THE UNITED STATES IS STILL A BRITISH COLONY
The United States is still a British Colony
THE UNITED STATES IS STILL A BRITISH COLONY
EXTORTING TAXES FOR THE CROWN!
A DOCUMENTARY REVIEW OF CHARTERS AND TREATIES
August 17, 1996
An Expose'
An introduction by the "Informer"
This is the latest from a man who visits me quite often. He and another man researched my theory that we have never been free from the British Crown. This disc shows the results. I have states that we will never win in their courts. This shows conclusively why. We have the hard copy of the treaties that are the footnotes. This predates Schroder's material, my research of the 1861 stats by Lincoln that put us under the War Powers confiscation acts, and John Nelson's material. All our material supports that the real Principal, the King of England, still rules this country through the bankers and why we own no property in allodium. This is why it is so important to start OUR courts of God's natural (common) Law and break away from all the crap they have handed us. This is one reason Virginia had a law to hang all lawyers but was somehow, by someone, (the King) set aside to let them operate again. Some good people put in the original 13th amendment so that without the lawyers the King could not continue his strangle hold on us. James shows how that was quashed by the King. I am happy that James' research of six months bears out my theory, that most people would not listen to me, that we are still citizen/subjects under the kings of England. My article called "Reality" published in the American Bulletin and the article of mine on the "Atocha case," wherein Florida in 1981 used it's sovereignty under the British crown to try to take away the gold from the wreck found in Florida waters supports this premise. James makes mention of the Law dictionaries being England's Law Dict. you will not is lists the reign of all the Kings of England. It never mentions the reign of the Presidents of this country. Ever wonder Why? Get this out to as many people as you can.
The Informer.
The United States is still a British Colony; Part 1
The United States is still a British Colony; Part 2
The United State is still a British Colony; Part 3
4. Civil War and The Conquest that followed
7. Footnote 1: First Charter of Virginia
8. Footnote 2: The Paris Peace Treaty (Peace Treaty of 1783)
9. Footnote 3: Articles of Capitulation
12. Footnote 6: 1814 Treaty of Ghent 1814
13. Footnote 7: Washington's Vision: Anthony Sherman
submitted by: colony@civil-liberties.com
Source: http://www.civil-liberties.com/books/index.html
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(HERE IS THE COMPLETE DOCUMENT)
THE UNITED STATES IS STILL A BRITISH COLONY
(The Book 607 pages)
THE UNITED STATES
IS STILL A BRITISH COLONY
EXTORTING
TAXES FOR THE CROWN!
A DOCUMENTARY REVIEW
OF CHARTERS AND TREATIES
August 17, 1996
An introduction by the "Informer"
This is the latest from a man who visits me quite often. He
and another man researched my theory that we have never been free
from the British Crown. This disc shows the results. I have
states that we will never win in their courts. This shows
conclusively why. We have the hard copy of the treaties that are
the footnotes. This predates Schroder's material, my research of
the 1861 stats by Lincoln that put us under the War Powers
confiscation acts, and John Nelson's material. All our material
supports that the real Principal, the King of England, still rules
this country through the bankers and why we own no property in
allodium. This is why it is so important to start OUR courts of
God's natural (common) Law and break away from all the crap they
have handed us. This is one reason Virginia had a law to hang all
lawyers but was somehow, by someone, (the King) set aside to let
them operate again. Some good people put in the original 13th
amendment so that without the lawyers the King could not continue
his strangle hold on us. James shows how that was quashed by the
King. I am happy that James' research of six months bears out my
theory, that most people would not listen to me, that we are still
citizen/subjects under the kings of England. My article called
"Reality" published in the American Bulletin and the article of
mine on the "Atocha case," wherein Florida in 1981 used it's
sovereignty under the British crown to try to take away the gold
from the wreck found in Florida waters supports this premise.
James makes mention of the Law dictionaries being England's Law
Dict. you will not is lists the reign of all the Kings of England.
It never mentions the reign of the Presidents of this country.
Ever wonder Why? Get this out to as many people as you can.
The Informer.
The United States is still a British Colony
The trouble with history is, we weren't there when it took
place and it can be changed to fit someones belief and/or
traditions, or it can be taught in the public schools to favor a
political agenda, and withhold many facts. I know you have been
taught that we won the Revolutionary War and defeated the British,
but I can prove to the contrary. I want you to read this paper
with an open mind, and allow yourself to be instructed with the
following verifiable facts. You be the judge and don't let prior
conclusions on your part or incorrect teaching, keep you from the
truth.
I too was always taught in school and in studying our history
books that our freedom came from the Declaration of Independence
and was secured by our winning the Revolutionary War. I'm going to
discuss a few documents that are included at the end of this paper,
in the footnotes. The first document is the first Charter of
Virginia in 1606 (footnote #1). In the first paragraph, the king
of England granted our fore fathers license to settle and colonize
America. The definition for license is as follows.
"In Government Regulation. Authority to do some act or carry
on some trade or business, in its nature lawful but prohibited by
statute, except with the permission of the civil authority or which
would otherwise be unlawful." Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1914.
Keep in mind those that came to America from England were
British subjects. So you can better understand what I'm going to
tell you, here are the definitions for subject and citizen.
"In monarchical governments, by subject is meant one who owes
permanent allegiance to the monarch." Bouvier's Law Dictionary,
1914.
"Constitutional Law. One that owes allegiance to a sovereign
and is governed by his laws. The natives of Great Britain are
subjects of the British government. Men in free governments are
subjects as well as citizens; as citizens they enjoy rights and
franchises; as subjects they are bound to obey the laws. The term
is little used, in this sense, in countries enjoying a republican
form of government." Swiss Nat. Ins. Co. v. Miller, 267 U.S. 42,
45 S. Ct. 213, 214, 69 L.Ed. 504. Blacks fifth Ed.
I chose to give the definition for subject first, so you could
better understand what definition of citizen is really being used
in American law. Below is the definition of citizen from Roman
law.
"The term citizen was used in Rome to indicate the possession
of private civil rights, including those accruing under the Roman
family and inheritance law and the Roman contract and property law.
All other subjects were peregrines. But in the beginning of the 3d
century the distinction was abolished and all subjects were
citizens; 1 sel. Essays in Anglo-Amer. L. H. 578." Bouvier's Law
Dictionary, 1914.
The king was making a commercial venture when he sent his
subjects to America, and used his money and resources to do so. I
think you would admit the king had a lawful right to receive gain
and prosper from his venture. In the Virginia Charter he declares
his sovereignty over the land and his subjects and in paragraph 9
he declares the amount of gold, silver and copper he is to receive
if any is found by his subjects. There could have just as easily
been none, or his subjects could have been killed by the Indians.
This is why this was a valid right of the king (Jure Coronae, "In
right of the crown," Black's forth Ed.), the king expended his
resources with the risk of total loss.
If you'll notice in paragraph 9 the king declares that all his
heirs and successors were to also receive the same amount of gold,
silver and copper that he claimed with this Charter. The gold that
remained in the colonies was also the kings. He provided the
remainder as a benefit for his subjects, which amounted to further
use of his capital. You will see in this paper that not only is
this valid, but it is still in effect today. If you will read the
rest of the Virginia Charter you will see that the king declared
the right and exercised the power to regulate every aspect of
commerce in his new colony. A license had to be granted for travel
connected with transfer of goods (commerce) right down to the
furniture they sat on. A great deal of the king's declared
property was ceded to America in the Treaty of 1783. I want you to
stay focused on the money and the commerce which was not ceded to
America.
This brings us to the Declaration of Independence. Our
freedom was declared because the king did not fulfill his end of
the covenant between king and subject. The main complaint was
taxation without representation, which was reaffirmed in the early
1606 Charter granted by the king. It was not a revolt over being
subject to the king of England, most wanted the protection and
benefits provided by the king. Because of the kings refusal to
hear their demands and grant relief, separation from England became
the lesser of two evils. The cry of freedom and self determination
became the rallying cry for the colonist. The slogan "Don't Tread
On Me" was the standard borne by the militias.
The Revolutionary War was fought and concluded when Cornwallis
surrendered to Washington at Yorktown. As Americans we have been
taught that we defeated the king and won our freedom. The next
document I will use is the Treaty of 1783, which will totally
contradict our having won the Revolutionary War. (footnote 2).
I want you to notice in the first paragraph that the king
refers to himself as prince of the Holy Roman Empire and of the
United States. You know from this that the United States did not
negotiate this Treaty of peace in a position of strength and
victory, but it is obvious that Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and
John Adams negotiated a Treaty of further granted privileges from
the king of England. Keep this in mind as you study these
documents. You also need to understand the players of those that
negotiated this Treaty. For the Americans it was Benjamin Franklin
Esgr., a great patriot and standard bearer of freedom. Or was he?
His title includes Esquire.
An Esquire in the above usage was a granted rank and Title of
nobility by the king, which is below Knight and above a yeoman,
common man. An Esquire is someone that does not do manual labor as
signified by this status, see the below definitions.
"Esquires by virtue of their offices; as justices of the
peace, and others who bear any office of trust under the
crown....for whosever studieth the laws of the realm, who studieth
in the universities, who professeth the liberal sciences, and who
can live idly, and without manual labor, and will bear the port,
charge, and countenance of a gentleman, he shall be called master,
and shall be taken for a gentleman." Blackstone Commentaries p.
561-562
"Esquire - In English Law. A title of dignity next above
gentleman, and below knight. Also a title of office given to
sheriffs, serjeants, and barristers at law, justices of the peace,
and others." Blacks Law Dictionary fourth ed. p. 641
Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Jay as you can read in
the Treaty were all Esquires and were the signers of this Treaty
and the only negotiators of the Treaty. The representative of the
king was David Hartley Esqr..
Benjamin Franklin was the main negotiator for the terms of the
Treaty, he spent most of the War traveling between England and
France. The use of Esquire declared his and the others British
subjection and loyalty to the crown.
In the first article of the Treaty most of the kings claims to
America are relinquished, except for his claim to continue
receiving gold, silver and copper as gain for his business venture.
Article 3 gives Americans the right to fish the waters around the
United States and its rivers. In article 4 the United States
agreed to pay all bona fide debts. If you will read my other
papers on money you will understand that the financiers were
working with the king. Why else would he protect their interest
with this Treaty?
I wonder if you have seen the main and obvious point? This
Treaty was signed in 1783, the war was over in 1781. If the United
States defeated England, how is the king granting rights to
America, when we were now his equal in status? We supposedly
defeated him in the Revolutionary War! So why would these supposed
patriot Americans sign such a Treaty, when they knew that this
would void any sovereignty gained by the Declaration of
Independence and the Revolutionary War? If we had won the
Revolutionary War, the king granting us our land would not be
necessary, it would have been ours by his loss of the Revolutionary
War. To not dictate the terms of a peace treaty in a position of
strength after winning a war; means the war was never won. Think of
other wars we have won, such as when we defeated Japan. Did
McArther allow Japan to dictate to him the terms for surrender? No
way! All these men did is gain status and privilege granted by the
king and insure the subjection of future unaware generations.
Worst of all, they sold out those that gave their lives and
property for the chance to be free.
When Cornwallis surrendered to Washington he surrendered the
battle, not the war. Read the Article of Capitulation signed by
Cornwallis at Yorktown (footnote 3)
Jonathan Williams recorded in his book, Legions of Satan,
1781, that Cornwallis revealed to Washington during his surrender
that "a holy war will now begin on America, and when it is ended
America will be supposedly the citadel of freedom, but her millions
will unknowingly be loyal subjects to the Crown."...."in less than
two hundred years the whole nation will be working for divine world
government. That government that they believe to be divine will be
the British Empire."
All the Treaty did was remove the United States as a liability
and obligation of the king. He no longer had to ship material and
money to support his subjects and colonies. At the same time he
retained financial subjection through debt owed after the Treaty,
which is still being created today; millions of dollars a day. And
his heirs and successors are still reaping the benefit of the kings
original venture. If you will read the following quote from Title
26, you will see just one situation where the king is still
collecting a tax from those that receive a benefit from him, on
property which is purchased with the money the king supplies, at
almost the same percentage:
-CITE-
26 USC Sec. 1491
HEAD-
Sec. 1491. Imposition of tax
-STATUTE-
There is hereby imposed on the transfer of property by a
citizen or resident of the United States, or by a domestic
corporation or partnership, or by an estate or trust which is not
a foreign estate or trust, to a foreign corporation as paid-in
surplus or as a contribution to capital, or to a foreign estate or
trust, or to a foreign partnership, an excise tax equal to 35
percent of the excess of -
(1) the fair market value of the property so transferred,
over
(2) the sum of -
(A) the adjusted basis (for determining gain) of such
property in the hands of the transferor, plus
(B) the amount of the gain recognized to the transferor
at the time of the transfer.
-SOURCE-
(Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 365; Oct. 4, 1976, Pub. L.
94-455, title X, Sec. 1015(a), 90 Stat. 1617; Nov. 6, 1978,
Pub. L.
95-600, title VII, Sec. 701(u)(14)(A), 92 Stat. 2919.)
-MISC1-
AMENDMENTS
1978 - Pub. L. 95-600 substituted 'estate or trust' for
'trust' wherever appearing.
1976 - Pub. L. 94-455 substituted in provisions preceding
par.
(1) 'property' for 'stocks and securities' and '35 percent'
for '27 1/2 percent' and in par.
(1) 'fair market value' for 'value' and 'property' for
'stocks and securities' and in par.
(2) designated existing provisions as subpar. (A) and added
subpar. (B).
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1978 AMENDMENT
Section 701(u)(14)(C) of Pub. L. 95-600 provided that: 'The
amendments made by this paragraph (amending this section and
section 1492 of this title) shall apply to transfers after
October 2, 1975.'
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1976 AMENDMENT
Section 1015(d) of Pub. L. 94-455 provided that: 'The
amendments made by this section (enacting section 1057 of
this title, amending this section and section 1492 of this
title, and renumbering former section 1057 as 1058 of this
title) shall apply to transfers of property after October 2,
1975.'
A new war was declared when the Treaty was signed. The king
wanted his land back and he knew he would be able to regain his
property for his heirs with the help of his world financiers. Here
is a quote from the king speaking to Parliament after the
Revolutionary War had concluded.
(Six weeks after) the capitulation of Yorktown, the king of
Great Britain, in his speech to Parliament (Nov. 27, 1781),
declared "That he should not answer the trust committed to the
sovereign of a free people, if he consented to sacrifice either to
his own desire of peace, or to their temporary ease and relief,
those essential rights and permanent interests, upon the
maintenance and preservation of which the future strength and
security of the country must forever depend." The determined
language of this speech, pointing to the continuance of the
American war, was echoed back by a majority of both Lords and
Commons.
In a few days after (Dec. 12), it was moved in the House of
Commons that a resolution should be adopted declaring it to be
their opinion "That all farther attempts to reduce the Americans to
obedience by force would be ineffectual, and injurious to the true
interests of Great Britain." The rest of the debate can be found
in (footnote 4). What were the true interests of the king? The
gold, silver and copper.
The new war was to be fought without Americans being aware
that a war was even being waged, it was to be fought by subterfuge
and key personnel being placed in key positions. The first two
parts of "A Country Defeated In Victory," go into detail about how
this was done and exposes some of the main players.
Every time you pay a tax you are transferring your labor to
the king, and his heirs and successors are still receiving interest
from the original American Charters.
The following is the definition of tribute (tax).
"A contribution which is raised by a prince or sovereign from
his subjects to sustain the expenses of the state.
A sum of money paid by an inferior sovereign or state to a
superior potentate, to secure the friendship or protection of the
latter." Blacks Law Dictionary forth ed. p. 1677
As further evidence, not that any is needed, a percentage of
taxes that are paid are to enrich the king/queen of England. For
those that study Title 26 you will recognize IMF, which means
Individual Master File, all tax payers have one. To read one you
have to be able to break their codes using file 6209, which is
about 467 pages. On your IMF you will find a blocking series,
which tells you what type of tax you are paying. You will probably
find a 300-399 blocking series, which 6209 says is reserved. You
then look up the BMF 300-399, which is the Business Master File in
6209. You would have seen prior to 1991, this was U.S.-U.K. Tax
Claims, non-refile DLN. Meaning everyone is considered a business
and involved in commerce and you are being held liable for a tax
via a treaty between the U.S. and the U.K., payable to the U.K..
The form that is supposed to be used for this is form 8288, FIRPTA
- Foreign Investment Real Property Tax Account, you won't find many
people using this form, just the 1040 form. The 8288 form can be
found in the Law Enforcement Manual of the IRS, chapter 3. If you
will check the OMB's paper - Office of Management and Budget, in
the Department of Treasury, List of Active Information Collections,
Approved Under Paperwork Reduction Act, you will find this form
under OMB number 1545-0902, which says U.S. withholding tax-return
for dispositions by foreign persons of U.S. real property
interests-statement of withholding on dispositions, by foreign
persons, of U.S. Form #8288 #8288a
These codes have since been changed to read as follows; IMF
300-309, Barred Assement, CP 55 generated valid for MFT-30, which
is the code for 1040 form. IMF 310-399 reserved, the BMF 300-309
reads the same as IMF 300-309. BMF 390-399 reads U.S./U.K. Tax
Treaty Claims. The long and short of it is nothing changed, the
government just made it plainer, the 1040 is the payment of a
foreign tax to the king/queen of England. We have been in
financial servitude since the Treaty of 1783.
Another Treaty between England and the United States was Jay's
Treaty of 1794 (footnote 5). If you will remember from the Paris
Treaty of 1783, John Jay Esqr. was one of the negotiators of the
Treaty. In 1794 he negotiated another Treaty with Britain. There
was great controversy among the American people about this Treaty.
In Article 2 you will see the king is still on land that was
supposed to be ceded to the United States at the Paris Treaty.
This is 13 years after America supposedly won the Revolutionary
War. I guess someone forgot to tell the king of England. In
Article 6, the king is still dictating terms to the United States
concerning the collection of debt and damages, the British
government and World Bankers claimed we owe. In Article 12 we find
the king dictating terms again, this time concerning where and with
who the United States could trade. In Article 18 the United States
agrees to a wide variety of material that would be subject to
confiscation if Britain found said material going to its enemies
ports. Who won the Revolutionary War?
That's right, we were conned by some of our early fore fathers
into believing that we are free and sovereign people, when in fact
we had the same status as before the Revolutionary War. I say had,
because our status is far worse now than then. I'll explain.
Early on in our history the king was satisfied with the
interest made by the Bank of the United States. But when the Bank
Charter was canceled in 1811 it was time to gain control of the
government, in order to shape government policy and public policy.
Have you never asked yourself why the British, after burning the
White House and all our early records during the War of 1812, left
and did not take over the government. The reason they did, was to
remove the greatest barrier to their plans for this country. That
barrier was the newly adopted 13th Amendment to the United States
Constitution. The purpose for this Amendment was to stop anyone
from serving in the government who was receiving a Title of
nobility or honor. It was and is obvious that these government
employees would be loyal to the granter of the Title of nobility or
honor.
The War of 1812 served several purposes. It delayed the
passage of the 13th Amendment by Virginia, allowed the British to
destroy the evidence of the first 12 states ratification of this
Amendment, and it increased the national debt, which would coerce
the Congress to reestablish the Bank Charter in 1816 after the
Treaty of Ghent was ratified by the Senate in 1815.
Forgotten Amendment
The Articles of Confederation, Article VI states: "nor shall
the united States in Congress assembled, or any of them, grant any
Title of nobility."
The Constitution for the united States, in Article, I Section
9, clause 8 states: "No Title of nobility shall be granted by the
united States; and no Person holding any Office or Profit or Trust
under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of
any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever,
from any King, Prince, or foreign State."
Also, Section 10, clause 1 states, "No State shall enter into
any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque or
Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but Gold
and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of
Attainder, ex post facto of Law impairing the Obligation of
Contracts, or grant any Title of nobility."
There was however, no measurable penalty for violation of the
above Sections, Congress saw this as a great threat to the freedom
of Americans, and our Republican form of government. In January
1810 Senator Reed proposed the Thirteenth Amendment, and on April
26, 1810 was passed by the Senate 26 to 1 (1st-2nd session, p. 670)
and by the House 87 to 3 on May 1, 1810 (2nd session, p. 2050) and
submitted to the seventeen states for ratification. The Amendment
reads as follows:
"If any citizen of the United States shall Accept, claim,
receive or retain any title of nobility or honor, or shall, without
the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension,
office or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king,
prince or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of
the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of
trust or profit under them, or either of them."
From An "American Dictionary of the English Language, 1st
Edition," Noah Webster, (1828) defines nobility as: "3. The
qualities which constitute distinction of rank in civil society,
according to the customs or laws of the country; that eminence or
dignity which a man derives from birth or title conferred, and
which places him in an order above common men."; and, "4. The
persons collectively who enjoy rank above commoners; the peerage."
The fore-mentioned Sections in the Constitution for the united
States, and the above proposed Thirteenth Amendment sought to
prohibit the above definition, which would give any advantage or
privilege to some citizens an unequal opportunity to achieve or
exercise political power. Thirteen of the seventeen states listed
below understood the importance of this Amendment.
Date admitted Date voted for Date voted against
to the Union the Amendment the Amendment
1788 Maryland Dec. 25, 1810
1792 Kentucky Jan. 31, 1811
1803 Ohio Jan. 31, 1811
1787 Delaware Feb. 2, 1811
1787 Pennsylvania Feb. 6, 1811
1787 New Jersey Feb. 13, 1811
1791 Vermont Oct. 24, 1811
1796 Tennessee Nov. 21, 1811
1788 Georgia Dec. 13, 1811
1789 North Carolina Dec. 23, 1811
1788 Massachusetts Feb. 27, 1812
1788 New Hampshire Dec. 10, 1812
1788 Virginia March 12, 1819
1788 New York March 12, 1811
1788 Connecticut May 1813
1788 South Carolina December 7, 1813
1790 Rhode Island September 15, 1814
On March 10, 1819, the Virginia legislature passed Act No. 280
(Virginia Archives of Richmond, "misc." file, p. 299 for micro-
film):
"Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that there shall be
published an edition of the laws of this Commonwealth in which
shall be contained the following matters, that is to say: the
Constitution of the united States and the amendments thereto..."
The official day of ratification was March 12, 1819, this was
the date of re-publication of the Virginia Civil Code. Virginia
ordered 4,000 copies, almost triple their usual order. Word of
Virginia's 1819 ratification spread throughout the states and both
Rhode Island and Kentucky published the new Amendment in 1822.
Ohio published the new Amendment in 1824. Maine ordered 10,000
copies of the Constitution with the new Amendment to be printed for
use in the public schools, and again in 1831 for their Census
Edition. Indiana published the new Amendment in the Indiana
Revised Laws, of 1831 on P. 20. The Northwest Territories
published the new Amendment in 1833; Ohio published the new
Amendment again in 1831 and in 1833. Connecticut, one of the
states that voted against the new Amendment published the new
Amendment in 1835. Wisconsin Territory published the new Amendment
in 1839; Iowa Territory published the new Amendment in 1843; Ohio
published the new Amendment again, in 1848; Kansas published the
new Amendment in 1855; and Nebraska Territory published the new
Amendment six years in a row from 1855 to 1860. Colorado Territory
published the new Amendment in 1865 and again 1867, in the 1867
printing, the present Thirteenth Amendment (slavery Amendment) was
listed as the Fourteenth Amendment. The repeated reprinting of the
Amended united States Constitution is conclusive evidence of its
passage.
Also, as evidence of the new Thirteenth Amendments impending
passage; on December 2, 1817 John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of
State, wrote to Buck (an attorney) regarding the position Buck had
been assigned. The letter reads:
"...if it should be the opinion of this Government that the
acceptance on your part of the Commission under which it was
granted did not interfere with your citizenship.
It is the opinion of the Executive that under the 13th
amendment to the constitution by the acceptance of such an
appointment from any foreign Government, a citizen of the United
States ceases to enjoy that character, and becomes incapable of
holding any office of trust or profit under the United States or
either of them... J.Q.A.
By virtue of these titles and honors, and special privileges,
lawyers have assumed political and economic advantages over the
majority of citizens. A majority may vote, but only a minority
(lawyers) may run for political office.
After the War of 1812 was concluded the Treaty of Ghent was
signed and ratified (footnote 6). In Article 4 of the Treaty, the
United States gained what was already given in the Treaty of Paris
1783, namely islands off the U.S. Coast. Also, two men were to be
given the power to decide the borders and disagreements, if they
could not, the power was to be given to an outside sovereign power
and their decision was final and considered conclusive. In Article
9 it is admitted there are citizens and subjects in America. As
you have seen, the two terms are interchangeable, synonymous. In
Article 10 you will see where the idea for the overthrow of this
country came from and on what issue. The issue raised by England
was slavery and it was nurtured by the king's emissaries behind the
scenes. This would finally lead to the Civil War, even though the
Supreme Court had declared the states and their citizens property
rights could not be infringed on by the United States government or
Congress. This was further declared by the following Presidential
quotes, where they declared to violate the states rights would
violate the U.S. Constitution. Also, history shows that slavery
would not have existed much longer in the Southern states, public
sentiment was changing and slavery was quickly disappearing. The
Civil War was about destroying property rights and the U.S.
Constitution which supported these rights. Read the following
quotes of Presidents just before the Civil War:
"I believe that involuntary servitude, as it exists in
different States of this Confederacy, is recognized by the
Constitution. I believe that it stands like any other admitted
right, and that the States were it exists are entitled to efficient
remedies to enforce the constitutional provisions." Franklin
Pierce Inaugural Address, March 4, 1853 - Messages and Papers of
the Presidents, vol. 5.
"The whole Territorial question being thus settled upon the
principle of popular sovereignty-a principle as ancient as free
government itself-everything of a practical nature has been
decided. No other question remains for adjustment, because all
agree that under the Constitution slavery in the States is beyond
the reach of any human power except that of the respective States
themselves wherein it exists." James Buchanan Inaugural Address,
March 4, 1857 - Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. 5.
"I cordially congratulate you upon the final settlement by the
Supreme Court of the United States of the question of slavery in
the Territories, which had presented an aspect so truly formidable
at the commencement of my Administration. The right has been
established of every citizen to take his property of any kind,
including slaves, into the common Territories belonging equally to
all the States of the Confederacy, and to have it protected there
under the Federal Constitution. Neither Congress nor a Territorial
legislature nor any human power has any authority to annul or
impair this vested right. The supreme judicial tribunal of the
country, which is a coordinate branch of the Government, has
sanctioned and affirmed these principles of constitutional law, so
manifestly just in themselves and so well calculated to promote
peace and harmony among the States." James Buchanan, Third Annual
Message, December 19, 1859 - Messages and Papers of the Presidents,
vol. 5.
So there is no misunderstanding I am not rearguing slavery.
Slavery is morally wrong and contrary to God Almighty's Law. In
this divisive issue, the true attack was on our natural rights and
on the Constitution. The core of the attack was on our right to
possess allodial property. Our God given right to own property in
allodial was taken away by conquest of the Civil War. If you are
free this right cannot be taken away. The opposite of free is
slave or subject, we were allowed to believe we were free for about
70 years. Then the king said enough, and had the slavery issue
pushed to the front by the northern press, which so formed northern
public opinion, that they were willing to send their sons to die in
the Civil War.
The southern States were not fighting so much for the slave
issue, but for the right to own property, any property. These
property rights were granted by the king in the Treaty of 1783,
knowing they would soon be forfeited by the American people through
ignorance. Do you think you own your house? If you were to stop
paying taxes, federal or state, you would soon find out that you
were just being allowed to live and pay rent for this house. The
rent being the taxes to the king, who supplied the benefit of
commerce. A free man not under a monarch, democracy, dictatorship
or socialist government, but is under a republican form of
government would not and could not have his property taken. Why!
The king's tax would not and could not be levied. If the Americans
had been paying attention the first 70 years to the subterfuge and
corruption of the Constitution and government representatives,
instead of chasing the money supplied by the king, the Conquest of
this country during the Civil War could have been avoided. George
Washington had vision during the Revolutionary War, concerning the
Civil War. You need to read it. footnote 7
Civil War and The Conquest that followed
The government and press propaganda that the War was to free
the black people from slavery is ridiculous, once you understand
the Civil War Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The black
people are just as much slaves today as before the Civil War just
as the white people are, and also we find ourselves subjects of the
king/queen of England. The only thing that changed for black
people is they changed masters and were granted a few rights, which
I might add can be taken away anytime the government chooses. Since
the 1930's the black people have been paid reparations to buy off
their silence, in other words, keep the slaves on the plantation
working. I do not say this to shock or come across as prejudiced,
because I'm not. Here's what Russell Means said, for those that
don't remember who he is, he was the father in the movie called,
"Last Of The Mohicians". Russell Means said " until the white man
is free we will never be free", the we he is referring to are the
Indians. There has never been a truer statement, however the
problem is the white people are not aware of their enslavement.
At the risk of being redundant; to set the record straight,
because Lord only knows what will be said about what I just said
regarding black people, I believe that if you are born in this
country you are equal, period. Forget the empty promises of civil
rights, what about you unalienable natural rights under God
Almighty. All Americans are feudal tenants on the land, allowed to
rent the property they live on as long as the king gets his cut.
What about self-determination, or being able to own allodial title
to property, which means the king cannot take your property for
failure to pay a tax. Which means you did not own it to begin
with. The king allows you to use the material goods and land.
Again this is financial servitude.
"The ultimate ownership of all property is in the state;
individual so-called `ownership' is only by virtue of government,
i.e., law, amounting to a mere user; and use must be in accordance
with law and subordinate to the necessities of the State." Senate
Document No. 43, "Contracts payable in Gold" written in 1933.
The king controlled the government by the time the North won
the Civil War, through the use of lawyers that called the shots
behind the scenes, just as they do now and well placed subjects in
the United States government. This would not have been possible if
not for England destroying our documents in 1812 and the covering
up of state documents of the original 13th Amendment.
According to International law, what took place when the North
conquered the South? First, you have to understand the word
"conquest" in international law. When you conquer a state you
acquire the land; and those that were subject to the conquered
state, then become subject to the conquers. The laws of the
conquered state remain in force until the conquering state wishes
to change all or part of them. At the time of conquest the laws of
the conquered state are subject to change or removal, which means
the law no longer lies with the American people through the
Constitution, but lies with the new sovereign. The Constitution no
longer carries any power of its own, but drives its power from the
new sovereign, the conqueror. The reason for this is the
Constitution derived its power from the people, when they were
defeated, so was the Constitution.
The following is the definition of Conquest:
"The acquisition of the sovereignty of a country by force of
arms, exercised by an independent power which reduces the
vanquished to submission to its empire."
"The intention of the conqueror to retain the conquered
territory is generally manifested by formal proclamation of
annexation, and when this is combined with a recognized ability to
retain the conquered territory, the transfer of sovereignty is
complete. A treaty of peace based upon the principle of uti
possidetis (q.v.) is formal recognition of conquest."
"The effects of conquest are to confer upon the conquering
state the public property of the conquered state, and to invest the
former with the rights and obligations of the latter; treaties
entered into by the conquered state with other states remain
binding upon the annexing state, and the debts of the extinct state
must be taken over by it. Conquest likewise invests the conquering
state with sovereignty over the subjects of the conquered state.
Among subjects of the conquered state are to be included persons
domiciled in the conquered territory who remain there after the
annexation. The people of the conquered state change their
allegiance but not their relations to one another." Leitensdorfer
v. Webb, 20 How. (U.S.) 176, 15 L. Ed. 891.
"After the transfer of political jurisdiction to the conqueror
the municipal laws of the territory continue in force until
abrogated by the new sovereign." American Ins. Co. v. Canter, 1
Pet. (U.S.) 511, 7 L. Ed. 242. Conquest, In international Law. -
Bouvier's Law Dictionary
What happened after the Civil War? Did not U.S. troops force
the southern states to accept the Fourteenth Amendment? The laws
of America, the Constitution were changed by the conquering
government. Why? The main part I want you to see, as I said at
the beginning of this paper, is watch the money and the commerce.
The Fourteenth Amendment says the government debt can not be
questioned. Why? Because now the king wants all the gold, silver
and copper and the land. Which can easily be done by increasing
the government debt and making the American people sureties for the
debt. This has been done by the sleight of hand of lawyers and the
bankers.
The conquering state is known as a Belligerent, read the
following quotes.
Belligerency, is International Law
"The status of de facto statehood attributed to a body of
insurgents, by which their hostilities are legalized. Before they
can be recognized as belligerents they must have some sort of
political organization and be carrying on what is international law
is regarded as legal war. There must be an armed struggle between
two political bodies, each of which exercises de facto authority
over persons within a determined territory, and commands an army
which is prepared to observe the ordinary laws of war. It is not
enough that the insurgents have an army; they must have an
organized civil authority directing the army."
"The exact point at which revolt or insurrection becomes
belligerency is often extremely difficult to determine; and
belligerents are not usually recognized by nations unless they have
some strong reason or necessity for doing so, either because the
territory where the belligerency is supposed to exist is contiguous
to their own, or because the conflict is in some way affecting
their commerce or the rights of their citizens...One of the most
serious results of recognizing belligerency is that it frees the
parent country from all responsibility for what takes place within
the insurgent lined; Dana's Wheaton, note 15, page 35." Bouvier's
Law Dictionary
Belligerent, In International Law.
"As adj. and noun. Engaged in lawful war; a state so engaged.
In plural. A body of insurgents who by reason of their temporary
organized government are regarded as conducting lawful hostilities.
Also, militia, corps of volunteers, and others, who although not
part of the regular army of the state, are regarded as lawful
combatants provided they observe the laws of war; 4 H. C. 1907,
arts, 1, 2." Bouvier's Law Dictionary
According to the International law no law has been broken.
Read the following about military occupation, notice the third
paragraph. After the Civil War, title to the land had not been
completed to the conquers, but after 1933 it was. I will address
this in a moment. In the last paragraph, it says the Commander-in-
Chief governs the conquered state. The proof that this is the case
today, is the U.S. flies the United States flag with a yellow
fringe on three sides. According to the United States Code, Title
4, Sec. 1, the U.S. flag does not have a fringe on it. The
difference being one is a Constitutional flag, and the fringed flag
is a military flag. The military flag means you are in a military
occupation and are governed by the Commander-in-Chief in his
executive capacity, not under any Constitutional authority. Read
the following.
Military Occupation
"This at most gives the invader certain partial and limited
rights of sovereignty. Until conquest, the sovereign rights of the
original owner remain intact. Conquest gives the conqueror full
rights of sovereignty and, retroactively, legalizes all acts done
by him during military occupation. Its only essential is actual
and exclusive possession, which must be effective."
"A conqueror may exercise governmental authority, but only
when in actual possession of the enemy's country; and this will be
exercised upon principles of international law; MacLeod v. U.S.,
229 U.S. 416, 33 Sup. Ct 955, 57 L. Ed. 1260."
"The occupant administers the government and may, strictly
speaking, change the municipal law, but it is considered the duty
of the occupant to make as few changes in the ordinary
administration of the laws as possible, though he may proclaim
martial law if necessary. He may occupy public land and buildings;
he cannot alienate them so as to pass a good title, but a
subsequent conquest would probably complete the title..."
"Private lands and houses are usually exempt. Private movable
property is exempt, though subject to contributions and
requisitions. The former are payments of money, to be levied only
by the commander-in-chief...Military necessity may require the
destruction of private property, and hostile acts of communities or
individuals may be punished in the same way. Property may be
liable to seizure as booty on the field of battle, or when a town
refuses to capitulate and is carried by assault. When military
occupation ceases, the state of things which existed previously is
restored under the fiction of postliminium (q.v.)"
"Territory acquired by war must, necessarily, be governed, in
the first instance, by military power under the direction of the
president, as commander-in-chief. Civil government can only be put
in operation by the action of the appropriate political department
of the government, at such time and in such degree as it may
determine. It must take effect either by the action of the treaty-
making power, or by that of congress. So long as congress has not
incorporated the territory into the United States, neither military
occupation nor cession by treaty makes it domestic territory, in
the sense of the revenue laws. Congress may establish a temporary
government, which is not subject to all the restrictions of the
constitution. Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244, 21 Sup Ct. 770, 45
L. Ed. 1088, per Gray, J., concurring in the opinion of the court."
Bouvier's Law Dictionary
Paragraph 1-3 of the definition of Military Occupation
describes what took place during and after the Civil War. What
took place during the Civil War and Post Civil War has been legal
under international law. You should notice in paragraph 3, that at
the end of the Civil War, title to the land was not complete, but
the subsequent Conquest completed the title. When was the next
Conquest? 1933, when the American people were alienated by our
being declared enemies of the Conquer and by their declaring war
against all Americans. Read the following quotes and also
(footnote 8).
The following are excerpts from the Senate Report, 93rd
Congress, November 19, 1973, Special Committee On The Termination
Of The National Emergency United States Senate.
Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state of
declared national emergency....Under the powers delegated by these
statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and control
the means of production; seize commodities; assign military forces
abroad; institute martial law; seize and control all transportation
and communication; regulate the operation of private enterprise;
restrict travel; and, in a plethora of particular ways, control the
lives of all American citizens.
A majority of the people of the United States have lived all
of their lives under emergency rule. For 40 years, freedoms and
governmental procedures guaranteed by the Constitution have, in
varying degrees, been abridged by laws brought into force by states
of national emergency....from, at least, the Civil War in important
ways shaped the present phenomenon of a permanent state of national
emergency.
In Title 12, in section 95b you'll find the following
codification of the emergency war powers: The actions, regulations,
rules, licenses, orders and proclamations heretofore or hereafter
taken, promulgated, made, or issued by the President of the United
States or the Secretary of the Treasury since March 4, 1933,
pursuant to the authority conferred by subsection (b) of section 5
of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended (12 USCS, 95a), are
hereby approved and confirmed. (March 9, 1933, c. 1, Title 1, 1,
48 Stat. 1)
It is clear that the Bankrupt, defacto government of the
united States, which is operating under the War Powers Act and
Executive Orders; not the Constitution for the united States, has
in effect issued under its Admiralty Law, Letters of Marque
(piracy) to its private agencies IRS, ATF, FBI and DEA, with
further enforcement by its officers in the Courts, local police and
sheriffs, waged war against the American People and has classed
Americans as enemy aliens.
The following definition is from BOUVIER'S LAW DICTIONARY (P.
1934) of Letters of Marque, it says: "A commission granted by the
government to a private individual, to take the property of a
foreign state, or of the citizens or subjects of such state, as a
reparation for an injury committed by such state, its citizens or
subjects. The prizes so captured are divided between the owners of
the privateer, the captain, and the crew. A vessel to a friendly
port, but armed for its own defence in case of attack by an enemy,
is also called a letter of marque."
Words and Phrases, Dictionary
By the law of nations, an enemy is defined to be "one with
whom a nations at open war." When the sovereign ruler of a state
declares war against another sovereign, it is understood the whole
nation declares war against that other nation. All the subjects of
one are enemies to all the subjects of the other, and during the
existence of the war they continue enemies, in whatever country
they may happen to be, "and all persons residing within the
territory occupied by the belligerents, although they are in fact
foreigners, are liable to be treated as enemies." Grinnan v.
Edwards, 21 W.Va. 347, 357, quoting Vatt. Law.Nat.bk. 3, c. 69-71
So we find ourselves enemies in our own country and subjects
of a king that has conquered our land, with heavy taxation and no
possibility of fair representation.
The government has, through the laws of forfeiture, taken
prize and booty for the king; under the Admiralty Law and Executive
powers as declared by the Law of the Flag. None of which could
have been done with the built in protection contained in the true
Thirteenth Amendment, which has been kept from the American People.
The fraudulent Amendments and legislation that followed the Civil
War, bankrupted the American People and put the privateers
(banksters) in power, and enforced by the promise of prize and
booty to their partners in crime (government).
The following is the definition of a tyrant.
Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines tyrant
as follows: "1. An absolute ruler; one who seized sovereignty
illegally; a usurper. 2. a cruel oppressive ruler; a despot. 3. one
who exercises his authority in an oppressive manner, a cruel
master."
"When I see that the right and means of absolute command are
conferred on a people or upon a king, upon an aristocracy or a
democracy, a monarchy or republic, I recognize the germ of tyranny,
and I journey onwards to a land of more helpful institutions."
Alexis de Tocqueville, 1 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, at 250 [Arlington
House (1965)].
So we pick up with paragraph 4, which describes the taxation
under Military Occupation and that you are under Executive control
and are bound under admiralty law by the contracts we enter,
including silent contracts and by Military Occupation.
Notice the last sentence in paragraph 5, Congress may
establish a temporary government, which is not subject to all the
restrictions of the Constitution. See also Harvard Law Review -
the Insular Cases. This means you do not have a Constitutional
government, you have a military dictatorship, controlled by the
President as Commander-in-Chief. What is another way you can check
out what I am telling you? Read the following quotes.
"...[T]he United States may acquire territory by conquest or
by treaty, and may govern it through the exercise of the power of
Congress conferred by Section 3 of Article IV of the Constitu-
tion...
In exercising this power, Congress is not subject to the same
constitutional limitations, as when it is legislating for the
United States. ...And in general the guaranties of the Consti-
tution, save as they are limitations upon the exercise of executive
and legislative power when exerted for or over our insular
possessions, extend to them only as Congress, in the exercise of
its legislative power over territory belonging to the United
States, has made those guarantees applicable."
[Hooven & Allison & Co. vs Evatt, 324 U.S. 652 (1945)
"The idea prevails with some indeed, it found expression in
arguments at the bar that we have in this country substantially or
practically two national governments; one to be maintained under
the Constitution, with all its restrictions; the other to be
maintained by Congress outside and independently of that instru-
ment, by exercising such powers as other nations of the earth are
accustomed to exercise.
I take leave to say that if the principles thus announced
should ever receive the sanction of a majority of this court, a
radical and mischievous change in our system of government will be
the result. We will, in that event, pass from the era of constitu-
tional liberty guarded and protected by a written constitution into
an era of legislative absolutism.
It will be an evil day for American liberty if the theory of
a government outside of the supreme law of the land finds lodgment
in our constitutional jurisprudence. No higher duty rests upon
this court than to exert its full authority to prevent all
violation of the principles of the constitution."
[Downes vs Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901)]
A Military Flag
And to further confirm and understand the significance of what
I have told you, you need to understand the fringe on the United
States flag. Read the following.
First the appearance of our flag is defined in Title 4 sec. 1.
U.S.C..
"The flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal
stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall
be forty-eight stars, white in a blue field." (my note - of course
when new states are admitted, new stars are added.)
A foot note was added on page 1113 of the same section which
says: "Placing of fringe on the national flag, the dimensions of
the flag, and arrangement of the stars are matters of detail not
controlled by statute, but within the discretion of the President
as commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy." 1925, 34 Op.Atty.Gen.
483.
The president, as military commander, can add a yellow fringe
to our flag. When would this be done? During time of war. Why?
A flag with a fringe is an ensign, a military flag. Read the
following.
"Pursuant to U.S.C. Chapter 1, 2, and 3; Executive Order No.
10834, August 21, 1959, 24 F.R. 6865, a military flag is a flag
that resembles the regular flag of the United States, except that
it has a YELLOW FRINGE, bordered on three sides. The President of
the United states designates this deviation from the regular flag,
by executive order, and in his capacity as COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF of
the Armed forces."
From the National Encyclopedia, Volume 4:
"Flag, an emblem of a nation; usually made of cloth and flown
from a staff. From a military standpoint flags are of two general
classes, those flown from stationary masts over army posts, and
those carried by troops in formation. The former are referred to
by the general name flags. The latter are called colors when
carried by dismounted troops. Colors and Standards are more nearly
square than flags and are made of silk with a knotted Fringe of
Yellow on three sides...use of the flag. The most general and
appropriate use of the flag is as a symbol of authority and power."
"...The agency of the master is devolved upon him by the law
of the flag. The same law that confers his authority ascertains
its limits, and the flag at the mast-head is notice to all the
world of the extent of such power to bind the owners or freighters
by his act. The foreigner who deals with this agent has notice of
that law, and, if he be bound by it, there is not injustice. His
notice is the national flag which is hoisted on every sea and under
which the master sails into every port, and every circumstance that
connects him with the vessel isolates that vessel in the eyes of
the world, and demonstrates his relation to the owners and
freighters as their agent for a specific purpose and with power
well defined under the national maritime law." Bouvier's Law
Dictionary, 1914.
Don't be thrown by the fact they are talking about the sea,
and that it doesn't apply to land. Admiralty law came on land in
1845 with the Act of 1845 by Congress. Next a court case:
"Pursuant to the "Law of the Flag", a military flag does
result in jurisdictional implication when flown. The Plaintiff
cites the following: "Under what is called international law, the
law of the flag, a shipowner who sends his vessel into a foreign
port gives notice by his flag to all who enter into contracts with
the shipmaster that he intends the law of the flag to regulate
those contracts with the shipmaster that he either submit to its
operation or not contract with him or his agent at all." Ruhstrat
v. People, 57 N.E. 41, 45, 185 ILL. 133, 49 LRA 181, 76 AM.
I have had debates with folks that take great issue with what
I have said, they dogmatically say the constitution is the law and
the government is outside the law. I wish they were right, but
they fail to see or understand that the American people have been
conquered, unknowingly, but conquered all the same. That is why a
judge will tell you not to bring the Constitution into his court,
or a law dictionary, because he is the law, not the Constitution.
You have only to read the previous Senates report on National
Emergency, to understand the Constitution and our Constitutional
form of government no longer exists.
Further Evidence
Social Security
I fail to understand how the American people could have been
so dumbed down as to not see that the Social Security system is
fraudulent and that it is based on socialism, which is the
redistribution of wealth, right out of the communist manifesto.
The Social Security system first, is fraud, it is insolvent and was
never intended to be. It is used for a national identification
number, and a requirement to receive benefits from the conquers
(king). The Social Security system is made to look and act like
insurance, all insurance is governed by admiralty law, which is the
kings way of binding those involved with commerce with him.
"The Social Security system may be accurately described as a
form of Social Insurance, enacted pursuant to Congress' power to
"spend money in aid of the 'general welfare'," Helvering vs. Davis
[301 U.S., at 640]
"My judgment accordingly is, that policies of insurance are
within... the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United
States." Federal Judge Story, in DELOVIO VS. BOIT, 7 Federal Cases,
#3776, at page 444 (1815)
You need to know and understand what contribution means in F.I
C. A., Federal Insurance Contribution Act. Read the following
definition.
Contribution. Right of one who has discharged a common
liability to recover of another also liable, the aliquot portion
which he ought to pay or bear. Under principle of "contribution,"
a tort-feasor against whom a judgement is rendered is entitled to
recover proportional shares of judgement from other joint tort-
feasor whose negligence contributed to the injury and who were also
liable to the plaintiff. (cite omitted) The share of a loss
payable by an insure when contracts with two or more insurers cover
the same loss. The insurer's share of a loss under a coinsurance
or similar provision. The sharing of a loss or payment among
several. The act of any one or several of a number of co-debtors,
co-sureties, etc., in reimbursing one of their number who has paid
the whole debt or suffered the whole liability, each to the extent
of his proportionate share. (Blacks Law Dictionary 6th ed.)
Thereby making you obligated for the national debt. The
Social Security system is one of the contractual nexus' between you
and the king. Because you are involved in the kings commerce and
have asked voluntarily for his protection, you have accomplished
the following. You have admitted that you are equally responsible
for having caused the national debt and that you are a wrong doer,
as defined by the above legal definition. You have admitted to
being a Fourteenth Amendment citizen, who only has civil rights
granted by the king. By being a Fourteenth Amendment citizen, you
have agreed that you do not have standing in court to question the
national debt. Keep in mind this is beyond the status of our
country and people, which I covered earlier in this paper. We are
in this system of law because of the conquest of our country.
Congress has transferred its Constitutional obligation of
coining money to the federal reserve, the representatives of the
king, this began after the Civil War and the overturning of the
U.S. Constitution, as a result of CONGEST. You have used this fiat
money without objection, which is a commercial benefit, supplied by
the kings bankers. Fiat money has no real value, other than the
faith in it, and you CANNOT pay a debt with fiat money, because it
is a debt instrument. A federal reserve note is a promise to pay
and is only evidence of debt. The benefit you have received is you
are allowed to discharge your debt, which means you pass on
financial servitude to someone else. The someone else is our
children.
When you go to the grocery store and hand the clerk a fifty
dollar federal reserve note you have stolen the groceries and
passed fifty dollars of debt to the seller. Americans try to
acquire as much of this fiat money as they can. If Americans were
aware of this; it wouldn't matter to them, because they don't care
if the merchandise is stolen as long as it is legal. But what
happens if the system fails? Those with the most fiat money or
real property, which was obtained with fiat money will be forfeited
to the king, everything that was obtained with this fiat money
reverts back to the king temporary, I will explain in the
conclusion of this paper. Because use of his fiat money is a
benefit, supplied by the king's bankers; it all transfers back to
the king. The king's claim to the increase in this country comes
from the original Charter of 1606. But, it is all hidden, black is
white and white is black, wealth is actually debt and financial
slavery.
For those that do not have a Social Security number or think
they have rescinded it, you are no better off. As far as the king
is concerned you are subject to him also. Why? Well, just to list
a couple of reasons other than conquest. You use his money and as
I said before, this is discharging debt, without prosecution. You
use the goods and services that were obtained by this fiat money,
to enrich your life style and sustain yourself. You drive or
travel, which ever definition you want to use, on the king's
highways and roads for pleasure and to earn a living; meaning you
are involved in the king's commerce. On top of these reasons which
are based on received benefits, this country HAS BEEN CONQUERED!
I know a lot of patriots won't like this. Your (our) argument
has been that the government has and is operating outside of the
law (United States Constitution). Believe me I don't like sounding
like the devils advocate, but as far as international law goes; and
the laws that govern War between countries, the king/queen of
England rule this country, first by financial servitude and then by
actual Conquest and Military Occupation. The Civil War was the
beginning of the Conquest, as evidenced by the Fourteenth
Amendment. This Amendment did several things, as already
mentioned. It created the only citizenship available to the
conquered and declared that these citizens had no standing in any
court to challenge the monetary policies of the new government.
Why? So the king would always receive his gain from his Commercial
venture. The Amendment also eliminated your use of natural rights
and gave the Conquered civil rights. The Conquered are governed by
public policy, instead of Republic of self-government under God
Almighty. Your argument that this can't be, is frivolous and
without merit, the evidence is conclusive.
Nothing has changed since before the Revolutionary War.
All persons whose activities in King's Commerce are such that
they fall under this marine-like environment, are into an invisible
Admiralty Jurisdiction Contract. Admiralty Jurisdiction is the
KING'S COMMERCE of the High Seas, and if the King is a party to the
sea-based Commerce (such as by the King having financed your ship,
or the ship is carrying the King's guns), then that Commerce is
properly governed by the special rules applicable to Admiralty
Jurisdiction. But as for that slice of Commerce going on out on
the High Seas without the King as a party, that Commerce is called
Maritime Jurisdiction, and so Maritime is the private Commerce that
transpires in a marine environment. At least, that distinction
between Admiralty and Maritime is the way things once were, but no
more. George Mercier, Invisible Contracts, 1984.
What Lincoln and Jefferson said about the true American danger
was very prophetic.
"All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined could
not, by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the
Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is
the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach
us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If
destruction be our lot, we ourselves must be its author and
finisher. Abraham Lincoln
"Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless... the
time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is [now]
while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united. From the
conclusion of this war we shall be going downhill. It will not
then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support.
They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded.
They will forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making
money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for
their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked
off at the conclusion of this war, will remain on us long, will be
made heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in
a convulsion. Thomas Jefferson
Below are the political platforms of the Democrats and the
Republicans, as you can see there is no difference between the two,
plain socialism. They are both leading America to a World
government, just as Cornwallis said, and that government will be
the British empire or promoted by the British.
"We have built foundations for the security of those who are
faced with the hazards of unemployment and old age; for the
orphaned, the crippled, and the blind. On the foundation of the
Social Security Act we are determined to erect a structure of
economic security for all our people, making sure that this benefit
shall keep step with the ever increasing capacity of America to
provide a high standard of living for all its citizens." DEMOCRATIC
PARTY PLATFORM OF 1936, at page 360, infra.
"Real security will be possible only when our productive
capacity is sufficient to furnish a decent standard of living for
all American families and to provide a surplus for future needs and
contingencies. For the attainment of that ultimate objective, we
look to the energy, self-reliance and character of our people, and
to our system of free enterprise.
"Society has an obligation to promote the security of the
people, by affording some measure of protection against involuntary
unemployment and dependency in old age. The NEW DEAL policies,
while purporting to provide social security, have, in fact,
endangered it.
"We propose a system of old age security, based upon the
following principles:
1. We approve a PAY AS YOU GO policy, which requires of
each generation the support of the aged and the determination of
what is just and adequate.
2. Every American citizen over 65 should receive a
supplemental payment necessary to provide a minimum income
sufficient to protect him or her from want.
3. Each state and territory, upon complying with simple
and general minimum standards, should receive from the Federal
Government a graduated contribution in proportion to its own, up to
a fixed maximum.
4. To make this program consistent with sound fiscal
policy the Federal revenues for this purpose must be provided from
the proceeds of a direct tax widely distributed. All will be
benefitted and all should contribute.
"We propose to encourage adoption by the states and
territories of honest and practical measures for meeting the
problems of employment insurance.
"The unemployment insurance and old age annuity of the present
Social Security Act are unworkable and deny benefits to about
two-thirds of our adult population, including professional men and
women and all engaged in agriculture and domestic service, and the
self-employed, while imposing heavy tax burdens upon all."
- REPUBLICAN PARTY PLATFORM OF 1936, at page 366.
Both PLATFORMS appear in NATIONAL PARTY PLATFORMS -- 1840 TO 1972;
compiled by Ronald Miller [University of Illinois Press, Urbana,
Illinois (1973)
CONCLUSION
Jesus gave us the most profound warning and advise of all
time, Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed by a lack of knowledge."
This being our understanding and spiritual development in His Word.
When applied to the many facets of life, His Word exposes all of
life's pit falls. Jesus Christ's Word covers all aspects of life.
The working class during the 1700's were far more educated
than now, but this was still not enough to protect them from the
secret subterfuge practiced by the lawyers and bankers. Only with
understanding of Jesus Christ's Word, can the evil application of
man's law be exposed and understood for what it is. This is why
Jesus Christ also warned of the beguilement of the lawyers and the
deceit and deception they practice.
Another reason, the working class have been unable to
understand their enslavement, is because of the time spent working
for a living. At wages supplied by the upper class, sufficient to
live and even prosper, but never enough to attain upper class
status. This is basic class warfare. This system is protected by
the upper class controlling public education, to limit and focus
the working class's knowledge, to maintain class separation.
What does this have to do with this paper? Everything! This
is the reason our upper class fore fathers submitted to the king in
the Treaty of 1783. After this Treaty and up to the Civil War, the
working class were busy making this the greatest Country in the
history of the world. You see they believed they were free, a
freeman will work much harder than a man that is subject or a
slave. As a whole, the working class were not paying attention to
what the government was doing, including its Treaties and laws.
This allowed time for the banking procedures and laws to be put in
place over time, while the nation slept, so the nation could be
conquered during the Civil War. The only way to regain this county
is with the re-education of the working class, so they can make
informed decisions and vote the mis-managers of our government out
of office. We could then reverse the post Civil War socialist laws
and the one world government laws, that have been gradually put in
place since the Civil War. Until the defeat of America is
recognized, victory will never be attainable. Only through
reliance by faith on Jesus Christ and the teaching of His Kingdom
will we realize our freedom. As I said earlier, just as this
Country has been conquered, when Jesus Christ returns he conquers
all nations and takes possession of His Kingdom and rules them with
a rod of iron (Rev. 11:15-18). His right of ownership is enforced
by THE LAW, God Almighty.
The preceding 11214 words are not to be changed or altered in any
way, exept by permission of the author, James Montgomery. I can be
reached through Knowledge is Freedom BBS.
"...And to preserve their independence, we must not let our
rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election
between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run
into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our
drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our
amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of
England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen
hours in the twenty-four, and give the earnings of fifteen of these
to the government for their debts and daily expenses; and the
sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as
they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes; have not time to think, no
means of calling the mismanager's to account; but be glad to obtain
subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks
of our fellow sufferers..."
(Thomas Jefferson) THE MAKING OF AMERICA, p. 395
FOOTNOTES
Footnote 1
FIRST CHARTER OF VIRGINIA
(1606)
[This charter, granted by King James I. on April 10,
1606, to the oldest of the English colonies in America, is a
typical example of the documents issued by the British government,
authorizing
"Adventurers" to establish plantations in the New world. The
name "Virginia" was at that time applied to all that part of North
America claimed by Great Britain.]
I JAMES, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland,
France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. WHEREAS our loving
and well-disposed Subjects, Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir George
Somers, Knights, Richard Hackluit, Prebendary of Westminster, and
Edward-Maria Wingfield, Thomas Hanham, and Ralegh Gilbert, Esqrs.
William Parker, and George Popham, Gentlemen, and divers others of
our loving Subjects, have been humble Suitors unto us, that We
would vouchsafe unto them our License (authors footnote: remember
a license granted by the king is a privilege), to make Habitation,
Plantation, and to deduce a Colony of sundry of our People into
that Part of America, commonly called VIRGINIA, and other Parts and
Territories in America, either appertaining unto us, or which are
not now actually possessed by any Christian Prince or People,
situate, lying, and being all along the Sea Coasts, between four
and thirty Degrees of Northerly Latitude from the Equinoctial Line,
and five and forty Degrees of the same Latitude, and in the main
Land between the same four and thirty and five and forty Degrees,
and the Islands thereunto adjacent, or within one hundred Miles of
the Coasts thereof;
II. And to that End, and for the more speedy Accomplishment
of their said intended Plantation and Habitation there, are
desirous to divide themselves into two several Colonies and
Companies; The one consisting of certain Knights, Gentlemen,
Merchants, and other Adventurers, of our City of London and
elsewhere, which are, and from time to time shall be, joined unto
them, which do desire to begin their Plantation and Habitation in
some fit and convenient Place, between four and thirty and one and
forty Degrees of the said Latitude, along the Coasts of Virginia
and Coasts of America aforesaid; And the other consisting of sundry
Knights, Gentlemen, Merchants, and other Adventurers, of our Cities
of Bristol and Exeter, and of our Town of Plimouth, and of other
Places, which do join themselves unto that Colony, which do desire
to begin their Plantation and Habitation in some fit and convenient
Place, between eight and thirty Degrees and five and forty Degrees
of the said Latitude, all alongst the said Coast of Virginia and
America, as that Coast lyeth:
III. We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of,
their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by
the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his
Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such
People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true
Knowledge and Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels
and Savages, living in those Parts, to human Civility, and to a
settled and quiet Government; DO, by these our Letters Patents,
graciously accept of, and agree to, their humble and well-intended
Desires;
IV. And do therefore, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, GRANT
and agree, that the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers,
Richard Hackluit, and Edward-Maria Wingfield, Adventurers of and
for our City of London, and all such others, as are, or shall be,
joined unto them of that Colony, shall be called the first Colony;
And they shall and may begin their said first Plantation and
Habitation, at any Place upon the said Coast of Virginia or
America, where they shall think fit and convenient, between the
said four and thirty and one and forty Degrees of the said
Latitude; And that they shall have all the Lands, Woods, Soil,
Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Marshes, Waters,
Fishings, Commodities, and Hereditaments, whatsoever, from the said
first Seat of their Plantation and Habitation by the Space of fifty
Miles of English Statute Measure, all along the said Coast of
Virginia and America, towards the West and South west, as the Coast
lyeth, with all the Islands within one hundred Miles directly over
against the same Sea Coast; And also all the Lands, Soil, Grounds,
Havens, Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Woods, Waters, Marshes,
Fishings, Commodities, and Hereditaments, whatsoever, from the said
Place of their first Plantation and Habitation for the space of
fifty like English Miles all alongst the said Coast of Virginia and
America, towards the East and Northeast, or towards the North, as
the Coast lyeth, together with all the Islands within one hundred
Miles, directly over against the said Sea Coast; And also all the
Lands, Woods, Soil, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers, Mines,
Minerals, Marshes,Waters, Fishings, Commodities, and Hereditaments,
whatsoever, from the same fifty Miles every way on the Sea Coast,
directly into the main Land by the Space of one hundred like
English Miles; And shall and may inhabit and remain there; and
shall and may also build and fortify within any the same, for their
better Safeguard and Defence, according to their best Discretion,
and the Discretion of the Council of that Colony; And that no other
of our Subjects shall be permitted, or suffered, to plant or
inhabit behind, or on the Backside of them, towards the main Land,
without the Express License or Consent of the Council of that
Colony, thereunto in Writing first had and obtained.
