pressed by measure is forty-two cubic feet. States are forbidden by the Constitution to lay any duties of this kind without the permission of Congress. In reference to the subject of duties generally, it was the intention of the authors of the Constitution to place it entirely under the supervision and control of Congress. In the Convention that formed the Constitution, there was strong opposition to this prohibition on the States; and it finally passed that body by the close vote of six States against four. One State, being divided, gave no vote. There was a constant, earnest struggle against the surrender of State powers to the General Government. § 2. Nor are States allowed to lay duties of any kind, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing their inspectionlaws; and even these, as we have seen in another place, are under the supervision and control of Congress. This is because to the hands of Congress is committed the regulation of commerce, not only with foreign nations, but among the States. The restraint on the power of the States over imports and exports is enforced by all the arguments which prove the necessity of submitting the regulation of trade to the Federal councils.1 Inspection-laws are not, Their object is to im strictly speaking, regulations of commerce. prove the quality of articles produced by the labor of the country, and to fit them for exportation or for domestic use. These laws the subject before it becomes an article of commerce.2 The whole power to lay duties and imposts on imports and exports, and to lay a tonnage-duty, is, doubtless, properly considered a part of the taxing power; but it may also be applied as a regulation of com act upon merce.3 ART. VII.-SLAVERY. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist, 1. Within the limits of the United States; nor, 1 The Federalist, No. 44. 2 Kent's Com., Lect. 19. 8 Federalist, No. 7, 22. § 1. Slaves were merely things in contemplation of the laws by which they were held in bondage in the States. Yet there were these exceptions to this definition: they were capable of committing crimes, and were punishable therefor; and they were counted at the rate of five for three in enumerating the representative population of the States. They were subject to sale like other personal property. They could not take property by descent or purchase, and whatever they had belonged to their owners. They could make no lawful contracts, had no civil rights, and might be sold on execution for the payment of the master's debts. § 2. As long as slavery existed in this country, it was a State institution, not national. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution, there were thirteen States, in twelve of which slavery existed. The authors of the Constitution recognized this condition of things, and did not propose to interfere with it in any manner whatever, except to bring the foreign slave-trade under the control of Congress from and after the year 1808. Congress could not interfere with it in the States; and, when abolished, it had to be done by an amendment to the Constitution. § 3. In 1620, a Dutch vessel brought a cargo of slaves from Africa to Virginia; and this was the beginning of slavery among the English Colonies on this continent. It existed along the banks of the Hudson as early as 1626. Slavery is mentioned in the Massachusetts laws between 1630 and 1641. Domestic slavery having thus commenced, it continued to increase throughout the United States while they were yet Colonies of Great Britain. It continued to exist among all the Southern States until it was abolished by the Constitutional Amendment of 1865. It had already become extinct in the Eastern and Northern States. § 4. In Pennsylvania, by an act of March 1, 1780, and in New Jersey, by acts of Feb. 14, 1784, and Feb. 24, 1820, passed for the gradual extinction of slavery, it was removed from them; and all children born of slave-parents after the 4th of July, 1804, were declared free. In Massachusetts, it was judicially declared, soon after the Revolutionary War, that slavery was virtually abolished by their constitution, and that the children of female slaves, though born prior to their constitution, and as early as 1773, were born free. § 5. In Connecticut, statutes were passed in 1784 and in 1797, which gradually extinguished slavery in that State. In 1830, there were but twenty-five slaves in Connecticut. In Rhode Island, no' person could be born a slave after March 1, 1774. In New Hampshire and Vermont, slavery was abolished by their respective constitutions. It was incorporated into the ordinance of Congress, July 13, 1787, for the government of the territory of the United States north-west of the River Ohio, that there should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes.1 § 6. March 6, 1820, an act of Congress was passed, known as the Missouri Compromise, being one of the conditions on which Missouri was admitted into the Union as a slaveholding State. By this act, "all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, not included within the limits of Missouri, was to be free territory." In May, 1854, this compromise was substantially repealed. § 7. Down to 1850, the city of Washington was an extensive slave-market. Slaveholders from all parts of the slaveholding States came there for the purpose of buying or selling slaves. Sept. 20, 1850, an act of Congress was passed prohibiting the traffic in slaves within the limits of the District of Columbia. April 16, 1862, slavery was wholly abolished within the District of Columbia ; and, by the same act, it was abolished throughout the territories belonging at that time to the United States, and which might thereafter be acquired by them. The next great move was the amendment to the Constitution, which is the subject of this article, prohibiting the States and Territories within the United States from giving sanction to this institution. The final downfall of American slavery dates from the year of our Lord 1865. 1 Kent's Com., Lect. 32, and notes. CHAPTER XI. PERSONAL RIGHTS. ART. I. DOMICILE. 1. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor, 2. In time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 85. § 1. The place most sacred to every citizen is that one which he calls his home. In the language of the law-books, a man's house is his castle. The enjoyment of it, uninterrupted, is among the most sacred of personal rights. Arbitrary rulers, even in time of peace, are prone to trespass on this right, and in the very mode here forbidden. The complaint is made in the Declaration of Independence, that the King of Great Britain has been guilty of quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. § 2. But it may sometimes be necessary, not only for the protection of particular localities and districts, but perhaps for the protection of individual dwellings, that troops shall thus be temporarily quartered in time of war. This would not be regarded as an encroachment, however, by any reasonable man, but rather as cause for gratitude to his country. That this right may not be abused by government officials, it must be done strictly according to law in such case made and provided. 1. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and sieżures, shall not be violated. 2. No warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, 1st. Particularly describing the place to be searched; and, 2d. The person or things to be seized. 86. This article is substantially an affirmation of a well-known principle of the common law. It had been the doctrine for ages before this amendment was attached to the Constitution; but it was so frequently violated to suit the caprice of rulers and their pliant officials, that it had become reduced to a mere parchment theory. The requirements of this amendment are of the most reasonable character. Any thing less would be inconsistent with American liberty. No warrant of a general character can be issued; or, if issued, it would be powerless for the arrest of a citizen, or for the seizure of his property. To be valid, it must specify with reasonable certainty the person or persons to be apprehended, or the things to be seized; and the warrant must be supported by oath or affirmation, so that, if false, the person at whose instance it is issued may be indicted and convicted of perjury. ART. III.-JUDICIAL, 1. 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, 1st. In the land or naval forces; or, 2d. In the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger. 2. No person shall be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life and limb. 3. No one shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. 4. Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. 87. § 1. A capital crime is one that subjects the offender to the penalty of death. An infamous crime is one that exposes the criminal to the abhorrence and detestation of mankind, and to ignominious punishment more or less severe. These crimes and punishments are of such grave character, that before a person shall be exposed even to a trial for the one, or a liability to the other, the most careful and deliberate steps must be taken. He must first be indicted by a grand jury. § 2. An indictment is a written accusation or a formal charge |
