USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. VI > Part 2
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
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Jefferson and Madison accordingly prepared drafts of resolutions which, respectively, were submitted to the Kentucky and Virginia Legislatures.
Jefferson's resolutions were changed in certain re- spects by the Kentucky Legislature and then adopted (November, 1798). As altered they were :
"1. Resolved, That the several States composing the United States of America are not united on the principle of unlimited sub- mission to their general government, but that by compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amend- ments thereto, they constituted a general government for special pur- poses, delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-gov- ernment; and that whensoever the general government assumes un- delegated powers its acts are unauthoritative, 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 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 Constitution having also declared, that 'the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the United 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
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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 respective States, each within its own territory.
"3. Resolved, That it is true as a general principle, and is also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the Constitution, that 'the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respect- ively, or to the people,' and that no power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, all lawful powers respecting the same did of right remain and were reserved to the States or to the people; that thus was manifested their determination to retain to themselves the right of judging how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom, and how far those abuses which cannot be separated from their use should be tolerated rather than the use be destroyed, and thus also they guarded against all abridgement by the United States of the freedom of religious principles and exercises and retained to themselves the right of protecting the same, as this State, by a law passed on the general demand of its citizens, had already protected them from all human restraint or interference; and that, in addition to this general principle and express declaration, another and more special provision has been made by one of the amendments to the Constitution which expressly declares that 'Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,' thereby guarding in the same sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press, insomuch that what- ever violates either throws down the sanctuary which covers the others, and that libels, falsehoods, and defamation, equally with heresy and false religion, are withheld from the cognizance of Federal tribunals;
GEORGE WASHINGTON
George Washington, 1st president; born at Bridges Creek, Westmoreland county, Va., Feb. 22, 1732; engineer and sur- veyor; aide de camp to Col. Braddock, 1755; commander-in- chief of colonial forces, 1755-58; delegate to first and second continental congresses, 1774-1775; unanimously chosen com- mander-in-chief of forces raised and to be raised June 15, 1775; commanded the armies throughout the war for independence ; resigned commission December 3, 1783; unanimously elected first president of the United States and inaugurated April 3, 1789, in New York City; unanimously elected for second term; declined reelection and retired March 5, 1797; appointed lieu- tenant general and commander-in-chief of U. S. army and served until his death, which occurred at Mt. Vernon, Va., De- cember 14, 1799.
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-That, therefore, the act of the Congress of the United States passed on the 14th day of July, 1798, entitled 'An act in addition to the act entitled an act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States,' which does abridge the freedom of the press, is not law, but is altogether void and of no effect.
"4. Resolved, That alien friends are under the jurisdiction and protection of the laws of the State wherein they are; That no power over them has been delegated to the United States nor prohibited to the individual States distinct from their power over citizens; and it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that 'the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to. the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,'-the act of the Congress of the United States passed the 22d day of June, 1798, entitled 'An act concerning aliens,' which assumes power over alien friends not delegated by the Constitution, is not law, but is altogether void and of no force.
"5. Resolved, That, in addition to the general principle, as well as the express declaration, that powers not delegated are reserved, another and more special provision inserted in the Constitution from abundant caution has declared 'that the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808'; that this Commonwealth does admit the migration of alien friends described as the subject of the said act concerning aliens,-That a provision against prohibiting their migration is a provision against all acts equivalent thereto, or it would be nugatory; That to remove them when migrated is equivalent to a prohibition of their migration, and is, therefore, contrary to the said provision of the Constitution, and void.
"6. Resolved, That the imprisonment of a person under the pro- tection of the laws of this Commonwealth on his failure to obey the simple order of the President to depart out of the United States, as is undertaken by the said act entitled 'An act concerning aliens,' is contrary to the Constitution, one amendment to which has provided that 'no person shall be deprived of liberty without due process of
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law'; and that another having provided 'that in all criminal prosecu- tions the accused shall enjoy the right to a public trial by an impartial jury, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have assistance of counsel for his defense',-the same act undertaking to authorize the President to remove a person out of the United States who is under the protec- tion of the law, on his own suspicion, without accusation, without jury, without public trial, without confrontation of the witnesses against him, without having witnesses in his favor, without defense, without counsel, is contrary to these provisions also of the Constitution, is therefore not law, but utterly void and of no force.
"That transferring the power of judging any person who is under the protection of the laws from the courts to the President of the United States, as is undertaken by the same act concerning aliens, is against the article of the Constitution which provides that 'the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in courts the Judges of which shall hold their office during good behavior,' and that the said act is void for that reason also; and it is further to be noted that this transfer of judiciary power is to that magistrate of the general govern- ment who already possesses all the executive, and qualified negative in all the legislative powers.