V. And we do likewise, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, by
these Presents, GRANT and agree, that the said Thomas Hanham, and
Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, and George Popham, and all others
of the Town of Plimouth in the County of Devon, or else-where,
which are, or shall be, joined unto them of that Colony, shall be
called the second Colony; And that they shall and may begin their
said Plantation and Seat of their first Abode and Habitation, at
any Place upon the said Coast of Virginia and America, where they
shall think fit and convenient, between eight and thirty Degrees of
the said Latitude, and five and forty Degrees of the same Latitude;
And that they shall have all the Lands, Soils, Grounds, Havens,
Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Woods, Marshes, Waters, Fishings,
Commodities, and Hereditaments, whatsoever from the first Seat of
their Plantation and Habitation by the Space of fifty like English
Miles as is aforesaid, all alongst the said Coast of Virginia and
America, towards the West and Southwest, or towards the South, as
the Coast lyeth, and all the Islands within one hundred Miles,
directly over against the said Sea Coast; And also all the Lands,
Soils, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Woods,
Marshes, Waters, Fishings, Commodities, and Hereditaments,
whatsoever, from the said Place of their first Plantation and
Habitation for the Space of fifty like Miles, all amongst the said
Coast of Virginia and America, towards the East and Northeast, or
towards the North, as the Coast lyeth, and all the Islands also
within one hundred Miles directly over against the same Sea Coast;
And also all the Lands, Soils, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers,
Woods, Mines, Minerals, Marshes, Waters, Fishings, Commodities, and
Hereditaments, whatsoever, from the same fifty Miles every way on
the Sea Coast, directly into the main Land, by the Space of one
hundred like English Miles; And shall and may inhabit and remain
there; and shall and may also build and fortify within any the
same for their better Safeguard, according to their best
Discretion, and the Discretion of the Council of that Colony; And
that none of our Subjects shall be permitted, or suffered, to plant
or inhabit behind, or on the back of them, towards the main Land,
without the express License of the Council of that Colony, in
Writing thereunto first had and obtained.
VI. Provided always, and our Will and Pleasure herein is,
that the Plantation and Habitation of such of the said Colonies, as
shall last plant themselves, as aforesaid, shall not be made within
one hundred like English Miles of the other of them, that first
began to make their Plantation, as aforesaid.
VII. And we do also ordain, establish, and agree, for Us, our
Heirs, and Successors, that each of the said Colonies shall have a
Council, which shall govern and order all Matters and Causes, which
shall arise, grow, or happen, to or within the same several
Colonies, according to such Laws, Ordinances, and Instructions, as
shall be, in that behalf, given and signed with Our Hand or Sign
Manual, and pass under the Privy Seal of our Realm of England; Each
of which Councils shall consist of thirteen Persons, to be
ordained, made, and removed, from time to time, according as shall
be directed, and comprised in the same instructions; And shall have
a several Seal, for all Matters that shall pass or concern the same
several Councils; Each of which Seals shall have the King's Arms
engraven on the one Side thereof, and his Portraiture on the other
And that the Seal for the Council of the said first Colony shall
have engraven round about, on the one side, these Words; Sigillum
Regis Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, & Hiberniae; on the other Side
this Inscription, round about; Pro Concilio primae Coloniae
Virginiae. And the seal for the Council of the said second Colony
shall also have engraven, round about the one Side thereof, the
aforesaid Words; Sigillum Regis Magnae, Britanniae, Franciae,
& Hiberniae; and on the other Side; Pro Concilio secundae Coloniae
Virginiae:
VIII. And that also there shall be a Council established here
in England, which shall, in like Manner, consist of thirteen
Persons, to be, for that Purpose, appointed by Us, our Heirs and
Successors, which shall be called our Council of Virginia; And
shall, from time to time, have the superior Managing and Direction,
only of and for all Matters, that shall or may concern the
Government, as well of the said several Colonies, as of and for any
other Part or Place, within the aforesaid Precincts of four and
thirty and five and forty Degrees, above-mentioned; Which Council
shall, in like manner, have a Seal, for Matters concerning the
Council of Colonies, with the like Arms and Portraiture, as
aforesaid, with this Inscription, engraven round about on the one
Side; Sigillum Regis Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, & Hiberniae; and
round about the other side, Pro Concilio suo Virginiae.
IX. And moreover, we do GRANT and agree, for Us, our Heirs and
Successors, that the said several Councils, of and for the said
several Colonies, shall and lawfully may, by Virtue hereof, from
time to time, without any Interruption of Us, our Heirs, or
Successors, give and take Order, to dig, mine, and search for all
Manner of Mines of Gold, Silver, and Copper, as well within any
part of their said several Colonies, as for the said main Lands on
the Back-side of the same Colonies; And to Have and enjoy the Gold,
Silver, and Copper, to be gotten thereof, to the Use and Behoof of
the same Colonies, and the Plantations thereof; YIELDING therefore,
to Us, our Heirs and Successors, the fifth Part only of all the
same Gold and Silver, and the fifteenth Part of all the same
Copper, so to be gotten or had, as is aforesaid, without any other
Manner or Profit or Account, to be given or yielded to Us, our
Heirs, or Successors, for or in Respect of the same:
X. And that they shall, or lawfully may, establish and cause
to be made a Coin, to pass current there between the People of
those several Colonies, for the more Ease of Traffick and
Bargaining between and amongst them and the Natives there, of such
Metal, and in such Manner and Form, as the said several Councils
there shall limit and appoint.
XI. And we do likewise, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, by
these Presents, give full Power and Authority to the said Sir
Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, Edward-Maria
Wingfield, Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, and
George Popham, and to every of them, and to the said several
Companies, Plantations, and Colonies, that they, and every of them,
shall and may, at all and every time and times hereafter, have,
take, and lead in the said Voyage, and for and towards the said
several Plantations and Colonies, and to travel thitherward, and
to abide and inhabit there, in every the said Colonies and
Plantations, such and so many of our Subjects, as shall willingly
accompany them, or any of them, in the said Voyages and
Plantations; With sufficient Shipping and Furniture of Armour,
Weapons, Ordinance, Powder, Victual, and all other things,
necessary for the said Plantations, and for their Use and Defence
there: PROVIDED always, that none of the said Persons be such, as
shall hereafter be specially restrained by Us, our Heirs, or
Successors.
XII. Moreover, we do, by these Presents, for Us, our Heirs,
and Successors, GIVE AND GRANT License unto the said Sir Thomas
Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, Edward-Maria Wingfield,
Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, and George Popham,
and to every of the said Colonies, that they, and every of them,
shall and may, from time to time, and at all times for ever
hereafter, for their several Defences, encounter, expulse, repel,
and resist, as well by Sea as by Land, by all Ways and Means
whatsoever, all and every such Person and Persons, as without the
especial License of the said several Colonies and Plantations,
shall attempt to inhabit within the said several Precincts and
Limits of the said several Colonies and Plantations, or any of
them, or that shall enterprise or attempt, at any time hereafter,
the Hurt, Detriment, or Annoyance, of the said several Colonies or
Plantations.
XIII. Giving and granting, by these Presents, unto the said
Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, Edward-Maria
Wingfield, and their Associates of the said first Colony, and unto
the said Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, and George
Popham, and their Associates of the said second Colony, and to
every of them, from time to time, and at all times for ever
hereafter, Power and Authority to take and surprise, by all Ways
and Means whatsoever, all and every Person and Persons, with their
Ships, Vessels, Goods and other Furniture, which shall be found
trafficking, into any Harbour or Harbours, Creek or Creeks, or
Place, within the Limits or Precincts of the said several Colonies
and Plantations, not being of the same Colony, until such time, as
they, being of any Realms or Dominions under our Obedience, shall
pay, or agree to pay, to the Hands of the Treasurer of that Colony,
within whose Limits and Precincts they shall so traffick, two and
a half upon every Hundred, of any thing, so by them trafficked,
bought, or sold; And being Strangers, and not Subjects under our
Obeysance, until they shall pay five upon every Hundred, of such
Wares and Merchandise, as they shall traffick, buy, or sell, within
the Precincts of the said several Colonies, wherein they shall so
traffick, buy, or sell, as aforesaid, WHICH Sums of Money, or
Benefit, as aforesaid, for and during the Space of one and twenty
Years, next ensuing the Date hereof, shall be wholly emploied to
the Use, Benefit, and Behoof of the said several Plantations, where
such Traffick shall be made; And after the said one and twenty
Years ended, the same shall be taken to the Use of Us, our Heirs,
and Successors, by such Officers and Ministers, as by Us, our
Heirs, and Successors, shall be thereunto assigned or appointed.
XIV. And we do further, by these Presents, for Us, our Heirs,
and Successors, GIVE AND GRANT unto the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir
George Somers, Richard Hackluit, and Edward-Maria Wingfield, and to
their Associates of the said first Colony and Plantation, and to
the said Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, and George
Popham, and their Associates of the said second Colony and
Plantation, that they, and every of them, by their Deputies,
Ministers and Factors, may transport the Goods, Chattels, Armour,
Munition, and Furniture, needful to be used by them, for their said
Apparel, Food, Defence, or otherwise in Respect of the said
Plantations, out of our Realms of England and Ireland, and all
other our Dominions, from time to time, for and during the Time of
seven Years, next ensuing the Date hereof, for the better Relief of
the said several Colonies and Plantations, without any Custom,
Subsidy, or other Duty, unto Us, our Heirs, or Successors, to be
yielded or paid for the same.
XV. Also we do, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, DECLARE,
by these Presents, that all and every the Persons, being our
Subjects, which shall dwell and inhabit within every or any of the
said several Colonies and Plantations, and every of their children,
which shall happen to be born within any of the Limits and
Precincts of the said several Colonies and Plantations, shall HAVE
and enjoy all Liberties, Franchises, and Immunities, within any of
our other Dominions, to all Intents and Purposes, as if they had
been abiding and born, within this our Realm of England, or any
other of our said Dominions.
XVI. Moreover, our gracious Will and Pleasure is, and we do,
by these Presents, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, declare and
set forth, that if any Person or Persons, which shall be of any of
the said Colonies and Plantations, or any other, which shall
traffick to the said Colonies and Plantations, or any of them,
shall, at any time or times hereafter, transport any Wares,
Merchandises, or Commodities, out of any of our Dominions, with a
Pretence to land, sell, or otherwise dispose of the same, within
any the Limits and Precincts of any the said Colonies and
Plantations, and yet nevertheless, being at Sea, or after he hath
landed the same within any of the said Colonies and Plantations,
shall carry the same into any other Foreign Country, with a Purpose
there to sell or dispose of the same, without the License of Us,
our Heirs, and Successors, in that Behalf first had and obtained;
That then, all the Goods and Chattels of such Person or Persons, so
offending and transporting, together with the said Ship or Vessel,
wherein such Transportation was made, shall be forfeited to Us, our
Heirs, and Successors.
XVII. Provided always, and our Will and Pleasure is, and we do
hereby declare to all Christian Kings, Princes, and States, that if
any Person or Persons, which shall hereafter be of any of the said
several Colonies and Plantations, or any other, by his, their or
any of their License and Appointment, shall, at any time or times
hereafter, rob or spoil, by Sea or by Land, or do any Act of unjust
and unlawful Hostility, to any the Subjects of Us, our Heirs, or
Successors, or any the Subjects of any King, Prince, Ruler,
Governor, or State, being then in League or Amity with Us, our
Heirs, or Successors, and that upon such Injury, or upon just
Complaint of such Prince, Ruler, Governor, or State, or their
Subjects, We, our Heirs, or Successors, shall make open
Proclamation, within any of the Ports of our Realm of England,
commodious for that Purpose, That the said Person or Persons,
having committed any such Robbery or Spoil, shall, within the Term
to be limited by such Proclamations make full Restitution or
Satisfaction of all such Injuries done, so as the said Princes, or
others, so complaining, may hold themselves fully satisfied and
contented; And that, if the said Person or Persons, having
committed such Robbery or Spoil, shall not make, or cause to be
made, Satisfaction accordingly, within such Time so to be limited,
That then it shall be lawful to Us, our Heirs, and Successors, to
put the said Person or Persons, having committed such Robbery or
Spoil, and their Procurers, Abetters, or Comforters, out of our
Allegiance and Protection; And that it shall be lawful and free,
for all Princes and others, to pursue with Hostility the said
Offenders, and every of them, and their and every of their
Procurers, Aiders, Abetters, and Comforters, in that Behalf.
XVIII. And finally, we do, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors,
GRANT and agree, to and with the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George
Somers, Richard Hackluit, and Edward-Maria Wingfield, and all
others of the said first Colony, that We, our Heirs, and
Successors, upon Petition in that Behalf to be made, shall, by
Letters-patent under the Great Seal of England, GIVE and GRANT unto
such Persons, their Heirs, and Assigns, as the Council of that
Colony, or the most Part of them, shall, for that Purpose nominate
and assign, all the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, which
shall be within the Precincts limited for that Colony, as is
aforesaid, TO BE HOLDEN OF US, our Heirs, and Successors, as of our
Manor at East-Greenwich in the County of Kent, in free and common
Soccage only, and not in Capite:
XIX. And do, in like Manner, Grant and Agree, for Us, our
Heirs, and Successors, to and with the said Thomas Hanham, Ralegh
Gilbert, William Parker, and George Popham, and all others of the
said second Colony, That We, our Heirs, and Successors, upon
Petition in that Behalf to be made, shall, by Letters-patent under
the Great Seal of England, GIVE and GRANT unto such Persons, their
Heirs, and Assigns, as the Council of that Colony, or the most Part
of them, shall, for that Purpose, nominate and assign, all the
Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, which shall be within the
Precincts limited for that Colony, as is aforesaid TO BE HOLDEN OF
US, our Heirs, and Successors, as of our Manour of East-Greenwich
in the County of Kent, in free and common Soccage only, and not in
Capite.
XX. All which Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, so to be
passed by the said several Letters-patent, shall be sufficient
Assurance from the said Patentees, so distributed and divided
amongst the Undertakers for the Plantation of the said several
Colonies, and such as shall make their Plantations in either of the
said several Colonies, in such Manner and Form, and for such
Estates, as shall be ordered and set down by the Council of the
said Colony, or the most Part of them, respectively, within which
the same Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments shall lye or be;
Although express Mention of the true yearly Value or Certainty of
the Premises, or any of them, or of any other Gifts or Grants, by
Us or any of our Progenitors or Predecessors, to the aforesaid Sir
Thomas Gates, Knt. Sir George Somers, Knt. Richard Hackluit,
Edward-Maria Wingfield, Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, William
Parker, and George Popham, or any of them, heretofore made, in
these Presents, is not made; Or any Statute, Act, Ordinance, or
Provision, Proclamation, or Restraint, to the contrary hereof had,
made, ordained, or any other Thing, Cause, or Matter whatsoever, in
any wise notwithstanding. In Witness whereof we have caused these
our Letters to be made Patents; Witness Ourself at Westminster, the
tenth Day of April, in the fourth Year of our Reign of England,
France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the nine and thirtieth.
Footnote 2
THE PARIS PEACE TREATY (PEACE TREATY of 1783):
In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.
It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts
of the most serene and most potent Prince George the Third, by
the grace of God, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland,
defender of the faith, duke of Brunswick and Lunebourg, arch-
treasurer and prince elector of the Holy Roman Empire etc., and
of the United States of America, to forget all past
misunderstandings and differences that have unhappily interrupted
the good correspondence and friendship which they mutually wish to
restore, and to establish such a beneficial and satisfactory
intercourse, between the two countries upon the ground of
reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience as may promote and
secure to both perpetual peace and harmony; and having for this
desirable end already laid the foundation of peace and
reconciliation by the Provisional Articles signed at Paris on the
30th of November 1782, by the commissioners empowered on each part,
which articles were agreed to be inserted in and constitute the
Treaty of Peace proposed to be concluded between the Crown of Great
Britain and the said United States, but which Treaty was not to be
concluded until terms of peace should be agreed upon between Great
Britain and France and his Britannic Majesty should be ready to
conclude such Treaty accordingly; and the Treaty between Great
Britain and France having since been concluded, his Britannic
Majesty and the United States of America, in order to carry into
full effect the Provisional Articles above mentioned, according to
the tenor thereof, have constituted and appointed, that is to say
his Britannic Majesty on his part, David Hartley, Esqr., member of
the Parliament of Great Britain, and the said United States on
their part, John Adams, Esqr., late a commissioner of the United
States of America at the court of Versailles, late delegate in
Congress from the state of Massachusetts, and chief justice of
the said state, and minister plenipotentiary of the said United
States to their high mightinesses the States General of the
United Netherlands; Benjamin Franklin, Esqr., late delegate in
Congress from the state of Pennsylvania, president of the
convention of the said state, and minister plenipotentiary from
the United States of America at the court of Versailles; John
Jay, Esqr., late president of Congress and chief justice of the
state of New York, and minister plenipotentiary from the said
United States at the court of Madrid; to be plenipotentiaries
for the concluding and signing the present definitive Treaty;
who after having reciprocally communicated their respective
full powers have agreed upon and confirmed the following articles.
Article 1:
His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States,
viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina
and Georgia, to be free sovereign and independent states, that
he treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs, and
successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety,
and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof.
Article 2:
And that all disputes which might arise in future on the
subject of the boundaries of the said United States may be
prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that the following
are and shall be their boundaries, viz.; from the northwest
angle of Nova Scotia, viz., that nagle which is formed by a line
drawn due north from the source of St. Croix River to the
highlands; along the said highlands which divide those rivers
that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those
which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost head
of Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that river
to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; from thence by a
line due west on said latitude until it strikes the river
Iroquois or Cataraquy; thence along the middle of said river
into Lake Ontario; through the middle of said lake until it
strikes the communication by water between that lake and Lake
Erie; thence along the middle of said communication into Lake
Erie, through the middle of said lake until it arrives at the
water communication between that lake and Lake Huron; thence
along the middle of said water communication into Lake Huron,
thence through the middle of said lake to the water communication
between that lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior
northward of the Isles Royal and Phelipeaux to the Long Lake;
thence through the middle of said Long Lake and the water
communication between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said
Lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake to the most
northwesternmost point thereof, and from thence on a due west
course to the river Mississippi; thence by a line to be drawn
along the middle of the said river Mississippi until it shall
intersect the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of
north latitude, South, by a line to be drawn due east from the
determination of the line last mentioned in the latitude of
thirty-one degrees of the equator, to the middle of the river
Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof to
its junction with the Flint River, thence straight to the head
of Saint Mary's River; and thence down along the middle of Saint
Mary's River to the Atlantic Ocean; east, by a line to be drawn
along the middle of the river Saint Croix, from its mouth in the
Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north
to the aforesaid highlands which divide the rivers that fall
into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the river
Saint Lawrence; comprehending all islands within twenty leagues
of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying
between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the
aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part and
East Florida on the other shall, respectively, touch the Bay
of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now
are or heretofore have been within the limits of the said
province of Nova Scotia.
Article 3:
It is agreed that the people of the United States shall
continue to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every
kind on the Grand Bank and on all the other banks of Newfoundland,
also in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and at all other places in
the sea, where the inhabitants of both countries used at any
time heretofore to fish. And also that the inhabitants of the
United States shall have liberty to take fish of every kind on
such part of the coast of Newfoundland as British fishermen shall
use, (but not to dry or cure the same on that island) and also
on the coasts, bays and creeks of all other of his Brittanic
Majesty's dominions in America; and that the American fishermen
shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled
bays, harbors, and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and
Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled, but so soon
as the same or either of them shall be settled, it shall not be
lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at such
settlement without a previous agreement for that purpose with
the inhabitants, proprietors, or possessors of the ground.
Article 4:
It is agreed that creditors on either side shall meet with
no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling
money of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted.
Article 5:
It is agreed that Congress shall earnestly recommend it to
the legislatures of the respective states to provide for the
restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have
been confiscated belonging to real British subjects; and also
of the estates, rights, and properties of persons resident in
districts in the possession on his Majesty's arms and who have
not borne arms against the said United States. And that persons
of any other description shall have free liberty to go to any part
or parts of any of the thirteen United States and therein to
remain twelve months unmolested in their endeavors to obtain the
restitution of such of their estates, rights, and properties as
may have been confiscated; and that Congress shall also earnestly
recommend to the several states a reconsideration and revision
of all acts or laws regarding the premises, so as to render the
said laws or acts perfectly consistent not only with justice and
equity but with that spirit of conciliation which on the return
of the blessings of peace should universally prevail. And that
Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several states
that the estates, rights, and properties, of such last mentioned
persons shall be restored to them, they refunding to any persons
who may be now in possession the bona fide price (where any has
been given) which such persons may have paid on purchasing any
of the said lands, rights, or properties since the confiscation.
And it is agreed that all persons who have any interest in
confiscated lands, either by debts, marriage settlements, or
otherwise, shall meet with no lawful impediment in the prosecution
of their just rights.
Article 6:
That there shall be no future confiscations made nor any
prosecutions commenced against any person or persons for, or by
reason of, the part which he or they may have taken in the present
war, and that no person shall on that account suffer any future
loss or damage, either in his person, liberty, or property; and
that those who may be in confinement on such charges at the time
of the ratification of the Treaty in America shall be immediately
set at liberty, and the prosecutions so commenced be discontinued.
Article 7:
There shall be a firm and perpetual peace between his
Brittanic Majesty and the said states, and between the subjects
of the one and the citizens of the other, wherefore all hostilities
both by sea and land shall from henceforth cease. All prisoners
on both sides shall be set at liberty, and his Brittanic Majesty
shall with all convenient speed, and without causing any
destruction, or carrying away any Negroes or other property of
the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons, and
fleets from the said United States, and from every post, place,
and harbor within the same; leaving in all fortifications, the
American artilery that may be therein; and shall also order and
cause all archives, records, deeds, and papers belonging to any
of the said states, or their citizens, which in the course of
the war may have fallen into the hands of his officers, to be
forthwith restored and delivered to the proper states and
persons to whom they belong.
Article 8:
The navigation of the river Mississippi, from its source
to the ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the subjects
of Great Britain and the citizens of the United States.
Article 9:
In case it should so happen that any place or territory
belonging to Great Britain or to the United States should have
been conquered by the arms of either from the other before the
arrival of the said Provisional Articles in America, it is
agreed that the same shall be restored without difficulty and
without requiring any compensation.
Article 10:
The solemn ratifications of the present Treaty expedited in
good and due form shall be exchanged between the contracting
parties in the space of six months or sooner, if possible, to
be computed from the day of the signatures of the present Treaty.
In witness whereof we the undersigned, their ministers
plenipotentiary, have in their name and in virtue of our full
powers, signed with our hands the present definitive Treaty and
caused the seals of our arms to be affixed thereto.
Done at Paris, this third day of September in the year of
our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.
D. HARTLEY (SEAL)
JOHN ADAMS (SEAL)
B. FRANKLIN (SEAL)
JOHN JAY (SEAL)
Source: United States, Department of State, "Treaties and Other
International Agreements of the United States of America,
1776-1949", vol 12, pp8-12
Footnote 3
ARTICLES OF CAPITULATION (1781)
Settled between his Excellency General Washington,
Commander-in-Chief of the combined Forces of America and France;
his Excellency the Count de Rochambeau, Lieutenant-General of the
Armies of the King of France, Great Cross of the royal and military
Order of St. Louis, commanding the auxiliary troops of his Most
Christian Majesty in America; and his Excellency the Count de
Grasse, Lieutenant-General of the Naval Armies of his Most
Christian Majesty, Commander of the Order of St. Louis,
Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Army of France in the Chesapeake,
on the one Part; and the Right Honorable Earl Cornwallis,
Lieutenant-General of his Britannic Majesty's Forces, commanding
the Garrisons of York and Gloucester; and Thomas Symonds, Esquire,
commanding his Britannic Majesty's Naval Forces in York River in
Virginia, on the other Part.
Article I. The garrisons of York and Gloucester, including the
officers and seamen of his Britannic Majesty's ships, as well as
other mariners, to surrender themselves prisoners of war to the
combined forces of America and France. The land troops to remain
prisoners to the United States, the navy to the naval army of his
Most Christian Majesty.
Article II. The artillery, arms, accoutrements, military chest, and
public stores of every denomination, shall be delivered unimpaired
to the heads of departments appointed to receive them.
Article III. At twelve o'clock this day the two redoubts on the
left flank of York to be delivered, the one to a detachment of
American infantry, the other to a detachment of French grenadiers.
The garrison of York will march out to a place to be appointed in
front of the posts, at two o'clock precisely, with shouldered arms,
colors cased, and drums beating a British or German march. They are
then to ground their arms, and return to their encampments, where
they will remain until they are despatched to the places of their
destination. Two works on the Gloucester side will be delivered at
one o'clock to a detachment of French and American troops appointed
to possess them. The garrison will march out at three o'clock in
the afternoon; the cavalry with their swords drawn, trumpets
sounding, and the infantry in the manner prescribed for the
garrison of York. They are likewise to return to their encampments
until they can be finally marched off.
Article IV. Officers are to retain their side-arms. Both officers
and soldiers to keep their private property of every kind; and no
part of their baggage or papers to be at any time subject to search
or inspection. The baggage and papers of officers and soldiers
taken during the siege to be likewise preserved for them.
It is understood that any property obviously belonging to the
inhabitants of these States, in the possession of the garrison,
shall be subject to be reclaimed.
Article V. The soldiers to be kept in Virginia, Maryland, or
Pennsylvania, and as much by regiments as possible, and supplied
with the same rations of provisions as are allowed to soldiers in
the service of America. A field-officer from each nation, to wit,
British, Anspach, and Hessian, and other officers on parole, in the
proportion of one to fifty men to be allowed to reside near their
respective regiments, to visit them frequently, and be witnesses of
their treatment; and that their officers may receive and deliver
clothing and other necessaries for them, for which passports are to
be granted when applied for.
Article VI. The general, staff, and other officers not employed as
mentioned in the above articles, and who choose it, to be permitted
to go on parole to Europe, to New York, or to any other American
maritime posts at present in the possession of the British forces,
at their own option; and proper vessels to be granted by the Count
de Grasse to carry them under flags of truce to New York within ten
days from this date, if possible, and they to reside in a district
to be agreed upon hereafter, until they embark. The officers of the
civil department of the army and navy to be included in this
article. Passports to go by land to be granted to those to whom
vessels cannot be furnished.
Article VII. Officers to be allowed to keep soldiers as servants,
according to the common practice of the service. Servants not
soldiers are not to be considered as prisoners, and are to be
allowed to attend their masters.
Article VIII. The Bonetta sloop-of-war to be equipped, and
navigated by its present captain and crew, and left entirely at the
disposal of Lord Cornwallis from the hour that the capitulation is
signed, to receive an aid-de-camp to carry despatches to Sir Henry
Clinton; and such soldiers as he may think proper to send to New
York, to be permitted to sail without examination. When his
despatches are ready, his Lordship engages on his part, that the
ship shall be delivered to the order of the Count de Grasse, if she
escapes the dangers of the sea. That she shall not carry off any
public stores. Any part of the crew that may be deficient on her
return, and the soldiers passengers, to be accounted for on her
delivery.
Article X. The traders are to preserve their property, and to be
allowed three months to dispose of or remove them; and those
traders are not to be considered as prisoners of war.
The traders will be allowed to dispose of their effects, the allied
army having the right of preemption. The traders to be considered
as prisoners of war upon parole.
Article X. Natives or inhabitants of different parts of this
country, at present in York or Gloucester, are not to be punished
on account of having joined the British army.
This article cannot be assented to, being altogether of civil
resort.
Article XI. Proper hospitals to be furnished for the sick and
wounded. They are to be attended by their own surgeons on parole;
and they are to be furnished with medicines and stores from the
American hospitals.
The hospital stores now at York and Gloucester shall be delivered
for the use of the British sick and wounded. Passports will be
granted for procuring them further supplies from New York, as
occasion may require; and proper hospitals will be furnished for
the reception of the sick and wounded of the two garrisons.
Article XII. Wagons to be furnished to carry the baggage of the
officers attending the soldiers, and to surgeons when travelling on
account of the sick, attending the hospitals at public expense.
They are to be furnished if possible.
Article XIII. The shipping and boats in the two harbours, with all
their stores, guns, tackling, and apparel, shall be delivered up in
their present state to an officer of the navy appointed to take
possession of them, previously unloading the private property, part
of which had been on board for security during the siege.
Article XIV. No article of capitulation to be infringed on pretence
of reprisals; and if there be any doubtful expressions in it, they
are to be interpreted according to the common meaning and
acceptation of the words.
Done at Yorktown, in Virginia, October 19th, 178l.
Cornwallis, Thomas Symonds.
Done in the Trenches before Yorktown, in Virginia, October 19th,
1781.
George Washington, Le Comte de Rochambeau,
Le Comte de Barras, En mon nom & celui du Comte de Grasse.
Footnote 4
Though the debate on this subject was continued till two
o'clock in the morning, and though the opposition received
additional strength, yet the question was not carried. The same
ground of argument was soon gone over again, and the American war
underwent, for the fourth time since the beginning of the session,
a full discussion; but no resolution, disapproving its farther
prosecution, could yet obtain the assent of a majority of the
members. The advocates for peace becoming daily more numerous, it
was moved by Gen. Conway that "a humble address be presented to his
Majesty, that he will be pleased to give directions to his
ministers not to pursue any longer the impracticable object of
reducing his Majesty's revolted colonies by force to their
allegiance, by a war on the continent of America." This brought
forth a repetition of the former arguments on the subject, and
engaged the attention of the house till two o'clock in the morning.
On a division, the motion for the address was lost by a single
vote...
The ministry as well as the nation began to be sensible of the
impolicy of continental operations, but hoped that they might gain
their point, by prosecuting hostilities at sea. Every opposition
was therefore made by them against the total dereliction (i.e.,
abandonment) of a war, on the success of which they had so
repeatedly pledged themselves, and on the continuance of which they
held their places. General Conway in five days after (Feb. 27),
brought forward another motion expressed in different words, but to
the same effect with that which he had lost be a single vote. This
caused a long debate which lasted till two o'clock in the morning.
It was then moved to adjourn the debate till the 13th of March.
There appeared for the adjournment 215 and against it 234.
The original motion, and an address to the King formed upon
the resolution were then carried without division, and the address
was ordered to be presented by the whole house.
To this his majesty answered, "that in pursuance of their
advice, he would take such measures as should appear to him the
most conducive to the restoration of harmony, between Great Britain
and the revolted colonies." The thanks of the house were voted for
this answer. But the guarded language thereof, not inconsistent
with farther hostilities against America; together with other
suspicious circumstances, induced General Conway to move another
resolution, expressed in the most decisive language. This was to
the following effect that, "The house would consider as enemies to
his majesty and the country, all those who should advise or by any
means attempt the further prosecution of offensive war, on the
continent of North America, for the purpose of reducing the
colonies to obedience by force." This motion after a feeble
opposition was carried without a division, and put a period to all
that chicanery by which ministers meant to distinguish between a
prosecution of offensive war in North America, and a total
dereliction of it. This resolution and the preceding address, to
which it had reference, may be considered as the closing scene of
the American war (emphasis added).
The History of the American Revolution, Vol. 2, Ramsay, 617-9.
Footnote 5
The Jay Treaty
Treaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation Concluded November 19,
1794; ratification advised by the senate with amendment June 24,
1795; ratified by the President; ratifications exchanged October
28, 1795; proclaimed February 29, 1796.
I. Amity. Discrimination on vessels, imports, etc.
II. Withdrawal of forces; vessels, imports, etc. Consuls.
III. Commerce and navigation; duties. Capture or detention of
neutrals
IV. Survey of the Mississippi. Contraband.
V. St. Croix River XIX. Officers passengers
VI. Indemnification by on neutrals. United States. XX. Pirates.
VII. Indemnification by Great XXI. Commission from foreign Britain.
states.
VIII. Expenses. XXII. Reprisals.
IX. Land tenures. XXIII. Ships of war.
X. Private debts, etc. XXIV. Foreign privateers.
XI. Liberty of navigation XXV. Prizes. and commerce. XXVI.
Reciprocal treatment
XII. West India trade; duties. of citizens in war.
XIII. East India trade; duties. XXVII. Extradition.
XIV. Commerce and Navigation. XXVIII. Limitation of Article XII:
ratification.
His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, being
desirous, by a Treaty of amity, commerce and navigation, to
terminate their difference in such a manner, as, without reference
to the merits of their respective complaints and pretentions, may
be the best calculated to produce mutual satisfaction and good
understanding; and also to regulate the commerce and navigation
between their respective countries, territories and people, in such
a manner as to render the same reciprocally beneficial and
satisfactory; they have, respectively, named their
Plenipotentiaries, and given them full powers to treat of, and
conclude the said Treaty, that is to say:
His Britannic Majesty has named for his Plenipotentiary, the
Right Honorable William Wyndham Baron Grenville of Wotton, one of
His Majesty's Privy Council, and His Majesty's Principal Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs; and the President of the said United
States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof,
hath appointed for their Plenipotentiary, the Honorable John Jay,
Chief Justice of the said United States, and their Envoy
Extraordinary to His Majesty;
Who have agreed on and concluded the following articles:
ARTICLE I.
There shall be a firm, inviolable and universal peace, and a
true and sincere friendship between His Britannic Majesty, his
heirs and successors, and the United States of America; and between
their respective countries, territories, cities, towns and people
of every degree, without exception of persons or places.
ARTICLE II.
His Majesty will withdraw all his troops and garrisons from
all posts and places within the boundary lines assigned by the
Treaty of peace to the United States. This evacuation shall take
place on or before the first day of June, one thousand seven
hundred and ninety six, and all the proper measures shall in the
interval be taken by concert between the Government of the United
States and His Majesty's Governor-General in America for settling
the previous arrangements which may be necessary respecting the
delivery of the said posts: The United States in the mean time, at
their discretion, extending their settlements to any part within
the said boundary line, except within the precincts or jurisdiction
of any of the said posts. All settlers and traders, within the
precincts or jurisdiction of the said posts, shall continue to
enjoy, unmolested, all their property of every kind, and shall be
protected therein. They shall be at full liberty to remain there,
or to remove with all or any part of their effects; and it shall
also be free to them to sell their lands, houses or effects, or to
retain the property thereof, at their discretion; such of them as
shall continue to reside within the said boundary lines, shall not
be compelled to become citizens of the United States, or to take
any oath of allegiance to the Government thereof; but they shall be
at full liberty so to do if they think proper, and they shall make
and declare their election within one year after the evacuation
aforesaid. And all persons who shall continue there after the
expiration of the said year, without having declared their
intention of remaining subjects of His Britannic Majesty, shall be
considered as having elected to become citizens of the United
States.
ARTICLE III.
It is agreed that it shall at all times be free to His
Majesty's subjects, and to the citizens of the United States, and
also to the Indians dwelling on either side of the said boundary
line, freely to pass and repass by land or inland navigation, into
the respective territories and countries of the two parties, on the
continent of America, (the country within the limits of the
Hudson's Bay Company only excepted.) and to navigate all the lakes,
rivers and waters thereof, and freely to carry on trade and
commerce with each other. But it is understood that this article
does not extend to the admission of vessels of the United States
into the seaports, harbours, bays or creeks of His Majesty's said
territories; nor into such parts of the rivers in His Majesty's
said territories as are between the mouth thereof, and the highest
port of entry from the sea, except in small vessels trading bona
fide between Montreal and Quebec, under such regulations as shall
be established to prevent the possibility of any frauds in this
respect. Nor to the admission of British vessels from the sea into
the rivers of the United States, beyond the highest ports of entry
for foreign vessels from the sea. The river Mississippi shall,
however, according to the Treaty of peace, be entirely open to both
parties; and it is further agreed, that all the ports and places on
its eastern side, to whichsoever of the parties belonging, may
freely be resorted to and used by both parties, in as ample a
manner as any of the Atlantic ports or places of the United States,
or any of the ports or places of His Majesty in Great Britain.
All goods and merchandize whose importation into His Majesty's
said territories in America shall not be entirely prohibited, may
freely, for the purposes of commerce, be carried into the same in
the manner aforesaid, by the citizens of the United States, and
such goods and merchandize shall be subject to no higher or other
duties than would be payable by His Majesty's subjects on the
importation of the same from Europe into the said territories. And
in like manner all goods and merchandize whose importation into the
United States shall not be wholly prohibited, may freely, for the
purposes of commerce, be carried into the same, in the manner
aforesaid, by His Majesty's subjects, and such goods and
merchandize shall be subject to no higher or other duties than
would be payable by the citizens of the United States on the
importation of the same in American vessels into the Atlantic ports
of the said States. And all goods not prohibited to be exported
from the said territories respectively, may in like manner be
carried out of the same by the two parties respectively, paying
duty as aforesaid.
No duty of entry shall ever be levied by either party on
peltries brought by land or inland navigation into the said
territories respectively, nor shall the Indians passing or
repassing with their own proper goods and effects of whatever
nature, pay for the same any impost or duty whatever. But goods in
bales, or other large packages, unusual among Indians, shall not be
considered as goods belonging bona fide to Indians.
No higher or other tolls or rates of ferriage than what are or
shall be payable by natives, shall be demanded on either side; and
no duties shall be payable on any goods which shall merely be
carried over any of the portages or carrying places on either side,
for the purpose of being immediately reembarked and carried to some
other place or places. But as by this stipulation it is only meant
to secure to each party a free passage across the portages on both
sides, it is agreed that this exemption from duty shall extend only
to such goods as are carried in the usual and direct road across
the portage, and are not attempted to be in any manner sold or
exchanged during their passage across the same, and proper
regulations may be established to prevent the possibility of any
frauds in this respect.
As this article is intended to render in a great degree the
local advantages of each party common to both, and thereby to
promote a disposition favorable to friendship and good
neighborhood, it is agreed that the respective Governments will
mutually promote this amicable intercourse, by causing speedy and
impartial justice to be done, and necessary protection to be
extended to all who may be concerned therein.
ARTICLE IV.
Whereas it is uncertain whether the river Mississippi extends
so far to the northward as to be intersected by a line to be drawn
due west from the Lake of the Woods, in the manner mentioned in the
Treaty of peace between His Majesty and the United States: it is
agreed that measures shall be taken in concert between His
Majesty's Government in America and the Government of the United
States, for making a joint survey of the said river from one degree
of latitude below the falls of St. Anthony, to the principal source
or sources of the said river, and also of the parts adjacent
thereto; and that if, on the result of such survey, it should
appear that the said river would not be intersected by such a line
as is above mentioned, the two parties will thereupon proceed, by
amicable negotiation, to regulate the boundary line in that
quarter, as well as all other points to be adjusted between the
said parties, according to justice and mutual convenience, and in
conformity to the intent of the said Treaty.
ARTICLE V.
Whereas doubts have arisen what river was truly intended under
the name of the river St. Croix, mentioned in the said Treaty of
peace, and forming a part of the boundary therein described; that
question shall be referred to the final decision of commissioners
to be appointed in the following manner. viz.:
One commissioner shall be named by His Majesty, and one by the
President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate thereof, and the said two commissioners shall agree
on the choice of a third; or if they cannot so agree, they shall
each propose one person, and of the two names so proposed, one
shall be drawn by lot in the presence of the two original
Commissioners.
And the three Commissioners so appointed shall be sworn,
impartially to examine and decide the said question, according to
such evidence as shall respectively be laid before them on the part
of the British Government and of the United States. The said
Commissioners shall meet at Halifax, and shall have power to
adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit. They
shall have power to appoint a Secretary, and to employ such
surveyors or other persons as they shall judge necessary. The said
Commissioners shall, by a declaration, under their hands and seals,
decide what river is the river St. Croix, intended by the Treaty.
The said declaration shall contain a description of the said river,
and shall particularize the latitude and longitude of its mouth and
of its source. Duplicates of this declaration and of the statements
of their accounts, and of the journal of their proceedings, shall
be delivered by them to the agent of His Majesty, and to the agent
of the United States, who may be respectively appointed and
authorized to manage the business on behalf of the respective
Governments.
And both parties agree to consider such decision as final and
conclusive, so as that the same shall never thereafter be called
into question, or made the subject of dispute or difference between
them.
ARTICLE VI.
Whereas it is alleged by divers British merchants and others
His Majesty's subjects, that debts, to a considerable amount, which
were bona fide contracted before the peace, still remain owing to
them by citizens or inhabitants of the United States, and that by
the operation of various lawful impediments since the peace, not
only the full recovery of the said debts has been delayed, but also
the value and security thereof have been, in several instances,
impaired and lessened, so that, by the ordinary course of judicial
proceedings, the British creditors cannot now obtain, and actually
have and receive full and adequate compensation for the losses and
damages which they have thereby sustained: It is agreed, that in
all such cases, where full compensation for such losses and damages
cannot, for whatever reason, be actually obtained, had and received
by the said creditors in the ordinary course of justice, the United
States will make full and complete compensation for the same to the
said creditors: But it is distinctly understood, that this
provision is to extend to such losses only as have been occasioned
by the lawful impediments aforesaid, and is not to extend to losses
occasioned by such insolvency of the debtors or other causes as
would equally have operated to produce such loss, if the said
impediments had not existed; nor to such losses or damages as have
been occasioned by the manifest delay or negligence, or wilful
omission of the claimant.
For the purpose of ascertaining the amount of any such losses
and damages, five Commissioners shall be appointed and authorized
to meet and act in manner following, viz.: Two of them shall be
appointed by His Majesty, two of them by the President of the
United States by and with the advice and consent of the Senate
thereof, and the fifth by the unanimous voice of the other four;
and if they should not agree in such choice, then the Commissioners
named by the two parties shall respectively propose one person, and
of the two names so proposed, one shall be drawn by lot, in the
presence of the four original Commissioners. When the five
Commissioners thus appointed shall first meet, they shall, before
they proceed to act, respectively take the following oath, or
affirmation, in the presence of each other; which oath, or
affirmation, being so taken and duly attested, shall be entered on
the record of their proceedings, viz.: I, A. B., one of the
Commissioners appointed in pursuance of the sixth article of the
Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation, between His Britannic
Majesty and the United States of America, do solemnly swear (or
affirm) that I will honestly, diligently, impartially and carefully
examine, and to the best of my judgment, according to justice and
equity, decide all such complaints, as under the said article shall
be preferred to the said Commissioners: and that I will forbear to
act as a Commissioner, in any case in which I may be personally
interested.
Three of the said Commissioners shall constitute a board, and
shall have power to do any act appertaining to the said Commission,
provided that one of the Commissioners named on each side, and the
fifth Commissioner shall be present, and all decisions shall be
made by the majority of the voices of the Commissioners than
present. Eighteen months from the day on which the said
Commissioners shall form a board, and be ready to proceed to
business, are assigned for receiving complaints and applications;
but they are nevertheless authorized, in any particular cases in
which it shall appear to them to be reasonable and just, to extend
the said term of eighteen months for any term not exceeding six
months, after the expiration thereof. The said Commissioners shall
first meet at Philadelphia, but they shall have power to adjourn
from place to place as they shall see cause.
The said Commissioners in examining the complaints and
applications so preferred to them, are empowered and required in
pursuance of the true intent and meaning of this article to take
into their consideration all claims, whether of principal or
interest, or balances of principal and interest and to determine
the same respectively, according to the merits of the several
cases, due regard being had to all the circumstances thereof, and
as equity and justice shall appear to them to require. And the said
Commissioners shall have power to examine all such persons as shall
come before them on oath or affirmation, touching the premises; and
also to receive in evidence, according as they may think most
consistent with equity and justice, all written depositions, or
books, or papers, or copies, or extracts thereof, every such
deposition, book, or paper, or copy, or extract, being duly
authenticated either according to the legal form now respectively
existing in the two countries, or in such other manner as the said
Commissioners shall see cause to require or allow.
The award of the said Commissioners, or of any three of them
as aforesaid, shall in all cases be final and conclusive both as to
the justice of the claim, and to the amount of the sum to be paid
to the creditor or claimant; and the United States undertake to
cause the sum so awarded to be paid in specie to such creditor or
claimant without deduction; and at such time or times and at such
place or places, as shall be awarded by the said Commissioners; and
on condition of such releases or assignments to be given by the
creditor or claimant, as by the said Commissioners may be directed:
Provided always, that no such payment shall be fixed by the said
Commissioners to take place sooner than twelve months from the day
of the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty.
ARTICLE VII.
Whereas complaints have been made by divers merchants and
others, citizens of the United States, that during the course of
the war in which His Majesty is now engaged, they have sustained
considerable losses and damage, by reason of irregular or illegal
captures or condemnations of their vessels and other property,
under color of authority or commissions from His Majesty, and that
from various circumstances belonging to the said cases, adequate
compensation for the losses and damages so sustained cannot now be
actually obtained, had, and received by the ordinary course of
judicial proceedings; it is agreed, that in all such cases, where
adequate compensation cannot, for whatever reason, be now actually
obtained, had, and received by the said merchants and others, in
the ordinary course of justice, full and complete compensation for
the same will be made by the British Government to the said
complainants.
But it is distinctly understood that this provision is not to
extend to such losses or damages as have been occasioned by the
manifest delay or negligence, or wilful omission of the claimant.
That for the purpose of ascertaining the amount of any such
losses and damages, five Commissioners shall be appointed and
authorized to act in London, exactly in the manner directed with
respect to those mentioned in the preceding article, and after
having taken the same oath or affirmation, (mutatis mutandis,) the
same term of eighteen months is also assigned for the reception of
claims, and they are in like manner authorized to extend the same
in particular cases. They shall receive testimony, books, papers
and evidence in the same latitude, and exercise the like discretion
and powers respecting that subject; and shall decide the claims in
question according to the merits of the several cases, and to
justice, equity and the laws of nations. The award of the said
Commissioners, or any such three of them as aforesaid, shall in
all cases be final and conclusive, both as to the justice of the
claim, and the amount of the sum to be paid to the claimant; and
His Britannic Majesty undertakes to cause the same to be paid to
such claimant in specie, without any deduction, at such place or
places, and at such time or times, as shall be awarded by the said
Commissioners, and on condition of such releases or assignments to
be given by the claimant, as by the said Commissioners may be
directed.
And whereas certain merchants and others, His Majesty s
subjects, complain that, in the course of the war, they have
sustained loss and damage by reason of the capture of their vessels
and merchandise, taken within the limits and jurisdiction of the
States and brought into the ports of the same, or taken by vessels
originally armed in ports of the said States:
It is agreed that in all such cases where restitution shall
not have been made agreeably to the tenor of the letter from Mr.
Jefferson to Mr. Hammond, dated at Philadelphia, September 5, 1793,
a copy of which is annexed to this Treaty; the complaints of the
parties shall be and hereby are referred to the Commissioners to be
appointed by virtue of this article, who are hereby authorized and
required to proceed in the like manner relative to these as to the
other cases committed to them; and the United States undertake to
pay to the complainants or claimants in specie, without deduction,
the amount of such sums as shall be awarded to them respectively
by the said Commissioners, and at the times and places which in
such awards shall be specified; and on condition of such releases
or assignments to be given by the claimants as in the said awards
may be directed: And it is further agreed, that not only the now
existing cases of both descriptions, but also all such as shall
exist at the time of exchanging the ratifications of this Treaty,
shall be considered as being within the provisions, intent and
meaning of this article.
ARTICLE VIII.
It is further agreed that the Commissioners mentioned in this
and in the two preceding articles shall be respectively paid in
such manner as shall be agreed between the two parties such
agreement being to be settled at the time of the exchange of the
ratifications of this Treaty. And all other expenses attending the
said Commissions shall be defrayed jointly by the two parties, the
same being previously ascertained and allowed by the majority of
the Commissioners.
And in the case of death, sickness or necessary absence, the
place of every such Commissioner respectively shall be supplied in
the same manner as such Commissioner was first appointed, and the
new Commissioners shall take the same oath or affirmation and do
the same duties.
ARTICLE IX.
It is agreed that British subjects who now hold lands in the
territories of the United States, and American citizens who now
hold lands in the dominions of His Majesty, shall continue to hold
them according to the nature and tenure of their respective estates
and titles therein; and may grant, sell or devise the same to whom
they please, in like manner as if they were natives and that
neither they nor their heirs or assigns shall, so far as may
respect the said lands and the legal remedies incident thereto, be
regarded as aliens.
ARTICLE X.
Neither the debts due from individuals of the one nation to
individuals of the other, nor shares, nor monies, which they may
have in the public funds, or in the public or private banks, shall
ever in any event of war or national differences be sequestered or
confiscated, it being unjust and impolitic that debts and
engagements contracted and made by individuals having confidence in
each other and in their respective Governments, should ever be
destroyed or impaired by national authority on account of national
differences and discontents.
ARTICLE XI.
It is agreed between His Majesty and the United States of
America, that there shall be a reciprocal and entirely perfect
liberty of navigation and commerce between their respective people,
in the manner, under the limitations, and on the conditions
specified in the following articles.
ARTICLE XII.
His Majesty consents that it shall and may be lawful, during
the time hereinafter limited, for the citizens of the United States
to carry to any of His Majesty's islands and ports in the West
Indies from the United States, in their own vessels, not being
above the burthen of seventy tons, any goods or merchandizes, being
of the growth, manufacture or produce of the said States, which it
is or may be lawful to carry to the said islands or ports from the
said States in British vessels; and that the said American vessels
shall be subject there to no other or higher tonnage duties or
charges than shall be payable by British vessels in the ports of
the United States; and that the cargoes of the said American
vessels shall be subject there to no other or higher duties or
charges than shall be payable on the like articles if imported
there from the said States in British vessels.
And His Majesty also consents that it shall be lawful for the
said American citizens to purchase, load and carry away in their
said vessels to the United States, from the said islands and ports,
all such articles, being of the growth, manufacture or produce of
the said islands, as may now by law be carried from thence to the
said States in British vessels, and subject only to the same duties
and charges on exportation, to which British vessels and their
cargoes are or shall be subject in similar circumstances.
Provided always, that the said American vessels do carry and
land their cargoes in the United States only, it being expressly
agreed and declared that, during the continuance of this article,
the United States will prohibit and restrain the carrying any
molasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa or cotton in American vessels,
either from His Majesty's islands or from the United States to any
part of the world except the United States, reasonable seastores
excepted.
Provided, also, that it shall and may be lawful, during the
same period, for British vessels to import from the said islands
into the United States, and to export from the United States to the
said islands, all articles whatever, being of the growth, produce
or manufacture of the said islands, or of the United States
respectively, which now may, by the laws of the said States, be so
imported and exported. And that the cargoes of the said British
vessels shall be subject to no other or higher duties or charges,
than shall be payable on the same articles if so imported or
exported in American vessels.
It is agreed that this article, and every matter and thing
therein contained, shall continue to be in force during the
continuance of the war in which His Majesty is now engaged; and
also for two years from and after the date of the signature of the
preliminary or other articles of peace, by which the same may be
terminated.
And it is further agreed that, at the expiration of the said
term, the two contracting parties will endeavour further to
regulate
their commerce in this respect, according to the situation in which
His Majesty may then find himself with respect to the West Indies,
and with a view to such arrangements as may best conduce to the
mutual advantage and extension of commerce. And the said parties
will then also renew their discussions, and endeavour to agree,
whether in any and what cases, neutral vessels shall protect
enemy's property; and in what cases provisions and other articles,
not generally contraband, may become such. But in the mean time,
their conduct towards each other in these respects shall be
regulated by the articles hereinafter inserted on those subjects.
ARTICLE XIII.
His Majesty consents that the vessels belonging to the
citizens of the United States of America shall be admitted and
hospitably received in all the seaports and harbors of the British
territories in the East Indies. And that the citizens of the said
United States may freely carry on a trade between the said
territories and the said United States, in all articles of which
the importation or exportation respectively, to or from the said
territories, shall not be entirely prohibited. Provided only, that
it shall not be lawful for them in any time of war between the
British Government and any other Power or State whatever, to export
from the said territories, without the special permission of the
British Government there, any military stores, or naval stores, or
rice. The citizens of the United States shall pay for their vessels
when admitted into the said ports no other or higher tonnage duty
than shall be payable on British vessels when admitted into the
ports of the United States. And they shall pay no other or higher
duties or charges, on the importation or exportation of the cargoes
of the said vessels, than shall be payable on the same articles
when imported or exported in British vessels. But it is expressly
agreed that the vessels of the United States shall not carry any of
the articles exported by them from the said British territories to
any port or place, except to some port or place in America, where
the same shall be unladen and such regulations shall be adopted by
both parties as shall from time to time be found necessary to
enforce the due and faithful observance of this stipulation.
It is also understood that the permission granted by this
article is not to extend to allow the vessels of the United States
to carry on any part of the coasting trade of the said British
territories; but vessels going with their original cargoes, or part
thereof, from one port of discharge to another, are not to be
considered as carrying on the coasting trade. Neither is this
article to be construed to allow the citizens of the said States to
settle or reside within the said territories, or to go into the
interior parts thereof, without the permission of the British
Government established there; and if any transgression should be
attempted against the regulations of the British Government in this
respect, the observance of the same shall and may be enforced
against the citizens of America in the same manner as against
British subjects or others transgressing the same rule. And the
citizens of the United States, whenever they arrive in any port or
harbour in the said territories, or if they should be permitted, in
manner aforesaid, to go to any other place therein, shall always be
subject to the laws, government and jurisdiction of what nature
established in such harbor, port pr place, according as the same
may be. The citizens of the United States may also touch for
refreshment at the island of St. Helena, but subject in all
respects to such regulations as the British Government may from
time to time establish there.
ARTICLE XIV.
There shall be between all the dominions of His Majesty in
Europe and the territories of the United States a reciprocal and
perfect liberty of commerce and navigation. The people and
inhabitants of the two countries, respectively, shall have liberty
freely and securely, and without hindrance and molestation, to come
with their ships and cargoes to the lands, countries, cities,
ports, places and rivers within the dominions and territories
aforesaid, to enter into the same, to resort there, and to remain
and reside there, without any limitation of time. Also to hire and
possess houses and warehouses for the purposes of their commerce,
and generally the merchants and traders on each side shall enjoy
the most complete protection and security for their commerce; but
subject always as to what respects this article to the laws and
statutes of the two countries respectively.
ARTICLE XV.
It is agreed that no other or high duties shall be paid by the
ships or merchandise of the one party in the ports of the other
than such as are paid by the like vessels or merchandize of all
other nations. Nor shall any other or higher duty be imposed in one
country on the importation of any articles the growth, produce or
manufacture of the other, than are or shall be payable on the
importation of the like articles being of the growth, produce or
manufacture of any other foreign country. Nor shall any prohibition
be imposed on the exportation or importation of any articles to or
from the territories of the two parties respectively, which shall
not equally extend to all other nations.
But the British Government reserves to itself the right of
imposing on American vessels entering into the British ports in
Europe a tonnage duty equal to that which shall be payable by
British vessels in the ports of America; and also such duty as may
be adequate to countervail the difference of duty now payable on
the importation of European and Asiatic goods, when imported into
the United States in British or in American vessels
The two parties agree to treat for the more exact equalization
of the duties on the respective navigation of their subjects and
people, in such manner as may be most beneficial to the two
countries.
The arrangements for this purpose shall be made at the same
time with those mentioned at the conclusion of the twelfth article
of this Treaty, and are to be considered as a part thereof. In the
interval it is agreed that the United States will not impose any
new or additional tonnage duties on British vessels, nor increase
the nowsubsisting difference between the duties payable on the
importation of any articles in British or in American vessels.
ARTICLE XVI.
It shall be free for the two contracting parties,
respectively, to appoint Consuls for the protection of trade, to
reside in the dominions and territories aforesaid; and the said
Consuls shall enjoy those liberties and rights which belong to them
by reason of their function. But before any Consul shall act as
such, he shall be in the usual forms approved and admitted by the
party to whom he is sent; and it is hereby declared to be lawful
and proper that, in case of illegal or improper conduct towards the
laws or Government, a Consul may either be punished according to
law, if the laws will reach the case, or be dismissed, or even sent
back, the offended Government assigning to the other their reasons
for the same.
Either of the parties may except from the residence of Consuls
such particular places as such party shall judge proper to be so
excepted.
ARTICLE XVII.
It is agreed that in all cases where vessels shall be captured
or detained on just suspicion of having on board enemy's property,
or of carrying to the enemy any of the articles which are
contraband of war, the said vessels shall be brought to the nearest
or most convenient port; and if any property of an enemy should be
found on board such vessel, that part only which belongs to the
enemy shall be made prize, and the vessel shall be at liberty to
proceed with the remainder without any impediment. And it is agreed
that all proper measures shall be taken to prevent delay in
deciding the cases of ships or cargoes so brought in for
adjudication, and in the payment or recovery of any
indemnification, adjudged or agreed to be paid to the masters or
owners of such ships.
ARTICLE XVIII.
In order to regulate what is in future to be esteemed
contraband of war, it is agreed that under the said denomination
shall be comprised all arms and implements serving for the purposes
of war, by land or sea, such as cannon, muskets, mortars, petards,
bombs, grenades, carcasses, saucisses, carriages for cannon,
musketrests, bandoliers, gunpowder, match, saltpetre, ball, pikes,
swords, headpieces, cuirasses, halberts, lances, javelins,
horsefurniture, holsters, belts, and generally all other implements
of war, as also timber for shipbuilding, tar or rozin, copper in
sheets, sails, hemp, and cordage, and generally whatever may serve
directly to the equipment of vessels, unwrought iron and fir planks
only excepted, and all the above articles are hereby declared to be
just objects of confiscation whenever they are attempted to be
carried to an enemy.
And whereas the difficulty of agreeing on the precise cases in
which alone provisions and other articles not generally contraband
may be regarded as such, renders it expedient to provide against
the inconveniences and misunderstandings which might thence arise:
It is further agreed that whenever any such articles so becoming
contraband, according to the existing laws of nations, shall for
that reason be seized, the same shall not be confiscated, but the
owners thereof shall be speedily and completely indemnified; and
the captors, or, in their default, the Government under whose
authority they act, shall pay to the masters or owners of such
vessels the full value of all such articles, with a reasonable
mercantile profit thereon, together with the freight, and also the
demurrage incident to such detention.
And whereas it frequently happens that vessels sail for a port
or place belonging to an enemy without knowing that the same is
either besieged, blockaded or invested, it is agreed that every
vessel so circumstanced may be turned away from such port or place;
but she shall not be detained, nor her cargo, if not contraband, be
confiscated, unless after notice she shall again attempt to enter,
but she shall be permitted to go to any other port or place she may
think proper; nor shall any vessel or goods of either party that
may have entered into such port or place before the same was
besieged, blockaded, or invested by the other, and be found
thereinafter the reduction or surrender of such place, be liable to
confiscation, but shall be restored to the owners or proprietors
there.
ARTICLE XIX.
And that more abundant care may be taken for the security of
the respective subjects and citizens of the contracting parties,
and to prevent their suffering injuries by the menofwar, or
privateers of either party, all commanders of ships of war and
privateers, and all others the said subjects and citizens, shall
forbear doing any damage to those of the other party or committing
any outrage against them, and if they act to the contrary they
shall be punished, and shall also be bound in their persons and
estates to make satisfaction and reparation for all damages, and
the interest thereof, of whatever nature the said damages may be.
