USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I > Part 78
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River Floods .- ( 1.) The first "flood" in the Ohio river of which we have an authentic account, since the valley was settled by the whites, was in March, 1774. It was spoken of as a remarkably high freshet, and, from cer- tain fixed marks on Wheeling creek, Va., was estimated to have been equal to the flood of 1832 .* (2.) The second was in 1789-one account says in Janu- uary, t another in November .; The settlement at Columbia, O., a few miles above Cincinnati, was overflown to such a height as first to drive the soldiers at one of the block-houses up into the loft, and then out by the gable into the solitary boat which the ice had spared them, and in which they crossed over to the Kentucky hills. " But one house escaped the deluge"-i. e., remained out of water. (3.) The third was in 1817. (4.) In February, 1832, occurred the fourth and most disastrous freshet. The early breaking-up of a winter of excessive cold was followed by long-continued and very heavy rains, which, find- ing no escape through the frozen ground, raised the Ohio and all its branches to their greatest known height, overflowing their banks and laying under water the whole Ohio valley to a width sometimes of several miles. The towns and villages were flooded so deeply as to force the inhabitants, in many cases, to take refuge in boats or upon the neighboring hills-causing immense damage and destruction of property, and great personal suffering. From the 7th to the 19th of February the water continued to rise, until, at Covington, it reached the height of sixty-three feet above low-water mark. Above the crest of the falls at Louisville, the flood mark of 1832 is forty and eight-tenths feet above the low-water mark-that is, between the lowest and highest marks on record. Below the falls, the total rise of 1832 is estimated at sixty-three feet-the same as at Covington; at Maysville it was sixty-two feet. (5.) The fifth, and most recent, flood in the Ohio river occurred in December, 1847. At Louisville it reached a point only nine inches below that of 1832, and at Maysville only six inches below. Many houses were washed away, many more undermined by the waters and fell, a number of persons were drowned, thousands of hogs drowned in their pens, and the destruction of property of all kinds was very great.
The heaviest rain-fall ever known in Northern Kentucky, in so short a time- judging by its effects, for no measurement was made-was on the nights of Thursday and Friday, December 9th and 10th, 1847. The creeks and smaller streams rose so rapidly as, in some cases, to drive people in their night clothes to the second stories of their houses for safety. The North Fork of Licking river was, at some points, five, and at others ten, feet higher than ever known. The turnpike-road just south of Millersburg was, for several hours, covered with water to the depth of from seven to ten feet. The Licking, Kentucky, and Cumberland rivers were all alarmingly high, and, with their branches, did immense damage by the washing away of houses, mills, dams, fences, hogs, stacks of grain and hav, &c. We have not had access to any data in regard to the floods of the interior and small rivers of Kentucky, at any other date.
Heat, and Rain-fall .- Lorin Blodget has placed Kentucky in the district where the rain-fall is about fifty inches, and the accompanying tables make the average for thirty years 50.3 inches: the greatest fall in any one year be- ing that of 1865, 60 and 69-100 inches, and the least-that of 1856-29 and 99-100 inches. The greatest amount of water falling inside of four consecu- tive hours occurred on the 8th of May, 1843, reaching 4 and 37-100 inches in three and a half hours.
But showers that swell the local streams most rapidly, and that are most to be dreaded by builders and owners of mill-dams and bridges, are those which fall at the rate of three inches or more per hour, and attain in magnitude the proportions of one and a half inches or more. About three of such freshets have occurred within the period embraced by the accompanying tables.
The greatest amount of surface water lying upon the ground at any one time was witnessed on the 10th of March, 1854, after a rain-fall of seven and a half
* American Pioneer, vol. i, page 315. t Albach's Western Annals, 3d edit., page 483. : Cist's Miscellany, vol. ii, page 148.
397
inches in three days. Every little depression in the level ground had become a lakelet, with a little stream at the lowest point in its margin seeking an out- let for its surplus waters.
