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

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.

35

and distinct, is, that the powers and duties properly bel mzing to any
one branch or department shall not be interfered with or sinne
tered by either of the others; that neither shail possess a morung
influence over the others in the performance of their respective dur

§ 7. In order that there may be official independence, it is neve
sary that the legislative, executive, and juliary powers stil
be kept as separate from, and independent of eart
nature of a free government will admit, or as is

that chain of connection that binds the whole fabric of the
tution in one indissoluble bond of unity and ami'y

§ 8. The Constitution of the United States aims to

three departments as widely as possible, and to render the pendent, the one of the others, as the complicated subject will permit. The government of the Unit representative government; and there is far less dan arising from the partial mixture of these powers in than in a government of less direct responsibility to the

37

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THE following is the Declaration of Rights made by the £ne Co

tinental Congress, Oct. 14, 1774,— nearly two year
Declaration of Independence. But it was not d
that separation from the mother country was imminent

Britain or the Colonies should take an immediate bar is
Indeed, this Declaration of Rights foreshadowed the L
Independence.

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.

WHEREAS, since the close of the last war, the Briti claiming a power of right to bind the people of Ameri in all cases whatsoever, hath, in some arts, express yi on them, and in others, under various preteases, bat purpose of raising a revenue, hath imposed rates and

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operation of such acts of the British Parliament as are bonâ fide restrained to the regulation of our external commerce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages of the whole empire to the mother country, and the commercial benefits of its respective members; excluding every idea of taxation, internal or external, for raising a revenue on the subjects in America without their con

sent.

Resolved, N. C. D., 5. That the respective Colonies are entitled to the common law of England, and more especially to the great and inestimable privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage according to the course of that law.

Resolved, 6. That they are entitled to the benefit of such of the English statutes as existed at the time of their colonization, and which they have, by experience, respectively found to be applicable to their several local and other circumstances.

Resolved, N. C. D., 7. That these, his Majesty's Colonies, are likewise entitled to all the immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to them by royal charters, or secured by their several codes of Provincial laws.

Resolved, N. C. D., 8. That they have a right peaceably to assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition the king; and that all prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations, and commitments for the same, are illegal.

Resolved, N. C. D., 9. That the keeping a standing army in these Colonies in times of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that Colony in which such army is kept, is against law.

Resolved, N. C. D., 10. It is indispensably necessary to good government, and rendered essential by the English Constitution, that the constituent branches of the legislature be independent of each other; that, therefore, the exercise of legislative power in several Colonies by a council, appointed during pleasure by the Crown, is unconstitutional, dangerous, and destructive to the freedom of American legislation.

All and each of which the aforesaid deputies, in behalf of themselves and their constituents, do claim, demand, and insist on, as their indable rights and liberties, which can not be legally taken

from them, altered, or abridged, by any power whatever, without their own consent, by their representatives in their several Provincial legislatures.

In the course of our inquiry, we find many infringements and violations of the foregoing rights; which, from an ardent desire that harmony and mutual intercourse of affection and interest may be restored, we pass over for the present, and proceed to state such acts and measures as have been adopted since the last war, which demonstrate a system formed to enslave America.

Resolved, N. C. D., That the following acts of Parliament are infringements and violations of the rights of the colonists; and that the repeal of them is essentially necessary, in order to restore harmony between Great Britain and the American Colonies; viz.:

The several acts of 4 Geo. III. ch. 15 and ch. 34, 5 Geo. III. ch. 25, 6 Geo. III. ch. 52, 7 Geo. III. ch. 41 and ch. 46, 8 Geo. III. ch. 22, which impose duties for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, extend the power of the admiralty courts beyond their ancient limits, deprive the American subject of trial by jury, authorize the judges' certificate to indemnify the prosecutor from damages that he might otherwise be liable to, requiring oppressive security from a claimant of ships and goods seized before he shall be allowed to defend his property, and are subversive of American rights.

Also 12 Geo. III, ch. 24, entitled An Act for the Better Securing his Majesty's Dock-Yards, Magazines, Ships, Ammunition, and Stores," which declares a new offense in America, and deprives the American subject of a constitutional trial by jury of the vicinage, by authorizing the trial of any person charged with the committing any offense described in the said act, out of the realm, to be indicted and tried for the same in any shire or county within the realm.

Also the three acts passed in the last session of Parliament, for stopping the port and blocking up the harbor of Boston, for altering the charter and government of Massachusetts Bay, and that which is entitled "An Act for the Better Administration of Justice," &c. Also the act passed in the same session for establishing the RomanCatholic religion in the Province of Quebec; abolishing the equitable system of English laws, and erecting a tyranny there, to the great