For this cause, all commanders of privateers, before they
receive their commissions, shall hereafter be obliged to give,
before a competent judge, sufficient security by at least two
responsible sureties, who have no interest in the said privateer,
each of whom, together with the said commander, shall be jointly
and severally bound in the sum of fifteen hundred pounds sterling,
or, if such ships be provided with above one hundred and fifty
seamen or soldiers, in the sum of three thousand pounds sterling,
to satisfy all damages and injuries which the said privateer, or
her officers or men, or any of them, may do or commit during their
cruise contrary to the tenor of this Treaty, or to the laws and
instructions for regulating their conduct; and further, that in all
cases of aggressions the said commissions shall be revoked and
annulled.
It is also agreed that whenever a judge of a court of
admiralty of either of the parties shall pronounce sentence against
any vessel or goods or property belonging to the subjects or
citizens of the other party, a formal and duly authenticated copy
of all the proceedings in the cause, and of the said sentence,
shall, if required, be delivered to the commander of the said
vessel, without the smallest delay, he paying all legal fees and
demands for the same.
ARTICLE XX.
It is further agreed that both the said contracting parties
shall not only refuse to receive any pirates into any of their
ports, havens or towns, or permit any of their inhabitants to
receive, protect, harbor, conceal or assist them in any manner, but
will bring to condign punishment all such inhabitants as shall be
guilty of such acts or offences.
And all their ships, with the goods or merchandizes taken by
them and brought into the port of either of the said parties, shall
be seized as far as they can be discovered, and shall be restored
to the owners, or their factors or agents, duly deputed and
authorized in writing by them (proper evidence being first given in
the court of admiralty for proving the property) even in case such
effects should have passed into other hands by sale, if it be
proved that the buyers knew or had good reason to believe or
suspect that they had been piratically taken.
ARTICLE XXI.
It is likewise agreed that the subjects and citizens of the
two nations shall not do any acts of hostility or violence against
each other, nor accept commissions or instructions so to act from
any foreign Prince or State, enemies to the other party; nor shall
the enemies of one of the parties be permitted to invite, or
endeavor to enlist in their military service, any of the subjects
or citizens of the other party; and the laws against all such
offences and aggressions shall be punctually executed. And if any
subject or citizen of the said parties respectively shall accept
any foreign commission or letters of marque for arming any vessel
to act as a privateer against the other party, and be taken by the
other party, it is hereby declared to be lawful for the said party
to treat and punish the said subject or citizen having such
commission or letters of marque as a pirate.
ARTICLE XXII.
It is expressly stipulated that neither of the said
contracting parties will order or authorize any acts of reprisal
against the other, on complaints of injuries or damages, until the
said party shall first have presented to the other a statement
thereof, verified by competent proof and evidence, and demanded
justice and satisfaction, and the same shall either have been
refused or unreasonably delayed.
ARTICLE XXIII.
The ships of war of each of the contracting parties shall, at
all times, be hospitably received in the ports of the other, their
officers and crews paying due respect to the laws and Government of
the country. The officers shall be treated with that respect which
is due to the commissions which they bear, and if any insult should
be offered to them by any of the inhabitants, all offenders in this
respect shall be punished as disturbers of the peace and amity
between the two countries. And His Majesty consents that in case an
American vessel should, by stress of weather, danger from enemies,
or other misfortune, be reduced to the necessity of seeking shelter
in any of His Majesty's ports, into which such vessel could not in
ordinary cases claim to be admitted, she shall, on manifesting that
necessity to the satisfaction of the Government of the place, be
hospitably received, and be permitted to refit and to purchase at
the market price such necessaries as she may stand in need of,
conformably to such orders and regulations at the Government of the
place, having respect to the circumstances of each case, shall
prescribe. She shall not be allowed to break bulk or unload her
cargo, unless the same should be bona fide necessary to her being
refitted. Nor shall be permitted to sell any part of her cargo,
unless so much only as may be necessary to defray her expences, and
then not without the express permission of the Government of the
place. Nor shall she be obliged to pay any duties whatever, except
only on such articles as she may be permitted to sell for the
purpose aforesaid.
ARTICLE XXIV.
It shall not be lawful for any foreign privateers (not being
subjects or citizens of either of the said parties) who have
commissions from any other Prince or State in enmity with either
nation to arm their ships in the ports of either of the said
parties, nor to sell what they have taken, nor in any other manner
to exchange the same; nor shall they be allowed to purchase more
provisions than shall be necessary for their going to the nearest
port of that Prince or State from whom they obtained their
commissions.
ARTICLE XXV.
It shall be lawful for the ships of war and privateers
belonging to the said parties respectively to carry whithersoever
they please the ships and goods taken from their enemies, without
being obliged to pay any fee to the officers of the admiralty, or
to any judges whatever; nor shall the said prizes, when they arrive
at and enter the ports of the said parties, be detained or seized,
neither shall the searchers or other officers of those places visit
such prizes, (except for the purpose of preventing the carrying of
any of the cargo thereof on shore in any manner contrary to the
established laws of revenue, navigation, or commerce,) nor shall
such officers take cognizance of the validity of such prizes; but
they shall be at liberty to hoist sail and depart as speedily as
may be, and carry their said prizes to the place mentioned in their
commissions or patents, which the commanders of the said ships of
war or privateers shall be obliged to show. No shelter or refuge
shall be given in their ports to such as have made a prize upon the
subjects or citizens of either of the said parties; but if forced
by stress of weather, or the dangers of the sea, to enter therein,
particular care shall be taken to hasten their departure, and to
cause them to retire as soon as possible. Nothing in this Treaty
contained shall, however, be construed or operate contrary to
former and existing public treaties with other sovereigns or
States. But the two parties agree that while they continue in amity
neither of them will in future make any treaty that shall be
inconsistent with this or the preceding article.
Neither of the said parties shall permit the ships or goods
belonging to the subjects or citizens of the other to be taken
within cannon shot of the coast, nor in any of the bays, ports or
rivers of their territories, by ships of war or others having
commission from any Prince, Republic or State whatever. But in case
it should so happen, the party whose territorial rights shall thus
have been violated shall use his utmost endeavors to obtain from
the offending party full and ample satisfaction for the vessel or
vessels so taken, whether the same be vessels of war or merchant
vessels.
ARTICLE XXVI.
If at any time a rupture should take place (which God forbid)
between His Majesty and the United States, and merchants and others
of each of the two nations residing in the dominions of the other
shall have the privilege of remaining and continuing their trade,
so long as they behave peaceably and commit no offence against the
laws; and in case their conduct should render them suspected, and
the respective Governments should think proper to order them to
remove, the term of twelve months from the publication of the order
shall be allowed them for that purpose, to remove with their
families, effects and property, but this favor shall not be
extended to those who shall act contrary to the established laws;
and for greater certainty, it is declared that such rupture shall
not be deemed to exist while negociations for accommodating
differences shall be depending, nor until the respective
Ambassadors or Ministers, if such there shall be, shall be recalled
or sent home on account of such differences, and not on account of
personal misconduct, according to the nature and degrees of which
both parties retain their rights, either to request the recall, or
immediately to send home the Ambassador or Minister of the other,
and that without prejudice to their mutual friendship and good
understanding.
ARTICLE XXVII.
It is further agreed that His Majesty and the United States,
on mutual requisitions, by them respectively, or by their
respective Ministers or officers authorized to make the same, will
deliver up to justice all persons who, being charged with murder or
forgery, committed within the jurisdiction of either, shall seek an
asylum within any of the countries of the other, provided that this
shall only be done on such evidence of criminality as, according to
the laws of the place, where the fugitive or person so charged
shall be found, would justify his apprehension and commitment for
trial, if the offence had there been committed. The expence of such
apprehension and delivery shall be borne and defrayed by those who
made the requisition and receive the fugitive.
ARTICLE XXVIII.
It is agreed that the first ten articles of this Treaty shall
be permanent, and that the subsequent articles, except the twelfth,
shall be limited in their duration to twelve years, to be computed
from the day on which the ratifications of this Treaty shall be
exchanged, but subject to this condition. That whereas the said
twelfth article will expire by the limitation therein contained, at
the end of two years from the signing of the preliminary or other
articles of peace, which shall terminate the present war in which
His Majesty is engaged, it is agreed that proper measures shall by
concert be taken for bringing the subject of that article into
amicable Treaty and discussion, so early before the expiration of
the said term as that new arrangements on that head may by that
time be perfected and ready to take place. But if it should
unfortunately happen that His Majesty and the United States should
not be able to agree on such new arrangements, in that case all the
articles of this Treaty, except the first ten, shall then cease and
expire together.
Lastly. This Treaty, when the same shall have been ratified by
His Majesty and by the President of the United States, by and with
the advice and consent of their Senate, and the respective
ratifications mutually exchanged, shall be binding and obligatory
on His Majesty and on the said States, and shall be by them
respectively executed and observed with punctuality and the most
sincere regard to good faith; and whereas it will be expedient, in
order the better to facilitate intercourse and obviate
difficulties, that other articles be proposed and added to this
Treaty, which articles, from want of time and other circumstances,
cannot now be perfected, it is agreed that the said parties will,
from time to time, readily treat of and concerning such articles,
and will sincerely endeavor so to form them as that they may
conduce to mutual convenience and tend to promote mutual
satisfaction and friendship; and that the said articles, after
having been duly ratified, shall be added to and make a part of
this Treaty. In faith whereof we, the undersigned Ministers
Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the King of Great Britain and the
United States of America, have singed this present Treaty, and have
caused to be affixed thereto the seal of our arms.
Done at London this nineteenth day of November, one thousand
seven hundred and ninetyfour.
(SEAL.) GRENVILLE.
(SEAL.) JOHN JAY.
Letter from Thomas Jefferson to George Hammond.
PHILADELPHIA, September 5, 1793.
Sir: I am honored with yours of August 30. Mine of the 7th of that
month assured you that measures were taken for excluding from all
further asylum in our ports vessels armed in them to cruise on
nations with which we are at peace, and for the restoration of the
prizes the Lovely Lass, Prince William Henry, and the Jane of
Dublin; and that should the measures for restitution fail in their
effect, the President considered it as incumbent on the United
States to make compensation for the vessels.
We are bound by our treaties with three of the belligerent
nations, by all the means in our power, to protect and defend their
vessels and effects in our ports, or waters, or on the seas near
our shores, and to recover and restore the same to the right owners
when taken from them. If all the means in our power are used, and
fail in their effect, we are not bound by our treaties with those
nations to make compensation.
Though we have no similar treaty with Great Britain, it was
the opinion of the President that we should use towards that nation
the same rule which, under this article, was to govern us with the
other nations; and even to extend it to captures made on the high
seas and brought into our ports f done by vessels which had been
armed within them.
Having, for particular reasons, forbore to use all the means
in our power for the restitution of the three vessels mentioned in
my letter of August 7th, the President thought it incumbent on the
United States to make compensation for them; and though nothing was
said in that letter of other vessels taken under like
circumstances, and brought in after the 5th of June, and before the
date of that letter, yet when the same forbearance had taken place,
it was and is his opinion, that compensation would be equally due.
As to prizes made under the same circumstances, and brought in
after the date of that letter, the President determined that all
the means in our power should be used for their restitution. If
these fail, as we should not be bound by our treaties to make
compensation to the other Powers in the analogous case, he did not
mean to give an opinion that it ought to be done to Great Britain.
But still, if any cases shall arise subsequent to that date, the
circumstances of which shall place them on similar ground with
those before it, the President would think compensation equally
incumbent on the United States.
Instructions are given to the Governors of the different
States to use all the means in their power for restoring prizes of
this last description found within their ports. Though they will,
of course, take measures to be infomed of them, and the General
Government has given them the aid of the customhouse officers for
this purpose, yet you will be sensible of the importance of
multiplying the channels of their infomation as far as shall
depend on yourself, or any person under your direction, or order
that the Governors may use the means in their power for making
restitution.
Without knowledge of the capture they cannot restore it. It
will always be best to give the notice to them directly; but any
infomation which you shall be pleased to send to me also, at any
time, shall be forwarded to them as quickly as distance will
permit.
Hence you will perceive, sir, that the President contemplates
restitution or compensation in the case before the 7th of August;
and after that date, restitution if it can be effected by any means
in our power. And that it will be important that you should
substantiate the fact that such prizes are in our ports or waters.
Your list of the privateers illicitly armed in our ports is,
I believe, correct.
With respect to losses by detention, waste, spoilation
sustained by vessels taken as before mentioned, between the dates
of June 5th and August 7th, it is proposed as a provisional measure
that the Collector of the Customs of the district, and the British
Consul, or any other person you please, shall appoint persons to
establish the value of the vessel and cargo at the time of her
capture and of her arrival in the port into which she is brought,
according to their value in that port. If this shall be agreeable
to you, and you will be pleased to signify it to me, with the names
of the prizes understood to be of this description, instructions
will be given accordingly to the Collector of the Customs where
the respective vessels are.
I have the honor to be, &c., TH: JEFFERSON. GEO: HAMMOND,
Esq.
ADDITIONAL ARTICLE.
It is further agreed, between the said contracting parties,
that the operation of so much of the twelfth article of the said
Treaty as respects the trade which his said Majesty thereby
consents may be carried on between the United States and his
islands in the West Indies, in the manner and on the terms and
conditions therein specified, shall be suspended.
1796.
EXPLANATORY ARTICLE TO THE THIRD ARTICLE OF THE TREATY OF
NOVEMBER 19, 1794, RESPECTING THE LIBERTY TO PASS AND REPASS THE
BORDERS AND TO CARRY ON TRADE AND COMMERCE.
Concluded May 4, 1796; Ratification advised by Senate May 9,
1796.
Whereas by the third article of the Treaty of amity, commerce
and navigation, concluded at London on the nineteenth day of
November, one thousand seven hundred and ninetyfour, between His
Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, it was agreed
that is should at all times be free to His Majesty's subjects and
to the citizens of the United States, and also to the Indians
dwelling on either side of the boundary line, assigned by the
Treaty of peace to the United States, freely to pass and repass, by
land or inland navigation, into the respective territories and
countries of the two contracting parties, on the continent of
America, (the country within the limits of the Hudson's Bay Company
only excepted,) and to navigate all the lakes, rivers, and waters
thereof, and freely to carry on trade and commerce with each other,
subject to the provisions and limitations contained in the said
article: And whereas by the eighth article of the Treaty of peace
and friendship concluded at Greenville on the third day of August,
one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, between the United
States and the nations or tribes of Indians called the Wyandots,
Delawares, Shawanoes, Ottawas, Chippewas, Putawatimies, Miamis, Eel
River, Weeas, Kickapoos, Piankashaws, and Kaskaskias, it was
stipulated that no person should be permitted to reside at any of
the towns or the hunting camps of the said Indian tribes, as a
trader, who is not furnished with a licence for that purpose under
the authority of the United States: Which latter stipulation has
excited doubts, whether in its operation it may not interfere with
the due execution of the third article of the Treaty of amity,
commerce and navigation: And it being the sincere desire of His
Britannic Majesty and of the United States that this point should
be so explained as to remove all doubts and promote mutual
satisfaction and friendship: And for this purpose His Britannic
Majesty having named for his Commissioner, Phineas Bond, Esquire,
His Majesty's ConsulGeneral for the Middle and Southern States of
America, (and now His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires to the
United States,) and the President of the United States having named
for their Commissioner, Timothy Pickering, Esquire, Secretary of
State of the United States, to whom, agreeably to the laws of the
United States, he has intrusted this negotiation: They, the said
Commissioners, having communicated to each other their full powers,
have, in virtue of the same, and conformably to the spirit of the
last article of the said Treaty of amity, commerce and navigation,
entered into this explanatory article, and do by these presents
explicitly agree and declare, that no stipulations in any treaty
subsequently concluded by either of the contracting parties with
any other State or nation, or with any Indian tribe, can be
understood to derogate in any manner from the rights of free
intercourse and commerce, secured by the aforesaid third article of
the Treaty of amity, commerce and navigation, to the subjects of
his Majesty and to the citizens of the United States, and to the
Indians dwelling on either side of the boundary line aforesaid; but
that all the said persons shall remain at full liberty freely to
pass and repass, by land or inland navigation, into the respective
territories and countries of the contracting parties, on either
side of the said boundary line, and freely to carry on trade and
commerce with each other, according to the stipulations of the said
third article of the Treaty of amity, commerce and navigation.
This explanatory article, when the same shall have been
ratified by His Majesty and by the President of the United States,
by and with the advice and consent of their Senate, and the
respective ratifications mutually exchanged, shall be added to and
make a part of the said Treaty of amity commerce and navigation,
and shall be permanently binding upon His Majesty and the United
States.
In witness whereof we, the said Commissioners of His Majesty
the King of Great Britain and the United States of America, have
signed this present explanatory article, and thereto affixed our
seals.
Done at Philadelphia this fourth day of May, in the year of
our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninetysix.
(SEAL.) P. BOND. (SEAL.) TIMOTHY PICKERING.
1798.
EXPLANATORY ARTICLE TO THE TREATY OF NOVEMBER 19, 1794, RELEASING
THE COMMISSIONERS UNDER THE FIFTH ARTICLE FROM PARTICULARIZING
THE LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE OF THE RIVER ST. CROIX.
Concluded March 15, 1798; Ratification advised by Senate June
5, 1798.
Whereas by the twentyeight article of the Treaty of amity,
commerce, and navigation between His Britannic Majesty and the
United States, signed at London on the nineteenth day of November,
one thousand seven hundred and ninetyfour, it was agreed that the
contracting parties would, from time to time, readily treat of and
concerning such further articles as might be proposed; that they
would sincerely endeavour so to form such articles as that they
might conduce to mutual convenience and tend to promote mutual
satisfaction and ,friendship; and that such articles, after having
been duly ratified, should be added to and make a part of that
Treaty: And whereas difficulties have arisen with respect to the
execution of so much of the fifth article of the said Treaty as
requires that the Commissioners appointed under the same should in
their description particularize the latitude and longitude of the
source of the river which may be found to be the one truly intended
in the Treaty of peace between His Britannic Majesty and the United
States, under the name of the river St. Croix, by reason whereof it
is expedient that the said Commissioners should be released from
the obligation of conforming to the provisions of the said article
in this respect. The undersigned being respectively named by His
Britannic Majesty and the United States of America their
Plenipotentiaries for the purpose of treating of and concluding
such articles as may be proper to be added to the said Treaty, in
conformity to the above mentioned stipulation, and having
communicated to each other their respective full powers, have
agreed and concluded, and do hereby declare in the name of His
Britannic Majesty and of the United States of America that the
Commissioners appointed under the fifth article of the above
mentioned Treaty shall not be obliged to particularize in their
description, the latitude and longitude of the source of the river
which may be found to be the one truly intended in the aforesaid
Treaty of peace under the name of the river St. Croix, but they
shall be at liberty to describe the said river, in such other
manner as they may judge expedient, which description shall be
considered as a complete execution of the duty required of the said
Commissioners in this respect by the article aforesaid. And to the
end that no uncertainty may hereafter exist on this subject, it is
further agreed, that as soon as may be after the decision of the
said Commissioners, measures shall be concerted between the
Government of the United States and His Britannic Majesty's
Governors or Lieutenant Governors in America, in order to erect and
keep in repair a suitable monument at the place ascertained and
described to be the source of the said river St. Croix, which
measures shall immediately thereupon, and as often afterwards as
may be requisite, be duly executed on both sides with punctuality
and good faith.
This explanatory article, when the same shall have been
ratified by His Majesty and by the President of the United States,
by and with the advice and consent of their Senate, and the
respective ratifications mutually exchanged, shall be added to and
make a part of the Treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation
between His Majesty and the United States, signed at London on the
nineteenth day of November, one thousand seven hundred and
ninetyfour, and shall be permanently binding upon His Majesty and
the United States.
In witness whereof we, the said undersigned Plenipotentiaries
of His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, have
signed this present article, and have caused to be affixed thereto
the seal of our arms.
Done at London this fifteenth day of March, one thousand seven
hundred and ninetyeight.
(SEAL.) GRENVILLE. (SEAL.) RUFUS KING.
Footnote 6
1814 Treaty of Ghent 1814 to end the War Of 1812
Treaty of Peace and Amity between His Britannic Majesty and
the United States of America, Concluded at Ghent, December 24,
1814; Ratification Advised by Senate, February 16, 1815; Ratified
by President; February 17, 1815; Ratifications Exchanged at
Washington, February 17, 1815; Proclaimed, February 18, 1815. His
Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, desirous of
terminating the war which has unhappily subsisted between the two
countries, and of restoring, upon principles of perfect
reciprocity, peace, friendship, and good understanding between
them, have, for that purpose, appointed their respective
Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:
His Britannic Majesty, on his part, has appointed the Right
Honorable James Lord Gambier, late Admiral of the White, now
Admiral of the Red Squadron of His Majesty's fleet, Henry Goulburn,
Esquire, a member of the Imperial Parliament, and Under Secretary
of State, and William Adams, Esquire, Doctor of Civil Laws; and the
President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate thereof, has appointed John Quincy Adams, James A.
Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin, citizens
of the United States;
Who, after a reciprocal communication of their respective full
powers, have agreed upon the following articles:
Article I
There shall be a firm and universal peace between His
Britannic Majesty and the United States, and between their
respective countries, territories, cities, towns, and people, of
every degree, without exception of places or persons. All
hostilities, both by sea and land, shall cease as soon as this
Treaty shall have been ratified by both parties, as hereinafter
mentioned. All territory, places, and possessions whatsoever, taken
by either party from the other during the war, or which may be
taken after the signing of this Treaty, excepting only the islands
hereinafter mentioned, shall be restored without delay, and without
causing any destruction or carrying away any of the artillery or
other public property originally captured in the said forts or
places, and which shall remain therein upon the exchange of the
ratifications of this Treaty, or any slaves or other private
property. And all archives, records, deeds, and papers, either of
a public nature or belonging to private persons, which, in the
course of the war, may have fallen into the hands of the officers
of either party, shall be, as far as may be practicable, forthwith
restored and delivered to the proper authorities and persons to
whom they respectively belong. Such of the islands in the Bay of
Passamaquoddy as are claimed by both parties, shall remain in the
possession of the party in whose occupation they may be at the time
of the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty, until the
decision respecting the title to the said islands shall have been
made in conformity with the fourth article of this Treaty. No
disposition made by this Treaty as to such possession of the
islands and territories claimed by both parties shall, in any
manner whatever, be construed to affect the right of either.
Article II
Immediately after the ratifications of this Treaty by both
parties, as hereinafter mentioned, orders shall be sent to the
armies, squadrons, officers, subjects and citizens of the two
Powers to cease from all hostilities. And to prevent all causes of
complaint which might arise on account of the prizes which may be
taken at sea after the said ratifications of this Treaty, it is
reciprocally agreed that all vessels and effects which may be taken
after the space of twelve days from the said ratifications, upon
all parts of the coast of North America, from the latitude of
twenty-three degrees north to the latitude of fifty degrees north,
and as far eastward in the Atlantic Ocean as the thirty-sixth
degree of west longitude from the meridian of Greenwich, shall be
restored on each side: that the time shall be thirty days in all
other parts of the Atlantic Ocean north of the equinoctial line or
equator, and the same time for the British and Irish Channels, for
the Gulf of Mexico, and all parts of the West Indies; forty days
for the North Seas, for the Baltic, and for all parts of the
Mediterranean; sixty days for the Atlantic Ocean south of the
equator, as far as the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope; ninety
days for every other part of the world south of the equator; and
one hundred and twenty days for all other parts of the world,
without exception.
Article III
All prisoners of war taken on either side, as well by land as
by sea, shall be restored as soon as practicable after the
ratifications of this Treaty, as hereinafter mentioned, on their
paying the debts which they may have contracted during their
captivity. The two contracting parties respectively engage to
discharge, in specie, the advances which may have been made by the
other for the sustenance and maintenance of such prisoners.
Article IV
Whereas it was stipulated by the second article in the Treaty
of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, between
His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, that the
boundary of the United States should comprehend all islands within
twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and
lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the
aforesaid boundaries, between Nova Scotia on the one part, and East
Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and
the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are, or
heretofore have been, within the limits of Nova Scotia; and whereas
the several islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of
the Bay of Fundy, and the Island of Grand Menan, in the said Bay of
Fundy, are claimed by the United States as being comprehended
within their aforesaid boundaries, which said islands are claimed
as belonging to His Britannic Majesty, as having been, at the time
of and previous to the aforesaid Treaty of one thousand seven
hundred and eighty-three, within the limits of the Province of Nova
Scotia. In order, therefore, finally to decide upon these claims,
it is agreed that they shall be referred to two Commissioners to be
appointed in the following manner, viz: One Commissioner shall be
appointed by His Britannic Majesty, and one by the President of the
United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate
thereof; and the said two Commissioners so appointed shall be sworn
impartially to examine and decide upon the said claims according to
such evidence as shall be laid before them on the part of His
Britannic Majesty and of the United States respectively. The said
Commissioners shall meet at St. Andrews, in the Province of New
Brunswick, and shall have power to adjourn to such other place or
places as they shall think fit. The said Commissioners shall, by a
declaration or report under their hands and seals, decide to which
of the two contracting parties the several islands aforesaid do
respectively belong, in conformity with the true intent of the said
Treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three. And
if the said Commissioners shall agree in their decision, both
parties shall consider such decision as final and conclusive. It is
further agreed that, in the event of the two Commissioners
differing upon all or any of the matters so referred to them, or in
the event of both or either of the said Commissioners refusing, or
declining or wilfully omitting to act as such, they shall make,
jointly or separately, a report or reports, as well to the
Government of His Britannic Majesty as to that of the United
States, stating in detail the points on which they differ, and the
grounds upon which their respective opinions have been formed, or
the grounds upon which they, or either of them, have so refused,
declined, or omitted to act. And His Britannic Majesty and the
Government of the United States hereby agree to refer the report or
reports of the said Commissioners to some friendly sovereign or
State, to be then named for that purpose, and who shall be
requested to decide on the differences which may be stated in the
said report or reports, or upon the report of one Commissioner,
together with the grounds upon which the other Commissioner shall
have refused, declined, or omitted to act, as the case may be. And
if the Commissioner so refusing, declining, or omitting to act,
shall also wilfully omit to state the grounds upon which he has so
done, in such manner that the said statement may be referred to
such friendly sovereign or State, together with the report of such
other Commissioner, then such sovereign or State shall decide ex
parte upon the said report alone. And His Britannic Majesty and the
Government of the United States engage to consider the decision of
such friendly sovereign or State to be final and conclusive on all
the matters so referred.
Article V
Whereas neither the point of the highlands lying due north
from the source of the river St. Croix, and designated in the
former Treaty of peace between the two Powers as the northwest
angle of Nova Scotia, nor the northwesternmost head of Connecticut
River, has yet been ascertained; and whereas that part of the
boundary line between the dominions of the two Powers which extends
from the source of the river St. Croix directly north to the above
mentioned north west angle of Nova Scotia, thence along the said
highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the
river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean to
the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River, thence down along
the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north
latitude; thence by a line due west on said latitude until it
strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy, has not yet been surveyed:
it is agreed that for these several purposes two Commissioners
shall be appointed, sworn, and authorized to act exactly in the
manner directed with respect to those mentioned in the next
preceding article, unless otherwise specified in the present
article. The said Commissioners shall meet at St. Andrews, in the
Province of New Brunswick, and shall have power to adjourn to such
other place or places as they shall think fit. The said
Commissioners shall have power to ascertain and determine the
points above mentioned, in conformity with the provisions of the
said Treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and
eighty-three, and shall cause the boundary aforesaid, from the
source of the river St. Croix to the river Iroquois or Cataraquy,
to be surveyed and marked according to the said provisions. The
said Commissioners shall make a map of the said boundary, and annex
to it a declaration under their hands and seals, certifying it to
be the true map of the said boundary, and particularizing the
latitude and longitude of the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, of
the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River, and of such other
points of the said boundary as they may deem proper. And both
parties agree to consider such map and declaration as finally and
conclusively fixing the said boundary. And in the event of the said
two Commissioners differing, or both or either of them refusing,
declining, or wilfully omitting to act, such reports, declarations,
or statements shall be made by them, or either of them, and such
reference to a friendly sovereign or State shall be made in all
respects as in the latter part of the fourth article is contained,
and in as full a manner as if the same was herein repeated.
Article VI
Whereas by the former Treaty of peace that portion of the
boundary of the United States from the point where the forty-fifth
degree of north latitude strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy to
the Lake Superior, was declared to be "along the middle of
said river into Lake Ontario, through the middle of said lake,
until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and
Lake Erie, thence along the middle of said communication into Lake
Erie, through the middle of said lake until it arrives at the water
communication into Lake Huron, thence through the middle of said
lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake
Superior;" and whereas doubts have arisen what was the middle
of the said river, lakes, and water communications, and whether
certain islands lying in the same were within the dominions of His
Britannic Majesty or of the United States: In order, therefore,
finally to decide these doubts, they shall be referred to two
Commissioners, to be appointed, sworn, and authorized to act
exactly in the manner directed with respect to those mentioned in
the next preceding article, unless otherwise specified in this
present article. The said Commissioners shall meet, in the first
instance, at Albany, in the State of New York, and shall have power
to adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit.
The said Commissioners shall, by a report or declaration, under
their hands and seals, designate the boundary through the said
river, lakes, and water communications, and decide to which of the
two contracting parties the several islands lying within the said
rivers, lakes, and water communications, do respectively belong, in
conformity with the true intent of the said Treaty of one thousand
seven hundred and eighty-three. And both parties agree to consider
such designation and decision as final and conclusive. And in the
event of the said two Commissioners differing, or both or either of
them refusing, declining, or wilfully omitting to act, such
reports, declarations, or statements shall be made by them, or
either of them, and such reference to a friendly sovereign or State
shall be made in all respects as in the latter part of the fourth
article is contained and in as full a manner as if the same was
herein repeated.
Article VII
It is further agreed that the said two last-mentioned
Commissioners, after they shall have executed the duties assigned
to them in the preceding article, shall be, and they are hereby,
authorized upon their oaths impartially to fix and determine,
according to the true intent of the said Treaty of peace of one
thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, that part of the boundary
between the dominions of the two Powers which extends from the
water communication between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, to the
most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, to decide to
which of the two parties the several islands lying in the lakes,
water communications, and rivers, forming the said boundary, do
respectively belong, in conformity with the true intent of the said
Treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three; and
to cause such parts of the said boundary as require it to be
surveyed and marked. The said Commissioners shall, by a report or
declaration under their hands and seals, designate the boundary
aforesaid, state their decision on the points thus referred to
them, and particularize the latitude and longitude of the most
northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, and of such other
parts of the said boundary as they may deem proper. And both
parties agree to consider such designation and decision as final
and conclusive. And in the event of the said two Commissioners
differing, or both or either of them refusing, declining, or
wilfully omitting to act, such reports, declarations, or statements
shall be made by them, or either of them, and such reference to a
friendly sovereign or state shall be made in all respects as in the
latter part of the fourth article is contained, and in as full a
manner as if the same was herein repeated.
Article VIII
The several boards of two Commissioners mentioned in the four
preceding articles shall respectively have power to appoint a
secretary, and to employ such surveyors or other persons as they
shall judge necessary. Duplicates of all their respective reports,
declarations, statements, and decisions, and of their accounts, and
of the journal of their proceedings, shall be delivered by them to
the agents of His Britannic Majesty and to the agents of the United
States, who may be respectively appointed and authorized to manage
the business on behalf of their respective Governments. The said
Commissioners shall be respectively paid in such manner as shall be
agreed between the two contracting parties, such agreement being to
be settled at the time of the exchange of the ratifications of this
Treaty. And all other expenses attending the said commissions shall
be defrayed equally by the two parties. And in the case of death,
sickness, resignation, or necessary absence, the place of every
such Commissioner, respectively, shall be supplied in the same
manner as such Commissioner was first appointed, and the new
Commissioner shall take the same oath or affirmation, and do the
same duties. It is further agreed between the two contracting
parties, that in case any of the islands mentioned in any of the
preceding articles, which were in the possession of one of the
parties prior to the commencement of the present war between the
two countries, should, by the decision of any of the boards of
commissioners aforesaid, or of the sovereign or State so referred
to, as in the four next preceding articles contained, fall within
the dominions of the other party, all grants of land made previous
to the commencement of the war, by the party having had such
possession, shall be as valid as if such island or islands had, by
such decision or decisions, been adjudged to be within the
dominions of the party having had such possession.
Article IX
The United States of America engage to put an end, immediately
after the ratification of the present Treaty, to hostilities with
all the tribes or nations of Indians with whom they may be at war
at the time of such ratification; and forthwith to restore to such
tribes or nations, respectively, all the possessions, rights, and
privileges which they may have enjoyed or been entitled to in one
thousand eight hundred and eleven, previous to such hostilities.
Provided always that such tribes or nations shall agree to desist
from all hostilities against the United States of America, their
citizens and subjects, upon the ratification of the present Treaty
being notified to such tribes or nations, and shall so desist
accordingly. And his Britannic Majesty engages, on his part, to put
an end immediately after the ratification of the present Treaty, to
hostilities with all the tribes or nations of Indians with whom he
may be at war at the time of such ratification, and forthwith to
restore to such tribes or nations respectively all the possessions,
rights, and privileges which they may have enjoyed or been entitled
to in one thousand eight hundred and eleven, previous to such
hostilities. Provided always that such tribes or nations shall
agree to desist from all hostilities against His Britannic Majesty,
and his subjects, upon ratification of the present Treaty being
notified to such tribes or nations, and shall so desist
accordingly.
Article X
Whereas the traffic in slaves is irreconcilable with the
principles of humanity and justice, and whereas both His Majesty
and the United States are desirous of continuing their efforts to
promote its entire abolition, it is hereby agreed that both the
contracting parties shall use their best endeavours to accomplish
so desirable an object.
Article XI
This Treaty, when the same shall have been ratified on both
sides, without alteration by either of the contracting parties, and
the ratifications mutually exchanged, shall be binding on both
parties, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington, in
the space of four months from this day, or sooner if practicable.
In faith whereof we, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have
signed this Treaty, and have thereunto affixed our seals.
Done, in triplicate, at Ghent, the twenty-fourth day of December,
one thousand eight hundred and fourteen.
Gambier Henry Goulburn, William Adams, John Quincy Adams,
J. A. Bayard, H. Clay, John. Russell, Albert Gallatin
Footnote 7
These are the words of a first-hand observer, Anthony
Sherman,
who was there and describes the situation: "You doubtless heard
the story of Washington's going to the thicket to pray. Well, it
is not only true, but he used often to pray in secret for aid and
comfort from God, the interposition of whose Divine Providence
brought us safely through the darkest days of tribulation."
"One day, I remember it well, when the chilly winds whistled
through the leafless trees, though the sky was cloudless and the
Sun shown brightly, he remained in his quarters nearly all the
afternoon alone. When he came out, I noticed that his face was a
shade paler than usual. There seemed to be something on his mind
of more than ordinary importance. Returning just after dusk, he
dispatched an orderly to the quarters who was presently in
attendance. After a preliminary conversation of about an hour,
Washington, gazing upon his companion with that strange look of
dignity which he alone commanded, related the event that occurred
that day."
Washington's Own Words
"`I do not know whether it is owing to the anxiety of my mind,
or what, but this afternoon, as I was sitting at this table engaged
in preparing a dispatch, something seemed to disturb me. Looking
up, I beheld standing opposite me a singularly beautiful being. So
astonished was I, for I had given strict orders not to be
disturbed, that it was some moments before I found language to
inquire the cause of the visit. A second, a third, and even a
fourth time did I repeat the question, but received no answer from
my mysterious visitor except a slight raising of the eyes.
"`By this time I felt strange sensations spreading through me.
I would have risen but the riveted gaze of the being before me
rendered volition impossible. I assayed once more to speak, but my
tongue had become useless, as though it had become paralyzed. A
new influence, mysterious, potent, irresistible, took possession of
me. All I could do was to gaze steadily, vacantly at my unknown
visitor.
"`Gradually the surrounding atmosphere seemed to fill with
sensations, and grew luminous. Everything about me seemed to
rarefy, the mysterious visitor also becoming more airy and yet more
distinct to my eyes than before. I began to feel as one dying, or
rather to experience the sensations which I have sometimes imagined
accompany death. I did not think, I did not reason, I did not
move. All were alike impossible. I was only conscious of gazing
fixedly, vacantly at my companion.
"`Presently I heard a voice saying, "Son of the Republic, look
and learn," while at the same time my visitor extended an arm
eastward. I now beheld a heavy white vapor at some distance rising
fold upon fold. This gradually dissipated, and I looked upon a
strange scene. Before me lay spread out in one vast plain all the
countries of the world--Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. I saw
rolling and tossing between Europe and America the billows of the
Atlantic, and between Asia and America lay the Pacific. "Son of
the Republic,' said the same mysterious voice as before, 'look and
learn."
"`At that moment I beheld a dark, shadowy being, like an
angel, standing, or rather floating in mid-air, between Europe and
America. Dipping water out of the ocean in the hollow of each
hand, he sprinkled some upon America with his right hand, while
with his left hand he cast some on Europe. Immediately a cloud
arose from these countries, and joined in mid-ocean. For a while
it seemed stationary, and then it moved slowly westward, until it
enveloped America in its murky folds. Sharp flashes of lightning
gleamed through it at intervals, and I heard the smothered groans
and cries of the American people.
"A second time the angel dipped water from the ocean, and
sprinkled it out as before. The dark cloud was then drawn back to
the ocean, in whose heaving billows it sank from view.
"`A third time I heard the mysterious visitor saying, "Son of
the Republic, look and learn," I cast my eyes upon America and
beheld villages, towns, and cities springing up one after another
until the whole land from the Atlantic to the Pacific was dotted
with them. Again, I heard the mysterious voice say, "Son of the
Republic, the end of the century cometh, look and learn."
"`And this the dark shadowy angel turned his face southward.
>From Africa I saw an ill-omened specter approach our land. It
flitted slowly over every town and city of the latter. The
inhabitants presently set themselves in battle array against each
other. As I continued looking I saw a bright angel on whose brow
rested a crown of light, on which was traced the word "Union." He
bearing the American flag. He placed the flag between the divided
nation, and said, "Remember ye are brethren."
"`Instantly, the inhabitants, casting down their weapons,
became friends once more and united around the National Standard.
"`And again I heard the mysterious voice saying, "Son of the
Republic, look and learn." At this the dark, shadowy angel placed
a trumpet to his mouth, and blew three distinct blasts; and taking
water from the ocean, he sprinkled it upon Europe, Asia, and
Africa.
"`Then my eyes beheld a fearful scene. From each of these
countries arose thick, black clouds that were soon joined into one.
And through this mass there gleamed a dark red light by which I saw
hordes of armed men. These men, moving with the cloud, marched by
land and sailed by sea to America, which country was enveloped in
this volume of the cloud. And I dimly saw these vast armies
devastate the whole country and burn the villages, towns, and
cities that I beheld springing up.
"`As my ears listened to the thundering of the cannon,
clashing of swords, and the shouts and cries of millions in mortal
combat, I heard again the mysterious voice saying, "Son of the
Republic, look and learn." When the voice had ceased, the dark
shadowy angel placed his trumpet once more to his mouth, and blew
a long fearful blast.
"`Instantly a light as of a thousand suns shone down from
above me, and pierced and broke into fragments the dark clouds
which enveloped America. At the same moment the angel upon whose
head still shone the word "Union," and who bore our national flag
in one hand and a sword in the other, descended from the heavens
attended by legions of white spirits. These immediately joined the
inhabitants of America, who I perceived were well-nigh overcome,
but who immediately taking courage again, closed up their broken
ranks and renewed the battle.
"Again, amid the fearful noise of the conflict I heard the
mysterious voice saying, "Son of the Republic, look and learn." As
the voice ceased, the shadowy angel for the last time dipped water
from the ocean and sprinkled it upon America. Instantly the dark
cloud rolled back, together with the armies it had brought, leaving
the inhabitants of the land victorious.
"`Then once more I beheld the villages, towns and cities
springing up where I had seen them before, while the bright angel,
planting the azure standard he had brought in the midst of them,
cried with a loud voice: "While the stars remain, and the heavens
send down dew upon the earth, so long shall the Union last." And
taking from his brow the crown on which blazoned the word "Union,"
he placed it upon the Standard while the people kneeling down said,
"Amen."
"`The scene instantly began to fade and dissolve, and I at
last saw nothing but the rising, curling vapor I at first beheld.
This also disappeared, I found myself once more gazing upon the
mysterious visitor, who, in the same voice I had heard before,
said, "Son of the Republic, what you have seen is thus interpreted.
Three great perils will come upon the Republic. The most fearful
for her is the third. But the whole world united shall not prevail
against her. Let every child of the Republic learn to live for his
God, his land and Union. With these words the vision vanished, and
I started from my seat and felt that I had seen a vision wherein
had been shown me the birth, progress, and destiny of the United
States."
Thus ended General George Washington's vision and prophecy for
the United States of America as told in his own words.
Footnote 8
"In Title 1, Section 1 it says: The actions, regulations,
rules, licenses, orders and proclamations heretofore or hereafter
taken, promulgated, made, or issued by the President of the United
States or the Secretary of the Treasury since March 4, 1933,
pursuant to the authority conferred by subdivision (b) of section
5 of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended, are hereby approved
and confirmed."
"Section 2. Subdivision (b) of section 5 of the Act of October
6, 1917, (40 Stat. L. 411), as amended, is hereby amended to read
as follows: emergency declared by the President, the President may,
through any agency that he may designate, or otherwise,
investigate, regulate, or prohibit, under such rules and
regulations as he may prescribe, by means of licenses or otherwise,
any transactions in foreign exchange, transfers of credit between
or payments by banking institutions as defined by the President,
and export, hoarding, melting, or earmarking of gold or silver coin
or bullion or currency, BY ANY PERSON WITHIN THE UNITED STATES OR
ANY PLACE SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION THEREOF."
Here is the legal phrase subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
but at law this refers to alien enemy and also applies to
Fourteenth Amendment citizens:
"As these words are used in the first section of the
Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution, providing for the
citizenship of all persons born or naturalized in the United States
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, the purpose would appear
to have been to exclude by the fewest words (besides children of
members of the Indian tribes, standing in a peculiar relation to
the National Government, unknown to the common Law), the two
classes of cases, children born of *ALIEN ENEMIES(emphasis mine),
in hostile occupation, and children of diplomatic representatives
of a foreign state, both of which, by the law of England and by our
own law, from the time of the first settlement of the English
colonies in America, had been recognized exceptions to the
fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the country."
United States v Wong Kim Ark, 169 US 649, 682, 42 L Ed 890, 902, 18
S Ct 456. Ballentine's Law Dictionary
Congressman Beck had this to say about the War Powers Act:
"I think of all the damnable heresies that have ever been
suggested in connection with the Constitution, the doctrine of
emergency is the worst. It means that when Congress declares an
emergency there is no Constitution. This means its death....But
the Constitution of the United States, as a restraining influence
in keeping the federal government within the carefully prescribed
channels of power, is moribund, if not dead. We are witnessing its
death-agonies, for when this bill becomes a law, if unhappily it
becomes law, there is no longer any workable Constitution to keep
the Congress within the limits of its constitutional powers."
(Congressman James Beck in Congressional Record 1933)
The phrase Alien Enemy is defined in Bouvier's Law Dictionary
as: One who owes allegiance to the adverse belligerent. 1 Kent 73.
He who owes a temporary but not a permanent allegiance is an
alien enemy in respect to acts done during such temporary
allegiance only; and when his allegiance terminates, his hostile
character terminates also; 1 B. & P. 163.
Alien enemies are said to have no rights, no privileges,
unless by the king's special favor, during time of war; 1 Bla. Com.
372; Bynkershoek 195; 8 Term 166. [Remember we've been under a
declared state of war since October 6, 1917, as amended March 9,
1933 to include every United States citizen.]
"The phrase Alien Enemy is defined in Words and Phrases as:
Residence of person in territory of nation at war with United
States was sufficient to characterize him as "alien enemy" within
Trading with the Enemy Act, even if he had acquired and retained
American citizenship." Matarrese v. Matarrese, 59 A.2d 262, 265,
142 N.J. Eq. 226.
"Residence or doing business in a hostile territory is the
test of an "alien enemy: within meaning of Trading with the Enemy
Act and Executive Orders thereunder." Executive Order March 11,
1942, No. 9095, as amended, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix 6; Trading with
the Enemy Act 5 (b). In re Oneida Nat. Bank & Trust Co. of Utica,
53 N.Y.S. 2d. 416, 420, 421, 183 Misc. 374.
"By the modern phrase, a man who resides under the allegiance
and protection of a hostile state for commercial purposes is to be
considered to all civil purposes as much an `alien enemy' as if he
were born there." Hutchinson v. Brock, 11 Mass. 119, 122.
"The trading with the enemy Act, originally and as amended, in
strictly a war measure, and finds its sanction in the provision
empowering Congress "to declare war, grant letters of Marque and
reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water."
Stoehr v. Wallace 255 U.S.
James Montgomery
08/05/96
Knowledge is Freedom BBS
1-910-869-0780
24HR.
28,000 Baud
James Brought up the term residence and my research has
brought forth the following which is why the gov't wants you to
declare yourself as a "resident." Resident has one purpose in tax
law and commercial law. Resident is the opposite of non-resident,
"Resident" is legally defined in United States v. Penelope, 27 Fed.
Case No. 16024, which states: "But admitting that the common
acceptance of the word and its legal technical meaning are
different, we must presume that Congress meant to adopt the
latter.", page 487. "But this is a highly penal act, and must have
strict construction. * * * The question seems to be whether they
inserted 'resident' without the legal meaning generally affixed to
it. If they have omitted to express their meaning, we cannot
supply it.", page 489.
Ask yourself this question, has the State or United States, in
their tax statutes, defined the word "resident" in its legal
technical meaning? The Penelope Court stated the legal meaning of
the term "resident" at page 489: "In the case of Hylton v. Brown
[Case No. 6,981] in the Circuit Court, and cases in this court, the
following has always been my definition of the words 'resident,' or
'inhabitant,' which in my view, means the same thing. An
inhabitant, or resident, is a person coming into a place with an
intention to establish his domicile, or per-manent residence: under
this intention he takes a house, or lodgings, as one fixed and
stationary, and opens a store or takes any step preparatory to do
business or in execution of this settled intention." [Emphasis
added ]
The other legal definition for "resident" can be found in
Jowitt's English Law Dictionary, 1977 edition which states;
"RESIDENT, An agent, minister or officer residing in any distant
place with the dignity of an ambassador: the chief representative
of government at certain princely states; Residents are as class of
public ministers inferior to ambassadors and envoys, but, like
them, they are protected under the law of nations."
This bears out James' work that the resident, who is a
government agent, official, etc., is doing business for the British
Crown to collect the debt of those residents who are claiming
citizenship of the States or United States because that would make
them subjects liable to pay the pecuniary contribution, disguised
as a "Gross Income Tax," to the Crown.
The United States is Still a British Colony, Part 2
BEND OVER AMERICA
03/30/97
Mark Twain: "You see, my kind of loyalty was loyalty to
one's country, not to institutions or its officeholders. The
country is the real thing; it is the thing to watch over and care
for and be loyal to; institutions extraneous, they are its mere
clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be
comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and
death. To be loyal to rags, to shout for rags, to worship rags,
to die for rags--that is a loyalty of unreason; it is pure
animal; it belongs to monarchy; was invented by monarchy; let
monarchy keep it. I was from Connecticut, whose constitution
declared "That all political power is inherent in the people, and
all free governments are founded on their authority and
instituted for their benefit, and that they have at all times an
undeniable and indefensible right to alter their form of
government in such a manner as they think expedient." Under that
gospel, the citizen who thinks that the Commonwealth's political
clothes are worn out and yet holds his peace and does not agitate
for a new suit, is disloyal; he is a traitor. That he may be the
only one who thinks he sees this decay does not excuse him; it is
his duty to agitate, anyway, and it is the duty of others to vote
him down if they do not see the matter as he does."
Congressional Record, April 9, 1934
Mark Twain has stated very well what needs to be the
motivation of all patriots, but any new government with leaders
that do not allow God Almighty's Word and Law to reign Supreme
will return to the ashes in which it was begun.
GUIDE TO THE FOOTNOTES
Footnote #1 - Chronology of North Carolina Governors and Original
Virginia Colony, page 15
Footnote #2 - Virginia Charter, 1609, page 18
Footnote #3 - Virginia Charter, 1621, page 27
Footnote #4 - Charter creating the Council of State, 1621, page
29
Footnote #5 - Carolina Charter, 1663, page 31
Footnote #6 - Carolina Charter granting Proprietorship to eight
lords, 1669, page 42
Footnote #7 - Florida Charter, 1763, page 65
Footnote #8 - Hudson Bay Charter, 1670, page 69
Footnote #9 - North Carolina Constitution, 1776, page 80
Footnote #10 - North Carolina Constitution, 1789, and latter
amendments, page 88
Footnote #11 - Congressional Record, page 127
PART II
It's not an easy thing having to tell someone they have been
conned into believing they are free. For some, to accept this is
comparable to denying God Almighty.
You have to be made to understand that the United States is
a corporation, which is a continuation of the corporate Charters
created by the king of England. And that the states upon
ratifying their individual State constitutions, became sub
corporations under and subordinate to the United States. The
counties and municipalities became sub corporations under the
State Charters. It is my duty to report further evidence
concerning the claims I made in "The United States is Still a
British Colony, part 1."
I have always used a copy of the North Carolina Constitution
provided by the State, I should have known better to take this as
the finial authority. To my knowledge the following quote has
not been in the Constitution the State hands out or those in use
in the schools. The 1776 North Carolina Constitution created a
new corporate Charter, and declared our individual freedoms.
However, the same corporate Charter, reserved the king's title
to the land, which restored, and did not diminish, his grants
that were made in his early Charters. If you remember, I made
the claim that legally we are still subject to the king. In the
below quote you will see that the king declares our taxation
will be forever, and that a fourth of all gold and silver will be
returned to him.
"YIELDlNG AND PAYING yearly, to us, our heirs and Successors, for
the same, the yearly Rent of Twenty Marks of Lawful money of
England, at the Feast of All Saints, yearly, forever, The First
payment thereof to begin and be made on the Feast of All Saints
which shall be in the year of Our Lord One thousand six hundred
Sixty and five; AND also, the fourth part of all Gold and Silver
Ore which, with the limits aforesaid, shall, from time to time,
happen to be found."
(Feast of All Saints occurred November 1 of each year.) The
Carolina Charter, 1663 footnote #5
I know Patriots will have a hard time with this, because as
I said earlier, they would have to deny what they have been
taught from an early age. You have to continue to go back in
historical documents and see if what you have been taught is
correct. The following quote is from section 25 of the 1776
North Carolina Constitution, Declaration of Rights.
And provided further, that nothing herein contained shall affect
the titles or possessions of individuals holding or claiming
under the laws heretofore in force, or grants heretofore made by
the late King George II, or his predecessors, or the late lords
proprietors, or any of them.
Declaration of Rights 1776, North Carolina Constitution, Footnote
#8
Can it be any plainer? Nobody reads, they take what is told
to them by their schools and government as gospel, and never look
any further. They are quick to attack anyone that does because
it threatens their way of life, rocks the boat in other words.
Read the following quote from a court case:
"* * * definition given by Blackstone, vol. 2, p. 244. I
shall therefore only cite that respectable authority in his own
words: "Escheat, we may remember, was one of the fruits and
consequences of feudal tenure; the word itself is originally
French or Norman, in which language it signifies chance or
accident, and with us denotes an obstruction of the course of
descent, and a consequent determination of the tenure by some
unforeseen contingency, in which case the estate naturally
results back, by a kind of reversion, to the original grantor, or
lord of the fee."
Every person knows in what manner the citizens acquired the
property of the soil within the limits of this State. Being
dissatisfied with the measures of the British Government, they
revolted from it, assumed the government into their own hands,
seized and took possession of all the estates of the King of
Great Britain and his subjects, appropriated them to their own
use, and defended their possessions against the claims of Great
Britain, during a long and bloody war, and finally obtained a
relinquishment of those claims by the treaty of Paris. But this
State had no title to the territory prior to the title of the
King of Great Britain and his subjects, nor did it ever claim as
lord paramount to them. This State was not the original grantor
to them, nor did they ever hold by any kind of tenure under the
State, or owe it any allegiance or other duties to which an
escheat is annexed. How then can it be said that the lands in
this case naturally result back by a kind of reversion to this
State, to a source from whence it never issued, and from tenants
who never held under it? Might it not be stated with equal
propriety that this country escheated to the King of Great
Britain from the Aborigines, when he drove them off, and took and
maintained possession of their country? At the time of the
revolution, and before the Declaration of Independence, the
collective body of the people had neither right to nor possession
of the territory of this State; it is true some individuals had a
right to, and were in possession of certain portions of it, which
they held under grants from the King of Great Britain; but they
did not hold, nor did any of his subjects hold, under the
collective body of the people, who had no power to grant any part
of it. After the Declaration of Independence and the
establishment of the Constitution, the people may be said first
to have taken possession of this country, at least so much of it
as was not previously appropriated to individuals. Then their
sovereignty commenced, and with it a right to all the property
not previously vested in individual citizens, with all the other
rights of sovereignty, and among those the right of escheats.
This sovereignty did not accrue to them by escheat, but by
conquest, from the King of Great Britain and his subjects; but
they acquired nothing by that means from the citizens of the
State Ä each individual had, under this view of the case, a right
to retain his private property, independent of the reservation in
the declaration of rights; but if there could be any doubt on
that head, it is clearly explained and obviated by the proviso in
that instrument. Therefore, whether the State took by right of
conquest or escheat, all the interest which the U. K. had
previous to the Declaration of Independence still remained with
them, on every principle of law and equity, because they are
purchasers for a valuable consideration, and being in possession
as cestui que trust under the statute for transferring uses into
possession; and citizens of this State, at the time of the
Declaration of Independence, and at the time of making the
declaration of rights, their interest is secured to them beyond
the reach of any Act of Assembly; neither can it be affected by
any principle arising from the doctrine of escheats, supposing,
what I do not admit, that the State took by escheat."
MARSHALL v. LOVELESS, 1 N.C. 412 (1801), 2 S.A. 70
There was no way we could have had a perfected title to this
land. Once we had won the Revolutionary War we would had to have
had an unconditional surrender by the king, this did not take
place. Not what took place at Yorktown, when we let the king off
the hook. Barring this, the king would have to had sold us this
land, for us to have a perfected title, just as the Indians sold
their land to the king, or the eight Carolina Proprietors sold
Carolina back to the king. The treaty of 1783 did not remove his
claim and original title, because he kept the minerals. This was
no different than when king Charles II gave Carolina by Charter
to the lords that helped put him back in power; compare them and
you will see the end result is the same. The Charter to the
lords is footnote #6, where eight proprietors were given title to
the land, but the king retained the money and sovereignty for his
heirs. The king could not just give up America to the
colonialist, nor would he. He would violate his own law of
Mortmain to put these lands in dead hands, no longer to be able
to be used by himself, or his heirs and successors. He would
also be guilty of harming his heirs and successors, by giving
away that which he declared in the following quotes, and there
are similar quotes in the other Charters:
"SAVING always, the Faith, Allegiance, and Sovereign Dominion
due to us, our heirs and Successors, for the same; and Saving
also, the right, title, and interest of all and every our
Subjects of the English Nation which are now Planted within the
Limits bounds aforesaid, if any be;..." The Carolina Charter,
1663 footnote #5
"KNOW YE, that We, of our further grace, certain knowledge, and
mere motion, HAVE thought fit to Erect the same Tract of Ground,
Country, and Island into a Province, and, out of the fullness of
our Royal power and Prerogative, WE Do, for us, our heirs and
Successors, Erect, Incorporate, and Ordain the same into a
province, and do call it the Province of CAROLINA, and so from
henceforth will have it called..." The Carolina Charter, 1663
footnote #5
The U.S. Constitution is a treaty between the states
creating a corporation for the king. In the below quote pay
attention to the large "S" State and the small "s" state. The
large "S" State is referring to the corporate State and it's
sovereignty over the small "s" state, because of the treaty.
Read the following quote:
"Headnote 5. Besides, the treaty of 1783 was declared by an
Act of Assembly of this State passed in 1787, to be law in this
State, and this State by adopting the Constitution of the United
States in 1789, declared the treaty to be the supreme law of the
land. The treaty now under consideration was made, on the part
of the United States, by a Congress composed of deputies from
each state, to whom were delegated by the articles of
confederation, expressly, "the sole and exclusive right and power
of entering into treaties and alliances"; and being ratified and
made by them, it became a complete national act, and the act and
law of every state.
If, however, a subsequent sanction of this State was at all
necessary to make the treaty law here, it has been had and
repeated. By a statute passed in 1787, the treaty was declared to
be law in this State, and the courts of law and equity were
enjoined to govern their decisions accordingly. And in 1789 was
adopted here the present Constitution of the United States, which
declared that all treaties made, or which should be made under
the authority of the United States, should be the supreme law of
the land; and that the judges in every state should be bound
thereby; anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the
contrary not withstanding. Surely, then, the treaty is now law
in this State, and the confiscation act, so far as the treaty
interferes with it, is annulled."
"By an act of the Legislature of North Carolina, passed in
April, 1777, it was, among other things, enacted, "That all
persons, being subjects of this State, and now living therein, or
who shall hereafter come to live therein, who have traded
immediately to Great Britain or Ireland, within ten years last
past, in their own right, or acted as factors, storekeepers, or
agents here, or in any of the United States of America, for
merchants residing in Great Britain or Ireland, shall take an
oath of abjuration and allegiance, or depart out of the State."
Treaties are the "Law of the Land" HAMILTON v. EATEN, 1 N.C. 641
(1796), HAMILTON v. EATEN. Ä 2 Mart., 1. U.S. Circuit Court.
(June Term, 1796.)
Your presence in the State makes you subject to its laws,
read the following quote:
"The states are to be considered, with respect to each other, as
independent sovereignties, possessing powers completely adequate
to their own government, in the exercise of which they are
limited only by the nature and objects of government, by their
respective constitutions and by that of the United States. Crimes
and misdemeanors committed within the limits of each are
punishable only by the jurisdiction of that state where they
arise; for the right of punishing, being founded upon the consent
of the citizens, express or implied, cannot be directed against
those who never were citizens, and who likewise committed the
offense beyond the territorial limits of the state claiming
jurisdiction. Our Legislature may define and punish crimes
committed within the State, whether by citizen or strangers;
because the former are supposed to have consented to all laws
made by the Legislature, and the latter, whether their residence
be temporary or permanent, do impliedly agree to yield obedience
to all such laws as long as they remain in the State;"
STATE v. KNIGHT, 1 N.C. 143 (1799), 2 S.A. 70
Do you understand now? The treaty, the corporate Charter,
the North Carolina Constitution, by proxy of the electorates,
created residence in the large "S" State. Not by some further
act you made. So how can expatriation from the United States,
remove your residence in the "State", which was created by
treaty, ratified by our Fore Fathers. As soon as the corporate
Charter (treaty) was ratified we returned to subjection to the
king of England, through the legal residence created by the
treaty. Remember in the quote I gave earlier, by treaty we
recanted our declared freedom, and returned to the king his
sovereignty and title. In the following quote you will see that
the State supreme court sits by being placed by the general
assembly:
NC Supreme Court History Supreme Court of North Carolina A Brief
History:
"The legal and historical origins of the Supreme Court of
North Carolina lie in the State Constitution of 1776, which
empowered the General Assembly to appoint; Judges of the Supreme
Courts of Law and Equity; and; Judges of Admiralty.....The first
meeting of the Court took place on January 1, 1819. The Court
began holding two sittings, or ; terms, ; a year, the first
beginning on the second Monday in June and the second on the last
Monday in December. This schedule endured until the Constitution
of 1868 prescribed the first Mondays in January and July for the
sittings. Vacancies on the Court were filled temporarily by the
Governor, with the assistance and advice of the Council of State,
until the end of the next session of the state General Assembly."
>From the internet, address can be made available.
