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A CONSTITUTIONAL
HISTORY OF THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE
8 5 o
1776
1
NEWTON THORPE
Illustrated with Maps
BY FRANCIS
IN
TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME ONE
NEW
YOR.K AND.
LONDON
16854
SEP 1
189?
WO COPIES RECEIVED.
Copyright, 1898, by
Harper
&
Brothers.
"
is the
and follows at
of culture and aspiration."
a distance
the delicacy
EMERSON, "Essay
on Politics."
PREFACE
This work contains the evidence
and,
it
is
believed, of progress
of
in
changes
It
Constitutional history
is
promote
striving to
tional
history
its
own
welfare.
with documents.
Laws and
is
ever
constitu-
persons, not
constitutions, written
ment
tially,
of constitutional
in
government
consists, essen-
authority, in
it is
The
process
progressive because
is
from things
dynamic.
it is
Preface
No
this
work
American
civil
institutions are an
enduring
monument
human
ditions of
civilization,
that is, the gradual disappearance of isolated, petty, and antagonistic communities, and the slow but sure recognition of the
presence of an organic and moral person which
we call the Nation. It is yet but a partly discovered country, but every voyage of social and inOur
dustrial effort uncovers its farther shores.
constitutional history, like that of every other peo-
ple, is a history of
political,
all
and
of industrial rights.
many
The
steps in
this
vi
Preface
for the extension of the suffrage, for the equitable
lition of discrimination
previous condition, for the organization of systems of education free to all, for the separation
of
men
that government
is
made
for
America
popular government
ernment
in
rests.
The
peculiar claim of
to universal authority
is
its
It
man and
human
nature.
Popu-
Preface
The
dence
principal authorities
rests are the laws
and constitutions
evi-
of the
The
constitutional
and
tions
of their trend
principles.
The
government
in this
ideals.
in so far as
An
volume.
viii
Preface
the question of sovereignty.
issue
is
stated in 1798
In
and compromised
in 1820.
The
growth.
The extension of the franchise to
free negroes involves the fate of slavery.
This
is more clearly seen about the time of the MisFrom that time immigration
souri Compromise.
and migration into the West rapidly enlarge the
field of controversy, and more sharply define the
incongruous elements in our political institutions.
its
The
spirit of
democracy
government, and
By 1850
across
the
the
first
wave
of population
had passed
to
the
civil
ix
Preface
clearly defined.
land
It is
necessary, therefore,
The
Pacific coast.
ing
all
first
commonwealth on the
nature of the
these years
civil
process dur-
is
in the
The
defined anew.
new
light.
Citizenship
is
gone
the people
confidences.
the land
The democratic
local
government
spirit
has permeated
in towns, cities,
and
Preface
counties feels
vised
its
its
ideals that
power.
it
seems
a peaceful revolution.
tion
Democracy has
to
The
so re-
later
chapters
of
the
altruistic as
they became a power among the naand that our constitutional his-
tory
as
it
is
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
THE STATE
PAGE
Two
large processes to be
democracy
in
The forerunners
worked out
in
the evolution of
America
of representative
government
in
America
2,
3
3
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
according to Webster
Education the guardian of public safety
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries compared
True character of the democracy of the eighteenth century
now better understood
The phases of democracy in its evolution
20
Sequence of
21
Its principles,
...
The
political aspirations
transition, in
this country,
in
18
19
22
in
America
17
modern altruism
Development of constitutional government
Theories and definitions set forth
Conspicuous omissions
16
23
24
...
25
Contents
PAGE
26
27
CHAPTER
28
II
wealths
29
Authorities for opinions respecting the evolution of government in the United States
29-32
State of America in 1700
30-32
Forces contending for supremacy
32
The
...
Montesquieu's influence
in
America
33
34
35
36
38
39
Blackstone's influence
Lowell's estimate of Voltaire's influence
Franklin's influence
Jefferson and the Rights of Man
The American Revolution reconstructed the theory of the
State
Legal fictions adopted as dynastic facts
The new constitutions were experiments
Concepts, old and new, of American institutions
The two ideas at the basis of American political institutions
natural rights and the social compact
The great American Bill of Rights drawn by George
Mason
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
xiv
50
52
54
54
55
Contents
PAGE
56
...
provisions permanent
Constitutions evolving into codes
CHAPTER
57
58
59
III
IN
THE
STATES
Disqualification of non-church
members
60
Social distinctions
61
62
bills of rights
The
63
...
...
....
The
qualifications of
The
test of sovereignty
members
Assembly
Legislative procedure borrowed from England
of the
67
68,70,71
71
......
qualifications of senators
first
....
77, 78,
Senatorial apportionment
Characters of the early Senate
The Senate a discovery in politics
Qualifications of the governor
Popular distrust of executive power
The
office
83
84
85
86
89
90
of litigation
79
80
87
88
executive council
Organization of the courts
The
76
82
82,
The
73
74
75
81
commonwealth governors
66
72
The
64
65
man
91
93 94 95
92
96
97
xv
Contents
PAGE
The
initiative in constitutional
reforms
98
99
100
CHAPTER IV
TRANSITION TO INDEPENDENT STATES
colonization of America proceeded according to feudal
notions
101
Representative government in America incident to the con-
The
ditions of colonial
102
life
105
106
107
108
109
103
104
no
in
112
New Hampshire
South Carolina
113, 114
115,116
117,118
Virginia
New
118
Jersey
Delaware
Pennsylvania.
119
120
North Carolina
121
Georgia
122,123
123,124,125
New York
Vermont
126, 127
Connecticut
Rhode
128
Island
129
Massachusetts
CHAPTER V
THE CONSTITUTIONAL ELEMENTS
Virginia removes the last obstacle to the admission of Ken-
tucky
133
xvi
Contents
PAGE
of 1792
and 1799
134
Beginnings of Tennessee
135
The State of Franklin
136
The Tennessee Convention of 1796
137
Eminent personages in the eighteenth century conven.
tions
138, 139
in character
interstate
influence
140
national constitution largely founded on State laws
141
Derivative features
142
The national and the State constitutions form an organic
The
whole
The Ordinance
143
of 1787
144
145, 146, 147
148
The
Indiana
152
Mississippi River
.153
154
discovers
Oregon
155
ernment
CHAPTER
is
of civil govern-
156
157
158
158-159
the basis of gov160
VI
....
No American
163
164
164, 165
....
xvii
162
162, 163
166
167, 168
/'
Contents
PAGE
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
.
.176
177
178
accordingly, 1798
Jefferson organizes the Democratic party
His political methods and his lieutenants .
The alien and sedition laws force a crisis
179
.
in
.182
183
183
184
185
186
State sovereignty
.180
181
'
powers
187
188
.189
190
CHAPTER
VII
who
ernment
Qualifications of the voters in
192
New
England
in
the eighteenth
century
The
The
The
193, 194
195
196
197
198
199,
200
201
201-202
Contents
PAGE
202
Religious qualifications
Their disappearance
203
204
Causes of this
Opinion of non-churchmen
The free person of color
Negro emancipation discouraged
The free negro in the North
The State not conceived as altruistic
205
206
The
207
208
209
210
rising discontent
CHAPTER
VIII
of a pioneer
Early industries in the Chautauqua country
On the circuit
Presbyterians and Methodists
214
219
220
221
222
frontier store
The
The
Politics
213
215
216
217
218
The home
The
211
212
and religion
222, 223
223
224
224
225
225, 226
226
....
xix
Contents
Four new States
Indiana,
PAGE
Mississippi,
Illinois,
Alabama
Louisiana; Missouri
235
Maine, Arkansas the United States takes military possession
;
of Florida
Admission
236, 237
of Missouri
237
All territory east of the Mississippi organized under local
civil authority
238, 239
CHAPTER
IX
MISSIS-
SIPPI
The advancing
Who
frontier in 1800
240
channels of commerce ?
The outposts of the country in 1800
Louisiana an unknown land
Shall the Ordinance of 1787 be repealed ?
244,
Objections to the admission of Louisiana
Organization of the Territories of Orleans and Louisiana
The new Missouri Territory
State making, Indiana
shall control the
241
242
243
245
246
247
248
Illinois
249
250
251
252
Florida purchased
What is the western boundary of the United States?
Changes in Michigan Territory
The boundary commissions of 1822
Independence of Texas
The
253
254
255
256
257
258
Contents
CHAPTER X
The guarantee
to restrict
270
detrimental to a State ?
What is a republican form of government ?
Some provisions in the Constitution not applicable to
States
Difference between migration and importation
Is slavery
The attack on
271
272
new
273
274
275
276
277, 278
279
280
281
in
the
House
The two Houses
Prospect
282
in conference
of disunion, 'T~"7V
Missouri constitution
with the national Constitution
Can Congress prescribe conditions for a new State?
Let the Supreme Court decide doubtful questions
Its conflict
....
Who
are citizens ?
Increase in the number of free persons of color
Can a new State exclude free negroes ?
They are not citizens in the meaning of the Constitution.
The assertion controverted
No discrimination in the national Constitution
Is Missouri a Territory or a State ?
296,
The imposition of a condition, by Congress, on a State contrary to precedent
What privileges have black citizens ?
Clay's compromise
300,
General Pinckney's testimony to the meaning of the fourth
article of the Constitution
.
xxi
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
297
298
299
301
302
Contents
PAGE
Firm stand
of the restrictionists
303
Shall the electoral vote of Missouri be counted ?
303, 304
Tumult and confusion in the House
305, 306
Clay's peaceful efforts
307
The question at the root of the Missouri controversy
308, 309
Powers of Congress
310,311
Arguments against them and for them
311,312,313
.
Triumph
CHAPTER
BEYOND THE
The Arkansas constitution
The Michigan constitution
The Indian Country
XI
MISSISSIPPI
of 1836
316,317
318
319
320
of 1835
Wisconsin organized
Iowa organized
321
322
323
(internal improve-
324-328
329-330
330, 331
State mortgaged for internal improvements
331
Collapse and repudiation
332
The American people in 1830
333
The effects of the panic of 1837
334
Mexico, Texas, and the United States
335
The South eager to recognize Texan independence
336
Opposing sentiment in the country
337~34
State sovereignty notions in Maine and Massachusetts drawn
out by the boundary dispute with Great Britain
340, 341
Treaties with Russia and Mexico immigration to Texas
342
Texas and its constitution
343, 344
The
....
.
Wisconsin admitted
345
California
345, 346
The changes
Foreign immigration
xxii
347
348
.
349
350
Contents
PAGE
CHAPTER
351
352
353
354
355
XII
When
356
357
358
The anomaly
mocracy
359
360
New
England
The penalties of emancipation
Free negroes in
Laws keeping
bondage
Rapid increase of
....
361
362
free negroes
363
Relative increase of hostile legislation
364
Ostracism of the free negro North and South
365
His condition often worse than that of the slave
366
Flight of the free negro into the wilderness
367
The free negro a standing incentive to servile insurrection
368
Free negroes treated as runaway slaves
369
Case of the slave " Isaac "
370
New York admits free negroes to the franchise in 182 1
.371
Reason for this liberal innovation
372
Exclusion of the class from the schools, North and
......
South
Prudence Crandall's free school
Discrimination in Ohio
Change
of public opinion in
372, 373
373, 374
Ohio
The underground
railroad
He was
in the
North
The
free
negro
xxiii
375
376
377, 378
379
380
381, 382
383
384
385
386
387
388
.
Contents
PAGE
The migration
The
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
constitutions
397
398
CHAPTER
DEMOCRACY
IN
399
XIII
A GULF STATE;
1845 LOUISI-
ANA
Reforms demanded in Louisiana
Character of the population
The foreign-born element
400
401
What
Native-Americanism
A confusion
of precedents
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
qualification
The dangers
Evil
402
403
404
of Native-Americanism
example of the Hartford Convention
xxiv
412
....
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
Contents
PAGE
New
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
CHAPTER XIV
431
432
not a property qualification for the voter a detriment to
the State ?
433
The power of Virginia as a precedent
434
The South and its antagonistic population
435
Evils of the single district system pointed out
436
Where the federal number failed
437
The city vote vs. the country vote
438
Jefferson's Notes on Virginia cited
439
Influence of Jefferson's ideas
440
The congested power of large cities
441
Political power should be diffused through the State
442
The negro beyond the pale of politics
443
The equities of representation
444
Is
The
federal basis
and agricultural
interests
445
446
447
448, 449
.
....
.
450
451
452
453
454
Contents
CHAPTER XV
ELEMENTS OF DISCORD
IN
THE COMMON-
WEALTH
PAGE
Why the
The
foreigner in Louisiana
Free colored persons and the slave States
citizenship
The
471
condemn
slavery?
Massachusetts protests against slave representation in the
Union
Power of a
How
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
465
466
467
468
469
470
Shall Louisiana
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
482
483
484
485
485,486
Contents
MAPS
Map showing
the English Colonies in North America redrawn from the map published according to Act of
Parliament June 10, 1775, by R. Sayer and J. Bennett,
No. 53 in Fleet Street (from a copy in the Pennsylvania
Facing p.
Historical Society)
Map of the United States in 1790, showing civil divisions
and distributions of population compiled from the cenFacing p.
sus and the statutes at large
Map of the United States in 1796, showing the Wilderness
Roads redrawn from Wilkinson's map published in
London, June 2, 1794, with the roads added from various
authorities
Facing p.
Map of the United States in 1800, showing civil divisions
and distributions of population compiled from the census and the statutes at large
Facing p.
Facing p.
A similar map for 1810
Facing p.
A similar map for 1820
Facing p.
A similar map for 1830
Facing p.
A similar map for 1840
;
26
150
158
212
232
252
260
332
AMERICAN PEOPLE
VOL.
AMERICAN PEOPLE
CHAPTER
THE STATE
In the evolution of democracy in America two
worked out the utilization of the resources of nature and the organ-
by means
of a
government
adapted to such a country as ours. The industrial process has been co-ordinated with the civil,
and democracy
in
America
mation, which
is
the result.
summons
came hard
In Eu-
of the Refor-
after the
Columbian
American People
though contributing by
on an
and civil basis such as has been built
upon in America.
The thought of More, of
Milton, and of Locke, of Montesquieu and of
Penn, generalized upon the labor done in that
mine, and grew into political systems, which,
though differing from one another as widely as
tion in a later state of society, organized
industrial
man
at the
centre.
It was too soon to find in any political
system that modern correlative free labor. The
contradiction was sophistically avoided by deny-
ing
manhood
to
beast of burden.
sider the end.
the
It is
results.
democracy of to-day,
Hume anticipates the French Revolution, and
Franklin the modern age of administration in
tesquieu
anticipates
government.
state
made
problem
the
its
At
administration.
times,
from the
forth,
tury's
experience, remains
politics essentially
in
unchanged.
the dictionary of
It
was made by
Its
munity or
state.
we
call
the com-
The
is
a chapter in
Rome
the history of the evolution of democracy.
evolved the idea of a legal body called a corporation itself a fiction, but a useful legal convention.
This legal fiction was the chief discovery in government for twelve hundred years. It was a legal device capable of a various civil application.
While it was reaching perfection in southern
;
Celt,
who
adjusted himself to
Roman
feudalism.
He
and
state
foundations of
laid the
applied the
ment.
It
Roman
first
modern
state, and
him slight
Hence in
respect for the form of government.
the Celtic political economy arose a system of administrative law.
A king is as dear to him by
the citizen
is first
a soldier.
The rude
and individualistic Teuton saw in the Roman corporation not merely a legal fiction, but a civil
3
Why
opportunity.
necessary relation between individual and individual, between one and many in the state, as a
compact?
Why
resultant
of
It is a civil
recorded in a series
Political adjustments
of political adjustments.
constitute the administration of government.
It
is that of which Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton,
and Lincoln frequently speak. It is a practical
composite.
affair.
It is
evolution
Its
is
of the state.
Democracy
It
was
in
latent in
colonization of
and general interests in the state has developed before our eyes in this country, and therefore it seems new and peculiarly our own.
So
local
is
Each wrought
in
but
seed
the
the Present
fruit.
America,
it is
among
influence equitably
tions.
It is
new theory
shares of
the contributing
is
hard to
see.
na-
No
philosophy
nineteenth century.
Philosophically, it is a century with a backward look. It
explores the past to as great a distance as it anticipates the future.
It sets in order the genesis of
our civil institutions, and resolves us all into heirsat-law.
have applied the past while working
in the present.
The style of the tool changes
of
the
We
but frost and rain and earth are, and weeds grow
in spite of botany.
The apple on the tree, how-
is
larger, fairer,
;
The free man is a part of the sysAt one time he was of opinion that he was
gent culture.
tem.
the
fall
of a
but a
bit of glass
He
and
in his true
American People
wholly with the past. The necessity for unrecompelled a democracy. Had the
vast area now comprised within the United States
been occupied, at the time of its discovery by
Europeans, by a wealth - accumulating people,
however civilized, who permitted European conquest, the conquerors would not have set up
stricted labor
a democracy
the
Mississippi valley
would have
Had
repeated the story of Mexico and Peru.
gold or silver abounded in New England, Pennsylvania, or Virginia, the evolution of democracy
on the Atlantic seaboard would have been retarded
Had the mechanical devices familfor centuries.
iar now in lumbering, in mining, in manufacturing, and in agriculture been familiar to the world
at the opening of the seventeenth century, democracy in America would still be a matter of political speculation.
It
dethroned
not dead.
is
He
never dies.
We
of
We
It
of
democracy
that ceases or
is
is
cease, or will be
If
mocracy hangs on
free labor.
6
The fate of
As long as
de-
the
Free Labor
free
man can
and
the Revolution
upon the
virtue of
essentially the
must be
same
its
There
ruling house.
requisite in both
those
is
who
virtuous.
adjustments.
The American Revoluwas a war for free labor; its political purposes and effects were secondary. The political
rights of our grandfathers were scarcely changed
by Saratoga and Yorktown these contributed to
The civil war was
secure their industrial rights.
of
industrial
adjustment.
A democracy
a process
must consist wholly of free men the old idea of
free states and free men must be realized. America
was not a democracy until slavery was abolished.
If it exists to-day in any form in the United
States, then democracy does not obtain among us.
There is a record of the evolution of democracy
in America which seems to escape common atindustrial
tion
>'
American People
ence.
It
It is
is
found
towards
effects of the
record the national adjustment
close of the nineteenth century.
They
war.
the
Though recorded
industrial
and an anterior
fact.
press
are
beyond
repeal.
They
mean an
beyond
and the printingare
The
politics in a
to the
necessities of
necessary blending of
democracy
is
local
history extant of
industrial
industry and
artificial for it to
must govern.
There were
it
was nec-
govern.
would be obviously
The
unjust.
commonwealths.
The
anti-
very, or
479
American People
exercise the
ficers that
freemen.
an influence in electing federal officers equal to
thirty-one hard-working, virtuous, and intelligent
Democrats of New England or New York." Indeed, had not Giddings the advantage of the argument, because he was a constant opponent of
slavery, while the delegate from West Feliciana
was advocating a principle which he was not willing to apply himself? What was the justice in
such a procedure ? Could the people of Louisiana
say with truth to their Northern brethren that they
regarded the compromise principle in the federal
constitution as wise and just, but deemed it odious
and unjust when proposed for adoption in their
own State constitution ? For Louisiana to con-
demn
on the
this principle
interests of slavery.
It
effect
should not be
for-
a distinct
How
feeble
Massachusetts and Slave Representation
that
cluded.!
in-
in this crusade
19, 1863.
16, 1844.
I.
hh
481
American People
Union, or
basis
The
authority of the
The
If,
there-
protect
it
knew nothing
of slavery,
existed
among
As
show
some sought
to
would
basis
482
Politics versus Industry
Democracy
in
be-
shown
of
democ-
has its order and its chaos, its desire and its performance, its theory and its administration. Perhaps it is unfortunate for the fate of democracy in
America that we have always attempted to inter-
pret
it
politically.
political device.
It
team
Politics
and labor
are
the
The
state,
democratic
if
corrupt,
is
elements.
The
American People
industrial
discontents
which characterize the present cannot all be rightly charged against democracy.
They exist independent of the form of government. It was long
thought that political equality would secure in-
equality into
success.
life
At present,
racy Nemesis
is
active.
The
privileges of
democ-
self.
The
state
is
" re-
There
no better
the people
know
its
whence
this
state.
It is
tatum !"
They have made nothing. Did the
farmer make the apple, or the gardener the flower?
It is not only political but industrial honesty that
we need. The coin that is current in a sound
If on the one side there is to
state has two faces.
"
be read, Man has by nature a political life," on
the other it reads, " and an industrial also."
Two centuries ago democracy was necessitated
by forests to be cleared, mines to be worked, fields
to be ploughed, things to be made, social relations
and functions to be determined. This was at the
threshold of a material age in the evolution of
democracy. Some rude adjustments must be expected in
democracy that
An
untouched
down,
that the
first
ii
is
thought necessary.
The
Labor calls
demands political recognition.
guarantee.
state
for
a
Labor
upon the
seeks a
It
wealth.
Is
it
a device to
enormous
times,"
and the
who wage
who
expect to profit
stage.
we
We
it
The
end of
his frame
great
* Charter to William
all
13
American People
ery.
To
is
the constitution
"
the magistracy
and partly
to
partly
is slav-
owing
to
ministration of government).
" (that
"Where
is,
the ad-
either of
government will be subject to convulsions; but where both are wanting, it must be
then where both meet the govtotally subverted
ernment is likely to endure."
The convulsion of 1861 was an instance in
which one of these failed. It proved that American democracy could not be longer administered
with its growth retarded by "obedience without
these
fails,
liberty."
in the state.
With
come
evils
14
Transformation of Feudalism
America industry
tics shall
have
istration of
But
its
government
is
in that administration
Man, the
man must
citizen,
be credited
devices
forms of the state, it is government of man for man that is wanted. Though the
state be convulsed, though it be subverted, man
racy, as in other
will
remain.
The
evolution of
man
is
the hope of
the state.
In a democracy it is better to have a
government of men rather than a government of
laws.
Then, whatever the forms of the state, the
great end of all government will be secured.
My theme is a history of the evolution of democracy in America and by the term democracy
is to be understood the form of government, not
;
The
the doctrines of a political party.
tutions of a free people are composite.
civil insti-
Those of
the past and a
15
American People
government
our time
administration, not
is its
its
theory.
in
ernment
in
America
ries, political
tion.
If
worthy
is
principles,
democracy
as
of the support of
political principles,
of the inter-
be the history of the evolution of popular government. Although our constitutional history apparently involves elaborate analysis of many laws and
constitutions, yet the principles upon which our
of
public education
Webster's
in-
Luther
vs.
Bunker
Hill oration,
Borden, January
June
27, 1848.
16
17,
Education
the
end
of his life
showed the
amount
the instrumentality of
disciples
the
of property
Thomas
man,
American democracy.
its
enthusiasm.
It is
a doctrine
significance largely
Yet so
17
effective
upon
has
it
American People
doctrine the
tion
from a military
in
full
to a civil basis in
And
meaning
will
government
undoubtedly
be measured
of the transition
now
many
civil rights
later
day
dom
of the press,
practical
Yet
worked out
of
rights were to be
colonists
man.
sevat a
as the right of
may be said to terminate with the closing years of the seventeenth century, and the
year 1689 may be named as the time when this
phase of the evolution of American democracy
With the opening of the eighteenth cenclosed.
tury popular government, though as yet latent in
the bud, rapidly evolved in measures of administration, both colonial and imperial, until at length
antagonistic interpretations of civil administration
precipitated the American Revolution. That Revolution, which gave us our independence as a naRather
tion, was not fought to prove a theory.
was it the natural, though painful, conclusion of
many matters which had long been in civil litigaevolution
//
tion.
It
Expansion of
quite as
much
America:
as
civil affairs
is
It
as
a natural product.
It is
It
was,
levelled, but
industrially quite
tyrannical
cally.
was
it
Crown
the type
much
that
as
was
politi-
government
many
of the
old problems
America
literature
of
lution
1776
of
postulation.
It
is
is
at
still
unsolved.
The
novation in
civil
affairs.
The
American People
cardinal doctrine
he
is
of a single phase.
It is my purpose to record some constitutional
phases of the development of American democracy.
This record, fortunately, is accessible in
forms of indisputable value and worthy of our
20
Among
faith.
is,
the body of
American constitutions
that
of govern-
at
conspicuous in
bills of rights
and the
first
written
government of the
the commonwealths, and es-
political conventions, in
feudal
equity.
interest,
It
is
ing of
crises in
American
af-
new enlightenment of
more perfect understandthe powers, the privileges, and the duties
have
terminated in a
American People
men.
If
four centuries of
civili-
zation in
responsibilities.
in
many
This consciousness
suggested
is
democracy
to suffering
American
like
our own.
is
clearly
22
marked
The
record
in the evo-
found
American democracy.
And
be
which many might not at first
Our national government has long
it
is
to
in places in
search for
attracted
it.
of our own
lands
Anglo-Saxon
race.'
From
the
Independence
continentalism, during which
was a
brief interval of
under a dominant
there also went out
first
time formulated
Declaration
idea.
With
to the
world the
the
first
consti-
ideas of union.
fifty
the
American People
Dual
first
State
their duality
became a
constitutions
grew up
in
1776.
in the land,
and
characteristic of democracy,
and
which remain
almost unchanged to our own day, and probably
will continue to be recognized on this continent as
the accepted statement of political and civil rights.
is
recognition
They made
of
the
the free
man
</"the
of
their
centre of the
civil
system.
If
we
sets forth
of the state.
century political thought was its emphasis of politiThis was inevitable. Theory precal theories.
cedes practice, especially in affairs of state, and
colonial practice in government had been efficient
24
The Constitution
chiefly in the
the
evolution of
Parent of Parties
bills
of
The
rights.
ment
is
The
with any of the earlier State constitutions.
national Constitution originally contained no bill
It was intended to be administrative,
of rights.
not theoretical, in character.
inition
of nationality;
no
It
contains no def-
definition
of
what
is
In-
it is
A
ica
constitutional history of
is,
therefore, a
democracy
in
Amer-
American People
During the
first
half
first
efforts of
agency of these supreme laws. Industrial enfranchisement compelled a reorganization of the state,
Which was carefully recorded in its supreme law.
