CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WITH AN ALPHABETICAL ANALYSIS; THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION; THE PROMINENT POLITICAL ACTS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON; ELECTORAL VOTES FOR ALL THE PRESIDENTS AND VICE-PRESIDENTS; THE HIGH AUTHORITIES AND CIVIL OFFICERS OF GOVERNMENT, Chronological Narrative of the Several States; AND OTHER INTERESTING MATTER; WITH A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE STATE PAPERS, PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, AND OTHER SOURCES OF POLITICAL AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION AT THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. BY W. HICKEY. SEVENTH EDITION. PHILADELPHIΑ: Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1853, by W. HICKEY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON & CO. PRINTED BY T. K. & P. G. COLLINS. TO THE PEOPLE, THE CONGRESS, THE PRESIDENT, AND THE Supreme Court of the United States, THIS SIXTH EDITION OF THE CONSTITUTION IS DEDICATED BY W. HICKEY. "The Constitution in its words is plain and intelligible, and it is meant for the homebred, unsophisticated understandings of our fellow-citizens." "The people alone are the absolute owners and uncontrollable movers of such sovereignty as human beings can claim to exercise; subject to the eternal and unchangeable rules of justice, of truth, and of good Faith. The moral law is out of its reach; sovereignty cannot violate that, and be more justified than the humblest individual." "Yield away the Constitution and the Union, and where are we? Frittered into fragments, and not able to claim one portion of the past as peculiarly our own! Our Union is not merely a blessing; it is a political necessity. We can not exist without it. I mean, that all of existence which is worth having must depart with it. Our liberties could not endure the incessant conflicts of civil and conterminous strife; our independence would be an unreal mockery, our very memories would turn to bitterness." (Mr. Dallas in defence of the Constitution.) THE provision under which THIS BOOK MAY BE TRANSMITTED BY MAIL FREE OF POSTAGE, by persons having the privilege of franking public documents, is contained in "An act to establish certain post-routes, and for other purposes," approved 3d March, 1847, in the following words : "Such publications or books as have been or may be published, procured, or purchased by order of either House of Congress, or a joint resolution of the two Houses, shall be considered as public documents, and entitled to be franked as such." iv In Senate of the United States. Thursday, February 18, 1847. Resolved, That the secretary be directed to procure for the use of the Senate two thousand copies of the authentic copy of the Constitution, with an analytical index, and compilation of other public documents, recently printed and placed in the hands of the members, provided the price shall not exceed the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per copy. Resolved, That ten thousand additional copies of the an thentic copy of the Constitution, with an analytical index, etc., be procured for the use of the Senate, provided they will be furnished at a deduction of twenty per cent. on the price above stated. Friday, April 14, 1848. Resolved, That the secretary of the Senate purchase for the use of the Senate two thousand copies of the Constitution of the United States of America, with an alphabetical analysis, prepared and published by W. Hickey, provided the same can be purchased at a price per copy not exceeding that paid for ten thousand copies ordered to be purchased by a resolution of the Senate, adopted on the 18th day of February, 1847. Thursday, April 27, 1848. Resolved, That the secretary of the Senate be authorized and directed to purchase one hundred copies of Hickey's edition of the Constitution of the United States, and to deliver the |