Although the main annual rain-fall varies but little. there is no approximation to uniformity for the same month in different years; as. for example, September is generally one of the driest months in the year, but, in 1865, its rain-fall reached 12.80 inches-the highest figures attained by any month in the series. It is also noticeable that no two months in the same year experienced rain-falls so far above the average as ten inches. In regard to the effect of the rain-fall upon the growing crops, our observations are rather too meager to speak with much confidence.
The smallest rain-fall was that in 1856, a year of drought, and was about thirty inches. Our register says for this year the winter grains were good, the summer crops very poor. There was also a drought during the year 1854, with an annual rain-fall equal to 41.88 inches, and the register describes the winter grains of 1854 as very good, and the summer crops generally poor- turnips worth $1 per bushel.
In this year, summer crops received the benefit of only three and three-quar- ter inches of rain from the 18th of May, for twelve consecutive weeks, up to August 10th. In 1848 there fell during the same twelve weeks about twelve inches of rain, and the register of that year reports the summer crops as "very superior"-wheat hurt by rust. In 1846 the register records summer crops as very good, with the annual rain-fall at ten inches below an average; but from the same-18th of May-until the 10th of August, the rain gauge marked 11 and 17-100 inches. It appears, hence, to be of little importance what the annual rain-fall may be, provided the growing season is well furnished with moisture. It appears also that early-maturing crops may do well, even when those of midsummer growth prove failures.
HEAT AND RAIN-FALL AT LOUISVILLE. Monthly and Annual Mean ( for the Growing Season-October 1st to October 1st ) of each Year, from 1842 to 1871, inclusive.
Mean for October.
Mean for November.
Mean for December.
Mean for January.
Mean for February.
Mean for March.
Mean for April.
Heat.
Rain.
Heat.
Rain.
Heat Rain.
Heat
Rain.
Heat | Rain. Heat
Rain.
Heat Rain.
1841-42 ...
49.5
4.54 46
4.60 3514
4.14 38 12
3.81 38.8
6.40 53.8
2.67 58
2.05
1842-43 ..
51
1.89 36%
2.30 36
3.12 38
3.40 28
2.06:30.3
2.98 5412
5.11
1843-44
49.5
3.82|42.3
3.75 37.3
2.98 33.8
2.46 39.7
1.68 47
4.90 66
3.28
1844-45.
51.7
3.47 46.4
2.23 38.5
1.82
39.4
3.01 42.3
2.68:47
5.98 62.3
3.04
1845-46 ...
54
1.76 43.4
1.85 26.8
38.2
2.86 34.8
3.06 47.6
3.11 59.6
3.50
1846-47 ..
55.2
1.73 47.2
2.86 43
7.84
34
3.31 33
5.01.43.2
6.14 59
3.27
1847-48.
56.3
5.06|48
5.19 35.8
6.40
40.4
4.25 40
4.46 47
3.52|5416
1.32
1848-49
52.7
2.46 37.9
4.75 43.2
10.90
32.6
5.53 32.6
3.06:49.5
4.08 53
2.23
1849-50 ...
53
4.69 49.7
1.33 32
7.55 37.6
6.20 36
4.43:42.5
8.18|49.8
5.09
1850-51 ..
53
3.11 46
5.31 34.5
7.02 36.5
.98 42
7.10 47.8
2.72 51.0
3.25
1851-52.
52
2.47 41
2.15 31.6
3.91
27.4
1.81 38.8
4.77 48.4
4.59 51
6.32
1852-53.
601/2
2.63 42 12
4.51 41
9.47
35.8
1.51 3612
5.22 42.8
2.13 561%
4.70
1853-54.
52
3.24 50
2.57 33.7
1.41
32.4
4.92 41.4
3.05 49.3 10.26 55
2.08
1854-55 ..
60.6
5.19 42.4
3.91 35.8
2.44
35.1
4.84 30
1.21:39.3
5.07 59.2
2.71
1855-56.
