FROM THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE

UNITED STATES.

Washington, December 11th, 1850.

you

Dear Sir, Understanding that are about to publish a fourth Edition of the Book of the Constitution, I take pleasure in expressing my belief that the extensive distribution of that volume is of public and general importance.

The Constitution of the United States is a written Instrument; a recorded fundamental Law; it is the Bond, and the only Bond, of the Union of these States; it is all that gives us a National character.

Almost

every man in the country is capable of reading it; and that which so deeply concerns all, should be made easily ac cessible to all. Your publication, I think, is better calculated to accomplish this end, than any which has preceded it. Yours with very true regard,

William Hickey, Esq.

Daniel Webster.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

JAMES MADISON, President of the United States, on entering upon the duties of the office, declared, that "to support the Constitution, which is the cement of the Union, as well in its limitations as in its authorities, and to favor the advancement of science and the diffusion of information, as the best aliment to true liberty," with other salutary sentiments and intentions, would be a resource which could not fail him; and added, "but the source to which I look for the aid which alone can supply my deficiencies, is the well-tried intelligence and virtue of my fellow-citizens, and in the counsels of those representing them in the other departments associated in the care of the national interests."

“To support the Constitution" by his talents, by his best services, and with his life, if required, is the firm and irrevocable determination of every true patriot; but the "support" presupposes a knowledge of that valued instrument; and the knowledge can alone be expected to follow a careful reading and study of its letter and its spirit. To afford an opportunity to every American citizen to do this, is the object in the publication of the present edition.

If, as Cicero informs us, in ancient Rome the very boys were obliged to learn the twelve tables by heart, as a carmen necessarium, or indispensable lesson, to imprint on their tender minds an early knowledge of the laws and constitution of their country,

"Nocturna versate manu, versate diurna."

If it was deemed important to the preservation of British liberty, in the earlier and better days of that country, that Magna Charta

should be authoritatively promulgated and read to the people-it is no less important to the preservation of American liberty, that every intelligent citizen should, by his own will and authority, aided by the liberality of the Government, possess a copy of this great charter of American liberty.

There appears to have been no formal provision made by the Government of the United States for the promulgation of the Constitution, except by a concurrent resolution of the two Houses of Congress, made during the first Congress, (6th July, 1789,) whereby it was "Resolved, that there be prefixed to the publication of the acts of the present session of Congress a correct copy of the Constitution of Government for the United States." This, however, was sufficient to show the intention and the judgment of the Patres Patriæ upon the subject.

Every good citizen, capable of reading and understanding its meaning, is bound by duty to his country, if in his power, to possess a copy of the Constitution. The compiler of this publication has added the Declaration of Independence, with invaluable matter claiming paternity of the "Father of his country," and other interesting information, and has so limited the cost of this Constitutional bouquet, as to enable the Government, should such be its pleasure, by a judicious and liberal investment in this provident stock-to lay up, for a time of need, a vast fund of available treasure in the minds and the hearts of the people, for the defence of their liberties and the perpetuity of their institutions-to sow the good seed in virgin soil, which might otherwise be occupied by noxious weeds. With diffidence it is submitted, that this national object may be practically effected by the distribution of barely so many copies as may place one in each village or neighborhood, which would introduce it to the knowledge of the people, who would then seek by their own means to possess it; and thus as a mustard seed would it multiply, and its salutary principles be extended. Nor could any means more convenient be proposed, than to intrust to the hands of the guardians of the Constitution in Congress the distribution, or the sowing of this good seed. It would appear from the tables of the last census, that there are, in the

United States, upwards of three and a half millions of men, over twenty years of age, capable of reading; and should there be only one copy furnished by the Government to every hundred men, a large portion of the other ninety-nine would, probably, by their own means, obtain it.

Viewing the immense diffusion of printed political matter through all the villages and hamlets of the Republic, as the abundance of material provided by the generosity of the Government and zeal of private enterprise, as political food for the mind, this compilation may be considered as salt for the preservation of such as may be wholesome, or as lime to neutralize and destroy such as may be carious. It would be a test by which to separate the wheat from the tares and cockle-a crucible by which to separate the gold from the dross and base metal, or the cupel by which to try the current coin of politics, and a text book by which to judge of the orthodoxy of political disquisitions.

By the British statute, "confirmatio cartarum," the great charter was directed "to be allowed as the common law; all judgments contrary to it are declared void: copies of it are ordered to be sent to all cathedral churches, and read twice a year to the people ;" whereby it was intended that the sanctity of the place should inspire a peculiar veneration for that noble structure of fundamental law-sacred to human liberty, civil and religious.

According to Plato and Aristotle, “Lex est mens sine affectu, et quasi Deus,”—the law is mind without passion, and therefore like God. Or, according to Grotius, "God approved and ratified the salutary constitutions of government made by men;" while Demosthenes declares, that "the design and object of laws is to ascertain what is just, honorable, and expedient; and when that is discovered, it is proclaimed as a general ordinance, equal and impartial to all. This is the origin of law, which, for various reasons, all are under an obligation to obey, but especially because all law is the invention and gift of Heaven, the resolution of wise men, the correction of every offence, and the general compact of the State, to live in conformity with which is the duty of every individual in society."

Bossuet remarks, that "If the Roman laws have appeared so sacred, that their majesty still subsists, notwithstanding the ruin of the empire, it is because good sense, which controls human life, reigns throughout the whole, and that there is nowhere to be found a finer application of the principles of natural equity."

Algernon Sidney adds, that "The Israelites, Spartans, Romans, and others, who framed their governments according to their own will, did it not by any peculiar privilege, but by a universal right conferred upon them by God and nature. They were made of no better clay than others; they had no right that does not as well belong to other nations; that is to say, the Constitution of every government is referred to those who are concerned in it, and no other has any thing to do with it.”—

"Salus populi est lex suprema."

Judge Blackstone remarks, that "every man, when he enters into society, gives up a part of his natural liberty, as the price of s valuable a purchase; and, in consideration of receiving the advantages of mutual commerce, obliges himself to conform to those laws which the community has thought proper to establish. And this species of legal obedience and conformity is infinitely more desirable than that wild and savage liberty which is sacrificed to obtain it. For no man, that considers a moment, would wish to retain the absolute and uncontrolled power of doing whatever he pleases; the consequence of which is, that every other man would also have the same power, and then there would be no security to individuals in any of the enjoyments of life. Political, therefore, or civil liberty, which is that of a member of society, is no other than natural liberty, so far restrained by human laws (and no farther) as is necessary and expedient for the general advantage of the public. Hence, we may collect that the law, which restrains a man from doing mischief to his fellow-citizens, though it diminishes the natural, increases the civil liberty of mankind. And Locke has well observed, “where there is no law there is no freedom."

Socrates made a promise, with himself, to observe the laws of