From: [k--ar--s] at [cc.memphis.edu]
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: RKBA Quotes 3/4
Date: 16 Aug 95 02:30:58 -0500

19TH CENTURY

   "Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive 
office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that 
portion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled to express 
my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased 
to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task 
is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and 
awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the 
weakness of my powers so justly inspire.  A rising nation, spread 
over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich 
productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who 
feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond 
the reach of mortal eye --when I contemplate these transcendent 
objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this 
beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this 
day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the 
magnitude of the undertaking.  Utterly, indeed, should I despair 
did not the presence of many whom I here see around me that in the 
other high authorities provided by our Constitution I shall find 
resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal on which to rely under 
all difficulties.  To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with 
the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with 
you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support which 
may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all 
embarked amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world.
   During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the 
animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an 
aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and 
to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by 
the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the 
Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will 
of the land, and unite in common efforts for the common good.  
All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the 
will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be 
rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal 
rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate which would be 
oppression.  Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and 
one mind.  Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and 
affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary 
things.  And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that 
religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, 
we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance 
as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody 
persecutions.  During the throes and convulsions of the ancient 
world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking 
through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not 
wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even 
this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and 
feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as 
to measures of safety.  But every difference of opinion is not a 
difference of principle.  We have called by different names brethren 
of the same principle.. We are all Republicans, we are all 
Federalists.  If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve 
this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand 
undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion 
may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.  I know, 
indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government 
can not be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but 
would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, 
abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the 
theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best 
hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself?  I trust 
not.  I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government 
on earth.  I believe it the only one where every man, at the call 
of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet 
invasions of the public order as his own personal concern.  
Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government 
of himself.  Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?  
Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him?  
Let history answer this question.
   Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own 
Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and 
representative government.  Kindly separated by nature and a wide 
ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too 
high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing 
a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the 
thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense 
of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the 
acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our 
fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and 
their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, 
indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating 
honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; 
acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all 
its dispensations proved that it delights in the happiness of man 
here and his greater happiness hereafter --with all these blessings, 
what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people?  
Still one thing more, fellow-citizens --a wise and frugal 
Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, 
shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of 
industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor 
the bread it has earned.  This is the sum of good government, and 
this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.
   About to enter, fellow-citizens on the exercise of duties which 
comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you 
should understand what I deem the essential principles of our 
Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its 
Administration.  I will compress them within the narrowest compass 
they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its 
limitations.  Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state 
or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest 
friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the 
support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most 
competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest 
bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of the 
General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet 
anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the 
right of election by the people --a mild and safe corrective of 
abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable 
remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of 
the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no 
appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of 
despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace 
and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; 
the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in 
the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest 
payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith; 
encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; 
the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the 
bar of public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press, 
and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, 
and trial by juries impartially selected.  These principles form the 
bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps 
through an age of revolution and reformation.  The wisdom of our 
sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment.  
They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic 
instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those 
we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of 
alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road 
which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.
   I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned 
me.  With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the 
difficulties of this the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect 
that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from 
this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into 
it.  Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in 
our first and greatest revolutionary character, whose preeminent 
services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love 
and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful 
history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and 
effect to the legal administration of your affairs.  I shall often 
go wrong through defect of judgment.  When right, I shall often be 
thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of 
the whole ground.  I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which 
will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of 
others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its 
parts.  The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great 
consolation to me for the past, and my future solicitude will be 
to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance, 
to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my power, 
and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all.
   Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance 
with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you 
become sensible how much better choice it is in your power to 
make.  And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of 
the universe lead our councils to what is best, and give them a 
favorable issue for your peace and prosperity."
--Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), First Inaugural Address, March 4,
1801

   "8.  A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of
a free state, the right of the people to keep, and bear arms, shall
not be infringed.  Amendments to C. U. S. Art. 4.
   This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty....
The right of self-defense is the first law of nature: in most
governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right
within the narrowest limits possible.  Wherever standing armies are
kept up, and when the right of the people to keep and bear arms is,
under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not
already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.  In England,
the people have been disarmed, generally, under the specious pretext
of preserving the game: a never failing lure to bring over the
landed aristocracy to support any measure, under that mask, though
calculated for very different purposes.  True it is, their bill of
rights seems at first view to counteract that policy: but the right
of bearing arms is confined to protestants, and the words suitable
to their condition and degree have been interpreted to authorise
the prohibition of keeping a gun or any other engine for the
destruction of game, to any farmer, or inferior tradesman, or other
person not qualified to kill game.  So that not one man in five
hundred can keep a gun in his house without being subject to a
penalty."
--Henry St. George Tucker (1780-1848), ed., _Blackstone's
Commentaries: with Notes of Reference, to the Constitution and Laws
of the Federal Government of the United States; and of the
Commonwealth of Virginia,_vol.1 p.300 (Philadelphia, 1803)
<<Compare Justice Story's remark (below) on "the palladium of
liberty" which he credited to Tucker.  Note also the bizzare
punctuation given by Tucker for the Second Amendment, evidently a
typographical error.  (The numbering given by Tucker reflects the
proposal put forth by Congress.)>>

   "If, for example, a law be passed by congress, prohibiting the
free exercise of religion, according to the dictates, or persuasions
of a man's own conscience; or abridging the freedom of speech, or
of the press, or the right of the people to assemble peaceably, or
to keep and bear arms; it would, in any of these cases, be the
province of the judiciary to pronounce whether any such act were
constitutional, or not; and if not, to acquit the accused from any
penalty which might be annexed to the breach of such
unconstitutional act."
--Henry St. George Tucker (1780-1848), ed., _Blackstone's
Commentaries: with Notes of Reference, to the Constitution and Laws
of the Federal Government of the United States; and of the
Commonwealth of Virginia,_vol.1 p.357 (Philadelphia, 1803)

