The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1867-04-12
The Petisienof Mississippi
HE Supreme Court Called Upon
TO Stay Execution of tlse Re
construction Act.
WASHINGTON. April 4, 1867

sippi, and Robert J. Walker, to be
presented tomorrow to the Supreme
Court:
TO The Supreme Court Of the Uaited State;
The bill of complaint of the State
of Mississippi, in behalf of herself
and such other States as may be inter
ested in the premises, who shall, by
consent of the court, properly make
themselves parties thereto, against
Andrew Johnson, a citizen of the State
of Tennessee, and President of the
United States. and, also, against Gen
eral f. o. {. Ord, citizen of the State
of Maryland, who has been appointed
By the said Andrew Johnson, as here
matter stated. Humbly complaining,
the said State Of Mississippi would re
spectfully show TO this Honorable
Court that her territory was composed
of a portion Of the territory or domain
comprised within the former limits of
the State of Georgia, and by an irrevo-
cable compact between that State and
the United States, coded to the United
States on the 23d of April, 1902; that
said compact was made on certain con
[ ditions, which were unalterable among
/ which was the provision that said ter
/ ritOry should become and forever re
main State Of the American Union,
/ on the same footing as the original
/ States in all respects whatsoever :;
/ another of these provisions extended
I to said territory, and to said new State
when admitted, all the terms of the or
/ dinance of the 18th of July, 1857, eX-
| cept as to slavery; that said ordinance
was based upon and ratified as com
/ pact with the State of Virginia. by
which certain States were to be admit
ted and forever remain States of the
American Union, on an equal footing
/ with the original States in all respects
7 whatsoever. BY said compact of 1902
all these terms and conditions, as well
Of the compact Of 1902 as of said or
dinance of 1877, which were unal-
/ terable, were declared to be bind
/ ing and a part of the compact
/ of 1902, contained the provisions
/ that 1.-The inhabitants of said territory
/ shall always be entitled to the benefits
OF the writ of habeas corpus and of a
/ trial by jury" ''nO man shall be de
/ prived Of his liberty or property but
/ by his peers and the law of the land -
/ The said territory and States which
may be formed therein shall forever
remain a part Of this confederacy.
And this was the compact between the
United States and Mississippi Has it
been kept? BY act of Congress of
lst of March, 1917, passed in pursu-
ance of said compact of 1902 and the
ordinance of 1897, authority was given
to the people of the western part OF
Mississippi territory to form a consti-
tuition and State government, and for
the admission of such State into the
/ Union upon the same footing with the
original States in all respects whatso
ever. BY this act the constitution OF
the proposed State was required to
conform to said compact of 1902 and
said ordinance of 1887, except as
aforesaid; and the said provisions
were declared to be s'irrevOcable''
without the consent of the United
States. In pursuance of these acts
ordinances and compacts, the people
of said territory of Mississippi, on the
10Th of August, 1917, adopted State
constitution, with an ordinance there
to attached and made part thereof
and declared to be ''irrevocable with
out the consent of the United States. "
On the 10th of December, 1917, Con
gress, by a joint resolution, admitted
said State into the Union, upon the
terms and conditions boforo stated
and especially reaffirming the Ordi
nance of 1877 in its application to said
State. That ordinance, as we have
before seen, provided for the admis
sion of States which were forever to
remain States of the American Union
and was fundamental and ''unalter
able" 1t was thus, besides the gen
eral provisions of the Federal Consti-
tuition, that Mississippi became a State
OF the Union, under cOmpacts with
Georgia, Virginia, and said State oil
Mississippi, and all of which were cir
revocable' and "unalterable," either
by said State, or by the United States.
1t is respectfully submitted that, indie
pendent of these special compacts
by the provisions of the Federal Con
stitutiOn, the State of Mississippi
could by no act of hers withdraw from
the Union, nor could she be excluded
therefrom by Congress and that all
opposing acts of said State or of Con
9ress, being contrary to the Federal
Constitution, which is s'the supreme
law of the land" are null and void,
and in n proper case we believe will be
so declared by this court
In this case, however, besides pro-
lection of the constitutional rights of a
State, here are compacts, ''fundament-
al, - ''irrevocable" and ''unalterable,"
securing forever to the State of Mis-
sissippi her rights as a State of this
! Union. Such cOmpacts, and the rights
acquired under them, we believe this
! court will regard it as its duty to main
tain and protect in the same manner
at least at it would enforce between
I individuals, by Injunction or other
/ wise, the specific performance of con
/ tracts. The said State of Mississippi
AYERS and charges that, having been
/ admitted as a State of the Union in
| 1917, she has ever since continued to
! be so, and is 50 now; that she has a
/ State constitution, republican in form,
and State government in complete
and successful operation under her
constitution, with ali its departments
filled and administered by proper func-
tionaries, in as proper and full man.
ner as any State in the Union, and
hence she is entitled by the constitu-
ton of the United States. and by the
compacts and covenants aforesaid. to
be regarded as a State of the Union in
all respects. She Acknowledges and
claims that the Constitution of the
Unitei States is the supreme law OF
the land, and when her constitutional
rights. or the covenants with GEORGIA
and Virginia are invaded, under the
ordinance of 1877, she has right to
appeal to this honorable tribunal. es-
tablished, as it is, by the Constitution
to decide in the last resort in all cases
IN which State is party, and to give