564 



KENTUCKY. 



11. Resolved, That it is expedient for the Mississippi 

 Valley States, as soon as practicable, to hold a conven- 

 tion of advice and consultation, with a view to deter- 

 mine what is best to be done for the preservation of 

 the whole Government, and for the purpose of main- 

 taining their integrity and Union, and to.preyent any 

 one or more States from seizing and appropriating to 

 themselves the exclusive use of the mouths of the 

 Mississippi river, and imposing export and import 

 duties on the commerce and navigation of the other 

 States. 



12. Resolved,, That the laws of this State must be 

 maintained and enforced, and that it is the duty of the 

 constituted authorities of the State to see to it, that by 

 all constitutional means this indispensable end shall be 

 attained. 



13. Resolved, That the Governor be requested to for- 

 ward a copy of these resolutions to the President of 

 the United States, and to the Governor of each State, 

 with a request that he lay the same before the Legisla- 

 ture of his State, and to each of our senators ana rep- 

 resentatives in Congress. Our senators are instructed, 

 and our representatives requested, to use their best ef- 

 forts to accomplish the objects of these resolutions. 



The following preamble and resolutions ex- 

 pressing the views of the minority of the Leg- 

 islature, were offered in the Senate and Assem- 

 bly, on the 19th of January, and although they 

 failed to be adopted they have acquired an 

 importance in connection with subsequent 

 events in the State : 



In times of war, as in peace, the Constitution of the 

 United States is the supreme law of the land. It pre- 

 scribes the powers of the Government in its executive 

 no less than in other departments, and it is the only 

 bond of Union between the States. 



The Federal Government, as defined by the Consti- 

 tution, when exercising the powers granted to it is 

 entitled to the allegiance of the people ; but loyalty to 

 the Government does not impose upon the citizen any 

 obligation to support an Administration in the enforce- 

 ment of a policy unauthorized by the Constitution or 

 forbidden by its provisions ; but it is the duty of all 

 good citizens to resist encroachments upon their rights, 

 and to defend the Constitution of their country from 

 violence. He who upholds the executive or any other 

 department of the Government in the violation of its 

 provisions is disloyal to the Constitution and an enemy 

 to the freedom of his country. 



The Federal Government, deriving all its legitimate 

 powers from the Constitution, is, therefore, the creature 

 of the Constitution, and has no power in any depart- 

 ment to suspend any of its provisions, or throw off 

 its restrictions under any pretense whatever. 



The maxim that " Governments derive their just 

 powers from the consent of the governed," is one which 

 we ought never to forget. It involves a fundamental 

 principle of freedom one asserted by our ancestors, 

 and for which they fought and won our independence 

 of the British Crown, and which we never can surren- 

 der. It should also be borne in mind that Govern- 

 ments were instituted for the protection of life, liberty 

 and property, and that such as fail to perform this 

 duty will, sooner or later, be overthrown by an intelli- 

 gent, virtuous, and courageous people. 



The history of the present administration of the 

 Federal Government is a history of repeated injuries 

 and usurpations, tending directly to the overthrow of 

 State authority and State institutions, and a consolida- 

 tion in the Federal Government of all political power, 

 and the erection upon their ruins of a great military 

 despotism as tyrannical and despotic as the worst 

 Governments of Europe, to prove which we refer to the 

 following facts : 



The President has, without authority of Congress, 

 suspended the writ of habeas corpus thus striking a 

 deadly blow at the liberties of the people. 



He bos caused citizens to be arrested, transported 



to distant States, and incarcerated in loathsome prisons, 

 without charge or accusation against them. 



He has denied to citizens thus arrested and impris- 

 oned a trial by jury, or indeed any trial, and has with- 

 held from them all knowledge and information as to 

 their accusers or the cause of their arrest. 



He has subjected his prisoners thus held to barbar- 

 ous and inhuman treatment, endangering both life and 

 health, and has required hundreds of them so held, as* 

 a condition upon which they might be released, to 

 take illegal oaths arbitrarily prescribed by himself or 

 his agents. 



He has attempted to destroy the freedom of the press 

 by the forcible suppression of newspapers, because 

 they saw proper to criticize the measures of his admin- 

 istration ; and such as have escaped suppression have 

 be_en subjected to a censorship wholly incompatible 

 with freedom of thought or expression of opinion. 



He has attempted to destroy the freedom of speech, 

 by arresting citizens who animadverted upon the 

 measures of his administration. 



He has caused to be arrested persons engaged in cir- 

 culating petitions for the signature of the people; 

 thus interfering with the right of petition. 



He has wholly disregarded the right of the people to 

 be " secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects 

 against unreasonable searches and seizures." 



He has interfered with the administration of justice 

 in the State courts by violently forcing the judges to 

 adjourn, and dispersing their grand juries, and by 

 breaking open jails and releasing prisoners confined 

 under regular judicial process for felonies and other 

 crimes. 



He has in some of the States, among which is Ken- 

 tucky, forcibly wrested from the citizen his right to be 

 the candidate for office within the gift of the people, 

 thus striking down the elective franchise ; and eminent 

 citizens of this State are now in confinement beyond 

 its borders for no other known reason than that they 

 presented themselves as candidates for office before 

 the people. 



He has quartered soldiers in the houses of citizens 

 against their will, and not in the manner prescribed 

 by law. 



He has permitted his troops to overrun this State, 

 destroying houses, and fencings of farms and lots. They 

 have sacked the houses of peaceful citizens, destroying 

 their furniture, family pictures, carpets, clothing, and 

 other articles of household goods, and robbed them of 

 their silver ware, stock, and provisions. 



He has permitted his wagon masters and others, f 

 with armed soldiers, to seize the corn, oats, and hay, 

 Ac., of our citizens for the use of the armies, without 

 their consent, and without just discrimination as to 

 whether the farmer could spare the articles or not- 

 fixing their own price upon them, and making their 

 own estimate as to the value and the quantity taken, 

 and giving no receipt or name whereby the owner 

 could successfully seek his pay; and often, when 

 vouchers were given, they were so informal that no 

 money could be drawn upon them. 



He has permitted his officers and soldiers to entice 

 slaves in great numbers to leave their masters and 

 owners, and to take them within their camps, and 

 there, with bayonets, to protect them from reclamation ; 

 and when civil suits have been brought for their recove- 

 ry, in many instances the process of the court has been 

 resisted by armed forces, and the owner of the slaves 

 maltreated and imprisoned, for no known cause other 

 than his attempt thus to recover and protect his 

 property. 



He has permitted his officers and soldiers, without 

 authority of law, to levy large contributions of money 

 upon unoffending citizens, under the pretence of reim- 

 bursing other citizens for losses sustained by the 

 casualties of war. 



He has permitted his officers and soldiers with im- 

 punity to murder peaceable citizens. 



He has given his assent and approval to acts of 

 Congress appropriating and proposing to appropriate 

 enormous sums of the public money to purchase the 