   "It would have been a source, fellow-citizens, of much
gratification if our last communications from Europe had enabled
me to inform you that the belligerent nations, whose disregard of
neutral rights has been so destructive to our commerce, had become
awakened to the duty and true policy of revoking their unrighteous
edicts.  That no means might be omitted to produce this salutary
effect, I lost no time in availing myself of the act authorizing
a suspension, in whole or in part, of the several embargo laws. 
Our ministers at London and Paris were instructed to explain to
the respective governments there our disposition to exercise the
authority in such manner as would withdraw the pretext on which the
aggressions were originally founded and open the way for a renewal
of that commercial intercourse which it was alleged on all sides
had been reluctantly obstructed.  As each of those Governments had
pledged its readiness to concur in renouncing a measure which
reached its adversary through the incontestable rights of neutrals
only, and as the measure had been assumed by each as a retaliation
for an asserted acquiescence in the aggressions of the other, it was
reasonably expected that the occasion would have been seized by both
for evincing the sincerity of their professions, and for restoring
to the commerce of the United States its legitimate freedom. 
The instructions to our ministers with respect to the different
belligerents were necessarily modified with a reference to their
different circumstances, and to the condition annexed by law to
the Executive power of suspension, requiring a decree of security
to our commerce which would not result from a repeal of the decrees
of France.  Instead of a pledge, therefore of a suspension of the
embargo as to her in case of such a repeal, it was presumed that a
sufficient inducement might be found in other considerations, and
particularly in the change produced by a compliance with our
just demands by one belligerent and a refusal by the other in the
relations between the other and the United States.  To Great
Britain, whose power on the ocean is so ascendant, it was deemed
not inconsistent with that condition to state explicitly that on her
rescinding her orders in relation to the United States their trade
would be opened with her, and remain shut to her enemy in case of
his failure to rescind his decrees also.  From France no answer has
been received, nor any indication that the requested change in her
decrees is contemplated.  The favorable reception of the proposition
to Great Britain was the less to be doubted, as her orders of
council had not only been referred for their vindication to an
acquiescence on the part of the United States no longer to be
pretended, but as the arrangement proposed, whilst it resisted
the illegal decrees of France, involved, moreover, substantially
the precise advantages professedly aimed at by the British orders. 
The arrangement has nevertheless been rejected.
   This candid and liberal experiment having thus failed, and no
event other having occurred on which a suspension of the embargo by
the Executive was authorized, it necessarily remains in the extent
originally given to it.  We have the satisfaction, however, to
reflect that in return for the privations imposed by the measure,
and which our fellow-citizens in general have borne with patriotism,
it has had the important effects of saving our mariners and our vast
mercantile property, as well as of affording time for prosecuting
the defensive and provisional measures called for by the occasion. 
It has demonstrated to foreign nations the moderation and firmness
which govern our councils, and to our citizens the necessity of
uniting in support of the laws and the rights of their country, and
has thus long frustrated those usurpations and spoliations which,
if resisted, involved war; if submitted to, sacrificed a vital
principle of our national independence.
   Under a continuance of the belligerent measures which, in
defiance of laws which consecrate the rights of neutrals, overspread
the ocean with danger, it will rest with the wisdom of the Congress
to decide on the course best adapted to such a state of things; and
bringing with them, as they do, from every part of the Union the
sentiments of our constituents, my confidence is strengthened that
in forming this decision they will, with an unerring regard to
the essential rights and interests of the nation, weigh and compare
the painful alternatives out of which a choice is to be made. 
Nor should I do justice to the virtues which on all other occasions
have marked the character of our fellow citizens if I did not
cherish an equal confidence that the alternative chosen, whatever
it may be, will be maintained with all the fortitude and patriotism
which the crisis ought to inspire.
   The documents containing the correspondences on the subject of
the foreign edicts against our commerce, with the instructions
given to our ministers at London and Paris, are now laid before you.
   The communications made to Congress at their last session
explained the posture in which the close of the discussions relating
to the attack by a British ship of war on the frigate _Chesapeake_
left a subject on which the nation had manifested so honorable a
sensibility.  Every view of what had passed authorized a belief
that immediate steps would be taken by the British Government for
redressing a wrong which the more it was investigated appeared the
more clearly to require what had not been provided for in the
special mission.  It is found that no steps have been taken for
the purpose.  On the contrary, it will be seen in the documents
laid before you that the inadmissible preliminary which obstructed
the adjustment is still adhered to, and, moreover, that it is now
brought into connection with the distinct and irrelative case of
the orders in council.  The instructions which had been given to
our minister at London with a view to facilitate, if necessary,
the reparation claimed by the United States are included in the
documents communicated.
   Our relations with the other powers of Europe have undergone
no material changes since your last session.  The important
negotiations with Spain which had been alternately suspended and
resumed necessarily experience a pause under the extraordinary
and interesting crisis which distinguishes her internal situation.
   With the Barbary Powers we continue in harmony, with the
exception of an unjustifiable proceeding of the Dey of Algiers
toward our consul to that Regency.  Its character and circumstances
are now laid before you, and will enable you to decide how far
it may, either now or hereafter, call for any measures not within
the limits of the Executive authority.
   With our Indian neighbors the public peace has been steadily
maintained.  Some instances of individual wrong have, as at other
times, taken place, but in no wise implicating the will of the
nation.  Beyond the Mississippi the Ioways, the Sacs, and the
Alabamas have delivered up for trial and punishment individuals
from among themselves accused of murdering citizens of the United
States.  On this side of the Mississippi the Creeks are exerting
themselves to arrest offenders of the same kind, and the Choctaws
have manifested their readiness and desire for amicable and just
arrangements respecting depredations committed by disorderly persons
of their tribe.  And, generally, from a conviction that we consider
them as a part of ourselves, and cherish with sincerity their rights
and interests, the attachment of the Indian tribes is gaining
strength daily --is extending from the nearer to the more remote,
and will amply requite us for the justice and friendship practiced
toward them.  Husbandry and household manufacture are advancing
among them more rapidly with the Southern than Northern tribes,
from circumstances of soil and climate, and one of the two great
divisions of the Cherokee nation have now under consideration to
solicit the citizenship of the United States, and to be identified
with us in laws and government in such progressive manner as we
shall think best.
   In consequence of the appropriations of the last session of
Congress for the security of our seaport towns and harbors, such
works of defense have been erected as seemed to be called for by
the situation of the several places, their relative importance, and
the scale of expense indicated by the amount of the appropriation. 
These works will chiefly be finished in the course of the present
season except at New York and New Orleans, where most was to be
done; and although a great proportion of the last appropriation has
been expended on the former place, yet some further views will be
submitted to Congress for rendering its security entirely adequate
against naval enterprise.  A view of what has been done at the
several places, and of what is proposed to be done, shall be
communicated as soon as the several reports are received.  Of the
gunboats authorized by the act of December last, it has been thought
necessary to build only 103 in the present year.  These, with
those before possessed, are sufficient for the harbors and waters
most exposed, and the residue will require little time for their
construction when it shall be deemed necessary.
   Under the act of the last session for raising an additional
military force so many officers were immediately appointed as
were necessary for carrying on the business of recruiting, and in
proportion as it advanced others have been added.  We have reason
to believe their success has been satisfactory, although such
returns have not yet been received as enable me to present you
a statement of the numbers engaged.
   I have not thought it necessary in the course of the last season
to call for any general detachments of militia or of volunteers
under the laws passed for that purpose.  For the ensuing season,
however, they will be required to be in readiness should their
service be wanted.  Some small and special detachments have been
necessary to maintain the laws of embargo on that portion of our
northern frontier which offered peculiar facilities for evasion,
but these were replaced as soon as it could be done by bodies of new
recruits.  By the aid of these and of the armed vessels called into
service in other quarters the spirit of disobedience and abuse,
which manifested itself early and with sensible effect while we
were unprepared to meet it, has been considerably repressed.
   Considering the extraordinary character of the times in which we
live, our attention should unremittingly be fixed on the safety of
our country.  For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so,
a well organized and armed militia is their best security.  It is
therefore incumbent on us at every meeting to revise the condition
of the militia, and to ask ourselves if it is prepared to repel
a powerful enemy at every point of our territories exposed to
invasion.  Some of the States have paid a laudable attention to
this object, but every degree of neglect is to be found among
others.  Congress alone having the power to produce an uniform state
of preparation in this great organ of defense, the interests which
they so deeply feel in their own and their country's security will
present this as among the most important objects of their
deliberation.
   Under the acts of March 11 and April 23 respecting arms, the
difficulty of procuring them from abroad during the present
situation and dispositions of Europe induced us to direct our whole
efforts to the means of internal supply.  The public factories have
therefore been enlarged, additional machineries erected, and, in
proportion as artificers can be found or formed, their effect,
already more than doubled, may be increased so as to keep pace with
the yearly increase of the militia.  The annual sums appropriated
by the latter act have been directed to the encouragement of private
factories of arms, and contracts have been entered into with
individual undertakers to nearly the amount of the first year's
appropriation.
   The suspension of our foreign commerce, produced by the injustice
of the belligerent powers, and the consequent losses and sacrifices
of our citizens are subjects of just concern.  The situation into
which we have thus been forced has impelled us to apply a portion of
our industry and capital to internal manufactures and improvements. 
The extent of this conversion is daily increasing, and little doubt
remains that the establishments formed and forming will, under the
auspices of cheaper materials and subsistence, the freedom of labor
from taxation with us, and of protecting duties and prohibitions,
become permanent.  The commerce with the Indians, too, within our
own boundaries is likely to receive abundant aliment from the same
internal source, and will secure to them peace and the progress of
civilization, undisturbed by practices hostile to both.
   The accounts of the receipts and expenditures during the year
ending the 30th of September last being not yet made up, a correct
statement will hereafter be transmitted from the Treasury.  In the
meantime it is ascertained that the receipts have amounted to near
$18,000,000, which, with the eight millions and a half in the
Treasury at the beginning of the year, have enabled us, after
meeting the current demands and interest incurred, to pay $2,300,000
of the principal of our funded debt, and left us in the Treasury on
that day near $14,000,000.  Of these, $5,350,000 will be necessary
to pay what will be due on the 1st day of January next, which will
complete the reimbursement of the 8 per cent stock.  These payments,
with those made in the six years and a half preceding, will have
extinguished $33,580,000 of the principal of the funded debt, being
the whole which could be paid or purchased within the limits of
the law and of our contracts, and the amount of principal thus
discharged will have liberated the revenue from about $2,000,000
of interest and added that sum annually to the disposable surplus. 
The probable accumulation of the surpluses of revenue beyond what
can be applied to the payment of the public debt whenever the
freedom and safety of our commerce shall be restored merits the
consideration of Congress.  Shall it lie unproductive in the public
vaults?  Shall the revenue be reduced?  Or shall it not rather be
appropriated to the improvements of roads, canals, rivers,
education, and other great foundations of prosperity and union under
the powers which Congress may already possess or such amendment of
the Constitution as may be approved by the States?  While uncertain
of the course of things, the time may be advantageously employed in
obtaining the powers necessary for a system of improvement, should
that be thought best.
   Availing myself of this the last occasion which will occur of
addressing the two Houses of the Legislature at their meeting,
I can not omit the expression of my sincere gratitude for the
repeated proofs of confidence manifested to me by themselves and
their predecessors since my call to the administration and the
many indulgences experienced at their hands. The same grateful
acknowledgments are due to my fellow-citizens generally, whose
support has been my great encouragement under all embarrassments. 
In the transaction of their business I can not have escaped error. 
It is incident to our imperfect nature.  But I may say with truth
my errors have been of the understanding, not of intention, and that
the advancement of their rights and interests has been the constant
motive for every measure.  On these considerations I solicit their
indulgence.  Looking forward with anxiety to their future destinies,
I trust that in their steady character, unshaken by difficulties, in
their love of liberty, obedience to law, and support of the public
authorities I see a sure guaranty of the permanence of our Republic;
and, retiring from the charge of their affairs, I carry with me the
consolation of a firm persuasion that Heaven has in store for our
beloved country long ages to come of prosperity and happiness."
--Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Eighth "State of the Union" address
[Annual Message], November 8, 1808

