Portland gazette and Maine advertiser. (Portland, Me.) 1805-1818, 1816-06-11

good order and preservation OF civi! govern
ment are declared essentially to depend on
piety, religion and morality and wisdom and
knowledge, as well as virtue, are considered
as necessary for the preservation OF the rights
and Liberties of the people. To give the full
lest effect TO those principles, the constitution
makes it the duty of Legislators and Magis-
trates in all future periods of the Common
wealth 10 cherish the interests Of literature
and the sciences, and all seminaries OF them
TO encourage private societies and public in
stitutions, rewards and immunities for the
promotion Of agriculture, arts, sciences, COM
merce, trades and manufactures, TO countenance
and inculcate the principles Of humanity and
benevolence, public and private charity, in
dustry and frugalty, honesty and punctualty
in their dealings, sincerity, good humour, and
all social affections and generous sentiments :
among the people.
To what extent the Legislature has from
time to time fulfilled these benevolent in
functions, your journals and statute books
can honorably attest. The establishment
of numerous public institutions, to counten-
ance the principles of piety, Of charity and
benevolence, for the encouragement OF lit
erature and the sciences, OF agriculture and
the mechanic arts, evinces copious trans
fusion of the same enlightened spirit into
our legislatures, that originated and perfect
ed the constitution. And the various aids
IN money, IN iads; arld m vssssss5 III
ties, which have been granted from time TO
time, to the University at Cambridge, the
Colleges at Williamstown and Brunswick,
and the numerous academies and other lit
erary and scientific institutions, bear honor
able testimony to the fidelity with which
the constitution has been administered.
In framing our constitution, provision was
wisely made for transferring larger portion
of sovereignty to the United States, than had
been conferred by the confederation, and
the ruinous effects flowing from the impo-
tence of merely federative compact, soon
|imperiously exacted a fulhlment of that
provision. In the mean time, commerce
and credit, both public and private, were
nearly extinct agriculture, trades and man.
ufactures languished and the whole coun-
try, that had recently and illustriously eff
fected their independence after long and
distressing war, was overwhelmed with
gloomy apprehensions Of anarchy and ruin.
At length, new frame of government was
announced, and after long and rigorous dis
cussion in the several states, was happily
adopted.
The constitution Of the United States is
without precedent and without parallel. In
its composition and form it partakes Of the
federative character but from the extent
of its fiscal, executive and other powers,
possesses the essential prerogatives of an
integral government. The confederation
was a government of courtesy. The ma
tional interests demanded one of efficiency
and coercion. Regulating commerce, main-
tanning customary intercourse with other
nations, forming treaties, exercising the
rights of war and peace, and providing for
the national defence, were large concessions
made to the government of the u. States
but they were then, and are still, believed |
to be necessary to maintain the stability Of
Government, to command the confidence of
our own citizens and the respect Of other |
nations, as well as TO preserve the Union OF
the States. The just mean between too |
limited and an indefinite grant ofpower, was |
assiduously sought, and the result cheerfully |
submitted to the test of experiment.
In whatever degree the American systems
of government may have been derived in
their exterior forms from pre-existing models,
their origin is essentially dissimilar. The
British constitution, for example, was the
product of feudal times and the people OF
England were supposed to receive privileges |
from the hands of king, as though power |
was primitively and inherently an attribute |
OF royalty Our constitution originated from
a different source, and is strictly comPro- |
mise among equals compsomise amcng
individuals, who, arrogating no exclusive |
pre-eminent rights, acknowledged no supe-
riors. And those compacts being complet-
ed, their administration was mtrusted to
agents to exercise that degree Of power on
~, which their constituents had seen fit to
impart. The national compact, like the
constitutions of the individual states, is an
from the same pure and legiti-
mate source and the spirit of freedom that
pervades and animates the state constitu-
tons, is carried into the national pact and
all powers not expressly given are declared
to be retained by the people or the states.
This distinct reservation of rights, besides
being a condition without the introduction
IL. II. IL a. \ 1