wealth in considering the said acts so palpably against the Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration, that the compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the general government, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these states of all powers whatsoever... and that the co-states... will concur in declaring these void and of no force, and... in requesting their repeal at the next session of Congress. 77. THE VIRGINIA RESOLUTIONS OF 1798 Drafted by Madison. Passed December 21, 1798. In Elliot, Debates in the Several State Conventions, Vol. 4, pp. 528-529. IN THE VIRGINIA HOUSE OF DELEGATES, FRIDAY, December 21, 1798. RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Virginia doth unequivocally express a firm resolution to maintain and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of this state, against every aggression, either foreign or domestic; and that they will support the government of the United States in all measures warranted by the former... That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the powers of the federal government as resulting from the compact to which the states are parties, as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting that compact, as no further valid than they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact; and that, in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the states, who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose, for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining, within their respective limits, the authorities, rights, and liberties, appertaining to them... That the General Assembly doth particularly PROTEST against the palpable and alarming infractions of the Constitution, in the two late cases of the "Alien and Sedition Acts," passed at the last session of Congress... That this state having, by its Convention, which ratified the Federal Constitution, expressly declared that, among other essential rights, "the liberty of conscience and the press cannot be cancelled, abridged, restrained, or modified, by any authority of the United States," and from its extreme anxiety to guard these rights from every possible attack of sophistry and ambition, having, with other states, recommended an amendment for that purpose, which amendment was, in due time, annexed to the Constitution, it would mark a reproachful inconsistency, and criminal degeneracy, if an indifference were now shown to the most palpable violation of one of the rights thus declared and secured, and to the establishment of a precedent which may be fatal to the other... That the governor be desired to transmit a copy of the foregoing resolutions to the executive authority of each of the other states, with a request that the same may be communicated to the legislature thereof, and that a copy be furnished to each of the senators and representatives representing this state in the Congress of the United States... 78. THE KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1799 Adopted November 22, 1799. In Elliot, Debates in the Several State Conventions, Vol. 4, pp. 544-545 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Thursday, Nov. 14, 1799. ... Resolved, That this commonwealth considers the federal Union, upon the terms and for the purposes specified in the late compact, conducive to the liberty and happiness of the several states: That it does now unequivocally declare its attachment to the Union, and to that compact, agreeably to its obvious and real intention, and will be among the last to seek its dissolution... That the principle and construction, contended for by sundry of the state legislatures, that the general government is the exclusive judge of the extent of the powers delegated to it, stop not short of despotism - since the discretion of those who administer the government, and not the Constitution, would be the measure of their powers: That the several states who formed that instrument, being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of the infraction: and, That a nullification, by those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts done under color of that instrument, is the rightful remedy: That this commonwealth does, under the most deliberate reconsideration, declare, that the said Alien and Sedition Laws are, in their opinion, palpable violations of the said Constitution; .. And finally, in order that no pretext or arguments may be drawn from a supposed acquiescence, on the part of this commonwealth, in the constitutionality of those laws, and be thereby used as precedents for similar future violations of the federal compact, this commonwealth does now enter against them its solemn PROTEST. 79. THE LAND LAW OF 1800 This act altered the public land system a little in the direction of the wishes of the west. It cut the minimum tract sold by the government to 320 acres, and allowed a long credit to the purchaser. Passed May 10, 1800. Public Statutes at Large of the United States, Vol. 2, pp. 73-75. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the disposal of the lands of the United States, directed to be sold by the act, intituled "An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States, in the territory northwest of the Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river," there shall be four land offices established in the said territory: one at Cincinnati... one at Chilicothe... one at Marietta... and one at Steubenville... Each of the said offices shall be under the direction of an officer, to be called "The Register of the Land Office," who shall be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall give bond to the United States, with approved security, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office; and shall reside at the place where the land office is directed to be kept. