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condition of those over whom it is established. Roads and

canals, by multiplying and facilitating the communications

and intercourse between distant regions and multitudes of

men, are among the most important means of improve-

ment. But moral, political, intellectual improvement are

duties assigned by the Author of Our Existence to social no

less than to individual man. For the fulfillment of those

duties governments are invested with power, and to the

attainment of the end—the progressive improvement of

the condition of the governed—the exercise of delegated

powers is a duty as sacred and indispensable as the usurpa-

tion of powers not granted is criminal and odious. Among

the first, perhaps the very first, instrument for the

improvement of the condition of men is knowledge, and to

the acquisition of much of the knowledge adapted to the

wants, the comforts, and enjoyments of human life public

institutions and seminaries of learning are essential. So

convinced of this was the first of my predecessors in this

office, now first in the memory, as, living, he was first in

the hearts, of our countrymen, that once and again in his

addresses to the Congresses with whom he cooperated in

the public service he earnestly recommended the estab-

lishment of seminaries of learning, to prepare for all the

emergencies of peace and war—a national university and a

military academy. With respect to the latter, had he lived to

the present day, in turning his eyes to the institution at

West Point he would have enjoyed the gratification of his

most earnest wishes; but in surveying the city which has

been honored with his name he would have seen the spot

of earth which he had destined and bequeathed to the use

and benefit of his country as the site for an university still

bare and barren.

In assuming her station among the civilized nations of

the earth it would seem that our country had contracted the

engagement to contribute her share of mind, of labor, and

of expense to the improvement of those parts of knowledge

which lie beyond the reach of individual acquisition, and

particularly to geographical and astronomical science.

Looking back to the history only of the half century since

the declaration of our independence, and observing the

generous emulation with which the Governments of

France, Great Britain, and Russia have devoted the genius,

the intelligence, the treasures of their respective nations to

the common improvement of the species in these branches

of science, is it not incumbent upon us to inquire whether

we are not bound by obligations of a high and honorable

character to contribute our portion of energy and exertion

to the common stock? The voyages of discovery prosecuted

in the course of that time at the expense of those nations

have not only redounded to their glory, but to the improve-

ment of human knowledge. We have been partakers of that

improvement and owe for it a sacred debt, not only of grat-

itude, but of equal or proportional exertion in the same

common cause. Of the cost of these undertakings, if the

mere expenditures of outfit, equipment, and completion of

the expeditions were to be considered the only charges, it

would be unworthy of a great and generous nation to take

a second thought. One hundred expeditions of circumnavi-

gation like those of Cook and La Perouse would not burden

the exchequer of the nation fitting them out so much as the

ways and means of defraying a single campaign in war. But

if we take into the account the lives of those benefactors of

mankind of which their services in the cause of their

species were the purchase, how shall the cost of those

heroic enterprises be estimated, and what compensation

can be made to them or to their countries for them? Is it

not by bearing them in affectionate remembrance? Is it not

still more by imitating their example—by enabling country-

men of our own to pursue the same carrier and to hazard

their lives in the same cause?

In inviting the attention of Congress to the subject of

internal improvements upon a view thus enlarged it is not

my design to recommend the equipment of an expedition

for circumnavigating the globe for purposes of scientific

research and inquiry. We have objects of useful investiga-

tion nearer home, and to which our cares may be more

beneficially applied. The interior of our own territories has

yet been very imperfectly explored. Our coasts along many

degrees of latitude upon the shores of the Pacific Ocean,

though much frequented by our spirited commercial navi-

gators, have been barely visited by our public ships. The

River of the West, first fully discovered and navigated by a

countryman of our own, still bears the name of the ship in

which he ascended its waters, and claims the protection of

our armed national flag at its mouth. With the establish-

ment of a military post there or at some other point of that

coast, recommended by my predecessor and already

matured in the deliberations of the last Congress, I would

suggest the expediency of connecting the equipment of a

public ship for the exploration of the whole northwest

coast of this continent.

The establishment of an uniform standard of weights

and measures was one of the specific objects contemplated

in the formation of our Constitution, and to fix that stan-

dard was one of the powers delegated by express terms in

that instrument to Congress. The Governments of Great

Britain and France have scarcely ceased to be occupied

with inquiries and speculations on the same subject since

the existence of our Constitution, and with them it has

expanded into profound, laborious, and expensive

researches into the figure of the earth and the comparative

length of the pendulum vibrating seconds in various lati-

tudes from the equator to the pole. These researches have

resulted in the composition and publication of several

works highly interesting to the cause of science. The exper-

iments are yet in the process of performance. Some of

602 ERA 4: Expansion and Reform

them have recently been made on our own shores, within

the walls of one of our own colleges, and partly by one of

our own fellow-citizens. It would be honorable to our

country if the sequel of the same experiments should be

countenanced by the patronage of our Government, as

they have hitherto been by those of France and Britain.

Connected with the establishment of an university, or

separate from it, might be undertaken the erection of an

astronomical observatory, with provision for the support of

an astronomer, to be in constant attendance of observation

upon the phenomena of the heavens, and for the periodi-

cal publication of his observations. It is with no feeling of

pride as an American that the remark may be made that on

the comparatively small territorial surface of Europe there

are existing upward of 130 of these light-houses of the

skies, while throughout the whole American hemisphere

there is not one. If we reflect a moment upon the discov-

eries which in the last four centuries have been made in

the physical constitution of the universe by the means of

these buildings and of observers stationed in them, shall

we doubt of their usefulness to every nation? And while

scarcely a year passes over our heads without bringing

some new astronomical discovery to light, which we must

fain receive at second hand from Europe, are we not cut-

ting ourselves off from the means of returning light for

light while we have neither observatory nor observer upon

our half of the globe and the earth revolves in perpetual

darkness to our unsearching eyes?