53.9
1.85 49.8
5.16 34.7
3.18
21.1
1.14 28.4
2.33 36.2
.90 59
1.70
1856-57
58
1.62 43.4
4.56 30.2
4.93 21.2
1.89 42.6
3.76 40.5
.50 43.3
5.54
1857-58.
54.9
1.99 41.6
5.82 41.7
5.00
41.6
3.50 30.1
2.61:45
1.34 56.8
6.34
1858-59 ..
59.7
3.88 38.96
2.74 41.7
7.32
33
3.64 38.5
7.00.58
4.60 53
7.52
1859-60
53 1%
2.26 49.3
4.40 29
7.53
36
5.34 37.4
3.89 48
.59 58.2
6.81
1860-61 ..
57.9
1.74 41.7
6.28|31.9
2.93
34.4
5.25 42
2.35,4414
3.45|55.6
3.65
1861-62 ...
58
4.77 47
4.81 42
1.57
36.8
6.70 35.7
3.57 44.7
6.96 55.4
5.21
1862-63 ...
61
1.16 44.7
5.15 40.7
6.09 38.9
7.33 34.9
4.12 43
4.13 54.8
3.38
1863-64 ...
57
5.89 45.7
3.14 38.9
4.52 29.7
3.19 37
1.72 43.6
2.35|51
3.07
1864-65 ..
51.3
3.52 45.7
6.30 33.6
5.18 25.8
3.41 38.4
3.54 49% 2.05 43
7.86 56.6
8.84
1865-66
55.6
1.84 45
1.25 37.7
7.90|34.5
4.57:36
8.90,37.4
6.61 56.7
3.05
1867-68 ..
57
.74 47.7
4.55 36.5
5.62 29.6
4 29 33
1.69 52.6
6.83 53
6.05
1868-69.
55.5
1.95 44.4
2.68 31
4.01|39.1
2.80 40.7
3.50 40.2
4.66 51.7
5.80
1869-70
47.1
3.16|40.1
5.95 36
2.88 36.2
9.30 36
2.63 40.7
5.32.53
3.64
1870-71.
59.8
3.89 46.4
2.40 33.41
2.20 36.7 | 3.05 39.5
5.74 50.7
7.29:59.1
2.06
8.07 60
2.57
1866-67
57.2
1.72:4512
4.82|341%
3.01|26.6
2,93 42.7
CLIMATE OF KENTUCKY.
YEARS.
-
1.41
398
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE
Mean for May.
Mean for June.
Mean for July.
Mean for Angust.
Mean for September.
Annual Mean of Hrar.
Annual Mean in inches.
YEARS.
Heat. Rain. Heat.
Rain.
Heat. Rain.
Heat. Rain.
Heat. Rain.
Tem- pera- ture.
Rain and Snow.
1841-42.
6015
4.32
68
7.48
90
3.42
70
1.30
65
1.94
54.4
46.68
1842-43.
65
8.45
73.7
3.15|
75
5.89
72
3.54
71
3.79
5212
45.47
1843-44.
67.3
7.12
72.6
4.64
77.4
6.76|
72
2.95
67.8
.76
55.8
43.41
1844-45
61.7
1.45
74.2
8.78 76
4.34
76
4.8.
67 13
4.13
36.9
45.19
1845-46 ..
68.7
4.73
69.8
7.09
77.7
2.78
77.3
5.78
72.3
2.46
55 12
40.30
1846-47.
61
1.80|
7112
4.99:
74.9
2.24
71.8
2.80
66.9
3.94
5516
45.93
1847-48.
69.3
5.10
72.4
3.23
73
11.47
7473
5.56
6413
1.34
5534
56.90
1848-49.
63.2
4.29
72
4.65
72
4.07
71
2.78
71
1.01
54
49.78
1849-50.
57.8
2.48
69.2
9.24
76
8.17
75
5.34
65.7
2.55
53.58
65.25
1850-51.
