as land, stone, water, and iron, roads and similar public improvements, without compensation.

b. That a town containing over 2000 voters shall be divided into two towns, and a county containing over 20,000 voters into two counties, and a State containing over 200.000 voters, into two States.

c. That simple discovery, not followed by possession and occupation, shall give no right of property to land.

d. That what is called on the eastern continent, sovereignty, shall belong in America, to the freemen.

e. That neither Congress nor any State shall embark in any business of a private character, or which may be done by towns and counties; or shall contract any debts, or authorize or make for themselves any paper money, under whatever name or form.

f. That no law shall be made granting licenses, charters, incorporation acts, levying indirect taxes, allowing personal privileges, or interfering in any way with the liberty of education, instruction, and honest industry in the widest sense of the words, and the right of voting, which shall belong exclusively to all male persons over twenty-one years of age, who are or have been married; are sufficiently able to speak, read and write the language in public use; and, when immigrants, have resided one year in the town where the vote is to be cast.

g. That in case a dispute between Congress and a foreign government about boundary lines cannot be amicably settled, the freemen occupying the dispute disputed land shall decide the question, instead of having recourse to arbitration. A board of three agents, (one from each government and one appointed by the freemen in question,) shall take the votes upon the question thus, if the freemen wish to form a State of their own, or wish to join either of the disputing States or Governments. The result of this vote shall decide the dispute. About unsettled wild land no dispute shall take place.

h. That there shall not be any resort to arms about State affairs. i. That no capital punishment shall take place in the Union, neither shall excessive bail or fines be required, and that in all criminal cases an inquest of the grand jury shall be had.

j. That in all civil and criminal cases a trial by the common jury shall take place, with the exception of cases pending before the United States Tribunal and Supreme Courts of the States.

k. That any person using physical violence against unarmed public officers in the discharge of their official duties, shall forfeit all political rights, until restored by a special vote of the town in which he resides.

1. That the State and Federal Constitutions shall be construed thus, -never to interfere with the rights of self-government, but only to protect and guarantee them.

47. Alterations. Alterations of this Constitution shall take place either by a two-thirds vote of Congress, approved by a majority of the State Legislatures, or after fifty years from its establishment; when the question shall be laid before the freemen. whether they wish to elect a Convention to amend and alter the Constitution, or not. Date.

C.

EXTRACTS FROM THE

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES AND OF KENTUCKY.

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, ARTICLE I., SECTION 2, § 3."Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons. INCLUDING THOSE BOUND TO SERVICE FOR A TERM OF YEARS, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons," &c.

CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. ARTICLE 7, CONCERNING SLAVES, § 1."The general assembly shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of their owners, or without paying their owners, previous to such emancipation, a full equivalent in money for the slaves so emancipated. They shall have no power to prevent emigrants to this State from bringing with them such persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the United States, so long as any person of the same age or description shall be continued in slavery by the laws of this State. They shall pass laws to permit the owners of slaves to emancipate them, saving the rights of creditors, and preventing them from becoming a charge to any county in this commonwealth. They shall have full power to prevent slaves being brought into this State as merchandize. They shall have full power to prevent any slaves being brought into this State, who have been, since the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eightynine, or may hereafter be, imported into any of the United States from a foreign country. And they shall have full power to pass such laws as may be necessary to oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity, to provide for them necessary clothing and provision, to abstain from all injuries to them extending to life, or limb, and in case of their neglect or refusal to comply with the directions of such laws, to have such slaves sold for the benefit of their owner or owners.

§ 2. In the prosecution of slaves for felony, no inquest by a grand jury shall be necessary, but the proceedings in such prosecutions shall be regulated by law, except that the general assembly shall have no power to deprive them of the privilege of an impartial trial by a petit jury."

D..

NEW CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

EXAMINED ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-GOVERNMENT LAID DOWN IN THIS BOOK.

WE, the PEOPLE, of the State of New York, grateful to ALMIGHTY God for our Freedom, in order to secure its blessings, do establish this Constitution :

Instead of "People" should be said freemen, because servants, children, &c., who are comprised in the word people, do not make constitutions.

ARTICLE 1. Bill of Rights. No member of this State shall be disfranchised, or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of the land, or the judgment of his peers.

Superfluous, because there are no peers in America. The sentence is faulty also if the word " peers" should be used instead of "equals."

2. The trial by jury, in all cases in which it has been heretofore used, shall remain inviolate forever. But a jury trial may be waived by the parties in all civil cases, in the manner to be prescribed by law. The word "forever" is wrong; men cannot do much of any thing which lasts forever.

3. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this State to all mankind; and no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness on account of his opinion on matters of religious belief; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this State.

Superfluous.

4. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require its suspension.

5. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor shall cruel and unusual punishments be inflicted, nor shall witnesses be unreasonably detained.

6. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, (except in cases of impeachment, and in cases of the militia, when in actual service; and the land and naval forces in time of war, or which this State may keep with the consent of Congress in time of peace; and in cases of petit larceny, under the regulation of the Legislature,) unless on presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, and in any trial in any court whatever, the party accused shall be allowed to appear and defend in person and with counsel, as in civil actions. No person shall be subject to be twice put in jeopardy for the same offence; nor shall he be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

Belongs not exactly in a Constitution.

7. When private property shall be taken for any public use, the compensation to be made therefor, when such compensation is not made by the State, shall be ascertained by a jury, or by not less than three commissioners appointed by a court of record, as shall be prescribed by law. Private roads may be opened in the manner to be prescribed by law; but in every case the necessity of the road, and the amount of all damage to be sustained by the opening thereof, shall be first determined by a jury of freeholders, and such amount, together with the expenses of the proceeding, shall be paid by the person to be benefitted.

The same as above.

8. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no

law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libellous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends. the party shall be acquitted, and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact.

Matter of course.

9. The assent of two-thirds of the members elected to each branch of the Legislature, shall be requisite to every bill appropriating the public moneys or property for local or private purposes.

Against the principles of self-government.

10. No law shall be passed abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government, or any department thereof; nor shall any divorce be granted, otherwise than by due judi. cial proceedings; nor shall any lottery hereafier be authorized, or any sale of lottery tickets allowed, within this State.

Matter of course, and of special law-giving.

11. The people of this State, in their right of sovereignty, are deemed to possess the original and ultimate property in and to all lands within the jurisdiction of the State; and all lands, the title to which shall fail, from a defect of heirs, shall revert or escheat to the people.

The first sentence is against the principle of self-government and superfluous. Instead of the last word "people," "town."

12. All feudal tenures of every description, with all their incidents, are declared to be abolished; saving however, all rents and services certain which at any time heretofore have been lawfully created or reserved.

13. All lands within this State are declared to be allodial, so that, subject only to the liability to escheat. the entire and absolute property is vested in the owners according to the nature of their respective

estates.

14. No lease or grant of agricultural land for a longer period than twelve years, hereafter made, in which shall be reserved any rent or service of any kind, shall be valid.

Is matter of special lawgiving.

15. All fines, quarter sales, or other like restraints uron alienation reserved, in any grant of land hereafter to be made, shall be void.

Same as above.

16. No purchase or contract for the sale of lands in this State, made since the fourteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five; or which may hereafter be made, of. or with the Indians, shall be valid, unless made under the authority and with the consent of the Legislature.

Is matter of special law, and against the principle of self-government.

17. Such parts of the common law, and of the acts of the Legislature of the colony of New York, as together did form the law of the said colony, on the nineteenth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, and the resolutions of the Congress of said colony, and of the Convention of the State of New York, in force on the twentieth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, which have not since expired, or been repealed or altered; and such acts of the Legislature of this State as are now in force, shall be and continue the law of this State, subject to such alterations as the Legislature shall make concerning the same. But all such parts of the common law, and such of the said acts, or parts thereof, as are repugnant to this Constitution, are hereby abrogated, and the Legislature, at its first session after the adoption of this Constitution, shall appoint three commissioners, whose duty it shall be to reduce into a written and systematic code the whole body of the law of this State, or so much and such parts thereof as to the said commissioners shall seem practicable and expedient. And the said commissioners shall specify such alterations and amendments therein as they shall deem proper, and they shall at all times make reports of their proceedings to the Legislature, when called upon to do so; and the Legislature shall pass laws regulating the tenure of office, the filling of vacancies therein, and the compensation of said commissioners; and shall also provide for the publication of the said code, prior to its being presented to the Legislature for adoption.

Is matter of special laws.

18. All grants of land within this State, made by the king of Great Britain, or persons acting under his authority, after the fourteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, shall be null and void; but nothing contained in this Constitution shall affect any grants of land within this State, made by the authority of the said king or his predecessors, or shall annul any charters to bodies politic and corporate, by him or them made, before that day; or shall affect any such grants or charters since made by this State, or by persons acting under its authority, or shall impair the obligation of any debts contracted by this State, or individuals, or bodies corporate, or any other rights of property, or any suits, actions, rights of action, or other proceedings in courts of justice.

The same as above.

ARTICLE II. The Elective Franchise.-1. Every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a citizen for ten days, and an inhabitant of this State one year next preceding any election, and for the last four months a resident of the county where he may offer his vote, shall be entitled to vote at such election in the election district of which he shall at the time be a resident, and not elsewhere, for all officers that now are or hereafter may be elected by the people; but such citizen shall have been for thirty days next preceding the election, a resident of the district from which the officer is to be chosen for whom he offers his vote. But no man of color, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of this State, and for one year next preceding any election shall have been seized and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, over and above all debts and encumbrances charged thereon, and shall have been actually rated and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at such election. And no person of color shall be subject to direct taxation unless he shall be seized and possessed of such real estate as aforesaid.

Is not in accordance with the principle of self-government.

2. Laws may be passed excluding from the right of suffrage all per