USA > New York > History of the state of New York, for the use of common schools, academies, normal and high schools, and other seminaries of instruction > Part 30
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21. On the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States JOHN JAY was the first Chief-Justice, and SMITH THOMPSON and SAMUEL NELSON have held the position of Associate Justices. JOHN JAY, MARTIN VAN BUREN, WASHINGTON IRVING, GEORGE BANCROFT, DANIEL D. BARNARD, JAMES WATSON WEBB, JOHN A. Dix, and DANIEL E. SICKLES, have occupied high diplomatic positions as Ministers Plenipotentiary to the courts of England, France, Spain, and Prussia, and in the South American States.
22. In the army we have the illustrious names of MONT- GOMERY and SCHUYLER, JAMES CLINTON, HERKIMER, MCDOUGALL, LAMB, SULLIVAN, and WILLETT, of Revolutionary memory ; MA- COMB, BROWN, WOOL, the VAN RENSSELAERS, RIPLEY, PIKE, and PORTER, who distinguished themselves in the war of 1812 ; WOOL and WORTH in the war with Mexico ; and WADS- WORTH, DIX, SICKLES, SIGEL, ASBOTHI, BARLOW, SLOCUM, WOOD- FORD, and JONES during the Rebellion.
23. Among the most distinguished of the scientific men who have shed an enduring lustre upon their native or adopted State may be named Drs. SAMUEL L. MITCHELL, T. ROMEYN BECK, VALENTINE MOTT, and JOHN W. FRANCIS, of the medical profes- sion ; Professors HALL, EMMONS, BECK, TORREY, MATHER, HOUGII, and DE KAY of the geological, chemical, and natural-history department ; FRANCIS LIEBER, THOMAS EWBANK, and Professor HENRY, now in charge of the Smithsonian Institute at Wash- ington.
24. ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON and ROBERT FULTON, as the great inventors of steam navigation ; SAMUEL F. B. MORSE, as the in- ventor of the magnetic telegraph ; and CYRUS W. FIELD, as the indefatigable pioneer of the ocean telegraph, -will long be re- membered as great public benefactors ; and the unwearied exer-
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tions of HENRY O'REILLY in the construction of telegraphic lines throughout every portion of the Union have conferred a lasting benefit upon the civilization of the age.
25. In the ranks of literary celebrity and success, WASHINGTON IRVING occupies the foremost place ; while WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, FITZ-GREEN HALLECK, JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE, GEORGE P. MORRIS, NATHANIEL P. WILLIS, ALFRED B. STREET, and PHEBE and ALICE CAREY as poets ; JAMES FENNIMORE COOPER, JAMES K. PAULDING, DONALD G. MITCHELL, and RICHARD B. KIMBALL as novelists ; and GEORGE BANCROFT, J. ROMEYN BROADHEAD, E. B. O'CALLAGHAN, and HENRY B. DAWSON as historians, - have attained a high reputation in their respective departments of literary effort.
26. Among the most influential conductors of the public press - that great organ of public opinion - may be emuner- ated SOLOMON SOUTHWICK, JESSE BUEL, EDWIN CROSWELL, THUR- LOW WEED, GEORGE DAWSON, and WILLIAM CASSIDY, of Albany ; and JOHN PETER ZENGER, JAMES CHEETHAM, WILLIAM L. STONE, CHARLES KING, MORDECAI M. NOAH, WILLIAM COLEMAN, HORACE GREELEY, WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, HENRY J. RAYMOND, JAMES WATSON WEBB, JAMES GORDON BENNETT, MANTON MARBLE, JAMES and ERASTUS BROOKS, CHARLES A. DANA, and JOSEPH HOWARD, JR., of New York.
