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CHAPTER II.

The Constitution.

After the Seven Years' war, spoken of in the foregoing chapter, (generally known by the name of the Revolutionary war,) was over and peace restored, the people found themselves without any government, or if the Confederation under which the Colonies had managed to act together during the war, might be called a government, it was certainly inadequate to the wants of a people who had just become independent; and who needed a stronger bond of union than that which had held them together during the struggle for liberty, when a common danger and a common enemy served as a bond during their perilous condition. To supply this want a convention from all the States was called together to draw up a Constitution, which should form such a union, and at the same time be a basis which would support a well organized government. This convention met and performed the task assigned. It framed the Constitution of the United States, about which we subjoin the following remarks.

1. The Constitution of the United States was finished and signed on the 17th day of September, 1787. It was framed by a convention of the greatest and wisest men in the nation at that time, or perhaps at any time. They were chosen for that express purpose, and represented each of the thirteen States excepting Rhode

Island, which had no representation in the convention, and sat several months deliberating on the great work before them. George Washington was the president of the convention; and in the Constitution a clause was inserted declaring that the ratification of it by nine States should be sufficient to establish its authority over all, for although made by the men chosen for that purpose, it was not considered binding upon the people, until it had been sanctioned by three-fourths of the States. This was subsequently done, and the work of the convention became the charter of our liberties, and the great foundation stone of one of the most magnificent structures ever erected by the genius and wisdom of man.

2. The ratification of the Constitution by the several States necessarily required time. Hence the government established by its provisions did not go into operation till March, 1789. In the mean time General Washington had been chosen the first President of the United States, and a Congress had been elected in conformity with the provisions of the new and as yet untried Constitution. The President was inaugurated, the first Congress assembled in the city of New York, and the government of the United States was put into operation.

3. But before the first session of Congress closed, it was thought by a majority of the body that the Constitution in the shape in which the convention had left it, was defective, and that there should be several additions or amendments made to it. In conformity with this opinion ten amendments were proposed and passed

in the manner provided in the instrument itself; to wit, by a vote of two-thirds of both houses. These ten amendments were subsequently ratified by the requisite number of States (three-fourths,) and became a part of the Constitution. In the same manner the eleventh amendment was proposed, passed and adopted in 1794, and the 12th in 1803. From this last date the Constitution remained unchanged until January 31, 1865, when the House passed a resolution in favor of another amendment; the Senate passed the same resolution during the previous session.

4. In order to show more fully how the Constitution is amended, and what proceedings are taken in order to do it, we here insert the resolution, and the subsequent doings of all the parties who must act upon it to consummate the proposed amendments. This example will show how all the amendments have been made, and how others may hereafter be made.

THE RESOLUTION.

5. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures,shall be valid to all intents and purposes as a part of said Constitution, viz.:

Article 13. First, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Second. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This, as numbered, made the thirteenth article of the amendments, twelve having been made as before stated. [See the Constitution and amendments as inserted in the latter part of the book.]

6. After this resolution had passed both Houses of Congress, and after the proposed amendment had been ratified by the requisite number of States, the Secretary of State, as the laws direct him to do, caused the resolution and the amendments to be published in all the States and Territories, and declared it to be valid as a part of the Constitution of the United States.

This thirteenth article of the amendments to the Constitution as it now stands, is one which has probably received more public attention, and caused more discussion than any other article in the whole document: because by it slavery in all the dominions of the United States has been constitutionally abolished.

7. We will make one other remark in relation to this thirteenth article, to wit: it grew out of the result of the war between the North and South. President Lincoln had, on Jan. 1, 1863, by virtue of his authority as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, issued his proclamation, declaring slavery to be abolished in all the States which had seceded from the Union, but this did not touch slavery in the slave States which had not seceded, viz.: Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Delaware, and West Virginia. Moreover there were doubts as to the constitutionality of Mr. Lincoln's act in this respect. But this amendment superseded that question, and made a clean sweep of the whole matter, both in the seceded and in the loyal States.

8. The framers of the Constitution undoubtedly borrowed many ideas incorporated therein from the laws of England, under which they had formerly lived; they constituted Congress with two Houses, the same as the English Parliament, the House of Lords answering to our Senate, and the House of Commons to our House of Representatives. Many other analogies

between the two governments can be traced.

9. But while this is true, they as studiously avoided every thing in the English laws which they deemed inconsistent with the principles of a free Republican government.

In article 3, section 3, we find the following:

"No attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted."

This is precisely the opposite of the English law in relation to treason; for when a man is there guilty of treason, his children cannot inherit the father's titles or property. The parent being corrupted by treason, his children are considered corrupted also; this is what is meant by "corruption of blood" in the language of the Constitution. It then declared that no such thing should be allowed in the United States: in other words, it follows the law of God, which expressly declares, "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son." Which do you like best, the English or the American law?

The Constitution of the United States has served in some respects as a model for the State Constitutions;