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United States.
President-
a comfil.ation of the
messages and papers of the
presidents
^
li^'^^^fe^s^fe^^i^f^^
A COMPILATION
OF THE
MESSAGES AND PAPERS
OF THE
PRESIDENTS
Prepared Under the Direction of
the Joint Committee
on
Printing,
of
the House and
Senate,
Pursuant
to
an
Act
of
the
Fifty-Second
Congress
of
the
United
States
(With
Additions
and
Encyclopedic
Index
by
Private
Enterprise)
VOLUME
I
m
PUBLISHED BY
BUREAU OF NATIONAL LITERATURE, Inc.
NEW YORK
^
Allen County Publfc
Library
900 Webster Street
PO Box 2270
FOft Wayne. IN 46801-2270
Copyright, 1897
BY
James D. Richardson
Resolution Authorizing the Compilation
Joint Committkk on Printing,
United States Senate,
Washington, D. C, August 2o, 1894.
Hon. James D. Richardson,
House ofRepresentatives.
Sir:
I am directed by Senator Gorman, the Chairman of the Joint
Committee on Printing, to transmit to you the accompanying resolution,
adopted by the Joint Committee this day and entered upon its journal.
Very respectfully,
^
,,
^
F. M. Cox,
Clerk Joint Committee on Printing.
Whereas Congress has passed the following resolution,- to wit:
Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, That there be
printed and bound in cloth six thousand copies of the complete compilation of all
the annual, special, and veto messages, proclamations, and inaugural addresses of
the Presidents of the United States from 1789 to 1894,
inclusive, two thousand copies
for the use of the Senate and four thousand copies for the use of the House.
The
work shall be performed under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing:
Therefore, resolved by thefoint Committee on Printing, That Hon. James
D. Richardson be, and he is hereby, authorized and requested to take
charge of the work contemplated in said resolution, and prepare, compile,
and edit same.
He is given full power and discretion to do this work for
and on behalf of this Committee.
Ill
Prefatory Note
In compliance
with
the
authorization
of
the
Joint Committee on
Printing, I have undertaken this compilation.
The messages of the several Presidents of the United States—annual,
veto, and special—are among the most interesting, instructive and val-
uable
contributions
to the
public
literature
of
our
Republic.
They
discuss from the
loftiest standpoint nearly
all the great questions of
national policy and many
subjects of minor
interest which have en-
gaged the attention of the people from the beginning of our history,
and
so constitute important and often
vital
links
in their progressive
development.
The proclamations,
also, contain matter and sentiment
no less elevating, interesting and important.
They inspire to the high-
est and most exalted degree the patriotic fervor and love of country
in the hearts of the people.
It
is believed that legislators and other public men, students of our
national history, and many others
will hail with satisfaction the com-
pilation and publication of these messages and proclamations in such
compact form as will render them easily accessible and of ready refer-
ence.
The work can not fail to be exceedingly convenient and useful
to all who have occasion to consult these documents.
The Government
has never heretofore authorized a like publication.
In executing the commission with which
I have been charged
I have
sought
to bring together
in
several volumes
of the
series
all
Presi-
dential proclamations, addresses, messages and communications to Con-
gress
excepting those nominating persons
to
office and
those which
simply transmit treaties, and reports of heads of Departments which
contain no recommendation from
the
Executive.
The utmost
effort
has been made to render the compilation accurate and exhaustive.
Although not required by the terms
of
the
resolution
authorizing
the compilation,
it has been deemed wise and wholly consistent with
its purpose to incorporate authentic copies of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, the Articles of Confederation and the
Constitution of
the
United States, together with engravings of the Capitol, the Executive
Mansion, and of the historical painting the "Signing of the Declaration
of Independence."
The compilation has not been brought even to its present stage with-
out much labor and close application, and the end
is far from view
;
VI
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
but
if
it shall prove
satisfactory
to Congress and
the country, I
will
feel compensated for my time and effort.
The first volume of this compilation was given to Congress and the
public about May
i, 1896.
I believe
I am warranted
in saying here
that
it met with much favor by all who examined
it.
The press of the
country was unsparing in
its praise.
The resolution authorizing this work required the publication of the
annual, special, and veto messages, inaugural addresses, and proclama-
tions of the Presidents.
I have found in addition to these documents
others which emanated from the Chief Magistrates, called Executive
Orders
; they are in the nature of proclamations, and have
like force
and
effect.
I have therefore included
all such Executive Orders as
may appear to have national importance or to possess more than ordi-
nary interest.
Tlie controversy over the United
States Bank,
including President
Jackson's reasons for the removal of the deposits from that bank
; his
Farewell Address, and other important papers, all of which are charac-
teristic of the man, are subjects of never failing interest to American
bankers, business men and
publicists.
It was during the second Ad-
ministration
of
President
Jackson
that
the
act
changing
the
ratio
between the gold and
silver dollar was passed.
President
Van
Buren's
message
recommending
the
independent
treasury or subtreasury, and the discussion of that subject, which
ter-
minated in what has been termed "the divorce of the bank and
state
in the fiscal
afifairs of the Federal Government," and which President
Van Buren considered a second Declaration of Independence, continue
the discussion so vigorously begun by Jackson.
The controversy with
Great Britain
in relation to the northeastern boundary of the United
States
is also included in Van Buren's Administration, and will prove
highly interesting.
The eight years of our history from March 4, 1841, to March 4, 1849,
include the four years' term of Harrison and Tyler and also the term
of James K. Polk.
During the first half of
this period the death of
President Harrison occurred, when for the
first time under the Con-
stitution the Vice-President succeeded to the office of President.
As a
matter of public interest, several papers relating to the death of Presi-
dent Harrison are inserted.
A number of highly
interesting vetoes of President Tyler appear,
among which are two vetoing bills chartering a United States bank and
two vetoing
tariff measures.
During President
Tyler's Administra-
tion the protective tariff act of 1842 was passed
; the subtreasury law
was repealed
; the treaty with Great Britain of August
9,
1842, was
negotiated, settling the northeastern-boundary controversy, and provid-
ing for the
final suppression of the African slave trade and for the
surrender of fugitive criminals
; and acts establishing a uniform system
Prefatory Note
vn
of bankruptcy and providing for the
distribution of the
sales of the
public
lands
were
passed.
The
treaty
of
annexation
between
the
United
States and
the
Republic of Texas was
negotiated, but
v/as
rejected by the Senate.
During the Administration of President Polk Texas was finally an-
nexed
to the United
States
;
Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin were
ad-
mitted into the Union ; the Oregon boundary was settled ; the independ-
ent-treasury system was reenacted
; the Naval Academy was established
;
acts were passed establishing the Smithsonian Institution and creating
the Department of the Interior
; the war with ]\lexico was successfully
fought, and the territory known as New Mexico and Upper California
was acquired.
The acquisition of territory by Mr. Polk's Administra-
tion added to the United States California and New Mexico and por-
tions
of
Colorado,
Utah, and Nevada,
a
territory
containing
in
all
1,193,061
square miles or over 763,000,000
acres, and constituting a
country more than half as large as all that held by the Republic before
he became
President.
This
addition
to
our
domain was
the
next
largest
in area ever made.
It was exceeded only by the purchase by
President Jefferson of the Louisiana Territory, in which was laid so
deep the foundation of
the country's growth and grandeur.
If our
country had not already attained that rank by the acquisition of the
Louisiana Territory, the further additions made by Mr. Polk's Admin-
istration advanced
it at once to a continental power of assured strength
and boundless promise.
The next twelve years include the four years' term of the Taylor-
Fillmore Administration and the
full terms of Presidents Pierce and
Buchanan.
This brings the history down
to March
4,
1861, the be-
ginning of the late war between the States.
These twelve years form
an important and eventful epoch in the affairs of our country, as they
immediately precede the war and cover the
official utterances of the
Executives during
this period.
Some of
the more important events
and incidents of these twelve years are the Bulwer-Clayton treaty with
Great Britain for a joint occupancy of the proposed ship canal through
Central America;
the compromise measures of
1850;
the admission
of California, Minnesota, Oregon, and Kansas as States; the Gadsden
purchase, by which the United States acquired 45,535 square miles of
territory, being portions of Arizona and New Mexico; the Kansas-
Nebraska legislation
; the famous Dred Scott decision
; the John Brown
insurrection, and the disruption of the Democratic party in the national
campaign of i860.
Vetoes by President
Pierce of "An
act making a grant of public
lands to the several States for the benefit of indigent insane persons"
;
of six acts relating to internal improvements
; of an act for a subsidy
for ocean mails, and of an
act
for the ascertainment and allowance
of French spoliation claims; vetoes by President Buchanan of an act
VIII
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
granting lands for agricultural purposes
; of two acts relating to internal
improvements, and of a homestead act, mark the antagonism of these
Presidents to Congress during the period.
Interesting reading is furnished in the protests of President Buchanan
against the action of the House of Representatives in ordering the ap-
pointment of a committee to investigate the conduct of the
President.
The Presidential papers during the period from March
4,
1861, to
March 4, 1869, relate the history of the Civil War and the reconstruc-
tion of
the Union.
No other period of American
history
since
the
Revolution comprises so many events of surpassing importance.
The
Administrations
of
Presidents
Lincoln
and
Johnson
represent two
distinct epochs.
That of Abraham Lincoln was dedicated to the suc-
cessful prosecution of the most stupendous war of modern times, while
that of Andrew Johnson was' dedicated to the reestablishment of peace
and the restoration of the Union as
it had existed prior to the war.
Strange to say,
it
fell to the lot of the kind-hearted humanitarian, who
loved peace and
his fellow-man,
to wage the bloody
conflict of
civil
war, and the more aggressive, combative character directed the affairs
of the Government while the land took upon
itself the conditions of
peace.
Yet who can say that each was not best suited for his particular
sphere of action
!
A greater lover of his kind has not filled the
office
of President since Thomas Jefferson, and no public servant ever left
with the people a
gentler memory than Abraham
Lincoln.
A more
self-willed and determined Chief
Executive has
not
held
that
office
since Andrew Johnson, and no public servant ever left with the people
a higher
character
for
honesty,
integrity,
and
sincerity
of purpose
and action than Andrew Johnson.
The life of each of these two great
men had been a series of obscure but heroic struggles
; each had experi-
enced a varied and checkered career
; each reached the highest political
station of earth.
Their
official
state papers are of supreme
interest,
and comprise the
utterances of
President Lincoln while
he
in
four
years placed
in
the
field nearly
three
millions of
soldiers; what he
said when victories were won or when
his armies went down
in
de-
feat
; what treasures of blood and money
it cost to triumph
;
also, the
utterances of President Johnson as he through his eventful term waged
the fiercest political battle of our country's history in his efforts, along
his own
lines,
for
the
restoration of peace and
the reunion
of
the
States.
Interesting papers
relating to
the
death and
funeral
obsequies
of
President
Lincoln
have
been
inserted,
as
also
the more
important
papers and proceedings connected with the impeachment of President
Johnson.
The perusal of these papers should enkindle within the heart of every
citizen of the American Republic, whether he fought on the one side
or the other
in that unparalleled
struggle, or whether he has come
Prefatory Note
IX
upon the scene since
its
closing, a greater love of country, a greater
devotion to the cause of true
liberty, and an undying resolve that
.',11
the blessings of a
free government and the
fullest
liberty of the
in-
dividual shall be perpetuated.
The election of General Grant to the Presidency by the people of the
United States was another instance illustrating the gratitude of a
re-
public
to a
successful
soldier.
But
for
the
great
civil
v^ar no one
supposes he would ever have been elevated to this exalted post.
His
services in that heroic struggle were such as to win the highest encomi-
ums from his countrymen, and naturally at the
first opportunity after
the closing of the war when a Chief Executive was to be chosen they
turned their eyes to the most conspicuous figure in that war and made
him
President
of
the United
States.
During
this
period
of
twelve
years—that
is, from March
4,
1869, to March 4, 1881—the legislation
for the
restoration of the Southern
States to their original
positions
in the Union was enacted, the reunion of the States was perfected, and
all
sections of
the land
again
given
full and
free
representation
in
Congress.
Much of the bitterness engendered by the war, and which
had been left alive at its closing, and which was not diminished to any
appreciable
extent during President Johnson's term, was
largely
as-
suaged
during
President
Grant's
administration, and
under
that
of
President Hayes was further softened and almost entirely dissipated.
It
will be seen that President Grant
in
his papers dwelt especially
upon
the duty of paying the
national
debt
in gold
arid
returning
to
specie payments; that he urged upon Congress a proposition to annex
Santo Domingo
;
that during
his Administration
the "Quaker Peace
Commission" was
appointed
to
deal
with
the
Indians,
the
fifteenth
amendment to the Constitution of the United
States was proclaimed,
the treaty of Washington was negotiated, and, with a subsequent arbi-
tration at Geneva, a settlement was provided of the difficulties relating
to the Alabama claims and the fisheries; that
in 1870 and frequently
afterwards he urged upon Congress the need of reform
in
the
civil
service.
His appeals secured the passage of the law of March 3, 1871,
under which he appointed a
civil
service commission.
This commis-
sion
framed
rules,
which
were
approved
by
the
President.
They
provided for open competitive examination, and went into effect Janu-
ary
I, 1872
; and out of these grew the present civil-service rules.
One
of his most important papers was the message vetoing the
"inflation
bill."
The closing months of his public life covered the stormy and ex-
citing period
following
the
Presidential
election
of
1876, when
the
result
as between Mr. Tilden and Mr. Hayes was
so long
in doubt.
There
is very
little, however, in any Presidential paper of that period
to indicate the great peril to the country and the severe strain to which
our
institutions were subjected
in that memorable
contest.
The Administration of Mr. Hayes, though
it began amid
exciting
X
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
scenes and an unprecedented situation which threatened disasters, was
rather marked by moderation and a sympathy with what he considered
true reform.
Some of his vetoes are highly interesting, and indicate
independence of character and that he was not always
controlled by
mere party
politics.
One of the most famous and
best remembered
of his messages
is that vetoing the Bland-Allison Act, which restored
the legal-tender quality to the silver dollar and provided for its limited
coinage.
Other papers of interest are his message recommending the
resumption of
specie payments;
vetoes of a
bill
to
restrict
Chinese
immigration, of an Army appropriation
bill, of a legislative, executive,
and judicial appropriation
bill, and of the act known as the "funding
act of 1881."
It was during Mr. Hayes's Administration (when the
Forty-fifth Congress met in extraordinary session on March
18, 1879),
that
for the
first time
since the Congress that was chosen with Mr.
Buchanan in 1856 the Democratic party was in control of both Houses.
The death of
President Garfield
at the hand of an assassin
early
in
his Administration
created
a vacancy
in
the
office
of
the Chief
Executive, and
for the fourth time in our history the Vice-President
succeeded to that
office.
The intense excitement throughout the land
brought about by the tragic death of the President, and the succession
of the Vice-President, caused no dangerous strain upon our institutions,
and once more proof was given,
if, indeed, further evidence was
re-
quired, that our Government was strong enough to quietly and peace-
fully endure a sudden change of rulers and of administration, no mat-
ter how
distressing and odious the
cause.
During the Administration of President Arthur a treaty between the
United States and the Repubhc of Nicaragua was signed, providing for
an interoceanic canal across the territory of that State.
An able and
learned discussion of this proposition will be found among his papers.
This treaty was pending when he retired from office, and was promptly
withdrawn by President Cleveland.
The act to regulate and improve
the civil service of the United States was approved by President Arthur,
and he put into operation rules and regulations wide in their scope and
far-reaching for the enforcement of the measure.
In his papers will
be found frequent and
interesting discussions of this
question.
His
vetoes
of "An
act
to execute
certain
treaty
stipulations
relating to
Chinese" and of "An act making appropriations
for the construction,
repair, and preservation of certain works on
rivers and harbors, and
for other purposes," are interesting and
effective papers.
Cleveland's
accession
to the Presidency marked the return
of the
Democratic party to power.
No Democrat who had been chosen by
his
party had
held
the
office
since
the
retirement of
Buchanan,
in
1861.
At an early date after Mr. Cleveland's inauguration he became
involved
in an important and rather acrimonious discussion with the
Senate on
the subject
of
suspensions from
office.
The
Senate
de-
Prefatory Note
XI
manded of him and of the heads of some of
the Executive Depart-
ments
the
reasons
for
the
suspension
of
certain
officials,
and
the
papers and
correspondence
incident
thereto.
In
an
exhaustive and
interesting paper he decHned to comply with the demand.
His annual
message of December,
1887, was devoted exclusively to a discussion
of the
tariff.
It
is conceded by
all
to be an
able document, and
is
the only instance where a President in his annual message made refer-
ence to only one question.
His vetoes are more numerous than those
of any
other
Chief
Executive, amounting within
the
four
years
to
over three hundred, or more than twice the number in the aggregate
of
all his predecessors.
These vetoes
relate to almost all subjects of
legislation, but mainly
to
pension
cases and
bills
providing
for the
erection of public buildings throughout the country.
The work of compiling was begun by me in April, 1895, just after
the expiration of the Fifty-third Congress.