Democracy is equally interested in the state and in
26
The Altruism of Democracy
Until recent years
the citizen.
It
is,
inter-
democracy
seemed
it
The
history of
his
his
victories,
disappointments.
The important
The
may
discovery as a
and,
average, a
1776.
frequent
The
new
Propositions for
;
American People
Legislature.
Every
political
and
not
infrequently
to
new
ones.
CHAPTER
II
The
of conven-
Still-
American People
by about three hundred thousand people, AngloSaxon stock predominating a smaller population
than may now be found in some Congressional districts. England claimed territory to the South Sea,
man
New
Jersey.
Extracts
months
of May, June, and August, 1775. Published by Order. Burlington: Printed and Sold by Isaac Collins, mdcclxxv., Wood-
bury, N.
J.
Reprinted by Order.
Joseph
8vo, 241 pp. Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the Convention of New Jersey, Begun at Burlington, the tenth of June,
1776, and thence continued by Adjournment at Trenton and New
703 pp.
North Carolina. The Journal of the Proceedings of the ProCongress of North Carolina, held at Halifax, the twelfth
day of November, 1776, together with the Declaration of Rights,
Constitution, and Ordinances of Congress.
Newbern Printed by James Davis, 1777, Small 4to, 84 pp. (Sabin, 394, c.
vincial
55.632).
Pennsylvania. The Proceedings Relative to Calling the Conventions of 1776 and 1790, the Minutes of the Convention that
formed the Present Constitution of Pennsylvania, together with
the Charter to William Penn,the Constitutions of 1776 and 1790,
and a View of the Proceedings of the Convention of 1776, and
the Council of Censors. Harrisburg Printed by John S. WrestMinutes of the
ling, Market Street, 1825, 8vo, 384
i v.
pp.
Convention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which commenced at Philadelphia, on Tuesday the twenty-fourth Day of
November, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred
and eighty-nine, for the Purpose of Reviewing, and if they see
occasion, Altering and Amending the Constitution of this State.
Philadelphia
Printed by Zachariah Poulson, Jr., in Fourth
:
American People
In Vol.
ii.,
Vermont
as a Sover-
The
32
which
their
sufferings
and
their victories
early
scenes.
selves,
like
in
were
our-
which they
contended, the record which they made in founding new States and a new nation are elemental
services they rendered, the ideas for
in
the deeds of
their action, as
But the
it
obscures
political institu-
though feeble
and isolated at first, unwelcome to the governments of the Old World, and, when by necessity acknowledged as a new power, coldly received into
the family of nations, were destined to overspread a
continent and to demonstrate, for the first time,
the vitality and efficiency of popular government
on a vast scale. During the seventeenth century,
and the greater part of the eighteenth, the colonies prospered under charters granted by the
Crown and in substance differing little one from
another. The charter to Penn contained a unique
tions
after them,
i.
33
wedge
democracy
American People
From
though
in
to differ
among
tionary authority.
To
opposition to
"
lish bill of
1688 survives in
34
One
its
original
form
in the
many
on
which became
issue
The
system.
ideas
* Art. viii.
35
American People
United States.
wealths, organized
We
ity of representative
government.
our
is,
bills
of
charter of the
rights
American
As France and
The growth
of
Spain, in
36
turn, retired
from
Time
commonwealths came, it seems, at first glance, almost instantaneous. The State constitutions of
1776 seem struck off at a single stroke in a sense
is
and
essentially
litical
the
fabric
civil
homogeneous.
common
They give
They
pattern.
the poregister
and
earlier times.
They
may
few
whose
common
principles contained
in the bills of
rights.
a few philosophers,
37
of
the speculation
whom
Montesquieu
was most
influential.
rights of Englishmen,
came
American People
Long
to be considered as natural.
of charter rights
made
exercise
however
unphilosophical.
possessed the exclusive right, constitutionimpose taxes, and that local circumstances
forbade colonial representation in Parliament.
The Americans had a century and a half of
experience in popular government when the first
blies
ally, to
bills
of rights,
stitutions
made
er than
commonwealth
seemed
colonial rath-
in character.
show the
influence of Montesquieu.
in 1748,
and
its
Montesquieu's Influence on
Our
Constitution
Politics
some
them
of
assisted
in
revising
their
State
was
To
these
men
in
the
He
who
works out a
United
the
of
osophical thinker
state.
Constitution
it is
the phil-
economy, which,
cor-
Of
though
institutions, were
of
Milton, Hobbes, Locke, Sidney, Harrington, and
The best of their political speculations
Penn.
became the common intellectual property of
thoughtful Americans, and in political form were
form
of
less,
incorporated in the constitutions of the eighteenth century, and, slightly modified, are found
in all that
Twenty
ries
monarchical ideas,
In spite of
ultra
was speculative
it
The Commentaries,
principles
form
ances.
so
failed
much
This
is
as did
to
attain
are
men
expression
in
legal
by appear-
controlled
government
All
Though acknowledging
of the people to
the right
in
40
Voltaire
It
The
years.
having
"
Washington annotated
reading.
son's
It
now
i.,
p. 533.
must
He was
respect.
political system.
The
American People
the centre of the
is
Queen Anne
to
the death
of
tury
later, in that
inition,
is
Had
it
is
commonly
called the
founder.
42
Jefferson
and
the Rights of
Man
its
sanity.
is
seen in the
constitutions adopted after 1850, in which the administrative gradually appears as a separate arti-
The
history of this
of civil adjustments.
To
new department
is
one
constitution
influ-
issues,
43
American People
The
Declaration of Inde-
the constitution of
The
New York
of 1777.
Revolution was a reconstruction of the the-
and
tury
later, it
ican sovereign.
vised to secure
interregnum.
The
serve the authority of the majority, and constitutions prescribed the conditions for belonging to
44
When
the State
to
democracy
in-
themselves.
The
eighteenth century were made, therefore, to be independent of political parties. They should be
administrable with advantage to the state whatever party might be in power.
This accounts for
the silence as to parties in
tury conventions.
done and
less of
We
all
know
what was
the eighteenth-cenlittle
of
what was
there
is
cussion of the
American
constitutions,
makes the
45
the
first
constitu-
unlimited grant of power to the State LegislaBut even the exception proved the rule,
tures.
nal,
and the constitutions proved on the whole adminisThe State has been contrable and satisfactory.
served, and the purposes for which the constitutypically set forth in the
tions were framed
preamble to the national Constitution have been
Statesmen of the eighteenth
fairly well realized.
century would impute this to the efficacy of the
By this they
system of checks and balances.
meant the distinct functions of the executive, the
legislative, and the judiciary the different ways in
which they are chosen the different times when
they hand over their power to their successors;
the peculiar combination of the legislative and the
executive in the administration of government, and
all
public servants to
the electors.
arbitrary
of
the
American system.
is
the
Though
to modification at the
tics.
in
America
much
If it is
become a
at last, the
constitutions
of settled politics
and the
it
may
Thus,
growth
of the State.
The
American People
Suffolk Convention,* and was quickly recognized by Adams and Otis as the place of bein the
ginning
in
Revolution.
American
J
in
It
why
compact.
of
government.
In
way
own
this
in
should be of no effect.! With these two exceptions, the colonies entered upon the organization
of State governments.
The permanent features
* Journals,
p.
601
and,
specially, of the
of
48
all
con-
the People
of these constitutions
rights
also Joint Resolution of Virginia Legislature accepting manuscript of this Declaration of Rights in Mason's handwriting,
and depositing it in State archives, February 15, 1844.
1.
49
American People
office
magistrate, legislator, or
of
The
applied in ad-
and
judicial powers.
Elections must be
may
the
more
There must be
In
rotation in office.
elec-
man can
equal rank.
trial
of the
trial
according to the law of the land of a person accused of capital or criminal offence, giving him the
right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, and to be confronted by his accusers and
their witnesses,
dence
speedy
in
his
trial
own
No
a violation of feelings and rights was the immediate origin of clauses in the bills of rights declaring such searches and seizures under general
warrant unconstitutional.
It would be expected that a people
their political fabric
who based
of natural
rights,
Among
American People
time of the Declaration of Independence were the treatment of the colonial militia
by the British government, and particularly the
discrimination in favor of royal troops.
For
more than a century the Americans had claimed
ica at the
to
by
their
charters
themselves
protect
an
versy between
rank of the
King and
civil
The
old contro-
common
for-
government
the
centralization
of
civil
authority,
stands
in
damental principles
to
mean
";
practically a
There
cation.
is
can be pre-
by a firm adherence to justice, modand virtue." Probably that spirit which moved the authors of the
served only
"
association
to
include
provision
this
in
their
declarations
of
rights.
owe
"
we
tion,
our Creator; and the manner of dischargcan be directed only by reason and convicnot by force or violence " a broad applica-
tion
of the
ing
to
it
all
men were
of their conscience.
tions were
tian
made under
religion.
In
it
equally entitled
All
the
the
constitu-
Church
Massachusetts,
and
State were in a degree united and religious organizations of a lawful character were entitled to
support from
public
"
morality
taxation.*
In
New
were
to
Hampshire,
religion, and
by
its first
constitution, 1776.
53
State
Church
in
South Carolina
American People
professed the Christian religion, and the Legislature at its discretion could lay a general and equal
its
support.
equal rights of
its
all
men
irrespec-
providing that no male person born in America, or brought from over sea,
could lawfully be held to serve any person " as a
servant, slave, or apprentice" after he arrived at
the age of twenty-one years nor a female, in like
manner, after she arrived at the age of eighteen;
unless such persons were bound by their own consent after arriving at age or were bound by law
tive of race or color,
for the
payment
*
of
some
Vermont,
obligation.*
54
This clause
Virginia
and
may
ified
it was the
provision
an
first antislavery
in
American constitution, the precedent for a similar clause in the
constitutions of Ohio* and Illinois,! and, in mod-
In their
the
first
bills of rights
illustrated
the
New York4
commonwealths from
was adwas made a political doctrine in The Federalist, and was adopted
for a time by the Supreme Court of the United
The idea was not disposed of till i868.||
States.
A working principle of representative government was embodied in the claim of the State to a
vailed.
vanced
* 1802.
This
unphilosophical
notion
1 1819.
1821, 1846.
||
55
the
if
first
due course
American People
The
law a phrase
was commonly
of
traceable to
mitted.
As
melled expression of opinion through their reprewere given privileges and immunities not enjoyed by other citizens. When
we reflect on the superfluous legislation of our own
times, a provision for frequent sessions of the
Legislature strikes us, at first, as evidence of inexIt is evidence of the
perience in government.
sentatives, these
New
Tennessee, 1796.
Guarding
ful
to
make
for
The
a national
was
The
ity as
paramount
was arranged in
was
free
from
in the state.
No
bill
strictly philosophical
irrelevant
matter, as
of rights
order nor
illustrated
which de-
clare that
Vermont, Delaware, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and New York, remain in the present constitutions of
these States.
times.
New
sessions.
* Maryland,
57
New
1784,
Constitutional History of the
through
legislation.
American People
The comparatively
slight
and
its
The
mated
defects of colonial
government were
inti-
the
first
and
for
the
bill
how
of rights
a provision transferred to
from
its
normal place
in the
in order to
The
Maryland, 1776.
Hampshire, 1784, 1792.
fNew
58
them
to substitute a
money
equivalent.
later in
have been
The
of
their internal
criticised as
character of a code.
partaking too
Some
much
1870
of the
open
to the
that
and
in-
herent. \
* Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, 1776
Vermont, 1777, 1786, 1793.
Probably due to the
t Maryland, 1776; Vermont, 1777, 1786.
fact that these constitutions were made by the Legislatures acting
;
as conventions.
% States having boundary disputes, Vermont, 1777, 1786, 1793
Pennsylvania, 1776, 1790; Kentucky, 1792, 1799.
CHAPTER
III
was a characteristic
reform of the times, the freedom was relative
great if one looked backward, slight if he looked
forward.
There was still a predominant disposition to disqualify the non- religious part of the
community from voting and from office. By the
non-religious was meant all who did not formally
and publicly accept a prescribed creed or a theoThis disqualification was the first
logical system.
in religion
Suffrage extension was a reform destined to agithe public mind down to our own time.
Another was a step towards the abolition of im-
tate
* Pennsylvania, 1790; traceable to Penn's Frame of Government, April 25, 1682; to the Laws Agreed Upon in England,
May 5, 1682 to Charter of Privileges, 1701.
;
60
manner:* a
common -law
provision.
It was to be expected that the new democracy
would provide against hereditary emoluments and
distinctions and titles of nobility, and that a precedent would be established making it unconstitutional for a citizen to accept a gift from a foreign
power without the consent of the State. What a
democracy would not accept it could not well
grant itself, and the state was made incapable of
bestowing
titles.
It
is
now
and made
political capital
out of dishev-
campaigns are still conducted on home-spun tactics. The one great triumph of the Whig party was won when it abandoned federal traditions, identified itself with the
people, and had monster meetings and ox-roasts.
Though the States guarded the obligations of
contracts entered into by citizens, only twot deelled dress.
*
t
Political
citizens.
61
American People
limited to
its
own
The Governors
of
Maryland
of the
the
day combined
"
It
tions, like
peace.
is
From
these
first
declarations
The
inevitable.
social
little.
Chesholm
vs.
62
Settlers
not be abandoned. The chief source of the declarawas the experience of Englishmen in Eng-
tions
There is no close relation between the colonial charters and these constitutions.
What Americans read into them and out of them
was now for the first time formulated in the founOne phrase found in several
dation of the State.
of the later charters was elaborated into a new prinColonists who, by royal charter, were said
ciple.
to have all the liberties and immunities of free and
natural subjects of Great Britain, could, without
land and America.
when accusing
the
King
of violating the
social
They
administrative measures.
gone
to seed, the
tions of a people.
to lengthen.
manner
ments
* It
From
of their
coming
is
illustration of the
was stated
Constitution
As
by
New
Jer-
1.
archy to democracy.
63
bill of rights.
The
first
were added
to
make secure
ten were
common
administrative measures
and the
seem super-
of
The cause
powers
the executive,
legislative,
and
judi-
power.
This attempt
at
solution explains
why
Review
f
64
English
and American
Legislative Systems
House
of
ously apportioned.
corporations, taxable
lation,
In
"
all
The
basis
was property,
civil
Jersey,
New
Carolina (1776).
1.
65
adopted
fifths of
in only
American People
in
In States having cities containing a large proportion of the population, a struggle early began
between rural and urban interests! which has continued to the present and has affected their successive constitutions.
interest has
gan
of
* Georgia, 1798.
t
I
66
It
to recog-
demand
been one
As no
of the chief causes of new constitutions.
official census enabled the first conventions to apfor equitable representation has
work was
the number
who among
the pop-
The
office.
and those
The
Kentucky, 1799.
67
American People
and
at
adopted.
As
the
born, or a
was
constitution
the
eligible to office.
constitution, they
must be interpreted
to
as express-
amount
to profess a cer-
to be native
when
time
They
The
some
N.H.
Property
Residence
776-1800.
Religion
Term, Limitations
Annual election.
1776* (21)
1784
(21)
parish,
place chos-
freehold in
that town.
en to represent.
1792
<<
(21)
<<
68
What
The
the
1777
21
Residence
I yr.
Property
Religion
Belief in one
in State.
God;
Term, Limitations
Annual
election.
in-
spiration of
Scripthe
protures
f e ss
the
;
Protestant
religion.
"
<
1786
1793
li
< <
<
<<
years
in
<
<<
<(
<
<c
(<
<(
<
< 4
State, 1 yr.
which
Mass.
1780
of
(the last) in
the town he
represents.
(21) 1 yr. in town Freehold
he
represents.
of Christian re-
/ioo
in
town
he
ligion.
represents,
or
ratable
estate of
^200 in that
town.
N. Y.
1777
N.J.
1776. (21)
(21)
1 yr.
sents.
500
real No
((
Protes-
thatcounty.
the right of
candidacy
on account
of religious
opinions.
Pa.
1776
Taxpayer.
he repre-
Not oftener
than 4 years
sents.
in
or
Vermont.
county
7.
From
ber.
69
American People
1790
21
Residence
i 776-1 800.
Religion
Property
The
and Taxpayer.
inhabitant
Citizen
qualifi-
Term, Limitations
Annual election.
cation is in
negathe
tive: no per-
of the State
the
3 yrs.
last year of
it in city or
;
county
Continued.
son
who
ac-
knowledges
he
the being of
represents.
God and a
future state
of rewards
and punish
ments to be
Del.
disqualified
Belief in the
Trinity and
in the inspi
resented.
ration of the
Scriptures.
"
1792
24
and Freehold
inhabitant county.
Citizen
in
<
<
of the State
3 yrs.;
the
year in
county.
year
in
1
county replast
above
Md.
1776
21
real Christian
and person- ligion.
^500
re
al property,
resented.
above.
Va.
1776
N.C. 1776
(21) Reside
(21) 1
county.
year
county.
in
Freeholders
in same.
in 100 acres for Protestant.
life
or in fee
(possessor
thereof for 6
mos. before
election)
the county
represented
S.
C.
"
1776
(21)
1778
Chosen biennially.
3500 (currency) in
Protestant.
real estate.
1790
21
500 acres,
f r
ehold
and 10 ne
groes, or of
^150
70
clear.
Legislative Procedure
1777
Property
Residence
21
12
mos.
in
State,
months
17 76-1 800.
Concluded.
Religion
land
in
^250.
Term,Limitations
Annual
election.
or
county.
1 '
1789
21
7 yrs. citizen
of U. S.
2
;
inhabitant of the
yrs.
acres
land or
200
< <
$150.
and
State,
an
inhabitant of the
county represented.
1798
21
Chosen on the
federal basis
property
"
worth .500
clause.
three-fifths
"
in the county.
Ky.
1792
last
"
1799
Chosen
2 yrs. citizen
of the State;
24
6 mos.
of county.
Citizen of U.
S., 2 yrs. in
last
State
year in the
24
ann'lly.
1*
<<
town
or
county rep-
Tenn.
1796
21
resented.
Svrs.inState; 200 acres,
year in freehold.
I
county.
Biennial.
election of
privileges,
American People
From the State constitutions the federal convention made up the analogous part of the national
Constitution. They were construed as checks and
balances in legislation.
the test of sovereignty, at this time, be the
oath of allegiance, the States were sovereign, as
If
\own commonwealth.
how
slight
men
now
prevails
States in
century.
now
under-
the
United
Two
things
to
must
that
is
not sovereign.
stitution originally,
Necessity
imputed
the Con-
made
Too
which
often ideas
it
was im-
them to hold. If the federal government had been commonly recognized in the
possible for
72
State
and National
Sovereignty
al-
With one
now
The
sovereignty.
As soon
as the States
began
veloped.
The
to
both governments.
Education at public expense, which now constitutes an element so essential to the general wel
fare, was quite unthought of in the eighteenth ceny
tury.* The need of schools was felt, and was met
in part.
The
silence
on the
73
American People
We
defend public education as the fathers defended property and religious qualifications as a
deterrent of crime.
phrase,
"
He
normal school.
realized
when he
the
inserted the
educational clauses in the constitution of Massachusetts that he was departing from precedent and
# Save in New
all would be struck out.
feared lest
The
State
an administrative
article on education.
This act of the general government strengthened the national idea. In our
ranks as a
civil right.
Temporary
all
constitu-
pending
by surveys,
although nearly every commonwealth is still vexed
by some boundary dispute. Traces of abuses in
tions
those in the
first refer
questions of boundary
legislation that
still
chiefly to
settled later
as
and the granting of gratuities. Legislatures acted under a free, general grant of powers.
filibustering
The
74
i.,
p. 24.
growth
lation.
The
first
limitation of
this
kind was a
compatible
offices
disqualified
from
In-
civil office,
not so
much
to sepa-
loss of property.
as to
inaugurated the change which after 1800 was gradually to overspread the country, that the bill may
originate in either House.
Departure from English precedent was inevitable, as the Senate, being an elective body like the
House, was responsible to the same constituency:
It
a condition that never prevailed in England.
body
differing only
* Georgia, 1798.
t New York, 1777; North Carolina, 1776; South Carolina,
Georgia, Kentucky, 1799; Tennessee, 1796.
%
Tennessee, 1796.
75
American People
system, and
civil
its
House.
As
its
It is
functions
the House,
seems
to
become
identical with
those of
its
It
time.
It
the Senate would be strengthened by being emDelaware (1776), called Council of the General Assembly; New
South Carolina (1776), Legislative Council; New Hampshire, The Council
Connecticut, Rhode Island, The Governor
and Assistants. Until 1790 there was no Upper House in Pennsylvania, nor in Vermont till 1836.
Efforts have been
t Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts.
*
Jersey,
made
to abolish
it,
especially in Massachusetts
76
(1
880-1 895).
to originate
money
bills.
On
the con-
N.
Residence
Property
Religion
Inhabitant.
1776
Term
Remarks
i yr.
This upper
branch
(temporary),
was chosen
by the low-
and
e r,
called
the
Council.
1784
30
7 years in-
hab. State
and of
at
dist.
Freehold
wo r t h
Protestant
1 yr.
200.
time
elected.
Vt.
1792
1777
<
it
it
tt
Verm on
had
a
Co uncil,
no
but
Senate.
1786*
1793
*
77
until 1836.
American People
The Qualifications
1780
Residence
5 yrs.
of
Property
Religion
in
inhab. ^300
freehold,
State,
inhab.
of
i yr.
personal
sented.
estate.
Freeholder.
N.J. 1776
1 yr.
county
Remarks
or ^600 in
dist. repre-
N. Y. 1777
Term
^1000
Same as
proclamaAssem-
tion
ey,
mon-
blymen.
per-
sonal
The Upper
House was
called the
Legislative
real
if
and
yrs.
1 yr.
Council.
es-
tate.
Pa.
No
1776
Upper
House.
179O
25
Citizen
of
State
Taxpayer.
Same
for
years the
last of the
as
yrs.
Rep-
resenta-
tives.
dist. repre-
sented.
Del.
<<
1776
1792
25
Reside in
27
county.
Citizen
of
State
3
years the
last of the
county.
;
Freeholder.
3 yrs. Called
200 acres
freehold,
3 yrs.
the
Council.
and
personal
property
or real
worth
;lOOO.
Md.
1776
25
3 yrs.
resi-
dence
sonal.
State.
Va.
1776
25
Resident in Freeholder.
5 yrs.
Chosen
by
electors.
House.
< <
1 yr.
district.
N. C. 1776
year in
county.
S.
C.
300
acres
in fee.
tt
1 yr.
Chosen by
the Assemb 1 y from
1776
its
body,
own
and
called the
Legislative
Council.
1778
30
years
State.
73
Senatorial Qualifications
The
1790
30
Residence
5
years
in
State.
Property
^300
ster-
ling,
set-
Religion
Term
Remarks
4yrs.
tled free-
hold.
If
a non-resident
in
the dis-
an
trict,
state,
freehold,
of ;lOOO,
cl e a r of
debt.
Ga.
No Upper
1777
House.
1789
28
9 years
in-
habitant
250
acres
3yrs.
freehold
of U.S., 3
or proper-
years of
State, 6
worth
250.
ty
months,
county.
1798
25
Same
as in
1789, except
year
in county.
Freehold
1 yr.
worth
$500
or
taxable
property
worth
Ky.
1792
27
years
$1000.
4yrs. Chosen
by
electors
State.
specially
"
elected.
1799
35
U.S. citizen,
4yrs.
6 years in
State, last
in district.
Tenn. 1796* 21
years
in
State, of
which 1 yr.
200 acres
in free-
2 yrs.
hold.
in county.
The compensation of members of the two Houses was usually the same
but the Speaker of the House received more than any other member of it,
* In Tennessee the qualifications for Senators and Representatives were the same until
1834.
79
American People
New
in
Thus,
in 1797, the
bers, 17 shillings;
members received
15 shil-
In 1791, in Pennsylvania, the two presiding officers, 22 shillings and 6 pence the Senators and Representatives,
In Virginia, in 1779, each Assembly15 shillings and 9 pence, mileage.
man was paid 50 lbs. of tobacco daily, and 2 lbs. additional as mileage by
the act of 1780, the grand jury was required, at each of the four sessions
lings, the
Speaker, 20 shillings.
money
It
The
district
came
secure
all
To
was worked out by which democracy secured a changing body and a permanent
retiring clause
one
at the
same
time.
The
its
members were
little
and
in
election.
College,
trate
the prototype,
if
80
Plutocratic Characteristics of the Senate
The
dential Electors.
Maryland,
the College
of the
House
peachment or a court
States the
House
The
first
cial
functions
Governor.*
some
In
and
judi-
as undemocratic.
came
to
be recognized as rep-
House
the
persons,
But the idea was at best convendemocracy set about destroying the first basis and strengthening the
second, and the functions of the Senate were viewed
It gradually became a democratic
in a new light.
The old distinction was for half a century
body.
But the democratic character of
a political issue.
in the State.
For
tional.
this reason
* Georgia, 1789.
necticut,
t
Rhode
As a
court,
New
Jersey,
New
1777, the
1.
York, Con-
Island.
81
In Georgia,
'
<
American People
It illustrates
how democracy
utilized
for
It is in this
situation.
Senate
is
one
Qualifications of Governors.
State Const. Age
democracy.
Residence
State Constitutions,
776-1800.*
Property
Religion
Term
Remarks
^"500, one-
Protes-
I yr.
Styled
the
President.
H. 1776
1784
30
years
in
half
State.
in
tant.
freehold.
Vt
1792
1777
1786
1793
30
4 years in
State.
Mass.
1780
years
in
N.Y.
State.