27. The church has been adorned by the lives and eloquence of Archbishops HUGHES and MCCLOSKEY of the Catholic faith ; Bishops HOBART, POTTER, DE LANCEY, Cox, and Drs. VINTON, MUHLENBERG, DIX, TYNG, TAYLOR, WAINWRIGHT, and ANDREWS, of the Episcopal; Bishops ASBURY, HEDDING, EMORY, and JANES, the eloquent young SUMMERFIELD, and SILAS COMFORT, of the Methodist ; HENRY WARD BEECHER, and Drs. SPRING, STORES, ADAMS, SPRAGUE, CAMPBELL, and Porrs, of the Presbyterian and Congregational ; Drs. WELCH, BURCHARD, GILLETT, and others, of the Baptist ; Drs. WYCKOFF, BETHUNE, and VERMILYE, of the Dutch Reformed; Dr. CHAPIN, STEPHEN R. SMITH, and DOLPHUs SKINNER, of the Universalists ; Drs. DEWEY, BELLOWS, OSGOOD, and FROTHINGHAM, of the Unitarians ; and many others less widely known and distinguished, but not less worthy of remem- brance and high regard in their humbler fields of labor.
28. Conspicuous among the eminent philanthropists who have
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distinguished themselves for their liberal public, private, and social benefactions in the interests of charity, humanity, and the advancement of science and civilization, may be found the names of LEAKE, WATTS, JOHN JACOB ASTOR, PETER COOPER, GERRIT SMITH, ALEXANDER T. STEWART, and last, though not least, HENRY BERGH, whose disinterested and persevering exer- tions for the suppression of cruelty to animals have entitled him to the warmest regards of every benevolent heart. The CHAM- BER OF COMMERCE of the city of New York, consisting of its leading merchants, stands, also, prominently forward in the active promotion of every enlightened public and charitable enterprise.
29. Fitting mention should also be made in this place of the prominent educators who have impressed their stamp upon the minds and hearts of the rising generation. First in this great field of labor was Dr. ELIPHIALET NOTT, who at the commence- ment of the century as President of Union College at Schenec- tady organized that institution, and during a period of over sixty years, assisted for a long time by Professor ALONZO POTTER, late Bishop of Pennsylvania, annually sent out of its walls large classes of graduates, fitted in all points for active service in Church or State. To him succeeded in a humbler, but not less important, field, JOSEPH LANCASTER, whose indefatigable exertions, seconded by the powerful influence of DE WITT CLINTON, moulded the earliest system of popular education organized in the State and city of New York, and who in the midst of his labors was accidentally killed in our streets in 1838. His system of in- struction was ably carried into effect through the energetic ef- forts of GEORGE T. TRIMBLE, the President, and SAMUEL W. SETON, the Executive Agent, of the Public-School Society ; but was finally abandoned on the dissolution of that corporation.
30. For more than half a century the MRS. WILLARDS, of the Troy Female Seminary, and Professor ALONZO CRITTENDEN, of the Albany Female Seminary and Packard Institute of Brooklyn, aided by Professor and Mrs. EATON, have distinguished them- selves in the higher education of young ladies ; while Dr. T. ROMEYN BECK, of the Albany Academy, aided by Dr. BULLIONS, and Professors HENRY . and COOKE ; Principals PAGE, PERKINS, WOOLWORTH, COCHRAN, and their successors in the State Normal
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School ; the venerable Dr. DEWEY, of the Rochester Collegiate Institute, and afterwards of the University there ; Chancellor FERRIS, of the New York University ; and Presidents KING and BARNARD, of Columbia College, President JOHN H. RAYMOND, of Vassar College, DAVIS and NORTH of Hamilton, WEBSTER, of the Free Academy and College of the city of New York, with worthy colleagues in every section of the State, - were assidu- ously training our young men and women for future usefulness and honor.
31. The first railroad laid down in the State was that between Albany and Schenectady, which was completed in 1829. There are now between fifty and sixty companies, and about three thousand five hundred miles of road in operation, at an aggre- gate cost of nearly two hundred millions of dollars. The prin- cipal lines are those of the Central, the Hudson River, Harlem and Erie Railroads, traversing the State in different sections from New York to Lake Erie, with numerous branches com- municating with the principal towns and cities in every portion of the State.
