, INDIANA, LOUISIANA, AND ILLINOIS. The printing presses shall be free to every person who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the legislature, or any branch of government; and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man; and every citizen may freely speak, write, and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Nor shall any indenture of any negro or mulatto, hereafter made and executed out of the bounds of this state, be of any validity within this state. -Constitution of Indiana.-[Those of Ohio and Illinois are similar.] OHIO. The printing presses shall be open and free to every citizen who wishes to examine the proceedings of any branch of government, or the conduct of any public officer; and no law shall ever restrain the right thereof. Every citizen has an indisputable right to speak, write, or print upon any subject, as he thinks proper, being liable for the abuse of that liberty. MISSISSIPPI. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the use of that liberty. No law shall ever be passed to curtail or restrain the liberty of speech or of the press. ALABAMA. 1 Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. MISSOURI.! The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man; and every person may freely speak, write, and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. THE SLAVE-TRADE DECLARED TO BE PIRACY BY THE LAW OF THE UNITED STATES. If any citizen of the United States, being of the crew or ship's company of any foreign ship or vessel engaged in the slave-trade, or any person whatever, being of the crew or ship's company of any ship or vessel owned in the whole or part, or navigated for, or in behalf of, any citizen or citizens of the United States, shall land, from any such ship or vessel, and on any foreign shore seize any negro or mulatto, not held to service or labor by the laws of either 1 of the states or territories of the United States, with intent to make such negro or mulatto a slave, or shall decoy, or forcibly bring or carry, or shall receive such negro or mulatto on board any such ship or vessel, with intent as aforesaid, such citizen or person shall be adjudged a PIRATE, and on conviction thereof, before the circuit court of the United States, for the district wherein he may be brought or found, shall suffer DEATH. GEORGE WASHINGTON. I hope it will not be conceived from these observations, that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people who are the subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only say, that there is not a man living, who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it; but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is, by the legislative authority; and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall not be wanting Letter to Robert Morris. The benevolence of your heart, my dear Marquis, is so conspicuous on all occasions, that I never wonder at fresh proofs of it; but your late purchase of an estate in the colony of Cayenne, with a view of emancipating the slaves, is a generous and noble proof of your humanity. Would to God, a like spirit might diffuse itself generally into the minds of the people of this country! But I despair of seeing it. Some petitions were presented to the Assembly at its last session, for the abolition of slavery; but they could scarcely obtain a hearing. - Letter to Lafayette. never mean, unless some particular circumstance should compel me to it, to possess another slave by purchase; it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be abolished by law. Letter to John F. Mercer. Because there are, in Pennsylvania, laws for the gradual abolition of slavery, which neither Maryland nor Virginia have at present; but which nothing is more certain than that they must have, and at a period not remote.- [Reasons for depreciation of southern lands, in a letter to Sir John Sinclair.] CAMBRIDGE, February 28, 1776. MISS PHILLIS, Your favor of the 26th of October did not reach my hands till the middle of December. Time enough, you will say, to have given an answer ere this. Granted. But a variety of important occurrences, continually interposing to distract the mind and withdraw the attention, I hope will apologize for the delay, and plead my excuse for the seeming, but not real neglect. I thank you most sincerely for your polite notice of me, in the elegant lines you enclosed; and however undeserving I may be of such encomium and panegyric, the style and manner exhibit a striking proof of your |