I then anticipated that
I
could complete the work easily within a year.
Though
I have given
my
entire time
to
the undertaking when
not engaged
in my
official
duties
as
a Representative,
instead of
completing
it within
the time
mentioned
it has occupied me
for nearly four
years.
The labor has
been far greater than the Joint Committee on Printing or I supposed
it
would be.
I had no idea of the
difficulties to overcome
in obtaining
the
Presidential
papers,
especially
the
proclamations
and
Executive
orders.
In this Prefatory Note I said above: "I have sought to bring
together
in
the
several volumes of the
series
all
Presidential procla-
mations,
addresses,
messages, and
communications
to
Congress
ex-
cepting
those
nominating persons
to
office and
those which
simply
transmit treaties, and reports of heads of Departments which contain
no recommendation from
the Executive."
But
after the appearance
of Volume
I, and while preparing the contents of Volume
II,
I be-
came convinced
that
I had made a mistake and that the work to be
exhaustive should comprise every message of the Presidents transmit-
ting
reports of heads of Departments and other communications, no
matter how brief or unintelligible the papers were in themselves, and
that to make them intelligible
I should insert editorial notes explaining
them.
Having acted upon
the other
idea
in making up Volume
I
and a portion of Volume II, quite a number of such brief papers were
intentionally
omitted.
Being
convinced
that
all
the
papers
of
the
Executives should be inserted, the plan was modified accordingly, and
the endeavor was thereafter made to publish
all of them.
In order, however, that the compilation may be "accurate and ex-
haustive,"
I have gone back and collected
all the papers—those which
should have appeared
in Volumes
I and
II, as well
as such as were
unintentionally omitted from the succeeding volumes.
While this may
occasion some
little annoyance to the reader who seeks such papers in
chronological order,
yet, inasmuch
as they
all appear at
their proper
XII
Messages and Papers of tJie Presidents
places
in the Encyclopedic Index,
it
is not believed
that any
serious
inconvenience will
result.
The editor and compiler has resorted to every possible avenue and
has spared no
effort
to procure
all public
Presidential papers from
the beginning of the Government to March
4,
1897.
He has looked
out for every reference to the work in the public prints, has endeavored
to read
all the criticisms made because of omissions, and has availed
himself of
all
the papers
to which
his
attention
has been
called by
anyone
; has diligently and earnestly sought for same himself, so that
he feels warranted in saying that if he has given to the country
all he
could find and
all any critic or reviewer has been able to find he has
done his whole duty, and reasonable complaint can not be made
if any
paper
is
still omitted.
In view of the inaccessibiHty of many of the
messages by reason of their not having been entered on thie journals of
either House of Congress, and of the fact that the Government
itself
does not possess many of the proclamations and Executive orders,
it
may be that there yet can be found a few papers omitted from
this
work; but with much confidence, amounting to a positive conviction.
I
feel that assurance may be safely given that only a few, if any at all,
have been overlooked.
Congress in June, 1897, by law requested me to prepare an index to
the
entire compilation.
In
addition
to making
the Index
simply an
index to the various messages and other papers
I have added to
it the
encyclopedic feature.
There will therefore be found
in the Index, in
alphabetical order, a large number of encyclopedic definitions of words
and phrases used by the Chief Executives, and of other politico-histori-
cal
subjects.
It
is believed that this feature
will not detract
in any
manner from the Index,
but, on the other hand, will add largely to
its value and to the value of the entire compilation and develop more
fully
questions
or
subjects to which only
indirect reference
is made
or which are but briefly discussed by them.
There will also be found
short accounts of
several hundred battles
in which the armies of the
United States have been engaged
; also descriptions of all the States of
the Union and of many foreign countries.
We have striven earnestly
to make these encyclopedic articles historically correct, and to this end
have
carefully
compared them
with
the
most
eminent
authorities.
This feature was not within the scope of the work
as contemplated
when the resolution authorizing the compilation was passed, nor when
the act was passed requiring the preparation of the Index
; but with
the approval of the Joint Committee on Printing
I have inserted the
articles, believing that they would be of interest.
They contain facts
and valuable information not always easily accessible, and
it
is hoped
that they will serve to familiarize the young men of the country who
read them with its history and its trials and make of them better citi-
zens and more
devoted
lovers of our
free
institutions.
There has
Prefatory Note
xni
been no effort or inclination on my part to give partisan bias or political
coloring of any nature
to these
articles.
On the other hand,
I have
sought only
to
furnish
reliable
historical data and
v^ell-authenticated
definitions and to avoid even the appearance of an expression of my
own
opinion.
It
is proper
to add
that
these
articles have
all been
read and approved by Mr. A. R.
Spofiford, Chief Assistant Librarian
of Congress, to whom
I now make acknowledgment of my indebted-
ness.
The work has met with
public
favor
far beyond
all
expectations,
and words of
praise for
it have come from
all
classes and calHngs.
Those who possess
it may be assured that they have in their libraries
all the official utterances of the Presidents of the United States from
1789 to the present time that could possibly be found after the most
diligent search, and that these utterances are not to be found complete
in any other publication.
JAMES D. RICHARDSON.
NOTE.—The
pages
of 'The Messages and
Papers
of
the
Presidents" have
been renumbered from page one to the end, and
the
division
into volumes has
been
altered.
This
plan
is
required
by
the
addition
of new
matter and
the
desirability of keeping the volumes as nearly uniform
in
size as possible.
ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME ONE
PAGE
James D. Richardson,
(portrait)
Frontispiece
The Signing of the Declaration of Independence, by Tiirnhull
.
i
Facsimile of Jefferson's Draft of the Declaration of Independence
.
The
Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia, May,
1787
.
.
George Washington,
(portrait)
{sketch of his boyhood home on tissue)
Inauguration of Washington
Inauguration Morning,
1789
The First Cabinet
(Washington, Hamilton, Randolph,
Jefferson, and Knox)
Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation
Mob of Whiskey Insurrectionists Maltreating Excise Officer
.
.
154
Pittsburg in 1790
.'
.
.
155
John Adams, (portrait)
217
(sketch of his Qnincy home on
tissue)
Coinage Proclamation by John Adams
256
Thomas Jefferson,
(portrait)
307
(sketch of his Monticello home on
tissue)
Replicas of Clermont and Half Moon .......
350
The Olympic
in New York Harbor, June,
191 1 ....
350
Impressment of an American Seaman by British ....
382
Expansion by Purchase and Discovery—Lewis and Clark Expedi-
tion and the Louisiana Purchase
396
First and Last Pages of Jefferson's Neutrality Proclamation
.
.
414
The Trial for Treason of Aaron Burr
430
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Declaration
of Independence
In congress, July
4,
1776.
^jUt mmimm$ mtdnvuiim «t iM W<^» nmiti %mt$tff ^mcrira,
'WChzn in the Course of human events,
it becomes necessary for one
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with
another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and
equal station to which the Laws of Natm-e and of Nature's God entitle
them, a decent respect
to the opinions of mankind requires that they
should declare
the causes which impel them
to the
separation.—^We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to
secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed,—^That whenever any
Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends,
it
is the Right
of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,
laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happi-
ness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established
should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly
all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer,
while
evils are
sufferable, than
to
right themselves by abolishing the
forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses
and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design
to reduce them under absolute Despotism,
it
is their right,
it
is their
duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their
future security.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies;
and
such
is now the
necessity which constrains them
to
alter
their
former Systems of Government.
The history of the present King of
Great
Britain
is a
history of
repeated
injuries and
usurpations,
all
having
in
direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over
Note.—^The words " Declaration of Independence " do not appear on the oriffinaL
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
these States.
To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.—
He has refused his Assent to I^aws, the most wholesome and necessary
for the public good.—^He has forbidden his Governors to pass I^aws of
immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation
till
his Assent should be obtained; and when
so suspended,
he has
utterly neglected to attend to them.—He has refused to pass other Laws
for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people
would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right
inestimable
to them and formidable
to tyrants only.—He has called
together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant
from the depository of
their public
Records,
for the
sole purpose
of
fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.—^He has dissolved
en
Represtative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his
invasions on the rights of the people.—He has refused for a long time,
after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legis-
lative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at
large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed
to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States;
for that
purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners;
refus-
ing to pass others
to encourage
their migrations
hither, and
raising
the conditions of new Appropriations of
Lands.—^He
has obstructed
the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for estab-
lishing Judiciary powers.—He has made Judges dependent on his Will
alone, for the tenure of their ofl&ces, and the amount and payment of
their
salaries.—He has erected a multitude of New Ofl&ces, and
sent
hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their sub-
stance.—He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies
without the Consent of our legislatures.—He has aflfected to render the
Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.—^He has com-
bined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our consti-
tution, and unacknowledged by our
laws;
giving his Assent to their
Acts of pretended Legislation:—For quartering large bodies of armed
troops among us:—For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punish-
ment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of
these States:—For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:-^
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:—For depriving us in
many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury
:—For transporting us beyond
Seas to be tried for pretended offences:—For abolishing the free System
Declaration of Independence
of English Laws in a neighbouring
Province, establishing
therein an
Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at
once an example and
fit instrument for introducing the same absolute
rule into these Colonies:—For taking away our Charters, abolishing our
most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Gov-
ernments:—For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring them-
selves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection
and waging War against us.—He has plundered our seas, ravaged our
Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our people.—He is
at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat
the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circum-
stances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled
in the most barbarous
ages, and
totally unworthy the Head
of
a
civilized
nation.—He has
constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear
Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends
and Brethren,
or to
fall themselves by their Hands.—He has excited
domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the
inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known
rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and
conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for
Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated
Petitions have been
only
answered^by repeated injury.
A Prince, whose character is thus marked
by every act which may define a Tyrant,
is unfit to be the ruler of a
free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish
brethren.
We have warned them from time
to time
of attempts by
their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.
We
have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settle-
ment here.
We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity,
and we have conjiured them by the
ties
of our common
kindred
to
disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt
our
con-
nections and
correspondence
They too
have been deaf
to the voice
of justice and of consanguinity.
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the
necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold
the rest of mankind. Enemies in War,
in Peace Friends.
'W.Z,
tlixe«ef0«je,
the
Representatives of
the
ttlXited states 0f
^mcvica, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme
Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name,
and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly pub-
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
Msh and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to
be %XZZ and
SttjftjepiettdjetXt states;
that they are Absolved from
all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that
all
political connection
between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally
dissolved;
and
that as Free and
Independent
States,
they have
full
Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Com-
merce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States
may of right do.—And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm
reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to
each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
JOHN HANCOCK
JOSIAH BARTI^BTT
WM Whipplb
Sam^ Adams
John Adams
RoB*^ Treat Paine
B1.BRIDGE Gkrry
Step. Hopkins
W11.1.1AM E1.1.BRV
P.OGER Sherman
Sam®^ Huntington
W^ WlI.I,IAMS
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew Thornton
WM Floyd
Phil. Livingston
Fran^ Lewis
Lewis Morris
Rich° Stockton
Jno Witherspoon
Fra^ Hopkinson
John Hart
Abra Clark
RoB*^ Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benj^ Franklin
John Morton
Geo Clymer
Jas
Smith.
Geo. Taylor
James Wilson
Geo. Ross
Ci?esAR Rodney
Geo Read
Tho M:Kean
Samuel Chask
W^ Paca
Tho^ Stone
Charles Carroli* of CarroUton
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lkb.
Th Jefferson
Benj^ Harrison
Tho® Nelson jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lbb
Carter Braxton
W^ Hooper
Joseph Hewes,
John Penn
Edward RutlEDGB.
Tho® Heyward Jun*^
Thomas Lynch Jun*^
Arthur Middletom
Button GwinneTT
Lyman Hall
Geo Walton.
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THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
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•9^
rV.
Articles of Cotifederation
^jor aXX to wTiom these Presents shall come, we the undersized Dele-
gates of the States aflSxed to our Names send greeting.
Whereas the
Delegates of the United States of America in Congress assembled did on
the fifteenth day of November in the Year of our Lord One Thousand
Seven Hundred and Seventy seven, and in the Second Year of the Inde-
pendence of America agree to certain articles of Confederation and per-
petual Union between the States of Newhampshire, Massachusetts-bay,
Rhodeisland and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New
Jersey,
Pennsylvania,
Delaware,
Maryland,
Virginia,
North-Carolina,
South-Carolina and Georgia in the Words following, viz.
' 'Articles of
Confederation and perpetual Union between the
states of Newhamp-
shire, Massachusetts-bay, Rhodeisland and Providence Plantations, Con-
necticut, New-York, New-Jersey,
Pennsylvania,
Delaware, Maryland,
Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia.
Article I. The Stile of this confederacy shall be " The United States
of America."
Article II. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independ-
ence, and every Power,
Jurisdiction and
right, which
is not by this
confederation
expressly delegated
to the
United
States,
in CongreaS
assembled.
Article III. The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league
of friendship with each other, for their common defence, the security of
their Liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves
to assist each other, against
all force offered
to, or attacks made upon
them, or any of them, on accoimt of religion, sovereignty, trade, or an>'
other pretence whatseever.
Note.—^The oriffinal
is indorsed: Act of Confederation of The United States of America.
Messages a7td Papers of the Presidents
Article IV. The better
to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship
and intercourse among the people of the different states in this union,
the free inhabitants of each of these states, paupers, vagabonds and fugi-
tives from Justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immu-
nities of free citizens in the several states; and the people of each state
shall have free ingress and regress to and from any other state, and shall
enjoy therein
all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the
same duties,
impositions and
restrictions
as
the
inhabitants
thereof
respectively, provided that such restriction shall not extend so far as to
prevent the removal of property imported into any state, to any other
state of which the Owner is an inhabitant; provided also that no impo-
sition, duties or restriction shall be laid by any state, on the property
of the united states, or either of them.
If any Person guilty of, or charged with treason, felony, or other high
misdemeanor in any state, shall flee from Justice, and be found in any of
the united states, he shall upon demand of the Governor or executive
power, of the state from which he fled, be deUvered up and removed to
the state having jurisdiction of his offence.
Full
faith and credit
shall be given
in each of these states
to the
records, acts and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of
every other state.
Article V. For the more convenient management of the general inter-
ests of the united states, delegates shall be annually appointed in such
manner as the legislature of each state shall direct, to meet in Congress
on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a power reserved
to each state, to recal
its delegates, or any of them, at any time within
the year, and to send others in their stead, for the remainder of the
Year.
No state shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor by
more than seven Members; and no person shall be capable of being a
delegate for more than three years in any term of six years; nor shall
any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any oflSce under the
united states, for which he, or another for his benefit receives any salary,
fees or emolument of any kind.
Each state shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the states,
and while they act as members of the committee of the states.
In determining questions in the united states, in Congress assembled,
each state shall have one vote.
Articles of (confederation
Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall sot be impeached or
questioned in any Court, or place out of Congress, and the members of
congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and imprison-
ments, during the time of their going to and from, and attendance on
congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.
Article VI.
No
state without the Consent
of the united
states in
congress assembled, shall send any embassy to, or receive any embassy
from, or enter into any conferrence, agreement, alliance or treaty with
any King prince or state; nor
shall any person holding any
office of
profit or trust under the united
states,
or any of them, accept of any
present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever from any king,
prince or foreign state; nor shall the united states in congress assem-
bled, or any of them, grant any title of nobility.
No two or more
states
shall enter into any treaty, confederation or
alliance whatever
between
them,
without
the
consent of
the
united
states
in
congress
assembled,
specifying
accurately the
purposes
for
which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue.
No state shall lay any imposts or
duties, which may interfere with
any stipulations in treaties, entered into by the united states in congress
assembled, with any king, prince or state, in pursuance of any treaties
already proposed by congress, to the courts of France and Spain.
No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any state, except
such number only, as shall be deemed necessary by the united
states
in congress assembled, for the defence of such
state, or
its trade; nor
shall any body of forces be kept up by any state, in time of peace, except
such number only, as in the judgment of the united states, in congress
assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for
the defence of such state; but every state shall always keep up a well
regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutred, and
shall provide and constantly have ready for use, in public stores, a due
number of field pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammu-
nition and camp equipage.
No state shall engage in any war without the consent of the united
states in congress assembled,
unless such state be actually invaded by
enemies, or shall
have
received
certain
advice of a
resolution being
formed by some nation of Indians to invade such state, and the danger
is so imminent as not to admit of a delay,
till the united states in con-
gress assembled can be consulted: nor
shall any state grant commis-
S
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
sions to any ships or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal,
except it be after a declaration of war by the united states in congress
assembled, and then only against the kingdom or state and the subjects
thereof, against which war has been so declared, and under such regula-
tions as shall be established by the united states in congress assembled,
unless such state be infested by pirates, in which
case vessels of war
may be fitted out for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall
continue, or until the united states in congress assembled
shall deter-
mine otherwise.
Article
VII.