   "The Greeks by their laws, and the Romans by the spirit of their
people, took care to put into the hands of their rulers no such
engine of oppression as a standing army.  Their system was to make
every man a soldier, and oblige him to repair to the standard of his
country whenever that was reared.  This made them invincible; and
the same remedy will make us so."
--Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), letter to Thomas Cooper
(from Monticello, September 10, 1814)

   "Our legislators are not sufficiently appraised of the rightful
limits of their power; that their true office is to declare and
enforce our natural rights and duties, and to take none of them
from us.  No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the
equal rights of another; and this is all from which the laws ought
to restrain him; every man is under the natural duty of contributing
to the necessities of the society; and this is all the laws should
enforce on him; and, no man having the right to be the judge between
himself and another, it is his natural duty to submit to the
umpiarage of an impartial third [party].  When the laws have
declared and enforced all this, they have fulfilled their functions;
and the idea is quite unfounded, that on entering into society we
give up any natural right."
--Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), letter to Francis W. Gilmer,
June 7, 1816

   "I thank you, Sir, for the copy of your _Republican_ which you
have been so kind as to send me, and I should have ackno[w]ledged
it sooner but that I am just returned home after a long absence. 
I have not yet had time to read it seriously, but in looking over
it cursorily I see much in it to approve, and shall be glad if it
shalllead our youth to the practice of thinking on such subjects and
for themselves.  That it will have this tendency may be expected,
and for that reason I feel an urgency to note what I deem an error
in it, the more requiring notice as your opinion is strengthened by
that of others.
   You seem, in pages 84 and 148, to consider the judges as the
ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous
doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism
of an oligarchy.  Our judges are as honest as other men, and not
more so.  They have, with others, the same passions for party, for
power, and the privilege of their corps.  Their maxim is 'boni
judicis est ampliare jurisdictionem,' and their power the more
dangerous as they are in office for life, and not responsible, as
the other functionaries are, to the elective control.
   The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing
that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and
party, its members would become despots.  It has more wisely made
all the departments co-equal and co-sovereign within themselves. 
If the legislature fails to pass laws for a census, for paying the
judges and other officers of government, for establishing a militia,
for naturalization as prescribed by the Constitution, or if they
fail to meet in congress, the judges cannot issue their mandamus
to them; if the President fails to supply the place of a judge,
to appoint other civil or military officers, to issue requisite
commissions, the judges cannot force him.  They can issue their
mandamus or distringas to no legislative or executive officer to
enforce the fulfillment of their official duties, any more than
the President or the legislature may issue orders to the judges
or their officers.
   Betrayed by English example, and unaware, as it should seem,
of the control of our Constitution in this particular, they [the
judges] have at times overstepped their limit by undertaking to
command executive officers in the discharge of their executive
duties; but the Constitution, in keeping these departments distinct
and independent, restrains the authority of the judges to judiciary
organs, as it does the executive and legislative to executive and
legislative organs.  The judges certainly have more frequent
occasion to act on constitutional questions, because the laws of
_meum_ and _tuum_ and of criminal action, forming the great mass
of the system of the law, constitute their particular department.
   When the legislative or executive functionaries act
unconstitutionally, they are responsible to the people in their
elective capacity.  The exemption of the judges from that is quite
dangerous enough.  I know no safe depository of the the ultimate
powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think
them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a
wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to
inform their discretion by education.  This is the true corrective
of abuses of constitutional power.
   Pardon me, Sir, for this difference of opinion.  My personal
interest in such questions is entirely extinct, but not my wishes
for the longest possible continuance of our government on its pure
principles; if the three powers maintain their mutual independence
on each other it may last long, but not so if either can assume the
authorities of the other.  I ask your candid re-consideration of
this subject, and am sufficiently sure you will form a candid
conclusion.  Accept the assurance of my great respect."
--Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), letter to William C. Jarvis,
(from Monticello, September 28, 1820)