Council of State
What is the Council of State, and where did it originate?
III. "The one of which councils, to be called the council of
state (and whose office shall chiefly be assisting, with their
care, advice, and circumspection, to the said governor) shall be
chosen, nominated, placed, and displaced, from time to time, by
us the said treasurer, council
and company, and our successors: which council of state shall
consist, for the present only of these persons, as are here
inserted,..."
IV. "The other council, more generally to be called by the
governor, once yearly, and no oftener, but for very extraordinary
and important occasions, shall consist for the present, of the
said council of state, and of two burgesses out of every town,
hundred, or other particular plantation, to be respectively
chosen by the inhabitants: which council shall be called The
General Assembly, wherein (as also in the said council of state)
all matters shall be decided, determined, and ordered by the
greater part of the voices then present; reserving to the
governor always a negative voice. And this general assembly shall
have free power, to treat, consult, and conclude, as well of all
emergent occasions concerning the public weal of the said colony
and every part thereof, as also to make, ordain, and enact such
general laws and orders, for the behoof of the said colony, and
the good government thereof, as shall, from time to time, appear
necessary or requisite;..." An Ordinance and Constitution of the
Virginia Company in England. Footnote #4
The job of the 1st Council of State was to make sure the
governor followed the kings wishes. The 2nd was the general
assembly, the laws they passed had to conform to the king's law.
Read the following quote:
V. Whereas in all other things, we require the said general
assembly, as also the said council of state, to imitate and
follow the policy of the form of government, laws, customs, and
manner of trial, and other administration of justice, used in the
realm of England, as near as may be even as ourselves, by his
majesty's letters patent, are required.
VI. Provided, that no law or ordinance, made in the said general
assembly, shall be or continue in force or validity, unless the
same shall be solemnly ratified and confirmed, in a general
quarter court of the said company here in England, and so
ratified, be returned to them under our seal; it being our intent
to afford the like measure also unto the said colony, that after
the government of the said colony shall once have been well
framed, and settled accordingly, which is to be done by us, as by
authority derived from his majesty, and the same shall have been
so by us declared, no orders of court afterwards, shall bind the
said colony, unless they be ratified in like manner in the
general assemblies. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our
common seal the 24th of July, 1621. . . .An Ordinance and
Constitution of the Virginia Company in England. footnote #4
The Council of State still exists to day, although it has
been modified several times. The first major change came in the
1776, North Carolina Constitution, read the below quotes:
16. "That the senate and house of commons, jointly, at their
first meeting, after each annual election, shall, by ballot,
elect seven persons to be a council of state for one year; who
shall advise the governor in the execution of his office; and
that four members shall be a quorum; their advice and proceedings
shall be entered in a journal, to be kept for that purpose only,
and signed by the members present; to any part of which any
member present may enter his dissent. And such journal shall be
laid before the general assembly when called for by them."
footnote #9
19. "The governor, for the time being, shall have power to draw
for and apply such sums of money as shall be voted by the general
assembly, for the contingencies of government, and be accountable
to them for the same. He also may, by and with the advice of the
council of state, lay embargoes, or prohibit the exportation of
any commodity, for any term not exceeding thirty days, at any one
time in the recess of the general assembly; and shall have the
power of granting pardons and reprieves, except where the
prosecution shall be carried on by the general assembly,
or the law shall otherwise direct; in which case, he may, in the
recess, grant a reprieve until the next sitting of the general
assembly; and he may exercise all the other executive powers of
government, limited and restrained, as by this constitution is
mentioned, and according to the laws of the State. And, on his
death, inability, or absence from the State, the speaker of the
senate, for the time being, and in case of his death, inability,
or absence from the State, the speaker of the house of commons,
shall exercise the powers of government, after such death, or
during such absence or inability of the governor, or speaker of
the senate, or until a new nomination is made by the general
assembly." footnote #9
20. "That, in every case, where any officer, the right of whose
appointment is, by this constitution, vested in the general
assembly, shall, during their recess, die, or his office by other
means become vacant, the governor shall have power, with the
advice of the council of State, to fill up such vacancy, by
granting a temporary commission, which shall expire at the end of
the next session of the general assembly." footnote #9
Also take notice who was not allowed to serve as Council of
State:
26. "That no treasurer shall have a seat, either in the senate,
house of commons, or council of state, during his continuance in
that office, or before he shall have finally settled his accounts
with the public, for all the moneys which may be in his hands ,
at the expiration of his office, belonging to the State, and hath
paid the same into the hands of the succeeding treasurer."
27. "That no officer in the regular army or navy, in the service
and pay of the United States, of this State or any other State,
nor any contractor or agent for supplying such army or navy with
clothing or provisions, shall have a seat either in the senate ,
house of commons, or council of state, or be eligible thereto;
and any member of the senate, house of commons, or council of
state, being appointed to ,and accepting of such office, shall
thereby vacate his seat."
28. "That no member of the council of state shall have a seat,
either in the senate or house of commons."
30. "That no secretary of this State, attorney-general, or clerk
of any court of record, shall have a seat in the senate, house of
commons, or council of state." footnote #9
The king continued to rule through the Council of State
until several things were in place, his bank, his laws and
tradition. The king succeeded by the acceptance of the American
people that they were free, along with the whole of our history
not being taught in our schools. The next change to the Council
of State came at the conquest of this country, I referred to this
in part 1, and in A Country Defeated In Victory.
Read this quote from the 1868 North Carolina constitution,
Article 3, sec 14:
SEC. 14. "The Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer,
Superintendent of Public Works, and Superintendent of Public
Instruction, shall constitute ex officio, the Council of State,
who shall advise the Governor in the execution of his office, and
three of whom shall constitute a quorum; their advice and
proceedings in this capacity shall be entered in a Journal, to be
kept for this purpose exclusively, and signed by the members
present, from any part of which any member may enter his dissent;
and such journal shall be placed before the General Assembly when
called for by either House. The Attorney General shall be, ex
offici, the legal adviser of the Executive Department." footnote
#10
After the Civil War, the conquest of America, you see those
that were allowed to be Council of State, were elected officials.
Under the 1776 North Carolina Constitution, it was unlawful for
these elected officials to be Council of State. Why? Because,
the king could not trust the common man to obey him, now that
they thought they were free. After the Civil War the Council of
State was no longer needed to fulfill the public policy of the
king, the Council of State still exists today, but in a reduced
capasity as far as the king goes. Now he had the 14th Amendment,
his lawyers in the government, his bankers in control of the
governments money, and above all greed that causes most in office
to continue the status quo.
The Federal Reserve, Taxes and Tax Court
What I will show you next will shock you. I made brief mention
in part 1, that taxes paid in this country were under treaty to
the king of England. How about if I told you that the law that
created our taxes and this countries tax court go back in history
to William the Conqueror. And to further help you understand the
below definitions, exchequer is the British branch of the Federal
Reserve.
Exchequer: "The English department of revenue. A very ancient
court of record, set up by William the Conqueror, as a part of
the aula regia, and intended principally to order the revenues of
the crown, and to recover the king's debts and duties. It was
called exchequer, "scaccharium," from the checked cloth,
resembling a chessboard, which covers the table." Ballentine's
Law Dictionary
Exchequer: "That department of the English government which has
charge of the collection of the national revenue; the treasury
department." Black's Law Dictionary 4th ed.
Exchequer: "In English Law. A department of the government
which has the management of the collection of the king's
revenue." Bouvier's Law Dictionary 1914 ed.
Court of Exchequer: "56.The court of exchequer is inferior in
rank not only to the court of king's bench, but to the common
pleas also: but I have chosen to consider it in this order, on
account of its double capacity, as a court of law and a court of
equity [44] also. It is a very ancient court of record, set up
by William the Conqueror, as a part of the aula regia, through
regulated and reduced to its present order by King Edward I; and
intended principally to order the revenues of the crown, and to
recover the king's debts and duties. It is called the exchequer,
scaccharium, from the chequed cloth, resembling a chess-board,
which covers the table there; and on which, when certain of the
king's accounts are made up, the sums are marked and scored with
counters. It consists of two divisions; the receipt of the
exchequer, which manages to royal revenue, and with which these
Commentaries have no concern; and the court or judicial part of
it, which is again subdivided into a court of equity, and a court
of common law."
Black Stone Commentaries Book III, pg 1554
Court of Exchequer: "An English superior court with jurisdiction
of matter of law and matters involving government revenue."
Ballentine's Law Dictionary
Court of Exchequer: "A court for the correction and prevention of
errors of law in the three superior common-law courts of the
kingdom.
A court of exchequer chamber was first erected by statute 31
Edw. III. C. 12, to determine causes upon writs of error from the
common-law side of the exchequer court. It consisted of the
chancellor, treasurer, and the "justices and other sage persons
as to them seemeth." The judges were merely assistants. A
second court of exchequer chamber was instituted by statute 27
Eliz. C. 8, consisting of the justices of the common pleas and
the exchequer, or any six of them, which had jurisdiction in
error of cases in the king's bench. In exchequer chamber
substituted in their place as an intermediate court of appeal
between the three common-law courts and Parliament. It consisted
of the judges of the two courts which had not rendered the
judgement in the court below. It is now merged in the High Court
of Justice."
Bouvier's Law Dictionary 1914 ed.
It gets worse, are you just a little ticked off, or maybe
you are starting to question what you have been taught all these
years? It's time to wake up America!
If you'll look at the Judiciary Act of 1789 (I know most
won't take time to read it), you'll see that all district courts
are admiralty courts. This is the king's court of commerce, in
which he is the plaintiff, recovering damages done against him,
or what belongs to him.
The equity court of the exchequer: "57. The court of equity is
held in the exchequer chamber before the lord treasurer, the
chancellor of the exchequer, the chief baron, and three puisne'
ones. These Mr. Selden conjectures to have been anciently made
out of such as were barons of the kingdom, or parliamentary
barons; and thence to have derived their name: which conjecture
receives great strength form Bracton's explanation of magna
carta, c.14, which directs that the earls and barons be amerced
by their peers; that is, says he, by the barons of the exchequer.
The primary and original business of this court is to call the
king's debtors to account, by bill filed by the attorney general;
and to recover any lands, tenements, or hereitaments, any goods,
chattels, or other profits or benefits, belonging to the crown.
So that by their original constitution the jurisdiction of the
courts of common pleas, king's bench, and exchequer, was entirely
separate and distinct; the common pleas being intended to decide
all controversies between subject and subject; the king's bench
to correct all crimes and misdemeanors that amount to a breach of
the peace, the king being then the plaintiff, as such offenses
are in open derogation of the jura regalia (regal rights) of his
crown; and the exchequer to adjust [45] and recover his revenue,
wherein the king also is plaintiff, as the withholding and
nonpayment thereof is an injury to his jura fiscalia (fisical
rights). But, as by a fiction almost all sorts of civil actions
are now allowed to be brought in the king's bench, in like manner
by another fiction all kinds of personal suits may be prosecuted
in the court of exchequer. For as all the officers and ministers
of this court have, like those of other superior courts, the
privilege of suing and being sued only in their own court; so
exchequer, are privileged to sue and implead all manner of
persons in the same court of equity that they themselves are
called into. They have likewise privilege to sue and implead one
another, or any stranger, in the same kind of common-law actions
(where the personalty only is concerned) as are prosecuted in the
court of common pleas."
Black Stone Commentaries Book III, pg 1554
The common-law court of the exchequer: "58. This gives original
to the common-law part of their jurisdiction, which was
established merely for the benefit of the king's accountants, and
is exercised by the barons only of the exchequer, and not the
treasurer or chancellor. The writ upon which the plaintiff
suggests that he is the king's farmer or debtor, and that the
defendant hath done him the injury or damage complained of; quo
minus sufficient exist, by which he is the less able, to pay the
king his debt or rent. And these suits are expressly directed,
by what is called the statute of Rutland, to be confined to such
matters only as specially concern the king or his ministers of
the exchequer. And by the articuli super cartas it is enacted
that no common pleas be thenceforth holden in the exchequer,
contrary to the form of the great charter. But not, by the
suggestion of privilege, any person may be admitted to sue in the
exchequer as well as the king's accountant. The surmise of being
debtor to the king is therefore become matter of form and mere
words of course, and the court is open to all the nation equally.
The same holds with regard to the equity side of the court: for
there any person may file [46] a bill against another upon a bare
suggestion that he is the king's accountant; but whether he is so
or not is never controverted. In this court, on the nonpayment
of titles; in which case the surmise of being the king's debtor
is no fiction, they being bound to pay him their first-fruits,
and annual tenths. But the chancery has of late years obtained a
large share in this business."
Black Stone Commentaries Book III, pg 1555
Definition of a legal fiction: For a discussion of fictions in
law, see chapter II of Maine's Ancient Law, and Pollock's note D
in his edition of the Ancient Law. Blackstone gives
illustrations of legal fictions on pages 43, 45, 153, 203 of this
book. Mr Justice Curtis (Jurisdiction of United States Courts,
2d ed., 148) gives the following instance of a fiction in our
practice:
"A suit by or against a corporation in its corporate name
may be presumed to be a suit by or against citizens of the state
which created the corporate body, and no averment or denial to
the contrary is admissible for the purpose of withdrawing the
suit from the jurisdiction of a court of the United States.
There is the Roman fiction: The court first decides the law,
presumes all the members are citizens of the state which created
the corporation, and then says, `you shall not traverse that
presumption'; and that is the law now. (Authors note-by your
residence you are incorporated) Under it, the courts of the
United States constantly entertain suits by or against
corporations. (Muller v. Dows, 94 U. S. 444, 24 L. Ed. 207.) It
has been so frequently settled, that there is not the slightest
reason to suppose that it will ever be departed from by the
court. It has been repeated over and over again in subsequent
decisions; and the supreme court seem entirely satisfied that it
is the right ground to stand upon; and, as I am now going to
state to you, they have applied it in some cases which go beyond,
much beyond, these decisions to which I have referred. So that
when a suit is to be brought in a court of the United States by
or against a corporation, by reason of the character of the
parties, you have only to say that this corporation (after naming
it correctly) was created by a law of the state; and that is
exactly the same in its consequences as if you could allege, and
did allege, that the corporation was a citizen of that state.
According to the present decisions, it is not necessary you
should say that the members of that corporation are citizens of
Massachusetts. They have passed beyond that. You have only to
say that the corporation was created by a law of the state of
Massachusetts, and has its principal place of business in that
state; and that makes it, for the purposes of jurisdiction, the
same as if it were a citizen of that state" See Pound, Readings
in Roman Law, 95n.
Black Stone Commentaries Book III, pg 1553
Combine this with what I said earlier concerning power of
the treaty and it's creation of the corporate State, and you now
know why you are not allowed to challenge residence or subjection
in the State Courts. And because of the treaty, residence in the
State is synonymous with residence in the district. I know this
puts a sour taste in your mouth, because it does mine, but that
is the condition we find ourselves in. The only way I see to
change it, is to change the treaty and reinforce the original
Declaration of Independence, but this would meet severe objection
on the part of the international Bankers, and or course the
king's heirs in England. And most Americans, even if they were
aware of this information, would have no stomach for the turmoil
this would cause.
Still a little fuzzy on what has taken place, the word
Exchequer is still used today? In Britain the Exchequer is the
Federal Reserve, the same as our Federal Reserve. They just
changed the name here as they have done many things to cloud what
is taking place, hoping no one would catch on. Who wrote the
Federal Reserve Act, and put it in place in this country?
Bankers from the Bank of England with their counter part in New
York!
Congressman McFadden: "I hope that is the case, but I may say to
the gentleman that during the sessions of this Economic
Conference in London there is another meeting taking place in
London.
We were advised by reports from London last Sunday of the arrival
of George L. Harrison, Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York, and we were advised that accompanying him was Mr.
Crane, the Deputy Governor, and James P. Warburg, of the Kuhn-
Loeb banking family, of New York and Hamburg, Germany, and also
Mr. O. M. W. Sprague, recently in the pay of Great Britain as
chief economic and financial adviser of Mr. Norman, Governor of
the Bank Of England, and now supposed to represent our Treasury.
These men landed in England and rushed to the Bank of England for
a private conference, taking their luggage with them, before even
going to their hotel. We know this conference has been taking
place for the past 3 days behind closed doors in the Bank of
England with these gentlemen meeting with heads of the Bank of
England and the Bank for International Settlements, of Basel,
Switzerland, and the head of the Bank France, Mr. Maret. They
are discussing war debts; they are discussing stabilization of
exchanges and the Federal Reserve System, I may say to the
Members of the House.
The Federal reserve System, headed by George L. Harrison, is
our premier, who is dealing with debts behind the closed doors of
the Bank of England; and the United States Treasury is there,
represented by O. M. W. Sprague, who until the last 10 days was
the representative of the Bank of England, and by Mr. James P.
Warburg, who is the son of the principal author of the Federal
Reserve Act. Many things are being settled behind the closed
doors of the Bank of England by this group. No doubt this group
were pleased to hear that yesterday the Congress passed
amendments to the Federal Reserve Act and that the President
signed the bill which turns over to the Federal Reserve System
the complete total financial resources of money and credit in the
United States. Apparently the domination and control of the
international banking group is being
strengthened....Congressional Record, June 14, 1934
What else does the Exchequer do? The government (Congress)
puts up bonds (bills of credit) on the international market, that
the Federal Reserve (Exchequer) prints fiat money, for which the
government (Congress) is the guarantor for, read the following
quote:
Exchequer Bills: Bills of credit issued by authority of
parliament.
They constitute the medium of transaction of business
between the bank of England and the government. The exchequer
bills contain a guarantee from government which secures the
holders against loss by fluctuation. Bouvier's Law Dictionary
1914 ed.
Also re-read "A Country Defeated In Victory". Who do you
think the national debt is owed to? If that's not bad enough the
bond indebtedness allowed the king to foreclose on his colony
when it was time for the one World government, the king/bankers
caused us to reorganize under bankruptcy. The Bank of England
allowed the United States to use you and I (our labor) for
collateral and all the property in America, read the following
quote:
Congressman Lemke: "....This nation is bankrupt; every State in
this Union is bankrupt; the people of the United States, as a
whole, are bankrupt. The public and private debts of this
Nation, which are evidenced by bonds, mortgages, notes, or other
written instruments about to about $250,000,000,000, and it is
estimated that there is about $50,000,000,000 of which there is
no record, making in all about $300,000,000,000 of public and
private debts. The total physical cash value of all the property
in the United States is now estimated at about $70,000,000,000.
That is more than it would bring if sold at public auction. In
this we do not include debts or the evidence of debts, such as
bonds, mortgages, and so fourth. These are not physical
property. They will have to be paid out of the physical
property. How are we going to pay $300,000,000,000 with only
$70,000,000,000?" Congressional Record, March 3, 1934, footnote
#10
This debt was more than could be paid as of 1934, this
caused the declared bankruptcy by President Roosevelt. Now the
national debt is over 12,000,000,000,000. The government only
tells you about 5,000,000,000,000, they don't tell you about the
corporate debt, which America is also guarantor for. Add to that
the personal debt; you know credit cards and home loans, and it
approaches 20,000,000,000,000, that's trillion for those of you
that miss read the number of zero's. Mix this with a super
inflated stock market and a huge trade deficit, and that is what
brings you to understand my subtitle for this paper. BEND OVER
AMERICA. What could possibly be the purpose of the international
bankers allowing our nation to over extend so badly and not cut
us off? When back in 1934 they could have legally seized the
whole country. We are being used for the purpose of the
international bankers which is loaning money to third world
countries, to enslave them as we are, to colonize the world for
Britain, and to use our military machine to control unruly
countries and to collect the king's debt. There will soon be a
United Nations personal income tax for the whole world. The end
purpose of the international bankers, is a one world government,
with England as the center of government and the international
bankers calling the shots.
Don't despair all these things have to come to pass. I used
to think; what if? Jesus Word says, these things have to take
place for the world government to come to pass.
I am going to share a dream I had, July 1992, at the risk of
being ridiculed. I told my friend who is mentioned in the dream,
the next day. At that time neither of us understood the dream,
about a month later I started to understand when I began learning
about admiralty law and where our admiralty law came from. As
time has passed I have come to understand the dream, because of
further information coming to light, such as the information
contained in part 1, and part 2, which you are now reading. I
new when I woke up that the dream was not the normal nonsense you
can sometimes experience in a dream. And I might add I dream
very seldom, after having this dream I was given the desire to
write down and pass along the information that has been brought
my way, via. the Holy Spirit. The information has defined the
dream not the other way around.
MY DREAM
July 1992 A record of a dream I had. I was what
appeared to be hovering above the below scene, and it appeared to
be three dimensional, like the scene had texture. It was also in
color, with the smell of war in the air. I awoke at 5:00 am, and
was wide awake and immediately wrote down what took place in my
dream.
A friend and I were among thousands of Christians that were
massed together awaiting execution. I saw untold thousands of
Christians executed before us. There were many troops guarding
us, these troops were British; they had on Revolutionary War
clothing and were carrying the old style muskets.
The people that went before us to be executed went
voluntarily. They went out of some false sense of duty to this
envisioned government, that was British controlled. These people
were in ranks waiting to be lead away to their death. While
standing in the ranks my friend and I kept looking at one
another, but we were separated by what seemed to be hundreds of
people.
Just before they called our number they lead us away (untold
thousands) under guard to return later. I asked some of the
people in the ranks to step aside so I could get next to my
friend. I told him that while I was in the ranks awaiting death,
the Holy Spirit told me not to listen to their reasons for death,
but to consider His reasons (Holy Spirit's) for the sanctity of
life and that we were to do whatever it took to stay alive and
defeat the beast. I saw myself tapping my friend on the head,
and told him this was an example of how the Holy Spirit related
to me, that He wanted our attention.
The Holy Spirit said we were to go and do the Holy Spirit's
bidding no matter where it lead us and that we would be
protected. We both looked at each other and decided we could not
die voluntarily as the other Christians. We looked at each other
and said this is crazy, my friend said this is voluntary just
like being a Fourteenth Amendment citizen. We then walked out of
the ranks right in front of the British guards, unseen and
escaped.
Keep in mind you cannot control your dreams. Does God
Almighty still communicate through dreams as he did with George
Washington? The Bible makes it clear He does. Whether this
dream is a product of uncontrolled imagination while asleep, or
insight from the Holy Spirit, I will only say, let history
decide. I am satisfied of the dreams origin, because of its
fulfillment through recent knowledge, that wasn't known at that
time. I hope you will read the rest of the documentation in the
footnotes following this commentary.
FOOTNOTES
Footnote #1
Chronology of North Carolina Governors Original Virginia Colony
Ralph Lane, 1585 - 1586
John White, 1587
Commander of the Southern Plantation
Samuel Stephens, 1662 - 1664 (later governor under Lords
Proprietors)
Lords Proprietors
William Drummond, 1664 - 1667
Samuel Stephens, 1667 - 1669 (previously Commander of the
Southern Plantation)<
Peter Carteret, 1670 - 1672
John Jenkins, 1672 - 1677 (first of two terms)
Thomas Eastchurch, 1676 - 1678 (never actually served)
Thomas Miller, 1677
John Harvey, 1679
John Jenkins, 1679 - 1681 (second term)
Philip Ludwell, 1689 - 1691
Thomas Jarvis, 1691 - 1694
John Archdale, 1694 - 1696
Thomas Harvey, 1696 - 1699
Henderson Walker, 1699 - 1704
Robert Daniel, 1704 - 1705
Thomas Cary, 1705 - 1706 (first of two terms)
William Glover, 1706 - 1708
Thomas Cary, 1708 - 1711 (second of two terms)
Edward Hyde, 1711 - 1712
Thomas Pollock, 1712 - 1714 (first of two terms)
Charles Eden, 1714 - 1722
Thomas Pollock, 1722 (second of two terms)
William Reed, 1722 - 1724
George Burrington, 1724 - 1725 (later royal governor)
Richard Everard, 1725 - 1731
Royal Governors
George Burrington, 1731 - 1734 (previously governor under the
Lords Proprietors)
Gabriel Johnston, 1734 - 1752
Nathaniel Rice, 1752 - 1753
Matthew Rowan, 1753 - 1754
Arthur Dobbs, 1754 - 1765
William Tryon, 1675 - 1771
James Hasell, 1771
Josiah Martin, 1771 - 1775
Governors of the State of North Carolina
Richard Caswell, 1776 - 1780 (first of two terms)
Abner Nash, 1780 - 1781
Thomas Burke, 1781 - 1782
Alexander Martin, 1782 - 1785 (first of two terms)
Richard Caswell, 1784 - 1787 (second of two terms)
Samuel Johnston, 1787 - 1789
Alexander Martin, 1789 - 1792 (second of two terms)
Richard Dobbs Spaight, Sr., 1792 - 1795
Samuel Ashe, 1795 - 1798
William Richardson Davie, 1798 - 1799
Benjamin Williams, 1799 - 1802 (first of two terms)
James Turner, 1802 - 1805
Nathaniel Alexander, 1805 - 1807
Benjamin Williams, 1807 - 1808 (second of two terms)
David Stone, 1808 - 1810
Benjamin Smith, 1810 - 1811
William Hawkins, 1811 - 1814
William Miller, 1814 - 1817
John Branch, 1817 - 1820
Jesse Franklin, 1820 - 1821
Gabriel Holmes, 1821 - 1824
Hutchins Gordon Burton, 1824 - 1827
James Iredell, Jr., 1827 - 1828
John Owen, 1828 - 1830
Montford Stokes, 1830 - 1832
David Lowry Swain, 1832 - 1835
Richard Dobbs Spaight, Jr., 1835 - 1836
Edward Dudley Bishop, 1836 - 1841
John Motley Morehead, 1841 - 1845
William Alexander Graham, 1845 - 1849
Charles Manly, 1849 - 1850
David Steele Reid, 1851 - 1854
Warren Winslow, 1854 - 1855
Thomas Bragg, 1855 - 1859
John Willis Ellis, 1859 - 1861
Henry Toole Clark, 1861 - 1862
Zebulon Baird Vance, 1862 - 1865 (first of two terms)
William Woods Holden, 1865 (first of two terms)
Jonathan Worth, 1865 - 1868
William Woods Holden, 1868 - 1870
Tod Robinson Caldwell, 1870 - 1874
Curtis Hooks Brogden, 1874 - 1877
Zebulon Baird Vance, 1877 - 1879 (second of two terms)
Thomas Jordan Jarvis, 1879 - 1885
James Lowry Robinson, 1883
Alfred Moore Scales, 1885 - 1889
David Gould Fowle, 1889 - 1891
Thomas Michael Holt, 1891 - 1893
Elias Carr, 1893 - 1897
Daniel Lindsay Russell, 1897 - 1901
Charles Brantley Aycock, 1901 - 1905
Robert Broadnax Glenn, 1905 - 1909
William Walton Kitchin, 1909 - 1913
Locke Craig, 1913 - 1917
Thomas Walter Bickett, 1917 - 1921
Cameron Morrison, 1921 - 1925
Angus Wilton McLean, 1925 - 1929
Oliver Max Gardner, 1929 - 1933
John Christoph Blucher Ehringhaus, 1933 - 1937
Clyde Roark Hoey, 1937 - 1941
Joseph Melville Broughton, 1941 - 1945
Robert Gregg Cherry, 1945 - 1949
William Kerr Scott, 1949 - 1953
William Bradley Umstead, 1953 - 1954
Luther Hartwell Hodges, 1954 - 1961
Terry Sanford, 1961 - 1965
Dan Killian Moore, 1965 - 1969
Robert Walker Scott, 1969 - 1973
James Eubert Holshouser, Jr., 1973 - 1977
James Baxter Hunt, Jr., 1977 - 1985 (first of two terms)
James Grubbs Martin, 1985 - 1993
James Baxter Hunt, Jr., 1993 - Present
Footnote #2
THE SECOND VIRGINIA CHARTER
The Second Virginia Charter May 23, 1609
James, by the grace of God [King of England, Scotland,
France and Ireland, defender of the faith, etc.] To all [to whom
these presents shall come, greeting.]
Whereas, at the humble suite and request of sondrie oure
lovinge and well disposed subjects intendinge to deduce a colonie
and to make habitacion and plantacion of sondrie of oure people
in that parte of America comonlie called Virginia, and other part
and territories in America either apperteyninge unto us or which
are not actually possessed of anie Christian prince or people
within certaine bound and regions, wee have formerly, by oure
lettres patents bearinge date the tenth of Aprill in the fourth
yeare of oure raigne of England, Fraunce, and Ireland, and the
nine and thirtieth of Scotland, graunted to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir
George Somers and others, for the more speedie accomplishment of
the said plantacion and habitacion, that they shoulde devide
themselves into twoe colloniesthe one consistinge of divers
Knights, gentlemen, merchaunts and others of our cittie of
London, called the First Collonie; and the other of sondrie
Knights, gentlemen and others of the citties of Bristoll, Exeter,
the towne of Plymouth, and other places, called the Seccond
Collonieand have yielded and graunted maine and sondrie
priviledges and liberties to each Collonie for their quiet
setlinge and good government therein, as by the said lettres
patents more at large appeareth.
Nowe, forasmuch as divers and sondrie of oure lovinge
subjects, as well adventurers as planters, of the said First
Collonie (which have alreadie engaged them selves in furtheringe
the businesse of the said plantacion and doe further intende by
the assistance of Almightie God to prosecute the same to a happie
ende) have of late ben humble suiters unto us that, in respect of
their great chardeges and the adventure of manie of their lives
which they have hazarded in the said discoverie and plantacion of
the said countrie, wee woulde be pleased to graunt them a further
enlargement and explanacion of the said graunte, priviledge and
liberties, and that suche counsellors and other officers maie be
appointed amonngest them to manage and direct their affaires [as]
are willinge and readie to adventure with them; as also whose
dwellings are not so farr remote from the cittye of London but
that they maie at convenient tymes be readie at hande to give
advice and assistance upon all occacions requisite.
We, greatlie affectinge the effectual prosecucion and happie
successe of the said plantacion and comendinge their good desires
theirin, for their further encouragement in accomplishinge so
excellent a worke, much pleasinge to God and profitable to oure
Kingdomes, doe, of oure speciall grace and certeine knowledge and
meere motion, for us, oure heires and successors, give, graunt
and confirme to oure trustie and welbeloved subjects,
[Subjects deleted by author, because of space]
And to such and so manie as they doe or shall hereafter
admitt to be joyned with them, in forme hereafter in theis
presentes expressed, whether they goe in their persons to be
planters there in the said plantacion, or whether they goe not,
but doe adventure their monyes, goods or chattels, that they
shalbe one bodie or communaltie perpetuall and shall have
perpetual succession and one common seale to serve for the saide
bodie or communaltie; and that they and their successors shalbe
knowne, called and incorporated by the name of The Tresorer and
Companie of Adventurers and Planters of the Citty of London for
the Firste Collonie in Virginia.
And that they and their successors shalbe from hensforth,
forever enabled to take, acquire and purchase, by the name
aforesaid (licens for the same from us, oure heires or successors
first had and obtained) anie manner of lands, tenements and
hereditaments, goods and chattels, within oure realme of England
and dominion of Wales; and that they and their successors shalbe
likewise enabled, by the name aforesaid, to pleade and to be
impleaded before anie of oure judges or justices, in anie oure
courts, and in anie accions or suits whatsoever.
And wee doe also, of oure said speciall grace, certaine
knowledge and mere mocion, give, grannte and confirme unto the
said Treasurer and Companie, and their successors, under the
reservacions, limittacions and declaracions hereafter expressed,
all those lands, countries and territories scituat, lieinge and
beinge in that place of America called Virginia, from the pointe
of lande called Cape or Pointe Comfort all alonge the seacoste to
the northward twoe hundred miles and from the said pointe of Cape
Comfort all alonge the sea coast to the southward twoe hundred
miles; and all that space and circuit of lande lieinge from the
sea coaste of the precinct aforesaid upp unto the lande,
throughoute, from sea to sea, west and northwest; and also all
the island beinge within one hundred miles alonge the coaste of
bothe seas of the precincte aforesaid; togeather with all the
soiles, groundes, havens and portes, mynes, aswell royall mynes
of golde and silver as other mineralls, pearles and precious
stones, quarries, woods, rivers, waters, fishings, comodities,
jurisdictions, royalties, priviledges, franchisies and
preheminences within the said territorie and the precincts there
of whatsoever; and thereto or there abouts, both by sea and
lande, beinge or in anie sorte belonginge or appertayninge, and
which wee by oure lettres patents maie or cann graunte; and in as
ample manner and sorte as wee or anie oure noble progenitors have
heretofore graunted to anie companie, bodie pollitique or
corporate, or to anie adventurer or adventurers, undertaker or
undertakers, of anie discoveries, plantacions or traffique of,
in, or into anie forraine parts whatsoever; and in as large and
ample manner as if the same were herin particulerly mentioned and
expressed: to have, houlde, possesse and enjoye all and singuler
the said landes, countries and territories with all and singuler
other the premisses heretofore by theis [presents] graunted or
mencioned to be grannted, to them, the said Treasurer and
Companie, their successors and assignes, forever; to the sole and
proper use of them, the said Treasurer and Companie, their
successors and assignes [forever], to be holden of us, oure
heires and successors, as of oure mannour of Estgreenewich, in
free and common socage and not in capite; yeldinge and payinge,
therefore, to us, oure heires and successors, the fifte parte
onlie of all oare of gould and silver that from tvme to time, and
at all times hereafter, shalbe there gotton, had and obtained,
for all manner of service.
And, nevertheles, oure will and pleasure is, and wee doe by
theis presentes chardge, commannde, warrant and auctorize, that
the said Treasurer and Companie and their successors, or the
major parte of them which shall be present and assembled for that
purpose, shall from time to time under their common seale
distribute, convey, assigne and set over such particuler porcions
of lands, tenements and hereditaments, by theise presents
formerly grannted, unto such oure lovinge subjects naturallie
borne of denizens, or others, aswell adventurers as planters, as
by the said Companie, upon a commission of survey and
distribucion executed and retourned for that purpose, shalbe
named, appointed and allowed, wherein oure will and pleasure is,
that respect be had as well of the proporcion of the adventure[r]
as to the speciall service, hazarde, exploite or meritt of anie
person so as to be recompenced, advannced or rewarded.
And for as muche as the good and prosperous successe of the
said plantacion cannot but cheiflie depende, next under the
blessinge of God and the supporte of oure royall aucthoritie,
upon the provident and good direccion of the whole enterprise by
a carefull and understandinge Counsell, and that it is not
convenient that all the adventurers shalbe so often drawne to
meete and assemble as shalbe requisite for them to have metings
and conference aboute theire affaires, therefore we doe ordaine,
establishe and confirme that there shalbe perpetually one
Counsell here resident, accordinge to the tenor of oure former
lettres patents, which Counsell shall have a seale for the better
governement and administracion of the said plantacion besides the
legall seale of the Companie or Corporacion, as in oure former
lettres patents is also expressed.
And further wee establishe and ordaine that
Henrie, Earl of Southampton
William, Earl of Pembrooke
Henrie, Earl of Lincoln
Thomas, Earl of Exeter
Roberte, Lord Viscounte Lisle
Lord Theophilus Howard
James, Lord Bishopp of Bathe and Wells
Edward, Lord Zouche
Thomas, Lord Laware
William, Lord Mounteagle
Edmunde, Lord Sheffeilde
Grey, Lord Shanndoys [Chandois]
John, Lord Stanhope
George, Lord Carew
Sir Humfrey Welde, Lord Mayor of London
Sir Edward Cecil
Sir William Waad [Wade]
Sir Henrie Nevill
Sir Thomas Smith
Sir Oliver Cromwell
Sir Peter Manwood
Sir Thomas Challoner
Sir Henrie Hovarte [Hobart]
Sir Franncis Bacon
Sir George Coppin
Sir John Scott
Sir Henrie Carey
Sir Roberte Drurie [Drury]
Sir Horatio Vere
Sir Eward Conwaye [Conway]
Sir Maurice Berkeley [Barkeley]
Sir Thomas Gates
Sir Michaele Sands [Sandys]
Sir Roberte Mansfeild [Mansel]
Sir John Trevor
Sir Amyas Preston
Sir William Godolphin
Sir Walter Cope
Sir Robert Killigrewe
Sir Henrie Faushawe [Fanshaw]
Sir Edwyn Sandes [Sandys]
Sir John Watts
Sir Henrie Montague
Sir William Romney
Sir Thomas Roe
Sir Baptiste Hicks
Sir Richard Williamson
Sir Stephen Powle [Poole]
Sir Dudley Diggs
Christopher Brooke, [Esq.]
John Eldred, and
John Wolstenholme
shalbe oure Counsell for the said Companie of Adventurers and
Planters in Virginia.
And the said Sir Thomas Smith wee ordaine to be Treasurer of
the said Companie, which Treasurer shall have aucthoritie to give
order for the warninge of the Counsell and sommoninge the
Companie to their courts and meetings.
And the said Counsell and Treasurer or anie of them shalbe
from henceforth nominated, chosen, contynued, displaced,
chaunged, altered and supplied, as death or other severall
occasions shall require, out of the Companie of the said
adventurers by the voice of the greater parte of the said
Counsell and adventurers in their assemblie for that purpose;
provided alwaies that everie Councellor so newlie elected shalbe
presented to the Lord Channcellor of England, or to the Lord
Highe Treasurer of England, or the Lord Chambleyne of the
housholde of us, oure heires and successors, for the tyme beinge
to take his oathe of a Counsellor to us, oure heires and
Successors, for the said Companie and Collonie in Virginia.
And wee doe by theis presents, of oure especiall grace,
certaine knowledge and meere motion, for us, oure heires and
successors, grannte unto the said Treasurer and Companie and
their successors, that if it happen at anie time or times the
Treasurer for the tyme beinge to be sick, or to have anie such
cause of absente from the cittie of London as shalbe allowed by
the said Counsell or the greater parte of them assembled, so as
he cannot attende the affaires of that Companie, in everie such
case it shall and maie be lawfull for such Treasurer for the tyme
beinge to assigne, constitute and appointe one of the Counsell
for Companie to be likewise allowed by the Counsell or the
greater parte of them assembled to be the deputie Treasurer for
the said Companie; which Deputie shall have power to doe and
execute all things which belonge to the said Treasurer duringe
such tyme as such Treasurer shalbe sick or otherwise absent, upon
cause allowed of by the said Counsell or the major parte of them
as aforesaid, so fullie and wholie and in as large and ample
manner and forme and to all intents and purposes as the said
Treasurer if he were present himselfe maie or might doe and
execute the same.
And further of oure especiall grace, certaine knowledge and
meere mocion, for us, oure heires and successors, wee doe by
theis presents give and grannt full power and aucthoritie to oure
said Counsell here resident aswell at this present tyme as
hereafter, from time to time, to nominate, make, constitute,
ordaine and confirme by such name or names, stile or stiles as to
them shall seeme good, and likewise to revoke, dischardge,
channge and alter aswell all and singuler governors, oficers and
ministers which alreadie hath ben made, as also which hereafter
shalbe by them thought fitt and meedefull to be made or used for
the government of the said Colonie and plantacion.
And also to make, ordaine and establishe all manner of
orders, lawes, directions, instructions, formes and ceremonies of
government and magistracie, fitt and necessarie, for and
concerninge the government of the said Colonie and plantacion;
and the same att all tymes hereafter to abrogate, revoke or
chaunge, not onely within the precincts of the said Colonie but
also upon the seas in goeing and cominge to and from the said
Collonie, as they in their good discrecions shall thinke to be
fittest for [the] good of the adventurers and inhabiters there.
And we doe also declare that for divers reasons and
consideracions us thereunto especiallie moving, oure will and
pleasure is and wee doe hereby ordaine that imediatlie from and
after such time as anie such governour or principall officer so
to be nominated and appointed by oure said Counsell for the
governement of the said Colonie, as aforesaid, shall arive in
Virginia and give notice unto the Collonie there resident of oure
pleasure in this behalfe, the government, power and aucthority of
the President and Counsell, heretofore by oure former lettres
patents there established, and all lawes and constitucions by
them formerlie made, shall utterly cease and be determined; and
all officers, governours and ministers formerly constituted or
appointed shalbe dischardged, anie thinge in oure said former
lettres patents conserninge the said plantacion contayned in
aniewise to the contrarie notwithstandinge; streightlie
chardginge and commaundinge the President and Counsell nowe
resident in the said Collonie upon their alleadgiance after
knowledge given unto them of oure will and pleasure by theis
presentes signified and declared, that they forth with be
obedient to such governor or governers as by oure said Counsell
here resident shalbe named and appointed as aforesaid; and to all
direccions, orders and commandements which they shall receive
from them, aswell in the present resigninge and giveinge upp of
their aucthoritie, offices, chardg and places, as in all other
attendannce as shalbe by them from time to time required.
And wee doe further by theis presentes ordaine and
establishe that the said Treasurer and Counsell here resident,
and their successors or anie fower of them assembled (the
Treasurer beinge one), shall from time to time have full power
and aucthoritie to admitt and receive anie other person into
their companie, corporacion and freedome; and further, in a
generall assemblie of the adventurers, with the consent of the
greater parte upon good cause, to disfranchise and putt oute anie
person or persons oute of the said fredome and Companie.
And wee doe also grannt and confirme for us, oure heires and
successors that it shalbe lawfull for the said Treasurer and
Companie and their successors, by direccion of the Governors
there, to digg and to serche for all manner of mynes of goulde,
silver, copper, iron, leade, tinne and other mineralls aswell
within the precincts aforesaid as within anie parte of the maine
lande not formerly graunted to anie other; and to have and enjoye
the gould, silver, copper, iron, leade, and tinn, and all other
mineralls to be gotten thereby, to the use and behoofe of the
said Companie of Planters and Adventurers, yeldinge therefore and
payinge yerelie unto us, oure heires and successors, as
aforesaid.
And wee doe further of oure speciall grace, certaine
knowledge and meere motion, for us, oure heires and successors,
grannt, by theis presents to and withe the said Treasurer and
Companie and their successors, that it shalbe lawfull and free
for them and their assignes at all and everie time and times here
after, oute of oure realme of England and oute of all other [our]
dominions, to take and leade into the said voyage, and for and
towards the said plantacion, and to travell thitherwards and to
abide and inhabite therein the said Colonie and plantacion, all
such and so manie of oure lovinge subjects, or anie other
straungers that wilbecomme oure lovinge subjects and live under
oure allegiance, as shall willinglie accompanie them in the said
voyadge and plantation with sufficient shippinge armour, weapons,
ordinannce, municion, powder, shott, victualls, and such
merchaundize or wares as are esteemed by the wilde people in
those parts, clothinge, implements, furnitures, catle, horses and
mares, and all other thinges necessarie for the said plantation
and for their use and defence and trade with the people there,
and in passinge and retourninge to and from without yeldinge or
payinge subsedie, custome, imposicion, or anie other taxe or
duties to us, oure heires or successors, for the space of seaven
yeares from the date of theis presents; provided, that none of
the said persons be such as shalbe hereafter by speciall name
restrained by us, oure heires or successors.
And for their further encouragement, of oure speciall grace
and favour, wee doe by theis present for us, oure heires and
successors, yeild and graunte to and with the said Treasurer and
Companie and their successors and everie of them, their factors
and assignes, that they and every of them shalbe free and quiett
of all subsedies and customes in Virginia for the space of one
and twentie yeres, and from all taxes and imposicions for ever,
upon anie goods or merchaundizes at anie time or times hereafter,
either upon importation thither or exportation from thence into
oure realme of England or into anie other of oure [realms or]
dominions, by the said Treasurer and Companie and their
successors, their deputies, factors [or] assignes or anie of
them, except onlie the five pound per centum due for custome upon
all such good and merchanndizes as shalbe brought or imported
into oure realme of England or anie other of theis oure dominions
accordinge to the auncient trade of merchannts, which five
poundes per centum onely beinge paid, it shalbe thensforth
lawfull and free for the said Adventurers the same goods [and]
merchaundizes to export and carrie oute of oure said dominions
into forraine partes without anie custome, taxe or other duty to
be paide to us oure heires or successors or to anie other oure
officers or deputies; provided, that the saide goods and
merchaundizes be shipped out within thirteene monethes after
their first landinge within anie parte of those dominions.
And wee doe also confirme and grannt to the said Treasurer
and Companie, and their successors, as also to all and everie
such governer or other officers and ministers as by oure said
Counsell shalbe appointed, to have power and aucthoritie of
governement and commannd in or over the said Colonie or
plantacion; that they and everie of them shall and lawfullie maie
from tyme to tyme and at all tymes forever hereafter, for their
severall defence and safetie, enconnter, expulse, repell and
resist by force and armes, aswell by sea as by land, and all
waies and meanes whatsoever, all and everie such person and
persons whatsoever as without the speciall licens of the said
Treasurer and Companie and their successors shall attempte to
inhabite within the said
severall precincts and lymitts of the said Colonie and
plantacion; and also, all and everie such person and persons
whatsoever as shall enterprise, or attempte at anie time
hereafter, destruccion, invasion, hurte, detriment or annoyannce
to the said Collonye and plantacion, as is likewise specified in
the said former grannte.
And that it shalbe lawful for the said Treasurer and
Companie, and their successors and everie of them, from time to
time and at all times hereafter, and they shall have full power
and aucthoritie, to take and surprise by all waies and meanes
whatsoever all and everie person and persons whatsoever, with
their shippes, goods and other furniture, traffiquinge in anie
harbor, creeke or place within the limitts or precincts of the
said Colonie and plantacion, [not] being allowed by the said
Companie to be adventurers or planters of the said Colonie,
untill such time as they beinge of anie realmes or dominions
under oure obedience shall paie or agree to paie, to the hands of
the Treasurer or [of] some other officer deputed by the said
governors in Virginia (over and above such subsedie and custome
as the said Companie is or here after shalbe to paie) five
poundes per centum upon all goods and merchaundizes soe brought
in thither, and also five per centum upon all goods by them
shipped oute from thence; and being straungers and not under oure
obedience untill they have payed (over and above such subsedie
and custome as the same Treasurer and Companie and their
successors is or hereafter shalbe to paie) tenn pounds per centum
upon all such goods, likewise carried in and oute, any thinge in
the former lettres patents to the contrarie not withstandinge;
and the same sommes of monie and benefitt as aforesaid for and
duringe the space of one and twentie yeares shalbe wholie
imploied to the benefitt and behoof of the said Colonie and
plantacion; and after the saide one and twentie yeares ended, the
same shalbe taken to the use of us, oure heires or successors, by
such officer and minister as by us, oure heires or successors,
shalbe thereunto assigned and appointed, as is specified in the
said former lettres patents.
Also wee doe, for us, oure heires and successors, declare by
theis presents, that all and everie the persons beinge oure
subjects which shall goe and inhabit within the said Colonye and
plantacion, and everie of their children and posteritie which
shall happen to be borne within [any] the lymitts thereof, shall
have [and] enjoye all liberties, franchesies and immunities of
free denizens and naturall subjects within anie of oure other
dominions to all intents and purposes as if they had bine
abidinge and borne within this oure kingdome of England or in
anie other of oure dominions.
And forasmuch as it shalbe necessarie for all such our
lovinge subjects as shall inhabitt within the said precincts of
Virginia aforesaid to determine to live togither in the feare and
true woorshipp of Almightie God, Christian peace and civill
quietnes, each with other, whereby everie one maie with more
safety, pleasure and profitt enjoye that where unto they shall
attaine with great paine and perill, wee, for us, oure heires and
successors, are likewise pleased and contented and by theis
presents doe give and graunte unto the said Tresorer and Companie
and their successors and to such governors, officers and
ministers as shalbe, by oure said Councell, constituted and
appointed, accordinge to the natures and lymitts of their offices
and places respectively, that they shall and maie from time to
time for ever hereafter, within the said precincts of Virginia or
in the waie by the seas thither and from thence, have full and
absolute power and aucthority to correct, punishe, pardon,
governe and rule all such the subjects of us, oure heires and
successors as shall from time to time adventure themselves in
anie voiadge thither or that shall at anie tyme hereafter
inhabitt in the precincts and territorie of the said Colonie as
aforesaid, accordinge to such order, ordinaunces, constitution,
directions and instruccions as by oure said Counsell, as
aforesaid, shalbe established; and in defect thereof, in case of
necessitie according to the good discretions of the said
governours and officers respectively, aswell in cases capitall
and criminall as civill, both marine and other, so alwaies as the
said statuts, ordinannces and proceedinges as neere as
convenientlie maie be, be agreable to the lawes, statutes,
government and pollicie of this oure realme of England.
And we doe further of oure speciall grace, certeine
knowledge and mere mocion, grant, declare and ordaine that such
principall governour as from time to time shall dulie and
lawfullie be aucthorised and appointed, in manner and forme in
theis presents heretofore expressed, shall [have] full power and
aucthoritie to use and exercise marshall lawe in cases of
rebellion or mutiny in as large and ample manner as oure
leiutenant in oure counties within oure realme of England have or
ought to have by force of their comissions of lieutenancy. And
furthermore, if anie person or persons, adventurers or planters,
of the said Colonie, or anie other at anie time or times
hereafter, shall transporte anie monyes, goods or marchaundizes
oute of anie [of] oure kingdomes with a pretence or purpose to
lande, sell or otherwise dispose the same within the lymitts and
bounds of the said Collonie, and yet nevertheles beinge at sea or
after he hath landed within anie part of the said Colonie shall
carrie the same into anie other forraine Countrie, with a purpose
there to sell and dispose there of that, then all the goods and
chattels of the said person or persons so offendinge and
transported, together with the shipp or vessell wherein such
transportacion was made, shalbe forfeited to us, oure heires and
successors.
And further, oure will and pleasure is, that in all
questions and doubts that shall arrise upon anie difficultie of
construccion or interpretacion of anie thinge contained either in
this or in oure said former lettres patents, the same shalbe
taken and interpreted in most ample and beneficiall manner for
the said Tresorer and Companie and their successors and everie
member there of.
And further, wee doe by theis presents ratifie and confirme
unto the said Tresorer and Companie and their successors all
privuleges, franchesies, liberties and immunties graunted in oure
said former lettres patents and not in theis oure lettres patents
revoked, altered, channged or abridged.
And finallie, oure will and pleasure is and wee doe further
hereby for us, oure heires and successors grannte and agree, to
and with the said Tresorer and Companie and their successors,
that all and singuler person and persons which shall at anie time
or times hereafter adventure anie somme or sommes of money in and
towards the said plantacion of the said Colonie in Virginia and
shalbe admitted by the said Counsell and Companie as adventurers
of the said Colonie, in forme aforesaid, and shalbe enrolled in
the booke or record of the adventurers of the said Companye,
shall and maie be accompted, accepted, taken, helde and reputed
Adventurers of the said Collonie and shall and maie enjoye all
and singuler grannts, priviledges, liberties, benefitts,
profitts, commodities [and immunities], advantages and emoluments
whatsoever as fullie, largely, amplie and absolutely as if they
and everie of them had ben precisely, plainely, singulerly and
distinctly named and inserted in theis oure lettres patents.
And lastely, because the principall effect which wee cann desier
or expect of this action is the conversion and reduccion of the
people in those partes unto the true worshipp of God and
Christian religion, in which respect wee would be lothe that anie
person should be permitted to passe that wee suspected to affect
the superstitions of the Churche of Rome, wee doe hereby declare
that it is oure will and pleasure that none be permitted to passe
in anie voiadge from time to time to be made into the saide
countrie but such as firste shall have taken the oath of
supremacie, for which purpose wee doe by theise presents give
full power and aucthoritie to the Tresorer for the time beinge,
and anie three of the Counsell, to tender and exhibite the said
oath to all such persons as shall at anie time be sent and
imploied in the said voiadge.
Although expresse mention [of the true yearly value or
certainty of the premises, or any of them, or of any other gifts
or grants, by us or any of our progenitors or predecessors, to
the aforesaid Treasurer and Company heretofore made, in these
presents is not made; or any act, statute, ordinance, provision,
proclamation, or restraint, to the contrary hereof had, made,
ordained, or provided, or any other thing, cause, or matter,
whatsoever, in any wise notwithstanding.] In witnes whereof [we
have caused these our letters to be made patent. Witness ourself
at Westminster, the 23d day of May (1609) in the seventh year of
our reign of England, France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the
****]
Per ipsum Regem exactum.
British Public Record Office, Chancery Patent Rolls (c. 66),
1796, 5; William Stith, The History of the First Discovery and
Settlement of Virginia
Footnote #3
The Third Virginia Charter
The Third Virginia Charter, 1612
James, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland,
France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith; To all to whom these
Presents shall come, Greeting. Whereas at the humble Suit of
divers and sundry our loving Subjects, as well Adventurers as
Planters of the first Colony in Virginia, and for the
Propagation of Christian Religion, and Reclaiming of People
barbarous, to Civility and Humanity, We have, by our
Letters-Patents, bearing Date at Westminster, the
three-and-twentieth Day of May, in the seventh Year of our Reign
of England, France, and Ireland, and the two-and-fortieth of
Scotland, Given and Granted unto them that they and all such and
so many of our loving Subjects as should from time to time, for
ever after, be joined with them as Planters or Adventurers in
the said Plantation, and their Successors, for ever, should be
one Body politick, incorporated by the Name of The Treasurer
and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London
for the first Colony in Virginia; And whereas also for the
greater Good and Benefit of the said Company, and for the better
Furtherance, Strengthening, and Establishing of the said
Plantation, we did further Give, Grant and Confirm, by our
Letters- Patents unto the said Company and their Successors,
for ever, all those Lands, Countries or Territories, situate,
lying and being in that Part of America called Virginia, from
the Point of Land called Cape or Point Comfort all along the Sea
Coasts to the Northward two hundred Miles; and from the said
Point of Cape Comfort all along the Sea Coast to the Southward
two hundred Miles; and all that Space and Circuit of Land lying
from the Sea Coast of the Precinct aforesaid, up into the Land
throughout from Sea to Sea West and North-west; and also all the
Islands lying within one hundred Miles along the Coast of both
the Seas of the Precinct aforesaid; with divers other Grants,
Liberties, Franchises and Preheminences, Privileges, Profits,
Benefits, and Commodities granted in and by our said
Letters-patents to the said Treasurer and Company and their
Successors for ever. Now forasmuch as we are given to
understand, that in those Seas adjoining to the said Coasts of
Virginia, and without the Compass of those two hundred Miles by
Us so granted unto the said Treasurer and Company as aforesaid,
and yet not far distant from the said Colony in Virginia, there
are or may be divers Islands lying desolate and uninhabited,
some of which are already made known and discovered by the
Industry, Travel, and Expences of the said Company, and others
also are supposed to be and remain as yet unknown and
undiscovered, all and every of which it may import the said
Colony both in Safety and Policy of Trade to populate and plant;
in Regard whereof, as well for the preventing of Peril, as for
the better Commodity of the said Colony, they have been humble
suitors unto Us, that We would be pleased to grant unto them an
Enlargement of our said former Letters-patents. . . . all and
singular those Islands whatsoever situate and beiiig in any Part
of the Ocean Seas bordering upon the Coast of our said first
Colony in Virginia, and being within three Hundred Leagues of
any of the Parts heretofore granted to the said Treasurer and
Company in our said former Letters-Patents as aforesaid. . . .
To have and to hold, possess and enjoy, all and singular the
said Islands in the said Ocean Seas so lying and bordering upon
the Coast and Coasts of the Territories of the said first Colony
in Virginia, as aforesaid. With all and singular the said
Soils, Lands, Grounds, and all and singular other the
Premises heretofore by these Presents granted or mentioned to be
granted to them. . . ... And We are further pleased, and We do by
these Presents grant and confirm, that Philip Earl of
Montgomery, William Lord Paget, sir John Starrington, Knight
etc., whom the said Treasurer and Company have since the said
last Letters-Patents nominated and set down as worthy and
discreet Persons fit to serve Us as Counsellors, to be of our
Council for the said Plantation, shall be reputed, deemed, and
taken as Persons of our said Council for the said first Colony,
in such Manner and Sort, to all Intents and Purposes, as those
who have been formerly elected and nominated as our Counsellors
for that Colony, and whose Names have been, or are inserted and
expressed in our said former Letters-Patents. And we do hereby
ordain and grant by these Presents that the said Treasurer and
Company of Adventurers and Planters aforesaid, shall and may,
once every week, or oftener, at their Pleasure, hold, and keep a
Court and Assembly for the better Order and Government of the
said Plantation, and such Things as shall concern the same:
And that any five Persons of our Council for the said first
Colony in Virginia, for the Time being, of which Company the
Treasurer, or his Deputy, to be always one, and the Number of
fifteen others, at the least, of the Generality of the said
Company, assembled together in such Manner. as is and bath been
heretofore used and accustomed, shall be said, taken, held, and
reputed to be, and shall be a sufficient Court of the said
Company, for the handling and ordering, and dispatching of all
such casual and particular Occurrences, and accidental Matters,
of less Consequence and Weight, as shall from Time to Time
happen, touching and concerning the said Plantation And that
nevertheless, for the handling, ordering, and disposing of
Matters and Affairs of greater Weight and Importance, and such
as shall or may, in any Sort, concern the Weal Publick and
general Good of the said Company and Plantation, as namely, the
Manner of Government from Time to Time to be used, the ordering
and Disposing of the Lands and Possessions, and the settling and
establishing of a Trade there, or such like, there shall be held
and kept every Year, upon the last Wednesday, save one, of
Hillary Term, Easter, Trinity, and Michaelmas Terms, for ever,
one great, general, and solemn Assembly, which four Assemblies
shall be stiled and called, The four Great and General Courts of
the Council and Company of Adventurers for Virginia; In all and
every of which said Great and General Courts, so assembled, our
Will and Pleasure is, and we do, for Us, our Heirs and
Successors, for ever, Give and Grant to the said Treasurer and
Company, and their Successors for ever, by these Presents, that
they, the said Treasurer and Company, or the greater Number of
them, so assembled, shall and may have full Power and Authority,
from Time to Time, and at all Times hereafter, to elect and
chuse discreet Persons, to be of our said Council for the said
first Colony in Virginia, and to nominate and appoint such
Officers as they shall think fit and requisite, for the
Government, managing, ordering, and dispatching of the Affairs
of the said Company; And shall likewise have full Power and
Authority, to ordain and make such Laws and Ordinances, for the
Good and Welfare of the said Plantation, as to them from Time to
Time, shall be thought requisite and meet: So always, as the
same be not contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this our Realm
of England. . . .
An Ordinance And Constitution Of The Virginia Company
Footnote #4
An Ordinance and Constitution of the Virgina, and the creation of
Counsel of State
Company in England, 24 July 1621
An Ordinance and Constitution of the Treasurer Council, and
Company in England, for a Council of State and General Assembly.
I. To all people, to whom these presents shall come, be
seen, or heard, the treasurer, council, and company of
adventurers and planters for the city of London for the first
colony of Virginia, send greeting. Know ye, that we, the said
treasurer, council, and company, taking into our careful
consideration the present state of the said colony of Virginia,
and intending by the divine assistance, to settle such a form of
government there, as may be to the greatest benefit and comfort
of the people, and whereby all injustice, grievances, and
oppression may be prevented and kept off as much as possible,
from the said colony, have thought fit to make our entrance, by
ordering and establishing such supreme councils, as may not only
be assisting to the governor for the time being, in the
administration of justice, and the executing of other duties to
this office belonging, but also, by their vigilant care and
prudence, may provide, as well for a remedy of all
inconveniences, growing from time to time, as also for advancing
of increase, strength, stability, and prosperity of the said
colony:
II. We therefore, the said treasurer, council, and company,
by authority directed to us from his majesty under the great
seal, upon mature deliberation, do hereby order and declare,
that, from hence forward, there shall be two supreme councils in
Virginia, for the better government of
the said colony aforesaid.
III. The one of which councils, to be called the council of
state (and whose office shall chiefly be assisting, with their
care, advice, and circumspection, to the said governor) shall be
chosen, nominated, placed, and displaced, from time to time, by
us the said treasurer, council and company, and our successors:
which council of state shall consist, for the present only of
these persons, as are here inserted, viz., sir Francis Wyatt,
governor of Virginia, captain Francis West, sir George Yeardley,
knight, sir William Neuce, knight, marshal of Virginia, Mr.
