not be questioned. Even some of the members of the Convention that framed that document, able and influential members too, not only refused to sign it for submission to the people, but went out amongst their constituencies, and denounced it to the last. § 6. But the friends of the new Constitution finally triumphed. Three States ratified it before the close of the year 1787, and eight more by the 26th of July, 1788; so that, in less than one year from the time of its submission to the people, a sufficient number of States had accepted it as the fundamental law of the land to warrant the commencement of operations under it. § 7. Sept. 13, 1788, Congress passed a resolution appointing the first Wednesday in January following for the choice of electors of President of the United States; the first Wednesday of February of the same year for the meeting of the electors to vote for that officer; and the first Wednesday of March thereafter for commencing proceedings under the Constitution at New York, which was then the place of the meetings of Congress. § 8. Electors were accordingly appointed, and their votes given for President. Elections of members of the House of Representatives by the people, and for senators by the State legislatures, were held; so that on Wednesday, the fourth day of March, 1789, the first Constitutional Congress met, and proceedings were commenced under the new organization. § 9. In those days, travel was far more difficult than in these later days of railroad facilities. A quorum in Congress, therefore, did not assemble until the 6th of April, at which time the votes for President were counted; and it was found that George Washington - the was unanimously elected, having received sixty-nine votes, whole number. John Adams of Massachusetts was elected VicePresident; receiving thirty-four votes, the next highest number. § 10. April 30, 1789, the President elect took the constitutional oath of office, it being administered to him by the Chancellor of the State of New York; and the new government went into full operation. On the twenty-first day of April, John Adams entered on his duties as President of the Senate, and Vice-President of the United States. § 11. “Thus was achieved," says Judge Story, "another and still more glorious triumph in the cause of national liberty than even that which separated us from the mother country. By it we fondly trust that our republican institutions will grow up, and be nurtured into more mature strength and vigor; our independence be secured against foreign usurpation and aggression; our domestic blessings be widely diffused and generally felt; and our union, as a people, be perpetuated as our own truest glory and support, and as a proud example of a wise and beneficent government, entitled to the respect, if not the admiration, of mankind." § 12. The number of original States, as they are usually called, NEW YORK, July 26, 1788. CHAPTER XIII. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. §. 1. THE chief design of this work, but for which it would not have been written, being the treatment of the Constitution by topics, renders it necessary to refer, in this place, to the amendments which have been made to that instrument. Indeed, to carry out the design, no distinction can be made between the original instrument and its amendments: they must all be treated as one document in the Analysis, as they are in fact. § 2. One of the strongest objections urged by its opponents. against the adoption of the Constitution as it came from the hands of the Convention was, the want of a recognition of certain rights of citizens, several of which have since been adopted as amendments to the Constitution. Those who were vehement in their opposition to the ratification of the instrument were emphatic in urging that it ought to contain such a bill of rights as would insure individual safety among the people. § 3. The people had been unused to a national government that could reach individuals; that is, that could reach them directly: for, under the Confederation, the government was utterly powerless to punish. There was a popular clamor, therefore, for a comprehensive bill of rights. The people feared governmental encroachments on individual rights. § 4. Most of the amendments to the Constitution were adopted under this apprehension, and within a few years after the organization of the new government. The Constitution contained provisions for its own amendment; for its illustrious authors never claimed that it was by any means perfect. § 5. At the first session of the first Congress under the Constitution, therefore, held in New York, that body passed a resolution, Sept. 25, 1789, two-thirds of both houses concurring, proposing to the legislatures of the several States twelve articles of amendment to the Constitution. § 6. Ten of these articles were ratified by the States in the fok lowing order, viz. : — NEW JERSEY, Nov. 20, 1789. PENNSYLVANIA, March 10, 1790. § 7. As the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States concurred in the first ten articles of amendment proposed, they became valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution from Dec. 15, 1791. § 8. The eleventh article of amendment was proposed by the Third Congress at its first session, March 15, 1794. President Adams declared in his message to Congress, Jan. 8, 1798, that it had received the ratification of the constitutional number of States, and was therefore a part of the fundamental law of the land. § 9. The twelfth article of amendment was proposed at the first session of the Eighth Congress, Dec. 12, 1803, and received the ratification of the requisite number of States during the following year, and became part of the Constitution. § 10. The thirteenth article of amendment was proposed at the second session of the Thirty-eighth Congress. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, announced, Dec. 18, 1865, that it had been ratified by three-fourths of the States, and was therefore a part of the Constitution. § 11. The fourteenth article of amendment was proposed by Congress in 1866. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, announced, July 28, 1868, that it had been ratified by the requisite number of States, and was therefore a part of the Constitution. § 12. The fifteenth article of amendment was proposed by Congress in 1869. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, announced, March 30, 1870, that it had been ratified by the requisite number of States, and was therefore a part of the Constitution of the United States. CHAPTER XIV. DEPARTMENTS OF GOVERNMENT. § 1. No free government can exist on earth, in which the administration of its powers and functions is not distributed. Let one man have the power to make the laws, to interpret them, and to execute the same, and that man will become a despot, and his government a despotism. Human nature must be made anew, or such a result must follow such an investment of authority in a single individual. § 2. If this concentration of powers shall be vested in an indefinite number of men, whether that number be few or many, the character of the government will be the same. One or more persons might safely be trusted with any one of these high prerogatives; but the danger consists in the concentration of all in the same hands. § 3. All writers on free government agree, that the legislative, the executive, and the judicial powers should be kept as separate and distinct as possible. It is hardly possible, however, for human wisdom to devise a plan by which they can be kept entirely separate .n the administration of government. § 4. This has been attempted by the wisest and best of minds, but has failed. Not one of all the American States has succeeded; though, in some instances, they may have done all that finite wisdom could accomplish. But in all cases, without a single exception, there has been a partial mixture of these powers. § 5. In several of the States, for instance, the Executive is elected by the legislature, if no one receives a majority-vote by the people. In one State he was formerly elected by the legislature, without any attempt at an election by the people. In nearly all of the States, the judicial officers are impeachable by one or both branches of the legislature. In some of the States, the officers of the judiciary are appointed by the governor and the legislature, or one branch of that body. In others, the governor may veto any act passed by the legislature; after which, in order that the act so vetoed may become a law, it must be re-passed by a two-thirds majority of both houses. In some States, the judicial officers are elected by the people, but removable on the address of one or both branches of the legislature. In others, they are removable by one or both branches, on the address of the Executive. In still others, the judicial officers are appointed by one or both branches of the legislature, and removable by one branch on impeachment by the other. § 6. In fact, there is no such thing as a complete and absolute separation of the three departments from each other. And all that is intended, in speaking of the three branches being kept separate |