When, on the 25th of October, 1791, the first Presi-

dent of the United States announced to Congress the

result of the first enumeration of the inhabitants of this

Union, he informed them that the returns gave the pleas-

ing assurance that the population of the United States bor-

dered on 4,000,000 persons. At the distance of thirty years

from that time the last enumeration, five years since com-

pleted, presented a population bordering upon

10,000,000. Perhaps of all the evidences of a prosperous

and happy condition of human society the rapidity of the

increase of population is the most unequivocal. But the

demonstration of our prosperity rests not alone upon this

indication. Our commerce, our wealth, and the extent of

our territories have increased in corresponding propor-

tions, and the number of independent communities asso-

ciated in our Federal Union has since that time nearly

doubled. The legislative representation of the States and

people in the two Houses of Congress has grown with the

growth of their constituent bodies. The House, which then

consisted of 65 members, now numbers upward of 200.

The Senate, which consisted of 26 members, has now 48.

But the executive and, still more, the judiciary depart-

ments are yet in a great measure confined to their primi-

tive organization, and are now not adequate to the urgent

wants of a still growing community.

The naval armaments, which at an early period forced

themselves upon the necessities of the Union, soon led to

the establishment of a Department of the Navy. But the

Departments of Foreign Affairs and of the Interior, which

early after the formation of the Government had been

united in one, continue so united to this time, to the

unquestionable detriment of the public service. The mul-

tiplication of our relations with the nations and Govern-

ments of the Old World has kept pace with that of our

population and commerce, while within the last ten years

a new family of nations in our own hemisphere has arisen

among the inhabitants of the earth, with whom our inter-

course, commercial and political, would of itself furnish

occupation to an active and industrious department. The

constitution of the judiciary, experimental and imperfect as

it was even in the infancy of our existing Government, is

yet more inadequate to the administration of national jus-

tice at our present maturity. Nine years have elapsed since

a predecessor in this office, now not the last, the citizen

who, perhaps, of all others throughout the Union con-

tributed most to the formation and establishment of our

Constitution, in his valedictory address to Congress,

immediately preceding his retirement from public life,

urgently recommended the revision of the judiciary and

the establishment of an additional executive department.

The exigencies of the public service and its unavoidable

deficiencies, as now in exercise, have added yearly cumu-

lative weight to the considerations presented by him as

persuasive to the measure, and in recommending it to your

deliberations I am happy to have the influence of his high

authority in aid of the undoubting convictions of my own

experience.

The laws relating to the administration of the Patent

Office are deserving of much consideration and perhaps

susceptible of some improvement. The grant of power to

regulate the action of Congress upon this subject has spec-

ified both the end to be obtained and the means by which

it is to be effected, “to promote the progress of science and

useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and

inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings

and discoveries.” If an honest pride might be indulged in

the reflection that on the records of that office are already

found inventions the usefulness of which has scarcely been

transcended in the annals of human ingenuity, would not

its exultation be allayed by the inquiry whether the laws

have effectively insured to the inventors the reward des-

tined to them by the Constitution—even a limited term of

exclusive right to their discoveries?

On the 24th of December, 1799, it was resolved by

Congress that a marble monument should be erected by

the United States in the Capitol at the city of Washington;

that the family of General Washington should be

requested to permit his body to be deposited under it, and

Territorial Expansion, Political and Economic Developments, and International Relations 603

that the monument be so designed as to commemorate the

great events of his military and political life. In reminding

Congress of this resolution and that the monument con-

templated by it remains yet without execution, I shall

indulge only the remarks that the works at the Capitol are

approaching to completion; that the consent of the family,

desired by the resolution, was requested and obtained;

that a monument has been recently erected in this city

over the remains of another distinguished patriot of the

Revolution, and that a spot has been reserved within the

walls where you are deliberating for the benefit of this and

future ages, in which the mortal remains may be deposited

of him whose spirit hovers over you and listens with delight

to every act of the representatives of his nation which can

tend to exalt and adorn his and their country.

The Constitution under which you are assembled is a

charter of limited powers. After full and solemn delibera-

tion upon all or any of the objects which, urged by an irre-

sistible sense of my own duty, I have recommended to your

attention should you come to the conclusion that, however

desirable in themselves, the enactment of laws for effect-

ing them would transcend the powers committed to you by

that venerable instrument which we are all bound to sup-

port, let no consideration induce you to assume the exer-

cise of powers not granted to you by the people. But if the

power to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatso-

ever over the District of Columbia; if the power to lay and

collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts

and provide for the common defense and general welfare

of the United States; if the power to regulate commerce

with foreign nations and among the several States and with

the Indian tribes, to fix the standard of weights and mea-

sures, to establish post-offices and post-roads, to declare

war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a

navy, to dispose of and make all needful rules and regula-

tions respecting the territory or other property belonging

to the United States, and to make all laws which shall be

necessary and proper for carrying these powers into exe-

cution—if these powers and others enumerated in the

Constitution may be effectually brought into action by laws

promoting the improvement of agriculture, commerce,

and manufactures, the cultivation and encouragement of

the mechanic and of the elegant arts, the advancement of

literature, and the progress of the sciences, ornamental

and profound, to refrain from exercising them for the ben-

efit of the people themselves would be to hide in the earth

the talent committed to our charge—would be treachery

to the most sacred of trusts.