"7. Resolved, That the construction applied by the general gov- ernment (as is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate to Con- gress a power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States, and to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Con- stitution in the government of the United States, or any department thereof, goes to the destruction of all the limits prescribed to their power by the Constitution; That words meant by that instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of the limited powers ought not to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part so to be taken as to destroy the whole residue of the instrument; That the proceedings of the general government under color of those articles
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will be a fit and necessary subject for revisal and correction at a time of greater tranquillity, while those specified in the preceding resolu- tions call for immediate redress.
"8. Resolved, That the preceding resolutions be transmitted to the Senators and Representatives in Congress from this Common- wealth, who are enjoined to present the same to their respective houses and to use their best endeavors to procure, at the next session of Con- gress, a repeal of the aforesaid unconstitutional and obnoxious acts.
"9. Resolved, lastly, That the Governor of this Commonwealth be and is hereby authorized and requested to communicate the preceding resolutions to the Legislatures of the several States, to assure them that this Commonwealth considers Union for special national pur- poses, and particularly for those specified in their late Federal com- pact, to be friendly to the peace, happiness, and prosperity of all the States; That, faithful to that compact, according to the plain intent and meaning in which it was understood and acceded to by the several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its preservation; That it does also believe that to take from the States all the powers of self-government and transfer them to a general and consolidated government, without regard to the special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness, or prosperity of these States; and That, therefore, this Commonwealth is determined, as it doubts not its co-States are, tamely to submit to undelegated and con- sequently unlimited powers in no man or body of men on earth; That if the acts before specified should stand, these conclusions would flow from them :- that the general government may place any act they think proper on the list of crimes and punish it themselves, whether enumerated or not enumerated by the Constitution as cognizable by them; that they may transfer its cognizance to the President or any other person, who may himself be the accuser, counsel, judge, and jury, whose suspicions may be the evidence, his order the sentence, his officer the executioner, and his breast the sole record of the transac- tion ; that a very numerous and valuable description of the inhabitants of these States being by this precedent reduced as outlaws to the abso- lute dominion of one man, and the barrier of the Constitution thus swept from us all, no rampart now remains against the passions and
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the power of a majority of Congress to protect from a like exporta- tion or other grievous punishment the minority of the same body, the Legislatures, Judges, Governors, and counsellors of the States, nor their other peaceable inhabitants who may venture to reclaim the con- stitutional rights and liberties of the States and people, or who, for other causes, good or bad, may be obnoxious to the view or marked by the suspicions of the President, or be thought dangerous to his or their elections or other interests, public or personal ; that the friendless alien has been selected as the safest subject of a first experiment, but the citizen will soon follow, or rather has already followed, for already has a sedition act marked him as a prey.
"That these and successive acts of the same character, unless arrested on the threshold, may tend to drive these States into revolu- tion and blood, and will furnish new calumnies against republican governments and new pretexts for those who wish it to be believed that man cannot be governed but by a rod of iron; That it would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights; That confidence is ev- erywhere the parent of despotism; free government is found in jeal- ousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power; That our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no farther, our confidence may go; and let the honest advocate of confidence read the Alien and Sedition acts, and say if the Constitution has not been wise in fixing limits to the government it created, and whether we should be wise in destroying those limits ; let him say what the government is if it be not a tyranny, which the men of our choice have conferred on the President, and the President of our choice has assented to and accepted over the friendly strangers to whom the mild spirit of our country and its laws had pledged hospitality and protection; That the men of our choice have more respected the bare suspicions of the President than the solid rights of innocence, the claims of justification, the sacred force of truth, and the forms and substance of laws and justice. In questions of power, let no more be said of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chain of the Constitution.
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"That this Commonwealth does therefore call on its co-States for an expression of their sentiments on the acts concerning aliens and for the punishment of certain crimes hereinbefore specified, plainly declar- ing whether these acts are or are not authorized by the Federal com- pact. And it doubts not that their sense will be so announced as to prove their attachment to limited government, whether general or particular, and that the rights and liberties of their co-States will be exposed to no dangers by remaining embarked on a common bottom with their own; that they will concur with this Commonwealth in considering the said acts as so palpably against the Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration that the compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the general government, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these States of all powers whatso- ever ; that they will view this as seizing the rights of the States and consolidating them in the hands of the general government, with a power assumed to bind the States (not merely in cases made Federal but in all cases whatsoever) by laws made not with their consent but by others against their consent; that this would be to surrender the form of government we have chosen, and live under one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from our authority; and that the co-States, recurring to their natural right in cases not made Federal, will concur in declaring these void and of no force, and will each unite with this Commonwealth in requesting their repeal at the next session of Congress."
The resolutions drawn by Madison were adopted by the Virginia Legislature in December, 1798. They were:
"Resolved, That the General Assembly of Virginia doth unequivo- cally express a firm resolution to maintain and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of this State, against every aggression either foreign or domestic; and that they will support the government of the United States in all measures warranted by the former.