Freeholder
1777
* The Governor of Rhode Island was a freeholder, and elected annually so of ConnectiIn New York, act of March 27, 1778, the elector voted viva voce for Senators and
Assemblymen, but by ballot for Governor and Lieutenant-Governor. In New Jersey the
Governor's salary, by act of December 23, 1784, was .550; November 7, 1797, .750;
November 7, 1798, ^700; November n, 1799, $1866.67. In Virginia, his salary, act of
In Kentucky, act of January 22, 1798, ^400, also fuel, stationMay, 1779, was ^4500.
ery, and postage. In Tennessee, October 23, 1796, $750. In all the States, no man other
than a freeholder was chosen Governor nor any man who had not long been a resident
In States whose constitutions did not specify the age qualification, it may
of the State.
A person not professing the Christian religion was not likely to be
be put at thirty years.
mentioned as candidate for Governor exceptions will occuras that of Jefferson in Virginia.
;
cut.
82
Gubernatorial Qualifications
State Constitutions, 1776-1800.
Qualifications of Governors.
Const
Age
Residence
Property
Religion
Protes-
1776
Term
I
Remarks
yr
tant.
1776
1790
President.
30
years
in
3 yrs.
State.
1776
3 yrs.
Ineligible
for 3 years.
Styled the
President.
1792
30
I2yrs. U.S..
last 6 years
1776
25
State.
years
in
^500O,
of
Ineligible
Christian
which
State.
1000
for 4 years.
is
freehold.
1776
1776
30
years
in
1000 freehold.
State.
Protes-
yr.
tant.
Ineligible 3
years in 6.
Temporary
1776
gov't.
1778
10 years in
freehold.
State.
1790
^10,000
10 years in
State.
^1500
tled
Protes-
2 yrs.
tant.
neligible
till
4 years.
set-
es-
tate, clear.
1777
years
in
yr.
State.
1789
12 yrs.
citi-
zenof U.S.
500
acres
land, free-
Eligible I yr.
out of 3.
2 yrs.
or
6 years of
hold,
State.
1 000
other
property.
500 acres,
freehold,
1798
or
in
2 yrs.
$4000
other
property.
1792
1799
Citizen
of
U.S.,6yrs.
resident of
4 yrs.
State.
4 yrs.
for 7 yrs.
State.
1796
4 years
cit-
izen of the
Ineligible
500
acres,
freehold.
State.
83
2 yrs.
American People
Distrust of executive
tive
time.
Executive,
among
the States.
like
legislative,
The
oldest
varied
titles
working charter
him.
given
The
all
After
much
discus-
stitution
of
sion, the
title
whence it has come that the execucommonwealth is addressed as " his Ex-
of the office
tive of a
est
cellency
as "
name
"
of
as in
84
Days of Commonwealths
tions were
those laid
amount of property.
was accessible only
The
office in
some States
the
family influence.
at present.
outlined
elections in New England, New Jersey, South CarBiennial in New Hampshire, 1784, 1792; South Carolina, 1778, 1790; Georgia, 1789, 1798; Tennessee, 1796.
Quad-
six."
Annual
olina, 1776.
85
(J
quill.
It
was
The
and no
man.
As
civil service.
covered.
Few were
the paper
money
of the times.
salary of nine
thousand pounds
seems princely till we learn
it was in fiat money.
His function in legislation was also obscure.
Popularly, he was supposed to execute, not to
make, laws or, as in our day, to unmake them. He
was expected to send an annual message to the
Legislature in which he pointed out the needs of
the State.t For a time Legislatures seem to have
that
South Carolina,
Pennsylvania, the
1776.
first
S6
;;
When
the
Governor
Was
Supreme
of the State.
of the national
office
of
that of
He was
the Governor.
government.
Governor
to
that
Men
of
preferred the
Congressman
or/
judge.
ical
grandeur.
Every system
of
The
State
is
It
Massachusetts Constitution,
originated in
New
England.
(See
1780.)
87
>
American People
was
Its
original function in
cabinet.
In the
first
little
sur-
provincial times
constitutions
It
was never a
it
represented
Governor
The growth
of
of
of the colony.
For a time
it
legislative,
increased in authority, he
is
less
conspicuous in
The
English type
two
sets
inferior
and the
88
The
superior, or supreme.
about to be changed.
both a law and an equity jurisdiction. There were
courts of chancery. Judges were appointed by the
Governor or chosen by the Legislature,* usually
for the term of good behavior. The unreasonableness of the age limit t on judges was proved by
the appearance of Kent's Commentaries, after their
author had been retired on account of constitutional disqualifications to continue a judge in New
York. Judges were removable. As to-day, the
jurisdiction of the superior courts
cases;
in
The
was
final in all
officio
Not infrequently
They were
Their
various
too
jurisdiction
to
be easily
classified.
help to indicate their character: probate, admiralty, orphans', chancery, common pleas,
oyer and terminer. Their jurisdiction was original,
titles
but not
final,
civil
and criminal.
executive.
Many
rules
way
in
Georgia began the innovation of defining jurisdiction by specifying the money value involved in
The
a case 4 a precedent since freely followed.
* New Jersey, Virginia, South Carolina, 1776; Tennessee, 1796;
chosen by joint ballot elsewhere by Governor.
New Hampshire, 1792, seventy years.
t New York, sixty years
:
Georgia, 1777.
89
American People
met much
as
at present, the
by
number
of
Andrew Jackson.
known in each county was
Marshall to
Best
whose
office
was the
Representative, to be
No
other* official
first in
filled
the
importance
by popular
was closer
to the
sheriff,
after the
election.
people,
and
was
He was
was
in one.
all
money
collector,
is
till
It
and private
the lapse of
now
said,
"gone
at
this
The
office
was
in a state of
As under English
time.
law,
Common
and the technical difficulties of real actions, pleadand chancery procedure made the practice
England soon after this
of the law a mystery.*
began the simplification of practice, and America
ings,
has followed
thought
Not
of at this time.
many
rules of court.
t
New
York, 1868.
9i
American People
These early courts were the precedent for the federal judicial system, and their virtues survive there
in the circuit court and the life-tenure of the judges
the one bringing the courts to the people, the
treatment of slaves, and the latter provision beRepresentacame a precedent in the Sduth.
tive in Congress from South Carolina must have
been qualified by the ownership of ten negroes,
in force
three-quarters
till
abolished by the thirteenth
Delegates to the Congress of the
Confederation were chosen by the Legislatures,
and subject to recall. Like Governors and members of the General Assembly, they were required
to be freeholders.
No State constitution before
Later
1789 suggested the idea of nationality.
ones of the period, like their successors, were silent respecting United States Senators.
Their
election has always been regulated by law.
Persons of foreign birth were as yet few in number,
but immigration from the West Indies and the
British provinces made necessary some provision
of
century
amendment.
for naturalization.
tors,
* Delaware, 1792.
t Georgia, 1798; Kentucky, 1799.
92
sachusetts,
New
is
the
Franchise
Hampshire, Mas-
unquestionable.* In
New Hamp-
New Jersey the right was taken away from them, from
and from females inhabitants by the Constitution of
by act of Assembly, November 16, 1807. See debate on
* In
aliens,
1776,
" abrogating the right of free persons of color to vote ;" Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North Carolina
Called to Amend the Constitution of the State, which assembled
at Raleigh, June 4, 1835, to which are subjoined the Convention
Act, the Amendments to the Constitution, together with the Votes
Raleigh, 1836, pp. 351, et seq. See also Curtis's
of the People.
dissenting opinion, Scott vs. Sandford, 19 Howard, 393. There
is no evidence that free persons of color voted in colonial times.
Native
N.H. 1784
21
Town.
Having
Poll-tax.
Race
or Naturalized
Male
town
privileges,
freehold.
1792
1777
Vt.
21
21
Town.
1
Male
Male
Freehold
year in
State.
Foreigner after
1 year's
residence.
"
1786
1793
* In
New
century,
21
21
Male
Male
<<
93
in
the eighteenth
American People
776-1800.
Continued.
Native
1780
21
Race
Male
year in Freehold
of antown.
nual in-
come
Sex
of
3, or
N. Y. 1777
21 6 mos. in
county.
es tat e
of 60.
Freehold Taxpayof
or
^20
e r
pay
free-
ing rent
man
of 4
Albany
s.
Male
of
New
Free-
or
hold of
^"iooto
City.
York
vote for
State
Senator.
NJ.
1776
21
Male White
2 mos. in Estate of
county.
50.
or fe-
or
male black
Pa
1776
21
Taxpay
year in
State.
1790
State
21
1776*
1792 21
1776
21
or
Male
tax.
or
Co. tax.
State
2 years in
State.
Md
Male
er.
Co.
Del
Male White
Male
year in Freehold
of 50
county.
acres or
prop-
erty
of 30.
Va
NC
1776*
1776 21
1 2 mos.
in
county.
lic
tax-
ty of 50
acres for
es,
may
mos.
vote for
mem
before ber
election
of
H. C.
mayvote
forState
Senator.
* Qualifications "as fixed by law," see Table, p.
94
96.
or Naturalized
Concluded.
Native
Sex
Race
s.c. 1776*
1778
21
year in Freehold
50
edges
acres or
the being of a
of
State.
townlot
or paid
Godand
taxes
equal
a future
state of
tax
rewards
to
and
punish-
acres.
ments.
< <
1790
years Same
21 2
citizen
of the
as
in 1778.
If
not
Male White
freehas paid
State.
tax of
2,s.
ster-
ling.
Ga.
1.777
21 6 months
Proper-
in State.
tyof^io
or being
of a me-
chanic
trade or
tax-
payer.
' *
i79
21
mos. in
county,
citizens
and inhabitants
of the
"
State.
<
Taxpay-
1798
21
1792
21 2 yrs. in
State or
er.
Ky.
yr.
Male
in
county.
1799
Tenn. 1796
Male White
Male
21
2T 6 mos. in Freehold
county.
95
p. 96.
or Naturalized
American People
State
March
Mass.
R.
Age
Requirements
who pay one single tax, besides the poll, a sum equal to twothirds of a single poll-tax.
Freeholders
1786
23,
1762
I.
21
Inhabitants.
annum
rent,
holder
Realty 40$-. per annum, or ^40 in person.
Conn.
1715
21
al estate.
March
N. Y.
27, 1778
by
N.J.
Feb.
Pa.
1799
15,
Oct., 1785
Md.
Va.
Law
acres
of
settled,
S.C
Law
of 1781
Oct.
7,
in two counties.
Poll-tax )^l)u. wheat, or 5 pecks oats, or
2 lbs. sound bacon.
Repealed November, 1 78 1, and made ior.
Elector free white man possessing settled
freehold estate, or 100 acres unsettled,
or bo in houses, or paying a tax of \os.
1759
Neither by the Constitution nor the law were free negroes (males) deNew Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode
Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or Tennessee.
There
is
act of
November
citizens); in
New
New York
(acts of
March
27, 1778
April
n, 1815
April 19,
the
stitutional
96
(see debate
1842, Art. ii., Sees. I, 2). It was not an established right in law, in 1842,
that a person having African blood in his veins could be a citizen of the
he could not become such by naturalization, as the law remen. Free persons of color were denied
the right to vote in New Jersey, by act of Assembly, in 1807 in Tennessee, by the Constitution of 1834
Carolina, by constitutional
i n North
amendment, in 1835 ; in Pennsylvania, by the Constitution of 1838. Thus,
of the States that originally allowed them the right, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York never withdrew it.
United States
One
trial
abandoned.
was made
It is
of
impossible to
know
accurately
the
at
in
The
it
nineteenth century.
1g
97
American People
and provided
To
for their
sible to
make
periodical
revision.
The
it
pos-
electors
Gradually,
work
of the convention to the electors that it might receive their ratification.
This has become the
also,
normal procedure.
What, then, were the distinguishing features of
this body of eighteenth -century supreme law?
Not least in importance was its civil character it
departed from feudal precedents and organized
government on a peace footing. Unlike the early,
and some later, constitutions of the South American republics, and the written constitutions of the
continent, it contained no provisions that can be
called military in character.
Political and civil
:
in
Proceedings of Conven-
In spite of the
now
as the heresy
pity,
wondering that
Theirs was
The
persons.
The
ours
of
basis of
privileges of
Many
stitutions.
99
American People
on the
field
independence. Whatever we
may think of the new governments, they fixed
the ancient landmarks, which have never been
removed.
after the harvest of
CHAPTER
IV
The
of the Legislatures
to.
See note,
p. 29.
The
record of
it
American People
fills
of Massachusetts.
in
present issue.
The
town
in
was
feeble.
Social efficiency
The Virginia
of representation.
General Court of 1619, with which our Legislat-
some system
cratic foundations.
called
Assembly.
102
seventeenth
the
"
pany
To
of
tion, the
Far West,
companies,
all
sentative
not
all,
came
government
in
a travesty
and
more
to
human
civility
and
to a settled
ernment."
hen the last piece of colonization
was attempted the purpose was no longer veiled
the people of Georgia were to destroy the savages
and increase the trade, navigation, and wealth of
the realm.*
American colonization was primarily a commercial venture, and the price paid for it was repre* Charter, 1732.
103
sentative government.
onies,
sought
"
freedom
worship
to
in
some
God
"
col-
soon
The
three Virginia
charters
illustrate
this.
Political organization
the democratic.
w as
Only
compulsion
did it consent to receive new members, and these
of its own choosing.
It set qualifications which
still kept the mass of the population out of the
r
a distinct class.
political organization.
after great
it
seventeenth century
In
granting the reform, Massachusetts prescribed conditions which may be called the first American
electoral qualifications. They regulated the political life of the province.
The conditions, some-
as
American independence
104
in the eighteenth.
the saddle,
political
By 1640
in
individuals
and
times,
and
in its history
of political thinkers
i5
American People
who
Legislature
Of these groups, the first and second represented the qualified electors, or freemen. At first
the governor, deputy-governor, and assistants were
tions.
House
of
Commons.
No
clear
England or America during the seventeenth cenAfter the adoption of the national Constitution it became necessary to work out the idea,
and it remains a permanent though a partly
solved problem.
Not until the seventeenth century was almost
over did the Crown fully recognize the right of the
colonies to choose representatives to their local
It was specifically acknowledged in
Assemblies.
the Connecticut charter of 1662, in the Rhode
Island charter of the following year, and in the
Massachusetts charter of 1692. It was recognized
because the Revolution of 1648 in England had
tury.
Formation of
Two
Legislative
Chambers
nition of them.
government both
in
General Assemblies.
In the earlier part of the seventeenth century
the Governor and his council or assistants and the
first meeting of
was with the Governor.
body
American People
lative
for
approval.
In
lished in America.
In the
New England
colonies
of Connecticut and Rhode Island formally recognized the right of freemen to participate in the government.
In the proprietary and
royal colonies no such right was recognized by
charter, although it came to be recognized by
custom. To this Pennsylvania was an exception.
Penn planned from the first a government democratic in form, promising his people that they
should have law- makers of their own choosing
and those
ment
in his province.
was one
in fact
the council
civil
Of these the legislative was of greatest importance and destined to continue, with slight modifications, to the present time.
Though the Legislature in eleven colonies consisted of two Houses,
109
freeman.
fied
government
It
directly responsible
American People
in
Rhode
of the colonial
the
to
people.
in the other
excepting Pennsylvania and Georgia,
the council was appointed by the executive and
colonies,
assisted
him
duties.
tive
in executive, judicial,
The
and administra-
and Rhode
in
was appointed
either by the Crown or the proprietary, and was a
foreign element in the colonial organization.
The
meeting of chief importance to the freemen was
the annual or semi-annual election at which deputies were chosen.
With slight exception, the
right to vote was limited to persons possessing a
prescribed amount of real estate who also were
members of a religious sect. They also were
Connecticut
Island,
time in the
town
less
little
change
The
amount
of
property required.
In May, 1 775, while yet the Continental Congress
was in session, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts asked for advice respecting the reorgani-
ready the
Revolution
The Transition
tory, in expectation that
for
it
into States
will in
when
made
to the
ommending
the
its
established in
To
Congress replied, on the 3d and 4th of November, 1775, but only by way of advice, urging
to summon a free representation of the
States in order to establish " such a form of government as in their judgment will best promote
them
secure peace and good order in their colony during the continuance of the dispute with Great
Congress was unwilling even to give
Britain."
this
somewhat evasive
advice.
Public sentiment
American Teople
was a
Lower House
new
one.
The
112
Abnormal
Civil Procedure
stituents
guage
ization
blies,
was
to
work
of reorgan-
or their successors,
known
in
some
colonies
Times were
seemed advisable
governments as soon
pressing, and
This
may
it
extenuate the
fault,
if
to
as
there be
Doubt-
it
representative
normal course
to ob-
tain a constitution.
of
They met on
21st of
I.
the
113
December
at Exeter,
They
first
called their
American Teople
other functions than that of making a State constiThe convention took unto itself the title
tution.
and authority of a House of Representatives, and,
following the advice of Congress, elected twelve
persons to be Councillors and to comprise the oth-
The form
of
to be only provisional.
Had
in times of regular
authority
same
The Upper
and judicial functions.
House, or Council, being a creation of the Lower,
the traditional division of the Legislature into two
branches can hardly be said to have been followed.!
legislative,
* Most of the towns of the State were represented by the seventy-six delegates to the Exeter Congress.
Matthew Thornton
was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence three
;
members were
Matthew Thornton, Meshech Weare, Ebenezer Thompson, Wyseman Cloggett, Benjamin Giles. The original draft is said to be in
John Hurd's hand. General John Sullivan, though not a member, had made important suggestions.
Weare became Governor
in 1776; Sullivan, in 1790.
Papers,
f
vii.;
State
viii.
New Hampshire
114
vii.,
Results
was made during its nine sessions. Massachusetts, meanwhile, had adopted a constitution,
which was closely followed by New Hampshire.
At last, approved by the people in their town-meetings, the new constitution was duly inaugurated
with much ceremony on the 2d of June, 1784.
It has been observed by legal writers that the New
Hampshire conventions of 1778 and 1781 were
tion
strictly
constitutional
were summoned
in
of
their dele-
met in convention, they formulated a plan of government which, having been submitted to the
electors in their several town meetings, was duly
-
ratified.
On
Congress
the
first
the 26th of
115
\\
American People
The
constitution thus
ratified
convention,
The
it
for
they
lacked
the
classic treatise on Constitutional Conventions, their HisPowers, a?id Modes of Proceeding, by John Alexander
Jameson, LL.D., late Judge of the Superior Court of Chicago, Illinois
Chicago, Callaghan & Co. (fourth edition), 1887, remains
the first and best authority on the subject. I have used its conclusions without hesitation. Before his death Judge Jameson
conveyed his library to me, which, with my own collection of
Conventions, Debates, and Proceedings, has enabled me to consult most of the material on the subject in existence.
tory,
116
High Individuality of
Convention
the Virginia
However,
second constitution, made in the council
chamber, continued in force until 1790, when a
convention assembled at Columbia on the 3d
of June and promulgated a constitution, which,
several times amended, continued in force until
this
1865.
The
The Proceedings
of the
on Monday, the
;
ii7
American People
House
of
government that
would organize all the forces of the State in oppoIt was not specifically
sition to Great Britain.
empowered to make a constitution. The frame of
government it adopted was destined, however, to
continue in force until 1830.
This constitution
is famed for its bill of rights, drawn up by George
Mason.
When Congress gave the general advice to the
colonies to organize State governments, New
Jersey was already under the control of political
committees and a Provincial Congress. On the
fourth Monday of May, 1776, representatives were
chosen throughout the State, to the number of sixty-
equally distributed
ties.
in
officials.
than a convention to frame a new plan of government, but the functions of both were probably in
the mind of the electors when they were chosen.
They exercised both functions, and, on the 2d of
State.
inviolable."
The course of the people of Delaware in securing a constitution conformed with the suggestion of Congress, and with normal requirements.
The Delaware House
of
Assembly
in July, 1776,
passed a resolution in accord with the Declaration of Independence and, further, provided for a
;
special election,
on the 19th
of
August, of a con-
These were
State."
During
constitution of Delaware.
in the country
This was the
made by the representatives of the people chosen
for the express purpose, and the first convention
that was normal in all respects.*
first
constitution
consisted
119
of thirty
members.
American People
of
in
counties of
county committees.
of the 10th of
May
The
resolution of Congress
led to the
meeting
at
Carpen-
on the 18th of the following June, which was attended by the leaders of
the Revolutionary cause in the city and the adjoining counties.
At this meeting it was decided
ter's Hall, Philadelphia,
"
for
new govern-
fications
George Read, one of the signers both of the Declaration of Independence and of the national Constitution, was president. Read,
Van Dyke, McKean, and Evans, were members of the old Congress; Van Dyke, McKean, and Dickinson signed the Articles of
Confederation, Five became members of the national Congress
Read and Richard Bassett as Senators Bassett also signed the
national Constitution. McKean became Chief Justice of Pennsyl;
vania
*
The Proceedings
risburg, 1825.
It
of this Convention, and that of 1790, Harhad ninety-six members. Franklin was presi-
120
Commission Supersedes
the
Government
which had taken the place of the General AssemThis decision was made at Halifax early in
bly.
April, 1776, and the work of preparing a constitution was given to a committee, but the committee,
owing to the shifting state of affairs in the colony and of its own opinions, accomplished nothing, and the government of the colony was placed
for a while in a commission consisting of leading
patriots.
These took the initiative in reorganizing the government by calling an election of delegates to a congress to assemble at Halifax on the
12th of November, with power both to legislate
and to frame a constitution. Thus elected and
121
chosen
for a
gress,"
on the
American People
prepared a
declaration of rights and promulgated a form of
government, having first ratified it, " in open Conthis
purpose,
particular
body, like
it
Thus
New
As early as January, 1775, the Provincial Congress of Georgia organized; and, in conformity
with the recommendation of the Continental Congress, it adopted a temporary form of government
The
The Journal
Carolina, Vol.
election
of this
x.,
Convention
pp. 913-1013.
It
in Colonial
Presi-
Records of North
and
1809.
122
Thus the body which framed this constitution assumed the functions of a Legislature as well as of
a constitutional
convention.
Eleven years'
ex-
on the 24th
amend
of
to
1789.
123
to the better
American People
organization of the
On
124
affected towards
of
The
To
belonged,
this
125
American People
government adopted, though not submitted to the people for ratification, met with
general approval.
It was amended in 1801, and
form
of
continued
No
State was
more peculiarly
situated during
was
Its territory
form
Historical
bers
including
later
Collection, Vol.
i.,
fifty
and
mem-
member of the
Governor
Society
national Congress
of the State;
also,
Thomas
Chittenden, later
126
Pennsylvania and
Vermont a
free
the
Vermont Constitution
On
the
2d of July of that year it reassembled at Windsort and continued in session six days, during
which time it formulated the first constitution.
This was not submitted to the people for ratification, but, as promulgated, was approved by the
Legislature in 1779 and again in 1782, by which
act it became the law of the State.
As is well
known,
it
of the
first
Thomas Young,
a citizen of Philadel-
who, on the nth of April, 1777, had published an address in which he urged the independence of the State and the election of a conThe constitution
vention to form a constitution.
just
adopted,
had
been
and was
of Pennsylvania
suggested as a suitable model for Vermont.^
This convention assumed both legislative and conIn 1786, as provided in the
stitutional functions.
constitution, a slight revision was made by the
council of censors, an interval of seven years having elapsed, and the revised instrument was again
adopted by the Legislature and declared to be
phia,
session, beginning
127
American People
State.
to
commonwealth was
effected
in
"
America," had " declared them out of his protection, and abdicated
of
and independent," therefore all political connection between the people of Connecticut and
free
of the colony
remained in
of
that colony
negative.
It
is
Not until
begun were con-
changes submitted to the test of popuand not until the nineteenth century was
half gone did it become customary to submit proposed constitutional changes, as separate proposi-
stitutional
lar vote,
1.
129
American People
that
it
130
Adams
Writes
the
Massachusetts Constitution
entire matter to
Adams,
just as
re-
the
November
month were
members present
proceed to business.
to
Not
there sufficient
The
when
Wednesday
first
Vol.
v., p.
463.
131
amended
Though
Electors (1789-1821).
CHAPTER V
When the territory south of the Ohio was organized by act of Congress on the 26th of May,
1790, the people of Kentucky were already asking
As early as 1784
for admission to the Union.
they had sought separation from Virginia, had
met twice in convention at Danville, and formulated petitions to the Virginia Legislature asking
A third convention unanimously
for separation.
The cession of western
voted independence.
lands by Virginia solved the problem of the independence of Kentucky, and removed the last
obstacle in the
government.
way
On
member
of the
United States
of
America."
An-
made
a constitution.*
It
to
*33
Among
the sixteen
American People
The
population of the
State came chiefly from Virginia, and the new
constitution closely resembled that of the parent
continued in force seven years. Its defects were chiefly in the organization of the legisState.
It
for the
2
2d of
July,
new
uary, 1800.
on the
1st of Jan-
first,
were six ministers John Bailey, Benedict Swope, Charles Kavenaugh, George Smith, James Crawford, James G. Garrow. Robert Breckinridge was a member of this convention.
Five served
as Presidential Electors
Benjamin Logan (1793), Shelby (1797,
1801, 1805), Hubbard Taylor (1805, 1809, 1813, 1817, 1821, 1825),
Matthew Walton (1809), Richard Taylor (1813, 1817, 1821, 1825).
For a list of the members of this convention I am indebted to
Hon. R. T. Durrett, of Louisville, and to Mr. W. D. Hixson, Librarian, Maysville, Kentucky.
* The Kentucky convention of 1798-99 consisted of fifty-seven
members. A. S. Bullitt (president), John Adair, Richard Taylor,
Thomas Clay, Samuel Taylor, William Steele, and Caleb Wallace
were members of the convention of 1792. William Logan, Henry
Crist, Thomas Sandford, and John Rowan became members of
Congress, and John Adair, John Breckinridge, and Buckner
Tl "uston, United States Senators (1801-11).