The spirit of improvement is abroad upon the earth. It

stimulates the hearts and sharpens the faculties not of our

fellow-citizens alone, but of the nations of Europe and of

their rulers. While dwelling with pleasing satisfaction upon

the superior excellence of our political institutions, let us

not be unmindful that liberty is power; that the nation

blessed with the largest portion of liberty must in propor-

tion to its numbers be the most powerful nation upon

earth, and that the tenure of power by man is, in the moral

purposes of his Creator, upon condition that it shall be

exercised to ends of beneficence, to improve the condition

of himself and his fellowmen. While foreign nations less

blessed with that freedom which is power than ourselves

are advancing with gigantic strides in the career of public

improvement, were we to slumber in indolence or fold up

our arms and proclaim to the world that we are palsied by

the will of our constituents, would it not be to cast away the

bounties of Providence and doom ourselves to perpetual

inferiority? In the course of the year now drawing to its

close we have beheld, under the auspices and at the

expense of one State of this Union, a new university

unfolding its portals to the sons of science and holding up

the torch of human improvement to eyes that seek the

light. We have seen under the persevering and enlightened

enterprise of another State the waters of our Western lakes

mingled with those of the ocean. If undertakings like these

have been accomplished in the compass of a few years by

the authority of single members of our Confederation, can

we, the representative authorities of the whole Union, fall

behind our fellow-servants in the exercise of the trust com-

mitted to us for the benefit of our common sovereign by

the accomplishment of works important to the whole and

to which neither the authority nor the resources of any one

State can be adequate?

Finally, fellow-citizens, I shall await with cheering

hope and faithful cooperation the result of your delibera-

tions, assured that, without encroaching upon the powers

reserved to the authorities of the respective States or to the

people, you will, with a due sense of your obligations to

your country and of the high responsibilities weighing

upon yourselves, give efficacy to the means committed to

you for the common good. And may He who searches the

hearts of the children of men prosper your exertions to

secure the blessings of peace and promote the highest wel-

fare of our country.

Source:

James D. Richardson, ed. A Compilation of the Messages and

Papers of the Presidents, 1789–1897. Washington, D.C.:

Government Printing Office, 1896–99.

Constitution of the

Southern Cherokee Nation, 1827

Constitution drafted by the Cherokee Constitutional Conven-

tion on July 26, 1827. The document formed the basis for the

foundation of the Cherokee Nation and outlined a system of

604 ERA 4: Expansion and Reform

government with an elected principal chief, a senate, and a

house of representatives. A full-blood faction led by White

Path had formed a rebel council to oppose the convention in

February 1827. The mixed-blood leader John Ross, who later

chaired the convention, defused White Path’s rebellion by

assuring the rebels that their views would be taken into con-

sideration at the convention.

________________________

_______________________

We, the Representatives of the people of the Cherokee

Nation in Convention assembled, in order to establish jus-

tice, ensure tranquility, promote our common welfare, and

secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of lib-

erty; acknowledging with humility and gratitude the good-

ness of the sovereign Ruler of the Universe, in offering us

an opportunity so favorable to the design, and imploring

his aid and direction in its accomplishment, do ordain and

establish this Constitution for the Government of the

Cherokee Nation.

Article I

Sec. 1. The Boundaries of this nation, embracing the lands

solemnly guarantied and reserved forever to the Cherokee

Nation by the Treaties concluded with the United States,

are as follows; and shall forever hereafter remain unalter-

ably the same to wit. Beginning on the North Bank of Ten-

nessee River at the upper part of the Chickasaw old fields:

then following the main channel of said river, including all

the Islands therein, to the mouth of the Hiwassee river,

thence up the main channel of said river including Islands,

to the first hill which closes in on said river, about two

miles above Hiwassee old Town; thence along the ridge

which divides the waters of the Hiwassee and little Tellico,

to the Tennessee river at Tallassee; thence along the main

channel, including Islands, to the junction of the Cowee

and Nanteyalee; thence along the ridge in the fork of said

river, to the top of the blue ridge; thence along the blue

ridge to the Unicoy Turnpike road; thence by a straight

line to the main source of the Chestatee; thence along its

main channel, including Islands, to the Chattahoocky; and

thence down the same to the Creek boundary at Buzzard

Roost, thence along the boundary line which separates this

and the Creek Nation, to a point on the Coosa river oppo-

site the mouth of Wills Creek; thence readmission. More-

over the Legislature shall have power to adopt such laws

and regulations, as its wisdom may deem expedient and

proper, to prevent the citizens from monopolizing

improvements with the view of speculation.

Article II

Sec. 1. The Power of this Government shall be divided into

three distinct departments;—the Legislative, the Execu-

tive, and the Judicial.

Sec. 2. No person or persons, belonging to one of

these Departments, shall exercise any of the powers prop-

erly belonging to either of the others, except in the cases

hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.

Article III

Sec. 1. The Legislative Power shall be vested in two dis-

tinct branches; a Committee, and a Council, each to shave

a negative on the other, and both to be styled the General

Council of the Cherokee Nation; and the style of their acts

and laws shall be,

“Resolved by the Committee and Council in General

Council convened.”

Sec. 2. The Cherokee Nation, as laid off into eight

Districts, shall so remain.

Sec. 3. The Committee shall consist of two members

from each District, and the Council shall consist of three

members from each District, to be chosen by the qualified

electors of their respective Districts for two years; and the

elections to be held in every District on the first Monday

in August for the year 1828, and every succeeding two

years thereafter; and the General Council shall be held

once a year, to be convened on the second Monday of

October in each year, at New Echota.