George Sandys, treasurer, Mr. George Thorpe, deputy of the
college, captain Thomas Neuce, deputy for the company, Mr.
Powlet, Mr. Leech, captain Nathaniel Powel, Mr. Christopher
Davidson, secretary, Doctor Potts, physician to the company, Mr.
Roger Smith, Mr. John Berkeley, Mr. John Rolfe, Mr. Ralph Hamer,
Mr. John Pountis, Mr. Michael Lapworth, Mr. Harwood, Mr. Samuel
Macock. Which said counsellors and council we earnestly pray and
desire, and in his majesty's name strictly charge and command,
that (all factions, partialities, and sinister respect laid
aside) they bend their care and endeavours to assist the said
governor; first and principally, in the advancement of the honour
and service of God, and the enlargement of his kingdom against
the heathen people; and next, in erecting of the said colony in
due obedience to his majesty, and all lawful authority from his
majesty's directions; and lastly, in maintaining the said people
in justice and christian conversation amongst themselves, and in
strength and ability to withstand their enemies. And this
council, to be always, or for the most part, residing about or
near the governor.
IV. The other council, more generally to be called by the
governor, once yearly, and no oftener, but for very extraordinary
and important occasions, shall consist for the present, of the
said council of state, and of two burgesses out of every town,
hundred, or other particular plantation, to be respectively
chosen by the inhabitants: which council shall be called The
General Assembly, wherein (as also in the said council of state)
all matters shall be decided, determined, and ordered by the
greater part of the voices then present; reserving to the
governor always a negative voice. And this general assembly shall
have free power, to treat, consult, and conclude, as well of all
emergent occasions concerning the publick weal of the said colony
and every part thereof, as also to make, ordain, and enact such
general laws and orders, for the behoof of the said colony, and
the good government thereof, as shall, from time to time, appear
necessary or requisite;
V. Whereas in all other things, we require the said general
assembly, as also the said council of state, to imitate and
follow the policy of the form of government, laws, customs, and
manner of trial, and other administration of justice, used in the
realm of England, as near as may be even as ourselves, by his
majesty's letters patent, are required.
VI. Provided, that no law or ordinance, made in the said
general assembly, shall be or continue in force or validity,
unless the same shall be solemnly ratified and confirmed, in a
general quarter court of the said company here in England, and so
ratified, be returned to them under our seal; it being our intent
to afford the like measure also unto the said colony, that after
the government of the said colony shall once have been well
framed, and settled accordingly, which is to be done by us, as by
authority derived from his majesty, and the same shall have been
so by us declared, no orders of court afterwards, shall bind the
said colony, unless they be ratified in like manner in the
general assemblies. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our
common seal the 24th of July, 1621. . . .
Footnote #5
THE CHARTER, 1663, The Charter of Carolina
CHARLES THE SECOND, BY THE grace of God, King of England,
Scotland, France, and Ireland, defender of the Faith, etc. TO ALL
to whom these presents shall come, Greeting:
WHEREAS, our right trusty and right well-beloved Cousins and
Counsellors:
Edward, Earl of Clarendon, our High Chancellor of England; and
George, Duke of Albemarle, Master of our Horse and Captain
General of all our Forces; Our right trusty and well-belov ed
William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Our right trusty and
wellbeloved Counsellor, Anthony, Lord Ashley, Chancellor of our
Exchequer; Sir George Carterett, Knight and
Baronet, Vice Chamberlain of our Household; And our trusty and
well-beloved Sir W illiam Berkley, Knight; and Sir John Colleton,
Knight and Baronet, being excited with a laudable and pious zeal
for the propagation of the Christian Faith and the enlargement of
our Empire and Dominions, HAVE humbly besought leave of us, by
their industry and Charge, to Transport and make an ample Colony
of our Subjects, Natives of our Kingdom of England and elsewhere
within our Dominions, unto a certain Country, hereafter
described, in the parts of AMERICA not yet cultivated or planted,
and only inhabite d by some barbarous People who have no
knowledge of Almighty God;
AND WHEREAS, the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of
Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony,
Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir
John Colleton, have humbly besought us to give, grant, and Confi
rm unto them, and their heirs, the said Country, with Privileges
and Jurisdictions requisite for the good Government and safety
thereof:
KNOW YE, therefore, that We, favouring the pious and noble
purpose of the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of
Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony,
Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir
John Colleton, Of our especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere
motion, HAVE given,granted, and Confirmed, AND, by this our
present Charter, for us, our heirs and Successors, Do give,
grant, and Confirm, unto the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon;
George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord
Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William
Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their heirs and Assigns:
ALL that Territory or Tract of ground, situate, lying, and being
within our Dominions in America, extending from the North end of
the Island called Luck Island, which lies in the Southern
Virginia Seas and within six and Thirty Degrees of the Northern
Latitude, and to the West as far as the South Seas; and so
Southerly as far as the River Saint Mathias, which borders upon
the Coast of Florida, and within one and Thirty Degrees of
Northern Latitude; and West in a direct Line as far as the South
Seas aforesaid; Together with all and singular Ports, Harbours,
Bays, Rivers, Isles, and Islets belonging unto the Country
aforesaid; And also, all the Soil, Lands, Fields, Woods,
Mountains, Farms, Lakes, Rivers, Bays, and Islets situate or
being within the Bounds o r Limits aforesaid; with the Fishing of
all sorts of Fish, Whales, Sturgeons, and all other Royal Fishes
in the Sea, Bays, Islets, and Rivers within the premises, and the
Fish therein taken;
AND moreover, all Veins, Mines, and Quarries, as well discovered
as not discovered, of Gold, Silver, Gems, and precious Stones,
and all other, whatsoever be it, of Stones, Metals, or any other
thing whatsoever found or to be found within the Country, Isles,
Limits aforesaid;
AND FURTHERMORE, the Patronage and Advowsons of all the Churches
and Chapels which, as Christian Religion shall increase within
the Country, Isles, Islets, and Limits aforesaid: aforesaid,
shall happen hereafter to be erected; Together with licence and
power to Build and found Churches, Chapels, an Oratories in
convenient and fit places within the said Bounds and Limits, and
to cause them to be Dedicated and Consecrated according to the
Ecclesiastical Laws of our Kingdom in England,; Together with all
and singular the like and as ample Rights, Jurisdictions,
Privileges, Prerogatives, Royalties, Liberties, Immunities, and
Franchises of what kind soever with the Country, Isles, Islets,
and Limits aforesaid;
TO HAVE, use, exercise, and enjoy, and in as ample manner as any
Bishop of Durham, in our Kingdom of England, ever heretofore have
held, used, or enjoyed, or of right ought or could have, use, or
enjoy;
AND them, the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of
Albemarle; William, Lord Craven, John, Lord Berkley; Anthony,
Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir
John Colleton, their heirs and assigns, WE DO, by these presents,
for us, our heirs and Successors, make, Create, and Constitute
the true and absolute Lords and Proprietaries of the Country
aforesaid, and of all other the premises;
SAVING always, the Faith, Allegiance, and Sovereign Dominion due
to us, our heirs and Successors, for the same; and Saving also,
the right, title, and interest of all and every our Subjects of
the English Nation which are now Planted within the Limits bounds
aforesaid, if any be;
TO HAVE, HOLD, possess and enjoy the said Country, Isles,
Islets, and all and singular other the premises; to them, the
said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle;
William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley;
Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton,
their heirs and Assigns, forever;
TO BE HELD of us, our heirs and Successors as of our Manor of
East Greenwich, in our County of Kent, in Free and Common
Soccage, and not in Capite nor by knight's Service;
YIELDlNG AND PAYING yearly, to us, our heirs and Successors, for
the same, the yearly Rent of Twenty Marks of Lawful money of
England, at the Feast of All Saints, yearly, forever, The First
payment thereof to begin and be made on the Feast of All Saints
which shall be in the year of Our Lord One thousand six hundred
Sixty and five ; AND also, the fourth part of all Gold and Silver
Ore which, with the limits aforesaid, shall, from time to time,
happen to be found.
AND that the Country thus by us granted and described may be
dignified with as large Titles and Privileges as any other parts
of our Dominions and Territories in that Region;
KNOW YE, that We, of our further grace, certain knowledge, and
mere motion, HAVE thought fit to Erect the same Tract of Ground,
Country, and Island into a Province, and, out of the fullness of
our Royal power and Prerogative, WE Do, for us, our heirs and
Successors, Erect, Incorporate, and Ordain the same into a
province, and do call it the Province of CAROLINA, and so from
henceforth will have it called.
AND FORASMUCH AS we have hereby made and Ordained the aforesaid
Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William,
Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George
Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their
heirs and Assigns, the true Lords and Proprietors of all the
Province aforesaid:
KNOW YE, therefore, moreover, that We, reposing especial Trust
and Confidence in their fidelity, Wisdom, Justice, and provident
circumspection, for us, our heirs and Successors, Do Grant full
and absolute power, by virtue of these presents, to them, the s
aid Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle;
William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley;
Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton,
and their heirs, for the good and happy Government of the said
Province:
To ORDAIN, make, Enact, and under their Seals to publish any Laws
whatsoever, either appertaining to the public State of the said
Province or to the private utility of particular Persons,
according to their best discretion, of and with the advice,
assent, and approbation of the Freemen of the said Province, or
of the greater part of them, or of their Delegates or Deputies;
whom, for enacting of the said Laws, when and as often as need
shall require, WE WILL that the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon;
George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord
Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William
Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, and their heirs, shall, from time
to time. assemble, in such manner and form as to them shall seem
best;
AND the same Laws duly to execute upon all people within the said
Province and Limits thereof for the time being, or which shall be
Constituted under the power and Government of them, or any of
them, either Sailing towards the said Province of CAROLINA or
returning from thence towards England, or any other of our or
foreign Dominions; by Imposition of penalties, Imprisonment, or
any other punishment, YEA, if it shall be needful and the quality
of the Offence require it, by taking away member and life, either
by them, the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of
Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony,
Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir
John Colleton, and their heirs, or by them or their Deputies,
Lieutenants, Judges, Justices, Magistrates, Officers, and
Ministers, to be Ordained or appointed according to the tenor and
true intention of these presents;
AND LIKEWISE, to appoint and establish any Judges or Justices,
Magistrates or Officers whatsoever within the said Province, at
Sea or land, in such manner and form as unto the said Edward,
Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord
Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George
Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, or their
heirs, shall seem most convenient;
ALSO, to remit, release, Pardon, and abolish, whether before
Judgment or after, all Crimes and Offences whatsoever against the
said Laws; and to do all and every other thing and things which
unto the Complete establishment of Justice, unto Courts,
Sessions, and forms of Judicature, and manners of proceeding
therein, do belong, although in these presents express mention be
not made thereof;
AND by Judges, by him or them delegated, to award Process, hold
Pleas, and determine, in all the said Courts and Places of
Judicature, all Actions, Suits, and Causes whatsoever, as well
Criminal as Civil, real, mixt, personal, or of any other kind or
nature whatsoever;
WHICH LAWS, SO as aforesaid, to be published OUR PLEASURE IS, and
We do enjoin, require, and Command shall be absolute, firm, and
available in law; And that all the liege People of us, our heirs
and Successors, within the said Province of CAROLINA, do observe
and keep the same inviolably in those parts, so far as they
concern them, under the pains and penalties therein expressed or
to be expressed;
PROVIDED, nevertheless, that the said laws be consonant to reason
and, as near as may be conveniently, agreeable to the laws and
Customs of this our Kingdom of England.
AND because such assemblies of Freeholders cannot be so suddenly
called as there may be occasion to require the same:
WE Do, therefore, by these presents, give and Grant unto the said
Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord
Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George
Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their
heirs and Assigns, by themselves or their Magistrates in that
behalf lawfully authorized, full power and authority,
from time to time, to make and Ordain fit and wholesome Orders
and Ordinances within the Province aforesaid, to be kept and
observed, as well for the keeping of the Peace as for the better
Government of the People there abiding; and to publish the same
to all to whom it may concern;
WHICH Ordinances We do, by these presents, straightly Charge and
Command to be inviolably observed within the said Province, under
the penalties therein expressed; So as such Ordinances be
reasonable, and not repugnant or contrary, but as near as may be
agreeable, to the laws and Statutes of this our Kingdom of
England; And so as the same Ordinances do not extend to the
binding, charging, or taking away of the right or interest of any
Person or Persons in their freehold, goods, or Chattels
whatsoever.
AND to the end the said Province may be the more happily
increased by the multitude of People resorting thither, and may
likewise be the more strongly defended from the incursions of
Savages and other Enemies, Pirates, and robbers:
THEREFORE, We, for us, our heirs and Successors, Do give and
Grant, by these presents, Power, licence, and liberty unto all
the liege people of us, our heirs and Successors, in our Kingdom
of England or elsewhere within any other our Dominions, Islands,
Colonies, or Plantations, Excepting those who shall be especially
forbidden, to transport themselves and Families unto the said
Province, with convenient Shipping and fitting Provisions, and
there to settle themselves, dwell and inhabit; any law, Act,
Statute, Ordinance, or other thing to the contrary in any wise
notwithstanding.
AND WE WILL also, and, of our more especial grace, for us, our
heirs and Successors, do straightly enjoin, Ordain, Constitute,
and Command, that the said Province of Carolina shall be of our
Allegiance; And that all and singular the Subjects and liege
people of us, our heirs and Successors, transported or to be
transported into the said Province, and the Children of them and
of such as shall descend from them there, born or hereafter to be
born, be and shall be Citizens and lieges of us, our heirs and
Successors, of this our Kingdom of England; and be in all things
held, treated, and reputed as the liege, faithful people of us,
our heirs and Successors, born within this our said Kingdom or
any other of our Dominions; and may inherit or otherwise Purchase
and receive, take, have, hold, buy, and possess any lands,
Tenements, or hereditaments within the same Places, and them-may
Occupy and enjoy, give, sell alien, and bequeath; as likewise,
all liberties, Franchises, and Privileges of this our Kingdom of
England, and of other our Dominions aforesaid, may freely and
quietly have, possess, and enjoy as our liege people born within
the same, without the let, molestation, vexation, trouble, or
grievance of us, our heirs and Successors; any Statute, Act,
Ordinance, or Provision to the contrary notwithstanding.
AND FURTHERMORE, that our Subjects, of this our said Kingdom of
England and other our Dominions, may be the rather encouraged to
undertake this Expedition with ready and cheerful minds:
KNOW YE, that We, of our especial grace, certain knowledge, and
mere motion, Do give and Grant, by virtue of these presents, as
well to the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of
Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony,
Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir
John Colleton, and their heirs, as unto all others as shall, from
time to time, repair unto the said Province with a purpose to
inhabit there or to trade with the Natives of the said Province,
full liberty and Licence to lade and freight in any Ports
whatsoever of us, our heirs and Successors;
AND into the said Province of Carolina, by them, their Servants
and Assigns, to Transport all and singular their goods, Wares,
and Merchandises; as likewise, all sorts of grain whatsoever, and
any other things whatsoever necessary for the food and Clothing,;
not prohibited by the laws and Statutes of our Kingdoms and
Dominions; to be Carried out of the same without any let or
molestation of us, our heirs and Successors, or of any other our
Officers and Ministers whatsoever; Saving also, to us, our heirs
and Successors, the Customs and other duties and payments due for
the said Wares and Merchandises, according to the several rates
of the Places from whence the same shall be transported.
WE WILL also, and, by these presents, for us, our heirs and
Successors, Do give and Grant Licence, by this our Charter, unto
the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle;
William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley;
Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton,
their heirs and Assigns, and to all the Inhabitants and Dwellers
in the Province aforesaid, both present and to come, full power
and absolute authority to Import or unlade, by themselves or
their servants, Factors, or Assigns, all Merchandises and goods
whatsoever that shall arise of the fruits and Commodities of the
said Province, either by land or Sea, into any the Ports of us,
our heirs and Successors, in our Kingdom of England, Scotland, or
Ireland, Or otherwise to dispose of the said goods in the said
Ports; and, if need be, within one year next after the unlading,
to lade the said Merchandises and goods again into the same or
other Ships, and to Export the same into any other Countries,
either of our Dominions or foreign, being in Amity with us, our
heirs and Successors; So as they pay such Customs, Subsidies, and
other duties for the same, to us, our heirs and Successors, as
the rest of our Subjects of this our Kingdom for the time being
shall be bound to pay, beyond which We will not that the
inhabitants of the said Province of Carolina shall be any way
Charged.
PROVIDED, nevertheless, and our Will and pleasure is, and We
have further, for the Considerations aforesaid, of our more
especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, given and
Granted, and, by these presents, for us, our heirs and
Successors, Do give and grant, unto the said Edward, Earl of
Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John,
Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir
William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their heirs and Assigns,
full and free licence, liberty, and authority, at any time or
times from and after the Feast of Saint Michaell The Archangel
which shall be in the year of our Lord Christ One thousand six
hundred Sixty and Seven, as well to Import and bring into any of
our Dominions from the said Province of Carolina, or any part
thereof, the several goods and Commodities hereinafter mentioned:
THAT IS TO SAY, Silks, Wines, Currants, Raisins, Capers, Wax,
Almonds, Oil, and Olives; without paying or Answering to us, our
heirs or Successors, any Custom, Impost, or other duty for or in
respect thereof, for and during the term and space of Seven
years, to commence and be accounted from and after the First
Importation of four Tons of any the said goods in any one Bottom,
Ship, or Vessel from the said Province into any of our Dominions;
as also, to export and carry out of any of our Dominions into the
said Province of Carolina, Custom free, all sorts of Tools which
shall be useful or necessary for the Planters there in the
accommodation and Improvement of the premises; any thing before
in these presents contained, or any Law, Act, Statute,
Prohibition, or other matter or thing heretofore had, made,
Enacted, or provided, or hereafter to be had, made, Enacted, or
Provided, to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.
AND FURTHERMORE, of our more ample and especial grace, certain
knowledge, and mere motion, WE DO, for us, our heirs and
Successors, Grant unto the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon;
George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord
Berkley; Anthony , Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William
Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their heirs and Assigns, full and
absolute power and authority to Make, Erect, and Constitute
within the said Province of CAROLINA, and the Isles and Islets
aforesaid, such and so many Seaports, harbours, Creeks, and other
Places for discharge and unlading of goods and Merchandises out
of Ships, Boats, and other Vessels, and for lading of them, in
such and so many Places, and with such Jurisdictions, Privileges,
Jurisdictions , and Franchises unto the said Ports belonging, as
to them shall seem most expedient;
AND that all and singular the Ships, Boats, and other Vessels
which shall come for Merchandise and Trade into the said
Province, or shall depart out of the same, shall be laden and
unladen at such Ports only as shall be erected and Constituted by
the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle;
William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley;
Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton,
their heirs and Assigns, and not elsewhere; any use, Custom, or
anything to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.
AND WE Do, furthermore, Will, appoint, and Ordain, and, by these
presents, for us, our heirs and Successors, do Grant unto the
said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle;
William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley;
Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton,
their heirs and Assigns, That they, the said Edward, Earl of
Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John,
Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir
William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their heirs and Assigns,
may, from time to time, forever, have and enjoy the Customs and
Subsidies, in the Ports, Harbours, Creeks, and other Places
within the Province aforesaid, payable for goods, Merchandises,
and Wares there laded or to be laded or unladed; the said Customs
to be reasonably Assessed upon any occasion by themselves, and by
and with the Consent of the free people there, by the greater
part of them, as aforesaid: to whom We give power, by these
presents, for us, our heirs and Successors, upon just Cause and
in a due proportion, to Assess and Impose the same.
AND FURTHER, of our especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere
motion, WE HAVE given, Granted, and Confirmed, and, by these
presents, for us, our heirs and Successors, Do give, Grant, and
Confirm, unto the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of
Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony,
Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir
John Colleton, their heirs and Assigns, full and absolute
licence, power, and authority that the said Edward, Earl of
Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven;
John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett;
Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their heirs and
Assigns, from time to time hereafter, forever, at his and their
will and pleasure, may Assign, Alien, Grant, Demise, or enfeoff
the premises, or any part or parcels thereof, to him or them that
shall be willing to purchase the same, and to such Person or
Persons as they shall think fit;
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD to them the said Person or Persons, their
heirs and Assigns, in Fee simple or Fee tail, or for term of life
or lives or years; to be held of them, the said Edward, Earl of
Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John,
Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir
William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their heirs and Assigns,
by such Rents, Services, and Customs as shall seem meet to the
said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle;
William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley;
Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton,
their heirs and Assigns, and not immediately of us, our heirs and
Successors.
AND to the same Person or Persons, and to all and every of them,
WE DO give and Grant, by these presents, for us, our heirs and
Successors, Licence, authority, and power That such Person or
Persons may have or take the premises, or any parcel thereof, of
the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle;
William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley;
Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton,
their heirs and Assigns; and the same to hold to themselves, t
heir heirs or Assigns, in what estate of Inheritance soever, in
Fee simple of Fee tail or otherwise, as to them and the said Earl
of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven;
John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett ;
Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their heirs and
Assigns, shall seem expedient; The Statute made in the Parliament
of Edward, Son of King Henry, heretofore King of England, our
Predecessor, commonly called the Statute of Quia Emptores
Terrarum, or any other Statute, Act, Ordinance, use, Law, Custom,
or any other matter, Cause, or thing heretofore published or
provided to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.
AND because many Persons born or inhabiting in the said Province,
for their deserts and Services, may expect, and be capable of,
Marks of Honour and favour, which, in respect of the great
distance, cannot conveniently be Conferred by us:
OUR WILL AND PLEASURE, therefore, is, and We do, by these
presents, Give and Grant unto the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon;
George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord
Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William
Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their Heirs and Assigns, full
Power and Authority to give and Confer, unto and upon such of the
Inhabitants of the said Province as they shall think do or shall
merit the same, such marks of favour and Titles of honour as they
shall think fit; so as those Titles or honours be not the same as
are enjoyed by or Conferred upon any the Subjects of this our
Kingdom of England.
AND FURTHER, also, We do, by these presents, for us, our heirs
and Successors, give and grant Licence to them, the said Edward,
Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord
Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George
Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their
heirs and Assigns, full power, liberty, and licence to Erect,
raise, and build, within the said Province and Places aforesaid,
or any part or parts thereof, such and so many Forts, Fortresses,
Castles , Cities, Boroughs, Towns, Villages, and other
Fortifications whatsoever; And the same, or any of them, to
Fortify and furnish with Ordnance, Powder, Shot, Armour, and all
other Weapons, Ammunition, and habiliments of War, both offensive
and defensive, as shall be thought fit and convenient, for the
safety and welfare of the said Province and Places, or any part
thereof; And the same, or any of them, from time to time, as
occasion shall require, to dismantle, disfurnish, demolish, and
pull down; and Also, to place, Constitute, and appoint, in or
over all or any of the said Castles, Forts, Fortifications,
Cities, Towns, and Places aforesaid, Governors, Deputy Governors,
Magistrates, Sheriffs, and other Officers, Civil and Military, as
to them shall seem meet;
AND to the said Cities, Boroughs, Town, Villages, or any other
Place or Places within the said Province, to grant Letters or
Charters of Incorporation, with all Liberties, Franchises, and
Privileges requisite and usual, or to or within any Corporations
within this our Kingdom of England granted or belonging; And in
the same Cities, Boroughs, Towns, and other Places, to
Constitute, Erect, and appoint such and so many Markets, Marts,
and Fairs as shall in that behalf be thought fit and necessary;
AND further, also, to Erect and make in the Province aforesaid,
or any part thereof, so many Manors as to them shall seem meet
and convenient; and in every of the same Manors to have and to
hold a Court Baron, with all things whatsoever which to a Court
Baron do belong; And to have and to hold Views of Frankpledge and
Courts Leet, for the Conservation of the Peace and better
Government of those parts, within such Limits, Jurisdiction, and
Precincts as by the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke
of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony,
Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir
John Colleton, or their heirs, shall be appointed for that
purpose, with all things whatsoever which to a Court Leet or View
of Frankpledge do belong; the same Courts to be held by Stewards,
to be Deputed and authorized by the said Edward, Earl of
Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John,
Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir
William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, or their heirs, or by the
Lords of other Manors and Leets for the time being, when the same
shall be Erected.
AND because that, in so remote a Country and situate among so
many barbarous Nations, the Invasions as well of Savages as other
Enemies, Pirates, and Robbers may probably be feared:
THEREFORE, WE HAVE given, and, for us, our heirs and Successors,
Do give, power, by these presents, unto the said Edward, Earl of
Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John,
Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir
William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their heirs and Assigns,
by themselves or their Captains or other their Officers, to Levy,
Muster, and Train all sorts of men, of what Condition or
wheresoever born, in the said Province for the time being; and t
o make War and pursue the Enemies aforesaid, as well by Sea as by
land, yea, even without the limits of the said Province; and, by
God's assistance, to vanquish and take them, and being taken, to
put them to death, by the law of war, or to save them, at t heir
pleasure; and to do all and every other thing which unto the
Charge And Office of a Captain General of an Army belongs, or has
accustomed to belong, as fully and freely as any Captain General
of an Army has ever had the same.
ALSO, our Will and pleasure is, and, by this our Charter, WE DO
give unto the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of
Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony,
Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir
John Colleton, their heirs and Assigns, full power, liberty, and
authority, in case of rebellion, tumult, or Sedition, if any
should happen, which God forbid, either upon the land within the
Province aforesaid or upon the main Sea in making a Voyage
thither or returning from thence, by him and themselves, their
Captains, Deputies, or Officers, to be authorized under his or
their Seals for that purpose, to whom also, for us, our heirs and
Successors, WE DO give and Grant, by these presents, full power
and authority, to exercise Martial Law against mutinous and
seditious Persons of those parts, such as shall refuse to submit
themselves to their Government, or shall refuse to serve in the
Wars, or shall fly to the Enemy, or forsake their Colors or
Ensigns, or be loiterers or Stragglers, or otherwise howsoever
offending against Law, Custom, or Discipline Military; as freely
and in as ample manner and form as any Captain General of an
Army, by virtue of his Office, might, or has accustomed to, use
the same. AND Our further pleasure is, and, by these presents,
for us, our heirs and Successors, WE DO Grant unto the said
Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William,
Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George
Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their
heirs and Assigns, and to the Tenants and Inhabitants of the said
Province of Carolina, both present and to come, and to every of
them, that the said Province, and the Tenants and Inhabitants
thereof, sh all not from henceforth be held or reputed a Member
or part of any Colony whatsoever, in America or elsewhere, now
transported or made, or hereafter to be transported or made; nor
shall be depending on, or subject to, their Government in any
thing, but be absolutely separated and divided from the same;
AND OUR pleasure is, by these presents, that they be separated,
and that they be subject immediately to our Crown of England, as
depending thereof, forever; And that the Inhabitants of the said
Province, nor any or them, shall, at any time hereafter, be
compelled or compellable, or be any ways subject or liable, to
appear or Answer to any matter, Suit, Cause, or Plaint
whatsoever, out of the Province aforesaid, in any other of our
Islands, Colonies, or Dominions, in America or elsewhere, other
than in our Realm of England and Dominion of Wales.
AND because it may happen that some of the People and
Inhabitants of the said Province cannot in their private opinions
Conform to the Public Exercise of Religion according to the
Liturgy, forms, and Ceremonies of the Church of England, or take
or subscribe the Oaths and Articles made and established in that
behalf; AND for that the same, by reason of the remote distances
of those Places, Will, as We hope, be no breach of the unity and
uniformity established in this Nation:
OUR WILL and pleasure, therefore, is, AND WE DO, by these
presents, for us, our heirs and Successors, Give and Grant unto
the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle;
William, Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley;
Sir George Carterett; Sir William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton,
their heirs and Assigns, full and free Licence, liberty, and
Authority, by such legal ways and means as they shall think
fit, to give and grant unto such Person and Persons inhabiting
and being within the said Province, or any part thereof, Who
really in their Judgments, and for Conscience sake, cannot or
shall not Conform to the said Liturgy and Ceremonies, and take
and Subscribe the Oaths and Articles aforesaid, or any of them,
such Indulgencies and Dispensations in that Behalf, for and
during such time and times, and with such limitations and
restrictions, as they, the said Edward, Earl of Clarendon;
George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John, Lord
Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir William
Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their heirs or Assigns, shall, in
their discretions, think fit and reasonable;
AND with this express Proviso and Limitation also, that such
Person and Persons to whom such Indulgencies or Dispensations
shall be granted, as aforesaid, do and shall, from time to time,
Declare and continue all fidelity, Loyalty, and Obedience to us,
our heirs and Successors; and be subject and obedient to all
other the Laws, Ordinances, and Constitutions of the said
Province, in all matters whatsoever, as well Ecclesiastical as
Civil; And do not in any wise disturb the Peace and safety
thereof, or scandalize or reproach the said Liturgy, forms, and
Ceremonies, or any thing relating thereunto, or any Person or
Persons whatsoever for, or in respect of, his or their use or
exercise thereof, or his or their obedience or Conformity
thereunto.
AND in Case it shall happen that any doubts or questions should
arise concerning the true Sense and understanding of any word,
Clause, or Sentence contained in this our present Charter:
WE WILL, Ordain, and Command that, at all times and in all
things, such interpretation be made thereof, and allowed in all
and every of our Courts whatsoever, as lawfully may be Adjudged
most advantageous and favourable to the said Edward, Earl of
Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John,
Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir
William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, their heirs and Assigns.
ALTHOUGH EXPRESS MENTION be not made in these presents of the
true yearly value and certainty of the premises, or any part
thereof, or of any other gifts and grants made by us, our
Ancestors or Predecessors, to them, the said Edward, Earl of
Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; John,
Lord Berkley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carterett; Sir
William Berkley; and Sir John Colleton, or any other Person or
Persons whatsoever, Or any Statute, Act, Ordinance, Provision,
Proclamation, or restraint heretofore had, made, published,
ordained, or Provided, or any other thing, Cause, or matter
whatsoever to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.
IN WITNESS whereof We have caused these our Letters to be made
Patent.
WITNESS, our Self, at Westminster, the Four and Twentieth day of
March, in the Fifteenth year of our Reign.
By the King
HOWARD
Footnote #6
The Fundamental Constitutions, Granting North Carolina to the
lord Proprietors
Version of July 21, 1669
OUR Sovereign Lord the King having, out of his royal grace and
bounty, granted unto us the Province of Carolina, with all the
royalties, Proprieties, Jurisdictions, and privileges of a County
Palatine, as large and ample as the County Palatine of Durham,
with other great privileges; for the better settlement of the
Government of the said Place, and establishing the interest of
the Lords Proprietors with Equality, and without confusion; and
that the Government of this Province may be made most agreeable
un to the Monarchy under which we live, and of which this
province is a part; and that we may avoid erecting a numerous
Democracy: We, the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of the
Province aforesaid, have agreed to this following form of
Government, to be perpetually established amongst us, unto which
we do oblige ourselves, our heirs and successors, in the most
binding ways that can be devised.
2. Out of the eight Proprietors there shall be chosen, by
themselves, a Palatine, who shall continue during life, whose son
shall not be capable of immediately succeeding him after his
death; but the eldest in Age of the other Proprietors shall
succeed, to prevent the making the office in this little
government Hereditary and to avoid the mischief of factions in
Elections.
3. There shall be Seven other chief offices erected, viz., the
chief Justice's, Chancellor's, Constable's, High Steward's,
Treasurer's, Chamberlain's, Admiral's; which places shall be
enjoyed by none but the Lords Proprietors, to be assigned at
first by lot; and upon the vacancy of any one of the seven great
Offices by death, or otherwise, the Eldest proprietor [shall]
have his choice of the said place.
4. Each Province shall be divided into Counties; each County
shall consist of eight Seigniories, eight Baronies, and four
precincts; each Precinct shall consist of Six Colonies
5. Each Colony, Seigniory, and Barony shall consist of twelve
thousand Acres, the eight Seigniories being the share of the
eight Proprietors, and the eight Baronies of the Nobility; both
which shares, being each of them a fifth part of the whole, are
to be perpetually annexed, the one to the Proprietors, the other
to the Hereditary Nobility, Leaving the Colonies, being three
fifths, amongst the people; that so, in the Setting out and
planting the lands, the Balance of Government may be preserved.
6. At any time before the year 1701, any of the [Lords]
Proprietors shall have power to relinquish, Alienate, and
dispose, to any other person, his Proprietorship, and all the
Seigniories, powers, and Interest thereunto belonging, wholly and
entirely together, and not otherwise. But after the
year 1700, those who are then [Lords] Proprietors shall not have
power to Alienate or make over their proprietorship, with
Seigniories and privileges thereunto belonging, or any part
thereof, to any person whatsoever , otherwise than as in article
18, but it shall descend unto their heirs male; and for want of
heirs male, it shall descend on that Landgrave or Cacique of
Carolina who is descended of the next heir female of the said
Proprietor; and for want of Such heirs, it shall descend on the
next heir general; and for want of Such heirs, the remaining
Seven proprietors shall, upon the Vacancy, choose a Landgrave to
succeed the deceased proprietor, who being chosen by the majority
of the Seven Surviving proprietors, he and his heirs Successively
shall be proprietors as fully, to all intents and purposes, as
any of the rest.
7. And that the number of eight Proprietors may be constantly
kept, if, upon the vacancy of any Proprietorship, the Surviving
Seven Proprietors shall not choose a Landgrave or [Cacique] as a
proprietor before the Second session of Parliament after the
vacancy, then the Parliament, at the next Session but one after
Such vacancy, shall have power to choose and Landgrave [or
Cacique] to be Proprietor; but whosoever after the year 1700,
either by inheritance or choice, shall Succeed any Proprietor in
his proprietorship, and Seigniories thereunto belonging, shall be
obliged to take the name and Arms of that proprietor whom he
Succeeds, which from thenceforth shall be the name and Arms of
his Family and their posterity.
8. Whatsoever Landgrave [or Cacique] shall be chosen into a
proprietorship shall take the Seigniories annexed to the said
proprietorship, but shall relinquish all the Baronies belonging
to his Landgraveship [or Caciqueship] to be disposed of by the
proprietors as in the following Articles.
9. To every County there shall be three as the hereditary
Nobility of this Palatinate, who shall be called the one a
Landgrave and the other two Caciques, and shall have place the in
the Parliament there; the Landgrave shall have four Baronies, and
the two Caciques, each of them, two apiece, hereditary, and
unalterably annexed to and settled upon the said Dignity.
10. The first Landgrave and Caciques of every County shall be
nominated, not by the Joint election of the Proprietors all
together, but the eight Proprietors shall, each of them
separately, nominate and choose one Landgrave and two Caciques
for the eight first Counties to be planted; and when the said
eight Counties shall be planted, the proprietors shall, n the
same manner, nominate and Choose eight more Landgraves and
sixteen aciques for the eight next Counties to be planted; and so
proceed, in the same manner, till the whole province of Carolina
be set out and planted according to the [proportions] in these
fundamental Constitutions.
11. Any Landgrave or Cacique, at any time before the year 1701,
shall ave power to alienate, sell, or make over, to any other
person, his dignity, with the Baronies thereunto belonging, all
entirely together; but after the year 1700, no Landgrave or
Cacique shall have power to alienate, Sell, make over, or let the
hereditary Baronies of his dignity, r any part thereof, otherwise
than as in Article 18; but they shall all entirely, with the
dignity thereunto belonging, descend unto his heirs male; and for
want of Such heirs Male, all entirely and undivided, to the next
heir general; and for want of Such heirs, shall devolve into the
hands of the Proprietors.
12. That the due number of Landgraves and Caciques may be always
kept up, if, upon the devolution of any Landgraveship or
Caciqueship, the Proprietors shall not settle the devolved
dignity, with the Baronies thereunto annexed, before the second
Session of Parliament after Such devolution, the Parliament, at
the next [Biennial] Session but one after Such devolution, shall
have power to make any one Landgrave or Cacique in the Room of
him, who dying with out heirs, his dignity and Baronies devolved.
13. No one person shall have more than one dignity, with the
Seigniories or Baronies thereunto belonging; but whensoever it
shall happen that any one who is already Proprietor, Landgrave,
or Cacique shall have any of those dignities descend to him by
inheritance, it shall be at his choice to keep one of the two
dignities, with the Lands annexed, he shall like best, but shall
leave the other, with the lands annexed, to be enjoyed by him
who, not being his heir apparent, and certain successor to his
present dignity, is next afterward.
14. Whosoever, by right of Inheritance, shall come to be
Landgrave or Cacique shall take the name and Arms of his
predecessor in that dignity, to be from thenceforth the Name and
Arms of his Family and their posterity.
15. Since the dignity of Proprietor, of 8 Landgrave, or Cacique
cannot be divided, and the Seigniories or Baronies thereunto
annexed must for ever, all entirely, descend with and accompany
that dignity, when ever, for want of heirs Male, it shall descend
upon the Issue Female, the Eldest Daughter and her heirs shall be
preferred; and in the Inheritance of those dignities, and in the
Seigniories or Baronies annexed, there shall be no Coheirs.
16. After the year 1700, whatsoever Landgrave or Cacique shall,
without leave from the Palatine's Court, be out of Carolina
during two successive biennial Parliaments shall, at the end of
the second biennial Parliament after such his absence, be
summoned by Proclamation: and if he come not into Carolina before
the next biennial Parliament after Such Summons, then it shall be
lawful for the grand Council, at a price set by the said Council
and approved by the Parliament, to sell the Baronies, with the
Dignities thereunto belonging, of the said absent Landgrave or
Cacique, all together, to any one to whom the said Council shall
think fit; but the price so paid for said Dignity or Baronies
shall be deposited in the Treasury, for the sole use and behoof
of the former owner, or his [heirs or] assigns.
17. In every Seigniory, Barony, and Manor, the Lord shall have
power in his own name, to hold Court there, for trying of all
causes, both Civil and Criminal; but where it shall concern any
other person being no Inhabitant, Vassal, or Leet man of the said
Barony or Seigniory [or manor], he, upon paying down of forty
shillings unto the Proprietors' use, shall have an appeal from
thence unto the County Court; and if the Lord be cast, the said
Lord shall pay unto the appellant the said forty shillings, with
other charges.
18. The Lords of Seigniories and Baronies shall have power only
of granting Estates, not exceeding three lives or one and thirty
years, in two thirds of the said Seigniories or Baronies; and the
remaining third shall be always Demesne.
19. Every Manor shall consist of not less than three thousand
Acres and not above twelve thousand Acres in one entire piece;
but any three thousand acres or more in one piece and the
possession of one Man shall not be a manor unless it be
constituted a manor by the grant of the Lords Proprietors.
20. Every Lord of a manor, within his manor, shall have all the
powers, Jurisdictions, and Privileges which a Landgrave or
Cacique has in his Baronies.
21. Any Lord of a manor may Alienate, sell, or dispose, to any
other person, and his heirs, for ever, [his manor], all entirely
together, with all the privileges and Leet men thereunto
belonging, so far forth as any other Colony Lands; but no grant
of any part thereof, either in fee or for any longer term than
three lives or twenty one years, shall be good against the next
heir; neither shall a manor, for want of Issue Male, be divided
amongst Coheirs; but the manor, if there be but one, shall all
entirely descend to the Eldest Daughter and [her] heirs; if there
be more manors than one in the possession of Palatine the
deceased, the Eldest Sister shall have her choice, the Second
next, and so on, beginning [again] at the Eldest, till all the
manors be taken up, that So, the privileges which belong to
manors being indivisible, the lands of the manor to which they
are annexed may be Kept entire, and the manor not lose those
privileges, which upon parcelling out to Several owners must
necessarily cease.
22. In every Seigniory, Barony, and manor, all the tenants or
Leet men shall be under the Jurisdiction of the Lord of the said
Seigniory, Barony, or Manor, without appeal from him unless as in
the Article 26; nor shall any Leet man or Leet woman have liberty
to go off from the Land of his particular Lord and live any where
else without Licences obtained from his Said Lord, under hand and
Seal.
23. All the Children of Leet men shall be Leet men, and so to
all generations.
24. NO man shall be capable of having a Court Leet or Leet men
but a Proprietor Landgrave, or Cacique, or Lord of a Manor.
25. Whoever is Lord of Leet men shall, upon the marriage of a
Leet man or Leet woman of his, give them ten Acres of Land for
their lives, they paying to him therefor one eighth of all the
yearly increase and growth of the said acres.
26. In case the Lord of any Seigniory, Barony, or manor shall
have made a Contract or agreement with his Tenants, which
agreement, by consent, is Registered in the next [precinct]
Registry, then, in Such case, the said Tenant may appeal unto, or
bring his Complaint originally in, the County Court for the
performance of such agreements, and not other wise.
27. There shall be eight Courts or Councils for the dispatch of
all affairs, the first, Called the Palatine's Court, to consist
of the Palatine and the other Seven Proprietors. The other seven
courts of the other seven great Officers shall consist, each of
them, of a Proprietor and Six Councillors added to him; under
each of these latter seven [Courts] shall be a College of twelve
assistants. The twelve assistants [out] of the Several Colleges
shall be Chosen: two out of the Landgraves, by the Landgraves'
Chamber during the Session of Parliament; two out of the
Caciques, by the Caciques' Chamber during the Session of
Parliament; two out of the Landgraves, Caciques, or Eldest sons
of the Proprietors, by the Palatine's Court; four more of the
twelve shall be chosen by the Commons' Chamber, during the
Session of Parliament, out of such as have been or are members of
Parliament, Sheriffs, or Justices of the County Court; the other
two shall be Chosen by the Palatine's Court out of the aforesaid
members of Parliament, or Sheriffs, or Justices of the County
Court, or the Eldest sons of Landgraves or Caciques, or younger
Sons of Proprietors.
28. Out of these Colleges shall be Chosen Six Councillors to be
joined with each Proprietor in his Court; of which six, one shall
be of those who were Chosen into any of the Colleges by the
Palatine's Court out of the Landgraves, Caciques, or Eldest Sons
of Proprietors; one out of those who were Chosen into any of the
Colleges by the Landgraves' Chamber; and one [out of] those who
were Chosen into any one of the Colleges by the Caciques'
Chamber; two out of those who were Chosen into any one of the
Colleges by the Commons' Chamber; and one out of those who were
Chosen by the Palatine's Court into any of the Colleges out of
the Proprietors' younger Sons, or Eldest Sons of Landgraves or
Caciques, or Commons Qualified as aforesaid.
29. When it shall happen that any Councillor dies, and thereby
there is a vacancy, the grand council shall have power to remove
any Councillor that is willing to be removed out of any other of
the Proprietors' Courts to fill up this vacancy, provided they
take a man of the Same degree and choice the other was [of] whose
vacant place [is] to be filled; but if no Councillor consent to
be removed, or upon Such remove, the last remaining vacant place
in any of the Proprietors' Courts shall be filled up by the
choice of the grand Council, who shall have power to remove out
of any of the Colleges any Assistant who is of the same degree
and choice that Councillor was [of] into whose vacant place he is
to succeed; the grand Council, also, shall have power to remove
any Assistant that is willing out of one College into another,
provided he be of the same degree and choice; but the last
remaining vacant place in any College shall be filled up by the
same choice and out of the same degree of persons the Assistant
was of who is dead or removed. No Place shall be vacant in any
Proprietors' Court above six Months; no place shall be vacant in
any College longer than the next session of Parliament.
30. No man being a member of the grand Council or of any of the
seven Colleges shall be turned out but For misdemeanor, of which
the grand Council shall be Judge; and the vacancy of the person
so put out shall be filled, not by the Election of the grand
Council, but by those who first chose him, and out of the same
degree he was [of] who is expelled.
31. All Elections in the Parliament, in the Several Chambers of
the Parliament, and in the grand Council shall be passed by
balloting.
32. The Palatine's Court shall consist of the Palatine and Seven
Proprietors, wherein nothing shall be acted without the presence
and consent of the Palatine, or his Deputy, and three others of
the Proprietors, or their Deputies. [This Court] shall have power
to call Parliaments, to pardon all Offences, to make Elections of
all Officers in the Proprietors' dispose; and also, they shall
have power, by their Order to the Treasurer, to dispose of all
public Treasure, excepting money granted by the Parliament and by
them directed to Some [particular] public use; and also, they
shall have a Negative upon all Acts, Orders, Votes, and Judgments
of the grand Council and the Parliament; and shall have all the
powers granted to the Proprietors by their patent, except in such
things as are limited by these fundamental constitutions and form
of government.
33. The Palatine him self, when he in person shall be either in
the Army or in any of the Proprietors' Courts, shall then have
the power of General or of that Proprietor in whose Court he is
then present; and the Proprietor in whose Court the Palatine then
presides shall, during his presence there, be but as one of the
Council.
34. The Chancellor's Court, consisting of one of the Proprietors
and his six Councillors, who shall be called vice-chancellors,
shall have the Custody of the Seal of the Palatinate, under which
all charters, of Lands or otherwise, Commissions, and grants of
the Palatine's Court shall pass, etc. To this Court, also,
belongs all state matters, dispatches, and treaties, with the
Neighbour Indians or any other, so far forth as us permitted by
our Charter from our Sovereign Lord the King. To this office,
also, belongs all Innovations of the Law of Liberty of
conscience, and all disturbances of the public peace upon
pretence of Religion, as also, the Licence of printing. The
twelve assistants belonging to this Court shall be called
Recorders.
35. The Chancellor, or his Deputy, shall be always Speaker in
Parliament and President of the grand council, and in his and his
Deputy's absence, one of his Vice-Chancellors.
The Chief Justice's Court, consisting of one of the
proprietors and his six Councillors, who shall be called Justices
of the Bench, shall Judge all appeals, both in cases Civil and
Criminal, except all Such cases as shall be under the
Jurisdiction and Cognizance of any other of the Proprietors'
Courts, which shall be tried in those Courts respectively. The
Government and regulations of the Registries of writings and
contracts shall belong to the Jurisdiction of this Court. The
twelve assistants of this Court shall be called Masters.
36. The High Constable's Court, consisting of one of the
Proprietors and his six Councillors, who shall be called
Marshals, shall order and determine of all Military affairs
concern by land, and all land forces, Arms, Ammunition,
Artillery, Garrisons, and Forts, etc., and whatever belongs unto
war. His twelve assistants shall be called Lieutenant Generals.
In Court s time of actual war, The High Constable, whilst he is
in the Army, shall be General of the 42 Army, and the six
Councillors, or such of them as the Palatine's Court shall for
that time Courts [and service] appoint, shall be the immediate
great Officers under him, and the Lieutenant appeal. Generals
next to them.
37. The Admiral's Court, consisting of one of the Proprietors
and his Six Councillors, called Consuls, shall have the care and
inspection over all ports, Moles, and Navigable Rivers so far as
the Tide flows; and also, all the public Shipping of Carolina,
and stores thereunto belonging, and all maritime affairs. This
Court, also, shall have the power of the Court of Admiralty; and
also, to hear and try by Law-Merchant all cases in Matters of
shall Trade between the Merchants of Carolina amongst them
selves, arising without the limits of Carolina; as also, all
controversies in Merchandising that shall happen between be
Denizens of Carolina and foreigners. The twelve Assistants
belonging to this court shall be where l called proconsuls.
38. The Treasurer's Court, consisting of one proprietor and his
Six Councillors, called under-Treasurers, shall take care of all
matters that concerns the public revenue and Treasury. The twelve
assistants shall be called Auditors.
39. The High Steward's court, consisting of a proprietor and his
six Councillors, who shall be called Comptrollers, shall have the
care of all foreign and domestic Trade, factures, public
buildings and work-houses, high ways, passages by water above the
flood the of the Tide, drains, sewers and Banks against
inundations, Bridges, Posts, Carriers, Fairs, Markets, and all
things in order to Travel and commerce, and anything that may
corrupt, deprave, or Infect the common Air or water, and all
other things wherein the Public [trade], commerce, or health is
concerned; and also, the setting out and surveying of lands; and
also, the setting out and appointing [places] for towns to be
built on in the Precincts, and the prescribing and determining
the Figure and bigness of the said Towns according to such Models
as the said court shall order, contrary or differing from which
Models it shall not be lawful for any one to build in any Town.
40. This Court shall have power, also, to make any public
building or any new highway, or enlarge any old high way, upon
any Man's Land whatsoever; as also, to make cuts, Channels,
Banks, locks, and Bridges, for making Rivers Navigable, for
draining of Fens, or any other public uses; the damage the owner
of such land, on or through where any such public thing shall be
made, shall receive thereby shall be valued by a Jury of twelve
men of the Precinct in which any such thing is done, and
satisfaction shall be made accordingly by a Tax, either on the
County or that particular precinct, as the grand Council shall
think fit to order in that particular case. The twelve assistants
belonging to this Court shall becalled Surveyors.
41. The Chamberlain's Court, consisting of a proprietor and his
six Councillors, called Vice-Chamberlains, shall have the power
to convocate the grand Council; shall have the care of all
Ceremonies, Precedency, Heraldry, reception of public Messengers,
and pedigrees; the registries of all Births, Burials, and
Marriages; legitimation and all cases concerning Matrimony or
arising from it; and shall, also, have power to Regulate all
Fashions, Habits, Badges, Games, and Sports. The twelve
assistants belonging to this Court shall be called Provosts.
42. All causes belonging to, or under the Jurisdiction of, any of
the Proprietors' Courts shall in them respectively be tried and
ultimately determined, without any further appeal.
43. The proprietors' Courts shall have a power to mitigate all
fines and suspend all executions, either before or after
sentence, in any of the other respective Inferior Courts.
44. In all debates, hearings, or Trials in any of the
Proprietors' Courts, the twelve assistants belonging to the Said
Court respectively shall have Liberty to be present, but shall
not interpose unless their opinions be required, nor have any
Vote at all; but their [business shall] be, by direction of the
respective courts, to prepare Such business as shall be committed
to them; as also, to bear Such Offices and dispatch Such affairs,
either where the Court is kept or else where, as the Court shall
think fit.
45. In all the Proprietors' Courts [any] three shall make a
Quorum.
46. The grand Council shall consist of the Palatine, and Seven
Proprietors, and the forty two Councillors of the Several
Proprietors' Courts; who shall have power to determine any
Controversies that may arise between any of the Proprietors'
Courts about their respective Jurisdictions; to make peace and
war, Leagues, Treaties, etc., with any of the Neighbour Indians;
To issue out their General Orders to the Constable's and
Admiral's Court for the Raising, disposing, or disbanding the
Forces, by land or by Sea; to prepare all matters to be proposed
in Parliament; nor shall any Tax or law or other matters
whatsoever be proposed, debated, or Voted in Parliament but what
has first passed the grand Council and, in form of a bill to be
passed, is by them presented to the Parliament; nor shall any
bill So prepared [and presented by the grand Council to the
Parliament to be enacted, whether it be an antiquated Law or
otherwise, be voted or passed into an Act of Parliament], or be
at all Obligatory, unless it be three Several days read openly in
the Parliament, and then, afterwards, by Majority of Votes,
Enacted, during the same session wherein it was thrice read, and
also confirmed by the Palatine and three of the Proprietors as is
above said.
47. The grand Council shall always be Judges of all Causes and
appeals that concerns the Palatine, or any of the proprietors, or
any councillor of any Proprietors' Court in any Case which
otherwise should have been Tried in that Court in which the said
Councillor is Judge him self.
48. The Grand Council, by their warrants to the Treasurer's
Court, shall dispose of all the money given by the Parliament and
by them directed to any particular public use.
49. The Quorum of the grand Council shall be thirteen, whereof a
Proprietor, or his Deputy, shall be always one.
50. The Palatine, or any of the Proprietors shall have power,
under hand and seal, to be Registered in the grand Council, to
make a Deputy; who shall have the same power, to all intents and
purposes, that he himself who deputes him, except in confirming
Acts of Parliament, as in Article [70]; all Such deputation shall
cease and determine of them selves at the end of four years, and
at any time shall be revocable at the pleasure of the Deputator.
51. No Deputy of any Proprietor shall have any power whilst the
deputator is in any part of Carolina, except the Proprietor whose
deputy he is be a Minor.
52. During the minority of any Proprietor, his Guardian shall
have power to constitute and appoint his deputy.
53. The Eldest of the Proprietors who shall be personally in
Carolina shall of Course be the Palatine's Deputy; and if no
Proprietor be in Carolina, he shall choose his deputy out of the
heirs apparent of any of the Proprietors, if any such be there;
and if there be no heir apparent of any of the Proprietors, above
twenty one years old, in Carolina, then he shall choose for
Deputy any one of the Landgraves of the grand Council; and till
he have, by deputation, under hand and Seal, Chosen any one of
the forementioned heirs apparent or Landgrave to be his deputy,
the Eldest Man of the Landgraves, and for want of Landgraves, the
Eldest Man of the Caciques, who shall be personally in Carolina
shall of course be his deputy.
54. The Proprietors' deputy shall be always one of their own Six
Councillors respectively.
55. In every County there shall be a Court, consisting of a
Sheriff and four Justices of the County, being Inhabitants and
having, each of them, at least five hundred Acres of Freehold
within the said County, to be chosen and Commissionated from time
to time the Palatine's court; who shall try and Judge all appeals
from any of the precinct Courts.
56. For any personal causes Exceeding the value of two hundred
pounds, or in Title of Lands, or in any Criminal Cause, either
party, upon paying twenty pounds to the Proprietors' use, shall
have Liberty of Appeal from the County Court unto the respective
Proprietors' Court.
57. In every Precinct there shall be a Court, consisting of a
Steward and four Justices of the Precinct, being Inhabitants and
having three hundred Acres of Freehold within the said Precinct;
who shall Judge all Criminal causes, except for Treason, Murder,
and any other offences punished with death; and all civil causes
whatsoever, and in all personal actions not exceeding fifty
pounds without appeal; but where the Cause shall exceed that
Value, or concern a Title of land, and in all Criminal causes,
there, either party, upon paying five pounds to the Proprietors'
use, shall have
Liberty of appeal unto the County Court.
58. No cause shall be twice tried in any one Court, upon any
reason or pretence whatsoever.
59. For Treason, Murder, and all other offences punishable with
death, there shall be a Commission, twice a year at least,
granted unto one or more members of the [Grand] Council or
Colleges, who shall come as Itinerant Judges to the Several
Counties, and , with the Sheriff and four Justices, shall hold
assizes, and Judge all Such causes. But upon paying of fifty
pounds to the proprietors' use, there shall be Liberty of appeal
to the respective Proprietors' Court.
60. The grand Juries at the Several assizes shall have, upon
their Oaths, and, under their hands and Seals, deliver in to the
Itinerant Judges a presentment of Such grievances, Misdemeanors,
exigencies, or defects which they shall think necessary for the
Public good of the Country; which presentment shall, by the
Itinerant Judges, at the End of their circuit, be delivered in to
the grand Council at their next Sitting; and whatsoever therein
concerns the Execution of Laws already made, the Several
Proprietors' Courts, in the matters belonging to each of them
respectively, shall take Cognizance of [it], and [give] such
order about it as shall be Effectual for the due Execution of the
laws; but whatever concerns the making of any new laws shall be
referred to the Several respective Courts to which that matter
belongs, and by them prepared and brought to the grand Council.
61. For Terms, there shall be quarterly Such a certain number of
days, not exceeding twenty one at any one time, as the Several
respective Courts shall appoint; the time for the beginning of
the Term in the precinct Court shall be the first Monday in
January, April, July, and October; and in the County Court, the
first Monday of February, May, August, November; and in the
Proprietors' [Courts], the first Monday of March, June,
September, and December.
62. For Juries in the Precinct Court, no Man shall be a Jury Man
under fifty Acres of Freehold. In the County Court, or at the
assizes, no man shall be a Jury Man under two hundred acres of
Freehold. No man shall be a Grand Jury Man under three hundred
acres of freehold; and in the Proprietors' Courts, no Man shall
be a Jury Man under five hundred acres of Freehold.
63. Every Jury shall consist of twelve Men; and [it] shall [not]
be necessary they should all agree, but the Verdict shall be
according to the consent of the Majority.
64. It shall be a base and vile thing to Plead for money or
Reward; nor shall any one, except he be a Near Kinsman, not
farther off than Cousin German to the party concerned, be
admitted to plead another man's cause till, before the Judge in
open Court, he has taken an Oath that he does [not] pleas for
money or reward, nor has nor will receive, nor directly nor
indirectly bargained with the party, whose cause he is going to
Plead, for any money or other reward for Pleading his Cause.
65. There shall be a Parliament, consisting of the Proprietors,
or their deputies, the Landgraves and Caciques, and one
Freeholder out of every Precinct, to be Chosen by the Freeholders
of the said Precinct respectively. They shall sit all together in
one Room, and have every member one Vote.
66. No man shall be Chosen a member of Parliament who has less
than five hundred Acres of Freehold within the Precinct for which
he is Chosen; nor shall any have a vote in choosing the said
member that has less than fifty acres of Freehold within the said
precinct.
67. A new Parliament shall be assembled the first Monday of the
Month of November every second year, and shall meet and Sit in
the Town they last Sat in, without any Summons, unless by the
Palatine, or his Deputy, together with any three of the
Proprietors, or their Deputies, they be Summoned to meet at any
other place; and if there shall be any occasion of a Parliament
in these Intervals, it shall be in the power of the Palatine,
with any three of the Proprietors, to assemble them on forty
days' notice, at such time and place as they shall think fit; and
the Palatine, or his Deputy, with the ad vice and consent of any
three of the Proprietors, or their Deputies, shall have power to
dissolve the Said Parliament when they shall think fit.
68. At the opening of every Parliament, the first thing that
shall be done shall be the reading of these fundamental
constitutions, which the Palatine, and Proprietors, and the rest
of the members then present shall Subscribe. Nor shall any Person
whatsoever Sit or Vote in the Parliament till he has, that
Sessions, Subscribed these fundamental constitutions in a book
kept for that purpose by the Clerk of the Parliament.
69. And in order to the due Election of members for this
Biennial Parliament, it shall be lawful for the Freeholders of
the respective precincts to meet the first Tuesday in September
every two years, in the Same Town or place that they last met in,
to choose Parliament men, and there choose those members that are
to Sit the next November following, unless the Steward of the
Precinct shall, by Sufficient notice Thirty days before, appoint
some other place for their meeting in order to the Election.
70. No act or Order of Parliament shall be of any force unless
it be Ratified in open Parliament, during the same Session, by
the Palatine, or his Deputy, and three more of the Proprietors,
or their deputies; and then not to continue longer in force but
until the End of the next Biennial Parliament, unless in the mean
time it be Ratified under the hand and seal of the Palatine him
self and three more of the Proprietors them selves, and, by their
Order, published at the next Biennial Parliament.
71. Any Proprietor, or his Deputy, may enter his Protestation
against any act of the Parliament, before the Palatine or his
deputy's consent be given as aforesaid, if he shall conceive the
said act to be contrary to this Establishment or any of these
Fundamental Constitutions of the Government; and in Such case,
after a full and free debate, the several Estates shall retire
into four several Chambers, the Palatine and Proprietors into
one, the Landgraves into another, and the Caciques into another,
and those Chosen by the Precincts into a fourth; and if the major
part of any four of these Estates 2'shall Vote that the law is
not agreeable to this Establishment and fundamental constitution
of the Government, then it shall pass no further, but be as if it
had never been proposed.
72. To avoid multiplicity of laws, which by degrees always
change the Right foundations of the Original Government, all acts
of Parliament whatsoever, in what form soever passed or enacted,
shall, at the end of Sixty years after their enacting,
respectively Cease and determine of them selves, and, without any
repeal, become Null and void, as if no such acts or laws had ever
been made.
73. Since multiplicity of Comments, as well as of laws, have
great inconveniences, and Serve only to obscure and perplex, all
manner of comments and expositions on any part of these
fundamental constitutions, or on any part of the Common or
Statute law of Carolina, are absolutely prohibited.
74. There shall be a Registry in every precinct, wherein shall be
enrolled all deeds, Leases, Judgments, or other conveyances which
may concern any of the land within the Said Precinct; and all
Such conveyances not so entered or Registered shall not be of
force against any person not privy to the Said contract or
conveyance.
