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Report of the Special Committee. 1827-1828 69 (1827)

handle is hein.slavery/ssactssc0203 and id is 1 raw text is: early a iy Asthe Senate req4ired them. Your Committee were compelled, thcre . f ire; toal at th office oftheTeleicopejiddige with i diO or the prmtif 'ae whichi monsith the'sum of one htindred and' fifty dollars,for tyo thousdcopies Your Committee recouimelidthe ypament of the sanie 'Resolvd, ThatfSenatddo agree to th reportm * ~'jypideof Senate, JOB JOHNSTOW, . S.' it the Senaie, 'December 16 1827. TIE Committee, to whom was referred, certain resolutions, directing an inqiiry i hto the nature and origin of the Federil Government; and whether ertainstibi sIres of Congress ree, or are lotla violation of the lette and spirit of the fed al em, pact, Repiort, that they have inaturely weighed and considered the subject entrusted to them, and are.of opinion, 1. First, that tae Constitution of the United Statesis not a compact between the peti pl of the United States at large with each other, but is the result of a compact originally formed between the people, of thirteen separate and independent sove- reignties, to produce and constitute a new form of government, as will abundanmity appear by a reference to the journals of the old Congress, and of the Geheral Cont ventiol which framed the Constitution. The first' Congress in America was thait formed by the colonies in 1774 anul 1775. It possessed, as is well known, no authority but what arose from common consent. The declaration of independence having absolved the colonies from all allegiance to the crown of Great-Britain, it became necessary that the powers of Congres sluudd be accurately defined-and hence arose the Co b ,an etoK of 1781. Tmhi c federacy not producing the blessings which had been anticipated, and the war of the revolution having entailed upon the States a large public debt, and the States at the same time becoming careless or indifferent in furnishing their quotas of this burthen, and many of them indeed unable so to do, from the distresses incident to the want of a common head to regulate commerce, the necessity of new modelling the existing government became evident to all. The old Congress taking advantage of this state of the public sentiment, wisely recommended that a convocation of the States should be held for the purpose of framing a constitution better suited to 'the exigenees o the Union. This constitution when finished, was to be submitted in the shape of a proposal for the adoption ,r rejection of the different States. Deputies tom all the States were accordingly assembled in general convention ; and an contitution having been finally agreed upon, it was ordered to be published for the infrmation of the people, and each State Legislature vas solicited to call a convention for the purpose of ratifying or rejecting it. State conventions were accordingly assembled under the authority of the State Legislatures, and as soon as the ratifications of nine States were transmitted to the old Congress, arrangements were made to put thw new Constitution into operation, and the old Government expired, as a matter of course. a If attention be given to the rise, progress and completion of the new Goverment gs above stated, it will bc seen, that the government of the Union does not emanate from the people of the United States at large, but from the people of the diet State, as composing so many distinct and indeendent siveedities. e First-The general convention was recommended by the old Congress, which ae p pure coofederacy of States. Secondly-The deputies to that convention were elected by the State Legislatures. Thirdly-In all the deliberations of the conven- tion as to the best form of government for the Union, the votes were taken by States, and no measure agrned upon, which was not approved of by a majority of the States represented; and Lastly-The ratifications of such States as were willinglo accede to the new Government, were transmitted as the ratifications of so many sovereign States-the assent of each State counting as one vote i r making up the majority of three fourths of the States; such an assent of three fourths of the States being deem: ed a pre-requisite to the constitution's going into operation. Tihe mere thct of the constitution, not resulting from a majority of all the people of the Union, nor from that of a ajority of the States, but from the unanimous consent of the several States who were to be parties to it, proves beyond the possibility of doubt, that the act establishing the constitution, and giving it its binding elicacy, was purely the act of the people of the different States, as STrTs, and nOt Of the people at large. The Constitation was thu s clearly FDRALr in its Conception, ad in its uern bon.

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