Sec. 4. No person shall be eligible to a seat in the Gen-

eral Council, but a free Cherokee Male citizen, who shall

have attained to the age of twenty-five years. The descen-

dants of Cherokee men by all free women, except the

African race, whose parents may be or have been living

together as man and wife, according to the customs and

laws of this Nation, shall be entitled to all the rights and

privileges of this Nation, as well as the posterity of Chero-

kee women by all free men. No person who is of negro or

mulatto parentage, either by the father or mother side,

shall be eligible to hold any office of profit, honor or trust,

under this Government.

Sec. 5. The Electors, and members of the General

Council shall, in all cases except those of treason, felony, or

breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their

attendance at election, and at the General Council, and in

going to, and returning from, the same.

Sec. 6. In all elections by the people, the electors shall

vote viva voce. Electors for members to the General

Council for 1828, shall be held at the places of holding the

several courts, and at the other two precincts in each Dis-

trict which are designated by the law under which the

members of this Convention were elected; and the District

Judges shall superintend the elections within the precincts

of their respective Court Houses, and the Marshals &

Sheriffs shall superintend within the precincts which may

be assigned them by the Circuit Judges of their respective

Districts, together with one other person, who shall be

appointed by the Circuit Judges for each precinct within

Territorial Expansion, Political and Economic Developments, and International Relations 605

their respective Districts; and the Circuit Judges shall also

appoint a clerk to each precinct.—The superintendents

and clerks shall, on the Wednesday morning succeeding

the election, assemble at their respective Court Houses

and proceed to examine and ascertain the true state of the

polls, and shall issue to each member, duly elected, a cer-

tificate and also make an official return of the state of the

polls of election to the principal Chief, and it shall be the

duty of the Sheriffs to deliver the same to the Executive

Office; Provided, nevertheless. The General Council shall

have power, after the election of 1828, to regulate by law

the precincts and superintendents and clerks of elections

in the several Districts.

Sec. 7. All free Male citizens, (excepting negroes, and

descendants of white and Indian men by negro women,

who may have been set free.) who shall have attained to

the age of eighteen years shall be equally entitled to vote

at all public elections.

Sec. 8. Each House of the General Council shall Judge

of the qualifications, elections, and returns, of its own

members.

Sec. 9. Each House of the General Council may deter-

mine the rules of its proceedings, punish a member for dis-

orderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of two thirds,

expel a member; but not a second time for the same cause.

Sec. 10. Each House of the General Council, when

assembled, shall choose its own officers; a majority of each

house shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a

smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel

the attendance of absent members in such manner and

under such penalty, as each house may prescribe.

Sec. 11. The members of the Committee shall each

receive from the public Treasury a compensation for their

services which shall be two dollars and fifty cents per day

during their attendance at the General Council; and the

members of the Council shall each receive two dollars per

day, for their services during their attendance at the Gen-

eral Council:— Provided, That the same may be increased

or diminished by law, but no alteration shall take effect

during the period of service of the members of the Gen-

eral Council, by whom such alteration shall have been

made.

Sec. 12. The General Council shall regulate by law, by

whom and in what manner, writs of elections shall be

issued to fill the vacancies which may happen in either

branch thereof.

Sec. 13. Each member of the General Council, before

he takes his seat, shall take the following oath, or affirma-

tion; to wit: “I, A. B. do solemly swear (or affirm as the ease

may be) that I have not obtained my election by Bribery,

Treaties, of any undue and unlawful means used by him-

self, or others by my desire or approbation, for that pur-

pose; that I consider myself Constitutionally qualified as a

member of . . . ; and that, on all questions and measures

which may come before me, I will so give my vote, and so

conduct myself, as may, in my judgment, appear most con-

ducive to the interest and prosperity of this Nation; and

that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and

to the utmost of my ability and power observe, conform to,

support, and defend the Constitution thereof.”

Sec. 14. No person who may be convicted of felony

before any court of this Nation, shall be eligible to any

office or appointment of honor, profit or trust, within this

Nation.

Sec. 15. The General Council shall have power to

make all laws and regulations, which they shall deem nec-

essary and proper for the good of the Nation, which shall

not be contrary to this Constitution.

Sec. 16. It shall be the duty of the General Council to

pass such laws as may be necessary and proper, to decide

differences by arbitrators to be appointed by the parties,

who may choose that summary mode of adjustment.

Sec. 17. No power of suspending the laws of this

Nation shall be exercised, unless by the Legislature or its

authority.

Sec. 18. No retrospective law, nor any law impairing

the obligations of contracts shall be passed.

Sec. 19. The Legislature shall have power to make

laws for laying and collecting taxes, for the purpose of rais-

ing a revenue.

Sec. 20. All bills making appropriations shall originate

in the Committee, but the Council may propose amend-

ments or reject the same.

Sec. 21. All other bills may originate in either house, a

subject to the concurrence or rejection of the other.

Sec. 22. All acknowledged Treaties shall be the

Supreme law of the land.

Sec. 23. The General Council shall have the solo power

of deciding on the construction of all Treaty stipulations.

Article IV

Sec. 1. The Supreme Executive Power of this Nation shall

be vested in a Principal Chief, who shall be chosen by the

General Council, and shall hold his office four years; to be

elected as follows,—The General Council, by a joint vote,

shall, at their second annual session, after the rising of this

Convention, and at every fourth annual session thereafter,

on the second day after the Houses shall be organized, and

competent to proceed to business, elect a Principal Chief.

