Entered according to Law, in the year 1846, in the Clerk's office TO GEORGE MIFFLIN DALLAS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, THIS EDITION OF THE CONSTITUTION IS INSCRIBED BY A CITIZEN. "The Constitution in its words is plain and intelligible, and it is meant for the home-bred, unsophisticated understandings of our fellow-citizens." "The people alone are the absolute owners and uncontrollable movers of such sovereignty as human beings can claim to exercise; subject to the eternal and unchangeable rules of justice, of truth, and of good faith. The moral law is out of its reach; sovereignty cannot violate that, and be more justified than the humblest individual." "Yield away the Constitution and the Union, and where are we? Frittered into fragments, and not able to claim one portion of the past as peculiarly our own! Our Union is not merely a blessing; it is a political necessity. We cannot exist without it. I mean, that all of existence which is worth having must depart with it. Our liberties could not endure the incessant conflicts of civil and conterminous strife; our independence would be an unreal mockery, our very memories would turn to bitterness." (Mr. Dallas in defence of the Constitution.) CONTENTS. An analytical INDEX of the Constitution and amendments will be found 2. The Constitution of the United States 3. The dates of ratification of the Constitution by the sev- 5. The verification of the Constitution and amendments by TABLES of electoral votes for President and Vice Presi- dent of the United States, from 4th March, 1789, 3. TABLE of terms of office, and length of service, in the Senate, of the Vice Presidents and Presidents pro tempore; and of the commencement, termination, and number of days in each session of Congress, and spe- cial session of the Senate, from 4th March, 1789, to 4. TABLE of the names of the Senators of the United States, from 4th March, 1789, to the 10th August, 1846; with the commencement and termination of their service, 64 Page. 5. TABLE of the names of Representatives in Congress who 1. Introductory remarks to this chapter 2. Brief statement of the official proceedings and proximate causes which led to the adop- A.-Report of a committee of the Congress of the Con- federation, showing the incompetency of that gov- ernment to provide for the necessities and safety of B.-Resolutions of that Congress, asking the States to C.-Resolution of Virginia appointing Commissioners to Annapolis, to establish an uniform system of trade D.-Proceedings of Commissioners at Annapolis, recom- mending a Convention to meet at Philadelphia, with ample powers to render the Constitution adequate to the exigencies of the Union - E.-Resolution of Congress of the Confederation, calling a Convention at Philadelphia, to render the Consti- tution adequate to the exigencies of the Govern- ment and the preservation of the Union F.-Acts of the several States for the appointment of deputies to meet in Convention to form a Constitu- G.-Resolutions of the Convention laying the Constitution |