75. No man shall be Register of any Precinct who has not at least
three hundred acres of Freehold within the Said Precinct.
76. The freeholders of every Precinct shall nominate three men,
out of which three the Chief Justice court shall choose and
Commission one to be Register of the Said precinct, whilst he
shall well behave him self.
77. There shall be a Registry in every Colony, wherein shall be
Recorded all the Births, Marriages, and deaths that shall happen
within the said Colony.
78. No man shall be Register of a Colony that has not above fifty
acres of Freehold within the said Colony.
79. The time of every one's Age shall be Recorded from the day
that his Birth is entered in the Registry, and not before.
80. No Marriage shall be lawful, whatever Contract or Ceremonies
they have used till both the parties mutually own it before the
Colony Register, and he enter it, with the names of the Father
and mother of such party.
81. No man shall administer to the goods, or have right to them,
or enter upon the Estate, of any person deceased till his death
be Registered in the Colony Registry.
82. He that does not enter in the Colony Registry the death or
Birth of any person that dies in his house or ground shall pay to
the said Register one shilling per week for each Such neglect,
Reckoning from the time of each death or birth respectively to
the time of Registering it.
83. In like manner, the births, Marriages, and deaths of the
Lords Proprietors, Landgraves, and Caciques shall be Registered
in the Chamberlain's Court.
84. There shall be in every Colony one Constable, to be Chosen
annually by the Freeholders of the Colony, his Estate to be above
one hundred acres of Freehold within the Said Colony; and Such
Subordinate officers appointed for his assistance as the precinct
court shall find requisite, and shall be Established by the
Precinct court; the Election of the Subordinate annual officers
shall be also in the Freeholders of the Colony.
85. All Towns incorporate shall be Governed by a Mayor, twelve
Aldermen, and twenty four of the Common Council; the Said Common
Council to be chosen by the present householders of the Said
Town; and the Aldermen to be Chosen out of the Common Council,
and the Mayor out of the Aldermen, by the Palatine and the
Proprietors.
86. No man shall be permitted to be a Freeman of Carolina, or to
have any Estate or habitation within it, that does not
acknowledge a God, and that God is publicly and Solemnly to be
worshipped.
87. But since the Natives of that place, who will be concerned
in our Plantations, are utterly Strangers to Christianity, whose
Idolatry, Ignorance, or mistake gives us no right to expel or use
them ill; and those who remove from other parts to Plant there
will unavoidably be of different opinions concerning matters of
Religion, the liberty whereof they will expect to have allowed
them, and it will not be reasonable for us, on this account, to
keep them out- that Civil peace may be maintained amidst the
diversity of opinions, and our agreement and compact with all men
may be duly and faithfully observed, the violation whereof, upon
what pretence soever, cannot be without great offence to Almighty
God, and great Scandal to the true Religion that we profess; and
also, that heathens, Jews, and other dissenters from the purity
of Christian Religion may not be Scared and kept at a distance
from it, but, by having an opportunity of acquainting them selves
with the truth and reasonableness of its Doctrines, and the
peaceableness and inoffensiveness of its professors, may, by good
usage and persuasion, and all those convincing Methods of
Gentleness and meekness Suitable to the Rules and design of the
Gospel, be won over to embrace and unfeignedly receive the truth:
Therefore, any Seven or more persons agreeing in any Religion
shall constitute a church or profession, to which they shall give
Some name to distinguish it from others.
88. The terms of admittance and communion with any church or
profession shall be written in a book and therein be Subscribed
by all the members of the said church or profession.
89. The time of every one's Subscription and admittance shall be
dated in the said book, or record.
90. In the terms of Communion of every church or profession,
these following shall be three, without which no agreement or
assembly of men upon pretence of Religion shall be accounted a
Church or Profession within these Rules:
1. That there is a God.
2. That God is publicly to be worshipped.
3. That it is lawful, and the duty of every man, being thereunto
called by those that Govern, to bear witness to truth; and that
every church or profession shall, in their Terms of Communion,
Set down the External way whereby they witness a truth as in the
presence of God, whether it be by laying hands on and Kissing the
Gospel, as in the Protestant and Papist Churches, or by holding
up the hand, or any other Sensible way.
91. No person above seventeen years of Age shall have any
benefit or protection of the law, or be capable of any place of
profit or honor, who is not a member of Some church or
profession, having his name recorded in Some one, and but one
Religion Record at once.
92. The Religious Record of every church or profession shall be
kept by the public Register of the Precinct where they reside.
93. No man of any other Church or profession shall disturb or
molest any Religious Assembly.
94. No person whatsoever shall speak any thing in their
Religious assembly Irreverently or Seditiously of the Government
or Governors or States matters.
95. Any person Subscribing the terms of Communion of any church
or profession in the Record of the said church before the
Precinct Register and any one member of the church or profession
shall be thereby made a member of the Said church or profession.
96. Any person striking out his own name out of any Record, or
his name being struck out by any officer thereunto Authorized by
any church or profession, shall cease to be a member of that
Church or profession.
97. No person shall use any reproachful, Reviling, or abusive
language against the Religion of any Church or Profession, that
being the certain way of disturbing the public peace, and of
hindering the conversion of any to the truth, by engaging them in
Quarrels and animosities, to the hatred of the professors and
that profession, which otherwise they might be brought to assent
to.
98. Since Charity obliges us to wish well to the Souls of all
men, and Religion ought to alter nothing in any man's civil
Estate or Right, It shall be lawful for Slaves, as all others, to
enter them selves and be of what church any of them shall think
best, and thereof be as fully members as any freemen. But yet, no
Slave shall hereby be exempted from that civil dominion his
Master has over him, but be in all other things in the same State
and condition he was in before.
99. Assemblies, upon what pretence soever of Religion, not
observing and performing the above said Rules shall not be
Esteemed as churches, but unlawful meetings, and be punished as
other Riots.
100. No person whatsoever shall disturb, molest, or persecute
another for his speculative opinions in Religion or his way of
worship.
101. Every Freeman of Carolina shall have absolute Authority over
his Negro Slaves, of what opinion or Religion soever.
102. No person whatsoever shall hold or claim any land in
Carolina, by Purchase or gift or otherwise, from the Natives or
any other person whatsoever, but merely from and under the
[Lords] Proprietors, upon pain of forfeiture of all his Estate,
moveable or unmoveable, and perpetual Banishment.
103. Whoever shall possess any Freehold in Carolina, upon what
Title or grant soever, shall, at the farthest, from and after the
year 1689, pay yearly unto the Proprietors for each acre of Land,
English measure, as much fine Silver as is at this present in one
English penny, or the Value thereof, to be as a Chief Rent and
acknowledgment of the Proprietors, their heirs and Successors,
for ever; and it shall be lawful for the proprietors, by their
Officers, at any time, to take a new Survey of any man's land,
not to out him of any part of his possession, but that by Such a
Survey, the Just number of acres he possesses may be known, and
the Rent thereupon due may be paid by him.
104. All wrecks, mines, minerals, Quarries of Gems and precious
stones, with whale fishing, [Pearl fishing], and one half of all
ambergris, by whom soever found, shall wholly belong to the
Proprietors.
105. All Revenues and profits arising out of any thing but their
distinct particular Lands and possessions shall be divided into
ten parts, whereof the Palatine shall have three, and each
Proprietor one; but if the Palatine shall Govern by a Deputy, his
Deputy shall have one of those three tenths, and the Palatine the
other two tenths.
106. All Inhabitants and freemen of Carolina above seventeen
years of Age and under Sixty shall be bound to bear Arms and
serve as Soldiers whenever the grand Council shall find it
necessary.
[No 107 in manuscript]
108. A true Copy of these Fundamental Constitutions shall be kept
in a great book by the Register of every precinct, to be
Subscribed before the said Register. Nor shall any person, of
what condition or degree soever, above seventeen years Old, have
any Estate or possession in Carboline, or protection or benefit
of the law there, who has not Subscribed these fundamental
constitutions in this form:
I, A. B., do promise to bear faith and true allegiance to
our sovereign Lord King Charles the Second; and will be true and
faithful to the [ Palatine and ] Lords Proprietors of Carolina;
and, with my utmost power, will defend them and maintain the
Government, according to this Establishment in these fundamental
constitutions.
109. And whatsoever Alien shall, in this form, before any
Precinct Register, Subscribe these fundamental Constitutions
shall be thereby Naturalized.
110. In The Same manner shall every person at his admittance
into any Office Subscribe these fundamental constitutions.
111. These fundamental constitutions, [in number 111], and every
part thereof, shall be, and remain as, the Sacred unalterable
form and Rule of Government [of Carolina] for ever. Witness our
hands and Seals, this twenty first day July, in the year of our
Lord 1669.
Footnote #6
THE FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONS
Revisions in the Version of July 21, 1669
Article 2 was struck out and the following was substituted: The
eldest of the Lords Proprietors shall be Palatine; and upon the
decease of the Palatine, the Eldest of the Seven Surviving
Proprietors shall always succeed him.
Article 6 was revised to read as follows: At any time before the
year 1701, any of the Lords Proprietors shall have power to
relinquish, Alienate, and dispose, to any other person, his
Proprietorship, and all the Seigniories, powers, and Interest
thereunto belonging, wholly and entirely together, and not
otherwise. But after the year 1700, those who are then Lords
Proprietors shall not have power to Alienate, make over, or let
their proprietorship, with the Seigniories and privileges
thereunto belonging, or any part thereof, to any person
whatsoever, otherwise than as in article 18, but it shall descend
unto their heirs male; and for want of heirs male, it shall
descend on that Landgrave or Cacique of Carolina who is descended
of the next heir female of the said Proprietor; and for want of
Such heirs, it shall descend on the next heir general; and for
want of Such heirs, the remaining Seven proprietors shall, upon
the Vacancy, choose a Landgrave to succeed the deceased
proprietor, who being chosen by the majority of the Seven
Surviving proprietors, he and his heirs Successively shall be
proprietors as fully, to all intents and purposes, as any of the
rest.
Article 7 was revised to read as follows: And that the number of
eight Proprietors may be constantly kept, if, upon the vacancy of
any Proprietorship, the Surviving Seven Proprietors
shall not choose a Landgrave as a Proprietor before the Second
Biennial Parliament after the vacancy, then the next Biennial
Parliament but one after Such vacancy shall have power to choose
any Landgrave to be Proprietor; but whosoever after the year
1700, either by inheritance or choice, shall Succeed any
Proprietor in his proprietorship, and Seigniories thereunto
belonging, shall be obliged to take the name and Arms of that
proprietor whom he Succeeds, which from thenceforth shall be the
name and Arms of his Family and their posterity.
Article 8 was struck out and the following was submitted:
Whatsoever Landgrave or Cacique shall any way come to be a
Proprietor shall take the Seigniories annexed to the said
Proprietorship, but his former dignity, with the Baronies
annexed, shall devolve into the hands of
the Lords Proprietors.
Article 10 was revised to read as follows: The first Landgrave
and Caciques of every County shall be nominated, not by the Joint
election of the Proprietors all together, but the eight
Proprietors shall, each of them separately, nominate and choose
one Landgrave and two Caciques to be the eight Landgraves and the
sixteen Caciques for the eight first Counties to be Planted; and
when the said eight Counties shall be planted, the proprietors
shall, in the same manner, nominate and Chose eight more
Landgraves and sixteen Caciques for the eight next Counties to be
appeal planted; and so proceed, in the same manner, till the
whole province of Carolina be set out Land and planted according
to the proportions in these fundamental Constitutions.
Article 12 was revised to read as follows: That the due number of
Landgraves and Caciques may be always kept up, if, upon the
devolution of any Landgraveship or Caciqueship The Palatine's
Court shall not settle the devolved dignity, with the Baronies
thereunto annexed, before the Second biennial Parliament after
Such devolution, the next Biennial Parliament but one after such
devolution shall have power to make any one Landgrave or Cacique
in the Room of him, who dying with out heirs, his dignity and
Baronies devolved.
Article 13 was revised to read as follows: No one person shall
have more than one dignity, with the Seigniories of Baronies
thereunto belonging; but whensoever it shall happen that any one
who is already Proprietor, Landgrave, or Cacique shall have any
of those dignities descend to him by inheritance, it shall be at
his choice to keep which of the two dignities, with the Lands
annexed, he shall like best, but shall leave the other, with the
lands annexed to be enjoyed by him who, not being his heir
apparent, and certain successor to his present dignity, is next
of blood, unless when a Landgrave or Cacique comes to be
proprietor, and then his former dignity and Baronies shall
devolve as in Article 8.
Article 16 was revised to read as follows: After the year 1700,
whatsoever Landgrave or Cacique shall, without leave from the
Palatine's Court, be out of Carolina during two successive
biennial Parliaments shall, at the end of the second biennial
Parliament after such his absence, be summoned by Proclamation;
and if he come not into Carolina before the next biennial
Parliament after Such Summons, then the Grand Council shall have
power thence forward to receive all the rents and profits arising
out of his Baronies until his return or death, and to dispose of
the said profits as they shall think fit.
Article 17 was revised to read as follows: In every Seigniory,
Barony, and Manor, the respective Lord shall have power, in his
own name, to hold Court there, for trying of all causes, both
Civil and Criminal; But where it shall concern any 2 person being
no inhabitant, vassal, or Leet man of the said Barony, Seigniory,
or manor, he, upon paying down of forty shillings to the Lords
Proprietors' use, shall have an appeal from t the Seigniory or
Barony Court to the County Court, and from the Manor Court to the
precinct Court.
Article 19 was revised to read as follows:
Every Manor shall consist of not less than three thousand Acres
and not above twelve thousand Acres in one entire piece; but any
three thousand acres or more in one piece and the possession of
one Man shall not be a manor unless it be constituted a manor by
the grant of the Palatine's Court.
Article 22 was revised to read as follows: In every Seigniory,
Barony, and manor, all the Leet men shall be under the
Jurisdiction of the respective Lord of the said Seigniory,
Barony, or Manor, without appeal from him; nor shall any Leet man
or Leet woman have liberty to go off from the Land of his
particular Lord and live any where else without Licences obtained
from his Said Lord, under hand and Seal.
Article 24 was revised to read as follows: No man shall be
capable of having a Court Leet or Leet men but a Proprietor,
Landgrave, or Cacique, or Lord of a Manor. Nor shall any man be a
Leet man who has not voluntarily entered himself a Leet man in
the Registry of the County Court.
Article 25 was revised to read as follows: Whoever is Lord of
Leet men shall, upon the marriage of a Leet man or Leet woman of
his, give them ten Acres of Land for their lives, they paying to
him therfor not more than one eighth of all yearly produce and
growth of the said ten acres.
Article 26 was struck out and the following was submitted: No
Landgrave or Cacique shall be tried for any criminal cause in any
but in the Chief Justice Court, and that by a jury of his peers.
Article 27 was revised to read as follows: There shall be eight
supreme Courts, the first, Called the Palatine's Court,
consisting of the Palatine and the other Seven Proprietors. The
other seven courts of the other 8 to him; under each of these
latter seven Courts shall be a College of twelve assistants. f '
The twelve assistants of the Several Colleges shall be Chosen:
two out of the Landgraves, by the Landgraves' Chamber; two out of
the Caciques, by the Caciques' Chamber;
two out of the Landgraves, Caciques, or Eldest sons of the
Proprietors, by the Palatine's Court; four more of the twelve
shall be chosen by the Commons' Chamber out of such as have been
or are members of Parliament, Sheriffs, or Justices of the County
Court; the other two shall be Chosen by the Palatine's Court out
of the aforesaid members of Parliament, or Sheriffs, or Justices
of the County Court, or the Eldest sons of Landgraves or
Caciques, or younger Sons of Proprietors. |
Article 28 was revised to read as follows: Out of these Colleges
shall be Chosen Six Councillors to be joined with each Proprietor
in his Court; of which six, one shall be of those who were
Chosen into any of the Colleges by the Palatine's Court out of
the Landgraves, Caciques, or Eldest Sons of Proprietors; one out
of those who were chosen by the Landgrave's Chamber; and one out
of those who were Chosen by the Caciques' Chamber; two out of
those who were Chosen by the Commons' Chamber; and one out of
those who were Chosen by the Palatine's Court out of the
Proprietors' younger Sons, or Eldest Sons of Landgraves or
Caciques, or Commons Qualified as aforesaid.
Article 30 was revised to read as follows: No man being a member
of the grand Council or of any of the seven Colleges shall be
turned out but For misdemeanor, of which the grand Council shall
be Judge; and the vacancy of the person so put out shall be
filled, not by the Election of the grand Council, but by those
who first chose him, and out of the same degree he was of who is
expelled. But is not hereby to be understood that the Grand
Council has any power to turn out any one of the Lords
Proprietors, or their Deputies, The Lords Proprietors having in
themselves an inherent original right.
Article 32 was revised to read as follows: The Palatine's Court
shall consist of the Palatine and Seven Proprietors, wherein
nothing shall be acted without the presence and consent of the
Palatine, or his Deputy, and three others of the Proprietors, or
their deputies. This Court shall have power to call Parliaments,
to pardon all Offences, to make Elections of all Officers in the
Proprietors' dispose, to nominate and appoint port towns; and
also, shall have power, by their Order to the Treasurer, to
dispose of all public Treasure, excepting money granted by the
Parliament and by them directed to some particular public use;
and also, shall have a Negative upon all Acts, Orders, Votes, and
Judgments of the grand Council and the Parliament. Except only as
in Articles 7 and 12; and also, shall have a negative upon all
Acts and orders of the Constable's Court and Admiral's Court
relating to wars; And shall have all the powers granted to the
Proprietors by their patent from our Sovereign Lord The King,
except in such things as are limited by these fundamental
constitutions.
Article 34 was revised to read as follows: The Chancellor's
Court, consisting of one of the Proprietors and his six
Councillors, who shall be called vice-chancellors, shall have the
Custody of the Seal of the Palatinate, under which all charters,
of Lands or otherwise, Commissions, and grants of the Palatine's
Court shall pass, etc. And it shall not be lawful to put the Seal
of the Palatinate to any Writing which is not signed by the
Palatine, or his Deputy, and three other Proprietors, or their
Deputies. To this Court, also, belongs all state matters,
dispatches, and treaties, with the Neighbour Indians or any
other, so far forth as is permitted by our Charter from our
Sovereign Lord the King. To this Court, also, belongs all
Invasions of the Law of Liberty of conscience, and all
disturbances of the public peace upon pretence of Religion, as
also, the Licence of printing. The twelve assistants belonging to
this Court shall be called Recorders.
Article 37 was revised to read as follows; The Admiral's Court,
consisting of one of the Proprietors and his Six Councillors,
called Consuls, shall have the care and inspection over all
ports, Moles, and Navigable Rivers so far as the Tide flows; and
also, all the public Shipping of Carolina, and stores thereunto
belonging, and all maritime affairs. This Court, also, shall have
the power of the Court of Admiralty, and also, to hear and try by
Law-Merchant all cases in Matters of Trade between the Merchants
of Carolina amongst them selves, arising without the limits of
Carolina; as also, all controversies in Merchandising that shall
happen between Denizens of Carolina and foreigners. The twelve
Assistants belonging to this court shall be called proconsuls. In
time of actual war, the High Admiral, whilst he is at Sea, Shall
command in chief, and his Six Councillors, or such of them as the
Palatine's Court shall for that time and service appoint, shall
be the immediate great officers under him, and the proconsuls
next to them.
Article 39 was revised to read as follows: The High Steward's
court, consisting of a proprietor and his six Councillors, who
shall be called Comptrollers, shall have the care of all foreign
and domestic Trade, Manufactures, public buildings and
workhouses, high ways, passages by water above the flood of the
Tide, drains, sewers and Banks against inundations, Bridges,
Posts, Carriers, Fairs, Markets, and all things in order to trade
and travel, and any thing that may corrupt, deprave, or infect
the common Air or water, and all other things wherein the Public
commerce or health is concerned; and also, the setting out and
surveying of lands; and also, the setting out and appointing
places for towns to be built on in the Precincts, and the
prescribing and determining the Figure and bigness of the said
Towns according to such Models as the said court shall order,
contrary or differing from which Models it shall not be lawful
for any one to build in any Town.
Another revision of Article 39 reads as follows: The High
Steward' court, consisting of a proprietor and his six
Councillors, who shall be called Comptrollers, shall have the
care of all foreign and domestic Trade, Manufactures, public
buildings and workhouses, high ways, passages by water above the
flood of the Tide, drains, sewers and Banks against inundations,
Bridges, Posts, Carriers, Fairs, Markets, Corruptions or
infections of the common air and water, and all things in order
to public commerce and health....
[Nothing in the manuscript indicates which revision of Article 39
was adopted, but the latter appears in the March 1, 1670,
version. ]
Article 40 was first revised to read as follows: This Court shall
have power, also, to make any public building or any new high
way, or enlarge any old high way, upon any Man's Land whatsoever;
as also, to make cuts, Channels, Banks, locks, and Bridges, for
making Rivers Navigable, for draining of Fens, or any other
public uses; the damage the owner of such land, on or through
which any such public thing shall be made, shall receive therby
shall be valued by a Jury of twelve men of the Precinct in which
any such thing is done, and satisfaction shall be made
accordingly by a Tax, either on the County or that particular
precinct, as the grand Council shall think fit to order in that
particular case. And if it be a Seigniory or Barony on or through
which any such public thing shall be made, then the damage the
owner of the said Seigniory or Barony shall receive thereby shall
be valued by the High Steward's Court, and satisfaction shall be
made accordingly by a tax on the County. The twelve assistants
belonging to this Court shall be called Surveyors.
Article 40 was finally revised to read as follows: This Court
shall have power, also, to make any public building or any new
high way, or enlarge any old high way, upon any Man's Land
whatsoever; as also, to make cuts, Channels, Banks, locks, and
Bridges, for making Rivers Navigable, for draining of Fens, or
any other public uses; the damage the owner of such land, on or
through which any such public thing shall be made, shall receive
thereby shall be valued, and satisfaction made, by such ways as
the Grand Council shall appoint. The twelve assistants belonging
to this Court shall be called Surveyors.
Article 45 was struck out and the fouling was substituted: In all
the Proprietors' Courts, the Proprietor and any three of his
Councillors shall make a Quorum; Provided always, that, for the
better dispatch of business, it shall be in the power of the
Palatine's Court to direct what sort of causes shall be heard and
determined by a Quorum of any three.
Article 46 was revised to read as follows: The grand Council
shall consist of the Palatine, and Seven Proprietors, and the
forty two Councillors of the Several Proprietors' Courts; who
shall have power to determine any Controversies that may arise
between any of the Proprietors' Courts about their respective
Jurisdictions, or between the Members of one and the same Court
about their manner and methods of proceeding; to make peace and
war, Leagues, Treaties, etc., with any of the Neighbour Indians;
To issue out their General Orders to the Constable's and
Admiral's Court for the Raising, disposing, or disbanding the
Forces, by land or by Sea; to prepare all matters to be proposed
in Parliament; nor shall any matter whatsoever be proposed in
Parliament but what his first passed the Grand Council, which,
after having been read three several days in the Parliament,
shall be passed or rejected.
Article 54 was revised to read as follows: Each Proprietor's
deputy shall be always one of their own Six Councillors
respectively; And in case any of the Proprietors has not, in his
absence out of Carolina, a Deputy in Carolina, commissioned under
his hand and seal, the Eldest Nobleman of his Court shall of
course be his Deputy.
Article 55 was struck out and the following was substituted: In
Every County there shall be a Court, consisting of a Sheriff and
four Justices of the County Court, for Every precinct one. The
Sheriff Shall be an inhabitant of this County and have at least
five hundred acres of freehold within the said County; and the
Justices Shall be inhabitants and have, each of them, five
hundred acres apiece in the precinct for which they Serve
respectively. These five Shall be chosen, commissioned from time
to time by the Palatine's Court.
Article 57 was revised to read as follows: In every Precinct
there shall be a Court, consisting of a Steward and four Justices
of the Precinct, being Inhabitants and having three hundred Acres
of Freehold within the said Precinct; who shall Judge all
Criminal causes, except for Treason, Murder, and any other
offences punished with death and all criminal causes of the
Nobility; and all civil causes whatsoever, and in all personal
actions not exceeding fifty pounds without appeal; but where the
Cause shall exceed that Value, or concern a Title of land, and in
all Criminal causes, there, either party, upon paying five pounds
to the Proprietors' use, shall have Liberty of appeal unto the
County Court.
Article 67 was revised to read as follows: A new Parliament shall
be assembled the first Monday of the Month of November every
second year, and shall meet and Sit in the Town they last Sat in,
without any Summons, unless by the Palatine's Court they be
Summoned to meet at any other place; and if there shall be any
occasion of a Parliament in these Intervals, it shall be in the
power of the Palatine's Court to assemble them on forty days'
notice, at Such time and place as the said Court shall think fit;
and the Palatine's Court shall have power to dissolve the said
Parliament when they Shall think fit.
Article 71 was revised to read as follows: Any Proprietor, or his
Deputy, may enter his Protestation against any act of the
Parliament, before the Palatine or his deputy's consent be given
as aforesaid, if he shall conceive the said act to be contrary to
this Establishment or any of these Fundamental Constitutions of
the Government; and in Such case, after a full and free debate,
the several Estates shall retire into four several Chambers, the
Palatine and Proprietors into one, the Landgraves into another,
and the Caciques into another, and those Chosen by the Precincts
into a fourth; and if the major part of any of these four Estates
shall Vote that the law is not agreeable to this Establishment
and these fundamental constitution of the Government, then
it shall pass no further, but be as if it had never been
proposed. The Quorum of the Parliament shall be one half of those
who are members and capable of sitting in the house that present
session of Parliament. The Quorum of each of the Chambers of
Parliament shall be one half of the members of that Chamber.
Article 74 was revised to read as follows: There shall be a
Registry in every precinct, wherein shall be enrolled all deeds,
Leases, Judgments, mortgages, or other conveyances which may
concern any of the land within the Said Precinct; and all Such
conveyances not so entered or Registered shall not be of force
against any person not privy to the Said contract or conveyance.
Article 77 was revised to read as follows: There shall be a
Registry in every Seigniory, Barony, and Colony, wherein shall be
Recorded all the Births, Marriages, and deaths that shall happen
within the said Colony.
Article 79 was revised to read as follows: The time of every
one's Age that is born in Carolina shall be Reckoned from the day
that his Birth is entered in the Registry, and not before.
Article 80 was revised to read as follows: No marriage shall be
lawful, whatever Contract of Ceremonies they have used, till both
the parties mutually own it before the Register where they
were married, and he enter it, with the names of the Father and
mother of each party.
Article 81 was revised to read as follows: No man shall
administer to the goods, or have right to them, or enter upon the
Estate, of any person deceased till his death be Registered in
the Respective Registry.
Article 82 was revised to read as follows: He that does not enter
in the respective Registry the death or Birth or any person that
dies or is born in his house or ground shall pay to the said
Register one shilling per week for each Such neglect, Reckoning
from the time of each death or birth respectively to the time of
Registering it.
Article 84 was revised to read as follows: There shall be in
every Colony one Constable, to be Chosen annually by the
Freeholders of the Colony, his Estate to be above one hundred
acres of Freehold within the Said Colony; and Such Subordinate
officers appointed for his assistance as the County Court shall
find requisite, and shall be Established by the said County
court; the Election of the Subordinate annual officers shall be
also in the Freeholders of the Colony.
Article 85 was revised to read as follows: All Towns incorporate
shall be Governed by a Mayor, twelve Aldermen, and twenty four of
the Common Council; the Said Common Council to be chosen by the
present householders of the Said Town; and the Aldermen to be
Chosen out of the Common Council, and the Mayor out of the
Aldermen, by the Palatine's Court.
Article 90 was revised to read as follows: In the terms of
Communion of every church or profession, these following shall be
three, without which no agreement or assembly of men upon
pretence of Religion shall be accounted a Church or Profession
within these Rules:
1. That there is a God.
2. That God is publicly to be worshipped.
3. That it is lawful, and the duty of every man, being thereunto
called by those that Govern, to bear witness to truth; and that
every church or profession shall, in their Terms of Communion,
Set down the External way whereby they witness a truth as in the
presence of God, whether it be by laying hands on and Kissing the
Bible, as in the Protestant and Papist Churches, or by holding up
the hand, or any other Sensible way.
Article 95 was revised to read as follows: Any person Subscribing
the terms of Communion of any church or profession in the Record
of the said church before the Precinct Register and any five
members of the church or profession shall be thereby made a
member of the Said church or profession.
Article 96 was revised to read as follows: Any person striking
out his own name out of any religious Record, or his name being
struck out by any officer thereunto Authorized by Each church or
profession respectively, shall cease to be a member of that
Church or profession.
Article 101 was revised to read as follows: Every Freeman of
Carolina shall have absolute power and Authority over his Negro
Slaves, of what opinion or Religion soever.
Footnote #7
PROCLAMATION OF 1763, Charter of Florida
October 7, 1763
By the King, a Proclamation George R.
Whereas We have taken into Our Royal Consideration the extensive
and valuable Acquisitions in America, secured to our Crown by the
late Definitive Treaty of Peace concluded at Paris, the 10th Day
of February last; and being desirous that all Our loving
Subjects, as well of our Kingdom as of our Colonies in America,
may avail themselves with all convenient Speed, of the great
Benefits and Advantages which must accrue therefrom to their
Commerce, Manufactures, and Navigation, We have thought fit, with
the Advice of our Privy Council, to issue this our Royal
Proclamation, hereby to publish and declare to all our loving
Subjects, that we have, with the Advice of our Said Privy
Council, granted our Letters Patent, under our Great Seal of
Great Britain, to erect, within the Countries and Islands ceded
and confirmed to Us by the said Treaty, Four distinct and
separate Governments, styled and called by the names of Quebec,
East Florida, West Florida and Grenada, and limited and bounded
as follows, viz.
First - The Government of Quebec bounded on the Labrador Coast by
the River St. John, and from thence by a Line drawn from the Head
of that River through the Lake St. John, to the South end of the
Lake Nipissim; from whence the said Line, crossing the River St.
Lawrence, and the Lake Champlain, in 45. Degrees of North
Latitude, passes along the High Lands which divide the Rivers
that empty themselves into the said River St. Lawrence from those
which fall into the Sea; and also along the North Coast of the
Baye des Chaleurs, and the Coast of the Gulph of St. Lawrence to
Cape Rosieres, and from thence crossing the Mouth of the River
St. Lawrence by the West End of the Island of Anticosti,
terminates at the aforesaid River of St. John.
Secondly - The Government of East Florida, bounded to the
Westward by the Gulph of Mexico and the Apalachicola River; to
the Northward by a Line drawn from that part of the said River
where the Chatahouchee and Flint Rivers meet, to the source of
St. Mary's River, and by the course of the said River to the
Atlantic Ocean; and the Eastward and Southward by the Atlantic
Ocean and the Gulph of Florida, including all Islands within Six
Leagues of the Sea Coast.
Thirdly - The Government of West Florida, bounded to the
Southward by the Gulph of Mexico, including all Islands within
Six Leagues of the Coast, from the River Apalachicola to Lake
Pontchartrain; to the Westward by the said Lake, the Lake
Maurepas, and the River Mississippi; to the Northward by a Line
drawn due East from that part of the River Mississippi which lies
in 31 Degrees North Latitude, to the River Apalachicola or
Chatahouchee; and the Eastward by the said River
Fourthly - The Government of Grenada, comprehending the Island of
that name, together with the Grenadines, and the Islands of
Dominico, St. Vincent's and Tobago.
And to the end that the open and free Fishery of our Subjects may
be extended to and carried on upon the Coast of Labrador, and the
adjacent Islands, We have thought fit, with the advice of our
said Privy Council to put all that Coast, from the River St.
John's to Hudson's Streights, together with the Islands of
Anticosti and Madelaine, and all other smaller Islands lying upon
the said Coast, under the care and Inspection of our Governor of
Newfoundland. We have also, with the advice of our Privy Council,
thought fit to annex the Islands of St. John's and Cape Breton,
or Isle Royale, with the lesser Islands adjacent thereto, to our
Government of Nova Scotia. We have also, with the advice of our
Privy Council aforesaid, annexed to our Province of Georgia all
the Lands lying between the Rivers Alatamaha and St. Mary's.
And whereas it will greatly contribute to the speedy settling of
our said new Governments, that our loving Subjects should be
informed of our Paternal care, for the security of the Liberties
and Properties of those who are and shall become Inhabitants
thereof, We have thought fit to publish and declare, by this Our
Proclamation, that We have, in the Letters Patent under our Great
Seal of Great Britain, by which the said Governments are
constituted, given express Power and Direction to our Governors
of our Said Colonies respectively, that so soon as the state and
circumstances of the said Colonies will admit thereof, they
shall, with the Advice and Consent of the Members of our Council,
summon and call General Assemblies within the said Governments
respectively, in such Manner and Form as is used and directed in
those Colonies and Provinces in America which are under our
immediate Government;
And We have also given Power to the said Governors, with the
consent of our Said Councils, and the Representatives of the
People so to be summoned as aforesaid, to make, constitute, and
ordain Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances for the Public Peace,
Welfare, and good Government of our said Colonies, and of the
People and Inhabitants thereof, as near as may be agreeable to
the Laws of England, and under such Regulations and Restrictions
as are used in other Colonies; and in the mean Time, and until
such Assemblies can be called as aforesaid, all Persons
Inhabiting in or resorting to our Said Colonies may confide in
our Royal Protection for the Enjoyment of the Benefit of the Laws
of our Realm of England; for which Purpose We have given Power
under our Great Seal to the Governors of our said Colonies
respectively to erect and constitute, with the Advice of our said
Councils respectively, Courts of Judicature and public Justice
within our Said Colonies for hearing and determining all Causes,
as well Criminal as Civil, according to Law and Equity, and as
near as may be agreeable to the Laws of England, with Liberty to
all Persons who may think themselves aggrieved by the Sentences
of such Courts, in all Civil Cases, to appeal, under the usual
Limitations and Restrictions, to Us in our Privy Council.
We have also thought fit, with the advice of our Privy Council as
aforesaid, to give unto the Governors and Councils of our said
Three new Colonies, upon the Continent full Power and Authority
to settle and agree with the Inhabitants of our said new Colonies
or with any other Persons who shall resort thereto, for such
Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, as are now or hereafter shall
be in our Power to dispose of; and them to grant to any such
Person or Persons upon such Terms, and under such moderate
Quit-Rents, Services and Acknowledgments, as have been appointed
and settled in our other Colonies, and under such other
Conditions as shall appear to us to be necessary and expedient
for the Advantage of the Grantees, and the Improvement and
settlement of our said Colonies.
And Whereas, We are desirous, upon all occasions, to testify our
Royal Sense and Approbation of the Conduct and bravery of the
Officers and Soldiers of our Armies, and to reward the same, We
do hereby command and impower our Governors of our said Three new
Colonies, and all other our Governors of our several Provinces on
the Continent of North America, to grant without Fee or Reward,
to such reduced Officers as have served in North America during
the late War, and to such Private Soldiers as have been or shall
be disbanded in America, and are actually residing there, and
shall personally apply for the same, the following Quantities of
Lands, subject, at the Expiration of Ten Years, to the same Quit-
Rents as other Lands are subject to in the Province within which
they are granted, as also subject to the same Conditions of
Cultivation and Improvement; viz.
To every Person having the Rank of a Field Officer -- 5,000
Acres.
To every Captain -- 5,000 Acres.
To every Subaltern or Staff Officer, -- 2,000 Acres.
To every Non-Commission Officer, -- 200 Acres.
To every Private Man -- 50 Acres.
We do likewise authorize and require the Governors and Commanders
in Chief of all our said Colonies upon the Continent of North
America to grant the like Quantities of Land, and upon the same
conditions, to such reduced Officers of our Navy of like Rank as
served on board our Ships of War in North America at the times of
the Reduction of Louisbourg and Quebec in the late War, and who
shall personally apply to our respective Governors for such
Grants.
And whereas it is just and reasonable, and essential to our
Interest, and the Security of our Colonies, that the several
Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are connected, and who
live under our Protection, should not be molested or disturbed in
the Possession of such Parts of Our Dominions and Territories as,
not having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are reserved to
them, or any of them, as their Hunting Grounds.
We do therefore, with the Advice or our Privy Council, declare it
to be our Royal Will and Pleasure, that no Governor or Commander
in Chief in any of our Colonies of Quebec, East Florida, or West
Florida, do presume, upon any Pretence whatever, to grant
Warrants of Survey, or pass any Patents for Lands beyond the
Bounds of their respective Governments, as described in their
Commissions; as also that no Governor or Commander in Chief in
any of our other Colonies or Plantations in America do presume
for the present, and until our further Pleasure be known, to
grant Warrants of Survey, or pass Patents for any Lands beyond
the Heads or Sources of any of the Rivers which fall into the
Atlantic Ocean from the West and North West, or upon any Lands
whatever, which, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us as
aforesaid, are reserved to the said Indians, or any of them.
And We do further declare it to be Our Royal Will and Pleasure,
for the present as aforesaid, to reserve under our Sovereignty,
Protection, and Dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all
the Lands and Territories not included within the Limits of Our
said Three new Governments, or within the Limits of the Territory
granted to the Hudson's Bay Company, as also all the Lands and
Territories lying to the Westward of the Sources of the Rivers
which fall into the Sea from the West and North West as
aforesaid.
And We do hereby strictly forbid, on Pain of our Displeasure, all
our loving Subjects from making any Purchases or Settlements
whatever, or taking Possession of any of the Lands above
reserved, without our especial leave and Licence for that Purpose
first obtained.
And, We do further strictly enjoin and require all Persons
whatever who have either wilfully or inadvertently seated
themselves upon any Lands within the Countries above described,
or upon any other Lands which, not having been ceded to or
purchased by Us, are still reserved to the said Indians as
aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves from such Settlements.
And whereas great Frauds and Abuses have been committed in
purchasing Lands of the Indians, to the great Prejudice of our
Interests, and to the great Dissatisfaction of the said Indians;
In order, therefore, to prevent such Irregularities for the
future, and to the end that the Indians may be convinced of our
Justice and determined Resolution to remove all reasonable Cause
of Discontent, We do, with the Advice of our Privy Council
strictly enjoin and require, that no private Person do presume to
make any purchase from the said Indians of any Lands reserved to
the said Indians, within those parts of our Colonies where, We
have thought proper to allow Settlement; but that, if at any Time
any of the Said Indians should be inclined to dispose of the said
Lands, the same shall be Purchased only for Us, in our Name, at
some public Meeting or Assembly of the said Indians, to be held
for that Purpose by the Governor or Commander in Chief of our
Colony respectively within which they shall lie; and in case they
shall lie within the limits of any Proprietary Government, they
shall be purchased only for the Use and in the name of such
Proprietaries, conformable to such Directions and Instructions as
We or they shall think proper to give for that Purpose; And we
do, by the Advice of our Privy Council, declare and enjoin, that
the Trade with the said Indians shall be free and open to all our
Subjects whatever, provided that every Person who may incline to
Trade with the said Indians do take out a Licence for carrying on
such Trade from the Governor or Commander in Chief of any of our
Colonies respectively where such Person shall reside, and also
give Security to observe such Regulations as We shall at any Time
think fit, by ourselves or by our Commissaries to be appointed
for this Purpose, to direct and appoint for the Benefit of the
said Trade:
And we do hereby authorize, enjoin, and require the Governors and
Commanders in Chief of all our Colonies respectively, as well
those under Our immediate Government as those under the
Government and Direction of Proprietaries, to grant such Licences
without Fee or Reward, taking especial Care to insert therein a
Condition, that such Licence shall be void, and the Security
forfeited in case the Person to whom the same is granted shall
refuse or neglect to observe such Regulation as We shall think
proper to prescribe as aforesaid.
And we do further expressly enjoin and require all Officers
whatever, as well Military as those Employed in the Management
and Direction of Indian Affairs, within the Territories reserved
as aforesaid for the use of the said Indians, to seize and
apprehend all Persons whatever, who standing charged with
Treason, Misprisions of Treason, Murders, or other Felonies or
Misdemeanors, shall fly from Justice and take Refuge in the said
Territory, and to send them under a proper guard to the Colony
where the Crime was committed of which they stand accused, in
order to take their Trial for the same.
Given at our Court at St. James's the 7th Day of October 1763, in
the Third Year of our Reign.
GOD SAVE THE KING
Footnote #8
1670 Charter
THE ROYAL CHARTER incorporating The Hudson's Bay Company 2 May
1670
CHARLES THE SECOND By the grace of God King of England Scotland
France and Ireland defender of the faith &c
TO ALL to whom these presents shall come greeting
WHEREAS Our Dear and entirely Beloved cousin Prince Rupert Count
Palatine of the Rhine Duke of Bavaria and Cumberland &c
Christopher Duke of Albemarle William Earl of Craven Henry Lord
Arlington Anthony Lord Ashley Sir John Robinson and Sir Robert
Vyner Knights and Baronets Sir Peter Colleton Baronet Sir Edward
Hungerford Knight of the Bath Sir Paul Neil Knight Sir John
Griffith and Sir Philip Carteret Knights James Hayes John Kirke
Francis Millington William Prettyman John Fenn Esquires and John
Portman Citizen and Goldsmith of London have at their own great
cost and charge undertaken an EXPEDITION for Hudson's Bay in the
North west part of America for the discovery of a new Passage
into the South Sea and for the finding some Trade for Furs
Minerals and other considerable Commodities and by such their
undertaking have already made such discoveries as do encourage
them to proceed further in pursuance of their said design by
means whereof there may probably arise very great advantage to us
and our Kingdom
AND WHEREAS the said undertakers for their further encouragement
in the said design have humbly besought us to Incorporate them
and grant unto them and their successors the sole Trade and
Commerce of all those Seas Straits Bays Rivers Lakes Creeks and
Sounds in whatsoever Latitude they shall be that lie within the
entrance of the Straits commonly called Hudson's Straits together
with all the Lands Countries and Territories upon the Coasts and
Confines of the Seas Straits Bays Lakes Rivers Creeks and Sounds
aforesaid which are not now actually possessed by any of our
Subjects or by the Subjects of any other Christian Prince or
State
NOW KNOW YE that We being desirous to promote all Endeavours
tending to the public good of our people and to encourage the
said undertaking HAVE of our especial grace certain knowledge and
mere motion Given granted ratified and confirmed And by these
Presents for us our heirs and Successors DO give grant ratify and
confirm unto our said Cousin Prince Rupert Christopher Duke of
Albemarle William Earl of Craven Henry Lord Arlington Anthony
Lord Ashley Sir John Robinson Sir Robert Vyner Sir Peter Colleton
Sir Edward Hungerford Sir Paul Neil Sir John Griffith and Sir
Philip Carteret James Hayes John Kirke Francis Millington William
Prettyman John Fenn and John Portman That they and such others as
shall be admitted into the said Society as is hereafter expressed
shall be one Body Corporate and Politic in deed and in name by
the name of the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England
trading into Hudson's Bay and them by the name of the Governor
and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay
one Body Corporate and Politic in deed and in name really and
fully for ever for us our heirs and successors WE DO make ordain
constitute establish confirm and declare by these Presents and
that by the same name of Governor & Company of Adventurers of
England Trading into Hudson's Bay they shall have perpetual
succession And that they and their successors by the name of
Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into
Hudson's Bay be and at all times hereafter shall be persons able
and capable in Law to have purchase receive possess enjoy and
retain Lands Rents privileges liberties Jurisdictions Franchises
and hereditaments of what kind nature and quality soever they be
to them and their Successors And also to give grant demise alien
assign and dispose Lands Tenements and hereditaments and to do
and execute all and singular other things by the same name that
to them shall or may appertain to do And that they and their
Successors by the name of the Governor and Company of Adventurers
of England Trading into Hudson's Bay may plead and be impleaded
answer and be answered defend and be defended in whatsoever
Courts and places before whatsoever Judges and Justices and other
persons and Officers in all and singular Actions Pleas Suits
Quarrels causes and demands whatsoever of whatsoever kind nature
or sort in such manner and form as any other our Liege people of
this our Realm of England being persons able and capable in Law
may or can have purchase receive possess enjoy retain give grant
demise alien assign dispose plead defend and be defended do
permit and execute And that the said Governor and Company of
Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay and their
successors may have a Common Seal to serve for all the causes and
businesses of them and their Successors and that it shall and may
be lawful to the said Governor and Company and their Successors
the same Seal from time to time at their will and pleasure to
break change and to make a new or alter as them shall seem
expedient
AND FURTHER WE WILL
And by these presents for us our Heirs and successors WE DO
ordain that there shall be from henceforth one of the same
Company to be elected and appointed in such form as hereafter in
these presents is expressed which shall be called The Governor of
the said Company And that the said Governor and Company shall
or may elect seven of their number in such form as hereafter in
these presents is expressed which shall be called the Committee
of the said Company which Committee of seven or any three of them
together with the Governor or Deputy Governor of the said Company
for the time being shall have the direction of the Voyages of and
for the said Company and Provision of the Shipping and
Merchandises thereunto belonging and also the sale of all
merchandises Goods and other things returned in all or any the
Voyages or Ships of or for the said Company and the managing and
handling of all other business affairs and things belonging to
the said Company
AND WE WILL ordain and Grant by these presents for us our heirs
and successors unto the said Governor and Company and their
successors that they the said Governor and Company and their
successors shall from henceforth for ever be ruled ordered and
governed according to such manner and form as is hereafter in
these presents expressed and not otherwise And that they shall
have hold retain and enjoy the Grants Liberties Privileges
Jurisdictions and Immunities only hereafter in these presents
granted and expressed and no other And for the better WE HAVE
ASSIGNED nominated constituted and made And by these presents for
us our heirs and successors WE DO ASSIGN nominate constitute and
make our said Cousin Prince Rupert to be the first and present
Governor of the said Company and to continue in the said Office
from the date of these presents until the tenth of November then
next following if he the said Prince Rupert shall so long live
and so until a new Governor be chosen by the said Company in form
hereafter expressed AND ALSO WE HAVE assigned nominated and
appointed And by these presents for us our heirs and Successors
WE DO assign nominate and constitute the said Sir John Robinson
Sir Robert Vyner Sir Peter Colleton James Hayes John Kirke
Francis Millington and John Portman to be the seven first and
present Committees of the said Company from the date of these
presents until the said tenth Day of November then also next
following and so until new Committees shall be chosen in form
hereafter expressed AND FURTHER WE WILL and grant by these
presents for us our heirs and Successors unto the said Governor
and Company and their successors that it shall and may be lawful
to and for the said Governor and Company for the time being or
the greater part of them present at any public Assembly commonly
called the Court General to be holden for the said Company the
Governor of the said Company being always one from time to time
elect nominate and appoint one of the said Company to be Deputy
to the said Governor which Deputy shall take a corporal Oath
before the Governor and three or more of the Committee of the
said Company for the time being well truly and faithfully to
execute his said Office of Deputy to the Governor of the said
Company and after his Oath so taken shall and may from time to
time in the absence of the said Governor exercise and execute the
Office of Governor of the said Company in such sort as the said
Governor ought to do AND FURTHER WE will and grant and by these
presents for us our heirs and Successors unto the said Governor
and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay
and their Successors That they or the greater part of them
whereof the Governor for the Time being or his Deputy to be one
from time to time and at all times hereafter shall and may have
authority and power yearly and every year the first and last day
of November to assemble and meet together in some convenient
place to be appointed from time to time by the Governor or in his
absence by the Deputy of the said Governor for the time being And
that they being so assembled it shall and may be lawful to and
for the said Governor or Deputy of the said Governor and the said
Company for the time being or the greater part of them which then
shall happen to be present whereof the Governor of the said
Company or his Deputy for the time being to be one to elect and
nominate one of the said Company which shall be Governor of the
same Company for one whole year then next following which person
being so elected and nominated to be Governor of the said Company
as is aforesaid before he be admitted to the Execution of the
said Office shall take a Corporal Oath before the last Governor
being his Predecessor or his Deputy and any three or more of the
Committee of the said Company for the time being that he shall
from time to time well and truly execute the Office of Governor
of the said Company in all things concerning the same and that
Immediately after the same Oath so taken he shall and may execute
and use the said Office of Governor of the said Company for one
whole year from thence next following and in like sort We will
and grant that as well every one of the above named to be of the
said Company or fellowship as all other hereafter to be admitted
or free of the said Company shall take a Corporal Oath before the
Governor of the said Company or his Deputy for the time being to
such effect as by the said Governor and Company or the greater
part of them in any public Court to be held for the said Company
shall be in reasonable and legal manner set down and devised
before they shall be allowed or admitted to Trade or traffic as a
freeman of the said Company
AND FURTHER WE WILL and grant by these presents for us our heirs
and successors unto the said Governor and Company and their
successors that the said Governor or Deputy Governor and the rest
of the said company and their successors for the time being or
the greater part of them whereof the Governor or the Deputy
Governor from time to time to be one shall and may from time to
time and at all times hereafter have power and authority yearly
and every year between the first and last day of November to
assemble and meet together in some convenient place from time to
time to be appointed by the said Governor of the said Company or
in his absence by his Deputy and that they being so assembled it
shall and may be lawful to and for the said Governor or his
Deputy and the Company for the time being or the greater part of
them which then shall happen to be present whereof the Governor
of the said Company or his Deputy for the time being to be one to
elect and nominate seven of the said Company which shall be a
Committee of the said Company for one whole year from thence next
ensuing which persons being so elected and nominated to be a
Committee of the said Company as aforesaid before they be
admitted to the execution of their Office shall take a Corporal
Oath before the Governor or his Deputy and any three or more of
the said Committee of the said Company being their last
Predecessors and that they and every of them shall well and
faithfully perform their said Office of Committees in all things
concerning the same And that immediately after the said Oath so
taken they shall and may execute and sue their said Office of
Committees of the said Company for one whole year from thence
next following
AND MOREOVER Our will and pleasure is And by these presents for
us our heirs and successors WE DO GRANT unto the said Governor
and Company and their successors that when and as often as it
shall happen the Governor or Deputy Governor of the said Company
for the time being at any time within one year after that he
shall be nominated elected and sworn to the Office of the
Governor of the said Company as is aforesaid to dye or to be
removed from the said Office which Governor or Deputy Governor
not demeaning himself well in his said Office WE WILL to be
removable at the Pleasure of the rest of the said Company or the
greater part of them which shall be present at their public
assemblies commonly called their General Courts holden for the
said Company that then and so often it shall and may be lawful to
and for the Residue of the said Company for the time being or the
greater part of them within convenient time after the death or
removing of any such Governor or Deputy Governor to assemble
themselves in such convenient place as they shall think fit for
the election of the Governor or Deputy Governor of the said
Company and that the said Company or the greater part of them
being then and there present shall and may then and there before
their departure from the said place elect and nominate one other
of the said Company to be Governor or Deputy Governor for the
said Company in the place and stead of him that so dyed or was
removed which person being so elected and nominated to the Office
of Governor of Deputy Governor of the said Company shall have and
exercise the said Office for and during the residue of the said
year taking first a Corporal Oath as is aforesaid for the due
execution thereof And this to be done from time to time so often
as the case shall so require
AND ALSO Our Will and Pleasure is and by these presents for us
our heirs and successors WE DO grant unto the said Governor and
Company that when and as often as it shall happen any person or
persons of the Committee of the said Company for the time being
at any time within one year next after that they or any of them
shall be nominated elected and sworn to the Office of Committee
of the said Company as is aforesaid to dye or to be removed from
the said Office which Committees not demeaning themselves well in
their said Office We will to be removable at the pleasure of the
said Governor and Company or the greater part of them whereof the
Governor of the said Company for the time being or his Deputy to
be one that then and so often it shall and may be lawful to and
for the said Governor and the rest of the Company for the time
being or the greater part of them whereof the Governor for the
time being or his Deputy to be one within convenient time after
the death or removing of any of the said Committee to assemble
themselves in such convenient place as is or shall be usual and
accustomed for the election of the Governor of the said Company
or where else the Governor of the said Company for the time being
or his Deputy shall appoint And that the said Governor and
Company or the greater part of them whereof the Governor for the
time being or his Deputy to be one being then and there present
shall and may then and there before their Departure from the said
place elect and nominate one or more of the said Company to be of
the Committee of the said Company in the place and stead of him
or them that so died or were or was so removed which person or
persons so elected and nominated to the Office of Committee of
the said Company shall have and exercise the said Office for and
during the residue of the said year taking first a Corporal Oath
as is aforesaid for the due execution thereof and this to be done
from time to time so often as the case shall require And to the
end the said Governor and Company of Adventurers of England
Trading into Hudson's Bay may be encouraged to undertake and
effectually to prosecute the said design of our more especial
grace certain knowledge and mere Motion WE HAVE given granted and
confirmed And by these presents for us our heirs and successors
DO give grant and confirm unto the said Governor and Company and
their successors the sole Trade and Commerce of all those Seas
Straits Bays Rivers Lakes Creeks and in whatsoever Latitude they
shall be that lie within the entrance of the Straits commonly
called Hudson's Straits together with all the Lands and
Territories upon the Countries Coasts and confines of the Seas
Bays Lakes Rivers Creeks and aforesaid that are not already
actually possessed by or granted to any of our Subjects or
possessed by the Subjects of any other Christian Prince or State
with the Fishing of all Sorts of Fish Whales Sturgeons and all
other Royal Fishes in the Seas Bays Islets and Rivers within the
premises and the Fish therein taken together with the Royalty of
the Sea upon the Coasts with the Limits aforesaid and all Mines
Royal as well discovered as not discovered of Gold Silver Gems
and precious Stones to be found or discovered within the
Territories Limits and Places aforesaid And that the said Land be
from henceforth reckoned and reputed as one of our Plantations or
Colonies in America called Rupert's Land.
AND FURTHER WE DO by these presents for us our heirs and
successors make create and constitute the said Governor and
Company for the time being and their successors the true and
absolute Lords and Proprietors of the same Territory limits and
places aforesaid And of all other the premises SAVING ALWAYS the
faith Allegiance and Sovereign Dominion due to us our heirs and
successors for the same TO HAVE HOLD possess and enjoy the said
Territory limits and places and all and singular other the
premises hereby granted as aforesaid with their and every of
their Rights Members Jurisdictions Prerogatives Royalties and
Appurtenances whatsoever to them the said Governor and Company
and their Successors for ever TO BE HOLDEN of us our heirs and
successors as of our Manor of East Greenwich in our Country of
Kent in free and common Socage and not in Capite or by Knights
Service YIELDING AND PAYING yearly to us our heirs and Successors
for the same two Elks and two Black beavers whensoever and as
often as We our heirs and successors shall happen to enter into
the said Countries Territories and Regions hereby granted.
AND FURTHER our will and pleasure is And by these presents for us
our heirs and successors WE DO grant unto the said Governor and
Company and to their successors that it shall and may be lawful
to and for the said Governor and Company and their successors
from time to time to assemble themselves for or about any the
matters causes affairs or businesses of the said Trade in any
place or places for the same convenient within our Dominions or
elsewhere and there to hold Court for the said Company and the
affairs thereof And that also it shall and may be lawful to and
for them and the greater part of them being so assembled and that
shall then and there be present in any such place or places
whereof the Governor or his Deputy for the time being to be one
to make ordain and constitute such and so many reasonable Laws
Constitutions Orders and Ordinances as to them or the greater
part of them being then and there present shall seem necessary
and convenient for the good Government of the said Company and of
all Governors of Colonies Fortes and Plantations Factors Masters
Mariners and other Officers employed or to be employed in any of
the Territories and Lands aforesaid and in any of their Voyages
and for the better advancement and continuance of the said Trade
or Traffic and Plantations and the same Laws Constitutions Orders
and Ordinances so made to put in use and execute accordingly and
at their pleasure to revoke and alter the same or any of them as
the occasion shall require And that the said Governor and
Company so often as they shall make ordain or establish any such
Laws Constitutions Orders and Ordinances in such form as
aforesaid shall and may lawfully impose ordain limit and provide
such pains penalties and punishments upon all Offenders contrary
to such Laws Constitutions Orders and Ordinances or any of them
as to the said Governor and Company for the time being or the
greater part of them then and there being present the said
Governor or his Deputy being always one shall seem necessary
requisite or convenient for the observation of the same Laws
Constitutions Orders and Ordinances And the same Fines and
Amerciaments shall and may by their Officers and Servants from
time to time to be appointed for that purpose levy take and have
to the use of the said Governor and Company and their successors
without the impediment of us our heirs or successors or of any
the Officers or Ministers of us our heirs or successors and
without any account therefore to us our heirs or successors to be
made All and singular which Laws Constitutions Orders and
Ordinances so as aforesaid to be made WE WILL to be duly observed
and kept under the pains and penalties therein to be contained so
always as the said Laws Constitutions Orders and Ordinances Fines
and Amerciaments be reasonable and not contrary or repugnant but
as near as may be agreeable to the Laws Statutes or of this our
Realm.
