FROM JUDGE WAYNE, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. Dear Sir, of am very Supreme Court-room, March 3, 1847. much obliged to you for your edition of the Con. stitution, and will not, hereafter, much indebted to you. use any other. All of us are you Permit me to make a suggestion.* It is, that would add to the edition, intended for distribution by the Senate, a statement of the times when the Constitution was adopted by the states, and when new states have been admitted; particularly designating, in the last, such of them as have been admitted upon constitutions formed before there had been any original tion by Congress for admitting them. For reference it would be useful in many discussions, and has not been made, so far find, by any one. Dear Sir, with can am, great regard, Your obed't serv't, James M. Wayne. WW. Hickey, Esq., Washington. ac. as FROM THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF PENN Sir, SYLVANIA. Philadelphia, 3d March, 1847. I have attentively perused a recent edition of the Federal Constitution, with a well-digested analysis and other matter ap. pended, "by a citizen;"† and, it gives me pleasure to say, the compilation is, not only a convenient book of reference, but an In compliance with this friendly suggestion of Judge Wayne, the author has derived much satisfaction in devoting to it the entire 10th chapter of this edition. The first edition of this book. invaluable compendium of political statistics for every day's The arrangement use. is an excellent one. In the United States, ル move. it is the duty of every man to take a part in the political ments of the day, and the book ought therefore to be in the hands of the masses: Pennsylvania, it ought to be a text-book in the common schools. The compiler is personally unknown to happy to give my testimony in favour of the me, but I am merits of his production. With great respect, Sir, Your obedient servant, Col. Hickey. John B. Gibson. FROM THE JUDGE OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA. Dear Sir, I have looked through the little volume which has been pre. pared, as I understand, under your charge, and I have really been surprised to find, in so compact a form, so many important subjects of constant reference. accuracy, The analytical index of topics embraced in the Federal Constitution is well devised, and, so far as I have tested its bears proofs of care and skill. The several doen. ments and tables, which form the rest of the book, are judiciously sclected from numerous volumes, which are not generally sible, and they present a series of annals of the Constitution, from the first movement towards its formation, in 1786. am acces obliged to you for the copy which has been sent to me, and shall, no doubt, have frequent Col. Hickey. use for it. Very respectfully, yours, J. K. Kano Philad. 3 Mar. 1847. FROM THE HONORABLE SIDNEY BREESE, SENATOR OF THE My dear Sir, UNITED STATES. Washington, March 6, 1847. may be co. I have examined, with great care, your edition of the Constitution of the United States, and I must be permitted to express my approval of the plan and of the merits of the work. I do hope it will have a very extensive demand that the state legislatures will patronize it, and that its circulation extensive with the limits of our Union. It is a lamentable faci, that the Constitution of the United States-that most honored work of the patriots and sages of the Roevolution has not yet had a general circulation. I hope it may be introduced into our schools, academies, and all our seminaries of learning, and studied to be understood. You, sir, are entitled to great credit for the care and ability you have shown in preparing the present edition. I hope you and the country will profit by it. Col. W. Hickey. Af'rs, very truly, FROM THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. Wm. Hickey, Esq. Washington, D. C., Ap. 8, 1847. Dear Sir, am of requested by my brethren on the lench of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia to thank you for your new and corrected edition of the Constitution the United States, which you have kindly sent to them, and the valuable statistic information annexed to it; and espe cially for the laborious and very particular analysis which have made of the Constitution, and for the correction of the you errors in punctuation, as well as in the text, which discovered in the former editions. you has been have com. The Judges have not had time to examine the text very carefully; but, from the partial examination they have had time to make, and the great care with which pared with the original in the Department of State, they believe copy extant, and they have no doubt it it to be the most correct of society. will be useful to all classes With your copy I FROM THE HONORABLE SILAS WRIGHT, LATE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK-FORMERLY SENATOR IN CONGRESS. My dear Sir, I thank you for the and the manner Canton, 9 April, 1847. copy of your edition of the Constitution of the United States, with your copious index. The design, of its execution, are alike creditable to and I anticipate a wide circulation of the little volume, and usefulness to our free institutions from it. you, great Many of the editions of the Constitution of the United States, in most common circulation, are very carelessly printed, with frequent erroneous punctuation, often increasing the doubts as to the true construction of the paragraphs. An edition, therefore, known to be correctly published, is of great value. Your copious analytical index, however, constitutes the real value of your book. If studied faithfully, and by an unbiassed mind, it will lead it to read the Constitution practically, and to understand it as it is. Referring, as the analysis does, every provision and clause to its practical application in the affairs of the government, it cannot fail to have a natural and powerful tendency towards a strict construction of the instrument in the mind of the scholar, the only construction of the Constitution safe to our free institutions and to the Constitution itself. No one, familiar with the affairs of our government, can have failed to notice how large a proportion of our statesmen appear never to have read the Constitution of the United States with a careful reference to its precise language and exact provisions, but rather, as occasion presents, seem to exercise their ingenuity, unfortunately too often powerful and powerfully excited, to stretch both to the line of what they, at the moment, consider expedient. A reference to a careful, perfect, and full analysis of that instrument, and of the grants of power really found in it, cannot fail to exert a strong and salutary influence upon such minds. It is, however, upon the mind of the student and the rising generation of our country that I anticipate the widely extended useful influence of your book. If it shall be, as I hope it may, introduced as a class-book in our schools, it cannot fail soon to produce a more sound and correct and uniform under. standing of the Constitution as it is, than has hitherto prevailed in our country. our It has long been a favorite wish of mine, as to this state, that our public laws of universal interest may be, by Legisla ture, distributed to our common schools in a form to be made a class-book for the more advanced scholars, that the current legis. lation of the state may be early and thoroughly understood by those who are to be the voters of the state. you Your book suggests the addition of the Constitution of the State, with a full index, such as that have prepared for the Federal Constitution, as a permanent class-book to precede the study of the current laws; and, if your Constitution and the laws of Congress of a general character and universal public interest could be connected with the course of study, I do not |