55.4
2.82
69.3
7.00
69.1
4.42
72.4
5.10
67.3
.48
54 1/2
49.15
1851-52.
63.7
4.61
67.5
4.16|
74
1.34
68
3.95
64
3.95
52.3
43.33
1852-53.
621%
1.95
7514
.74|
73
4.79
73.5
4.05
70
3.25
57.2
44.95
1853-54
64.8
5.46
71.3
3.81|
79.5
1.60
80.6
1.56
76.2
1.92
5712
41.88
1854-55.
63.2
3.75
69.2
8.10
76.9
2.55
73.3
4.44
73.5
3.65
54.7
47.87
1855-56.
64.4
3.01|
75.6
2.06|
78.3
.57
71.4
5.15
68
1.85
52.7
29.99
1856-57
58.6
7.94
69.5
5.17
70
4.37
73.2
75.5
3.48
68.3
2.74
55.8
48.76
1858-59.
67
1.37
71.6
1.99
77.7
2.13
73
6.53
67
2.17
55.9
50.89
1859-60
67.8
7.53
70.1
2.47
77.6
72.1
2.27
73.1
6.37
67.6
4.69
54.4
51.91
1861-62.
64
2.31
69.8
8.91
76.5
1.94
76.3
4.83
72 1%
4.20
56.5
55.81
1862-63
65,4
2.18
69.3
4.26
74.3
4.69| 73.6
2.60
64.4
2.98
55.4
48.07
1863-64.
631/2
4.18
72
3.09
77.6
2.13
75.9
5.63
67.8
4.33
54.4
43.24
1864-65
63.3
7.57|
75.6
3.86
74 12
6.92|
731%
3.68
75.2
5.61
55.2
66.69
1865-66.
61
1.84
72
6.48|
77.4
8.37
70.4
3.46
66.8
12.80
55
61.18
1866-67
59.8
6.52
72
4.58
75.2
3.53
76.1
1.92
72
1.00
54.5
48.59
1867-68
63
8.45
71
5.98|
81.7
5.10
74
6.03
65.4
5.57
55.7
60.85
1868-69.
611/2
5.19
71.8
5.18
76.6
3.39
78.3
2.73
68.9
3.29
54.9
45.18
1869-70.
66
4.71
73
2.97| 78.7
3.28!
78
2.22|
72
2.38
54.7
48.49
1870-71.
64
5.97 75
3.86 77.2
2.22|
79
3.06| 66.7
1.23
57.3
42.95
Average annual mean for thirty years.
55.9
50.30
WEATHER RECORD .- COLDEST AND HOTTEST DAYS FROM 1841 TO 1871.
Coldest Day.
Temperature.
Hottest Day.
Temperature.
1841-42 ... February 17.
4º
... September 11.
98°
1842-43 ... February 16.
-3º
... July 1
95°
1843-44 ... January 29.
-4º
... i_ugust 20
98°
1844-45 ... December 19
3º
... July 15.
96°
1845-46 ... December 2.
-10°
... August 6
1000
1846-47 ... January 11.
-9º
... July 19.
95°
1847-48 ... January 10.
... June 27
93º
1848-49 ... February 19.
-- 7º
. August
89º
1849-50 ... February 4 ..
1º
... July 6.
91°
1850-51 ... January 31.
0 or zero ... July 27.
93º
1851-52 ... January 19. -11º
... July 23
94º
1852-53 ... February 9.
-812º
.. July
98°
1853-54 ... January 23. 10
... September 3.
102°
1854-55 ... February 26.
... July 17.
97º
1855-56 ... January 10.
-22120 ... July 17.
990
1856-57 ... January 19. -2414º
... July 17. 96°
9816º
1858-59 ... January 8.
.1º
... July 14.
101°
1859-60 ... December 23 -12120
11º
... August 3.
99°
1861-62 ... February 15.
0°
... July 9.
93°
1862-63 ... January 18
0°
... August 15
93º
1863-64 ... January 1 -20°
.. July 29
86°
1864-65 ... January 28. -6°
-3º ... July 15.