Sec. 2. No person except a natural born citizen shall

be eligible to the office of Principal Chief; neither shall any

person be eligible to that office, who shall not have

attained to the age of thirty-five years.

Sec. 3. There shall also be chosen at the same time, by

the General Council, in the same manner, for four years,

an assistant Principal Chief.

606 ERA 4: Expansion and Reform

Sec. 4. In case of the removal of the Principal Chief

from office, or of his death resignation, or inability to dis-

charge the powers and duties of the said office, the same

shall devolve on the assistant principal Chief, until the

inability be removed or the vacancy filled by the General

Council.

Sec. 5. The General Council may, by law, provide for

the case of removal, death, resignation or inability of both

the Principal and assistant Principal Chiefs, declaring what

officer shall then act as Principal Chief until the disability

be removed, or a Principal Chief shall be elected.

Sec. 6. The Principal Chief and assistant Principal

Chief, shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a

compensation, which shall neither be increased nor dimin-

ished during the period for which they shall have been

elected; and they shall not receive, within that period, any

other emolument from the Cherokee Nation, or any other

government.

Sec. 7. Before the Principal Chief enters on the exe-

cution of his office, he shall take the following oath, or

affirmation; I do solemly swear (or affirm) that I will faith-

fully execute the office of Principal Chief of the Cherokee

Nation, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect

and defend the Constitution of the Cherokee Nation.”

Sec. 8. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene

the General Council at the Seat of Government.

Sec. 9. He shall from time to time give to the General

Council information of the State of the Government, and

recommend to their consideration such measures as he

may think expedient.

Sec. 10. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully

executed.

Sec. 11. It shall be his duty to visit the different dis-

tricts, at least once in two years, to inform himself of the

general condition of the Country.

Sec. 12. The assistant Principal Chief shall, by virtue

of his office, aid and advise the Principal Chief in the

Administration of the Government, at all times during his

continuance in office.

Sec. 13. Vacancies that may happen in offices, the

appointment on which is vested in the General Council

shall be filled by by the Principal Chief during the recess

of the General Council, by granting Commissions which

shall expire at the end of the next Session.

Sec. 14. Every Bill which shall have passed both

Houses of the General Council shall, before it becomes a

law, be presented to the Principal Chief of the Cherokee

Nation. If he approve, he shall sign it, but if not, he shall

return it, with his objections, to that house in which it shall

have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on

their journals, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such

reconsideration, two thirds of that House shall agree to

pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections,

to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsid-

ered, and if approved by two thirds of that house, it shall

become a law. If any bill shall not be returned by the Prin-

cipal Chief within five days (Sunday’s excepted) after it

shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law,

in like manner as if he had signed it; unless the General

Council by their adjournment prevent its return, in which

case it shall be a law, unless sent back within three days

after their next meeting.

Sec. 15. Members of the General Council and all offi-

cers, Executive and Judicial, shall be bound by oath to sup-

port the Constitution of this Nation, and to perform the

duties of their respective offices, with fidelity.

Sec. 16. In case of disagreement between the two

houses with respect to the time of adjournment, the Prin-

cipal Chief shall have power to adjourn the General Coun-

cil to such a time as he thinks proper, provided, it be not to

a period beyond the next Constitutional meeting of the

same.

Sec. 17. The Principal Chief shall during the sitting of

the General Council attend at the Seat of Government.

Sec. 18. There shall be a Council to consist of three

men to be appointed by the joint vote of both Houses, to

advise the Principal Chief in the Executive part of the

Government, whom the Principal Chief shall have full

power, at his discretion, to assemble; and he, together with

the assistant Principal Chief, and the Counsellors, or a

majority of them, may, from time to time, hold and keep a

Council for ordering and directing the affairs of the Nation

according to law.

Sec. 19. The members of the Council shall chosen for

the term of one year.

Sec. 20. The resolutions and advice of the Council

shall be recorded in a register and signed by the members

agreeing thereto, which may be called for by either house

of the General Council; and any counsellor may enter his

dissent to the resolution of the majority.

Sec. 21. The Treasurer of the Cherokee Nation shall

be chosen by the joint vote of both Houses of the General

Council for the term of two years.

Sec. 22. The Treasurer shall, before entering on the

duties of his office, give bond to the Nation with sureties

to the satisfaction of the Legislature, for the faithful dis-

charge of his trust.

Sec. 23. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury,

but by warrant from the Principal Chief, and in conse-

quence of appropriations made by law.

Sec. 25. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to receive

all public moneys, the joint vote of both Houses, to advise

the Principal Chief in the Executive part of the Govern-

ment, whom the Principal Chief shall have full power, at

his discretion, to assemble; and be, together with the assis-

tant Principal Chief, and the Counsellors, or a majority of

Territorial Expansion, Political and Economic Developments, and International Relations 607

them, may, from time to time, hold and keep a Council for

ordering and directing the affairs of the Nation according

to law.

Article V

Sec. 1. The Judicial Powers shall be vested in the Supreme

Court, and such Circuit and Inferior Courts, as the Gen-

eral Council may, from time to time, ordain and establish.

Sec. 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of three

Judges, any two of whom shall be a quorum.

Sec. 3. The two Judges of each shall hold their

Commissions four years, but any of them may be re-

moved from office on the address of two thirds of each

house of the General Council to the Principal Chief, for

that purpose.