When
land-forces
are
raised
by
any
state
for
the
common
defence,
all
ofl&cers of or under the rank of colonel,
.shall be
appointed by the legislature of each state respectively by whom such
forces shall be raised, or in such manner as such state shall direct, and
all vacancies
shall
be
filled
up
by
the
state which
first made
the
appointment.
Article VIII.
All charges of war, and
all other expences that
shall
be incurred for the common defence or general welfare, and allowed by
the united states in congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a com-
mon treasury, which shall be supplied by the several states, in proportion
to the value of all land within each state, granted to or surveyed for any
Person, as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall
be estimated according to such mode as the united states in congress
assembled, shall from time to time direct and appoint.
The taxes for
paying that proportion shall be
laid and
levied by the authority and
direction of the legislatures of the several states within the time agreed
upon by the united states in congress assembled.
Article IX. The united states in congress assembled, shall have the
sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war,
except
in
the
cases mentioned
in the sixth
article—of
sending and
receiving ambassadors—entering into
treaties and
alliances,
provided
that no treaty of commerce shall be made whereby the legislative po-w^er
of the. respective states shall be restrained from imposing such imposts
and duties on foreigners, as their own people are subjected to, or from
prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species of goods or
commodities whatsoever—of establishing rules for deciding in all cases,
what captures on land
or water
shall be
legal, and in what manner
prizes taken by land or naval forces in the service of the united
states
shall be divided or appropriated.—of granting letters of marque and
reprisal in times of peace—appointing courts for the
trial of piracies
Articles of Confederation
and
felonies committed on the high seas and establishing courts
for
receiving and determining finally appeals in all cases of captures, pro-
vided that no member of congress shall be appointed a judge of any of
the said courts.
The united states in congress assembled
shall also be the
last resort
on appeal in all disputes and differences now subsisting or that hereafter
may arise between two or more states concerning boundary, jurisdiction
or any other cause whatever; which authority shall always be exercised
in the manner following.
Whenever the legislative or executive authority
or lawful agent of any state in controversy with another shall present a
petition to congress, stating the matter -in question and
pra^-ing for a
hearing, notice thereof shall be given by order of congress to the legis-
lative or executive authority of
the other state in controversy, and a
day assigned for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents,
who shall then be directed to appoint by joint consent, commissioners or
judges to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter in
question: but
if they cannot agree, congress shall name three persons
out of each of the united
states, and from the list of such persons each
party shall alternately strike out one, the petitioners beginning, until the
number
shall be reduced
to thirteen; and from that number not
less
than seven, nor more than nine names as congress shall direct, shall in
the presence of congress be drawn out by lot, and the persons whose
names shall be so drawn or any five of them, shall be commissioners or
judges, to hear and
finally determine the controversy, so always as a
major part of the judges who
shall hear the cause shall agree in the
determination: and
if
either party
shall
neglect to attend
at the day
appointed, without shewing reasons, which congress shall judge sufl&cient,
or being present
shall
refuse to
strike,
the congress
shall proceed to
nominate three persons out of each state, and the secretary of congress
shall strike in behalf of such party absent or refusing; and the judgment
and sentence of the court to be appointed, in the manner before prescribed,
shall be
final and conclusive; and
if any of the parties shall refuse to
submit to the authority of such court, or to appear or defend their claim
or cause, the court shall nevertheless proceed to pronounce sentence, or
judgment, which shall in like manner be final and decisive, the judgment
or sentence and other proceedings being in either case transmitted to
congress, and lodged among the lacts of congress for the security of the
parties concerned: provided that every commissioner, before he sits in
judi^ment, shall take an oath to be adniinistred hy one of the judges of
lo
Alessages and Papers of ilie Presidents
tue supreme or superior court of the state, where the cause shall be tried,
" well aud truly to hear and determine the matter in question, according
to the best of his judgment, without favour, affection or hope of reward:"
provided also that no state shall be deprived of territory for the benefit
of the united
states.
All controversies concerning the private right of
soil claimed under
different grants of two or more states, whose jurisdictions as they may
respect such lands, and the states which passed such grants are adjusted,
the said grants or either of them being at the same time claimed to have
originated antecedent
to such settlement of
jurisdiction,
shall on the
petition of either party to the congress of the united
states, be
finally
determined as near as may be in the same manner as is before prescribed
for deciding disputes respecting territorial jurisdiction between different
states.
The united states in congress assembled shall also have the sole and
exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck
by their own authority, or by that of the respective states—fixing the
standard of weights and measures throughout the tmited states.—regu-
lating the trade and managing all affairs with the Indians, not members
of any of the states, provided that the legislative right of any state within
its own limits be not infringed or violated—establishing and regulating
post-offices from one state to another, throughout all the tmited states,
and exacting such postage on the papers passing thro' the same as may
be requisite
to defray the expences of the
said
office—appointing
all
officers of the land forces, in the service of the united states, excepting
regimental officers.—appointing all the officers of the naval forces, and
commissioning all officers whatever in the service of the united states
making rules for the government and regulation of the said land and
naval forces, and directing their operations.
The
united
states
in
congress
assembled
shall
have
authority to
appoint a committee, to sit in the recess of congress, to be denominated
"A Committee of the States," and to consist of one delegate from each
state; and to appoint such other committees and civil officers as may be
necessary for managing the general
affairs of the united states under
their direction—to appoint one of their number to preside, provided that
no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one
year
in any term
of three
years;
to
ascertain
the necessary sums of
Money to be raised for the service of the united states, and to appro-
priate and apply the same for defraying the public expenses—to borrow
A rticlrs of Coiifede^'ation
money, or emit
bills on the credit of the united
states,
transmitting
every half year to the respective states an account of the sums of money
so borrowed or emitted,—to build and equip a navy—to agree upon the
number of land forces, and to make requisitions from each state for its
quota,
in proportion to the number of white inhabitants in such state;
which requisition shall be binding, and thereupon the legislature of each
state shall appoint the regimental oflficers, raise the men and cloath, arm
and equip them in a soldier like manner, at the expence of the united
states, and the officers and men so cloathed, armed and equipped shall
march
to the place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the
united states in congress assembled: But if the united states in congress
assembled
shall,
on consideration
of circumstances judge proper that
any state should not raise men, or should raise a smaller number than
its quota, and that any other state should raise a greater number of men
than the quota
thereof, such extra number
shall be raised,
oflScered,
cloathed, armed and equipped in the same manner as the quota of such
state, unless the legislature of such state
shall judge that such extra
number cannot be
safely spared out of the same,
in which case they
shall raise officer, cloath, arm and equip as many of such extra num-
ber as they judge can be safely spared.
And the officers and men so
cloathed, armed and equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and
within the time agreed on by the united states in congress assembled.
The united states in congress assembled shall never engage in a war,
nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of peace, nor enter into
any treaties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the value thereof,
nor
ascertain
the sums and expences
necessary
for the
defence and
welfare of the united states, or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow
money on the
credit
of the united
states, nor appropriate money, nor
agree upon the number of vessels of war, to be built or purchased, or the
number of land or sea forces to be raised, nor appoint a commander in
chief of the army or navy, unless nine states assent to the same: nor
shall a question on any other point, except for adjourning from day to
day be determined, unless by the votes of a majority of the united states
in congress assembled.
The congress of the united states shall have power to adjourn to any
time within the year, and to any place within the united states, so that
no period of adjournment be for a longer duration than the space of six
Months, and
shall publish the Journal of their proceedings monthly,
except
such
parts
thereof
relating
to
treaties,
alliances
or
military
Messages and Papers of Ihe Presidents
operations, as in their judgment require secresy; and the yeas and nays
of the delegates of each state on any question shall be entered on the
Journal, when it is desired by any delegate; and the delegates of a state,
or any of them, at his or their request
shall be furnished with a tran-
script of the said Journal, except such parts as are above excepted, to
lay before the legislatures of the several states.
Article X. The committee of the states, or any nine of them,
shall
be authorised to execute, in the recess of congress, such of the powers
of congress as the united states in congress assembled, by the consent
of nine
states,
shall from time to time think expedient
to vest them
with; provided that no power be delegated to the said committee, for the
exercise of which, by the articles of confederation, the voice of nine states
in the congress of the united states assembled is requisite.
Article XI. Canada acceding to this confederation, and joining in the
measures of the united states, shall be admitted into, and entitled to all
the advantages of
this union:
but no other colony shall be admitted
into the same, unless such admission be agreed to by nine states.
Article XII.
All
bills of credit emitted, monies borrowed and debts
contracted by, or under the authority of congress, before the assembling
of
the united
states, in pursuance of
the
present
confederation,
shall
be deemed and considered as a charge against
the
united
states,
for
payment and satisfaction whereof the said united states, and the public
faith are hereby solemnly pledged.
Article XIII.
Every state
shall abide by the determinations of the
united states in congress assembled, on all questions which by this con-
federation are submitted to them.
And the Articles of this confederation
shall be inviolably observed by every state, and the union shall be per-
petual; nor shall any alteration at
anj^ time hereafter be made in any
of them; unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the united
states, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every state.
Jlttd 'M-IXJeV^as it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to
incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in con-
gress, to approve
of, and
to authorize us
to ratify the said
articles of
confederation and perpetual union.
^ttJCrxtr ^je that we the under-signed
delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that pur-
pose, do by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our respective
constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and every of the
said articles of confederation and perpetual union, and all and singular
the matters and things therein contained: And we do further solemnly
Articles of Confederation
plight and engage tlie faith of our respective constituents, that they shall
abide by the determinations of the united states in congress assembled,
on all questions, which by the said confederation are submitted to them.
And that the articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the states
we repectively represent, and that the union shall be perpetual.
In Wit-
ness whereof we have hereunto
set our hands
in Congress.
Done at
Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania the ninth Day of July in the
Year of our Lord one Thousand seven Hundred and Seventy-eight, and
in the third year of the independence of America.
JosiAH Bartlbtt
John Wentworth Jun^
August
8^^
1778
On the part & behalf of the State of
New Hampshire
John Hancock
Samuel, Adams
Ei<BRiDGK Gerry
Francis Dana
James Novell
Samuel Hoi^ten
On the part and behalf of The State
of Massachusetts Bay
William Ellery
Henry MarchanT
John Collins
On the part and behalf of the State
of
Rhode-Island and Providence
Plantations
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
Oliver Wolcott
Titus Hosmer
Andrew Adams
on the part and behalf of the State
of Connecticut
Jas Duane
Fras Lewis
W^ DUER.
Gouv Morris
On the Part and Behalf of the State
of New York
Jno Witherspoon
Nath^ Scudder
On the Part and in Behalf of the State
of New Jersey. Nov*" 26, 1778.—
Rob"^ Morris
Daniel Roberdeau
JonA Bayard Smith.
William Clingan
Joseph Reed
2 2^ July 1778
On the part and behalf of the State
of Pennsylvania
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
Tho M:Kean Feby 12 1779
John Dickinson May 5*^ 1779
Nicholas Van Dyke,
John Hanson March
i 1781
Daniel Carroll
d°
Richard Henry L,ee
John Banister
Thomas Adams
Jn° Harvie
Francis Lightfoot Lee
John Penn July
21^^ 1778
Corn® Harnett
Jn^ Williams
Henry Laurens.
William Henry Drayton
Jn° Mathews
Rich° Hutson.
Tho® Heyward Jun*"
Jn° Walton
24*** July 1778
Edw^ Telfair
Edw^ Langworthy.
On the part & behalf of the State of
Delaware
on the part and behalf of the State
of Maryland
On the Part and Behalf of the State
of Virginia
On the part and Behalf of the State
of N° Carolina
On the part & behalf of the State of
South-Carolina
On the part & behalf of the State of
Georgia
* J
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, PHILADELPHIA
May, 1787
" The United States of America never wore a more majestic aspect than in
the convention.
.
.
. The purpose
of the assembly was
sufficient to invest it
with solemnity.
To meet in the design of strengthening instead of enfeebling
authority, of forming a government which should enable the nation to
fulfil
instead of eluding
its obUgations aUke
to the
citizen and the stranger—to
meet with these intentions was to do what the world had never witnessed.
.
.
.
Thus was completed
the most
extraordinary
transaction
of which merely
human history bears record.
A nation enfeebled, dismembered and
dis-
pirited, broken by the losses
of war, by the dissensions of peace, incapaci-
tated for its duties to its own citizens or to foreign powers, suddenly bestirred
itself and prepared to create a government.
It chose its representatives.
.
.
.
They came together, at first only to disagree, to
threaten and to
fail.
But
against the spells of individual selfishness and sectional passion, the inspira-
tion of the national cause proved potent.
The representatives of the nation
consented
to the measures on which the common honor and the common
safety depended.
.
.
. The work thus achieved was not merely for the nation
that achieved
it.
In the midst
of
their doubts and
their dangers
a few
generous
spirits,
if no more, gathered fresh courage by looking beyond the
limits
of
their
country.
Let Washington speak
for them:
"I conceive,"
says he, "under an energetic general government, such regulations might
be made, and such measures taken, as would render this country the asylum
of
pacific and industrious
characters from
all parts
of Europe—a kind
of
asylum for mankind."
JOHN FiSKE, "The Critical Period of American History."
See the
article " Constitution " in
the
Encyclopedic
Index,
and
also
the
list
of celebrated
cases, which are
discussed
in the index, under the
heading, " Constitution, Supreme Court Decisions On."
The Constitution
£ tlXZ ^JCOpI^ of the United
States,
in Order
to form a
more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, pro-
vide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure
the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
^xticXz.
I.
Section,
l.
All
legislative Powers
herein
granted
shall
be vested
in
a Congress of the United States, which shall
consist
of. a Senate and
House of
Representatives.
Section.
2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members
chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the
the
Electors in each State shall have^Quahfications requisite for Electors of
the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.
No Person ^hall be a Representative who shall not have attained to
the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the
United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that
State in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and
direct Taxes
shall
be apportioned among
the
several States which may be included within
this Union, according to
their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the
whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a
Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other
Persons.
The actual Enumeration
shall be made within three Years
after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within
every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by
Note.—The words " The Coustitutiou " ilo uot appear on the oriffinal.
Alessages atid Papers of tJie Presidents
Law direct.
The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for
every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Repre-
sentative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New
Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-
Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six,
New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Vir-
ginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen
in the
Representation from any State, the
Executive Authority thereof
shall
issue Writs of
Election
to
fill such
Vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other
Ofl&cers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
Section.
3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two
Senators from
each
State, chosen by
the
Legislature
thereof,
for six
Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first
Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes.
The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expi-
ration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the
fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year,
so that one third may be chosen every second Year;
and
if Vacancies
happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature
of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments
until the next Meeting of
the Legislature, which
shall then
fill such
Vacancies.
No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age
of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and
who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he
shall be chosen.
The Vice President
of the United States
shall be President
of
the
Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they l)e equally divided.
The Senate
shall chuse their other Ofijcers, and also a President pro
tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise
the Ofl&ce of President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.
When
sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation.
When the
is tried,
President of the United States^^the Chief Justice shall preside: And no
Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds
oj' the
Members present.
The Constitution
Judgment in Cases of Impeachment
shall not extend further than to
removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of
honor, Trust or Profit under the United States
: but the Party convicted
shall nevertheless be liable and subject
to Indictment, Trial, Judgment
and Punishment, according to Law.
Section.
4. The Times,
Places and Manner of
holding
Elections
for
Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed
in each State by the
Legislature thereof
; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or
alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble
at
least once in every Year, and such
Meeting shall be on the
first Monday in December, unless they shall
by Law appoint a different Day.
Section.
5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections,
Returns
and
Qualifications of
its own Members, and a Majority of each shall
constitute a Quorum to do Business
; but a smaller Number may adjourn
from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of
absent Members,
in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each
House may provide.
Each House may determine the Rules of
its Proceedings, punish
its
Members
for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two
thirds, expel a Member.
Each House shall keep a Journal of
its Proceedings, and from time
to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judg-
ment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either
House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present,
be entered on the Journal.
Neither House, during
the Session of
Congress,
shall, without the
Consent of
the other,
adjourn for more than
three days,
nor
to any
other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
Section.
6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compen-
sation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the
Treasury of the United States.
They shall in all Cases, except Treason,
Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their
Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and
in going to
and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either
House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was
elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United
States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Ofl&ce
under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his
Continuance in Ofi5ce.
Section.
7.
All Bills
for raising Revenue shall originate
in the House
of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amend-
ments as on other Bills.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and
the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President
of the United States;
If he approve he shall sign it, but
if not he shall
return
it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have origi-
nated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and pro-
ceed to reconsider
it.
If
after such Reconsideration two thirds of
that
House
shall
agree
to pass the
Bill,
it
shall be sent, together with the
Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsid-
ered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law.
But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by
yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against
the
Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively.
If
any Bill
shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sun-
days excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall
be a Law, in
like Manner as
if he had signed
it, unless the Congress
by their Adjournment prevent its Return,
in which Case
it shall not be
a Law.
ISvery Order,
Resolution, or Vote
to which the Concurrence of the
Senate and House of Representatives may be
necessary
(except on
a
question of Adjournment)
shall
be presented
to the President of the
United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved
by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds
of
the Senate and House of
Representatives, according to the Rules and
Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.