Harry Junes became United States District Judge. Breckinridge, one of Jefferson's intimate friends, became Attorney-General of the United
States under him.
Felix Grundy became Chief Justice of the
State later, having removed to Tennessee, member of Congress
(1811-14), United States Senator (1829-38), Attorney-General under Van Buren (1838-40), and again Senator (1840) the year of
his death.
William Irvine became a Presidential Elector in 1805
134
and
ville,
Kentucky.
135
Thus
American People
work was
measure
composite.
The convention, organized as a committee of the whole, immediately rejected the report of the committee, whereupon, with equal haste,
the constitution of North Carolina was read, approved, and adopted.
To this decision there was
strong dissent, especially from the members of
the late committee, whose objections and those of
other members of the convention were formally
A State government
set forth in the journal.
was, however, organized, and official notice was
sent to the Governor of North Carolina, informing
him that the inhabitants of Franklin had declared
themselves a free and independent State.
The
rejection of the composite plan reported by the
committee led to the formation of a North Carolina party in Franklin, and for a time great disorder prevailed. As early as 1785 a delegate was
sent to Congress to present to that body a meconstitutions.
its
in a
The
river
Ohio
see, like
136
Eminent Personages in
when
the
Conventions
it
Jay,
Ellsworth, and
became Governor
became members
States Senators
William Cocke (1796-97, 1 799-1 805), AndrewJackson (1797-98, 1823-25), William Blount (1796-97), Joseph Anderson (1797-1815). Tradition says that the State was named
Tennessee on motion of Andrew Jackson. W. C. C. Claiborne
was a delegate. The original draft of the constitution is said to
have been made by Charles McClung.
See also Caldwell's
Studies in the Constitutional History of Tennessee, Cincinnati, 1895,
Chap.
v.
137
became
The members,
in
the aggregate,
of
gress
the
The
gress.
Some became
eration,
signed the
first
laration
the Declaration,
Constitution was a mem-
when
138
Our
Revolutionary Law-givers
adopted the bill of rights of 1776. Thus it appears that no one signed these great papers and
also.
to the federal
men
at so critical a
hundred and
fifty
moment
her
in
his-
ment contributed
to train those
whom
posterity
1777;
of
the
Massa-
we knew
leagues.
If
of ancient codes as
139
American People
posite
ginia,
as
140
The
regular retirement of a portion of the Senthe provision for a census, the right of the
House to originate money bills, the President's
ate,
Senate and
in the
method
of
of
first
If
Maryland consists of two parts, the eastern and the western shore, having little in common.
To give them an artificial bond and hold the commonwealth together by stronger ties, the Annapolis
edent.
Had
American People
at large."
vote, not
The device adopted in 1787 for choosing the President was original with the convention,
" electors."
<1
The
failed to
justice
of 1787.
To
the life-tenure
142
Analysis of
procedure
tive
the
all,
first
in
offices
and, most marksoon responding, in the adoption of
ten amendments, to the powerful prece-
certain State
ed of
the
and federal
in
dents of State bills of rights. The original features of the national Constitution consist in the
composition of provisions rather than in their
As
novelty.
approached novelty
it
debatable ground.
fully,
the
it
entered
commonwealth
and the
of the national,
It
was
in a large
existence
of
government; in a few
the apportionment of repre-
federal
prescribing the
and
in
qualifications
of
in
Congressmen
incompatible.
full
an administrative change.
administration wrought
Eventually, political
amendments which
are
American People
may
There
constitution.
is
have been
stitutions of the
law of
tity.
Its variations are made evident only after
time has set them in perspective.
The boundaries of the United States agreed
upon in the treaty of peace of 1782 remained unchanged, except in the Oregon country, for twenty
years,
and
to this
of the
one
district, divisible at
the discretion of
Congress. The laws of inheritance operated without discrimination the estates of resident and
non-resident proprietors in the Territory who died
intestate descending in equal parts to the heirs.
Wills were attested by three witnesses, and conveyances of real estate by two. An exception
was made in favor of the French and Canadian
inhabitants settled at Kaskaskia, St. Vincents, and
144
Law-making Without
Legislative
Action
zens of Virginia.
applied
and
civil,
as
in
their
to the circumstances
They
of the Territory.
force.*
The
might change
The Governor was
Territorial Legislature
if it
saw
fit.
made commander-in-chief
Territory, with
power
of the
to appoint
militia
all officers
of the
below
I.
145
American People
new election.
The General Assembly consisted of the Governor,
the Legislative Council, and the House of Representatives. The Council consisted of five members,
a writ for a
146
Synopsis of Limitations
chosen for a term of frve years, unless sooner removed by Congress. Three of the Council constituted a quorum.
The manner of choosing a
Council was a survival from colonial times.
Every five years, as soon as the Representatives had
met in regular session, it was their duty to nominate ten persons, residents of the Territory, and
possessed of a freehold estate in it of five hundred
acres each, and return their names to Congress.
From the ten thus nominated Congress chose and
commissioned five to serve as Councillors. In case
of a vacancy in the Council, the House nominated
two persons, qualified as before, for each vacancy,
returned their names to Congress, which appointed
and commissioned one of the nominees for the remainder of the term.
The powers of Governor, Council, and House
were limited. The limit on the powers of the legislative, chief in importance, as time soon disclosed,
bill of rights.
freedom.
The
secured
course of the
first
common
relig-
secure
the
representation, the
" religion,
moral-
American People
and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind" a proviity,
Territorial Legislature,
of
new
exempted from
States were
taxation,
and
in
no
Pennsylvania.
The
fifth article,
was ultimately
148
to
Ordinance
as a "
The
Ohio River."
territory of the
The
act
to the district
known
as Tennessee.
149
The
act of
American People
new Territory. As North Carowas a slave State, and as slavery had already
extended into the Southwest Territory, by this condition .slavery was forever practically established
there.
At least, that portion of the Ordinance of
which slavery was prohibited in the
by
1787
Northwest Territory could never apply to the
territory southwest of Ohio as long as the Legislatures of the Southwest Territory chose to enact
slave laws.
This condition, limiting the power of
Congress and making it dependent upon the will
authority of the
lina
of a Territorial Legislature, or
its
successors
the
was the
It
Compromise on Slavery
authority.
Slavery
southwest of the river Ohio was a victory over
national sovereignty, and the result of surrender
of the powers of Congress to a Territorial LegisHowever, its establishment was considered
lature.
The States which had ceded
just and equable.
Territory
were slave-holding States;
the Southwest
those which ceded the Northwest Territory, except
By excluding slavery
Virginia, were free soil.
Northwest
and
permitting
it
in the
from the
Southwest, it was supposed that all political and
ethical equities would be realized, and that the
progress of the country would be harmonious, if
not homogeneous.
In order to adapt the Ordinance of 1787 to the
Constitution of the United States, the first Congress at its first session re-enacted and modified it
by providing that the Governor and all the other
officers of the Territory hitherto appointed by Congress should be nominated by the President and
appointed with consent of the Senate. This act
was further modified on the 8th of May, 1792, authorizing the Governor and judges of the Territory northwest and in that southwest of the river
Ohio to repeal any laws which they had made.
The Secretary of State was instructed to provide
proper seals for all the public offices in the two
will
of
its
local
legislative
Territories,
judge in
Before the spring
absence of the other judges.
population
had
flowed
into the Northof 1800
west Territory so as to make its subdivision into
15 1
American People
of
May
of the
Kentucky River,
north until
it
and thence
should be chosen.
attained, the
On
the 4th of March, 1791, Vermont was received into the Union " as a new and entire mem-
at its
it
exists to-day,
degree of north latitude the old boundary between the United States and West Florida
determined by the treaty of 1783 with Great Britand south of Tennessee. The area bounded
ain
on the west by the Mississippi, on the north by a
line to be drawn due east from the mouth of the
river Chattahooche, on the east by that river, and
on the south by the thirty -first degree of north
latitude, was organized into one district and called
thirty-first
ment
northwest of
the Ohio, excepting the article respecting slavery,
and he was further authorized to appoint all necin all respects similar to that
new
districts,
153
At
the dis-
cretion of Congress
two
Territory.
American People
of Mississippi Territory.
granted
to
the
people of the
territory of
the
torial
entered the
mouth
of the great
after
its
discovery
it
became
three
common-
wealths.
is
ob-
were re-enacted.
Exones
American People
triumphant democracy.
had the qualities of a constitution in its bill of rights and its provisions for
the three departments of government.
Its antislavery clause was destined to affect every new
commonwealth, and, after seventy-eight years' trial,
slight
suggestion of the
The Ordinance
to
of 1787
become a part of the national Constitution havfirst become part of seventeen State constitu-
ing
Before the century closed, the national domain was nearly equally divided between States
tions.
to civil authority.
settlements.
They
The
frontier
Appalachian highwhat
to accomplish
Not
until
Wayne's
Greenville, in 1795,
did Indian hostilities cease in the Northwest Ter-
and immigration to the West begin. Withseven years from the close of his terrifying
campaign, the population west of Pennsylvania
ritory
in
156
Settlers
Ohio and
native of Ohio.
Before the century closed three lines of migration extended along the wilderness roads into the
West. The northern began at Albany and extended to Detroit along the forty -third parallel.
i57
From Albany
Rock
American People
was a wagon-road.
There it divided. Some immigrants went by boat,
others by wagon, to the Ohio country.
Gradually a permanent population was established along
to Black
extending from
Erie.
The
peninsula of civilization
New England
central line
it
was
head of Lake
It began at
Pittsburgh and the
to the
older.
connections,
make
wealths neighbors.
the people of
The
all
the
common-
of the
South
The beginnings
from the early movements of population into the West and Southwest.*
As the century drew to a close it was found
that a vast wave of population had overspread
the settled area, moving the frontier westward
forty -one miles.
Isolated settlements were made
158
The Growth of
Cities
fully fourteen
at Prairie
caused
difficulties in the
appor-
of 1801,
iii.,
iii.,
Sees.
iv.
3, 5
of 1821,
vi.,
i.,
159
1846,
American People
and constitutions
of the
common-
The constitutions of the eighteenth century lacked the features which distinguish those of to-day.
Fundamental to them all was the idea that the
basis of
*
government
Kentucky, 1792,
ix.
is
property.!
1799,
vii.
Georgia, 1798,
iv.,
Sec.
2.
of
of
in the
160
Plymouth Oration."
of 1829-30.
speeches of
P. Taylor.
CHAPTER
VI
No American
eignty.
develop through administration. Throughout colonial times there raged a struggle between
left to
Efforts to
Formulate
the
Union
From
the relation
thus established sprang the idea that the Continental Congress was the agent of the States. For
Legislatures,
a time
it
if
at
all.
exercised authority as
if it
were original;
public opinion.
It
of the States.
was named
to
its
work.
It
hostile
discussion, for
requisite
number of
The Decla-
American Teople
and independent
State retained its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right
not expressly delegated by the Confederation to
the United States in Congress assembled.
The
new government had no popular constituency. It
represented States.
Meantime the power of the
Assemblies had not lessened. They rested on industrial foundations, they could levy taxes, they
could compel the execution of their own laws.
Thus established, the States prospered, but the
Confederation fell into decay. While the Articles
were on the circuit, some States were making their
first
constitutions
and when
in
the Articles
slight
Massachusetts constitu-
Massachusetts
and independent."
This act
may
be said
New England
commonwealths,
the word sovereign was not used in a State constitution of the eighteenth century. When Connecticut adopted a constitution in 1818, the
word
sov-
its
constitution in 1876.
The Massa-
is
probably the only portion of the Articles of Confederation that survives in a State constitution,
Two years
on the
King
treated with
them
as free, sovereign,
and
independent States.
Reluctantly, and after necessity forbade longer
delay,
the
unknown except
to
Its
proceed-
members, and
Distrust of democits
and
supreme
judicial authority.
165
legislative, execu-
The
question of sov-
American People
Randolph proposed and which ultimately developed into the Constitution, as one not destroying
the individuality of the States, but charged with
Paterson, the author of the
such a tendency.
New Jersey plan, which was a slight amendment
of the old Articles, defended it because it would establish a Confederation.
"
Confederation," said
members comif we
prising
it,
must be abolished."
To
all
State distinc-
Wilson, of
Pennsylvania, replied \ that a State could as little
retain its sovereignty, on becoming a member of a
tions
federal government, as a
ity
man
on becoming a member
The
this
government.
New York, who assured the convention that his State would never have consented
to send deputies if it had supposed that the deliberations were to turn on " a consolidation of the
States and a national government," which he imat
by Lansing, of
t Id., p. 176.
%Id., p. 193.
tld.,p. 177.
166
members
little
later,
of the con-
Hamilton elaborated
No
acts
some portion
If
of their sovereignty,
t Id., p. 220.
Id., p. 212.
201.
167
American People
He
language of the States being sovereign and independent was once familiar and understood, though
it seemed suddenly to have become strange and
This was said after Elbridge Gerry,
obscure."!
of Massachusetts, had asserted that the States
had never been independent, and never could be,
on the principles of the Confederation. " The
States, and the advocates for them," said he, " are
intoxicated with the idea of their sovereignty."!
for
"
the
of 98," the
"
Virginia Resolutions
Madison's Report " of '99
"
and of "
he himself had drunk of that spirit which, in
the convention, he said had intoxicated the States.
Mutatis mutandis Gerry was not alone.
Ellsworth, of Connecticut, wished to maintain the
existence and agency of the States, and to ingraft
the general government upon them \\ and his idea
prevailed, not so much by express provision of the
Constitution as by its actual working as a political
of
that year
240.
168
t Id., p. 259.
mechanism
as in its
method
of
Democracy
choosing the
in
"
The
majority.
new
The
taxes.
Vol.
No.
lxii.
v., p.
one, that
right to vote
415.
169
in
American People
authority,
House
improved.
pleting his
first
accompanied
Adams and
Jefferson.
Standing on
friends.
Many
substance of
many
recorded in a
letter by Jefferson of the 12th of February, 1798,
to John Wise, a Presidential Elector from Virginia
conversations
170
is
and
Jefferson
in 1793.
fore,
the
Tory Party
Wise complained
that, as
he had
ed, Jefferson
"
tics,"
fact
lately learn-
as of
be conveyed."
Jefferson, " with frankness,"
wrote a full reply, which may be accepted as one
of the earliest authoritative descriptions of political
to
parties
" It is
now under-
and
therefore, in equiv-
powers
ment
of exactly the
styled
Manuscript
171
letter.
mass
of
Whig
Every impor-
administration, Jeffer-
the States.
the
Expanding
the Principle
of English Liberty
men.
It is difficult for
us to-day to understand
how
on the people
of the
country at
Indepen-
Any
legislation, or
any exercise
of authority
by
i73
American People
dence made
it
of personal liberty
tending
At
was nursed
to take the
At
of
form
it
pos-
far
Had
competency,
in
it
West manage
its
own
best in-
in-
Antagonism Between
the
in the
East.
and excises
Indians
In
West.
the East, it was Jay's treaty and Citizen Genet;
but, East and West, the masterpiece of federal offence was the Alien and Sedition laws.
Opposition to these proved the first political cement that
held East and West together.
When a new party is planned its projectors
immediately search for a foundation in legal decisions and political precedents.
Administrative
blunders furnish campaign cries, but principles,
and the interpretation of the Constitution by the
courts, furnish arguments.
Every party that has
raised
the
issue
i75
in the
American People
and James
Iredell,
argument
to the
176
State Sovereignty in the Courts
The
court.
Jeffersonians
welcomed
following
setts, in
to an
the
it
On
decision, Sedgwick, of
the House,
amendment
moved
as the true
the day
Massachu-
a resolution preliminary
American People
parties, President
of the
Distrust of
Adams
Administration
little
efficiency,
economic
life of the
lacking
then.
Government
in a
nation now were
democracy at the close of a war for independence
is
Adams's whole
How-
man.
It,
tented, those
whom
the
discon-
"
RepubliWhigs,
Anarchists,
Disorganizes."
cans,
Jacobins,
These awaited the skilled hand, the masterful
policy of a genius for political organization; and
Jefferson styled the
farewell
its
American People
a half.
forth the
com-
caucus and the convention. During the excitement over Jay's treaty and Citizen Genet the
political mass -meeting came in vogue.
JefferHe began with inson's method was cumulative.
dividuals, and, judging from the mass of his correspondence that remains (and he ranks among the
world's voluminous letter-writers), his ideas reached
every county in the Union and permeated many
He chose to follow the successful
of them.
methods of the Revolution. A few were admitThese he met at
ted into his fullest confidence.
Philadelphia
in
and
at Monticello.
his lodgings
Among them were Madison and Gallatin Levi
Lincoln, of Massachusetts Nicholas and Breckinridge, of Kentucky; Robert Smith, of Maryland;
and Gideon Granger, of Connecticut.
But his
lesser friendships ran into every city and town
and among men of all occupations and profesLocal committees were organized, politisions.
cal committees were summoned, and resolutions,
carefully prepared beforehand, were adopted.
favorite time for meeting in the South was on
court days at the county seats when the bar assembled the resolutions could be discussed and
appropriately amended, and then be sent up to
;
180
State
to
itself
sentiment.
method had
some nine years when the Alien
been in operation
and Sedition
crisis.*
government?"
Congress was in session till the 16th of July,
1798, and long before this time Jefferson and the
few to whom he confided his most critical measAs each
ures had perfected a plan of campaign.
federal measure passed, the alarm was sounded
over the country, and local opposition was stirred.
The Alien act, passed on the 25th of June, empowered the President, at his discretion, to expel
from the country any foreigner whom he judged
"dangerous to the peace and safety of the United
States," or whom he suspected to be " concerned
For the Alien
577
id., p.
596.
i.,
American People
of the
President in a
way
displeasing
to
some
fine of
more influence
lature
condemning the
acts.
183
outspoken
a week's debate
which
American People
on the
16th, after
consisted of a series of
resolutions passed. #
in
them
at
unit of
of a
new
sovereignties.
The
Those
is
easily under-
Aspowers
the
of
viewed
the
federal
governsembly
ment, as resulting from the compact to which the
States were parties, as limited by the plain sense
and intention of the Constitution, as no further
valid than authorized by the grants enumerated in
the compact; and that in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of powers not granted,
the States, who were the parties to the compact,
had the right and were in duty bound " to interpose
stood.
* Elliot, Vol.
iv.,
p. 540.
184
The Assem-
f Id., p. 528.
"
to enlarge
its
constructions of
defines them," " so as to consolidate the
States
by degrees into one sovereignty, the obvious tendency and inevitable consequence of which would
be to transform the republican system of the United States into an absolute, or at best a mixed, monarchy."
the
The Kentucky
same doctrine
compact and
of
of limited
pow-
at length
and Sedition acts as violating the express provisions of the constitutions and
acts,
bills of rights.
"
The
In the second
of that instrument
is
In
Kentucky and Virginia resolutions denied sovereignty to the federal government and
claimed it for the commonwealths.
From this
claim of State sovereignty came the claim of right
brief,
the
The
Preston's Documents,
185
p. 295.
was now
fairly
launched.
American People
The
Virginia resolu-
Kentucky, pronounced the obnoxious laws unconstitutional. But Madison emphasized the rights of the States.
His resolutions
were a protest against consolidating them by degrees into one sovereignty.
The federal Constitions, like those of
compact expressly defining and limiting the powers of the general government.
The
States must decide whether it had been violated
at any time. Accompanying the resolutions there
went an address to the people as the guardians of
State sovereignty.
Copies of the resolutions were
tution was a
House of Burgesses, of which Madison was chairman, and he wrote a report which, taking up the
original resolutions article by article, defended
*
The answers
etc.
186
iv., p.
532,
among
members
the
of the
Union," and pledging it " to maintain and defend the Constitution" and " to support the government of the United States in all measures warranted by their Constitution," Madison argued that the
federal government resulted from a compact to
which the States were parties that federal powthat the term
ers were derivative, not original
States signified the people of the particular governments, in their highest, sovereign capacity, and
;
itself,
sanc-
Therefore no tribunal
above their authority existed which could decide, in
the last resort, whether the compact was violated.
With
this
The
report
is
its
187
Legislature acted
iv., p.
546
et seq.
American People
They remained
as they
government.
But
way
in this
out
in the practical
ments.
House
new
the
it
of eighteen.
On
the
as an
amendment
believed in
of
question; whether
it
Representatives.
true idea
is
one
century
of '98
is
another.
indicates the
the times.
century.
A
The
new
American People
The triumph
dominant
party
came
of the doctrine
political creed of
in with the
new
CHAPTER
VII
A government
of the people
who support
If
it.
government
aspirations,
at hand.
from the
political cataclysm,
We
olution
American Rev-
all
political
"
Yes
will
"
when
the fathers are supposed to have straightened out the rights of man.
It is
New Hampshire
American People
of the select-men.t
In
:j:
New Hampshire
Laws, 1726,
The
p. 120.
principal authorities
Printed by B. Green,
Boston.
\
New Hampshire
and
this
Time
ease the burden, for in 1692 the freeman was required to be worth twenty pounds in land.
Three
years passed and a rude attempt at apportionment
might
and a town
having one hundred and twenty freeholders might
send two. Towns having fewer than forty might
combine, each paying its share of the expense of
maintaining a delegate; or each town might elect
and support its own* At the time of the Revolution a town having two hundred and twenty freeholders could send three delegates and one with
a hundred more, four.f The admission of freemen,
at least in New England, was a local matter, restwas made.
elect a
Every town
member
of forty freeholders
who owned
freeman possess a
certificate,
March
I N
1st.
193
signed
Act, 1762.
American People
abolished
a town.
to any inhabitants
owners
of
real
estate of the annot
!j
Vnual value of three pounds, or of an estate worth
sixty, and who had not resided for a year in the
It may be
town where they wished to vote.
/said that throughout colonial times an estate
/ worth less
than forty shillings a year did not
who were
count in
the
list
politics.
Its
of voters.
p. 40.
New
He who
London, T. Green,
1715.
Laws of Connecticut,
Act of September 11,
1750, p. 175.
1776.
194
i.,
Sec.
3,
Art.
iv.
Assumption of
New York
in the
middle of
man-
If
city
John Holt,
etc.,
1763, p. 23.
195
of the City of
New
York.
and
American People
the State of
New York
of happiness."
things,
was a year
and when
was
old, there
House were
new counties
all
in the
western
all
the
But the
Middle, Eastern, and
were the four continents of the new
Western
Southern,
one years old " might vote. This, too, was revolution, for by the constitution of the State no man
March
Act
of
By
the constitution of
27, 1778.
1776;
1796.
196
Act
of
Act of April
6,
1801.
High Standard of
Political Qualifications
New
In
difficult to acquire.
been required
to
acres of land,
fifty
pounds,* and this continued to be the requirement when the colony became a commonwealth.!
By the constitution of 1776 a duly qualified inhabitant might vote, and straightway women, aliens,
and free negroes having the requisite property
in five counties
voted
by ballot. Members of
the
Legislative
Council, Assemblymen,
first
nominated
sheriffs,
to the clerk of
The nomination
list
made by
In Pennsylvania, in
the political
estate
the seventeenth
was
in
An
the
century,
exclusive
keep-
fifty
was a
the
franchise
pounds.
to
taxable
free white
manhood
suffrage
16, 1783.
4 Annae, 1705.
voting
on age that is, for the first time no previous tax
was required.*
Delaware was long a part of
Penn's province, and its early laws closely resemSo, too, did the laws
ble those of Pennsylvania.!
But in Maryland fifty acres of land
of Maryland.
and property of the value of at least thirty pounds
were equivalents. $ The freeman who possessed
either had part in the political estate.
No province began on a more liberal theory
At first all freemen voted, but a
than Virginia.
few years' experience led to limitations. The
voter must be a freeman, a householder, as in
Massachusetts and a freeholder, as was common
Moreover he had to make
in New England.
was
freeholder.
In the year when
he
a
oath that
if
fifty
to
own
own
or another's
life,
amount
"
If
February
Constitution, 1776.
li
15, 1799.
1705-
198
was imposed
in
1781
half -bushel of
months
of the
The
province.
Commons.
In
who
fifty
owned
months
in the province,
who
realty
money, and
Ten
years
Act
of
December
15, 1716.
199
payment
fifty
acres
on a fifty-pound
valuation the religious qualification was as before.
In 1745 the property qualification was raised to a
of land or the
of taxes
freehold estate
hundred acres
in a settled
plantation, or three
Fourteen years
was allowed
an
pounds
This was the
estate of sixty
months
fifty
acres or a
fifty acres.
The
third con-
The
qualification at
but
little
act of
1721.
stitution of 1789
May
with great
25, 1745.
200
April
7,
1759.
age
Aristocratic
Democracy
in Virginia
required
only the payment of taxes and a residence of six months in the county. Kentucky,
making both her constitutions almost at the close
of the century, and free from colonial traditions,
made
free white
years, or for
one year
in the
county
which he
in
first
con-
and
by the second, which
excluded negroes, mulattoes, and Indians. In
as
was originally
WashTennessee
ington County, or District the laws
North
also
stitution
special-
ly
or,
called,
it
of
Carolina in force in
1795,
when
the
new
State
The
exceptions.*
after 1800.
than in Vermont.
committed
to
* Scott's
Laws, 2
vols.,
201
Knoxville, 1821.
American People
that
The
far.
in
America thus
century
*
t
1 7 10.
202
18,
1708; April
8,
Disappearance of
under consideration; no
would
please all the States therefore all were abandoned.
South Carolina, in its third constitution 1790
abandoned its State religion, and granted freedom
of worship to all sects whose practices were not
inconsistent with the peace or safety of the State.
cations for office were
The
somej^
ment
may be
of the first
in
fore 1820.*
empted so
early.
1820
fied
Amendment,
;
Art.
vii.
man
is
November
11, 1833.
