weakness and misery. The intent of good laws is to oppose this effort, and to diffuse their influence universally and equally ;" and Montesquieu declares that, “In a free state, every man, who is supposed a free agent, ought to be concerned in his own government; therefore the legislative power should reside in the whole body of the people, or their representatives. The political liberty of the citizen is a tranquillity of mind, arising from the opinion each person has of his safety. In order to have this liberty, it is requisite the government be so constituted, as that one man need not be afraid of another. The enjoyment of liberty, and even its support and preservation, consists in every man's being allowed to speak his thoughts, and lay open his sentiments.”

The compiler will next propose to his fellow-citizens the advice of a profound philosopher, as to the proper mode of preserving the independence of the mind, which is alike applicable to every freeborn American citizen, and points out the means by which the native talent, the integrity of heart, and the indomitable spirit of the people, guided by patriotism, will be rendered available in the preservation of the purity of the government, and of their own liberties. It is submitted, that a copy of this edition of the Constitution be in the possession of every citizen capable of reading and understanding the meaning of language, before whom the following instructions of Locke would then be placed:

"Reading is for the improvement of the understanding."

"The improvement of the understanding is for two ends: first, for our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver and make out that knowledge to others."

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I hope it will not be thought arrogance to say, that perhaps we should make greater progress in the discovery of rational and contemplative knowledge, if we sought it in the fountain-in the consideration of things themselves-and made use rather of our own thoughts than other men's to find it; for I think we may as rationally hope to see with other men's eyes, as to know by other men's understandings. So much as we ourselves consider and comprehend of truth and reason, so much we possess of real and true knowledge. The floating of other men's opinions in our brains makes us not one jot the more knowing, though they happen to be

true. What in them was science, is in us but opiniatrety; whilst we give up our assent only to reverend names, and do not, as they did, employ our own reason to understand those truths which gave them reputation. Aristotle was certainly a knowing man, but nobody ever thought him so, because he blindly embraced, or confidently vented, the opinions of another. And if the taking up another's principles, without examining them, made not him a philosopher, I suppose it will hardly make anybody else so. In the sciences, every one has so much as he really knows and comprehends; what he believes only, and takes upon trust, are but shreds, which, however well in the whole piece, make no considerable addition to his stock who gathers them. Such borrowed wealth, like fairy money, though it were gold in the hand from which he received it, will be but leaves and dust when it comes to use."

"How many men have no other ground for their tenets than the supposed honesty, or learning, or number, of those of the same profession. As if honest or bookish men could not err, or truth were to be established by the vote of the multitude; yet this, with most men, serves the turn."

"All men are liable to error, and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it. If we could but see the secret motives that influenced the men of name and learning in the world, and the leaders of parties, we should not always find that it was the embracing of truth, for its own sake, that made them espouse the doctrines they owned and maintained. This at least is certain, there is not an opinion so absurd which a man may not receive upon this ground. There is no error to be named, which has not had its professors; and a man shall never want crooked paths to walk in, if he thinks that he is in the right way wherever he has the footsteps of others to follow."

It is not hence to be inferred, however, that the opinions and the Judgment of the wise and the good are to be disregarded, and more especially are we not permitted to treat with irreverence the political loctrines and maxims of the fathers of the republic, whose wisdom and counsel, and devoted patriotism, gave being to the Declaration of our independence and the Constitution of our country. In the fundamental principles of our Government, on what can the

American mind and faith repose with as much confidence and safety as the expositions contained in the "Federalist, an incomparable commentary of three of the greatest statesmen of their age," in the extraordinary judgments of the supreme judicial tribunal, and the solid wisdom embodied in the constitutional commentaries of those who have imparted dignity and purity to the moral ermine which ornaments that august tribunal?

Nor can the American people look to any source more entitled to their confidence, for an exposition of the essential principles of our Government, and, consequently, those which ought to shape its administration, than to the farewell address of the "Father of his country," (contained in this compilation,) and to the principles proclaimed by the "Fathers" of the memorable Declaration and of the immortal Constitution, when respectively "called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country.”

Thomas Jefferson declared those principles to be—“ Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; for having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little, if we countenance a political intolerance, as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety' abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people; a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution, where peaceful remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military/ authority: economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts, and sacred

preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information, and Jarraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press; and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages, and blood of our heroes, have been devoted to their attainment: they should be the creed of our political faith; the text of civic instruction; the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety."

James Madison, equally pursuing the principles of the Constitution, declared the purposes of Government to be:

"To cherish peace and friendly intercourse with all nations having correspondent dispositions; to maintain sincere neutrality towards belligerent nations; to prefer, in all cases, amicable discussion and reasonable accommodation of differences, to a decision of them by an appeal to arms; to exclude foreign intrigues, and foreign partialities, so degrading to all countries, and so baneful to free ones; to foster a spirit of independence, too just to invade the rights of others, too proud to surrender our own, too liberal to indulge unworthy prejudices ourselves, and too elevated not to look down upon them in others; to hold the union of the States as the basis of their peace and happiness; to support the Constitution, which is the cement of the Union, as well in its limitations as in its authorities; to respect the rights and authorities reserved to the States, and to the people, as equally incorporated with, and essential to the success of, the general system; to avoid the slightest interference with the rights of conscience, or the functions of religion, so wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction; to preserve, in their full energy, the other salutary provisions in behalf of private and personal rights, and of the freedom of the press; to observe economy in public expenditures; to liberate the public resources by an honorable discharge of the public debts; to keep within the

requisite limits a standing military force, always remembering that an armed and trained militia is the firmest bulwark of republicsthat without standing armies their liberty can never be in danger,/ (nor with large ones safe; to promote, by authorized means, improvements friendly to agriculture, to manufactures, and to external as well as internal commerce; to favor, in like manner, the advancement of science and the diffusion of information, as the best aliment to true liberty; to carry on the benevolent plans which have been so meritoriously applied to the conversion of our aboriginal neighbors from the degradation and wretchedness of savage life, to a participation of the improvements of which the human mind and manners are susceptible in a civilized state. As far as sentiments and intentions such as these can aid the fulfilment of my duty, they will be a resource which cannot fail me. But the source to which I look for the aids which alone can supply my deficiencies, is in 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. In these, my confidence will, under every difficulty, be best placed, next to that which we have all been encouraged to feel in the guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Being whose power regulates the destiny of nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispensed to this rising republic, and to whom we are bound to address our devout gratitude for the past, as well as our fervent supplications and best hopes for the future."

The citizens of these United States were blessed with the virtue, the fortitude, and the perseverance to achieve their independence as a nation; their patriotism and valor, both by sea and on land, brought them, with increased honor, through the "second war of independence," and through all the trials and difficulties by which they have, from time to time, been environed, both as respects their foreign and domestic relations; and it is only necessary for them to have "light" as regards the fundamental law, and the operations of the Government, to enable them to judge of the fidelity of those whom they periodically intrust with the power which alone belongs to themselves as a nation of freemen, the proper use and application of which power is so vitally necessary to the preservation of their