32. The taxable valuation of real and personal estate in the State is about five thousand millions of dollars, of which about one fifth consists in cultivated and improved land. There are upwards of twenty-five thousand manufacturing establishments, employing two hundred and fifty thousand persons, and having an aggregate capital of three hundred millions of dollars and a productive capacity of nearly double that amount. The an- nual value of exports from the State is upwards of a hundred millions of dollars, and that of its imports two hundred mil- lions.
33. The whole number of public schools in the State is about twelve thousand, in which nearly one million ot children are an- nually educated by twenty-seven thousand teachers, upwards of twenty-two thousand of whom are females. Ten millions of dollars are annually expended, from the avails of State funds permanently appropriated and State and municipal taxation, in the employment of teachers, the purchase of sites, the build- ing and furnishing of school-houses, and the provision of libra- ries and school apparatus. In these libraries upwards of one million of volumes are already collected.
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34. Two hundred academies, with fifty thousand pupils and one thousand teachers ; fifteen colleges, with an aggregate of upwards of two thousand students ; seven Normal and training schools for teachers ; several medical, theological, and law schools and colleges ; and twenty-five hundred private and incorporated schools and seminaries of learning, with an aggregate attendance of seventy thousand pupils, - are distributed throughout the different sections of the State.
35. Numerous charitable institutions, supported in great part from public and corporate funds, are found in the principal cities and towns for the education, support, and relief of the deaf, dumb, blind, idiots, and lunatics, paupers, widows and orphans, and inebriates ; hospitals for the care and medical treatment of the sick and wounded ; homes for the destitute, afflicted, and incurable ; and penitentiaries and houses of refuge for the de- tention and reformation of youthful convicts.
36. Ten thousand spacious churches, cathedrals, and places of public worship, adorn our cities, villages, and rural hamlets ; involving an aggregate expenditure of thirty millions of dollars, and an annual contribution of three millions of dollars for the maintenance of the clergy. One thousand daily, weekly, semi- weekly, monthly, and quarterly newspapers, magazines, and pe- Hodicals diffuse information broadcast among the people, and public libraries abound in every section of the State, embracing in the aggregate, including the several school libraries, nearly two millions of volumes.
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37. The city of New York alone, with a population of about one million, contains upwards of two hundred public schools. numbering two hundred thousand pupils, with twenty-five hun- dred teachers, twenty-two hundred of whom are females, and three hundred private schools, with an aggregate of seventy thousand pupils and sixteen hundred teachers, at an annual cost in the former of three millions, and in the latter of two millions, of dollars ; three colleges, with departments of law and medicine in two of them, two medical colleges and sev- eral theological seminaries ; asylums for the deaf, dumb, and blind ; an academy of design and various art-galleries; three opera-houses, ten theatres, three hundred churches, eighteen pub- lic parks, eleven public markets, charitable associations for the
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relief of every description of suffering and poverty, and nu- merous literary and scientific institutions, - conspicuous among which are the Cooper Union, the Historical Society, the Astor, Mercantile, Apprentices', Institute, City, and Society Libraries, the College of the City of New York, the Normal and High School for Girls, Columbia College, and the New York Univer- sity, - and two hundred and fifty-six daily, weekly, and semi- weekly newspapers, and other periodical publications.
38. Such is a brief glance at the progress and present condi- tion of the STATE OF NEW YORK, - her early history, her pro- tracted struggles for political freedom and independence, her triumphs and victories. her enterprise and energy, and the transcendent abilities, talents, and statesmanship of her sons. Through a long succession of trials and conflicts she has ac- complished her great destiny as first and foremost in the brilliant constellation of American States ; and with her proud motto, " EXCELSIOR," advances with unfaltering steps to the achieve- ment in the future of still higher and grander results. ESTO PERPETUA !
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APPENDIX.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
WE THE PEOPLE of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our Freedom, in order to secure its blessings, DO ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION.
ARTICLE I.
SECTION 1. No member of this State shall be disfranchised, or de- prived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizens thereof, unless by the law of the land, or the judgment of his peers.
SEC. 2. The trial by jury in all cases in which it has been heretofore used shall remain inviolate forever; but a jury trial may be waived by the parties in all civil cases in the manner to be prescribed by law.