   "Next to having stout and friendly comrades, a man is chiefly 
emboldened by finding  himself well armed in case of need."
--Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), _The Fortunes of Nigel,_1822

   "Our correspondence is of that accommodating character, which
admits of suspension at the convenience of either party, without
inconvenience to the other.  Hence this tardy acknowledgment of
your favor of April the 11th.  I learn from that with great
pleasure, that you have resolved on continuing your history of
parties.  Our opponents [the Federalists] are far ahead of us in
preparations for placing their cause favorably before posterity. 
Yet I hope even from some of them the escape of precious truths,
in angry explosions or effusions of vanity, which will betray the
genuine monarchism of their principles.  They do not themselves
believe what they endeavor to inculcate, that we [the Democrat-
Republicans] were an opposition party, not on principle, but merely
seeking for office.
   The fact is, that at the formation of our government, many had
formed their political opinions on European writings and practices,
believing the experience of old countries, and especially of
England, abusive as it was, to be a safer guide than mere theory. 
The doctrines of Europe were, that men in numerous associations
cannot be restrained within the limits of order and justice, but
by forces physical and moral, wielded over them by authorities
independent of their will.  Hence their organization of kings,
hereditary nobles, and priests.  Still further to constrain the
brute force of the people, they deem it necessary to keep them down
by hard labor, poverty and ignorance, and to take from them, as
from bees, so much of their earnings, as that unremitting labor
shall be necessary to obtain a sufficient surplus barely to sustain
a scanty and miserable life.  And these earnings they apply to
maintain their privileged orders in splendor and idleness, to
fascinate the eyes of the people, and excite in them an humble
adoration and submission, as to an order of superior beings.
   Although few among us had gone all these lengths of opinion,
yet many had advanced, some more, some less, on the way.  And in
the convention which formed our government, they endeavored to draw
the cords of power as tight as they could obtain them, to lessen
the dependence of the general functionaries on their constituents,
to subject to them those of the States, and to weaken their means
of maintaining the steady equilibrium which the majority of the
convention had deemed salutary for both branches, general and local. 
To recover, therefore, in practice the powers which the nation had
refused, and to warp to their own wishes those actually given, was
the steady object of the [F]ederal[ist] party.
   Ours, on the contrary, was to maintain the will of the majority
of the convention, and of the people themselves.  We believed, with
them, that man was a rational animal, endowed by nature with rights,
and with an innate sense of justice; and that he could be restrained
from wrong and protected in right by moderate powers, confided to
persons of his own choice, and held to their duties by dependence
on his own will.  We believed that the complicated organization of
kings, nobles, and priests, was not the wisest nor best to effect
the happiness of associated man; that wisdom and virtue were not
hereditary, that the trappings of such a machinery, consumed by
their expense, those earnings of industry, they were meant to
protect, and, by the inequalities they produced, exposed liberty
to sufferance.
   We believed that men, enjoying in ease and security the full
fruits of their own industry, enlisted by all their interests on the
side of law and order, habituated to think for themselves, and to
follow their reason as their guide, would be more easily and safely
governed, than with minds nourished in error, and vitiated and
debased, as in Europe, by ignorance, indigence and oppression. 
The cherishment of the people then was our principle, the fear and
distrust of them, that of the other party.
   Composed, as we were, of the landed and laboring interests of
the country, we could not be less anxious for a government of law
and order than were the inhabitants of the cities, the strongholds
of federalism.  And whether our efforts to save the principles and
form of our constitution have not been salutary, let the present
republican freedom, order and prosperity of our country determine. 
History may distort truth, and will distort it for a time, by the
superior efforts at justification of those who are conscious of
needing it most.  Nor will the opening scenes of our present
government be seen in their true aspect, until the letters of the
day, now held in private hoards, shall be broken up and laid open
to public view.
   What a treasure will be found in General Washington's cabinet,
when it shall pass into the hands of as candid a friend to truth as
he was himself!  When no longer, like Caesar's notes and memorandums
in the hands of Anthony, it shall be open to the high priests of
federalism only, and garbled to say so much, and no more, as suits
their views!
   With respect to his farewell address, to the authorship of which,
it seems, there are conflicting claims, I can state to you some
facts.  He had determined to decline re-election at the end of his
first term, and so far determined, that he had requested Mr. Madison
to prepare for him something valedictory, to be addressed to his
constituents on his retirement.  This was done, but he was finally
persuaded to acquiesce in a second election, to which no one more
strenuously pressed him than myself, from a conviction of the
importance of strengthening, by longer habit, the respect necessary
for that office, which the weight of his character only could
effect.
   When, at the end of his second term, his Valedictory came out,
Mr. Madison recognized in it several passages of his draught,
several others, we were both satisfied, were from the pen of
Hamilton, and others from that of the President himself.  These he
probably put into the hands of Hamilton to form into a whole, and
hence it may all appear in Hamilton's hand-writing, as if it were
all of his composition.
   I have stated above, that the original objects of the federalists
were, 1st, to warp our government more to the form and principles of
monarchy, and, 2d, to weaken the barriers of the State governments
as coordinate powers.  In the first they have been so completely
foiled by the universal spirit of the nation, that they have
abandoned the enterprise, shrunk from the odium of their old
appellation, taken to themselves a participation of ours, and under
the pseudo-republican mask, are now aiming at their second object,
and strengthened by unsuspecting or apostate recruits from our
ranks, are advancing fast towards an ascendancy.  I have been blamed
for saying, that a prevalence of the doctrines of consolidation
would one day call for reformation or _revolution._  I answer by
asking if a single State of the Union would have agreed to the
constitution, had it given all powers to the General Government? 
If the whole opposition to it did not proceed from the jealousy and
fear of every State, of being subjected to the other States in
matters merely its own?  And if there is any reason to believe the
States more disposed now than then, to acquiesce in this general
surrender of all their rights and powers to a consolidated
government, one and undivided?
   You request me confidentially, to examine the question, whether
the Supreme Court has advanced beyond its constitutional limits,
and trespassed on those of the State authorities?  I do not
undertake it, my dear Sir, because I am unable.  Age and the wane of
mind consequent on it, have disqualified me from investigations so
severe, and researches so laborious.  And it is the less necessary
in this case, as having been already done by others with a logic and
learning to which I could add nothing.  On the decision of the case
of Cohens _vs_. The State of Virginia, in the Supreme Court of the
United States, in March, 1821, Judge Roane, under the signature of
Algernon Sidney, wrote for the Enquirer a series of papers on the
law of that case.  I considered these papers maturely as they came
out, and confess that they appeared to me to pulverize every word
which had been delivered by Judge Marshall, of the extra-judicial
part of his opinion; and all was extra-judicial, except the decision
that the act of Congress had not purported to give to the
corporation of Washington the authority claimed by their lottery
law, of controlling the laws of the States within the States
themselves.  But unable to claim that case, he could not let it go
entirely, but went on gratuitously to prove, that notwithstanding
the eleventh amendment of the constitution, a State _could_ be
brought as a defendant, to the bar of his court; and again, that
Congress might authorize a corporation of its territory to exercise
legislation within a State, and paramount to the laws of that State. 
I cite the sum and result only of his doctrines, according to the
impression made on my mind at the time, and still remaining. 
If not strictly accurate in circumstance, it is so in substance.
   This doctrine was so completely refuted by Roane, that if he
can be answered, I surrender human reason as a vain and useless
faculty, given to bewilder, and not to guide us.  And I mention this
particular case as one only of several, because it gave occasion to
that thorough examination of the constitutional limits between the
General and State jurisdictions, which you have asked for.  There