"That this Assembly most solemnly declares a warm attachment to the Union of the States, to maintain which it pledges its powers;
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POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
and that for this end it is their duty to watch over and oppose every infraction of those principles which constitute the only basis of that Union because a faithful observance of them can alone secure its existence and the public happiness.
"That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare that it views the power of the Federal government as resulting from the compact to which the States are parties, as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting that compact as no farther valid than they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact; and that in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the States, who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil and for maintaining within their respective limits the authorities, rights, and liberties apper- taining to them.
"That the General Assembly doth also express its deep regret that a spirit has, in sundry instances, been manifested by the Federal govern- ment to enlarge its powers by forced constructions of the constitutional charter which defines them; and that indications have appeared of a design to expound certain general phrases (which, having been copied from the very limited grant of powers in the former Articles of Con- federation, were the less liable to be misconstrued) so as to destroy the meaning and effect of the particular enumeration which necessarily explains and limits the general phrases, and so as to consolidate the State by degrees into one Sovereignty the obvious tendency and in- evitable consequences of which would be to transform the present re- publican system of the United States into an absolute, or, at best, a mixed monarchy.
"That the General Assembly doth particularly protest against the palpable and alarming infractions of the Constitution in the two late cases of the 'Alien and Sedition acts,' passed at the last session of Congress; the first of which exercises a power nowhere delegated to the Federal government, and which, by uniting legislative and judicial powers to those of executive, subverts the general principles of free government, as well as the particular organization and positive pro- visions of the Federal Constitution; and the other of which acts exer-
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cises, in like manner, a power not delegated by the Constitution, but, on the contrary, expressly and positively forbidden by one of the amendments thereto-a power which, more than any other, ought to produce universal alarm, because it is levelled against the right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free com- munication among the people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right.
"That this State having by its Convention which ratified the Federal Constitution expressly declared that, among other essential rights, the 'liberty of conscience and the press cannot be cancelled, abridged, restrained, or modified by any authority of the United States,' and from its extreme anxiety to guard these rights from every possible attack of sophistry and ambition having, with other States, recommended an amendment for that purpose, which amend- ment was in due time annexed to the Constitution,-it would mark a reproachful inconsistency and criminal degeneracy if an indif- ference were now shown to the palpable violations of one of the rights thus declared and secured, and to the establishment of a prece- dent which may be fatal to the other.
"That the good people of this Commonwealth having ever felt, and continuing to feel, the most sincere affection for their brethren of the other States, the truest anxiety for establishing and perpetuat- ing the union of all, and the most scrupulous fidelity to that Con- stitution which is the pledge of mutual friendship and the instru- ment of mutual happiness, the General Assembly doth solemnly appeal to the like dispositions in the other States, in confidence that they will concur with this Commonwealth in declaring, as it does hereby declare, that the acts aforesaid are unconstitutional; and that the necessary and proper measures will be taken by each for cooperating with this State in maintaining unimpaired the authori- ties, rights, and liberties reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
"That the Governor be desired to transmit a copy of the fore- going resolutions to the Executive authority of each of the other States, with a request that the same may be communicated to the Legislature thereof; and that a copy be furnished to each of the
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Senators and Representatives representing this State in the Congress of the United States."
Vigorous protests against the doctrines promulgated in the two sets of resolutions were made by several State legislative bodies-the counter-doctrine of national authority as superior to all State supervisory preten- sions being strenuously maintained. The main objec- tions urged in these various State protests were suc- cinctly expressed as follows by the New York Senate in the course of a brief response: "The Senate, not per- ceiving that the rights of the particular States have been violated nor any unconstitutional powers assumed by the general government, cannot forbear to express the anxiety and regret with which they observed the inflam- matory and pernicious sentiments and doctrines which are contained in the resolutions of the Legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky-sentiments and doctrines no less repugnant to the Constitution of the United States and the principles of their Union than destructive to the Federal government and unjust to those whom the peo- ple have elected to administer it."
In reply to the protests the Kentucky Legislature adopted (November, 1799) the following:
"Resolved, That this Commonwealth considers the Federal Union, upon the terms and for the purposes specified in the late compact, conducive to the liberty and happiness of the several States; That it does now unequivocally declare its attachment to the Union, and to that compact agreeably to its obvious and real intention, and will be among the last to seek its dissolution; That if those who adminis- ter the general government be permitted to transgress the limits fixed by that compact by a total disregard to the special delegations of power therein contained, an annihilation of the State governments
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and the creation upon their ruins of a general consolidated govern- ment will be the inevitable consequence; That the principle and con- struction contended for by sundry of the State Legislatures, that the general government is the exclusive judge of the extent of the powers delegated to it, stop nothing short of despotism-since the discretion of those who administer the government, and not the Constitution, would be the measure of their powers; That the several States who formed that instrument being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of the infractions; and That a nullifica- tion by those sovereignties of all unauthorized acts done under color of that instrument is the rightful remedy.
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