203
American People
ing
it
members
merely
of
Assembly and
in modify-
to a declaration of belief in
God, the
1838 and 1873. In 1704, the year before the Pennsylvania act, the South Carolina Assembly had
passed one of stricter ecclesiastical tenure. Members of Assembly who, within twelve months, had
not received the sacrament, were required to take
it according to the Church of England; and, in
204
fact,
first
later,
England
States,
New
Jersey,
holding to Protestants.*
qualification at last led to the calling of the convention of 1835 to modify the phrase. Jews were
practically excluded from public office everywhere,
205
number,
their
times, there
is
number had
American People
nearly doubled.
Of
in
no
is
uniform.
in
no negro could be set free unless for meritorious service,^ and then only with the consent
of the Governor and Council.
On training-days
and at musters, the free negro, in Massachusetts**
of 1776,
New
of
Virginia, 1691
of the colony.
New
Jersey, act
xii.,
George
1725.
I.,
^1000 and
206
May
28, 1707.
An
act of the
pated by
will,
refused to concur
and
The
totally
Vermont,
1787.
207
They were
Virginia and
Pennsylvania,
North Carolina,
1727.
fourteen thousand
American People
New York,
tution.
He was
208
What
words
all
The
citi-
privileges
sign that
hanges
it
was conscious
impending
which were to be
of the
As
it
racy,
iasier to
them
Its
in
tell
what
it
It
tation
i.
209
American People
advocate the extension of the suffrage, the abolition of property and religious tests ?
How long
before democracy, the masses, would be demanding a share in the political estate ?
Thus, as the new century opened, though the
power of property was in the saddle, the democUnless America
racy of men was at hand.
should be a government of men, the theories of
the eighteenth century would have to be abandoned, and the new governments, in nation and
commonwealth, would
all
men were
created
fail
for lack of
equal, then
the
men.
mass
If
of
commonwealths
measure discarded.
New laws, consistent with the dominant ideas of
The resolution of
democracy, must be made.
the New Hampshire Congress, eight months before the Declaration of Independence was written,
was a hint of the way men were going and of impending changes in the organization of society.
inherited
must be
in
large
CHAPTER
VIII
tauqua Lake.
still
From
August
the day of
20, 1794.
The treaty at Greenville, August 3, 1795, opened to settlement the country from Cleveland westward and southwestward,
within the " Wilderness Road " shown on the map of the United
t
States, 1796.
See
Map
opposite
p. 158.
211
American Teople
values.
in
some scheme
of speculation.
Of the
best of
was a
type.
It
sum
of
212
Transportation in the
New West
Lake
Erie.
The company
originated
at
Harrisburg, and
Profits were
from
sales
of
lands
incident
to immigraexpected
tion, also from a grist-mill which the company proceeded to erect at Erie. Milling supplies were
hauled by wagon from Harrisburg. The road was
fairly passable as far as Pittsburgh, but from that
point to Erie was for long distances scarcely more
than a bridle-path. In summer, at low-water, much
of the journey could be made over the bed of the
French Creek. The journey from Harrisburg consumed nearly four months.
Three other "population companies " were speculating at this time in Pennsylvania lands; Aaron
Burr, with others, had devised the Pennsylvania
Company, received a charter from the Legislature
in 1793, and purchased land - warrants covering
nearly the entire Triangle. To encourage immigration, this company offered to give one hundred
rated
its
shares at
fifty
dollars each.
was
on Lake Erie
American People
territory."
The
settler
214
Chautauqua Country
Western
New
York.
My
knowledge of early life along the Lake Shore from BufCleveland has been principally derived from information
contained in the letters of early settlers, from conversations with
many of them, from the Forster manuscripts, and from early
newspapers, especially the Buffalo Gazette.
t His land-office, a low, one-story brick building, was standing
*
falo to
in 1885.
215
American People
try.
Adams
appointed
Thomas
Forster collector,
the
The
of spirits, bags
and hogsheads of molasses; the Nepthe Tulip, silk shoes and
tune, chests of hyson
china-ware; the Dauphin, claret, spermaceti candles, cases of jewelry and plated ware, and bandana
handkerchiefs the Wilkinson, bound for Detroit,
of cocoa,
Custom-house records,
216
Erie, Pennsylvania.
Smug-
Custom-house records,
Erie, Pennsylvania.
letters.
217
Also Forster's
American People
grain
went
to Pittsburgh.
Money was
so scarce as to
Settlers
The square chimney of sticks, cobwas plastered on the inside with mud mixed
The " door-cheeks " were
with chopped straw.
puncheons, and the door swung on wooden pins.
Many cabins had only blanket doors. The windows were of paper, or, in rare instances, of panes
The bedstead was
of glass four by six inches.
the table was the blue chest brought
of poles
A few teacups, saucers,
from New England.
wooden or pewter plates, an iron pot, a spider,
weight-poles.
laid,
stitched
three-legged
stools
litter of pigs.
218
With
is
of
Upper
Buffalo,
Conewango,
prevailed.
cuit-riders,
The
early
New England
Presbyterian
ministers were cir-
licentiates,
They came
219
Chartiers,
The
chiefly
American People
many were
bred in the divinity school at Yale. A single
sermon fed the entire circuit, which extended from
Albany to Cleveland, from Presque Isle to Pittsburgh.
Armed with his Bible and his rifle, the preacher
traversed the wilderness and passed his years in a
life of rude romance.
Overtaken by night and
storm, he stopped at some friendly cabin, or, turning his horse loose, slept for safety in the crotch
of a tree.
He shared the rough life of the times.
The news of the world travelled with him, and his
saddle-bags contained the closely written and
necticut or central Pennsylvania, and
mother
the West.
With
in the
East
day's labor
The
tree.
seats
were
logs,
At
Itinerant
Teachers of Christianity
a minor rondo or a
Oftentimes the only hymnbook was the minister's memory. The prayer was a
sermon in itself; the sermon would make a book.
All the way from Connecticut the sermon had
been gathering length and strength. It abounded
version.
and
On
fearful warnings.
were distributed to communicants. The sacrament was solemnly observed. With a wondering
look, the Indian, hidden from view, beheld a strange
sight in his native woods.
About the opening of the second decade of the
century a few Methodist preachers ventured into
the land but they were suspected of heresy and
were unwelcome. The severe Presbyterian held
such itinerants as Lorenzo Dow in horror, and
classed the British, the Indians, and the Methodists
;
together.
The
the interest of a
museum.
Into
American People
maccoboy snuff
a practitioner's office
"down
learned
his art in
East."
favorite prescription of
The
his
estate paid
one pound
dows
in
the win-
Frequent epidemics
order to prevent draughts.
of small-pox or typhus overran the country.
The school-master was an incipient preacher or
physician.
In the hollow square of the school*
Of Fredonia,
New York.
222
Probably
castor-oil.
Daball's arith-
and
material for
six years
was held
in Erie.
among members
of the State
was carried
Two
man.
in
American
^People
years later
year.
carry-all,
The
ous.
a mile
fare
by day,
in
were closed.
no
toys,
ments.
no games, no
The
no musical
was to work.
pictures,
business of
life
instru-
Each
the girls
made
stores of dried
pump-
"The
Gulf," or
224
An
Wealth
Aristocracy of
Apple-bees, husking-bees,
kins and dried apples.
and quilting-bees were a laborious recreation. In
summer might be seen an occasional posy-bed of
moss -pinks, marigolds, poppies, lavender, balm,
sweet-williams, and summer savory.
Near the
hollyhocks,
and
lilacs,
caraway.
door grew
In religion, nearly all were Calvinists in politics, those from the East were Federalists
those
from the South, Democratic - Republicans. But
religion was of far deeper interest to them than
-
politics.
They knew
little
of
thousand.
other distinctions.
The
225
American People
men
find
employment
and
associations,
In the
more
The
profitable to
mountains, and
licensed
still
was
over the
unknown.
in the Southeast,
try
latitude of Indianapolis
226
and
fore entitled to
some
allegiance.
many
The
clause in
years to be one
momentous
American People
epoch-making measures
It
was one
of the first
of the century.
Before
tutions
tice
The purchase
was
cial,
228
freedom and
this
slavery, hitherto
increasing fierceness
under federal control. The two sections of the West, the northern and the southern,
thus began with unequal facilities for public education. The difference was largely temperamental,
and characteristic of their populations.
The
Eastern habits of the people of Ohio could not be
shaken off. Though the majority of the settlers
were unlearned men, there were few illiterates,
and none who did not wish their children to have
an opportunity to attend school. The spirit of
the people dictated the provision in the constituit
came
fully
229
American People
universities in
dowed
in
whole or
the
State en-
revenue
aris-
No
re-
new
policy,
made
in the
school-system.
first of
all its
aspects,
Responsive
to
movements
230
of population,
Con-
The Formation of
Territories
gress in 1805 organized Michigan from the Indiana Territory, with Detroit as the capital, and,
four years
new
later,
Territory
capital.
Indiana.
Illinois,
its
part of
The
Mississippi Terri-
tory,
Union at the discretion of Congress. The act organizing the Territory guaranteed slavery. White
men above the age of twenty-five, citizens of the
United States and residents of Mississippi one
owning fifty acres of land and a town lot of
the value of one hundred dollars in the Territory,
This property qualificawere allowed to vote.
year,
tion,
in
contrast with
Northwest, was
most
in
manhood
suffrage in the
in
of the States.
The white
race was
now
increasing relatively
Cities
were multiplying in
number, but not in their proportion of the populaThey were centres of trade and litigation,
tion.
but manufactures and towns were not yet synonymous terms. The age of factories began after the
second war with England. As population became
denser in the older regions of the country the press231
American People
Two
They would
have broken out had that war never occurred. The
wave of population was dashing against Indian barriers, and there could be only one result. Immigration westward had now overrun what were thought
to be the best lands made accessible by Wayne's
treaty of 1795. Twenty years had passed. A new
generation demanded cheap lands.
Hundreds of battles have been fought, surpassing in fierceness, and in the number and the skill
Yet
of participants, the battle of Tippecanoe.
because of its effects on the development of the
the principal part of the war of 1812.
West
it
lingers in the
memory
Another Pontiac
Lexington and Fort Sumter.
had planned to sweep the whites from the NorthTecumseh, and his brother The Prophet,
west.
had conceived a more daring plot to unite all
the tribes, North and South, and swoop down
Harrison's
upon the settlements at one time.
For
victory gave the Northwest to new settlers.
the settler in the Southwest Jackson performed
a similar service.
His campaigns left a trail of
Indian blood.
Henceforth no tribe dared commit hostilities east of the great river. Harrison
and Jackson had won a popularity surpassing
232
SHOWING
CIVIL DIVISIONS
of
later,
the
"
Hero
of
"
Hero
of
New
Tippecanoe,"*
to the Presidency.
By
movement
is
of the frontier
with
Kentucky
2 33
American People
was opened
to peaceful settlement.
bama.
Within
five
upon
Popula-
St. Louis,
even
and appropriated an
the
beginning of apLike
one to Indiana was subject
The
constitution
The free navigation of the Mississippi was guaranteed to all the inhabitants of the United States.
The State was admitted on the 10th of DecemTwo years and a day later Alabama was adber.
In this State schoolmitted on the same terms.
lands were reserved as in Ohio.
234
civil
and Alabama.
years from the organization
sissippi, Illinois
Within
five
Territory of Orleans
its
of the
required to be freeholders
in practice,
though not by
law,
qualification which,
made
biennial
an
in-
agitat-
sire
Massachusetts
in the
engaged.
Arkansas
in 181 9, with a
government
of
like that of
To
same day authorized the President to take possession of East Florida. A month later it authorized
him to take possession of West Florida. Though
the peninsula was thus converted into a military
236
Spain
Sells Florida
it
act of
sell
permanent
On
the
was
sumption
of certain claims,
ually to
was
western boundaries
but influences were already at work which, in a quarter of a century,
left the sea- coast of Florida the only part of our
Portions
national boundary fixed by this treaty.
this treaty that defined the
of
it
now
thirteen
constitute
boundaries, in part, of
the
commonwealths.
lay at
the
on the Mississippi,
237
repugnant
States."
to
It
the
American People
Constitution
of
the
United
constitution
conflicted
and north
Missis-
was settled by
of the Ordinance of
36 30', and admitting
of Louisiana.
It
when
States
238
resentation, in
the
securing public
schools, colleges,
franchise, in
officials, in
and
the
method
of
universities,
in the
West was
reflected
and
felt in
CHAPTER IX
MISSISSIPPI
greater part of
private ownership.
the
From
original
States was in
and Erie a new zone of occupation extended southwestward to the country of the Creeks and Cherokees a new world of isolated settlements, found
throughout
this
new
made
The
240
The Control of
the
Channels of Commerce
stood near the confluence of the three great rivers of the country
the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Missouri
the
confluence also of civilization and savagery. Three
hundred miles to the south, another and an older
town, New Orleans, laid tribute on all that came
from the upper country; and this meant the surplus product of the United States west of the
Alleghanies.
less discerning mind than Jefferson's could see that the fate of the Western country was in the hands of New Orleans.
The phrase
"manifest destiny" had not yet been invented as
It
new
territory,
but the thought was embodied in Jefferson's dictum, that the power possessing New Orleans was
the natural
enemy
a prescient idea,
might not have expected to find in a republic of
only twenty -five years' standing, and not withWhy more land when more
out signs of falling.
than half the public domain was yet a wilderWhy the isle of Orleans when populaness ?
tion had barely reached the Altamaha, four hundred miles to the east, or the Cumberland, three
hundred to the north ? We all know the reason
it has been written in the history of all nations
that the power is supreme which regulates commerce and controls the highways of trade. Although the greater part of the people of the United
States inhabited the Atlantic slope, the future of
the republic did not rest with them.
half the
More than
on
American People
this yet
With
much
people
is
Thus
is
and
crip-
of their outposts
history of these
the
history, like
ples action.
the for-
it is
and
frontier,
and the
When
re-
and Orleans
names,
it is
242
true,
seldom heard
in
Concerning
the
Cession of Louisiana
vanguard
Not
when Florida
Of greater domestic
articles of the treaty.
interest
were the
political
liberty, property,
of property rights
Was
commonwealths
of the future
freedom
new
in the
the fate of
Nor were
problems latent in
the acquisition. What effect would the great Ordinance of 1 787 now have ? If slaves were property
and, by the treaty, slavery was to prevail through243
civil
American People
it southwest.
Slavery did not exist in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts but elsewhere, in every
;
State,
slaves.
and
in the
By
the Ordinance
it
became unlawful in
came and
in
the
slavery would
Northwest
But defeat did not
secure.
;
February
19, 1803.
Harrison, Governor of the Territory. A new argument was presented. Though inexpedient to force
the population of the Territory,
to
connect
its
was desirable
it on
it
Indiana
question of freedom or
sla-
the Union.
because it would
merely authorize their removal from other States.
But the House took no action. The Indiana petirate the condition of the slaves,
tion
came
lature.
by the
and executive.
came
before
American People
the Senate, but its committee reported the proposed change inexpedient, and Congress took no
Thus, by a coincidence, the terrifurther action.
tory northwest of the Ohio was secured to freedom
in the year when, by the terms of the national
Constitution, Congress was free to prohibit the
African slave-trade.
The
fate of the
may now
The name
Louisiana, then, as
of territory.
These two
ob-
The
at-
article of the
Was not the acquisition a Southern and Western question, after all ? Quincy and
the New England Federalists, of course, object-
overlooked.
246
eralists
remember
man
of the
new
of the
country, and
Within
its
months
later.
The
in
247
14, 181
1.
American People
its
The
boundaries.
mained
as yet unorganized.
To
re-
members
lature were
made
biennial
the
first
application to
over the
of
Territory.
to the
United States
the
House
of Representatives, Miscellaneous
248
Document
45,
Part
4.
The Progress of
State- Making
it
degree of latitude.
American People
Within
five years
On
the ist
March, 1817, Congress passed the act necessary for admission, and the electors in the thirteen
counties chose forty -eight delegates, who assembled at Washington, and, after six weeks' labor,
completed a constitution. Under this the State
was admitted, on the 10th of December. A condition of the enabling act required the constitution to be republican in form, and in conformity
with as much of the Ordinance of 1787 as was
The establishment
applicable to the Southwest.
of
An
Illinois
passed Congress on
the 18th of April, 1818; a constitutional convention met at Kaskaskia on the 26th of August, and
its
electors
and by
tide of
250
American commonwealth.
Arkansas was given a Territorial organization
in 1 8 19, after the form of that of Missouri.
As
an inducement to immigration, and in response
to public sentiment in the South, bounty lands
The enabling
on the
6th o f March, 1820, and a constitutional convention was elected early in May.
Congress im-
posed the usual conditions that the new constitution be republican in form and not repugnant
to the Constitution of the United States, but the
last section of the enabling act prescribed a new
condition, destined to
become epoch-making
In
all
in
that Territory
ceded by France lying north of 36 30', not included within the limits of the proposed State of
Missouri, slavery, or involuntary servitude, other
than as a punishment for crime, was forever prohibited, but fugitive slaves found there might be
lawfully reclaimed.
251
American People
and
practically
The enabling
act
exhaust-
first
The
was
As
a compromise.
itself
first
act
submitted to
new
State
di-
its
The
first
violation
of
the
rights
By
of
their
citizens
"solemn act"
the Missouri Legislature promised that the obunder the
Constitution.
jectionable
clause
citizens
August,
should never
82 1,
to
be
applied to
on the 10th of
President Monroe, who had been
admit the State upon receipt
from another
authorized
State, and,
252
such
of
admitted
promise,
by proclama-
it
tion.
The
sachusetts
trict
made
on the 25th
March
of
constitution was
a formal cession of
title to
of February, 1820,
rati-
Mas-
the Dis-
and on the 3d
At
this
time
Convention
and Amendments subsequently
[Edited by Charles E. Nash.] Auof the Constitutional
1,538,022.
2 53
American People
any part
hands
of a
the territory
the
subject
to future negotiation.
the
On
to take
country south of
West
Florida.
The peninsula
United States.
This, too,
South Carolina, 24,780; New Orleans, Louisiana, 27,176; Boston, Massachusetts, 43,298
Baltimore, Maryland, 62,738 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 63,802; New York, 123,706.
The urban
;
254
Pushing
the Republic
Westward
in the
Until
der a military government, responsible to the PresiOn that day they were united under a Terdent.
ritorial
255
American People
were
to be elected
stitution.*
Few
were
time
settled, and scarcely a session of a Legislature
passed without some act or resolution bearing on
the disputed question.
The greater part of the
national boundaries was also unsettled.
Save the
sea-line, along the Atlantic and the Gulf, the
boundaries of the country were yet diplomatic
problems.
The treaty with Great Britain, in
1783,1 had provided for the appointment of commissioners to settle the entire boundary line between the two countries, and the treaty of Ghent,
in 18 144 made a more definite provision for a
*
Of
X Id.,
1850.
at this
pp. 399-405.
256
dary, and, by agreement of the same day, the commission that had agreed to the Oregon occupation
was empowered to act, but, finding it impossible to
reach a satisfactory decision, they agreed that the
matter in dispute should be submitted to an arbiter whose decision should be conclusive. These
negotiations paved the way for an amicable settlement of the northeastern and northwestern boundaries, fifteen years
later.:j:
I.
257
At
American People
itself
a republic.
On
The
organization of Territories and the admission of States kept pace with the movements and
the increase of population.
At
the fron-
extended
five
number and
size of cities.
258
1 864,509.
The
Boston, and
New
Orleans.
one
State constitutions
as, at
it,
made
cities.
Cities
and towns
control legislation.
On
were
in
from manuscript
Chicago
letter
13th 1830.
south side of
it,
259
had been
tribes
ers,
it
and Mr.
most all season they surveyed the harbour and fixed
the place to open the bar it is 400 yds from 15 feet water in the lake to
20 feet water in Chicago River about 100 yds wide & caries its depth &
width for miles in the town the River forks, and Each branch is as large as
the whole branch or River and as deep the town is laid out part on Each
side of the River to the forks which is East and west more than half a
mile then one branch comes from the north and the other from the south
and about ^ of the
at right angles and part of the town is in the forks
lots sold is about Equal in all the 3 parts of the town Each branch 100
yds wide there can be no beter harbour if the barr is opened and any veswithin it Mr. Nicholson has been
sel can turn Round that sales the lakes
sick and could do no buisiness and is now gone to the south about 200
Mr. Gyon the united states Engineer & also an
miles for his health
Engineer Imployed by the state from the state of Kentucky near the falls
they have been out with a parol of solders from the Garrison for hands
about 14 days Examining the country &c and not on stake set for the canal
some of the canal commissioners are here wating patiently to hear, the
result of the Exploring of the two Engineers one for the state the other
It is very proble that the canal will be comenced next spring
for the U S
the commissioners inform me that they will set out this fall 10 miles for
there is nothing but the fear
Excuvation but I have my doubts about it.
of the U. S. taking advantage of the time of comencingthe canal, to Hold
foot of land,
all
have given you a history of some parts of this Country having travled
it and meeting with numbers of gentlemen from different parts
of the state of the first Information, and of talents, altho I was not in a
good state of health part I have Indeavored to gether all the Information
on last Saturday the Indians drew at this place
in my power for the time,
their annuity great preperations was made by numerous traders and marchants &c by bulding huts some with logs some in tents & other in bord
shanties, but from the best Information I could gether the Cheafs caried
off above one third of the cash to their vilages to make the dividend at
home with their tribes but the traders will follow and pick it up from
them at home but the traders all came far short if their Expectations***
I
some thrug
Very Respectfuly
Remain
your
Srvt.
James Harrington.
260
95
Way
The
261
Western country
American People
teams.
With
New leaders
took the places of the old. The generation that took part in the stirring scenes of
'76 had passed away.
Franklin and Washing262
Broadening
seemed
slave
soil.
was
of the people's
in progress
the
them more
263
American People
new generation
structive, but
it
social traditions
whence
its
rejection of discrimi-
sects.
habit
isolation
made thinking
ing, but of
epoch-making
ideas,
West,
this
new world
and
of these Lin-
To know
of revised
of limited read-
this
young
democracy, we
must know the lives of the settlers. We must follow them in their migrations and their labors, in
their expectations and their disappointments.
new
the
West
an obscure Kentucky family, emigrating from Indiana to central Illinois, bore with it the destiny of
democracy in America.* The fascination which
the early life of Lincoln has in our day for old and
young is of the Homeric quality, belonging to a
stern age that has passed away.
Yet his life was
for nearly forty years like the lives of thousands
of
men
It is
of the
the
the national
government a part
A map
early life,"
p.
45 of
McClure, 1896.
265
colonial
With
traditions,
American People
grants, or
It
conflicting
The
made generosity an
easy virtue with the government, and land could
be had almost for the asking.
It
new
States
ills.
CHAPTER X
enjoyment
try in the
property.!
slave
soil.
and
Slaves
of a single slave
When
Louisi-
267
American People
made
it
will of
There were
a slave State.
Congress
at the time,
thousand people in the Louisiana country threefourths of whom were in the new State, and nearly all of the remainder within the present bounds
of Missouri.
The petition of Missouri for admission was presented to the House on the 16th
original States.
At
on
the
Henry
House
recent memorial of the Missouri Legislature praying for admission; but not until the 13th of February following did the question come up, when,
in Committee of the Whole, the House began the
268
As
Missouri.
Alabama and
that
new commonwealth be
re-
restrictions
change
to
constitution.
of the restriction,
ad-
it "
to dispose of
and make
all
States."
Thus,
in
exercise
and
the Union
had made
their admission to
269
American People
Not
so,
The
ing the
treaties
the amendment.
word about erect-
expressly delegated
2.70
power
to
citizens
could not provide for the gradual aboliits limits nor establish civil
regulations naturally flowing from a self-evident
power,
it
truth.
If slavery be excluded from
the new State,
argued a Virginia member, the price of the public
lands would
follow, replied a
fall.
Not
so
Com-
pare the price of land in Pennsylvania and Maryland, along the line dividing free from slave soil.
On the Pennsylvania side, where slavery was forbidden, land uniformly sold at a higher price than
that of the same quality on the Maryland side.
Slavery would diminish the value of the public
lands in Missouri, just as it had diminished the
value of land wherever it was allowed. Why had
not the people of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
changed their State constitutions and introduced
Because they had learned by experience
slavery ?
Public sentithe value of the Ordinance of 1787.
ment there sustained the principle of the Ordinance
more
far
effectually than
before admitting a
new
or form of government,
State, that
is
its
republican
constitution,
?
This was
It
violated the
sla-
re-
Declaration
American People
are men,
it
tion
from
all
political
of
New
to
States
principle.
would
Then concessions
in 1787 no longer remained.
were necessary and proper. The States in which
slavery existed claimed the right to continue it,
nor could they be asked to make a general emancipation of their slaves. It would have endangered
The Constitution was a
their political existence.
compact among the original States, and contained certain exceptions in their favor such as the
obligation on Congress not to prohibit the African
slave-trade
the proposed restriction would violate the provision that citizens of each State shall be entitled to
all
lege
inquired a member.
273
Louisiana,
Illinois,
American People
form of government than the restriction now proposed for Missouri the equality of privileges for
all its
population.
But,
otherwise
laid
down
thus
violating
of citizens of the
several
States.
Constitution
answer
this
itself
objection?
The
274
On them
if
civil
would
war should
tional vote.
On
New
York, moved
the Tallmadge amendment to the bill providing
a Territorial government for Arkansas
a subdivision of the Missouri Territory.
The question
differed from the one of the day before.
That
the next day, Taylor, of
*
t
Eighty-seven to seventy-six.
Eighty-two to seventy-eight.
275
American People
enough
Was
not the
for
Certainly not.
The amend-
it
Impossible
public welfare
To
right to
this
it
new Louisiana
country.
At
was
willingly accept.
sovereignty.
decision was
ware.
sippi,
line should be fixed west of the Missisnorth of which slavery should not be toler-
277
be prohibited.
this possible.
divided,
On
and the
vast,
American People
first
region made
amendment was
unsettled
admission.
The
278
gress adjourned.