93º
1866-67 ... February 10.
-11º
... August 18. 950
1867-68 ... January 30.
4º
... July 16.
99°
1868-69 ... December 12. -1º
... August 24 99°
1869-70 ... February 21.
2º
... July 27. 96°
1870-71 ... December 24 ... -2º ... August 14.
1029
1857-58.
64.2
7.91
73.2
3.55| 77.2
4.48
1.80
79
5.34
66.2
3.21
56
51.17
1860-61.
59.9
7.02
73
6.16
51.6
45.50
4.39
69
.87
1
... July 4. 95°
1865-66 ... February 15.
... August 7 100°
1860-61 ... December 31.
-60
3º
1857-58 ... February 23. -101 ... August 7
CLIMATE OF KENTUCKY.
The foregoing Tables were prepared for this work by Lawrence Young, Esq., from records and observations kept near Louisville, where he had resided since 1828.
The following Table embodies the results of observations at Marietta, Ohio, a point fifty miles east of the eastern limit of Kentucky, and twenty miles north of its northern limit Those up to 1823 were kept by Joseph Wood, then Register of the United States Land Office, and those afterward by Dr, S. P. Hildreth. In the fifth and sixth columns is shown the greatest degree of cold and of heat experienced in each of the years from 1818 to 1846:
YEARS.
No. of Days when Mer-
cury fell to 30° or below.
No. of Days when Mer-
cury rose to 80º or above.
Mean Temperature of
Mean Temperature of
Summer Months.
Greatest Cold in each
Greatest Heat in each
Year.
Temperature of each Year.
Rain and Melted Snow in Inches.
1818
.....
51
....
74.00
-22°
99°
.......
50.92
1819
54
68
38.22
74.33
13º
90°
55.62
36.30
1820
58
51
35.50
73.70
-0°
90°
53.68
39.71
1821
82
50
32.78
73.80
-- 20°
90℃
53.14
43.32
1822
66
54
31.19
75.90
-- 2º
86°
54.87
43.38
1823
-- 7º
....
.......
.......
1825.
52
96
36.32
..
-6°
94°
... ...
1826
68
111
32.25
72.51
-1º
95°
54.00
41.60
1827
55
98
33.30
76.67
-2º
95°
54.92
41.48
1828
55
84
42.97
72.06
10°
94º
55.22
49.50
1829
87
81
32.88
71.49
2º
92°
52.38
39.52
1830
61
91
36.57
72.88
-5°
94°
54.93
37.26
1831
99
72
30.75
71.44
-- 10°
90°
51.00
53.54
1832
78
70
29.30
69.31
92°
52.42
48.33
1833
76
85
36.00
68.37
6º
95°
54.56
40.37
1834.
75
100
35.83
72.42
95°
52.40
34.66
1835
82
57
31.95
68.90
-15°
89°
50.65
42.46
1836
107
81
29.84
71.55
-18°
88°
50.03
36.09
1837
107
63
31.13
69.25
4º
89°
51.57
45.75
1838
78
102
30.42
74.23
-- 10°
96°
50.62
35.48
1839
84
75
34.11
69.88
-4º
92°
52.54
33.27
1840
85
73
33.27
70.78
-4º
90°
52.35
39.08
1841
73
89
35.33
67.45
-4º
94°
52.83
42.07
1842.
67
56
36.66
67.28
5°
90°
52.18
42.80
1843
102
89
32.33
71.15
-00
92°
50.77
41.76
1844
78
84
34.21
70.97
-0°
90°
53.25
36.64
1845
88
79
36.60
71.16
-2º
92°
52.75
33.90
1846
52
91
29.91
71.05
3º
92°
53.64
46.27
...
14°
94°
50.00
1824
64
29.10
75.80
-90
-0°
The average annual rain-fall, including melted snow, at Marietta, for the twenty-six years above, was forty-one inches ; while for the seven years from 1840 to 1846, inclusive, it was only thirty-eight inches.