Sec. 4. The Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts

shall, at stated times, receive a compensation, which shall

not be diminished during their continuance in office, but

they shall receive no fees or perquisites of office, nor hold

any other office of profit or trust, under this Nation or any

other power.

Sec. 5. No person shall be appointed a Judge of any of

the Courts before he shall have attained to the age of thirty

years, nor shall any person continue to execute the duties

of any of the said offices after he shall have attained to the

age of seventy years.

Sec. 6. The Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts

shall be appointed by a joint vote of both houses of the

General Council.

Sec. 7. There shall be appointed in each District,

under the legislative authority, as many Justices of the

Peace as it may be deemed the public good requires,

whose powers, duties and duration in office, shall be

clearly designated.

Sec. 8. The Judges of the Supreme Court and Circuit

Courts shall have complete criminal Jurisdiction in such

cases & in such manner as may be pointed out by law.

Each Court shall choose its own Clerks for the term of

four years; but such Clerks shall not be continued in office

unless their qualifications shall be adjudged and approved

of, by the Judges of the Supreme Court, and they shall be

removable for breach of good behaviour of any time, by

the Judges of their respective courts.

Sec. 10. No Judge shall sit on trial of any cause, where

the parties shall be connected with him by affinity or con-

sanguinity, except by consent of the parties. In case all the

Judges of the Supreme court shall be interested in the

event of any cause, or related to all, or either, of the par-

ties, the Legislature may provide by law for the selection

of three men, of good character and knowledge, for the

determination thereof, who shall be specially commis-

sioned by the Principal Chief for the case.

Sec. 11. All writs and other process shall run, in the

name of the Cherokee Nation, and bear test, and be signed

by the respective clerks.

Sec. 12. Indictments shall conclude, “against the

peace & dignity of the Cherokee Nation.”

Sec. 13. The Supreme Court shall hold its Session

annually at the Seat of Government to be convened on the

second Monday of October in each year.

Sec. 14. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall

have the right of being heard, of demanding the nature

and cause of the accusation against him, of meeting the

witnesses face to face, of having compulsory process for

obtaining witness in his favour; and, in prosecutions by

indictment or information, a speedy public trial by an

impartial jury of the vicinage; nor shall be be compelled to

give evidence against himself.

Sec. 15. The people shall be secure in their persons,

houses, papers and possessions from unreasonable seisures

and searches, and no warrant to search any place or to

seize any person or things shall issue without describing

them as nearly as may be, nor without good cause, sup-

ported by oath, or affirmation. all prisoners shall be bail-

able by sufficient securities, unless for capital offences,

where the proof is evident, or presumption great.

Source:

Laws of the Cherokee Nation, from a facsimile of the 1852 edi-

tion, produced by Legal Classics Library, a division of

Gryphon Editions, New York.

John C. Calhoun,

South Carolina Exposition Speech, 1828

Essay protesting the Tariff Act of 1828, drafted secretly, but not

signed, by U.S. vice president John C. Calhoun of South Car-

olina, and issued by that state’s legislature.

Supporters of President John Quincy Adams had pro-

posed a high duty on foreign manufactures to protect New

England industries; the South opposed the plan. Adams’s

opponents—supporters of Andrew Jackson—hoped to defeat

the bill and discredit Adams by adding a high duty to the tar-

iff on imported raw materials, an addition that New England

was expected to oppose. The bill nonetheless passed, with

support from New England and the West, but it proved very

unpopular and contributed to Jackson’s victory over Adams in

the presidential election of 1828.

Calhoun argued that the tariff was “unconstitutional,

oppressive, and unjust.” He declared that the U.S. Constitu-

tion gave Congress the power to tax only to raise revenues, not

the power to protect manufactures, and that the tariff violated

these principles. Moreover, he claimed that a state could

608 ERA 4: Expansion and Reform

declare null and void a federal statute that it considered

unconstitutional; such nullification could be overridden only

by a constitutional amendment. South Carolina adopted an

ordinance of nullification in response to the tariff passed by

the U.S. Congress on July 14, 1832, that lowered somewhat

the high protective tariff rates that had been established by the

1828 act. The 1832 act eliminated some features that eastern

manufacturers and commercial interests disliked. It also

increased the levy on woolens but allowed free admission to

cheap raw wool and flax.

________________________

_______________________

The Senate and House of Representatives of South Car-

olina, now met, and sitting in General Assembly, through

the Hon. William Smith and the Hon. Robert Y. Hayne,

their representatives in the Senate of the United States,

do, in the name and on behalf of the good people of the

said commonwealth, solemnly Protest against the system

of protecting duties, lately adopted by the federal govern-

ment, for the following reasons:—

1st. Because the good people of this commonwealth

believe that the powers of Congress were delegated to it in

trust for the accomplishment of certain specified objects

which limit and control them, and that every exercise of

them for any other purposes, is a violation of the Constitu-

tion as unwarrantable as the undisguised assumption of

substantive, independent powers not granted or expressly

withheld.

2d. Because the power to lay duties on imports is, and

in its very nature can be, only a means of effecting objects

specified by the Constitution; since no free government,

and least of all a government of enumerated powers, can of

right impose any tax, any more than a penalty, which is not

at once justified by public necessity, and clearly within the

scope and purview of the social compact; and since the

right of confining appropriations of the public money to

such legitimate and constitutional objects is as essential to

the liberty of the people as their unquestionable privilege

to be taxed only by their consent.

