with Notes of Reference (1803)St. George Tucker Powers of Congress (cont.)
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176. C. U. S. Art. 1. Sec. 8.
177. Confederation, Art. 4.
178. Federalist, No. 42.
179. L. U. S. 1 Cong. 2 Sess. c. 3. 7 Cong. c. 28.
180. 2 Dallas's Reports, 296.
181. See a letter of George Nicholas, Esq. on the Alien and Sedition laws.
182. See Beccaria, on Crimes and Punishments, c. 14
183. In Virginia, farmers generally cultivate their own lands. It may be otherwise in the northern states.
184. C. U. S. Art. 1. sect. 8.
185. Confederation, Art. 9.
186. C. U. S. Art. 1. sect. 9.
187. See Hale's Hist. p. C. v. 1. p.198.
188. Consequently every bill for this purpose, or for any other by which a revenue may be raised, should originate in the house of representatives. Yet I am very much mistaken if a recurrence to the early journals of the senate of the United States, would not prove, that the several acts for establishing the post-office; for regulating the value of foreign coins, and for establishing a mint, all originated in the senate. The reason of the acquiescence of the house of representatives on these occasions, probably was, that no revenue was in tended to be drawn to the government by these laws: whereas strictly speaking, a revenue is raised by the act establishing the mint; 2 cong. c. 16. §. 14, equal to one half per centum, as an indemnification to the mint for the coinage: and in the case of the bill for establishing the post-office, there can be no room to doubt that it operates as a revenue law, and that, to a very considerable amount.
189. C. U. S. Art. 1. sec. 8.
190. On the 24th of March, 1796, the house of representatives requested the president to lay before the house his instructions to Mr. Jay, together with the correspondence and other documents relative to the treaty with Great Britain, which he refused to do, upon the ground, that that house had no constitutional participation in the business of making treaties; to which he adds the following: ....
"If other proofs than these, and the plain letter of the Constitution itself be necessary to ascertain the point under consideration, they may be found in the journals of the general Convention, which I have deposited in the office of the department of state. In those Journals, it will appear, that a proposition was made, that no treaty should be binding on the United States which was not ratified by a law, and that the proposition was explicitly rejected." .... Message from the president to the house of representatives, March 30, 1796.
191. The annual proceeds of the duties on postage may not be estimated at less than 50,000 Dollars .... Report of the secretary of the treasury to the house of representatives. December 18, 1801.
192. See the report of Mr. Secretary Hamilton on this subject.
193. See the resolution of congress respecting the copper-mines on the south side of Lake Superior. April 16, 1800 .... A bill for establishing a mine, mineral, and metal company, was brought into congress the next session, (as I have understood) but miscarried.
194. See the opinion delivered by Judge Chase, in the federal circuit court of Pennsylvania, in the case of the United States vs. Worrel, 2 Dallas's Reports, 384.
195. C. U. S. Art. 1. Sec. 8.
196. Vattel, Lib. 3. Ch. 3.
197. Vattel, 439.
198. This is certainly the spirit of the constitution: but in the practical exercise of the functions of the president of the United States, it may be found to be in the power of that magistrate to provoke, though not to declare war.
199. C. U. S. Art. 1, Sec. 10.
200. 1 Blacks. Com. 258.
201. C. U. S. Art. 1, Sec. 9.
202. Confederation, Art. 9.
203. Ibidem, Art. 6.
204. Journals of the Virginia Convention, Art. 9, 10.
205. This restriction has proved illusory in practice; though congress are restricted from making any appropriation for the support of an army for more than two years, they have supposed themselves authorised to enlist an army for any period they may think proper, even in times of peace.
206. They were afterwards limited to 75,000 men. 5 cong. c. 137.
207. Amendments proposed by Virginia; Art. 12, by New York, Art. 11, and 12, by North-Carolina, Art. 13.
208. Federalist, Vol. 2. No. 43.
209. Having lately procured a copy of the acts passed at the first session of the seventh congress, I find that three acts were passed on the subject of the present seat of the government of the United States. The first, entitled "An act to abolish the board of commissioners in the city of Washington, and for other purposes." The second, "An act additional to, and amendatory of, an act, entitled, an act concerning the district of Columbia." And the third, an act to incorporate the inhabitants of the city of Washington, in the district of Columbia. L. U. S. 7 Cong. c. 41, 52, and 53. The latter is limited to two years, and from thence to the end of the next session of congress.
210. L. U. S. 7 Cong. c. 40 .... The act authorises the inhabitants of the eastern-division of the territory north-west of the river Ohio, to form for themselves a constitution and state government, and to assume such name as they shall deem proper, and declares, that, the said state when formed, shall be admitted into the union, upon the same footing with the original states, in all respects whatever.
The boundaries of the state, as established for the present, are as follows: On the east, by the Pennsylvania line; on the south, by the Ohio river, to the mouth of the Great Miami river; on the west, by a line drawn due north from the Great Miami river at the mouth; and on the north, by an east and west line drawn through the southerly extreme of like Michigan, running east after intersecting the line from the mouth of the Miami river, until it intersect lake Erie, or the territorial line; and thence with the same through lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line. But congress reserve to themselves the liberty at any time hereafter to attach all the territory lying east of the line to be drawn due north from the mouth of the Miami, to the territorial line, and north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly extreme of lake Michigan, running east to lake Erie, to such state, or dispose of it otherwise, in conformity to the fifth article of the compact between the original states, and the people and states to be formed in the territory north-west of the river Ohio.
The convention have accordingly established a constitution pursuant to the act of congress, and have adopted the name of the river Ohio, as the name their state.
211. Virginia laws, Edi. 1785, p. 214. Edi. 1794. p. 47.
212. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, Dec. 18, 1801.
213. Report of Mr. Secretary Hamilton, to congress, January 19, 1795.
214. See Price's Observations on the American Revolution, p. 10, and 1 Blacks. Com. p. 306.
215. L. U. S. 5 Cong. c. 45.
216. See L. U. S. 1 Cong. 1 Sess. c. 6. and 4 Cong. c. 47.
217. An act passed in the 7 Cong. c. 40, to enable the people of the eastern division of the territory north-west of the river Ohio, to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the union; by which it is declared, that all that part of the territory of the United States north-west of the river Ohio, heretofore included in the eastern division, of the said territory, and not included within the boundary by that act prescribed for the said state, shall be attached to, and made a part of the Indiana Territory, subject nevertheless to the future disposal of congress, according to the right reserved in the fifth article of the ordinance of congress, (July 13, 1787) for the government of the territory of the United States north-west of the river Ohio. This was necessarily noticed under the last head.
218. See the Federalist, No. 33, and 44.
219. Witness, the act for establishing a bank; the act authorising the president to appoint officers to volunteer corps of militia; the act declaring that a paper not stamped agreeably thereto, shall not be admitted as evidence in a state court; the alien and sedition laws, &c. "not to multiply proofs on this subject, it may be sufficient to refer to the debates of the federal legislature, for several years, in which arguments have, on different occasions, been drawn with apparent effect from these phrases, in their indefinite meaning." See report of the committee of the general assembly of Virginia, on the alien and sedition laws, January 20, 1800.
220. See the report of the committee of the general assembly of Virginia on the alien and sedition laws .... January 20, 1800.