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trict 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.

ARTICLE VII.

In suits at common law, when 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.

ARTICLE VIII.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel 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.

ARTICLE 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.*

[The following amendment was proposed at the second session of the third congress. It is printed in the laws of the United

States, 1st vol., p. 73, as article 11.]

ARTICLE XI.

The judicial powers 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.

The 10th amendment, in its terms, limits the powers of the federal government within the several states, and not outside of their respective boundaries, nor in the territories. This is obvious from the nature of the federal and state governments, and also from the concluding words, reserving power to the several states, or to the people thereof;" for the states, having granted to the national government all their power as sovereign and independent states, to declare and wage war, to make treaties, to acquire territory by conquest or treaty, and to legislate upon the subject of foreign commerce and navigation, they cannot legitim ately exercise any power whatever beyond their respective limits.

[The three following sections were proposed as amendments at the first session of the eighth congress. They are printed in the laws of the United States as article twelve.]

ARTICLE XII

1. The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by 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 person 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 list 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 representatives, 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 number 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 voted for as president, the house of representatives shall choose immediately, 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 members 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 case of the death or other constitutional disability of the president.

2. The person having the greatest 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 list, 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.

3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president, shall be eligible to that of vice president of the United States.

The provision of the last amendment, allowing each state but one vote in case of an election by the house of representatives, is the worst feature in the constitution. It subverts the first principle of political justice, by making the votes of the small states equal to that of the large ones. If the election were by a joint convention of the two houses, each senator and representative having one vote, the relative vote of the several states would be the same as it is in the electoral college, full justice would be done to all, it would tend to a reasonable compromise and adjustment of sectional and partizan strifes and jealousies, and avoid the great objections now existing, to allowing the election of president to go to the house of representatives. It would be likely to lead to such re-adjustments of parties as frequently take place in the cabinet and parliament of Great Britain; and could hardly fail to produce harmony of action in congress, and harmony of feeling in our country.

CHAPTER II.

ELEMENTS, ORIGIN, AND DEVELOPEMENT OF THE SYSTEM OF LAWS, CON

STITUTIONS, AND GOVERNMENTS, BY WHICH THE RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SECURED THE SYSTEM HAVING BEEN FINALLY CONSUMMATED BY THE FORMATION AND ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, THE ORGANI ZATION OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT UNDER IT, AND THE ADOPTION OF THE ORDINANCE OF 1787, FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TERRITORIES THEN BELONGING TO THE UNITED STATES.

SEC. 1. THE ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITU

TIONS AND BILLS OF RIGHTS.

The articles of confederation, firstly, and subsequently the federal constitution as a substitute for them, constituted, or was intended to constitute, so far as practicable, a permanent compact and bond of union between the states. They were also intended to constitute a part, and do constitute a part, of the constitution of each state-as much so, as if the federal constitution was copied therein at length. This is especially recognized by the 4th article of the bill or declaration of rights, forming a part of the constitution of Massachusetts, which is as follows, viz:

"The people of this commonwealth have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves, as a free, sovereign, and independent state; and do, and forever hereafter shall exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America, in congress assembled."

The 7th article of the bill of rights, forming a part of the constitution of New Hampshire, recognizes the government of the United States in nearly the same words. The people of each and every one of the states claimed the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves, as free, sovereign, and independent states, and of exercising and enjoying every power, jurisdiction, and right properly belonging to an independent state-except such powers as they had expressly granted to the national government, first by the articles of confederation, and lastly by the constitution of the United States.

To understand and construe correctly the constitution of the several states and of the United States, it is necessary to consider them together, and to consider also the declarations or bills of rights, forming parts of the state constitutions, which embody many of the principles and corner stones on which our dual system of government is based.

The first American constitution was framed by a convention of delegates of the colony of South Carolina, and adopted by the convention on the 26th of March, 1776. It contains no formal bill of rights-but the 8th and 9th articles thereof contain some of the most valuable elements of a bill of rights.

The first constitutional convention of Virginia, adopted on the 12th of June, 1776, the first formal American bill, or declaration of rights, which embodied the most of the elements of the bills of rights of all the other states. Some of the principles and provisions of the American bills of rights were borrowed from the magna carta of King John, and other great charters of the 13th century; some of them are from the petition of rights and acts of the parliament of Great Britain, in the time of Charles I. (1628 to 1649); some of them originated in England during the revolutionary period from 1685 to 1689; but many of them are of American origin.

The articles of amendment to the constitution of the United States numbered 1 to 8, inclusive, were taken from the constitutions and bills of rights of the states, and from magna carta of King John. The 10th article of the amendments thereto was taken from the 2d article of confederation-leaving out the explanatory part, which serves to illustrate its meaning, and to which the reader should

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