were two other writers in the same paper, under the signatures of
Fletcher of Saltoun, and Somers, who, in a few essays, presented
some very luminous and striking views of the question.  And there
was a particular paper which recapitulated all the cases in which
it was thought the federal court had usurped on the State
jurisdictions.  These essays will be found in the Enquirers of 1821,
from May the 10th to July the 13th.  It is not in my present power
to send them to you, but if Ritchie can furnish them, I will procure
and forward them.
   If they had been read in the other States, as they were here,
I think they would have left, there as here, no dissentients from
their doctrine.  The subject was taken up by our legislature of
1821-'22, and two draughts of remonstrances were prepared and
discussed.  As well as I remember, there was no difference of
opinion as to the matter of right; but there was as to the
expediency of a remonstrance at that time, the general mind of
the States being then under extraordinary excitement by the Missouri
question; and it was dropped on that consideration.  But this case
is not dead, it only sleepeth.  The Indian chief said he did not go
to war for every petty injury by itself, but put it into his pouch,
and when that was full, he then made war.  Thank Heaven, we have
provided a more peaceable and rational mode of redress.
   This practice of Judge Marshall, of travelling out of his case
to prescribe what the law would be in a moot case not before the
court, is very irregular and very censurable.  I recollect another
instance, and the more particularly, perhaps, because it in some
measure bore on myself.  Among the midnight appointments of Mr.
Adams, were commissions to some federal justices of the peace for
Alexandria.  These were signed and sealed by him, but not delivered. 
I found them on the table of the department of State, on my entrance
into office, and I forbade their delivery.  Marbury, named in one of
them, applied to the Supreme Court for a mandamus to the Secretary
of State, (Mr. Madison) to deliver the commission intended for him. 
The court determined at once, that being an original process, they
had no cognizance of it; and therefore the question before them was
ended.
   But the Chief Justice went on to lay down what the law would be,
had they jurisdiction of the case, to wit: that they should command
the delivery.  The object was clearly to instruct any other court
having the jurisdiction, what they should do if Marbury should apply
to them.  Besides the impropriety of this gratuitous interference,
could anything exceed the perversion of law?  For if there is any
principle of law never yet contradicted, it is that delivery is one
of the essentials to the validity of the deed.  Although signed and
sealed, yet as long as it remains in the hands of the party himself,
it is _in fieri_ only, it is not a deed, and can be made so only
by its delivery.  In the hands of a third person it may be made an
escrow.
   But whatever is in the executive offices is certainly deemed to
be in the hands of the President; and in this case, was actually
in my hands, because, when I countermanded them, there was as yet
no Secretary of State.  Yet this case of Marbury and Madison is
continually cited by bench and bar, as if it were settled law,
without any animadversion on its being merely an _obiter_ [dicta]
dissertation of the Chief Justice.
   It may be impracticable to lay down any general formula of words
which shall decide at once, and with precision, in every case, this
limit of jurisdiction.  But there are two canons which will guide
us safely in most of the cases.
   1st. The capital and leading object of the constitution was to
leave with the States all authorities which respected their own
citizens only, and to transfer to the United States those which
respected citizens of foreign or other States: to make us several
as to ourselves, but one as to all others.  In the latter case,
then, constructions should lean to the general jurisdiction, if
the words will bear it; and in favor of the States in the former,
if possible to be so construed.  And indeed, between citizens and
citizens of the same State, and under their own laws, I know but a
single case in which a jurisdiction is given to the General
Government.  That is, where anything but gold or silver is made
a lawful tender, or the obligation of contracts is any otherwise
impaired.  The separate legislatures had so often abused that power,
that the citizens themselves chose to trust it to the general,
rather than to their own special authorities.
   2d. On every question of construction [of the Constitution]
let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was
adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead
of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or intended
against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.
Let us try Cohen's case by these canons only, referring always,
however, for full argument, to the essays before cited.
   1. It was between a citizen and his own State, and under a law
of his State.  It was a domestic case, therefore, and not a foreign
one.
   2. Can it be believed, that under the jealousies prevailing
against the General Government, at the adoption of the constitution,
the States meant to surrender the authority of preserving order,
of enforcing moral duties and restraining vice, within their own
territory?  And this is the present case, that of Cohen being under
the ancient and general law of gaming.  Can any good be effected
by taking from the States the moral rule of their citizens, and
subordinating it to the general authority, or to one of their
corporations, which may justify forcing the meaning of words,
hunting after possible constructions, and hanging inference on
inference, from heaven to earth, like Jacob's ladder?  Such an
intention was impossible, and such a licentiousness of construction
and inference, if exercised by both governments, as may be done
with equal right, would equally authorize both to claim all power,
general and particular, and break up the foundations of the Union. 
Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding, and should,
therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. 
Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties,
which may make anything mean everything or nothing, at pleasure. 
It should be left to the sophisms of advocates, whose trade it is,
to prove that a defendant is a plaintiff, though dragged into court,
_torto collo,_ like Bonaparte's volunteers, into the field in
chains, or that a power has been given, because it ought to have
been given, _et alia talia._
   The States supposed that by their tenth amendment, they had
secured themselves against constructive powers.  They were not
lessoned yet by Cohen's case, nor aware of the slipperiness of
the eels of the law.  I ask for no straining of words against the
General Government, nor yet against the States.  I believe the
States can best govern our home concerns, and the General Government
our foreign ones.  I wish, therefore, to see maintained that
wholesome distribution of powers established by the constitution
for the limitation of both; and never to see all offices transferred
to Washington, where, further withdrawn from the eyes of the people,
they may more secretly be bought and sold as at market.
   But the Chief Justice says, "there must be an ultimate arbiter
somewhere." True, there must; but does that prove it is either
party?  The ultimate arbiter is the people of the Union, assembled
by their deputies in convention, at the call of Congress, or of
two-thirds of the States.  Let them decide to which they mean to
give an authority claimed by two of their organs.  And it has been
the peculiar wisdom and felicity of our constitution, to have
provided this peaceable appeal, where that of other nations is at
once to force.
   I rejoice in the example you set of _seriatim_ opinions.  I have
heard it often noticed, and always with high approbation.  Some of
your brethren will be encouraged to follow it occasionally, and in
time, it may be felt by all as a duty, and the sound practice of the
primitive court be again restored.  Why should not every judge be
asked his opinion, and give it from the bench, if only by yea or
nay?  Besides ascertaining the fact of his opinion, which the public
have a right to know, in order to judge whether it is impeachable or
not, it would show whether the opinions were unanimous or not, and
thus settle more exactly the weight of their authority.
   The close of my second sheet warns me that it is time now to
relieve you from this letter of unmerciful length.  Indeed, I wonder
how I have accomplished it, with two crippled wrists, the one
scarcely able to move my pen, the other to hold my paper.  But I am
hurried sometimes beyond the sense of pain, when unbosoming myself
to friends who harmonize with me in principle.  You and I may differ
occasionally in details of minor consequence, as no two minds, more
than two faces, are the same in every feature.  But our general
objects are the same, to preserve the republican form and principles
of our constitution and cleave to the salutary distribution of
powers which that has established.  These are the two sheet anchors
of our Union.  If driven from either, we shall be in danger of
foundering.  To my prayers for its safety and perpetuity, I add
those for the continuation of your health, happiness, and usefulness
to your country."
--Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), letter to Judge William Johnson,
(from Monticello, June 12, 1823)

