Year: 1865

| SO construed as 10 give unlimited powers, nor


part of them to be taken, as to destroy the whole


residue of the instrument That the proceeding
| of the general government under color of those
articles will be fit and necessary subject for


visal and correction at time Of great tranquil
| ty. while those specified in the preceding resolu-
| tions call for immediate redress.


Resolved, That the preceding resolutions be
| transmitted to the senators and representatives
| in Congress from the commonwealth, who are en-
| oined to present the same to their respective


houses and to use their best endeayors to procure
| at the next session of congress repeal OF the
aforesaid unconstitutional and obnoxious acts.
Resolved. lastly, That the Governor OF this
| commonwealth be, and is authorized and request
ed to communicate the preceding resolutions to
the legislatures Of the several states to assure


them chat this commonwealth considers union for


specified national purposes. and particularly for
those speciied in their late federal compact, to


be friendly to the peace, happiness, and prosper
ity of all the States-that faithful TO that COM


pact according to the plain intent and meaning
| in which it was understood and acceded to by


the several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its


preservation; that it does also believe that to
| take from the states all the powers of self gov


ernment and transfer them to a general and con-


solidated government, without regard to the
| special delegations and reservations, sOlemnly


agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace,


happiness and prosperity OF these states. And
| that therefore. this commonwealth is determ ned,
|


delegated and consequently to unlimited powers
| in no man. or body of men, on earth; that it the


acts before specified should stand, these conclu-


sions would grow from them, that the general


government may place any act they think proper
| on the list of crimes and punish it themselves,


whether enumerated or not enumerated by the


constitution cognizablc by them. that they may
| transfer its cognizance to the President or any
| other person. who may himself be the accuser,


counsel Judge and jury, whose suspicious may be
| the evidence. his order the sentence, his officer


the executioner, and his breast the sole record of
| the transaction. that very numerous and yalu-


able description of the inhabitants of these states


being by these precedentS reduced as outlaws to
| the absolute dominion of one man, and the bar


riers of the constitution thus swept from us all,
| no rampant now remains against the passions and


the power of a majority OF Congress to protect
| from like expectation or other grievous punish


ment the minority of the same body, the legisa-
| lures Judges. governors and counselOrs of the
! states nor their other peaceable inhabitants Who


nav venture to reclaim the constitutional rights
| and liberties of the states and people. or who Tor
| other causes. good or bad, may be obnoxious to


the views, or marked by the suspicious Of the
| President. or to be thought dangerous to his or


their election or other interest, public or person


al: that the friendlcss alien has been selected as
the safest subject of q first experiment, but the


citizen will soon follow, or rather has already
| followed for, already hasa sedition act mark ed


him MS its prey. That these and successive acts


of the same character unless arrest ed at the thres


hold may tend to drive these states into rcvOu


ton and blood. and will furnish new calumnies


against republican government. and new preteXts
| for those who wish it to be be ieved that man


cannot be governed but by rod of iron; that it


would be a dangerous delusiOn were confidence
| in the men of our choice to silence our fears for


the safety of our rights; that confidence is every
where the parent OF despotism; free government
| is founded in jealousy and not in condolences; it is
| p'h hoe
| limited constitutions to bind down those whom


we are obliged to trust with power that our con-
| stituton has fixed the limits to which, and no fur


ther our confidence may go; and let the honest


advocate OF confidence read the alien and sedition
| acts and say if the constitution has not been wise


in fixing limits to the government it created and


whether we should be wise in destroying those
| limits? Let him say what the government is if


it be not tyranny, which the men of our choice
| have conferred upon the President, and the Pres
| ident of our choice has asseDted to and accepted
! over the friendly strangers. to whom the mild
| spirit of our country and its laws have pledged


hospitalty and protection; that the men OF our


choice have more respected the bare suspicious of
! the President than the solid ri ghts Of innocence,
| the claims of justification. the sacred force of
| truth. and the form and substance of law and JUS


tice. In questions OF power. then. let no more be
| heard of confidence in man. but bind him down


from mischief by the chains Of the constitution.
! That this commonwealth does therefore call on
| its co-states for an expression OF their sentiments
| on the acts concernin aliens, and for punishment
| of certain crimes hereinbefore specified, plainly


declaring whether these are or are not authorized
| by the Federal compact And tdoubts not that


their sense will be so announced as to prove their
| attachment unaltered to limited government,


whether general or particular, and that the rights


and liberties of their co-states will be exposed to


no dangers by remaining embarked on common


bottom with their own But they will concur with


this commonwealth in considering the said acts


as so papablc against the constitution as to


amount to an undisguised declaration that the


compact is not meant to be the measure of the


power of the general government bnt that it will
| proceed in the exercise over these states of al


pow ers whatsoever. That they will view this as


seizing the rights Of the states and consolidating


them in the hands Of the general government


with the power assumed to bind the states, not


merely in cases made Federal, but in all cases


whatsoever. by laws made not with their consent
| but by others against their consent; that this


would be to surrender the form of government


we have chosen and living under one deriving


its power from its own will. and uot from onr au


thority and that the costates recurring to theil


natural rights in cases not made Federal will con
cur in declaring these void and of no force, ant


will each unite with this commonwealth in re


questing their repeal at the next session Of Con


9rets.