Section.
8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes,
Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the com-
mon Defence and general Welfare of the United States;
but all Duties,
Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several
States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on
the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
The Co7istitution
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and
fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide
for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and
current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for
limited Times
to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their
respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish
Piracies and Felonies committed on the high
Seas, and Offences against the I^aw of Nations;
To
declare War,
grant Letters of Marque and
Reprisal, and make
Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that
Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and
naval Forces;
To provide
for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the
Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the
Militia, and
for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of
the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment
of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to
the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in
all Cases whatsoever, over such
District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular
States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Gov-
ernment
of the United States, and to exercise
like Authority over
all
Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which
the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-
Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And
To make
all Laws which
shall be necessary and proper for carrying
into Execution the foregoing Powers, and
all other Powers vested by
this Constitution in
the Government
of
the United
States, or in any
Department or Officer thereof.
Section.
9. The
Migration
or Importation
of
such
Persons
as
any
of the States now existing shall think proper to admit,
shall not be
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hun-
dred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation,
not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.
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 it.
No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion
to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Reve-
nue to the Ports of one State over those of another:
nor shall Vessels
bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in
another.
No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of
Appropriations made by Law;
and a regular Statement and Account
of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published
from time to time.
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no
Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without
the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present. Emolument, Office, or
Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
Section.
lo. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alhance, or Confed-
eration; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills
of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Pay-
ment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law
impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
No State shall, without the Consent of^Congress, lay any Imposts or
Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary
for executing
it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of
all Duties
and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the
Use of the Treasury of the United States; and
all such Laws shall be
the
subject to the Revision and Controul of/^Congress.
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Ton-
nage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agree-
ment or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage
in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not
admit of delay.
The Constitution
Section,
i. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the
United States of America.
He shall hold his Office during the Term of
four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same
Term, be elected, as follows
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislatu*'^' thereof
may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Sena-
tors and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Con-
gress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of
Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by iiallot
for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the
same State with themselves.
And they
shall make a List of
all the
Persons voted
for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which
List
they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Gov-
ernment of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate.
The President of the Senate
shall, in the Presence of the Senate and
House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall
then be counted.
The Person having the greatest Number of Votes
shall be
the President,
if
such Number be a Majority of
the whole
Number of Electors appointed
; and if there be more than one who have
such
Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House
of Representatives shall immediately chuse by
Ballot one of them
for
President
; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest
on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the
President.
But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the
Representation from each State having one Vote
; A quorum
for
this
Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the
States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a
Choice.
In everj' Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the
greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be
the Vice
President.
But
if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the
Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.
The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and
the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the
same throughout the United States,
2 2
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
No Person except a natural bom Citizen, or a Citizen of the United
States, at the time of the Adoption of
this Constitution, shall be eligible
to the Oflace of President;
neither shall any Person be eligible to that
Office who shall not have attained to the Age of
thirty five Years, and
been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death,
.
Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said
Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress
may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or
Inability, both of
the
President
and Vice
President,
declaring what
Officer
shall then
act
as
President, and such
Officer shall
act accord-
ingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Com-
pensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the
Period for which he
shall have been elected, and he shall not receive
within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any
of them.
Before he
enter on
the Execution of his
Office, he
shall take
the
following Oath or Affirmation:— " I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that
I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States,
and will
to the
best of my Ability,
preserve,
protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States."
Section.
2. The President
shall be Commander
in Chief of the Army
and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States,
when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require
the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive
Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective
Offices, and he
shall have Power
to grant Reprieves and Pardons for
Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
He
shall have Power, by and with
the Advice and Consent of the
Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present
concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent
of
the
Senate,
shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and
Consuls, Judges
of
the supreme Court, and
all other Officers of
the
United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided
for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by
Law vest
the
Appointment
of
such
inferior
Officers,
as
they
think
proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads
of Departments.
The Constitution
The
President
shall have Power to
fill up
all Vacancies
that may
happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which
shall expire at the End of their next Session.
Section.
3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Informa-
tion of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration
such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on
extraordinary^ Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and
in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of
Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he
shall think
proper; he
shall receive Ambassadors and other public
Ministers; he
shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commis-
sion all the Ofl&cers of the United States.
Section.
4. The President, Vice President and
all
civil Ofl&cers of the
United States,
shall be removed from Ofl&ce on Impeachment
for, and
Convictioa of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
J^trtijcljc in.
Section,
i. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in
one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from
time to time ordain and estabUsh.
The Judges, both of the supreme and
inferior Courts, shall hold their Oflaces during good Behaviour, and shall,
at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall
not be diminished during their Continuance in Ofl&ce.
Section.
2. The judicial Power shall extend to
all Cases, in Law and
Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States,
and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to
all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other pubHc Ministers and Consuls;
to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to
which the United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between
two or more States;—^between a State and Citizens of another State;—
=
between Citizens of different States,—between Citizens of the same State
claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or
the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Con-
suls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall
have original Jurisdiction.
In all the other Cases before mentioned, the
supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and
]\f('ssages and Papers of the Presidents
Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress
shall make.
The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by
Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes
shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State,
the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law
have directed.
Section.
3. Treason
against
the United
States,
shall
consist
only in
levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them
Aid and Comfort.
No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on
the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession
in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason,
but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfei-
ture except during the Life of the Person attainted.
^xjticlc. IV.
Section,
i.
Full Faith and Credit shall be given
in each State to the
public Acts, Records, and
judicial
Proceedings
of every other
State.
And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which
such
Acts, Records and Proceedings
shall be proved, and
the
Effect
thereof.
Section.
2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges
and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime,
who
shall
flee from Justice, and be found
in another
State,
shall on
Demand
of the executive Authority of the State from which he
fled,
be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the
Crime.
No Person held to Service or Labour
in one State, under the Laws
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regu-
lation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be
delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may
be due.
Section.
3. New States may be
admitted by the
Congress
into
this
Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction
of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or
more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures
of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Constitution
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make
all needful
Rules
and
Regulations
respecting
the
Territory
or
other
Property
belonging to the United States; and nothing
in
this Constitution
shall
be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of
any particular State.
Section.
4. The United States
shall guarantee
to every State
in
this
Union
a Repubhcan Form of Government, and
shall
protect each of
them against Invasion; and on Application of -the Legislature, or of the
Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic
Violence.
%xX\tXz. V.
The
Congress, whenever two
thirds
of both Houses
shall deem
it
necessary,
shall propose Amendments
to
this
Constitution, or, on the
Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall
call a Convention
for proposing Amendments, which,
in
either
Case,
shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of
this Constitution,
when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States,
or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode
of
Ratification may be
proposed by the Congress; Provided
that no
Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight
hundred and
eight
shall
in any Manner
affect
the
first and
fourth
Clauses in
the Ninth Section of the
first
Article; and that no
State,
without
its Consent,
shall be deprived
of
it's equal Suffrage
in
the
Senate.
l^icticXje. VI.
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adop-
tion
of
this
Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States
under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the Laws
of the United States which shall
be made in Pursuance thereof; and
all Treaties made, or which shall be
made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme
Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby,
any Thing in the
Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary
notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members
of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers,
both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test
shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust
under the United States.
^xixcXz.
VII.
The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient
for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying
the Same.
The Word, "the," being inter-
lined between the seventh and
eighth Lines of the
first Page,
The
Word
"Thirty"
being
partly written on an Erazure in
the fifteenth Line of the
first
Page, The Words
"is
tried"
being
interlined
between
the
thirty second and thirty third
Lines of the first Page and the
Word "the" being interlined
between
the
forty
third and
forty fourth Lines of the second
Page.
Attest William Jackson Secretary
Ciout in Convention by the Unanimous Con-
sent
of
the
States
present
the
Seventeenth
Day of September
in
the Year of
our Lord
one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven
and of the Independance of the United States
of America the Twelfth %U wrtttXjeSB whereof
We have hereunto subscribed our Names,
New Hampshire
GP WASHINGTON—Presidt
and deputy from Virginia
f John Langdon
>
1 Nicholas Oilman f
Massachusetts
f Nathaniel Gorham
iRuFus King
Connecticut
New York
New Jersey
fW^ Sam^ Johnson
I Roger Sherman
Alexander Hamilton
iWlL:
lylVINGSTON
David Brearley.
W^ Paterson.
JonA: Dayton
Pensylvania
B Franklin
Thomas Mifflin
Rob'"' Morris
Geo. Clymer
Tho® FitzSimons
JarED iNGERSOLt
James Wilson
Gouv Morris
The Constitution
fGKo: Read
j Gunning Bedford jun
Delaware
John Dickinson
Richard Bassett
[jACo: Broom
i
James M^Henry
Dan of S^ Tho^ Jenifer
Dan^ Carroll,
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
J John Blair—
IJames Madison
Jr.
IW^
Blount
RlCH° DOBBS SpAIGHT,
Hu Williamson
I
J. RUTLEDGE
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Charles Pinckney
Pierce Butler.
r William Few
IAbr Baldwin
Jtt dPotXXrjetttiOtX Monday September
17^^
1787.
Present
The States of
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
M-^ Hamilton from New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware. Maryland, Virgmia. North
CaroHna, South Carolina and Georgia.
That the preceeding Constitution be laid before the United States
in Congress assembled, and that
it
is the Opinion of this Convention,
that
it should afterwards be submitted
to a Convention of Delegates,
chosen in each State by the People thereof, under the Recommendation
of
its Legislature, for their Assent and Ratification; and that each Con-
vention assenting to, and ratifying the Same, should give Notice thereof
to the United States in Congress assembled.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
Resolved,
That
it
is the Opinion of
this Convention, that as soon
a^
the Conventions of nine States shall have ratified this Constitution, the
United States in Congress assembled should fix a Day on which Electors
should be appointed by the States which shall have ratified
the same,
and a Day on which the Electors should assemble to vote for the
Presi-
dent, and
the Time and Place for commencing Proceedings under this
Constitution.
That
after such Publication the Electors should be ap-
pointed, and the Senators and Representatives elected: That the Elect-
ors should meet on the Day fixed for the Election of the President, and
should transmit their Votes certified, signed, sealed and directed, as the
Constitution requires, to the Secretary of the United States
in Congres-
assembled, that the Senators and Representatives should convene at the
Time and Place assigned;
that the Senators should appoint a President
of the Senate, for the sole Purpose of
receiving, opening and counting
the Votes for President;
and, that after he shall be chosen, the Congress,
together with the President, should, without Delay, proceed to execute
this Constitution.
By the Unanimous Order of the Convention
GO WASHINGTON Presid'
W. Jackson Secretary.
Articles in addition
to, and Amendment
of
the Constitution of
the
United
States
of America, proposed by Congress, and
ratified
by
the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article
of the
original Constitution.
[^xXiclz
1.1
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the
free exercise
thereof;
or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
A well regulated
Militia, being necessary to the security of a
free
State,
the
right
of the people
to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be
infringed.
The Constitution
[^vticXe
III.]
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without
the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner
to
be,
prescribed by law.
IJivtijcXe IV.]
The right of the people to be secure in their" persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seiz\n-es, shall not be vio-
lated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by
Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched,
and the persons or things to be seized.
[J^rttjcXe v.]
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in
cases arising
in the land or naval
forces, or
in the
Militia, when
in
actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be
subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of
life or limb;
nor
shall 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.
[JitticXe VL]
In
all criminal prosecutions, the accused
shall enjoy the right
to a
speedy and pubUc
trial, by an impartial jury of the State and
district
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have
been previously ascertained by law, and
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 the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
[J^vtijcXje VII.]
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact
tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United
States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
[^vticXe VIII.)
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor
?ruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
(Article
IX.]
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
[^rticXjc X.]
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.
llixticXc XI.)
The Judicial power of the United States
shall not be construed to
extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against
one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or
Subjects of any Foreign State.
\%x\x€iz XII.1
The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote b}^ ballot
for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an
inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their
ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the per-
son voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct
lists of all
persons voted
for as
President, and of
all
persons voted
for as Vice-
President, and of the number of votes for each, which
lists they shall
sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the
United States, directed to the President of the Senate;—The President of
the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representa-
tives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;—The
person having the greatest number of votes for President,
shall be the
President, if such number be a majority of the whole ntunber of Electors
appointed
; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons
having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the
list of those
The Constitution
voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose imme-
diatel}^ by ballot,
the President.
But in choosing the President, the
votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having
one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or mem-
bers from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall
be necessary to a choice.
And if the House of Representatives shall not
choose a President whenever
the
right of choice
shall
devolve upon
them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-
President
shall act as
President, as
in the case of the death or other
constitutional disability of the President.—^The person having the great-
est number of votes as Vice-President,
shall be the Vice-President,
if
such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed,
and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on
the hst, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the
purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and
a majority of
the whole number shall be necessary to a choice.
But
no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President
shall be
eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.
J^rtijcle Xin.
Section
i .
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a pun-
ishment
for crime whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their juris-
diction.
Section.
2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro-
priate legislation.
l^vtijcXje XIV.
Section
i.
All persons bom or naturalized in the United States, and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and
of the State wherein they reside.
No State shall make or enforce any
law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of
life, liberty, or
propert}^, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section
2.
Representatives
shall
be
apportioned
among
the
several
States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number
of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.
But when the
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
right to vote at any election for the choice of elector? for President and
Vice President
of
the United
States, Representatives
in
Congress, the
Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of
the Legis-
lature
thereof,
is denied to any of
the male inhabitants of such
State,
being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in
any way abridged, except for participation
in rebellion, or other crime,
the basis of representation
therein
shall be reduced
in
the proportion
which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number
of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section
3. No person
shall
be a Senator or
Representative
in Con-
gress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil
or
military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having
previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of
the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an exec-
utive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the
United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion
against
the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
But Congress
may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section
4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, author-
ized by law,
including
debts
incurred
for payment
of
pensions and
bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not
be questioned.
But neither the United States nor any State shall assume
or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion
against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of
any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal
and void.
Section
5. The Congress shall have power to
enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article.
^vtijcXe XV.
Section
i. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account
of race, color, or previous condition of servitude
Section
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation
Note.—For the XVlth and XVIIth Amendments see Encyclopedic
Index article entitled Amendments.
George Washington
April 30, 1789, to March 4, 1797
SEE ENCYCLOPEDIC INDEX.
The Encyclopedic Index is not only an index to theother vouutics not only a key that
unlocks the treasures of the entire publication, but it is in Uself an ^^^'P^abet^caly^^^^^^
brief history or story of the great controlling events constituting tne History of the United
^^""^
Under
its proper alphabetical classification the story
is told of every great subject
referred to by any of the Presidents in their official Messages, and at the end of each article
the official utterances of the Presidents themselves are cited upon tne subject
so that you
may readilv turn to the page in the body of the work itself for this original information
Next to the possession of knowledge is the ability to turn at will to where knowledge
is to be found.
HOME, ON THE POTOMAC, OF THE PARENTS OF
GEORGE WASHINGTON
With
official
portrait engraved from copy
of original
in
steel
George Washington
Gborgb; Washington was born
at Bridges Creek, on the Potomac
River, in Westmoreland County, Va., on the
226. day of February (or
nth, old
style),
1732,
Augustine Washington, his
father, was a son
of Lawrence Washington,
whose
father, John Washington, came
to
Virginia from England in 1657, and settled at Bridges Creek. ."Augus-
tine Washington died in 1743, leaving several children, George being
the eldest by his second wife, Mary Ball.
At the early age of 19 years
he was appointed adjutant-general of one of the
districts of Virginia,
with the rank of major.
In November, 1753, he was sent by I^ieutenant-
Governor Dinwiddle, of Virginia, to visit the French army in the Ohio
Valley on important business.
War followed, and in 1754 he was pro-
moted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and engaged in the war.
In
1755 he acted as aid-de-camp to General Braddock.
Soon after this he
was appointed by the legislature commander in chief of all the forces of
the Colony, and for three years devoted himself to recruiting and organ-
izing troops for her defense.
In 1758 he commanded a successful expe-
dition to Fort Du Quesne.
He then left the Army, and was married to
Mrs. Martha Custis, a widow lady of Virginia.
For sixteen years he
resided at Mount Vernon,
occasionally acting as a magistrate or as a
member of the
legislature.
He was
a
delegate
to
the Williamsburg
convention, August, 1773, which resojved that taxation and representa-
tion were inseparable.
In 1 774 he was sent to the Continental Congress
as a delegate from Virginia.
The following year he was unanimously
chosen commander in
chief, and assumed the command
of the Conti-
nental Army July 2, 1775.
He commanded the armies throughout the
War for Independence.
At the close he resigned his commission, De-
cember 23, 1783, and retired to private life.
He was a delegate to, and
president
of, the National Convention which met in Philadelphia, Pa.,
in May, 1787, and adopted a new Constitution, that greatly increased
the power of the Federal Government.
He was unanimously elected the
first President of the United States, and was inaugurated on the 30th
of April, 1789, in New York City, and at the end of his
first term was
unanimously reelected.