SEC. B. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this State to all mankind; and no person shall be rendered incom- petent to be a witness on account of his opinions on matters of re- ligious belief; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this State.
SEC. 4. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require its suspension.
SEC. 5. Excessive bail shall not be required nor excessive fines imposed, nor shall cruel and unusual punishments be inflicted, nor shall witnesses be unreasonably detained.
SEC. 6. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or other- wise infamous crime (except in cases of impeachment, and in cases of militia when in actual service; and the land and naval forces in time of war, or which this State may keep, with the consent of Con- gress, in time of peace; and in cases of petit larceny, under the regu- lation of the Legislature), unless on presentment or indictment of a
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grand jury ; and in any trial in any court whatever, the party accused shall be allowed to appear and defend in person and with counsel a- in civil actions. No person shall be subject to be twice put in jeop- ardy for the same offence ; nor shall he be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty. or property without due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
SEC. 7. When private property shall be taken for any public use. the compensation to be made therefor, when such compensation is not made by the State, shall be ascertained by a jury, or by not less than three commissioners appointed by a court of record, as shall be pre- scribed by law. Private roads may be opened in the manner to be prescribed by law ; but in every case the necessity of the road, and the amount of all damage to be sustained by the opening thereof, shall be first determined by a jury of freeholders, and such amount. together with the expenses of the proceeding, shall be paid by the person to be benefited.
SEC. 8. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sen- timents on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right ; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or the press. In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libellous is true, and was pub- lished with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact.
SEC. 9. The assent of two thirds of the members elected to each branch of the Legislature shall be requisite to every bill appropriating the public moneys or property for local or private purposes.
SEC. 10. No law shall be passed abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government, or any depart- ment thereof, nor shall any divorce be granted, otherwise than by due judicial proceedings ; nor shall any lottery hereafter be authorized or any sale of lottery tickets allowed within this State.
SEC. 11. The people of this State, in their right of sovereignty, are deemed to possess the original and ultimate property in and to all lands within the jurisdiction of the State; and all lands the title to which shall fail, from a defect of heirs, shall revert, or escheat to the people.
SEC. 12. All feudal tenures of every description, with all their in- cidents, are declared to be abolished, saving, however, all rents and services certain which at any time heretofore have been lawfully created or reserved.
SEC. 13. All lands within this State are declared to be allodial, so
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that, subject only to the liability to escheat, the entire and absolute property is vested in the owners, according to the nature of their respective estates.
SEC. 14. No lease or grant of agricultural land, for a longer period than twelve years, hereafter made, in which shall be reserved any rent or service of any kind, shall be valid.
SEC. 15. All fines, quarter sales, or other like restraints upon aliena- tion reserved in any grant of land, hereafter to be made, shall be void.
SEC. 16. No purchase or contract for the sale of lands in this State, made since the fourteenth day of October, one thousand seven hun- dred and seventy-five, or which may hereafter be made, of, or with the Indians, shall be valid, unless made under the authority and with the consent of the Legislature.
SEC. 17. Such parts of the common law, and of the acts of the Legislature of the colony of New York, as together did form the law of the said colony on the nineteenth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, and the resolutions of the Congress of the said colony, and of the Convention of the State of New York in force on the twentieth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, which have not since expired, or been repealed or altered, and such acts of the Legislature of this State as are now in force, shall be and continue the law of this State, subject to such alterations as the Legislature shall make concerning the same. But all such parts of the common law, and such of the said acts or parts thereof, as are repugnant to this Constitution, are hereby abrogated; and the Legislature, at its first session after the adoption of this Con- stitution, shall appoint three commissioners whose duty it shall be to reduce into a written and systematic code the whole body of the law of this State, or so much and such parts thereof as to the said com- missioners shall seem practicable and expedient. And the said com- missioners shall specify such alterations and amendments therein as they shall deem proper, and they shall at all times make reports of their proceedings to the Legislature, when called upon to do so; and the Legislature shall pass laws regulating the tenure of office, the filling of vacancies therein, and the compensation of the said com- missioners, and shall also provide for the publication of the said code, prior to its being presented to the Legislature for adoption.