3d. Because they believe that the tariff law passed by

Congress at its last session, and all other acts of which the

principal object is the protection of manufactures, or any

other branch of domestic industry, if they be considered as

the exercise of a power in Congress to tax the people at its

own good will and pleasure, and to apply the money raised

to objects not specified in the Constitution, is a violation of

these fundamental principles, a breach of a well-defined

trust, and a perversion of the high powers vested in the

federal government for federal purposes only.

4th. Because such acts, considered in the light of a reg-

ulation of commerce, are equally liable to objection; since,

although the power to regulate commerce may, like all

other powers, be exercised so as to protect domestic man-

ufactures, yet it is clearly distinguishable from a power to

do so eo nomine, both in the nature of the thing and in the

common acception of the terms; and because the con-

founding of them would lead to the most extravagant

results, since the encouragement of domestic industry

implies an absolute control over all the interests,

resources, and pursuits of a people, and is consistent with

the idea of any other than a simple, consolidated govern-

ment.

5th. Because, from the contemporaneous exposition of

the Constitution in the numbers of the Federalist, (which

is cited only because the Supreme Court has recognized its

authority), it is clear that the power to regulate commerce

was considered by the Convention as only incidentally con-

nected with the encouragement of agriculture and manu-

factures; and because the power of laying imposts and

duties on imports was not understood to justify in any case,

a prohibition of foreign commodities, except as a means of

extending commerce, by coercing foreign nations to a fair

reciprocity in their intercourse with us, or for some bona

fide commercial purpose.

6th. Because, whilst the power to protect manufac-

tures is nowhere expressly granted to Congress, nor can

be considered as necessary and proper to carry into effect

any specified power, it seems to be expressly reserved to

the states, by the 10th section of the 1st article of the

Constitution.

7th. Because even admitting Congress to have a con-

stitutional right to protect manufactures by the imposition

of duties, or by regulations of commerce, designed princi-

pally for that purpose, yet a tariff of which the operation is

grossly unequal and oppressive, is such an abuse of power

as is incompatible with the principles of a free government

and the great ends of civil society, justice, and equality of

rights and protection.

8th. Finally, because South Carolina, from her cli-

mate, situation, and peculiar institutions, is, and must ever

continue to be, wholly dependent upon agriculture and

commerce, not only for her prosperity, but for her very

existence as a state; because the valuable products of her

soil—the blessings by which Divine Providence seems to

have designed to compensate for the great disadvantages

under which she suffers in other respects—are among the

very few that can be cultivated with any profit by slave

labor; and if, by the loss of her foreign commerce, these

products should be confined to an inadequate market, the

fate of this fertile state would be poverty and utter desola-

tion; her citizens, in despair, would emigrate to more for-

tunate regions, and the whole frame and constitution of

her civil policy be impaired and deranged, if not dissolved

entirely.

Territorial Expansion, Political and Economic Developments, and International Relations 609

Deeply impressed with these considerations, the repre-

sentatives of the good people of this commonwealth, anx-

iously desiring to live in peace with their fellow-citizens, and

to do all that in them lies to preserve and perpetuate the

union of the states, and liberties of which it is the surest

pledge, but feeling it to be their bounden duty to expose and

resist all encroachments upon the true spirit of the Consti-

tution, lest an apparant acquiescence in the system of pro-

tecting duties should be drawn into precedent—do, in the

name of the commonwealth of South Carolina, claim to

enter upon the Journal of the Senate their protest against it

as unconstitutional, oppressive, and unjust.

Source:

Henry Steele Commager, ed. Documents of American History.

New York: F.S. Crofts & Co., 1934.

Andrew Jackson,

First Inaugural Address, 1829

Speech delivered by Andrew Jackson upon his inauguration as

the seventh president of the United States on March 4, 1829, in

Washington, D.C. Democrat Jackson expressed himself with an

earnestness befitting a figure beheld as a man of the people and

a symbol of their potential to attain political power. Outlining

the principles he expected to follow in his tenure, Jackson

vowed to respect limitations on presidential authority in

administering federal legislation and pledged proper regard for

states’ rights. He promised economy and simplicity in his man-

agement of the public treasury, advocating a policy dedicated

to eliminating the national debt. Jackson voiced federal support

for internal improvements but offered no clear policy statement

on the tariff, currency, or the Bank of the United States. Invok-

ing the danger to free governments posed by peacetime stand-

ing armies, he forswore any increase in the existing U.S. force

and trumpeted the state militias as the bulwark of the nation’s

defense. He called for a just and liberal policy toward Native

American tribes within U.S. territorial claims. In closing, Jack-

son pledged to reform the federal civil service system that, he

said, was corrupted by political patronage.

________________________

_______________________

Fellow-Citizens:

About to undertake the arduous duties that I have

been appointed to perform by the choice of a free people,

I avail myself of this customary and solemn occasion to

express the gratitude which their confidence inspires and

to acknowledge the accountability which my situation

enjoins. While the magnitude of their interests convinces

me that no thanks can be adequate to the honor they have

conferred, it admonishes me that the best return I can

make is the zealous dedication of my humble abilities to

their service and their good.

As the instrument of the Federal Constitution it will

devolve on me for a stated period to execute the laws of the

United States, to superintend their foreign and their con-

federate relations, to manage their revenue, to command

their forces, and, by communications to the Legislature, to

watch over and to promote their interests generally. And

the principles of action by which I shall endeavor to

accomplish this circle of duties it is now proper for me

briefly to explain.

In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep

steadily in view the limitations as well as the extent of the

Executive power, trusting thereby to discharge the func-

tions of my office without transcending its authority. With

foreign nations it will be my study to preserve peace and to

cultivate friendship on fair and honorable terms, and in the

adjustment of any differences that may exist or arise to

exhibit the forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather

than the sensibility belonging to a gallant people.

