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ARTICLE 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.

ARTICLE 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.

ARTICLE 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 United States and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged.

ARTICLE 13. Every State shall abide by the decision 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 afterward confirmed by the Legislature of every State.

Congress directed these Articles to be submitted to the Legislatures of the several States, and, if approved of by them, they were advised to authorize their delegates to ratify the same in Congress, by affixing their names thereto. Owing to local considerations, the influence of the idea of State sovereignty, and a dread of consolidated political power, these Articles were not ratified until the first day of March, 1781. On the 2d of March the Congress assembled under the new powers. 1

The following are the names of the delegates from the several States appended to the Articles of Confederation:

NEW HAMPSHIRE-Josiah Bartlett, John Wentworth, Jr.

MASSACHUSETTS BAY-John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Elbridge Gerry, Francis Dana, James Lovell, Samuel Holten.

RHODE ISLAND-William Ellery, Henry Marchant, John Collins.

CONNECTICUT-Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, Oliver Wolcott, Titus Hosmer, Andrew

Adams.

NEW YORK-James Duane, Francis Lewis, William Duer, Gouverneur Morris.

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.

1935

NEW JERSEY-John Witherspoon, Nathaniel Scudder.

PENNSYLVANIA-Robert Morris, Daniel Roberdeau, Jonathan Bayard Smith, William Clingan, Joseph Reed.

DELAWARE-Thomas McKean, John Dickenson, Nicholas Van Dyke.

MARYLAND-John Hanson, Daniel Carroll.

VIRGINIA-Richard Henry Lee, John Banister, Thomas Adams, John Harvie, Francis Light

foot Lee.

NORTH CAROLINA-John Penn, Cornelius Harnett, John Williams.

SOUTH CAROLINA-Henry Laurens, William Henry Drayton, Jonathan Matthews, Richard Hutson, Thomas Hayward, Jr.

GEORGIA-John Walton, Edward Telfair, Edward Langworthy.

III.

THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION.1

Objects.

W

E the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION for the United States of America.

In 1853, the writer made a very careful copy of the Constitution of the United States, from the original in the State Department at Washington City, together with the autographs of the members of the Convention who signed it. In orthography, capital letters, and punctuation, the copy here given may be relied upon as correct, it having been subsequently carefully compared with a copy published by Mr. Hickey, in his useful little volume, entitled The Constitution of the United States of America, etc., and attested, on the 20th of July, 1846, by Nicholas P. Trist, Chief Clerk of the State Department.

Previous to the Revolution, there were three forms of government in the Colonies, namely, Charter, Proprietary, and Provincial. The charter governments were Massachusetts, Connec ticut, and Rhode Island. They had power to make laws not inconsistent with those of England. The proprietary governments were Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Their governors were appointed by their proprietors, and these and the proprietors usually made the laws. The provincial were New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. In these the governor and his council were appointed by the crown, and these, with chosen representatives of the people, made the laws.

The Union is older than the Constitution. It was formed in the first Continental Congress by the representatives of thirteen separate but not independent nor sovereign provinces, for they had ever been subject to the British crown. Then the inhabitants of those colonies were solemnly leagued as one people, and two years later they declared themselves collectively independent of Great Britain, and recognized the supremacy of the Continental Congress as a central government. See Curtis's History of the Constitution, i. 39, 40. The plan of independ ent State governments then adopted having failed, a national one was formed, and the framers of the Constitution, to give emphasis to the fact, said in the preamble of the instrument, "We the people of the United States," instead of "We the people of Massachusetts, New York." et cetera. So argued the Supreme Court. See Wheaton's S. C. Reports, i. 304.

Six objects, it is seen, were to be obtained, each having a national breadth of purpose.

THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION.

1935

ARTICLE I.

SECTION 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be Legislative Powers vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall con

sist of a Senate and House of Representatives.'

tatives.

SECTION 2. The House of Representatives shall be com- House of Represen posed 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.2

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.3

Qualifications

of Representatives.

Apportionment

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this of Representativen. 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.1 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

1 The members of the House of Representatives are elected to seats therein for two years, and they hold two regular sessions or sittings during that time. Each fuii term is called a Congress. Senators are elected by the State legislatures, to serve for six years.

* There is a Senate and House of Representatives, or Assembly, in each State. Any person qualified to vote for a member of his State Assembly, may vote for a member of the National House of Representatives.

A person born in a foreign country, may be elected a representative after he has been for seven years a citizen of the United States.

It has been decided that this does not restrict the power of imposing direct taxes, to States only. The Congress of the United States has power to do so, but only for the purpose of paying the national debts and providing for the national welfare. See Kent's Commentaries on the Constitution, abridged edition, page 330. Direct taxes had been laid three times by the National Congress, previous to the Great Civil War that broke out in 1861, namely, in 1798, 1813, and 1815. The "other persons" here mentioned were slaves. In making the apportionment, every five slaves were accounted three persons. The Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution renders this sentence a dead letter.

Vacancies, hors filled.

Speaker, how appointed.

Number of Senators

from each State.

Classification of
Senators.

Qualification of
Senators.

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 chuse 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, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.1

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 chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

SECTION 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.2

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; 3 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

'The apportionment is made as soon as practicable after each enumeration of the inhabitants is completed. The ratio based on the census of 1790, was one Representative for every 33,000 persons. The ratio according to the census of 1870, was one for every 137,000 persons.

This gives perfect equality to the States, in one portion of the legislative branch of the Government. The small States of Rhode Island and Delaware have as much power in the National Senate as the large ones of New York and Ohio.

This is a wise provision. It leaves representatives of the people in that branch, at all times, familiar with the legislation thereof, and therefore more efficient than if an entirely new delegation should be chosen at the end of six years.

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