1. TABLES OF ELECTORAL VOTES FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT of the United States, from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 2. TABLE OF TERMS OF OFFICE, AND LENGTH OF SERVICE, IN THE SENATE, OF THE VICE PRESIDENTS AND PRESI- DENTS PRO TEMPORE; and of the commencement, termination, and number of days in each session of Congress, and special session of the Senate, from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1851... 3. TABLES OF THE NAMES OF THE SENATORS OF THE UNITED STATES, from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1851, with the commence- ment and termination of their service, respectively, and the classes into 4. TABLE OF THE NAMES OF THE SECRETARIES OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, from March 4, 1789, with the length of .... ........ 5. TABLE OF THE NAMES OF REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS WHO HAVE BEEN ELECTED SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1851, with the commencement and termination of their service as such, and the States of which they were Representatives 6. TABLE OF THE NAMES OF THE CLERKS OF THE HOUSE SOURCES OF HISTORICAL, POLITICAL, STATISTICAL, AND OTHER INFOR- MATION REGARDING THE LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, AND JU- DICIAL ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF CLASS No 1. THE COLONIAL HISTORY of the United States, and documen- tary History of the Revolution... CLASS No. 2. LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS and acts of the Congress of the Confederation from the commencement of the Revolution to the commence- CLASS No. 3. THE JOURNAL, Acts, and Proceedings of the Convention which formed the Constitution of the United States, from May 14 to September CLASS No. 6. THE EXECUTIVE JOURNAL of the Senate of the United States, from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1851. (A part only of which, as explained, CLASS No. 7. THE JOURNAL or Record of the Senate on trials of impeachment, from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1851..... DESCRIPTION of the Legislative Journals of the Senate and House of Represen- tatives of the United States......... CLASS No. 8. DOCUMENTS ordered to be printed by the two Houses of Congress since March 4, 1789, embraced in 21 volumes folio State Papers, printed by CLASS No. 9. DOCUMENTS printed in octavo form by order of the Senate, dur- ing each Session, from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1851....... CLASS No. 10. DOCUMENTS printed in octavo form by order of the House 1851 CLASS No. 11. SPEECHES AND DEBATES in the two Houses of the Congress of the United States, from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1851 CLASS No. 12. THE LAWS of the United States, including the Treaties, &c., as CLASS No. 13. ABRIDGMENTS and Digests of the Laws of the United States, CLASS No. 14. INDEXES prepared in conformity with orders or resolutions of 461 465 CLASS No. 16. PUBLICATIONS on the subject of the Public Lands and Private Land Claims, under the authority of the United States, to March 3, 1851. 466 CLASS No. 17. REVENUE LAWS, Commercial Regulations, Digests of Tariff CHAPTER I. THE CONSTITUTION, As here presented and authenticated by the certificate of the Secretary of State, after a continued correction of proof copies until every deviation from the original Constitution, however small, was completely removed, may with confidence be used as a true copy. The necessity for a close and continued attention to the execution of a copy of this important instrument, became manifest by the use of a printed copy (considered as correct) to print from, which, on being compared with the original, was found to contain several errors in the words, and sixty-five in the punctuation. This circumstance led to a further comparison of copies, in several editions of the laws, printed by different individuals, and it was found, that one edition contained 204 and another 176 errors in the punctuation of the Constitution! Many of these are material in the construction of the sentences in which they occur. It was also discovered, that, in the original manuscript, capital letters were used at the beginning of substantives, or nouns, as is understood to have been the practice generally in writing and printing at the time the Constitution was written. These appear to have been altogether disregarded in the editions above referred to, except in words at the beginning of sentences. As the construction of important clauses may, sometimes, turn upon the punctuation, or the nature of a word, it is important that the former be of the right measure, and that the proper value of the latter be manifest, before the mind can decide upon the true meaning, as intended by the wise and learned framers of that masterpiece of composition, which bears the impress of the most minute and laborious attention to the construction of every particle of matter constituting this noble fabric, the preservation of whose simplicity is the only safeguard to its integrity. These facts induced the determination to produce a true copy of the Constitution in text, orthography, letter, and punctuation, and the rigid examination, and subsequent verification of the Department having the care and custody of the venerated original, attest the success of the undertaking in the production of the following authentic Constitution. |