SEC. 18. All grants of land within this State, made by the king of Great Britain, or persons acting under his authority, after the four- teenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, shall be null and void; but nothing contained in this Constitution shall affect any grants of land within this State, made by the author- ity of the said king or his predecessors, or shall annul any charters to
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bodies politic and corporate, by him or them made, before that day ; or shall affect any such grants or charters, since made by this State, or by persons acting under its authority ; or shall impair the obliga- tion of any debts contracted by this State, or individuals, or bodies corporate, or any other rights of property or any suits, actions, rights of action, or other proceedings in courts of justice.
ARTICLE II.
SECTION 1. Every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years who shall have been a citizen for ten days, and an inhabitant of this State one year next preceding an election, and for the last four months a resident of the county where he may offer his vote, shall be entitled to vote at such election, in the election district of which he shall at the time be a resident, and not elsewhere, for all officers that now are or hereafter may be elective by the people; but such citizen shall have been for thirty days next preceding the election a resident of the district from which the officer is to be chosen for whom he offers his vote. But no man of color, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of this State, and for one year next preceding any election shall have been seized and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars over and above all debts and incun- brances charged thereon, and shall have been actually rated and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at such election. And no person of color shall be subject to direct taxation unless he shall be seized and possessed of such real estate as aforesaid : Provided, that, in time of war, no elector in the actual military service of the United States, in the army or navy thereof, shall be deprived of his vote by reason of his absence from the State, and the Legislature shall have power to provide the manner in which, and the time and place at which, such absent electors may vote, and for the canvass and returns of their votes in the election districts in which they respectively re- side or otherwise.
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SEC. 2. Laws may be passed excluding from the right of suffrage all persons who have been or may be convicted of bribery, larceny, or of any infamous crime; and for depriving every person who shall make, or become directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager, depending upon the result of any election, from the right to vote at such election.
SEC. 3. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have gained or lost a residence, by reason of his presence or absence, while employed in the service of the United States; nor while en- gaged in the navigation of the waters of this State, or of the United States, or of the high seas; nor while a student of any seminary of
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learning; nor while kept at any almshouse, or other asylum, at pub- lic expense ; nor while contined in any public prison.
SEC. 4. Laws shall be made for ascertaining by proper proofs the citizens who shall be entitled to the right of suffrage hereby estab- lished.
SEC. 5. All elections by the citizens shall be by ballot, except for such town officers as may by law be directed to be otherwise chosen.
ARTICLE III.
SECTION 1. The legislative power of this State shall be vested in a Senate and Assembly.
SEC. 2. The Senate shall consist of thirty-two members, and the senators shall be chosen for two years. The Assembly shall consist of one hundred and twenty-eight members, who shall be annually elected.
SEC. 3. The State shall be divided into thirty-two districts, to be called senate districts, each of which shall choose one senator. The districts shall be numbered from one to thirty-two inclusive.
District number One (1) shall consist of the counties of Suffolk, Richmond, and Queens.
District number Two (2) shall consist of the county of Kings.
District number Three (3), number Four (4), number Five (5), and number Six (6) shall consist of the city and county of New York. Ard the Board of Supervisors of said city and county shall, on or be- fore the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, divide the faid city and county into the number of Senate districts to which it is entitled, as near as may be, of an equal number of inhab- itants excluding aliens and persons of color not taxed, and consisting of convenient and contiguous territory ; and no Assembly district shall be divided in the formation of a Senate district. The Board of Super- visors, when they shall have completed such division, shall cause cer- tificates thereof, stating the number and boundaries of each district, and the population thereof, to be filed in the office of the Secretary of State, and of the clerk of the said city and county.
[The residue of this section consists of the designation of the sev- eral Senate districts, which, under the provisions of the next section, have since been materially changed by the Legislature.]
SEC. 4. An enumeration of the inhabitants of the State shall be taken under the direction of the Legislature, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, and at the end of every ten years there- after; and the said districts shall be so altered by the Legislature, at the first session after the return of every enumeration, that each sen- ate district shall contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of
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