He
retired March 4, 1797, having
declined a
third
term.
In September,
1796, he issued
his Farewell Address
to
the people.
July 3, 1798, he was again appointed to the command of the
armies of the United States, with the rank of lieutenant-general.
He
was a Freemason, and served as master of his lodge.
He died at Mount
Vernon, Va.,
after a short illness, December 14,
i799, and was buried
there.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
PROCEEDINGS INITIATORY TO THE FIRST
PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION.
[From the Washington Papers (Rxecutive Proceedings, vol. 17), Department of State.]
Charles Thomson, esq.
, Secretary of the late Congress, being appointed
by the Senate of the United States to carry to General Washington the
official information of his unanimous election to the office of President
of the Urnted States of America, arrived at Mount Vernon on the 14th
day of April, A. D.
1789, when he communicated to General Washing-
ton the purport of his mission in the following words
:
Sir:
The
President
of
the Senate chosen
for the
special purpose,
having opened and counted the votes of the electors in presence of the
Senate and House of Representatives, I was honored with the commands
of the Senate to wait upon Your Excellency with the information of your
being elected to the office of President of the United States of America.
This commission was intrusted to me on account of my having been long
in the confidence of the late Congress, and charged with the duties of
one of the principal civil departments of Government.
I have now,
sir, to inform you that the proofs you have given of your
patriotism, and
of your readiness to sacrifice domestic ease and private
enjoyments to preser\^e the happiness of your country, did not permit the
two Houses to harbor a doubt of your undertaking this great and impor-
tant
office, to which you are called, not only by the unanimous vote of
the electors, but by the voice of America.
I have
it, therefore,
in command
to accompany you
to New Ycrk,
where the Senate and House of Representatives are convened
for the
dispatch of public business.
To which General Washington replied
:
Sir:
I have been accustomed to pay so much respect to the opinion of
my fellow-citizens that the knowledge of their having given their unan-
imous suffrages in my favor scarcely leaves me the alternative
for an
option.
I can not, I believe, give a greater evidence of my sensibility of
the honor which they have done me than by accepting the appointment.
I am so much affected by this fresh proof of my country's esteem and
confidence that silence can best explain my gratitude.
While I realize
the arduous nature of the task which is imposed upon me, and
feel my
own
inability
to perform
it,
I wish, however,
that there may not be
reason for regretting the choice,
for, indeed,
all I can promise is only to
accomplish that which can be done by an honest zeal.
Upon considering how long time some of the gentlemen of both Houses
of Congress have been at New York, how anxiously desirous they must
George Washington
be to proceed to business, and bow deeply the public mind appears to be
impressed with the necessity of doing it speedily,
I can not find myself
at
liberty to delay my journey.
I shall therefore be in readiness to set
out the c^ay after to-morrow, and shall be happy in the pleasure of your
company, for you will permit me to say that it is a peculiar gratification
to have received the communication from you.
OFFICIAL INFORMATION OF THE ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT OF
THE UNITED STATES, APRIL
6,
1789.
Be it known that the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America, being convened in the city and State of New York,
this 6th day of April, A. I). 1789, the underwritten, appointed President
of the Senate for the sole purpose of receiving, opening, and counting the
votes of the electors, did, in the presence of the said Senate and House
of Representatives, open all the certificates and count all tft votes of the
electors for a President and Vice-President, by which
it appears that
His Excellency George Washington, esq.
, was unanimously elected, agree-
ably to the
Constitution, to the
ofl&ce of President of the said United
States of America.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal.
JOHN I.ANGDON.
Mount Vernon, April 14., 1789.
To the Honorable John Langdon,
President pro tempore of the Senate of the United States.
Sir:
I had the honor to receive your of&cial communication, by the
hand of Mr.
Secretary Thomson,
about
i
o'clock
this
day.
Having
concluded to obey the important and flattering call of my country, and
having been impressed with an idea of the expediency of my being with
Congress at as early a period as possible,
I propose
to commence my
journey on Thursday morning, which will be the day after to-morrow.
I have the honor
to
be, with sentiments of esteem,
sir,
your most
otiedient servant,
„
GO WASHINGTON.
RESOLVE OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES RESPECTING
MR. OSGOOD'S PREPARING HIS HOUSE FOR THE RECEPTION OF
the president of the united states.
United States of America.
In Senate, April 15, 1789.
The committee to whom it was referred to consider of and report to
the House respecting the ceremonial of receiving the President, and to
whom also was referred a letter from the chairman of a committee of the
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
Senate to the Speaker, communicating an instruction from that House
to a committee
thereof
to report
if
any and what arrangements are
necessary
for the reception of the Vice-President, have agreed to the
following report
:
That Mr. Osgood, the proprietor of the house lately occupied by the
President of Congress, be requested to put the same and the furniture
thereof in proper condition for the residence and use of the President of
the United States, and otherwise, at the expense of the United States,
to provide for his temporary accommodation.
That
it will be more eligible, in the
first instance, that a committee
of three members from the Senate and five members from the House of
Representatives, to be appointed by the two Houses respectively, attend
to receive the President at such
place as he shall embark from New
Jersey for this city, and conduct him without form to the house lately
occupied by the President of Congress, and at such time thereafter as
the President shall signify
it will be most convenient
for him, he be
formally received by both Houses.
Read and accepted.
In Senate, April 16, lySg.
The Senate proceeded by ballot to the choice of a committee, agreeably
to the report of the committee of both Houses agreed to the 15th instant,
when the Honorable Mr. lyangdon, the Honorable Mr. Carroll, and the
Honorable Mr. Johnson were chosen.
A true copy from the Journals of the Senate.
Attest:
SAM.
A. OTIS,
Secretary.
RESOLVE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED
STATES RESPECTING MR. OSGOOD'S PREPARING HIS HOUSE FOR
the reception of the president of the united states.
In the House of Representatives
OP THE United States,
Wednesday , April i^, 1789.
Mr. Benson reported from the committee to whom
it was referred to
consider of and report to the House respecting the ceremonial of receiv-
ing the
President,
and
to whom was
also
referred a
letter from
the
chairman of a committee of the Senate to the Speaker, communicating
an instruction from that House to a committee thereof to report
if any
and what arrangements
are necessary
for
the
reception
of the Vice-
President, that the committee had, according to order, considered of the
same, and had agreed to a report thereupon, which he delivered in at
George Washington
the Clerk's table, and where the same was thrice read, and the question
put thereupon agreed to by the House as followeth
:
That Mr. Osgood, the proprietor of the house lately occupied by the
President of Congress, be requested to put the same and the furniture
therein in proper order for the residence and use of the President of the
United States, and otherwise,
at the expense of the United States, to
provide for his temporary accommodation.
That it will be most eligible, in the first instance, that a committee of
three members from the Senate and
five members from the House of
Representatives, to be appointed by the Houses respectively, attend to
receive the President at such place as he shall embark from New Jersey
for this city, and conduct him without form to the house lately occupied
by the President of Congress, and that at such time thereafter as the
President shall signify it will be most convenient for him, he be formally
received by both Houses.
Extract from the Journal.
JOHN BBCKI.EY,
Clerk.
RESOLVE OF THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES
RESPECTING A
COMMITTEE TO MEET THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
In the House of Representatives
OF THE United States,
Wednesday, April i^, 17S9.
Resolved, That it will be most ehgible, in the first instance, that a com-
mittee of three members from the Senate and
five members from the
House of Representatives, to be appointed by the Houses respectively,
attend to receive the President at such place as he shall embark from
New Jersey for this city, and conduct him without form to the house
lately occupied by the President
of Congress, and
that
at such
time
thereafter as the President shall signify, he be formally received by both
Houses.
Thursday, April 16, lySg.
The committee elected on the part of this House, Mr. Boudinot, Mr.
Bland, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Benson, and Mr. Lawrance.
Extract from the Journal.
JOHN BECKLEY,
Clerk.
REQUEST OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY CONGRESS TO KNOW
WHEN THEY SHOULD MEET THE PRESIDENT.
The committee appointed in consequence of the resolutions of both
Houses of Congress, and which accompany this note, most respectfully
communicate their appointment to the President of the United States,
with a request that he will please to have
it signified to them vhen they
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
shall attend, with a barge which has been prepared for that purpose, to
receive him at Elizabeth Town, or at such other place as he shall choose
to embark from New Jersey for this city.
New York, April //, 1789.
JOHN LANGDON.
CHARLES CARROLL, of Carrollton.
WM. vSAMUEL JOHNSON.
ELIAS BOUDINOT.
THEODORICK BLAND.
THOS. TUDR. TUCKER.
EGBT. BENSON.
JOHN LAWRANCE.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS RESPECTING THE TIME OF THE
PRESIDENT MEETING THEM AT ELIZABETH TOWN.
Phii^adelphia, April 20, lySg.
Gentlemen
: Upon my arrival in this city I received your note, with
the resolutions of the two Houses which accompanied
it, and in answer
thereto beg leave to inform you that, knowing how anxious both Houses
must be to proceed to business,
I shall continue my journey dispatch as
possible.
To-morrow evening
I
purpose
to be
at Trenton,
the night
following at Brunswick, and hope to have the pleasure of meeting you
at Elizabeth Town point on Thursday at 12 o'clock.
GO WASHINGTON.
LETTER FROM THE HONORABLE ELIAS BOUDINOT.
New York, April 21, 1789.
His Excellency George Washington, Esq.
Sir: The committee have just received Your Excellency's letter of the
20th, and will be at Elizabeth Town on Thursday morning.
I must beg Your Excellency will alight at my house, where the com-
mittee will attend, and where
it will give me (in a particular manner)
. the utmost pleasure to receive you.
I have the honor to be, with the most profound respect, sir, your most
obedient and very humble servant,
ELIAS BOUDINOT.
LETTER FROM THE HONORABLE ELIAS BOUDINOT, APRIL 23,
1789.
Elizabeth Town, Wednesday Evening.
His Excellency George Washington, Esq.
Sir
:
I have the honor of informing Your Excellency that the commit-
tees of both Houses arrived here this afternoon, and will be ready to
George Washington
receive Your Excellency at my house
as soon
as you can
arrive here
to-morrow morning.
If you,
sir, will honor us with your company at breakfast,
it will give
us great pleasure.
We shall wait Your Excellency's arrival in hopes of
that gratification.
You can have a room to dress in, if you should think
it necessary, as convenient as you can have it in town.
I
have
the honor
to be Your
Excellency's
most
obedient humble
servant,
ELIAS BOUDINOT
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OE CONGRESS RESPECTING THE TIME
OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE PRESIDENT.
In ths House of Representatives
OF THE United States,
Saturday, April 25, lySp.
Mr. Benson, from the committee appointed
to consider of the time,
place, and manner in which, and of the person by whom, the oath pre-
scribed by the Constitution shall be administered to the President of the
United States, and to confer with a committee of the Senate, appointed
for the purpose, reported as foUoweth:
That the President hath been pleased to signify to them that any time
or place which both Houses may think proper to appoint and any man-
ner which
shall appear most
eligible to them will
be convenient and
acceptable to him.
That requisite preparations can not probably be made before Thursday
next;
that the President be on that day formally received in the Senate
Chamber;
that the Representatives' Chamber being capable of receiving
the greater number of persons, that therefore the President do take the
oath
in that place and in the presence of both Houses;
that after the
formal reception of the President in the Senate Chamber he be attended
by botti Houses to the Representatives' Chamber, and that the oath be
administered by the chancellor of this State.
The committee further report
it as their opinion that
it will be proper
that a committee of both Houses be appointed
to take order for further
conducting the ceremonial.
The said report was twice read, and on the question put thereupon
was agreed to by the House.
Ordered, That Mr. Benson, Mr. Ames, and Mr. Carroll be a committee
on tlie part of this House pursuant to the said report.
Extract from the Journal.
JOHN BECKLEY,
Clerk.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
REPORT
OF THE
COMMITTEE
OF
CONGRESS
TO
THE
SENATE
RESPECTING THE TIME OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE PRESI-
DENT.
United States of America,
In
Senate, April 2^, 1789.
The committee appointed to consider of the time, place, and manner
in which and of the person by whom the oath prescribed by the Consti-
tution shall be administered
to the President of the United States, and
to confer with a committee of the House appointed
for that purpose,
report:
That the President hath been pleased to signify to them that any time
or place which both Houses may think proper to appoint and any manner
which shall appear most eligible to them will be convenient and accept-
able to him; that requisite preparations can not probably be made before
Thursday next;
that the President be on that day formally received in
the Senate Chamber b}'" both Houses;
that the Representatives' Chamber
being capable of receiving the greater number of persons, that therefore
the President do take the oath in that place in presence of both Houses;
that after the formal reception of the President
in the Senate Chamber
he be attended
b}^ both Houses to the Representatives' Chamber, and
that the oath be administered by the chancellor of this State.
The committee further report it as their opinion that it will be proper
that a committee of both Houses be appointed to take order for conduct-
ing the ceremonial.
Read and accepted.
And Mr. Lee, Mr. Izard, and Mr. Dalton, on the part of the Senate,
together with the committee that may be appointed on the part of the
House, are empowered to take order for conducting the business.
A true copy from the Journals of Senate.
In Senate, April 27, 1789.
The committees appointed to take order for conducting the ceremonial
of the formal reception,
etc. , of the President report that
it appears to
them more eligible that the oath should be administered to the President
in the outer gallery adjoining the Senate Chamber than in the Repre-
sentatives' Chamber, and therefore submit to the respective Houses the
propriety of authorizing their committees
to take order as to the place
whex-e the oath shall be administered to the President, the resolutions
of Saturday assigning the Representatives' Chamber as the place not-
withstanding.
Read and accepted.
A true copy from the Jovurnals of the Senate.
SAM. A. OTIS, Secretary.
George Washington
ORDER FOR CONDUCTING THE CEREMONIAL FOR THE INAUGURA-
TION OF THE PRESIDENT.
The committees of both Houses of Congress appointed to take order
for conducting the ceremonial for the formal reception, etc.
, of the Presi-
dent of the United States on Thursday next have agreed to the following
order thereon, viz
:
That General Webb, Colonel Smith, Lieutenant-Colonel Fish, Major
Franks, Major L,' Enfant, Major Bleeker, and Mr. John R. Ivivingston be
requested to serve as assistants on the occasion.
That a chair be placed in the Senate Chamber for the President.
That a chair be placed in the Senate Chamber for the Vice-President,
to the right of the President's chair, and that the Senators take their
seats on that side of the Chamber on which the Vice-President's chair
shall be placed.
That a chair be placed in the Senate Chamber for the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
left of the President's
chair, and that the Representatives take their seats on that side of the
Chamber on which the Speaker's chair shall be placed.
That seats be pro\dded in the Senate Chamber suflScient to accommo-
date the late President of Congress, the governor of the Western Terri-
tory, the
five persons being the heads
of the great Departments, the
minister plenipotentiary of France, the encargado de negocios of Spaiii,
the chaplains of Congress, the persons in the suite of the President, and
also to accommodate the following public officers of the State, viz: The
governor,
Heutenant-governor, the chancellor, the chief
justice of the
supreme court and other judges thereof, and the mayor of the city.
That one of the assistants wait on these gentlemen and inform them
that seats are provided for their accommodation, and also to signify to
them that no precedence of seats is intended, and that no salutation
is
expected from them on their entrance into or their departure from the
Senate Chamber.
That the members of both Houses assemble in their respective cham-
bers precisely at
12 o'clock, and that the Representatives, preceded by
their Speaker and attended by their Clerk and other
officers, proceed
to the Senate Chamber, there to be received by the Vice-President and
Senators rising.
That the committees attend the President from his residence to the
Senate Chamber, and that he be there received by the Vice-President,
the Senators and Representatives rising, and by the Vice-President con-
ducted to his chair.
That
after the President shall be seated in his chair and the Vice-
President,
Senators,
and
Representatives
shall
be
again
seated,
the
Vice-President shall announce
to the President that the members of
both Houses
will attend him
to be present
at
his taking the oath of
office required by the Constitution.
Messages and Papers of the Presidefits
To the end that the oath of
office may be administered to the Presi-
dent
in the most pubhc manner and that the greatest number of the
people of the United States, and without distinction, may be witnesses to
the solemnity, that therefore the oath be administered in the outer gal-
lery adjoining to the Senate Chamber.
That when the President shall proceed to the gallery to take the oath
he be attended by the Vice-President, and be followed by the chancellor
of the State, and pass through the middle door;
that the Senators pass
through the door on the right, and the Representatives pass through the
door on the
left, and such of the persons who may have been admitted
into the Senate Chamber and may be desirous to go into the gallery are
then also to pass through the door on the right.
That when the President shall have taken the oath and returned into
the Senate Chamber, attended by the Vice-President, and shall be seated
in
his
chair,
that Senators and
Representatives
also
return
into
the
Senate Chamber, and
that
the Vice-President and they resume
their
respective seats.
That when the President
retire from the Senate Chamber he be con
ducted by the Vice-President to the door, the members of both Houses
rising, and that he be there received by the committees and attended to
his residence.