In the early settlement of the valley of the Ohio, the weather in the spring months of April and May was usually mild and fine, so that corn-planting was generally finished by the 7th of April. Of later years, the temperature of those months has changed, so that severe frosts in May are not unfrequent. From the 13th to the 18th of May, 1834, there were hard frosts every morn- ing. On the 16th of June, 1774, there was a frost at Washington, Pennsyl- vania, which killed the leaves on the forest trees, and cut down the corn, but the latter sprang up again so as to make a crop. Being on a much lower level, this frost was supposed not to have been so severe in Kentucky, along the Ohio. On the 5th of May, 1803, there was a fall of snow over Kentucky and the western country four inches deep, followed by hard frosts on two or
399
Winter Months.
Year.
Mean
400
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE
three nights. The spring had been quite forward, and apples were as large as ounce bullets; but all the fruits were killed. As a general rule, very early springs are more liable than the backward springs to late frosts.
In the neighborhood of Marietta, peach trees were in bloom, in 1791 on the last of February, in 1806 on the 25th of February, in 1808 on the 28th of February, while in 1837 the bloom was retarded to the 28th of April, and in 1843 to the 25th of April. Apples did not bloom until the 5th of May, in the years 1837 and 1843. The most usual period for apples to bloom was in March, prior to about 1820, and for the next twenty-five years, as late as the middle of April. The other seasons have changed as notably as the spring, throughout Kentucky and along the Ohio valley.
The years 1805, 1838, 1839, 1845, and 1862 were noted for excessive drought. Hail storms are most common in May and June, but on the Ist of July, 1841, Fayette County, Kentucky, was visited by a hail storm which broke much glass and did great injury to vegetation and fruit. Several storms still more destructive have visited other portions of the state, but we have not the dates.
With the early spring zephyrs of the south, the northerly flights of birds begin along the westerly base of the Cumberland mountains, and up the valleys of the tributaries of the Ohio. Sometimes their journeys are begun too early- as in the years 1816, 1834, and 1845, when thousands of birds whose food is furnished by insects, perished by the sudden change of the temperature from the warmth of spring to the frosts of winter .*
We have briefly noticed the effect of the winter storms of rain, snow, and cold originating in the West, upon the climate of Kentucky, and will conclude by a short reference to those sublime and awe-inspiring phenomena, the tor- nado and the thunder storm.
These phenomena are supposed to be of local origin, and occur most fre- quently in hot weather, and are more common and more terrific in tropical than in temperate latitudes. The examples which we witness even in Ken- tucky are often fearful to experience, though it is seldom they are attended with loss of life.
The thunder cloud rises to great height in the atmosphere, and often laps over the thinner air on one or both margins, and sends this portion of its con- tents to the earth through cold strata in the form of hail. Still the space hailed upon is narrow in comparison with the width of the rain cloud, and but slightly affects the general crop.
The tornado is the highest manifestation of the irresistible force of the raging elements, and, even in Kentucky, we experience enough to know that only the most substantial of structures or the everlasting hills can defy its power. It is, however, a source of consolation to know that its visitations in Kentucky are not very frequent, that, when it does appear, the track over which it passes is narrow, and that it seldom, if ever, travels twice over the same path. The late Lawrence Young-from 1823 to 1873 a scientific, close and curious observer, at his country-home near Louisville as the center of an area five miles square-wrote, in 1872, that the tornado had crossed that area only three times since 1828; first, in June, about the year 1830, one crossed the Ohio, about six miles above Louisville, moving nearly east. Near the river it struck the table-lands between North and South Goose Creek, a level platean about three miles long. Here, passing over several farins by a path some 200 feet wide, it twisted off or uprooted every forest or orchard tree in its way, and prostrated every fence, until it reached a lane at the northern edge of the plateau; about three miles distant from the point it struck the south margin of the plateau. At this point its destructive force ceased.
