U. $203.5.4

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1850, 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.

PHILADELPHIA.

PRINTED BY T. K. & F. G. COLLINS.

Supreme Court of the Wnited States,

THIS FOURTH 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."

of

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 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 one dollar and twenty-five cents per copy. Resolved, That ten thousand additional copies of the authentic 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

sum

of

stated.

the use

Friday, April 14, 1848.

price

above

Resolved, That the secretary of the Senate purchase for 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

RESOLUTIONS.

to

same, in the name of the Senate of the United States, Mr. Alexander Lattemare, of Paris, to be distributed by him in France, according to his system of national exchanges of books.

Friday, March 2, 1849.

Resolved, That the secretary be directed to furnish each member of the present Senate, who has not already received them, one copy of the Constitution and other books ordered to be fur. nished to the Senators by the resolutions of February 18th, 1847, and to the Senators from Iowa, and Wisconsin, the same number of the Constitution as have been already given to other members of the Senate.

Monday, September 23, 1850.

ana

Resolved, That the secretary be directed to procure from the proprietor, for the use of the Senate, ten thousand copies of Hickey's edition of the Constitution, with an alphabetical lysis, Washington's inaugural and farewell addresses, and other important statistical matter illustrative of the genius of the American government and the developement of its principles: Provided, That they be furnished at the same price

last procured for the use

of the Senate.

Attest,

Asbury Dickens,

as those

Secretary of the Senate.