That immediately as the President shall retire the Representatives do
also return from the Senate Chamber to their own.
That
it be intrusted to the assistants to take proper precautions for
keeping the avenues to the hall open, and for that purpose they wait on
his excellency the governor of
this State, and in the name of the com-
mittees request his aid by an order or recommendation to the civil officers
or militia of the city to attend and serve on the occasion as he shall
judge most proper,
RESOLVE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES UPON THE REPORT
OP THE COMMITTEE RESPECTING THE INAUGURATION OF THE
PRESIDENT.
In the House of Representatives
OF THE United States,
Monday, April 2'/, ijSg.
Mr. Benson, from the committee of both Houses appointed
to take
order for conducting the ceremonial of the formal reception of the Presi-
dent of the United States, reported as foUoweth:
That it appears to the committee more eligible that the oath should be
administered to the President in the outer gallery adjoining the Senate
Chamber than in the Representatives' Chamber, and therefore submits
to the respective Houses the propriety of authorizing their committees
to take order as to the place where the oath shall be administered to the
George Washington
President,
the
resolutions
of
Saturday
assigning
the Representatives'
Chamber as the place not^\athstandinfir.
The said report being twice read,
Resolved, That this House doth concur in the said report and author-
ize the committee to take order for the change of place thereby proposed.
Extract from the Journal.
JOHN BECKLEY,
Clerk.
FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
April
30,
1789.
Fsllow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
Among the vicissitudes incident
to
life no event could have
filled
me with
greater
anxieties
than
that
of which
the
notification was
transmitted by yotu* order, and received on the 14th day of the present
month.
On
the
one hand,
I was summoned by my country, whose
voice
I can never hear but with veneration and
love, from a
retreat
which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering
hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years
a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as moie
dear to me by the addition of habit to incHnation, and of frequent inter-
ruptions
in my health to the gradual waste committed on
it by time.
On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which
the voice
of my country called me, being sufficient
to awaken
in the
wisest and most experienced of her
citizens a distrustful scrutiny into
his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who
(inheriting inferior endowments from
nature and
unpracticed
in
the
duties of
civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of
his
own deficiencies.
In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that
it
has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation
of every circiunstance by which
it might be affected.
All I dare hope
is that
if, in executing
this task,
I have been too much swayed by a
grateful remembrance of former instances,
or by an affectionate sensi-
bility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens,
and have thence too
little consulted my incapacity as well as disincli-
nation for
the weighty and untried
cares before me, my error will be
palliated by the motives which mislead me, and
its consequences be
judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they
originated.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
Such being the impressions under which I have,
in obedience to the
pubHc summons, repaired to the present station,
it would be peculiarly
improper to omit in this first ofiScial act my fervent supplications to that
Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils
of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect,
that His benediction may consecrate to the
liberties and happiness of
the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves
for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed
in
its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to
his charge.
In tendering this homage
to
the Great Author
of
every
public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments
not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large
less than
either.
No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible
Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United
States.
Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an
independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some
token of
providential agency; and in the important
revolution just accomplished
in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and
voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event
has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most govern-
ments have been established without some return of pious gratitude,
along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past
seem to presage.
These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have
forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed.
You will
join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence
of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspi-
ciously commence.
By the article establishing the executive department
it
is made the
duty of the President
*
' to recommend to your consideration such meas-
ures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."
The circumstances
under which
I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that
subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under
which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates
the objects to which your attention is to be given.
It will be more con-
sistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings
which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of par-
ticular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and
the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt
them.
In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that
as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor
party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which
ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests,
so, on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid
in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the pre-
eminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which
George Washington
can win the affections of
its citizens and command the respect of the
world.
I dwell on this prospect with ever>' satisfaction which an ardent
love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly
established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature
an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and
advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous
policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity;
since we
ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can
never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order
and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation
of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of
government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, 2i^finally, staked on
the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people.
Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with
your judgment
to decide how far an exercise of
the occasional power
delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution
is rendered expedient
at the present juncture by the nature
of objections which have been
urged against the system,
or by the degree
of
inquietude which has
given birth to them.
Instead
of undertaking particular recommenda-
tions on this subject, in which
I could be guided by no lights derived
from
oflScial opportunities,
I
shall again give way to my entire
con-
fidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good;
for I assure
myself
that whilst you
carefully avoid every
alteration which might
endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which
ought
to await the future lessons of
experience,
a
reverence for the
characteristic rights
of freemen and a regard for the public harmony
will sufl&ciently influence your deliberations on the question how far the
former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advanta-
geously promoted.
To the foregoing observations
I have one to add, which will be most
property addressed to the House of Representatives.
It concerns myself,
and will therefore be as brief as possible.
When
I was
first honored
with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve of an arduous
struggle
for
its
liberties,
the light
in which
I contemplated my duty
required that
I should renomice every pecuniruy compensation.
From
this resolution I have in no instance departed; and being still under the
impressions which produced
it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself
any
share
in
the
personal
emoluments which may be
indispensably
included
in
a permanent provision for the executive department, and
must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in
which I am placed may dinring my continuance in
it be limited to such
actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require.
Having
thus
imparted
to you my
sentiments
as they have
been
awakened by the occasion which brings us together,
I shall take my
present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
of the Human Race
in humble supplication
that,
since He has been
pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating
in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions
for deciding with
unparalleled
unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and
the advancement
of
their
happiness,
so His
divine
blessing may be
equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations,
and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must
depend.
ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir: We, the Senate
of the United
States, return you our sincere
thanks for your excellent speech delivered to both Houses of Congress,
congratulate you on the complete organization
of the Federal Govern-
ment, and felicitate ourselves and our fellow-citizens on your elevation
to the oflBce of
President, an office highly important by the powers con-
stitutionally annexed
to
it and extremely honorable from the manner
in which the appointment
is made.
The unanimous
suffrage of the
elective body in your favor
is
peculiarly expressive
of
the
gratitude,
confidence, and
aifection
of
the citizens of America, and is the highest
testimonial at once of your merit and their esteem.
We are sensible,
sir, that nothing but the voice of your fellow-citizens could have called
you from a
retreat chosen with the fondest predilection, endeared by
habit, and consecrated to the repose
of declining
years.
We rejoice,
and with us
all America, that in obedience to the call of our common
country you have returned once more to public life.
In you all parties
confide;
in you all interests unite; and we have no doubt that your past
services, great as they have been, will be equaled by your future exer-
tions, and that your prudence and sagacity as
a' statesman will tend to
avert the dangers
to which we were exposed,
to give
stability to the
present Government and
dignity and
splendor to that country which
your
skill and valor
as a
soldier so eminently contributed to raise to
independence and empire.
When we contemplate the coincidence of circumstances and wonder-
ful combination of causes which gradually prepared the people of
this
country for independence; when we contemplate the
rise, progress, and
termination of the late war, which gave them a name among the nations
of the earth, we are with you unavoidably led to acknowledge and adore
the Great Arbiter
of the Universe, by whom empires rise and fall.
A
review of the many signal
instances
of divine interposition in favor of
this country
claims our most
pious gratitude; and permit
us,
sir,
to
observe that among the great events which have led to the formation
and establishment of a Federal Government we esteem your acceptance
of the office of President as one of the most propitious and important.
George Washington
4 7
In
the execution
of
the
trust reposed
in
us we
shall endeavor to
pursue that enlarged and liberal policy to which your speech so happily
directs.
We
are conscious that the prosperity of each State
is insep-
arably connected with
the welfare
of
all, and
that
in promoting the
latter we
shall
effectually advance
the
former.
In
full persuasion
of
this
truth,
it
shall be our invariable aim
to
divest ourselves
of
local
prejudices and attachments, and
to view the great assemblage of com-
munities and interests committed to our charge with an equal eye.
We
feel,
sir, the force and acknowledge the justness of the observation that
the foundation of our national policy should be laid in private morality.
If
individuals be not
influenced by moral
principles,
it
is
in vain to
look for public virtue.
It is therefore the duty of legislators to enforce,
both by precept and example, the utility as well as the necessity of a
strict adherence to the rules of distributive justice.
We beg you to be
assured that the Senate will at all times cheerfully cooperate
in
every
measure which may strengthen the Union, conduce to the happiness or
secure and perpetuate the liberties of this great confederated Republic.
We commend you,
sir, to the protection of Almighty God, earnestly
beseeching Him long to preserve a life so valuable and dear to the people
of the United
States, and that your Administration may be prosperous
to the nation and glorious to yourself.
May
7, 1789.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Gentlemen:
I thank you for your address, in which the most affec-
tionate
sentiments
are expressed
in
the
most
obliging
terms.
The
coincidence of circumstances which led to this auspicious crisis, the con-
fidence reposed
in me by my fellow-citizens, and the assistance
I may
expect from counsels which will be dictated by an enlarged and liberal
policy seem to presage a more prosperous issue to my Administration
than a difiidence of my abilities had taught me to anticipate.
I now feel
myself inexpressibly happy in a
belief that Heaven, which has done so
inuch for our infant nation, will not withdraw its providential influence
before our political felicity shall have been completed, and in a conviction
that the Senate will at all times cooperate in every measure which may
tend to promote the welfare of
this confederated Republic.
Thus sup-
ported by a firm trust in the Great Arbiter of the Universe, aided by the
collected wisdom of the Union, and imploring the divine benediction on
our joint exertions in the service of our country,
I readily engage with
you in the arduous but pleasing task
of attempting to make a nation
happy.
G9 WASHINGTON.
May 18, 1789.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO GEORGE
WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir: The Representatives of the people of the United States present
their congratulations on the event by which your fellow-citizens have
attested the preeminence of your merit.
You have long held the first
place in their esteem.
You have often received tokens of their affection.
You now possess the only proof that remained of their gratitude for your
services, of their reverence for your wisdom, and of
their confidence in
your virtues.
You enjoy the highest, because the truest, honor of being
the first Magistrate by the unanimous choice of the freest people on the
face of the earth.
We well know the anxieties with which you must have obeyed a sum-
mons from the repose reserved for your declining years into public scenes,
of which you had taken your leave forever.
But the obedience was due
to the occasion.
It is already applauded by the universal joy which wel-
comes you to your station.
And we can not doubt that it will be rewarded
with all the satisfaction with which an ardent love for your fellow-citizens
must review successful efforts to promote their happiness.
This anticipation is not justified merely by the past experience of your
signal services.
It
is particularly suggested by the pious impressions
under which you commence your Administration and the enlightened
maxims by which you mean to conduct it.
We feel with you the strong-
est obligations to adore the Invisible Hand which has led the American
people through so many difl&culties, to cherish a conscious responsibility
for the destiny of republican liberty, and to seek the only sure means of
preserving and recommending the precious deposit in a system of legisla-
tion founded on the principles of an honest policy and directed by the
spirit of a diffusive patriotism.
The question arising out of the fifth article of the Constitution will
receive all the attention demanded by its importance, and will, we trust,
be decided under the influence of
all the considerations to which you
allude.
In forming the
pecuniary provisions
for the executive department
we shall not lose sight of a wish resulting from motives which give it a
peculiar claim to our regard.
Your resolution, in a moment critical to the
liberties of your country, to renounce all personal emolument, was among
the many presages of your patriotic services which have been amply ful-
filled; and your scrupulous adherence now to the law then imposed on
yourself can not
fail
to demonstrate the purity, whilst it increases the
luster, of a character which has so many titles to admiration.
Such are the sentiments which we have thought fit to address to you.
They flow from our own hearts, and we verily believe that among the
millions we represent there
is not a virtuous citizen whose heart will
disown them.
George Washington
All that remains
is that we join in our fervent supplications for the
blessings of Heaven on our country, and that we add our own for the
choicest of these blessings on the most beloved of her citizens.
May
5,
1789.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
' Gentlemen: Your very affectionate address produces emotions which
I know not how to express.
I feel that my past endeavors in the service
of my country are far overpaid by its goodness, and I fear much that my
future ones may not fulfill your kind anticipation.
All that I can prom-
ise is that they will be invariably directed by an honest and an ardent
zeal.
Of this resource my heart assures me.
For all beyond
I rely on
the wisdom and patriotism of those with whom
I am to cooperate and
a continuance of the blessings of Heaven on our beloved country.
G9 WASHINGTON.
May
8,
1789.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
New York, May 25, 1789.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
In pursuance of the order of the late Congress, treaties between the
United States and several nations of Indians have been negotiated and
Bigned.
These treaties, with sundry papers respecting them,
I now lay
before you, for your consideration and advice, by the hands of General
Knox, under whose ofiicial superintendence the business was transacted,
and
-v^jho will be ready to communicate to you any information on such
points as may appear to require it.
GO WASHINGTON.
New York, June ii, lySg.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
A convention between His Most Christian Majesty and the United
States, for the purposes
of determining and
fixing the functions and
prerogatives of their respective consuls, vice-consuls, agents, and com-
missaries, was signed by their respective plenipotentiaries on the 29th of
July,
1784.
It appearing to the late Congress that certain alterations in that con-
vention ought to be made, they instructed their minister at the Court of
France to endeavor to obtain them.
so
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
It has accordingly been altered
in several
respects, and as amended
was signed by the
plenipotentiaries of
the contracting powers on the
14th of November,
1788.
The sixteenth article provides that
it shall be in force during the term
of twelve years, to be counted from the day of the exchange of ratifica-
tions, which shall be given in proper form, and exchanged on both sides
within the space of one year, or sooner if possible.
I now lay before you the original by the hands of Mr. Jay for your
consideration and advice.
The papers relative to this negotiation are in
his custody, and he has my orders
to communicate to you whatever
official papers and information on the subject he may possess and you
may require.
GO WASHINGTON.
New York, fune is, 1789.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Mr. Jefferson, the present minister of the United States at the Court
of France, having
applied
* for
permission
to return home
for a feW
months, and
it appearing to me proper
to comply with
his request,
it
becomes necessary that some person be appointed
to take charge of oui
affairs at that Court dm-ing his absence.
For
this purpose
I nominate William Short, esq., and request youi
advice on the propriety of appointing him.
Theie are in the Office for Foreign Affairs papers which will acquaint
you with his character, and which Mr.
Ja}^ has my directions to lay
before you at such time as you may think proper to assign.
G9 WASHINGTON.
New York, August 6, 178p.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
My nomination of Benjamin Fishbourn for the place of naval officer
of the port of Savannah not having met with your concurrence,
I now
nominate Lachlan Mcintosh for that office.
Whatever may have been the reasons which induced your dissent, I am
persuaded they were such as you deemed sufficient.
Permit me to sub-
mit to your consideration whether on occasions where the propriety of
nominations appear questionable to you it would not be expedient to com-
municate that circumstance to me, and thereby avail yourselves of the
information which led me to make them, and which I would with pleasure
lay before you.
Probably my reasons
for nominating Mr. Fishbourn
may tend to show that such a mode of proceeding in such cases might
be useful.
I will therefore detail them.
First. While Colonel Fishbourn was an officer in actual service and
chiefly under my own eye, his conduct appeared to me irreproachable;
George Washington
5^
nor did I ever hear anything injurious to his reputation as an ofiScer or a
gentleman.
At the storm of Stony Point his behavior was represented
to have been
active and brave, and he was charged by his general to
bring the account of that success to the headquarters of the Army.
Secondly.
Since his residence in Georgia he has been repeatedly elected
to the assembly as a representative of the county of Chatham, in which
the port of Savannah is situated, and sometimes of the counties of Glynn
and Camden
; he has been chosen
a member of the executive council
of the State and has lately been president
of the same
; he has been
elected by the ofl&cers of the mihtia in the county of Chatham lieutenant-
colonel of
the militia in that district, and on a very recent occasion,
to wit, in the month of May last, he has been appointed by the council
(on the suspension of the late collector) to an office in the port of Savan-
nah nearly similar to that for which
I nominated him, which office he
actually holds at this time.
To these reasons for nominating Mr. Fish-
bourn I might add that I received private letters of recommendation and
oral testimonials
in his favor from some of the most respectable char-
acters in that State
; but as they were secondary considerations with
me,
I do not think it necessary to communicate them to you.
It appeared, therefore, to me that Mr. Fishbourn must have enjoyed
the confide7ice of the militia officers in order
to have been elected to a
military rank;
the confidence of the freemen to have been elected to the
assembly;
the confidence of the assembly to have been selected for the
council, and the co7ifidence of the council
to have been appointed
col-
lector of the port of Savannah.
GO WASHINGTON.
New York, August
7, 1789,
Gentlemen of the Senate:
The business which has hitherto been under the consideration of Con-
gress h^s been of
so much importance that
I was
unwilling
to draw
their attention from
it to any other
subject
; but the disputes which
exist between some of the United States and several powerful
tribes of
Indians within the hmits of the Union, and the hostilities which have
in several instances been committed on the frontiers, seem to require the
immediate interposition of the General Government.
I have therefore directed
the several statements and papers which
have been submitted to me on this subject by General Knox to be laid
before you for your information.