AND FURTHERMORE of our ample and abundant grace certain knowledge
and mere motion WE HAVE granted and by these presents for us our
heirs and successors do grant unto the said Governor and Company
and their Successors That they and their Successors and their
Factors Servants and Agents for them and on their behalf and not
otherwise shall for ever hereafter have use and enjoy not only
the whole Entire and only Trade and Traffic and the whole entire
and only liberty use and privilege of trading and Trafficking to
and from the Territory Limits and places aforesaid but also the
whole and entire Trade and Traffic to and from all Havens Bays
Creeks Rivers Lakes and Seas into which they shall find entrance
or passage by water or Land out of the Territories Limits or
places aforesaid and to and with all the Natives and People
Inhabiting or which shall inhabit within the Territories Limits
and places aforesaid and to and with all other Nations Inhabiting
any of the Coasts adjacent to the said Territories Limits and
places which are not already possessed as aforesaid or whereof
the sole liberty or privilege of Trade and Traffic is not granted
to any other of our Subjects
AND WE of our further Royal favour And of our more especial grace
certain knowledge and mere Motion HAVE granted and by these
presents for us our heirs and Successors DO grant to the said
Governor and Company and to their Successors That neither the
said Territories Limits and places hereby Granted as aforesaid
nor any part thereof nor the islands Havens Ports Cities Towns or
places thereof or therein contained shall be visited frequented
or haunted by any of the Subjects of us our heirs or successors
contrary to the true meaning of these presents and by virtue of
our Prerogative Royal which We will not have in that behalf
argued or brought into Question WE STRAIGHTLY Charge Command and
prohibit for us our heirs and Successors all the of us our heirs
and Successors of what degree or Quality soever they be that none
of them directly or indirectly do visit haunt frequent or Trade
Traffic or Adventure by way of Merchandise into or from any the
said Territories Limits or Places hereby granted or any or either
of them other then the said Governor and Company and such
particular persons as now be or hereafter shall be of that
Company their Agents Factors and Assignees unless it be by the
License and agreement of the said Governor and Company in writing
first had and obtained under their Common Seal to be granted upon
pain that every such person or persons that shall Trade or
Traffic into or from any the Countries Territories or Limits
aforesaid other then the said Governor and Company and their
Successors shall incur our Indignation and the forfeiture and the
loose of the Goods Merchandises and other things whatsoever which
so shall be brought into this Realm of England or any the
Dominions of the same contrary to our said Prohibition or the
purport or true meaning of these presents for which the said
Governor and Company shall finned take and seize in other places
out of our Dominions where the said Company their Agents Factors
or Ministers shall Trade Traffic inhabit by virtue of these our
Letters Patent As also the Ship and Ships with the Furniture
thereof wherein such goods Merchandises and other things shall be
brought or found the one half of all the said Forfeitures to be
to us our heirs and successors and the other half thereof WE DO
by these Presents clearly and wholly for us our heirs and
Successors Give and Grant unto the said Governor and Company and
their Successors AND FURTHER all and every the said Offenders for
their said contempt to suffer such other punishment as to us our
heirs or Successors for so high a contempt shall seem meet and
convenient and not to be in any wise delivered until they and
every of them shall become bound unto the said Governor for the
time being in the sum of one thousand Pounds at the least at no
time then after to Trade or Traffic into any of the said places
Seas Straits Bays Ports Havens or Territories aforesaid contrary
to our Express Commandment in the behalf herein set down and
published
AND FURTHER of our more especial grace WE HAVE condescended and
granted And by these presents for us our heirs and Successors do
grant unto the said Governor and Company and their successors
That We our heirs and Successors will not Grant liberty license
or power to any person or persons whatsoever contrary to the
tenor of these our Letters Patent to Trade traffic or inhabit
unto or upon any the Territories limits or places afore specified
contrary to the true meaning of these presents without the
consent of the said Governor and Company or the most part of them
AND of our more abundant grace and favour to the said Governor
and Company WE DO hereby declare our will and pleasure to be that
if it shall so happen that any of the persons free or to be free
of the said Company of Adventurers of England Trading into
Hudson's Bay who shall before going forth of any Ship or Ships
appointed for A VOYAGE or otherwise promise or agree by Writing
under his or their hands to adventure any sum or Sums of money
towards the furnishing any provision or maintenance of any voyage
or voyages set forth or to be set forth or intended or meant to
be set forth by the said Governor and Company or the more part of
them present at any Public Assembly commonly called their General
Court shall not within the Space of twenty Days next after
Warning given to him or them by the said Governor or Company or
their known Officer or Minister bring in and deliver to the
Treasurer or Treasurers appointed for the Company such sums of
money as shall have been expressed and set down in by the said
Person or Persons subscribed with the name of the said Adventurer
or Adventurers that then and at all Times after it shall and may
be lawful to and for the said Governor and Company or the more
part of them present WHEREOF the said Governor or his Deputy to
be one at any of their General Courts or General Assemblies to
remove and disfranchise him or them and every such person and
persons at their wills and pleasures and he or they so removed
and disfranchised not to be permitted to trade into the Countries
Territories Limits aforesaid or any part thereof nor to have any
Adventure or Stock going or remaining with or amongst the said
Company without the special license of the said Governor and
Company or the more part of them present at any General Court
first had and obtained in that behalf Any thing before in these
presents to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding
AND OUR WILL AND PLEASURE is And hereby We do also ordain that it
shall and may be lawful to and for the said Governor and Company
or the greater part of them whereof the Governor for the time
being or his Deputy to be one to admit into and to be of the said
Company all such Servants or Factors of or for the said Company
and all such others as to them or the most part of them present
at any Court held for the said Company the Governor or his Deputy
being one shall be thought fit and agreeable with the Orders and
Ordinances made and to be made for the Government of the said
Company
AND FURTHER Our will and pleasure is And by these presents for us
our heirs and Successors WE DO grant unto the said Governor and
Company and to their Successors that it shall and may be lawful
in all Elections and By-Laws to be made by the General Court of
the Adventurers of the said Company that every person shall have
a number of votes according to his Stock that is to say for every
hundred pounds by him subscribed or brought into the present
Stock one vote and that any of these that have Subscribed less
than one hundred pounds may join their respective sums to make up
one hundred pounds and have one vote jointly for the same and not
otherwise
AND FURTHER of our especial grace certain knowledge and mere
motion WE DO for us our heirs and successors grant to and with
the said Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading
into Hudson's Bay that all Lands Islands Territories Plantations
Forts Fortifications Factories or Colonies where the said
Companies Factories and Trade are or shall be within any the
Ports and places afore limited shall be immediately and from
henceforth under the power and command of the said Governor and
Company their Successors and Assignees SAVING the faith and
Allegiance due to be performed to us our heirs and successors as
aforesaid and that the said Governor and Company shall have
liberty full Power and authority to appoint and establish
Governors and all other Officers to govern them And that the
Governor and his Council of the several and respective places
where the said Company shall have Plantations Forts Factories
Colonies or Places of Trade within any of the Countries Lands or
Territories hereby granted may have power to judge all persons
belonging to the said Governor and Company or that shall live
under them in all Causes whether Civil or Criminal according to
the Laws of this Kingdom and to execute Justice accordingly And
in case any crime or misdemeanor shall be committed in any of the
said Companies Plantations Forts Factories or Places of Trade
within the Limits aforesaid where Judicature cannot be executed
for want of a Governor and Council there then in such case it
shall and may be lawful for the chief Factor of that place and
his Council to the party together with the offence to such other
Placation Factory or Fort where there shall be a Governor and
Council where Justice may be executed or into this Kingdom of
England as shall be thought most convenient there to receive such
punishment as the nature of his offence shall deserve
AND MOREOVER Our will and pleasure is And by these presents for
us our heirs and Successors WE DO GIVE and grant unto the said
Governor and Company and their Successors free Liberty and
License in case they conceive it necessary to send either Ships
of War Men or Ammunition unto any their Plantations Forts
Factories or Places of Trade aforesaid for the security and
defence of the same and to choose Commanders and Officers over
them and to give them power and authority by Commission under
their Common Seal or otherwise to continue or make peace or War
with any Prince or People whatsoever that are not Christians in
any places where the said Company shall have any Plantations
Forts or Factories or adjacent thereunto as shall be most for the
advantage and benefit of the said Governor and Company and of
their Trade and also to right and recompense themselves upon the
Goods Estates or people of those parts by whom the said Governor
and Company shall sustain any injury loss or damage or upon any
other People whatsoever that shall any way contrary to the intent
of these presents interrupt wrong or injure them in their said
Trade within the said places Territories and Limits granted by
this Charter and that it shall and may be lawful to and for the
said Governor and Company and their Successors from time to time
and at all times from henceforth to Erect and build such Castles
Fortifications Forts Garrisons Colonies Plantations Towns or
Villages in any parts or places within the Limits and Bounds
granted before in these presents unto the said Governor and
Company as they in their Discretions shall think fit and
requisite and for the supply of such as shall be needful and
convenient to keep and be in the same to send out of this Kingdom
to the said Castles Forts Fortifications Garrisons Colonies
Plantations Towns or Villages all of Clothing Provision of
Victuals Ammunition and Implements necessary for such purpose
paying the Duties and Customs for the same As also to transport
and carry over such number of Men being willing thereunto or not
prohibited as they shall think fit and also to govern them in
such legal and reasonable manner as the said Governor and Company
shall think best and to inflict punishment for misdemeanors or
impose such Fines upon them for breach of their Orders as in
these Presents are formerly expressed
AND FURTHER Our will and pleasure is And by these presents for us
our heirs and Successors WE DO grant unto the said Governor and
Company and to their Successors full Power and lawful authority
to seize upon the Persons of all such English or any other of our
Subjects which shall sail into Hudson's Bay or Inhabit in any of
the Countries Islands or Territories hereby Granted to the said
Governor and Company without their leave and Licence in that
Behalf first had and obtained or that shall contemn or disobey
their Orders and send them to England and that all and every
Person and Persons being our Subjects any ways Employed by the
said Governor and Company within any the Parts places and Limits
aforesaid shall be liable unto and suffer such punishment for any
Offences by them committed in the Parts aforesaid as the
President and Council for the said Governor and Company there
shall think fit and the merit of the offence shall require as
aforesaid. And in case any Person or Persons being convicted and
Sentenced by the President and Council of the said Governor and
Company in the Countries Lands or Limits aforesaid their Factors
or Agents there for any Offence by them done shall appeal from
the same That then and in such Case it shall and may be lawful to
and for the said President and Council Factors or Agents to seize
upon him or them and to carry him or them home Prisoners into
England to the said Governor and Company there to receive such
condign punishment as his Cause shall require and the Law of this
Nation allow of and for the better discovery of abuses and
injuries to be done unto the said Governor and Company or their
Successors by any Servant by them to be employed in the said
Voyages and Plantations it shall and may be lawful to and for the
said Governor and Company and their respective Presidents Chief
Agent or Governor in the parts aforesaid to examine upon Oath all
Factors Masters Pursers Supra Cargoes Commanders of Castles Forts
Fortifications Plantations or Colonies or other Persons touching
or concerning any matter or thing in which by Law or usage an
Oath may be administered so as the said Oath and the matter
therein contained be not repugnant but agreeable to the Laws of
this Realm
AND WE DO hereby straightly charge and Command all and singular
our Admirals Vice-Admirals Justices Mayors Sheriffs Constables
Bailiffs and all and singular other our Officers Ministers Liege
Men and Subjects whatsoever to be aiding favouring helping and
assisting to the said Governor and Company and to their
Successors and to their Deputies Officers Factors Servants
Assignees and Ministers and every of them in executing and
enjoying the premises as well on Land as on Sea from time to time
when any of you shall thereunto be required ANY STATUTE Act
Ordinance Proviso Proclamation or restraint heretofore had made
set forth ordained or provided or any other matter cause or thing
whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding
IN WITNESS WHEREOF we have caused these our Letters to be made
Patented WITNESS OURSELF at Westminster the second day of May in
the two and twentieth year of our Reign
By Writ of Privy Seal
Source: Statutes, Orders in Council &c, relating to the
Hudson's Bay Company (London, 1949).
Footnote #9
CONSTITUTION OF NORTH CAROLINA OF 1776
A DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
A Declaration of Rights, made by the Representatives of the
Freeman of the State of North Carolina.
1. That all political power is vested, in and derived from, the
people only.
2. That the people of this State ought to have the sole and
exclusive right of regulating the internal government and police
thereof.
3. That no men, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or
separate emoluments or privileges from the community, but in
consideration of public services.
4. That the legislative, executive and supreme judicial powers
of government, ought to be forever separate and distinct from
each other.
5. That all powers of suspending laws, or the execution of laws,
by any authority, without consent of the representatives of the
people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be
exercised.
6. That elections of members to serve as representatives in
general assembly ought to be free.
7. That in all criminal prosecutions, every man has a right to
be informed of the accusation against him, and to confront the
accusers and witnesses with other testimony, and shall not be
compelled to give evidence against himself.
8. That no freeman shall be put to answer any criminal charge,
but by indictment, presentment, or impeachment.
9. That no freeman shall be convicted of any crime, but by the
unanimous verdict of a jury of good and lawful men, in open
court, as heretofore used.
10. That excessive bail should not be required, nor excessive
fines imposed, nor cruel nor unusual punishments inflicted.
11. That general warrants, whereby any officer or messenger may
be commanded to search suspected places, without evidence of the
fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named,
whose offenses are not particularly described, and supported by
evidence, are dangerous to liberty, and ought not to be granted.
12. That no freeman ought to be taken, imprisoned, or disseized
of his freehold, liberties, or privileges, or outlawed or exiled,
or in any manner destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty or
property, but by the law of the land.
13. That every freeman restrained of his liberty is entitled to
a remedy, to inquire in to the lawfulness thereof, and to remove
the same, if unlawful; and that such remedy ought not to be
denied or delayed.
14. That in all controversies at law, respecting property, the
ancient mode of trial by jury is one of the best securities of
the rights of the people, and ought to remain sacred and
inviolable.
15. That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks
of liberty; and therefore ought never to be restrained.
16. That the people of this State ought not to be taxed, or made
subject to the payment of any impost, or duty, without the
consent of themselves, or their representatives in the general
assembly freely given.
17. That the people have a right to bear arms, for the defense of
the State; and as standing armies, in time of peace, are
dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the
military should be kept under strict subordination to, and
governed by, the civil power.
18. That the people have a right to assemble together, to consult
for the common good, to instruct their representatives, and to
apply to the legislature for redress of grievances.
19. That all men have a natural and unalienable right to worship
Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience.
20. That, for redress of grievances, and for amending and
strengthening the laws, elections ought to be often held.
21. That a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is
absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty.
22. That no hereditary emoluments, privileges, or honors ought to
be granted or conferred in this State.
23. That perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the genius
of a free State, and ought not to be allowed.
24. That retrospective laws, punishing acts committed before the
existence of such laws, and by them only declared criminal, are
oppressive, unjust, and incompatible with liberty; wherefore, no
ex post facto law ought to be made.
25. The property of the soil, in a free government, being one of
the essential rights of the collective body of the people, it is
necessary, in order to avoid future disputes, that the limits of
the State should be ascertained with precision: and as the former
temporary line betweenNorth and South Carolina was confirmed, and
extended by commissioners, appointed by the legislatures of the
two States, agreeable to the order of the late King George II in
council, that line, and that only, should be esteemed the
southern boundary of this State; that is to say, beginning on the
seaside at a cedar stake at or near the mouth of Little River,
(being the southern extremity of Brunswick County), and running
from thence a northwest course, through the boundary-house, which
stands in thirty-three degrees fifty-six minutes, to a
thirty-five degrees north latitude; and from thence a west
course, so far as is mentioned in the charter of King Charles II
to the late proprietors of Carolina. Therefore, all the
territory, seas, waters, and harbors, with their appurtenances,
lying between the line above described, and the southern line of
the State of Virginia, which begins on the seashore, in
thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, and from thence
runs west, agreeable to the said charter of King Charles, are the
right and property of the people of this State, to be held by
them in sovereignty: any partial line, without the consent of the
legislature of this State, at any time thereafter directed or
laid out, in any wise notwithstanding: provided always, that this
declaration of right shall not prejudice any nation or nations of
Indians, from enjoying such hunting grounds as may have been, or
hereafter shall be secured to them, by any former or future
legislature of this State: And provided also, that it shall not
be construed so as to prevent the establishment of one or more
governments westward of this State, by consent of the
legislature: And provided further, that nothing herein contained
shall affect the titles or possessions of individuals holding or
claiming under the laws heretofore in force, or grants heretofore
made by the late King George II, or his predecessors, or the late
lords proprietors, or any of them.
THE CONSTITUTION
The Constitution, or form of Government, agreed to and Resolved
upon, by the Representatives of the freemen of the State of North
Carolina, elected and chosen for that particular purpose, in
Congress assembled, at Halifax, the eighteenth day of December ,
in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and
seventy-six.
Whereas, allegiance and protection are in their nature
reciprocal, and the one should of right be refused when the other
is withdrawn;
And whereas, George the Third, king of Great Britain, and late
sovereign of the British American colonies, hath not only
withdrawn from them his protection, but, by an act of the British
legislature, declared the inhabitants of these States out of the
protection of the British crown, and all their property found
upon the high-seas liable to be seized and confiscated to the
uses mentioned in the said act; and the said George the Third has
also sent fleets and armies to prosecute a cruel war against
them, for the purpose of reducing the inhabitants of the said
colonies to a state of object slavery; in consequence whereof,
all government, under the said king, within the said colonies,
hath ceased, and a total dissolution of government, in many of
them, hath taken place:
And whereas, the continental congress, having considered the
premises, and other previous violations of the rights of the good
people of America, have therefore declared that the thirteen
united colonies are, of right, wholly absolved from all
allegiance to the British crown, or any other foreign
jurisdiction whatsoever; and that the said colonies now are, and
forever shall be, free and independent states. Wherefore, in our
present State, in order to prevent anarchy and confusion, it
becomes necessary that government should be established in this
State; therefore, we the representatives of the freemen of North
Carolina, chosen and assembled in congress for the express
purpose of framing a constitution, under the authority of the
people, most conducive to their happiness and prosperity, do
declare, that a government for this State shall be established,
in manner and form following, to wit:
1. That the legislative authority shall be vested in two
distinct branches, both dependent on the people, to wit, a senate
and house of commons.
2. That the senate shall be composed of representatives,
annually chosen by ballot, one for each county in the State.
3. That the house of commons shall be composed of
representatives, annually chosen by ballot, two for each county,
and one for each of the towns of Edenton, New Bern, Wilmington,
Salisbury, Hillsborough, and Halifax.
4. That the senate and house of commons, assembled for the
purpose of legislation, shall be denominated the general
assembly.
5. That each member of the senate shall have usually resided in
the county in which he is chosen for one year immediately
preceeding his election, and for the same time shall have
possessed, and continue to possess, in the county which he
represents, not less than three hundred acres of land
in fee.
6. That each member of the house of commons shall have usually
resided in the county in which he is chosen for one year
immediately preceding his election, and for six months shall have
possessed, and continue to possess, in the county which he
represents , not less than one hundred acres of land in fee, or
for the term of his own life.
7. That all freemen of the age of twenty-one years, who have been
inhabitants of any one county within the State twelve months
immediately preceding the day of any election, and possessed of a
freehold, within the same county, of fifty acres of land, for six
months next before, and at the day of election, shall be entitled
to vote for a member of the senate.
8. That all freemen of the age of twenty-one years, who have been
inhabitants of any one county within the State twelve months
immediately preceding the day of any election, and shall have
paid public taxes, shall be entitled to vote for members of the
ho use of commons, for the county
in which he resides.
9. That all persons possessed of a freehold, in any town in this
State, having a right of representation, and also all freemen,
who have been inhabitants of any such town twelve months next
before, and at the day of election, and shall have paid public
taxes, shall be entitled to vote for a member to represent such
town in the house of commons: provided, always, that this section
shall not entitle any inhabitant of such town to vote for members
of the house of commons for the county in which he may reside :
nor any freeholder in such county, who resides without or beyond
the limits of such town, to vote for a member of the said town.
10. That the senate and house of commons, when met, shall each
have power to choose a speaker, and their other officers; be
judges of the qualifications and elections of their members; sit
upon their own adjournments from day to day; and prepare bills to
be passed into laws. The two houses shall direct writs of
election, for supplying intermediate vacancies: and shall also
jointly, by ballot, adjourn themselves to any future day and
place.
11. That all bills shall be read three times in each house,
before they pass into laws, and be signed by the speakers of both
houses.
12. That every person, who shall be chosen a member of the senate
or house of commons, or appointed to any office or place of
trust, before taking his seat, or entering upon the execution of
his office, shall take an oath to the State: and all officers sh
all take an oath of office.
13. That the general assembly shall, by joint ballot of both
houses, appoint judges of the supreme courts of law and equity,
judges of admiralty and attorney-general, who shall be
commissioned by the governor, and hold their offices during good
behavior.
14. That the senate and house of commons shall have power to
appoint the generals and field officers of the militia, and all
officers of the regular army of this State.
15. That the senate and house of commons, jointly, at their
first meeting after each annual election, shall, by ballot, elect
a governor for one year, who shall not be eligible to that office
longer than three years, in six successive years; that no person
under thirty years of age, and who has not been a resident in
this State above five years, and having, in the State, a freehold
in lands and tenements, above the value of one thousand pounds,
shall be eligible as a governor.
16. That the senate and house of commons, jointly, at their
first meeting, after each annual election, shall, by ballot,
elect seven persons to be a council of state for one year; who
shall advise the governor in the execution of his office; and
that four members shall be a quorum; their advice and proceedings
shall be entered in a journal, to be kept for that purpose only,
and signed by the members present; to any part of which any
member present may enter his dissent. And such journal shall be
laid before the general assembly when called for by them.
17. That there shall be a seal of this State, which shall be
kept by the governor, and used by him as occasion may require;
and shall be called the great seal of the State of North
Carolina, and shall be affixed to all grants and commissions.
18. The governor, for the time being, shall be captain-general
and commander-in-chief of the militia; and in the recess of the
general assembly, shall have power, by and with the advice of
the council of state, to embody the militia for the public
safety.
19. The governor, for the time being, shall have power to draw
for and apply such sums of money as shall be voted by the general
assembly, for the contingencies of government, and be accountable
to them for the same. He also may, by and with the advice of the
council of state, lay embargoes, or prohibit the exportation of
any commodity, for any term not exceeding thirty days, at any one
time in the recess of the general assembly; and shall have the
power of granting pardons and reprieves, except where the
prosecution shall be carried on by the general assembly,
or the law shall otherwise direct; in which case, he may, in the
recess, grant a reprieve until the next sitting of the general
assembly; and he may exercise all the other executive powers of
government, limited and restrained, as by this constitution is
mentioned, and according to the laws of the State. And, on his
death, inability, or absence from the State, the speaker of the
senate, for the time being, and in case of his death, inability,
or absence from the State, the speaker of the house of commons,
shall exercise the powers of government, after such death, or
during such absence or inability of the governor, or speaker of
the senate, or until a new nomination is made by the general
assembly.
20. That, in every case, where any officer, the right of whose
appointment is, by this constitution, vested in the general
assembly, shall, during their recess, die, or his office by other
means become vacant, the governor shall have power, with the
advice of the council of State, to fill up such vacancy, by
granting a temporary commission, which shall expire at the end of
the next session of the general assembly.
21. That the governor, judges of the supreme court of law and
equity, judges of admiralty, and attorney-general, shall have
adequate salaries, during their continuance in office.
22. That the general assembly shall, by joint ballot of both
houses, annually appoint a treasurer or treasurers for this
State.
23. That the governor, and other officers, offending against the
State, by violating any part of this constitution,
maladministration, or corruption, may be prosecuted, on the
impeachment of the general assembly, or presentment of the grand
jury of any court of supreme jurisdiction in this State.
24. That the general assembly shall, by joint ballot of both
houses, triennially appoint a secretary for this State.
25. That no persons who heretofore have been, or hereafter may
be, receivers of public moneys, shall have a seat in either house
of general assembly, or be eligible to any office in this State,
until such person shall have fully accounted for, and paid in to
the treasury, all sums for which they may be accountable and
liable.
26. That no treasurer shall have a seat, either in the senate,
house of commons, or council of state, during his continuance in
that office, or before he shall have finally settled his accounts
with the public, for all the moneys which may be in his hands ,
at the expiration of his office, belonging to the State, and hath
paid the same into the hands of the succeeding treasurer.
27. That no officer in the regular army or navy, in the service
and pay of the United States, of this State or any other State,
nor any contractor or agent for supplying such army or navy with
clothing or provisions, shall have a seat either in the senate ,
house of commons, or council of state, or be eligible thereto;
and any member of the senate, house of commons, or council of
state, being appointed to ,and accepting of such office, shall
thereby vacate his seat.
28. That no member of the council of state shall have a seat,
either in the senate or house of commons.
29. That no judge of the supreme court of law or equity, or judge
of admiralty, shall have a seat in the senate, house of commons,
or council of state.
30. That no secretary of this State, attorney-general, or clerk
of any court of record, shall have a seat in the senate, house of
commons, or council of state.
31. That no clergyman, or preacher of the gospel, of any
denomination, shall be capable of being a member of either the
senate, house of commons, or council of state, while he continues
in the exercise of his pastoral function.
32. That no person who shall deny the being of God, or the truth
of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority of either the
Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles
incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall b e
capable of holding any office,
or place of trust or profit, in the civil department, within this
State.
33. That the justices of the peace, within their respective
counties in this State, shall in future be recommended to the
governor for the time being, by the representatives in general
assembly; and the governor shall commission them accordingly; and
the justices, when so commissioned, shall hold their offices
during good behaviour, and shall not be removed from office by
the general assembly, unless for misbehaviour, absence, or
inability.
34. That there shall be no establishment of any one religious
church or denomination in this State, in preference to any other;
neither shall any person, on any pretense whatsoever be compelled
to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith or
judgement, nor be obliged to pay for the purchase of any glebe,
or the building of any house of worship, or for the maintenance
of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes right,
or has voluntarily and personally engaged to perform; but all
persons shall be at liberty to exercise their own mode of
worship: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall be
construed to exempt preachers of treasonable or seditious
discourses, from legal trial and punishment.
35. That no person in the State shall hold more than one
lucrative office at any one time: Provided that no appointment in
the militia, or the office of a justice of the peace, shall be
considered as a lucrative office.
36. That all commissions and grants shall run in the name of the
State of North Carolina, and bear test, and be signed by the
Governor. All writs shall run in the same manner, and bear test,
and be signed by the clerks of the respective courts. Indictments
shall conclude, against the peace and dignity of the State.
37. That the delegates for this State to the continental
congress, while necessary, shall be chosen annually by the
general assembly, by ballot; but may be superseded, in the mean
time, in the same manner; and no person shall be elected to serve
in that capacity for more than three years successively.
38. That there shall be a sheriff, coroner, or coroners, and
constables, in each county within this State.
39. That the person of a debtor, where there is not a strong
presumption of fraud, shall not be continued in prison after
delivering up, bona fide, all his estate, real and personal, for
the use of his creditors, in such manner as shall hereafter be
regulated by law. All prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient
sureties, unless for capital offenses, when the proof is evident,
or the presumption great.
40. That every foreigner who comes to settle in this State;
having first taken an oath of allegiance to the same, may
purchase, or, by other just means, acquire, hold, and transfer
land, or other real estate, and after one year's residence be
deemed a free citizen.
41. That a school or schools shall be established by the
legislature, for the convenient instruction of youth, with such
salaries to the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them
to instruct at low prices; and, all usefull learning shall be
duly encouraged and promoted in one or more universities.
42. That no purchase of lands shall be made of the Indian
natives, but on behalf of the public, by authority of the general
assembly.
43. That the future legislature of this State shall regulate
entails, in such a manner as to prevent perpetuities.
44. That the declaration of rights is hereby declared to be part
of the constitution of this State, and ought never to be violated
on any pretence whatsoever.
45. That any member of either house of general assembly shall
have liberty to dissent from and protest against any act or
resolve which he may think injurious to the public, or any
individual, and have the reasons of his dissent entered on the
journals.
46. That neither house of the general assembly shall proceed
upon public business, unless a majority of all the members of
such house are actually present; and that upon a motion made and
seconded, the yeas and nays, upon any question, shall be taken
and entered on the journals: and that the journals of the
proceedings of both houses of the general assembly shall be
printed, and made public, immediately after their adjournment.
This constitution is not intended to preclude the present
congress from making a temporary provision, for the well ordering
of this State, until the general assembly shall establish
government agreeable to the mode herein before described.
RICHARD CASWELL, President.
December the eighteenth, one thousand seven hundred and
seventy-six, read the third time, and ratified in open congress.
Footnote #10
THE CONSTITUTION
Preamble
We the people of the State of North Carolina, grateful to
Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler of Nations, for the
preservation of the American Union, and the existence of our
civil, political and religious liberties, and acknowledgeing our
dependence upon Him, for the continuance of those blessings to us
and our posterity, do, for the more certain security thereof, and
for the better government of this State, ordain and establish
this Constitution.
Article I.
Declaration of Rights.
That the great, general and essential principles of liberty and
free government, may be recognized and established, and that the
relations of this State to the Union and government of the United
States, and those of the people of this State to the rest of the
American people, may be defined and affirmed, we do declare;
SECTION 1. That we hold it to be selfevident that all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty,
the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor, and the pursuit
of happiness.
SEC. 2. That all political power is vested in, and derived from
the people; all government of right originates from the people,
is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the
good of the whole.
SEC. 3. That the people of this State have the inherent, sole,
and exclusive right of regulating the internal government and
police thereof, and of altering and abolishing their Constitution
and form of government, whenever it may be necessary to their
safety and happiness; but every such right should be exercised in
pursurance of law, and consistently with the Constitution of the
United States.
SEC. 4. That this State shall ever remain a member of the
American Union, that the people thereof are part of the American
nation; that there is no right on the part of this State to
secede, and that all attempts from whatever source or upon
whatever pretext, to dissolve said Union, or to sever said
nation, ought to be resisted with the whole power of the State.
SEC. 5. That every citizen of this State owes paramount
allegiance to the Constitution and Government of the United
States, and that no law or ordinance of the State in
contravention or subversion thereof, can have any binding force.
SEC. 6. To maintain the honor and good faith of the State
untarnished, the public debt, regularly contracted before and
sincethe rebellion, shall be regarded as inviolable and never be
questioned; but the State shall never assume or pay, or authorize
the collection of, any debt or obligation, express or implied,
incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United
States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave.
SEC. 7. No man or set of men are entitled to exclusive or
separate emoluments or privileges from the community but in
consideration of public services.
SEC. 8. The legislative, executive, and supreme judicial powers
of the government ought to be forever separate and distinct from
each other.
SEC. 9. All power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws,
by any authority, without the consent of the representatives of
the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be
exercised.
SEC. 10. All elections ought to be free.
SEC. 11. In all criminal prosecutions, every man has the right to
be informed of the accusation against him and to confront the
accusers and witnesses with other testimony, and to have counsel
for his defence, and not be compelled to give evidence against
himself, or to pay costs, jail fees, or necessary witness fees of
the defence, unless found guilty.
SEC. 12. No person shall be put to answer any criminal charge
except as hereinafter allowed, but by indictment, presentment, or
impeachment.
SEC. 13. No person shall be convicted of any crime but by the
unanimous verdict of a jury of good and lawful men in open court.
The legislature may, however, provide other means of trial, for
petty misdemeanors, with the right of appeal.
SEC. 14. Excessive bail should not be required, nor excessive
fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishments inflicted.
SEC. 15. General warrants, whereby any officer or messenger may
be commanded to search suspected places, without evidence of the
act committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, whose
offence is not particularly described and supported by evidence,
are dangerous to liberty and ought not to be granted.
SEC. 16. There shall be no imprisonment for debt in this State,
except in cases of fraud.
SEC. 17. No person ought to be taken, imprisoned or disseized of
his freehold, liberties or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or
in any manner deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by
the law of the land.
SEC. 18. Every person restrained of his liberty, is entitled to a
remedy to enquire in to the lawfulness thereof and to remove the
same, if unlawful, and such remedy ought not to be denied or
delayed.
SEC. 19. In all controversies at law respecting property, the
ancient mode of trial by jury is one of the best securities of
the rights of the people, and ought to remain sacred and
inviolable.
SEC. 20. The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of
liberty, and there ~ fore ought never to be restrained, but every
individual shall be held responsible for the abuse of the same.
SEC. 21. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be
suspended.
SEC. 22. As political rights and privileges are not dependent
upon or modified by property, therefore no property qualification
ought to affect the right to vote or hold office.
SEC. 23. The people of this State ought not to be taxed, or made
subject to the payment of any impost or duty, without the consent
of themselves, or their representatives in General Assembly
freely given.
SEC. 24. A well regulated militia being necessary to the security
of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed; and, as standing armies, in time of
peace, are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up,
and the military should be kept under strict subordination to,
and governed by, the civil power.
SEC. 25. The people have a right to assemble together to consult
for their common good, to instruct their representatives, and to
apply to the Legislature for redress of grievances.
SEC. 26. All men have a natural and unalienable right to worship
Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences,
and no human authority should, in any case whatever, control or
interfere with the rights of conscience.
SEC. 27. The people have a right to the privilege of education,
and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right.
SEC. 28. For redress of grievances, and for amending and
strengthening the laws, elections should be often held.
SEC. 29. A frequent recurrence to fundamental principles, is
absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty.
SEC. 30. No hereditary emoluments, priviliges, or honors, ought
to be granted or conferred in this State.
SEC. 31. Perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the genius
of a free State, and ought not to be allowed.
SEC. 32. Retrospective laws, punishing acts committed before the
existence of such laws, and by them only declared criminal, are
oppressive, unjust and incompatible with liberty, wherefore, no
ex post facto law ought to be made. No law taxing retrospectively
, sales, purchases, or other acts previously done, ought to be
passed.
SEC. 33. Slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than for
crime whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall
be, and are hereby forever prohibited within this State.
SEC. 34. The limits and boundaries of the State shall be and
remain as they now are.
SEC. 35. All courts shall be open, and every person for an injury
done him in his lands, goods, person, or reputation, shall have
remedy by due course of law, and right and justice administered
without sale, denial, or delay.
SEC. 36. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any
house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but
in a manner prescribed by law.
SEC. 37. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to
impair or deny others, retained by the people; and all powers,
not herein delegated, remain with the people.
Article II.
Legislative Department.
SECTION 1. The Legislative authority shall be vested in two
distinct branches, both dependent on the people to wit: a Senate
and House of Representatives.
SEC. 2. The Senate and House of Representatives shall meet
annually on the third Monday in November and when assembled,
shall be denominated the General Assembly. Neither House shall
proceed upon public business, unless a majority of all the
members are actually present.
SEC. 3. The Senate shall be composed of fifty Senators biennially
chosen by ballot.
SEC. 4. Until the first session of the General Assembly which
shall be had after the year eighteen hundred and seventy one, the
Senate shall be composed of members elected from districts
constituted as follows: 1st District-Perquimans, Pasquotank,
Chowan, Currituck, Gates and Camden, shall elect two Senators.
2nd District-Martin, Washington and Tyrrell shall elect one
Senator.
3rd District-Beaufort and Hyde, shall elect one Senator.
4th District-Northampton shall elect one Senator.
5th District-Bertie and Hertford, shall elect one Senator.
6th District-Halifax, shall elect one Senator.
7th District-Edgecombe, shall elect one Senator.
8th District-Pitt, shall elect one Senator.
9th District-Nash and Wilson, shall elect one Senator.
10th District-Craven and Carteret, shall elect two Senators.
11th District-Jones and Lenoir, shall elect one Senator.
12th District-Duplin and Onslow, shall elect one Senator.
13th District-Brunswick and New Hanover, shall elect two
Senators.
14th District-Bladen and Columbus, shall elect one Senator.
15th District-Robeson, shall elect one Senator.
16th District-Cumberland, Harnett and Sampson shall elect two
Senators.
17th District-Johnston, shall elect one Senator.
18th District-Greene and Wayne, shall elect one Senator.
19th District-Franklin and Wake, shall elect two Senators.
20th District-Warren, shall elect one Senator.
21st District-Granville and Person, shall elect two Senators.
22nd District-Orange, shall elect one Senator.
23rd District-Chatham, shall elect one Sentor.
24th District-Caswell shall elect one Senator.
25th District-Rockingham, shall elect one Senator.
26th District-Alamance and Guilford, shall elect two Senators.
27th District-Randolph and Montgomery, shall elect one Senator.
28th District-Moore and Richmond, shall elect one Senator.
29th District-Anson and Union, shall elect one Senator.
30th District-Mecklenburg, shall elect one Senator.
31st District-Cabarrus and Stanly, shall elect one Senator.
32nd District-Davie and Rown, shall elect one Senator.
33rd District-Davidson, shall elect one Senator.
34th District-Forsyth and Stokes, shall elect one Senator.
35th District-Surry and Yadkin, shall elect one Senator.
36th District-Alexander and Iredell, shall elect one Senator.
37th District-Catawba, Gaston and Lincoln, shall elect one
Senator.
38th District-Cleveland, Polk and Rutherford, shall elect one
Senator.
39th District-Alleghany, Ashe and Wilkes, shall elect one
Senator.
40th District-Buncombe, Henderson and Transylvania shall elect
one Senator.
41st District-Burke, Caldwell and Watauga, shall elect one
Senator.
42nd District-Madison, Mitchell, McDowell, and Yancey shall
elect one Senator.
43rd District-Clay, Cherokee, Haywood, Jackson and Macon, shall
elect one Senator.
SEC. 5. An enumeration of the inhabitants of the State shall be
taken under the direction of the General Assembly in the year one
thousand eight hundred and seventy five, and at the end of every
ten years thereafter; and the said Senate districts, shall b e so
altered by the General Assembly, at the first session after the
return of every enumeration taken as aforesaid, or by order of
Congress, that each Senate district shall contain, as nearly as
may be, an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens and
Indians not taxed, and shall remain unaltered until the return
of another enumeration, and shall at all times consist of
contiguous territory; and no county shall be divided in the
formation of a Senate district, unless such county shall be
equitably entitled to two or more Senators.
SEC. 6. The House of Representatives shall be composed of one
hundred and twenty Representatives, biennially chosen by ballot,
to be elected by the counties respectively, according to their
population, and each county shall have at least one
Representative in the House of Representatives, although it may
not contain the requisite ratio of representation. This
apportionment shall be made by the General Assembly at the
respective times and periods when the districts for the Senate
are hereinbefore directed to be laid off.
SEC. 7. In making the apportionment in the House of
Representatives, the ratio of representation should be
ascertained by dividing the amount of the population of the
State, exclusive of that comprehended within those counties which
do not severally contain the one hundred and twentieth part of
the population of the State, by the number of Representatives,
less the number assigned to such counties; and in ascertaining
the number of the population of the State, aliens and Indians not
taxed, shall not be included. To each county containing the said
ratio and not twice the said ratio, there shall be assigned one
representative; to each county containing twice but not three
times the said ratio, there shall be assigned two
representatives, and so on progressively, and then t he remaining
representatives shall be assigned severally to the counties
having the largest fractions.
SEC. 8. Until the General Assembly shall have made the
apportionment as herein before provided, the House of
Representatives shall be composed of members elected from the
counties in the following manner, to wit; The county of Wake
shall elect four members; the counties of Craven,
Granville, Halifax and New Hanover shall elect three members
each; the counties of Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson,
Duplin, Edgecombe, Franklin, Guilford, Iredell, Johnston,
Mecklenburg, Northampton, Orange, Pitt, Randolph, Robeson,
Rockingham, Rowan, Warren and Wayne shall elect two members each;
the counties of Alamance, Alexander, Alleghany, Anson, Ashe,
Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Buncombe, Burke, Cabarrus,
Caldwell, Camden Carteret, Catawba, Cherokee, Chowan, Clay,
Cleveland, Columbus, Currituck, Davie, Forsooth, Gaston, Gates,
Greene, Harnett, Henderson, Haywood, Hertford, Hyde, Jackson,
Jones, Lenoir, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, Martin, McDowell,
Mitchell, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, Onslow, Pasquotank,
Perquimans, Person, Polk, Richmond, Rutherford, Sampson, Stanly,
Stokes, Surry, Transylvania, Tyrrell, Union, Washington, Watauga,
Wilkes, Wilson, Yadkin and Yancy shall elect one member each.
SEC. 9. Each member of the Senate shall be not less than
twenty-five years of age, shall have resided in the State as a
citizen two years, and shall have usually resided in the district
for which he is chosen, one year immediately preceding his
election.
SEC. 10. Each member of the House of Representatives shall be a
qualified elector of the State, and shall have resided in the
county for which he is chosen, for one year immediately preceding
his election.
SEC. 11. In the election of all officers, whose appointment
shall be conferred upon the General Assembly by the Constitution,
the vote shall be viva voce.
SEC. 12. The General Assembly shall have power to pass general
laws regulating divorce and alimony, but shall not have power to
grant a divorce or secure Alimony in any individual case.
SEC. 13. The General Assembly shall not have power to pass any
private law to alter the name of any person, or to legitimate any
person not born in lawful wedlock, or to restore the rights of
citizenship any person convicted of an infamous crime, but shall
have power to pass general laws regulating the same.
SEC. 14. The General Assembly shall not pass any private law,
unless it shall be made to appear, that thirty day's notice of
application to pass such law shall have been given, under such
direction, and in such manner as shall be provided by law.
SEC. 15. If vacancies shall occur in the General Assembly by
death, resignation or otherwise, writs of election shall be
issued by the Governor under such regulations as may be
prescribed by law.
SEC. 16. No law shall be passed to raise money on the credit of
the State, or to pledge the faith of the State directly or
indirectly for the payment of any debt, or to impose any tax upon
the people of the State, or to allow the counties, cities or
towns to do so, unless the bill for the purpose shall have been
read three several times in each House of the General Assembly,
and passed three several readings, which readings shall have been
on three different days, and agreed to by each House
respectively, and unless the yeas and nays on the second and
third readings of the bill shall have been entered on the
Journal.
SEC. 17. The General Assembly shall regulate entails in such
manner as to prevent perpetuities.
SEC. 18. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings,
which shall be printed and made public immediately after the
adjurnment of the General Assembly.
SEC. 19. Any member of either House may dissent from, and protest
against, any act or resolve, which he may think injurious to the
public, or any individual, and have the reasons of his dissent
entered on the Journal.
SEC. 20. The House of Representatives shall choose their own
Speaker and other officers.
SEC. 21. The Lieutenant-Governor shall preside in the Senate, but
shall have no vote, unless it may be equally divided.
SEC. 22. The Senate shall choose its other officers and also; a
Speaker (pro tempore) in the absence of the Lieutenant-Governor,
or when he shall exercise the office of Governor.
SEC. 23. The style of the acts shall be, "The General Assembly of
North Carolina do enact :".
SEC. 24. Each House shall be judge of the qualifications and
elections of its own members, shall sit upon its own adjournment
from day to day, prepare bills to be passed into laws, and the
two Houses, may also jointly adjourn to any future day, or other
place.
SEC. 25. All bills and resolutions of a legislative nature, shall
be read three times in each House, before they pass into laws;
and shall be signed by the presiding officers of both Houses.
SEC. 26. Each member of the General Assembly, before taking his
seat, shall take an oath or affirmation that he will support the
Constitution and laws of the United States, and the Constitution
of the State of North Carolina, and will faithfully discharge his
duty as a member of the Senate or House of Representatives.
SEC. 27. The terms of office for Senators and members of the
House of Representatives shall commence at the time of their
election; and the term of office of those elected at the first
election held under this Constitution shall terminate at the same
time as if they had been elected, at the first ensuing regular
election.
SEC. 28. Upon motion made and seconded in either House, by one
fifth of the members present, the yeas and nays upon any question
shall be taken and entered upon the journals.
SEC. 29. The election for members of the General Assembly shall
be held for the respective districts, and counties, at the places
where they are now held, or may be directed hereafter to be held,
in such manner as may be prescribed by law, on the first Thursday
in August, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy,
and every two years thereafter. But the General Assesmbly may
change the time of holding the elections. The first election
shall be held when the vote shall be taken on the ratification of
this Constitution by the voters of the State, and the General
Assembly then elected, shall meet on the fifteenth day after the
approval thereof by the Congress of the United States, if it fall
not on Sunday, but if it shall so fall, then on the next day
thereafter, and the members then elected shall hold their seats
until their successors are elected at a regular election.
Article III.
Executive Department.
SECTION 1. The Executive Department shall consist of a Governor
(in whom shall be vested the Supreme executive power of the
State) a Lieutenant Governor, a Secretary of State, an Auditor, a
Treasurer, a Superintendent of Public Works, a Superintendent of
Public Instruction, and an Attorney General, who shall be elected
for a term of four years, by the qualified electors of the State,
at the same time and places, and in t he same manner as members
of the General Assembly are elected. Their term of office shall
commence on the first day of January next, after their election,
and continue until their successors are elected and qualified:
Provided, That the officers first elected shall assume the duties
of their offlce ten days after the approval of this Constitution
by the Congress of the United States, and shall hold their
offices four years from and after the firs t of January, 1869.
SEC. 2. No person shall be eligible as Governor or Lieutenant
Governor, unless he shall have attained the age of thirty years,
shall have been a citizen of the United States five years, and
shall have been a resident of this State for two years next
before the election; nor shall the person elected to either of
these two offices be eligible to the same office more than four
years in any term of eight years unless the office shall have
been cast upon him as Lieutenant Governor or President of the
Senate.
SEC. 3. The return of every election for officers of the
Executive Department shall be sealed up and transmitted to the
seat of Government by the returning officers, directed to the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall open and
publish the same in the presence of a majority of the members of
both Houses of the General Assembly. The persons having the
highest number of votes respectively, shall be declared duly
elected; but if two or more be equal and highest in votes for the
same office, th en one of them shall be chosen by joint ballot,
of both Houses of the General Assembly. Contested elections shall
be determined by a joint vote of both Houses of the General
Assembly, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.
SEC. 4. The Governor, before entering upon the duties of his
office, shall, in the presence of the members of both branches of
the General Assembly, or before any Justice of the Supreme Court,
take an oath or affirmation, that he will support the
Constitution and laws of the United States and of the State of
North Carolina, and that he will faithfully perform the duties
appertaining to the office of Governor to which he has been
elected.
SEC. 5. The Governor shall reside at the seat of government of
this State, and he shall, from time to time, give the General
Assembly information of the affairs of the State, and recommend
to their consideration such measures as he shall deem expedient.
SEC. 6. The Governor shall have power to grant reprieves
commutations and pardons, after conviction, for all offences,
(except in cases of impeachment) upon such conditions as he may
think proper, subject to such regulations as may be provided by
law relative to the manner of applying for pardons. He shall
annually communicate to the General Assembly each case of
reprieve, commutation, or pardon granted; stating the name of
each convict, the crime for which he was convicted, the sentence
and its date, the date of commutation, pardon, or reprieve, and
the reasons therefore.
SEC. 7. The officers of the Executive Department and of the
Public Institutions of the State, shall at least five days
previous to each regular session of the General Assembly,
severally report to the Governor, who shall transmit such
reports, with his message, to the General Assembly; and the
Governor may, at any time, require information in writing from
the officers in the Executive Department upon any subject
relating to the duties of their respective offices, and shall
take care
that the laws be faith fully executed.
SEC. 8. The Governor shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Militia
of the State, except when they shall be called into the service
of the United States.
SEC. 9. The Governor shall have power, on extraordinary
occasions, by and with the advice of the Council of State, to
convene the General Assembly in extra session by his
proclamation, stating therein the purpose or purposes for which
they are thus convened.
SEC. 10. The Governor shall nominate, and by and with the advice
and consent of a majority of the Senators elect, appoint, all
officers whose offices are established by this Constitution, or
which shall be created by law, and whose appointments are not
otherwise provided for, and no such officer shall be appointed or
elected by the General Assembly.
SEC. 11. The Lieutenant Governor shall be President of the
Senate, but shall have no vote unless the Senate be equally
divided. He shall, whilst acting as President of the Senate,
receive for his services the same pay which shall for the same
period, be allowed to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, and he shall receive no other compensation
except when he is acting as Governor.
SEC. 12. In case of the impeachment of the Governor, his failure
to qualify, his absence from the State, his inability to
discharge the duties of his office, or in case the office of
Governor shall in any wise become vacant, the powers, duties and
emoluments of the office shall devolve upon the Lieutenant
Governor until the disabilities shall cease, or a new Governor
shall be elected and qualified. In every case in which the
Lieutenant Governor shall be unable to preside over the Senate,
the Senators shall elect one of their own number President of
their body; and the powers, duties, and emoluments of the office
of the office of Governor shall devolve upon him whenever the
Lieutenant Governor shall, for any reason, be prevented from
discharging the duties of such office as above provided, and he
shall continue as acting Governor until the disabilities be
removed or a new Governor or Lieutenant Governor shall be elect
ed and qualified. Whenever, during the recess of the General
Assembly, it shall become necessary for a President of the Senate
to administer the government, the Secretary of State shall
convene the Senate, that they may elect such President.
SEC. 13. The respective duties of the Secretary of State,
Auditor, Treasurer, Super intendent of Public Works,
Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Attorney General shall
be prescribed by law. If the office of any of said officers shall
be vacated by death, resignation, or otherwise, it shall be the
duty to the Governor to appoint another until the disability be
removed or his successor be elected and qualified. Every such
vacancy shall be filled by election, at the first general
election that occurs more than thirty days after the vacancy has
taken place and the person chosen, shall hold the office for the
remainder of the unexpired term fixed in the first section of
this Article.
SEC. 14. The Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer,
Superintendent of Public Works, and Superintendent of Public
Instruction, shall constitute ex officio, the Council of State,
who shall advise the Governor in the execution of his office, and
three of whom shall constitute a quorum; their advice and
proceedings in this capacity shall be entered in a Journal, to be
kept for this purpose exclusively, and signed by the members
present, from any part of which any member may enter his dissent;
and such journal shall be placed before the General Assembly when
called for by either House. The Attorney General shall be, ex
officio, the legal adviser of the Executive Department.
SEC. 15. The officers mentioned in this Article shall, at stated
periods, receive for their services a compensation to be
established by law, which shall neither be increased nor
diminished during the time for which they shall have been
elected, and the said officers shall receive no other emolument
or allowance whatever.
SEC. 16. There shall be a seal of the State, which shall be kept
by the Governor, and used by him, as occasion may require, and
shall be called "the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina."
All grants and commissions shall be issued in the name and by the
authority of the State of North Carolina, sealed with "the Great
Seal of the State," signed by the Governor and countersigned by
the Secretary of State.
SEC. 17. There shall be established in the office of Secretary of
State, a Bureau of Statistics, Agriculture and Immigration, under
such regulations as the General Assembly may provide.
Article IV
Judicial Department.
SEC. 1. The distinction between actions at law and suits in
equity, and the forms of all such actions and suits shall be
abolished, and there shall be in this State but one form of
action, for the enforcement or protection of private rights or
the redress of private wrongs which shall be denominated a civil
action; and every action prosecuted by the people of the State as
a party, against a person charged with a public offence, for the
punishment of the same, shall be termed a criminal action.
Feigned issues shall be abolished and the fact at issue tried by
order of court
before a jury.
SEC. 2. Three Commissioners shall be appointed by this Convention
to report to the General Assembly at its first session after this
Constitution shall be adopted by the people, rules of practice
and procedure in accordance with the provisions of the foreign
section, and the Convention shall provide for the commissioners,
a reasonable compensation
SEC. 3. The same Commissioners shall also report to the General
Assembly as soon as practible, a code of the law of North
Carolina. The Governor shall have power to fill all vacancies
occurring in this Commission.
SEC. 4. The Judicial power of the State shall be vested in a
court for the trial of impeachments, a Supreme Court, Superior
Courts, Courts of Justices of the Peace, and Special Courts.
SEC. 5. The Court for the trial of Impeachments shall be the
Senate. A majority of the members shall be necessary to a quorum,
and the judgment shall not extend beyond removal from, and
disqualification to hold, office in this State; but the party
shall be liable to indictment and punishment according to law.
SEC. 6. The House of Representatives solely, shall have the power
of impeaching. No person shall be convicted without the
concurrence of two thirds of the Senators present. When the
Governor is impeached the Chief Justice shall preside.
SEC. 7. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying
war against it or adhearing to its enemies, giving them aid and
comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the
testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on
confession in open court. No conviction of treason or attainder
shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture.
SEC. 8. The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and
four Associate Justices.
SEC. 9. There shall be two terms of the Supreme Court held at the
seat of Government of the State in each year, commencing on the
first Monday in January, and first Mon day in June, and
continuing as long as the public interest may require.
SEC. 10. The Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction to review,
upon appeal, any decision of the courts below, upon any matter of
law or legal inference; but no issue of fact it shall be tried
before this court: and the court shall have power to issue any
remedial writs necessary, to give it a general supervision and
control of the inferior courts.
SEC. 11. The Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction to
hear claims against the State, but its decisions shall be merely
recommendatory: no process in the nature of execution, shall
issue thereon; they shall be reported to the next session of the
General Assembly for its action.
SEC. 12. The State shall be divided into twelve judicial
districts, for each of which a Judge shall be chosen, who shall
hold a Superior Court in each county in said District, at least
twice in each year, to continue for two weeks, unless the
business shall be sooner disposed of.
SEC. 13. Until altered by law, the following shall be the
Judicial Districts:
First District. Currituck, Perquimans, Hertford, Camden, Chowan,
Bertie, Pasquotank, Gates; Second District. Tyrrell, Beaufort,
Edgecombe, Hyde, Martin, Washington, Pitt; Third District.
Craven, Greene, Wayne, Carteret, Onslow, Wilson, Jones, Lenoir;
Fourth District. Brunswick, Columbus, Robeson, New Hanover,
Btaden, Duplin Sampson; Fifth District. Cumberland, Richmond,
Stanly, Harnett, Anson, Union, Moore, Montgomery; Sixth
District. Northampton, Wake, Johnson, Warren, Nash, Halifax,
Franklin; Seventh District. Person, Randolph, Caswell, Orange,
Guilford, Rockingham, Chatham, Alamance; Eighth District.
Stokes, Rowan, Surry, Forsyth, Davie, Davidson, Yadkin; Ninth
District. Catawba, Lincoln, Rutherford, Cabarrus, Gaston, Polk,
Mecklenburg; Tenth District. Iredell, Caldwell, Alexander,
Burke, Wilkes, McDowall; Eleventh District. Alleghany,
Mitchell, Buncombe, Ashe, Yancy, Watauga, Madison; Twelfth
District. Henderson, Macon, Cherokee, Transylvania, Jackson,
Haywood, Clay.
SEC. 14. Every Judge of a Superior Court shall reside in his
District while holding his office. The Judges may exchange
districts with each other with the consent of the Governor and
the Governor, for good reasons, which he shall report to the
Legislature at its current or next session, may require any Judge
to hold one or more specified terms of said Courts in lieu of the
Judge in whose district they are.
SEC. 15. The Superior Courts shall have exclusive original
jurisdiction of all civil actions, whereof exclusive original
jurisdiction is not given to some other courts; and of all
criminal actions, in which the punishment may exceed a fine of
fifty dollar s or imprisonment for one month.
SEC. 16. The Superior Courts shall have appellate jurisdiction of
all issues of law or fact, determined by a Probate Judge or a
Justice of the Peace, where the matter in controversy exceeds
twenty-five dollars, and of matters of law in all cases.
SEC. 17. The Clerks of the Superior Courts shall have
jurisdiction of the probate of deeds, the granting of letters
testamentary and of administration, the appointment of Guardians,
the apprenticing of orphans, to audit the accounts of executors,
administrators and guardians, and of such other matters as shall
be prescribed by law. All issues of fact joined before them
shall be transferred to the Superior Courts for trial, and
appeals shall lie to the Superior Courts from their judgements in
all matters of law.
SEC. 18. In all issues of fact, joined in any court, the parties
may waive the right to have the same determined by jury, in which
case the finding of the Judge upon the facts, shall have the
force and effect of a verdict of a jury.
SEC. 19. The General Assembly shall provide for the establishment
of special courts, for the trial of misdemeanors, in cities and
towns, where the same may be necessary.
SEC. 20. The Clerk of the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the
court, and shall hold his office for eight years.
SEC. 21. A Clerk of the Superior Court for each county, shall be
elected by the qualified voters thereof, at the time and in the
manner prescribed by law, for the election of members of the
General Assembly.
SEC. 22. Clerks of the Superior Courts shall hold their offices
for four years.
SEC. 23. The General Assembly shall prescribe and regulate the
fees, salaries, and emoluments of all officers provided for in
this Article; but the salaries of the Judges shall not be
diminished during their continuance in office.
SEC. 24. The laws of North Carolina, not repugnant to this
Constitution, or to the Constitution and laws of the United
States, shall be ill force until lawfully altered.
SEC. 25. Actions at law, and suits in equity, pending when this
Constitution shall go into effect, shall be transferred to the
courts having jurisdiction thereof, without prejudice by reason
of the change, and all such actions and suits, commenced before,
and pending at, the adoption by the General Assembly, of the
rules of practice and procedure herein provided for, shall be
heard and determined, according to the practice now in use,
unless otherwise provided for by said rules.
SEC. 26. The Justices of the Supreme Court shall be elected by
the qualified voters of the State, as is provided for the
election of members of the General Assembly. They shall hold
their offices for eight years. The Judges of the Superior Courts
shall be elected in like manner, and shall hold their offices for
eight years; but the Judges of the Superior Courts elected at the
first election under this Constitution, shall, after their
election, under the superintendance of the Justices of the
Supreme Court be divided by lot into two equal classes, one of
which shall hold office for four years, the other for eight
years.
SEC. 27. The General Assembly may provide by law that the Judges
of the Superior Courts, instead of being elected by the voters of
the whole State, as is herein provided for, shall be elected by
the voters of their respective districts.
SEC. 28. The Superior Courts shall be, at all times, open for the
transaction of all business within their jurisdeition, except the
trial of issues of fact requiring a jury.
SEC. 29. A Solicitor shall be elected for each judicial district
by the qualified voters thereof, as is prescribed for members of
the General Assembly, who shall hold office for the term of four
years, and prosecute on behalf of the State, in all criminal
actions in the Supericr Courts, and advise the officers of
justice in his district.
SEC. 30. In each county a Sheriff and Coroner, shall be elected
by the qualified voters thereof as is prescribed for members of
the General Assembly, and shall hold their offices for two years.
In each township there shall be a Constable, elected in like
manner by the voters thereof, who shall hold his office for two
years. When there is no Coroner in the county, the Clerk of the
Superior Court for the county may appoint one for special cases.
In case of a vacancy existing for any cause, in any of the
offices created by this Section, the Commissioners for the county
may appoint to such office for the unexpired term.
SEC. 31. All vacancies occurring in the offices provided for by
this article of this Constitution, shall be filled by the
appointment of the Governor, unless otherwise provided for, and
the appointees shall hold their places until the next regular
election.
SEC. 32. The officers elected at the first election held under
this Constitution, shall hold their offices for the terms
prescribed for them respectively, next ensuing after the next
regular election for members of the General Assembly. But their
terms shall begin upon the approval of this Constitution by the
Congress of the United States.
SEC. 33. The several Justices of the Peace shall have exclusive
original jurisdiction under such regulations as the General
Assembly shall prescribe, of all civil actions, founded on
contract, wherein the sum demanded shall not exceed two hundred
dollars, and wherein the title to real estate shall not be in
controversy; and of all criminal matters arising within their
counties, where the punishment cannot exceed a fine of fifty
dollars, or imprisonment for one month.
When an issue of fact shall be joined before a Justice, on
demand of either party thereto, he shall cause a jury of six men
to be summoned, who shall try the same. The party against whom
judgement shall be rendered in any civil action, may appeal to
the Superior Court from the same, and, if the judgement shall
exceed twenty-five dollars, there may be a new trial of the whole
matter in the appelate court; but if th e judgement shall be for
twenty five dollars or less, then the case shall be heard in the
appelate court, only upon matters of law. In all cases of a
criminal nature, the party against whom judgement is given may
appeal to the Superior Court, where the matter shall be heard
anew. In all cases brought before a Justice, he shall make a
record of the proceedeings, and file the same with the Clerk of
the Superior Court for his county.
SEC. 34. When the office of Justice of the Peace shall become
vacant, otherwise than by expiration of the term, and in case of
a failure by the voters of any district, to elect, the Clerk of
the Superior Court for the County, shall appoint to fill the
vacancy for the unexpired term.
SEC. 35. In case the office of Clerk of a Superior Court for a
County shall become vacant, otherwise than by the expiration of
the term, and in case of a failure by the people to elect, the
Judge of the Superior Court for the County shall appoint to fill
the vacancy until an election can be regularly held.
Article V.
Revenue and Taxations
SECTION 1. The General Assembly shall levy a capitation tax on
every male inhabitant of the State over twenty one and under
fifty years of age, which shall be equal on each, to the tax on
property valued at three hundred dollars in cash. The
Commissioners of the several counties may exempt from capitation
tax in special cases, on account of poverty and infirmity, and
the State and county capitation tax combined, shall never exceed
two dollars on the head.
SEC. 2. The proceeds of the State and County capitation tax shall
be applied to the purposes of education and the support of the
poor, but in no one year shall more than twenty five per cent,
thereof, be appropriated to the latter purpose.
SEC. 3. Laws shall be passed taxing, by a uniform rule, all
monies, credits, investments in bonds, stocks, joint-stock
companies or otherwise; and, also, all real and personal
property, according to its true value in money. The General
Assembly may also tax trades, professions, franchises,
and incomes, provided, that no income shall be taxed when the
property from which the income is derived, is taxed.
SEC. 4. The General Assembly shall, by appropriate legislation
and by adequate taxation, provide for the prompt and regular
payment of the interest on the public debt, and after the year
1880, it shall lay a specific annual tax upon the real and
personal property of the State, and the sum thus realized shall
be set apart as a sinking fund, to be devoted to the payment of
the public debt.
SEC. 5. Until the Bonds of the State shall be at par, the General
Assembly shall have no power to contact any new debt or pecuniary
obligation in behalf of the State, except to supply a casual
deficit, or for suppressing invasion or insurrection, unless i t
shall in the same bill levy a special tax to pay the interest
annually. And the General Assembly shall have no power to give or
lend the credit of the State in aid of any person, association or
corporation, except to aid in the completion of such Rail Roads
as may be unfinished at the time of the adoption of this
Constitution, or in which the State has a direct pecuniary
interest, unless the subject be submitted, to a direct vote of
the people of the State, and be approved by a majority of those
who shall vote thereon.
SEC. 6. Property belonging to the State, or to municipal
corporations, shall be exempt from taxation. The General Assembly
exempt cemeteries, and property held for educational, scientific,
literary, charitable, or religious purposes; Also, wearing
apparel , Arms for Muster, household and kitchen furniture, the
Mechanical and agricultural implements of Merchants and farmers,
libraries and scientific instruments, to a value not exceeding
three hundred dollars.