On the 8th, Scott, the Missouri delegate, presented several memorials from the Legislature and
some of the inhabitants of the Territory, praying
and Strong, a New York memfor its admission
ber, gave notice that he would ask leave, on the
;
bill
prohibiting the
United States.
The
notice
was a sign
of
the times.
*
The
first
thirty-one to seven.
279
the second, by
The
Two
wholly
Roberts,
amend
the
bill
Every
of the
Ordinance
of 1787 to the
new
In the debate the old arguments were repeated and elaborated citations were made from
feated.
The Federalist
was quoted
1
8th,
The
Governor
and other documents are given in Maine Constitutional
Convention, 1819-20; Charles E. Nash, editor, Augusta, 1894.
Articles of Separation, the Proclamation of the
of Maine,
280
cede.
two
On
seemed
likely to re-
the
votes, the
souri
bills,
made
modify this
amendment as by Barbour, of Virginia, who wished
Thomas amended it on
the line at forty degrees.
the following day by adding a fugitive-slave clause,
and in this form it passed the Senate by a majority
Eaton, of Tennessee,
of more than three to one.*
sought to have the amendment apply to the West
only so long as it remained a Territory; and Trimble, of Ohio, wished the restriction to apply to all
be prohibited.
Efforts were
to
but
Thirty-four to ten.
Would
the
House disagree ?
rider
Taylor
It
restriction, in
made but
Committee
slight progress
of the
would be
likely
to
pass.
Whole.
Taylor's
some kind
restriction
passed, in
moved
the
Thomas amendment,
in substance, and,
State
yet, as the
amendment
to, it
relative to Missouri
was useless
to return
it
in
* The Missouri attachment by vote of ninety-three to seventytwo; the details of the Missouri bill, by vote of one hundred and
two to sixty-eight the Thomas amendment, by vote of one hundred and fifty-nine to eighteen.
t Ninety-seven to seventy-six.
;
sixty to fourteen.
282
Thus it was
would oppose
on Missouri, though they might
Lowndes and
slavery restrictions
bill
alone.
his friends
But the
motion prevailed.
Its
en-
author,
Ninety-one to eighty-two.
283
Twenty-seven to
fifteen.
American People
the restriction of
sla-
Thomas amendment
It seem?
ed impossible that so strong a majority as that
which had voted for restriction would recede. But
moderation prevailed, Kinsey undoubtedly expressing the opinions of the body of the House at
neither extreme favoring a compromise " Now
is to be tested whether this grand and hitherto
successful experiment of free government is to continue, or, after more than forty years' enjoyment of
the choicest blessings of heaven under its administration, we are to break asunder on a dispute
concerning a division of territory. Gentlemen of
the majority have treated the idea of a disunion
with ridicule but, to my mind, it presents itself
features of reality. # # *
gloomy
On
this question,
weeks has
have voted
convinced, should we
But
am
six
I
now
offered, the
dress myself.
and
Do
an equal division
to those
now beg
leave to ad-
The
for free
Ninety to eighty-seven.
Massachusetts had consented to the separation of Maine on
condition that it should be admitted to the Union by the 4th of
March, 1820. See the Articles of Separation, Sec. i., in Nash, p.
t
3 of third paging.
285
pleted
its
of July.
and com-
Many
of the
powers
in
the enabling
act.
The
its
Constitution
the duty of
possible to
Assembly as soon as
pass whatever laws might be necesthe General
coming
under any
It was laid before Congress
pretext whatever.!
by Scott, on the 16th of November, and was reto the State or settling in
it,
later.
of the
whether
enabling act had been complied with
wisely or liberally, it was not for them to decide.
Congress could not well anticipate judicial decisions by interpreting an equivocal phrase, or
by deciding on the powers of a new State, and
thus add the weight of its authority to an
opinion which might condemn the laws and constitutions of old as well as sovereign States.
The clause in the Missouri constitution excluding
free negroes and mulattoes might be construed to
apply to such of that class as were citizens of the
;
* Thirty Years
\
View, Vol.
i.,
p. 8.
f Art.
iii.,
Sec. 26.
land.
Difficulty in Defining the Federal Constitution
The
The
much
and civil privileges, though both be citizens of another State giving the right of voting
and serving on juries to the white, refusing it to
the black.
The Territorial condition ceased when
political
*Act
of
January
28, 1811.
Maryland,
cited
1806; Virginia, January
23, 1808.
t
The number
287
was
233,634.
American People
it
all
the interests of
admission of Mis-
souri.
twenty-five to forty-nine.
The National Constitution Dominant
The
some members.
Whether
Few of
determine.
it
some
laws
When
jected
with
Why
that
of
its
the
constitution
United
was
States;
incompatible
but the ob-
Constitution
in
souri
is
all
if
any,
Mis-
the rights of a
sovereign State.
i.
289
American People
ment republican
pugnant to that
a govern-
first
No more
curious
or
in
a class of people unwelcome in every State, excluded from many, refused all social relations
* In 1790, 59,527.
In 1800, 108,435.
291
American People
treaty, this form of property must be proand the few determined the character of
the new State.
Only three States were emphasized, in 1820, as having conferred citizenship on
free persons of color, and very few of these persons, it is believed, actually exercised in them
both civil and political rights. Yet the rights of
this handful of despised free negroes were to
turn the scale in the admission of Missouri and
by the
tected,
put
all
federal
in clearer light.
relations
Had
enabling
there would
Had
act.
have
been
a question
in
any State a
citizen
Dangerous
and, be-
They
monuments
of dis-
own
As
excluding them. # Moreover, free negroes and mulattoes were not citizens, in the meaning of that
word as used in the Constitution of the United
States.
They were not entitled to its protection.
Whatever privileges they possessed were surely
local in character.
At the time of the formation
ing to the class of persons for whom the government, either Sta,te or federal, was organized.!
*
f
293
American People
free
why
did
it
specific law
it.
To
qualifications of residence
See the
first
ii.
(Folwell's
edition), p. 27.
t
opinion in Scott
vs.
Sandford, 19 Howard,
294
p. 393.
No
federal rights?
made
The
compact.
The black
were as directly represented as the whites in the process initiatory to
the
included in
citizens
citizens of Massachusetts
one
Massachusetts
actually decided
the
sixteenth Congress.
tempting
to exclude
by a vote
nine.
month passed
December
12, 1820.
American People
short, sharp
debate followed the vote was a tie, and, by the
vote of the Speaker, Cobb's motion was rejected.
Parker, of Virginia, was quickly on his feet.
As
the House had refused to acknowledge Missouri
to be a State, and as she must be a Territory if
not a State, he moved to correct the journal by
;
Territory of
defeated restriction
it
"
"
before
"
Mis-
remarked
made
journal before
it
was
read.
296
amend
Lowndes
sug-
tution of Missouri,
if
be,
which
iii.,
297
American People
of reckoning.
the precedents to
show
of the
ten
new
all of
tors,
all
States admitted.
them only
In the constitutions of
free white
males could be
elec-
crimination,
if
More than
this,
New Hampshire
The
naturalization
laws of the
mulattoes. ^f
Was
||
Twenty-four to twenty-one.
Vermont, act of November 6,
1801.
298
whom
?
Holmes, who
had recently taken his seat as a Senator from
Maine, argued that the privileges and immunities
of citizens were nowhere extended to free persons
of color by the Constitution of the United States
nor by the laws of Congress; that they were conferred by the States alone that Missouri had not
conferred them; and, therefore, that black citizens
of other States would acquire no other privileges
and immunities than her own black population.
This part of the population being excluded, the
black citizens of other States might be excluded
tions
and laws
also.
On
the
nth Eaton
New
Hampshire, cited
Hampshire,
and Massacases in Vermont, New
chusetts where the privileges and immunities of
citizenship had been exercised by free men of
color, and reasoned that these alone, though few,
should be sufficient to reject the admission of
This time Eaton's amendment was
Missouri.
resolution.
Morrill,
of
carried.*
Twenty-six to eighteen.
299
January
29, 1821,
American People
Six other propositions were submitted, but all, including Foot's, were rejected by large majorities.*
the
same
diversity of opinion
prevailed
in
in
the
the House.
It
condition that she should never pass a law preventing any description of persons from going to
Mostly on February
ist.
consisted of Clay, Kentucky Eustis, Massachusetts Smith, Maryland; Sergeant, Pennsylvania; Lowndes,
South Carolina; Ford, New York; Archer, Virginia; Hackley,
t
The committee
New York;
Connecticut
S.
;
Butler,
300
new States. His was the compromise on admission, not on slavery. Measured
by his own idea of State sovereignty, the solemn
public act which should be exacted from the Missouri Legislature was not beyond repeal by a subsequent Legislature, and, twenty years later, it was
practically repealed by the laws of the State prohibiting the immigration of free negroes, under
heavy penalties,* followed by a more severe act
But Clay's compromise was an
three years later.
immediate solution of the sectional question which
now threatened the dissolution of the Union.
On the 12th the House took up the report, in a
debate which went over familiar ground. After
rejecting several proposed amendments, the House,
by a vote of eighty -three to eighty, rejected the
Senate resolution and Clay's amendment. On the
13th the vote was reconsidered, and the commitGeneral
tee's report was again before the House.
slavery from the
* Missouri, acts of
February
23,
301
1843; February
16, 1846.
American People
drawn
in articles
this
'
it.
In answer,
Constitution,
perfectly
knew
drew that
302
Firm Stand of
the Restrictionists
At
and administration.
* Eighty-eight to eighty-two.
303
if
As
Monroe
and Tompkins were chosen, and the vote of Missouri could not change the result.
But if its vote
was counted it must be as that of a State. All
who claimed
this to
therefore, insisted
on the inclusion
of its three
electoral votes.
The
electoral vote
14th.
Both Houses, as the Constitution requires, assemin the Representatives' chamber, and the
count was begun under the usual forms. As the
vote of Missouri was announced, Livermore, a
member from New Hampshire, arose, and, amid
bled
some
because
tumult began, and all
it
alone to wrangle the matter into some concluAfter more than an hour of confusion such
sion.
as can arise only in a great parliamentary body,
left
34
struction.
way
of
i.
By a vote
of
Monroe
teen for
for President
Tompkins
American People
for
Vice
President.
less.
If
not
In either
a majority of the
electoral vote.
increased
House was
the
Seriate
called to order.
chair.
The
confu-
Randolph was
still
its
constitution be expunged.
306
On
was
on the
It had been proposed
table without discussion.
What ground for hope was there that it
before.
would succeed now? Brown, of Kentucky, on the
21st, put into a resolution which he submitted the
ideas of many who were accusing the restrictionClay's motion, this resolution
laid
The
of a breach
of faith.
Southard,
New
Jersey
307
American People
The
committee
In
August
At
Compromise
first
lay a
time in the
history of
tion:
United
States,
restrictions
tion
The
parties to the
* Eighty-six to eighty-two.
308
Twenty-eight to fourteen.
and
Federal Restrictions
establish
uance.
Being a domestic
institution,
it
was wholly
American People
States
much
as
The
States
eral
disqualified,
if
Union might be
it
unit."
But
it
for
310
Congressional Powers
to Prohibit
Slavery
The
It
3ii
do an unlawful
view.
American People
act.
on the ground
of
government which,
Endangering
the
Fundamentals of Freedom
The
slavery
of
extension of
citizens
of
the
United States.
slavery;
in
the
West
As
comprehended the
fundamentals of representative government under
the American system, it drew opinions from men
in all
conditions of
life.
An
index to contem-
The
New
York,
not reported
of
in the Senate,
February n, 1820.
in the annals.
He afterwards wrote it out for
See Papers Relative to the Restriction of Slavery
speeches of Mr. King in the Senate, and of Messrs. Taylor and
Tallmadge in the House of Representatives of the United States
on the bill for authorizing the people of the Territory of Missouri
to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of the same into the Union, in the session of 1818-19, with
the report of the Committee of the Abolition Society of Delaware.
Philadelphia Printed by Hall & Atkinson, 53 Market Street, 18 19.
Jay was at this time
t To Elias Boudinot, November 17, 1819.
publication.
313
American People
slavery
at that time.
power
It
to regulate
regulate,
tional.
Little was added, in later times, to the arguments presented during the three years of the
*
December
To Robert Walsh.
3,
1819.
iii.,
p. 149.
Retrospection
and merely
institutions
of
textual.
saddle.
government.
seem
legal
The
Things, not
Civil
and
fiction,
the
CHAPTER
BEYOND THE
XI
MISSISSIPPI
The
authority of Congress to prescribe conditions for a Territory* was further illustrated by the
act of
its
constitution, recog-
The
large
Tennessee.
like
fMay
change was
slave-holding democ-
to.
31st.
eration, inclusive."
Compare Constitution of Tennessee, 1796, Art. iii., Sec. i.,
with that of 1834, Art. iv., Sec. i. "Every freeman" changed to
"every free white man." See, also, Studies in the Constitutional
History of Tennessee, by Joshua W. Caldwell. Cincinnati The
Robert Clarke Company, 1895, p. 113.
:
316
Making
Arkansas Constitution
the
racy must of necessity be a white-man's government. When, on the 4th of January, 1836, the
people of Arkansas met in convention at Little
Rock
to
in
The new
tion.
Immigrants had
been appearing
west of the Mississippi and north of Missouri, but
they were not yet sufficiently numerous to warrant
for several years
the organization of a
new
Territory; therefore, in
Ohio was
in the
way
of settlement,
317
seemed
It
of the
was destined
souri
generations.
The
Mississippi
the
to
of
With
See especially the following authorities bearing on this subJournal of the Proceedings of the Convention to form
a Constitution for the State of Michigan, begun and held at
the Capitol, in the City of Detroit, on Monday, the nth day of
May, A. d. 1835. Detroit: Printed by Sheldon McKnight, 1835.
Index Boundary. Appeal by the Convention to the People of
the United States, with other Documents in relation to the
Boundary Question between Michigan and Ohio. Detroit: 1835.
Journal of the Convention held September 26-30, 1836, to Consider Admission into the Union.
Pontiac 1836. Journal of the
Convention held December 14-15, 1836, to give Assent required
by Act of Congress previous to Admission. Ann Arbor 1836.
*
ject
318
progress,
ed
all
For
title
country
was attached to Missouri. One great purpose of
the act was to exclude the whites from the reservaIt could be entered only by the agents of
tion.
At the same time a
the national government.
Department of Indian Affairs was created, under
charge of a commissioner. The public, ignoring
extinguished.
the correct
3*9
American People
Territory.*
The States, about this time, began accurate surveys of their boundaries.
Congress, in 1831, ordered the survey of the line between Alabama and
and between Illinois and the Territory of
Michigan.
Usually, the enabling act described
the boundaries of a new State, but, at best, only
approximately. Maps were inaccurate, and actual
surveys were necessary to establish the lines. The
new States, like the old, soon had boundary disputes on hand.
The admission of Michigan left
the region to the west for Territorial organization,
and, early in 1836,! Wisconsin was given a government, modelled after those already familiar in the
In one respect, however, there
old Northwest.
was a departure. Members, both of the Council
and the House, were chosen by the voters. On
the 2d of July, Congress directed the surveyorFlorida,
The
ians
in
320
Building
Up
Western
the
Cities
The
public squares.
classes
the
first to
several
amendatory
acts
as that of 1838,*
which
Lake Michigan and Rock River.t Wisconsin resembled Alabama in the rapidity with which popuThe Territory was soon divided,
lation poured in.
and the name Iowa given to the southwestern part.ij:
The old Northwestern model was again followed,
but Iowa had a new feature in the Congressional
appropriation of five thousand dollars to be ex*
\
June
June
12th.
12, 1838.
t June 18th.
See Iowa City, a Contribution to the Early-
History of Iowa, by Benjamin F. Shambaugh, M.A. State HisIowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 1893. Also, Documentary Material Relating to the History of Iowa, edited by
Benjamin F. Shambaugh, A.M., Ph.D.; Historical Society, etc.
;
torical Society of
1.
321
pended
in
The
organization
of
new
govern-
Territorial
demands
By the removal
of population.
of the
and
the East
now began
at the
Mississippi.
In ten
years' the frontier had moved more than two hundred and fifty miles north and northwest, in Ohio,
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. The
coming
a parent of
States.
In the
same period
The
was
swamps
of
of
June
8th.
March
3,
322
1839.
1830 to 1840.
Time
323
American People
Address
to the
People of the
Sangamon County*
by the opening
of
3 24
in the clearing of
Edited by John G.
Lincoln on Transit in the
West
Yet
deny.
it is
folly to
first
as half-finished
pose of
of Jacksonville
for
the
It is a never-failing
source of communi-
Upon
cial intercourse is
commer-
and uncertain.
Yet, however desirable an object the construction of a railroad through our country may be, however high our imaginations
may be heated
at thoughts of
it,
there
amount
is
always a heart-
of its cost,
which
pleasing anticipations.
The
Respecting
may
325
may be rendered
American People
and
to vessels of
From my
much
peculiar circumstances,
last
twelve months
as lower since.
From
this
it
appears that
my calcula-
Sangamon cannot
it is
but,
that
it
when we
above its mouth we are only between twelve and eighteen miles
above Beardstown in something near a straight direction and
this route is upon such low ground as to retain water in many
places during the season, and in all parts such as to draw
;
it
all
high stages.
damming up
What
It is
common
it
am
unable to say.
is
to streams of the
the improvement of
object,
its
tion
will
meet
my
approba-
It
cussion
so I suppose
may
been opened as a
enter upon
it
may
without claiming
await
its first
ex-
plorer.
made
am
It
of opinion,
may be made
class of people.
Upon
it,
327
Plethora of State
Banks
in the
West
am
fellow-citizen,
A. Lincoln.
New
Salem, March
9,
1832.
close
time
penbringing
etrating its rivers,
the wealth of the world
to its doors and bearing away its surplus corn and
The West was young, confident, aggresbacon.
sive.
There was a lesser Lincoln in every district,
eager to vote the boundless credit of the State
for the support of internal improvements.
But of
what use such improvements if the people had no
money for their own affairs ? Money, and plenty
of it, was the popular cry, and in response the Assemblies passed volumes of bank-laws. State banks
sprang up at the cross-roads, in the cities, and
showered reams of flat money over the country.
Another money delusion seized on men, and, like a
fever, ran its time.
It was an era of irresponsible
banking and "wild -cat" currency. Experiment
with more or less vicious banking schemes continued until uniformity and responsibility were secured
by the national-bank act of 1863.
The new States were booming; their every in329
make
American People
his fortune.
Plenty
whom
were
elected.
inhabi-
in favor of that
policy.
and the
Most
sive
To
of
announced
in the
my
port me.
33o
on
the interest
it.
If alive
Hugh
New
L.
Salem, June
in
13, 1836.
Again he was
confidence that
of internal improvements at their expense. The session
of the Illinois Legislature of 1835 was not unlike
the people
full
that in other
Western
States.
Railroads were
construction.
Many
of the
towns were
like that
Eden in which Martin Chuzzlewit expectmake his fortune. The State was in danger
city of
ed to
33*
American People
of the people,
The
fashion by Lincoln.
men
in a conservative
infatuation possessed
than he.
tors in
fortunes.
And
taught us
little,
twice since.
obligations.
its
Assembly
is
have
guilty.
Illi-
Speculation and
so ran the resolu-
been
common
And
under
faults.
this stim-
* Joint resolution,
February
January
21, 1843.
332
IQO
95
85
75
MAP OF
advance
tent.
Migration
far west.
The
increase in
is
a child of discon-
numbers was
1840,
was a
little
for a time
and
this,
in
treaty of 1783.
mill-
five
and a
half miles
Rhode
Island, 1842;
New
Louisiana, 1845;
333
disclosed
in
antislavery
publications,
State
all this
made
rejoinder
To
by
The
of
State
of
fiat
are the
common
Hard
fell
off,
334
Texas and
have seemed as
tionless
as
if
if
Its
Boundary Line
evil spirit
the factories,
had
closed the
seen running aimlessly in all directions and apAfter a time they crawl
parently greatly excited.
back into orderly ways, and begin to repair their
habitation.
In a few days they have accommoto their new conditions and are
themselves
dated
seen to be busily at work, as if no accident had beThey will even abandon their repairs
fallen them.
to wage battle with another colony.
Amid the hard times that followed the panic of
'37 the people of the commonwealths acted very
335
The
American People
its
in-
proclama-
new
re-
men
The
constitution
t
%
336
had sup-
Those of the
by other Southern Legislatures.
North passed counter-resolutions.* The country
* The conflicting and ominous elements in public opinion
from 1835 to 1850 are nowhere more plainly and significantly
indicated than by the acts and joint resolutions of the State LegThe principal
islatures respecting Oregon, Texas, and slavery.
resolutions and acts are as follows
Alabama. Joint resolutions for annexation of Texas, DecemAnother sympathizing with
ber 25, 1837, and January 1, 1842.
uary
13,
1849.
Georgia.
mot
Elaborate
Illinois.
Joint resolution
8,
1850.
February 21, 1843 to 54 40', February 27, 1845 same date, one
favoring " reannexation " of Texas.
Kentucky. Joint resolution The United States should assert
>
1y
337
American People
Like the ants, the people forgot that their roof had recently fallen about their
Public sentiment North was arrayed against
ears.
For a time its vehepublic sentiment South.
See also on
rights and occupy Oregon, February 27, 1843.
Federal relations, March 1, 1847.
Louisiana.
Joint resolution proposing a convention of the
slave -holding States to obtain respect for their institutions,
" peaceably if they can, forcibly if they must."
Resolution of
its
February
20, 1837.
Massachusetts.
Joint resolution against the annexation of
Texas, March 16, 1838 against the admission of new slave States,
April 23, 1838 also, of same date, resolution that Congress by the
Constitution has power to abolish the slave traffic between the
The admission of Texas dangerous to the peace of the
States.
;
338
mence was
quest of Mexico.
and con-
it
This
1842.
act of the
in Virginia,
1849.
in the District of
Compare
resolutions of
December
17, 1841.
The commonwealth
339
American People
Pacific.
The acquisition from Mexico became at
once a new subject for controversy.
The Texas question, and all that it involved, did
not suddenly supplant in popular interest the
question of State banks and internal improvements.
But it was an open cause of division between the sections. They were less divided over
The boundaries of the
the Oregon question.
Oregon country no man knew. Its joint occupation by Great Britain and the United States only
postponed a struggle. Public opinion found expression here and there in the resolutions of State
Legislatures favoring the " immediate occupation
of all Oregon," and this meant to 54 40' north latiNew England, for a time alarmed at the
tude.
prospective
dismemberment
of
Maine
in settling
the northeastern
March
8,
1847.
Wilmot
Ordinance of 1787 to
resolution favoring the
uary
all
21,
of
1848.
Joint
Oregon," Jan-
13, 1844.
See the following authorities having reference to this subResolutions of the Massachusetts Legislature, February 9,
ject
1830, protesting against the adoption of the decision of the King
of the Netherlands and declaring it to be in violation of the
rights of the State as secured by the Federal Constitution, and
"consequently null and void and in no ways obligatory upon the
government or people." Resolutions of February 24, 1826; February 15, 1832; March 23, 1832; March 14, 1836, and April 19,
1838, the latter declaring that no power is delegated by the Constitution of the United States to Congress authorizing it to cede
to a foreign nation any territory lying within the limits of either
*
340
Opposition
to the
Federal System
of
1842.*
obstacles in
Objections
March
13,
34i
American People
||
* Treaties
X Id.,
,1
342
4, 1842.
The
immediate.
In ten
years population increased over thirty thousand.
The rush of settlers caused numberless land disputes, so that Congress found it necessary to reAs early as 1838* a convention
vise the late act.
had assembled at St. Joseph's and formed a constitution, but seven years passed before Congress
passed an enabling act.t It applied alike to Florida and Iowa, and admitted both States. But Iowa,
dissatisfied with the boundaries imposed by the
Conact, refused to enter the Union with them.
gress passed a supplementary act on the same day
effect
relative to
of
the
Supreme Court.
it
and referred
and Missouri
to
Texas was satisfied by a joint resolution of Conwhich remains unique in our history.
Texas was not asked to adopt a constitution in
conformity with that of the United States. The
condition imposed by Congress was the submisgress,
sion to
it
State
March
December
3d.
3,
1845.
August
4, 1846.
May
343
i.-viii.
American People
of
its
be
laid before
The United
With
its
It
retained
its
domain and be
All formed
the Missouri Compromise
of its
was prohibited.
On
August*
in
It
was submitted
to
popular vote
were
ratified.!
Many,
slaves.
Mexi-
August 27th.
Four thousand one hundred and seventy-four to three hundred and twelve. See the following works relating to this subject: The Constitution of the Republic of Mexico and of the
State of Coahuila and Texas, containing also an abridgment of
the Laws of the General and State Governments relating to Colonization, with Sundry other Laws and Documents, not before
published, particularly relating to Coahuila and Texas, the Documents relating to the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company;
the Grants to Messrs. Wilson and Exter, and to Colonel John
Dominguez. With a description of the soil, climate, productions,
local and commercial advantages of that interesting country.
New York, 1832. Journal of the Convention, October 16 to November 14, 1835 Houston, 1838. Journal of the General Council
of the Republic of Texas, November 14, 1835, to March 11, 1836;
Houston, 1839. Journal of the Convention of July 4 to August
28, 1845
Austin, 1845. Debates of same, W. F. Weeks, reporter
*
Houston, 1846.
344
cans, did
Congress accepted the constitution, extended the laws of the United States over
Texas, and admitted it by joint resolution.*
Wisconsin was now asking admission. Congress passed the requisite act in August,! and on
the 15th of October a convention assembled at
Madison. Its work was rejected by the electors,
and another convention assembled at the same
reannexation.
The
year.ij:
constitu-
it
||
December
29th.
August
6,
1846.
1 Act
of
March
3,
1850, 305,391.
1849.
345
all
the
gold-diggings.
ing States
The
made
doctrine of '98
put to practical
An
of being
test.t
Minnesota pass-
346
The
Territories of
ed early in
March* Congress
act.
