At last the sun was risen in the heavens, the clouds were dissipated, and all the planets were moving in their respective orbits, their centrifugal impulses balanced by the attractive bonds of the powerful central luminary, which shed upon them light and warmth and force.

XI

SEQUEL OF AMENDMENTS

TIME was required for both States and people to adjust their opinions and their affairs to the new institutions of government. The majority in some of the conventions had not been fully convinced either as to the extent of the powers surrendered by the States and acquired by Congress and the Judiciary or of the security of each State and its citizens in the exercise of rights not conceded to the Union. Sources of revenue hitherto enjoyed by the States were to be given up, and new sources must be found. What new laws would be passed by this new legislature in which the citizens of each State had so small a share of authority? How should they grow to recognize other States as their sisters and their citizens as brothers? How soon would selfishness give way to equality and fraternity? Would the habit of affection for one's own State ever permit the growth of a superior affection for the union of all the States? Which of the two forces, centrifugal or centripetal, was destined to predominate in the future? The azure sky of patriotic hope was not without its auguries of fear.

The action of the conventions of such important States as Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York in recommending certain amendments to the new Constitution, which had also the concurrence of other States, rendered their early consideration desirable in the interest of harmony and contentment among the people, now directly charged with the national govern

ment.

The first national Congress, therefore, proposed to the several States twelve amendments to the Constitution, covering the points appearing to be most reasonably insisted upon by the States. The first of these proposed to control in a different manner the number of representatives in the first branch of Congress. The second proposed that no law varying the compensation of senators and representatives should have effect until after a succeeding election. Neither of these was ratified by a sufficient number of States to give it validity.

The remaining amendments, being now the first ten articles of amendment appended to the Constitution, and held to be limitations upon possible claims of power by the national government, were ratified by ten States. No returns were made by the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, or Georgia of their action on them.

The eleventh article of amendment was pro

posed at the first session of the Third Congress (1793), in order to surely exempt States from liability to suits in the United States courts brought by citizens of any other State, or by foreigners. The returns of state action upon this subject were so dilatory that Congress passed a resolution in March, 1797, requesting the President to communicate with the eight outstanding States on the subject. From the message of President Adams (January, 1798) it appears that twelve of the sixteen States had at that time certified their ratification, which established the validity of the amendment. New Jersey and Pennsylvania refused their ratification, while South Carolina and Tennessee had not acted upon it.

The twelfth amendment, establishing the present mode of electing the President and Vice-President, was proposed at the first session of the Eighth Congress (1803), and was declared adopted in September, 1804, by the votes of thirteen out of seventeen States, being three fourths thereof.

The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments had their origin in questions arising from the late war of secession. The thirteenth had for its object the perpetual abolition of slavery. The fourteenth established the equality of citizenship in all the States, and prohibited every State from abridging the privi

leges of citizens of the United States, and from denying to them the equal protection of the laws, and from taking life, liberty, or property without due process of law. It also provided for a reduction of representation in Congress proportioned to the unjust exclusion of any class of citizens from the right of voting; and excluded from holding office under the United States, or any State, certain classes of men who had been engaged in the Rebellion, unless first relieved of disability by a vote of two thirds of each branch of Congress. It further provided a constitutional guarantee of the validity of the public debt of the United States, and prohibited to every State, as well as to the United States, the assumption of any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion, and the recognition of any claim for slaves lost or emancipated. The fifteenth prohibited the abridgment or denial of the right to vote of citizens of the United States on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Full power was expressly given to Congress to enforce these several amendments by legislation.

All these last articles had for their permanent object the establishment of universal personal liberty, and the fundamental rights of citizenship everywhere within the Union. The ratification of the thirteenth article was proposed by Congress February 1, 1865, and was