While the measures of Government ought to be calculated to protect
its citizens from all injury and violence, a due regard should be extended
to those Indian tribes v/hose happiness in the course
of events so mate-
rially depends on the national justice and humanity of the United States.
If
it should be the judgment of Congress that it would be most expe-
dient to terminate all differences in the Southern district, and to lay the
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
foundation for future confidence by an amicable treaty with the Indian
tribes in that quarter,
I think proper to suggest the consideration of the
expediency of instituting a temporary- commission for that purpose, to
consist of three persons, whose authority .should expire with the occasion.
How far such a measure, unassisted by posts, would be competent to the
establishment and preservation of peace and tranquillity on the frontiers
is also a matter which merits your serious consideration.
Along with
this object
I am induced
to suggest
another, with the
national importance and necessity of which
I am deeply impressed;
I
mean some uniform and
effective system for the mihtia of the United
States.
It
is unnecessary to
offer arguments in recommendation of a
measure on which
the honor, safety, and well-being of our country so
evidently and so essentially depend; but it may not be amiss to observe
that I am particularly anxious
it should receive as early attention as cir-
cumstances will admit, because
it is now in our power to avail ourselves
of the military knowledge disseminated throughout the several States by
means of the many well-instructed ofiicers and soldiers of the late Army,
a resource which
is
daily diminishing by death and other causes.
To
suffer
this peculiar advantage
to pass away unimproved would be
to
neglect an opportunity which will never again occur,
unless, unfortu-
nately, we should again be involved in a long and arduous war.
GO WASHINGTON
New York, August lo, 178g.
Genilemeji of the Seyiaie:
I have directed a statement of the troops in the service of the United
States to be laid before you for your information.
These troops were raised by virtue of the resolves of Congress of the
20th October, 1786, and the 3d of October, 1787, in order to protect the
frontiers from the
depredations of
the
hostile Indians,
to prevent
all
intrusions on the public lands, and to facilitate the surveying and seUing
of the same for the purpose of reducing the public debt.
As these important objects continue to require the aid of the troops, it
is necessary that the establishment thereof .should in all respects be con-
formed by law to the Constitution of the United States.
GO WASHINGTON.
New Yore, August 20, lySg.
Gentlemen of ike Senate:
In consequence of an act providing for the expenses which may attend
negotiations or treaties with the Indian tribes and the appointment of
commissioners for managing the same, I nominate Benjamin lyincoln as
one of three commissioners whom
I shall propose to be employed to
negotiate a treaty with the Southern Indians.
My reason for nominating
George Washington
him at this early moment is that it will not be possible for the public to
avail
itself of
his services on
this occasion unless his appointment can
be forwarded to him by the mail which will leave this place to-morrow
"°"'°S.
^ WASHINGTON.
New York, Aug^ist 21, 1789.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
The President of the United States will meet the Senate in the Senate
Chamber at
half past 11 o'clock to-morrow, to advise with them on the
terms of the treaty to be negotiated with the Southern Indians.
G9 WASHINGTON.
Skptember
16,
1789.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
The governor
of the Western territory has made a statement to me
of the reciprocal hostiHties of the Wabash Indians and the people inhab-
iting the frontiers bordering on the river Ohio, which I herewith lay
before Congress.
The United States in Congress assembled, by their acts of the 21st
day of July,
1787, and of the
12th August,
1788, made a provisional
arrangement for calling forth the militia of Virginia and Pennsylvania
in the proportions therein specified.
As the circumstances which occasioned the said arrangement continue
nearly the same, I think proper
to suggest
to your consideration the
expediency of making some temporary provision
for calhng forth the
mihtia of the United States for the purposes stated in the Constitution,
which would embrace the cases apprehended by the governor of the
Western territory.
^^ WASHINGTON.
September 17, 1789.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
It doubtless is important that all treaties and compacts formed by the
United States with other nations, whether civiHzed or not, should be
made with caution and executed with fidehty.
It is said to be the general understanding and practice of nations, as a
check on the mistakes and indiscretions of ministers or commissioners,
not to consider any treaty negotiated and signed by such officers as final
and conclusive until ratified by the sovereign or government from whom
they derive their powers.
This practice has been adopted by the United
States respecting their treaties with European nations, and I am inclined
to think it would be advisable to observe it in the conduct of our treaties
with the Indians;
for though such treaties, being on their part made by
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
their chiefs or rulers, need not be ratified by them, yet, being formed on
our part by the agency of subordinate officers, it seems to be both prudent
and reasonable that their acts should not be binding on the nation until
approved and ratified by the Government.
It strikes me that this point
should be well considered and settled, so that our national proceedings
in this respect may become uniform and be directed by fixed and stable
principles.
The treaties with certain Indian nations, which were laid before you
with my message of the 25th May last, suggested two questions to my
mind, viz
:
First, whether those treaties were to be considered as per-
fected and consequently as obligatory without being
ratified.
If not,
then secondly, whether both or either, and which, of them ought to be
ratified.
On these questions I request your opinion and advice.
You have,
indeed,
advised me
*
' to execute and enjoin an observance
of^'
the treaty with the Wyandottes, etc.
You, gentlemen,
doubtless
intended to be clear and explicit, and yet, without further explanation, I
fear
I may misunderstand your meaning, for
if by my executing that
treaty you mean that I should make it
(in a more particular and imme-
diate manner than it now is) the act of Government, then it follows that
I am to ratify it.
If you mean by my executing it that I am to see that
it be carried into effect and operation, then
I am led
to conclude either
that you consider it as being perfect and obligatory in
its present state,
and therefore to be executed and observed, or that you consider
it as to
derive its completion and obligation from the silent approbation and rati-
fication which my proclamation may be construed to imply.
Although
I am inclined to think that the latter
is your intention, yet
it certainly
is best that all doubts respecting it be removed.
Permit me to observe that
it will be proper for me to be informed of
your sentiments relative to the treaty with the Six Nations previous to
the departure
of the governor of the Western territory, and therefore
I recommend it to your early consideration.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, September 29, 1789.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
His Most Christian Majesty, by a
letter dated the 7th of June last,
addressed to the President and members of the General Congress of the
United States of North America, announces the much lamented death of
his son, the Dauphin.
The generous conduct of the French monarch
and nation toward this country renders every event that may affect his
or their prosper! t}'' interesting to us, and I shall take care to assure him
of the sensibihty with which the United States participate in the affliction
which a loss so much to be regretted must have occasioned both to him
and to them.
G9 WASHINGTON.
George Washington
United States, September 29, 1789.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Agreeably to the act of Congress for adapting the estabHshment of the
troops in public service to the Constitution of the United States, I nomi-
nate the persons specified
in the inclosed
list to be the commissioned
officers thereof.
This nomination
differs from the existing arrangement only in the
following
cases, to
wit
:
Lieutenant Erkuries
Beatty, promoted
to a
vacant captaincy in the infantry
; Ensign Edward Spear, promoted to
a vacant lieutenancy of artillery
; Jacob Melcher, who has been serving
as
a
volunteer, to
be an
ensign,
vice Benjamin Lawrence, who was
appointed nearly three years past and has never been mustered or joined
the troops.
It is to be observed that the order in which the captains and subalterns
are named
is not to affect their relative rank, which has been hitherto
but imperfectly
settled owing
to the perplexity of promotions
in the
State quotas conformably to the late Confederation.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, September 29, 1789.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Having been yesterday informed by a joint committee of both Houses
of Congress that they had agreed to a recess to commence this day and
to continue until the
first Monday of January next, I take the earliest
opportunity of acquainting you that, considering how long and laborious
this session has been and the reasons which
I presume have produced
this resolution,
it does not appear to me expedient to recommend any
measures to their consideration at present, or now to call your attention,
gentlernen, to any of those matters in my department which require your
advice and consent and yet remain to be dispatched.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, September 29, 1789.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
Having been yesterday informed by a joint committee of both Houses
of Congress that they had agreed to a recess to commence this day and
to continue until the first Monday of January
next,
I take the
earliest
opportunity of acquainting you that, considering how long and laborious
this session has been and the reasons which
I presume have produced
this resolution,
it does not appear to me expedient to recommend any
measvires to their consideration at present.
G9 WASHINGTON.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
PROCLAMATION.
A NATIONAL THANKSGIVING.
[From Sparks's Washington, Vol. XII, p. 119.]
Whereas
it is the duty of
all nations
to acknowledge the providence
of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful
for His benefits, and
humbly to implore His protection and favor; and
Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by
their
joint committee,
requested me
'
' to recommend to the people of the United States a day
of
public thanksgiving and prayer,
to be observed by acknowledging
with grateful
hearts the many and
signal
favors of Almighty God,
especially by
affording them an opportunity peaceably
to
establish a
form of government
for their safety and happiness:"
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day
of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the
service of that great and glorious Being who
is the beneficent author
of
all the good that was, that is, or that will
be;
that we may then
all
unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks
for His
kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their
becoming a nation;
for the signal and manifold mercies and the favop
able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of thes
late war;
for the great degree of
tranquillitj^ union, and plenty which
we have since enjoyed;
for the peaceable and rational manner in which
we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our
safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately insti-
tuted;
for the civil and
religious libertj'^ with which we are blessed, and
the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and,
in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased
to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our pray-
ers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech
Him
to pardon our national and other trangressions;
to enable us all,
whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and
rela-
tive duties properly and punctually;
to render our National Government
a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise,
just, and
constitutional
laws,
discreetly and
faithfully executed and
obeyed;
to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such
as have shown kindness to us), and
to bless them with good govern-
ments, peace, and concord;
to promote the knowledge and practice of
true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us;
and,
generally,
to grant unto
all mankind such a degree of temporal
prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October,
A. D. 1789.
G9 WASHINGTON.
WASHINGTON RANDOLPH KNOX NC HAMILTO. Ni JEFFERSO! NET THE FIRST CABI
THE FIRST CABINET
Knox and Randolph obeyed orders; Jefferson and Hamilton alone coun-
seled.
Judging by his
later
greatness, one would presume that Jefferson
dominated in the
first cabinet.
Not so; there was a stronger, cleaier, more
energetic character there,
in the person of Hamilton.
The financial policy
of the country, the funding of the State debts, the machinery of the executive
departments,
the
suppression
of
the Whiskey
Rebellion,—in
a
word,
all
those positive and far-reaching measures that make the first Administration
so great in our annals,—were achieved by Washington and Hamilton.
Jef-
ferson's constitutional scruples were uncontrollable
;
in his eyes the Federal
Government had no powers but those
specifically conferred by the States;
even the foimding of a military academy was unconstitutional; but Hamilton,
the man of action, chose to consider that the Federal Government had, either
by express declaration or implication, been given sufficient pov/er to be respect-
able in the eyes of men.
These two gathered about themselves partisans, Hamilton's being called
Federalists
and
Jefferson's
Republicans.
Washington
espoused
neither
party, but relied
chiefly on Hamilton for counsel, merely using Jefferson's
facile pen when he desired to put a handsome dress on his thoughts.
Hamilton's genius glows in the words of the Farewell Address, he having
elaborated and revised Washington's
first draft
of that immortal utterance.
See the articles
entitled " Assumption of State Debts," " Federalist Party,"
"Whiskey Insurrection," and "Republican Party," in the Encyclopedic Index.
George Washington
FIRST ANNUAL ADDRESS.
United States, Ja7iuary 8, 1790.
Fellow-Citisens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I embrace with great satisfaction the opportunity which now presents
itself
of congratulating you on the present
favorable prospects of our
public
affairs.
The recent accession of the important State of North
Carolina to the Constitution of the United States (of which official infor-
mation has been
received),
the
rising credit and
respectability of our
country, the general and increasing good will toward the Government
of the Union, and the concord, peace, and plenty with which we are
blessed are circumstances auspicious in an eminent degree to our national
prosperity.
In resuming your consultations for the general good you can not but
derive encouragement from the reflection that the measures of the
last
session have been as satisfactory to your constituents as the novelty and
difficulty of the work allowed you to hope.
Still further to realize their
expectations and to secure the blessings which a gracious Providence has
placed within our reach will
in
the course
of
the
present important
session
call
for
the
cool and
deliberate
exertion
of your
patriotism,
firmness, and wisdom.
Among the many interesting objects which will engage your attention
that of providing for the common defense will merit particular regard.
To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving
peace.
A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined;
to which
end a uniform and well-digested plan
is requisite
; and their safety and
interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend
to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military,
supplies.
The 'proper establishment of the troops which may be deemed indis-
pensable will be entitled to mature consideration.
In the arrangements
which may be made respecting
it
it will be of importance to conciliate
the comfortable support of the officers and soldiers with a due regard
to economy.
There was reason to hope that the pacific measures adopted with regard
to certain hostile tribes of Indians would have relieved the inhabitants of
our Southern and Western frontiers from their depredations, but you will
perceive from
the
information contained
in
the papers which
I shall
direct to be laid before you (comprehending a communication from the
Commonwealth
of
Virginia)
that we ought
to be
prepared to afford
protection
to those
parts
of
the Union,
and,
if
necessary,
to punish
aggressors.
The interests of the United States require that our intercourse with
5^
Messages and Papers of tJie Presidents
other nations should be facihtated by such provisions as will enable me
to fulfill my duty in that respect in the manner which circumstances may
render most conducive
to
the public
good, and
to
this end
that the
compensations to be made to the persons who may be employed should,
according to the nature of their appointments, be defined by law, and a
competent fund designated for defraying the expenses incident to the
conduct of our foreign affairs.
Various considerations also render it expedient that the terms on which
foreigners may be admitted to the rights of citizens should be speedily
ascertained by a uniform rule of naturalization.
Uniformity
in
the
currency,
weights,
and measures
of
the United
States
is an object of great importance, and
will,
I am persuaded, be
duly attended to.
The advancement of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures by all
proper means will
not,
I
trust, need recommendation; but
I can
not
forbear intimating to you the expediency of giving effectual encourage-
ment as well
to the
introduction
of new and useful inventions from
abroad
as
to
the exertions of
skill and genius in producing them
at
home, and of facilitating the intercourse between the distant parts of our
country by a due attention to the post-office and post-roads.
Nor am I less persuaded that you will agree with me in opinion that
there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the pro-
motion of science and
literature.
Knowledge
is in every country the
surest basis of public happiness.
In one in which the measures of gov-
ernment receive their impressions so immediately from the sense of the
communitj'- as in ours
it is proportionably essential.
To the security of
a free constitution
it contributes in various ways—by convincing those
who are intrusted with the public administration that every valuable end
of
government
is best answered, by the enlightened confidence
of the
people, and by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their
own rights;
to discern and provide against invasions of them;
to distin-
guish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authorit}^;
between burthens proceeding from a disregard to their convenience and
those resulting from the inevitable exigencies of society;
to discriminate
the
spirit
of
liberty from that
of licentiousness—cherishing the
first,
avoiding the last—and uniting a speedy but temperate vigilance against
encroachments, with an inviolable respect to the laws.
Whether this desirable object will be best promoted by affording aids
to
seminaries
of learning
already
established, by the
institution
of a
national university, or by any other expedients will be well worthy of
a place in the deliberations of the Legislature.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I saw with
peculiar pleasure
at
the
close
of the
last
session
the
resolution entered into by you expressive of your opinion that an ade-
George Washington
quate provision for the support of the public credit
is a matter of high
importance to the national honor and prosperity.
In this sentiment I
entirely concur
; and to a perfect confidence in your best endeavors to
devise such a provision as will be truly consistent with the end
I add an
equal
reliance on the cheerful cooperation
of the other branch of the
Legislature.
It would be superfluous to specify inducements to a meas-
ure in which the character and permanent interests of the United States
are so obviously and so deeply concerned, and which has received so
explicit a sanction from your declaration.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I have directed the proper ofl&cers to lay before you, respectively, such
papers and estimates as regard the affairs particularly recommended to
your consideration, and necessary to convey to you that information of
the state of the Union which
it is my duty to afford.
The welfare of our country is the great object to which our cares and
efforts ought to be directed, and
I shall
derive great satisfaction from
a cooperation with you in the pleasing though arduous task of insuring
to our fellow-citizens the blessings which they have a right to expect
from a free, efficient, and equal government.
G9 WASHINGTON.
ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES.
The President op the United States.
Sir: We, the Senate of the United States, return you our thanks for
your speech deHvered to both Houses of Cor^gress.
The accession of the
State of
• North Carolina to the Constitution of the United States gives
us much pleasure, and we offer you our congratulations on that event,
which
at the same time adds strength to our Union and affords a proof
that the more the Constitution has been considered the more the good-
ness of
it has appeared.
The information which we have received, that
the measures of the last session have been as satisfactory to our constitu-
ents as we had reason to expect from the difficulty of the work in which
we were engaged, will afford us much consolation and encovnagement in
resuming our deliberations
in the present session for the public good,
and every exertion on our part shall be made to realize and secure to our
country those blessings which a gracious Providence has placed within
her reach.
We are persuaded that one of the most effectual means of
preserving peace
is to be prepared for war, and our attention shall be
directed to the objects of common defense and to the adoption of such
plans as shall appear the most likely to prevent our dependence on other
6o
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
countries lor essential supplies.