The new Territory contained
about six thousand people,! and was divided into
nine counties. Oregon had been a theme for debate
in Congress, more or less, for twenty years.
It
was too far away to awaken much popular interest,
and no man's seat in Congress depended upon his
advocacy of its claims. Immigrants were arriving in large numbers, and were demanding a TerNational parties made Oreritorial government.
in their platforms, but
planks
gon the substance of
these did not make a passable road to Astoria.
Finally, Congress erected the country into a Territory,^: providing also that it might be subdivided
The model followed was
into two Territories.
Only white men could vote
that of Minnesota.
The act contained a new provior hold office.
sion, that recalled the panic of '37
the Territorial Legislature was forbidden to incorporate a bank,
or to grant any institution banking powers, or to
pledge the credit of the Territory for any loan.
Nor could it give any privilege of making or circulating bank-bills, or bills of exchange, or anything like them.
This indicated that the lessons
of '37 were not forgotten.
Another lesson calling for reform, too, was remembered: henceforth
March
Act
of
3,
1849.
August
t
14, 1848.
347
American People
attempt to stop the evil of including vicious legislation under the phrase of the title " and for other
purposes."
A provision of local importance forthe
bade
obstruction of streams that would prevent
the salmon from passing up and down them freely.
The
was
made
for a military station on the line of communication to Oregon, and, to encourage immigra-
tion, the
Secretary of
nish
applicants
all
War
was authorized!
who designed
New
to fur-
to emigrate to
The
*
J
348
March
2,
1849.
Civilisation
Trending Westward
local civil
The
line of the
domain
five.
and slave soil. Geographically, the division was equal, except the
southern part of California. This extended below
public
into
free
the line.
Popula-
had increased from two and a half to twenty-three millions, and the public domain from
less than nine hundred thousand to nearly three
million square miles. During this time the centre
of population had moved westward nearly four
miles, on an average, each year. The frontier had
tion
reached the Pacific, but in the middle of the continent there lay a wilderness, more than a thousand miles wide, whose eastern edge was in Iowa,
whose western was at the Nevada mountains.
The ceaseless tide of immigration had reached
the Indian tribes, had surrounded their best lands,
had extinguished their titles, and had compelled
them to migrate into the Indian country. About
the middle of the century the white man and the
Indian stood face to face in the centre of the conThe history
tinent, disputing for its sovereignty.
of the tribes east of the great river during the first
half of the century was to be repeated west of it
349
American People
half.
No
had
and but one State
him to become an Amer-
political party
had made
it
possible for
ican citizen.*
to ar-
yet the
number
slave-holding States.
It
and
in the
them among
its
iii.,
Sec.
1.
Since 1841.
\ See the debates in the Louisiana Convention of 1845, in the
Kentucky Convention of 1849, and in the Virginia and Maryland
conventions of 1850.
See the Wisconsin Convention debates of 1847 and the debates in the Convention of Michigan in 1850.
t
35
Building
Up
West
settled in
New
ten years.
country, contained a
sand people. * No
population limited to the Atlantic seaboard. The
Cleveland, Akron, Columbus,
large towns in Ohio
Dayton, Cincinnati in Indiana Fort Wayne, Inin Michigan, Detroit; in Wisconsin,
dianapolis
Chicago, Joliet, Peoria,
Milwaukee; in Illinois
Quincy in Iowa Dubuque, Burlington; in Miswere gaining
souri, St. Louis and Kansas City
more rapidly than. the towns of the East. They
were fast becoming manufacturing centres, and
around them lay rich farms and near them prosperous villages. In these the conspicuous buildings
were the school-house and the churches and in the
In 1850, 515.547.
35i
The houses
generally of wood.
In the East,
West were
in the
and the
New England
and
since
commonly used
New York
commodious
now be
called
Both North and South abounded in loghouses and unpainted one-story cabins.
Wealth was the dispenser of social rank less
was made of ancestral distinctions than now. It
was a new country, and the most populous centres were not two hours' travel from wild lands or
Few homes had the luxuries
primeval forests.
now common. If there were rugs or carpets, they
were mostly home-made. Rarely were there pictcolonial.
ures
or
that
miscellaneous
collection
of
orna-
With
enough
were
to
conveniently accessible to the wood-pile. The sinuous stove-pipe ran near the ceiling, the full length of
Forests were consumed, but a church
the church.
entertainments.
lottery,
by means
built
unknown.
the
school-readers
353
century and
revisit
its
But
American People
as
we
retrace the
eventful scenes,
we hear
of the flock as
Wirt
describes
earnest, trustful, eloquent men, now forgotten, like the multitudes who gladly heard them.
Not Congress alone not Presidents and courts and
Governors and Legislatures; not orators like Henry
and Ames, Webster and Clay; not inventors like
Fulton and Goodyear and Morse and Singer; not
the poets and the historians and the journalists
but also the rural preachers, the circuit-riders, the
faithful priest, the voices crying in the wilderness
these moulded democracy in America.
All these
pass before us as we go back to the days of small
things, the gray days of work and pioneering.
At the middle of the nineteenth century democracy in America was encumbered with more slaves
than the entire population numbered on that
April day when Washington became President.
Scattered over the land were more than four hundred and thirty thousand # free persons of color,
everywhere unwelcome. Slave property in the
border States was becoming insecure and the black
code yearly more severe. The constitutions and
laws of the Southern States were gradually making emancipation impossible. Few Northern people migrated to the South for permanent homes
fewer Southern people sought homes in the North.
The Union consisted of two peoples, separated by
a compromise boundary. They did not know one
;
434495-
354
Southern elements.
the
California
its
was
free soil,
and
in the gold-mines.
CHAPTER
XII
in history, at
some period
of its
been an oppressor.
The oppressed
have not infrequently been as numerous as the
oppressors, sometimes more numerous.
Usually
the relation between the two groups is that of
master and slave, but the slave, being property, is
protected by the law of things.*
As a human
being he has few rights, or none. As property
he must have an owner, and be answerable, as
assets.
By law he may be real or personal propSlave codes, in whatever nation, guard him
erty.
as long as he is productive or profitable, but their
dominant purpose is to prevent him from exercising the rights of man.
He is denied every right
except the right of things.
He must be owned,
but cannot own he must be protected, but cannot
protect himself; he must support the State, but
cannot participate in its organization or control.
He must be known, but cannot be taught. He
has no rights another has rights in him, to him,
over him. Only by custom can a slave be called
he or she. Property is impersonal.
career, has
to 1850.
356
Rhode
were
free
12, 1848.
in
Con-
Slavery-
357
trial,
was
called,
* 1790
59,527.
1790 697,681.
Connecticut, 2764;
Pennsylvania, 3737; New Jersey, 11,423; New York, 21,324.
Georgia, 398; South Caro Kentucky, 114; Tennessee, 361
Delaware, 3899; North Carolina, 4975; Maryland,
lina, 1801
%
New
Hampshire, 158
Rhode
Island, 948
358
Was
it?
it
Could
it?
change
it,
it,
starve
bequeath
it,
and
it,
mortgage
some
in
it,
cases put
lend
it
nourish
to death and
it,
make
tion
it
and went
as far as
The
come to
impossible.
was sure
to
prudence dare
to
make
mains
new
But
constitution.
of the debates
on
this
question
till
it
after
was
and
in Virginia.
There the
As
359
iv.,
on the power
American People
of slave-owners to
do
so.
to
Free negroes,
at the
opening
of the century,
were
much
the
pounds security
to the
Act
March
of
December
28, 1792.
26th.
360
Laws of
1699, p. 309.
The
into slavery.
tice,
latto, free
which a white man was a party4 Thus it followed that all over the country free negroes were
in
cruel laws.
New
February
t
26,
New
5,
1804,
and
27, 1834.
1835; Louisiana,
March
December
16, 1842.
361
American People
If
near
among whites,
it
was
said he
more crimes
in pro-
See acts of the following Legislatures concerning this subOhio, act of January 25, 1807; excluded from the census
by act of January 28, 1817. Illinois, act of March 30, 1819. The
act of Delaware, January 25, 181 1, forbade them to enter the
State, subject to a fine of ten dollars a week for remaining,
or to be imprisoned and sold. Acts of February 16, 1849, and
March 5, 1851. Acts of Maryland, 1806; March 14, 1832; December, 1829. Acts of South Carolina, December 20, 1800; December 20, 1825; December 19, 1835; December 18, 1844. Acts
of Kentucky, February 23, 1808; February 24, 1846; made a
felony by act of March 24, 1851. Acts of Tennessee, December
ject:
16, 1846.
go
the worst of all negroes
the free negro
elsewhere forbid his coming into this State, and,
if he persists in coming, make an example of him.
It is rather curious that debates of this kind
were heard oftener and at greater length in the free
States
as in New York, in i82i,when the constilet
tutional convention
men;
New York
in
vania; again in
in
same year;
in Ohio in
to limit
1838, in Pennsyl-
1846; in Iowa in
and
in Illinois
1850.
No
363
i.,
American People
ginia,
in
1836, appropriated
eighteen
Vir-
thousand
26, 1833,
treasurer to pay ten dollars for each negro who was removed to
Africa by the Colonization Society. The joint resolution of the
New Jersey Legislature, December 30, 1824, favoring colonization
is typical of the attitude of the States towards free negroes.
23, 1816.
364
Ostracism of the Free Negro
away
to be
The
result
drift of this
human
ly
too, in
civil
Louisi-
war,
it
was
reach of
Legislat-
intrusted
payment
365
iii.,
Art. 15.
American People
to
of
all
means
to
of self-defence.
It
to deprive him
became necessary
same
In
many
off,
because
many
protection
in
the
The free
in many
Persecution
law.
drove
who,
to select a
at least,
||
||
366
The
of escape,
and
terity.
Towards the
* Virginia, act of
f
Georgia, act of
close of the
January
half
century,
many
28, 1843.
December
27, 1845
16, 1832.
367
American People
free negroes
Black
The
slave
He
often
came
cotton, or
even
North concealed
nailed in a box.
in a bale
of
January 13th.
South Carolina, act of December
368
20, 1825.
fre<
Conflicting Interpretations of the
Law
If found on
negroes to come in on any boat*
shore, they were at once to be put in jail till the
boat left port. On the arrival of a vessel with a
crew of free negroes, the harbor -master informed
easily
sides.
As soon
was
much to repel the invaders as to defy one anThe Governors of several Northern States
other.
fugitives
*
f
I.
AA
16, 1842.
American People
South
it
was
slave
tion
of
The
legislative contest
creased in
began about 1835 and invehemence till the end came thirty
years later.t
The
"
one Colley, a citizen of Virginia, renewed the conHe had been conveyed to New York in a
vessel that ran regularly between the two States.
Governor Seward refused to return him as a fugitive from justice, on the ground that, as slavery
was contrary to the law of nations, the State of
New York was under no obligation to deliver him
up to the State of Virginia. Virginia replied that
the case did not arise under the law of nations,
but under a provision of the Constitution of the
United States. Nor was it an ordinary provision,
but one resulting from a compromise on the making and support of which the existence of the
Union depended.
It was not long before other slave-holding States
test.|
New
May
March 18,
March 27, 1843.
f See Louisiana resolutions of March 16, 1842; Georgia resolutions (in reply to the Massachusetts General Court), December 28, 1842; also of December 25, 1843.
% See Virginia resolutions in re, March 17, 1840; also, the resolutions of the New York Assembly in re, April n, 1842.
*
York,
18,
37
and threats
and formally made.
Franchise
lution appeared,
to the
of disunion
were freely
New York
it
opened the
37i
American People
free
negro
qualification.
Elsewhere in
to vote was
denied him. How was this condition of affairs to
be harmonized with the national Constitution,
which provides that " the citizens of each State
shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of
citizens in the several States "
Or with
the pro-
As
and
villages
the
American
372
!
;
Sake
member
who, in 1832,
young women
in
Canter-
girl,
One
law.
American People
the Legislature
making
it
through
of its
and cannon
for joy
On
fired.
of June, Miss Crandall was arand bound over to appear at the August term of court. Would Connecticut send a
the 27th
rested
woman
negro
girl to
imprisonment wrote the infamous law on the pubconscience if such thing there be and soon
was verified the truth of a later and now famous
saying, " The best way to get rid of a bad law is to
execute it." She was tried, and the jury brought
But this was not the
in a verdict against her.
end.
She again attempted to resume her work,
but persecutions redoubled. One midnight her
house was attacked by a mob and left a ruin.
Then, and not till then, did she abandon her work
the benevolent undertaking of teaching a few
negro girls the elements of knowledge, that they
might teach free negroes.t
lic
Act
p. 321.
P- 237.
374
i.,
The
of color
of
The changes
by
are illustrated
one unrecorded. In 1807 the law forbade any negro to settle in the State without giving bond for
five hundred dollars to the county clerk.
A free
negro could not give testimony when one party
By the act of 1829 negroes were
was white.
specially prohibited from attending free white
Taxes paid by negroes
schools in Cincinnati.
were to be expended, at the discretion of the
school trustees, for the
education of black
chil-
slightly antislavery.
375
Its
Legis-
American People
them eighty
give each of
acres of land in
some
On
a country.
About
this
to call a convention to
1803.
many
It
ways, and
of
men
in
handiwork, completed in
March, 185 1, continues to be the supreme law of
the State; but it limited the suffrage to white men.
*
March
its
23d.
February
376
California
and
the Free
Negro
To
Though
California
came
377
American People
Confident
and that no
free
fall
through.
The
As
1850, was typical of the attitude of the North.
slavery was forbidden there, the free negro was
not a subject for legislation.
their
way
into the
new
The
is
ground dur-
negroes
in
fell
short of the
number
of
slaves
in
convention of
The
constitutional
It
problem.
other than to forbid the Legislature to abolish the
relation of master and slave. An effort was made,
though unsuccessful, to incorporate a clause like
that in the Virginia constitution of the same year,
to relieve the
common-
Foreign Immigrants
Cow
Negro Voter
the
somewhat
than Southern. Somewhat paradoxically, the abolition sentiment was strongest in the cold parts
of Vermont, and the laws enacted against runthe black code in general
away slaves
were
379
iv.,
most terrible in
met in Virginia.
From
tropical
American People
Louisiana.
Extremes
Thousands
this
Canada over
management baffled Governors,
and constables. The men and women
line.
sheriffs,
who kept
its "
and
stations "
intelligent
380
As soon
as the negro was gone Mrs. Crawford called her eldand bade him finish his sleep in the negro's bed. If the
sheriff asked him any questions, he could say that he had not
seen the negro and he had a bad cough. His younger brother
was left in the bed where the two had been sleeping. Early in
the morning the sheriff appeared, read his warrant, and began
searching the house. He was compelled to be satisfied with the
family's explanations, and went away, turning his horse's head
towards Erie. Glass had some five hours' start, and was now
rapidly approaching the city. He had stopped, as usual with
travellers, at the half-way house, where he watered his horses,
leaving them for a few moments while he got a hasty breakfast.
He was about driving on when a farmer, who lived some miles
to the east, now on his way home from Erie, drew up to water
his team.
He had left Erie about the time Glass had left his
home. As it became light enough for him to read, he noticed
here and there posted on the trees an offer of a large reward for
the capture of one Ned, a runaway slave from North Carolina.
The reward was larger than usual.
As he was watering his horses it occurred to him to mention the
est son
reward to Glass, and, stepping forward, while talking, his eyes ran
over the load of frames and patterns. Quickly he detected the
negro beneath them. Knowing that Glass was an Abolitionist,
for he himself was an equally ardent pro-slavery Democrat, he at
381
American People
382
Forcing
the
gro in work.
its
forced
into
population." \
The Northern
tol-
cause there
is
to heav-
383
in
in
and competition
the world.
An
ebony face
in the gallery
was
world.
He came
welcome.*
It is now forgotten that serious, and
for a long time successful, opposition was made to
common schools. Their establishment was a pub*
W. Dana,
Governor
lature,
March
J.
19, 1847,
19,
1829; December
24, 1837;
December
10, 1840.
In Missouri,
act of 1839.
See joint resolution of Florida Legislature, relative
to education, December 21, 1846. See free-school act of Louisi-
Art.
February
for whites,
The
act of
March
28,
23, 1840,
10, 1841,
Legislature,
15, 1825.
I. BB
385
American People
them
dren to get on in the world more easily and successfully than their parents had done.
Moreover,
education was a panacea for the ills of society.
dominated
It exby slavery.
cluded the negro, slave or free, from every means
policy prevailed
of information likely to
make him
intelligent.
He
except in the presence of white men. The campmeeting, ever dear to the African heart, was forbidden unless controlled by the presence of
Slavery thus put a muzzle on speech
whites.*
throughout the South, and at last custom became
not only a property of easiness, but an article of
faith.
religious
the laws.
is
ty-
3^
slave-holders.
in the North.
Clergymen are
therefore
when
and
It is difficult to fix
country
the times,
Essex County,
it
produced as much
South Carolina. The start-
in Massachusetts,
made
realized
The world
or South, then.
that freedom
is
by few, North
slowly learning
dom
is
is
who
free-
better.
During the
first
387
ii.
However, it is true.
cluded from most of them.
He gained slowly and lost nothing. Though welcomed nowhere, he found his way everywhere.
The new West frowned on him; but he went West.
It was hard for him to get title to a piece of land.
Even liberal Iowa made vigorous efforts to prevent
Local claim associations,
his becoming a settler.
such as that of Johnson County of 1839, rigorously discriminated against him, and for a long time
made his residence in the Territory unsafe.* As
the American world grew larger, and ceased, or
tended to cease, being provincial, the people of the
North let the free negro alone. It was a great opportunity for him indeed, the greatest that ever
came to his race. As soon as he was let alone he
began to prosper. There is a hint here for those
who are seeking the solution of the race problem
in America. As soon as the negro was suffered to
earn his own living, like the rest of the world (who
earn it), difficulties began to disappear. Legislatures
ceased sending out resolutions in complaint of freenegro invasions. Remonstrances against negro
children in the public schools became less common.
negro was seen here and there planing a board,
shingling a roof, mending a shoe, or laying a wall.
of
388
man
drew to a close.
Public opinion began to permit what it had long
thought, " Give the negro a chance." Yet the privileges accorded him in the North were, as yet, by
A vague sense of
sufferance rather than by law.
economic necessity was putting the laws in their
this simple fact, as the half-century
They were
fast falling
From 1840
to
decreased.
The
March
Georgia, December 7,
1832; Virginia,
15,
1832
389
American People
in
185
1.
in
in 1847;
toleration.
Illinois in
It is
Selfishness
This
ty.
is
at the
is
heard in Michigan
bottom
in 1850.*
The
illustrated in California.!
negro,
white
men
of a
monopoly
of the mines.
Pennsylvania
in
1838, of
Iowa
in
in
This was
182
1,
of
was
1847.
the spirit of selfish-
is
It
seems as
if
*
t
See Chap, viii., Vol. ii., pp. 215, 235 Chap, ix., pp. 249-254.
See Chap, x., Vol. ii., pp. 297-304, 315 Chap, xi., pp. 316-330,
;
353-362.
39
eral ideas.
the letter of
It
made
its
law,
its soil
it
free,
and, at least by
excluded no freeman.
embodiment
It
American
and pointed the way by
New
of
It
39 1
intimated
ii.,
Sec.
i.
was at hand when it would be imAmerica for half a million free people
possible in
change implied
and
in
later;
in the resolu-
Kansas.
all
rights
known
to free-
men.
On
See Chap,
xiii., p.
39 2
400.
They
the
free negroes.
North, towards citizenship. As the halfcentury closed, their children were found in the
free schools of New Hampshire, Vermont, MasIn
sachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Michigan.
in the
and Iowa, occasionally negroes were sufwork as mechanics, but as yet they pos-
fered to
sessed
little
skill
in
Ages
of
slavery
using
ability,
known only
American People
mind
owes
to
and crime,
or,
as
was often
cheap
include the free negro in the list of its beneficiaSelf-interest compelled the slave - holding
ries.
States to exclude
treated
as
It is
free negroes
but only those residing in the parish of Natchiwho possessed real estate of the value of
toches,
394
fell
who was
New
Orleans.
Was
not
to
The
case was a
necessity.
compound
What
half -century
by
of justice
gains were
free persons
and military
made during
of
this
but principally because of economic necesThis last phrase was seldom heard from
1800 to 1850.
It is of more recent use.
Few
living
free
negroes
of
the
then
realized that the
United States were both political and economic
barometers.
A despised race is not likely to be
unit
of measure of civilization. There
taken as the
are many units in America, and one was the contice,
sity.
It
and
is
whose
political theory
A democracy that
1897, p. 361.
was
en-
American People
As
long as this
continued freedom in America was a paradox.
What to do with the negro, free or slave, was
the first and most serious question whenever a
Territory was organized, a State admitted, or its
government revised. The question was fundamental, because it involved the right of a man
to
one man to
1845
illustrated in
Kentucky
in 1849;
powers, as
and again
in the
citi-
and Michigan in
1849 and 1850. The question had been discussed
before,but in narrower relations. New York began
the discussion in 182 1, and continued it in 1846.
Virginia heard Marshall and Madison and Mon-
it
in
nine years
later.
North Carolina,
in 1835,
met
judges be elected
Organic Laws of
To whom
should free schools be established ?
should the rights of citizenship be granted ? As
the century grew older, these questions stood for
reforms.
in
all
the
com-
Each
was a reform constitution. Each stands for what was considered, at the time it was made, a remedy for exIt would be highly interesting and
isting evils.
instructive to know by what process these organic
laws came into being; what arguments were advanced, what remedial measures were proposed
what interpretation of civil needs
but rejected
was made by the convention that undertook to
But this
give the State a better fundamental law.
knowledge is denied us, save for less than onefifty-nine constitutions.
of these
fifty
of
The
journals
are reforms
demanded by
all.
The
extension of
ment
American People
of influence in the
come down
to us
are
many
in bur
saying that there
It
Much
is
abbreviated in
time,
Americans
of
diverse
398
political
opinions
California
and Slaveocracy
in
It could
not administer the affairs of a commonwealth whose
existence depended upon free labor, although a
large portion of that commonwealth lay below the
line of the
Missouri Compromise.
was
of the
own
is
it
first
solved.*
*
The
at length
in
Volume
ii.,
Chapters
xiii.,
CHAPTER
DEMOCRACY
IN
XIII
New
mission, resumed
its
inter-
1845.
of
The
and Debates
de
-f-
la Louisiane,
400
some
States, as in
Rhode
"
it
must be
"
"
and be guarded by
and corruption,"
prevent
Louisiana had a large alien-born population.
The suffrage should be extended to all entitled to citizenship, but should not include " birds
of passage "
" the floating population," who could
not be deeply interested and personally involved in
bribery."
The
struggle in
Rhode
More
"
with
No
episode in State history has been more prolific of contropamphlets. Of these there are nearly three hundred.
The best account of the struggle, as an episode in civil polity, is
given in the Interference of the Executive in the Affairs of Rhode
Island, Report No. 546, House of Representatives, twenty-eighth
Congress, first session, and in Luther vs. Borden, 7 Howard, 1.
See the joint resolution of the Illinois Legislature, February 27,
1845, declaring Dorr "a noble martyr in the cause of human
liberty" the joint resolutions of the New Hampshire Legislature,
December 27, 1844, and July 2, 1845, blaming the Legislature of
Rhode Island and the New Hampshire Legislature's resolution
of July 2, 1847, investing Dorr with citizenship.
versial
I.
CC
401
open
hearts,
desired
to
American People
among
all
those
who
the citizens of
Louisiana."
The
commonwealths. It
should be made with discretion and without imposing the slightest obstacle, otherwise one class in
the State would have advantage over another. Distinction of privileges between free white citizens
was anti-republican, illiberal, and unjust, and would
be a source of perpetual struggle and discontent in
any commonwealth. To New Orleans had come
many thousands of foreigners who promoted public
improvements, and in building up their own fortunes had built up the fortunes of the city and
contributed towards paying the debts of the State.
Its indebtedness at this time amounted to four
millions of dollars, its liabilities to fifteen.
It was
" that
"
the
industry
of
these
birds
of
passage
by
the commonwealth was to look for the cancellation of its obligations.
To encourage the coming
principal
assurance of the
of foreigners was the
The problem
prosperity of the commonwealth.
before the convention was how to extend the suffrage without endangering the interests of the
State by including an undesirable class of voters.
Universal suffrage was considered an unlimited
mischief in Louisiana.
It was necessary to idendefinition of citizenship to the
tify
in
the
Foreigners, temporarily
402
there
to
plished, they
its
resources
chiefly for
their
own
ag-
will
* Read the speeches on "Citizenship" delivered in the Alabama Convention of 1861, reported in The History and Debates
403
sufferance.
These
1865, these
since which
itself,
obliterate, as far as
is
Co., 1861.
404
among
the persons
who
compose
organically
the State.
It was in Louisiana, in 1845, that the first exhaustive debate occurred in a constitutional convention over the right and the expediency of bas-
tion of 1829-30.
of Virginia,
405
Monday
American People
in July,
4.06
No Absolute
he resides.
On
its
interests
" vital
of
some kind
are necessary.
Therefore, restrictions
407
American People
common
the
its
people, their
would endanger
their
coming from a
* 1818.
distant
corner of
1 1829.
the
Union
to
become
affairs,
should be prevented.
Indeed,
qualifications of
other public
* Prior to 1850
and increase
members
officers,
of the Legislature,
ought
and
to be identical with
In that year
and
This tends
See
to show that the statement by the member is incorrect.
Eleventh Census of the United States (1890); Population, Part i.,
1.62 of the population of Virginia, 13.18 of that of Louisiana,
p. lxxxiii.
409
American People
A few States
but the great majority had followed
The Constitution of the
a different principle.
United States was itself a precedent to the contrary.
A member of the House of RepresentaIf
tives must attain the age of twenty-five years.
the sovereign people were to select a man of the
those of voters was a novel idea.
had adopted
it,
most distinguished
Pitt, Jefferson,
talent
or Clay
he could
not be eligible
United States seven years. The qualifications which entitled him to vote did not entitle
him to a seat in Congress. For this reason he
was required to be a citizen seven years and an
inhabitant of the State for which he was chosen.