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the surveyor-general shall cause the townships west of the Muskingum, which by the above-mentioned act are directed to be sold in quarter townships, to be subdivided into half sections of three hundred and twenty acres each... SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the lands thus subdivided (excluding the sections reserved by the above-mentioned act) shall be offered for sale in sections and half sections, subdivided as before directed at the following places and times, . . . The sales shall remain open at each place for three weeks, and no longer. The superintendents shall observe the rules and regulations of the above-mentioned act, in classing and selling fractional with entire sections, and in keeping and transmitting accounts of the sales. All lands, remaining unsold, at the closing of either of the public sales, may be disposed of at private sale by the registers of these respective land offices, in the manner herein after prescribed; and the register of the land office at Steubenville, after the first day of July next, may proceed to sell, at private sale, the lands situate within the district assigned to his direction as herein before described, disposing of the same in sections, and classing fractional with entire sections, according to the provisions and regulations of the abovementioned act and of this act: And the register of the land office at Marietta, after the said first day of July next, may proceed to sell at private sale, any of the lands within the district assigned to his direction as aforesaid, which are east of the river Muskingum, excluding the townships intersected by that river, disposing of the same in sections, and classing fractional with entire sections as aforesaid. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That no lands shall be sold by virtue of this act, at either public or private sale, for less than two dollars per acre, and payment may be made for the same by all purchasers, either in specie, or in evidences of the public debt of the United States, at the rates prescribed by the act, intituled, "An act to authorize the receipt of evidences of the public debt in payment for the lands of the United States "; and shall be made in the following manner, and under the following conditions, to wit: 1. At the time of purchase, every purchaser shall, exclusively of the fees hereafter mentioned, pay six dollars for every section, and three dollars for every half section, he may have purchased, for surveying expenses, and deposit one twentieth part of the amount of purchase money, to be forfeited, if within forty days one fourth part of the purchase money, including the said twentieth part, is not paid. 2. One fourth part of the purchase money shall be paid within forty days after the day of sale as aforesaid; another fourth part shall be paid within two years; another fourth part within three years; and another fourth part within four years after the day of sale. 3. Interest, at the rate of six per cent. a year from the day of sale shall be charged upon each of the three last payments, payable as they respectively become due. 4. A discount at the rate of eight per cent. a year, shall be allowed on any of the three last payments, which shall be paid before the same shall become due, reckoning this discount always upon the sum, which would have been demandable by the United States, on the day appointed for such payment. 5. If the first payment of one fourth part of the purchase money shall not be made within forty days after the sale, the deposit, payment and fees, paid and made by the purchaser, shall be forfeited, and the lands shall and may, from and after the day, when the payment of one fourth part of the purchase money should have been made, be disposed of at private sale, on the same terms and conditions, and in the same manner as the other lands directed by this act to be disposed of at private sale: Provided, that the lands which shall have been sold at public sale, and which shall, on account of such failure of payment, revert to the United States, shall not be sold at private sale, for a price less than the price that shall have been offered for the same at public sale. 6. If any tract shall not be completely paid for within one year after the date of the last payment, the tract shall be advertised for sale by the register of the land office within whose district it may lie, in at least five of the most public places in the said district, for at least thirty days before the time of sale. And he shall sell the same at public vendue, during the sitting of the court of quarter sessions of the county in which the land office is kept, for a price not less than the whole arrears due thereon, with the expenses of sale; the surplus, if any, shall be returned to the original purchaser, or to his legal representative; but if the sum due, with interest, be not bidden and paid, then the land shall revert to the United States. All monies paid therefor shall be forfeited, and the register of the land office may proceed to dispose of the same to any purchaser, as in case of other lands at private sale. 80. JEFFERSONIAN PRINCIPLES Both Republicans and Federalists looked on the election of Jefferson as president of the United States in 1801, as something akin to a revolution in the government of the United States. Jefferson, himself, convinced that his election marked a turning point in American history, in the following inaugural address, stated his principles and the policy of his administration with studied moderation. J. D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. 1, pp. 321-324. Washington, 1896. FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS Friends and Fellow-Citizens: 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 |