   "Tho[ugh] aware of the danger of universal suffrage in a future 
state of Society such as the present state in Europe: he [Madison] 
would have extended it so far as to secure in every event and change 
in the state of Society a majority of people on the side of power.  
A Government resting on a minority, is an aristocracy not a Republic,
and could not be safe with a numerical [and] physical force against it,
without a standing Army, and enslaved press, and a disarmed populace."
--James Madison (1751-1836), from an autobiographical sketch,
ca. 1831-1836, published as "James Madison's Autobiography,"
in_William and Mary Quarterly,_3rd series, vol. 2, p. 208, (1945)
<<Madison, who modeled his draft for the proposed amendment that
we know today as the Second Amendment on the similar arms-right
provision in Virginia's constitution (see Jefferson's proposed wording
above), here underlines the importance of the freedom of the press
and of privately held arms in preventing the establishment of tyranny.
Compare also fellow Virginian Richard Henry Lee's statement above
about the anti-republican (i.e. elitist or aristocratic) principle which
underlies the establishment of a "select militia."  See also Joel Barlow,
above, for a discussion of how having an armed class and a disarmed
class is anti-democratic, and denies the equality of citizens.  From
this quote, the original intent of the Second Amendment is clear.>>

   "[S] 1889. The next amendment is: 'A well regulated militia
being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the
people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'
   [S] 1890.  The importance of this article will scarcely be
doubted by any persons who have duly reflected upon the subject. 
The militia is the natural defence of a free country against sudden
foreign invasions, domestic insurrections, and domestic usurpations
of power by rulers.  It is against sound policy for a free people
to keep up large military establishments and standing armies in time
of peace, both from the enourmous expenses, with which they are
attended, and the facile means, which they afford to ambitious and
unprincipled rulers, to subvert the government, or trample upon the
rights of the people. The right of the citizens to keep and bear
arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties
of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the
usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even
if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people
to resist and triumph over them.  And yet, though this truth would
seem so clear, and the importance of a well regulated militia would
seem so undeniable, it cannot be disguised, that among the American
people there is a growing indifference to any system of militia
discipline, and a strong disposition, from a sense of its burthens,
to be rid of all regulations.  How is it practicable to keep the
people duly armed without some organization, it is difficult to
see.  There is certainly no small danger, that indifference may
lead to digust, and disgust to contempt; and thus gradually
undermine all the protection intended by this clause of our national
bill of rights.
   [S] 1891.  A similar provision in favour of protestants (for to
them it is confined) is to be found in the bill of rights of 1688,
it being declared, 'that the subjects, which are protestants, may
have arms for their defence suitable to their condition, and as
allowed by law.'  But under various pretences the effect of this
provision has been greatly narrowed; and it is at present in England
more nominal than real, as a defensive privilege."
--U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story (1779-1845), "Commentaries
on the Constitution of the United States; With a Preliminary Review
of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States before the
Adoption of the Constitution" pp.746-747 (Boston, 1833)

   "God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always 
ready to guard and defend it."
--Daniel Webster (1782-1852), speech, June 3, 1834