Had not Franklin and Madison made this Conof the
stitution?
Were
in ignorance
and darkness
The
constitutions of
chusetts,
New
citizen of the
410
own knowledge
all
the references
made
to consti-
same
qualifications.
stitutional
The
typical
member
of a con-
own
The
was new.
tide of
411
American People
412
tinguished
men
of the country
of the dis-
Calhoun,
Tyler,
or Silas
By
was
was
be
to
But
ex-
and naturalized
One wished an
citizens.
If,
from
other States were required to remain in Louisiana five years before they could be eligible to public office, at least
the
same
restriction
ought
to
be
native
and
is
dens.
Not so the
foreigner.
He may exempt
him-
own
Was it not unjust that citizens of other States must be disfranchised two
years because they chose to emigrate to Louisiana? The State had become rich and powerful
because of immigration. For a long time its property qualifications retarded its progress, and Alacitizen of that State.
bama, Mississippi, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois admitted long after Louisiana had far outstripped
it in the race of prosperity and population.
The
constitution of 1812, and the laws made under it, if
not the sole cause of this result, had certainly not
been as conducive to progress as the soil, the climate, and the commercial advantages of its great
city.
Moreover, there was reason for the proposed restriction. Men will not take residence in
a State whose laws are an invidious distinction
Immigrants would
against their own interests.
414
Texas
to Louisiana.
For
under
Louisiana had
thirty years,
a tax
equal to
three
shillings sterling.
of
Some
much
He was
American Teople
accustomed from infancy to love the whole country and its institutions, and was now interested to
concentrate that affection on Louisiana, simply because he had located there.
His attachment to
the whole country being as great as any man's,
was he less capable of performing the duties of
citizenship than one who had long resided in Louisiana? His conduct depended upon his education,
but the means of education in other States were
equal to those in Louisiana.
The extremely
fertile
Louisiana attracted rich planters from MissisAlabama, and the Carolinas, with their families and their slaves.
There were many such in
the northwestern portions of the State
many
more would come and avail themselves of these
advantages, if the constitution and laws of the
State invited them.
The greater number came
without means, but with moral and intellectual
They
capital to use for the welfare of the State.
were a most valuable acquisition. The agriculture
of the State was in its infancy; the sugar and cotton
of
sippi,
all
was
slight.
oil.
The
its
production
Its soil
Compared
occupied.
such as
fruits, silk,
made
distinction
litionism."
Before debating the compromise, that the residence of the naturalized citizen should date from
the time of receiving his naturalization certificate,
whether in Louisiana or elsewhere, which practically placed him upon an equality with the native-
born
citizen, several
common
to
members expressed an
idea
whom
ceive
and
final
decision was
it
should
whom
reject.
of
entitled to
all
State had no
Citizens
Without Naturalisation
impose discriminating
ized citizens.
gible to
all
money.
disabilities
could not
It
upon
natural-
If
eli-
ana, according to
how
all
the
Union became,
States.
To
United
of Congress.
some new
State
may
States had
419
of New York.
His arguments against these laws
were admirable and conclusive, and the State of
Louisiana should obtain a copy, have it elegantly
bound, and deposited in its archives in honor of its
great author.
The opposition to these laws was
rallying
point
of the Democratic party.
the
In
the Legislature of Kentucky prompt and decisive
action was taken, and in the Legislature of Virginia
resolutions now famous were introduced.
As
soon as the Democratic party came into power the
laws were repealed and the persons confined under
The
later,
420
At
in the
form
still
held to
the idea.
in session dur-
ing the height of the excitement over the " reannexation " of Texas, and this national issue was
not overlooked in the debates. Native-Americanism was associated in men's minds with opposition to annexation, and a member read an extract
from the Southern Quarterly Review, to which he
said the author's name was not given, " but from
the great ability with which the article was written
he presumed it was from the pen of a distinguished gentleman, Professor Everett."*
The
article discussed annexation, and declared that it
In like spirit, the
would produce dissension.
Hartford convention had declared that slave repreIt had prosentation would produce dissension.
posed amendments to the Constitution such as
restricting Congress from admitting new States
without the consent of two -thirds of the existthe withdrawal of the representaing States
Annexation
421
to the slave
American People
which,
when
422
Liberal Principles of
the Native
Our
Early Statesmen
federal Constitution.
With
The
constitution of Georgia of 1798 had special reference to the peculiar geographical position of that
dominions of
- American clause. The Maine convention had not discussed the proposition, but required the Governor
to be a native-born citizen of the United States.
The weight of authority in America was against
the incorporation of a Native-American clause in
It was the intention of the
a State constitution.
State, being then contiguous to the
Spain.
But
* Elliot,
it
Vol.
v.,
423
American People
impose
were imposed by the
laws of Congress. All the eminent men of the
formative period of American history were opposed to the spirit of Native - Americanism. Of
these the most illustrious were Wilson and Madison.
Conceding that " the services of Madison
were most eminent, next to him no one had imfederal Constitution that the States should
no greater
restrictions than
members
doctrine.
Nor were
all
the
Whig
thousand
dollars.
The
This
At
is
one of the
Governor Mouton,
earliest tributes to this
in 1844,
eminent
member
who
jurist.
of the conven-
Whig
Whole
Political
Body
of naturalized
and
which ought
councils,
demanded
to
their attention,
The
signs
of
the times
of
the
Abolitionist.
The
course of
events
pact.
On
American People
ing communities was essentially unfriendly to newcomers.* These commonwealths wished to be exclusive,
and
their exclusiveness
bred a political
in
men
among
in
leiter,
Rice
&
Co.
1861.
426
Thus, directly
and indirectly, slavery excluded immigration, and
had the domestic effect of emphasizing in an
undue degree the importance of the peculiar instinecessary.
tution.*
In Louisiana political exclusiveness was less intense than in any other slave
holding
common-
come
and it would
then grow greater every day in wealth and imporIts commercial domain would then extend
tance.
from the Alleghany Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Gulf to the remote parts of the earth.
If freely encouraged to locate in Louisiana, immiindustry would
to the State,
427
12, 1844.
American People
its native-born
population and its oldest and richest families. As
the debate proceeded, the constitutions of other
States were freely quoted, particularly those of
Iowa,t Alabama,^ Michigan, Illinois, and Ar||
One member, in
much
American people.
when man's
at a pe-
Illinois,
I 1819.
1837.
428
1818.
IT
1836.
In proof
in their character.
one years
of Franklin
that
if
property
is
made
the basis of
Gov-
cal influence."
Had
The soldiers
army were not
who had
electors
and
gain a residence.
see Chaps,
t
See
p.
ii., iii.
for those of
429
American People
hands of the few. Confined to only a few, the expense would be large but if this power was confined to one -fifteenth, or in the hands, say, of a
dozen men, it would be found that these would
secure enormous salaries, and patronage would be
appropriated so as to perpetuate power.
In Engright
of
primogeniture,
political
the
power
land, by
was retained in the hands of the few. Public func;
Much mon-
Although the
thorough cultivation as a
garden, its resources were monopolized by the few,
while the many were without the necessaries of
If protection to property were the measure
life.
of government, despotic governments were frequently to be commended, but in time of war the
freeholders were not sufficient in number to prowas the chief object
country was under
of protection.
as
CHAPTER XIV
THE
BASIS OF REPRESENTATION
Though
they performed
power.
It always exercises a
over the poor; therefore, it was
unnecessary to deny them a voice in the adminisIt would place
tration because of their poverty.
the poorer whites on an equality with slaves.
The Virginia convention of 1829, though consisting of men as talented as any who had assembled since the formation of the federal Constitution, were afraid of making popular reforms. They
were so wedded to aristocracy that they made as
few modifications as possible. Indeed, their conservatism was comportable only with the conservatism of Governor Berkeley, who, in the earlier part
of the colonial history of Virginia, in speaking of
ship.
Property
is
sufficient control
the
New England
States,
and
American People
dis-
promulgated.
The
deference to property
had been illustrated in the Massachusetts convenof the conservatives.
tion of 1820,
and
in the
earlier views.
In the federal convention of
1787 he had said that "persons and property being both essential objects of government, the most
that either can claim is such a stricture as will
have a reasonable security for the other."
In the Virginia convention, twenty- two years
later, he said that " It cannot be expedient to raise
his
a republican
government
if
a portion of society
its
own
protection.
An
If
must be graduated.
If
man
possessed of ten
43 2
The value
the
Union
safe
if it
The
The
tion
ultra- conservative
was
in the minority.
The
majority of
Would
mem-
its
But
what degree
of a
to
which
number
of persons
who came
to the State
from
Some
It
should be uniform but upon what basis ? A delegate from Orleans began the debate for which,
;
among
tinguished.
L ee
is dis-
American People
Next
qualified voter.
was the
manhood suffrage. If
manhood suffrage was to be
it
The committee on
the fran-
The
Louisiana made
commonwealth and
where
commonwealth
in the United States.
In a
all submitted to the same laws, enjoyed the same
franchise, held the same kind of property, it was
the basis of representation in a
434
Its
Heterogeneous Population
its
adoption in
would
guard against which this basis had been
insisted upon as essential at the time of the formation of the federal compact.
In its local relations
a State could find no necessity for adopting it.
Practically, its adoption would result in great injustice.
It would give to a few districts a disproportional representation, and enable them to control the whole Assembly.
The western portion of
the State was the richest in agricultural resources;
it was fast increasing in slave population, and consequently its white population was proportionally
the State, for
it
risk to
Southern Louisiana the slave population was decreasing, especially in the city of
New
Orleans,
was
great,
435
American People
Furthermore,
if
couragement
to create
portions of the
new
districts.
In the older
land was less productive
State
popula-
43 6
Where
the Federal
Number
Failed
As
enough
for a
dissimilar
necessity
to
It
community whose
those of Louisiana
there
demanded
that
but imperious
slave
property,
the
The
soil
and
the
city population
institutions
was
of
the
The
floating.
State.
greatest
would be impossible
New
whose
interests
power which it
had wielded, but had never abused, and transferThe country was free from
ring it to the city.
which pervert and carry
passions
those sudden
men's minds to fearful extremities it was a shield
to the State, guarding it from sudden assaults
be justified
in relinquishing the
438
Jefferson
Favors
the
Tursuit of Agriculture
"
workshop or twirling the distaff. Carpenters, masons, and smiths are needed in husbandry, but for
439
was analogous
440
to
that
which existed
La Fourche
In
all
to
At
last,
was
The
felt
by her over-
American People
grown and pampered weight, Rome fell to the lowest scale of degradation and impotence.
Had the
power of the Roman Republic been diffused
throughout the empire, instead of being concen-
Rome, the
republic would
have possessed a recuperative energy capable of
withstanding the shock of the Northern barbarians.
Louisiana should profit by the experience of
The country should be placed beyond
the; past.
the corroding influence of the city. The republics
of ancient Greece, controlled by their cities, had
fallen a prey to luxury and licentiousness.
Louisiana should pursue any system that would diffuse
power throughout the State, instead of concentrating it in any one part, especially in the city.
It was dangerous to republican liberty to place
power in the hands of the few. On the basis of the
free white population, New Orleans would elect
one-third of the Assembly, and at the rate of increase of that class of population, in a few years
would choose one-half of it. Under these circumtrated in the city of
stances, the
federal
basis
As
minishing,
it
New
own
in
di-
a few
interests,
New
Orleans might, perhaps, carry the abolition of slavery. The number of Representatives chosen on the
442
the
Pale of Politics
by the
To
it
it
was
difficult to
representation.
of
The
American People
federal basis could
owned
hundred slaves, was a violation of jusone elector owned two slaves, especially
if they were so old or so young as to be valueless,
although another elector owned houses and lands,
stores, shops, and factories, the slave-owner would
have the larger representation. No white man
would consent that two slaves should have more
weight in the political government of Louisiana
than he himself. To admit the federal basis would
tice.
five
If
as necessarily
make
tants of parishes in
and out
of non-slave-holders, as
444
it
made
slaves,
Abolition-
Interests
The
ists of the people of the Northern States.
knowledge could not be kept from the slaves and
it would increase at every election
that two of
them had more weight in the government than a
free white man.
This would soon destroy the in-
The
sole
purpose
of
its
changing the
was
New
Orleans and
La
The
American People
The
of the State
taxes.
centrating at
of
New
New
Orleans.
Orleans and
The country
parishes
possessed
slaves, of
millions of dollars.
If
one hundred
the value of
fifty
representation was to be
growing influence of the cities of the commonThis spirit, prejudicial to the city, was
wealth.
based on a supposed diversity between the interests
of town and country.
Jefferson's ideas on the influence of cities on the body politic did not persuade all the members.
Many of them believed
that great commercial cities exercise a most beneficent influence on the States to which they
belong, that commerce harmonizes and civilizes,
and that any policy which arrests the growth of
cities is injurious to the State.
446
To Curb
the
Power of Big
Cities
representation in Vir-
and incorporated
inter-
Several constitu-
The
to create
than twenty
and not containing a
less in area
requisite population
American People
incorporate town.
Rhode Island, apprehending
danger from the concentration of power in cities,
provided that no town should have more than onesixth of the representation
a principle which has
been followed in later State constitutions.*
It
was necessary to guard against the undue influence
Maryland limited the influence of Baltiof cities.
more, and in its constitution of 1838 also provided
that should any of the counties of the State fall
short of the
number
of people
fixed
upon
as the
basis,
.against domination
by municipalities. South Carowas arbitrary in its apportionment. Charleston, although possessing one - third of the population of the State, could not have more than
one-ninth of the membership of both Houses. In
North Carolina the basis according to the federal
principles was adopted for the Lower House, though
each county was to have one member whether or
So Georgia provided
not it had the full ratio.
that one Senator should be elected from each
The basis
county without respect to population.
principles,
the
ratio
being
fixed at
federal
was on
but no county could
fifteen hundred persons
have more than four nor less than one Representlina
ative.
As
in
New York
Pennsylvania
Illinois
in 1873,
based representa-
448
New
York.
Restrictions
on Municipal Representation
resentative.
The
of the
Kentucky constitution
cited to
show
The
ative.
relation
of these States
make
was not
their
boundaries,
Louisiana?
It should follow the experience of
twenty States
give each organized parish one
Representative, and limit the city of New Orleans
say, one-sixth of the entire
to a fixed proportion
representation.
To
these arguments a
Or-
method
the
land,
I.
FF
449
The system
American People
basis.
The
commonwealths
The
history of representative
government
for fact and
is
the
fiction
no better
by recording such citawhich occur in the Louisiana conThough loosely made, and probably
illustrated than
tions as these
vention.
Native -Americanism
and
On
the
nth an
was defeated by a
vote of four to one, and further efforts in this diBy a majority of three
rection were abandoned.
votes the time for residence was fixed at three
years.
The spirit of Native -Americanism, a political characteristic of the country at this time, was
qualification for Representatives
it sought to
exclude naturalized citizens from filling the office
In speaking against this proposiof Governor.
tion, a member remarked that he could see no
necessity for it, because members of many families in the State had intermarried into foreign
families, and had so interwoven their own interests with those of naturalized citizens that these
should be regarded as Americans. To discriminate between the native-born and the naturalized
citizen
in society.
of interest
and attachment
to the
commonwealth.
of eligi-
bility to office.
in session at a
time
when
at the height
New
York, Maine,
of its influence.
At
this
time
451
American People
and Virginia required their Governors to be nativeborn citizens, and the constitutions of these States
were cited as sufficient precedent for Louisiana.
Indeed, the Governor should be further qualified,
as was the case in Massachusetts, by possessing
landed property of the value of five thousand
make the State wholly secure in
electing him.
If a native American, he would
fairly understand the wants of the people; if a
slave - property holder, he would exercise the taxing power with discretion.
The principal argument in defence of a property qualification was
always its guarantee of protection by means of
dollars, so as to
taxation.
crimination
among
its
own
citizen
from
naturalized citizens of
Louisiana.
when
that legisla-
tion
establish a uniform rule of naturalization throughout the country. Several States had conceded to
the general government all control over this subject
supreme.
Any
and immunities of
is
when
it
entitled to
declared that a
the privileges
all
tive-born.
453
To
distinctions
the Union.
A native
citizen of Mississippi
to Louisiana
would be
citizen
going
Gov-
It
tion.
it
per-
citi-
454
at
Hard
to
in
ter vi.
this train
of
Chap-
CHAPTER XV
WEALTH
The
of war.
Governor
in time
mous terms. As all agreed that none but a citizen of Louisiana could vote, or be elected Governor, what was the relevancy in quoting the
So broad an
Constitution of the United States?
interpretation of the national Constitution tended to
deprive a State of its sovereign power to regulate
the qualifications of
its
own
officers
and
to define
The
own domestic
them
affairs.
It
therefore
it
was unsafe
In time of
Check on
all
things be
its citizens.
treaties of the
was abhorrent to the principles of representative government, and the judges of the
United States courts would not recognize it.
Though a State constitutional convention might
citizens
true
and
of
the
would ultimately
bring back constitutional provisions and legislation into harmony with the supreme law of the
It was true that six States
Alabama, Arland.
kansas, Missouri, Maine, New York, and Virgincourts, both State
federal,
ia
required
born
but
twenty and
with
government
to
the
be native-
Constitution
view
had
a
provision.
According
such
to
the
rejected
American theory of government, all citizens were
on a footing of equality. Should Louisiana hesitate to choose between the wisdom of twenty
Nor was it
States and the intemperance of six?
true, as some had declared, that at the time of
making the national Constitution its framers inAs soon as the
tended such a discrimination.
of the general
in plain
acknowledged that the federal Constituwas the supreme law of the land, the power
naturalization became the exclusive privilege of
States
tion
of
Congress.
On
al
alist.
The
American People
been remarked as a
delicate questions.
old confederation
fault in
our
left
it
be entitled to
privileges
all
and commerce."*
all
the privileges
The term
"
free inhab-
itants "
among
made
ineligible to
The
Federalist,
xlii.
The speaker
458
iii.,
from
Sees. 1097-1800.
Eminent
Men Who
To
would not be
in
accordance with
Governor of Virginia
And
those
made
the Constitution
of the
in the
Supreme Court.
These men
certainly un-
Was
it
ification
459
submit
gress, lest
its
American People
Congress had
admitted these States into the Union and sancsion of the federal Constitution.
its
courts,
of learning,
kinds attested the philanthropy of many distinguished citizens of the State who were born in
foreign lands. Officers of high rank, of inestimable
The genservice to the State, were alien -born.
eral welfare of the commonwealth had been as
much promoted by
citizens.
its
naturalized as by
its
native
460
Free Colored Persons
and
made
and deplored
his inability to
speak fluently
in English.*
As
has so often occurred in the political history of the country, the most earnest defence of
democratic principles was now made by men of
foreign birth.
Undoubtedly the unwillingness of
many members to make a person of foreign birth
eligible to the office of Governor was due not to
any desire to exclude naturalized persons of the
white race from coming from another State or
country, but because, as a member said, if the
State had no right of preventing any class of citizens coming from other States from being eligible to office in Louisiana, it would make a colored
citizen of Massachusetts, or from any other free
State, capable of holding office.
Though free colored persons were not persons of foreign birth,
they were not considered as capable of being identified politically with the citizenship of a slaveholding State. They were, by nature, forever foreigners.
The convention was controlled by this
sentiment, and in its desire to obliterate even the
suggestion that a free person of color could be
included in the concept of the State, it treated the
free person of color as permanently a foreigner
the naturalized citizen had been one.
The
Afri-
The debates
of this
in
both
American People
though legally capable of naturalization, was incapable in sound political economy of becoming
identified with the essential interests of the State.
The
to be excluded
New
of
to
beware
admonished
of foreign influence?
his
countrymen
Jefferson wished
that there
of Congress,
and Legal Acumen
Political
would have
in the Constitutions
to be carried further:
all
citizens of
upon with
them could be
none
intrusted with
the administration of the laws and all the departments of the government should be swept " with
suspicion
of
The
ex-
books
of the nation.
tion should be
American
made between
citizens.
different classes of
of State
It
was a stigma
American People
and by a
judicial
An
American
and to
The
all
should attach
to
the Abolitionists
In purely legal
where there was no express grant of power, he was always ready to imply
one upon the slenderest pretence. If it were true
that the convention had no power to prescribe a
other
rights
Louisiana.
Constitution of the United States never contemplated any other than the white population in
citizen
of
The
its
An
absurd con-
made an argument
against
the principle.
several States,
i.
in the
Dred Scott
de-
cision.
The
title,
when contested
it
in its constitution
same spirit
constitutions.
Like other States in which there was a discrimagainst persons of color, Louisiana provided that its militia should consist of free white
ination
men
only.
On
being again under discussion, the convention proceeded, perhaps unconsciously, to define the slave-
which
Democratic party, was
that commonwealth.
Louisiana, in
1820
applied
1845,
in
it
but was
it
willing
467
the
greatest
proportion of
They possessed
the
territory of the
the
made
punished
Was
it
if
owners
of this species of
property should be denied that weight in the councils of the State to which, as property-holders, they
were entitled? If the white basis exclusively were
adopted it would give to the city of New Orleans
one-half the representation.
to fix that basis
and
the representation.
southern portion
Some seemed
willing
But
of the
468
this
Difficulties of Representative
from
it
it
a portion of
to the north
and
its political
Apportionment
power and
to the west.
transfer
What was
the
New
not entitled
The
it
was
city of
New
469
country.
No
city population in
mony
in Louisiana
essarily in a slave-holding
community ?
of qualified electors.
From its peculiar position
the State was precluded from adopting the basis
of population, because in that population was a
who were held as property, and another class, free persons of color, who, though possessing personal freedom, did not exercise any
class of beings
The
political rights.
many
basis of taxation
was
liable
objections.
whole number
added three-fifths
to the
By adopting such
would enter into the apportionthe only manner in which slaves could
ciple of taxation
ment, for
have any possible connection with the political
system of the State was in their character as propFree
erty, which made them subjects of taxation.
persons of color could not be made a part of the
representative number, nor could unnaturalized foreigners, nor citizens of other States who happened
471
American People
to be in the commonwealth.
Nearly all the free
persons of color, the foreigners, and the citizens of
other States were congregated in New Orleans.
Of the twenty-three thousand free colored persons
in the State, nearly
itants of
If
it
New
Orleans.
made
the basis,
city
and
The number
of slaves
ferent parishes.
Where
in the dif-
Claiming
the Suffrage
self.
was necessary,
it-
an antagonism
should not be permitted to arise. This interpretation of the discriminating effect on New Orleans
of the adoption of the federal basis was, however,
welfare of the
denied.
it
deprive
the
num-
work
for
in the city
from day
to
of the
Admitting that
who
did
would tend
Orleans, "and
make
New
It
was a peculiarly
Had
474
and Population
political
community
its
just proportion.
The
real
The
proprietors of
the
father of five
475
American People
decrepit and worn-out negro and four negro children would be entitled not only to his own vote,
but also to three additional votes on account
of those slaves.
The principle was unjust. It
operated exclusively in favor of the rich.
Were
there not poor people in the country who did
their own work?
Was it not repugnant to the
true principles of democracy that the farmer having no slaves, working his own farm, should have
weight
less
in the
government
negroes
eral basis
If
of the State
who had
than
a hundred
was ultimately
than
questionable principle
less
federal basis
Even
that
of
the
On
made
to
apportion
to
limit the
representation in
any
number
city or
resentatives.
how
could
it
tion
No
Union combined
of color
Humanizing
At
all
protected.
same
prescribed
and
negro population. Had not the slave a
right to purchase his own freedom ?
Had he not
the
for the
The
constitution of
persons of color of
When
that
all
right to representation.
constitution
representation
Under
the
American People
clusive portion of
its
had dictated the three-fifths clause of the Constitution of the United States, did not exist in Louisiana.
Nor was Virginia a precedent. The great question
in that commonwealth in 1830 was the basis of
representation, and the convention made it a mixed
basis of qualified voters and taxation.
Was not
the whole purpose of those who advocated the
federal basis to aim a blow at New Orleans ?
Was
in the State
weight upon subjects where a diversity of interThe federal basis, it was said, had
ests existed.
been repudiated by the American commonwealths,
for it had not been adopted by them in their domestic representation, except in North Carolina,
Florida, and Virginia, where it was adopted by
the Legislature.
Eustis, a
Orleans, declared
was too
Efforts
for
of the poor.
As
tion
representation.
It was true, that the federal basis
would have some tendency to increase the power
of the country parishes. This increase in the representation of the country districts would be offset
by the greater city representation made possible
by the subdivision of the city into wards and disBy such a subdivision there would be
tricts.
practically no fractions of unrepresented population in the city, and thus the city would have an
advantage over the country. The city would have
a solid representation, while in every country parish there would be an unrepresented fraction. The
aggregate of these fractions in the country was
politically an offset which compensated the people of the city for any loss incident to the federal
basis.
The
many
making
a slave-holder
and
American People
representation as property.
If
erty
and all slave-holders so considered them
then the argument made by Webster in the Massachusetts convention of 1820, that property is the
basis of government, applied with peculiar force in
a slave-holding State, and political consistency demanded that the federal basis should be the basis
of representation in a slave - holding commonHowever, after an exhaustive debate on
wealth.
the applicability of the federal basis to the people
of Louisiana, on the 2d of March a motion to accept the basis was defeated by a small majority
twenty-eight to twenty-two.
The failure of the convention to apportion rep-
impending
political
this
'
It
All
the Constitutions
Against
the
Negro
Thus
far,
government
in
this
country,
we have found no
bound
No
to respect.
basis
Much of the
and many of
of the
problem
of equita-
common-
'-=*o
On
the 14th of
American People
May
new
to.
It
apportioned representa-
number
fix
upon a representative
number, and each parish was to have as many Representatives as the aggregate
number
of its electors
it
to,
in the State
*A*
,s
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
1111