About ten years later a tornado passed from the south-east across this same plateau about half a mile east of the point at which the first gale left the plateau. This tornado uprooted the sturdiest denizens in a beech forest, until coming to a valley in the platean densely wooded and some twenty feet lower than the plane, the thickness of the leaves and small branches, and the elas- ticity of the trees at the high point struck by the gale, seemed to force the
* Hildreth's Pioneer History, p. 195.
401
CLIMATE OF KENTUCKY.
current above the forest, and no further damage occurred, through the forest was half a mile in extent. The third and last occurred some years after the second, on the western margin of the area designated, and meeting with houses, scattered their contents for miles.
KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1798 AND 1799.
THE thirteen original States that formed and confirmed the Union, by the" · adoption of the Constitution, are as follows, with the order and dates of their ratification of the Constitution severally :
1. Delaware, December 7, 1787. 8. South Carolina, May 23, 1788.
2. Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787.
3. New Jersey, December 18, 1787.
4 Georgia, January 2, 1788.
5. Connecticut, January 9, 1788.
6. Massachusetts, February 6, 1788.
7. Maryland, April 28, 1788.
9. New Hampshire, June 21, 1788.
10. Virginia, June 26, 1788.
11. New York, July 26, 1788.
12. North Carolina, Nov. 21, 1789.
13. Rhode Island, May 29, 1790.
The first State admitted into the Union, after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, was Vermont, on March 4, 1791. The next, Kentucky, on June 1, 1792. The Constitution of Kentucky had been adopted in May, 1792. and was never submitted to Congress; nor, subsequent to its formation, did Con- gress pass any act recognizing her admission into the Union. Her Senators, John Brown and John Edwards, took their seats in the Senate without any inquiry as to what character of constitution Kentucky had formed.
The following Resolutions-familiarly known to every student of the polit- ical history of our country, as the "Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 and 1799" -are generally understood and believed to have been originally draughted or rough-draughted by the "Sage of Monticello," Thomas Jefferson,* and by him enclosed, or sent by private hand, to his friend and co-laborer, John Breckin- ridge, then a member of the House of Representatives of Kentucky, and who offered them in that body. The relatives of Mr. Breckinridge t indignantly resented this claim or suggestion that Mr. Jefferson was in any sense the author of those resolutions. They are still very interesting from their histor- ical connection and import, notwithstanding the unmistakable fact that the late civil war, as one of its potent results, has deprived them very largely of their time-honored consequence, and their ready-made value on political convention days.
The Resolutions passed the House of Representatives of Kentucky, on the 10th of November, 1798, almost unanimously. To the Ist resolution there was only one opposing vote; to the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th resolu- lutions, two; and to the 9th, three votes opposing. Three days after, the Resolutions passed the Senate unanimously.
1. Resolved, That the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that by compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, delegated to that Government certain definite powers, reserving each State to itself. the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes un- delegated powers, its acts are unauthorative, void, and of no force; That to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its Co- States forming as to itself the other party; That the Government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself: since that would have made its discretion, and not
. See Outline History, ante, p. 285, written by Rev. John A. McClung, D.D. Also, other Reports. t See page 99, vol. ii, written by Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge, D.D., LL.D.
I ... 26
402
RESOLUTIONS OF 1798.
the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among parties having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions, as of the mode and measure of redress.
2. Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the laws of nations, and no other crimes whatever, and it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Consti- tution having also declared, "that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people; " therefore also the same act of Con- gress, passed on the 14th day of July, 1798, and entitled "an act, in addition to the act entitled an act, for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States; " as also the act passed by them on the 27th day of June, 1798, entitled "an act to punish frauds committed on the Bank of the United States" (and all other their acts which assume to create, define, or punish crimes other than those enumerated in the Constitution), are altogether void and of no force, and that the power to create, define, and punish such other. crimes is reserved, and of right, appertains solely and exclusively to the re- spective States, each within its own territory.
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