In such measures as I may be called on to pursue in

regard to the rights of the separate States I hope to be ani-

mated by a proper respect for those sovereign members of

our Union, taking care not to confound the powers they

have reserved to themselves with those they have granted

to the Confederacy.

The management of the public revenue—that search-

ing operation in all governments—is among the most deli-

cate and important trusts in ours, and it will, of course,

demand no inconsiderable share of my official solicitude.

Under every aspect in which it can be considered it would

appear that advantage must result from the observance of

a strict and faithful economy. This I shall aim at the more

anxiously both because it will facilitate the extinguishment

of the national debt, the unnecessary duration of which is

incompatible with real independence, and because it will

counteract that tendency to public and private profligacy

which a profuse expenditure of money by the Government

is but too apt to engender. Powerful auxiliaries to the

attainment of this desirable end are to be found in the reg-

ulations provided by the wisdom of Congress for the spe-

cific appropriation of public money and the prompt

accountability of public officers.

With regard to a proper selection of the subjects of

impost with a view to revenue, it would seem to me that

the spirit of equity, caution, and compromise in which the

Constitution was formed requires that the great interests

of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures should be

equally favored, and that perhaps the only exception to this

rule should be consist in the peculiar encouragement of

any products of either of them that may be found essential

to our national independence.

610 ERA 4: Expansion and Reform

Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge,

so far as they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of

the federal Government, are of high importance.

Considering standing armies as dangerous to free gov-

ernments in time of peace, I shall not seek to enlarge our

present establishment, nor disregard that salutary lesson of

political experience which teaches that the military should

be held subordinate to the civil power. The gradual

increase of our Navy, whose flag has displayed in distant

climes our skill in navigation and our fame in arms; the

preservation of our forts, arsenals, and dockyards, and the

introduction of progressive improvements in the discipline

and science of both branches of our military service are so

plainly prescribed by prudence that I should be excused

for omitting their mention sooner than for enlarging on

their importance. But the bulwark of our defense is the

national militia, which in the present state of our intelli-

gence and population must render us invincible. As long as

our Government is administered for the good of the peo-

ple, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us

the rights of person and of property, liberty of conscience

and of the press, it will be worth defending; and so long as

it is worth defending a patriotic militia will cover it with an

impenetrable aegis. Partial injuries and occasional mortifi-

cations we may be subjected to, but a million of armed

freemen, possessed of the means of war, can never be con-

quered by a foreign foe. To any just system, therefore, cal-

culated to strengthen this natural safeguard of the country

I shall cheerfully lend all the aid in my power.

It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe

toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal

policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention

to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the

habits of our Government and the feelings of our people.

The recent demonstration of public sentiment

inscribes on the list of Executive duties, in characters too

legible to be overlooked, the task of reform, which will

require particularly the correction of those abuses that

have brought the patronage of the Federal Government

into conflict with the freedom of elections, and the coun-

teraction of those causes which have disturbed the rightful

course of appointment and have placed or continued

power in unfaithful or incompetent hands.

In the performance of a task thus generally delineated

I shall endeavor to select men whose diligence and talents

will insure in their respective stations able and faithful

cooperation, depending for the advancement of the public

service more on the integrity and zeal of the public officers

than on their numbers.

A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifica-

tions will teach me to look with reverence to the examples

of public virtue left by my illustrious predecessors, and

with veneration to the lights that flow from the mind that

founded and the mind that reformed our system. The

same diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid

from the coordinate branches of the Government, and for

the indulgence and support of my fellow-citizens generally.

And a firm reliance on the goodness of that Power whose

providence mercifully protected our national infancy, and

has since upheld our liberties in various vicissitudes,

encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications that He

will continue to make our beloved country the object of

His divine care and gracious benediction.

Source:

Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States,

1789–1965. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office,

1896–99.

Daniel Webster’s Second Reply

to Robert Y. Hayne, 1830

Senators Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina and Daniel Web-

ster of Massachusetts debated nationalism versus states’ rights

in January 1830. The cause was a resolution sponsored by

Senator Samuel A. Foot of Connecticut on December 29,

1829, halting the sale of public land. For two weeks the Sen-

ate debated in speeches ranging broadly over the issues of tar-

iff, slavery, sectionalism, state nullification of federal statutes,

the U.S. Constitution, and the nature of the Union.

The climax came with Webster’s second reply (January

26–27) to Hayne. In it, the Massachusetts senator declared that

the Union was the creation of the American people, not the

states, and that the government was answerable only to the peo-

ple. Samuel E. Morrison and Henry S. Commager in their history

of the United States,

Growth of the American Republic,

consider

Webster’s speech “the greatest recorded American oration.” It

contains his call for nationalism: “Liberty and Union, now and

for ever, one and inseparable.” The following excerpts are from

the concluding remarks, in which Webster argues against

Haynes’ position regarding states rights: “I understand him to

insist, that if the exigency of the case, in the opinion of any State

Government, require it, such State Government may, by its own

sovereign authority, annul an act of the General Government,

which it deems plainly and palpably unconstitutional.”

________________________

_______________________

Direct collision, therefore, between force and force, is the

unavoidable result of that remedy for the revision of

unconstitutional laws which the gentleman contends for. It

must happen in the very first case to which it is applied. Is

not this the plain result? To resist, by force, the execution

of a law, generally, is treason. Can the Courts of the United

Territorial Expansion, Political and Economic Developments, and International Relations 611