In the arrangements to be made respect-
ing the establishment of such troops as may be deemed indispensable we
shall with pleasure provide
for the comfortable support of the ofiScers
and soldiers, with a due regard to economy.
We regret that the pacific
measures adopted by Government with regard to certain hostile tribes of
Indians have not been attended with the beneficial
effects toward the
inhabitants of our Southern and Western frontiers which we had reason
to hope; and we shall cheerfully cooperate in providing the most effectual
means
for
their protection,
and,
if
necessary,
for the punishment of
aggressors.
The uniformity of the currency and of weights and meas-
ures, the introduction of new and useful inventions from abroad and
the exertions of
skill and genius in producing them at home, the facili-
tating the communication between the distant parts of our country by
means of the
post-office and post-roads, a provision for the support of
the Department of Foreign Affairs, and a uniform rule of naturalization,
by which foreigners may be admitted to the rights of citizens, are objects
which shall receive such early attention as their respective importance
requires.
Literature and science are essential to the preservation of a
free constitution ;
the measures of Government should therefore be
cal-
culated to strengthen the confidence that is due to that important truth.
Agriculture, commerce,
and
manufactures,
forming
the
basis
of
the
wealth and strength of our confederated Republic, must be the frequent
subject of our deliberation, and shall be advanced by all proper means in
our power.
Public credit being an object of great importance, we shall
cheerfully
cooperate
in
all
proper
measures
for
its support.
Proper
attention
shall be given
to such papers and estimates as you may be
pleased to lay before us.
Our cares and efforts shall be directed to the
welfare of our country, and we have the most perfect dependence upon
your cooperating with us on
all
occasions
in such
measures
as
will
insure to our fellow-citizens the blessings which they have a right to
expect from a free, eflScient, and equal government,
January
ii,
1790.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Gentlemen:
I thank you for your address, and for the assurances
which it contains of attention to the several matters suggested by me to
your consideration.
Relying on the continuance of your exertions for the public good, I
anticipate for oiu: country the salutary effects of upright and prudent
counsels.
G9 WASHINGTON.
January 14, 1790.
George Washington
6i
ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO GEORGE
WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir: The Representatives of
the people
of
the United States have
taken into consideration yo\xx speech
to both Houses of Congress at the
opening of the present session.
We reciprocate your congratulations on the accession of the State of
North Carolina, an event which, while it is a testimony of the increasing
good will toward the Government
of the Union, can
not
fail
to give
additional dignity and strength to the American Republic, already rising
in the estimation of the world in national character and respectability.
The information that our measures of the last session have not proved
dissatisfactory'
to our constituents
affords
us much encouragement
at
this juncture, when we are resuming the arduous task of legislating for
so extensive an empire.
Nothing can be more gratifying to the Representatives of a free people
than the reflection that their labors are rewarded by the approbation of
their fellow-citizens.
Under this impression we shall make every exer-
tion to realize their expectations, and to secure to them those blessings
which Providence has placed within their reach.
Still prompted by the
same desire to promote their interests which then actuated us, we shall
in the present session
diligently and anxiously pursue those measures
which shall appear to us conducive to that end.
We concur with you in the sentiment that agriculture, commerce, and
manufactures are entitled to legislative protection, and that the promo-
tion
of science and
literature will contribute
to the security of a free
Government;
in the progress of our deliberations we shall not lose sight
of objects so worthy of our regard.
The various and weighty matters which you have judged necessary to
recommend to our attention appear to us essential to the tranquillity and
welfare <?f the Union, and claim our early and most serious consideration.
We shall proceed without delay to bestow on them that calm discussion
which their importance requires.
We regret that the pacific arrangements pursued with regard to certaiiL
hostile tribes of Indians have not been attended with that success which
we had reason to expect from them.
We shall not hesitate to concur in
such further measures as may best obviate any ill effects which might be
apprehended from the failure of those negotiations.
Your approbation of the vote of this House at the last session respect-
ing the provision for the public creditors is very acceptable to us.
The
proper mode of carrying that resolution
into
effect, being a subject in
which the future character and happiness
of these States are deeply
involved, will be among the first to deserve our attention.
The prosperity of the United States
is the primary object of
all oxax
deliberations^ and we cherish the reflection that every measure which we
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
may adopt for
its advancement will not only receive your cheerful con-
currence, but will at the same time derive from your cooperation addi-
tional efficacy, in insuring to our fellow-citizens the blessings of a free,
efl&cient, and equal government.
January 12, 1790.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Gentlkmkn:
I receive with pleasure the assurances you give me that
you will diligently and anxiously pursue such measures as shall appear
to you conducive to the
interest of your constituents, and that an early
and serious consideration will be given to the various and weighty matters
recommended by me to your attention.
I have full confidence that your deliberations will continue to be directed
by an enlightened and virtuous zeal for the happiness of our country.
G9 WASHINGTON.
January 14, 1790.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
United States, January 11, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Having advised with you upon the terms of a treaty to be offered to
the Creek Nation of Indians,
I think it proper yen .should be informed
of the result of that business previous to its coming before you in your
legislative capacity.
I have
therefore directed the Secretary for the
Department of War to lay before you my instructions
to the commis-
sioners and their report in consequence thereof.
The apparently critical state of
the Southern frontier will render
it
expedient for me to communicate to both Houses of Congress, with other
papers, the whole of the transactions relative to the Creeks, in order that
they may be enabled to form a judgment of the measures which the case
may require.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, January 11, 1790.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I have directed Mr.
Lear, my private secretary, to lay before you a
copy of the adoption and ratification of the Constitution of the United
States by the State of North Carolina, together with a copy of a letter
from His Excellency Samuel Johnston, president of the convention of
said State, to the President of the United States.
George Washington
The originals of the papers which are herewith transmitted to you
will be lodged in the office of
. the Secretary of State.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, January 12, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I lay before you a statement of the Southwestern frontiers and of the
Indian Department, which have been submitted to me by the Secretary
for the Department of War.
I conceive that an unreserved but confidential communication of all the
papers
relative to the recent negotiations with some of the Southern
tribes of Indians
is indispensably requisite for the information of Con-
gress.
I am persuaded that they will effectually prevent either transcripts
or publications of
all such circumstances as might be injurious to the
public interests.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, fanuary 21, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
The Secretary for the Department of War has submitted to me certain
principles to serve as a plan for the general arrangement of the miUtia
of the United States.
Conceiving the subject to be of the highest importance to the welfare
of our country and liable to be placed in various points of view, I have
directed him to lay the plan before Congress for their information, in
order that they may make such use thereof as they may judge proper.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, /aww^rj/ 25, 1790.
Genile?nen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I have received from His Excellency John E. Howard, governor of the
State of Maryland, an act of the legislature of Maryland to ratify certain
articles in addition to and amendment of the Constitution of the United
States of America, proposed by Congress to the legislatures of the several
States, and have directed my secretary to lay a copy of the same before
you, together with the copy of a letter, accompanying the above act, from
his excellency the governor of Maryland to the President of the United
States.
The originals will be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State.
G9 WASHINGTON.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
United States, January 28, 1790.
Gentlemen ofthe Senate arid House 0/ Representatives:
I have directed my secretary to
lay before you the copy of an act of
the legislature of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations entitled
' 'An
act for calling a convention to take into consideration the Constitution
proposed
for the United States, passed on the
17th day of September,
A. D.
1787, by the General Convention held at Philadelphia," togethei
with the copy of a letter, accompanying said
act, from His Excellency
John
Collins,
governor
of
the State of Rhode
Island and Providence
Plantations, to the President of the United States.
The originals of the foregoing act and letter will be deposited in the
office of the Secretary of State.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, February i, ly^o.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I have received from His Excellency Alexander Martin, governor of
the State of North Carolina, an act of the general assembly of that State
entitled
' 'An act for the purpose of ceding to the United States of America
certain western lands therein described," and have directed my secretary
to lay a copy of the same before you, together with a copy of a
letter,
accompanying said
act,
from His Excellency Governor Martin to the
President of the United States.
The originals of the foregoing act and letter will be deposited in the
office of the Secretary of State.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, February p, lygo.
Gentlemen of the Senate!
You will perceive from the papers herewith delivered, and which are
enumerated in the annexed list, that a difference subsists between Great
Britain and the United States relative to the boundary line between our
eastern and their
territories."* A plan
for deciding this difference was
laid before the late Congress, and whether that or some other plan of a
like kind would not now be eligible is submitted to your consideration.
In my opinion, it is desirable that all questions between this and other
nations be speedily and amicably settled, and in this instance I think it
advisable to postpone any negotiations on the subject until
I shall be
informed of the result of your deliberations and receive your advice as
to the propositions most proper to be offered on the part of the United
States.
As I am taking measures for learning the intentions of Great Britain
respecting the further detention of our posts, etc., I am the more solicit-
George Washington
oas that tlie business now submitted to you may be prepared for negotia-
tion as soon as the other important affairs which engage your attention
will permit.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, February 15, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I have directed my secretary to lay before you the copy of a vote of
the legislature of the State of New Hampshire,
to accept the articles
proposed
in
addition
to
and amendment of the
Constitution
of the
United States of America, except the second article.
At the same time
will be
delivered
to you the copy of a
letter from his excellency the
president of the State of New Hampshire to the President of the United
States.
The originals of the above-mentioned vote and letter will be lodged in
the office of the Secretary of State.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, February j8, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
By the mail of
last evening
I received a letter from His Excellency
John Hancock, governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, inclos-
ing a resolve of the senate and house of representatives of that Common-
wealth and sundry documents relative to the eastern boundary of the
United States.
I have directed a copy of the letter and resolve to be laid before you.
The documents which accompanied them being but copies of some of
the papers which were delivered to you with my communication of the
9th of this month, I have thought it unnecessary to lay them before you
at this time.
They will be deposited
in the
office of the Secretary of
State, together with the originals
of the above-mentioned
letters and
resolve.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, March 8, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I have received from His Excellency Joshua Clayton, president of the
State of Delaware, the articles proposed by Congress to the legislatures
of the several States as amendments to the Constitution of the United
States, which articles were transmitted to him for the consideration of
the legislature of Delaware, and are now returned with the following
resolutions annexed to them, viz
:
The general assembly of Delaware having taken into their consideration the above
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
amendments, proposed by Congress to the
respective legislatures of
the sereral
States,
Resolved, That the first article be postponed;
Resolved, That the general assembly do agree to the second, third, fourth, fifth,
sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth articles, and we do hereby
assent to,
ratify, and confirm the same as part of the Constitution of the United
States.
In testimony whereof we have caused the great seal of the State to be hereunto
afl&xed this 28th day of January, A. D. 1790, and in the foiarteenth year of the inde-
pendence of the Delaware State.
Signed by order of council.
GEORGE MITCHELL, Speaker.
Signed by order of the house of assembly.
JEHU DAVIS, Speaker.
I have directed a copy of the letter which accompanied the said articles,
from His Excellency Joshua Clayton to the President of the United States,
to be laid before you.
The before-mentioned
articles and the
original of the
letter will be
lodged in the office of the Secretary of State.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, March i6, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I have directed my secretary to lay before you the copy of an act and
the form of ratification of certain articles of amendment to the Constitu-
tion of the United States by the legislature of the State of Pennsylvania,
together with the copy of a letter which accompanied the said act, from
the speaker of the house of assembly of Pennsylvania to the President
of the United States.
The originals of the above will be lodged in the office of the Secretary
of State.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, April i, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I have directed my private secretary to lay before you a copy of the
adoption by the legislature of South Carolina of the articles proposed by
Congress to the legislatures of the several States as amendments to the
Constitution of the United States, together with the copy of a letter from
the governor of the State of South Carolina to the President of the United
States, which have lately come to my hands.
The originals of the
foregoing will be lodged in the
office of the
Secretary of State.
G9 WASHINGTON.
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WASHINGTON'S THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION.
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SIGNATURES OF WASHINGTON AND EDMUND RANDOLPH.
George U^ashington
United States, April ^^, lygo.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Represe?itatives:
I have directed my private secretary to lay before you copies of three
acts of the legislature of the State of New York, which have been trans-
mitted to me by the governor thereof, viz:
' 'An act declaring it to be the duty of the sheriffs of the several counties
within
this State
to receive and safe keep such prisoners as shall be
committed under the authority of the TTnited States."
' 'An act for vesting in the United States of America the light-house and
the lands thereunto belonging at Sandy Hook."
"An act ratifying certain articles in addition to and amendment of the
Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress.
'
'
A copy of a letter accompanying said acts, from the governor of the
State of New York to the President of the United States, will
at the
same time be laid before you, and the originals be deposited in the ofl&ce
of the Secretary of State.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, May ^i, lypo.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Mr. de Poiery served
in the American Army for several of the
last
years of
the
late war
as
secretary to Major- General the Marquis de
Lafayette, and might probably at that time have obtained the commis-
sion of captain from Congress upon application to that body.
At present
he is an ofl&cer in the French national guards, and solicits a brevet com-
mission from the United States of America.
I am authorized to add,
that while the compliance will involve no expense on our part, it will be
particularly grateful to that friend of America, the Marquis de Lafayette.
I therefore nominate M, de Poiery to be a captain by brevet.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, fune i, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
Having received
official information of the accession of the State of
Rhode
Island and
Providence
Plantations
to the
Constitution
of
the
United States, I take the earhest opportunity of communicating the same
to you, with my congratulations on this happy event,which unites under
the General Government
all the States which were originally confeder-
ated, and have
directed my secretary to lay before you a copy of the
letter from, the president of the convention of the State of Rhode Island
to the President of the United States.
G? WASHINGTON.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
United Statks, June ii, 1790.
Gentlemai of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I have directed my secretary to lay before you a copy of the ratification
of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States by the State
of North Carohna, together with an extract from a letter, accompanying
said ratification, from the governor of the State of North Carolina to the
President of the United States.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, /z^W(?z<5, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
The ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America by
the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was received by me
last night, together with a letter to the President of the United States
from the president of the convention.
I have directed my secretary to lay
before you a copy of each.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, /mw^ jo, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Seiiate and House of Representatives:
An act of the legislature of the State of Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations, for ratifying certain articles as amendments to the Consti-
tution of the United States, was yesterday put into my hands, and I have
directed my secretary to lay a copy of the same before you.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, August 4, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate.'
In consequence of the general principles agreed
to by the Senate in
August,
1789, the adjustment of the terms of a treaty is
far advanced
between the United States and the chiefs of the Creek Indians, now in
this city, in behalf of themselves and the whole Creek Nation.
In preparing the articles of this treaty the present arrangements of the
trade with the Creeks have caused much embarrassment.
It seems to
be well ascertained that the said trade is almost exclusively in the hands
of a company of British merchants, who by agreement make their impor-
tations of goods from England into the Spanish ports.
As the trade of the Indians is a main mean of
their political manage-
ment,
it is therefore obvious that the United States can not possess any
security for the performance of treaties with the Creeks while their trade
is liable
tO be interrupted or withheld
at the caprice of two
foreign
powers.
GeoTge Washington
Hence it becomes an object of real importance to form new channels
tor the commerce of the Creeks through the United States.
But this
operation
will
require
time, as
the
present arrangements can
not be
suddenly broken without the greatest violation of
faith and morals.
It therefore appears to be important to form a secret article of a treaty
similar to the one which accompanies this message.
If the Senate should require any further explanation, the Secretary of
War will attend them for' that purpose.
GO WASHINGTON.
The President of the United States states the following question for
the consideration and advice of the Senate:
If
it should be found essen-
tial to a treaty for the firm establishment of peace with the Creek Nation
of
Indians
that an
article
to the following
effect
should be inserted
therein, will such an article be proper? viz
:
SBCRET ARTICLE.
The commerce
necessary for
the Creek
Nation shall be carried on
through the ports and by the citizens of the United States if substantial
and effectual arrangements shall be made for that purpose by the United
States on or before the ist day of August,
1792.
In the meantime the
said commerce may be
carried on through
its
present channels and
according to its present regulations.
And whereas the trade of the said Creek Nation
is now carried on
wholly or principally through the territories of Spain, and obstructions
thereto may happen by war or prohibitions of the Spanish Government,
it is therefore agreed between the said parties that in the event of any
such obstructions
happening
it
shall
be
lawful
for such persons as
•
shall designate to introduce into and transport through
the territories of
the United States
to the country of
the said Creek
Nation any quantity of goods, wares, and merchandise not exceeding in
value in any one year $60,000, and that free from any duties or imposi-
tions whatsoever, but subject to such regulations for guarding against
abuse as the United States shall judge necessary, which privilege shall
continue as long as such obstruction shall continue.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, Aiigust 6, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Considering the circumstances which prevented the late commissioners
from concluding a peace with the Creek Nation of Indians,
it appeared
to me most prudent that all subsequent measures for disposing them to
a treaty should in the first instance be informal.
I informed you on the 4th instant that the adjustment of the terms of
a treaty with their chiefs, now here, was far advanced.
Such further