   "As a subject for the remarks of the evening, _the perpetuation
of our political institutions,_ is selected.
   In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we,
the American People, find our account running, under date of the
nineteenth century of the Christian era.  We find ourselves in the
peaceful possession, of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards
extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. 
We find ourselves under the government of a system of political
institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and
religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times
tells us.  We, when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves
the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings.  We toiled not
in the acquirement or establishment of them --they are a legacy
bequeathed us, by a _once_ hardy, brave and patriotic, but _now_
lamented and departed race of ancestors.
   Their's was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess
themselves, and through themselves, us, of this goodly land; and
to uprear upon its hills and its valleys, a political edifice of
liberty and equal rights; 'tis ours only, to transmit these, the
former, unprofaned by the foot of an invader; the latter, undecayed
by the lapse of time, and untorn by [usurpation --to the latest
generation that fate shall permit the world to know.  This task of
gratitude to our fathers, justice to] ourselves, duty to posterity,
and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us
faithfully to perform.
   How, then, shall we perform it?  At what point shall we expect
the approach of danger?  By what means shall we fortify against it? 
Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the
Ocean,and crush us at a blow?  Never!  All the armies of Europe,
Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth
(our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for
a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or
make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
   At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? 
I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. 
It cannot come from abroad.  If destruction be our lot, we must
ourselves be its author and finisher.  As a nation of freemen,
we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
   I hope I am over wary; but if I am not, there is, even now,
something of ill omen amongst us.  I mean the increasing disregard
for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to
substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober
judgement of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the
executive ministers of justice.  This disposition is awfully fearful
in any community, and that it now exists in ours, though grating
to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an
insult to our intelligence, to deny.  Accounts of outrages committed
by mobs, form the every-day news of the times.  They have pervaded
the country, from New England to Louisiana; --they are neither
peculiar to the eternal snows of the former, nor the burning suns
of the latter; --they are not the creature of climate --neither are
they confined to the slaveholding, or the non-slaveholding States. 
Alike, they spring up among the pleasure hunting masters of Southern
slaves, and the order loving citizens of the land of steady habits. 
Whatever, then, their cause may be, it is common to the whole
country.
   It would be tedious, as well as useless, to recount the horrors
of all of them.  Those happening in the State of Mississippi, and
at St. Louis, are, perhaps, the most dangerous in example, and
revolting to humanity.  In the Mississippi case, they first
commenced by hanging the regular gamblers: a set of men, certainly
not following for a livelihood, a very useful or very honest
occupation, but one which, so far from being forbidden by the laws
was actually licensed by an act of the Legislature, passed but
a single year before.  Next, negroes, suspected of conspiring to
raise an insurrection, were caught up and hanged in all parts of
the State: then white men, supposed to be leagued with the negroes;
and finally, strangers, from neighboring States, going thither on
business, were, in many instances, subjected to the same fate. 
Thus went on this process of hanging, from gamblers to negroes,
from negroes to white citizens, and from these to strangers; till
dead men were seen literally dangling from the boughs of trees upon
every road side; and in numbers almost sufficient, to rival the
native Spanish moss of the country, as a drapery of the forest.
   Turn, then, to that horror-striking scene at St. Louis.  A single
victim was only sacrificed there.  His story is very short; and is,
perhaps, the most highly tragic, of any thing of its length, that
has ever been witnessed in real life.  A mulatto man, by the name
of McIntosh, was seized in the street, dragged to the suburbs of
the city, chained to a tree, and actually burned to death; and all
within a single hour from the time he had been a freeman, attending
to his own business, and at peace with the world.
   Such are the effects of mob law; and such are the scenes,
becoming more and more frequent in this land so lately famed for
love of law and order; and the stories of which, have even now
grown too familiar, to attract any thing more, than an idle remark.
   But you are, perhaps, ready to ask, "What has this to do with the
perpetuation of our political institutions?"  I answer, it has much
to do with it.  Its direct consequences are, comparatively speaking,
but a small evil; and much of its danger consists, in the proneness
of our minds, to regard its direct, as its only consequences. 
Abstractly considered, the hanging of the gamblers at Vicksburg,
was of but little consequence.  They constitute a portion of
population, that is worse than useless in a[ny community; and their
death, if no perni]cious example be set by it, is never matter of
reasonable regret with any one.  If they were annually swept, from
the stage of existence, by the plague or small pox, honest men
would, perhaps, be much profited, by the operation.  Similar too,
is the correct reasoning, in regard to the burning of the negro at
St. Louis.  He had forfeited his life, by the perpetration of an
outrageous murder, upon one of the most worthy and respectable
citizens of the city; and had he not died as he did, he must have
died by the sentence of the law, in a very short time afterwards. 
As to him alone, it was as well the way it was, as it could
otherwise have been.  But the example in either case, was fearful. 
When men take it in their heads to day, to hang gamblers, or burn
murderers, they should recollect, that, in the confusion usually
attending such transactions, they will be as likely to hang or burn
some one, who is neither a gambler nor a murderer [as] one who is;
and that, acting upon the [exam]ple they set, the mob of to-morrow,
may, an[d] probably will, hang or burn some of them, [by th]e very
same mistake.  And not only so; the innocent, those who have ever
set their faces against violations of law in every shape, alike with
the guilty, fall victims to the ravages of mob law; and thus it goes
on, step by step, till all the walls erected for the defence of the
persons and property of individuals, are trodden dawn, and
disregarded.  But all this even, is not the full extent of the evil. 
By such examples, by instances of the perpetrators of such acts
going unpunished, the lawless in spirit, are encouraged to become
lawless in practice; and having been used to no restraint, but
dread of punishment, they thus become, absolutely unrestrained. 
Having ever regarded Government as their deadliest bane, they make
a jubilee of the suspension of its operations; and pray for nothing
so much, as its total annihilation.  While, on the other hand, good
men, men who love tranquility, who desire to abide by the laws, and
enjoy their benefits, who would gladly spill their blood in the
defence of their country; seeing their property destroyed; their
families insulted, and their lives endangered; their persons
injured; and seeing nothing in prospect that forebodes a change
for the better; become tired of, and disgusted with, a Government
that offers them no protection; and are not much averse to a change
in which they imagine they have nothing to lose.  Thus, then, by
the operation of this mobocratic spirit, which all must admit is now
abroad in the land, the strongest bulwark of any Government, and
particularly of those constituted like ours, may effectually be
broken down and destroyed --I mean the _attachment_ of the People. 
Whenever this effect shall be produced among us; whenever the
vicious portion of population shall be permitted to gather in bands
of hundreds and thousands, and burn churches, ravage and rob
provision stores, throw printing presses into rivers, shoot editors,
and hang and burn obnoxious persons at pleasure, and with impunity;
depend on it, this Government cannot last.  By such things, the
feelings of the best citizens will become more or less alienated
from it; and thus it will be left without friends, or with too few,
and those few too weak, to make their friendship effectual.  At such
a time and under such circumstances, men of sufficient tal[ent and
ambition will not be want]ing to seize [the opportunity, strike
the blow, and overturn that fair fabric], which for the last half
century, has been the fondest hope, of the lovers of freedom,
throughout the world.
   I know the American people are _much_ attached to their
Government; --I know they would suffer _much_ for its sake;
--I know they would endure evils long and patiently, before they
would ever think of exchanging it for another.  Yet, notwithstanding
all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if
their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are held
by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of
their affections from the Government is the natural consequence;
and to that, sooner or later, it must come.
   Here then, is one point at which danger may be expected.
   The question recurs "how shall we fortify against it?" 
The answer is simple.  Let every American, every lover of liberty,
every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the
Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws
of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others. 
As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration
of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws,
let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred
honor; --let every man remember that to violate the law, is to
trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the [charter] of
his own, and his children's liberty.  Let reverence for the laws,
be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that
prattles on her lap --let it be taught in schools, in seminaries,
and in colleges; --let it be written in Primmers, spelling books,
and in Almanacs; --let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed
in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice.  And, in
short, let it become the _political religion_ of the nation; and
let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and
the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions,
sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.
   While ever a state of feeling, such as this, shall universally,
or even, very generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will be
every effort, and fruitless every attempt, to subvert our national
freedom.
   When I so pressingly urge a strict observance of all the laws,
let me not be understood as saying there are no bad laws, nor that
grievances may not arise, for the redress of which, no legal
provisions have been made.  I mean to say no such thing.  But I
do mean to say, that, although bad laws, if they exist, should be
repealed as soon as possible, still while they continue in force,
for the sake of example, they should be religiously observed. 
So also in unprovided cases.  If such arise, let proper legal
provisions be made for them with the least possible delay; but,
till then, let them if not too intolerable, be borne with.
   There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob
law.  In any case that arises, as for instance, the promulgation
of abolitionism, one of two positions is necessarily true; that
is, the thing is right within itself, and therefore deserves the
protection of all law and all good citizens; or, it is wrong, and
therefore proper to be prohibited by legal enactments; and in
neither case, is the interposition of mob law, either necessary,
justifiable, or excusable.
   But, it may be asked, why suppose danger to our political
institutions?  Have we not preserved them for more than fifty
years?  And why may we not for fifty times as long?
   We hope there is no _sufficient_ reason.  We hope all dangers
may be overcome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise,
would itself be extremely dangerous.  There are now, and will
hereafter be, many causes, dangerous in their tendency, which have
not existed heretofore; and which are not too insignificant to merit
attention.  That our government should have been maintained in its
original form from its establishment until now, is not much to be
wondered at.  It had many props to support it through that period,
which now are decayed, and crumbled away.  Through that period, it
was felt by all, to be an undecided experiment; now it is understood
to be a successful one.  Then, all that sought celebrity and fame,
and distinction, expected to find them in the success of that
experiment.  Their _all_ was staked upon it: --their destiny was
_inseparably_ linked with it.  Their ambition aspired to display
before an admiring world, a practical demonstration of the truth
of a proposition, which had hitherto been considered, at best no
better, than problematical; namely, _the capability of a people
to govern themselves._  If they succeeded, they were to be
immortalized; their names were to be transferred to counties
and cities, and rivers and mountains; and to be revered and sung,
and toasted through all time.  If they failed, they were to be
called knaves and fools, and fanatics for a fleeting hour; then
to sink and be forgotten.  They succeeded.  The experiment is
successful; and thousands have won their deathless names in making
it so.  But the game is caught; and I believe it is true, that with
the catching, end the pleasures of the chase.  This field of glory
is harvested, and the crop is already appropriated.  But new reapers
will arise, and _they,_ too, will seek a field.  It is to deny,
what the history of the world tells us is true, to suppose that men
of ambition and talents will not continue to spring up amongst us. 
And, when they do, they will as naturally seek the gratification
of their ruling passion, as others have _so_ done before them. 
The question then, is, can that gratification be found in supporting
and maintaining an edifice that has been erected by others? 
Most certainly it cannot.  Many great and good men sufficiently
qualified for any task they should undertake, may ever be found,
whose ambition would aspire to nothing beyond a seat in Congress,
a gubernatorial or a presidential chair; _but such belong not to the
family of the lion, or the tribe of the eagle[.]_  What! think you
these places would satisfy an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon? 
Never!  Towering genius disdains a beaten path.  It seeks regions
hitherto unexplored.  It sees _no distinction_ in adding story
to story, upon the monuments of fame, erected to the memory of
others.  It _denies_ that it is glory enough to serve under any
chief.  It _scorns_ to tread in the footsteps of _any_ predecessor,
however illustrious.  It thirsts and burns for distinction; and,
if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating
slaves, or enslaving freemen.  Is it unreasonable then to expect,
that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with
ambition sufficient to push it to its utmost stretch, will at some
time, spring up among us?  And when such a one does, it will require
the people to be united with each other, attached to the government
and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his
designs.
   Distinction will be his paramount object; and although he would
as willingly, perhaps more so, acquire it by doing good as harm;
yet, that opportunity being past, and nothing left to be done in the
way of building up, he would set boldly to the task of pulling down.
   Here then, is a probable case, highly dangerous, and such a one
as could not have well existed heretofore.
   Another reason which _once was;_ but which, to the same extent,
is _now no more,_ has done much in maintaining our institutions
thus far.  I mean the powerful influence which the interesting
scenes of the revolution had upon the _passions_ of the people as
distinguished from their judgment.  By this influence, the jealousy,
envy, and avarice, incident to our nature, and so common to a state
of peace, prosperity, and conscious strength, were, for the time,
in a great measure smothered and rendered inactive; while the deep
rooted principles of _hate,_ and the powerful motive of _revenge,_
instead of being turned against each other, were directed
exclusively against the British nation.  And thus from the force of
circumstances, the basest principles of our nature, were either made
to lie dormant, or to become the active agents in the advancement of
the noblest of cause[s] --that of establishing and maintaining civil
and religious liberty.
   But this state of feeling _must fade, is fading, has faded,_ with
the circumstances that produced it.
   I do not mean to say, that the scenes of the revolution _are now_
or _ever will_ be entirely forgotten; but that like every thing
else, they must fade upon the memory of the world, and grow more
and more dim by the lapse of time.  In history, we hope, they will
be read of, and recounted, so long as the bible shall be read;
--but even granting that they will, their influence _cannot be_ what
it heretofore has been.  Even then, they _cannot be_ so universally
known, nor so vividly felt, as they were by the generation just gone
to rest.  At the close of that struggle, nearly every adult male had
been a participator in some of its scenes.  The consequence was,
that of those scenes, in the form of a husband, a father, a son
or a brother, a _living history was_ to be found in every family
--a history bearing the indubitable testimonies of its own
authenticity, in the limbs mangled, in the scars of wounds received,
in the midst of the very scenes related --a history, too, that
could be read and understood alike by all, the wise and the
ignorant, the learned and the unlearned.  But _those_ histories are
gone.  They _can_ be read no more forever.  They _were_ a fortress
of strength; but, what invading foemen could _never_ do, the silent
artillery of time _has done;_ the levelling of its walls.  They are
gone.  They _were_ a forest of giant oaks; but the all-resistless
hurricane has swept over them, and left only, here and there, a
lonely trunk, despoiled of its verdure, shorn of its foliage;
unshading and unshaded, to murmur in a few more gentle breezes,
and to combat with its mutilated limbs, a few more ruder storms,
then to sink, and be no more.
   They _were_ the pillars of the temple of liberty; and now, that
they have crumbled away, that temple must fall, unless we, their
descendants, supply their places with other pillars, hewn from the
solid quarry of sober reason.  Passion has helped us; but can do
so no more.  It will in future be our enemy.  Reason, cold,
calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials
for our future support and defence.  Let those [materials] be
moulded into _general intelligence, [sound] morality_ and, in
particular, _a reverence for the constitution and laws;_ and, that
we improved to the last: that we remained free to the last; that
we revered his name to the last; [tha]t, during his long sleep,
we permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate [his] resting
place; shall be that which to le[arn the last] trump shall awaken
our WASH[INGTON.
   Upon these] let the proud fabric of freedom r[est, as the] rock
of its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater
institution, _'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.'_"
--Abraham Lincoln (1809-assassinated 1865), "The Perpetuation of
Our Political Institutions," speech to the Young Men's Lyceum of
Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1838

(continued) 3/4

-- 
**x*dna   Ken Barnes, LifeSci Bldg.  ________Vote_________ NRA
*(==) *   The University Of Memphis  |=*===*===*===*===*=| JPFO
* \'  *   Memphis, TN                | Gramm/Alexander96!| GOP
*(=)***   [k--ar--s] at [cc.memphis.edu]    |___________________| U-U

           Take It From Bill, Kids:  Don't Inhale!