SEC. 7. The taxes levied by the commissioners of the several
counties, for county purposes, shall be levied in like manner
with the State taxes and shall never exceed the double of the
State tax, except for a special purpose, and with the special
approval of the General Assembly.
SEC. 8. Every act of the General Assembly, levying a tax, shall
state the special object to which it is to be applied, and it
shall be applied to no other purpose.
Article VI
Suffrage and Eligibility to Office.
SECTION 1. Every male person born in the United States, and every
male person who has been naturalized, twenty one years old or
upward, who shall have resided in this state twelve months next
preceeding the election, and thirty days in the county, in which
he offers to vote, shall be deemed an elector.
SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide
from time to time, for the registration of all electors, and no
person shall be allowed to vote without registration, or to
register, without first taking an oath or affirmation to support
and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States and
the Constitution and laws of North Carolina, not inconsistent
therewith.
SEC. 3. All elections by the people shall be by ballot and all
elections by the General Assembly shall be viva voce.
SEC. 4. Every voter, except as hereinafter provided, shall be
eligible to office; but before entering upon the discharge of the
duties of his office, he shall take and subscribe the following
oath: "I, , do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and
maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States and the
Constitution and laws of North Carolina not inconsistent there
with, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of my
office. So help me God."
SEC. 5. The following classes of persons shall be disqualified
for office: First, All persons who shall deny the being of
Almighty God. Second; All persons who shall have been convicted
of treason, perjury or of any other infamous crime, since
becoming citizens of the United States, or of corruption, or
malpractice in office, unless such persons shall have been
legally restored to the rights of citizenship.
Article VII.
Municipal Corporations
SECTION 1. In each county, there shall be elected, biennially, by
the qualified voters thereof, as provided for the election of
members of the General Assembly, the following officers, a
Treasurer, Register of Deeds, Surveyor and five Commissioners.
SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the Commissioners to exercise a
general supervision and control of the penal and charitable
institutions, schools, roads, bridges, levying of taxes and
finances of the county, as may be prescribed by law. The Register
of Deeds shall be ex officio, Clerk of the Board of
Commissioners.
SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the Commissioners, first elected
in each county, to divide the same into convenient districts, to
determine the boundaries and prescribe the names of the said
districts, and report the same to the General Assembly before the
first day of January, 1869.
SEC. 4. Upon the approval of the reports provided for in the
foregoing section, by the General Assembly, the said districts
shall have corporate powers for the necessary purposes of local
government and shall be known as townships.
SEC. 5. In each township there shall be biennially elected, by
the qualified voters thereof, a Clerk and two Justices of the
Peace, who shall constitute a board of trustees, and shall, under
the supervision of the County Commissioners, have control of the
taxes and finances, roads and bridges of the township as may be
prescribed by law. The General Assembly may provide for the
election of a larger number of Justices of the Peace in cities
and towns and in those townships in which cities and towns and in
t hose townships in which cities and towns are situated. In every
township there shall also be biennially elected a School
Committee consisting of three persons whose duties shall be
prescribed by law.
SEC. 6. The township Board of Trustees, shall assess the taxable
property of their townships and make return to the County
Commissioners, for revision as may be prescribed by law. The
Clerk shall also be ex officio, Treasurer of the township.
SEC. 7. No county, city, town or other municipal corporation,
shall contract any debt, pledge its faith, or loan its credit,
nor shall any tax be levied or collected by any officers of the
same, except for the necessary expenses thereof, unless by a vote
of a majority of the qualified voters therein.
SEC. 8. No money shall be drawn from any County or Township
Treasury, except by authority of law.
SEC. 9. All taxes levied by any county, city, town or township,
shall be uniform, and ad valorem, upon all property in the same,
except property exempted by this Constitution.
SEC. 10. The county officers first elected under the provisions
of this article shall enter upon their duties ten days after the
approval of this Constitution by the Congress of the United
States.
SEC. 11. The Governor shall appoint a sufficient number of
Justices of the Peace, in each County who shall hold their places
until sections four, five and six of this article shall have been
carried into effect.
SEC. 12. All charters, ordinances and provisions relating to
municipal corporations, shall remain in force until legally
changed, unless inconsistent with the provisions of this
Constitution.
SEC. 13. No county, city, town or other municipal corporation,
shall assume or pay, nor shall any tax be levied or collected,
for the payment of any debt, or the interest upon any debt,
contracted, directly or indirectly, in aid or support of the
rebellion.
Article VIII.
Corporations other than Municipal
SECTION 1. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but
shall not be created by special act, except for municipal
purposes, and in cases where, in the judgement of the
Legislature, the object of the corporations cannot be attained
under general laws . All general laws and special acts passed
pursuant to this Section, may be altered from time to time or
repealed.
SEC. 2. Dues from corporations shall be secured by such
individual liabilities of the corporations and other means, as
may be prescribed by
law.
SEC. 3. The term corporation, as used in this Article, shall be
construed to include all associations and joint stock companies,
having any of the powers and privileges of corporations, not
possessed by individuals or partnerships. And all corporations
shall have the right to sue, and shall be subject to be sued, in
all courts, in like cases as natural persons.
SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the Legislature to provide for
the organization of cities, towns, and incorporated villages, and
to restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money,
contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as to prevent
abuses in assessments and in contracting debts, by such municipal
corporation.
Article IX
SECTION 1. Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to
good government and happiness of mankind, schools, and the means
of education, shall forever be encouraged.
SEC. 2. The General Assembly at its first session under this
Constitution, shall provide by taxation and otherwise for a
general and uniform system of Public Schools, wherein tuition
shall be free of charge to all the children of the State between
the age s of six and twenty-one years.
SEC. 3. Each County of the State shall be divided into a
convenient number of Districts, in which one or more Public
Schools shall be maintained, at least four months in every year;
and if the Commissioners of any County shall fail to comply with
the afore said requirement of this section, they shall be liable
to indictment.
SEC. 4. The proceeds of all lands that have been, or hereafter
may be, granted by the United States to this State and not
otherwise specially appropriated by the United States or
heretofore by this State; also all monies, stocks, bonds, and
other property now belonging to any fund for purposes of
Education; also the net proceeds that may accrue to the State
from sales of estrays or from fines, penalties and forfeitures;
also the proceeds of all sales of the swamp lands belonging to
the State; also all money that shall be paid as an equivalent for
exemptions from military duty; also, all grants, gifts or devises
that may hereafter be made to this State, and not otherwise
appropriated by the grant, gift or devise, shall be securely
invested, and sacredly p reserved as an irreducible educational
fund, the annual income of which, together with so much of the
ordinary revenue of the State as may be necessary, shall be
faithfully appropriated for establishing and perfecting, in this
State, a system of Free Public Schools, and for no other purposes
or uses whatsoever.
SEC. 5. The University of North Carolina with its lands,
emoluments and franchises, is under the Control of the State, and
shall be held to an inseparable connection with the Free Public
School System of the State.
SEC. 6. The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of
the University, as far as practicable, be extended to the youth
of the State free of expense for tuition; also, that all the
property which has heretofore accrued to the State, or shall
thereafter accrue from escheats, unclaimed dividends or
distributive shares of the estates of deceased persons, shall be
appropriated to the use of the University.
SEC. 7. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State,
Treasurer, Auditor, Superintendent of Public Works,
Superintendent of Public Instruction and Attorney General, shall
constitute a State Board of Education.
SEC. 8. The Governor shall be President, and the Superintendent
of Public Instruction shall be Secretary, of the Board of
Education.
SEC. 9. The Board of Education shall succeed to all the powers
and trusts of the President and directors of the Literary Fund of
North Carolina, and shall have full power to legislate and make
all needful rules and regulations in relation to Free Public
Schools, and the Educational fund of the State; but all acts,
rules and regulations of said Board may be altered, amended, or
repealed by the General Assembly, and when so altered, amended or
repealed by the General Assembly, and when so altered, amended o
r repealed they shall not be reenacted by the Board.
SEC. 10. The first session of the Board of Education shall be
held at the Capital of the State, within fifteen days after the
organization of the State Government under this Constitution; the
time of future meetings may be determined by the Board.
SEC. 11. A majority of the Board shall constitute a quorum for
the transaction of business.
SEC. 12. The contingent expenses of the Board shall be provided
for by the General Assembly.
SEC. 13 The Board of Education shall elect Trustees for the
University, as follows: One trustee for each County in the State,
whose term of office shall be eight years. The first meeting of
the Board shall be held within ten days after their election, an
d at this and every subsequent meeting, ten Trustees shall
constitute a quorum. The Trustees, at their first meeting, shall
be divided, as equally as may be, into four classes. The seats of
the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of two years;
of the second class at the expiration of four years; of the third
class at the expiration of six years; of the fourth class at the
expiration of eight years; so that one fourth may be chosen every
second year.
SEC. 14. The Board of Education and the President of the
University, shall be ex officio members of the Board of Trustees
of the University; and shall, with three other Trustees to be
appointed by the Board of Trustees, constitute the Executive
Committee of the Trustees of the University of North Carolina,
and shall be clothed with the powers delegated to the Executive
Committee under the existing organization of the Institution. The
Governor shall be ex ogeio President of the Board of Trustees and
Chair man of the Executive Committee of the University. The Board
of Education shall provide for the more perfect organization of
the Board of Trustees.
SEC. 15. All the privileges, rights, franchises and endowments
heretofore granted to, or conferred upon, the Board of Trustees
of the University of North Carolina by the Charter of 1789, or by
any subsequent legislation, are hereby vested in the Board of
Trustees, authorized by this Constitution, for the perpetual
benefit of the University.
SEC. 16. As soon as practicable after the adoption of this
Constitution, the General Assembly shall establish and maintain,
in connection with the University, a Department of Agriculture,
of Mechanics, of Mining and of Normal Instruction.
SEC. 17. The General Assembly is hereby empowered to enact that
every child of sufficient mental and physical ability, shall
attend the Public Schools during the period between the ages of
six and eighteen years, for a term of not less than sixteen
months , unless educated by other means.
Article X.
Homesteads and Exemptions
SECTION 1. The personal property of any resident of this State,
to the value of five hundred dollars, to be selected by such
resident, shall be, and is hereby exempted, from sale under
execution, or other final process of any court, issued for the
collect ion of any debt.
SEC. 2. Every Homestead and the dwelling and buildings used
therewith, not exceeding in value one thousand dollars, to be
selected by the owner thereof, or in lieu thereof, at the option
of the owner, any lot in a city, town or village, with the
dwelling and buildings used thereon, owned and occupied by any
resident of this State, and not exceeding the value of one
thousand dollars, shall be exempted from sale under execution, or
other final process, obtained on any debt. But no property shall
be exempt from sale for taxes or for payment of obligations
contracted for the purchase of said premises.
SEC. 3. The Homestead, after the death of the owner thereof,
shall be exempt from the payment of any debt, during the minority
of his children, or any one of them.
SEC. 4. The provisions of section one and two of this Article
shall not be so construed as to prevent a laborer's lien for work
done and performed for the person claiming such exemption, or a
mechanic's lien for work done on the premises.
SEC. 5. If the owner of a Homestead die, leaving a widow, but no
children the same shall be exempt from the debts of her husband,
and the rents and profits thereof shall in sure to her benefit,
during her widowhood, unless she be the owner of a Homestead, in
her own right.
SEC. 6. The real personal property of any female in this State,
acquired before marriage, and all property, real and personal, to
which she may after marriage, become in any manner entitled,
shall be and remain, the sole and separate estate and property of
such female, and shall not be liable for any debts, obligations
or engagements of her husband, and may be devised, or requeathed,
and, with the written assent of her husband, convey ed, by her,
as if she were unmarried.
SEC. 7. The husband may insure his own life for the sole use and
benefit of his wife and children, and in case of the death of the
husband, the amount thus insured, shall be paid over to the wife
and children, or the guardian, if under age, for her, or their
own use, free from all the claims of the representatives of the
husband, or any of his creditors.
SEC. 8. Nothing contained in the foregoing sections of this
Article shall operate to prevent the owner of a Homestead from
disposing of the same by deed; but no deed made by the owner of a
Homestead shall be valid without the voluntary signature and
assent of his wife, signified on her private examination
according to law.
Article XI.
Punishments, Penal Institutions and Public Charities.
SECTION 1. The following punishments only, shall be known to the
laws of this State, viz: death, imprisonment, with, or without
hard labor, fines, removal from office, and dis-qualification to
hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit, under t his
State.
SEC. 2. The object of punishments, being not only to satisfy
justice, but also to reform and offender, and thru prevent crime,
murder, arson, burglary, and rape, and these only, may be
punishable with death, if the General Assembly shall so enact.
SEC. 3. The General Assembly shall, at its first meeting, make
provision for the erection and conduct of a States' Prison or
Penitentiary at some central and accessible point with the State.
SEC. 4. The General Assembly may provide for the erection of
Houses of Correction, where vagrants and persons guilty of
misdemeanors shall be restrained and usefully employed.
SEC. 5. A House or Houses of Refuge may be established, whenever
the public interest may require it, for the correction and
instruction of other classes of offenders.
SEC. 6. It shall be required, by competent legislation, that the
structure and superintendence of penal institutions of the State,
the county jails, and city police prisons, secure the health and
comfort of the prisoners, and that male and female prisoners be
never confined in the same room or cell.
SEC. 7. Beneficient provision for the poor, the unfortunate and
orphan, being one of the first duties of a civilized and a
Christian State, The General Assembly shall, at its first
session, appoint and define the duties of a Board of Public
Charities, to whom shall be intrusted the supervision of all
charitable and penal State institutions, and who shall annually
report to the Governor upon their condition, with suggestions for
their improvement.
SEC. 8. There shall also, as soon as practicable, be measures
devised by the State, for the establishment of one or more Orphan
Houses, where destitute orphans may be cared for, educated and
taught some business or trade.
SEC. 9. It shall be the duty of the Legislature, as soon as
practicable, to devise means for the education of idiots and
inebriates.
SEC. 10. The General Assembly shall provide that all the deaf
mutes, the blind, and the insane of the State, shall be cared for
at the charge of the State.
SEC. 11. It shall be steadily kept in view by the Legislature,
and the Board of Public Charities, that all penal and charitable
institutions should be made as nearly self-supporting as is
consistent with the purposes of their creations.
Article XII
Militia
SECTION 1. All able bodied male citizens of the State of
North-Carolina, between the ages of twenty-one and forty years,
who are citizens of the United States, shall be liable to duty in
the Militia, Provided, That all persons who may be adverse to
bearing arms, from religious scruples,
shall be exempt therefrom.
SEC. 2. The General Assembly shall provide for the organizing,
arming, equipping and discipline of the Militia, and for paying
the same when called into active service.
SEC. 3. The Governor shall be Commander-in-Chief, and have power
to call out the Militia to execute the law, suppress riots or
insurrection, and to repel invasion.
SEC. 4. The General Assembly shall have power to make suche
exemptions as may be deemed necessary, and to enact laws that may
be expedient for the government of the Militia.
Article XIII
Amendments
SECTION 1. No Convention of the people shall be called by the
General Assembly unless by the concurrence of two-thirds of all
the members of each House of the General Assembly.
SEC. 2. No part of the Constitution of this State shall be
altered, unless a bill to alter the same shall have been read
three times in each House of the General Assembly and agreed to
by three-fifths of the whole number of members of each House,
respectively; nor shall any alteration take place until the bill,
so agreed to, shall have been published six months previous to a
new election of members to the General Assembly. If, after such
publication, the alteration proposed by the preceding General
Assembly shall be agreed to, in the first session thereafter, by
two-thirds of the whole representation in each House of the
General Assembly, after the same shall have been read three times
on three several days in each House, then the said General
Assembly shall prescribe a mode by which the amendment or
amendments may be submitted to the qualified voters of the House
of Representatives throughout the State; and if, upon comparing
the votes given in the whole State, it shall appear that a
majority of the voters voting thereon have approved thereof,
then, and not otherwise, the same shall become part of the
Constitution.
Article XIV
Miscellaneous
SECTION 1. All indictments which shall have been found, or may
hereafter be found, for any crime or offence committed before the
Constitution takes effect, may be preceeded upon in the proper
courts, but no punishment shall be inflicted, which is forbidden
by this Constitution.
SEC. 2. No person who shall hereafter fight a duel, or assist in
the same as a second, or send, accept, or knowingly carry a
challenge therefor, or agree to go out of this State to fight a
duel, shall hold any office in this State.
SEC. 3. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in
consequence of made by law, and an accurate account of the
receipts and expenditures of the public money shall be annually
published.
SEC. 4. The General Assembly shall provide, by proper
legislation, for giving to mechanics and laborers an adequate
lien on the subject matter of their labor.
SEC. 5. In the absence of any contrary provision, all officers in
this State, whether heretofore elected, or appointed by the
Governor, shall hold their positions only until other
appointments are made by the Governor, or, if the officers are
elective, until their successors shall have been chosen and duly
qualified, according to the provisions of this Constitution.
SEC. 6. The seat of government in this State shall remain at the
city of Raleigh.
SEC. 7. No person shall hold more than one lucrative office under
the State at the same time; Provided, That officers in the
Militia, Justices of the Peace, Commissioners of Public Charities
and Commissioners appointed for special purposes, shall not be
considered officers within the meaning of this section.
Done at Convention at Raleigh, the sixteenth day of March in the
year of our Lord, a thousand eight hundred and sixty eight, and
of the Independence of the United States, the ninety second.
AMENDMENTS
AMENDMENT OF 1789
AN ORDINANCE TO ENABLE THE FREEMAN OF THE TOWN OF FAYETTEVILLE TO
SELECT A MEMBER TO REPRESENT SAID TOWN ON THE SAME TERMS WITH THE
OTHER TOWNS IN THE STATE.
AMENDMENTS OF 1835
Article I.
Section 1.
1. The senate of this State shall consist of fifty
representatives, biennially chosen by ballot, and to be elected
by districts; which districts shall be laid off by the general
assembly, at its first session after the year one thousand eight
hundred and forty-one; and afterwards, at its first session after
the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one; and then every
twenty years thereafter, in proportion to the public taxes paid
into the treasury of the State, by the citizens thereof; and the
average of the public taxes paid by each county into the treasury
of the State, for the five years preceding the laying off of the
districts, shall be considered as its proportion of the public
taxes, and constitute the basis of apportionment: Provided that
no county shall be divided in the formation of a senatorial
district. And when there are one or more counties having an
excess of taxation above the ratio to form a senatorial district,
adjoining a county or counties deficient in such ratio, the
excess or excesses aforesaid shall be added to the taxation of
the county or counties deficient; and if, with such addition, the
county or counties receiving it shall have the requisite ratio,
such county and counties each shall constitute a senatorial
district.
2. The house of commons shall be composed of one hundred and
twenty representatives, biennially chosen by ballot, to be
elected by counties according to their federal population, that
is, according to their respective numbers, which shall be
determined by adding to the whole number of free persons,
including those bound to service for a term of years, and
excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons;
and each county shall have at least one member in the house of
commons, although it may not contain the requisite ratio of
population.
3. This apportionment shall be made by the general assembly, at
the respective times and periods when the districts for the
senate are hereinbefore directed to be laid off; and the said
apportionment shall be made according to an enumeration to be
ordered by the general assembly, or according to the census which
may be taken by order of congress, next preceding the making such
apportionment.
4. In making the apportionment in the house of commons, the ratio
of representation shall be ascertained by dividing the amount of
federal population in the State, after de ducting that
comprehended within those counties which do not severally contain
the one hundred and twentieth part of the entire federal
population aforesaid, by the number of representatives less than
the number assigned to the said counties. To each county
containing the said ratio, and not twice the said ratio, there
shall be assigned one representative; to each county containing
twice, but not three times the said ratio, there shall be as
signed two representatives, and so on progressively; and then the
remaining representatives shall be assigned severally to the
counties having the largest fractions.
Section 2.
1. Until the first session of the general assembly, which shall
be had after the year eighteen hundred and forty-one, the senate
shall be composed of members to be elected from the several
districts hereinafter named, that is to say, the first district
shall consist of the counties of Perquimans and Pasquotank; the
2nd district of Camden and Currituck; the 3rd district, Gates and
Chowan; the 4th district, Washington and Tyrrell; the 5th
district, Northampton; the 6th district, Hertford; the 7th
district, Bertie; the 8th district, Martin; the 9th district,
Halifax; the 10th district, Nash; the 11th district, Wake; the
12th district, Franklin; the 13th district, Johnston; the 14th
district, Warren; the 15th district, Edgecombe; the 16th
district, Wayne; the 17th district, Greene and Lenoir; the 18th
district, Pitt; the 19th district, Beaufort and Hyde; the 20th
district, Carteret and Jones; the 21st district, Craven; the 22d
district, Chatham; the 23d district, Granville; the 24th
district, Person; the 25th district, Cumberland; the 26th
district, Sampson; the 27th district, New Hanover; the 28th
district, Duplin; the 29th district, Onslow; the 30th district,
Bruns wick, Bladen, and Columbus; the 31st district, Robeson and
Richmond; the 32d district, An son; the 33d district, Cabarrus;
the 34th district, Moore and Montgomery; the 35th district,
Caswell; the 36th district, Rockingham; the 37th district,
Orange; the 38th district, Randolph; the 39th district, Guilford;
the 40th district, Stokes; the 41st district, Rowan; the 42d
district, Davidson; the 43d district, Surry; the 44th district,
Wilkes and Ashe; the 45th district, Burke and Yancey; the 46th
district, Lincoln; the 47th district, Iredell; the 48th district,
Rutherford; the 49th district, Buncombe, Haywood and Macon; the
50th district, Mecklenburg:-each district to be entitled to one
senator.
2. Until the first session of the general assembly after the
year eighteen hundred and forty-one, the house of commons shall
be composed of members elected from the counties in the following
manner, viz.: The counties of Lincoln and Orange shall elect four
members each. The counties of Burke, Chatham, Granville,
Guilford, Halifax, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Rutherford,
Surry, Stokes, and Wake shall elect three members each. The
counties of Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Buncombe, Cumberland,
Craven, Caswell, Davidson, Duplin, Edgecombe, Franklin, Johnston,
Montgomery, New Hanover, Northampton, Person, Pitt, Randolph,
Robeson, Richmond, Rockingham, Sampson Warren, Wayne, and Wilkes
shall elect two members each. The counties of Ashe, Bladen,
Brunswick, Camden, Columbus, Chowan, Currituck, Carteret,
Cabarrus, Gates, Greene, Haywood, Hertford, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir,
Macon, Moore, Martin, Nash, Onslow, Pasquotank, Perquimans,
Tyrrell, Washington, and Yancey shall elect one member each.
Section 3
1. Each member of the senate shall have usually resided in the
district for which he is chosen for one year immediately
preceding his election, and for the same time shall have
possessed and continued to possess in the district which he
represents, not less than three hundred acres of land in fee.
2. All free men of the age of twenty-one years (except as is
hereinafter declared), who have been inhabitants of any one
district within the State twelve months immediately preceding the
day of any election, and possessed of a freehold within the same
district of fifty acres of land, for six months next before and
at the day of election, shall be entitled to vote for a member of
the senate.
3. No free Negro, free mulatto, or free person of mixed blood,
descended from Negro ancestors to the fourth generation inclusive
(though one ancestor of each generation may have been a white
person) shall vote for members of the senate or house of commons
.
Section 4.
1. In the election of all officers, whose appointment is
conferred on the general assembly by the constitution, the vote
shall be viva voce.
2. The general assembly shall have power to pass laws regulating
the mode of appointing and removing militia officers.
3. The general assembly shall have power to pass general laws
regulating divorce and alimony, but shall not have power to grant
a divorce or secure alimony in any individual case.
4. The general assembly shall not have power to pass any private
law to alter the name of any person, or to legitimate any persons
not born in lawful wedlock, or to restore to the rights of
citizenship any person convicted of an infamous crime; but shall
have power to pass general laws regulating the same.
5 The general assembly shall not pass any private law, unless it
shall be made to appear that thirty days' notice of application
to pass such law shall have been given, under such directions and
in such manner as shall be provided by law.
6. If vacancies shall occur by death, resignation or otherwise,
before the meeting of the general assembly, writs may be issued
by the governor, under such regulations as may be prescribed by
law.
7. The general assembly shall meet biennially, and at each
biennial session shall elect, by joint vote of the two houses, a
secretary of state, treasurer and council of state, who shall
continue in office for the term of two years.
Article II.
1. The governor shall be chosen by the qualified voters for the
members of the house of commons, at such time and places as
members of the general assembly are elected.
2. He shall hold his office for the term of two years from the
time of his installation, and until another shall be elected and
qualified; but he shall not be eligible more than four years in
any term of six years.
3. The returns of every election for governor shall be sealed up
and transmitted to the seat of government, by the returning
officers, directed to the speaker of the senate, who shall open
and publish them in the presence of a majority of the members of
both houses of the general assembly. The person having the
highest number of votes shall be governor; but if two or more
shall be equal and highest in votes, one of them shall be chosen
governor by joint vote of both houses of the general assembly.
4. Contested elections for governor shall be determined by both
houses of the general assembly, in such manner as shall be
prescribed by law.
5. The governor-elect shall enter on the duties of the office on
the first day of January next after his election, having
previously taken the oaths of office in the presence of the
members of both branches of the general assembly, or before the
chief justice of the supreme court, who, in case the
governor-elect should be prevented from attendance before the
general assembly, by sickness or other unavoidable cause, is
authorized to administer the same.
Article III.
Section 1.
1. The governor, judges of the supreme court, and judges of the
superior courts, and all other officers of this State (except
justices of the peace and militia officers), may be impeached for
wilfully violating any article of the constitution,
maladministration, or corruption.
2. Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further
than to remove from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy
any office of honor, trust, or profit under this State; but the
party convicted may nevertheless be liable to indictment, trial,
judgment, and punishment, according to law.
3. The house of commons shall have the sole power of
impeachment. The senate shall have the sole power to try all
impeachments. No person shall be convicted upon any impeachment,
unless two-thirds of the senators present shall concur in such
conviction; and before the trial of any impeachment, the members
of the senate shall take an oath or affirmation truly and
impartially to try and determine the charge in question,
according to evidence.
Section 2.
1. Any judge of the supreme court, or of the superior courts,
may be removed from office for mental or physical inability, upon
a concurrent resolution of two-thirds of both branches of the
general assembly. The judge, against whom the legislature may be
about to proceed, shall receive notice thereof, accompanied by a
copy of the causes alleged for his removal, at least twenty days
before the day on which either branch of the general assembly
shall act thereon.
The salaries of the judges of the supreme court, or of the
superior courts, shall not be diminished during their continuance
in office.
Section 3.
Upon the conviction of any justice of the peace of any infamous
crime, or of corruption or malpractice in office, the commission
of such justice shall be thereby vacated, and he shall be forever
disqualified from holding such appointment.
Section 4.
The general assembly at its first session after the year one
thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, and from time to time
thereafter, shall appoint an attorney-general, who shall be
commissioned by the governor, and shall hold his office for the
term of four years; but if the general assembly should hereafter
extend the term during which solicitors of the State shall hold
their offices, then they shall have power to extend the term of
office of the attorney-general to the same period.
Article IV
Section 1.
l. No convention of the people shall be called by the general
assembly, unless by the concurrence of two-thirds of all the
members of each house of the general assembly.
2. No part of the constitution of this State shall be altered,
unless a bill to alter the same shall have been read three times
in each house of the general assembly, and agreed to by
three-fifths of the whole number of members of each house
respectively; nor shall any alteration take place until the bill
so agreed to shall have been published six months previous to a
new election of members to the general assembly. If, after such
publication, the alteration proposed by the preceding general
assembly shall be agreed to in the first session thereafter, by
two-thirds of the whole representation in each house of the
general assembly, after the same shall have been read three times
on three several days, in each house, then the said general
assembly shall prescribe a mode by which the amendment or
amendments may be submitted to the qualified voters of the house
of commons throughout the State; and if, upon comparing the votes
given in the whole State, it shall appear that a majority of the
voters have approve d thereof, then, and not otherwise, the same
bill become a part of the constitution.
Section 2.
The thirty-second section of the constitution shall be amended to
read as follows: No person who shall deny the being of God, or
the truth of the Christian religion, or the divine authority of
the Old or New Testament, or who shall hold religious principles
incompatible with the freedom or safety of the State, shall be
capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the
civil department within this State.
Section 3.
1. Capitation tax shall be equal throughout the State, upon all
individuals subject to the same.
2. All free males over the age of twenty-one years, and under
the age of forty-five years, and all slaves over the age of
twelve years, and under the age of fifty years, shall be subject
to capitation tax, and no other person shall be subject to such
tax: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall prevent
exemptions of taxable polls, as heretofore prescribed by law, in
cases of bodily infirmity.
Section 4.
No person who shall hold any office or place of trust or profit
under the United States, or any department thereof, or under this
State, or any other State government, shall hold or exercise any
other office or place of trust or profit under the authority of
this State, or be eligible to a seat in either house of the
general assembly: Provided, that nothing here-in contained shall
extend to officers in the militia or justices of the peace.
Ratified in convention, this eleventh day of July, in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
NATHANIEL MACON, President.
EDMUND B. FREEMAN, Secretary.
JOSEPH D. WARD, Asst. Secty.
AMENDMENT OF 1857
Every free white man of the age of twenty-one years, being a
native or naturalized citizen of the United States and who has
been an inhabitant of the State for twelve months immediately
preceding the day of any election, and shall have paid public
taxes, shall be entitled to vote for a member of the senate for
the district in which he resides.
AMENDMENTS OF 1861-62
I. AN ORDINANCE TO DISSOLVE THE UNION BETWEEN THE STATE OF NORTH
CAROLINA AND THE OTHER STATES UNITED WITH HER UNIXER THE COMPACT
OF GOVERNMENT ENTITLED THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
We, the people of the State of North Carolina in Convention
assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and
ordained, that the ordinance adopted by the State of North
Carolina, in the Convention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of
the United States was ratified and adopted, and also, all acts
and parts of acts of the General Assembly, ratifying and adopting
amendments to the said Constitution, are hereby repealed,
rescinded and abrogated.
We do further declare and ordain, that the Union now subsisting
between the State of North Carolina and the other States, under
the title of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved,
and that the State of North Carolina is in the full possession of
exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and
appertain to a free and independent State.
Passed, 20th day of May 1861.
II. AN ORDINANCE DEFINING TREASON AGAINST THE STATE.
Be it ordained by this Convention, and it is hereby ordained by
the authority of the same as follows:-
Treason against the State of North Carolina, shall consist only
in levying War against her, or in adhering to her enemies; giving
them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of Treason,
unless on the Testimony of two witnesses to the same over act, or
on confession in open Court.
Read three times and passed 18th June 1861.
III. AN ORDINANCE TO RATIFY THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PROVISIONAL
GOVERNMENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.
We the people of North Carolina, in Convention assembled, do
declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained,
That the State of North Carolina does hereby assent to and ratify
the Constitution for the Provisional Government of the
Confederate States of America, adopted at Montgomery, in the
State of Alabama, on the 8th day of February, A. D. 1861, by the
Convention of Delegates from the States of South Carolina,
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and
that North Carolina will enter into the Federal Association of
States upon the terms therein proposed when admitted by the
Congress or any Competent authority of the Confederate States.
Done at Raleigh, the twentieth day of May 1861.
IV. AN ORDINANCE TO RATIFY THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE
STATES OF AMERICA.
Whereas, on the eleventh day of March, A. D. 1861, at Montgomery,
in the State of Alabama, a Constitution was adopted, by a
Congress of delegates from the States of Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas,
united under the name of the Confederate States of America, which
Constitution hath been ratified by each of the said
states:
Now, therefore, this convention, having seen and considered the
said Constitution, doth, in behalf of the people of the State of
North Carolina, adopt and ratify the said Constitution and form
of Government, the tenor of which appears in a schedule hereto
annexed:
Read three times and passed, 6th June 1861.
V. AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE 4TH SECTION OF THE 4TH ARTICLE OF
THE
AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.
Be it Ordained by this Convention of the people, and it is hereby
ordained by the authority of the same, That the fourth Section of
the fourth Article of the amendments to the Constitution,
proposed and ratified in the year eighteen hundred and
thirty-five, be amended by striking out the word "United" and
inserting in lieu thereof, the word "Confederate" before the word
"States".
Read three times and passed, 20th June 1861.
VI. AN ORDINANCE IN RELATION TO TAXATION.
SECTION 1. Be it ordained, That the third Section of the fourth
article of the amendments of the Constitution be and the same if
hereby annulled.
SEC. 2. Be it further ordained, That all free males over the age
of twenty-one years and under the age of forty-five years shall
be subject to a Capitation tax, not less than the tax laid on
land of the value of three hundred dollars, and no other free
person nor slave, shall be liable to such taxation; and also,
land and slaves shall be taxed according to their value, and the
tax on slaves shall be as much but not more than that on land,
according to their respective values; but the tax on slaves may
be laid on their general average value in the State or on their
values in classes in respect to age, sex, and other distinctive
properties, in the discretion of the General Assembly; and the
value be assessed in such modes as may be prescribed by law:
Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent the
exemption from taxation of soldiers in the public service, or of
free males or slaves in cases of bodily or mental infirmity, or
of such real estate as hath hitherto been exempted by law.
Read three times and passed 25th June 1861.
VII. AN ORDINANCE TO SECURE TO CERTAIN OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS THE
RIGHT TO VOTE.
SECTION 1. Be it ordained by this convention and it is hereby
ordained by authority of the same, That all officers and soldiers
in the service of the State or of the Confederate States, who are
of the age of twenty-one years and who are citizens of this
State, or who, if within the State, shall be absent from their
respective counties, at elections hereafter to be held, if the
exigencies of the times shall permit, shall be entitled to vote
for Sheriffs, Clerks of the County and Superior Courts, our
members of the General Assembly for their respective Counties;
and shall, also, be entitled to vote for Governor, Electors for
President and Vice President of the Confederate States, and for
members of the Confederate Congress for their respective
districts.
SEC. 2. Be it further ordained, That three freeholders of the
respective Companies, under the direction of the Commanding
Officers of the regiments, to which they belong, shall open polls
on Thursday before the day appointed for holding elections in
this State, and said elections shall be conducted in all respects
according to the laws of this State. The three freeholders
aforesaid, shall prepare a fair copy of the votes polled, and
shall transmit the same with the list of voters to the
Sheriffs of their respective counties; and where Officers and
Soldiers in the same Companies, shall vote in different Counties
or different Congressional districts the said free holders shall
specify accordingly, and make returns to the Sheriffs of the
different Counties above referred to.
SEC. 3. Be it further ordained, That the Sheriffs of the
respective Counties of this State shall count the votes of the
said officers and soldiers, if received within seven days after
the elections; and they shall not declare the result of the said
elections until the seven days above mentioned, shall have
expired.
SEC. 4. Be it further ordained that this ordinance shall be in
force from and after the day of its ratification; provided this
ordinance shall be in force during the existence of the present
war with the United States, and no longer.
Read three times and passed, June 15th 1861.
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED"AN ORDINANCE TO SE
CURE TO CERTAIN OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS THE RIGHT TO VOTE.
SECTION 1. Be it ordained by the Delegates of the people of
North Carolina in Convention assembled, and it is hereby ordained
by the authority of the same, That the proper returning officers
of every County in this State shall include in their returns the
votes of officers and soldiers given in any election in which
they may be entitled to vote by Law, if received within twenty
days after they are cast, and the said returning officers shall
not make up their returns and declare the result of said
elections until the expiration of twenty days as aforesaid.
SEC. 2. Be it further ordained, That the proper returning
officer of every County shall, within eight days after the period
fixed for comparing the returns, transmit to the seat of
government and deliver to the proper officer a statement of votes
given in his county for Governor, which statement shall be made
in the manner and form now required by law.
SEC. 3. Be it further ordained, That the Governor be directed to
make known by proclamation the provisions of the ordinance
securing to officers and soldiers the right to vote. Passed and
ratified in open Convention the 8 day of May A. D. 1862.
VIII. AN ORDINANCE TO PROVIDE FOR AMENDING THE FORTY-SIXTH
SECTION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THIS STATE, IN REGARD TO TAKING
THE YEAS AND NAYS IN EITHER HOUSE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
Be it ordained by the Delegates of the people of North Carolina
in Convention assembled and it is hereby ordained by the
authority of the same; That the forty-sixth section of the
Constitution of this State be so amended as to insert, after the
word "seconded" in the fourth line of said section, the words "by
one-fifth of the members present."
Read three times and ratified in open Convention, the sixth day
of December A. D. 1861.
IX. AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE SECOND SECTION OF THE FOURTH
ARTICLE OF THE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.
Be it ordained by the Delegates of the people of North Carolina
in Convention assembled, and it is hereby ordained by the
authority of the same, That the second section of the fourth
article of the amendments to the Constitution shall be amended to
read as follows:
"No person who shall deny the being of God, or the divine
authority of both the Old and New Testiments, or who shall hold
religious opinions incompatible with the freedom or safety of the
State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust
or profit in the civil department of this State."
Read three times and ratified in open Convention, the sixth day
of December A. D. 1861.
X. AN ORDINANCE IN RELATION TO ELECTORS OF THE SENATE.
Be it ordained by the Delegates of the people of North Carolina
in Convention assembled and it is hereby ordained by the
authority of the same, That every free white man, of the age of
twenty one years, being a native or naturalized citizen of the
Confederate States, who has been an inhabitant of the state for
twelve months, and of the district in which he proposes to vote
six months next before the day of any election, and shall have
paid public taxes, shall be entitled to vote for a member of the
Senate for the district in which he resides.
Passed and ratified in open Convention on the 10th day of May A.
D. 1862.
XI. AN ORDIANCE CONCERNING THE ELECTION OF GOVERNOR.
Whereas, By the construction which, in practice, has been given
to the constitution . of the State, the Speaker of the Senate,
in case of a vacancy in the office of the Governor, shall
exercise the powers of Governor by virtue of his office as
Speaker, and without vacating the same, which said office of
Speaker must cease and determine with that of the incumbent as a
Senator, upon the election of his successor in the next section,
a vacancy will take place in the office of Governor from and
after the day of the next election on the first Thursday in
August next until the first day of January, A. D. 1863, against
which it is the duty of this Convention to provide, Therefore,
SECTION 1. Be it ordained by the Delegates of the people of
North Carolina in Convention assembled, and it is hereby ordained
by the authority of the same; That the person who shall be
elected Governor of this State at the next regular election on
the first Thursday in August next, as now provided for by Law,
shall also fill the office and discharge the duties of Governor
of this State from the second Monday of September until his
successor shall be qualified.
SEC. 2. Be it further ordained, That the proper returning
officers of every county shall, as soon as the result of the
election is known in his county, transmit to the Secretary of
State a statement of the votes taken in his county for Governor,
which statement shall be made up from the poll
books of his county, as is now prescribed by law.
SEC. 3. Be it further ordained, That the Secretary of State,
the Treasurer and Comptroller, shall, on the fourth Thursday in
August next, in the presence of the Governor, proceed to examine
said returns, and ascertain and declare what person shall have
received the greatest number of votes, where upon the Governor
shall issue his proclamation, declaring such person duly elected
Governor of this State from the second Monday of September, A. D.
1862, until his successor shall be qualified.
SEC. 4. Be it further ordained, That the person so declared and
proclaimed Governor, as aforesaid, shall, on the second Monday of
September, A. D. 1862, appear before some Judge of the Supreme
Court, or someone of the Judges of the Superior Courts of Law,
and take and subscribe the oath now prescribed by law for
qualification of Governor of this State, and shall immediately
enter upon the discharge of the duties of his office; which oath
S9 taken and subscribed shall be filed in the office of the
Secretary of State.
SEC. 5. Be it further ordained, That His Excellency, Henry T.
Clark, shall continue to hold the office and discharge the duties
of Governor of this State from the first Thursday in August until
the second Monday in September next or until his successor shall
be qualified, as fully and to all intents and purposes as he has
heretofore done, and shall receive the usual salary, in
proportion to his extended term of service.
Passed and ratified in open Convention on the 2nd day of May A.
D. 1862.
XII. AN ORDINANCE TO ALLOW CERTAIN PERSONS TO VOTE FOR GOVERNOR
IN ANY OTHER THAN THE COIJNTIES IN WHICH THEY RESIDE.
SECTION 1. Be it ordained by the Delegates of the people of North
Carolina in convention assembled, and it is hereby ordained by
the authority of the same, That any citizen of this State who
shall be entitled to vote for Governor in the county wherein he
is domiciled, shall be entitled to vote for Governor in any
county in this State.
SEC. 2. Be it further ordained, That it shall or may be lawful
for the Sheriffs of the counties in this State in the possession
of or under the control of the enemy to compare the poles of
their respective counties for Governor and members of the
Legislature, at any place in this State they may think proper.
SEC. 3. Be it further ordained, That this ordinance shall be and
continue in force for and during the present war, and no longer,
unless sooner repealed or modified by the General Assembly.
Passed and ratified in open Convention on the 12th day of May A.
D. 1862.
AN ORDINANCE DECLARING WHAT ORDINANCES OF THIS CONVENTION SHALL
HAVE PERMANENT OPERATION.
SECTION 1. Be it ordained by the Delegates of the people of North
Carolina in Convention assembled, and it is hereby ordained by
the authority of the same, That the following ordinances passed
by this Convention shall be of permanent operation and be
irrepealable by the General Assembly namely:
f
I. An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of North
Carolina and the other States united with her under the compact
of government entitled "the Constitution of the United States."
II. An Ordinance defining treason against the State.
III. An Ordinance to ratify the Constitution of the Provisional
Government of the Confederate States of America.
IV. An Ordinance to ratify the Constitution of the Confederate
States of America.
V. An Ordinance to amend the fourth section of the fourth Article
of the amendments to the Constitution.
VI. An Ordinance in relation to taxation
VII. An Ordinance to secure to certain officers and soldiers the
right to vote.
VIII. An Ordinance in relation to taking the yeas and nays in the
General Assembly.
IX. An Ordinance to amend the second section of the fourth
Article of the amendments to the Constitution.
X. An Ordinance in relation to elections of the Senate.
XI. An Ordinance concerning the election of Governor.
XII. An Ordinance to allow certain persons to vote for Governor
in any other County than that in which they reside.
SEC. 2. Be it further ordained, That all other ordinances and
resolutions passed by this convention at any of its sessions,
shall have the force and effect only of acts of the ordinary
Legislature, and may be repealed or modified at the pleasure of
the General Assembly, in the same manner and to the same extent
that public statutes are liable to repeal or modification.
Passed and ratified in open Convention on the 13th day of May A.
D. 1862.
Footnote # 11
Congressman McFadden: "I hope that is the case, but I may say to
the gentleman that during the sessions of this Economic
Conference in London there is another meeting taking place in
London.
We were advised by reports from London last Sunday of the arrival
of George L. Harrison, Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York, and we were advised that accompanying him was Mr.
Crane, the Deputy Governor, and James P. Warburg, of the Kuhn-
Loeb banking family, of New York and Hamburg, Germany, and also
Mr. O. M. W. Sprague, recently in the pay of Great Britain as
chief economic and financial adviser of Mr. Norman, Governor of
the Bank Of England, and now supposed to represent our Treasury.
These men landed in England and rushed to the Bank of England for
a private conference, taking their luggage with them, before even
going to their hotel. We know this conference has been taking
place for the past 3 days behind closed doors in the Bank of
England with these gentlemen meeting with heads of the Bank of
England and the Bank for International Settlements, of Basel,
Switzerland, and the head of the Bank France, Mr. Maret. They
are discussing war debts; they are discussing stabilization of
exchanges and the Federal Reserve System, I may say to the
Members of the House.
The Federal reserve System, headed by George L. Harrison, is
our premier, who is dealing with debts behind the closed doors of
the Bank of England; and the United States Treasury is there is
there, represented by O. M. W. Sprague, who until the last 10
days was the representative of the Bank of England, and by Mr.
James P. Warburg, who is the son of the principal author of the
federal Reserve Act. Many things are being settled behind the
closed doors of the Bank of England by this group. No doubt this
group were pleased to hear that yesterday the Congress passed
amendments to the Federal Reserve Act and that the President
signed the bill which turns over to the Federal Reserve System
the complete total financial resources of money and credit in the
United States. Apparently the domination and control of the
international banking group is being strengthened....
We are being led by the international Jews operating through
Great Britain and the Bank of England, and it is the purpose of
those who are directing and cooperating that debts be reduced to
10 percent or canceled entirely....
Then there is James P. Warburg, who was called in by the
President and who has sat in on all of the conferences here in
Washington participated in by the foreign representatives
recently, and he is the financial adviser at the Economic
Conference and at the conferences in the Bank of England to which
I have referred. Mr. Warburg, you undoubtedly know, is the head
of the international Jewish financial group who were largely
responsible for the loaning abroad of the vast billions of
dollars by the people of the United States and which loans are
now frozen. We must not overlook the fact, however, that J. P.
Morgan & Co. were close seconds in these transactions, and in
connection with this I wish to point out that George L. Harrison,
Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is closely
identified with the Morgan House in all of the undertakings
internationally in which the Federal Reserve banks participated.
Congressional Record, June 14, 1934
At that time a man named Jacob Schiff came to this country
as the agent of certain foreign money lenders. His mission was
to get control of American railroads. This man was a Jew. He
was the son of a rabbi. He was born in one of the Rothschilds's
houses in Frankfort, Germany. He was a small fellow with a
pleasant face and, if I remember correctly, his eyes were blue.
At an early age he set out from Frankfort to seek his fortune and
went to Hamburg, Germany. At Hamburg he entered the Warburg
banking establishment. The Warburgs of Hamburg are bankers of
long standing, with branches in Amsterdam and Sweden.....
Sometime before Schiff's arrival there was a firm of Jewish
peddlers or merchants in Lafayette, Ind., by the name of Kuhn &
Loeb. I think they were there about 1850. Probably they made
money out of the new settlers who passed through Indiana on their
way to the Northwest. This firm of Jews had finally moved to New
York and had set themselves up as private bankers and had grown
rich. Jacob Schiff married Teresa Loeb and became the head of
Kuhn, Loeb & Co. Schiff made a great deal of money here for
himself and for the Jewish money lenders of London. he began to
give orders to Presidents almost as a matter of course. He
appears to have been a man who would stop at nothing to gain his
own ends. I do not blame him for being a Jew. I blame him for
being a trouble maker.
Russia had a powerful enemy in this man, Jacob Schiff. The
people of the United States were to believe that this enmity of
his was caused by wrongs done to Russian Jews. I look elsewhere
for the motives which animated him.
In the 1890's Schiff was the agent in this country of Ernest
Cassell and other London money lenders. These money lenders were
looking forward to a war between England and Russia and were
making preparations for propaganda designed to support England in
the United States. This country was then a debtor nation, paying
a high yearly tribute to Schiff and his principals. Schiff
accordingly took it upon himself to create a prejudice in the
United States against Russia. He did this by presenting the
supposed wrongs of the Russian Jews to the American public.
Unpleasant tales began to appear in print. School children in
this country were told the Jewish children were crippled for life
by Russian soldiers wielding the knout. By unfair means a wedge
was driven between Russia and the United States.
One of Schiff's schemes was a sort of wholesale importation
of Russian Jews into the United States. He drew up divers and
sundry regulations for the temporary transplantation of these
Jewish emigrants. He would not, he said, have them enter this
country through the port of New York, because they might like New
York too well to leave it for the outposts he had selected for
them. He said it would be best to have them come in at New
Orleans and to have them stay there 2 weeks, "so that they could
pick up a few words of English and get a little money" before
setting off for what he called the "American hinterland." How
they were to get the money he did not say.
Aided by Schiff and his associates, many Russian Jews came
to this country about that time and were naturalized here. A
number of these naturalized Jews then returned to Russia. Upon
their return to that country, they immediately claimed exemption
there from the regulations of domicile imposed on Jews; that is,
they claimed the right to live on purely Russian soil because
they were American citizens, or "Yankee" Jews. Disorders
occurred and were exploited in the American press. Riots and
bombings and assassinations, for which somebody furnished money,
took place. The perpetrators of these outrages appear to have
been shielded by powerful financial interests. While this was
going on in Russia, a shameless campaign of lying was conducted
here, and large sums of money were spent to make the general
American public believe that the Jews in Russia were a simple and
guileless folk ground down by the Russians and needing the
protection of the great benefactor, of all the world--Uncle Sam.
In other words, we were deceived. We were so deceived that we
allowed them to come in here and to take the bread out of the
mouths of our own American citizens.
I come now to the time when war was declared between Russia
and Japan. This was bought about by a skillful use of Japan so
that England would not have to fight Russia in India. It was
cheaper and more convenient for England to have Japan fight
Russia than to do it herself. As was to be expected, Schiff and
his London associates financed Japan. They drew immense
quantities of money out of the United States for that purpose.
The bankgound for the loans they floated in this country had been
skillfully prepared. The "sob stuff", of which Schiff was a
master, had sunk into the hearts of sympathetic Americans. The
loads were a great success. Millions of American dollars were
sent to Japan by Schiff and his London associates. England's
stranglehold on India was made secure. Russia was prevented form
entering the Khyber Pass and falling on India from the northwest.
Japan at the same time was built up and became a great world
power, and as such is now facing us in the Pacific. All this was
accomplished by control of the organs of American publicity,
releases to the effect that Russian Jews and "Yankee" Jews were
being persecuted in Russia, and by the selling of Japanese war
bonds to American citizens.
While the Russo-Japanese War was in progress President
Theodore Roosevelt offered to act as peacemaker, and a conference
between representatives of the belligerents was arranged to take
place at Portsmouth, N.H.
When the Portsmouth Conference took place, Jacob Schiff
attended it and used such influence as he had with Theodore
Roosevelt to win favors for Japan at the expense of Russia. His
main object, then as always, was humiliation of Russians, whose
only crime was that they were Russians and not Jews. He
endeavored to humiliate the Russians, but Count Witte, the
Russian plenipotentiary, did not allow him to succeed in this
attempt. Schiff's power and the power of his organized
propaganda were well understood by Count Witte, however.
Consequently he was not surprised when President Roosevelt, who
was often deceived, twice asked him to have Russia treat Russian
Jews who had become naturalized in the United States and who had
thereafter returned to live in Russia with special consideration;
that is, not as Jews but as Americans. Witte carried home a
letter from Roosevelt embodying this plea.
Mr. Speaker, the restrictions upon Jews in Russia at that
time may or may not have been onerous. But onerous or not,
before the Russians had time to change them, Schiff had the 80-
year-old-treaty of friendship and good will between Russia and
the United States denounced. Speaking of this matter, Count
Witte says in his autobiography: "The Russians lost the
friendship of the American people."
Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe that those people--the real
Russians--ever lost the true friendship of the American people.
They were done away with to suit the ambitions of those who
intend to be the financial masters of the world, and some of us
were deceived into thinking that in some mysterious way they,
themselves, were to blame. The chasm that suddenly opened
between ourselves and our old friends and well-wishers in Russia
was a chasm created by Schiff the vindictive in his inhuman
greed, and he created it in the name of the Jewish religion....
Mr. Speaker, the people of the United States should not
permit financial interests or any other special interests to
dictate the foreign policy of the United States Government. But
in this connection history is now repeating itself. You have
heard, no doubt, of the so-called persecutions of Jews in
Germany.
Mr. Speaker, there is no real persecution of Jews in
Germany. Hitler and the Warburgs, the Mendelssohns and the
Rothschilds, appear to be on the best of terms. There is no real
persecution of the Jews in Germany, but there has been a
pretended persecution of them because there are 200,000 unwanted
Communistic Jews in Germany, largely Galician Jews who entered
Germany after the World War, and Germany is very anxious to get
rid of those particular Communistic Jews. The Germans wish to
preserve the purity of their own blond racial stock. They are
willing to keep rich Jews like Max Warburg and Franz
Mendelssohns, whose families have lived in Germany so long that
they have acquired some German national characteristics. But the
Germans are not willing to keep the Galician Jews, the Upstarts.
So a great show is put on, largely by German Jews themselves, in
the hope that Uncle Sam will prove himself to be as foolish as he
was before and that we will allow those Galician and Communistic
Jews to come in here. That is why Miss Perking has been placed
in charge of the Department of Labor. She is there to lower the
immigration bars. It is thought that, being a woman, she may
disarm criticism. She is and old hand with the international
Jewish bankers. If she were not, she would not be here in a
Jewish-controlled administration.
When the so-called "anti-Semitic campaign" designed for
American consumption was launched in Germany, France was alarmed
because she feared the Galician Jews might be dumped on French
soil. French newspapers published articles concerning the
menace, but now that France has been shown that the purpose of
the anti-Semitic campaign is to dump the 200,000 communistic Jews
on the United States she is worried no longer. "Ah", she says,
"1'Oncle Sam, he is to be the goat. Very good."
Mr. Speaker, I regard it as a pity that there are Americans
who love to fawn upon the money Jews and to flatter them. Some
of these unfortunates are under obligations to Jewish money
changers and dare not cross them....
You have witnessed the unlawful seizure by Franklin D.
Roosevelt of gold reserves and other values belonging to the
people of the United States, the destruction of banks, the
attempted whitewashing of the Federal Reserve Board and Federal
Reserve banks, the corruption of which he admitted in his
campaign harangues; and you may have noticed that what was
confiscated is not in the hands of the present constitutional
Government but in the hands of the international bankers who are
the nucleus of the new government Roosevelt is seeking to
establish here. Roosevelt's actions are not in accordance with
the Constitution of the United States. They are in accordance
with the plans of the Third International.
At one time Trotzky was a favorite with Jacob Schiff.
During the war Trotzky edited Novy Mir and conducted mass
meetings in New York. When he left the United States to return
to Russia, he is said upon good authority to have traveled on
Schiff's money and under Schiff's protection. He was captured by
the British at Halifax and immediately, on advice from a highly
placed personage, set free. Shortly after his arrival in Russia
he was informed that he had credit in Sweden at the Swedish
branch of the bank owned by Max Warburg, of Hamburg. This credit
helped to finance the seizure of the Russian revolution by the
international Jewish bankers. It assisted them in subverting it
to their own ends. At the present time the Soviet Union is in
debt.
From the date of Trotzky's return to Russia the course of
Russian history has, indeed, been greatly affected by the
operations of international bankers. They have acted through
German and English institutions and have kept Russia in bondage
to themselves. Their relatives in Germany have drawn immense
sums of money from the United States and have in turn financed
their agents in Russia at a handsome profit.
The Soviet Government has been given United States Treasury
funds by the Federal Reserve banks acting through the Chase Bank
and the Guaranty Trust Co. and other banks in New York City.
England, no less than Germany, has drown money from us through
the Federal Reserve banks and has re-lent it at high rates of
interest to the Soviet Government or has used it to finance her
sales to Soviet Russia and her engineering works within the
Russian boundaries. The Dnieperstroy Dam was built with funds
unlawfully taken from the United States Treasury by the corrupt
and dishonest Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve
banks....
Mr. Speaker, an immense amount of United States money has
been used abroad in preparations for war and in the acquisition
and the manufacture of war supplies. Germany is said to be part
owner of a large poison-gas factory at Troitsk on Russian soil.
China is almost completely Sovietized, and in the Asiatic
interior huge stocks of munitions are said to be stored awaiting
the day when the war lords of the United States will ship United
States troops to Asia. Mr. Speaker, the United States should
look before it leaps into another war, especially a war in Asia.
It should decide whether it is worth while to join hands with
Russia and China in a war against Japan. For myself, I say and I
have said it often that the United States should remember George
Washington's advice. It should mind its own business and stay
home. It should not permit the Jewish international bankers to
drive it into another war so that they and their Gentile fronts
and sycophants by way of Louis McHenry Howe, the graftmaster, may
reap rich profits on everything an army needs from toilet kits to
airplanes, submarined, tanks gas masks, poison gas, ammunition,
bayonets, guns, and other paraphernalia and instruments of
destruction.
Congressional Record, June 15, 1934
Congressman McFadden: "The Congress of the United States
must immediately throw the searchlight of investigation into this
dark corner, or we are going to be swamped with political
influences that are manufactured in foreign countries and that
will lead us to the surrender of our heritage of living, just as
has been done on former occasions. Just as we did, for example,
when we entered into the Jay Treaty with England, which was
ratified on June 24, 1795, whereby we needlessly surrendered our
right to the freedom of the seas. We fought the War of 1812 to
regain this right, but the same political influences prevented
even a discussion of this subject at the treaty which terminated
that war. President Wilson vowed to regain the freedom of the
seas at the Treaty of Versailles; but did we regain it? Is the
Jay Treaty still in force?"....
"I stand here and say to you that I have studied these
records, and not only did we adopt this monetary policy without
debate, not only did we adopt it without consideration but we
adopted it without even knowledge of what we were doing! It was
a piece of legislative trickery; it was a piece of work in the
committee that was silent and secretive. Even members of the
committee did not know what was being done, according to their
own declarations. The President and Members of the House did not
know they were acting on such a measure. But, as I have said
before, the shadow of the hand of England rests over this
enactment."
Congressional Record, January 8, 1934
Congressman Young: "Old Hickory was a great soldier. His
victory at New Orleans is one of the most remarkable battles in
history. The English army outnumbered Jackson's forces. The
American losses were 13. In half an hour the English had lost
2,600 men, including their commander, Sir Edward Pakenham, a
brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington."
Congressional Record, January 8, 1934
Congressman Fiesinger: "You will recall the gentleman spoke
about Professor Sprague, who was in the Treasury Department as
adviser to the Treasury after he came as adviser for the Bank of
England. He was also monetary adviser to the Economic Conference
in London.".....
Congressman Fiesinger: "I was just going to remark that very
thing, that the power to "coin and fix the value of money" is
solely within the power of the Congress of the United States and
it cannot be delegated to anybody else in the world."
Congressman McFadden: "Will the gentleman yield further?"
Congressman Fiesinger: " I do."
Congressman McFadden: "What does the gentleman say in regard
to the delegation of that power to the Federal Reserve
System?"....
Congressman Fiesinger: "I say it is illegal. I say it is
unconstitutional, as far as it affects the value of basic money.
Power to control credits may be in a different class."
Congressman McFadden: "The gentleman recognizes that that
was done, does he not?"
Congressman Fiesinger: "Well, I think I recognize that fact;
but it may be that Congress intended to delegate banking and
credit control and not the control of the basic money values."
Congressman McFadden: " The Federal Reserve System has the
power to issue Federal Reserve notes, which circulate as money?"
Congressman Fiesinger: "It has. Of course, they are
promises to pay. They are credits or I O U's of the bank."
Congressman McFadden: "And that power was delegated by
Congress in the Federal Reserve Act."
Congressman Fiesinger: "Yes, sir; with the intent to
regulate the volume of credit."
Congressman McFadden: "And is being pursued by them, which
gives the Federal Reserve System control over the money and
credit in the United States."....
Congressman Mott: "What does the gentleman say about the
delegation by Congress to the President to fix the value of
money, under the farm bill?"
Congressman Fiesinger: "I think it was illegal, and the
President did not want it. It was forced upon him. He never
asked to have the amendment attached to the farm bill. It was
forced upon him, and he is exercising the power because he was
forced to exercise it; a power that he never wanted, and I say it
is all illegal and unconstitutional."....
Congressman McFadden: "If the gentleman has been familiar
with the activities of Dr. Sprague over the history of the
Federal Reserve System, he well knows that Dr. Sprague has been
in all of the conferences, practically, between the Bank of
England, officers of the Federal Reserve bank in New York and
other central banks, which have had for their purpose the dealing
with national and international price levels. That was one of
the functions that he was exercising as expert adviser of the
Bank of England."
Congressman Fiesinger: " Now, I understand that Dr. Sprague
at the London conference was willing to peg the dollar to the
British pound at $3.50, and, if he had done that, the price
levels in America would have been in the control of the Bank of
England, and it would have been so low it would have wrecked our
national economy."
Congressman Lamneck: "Will the gentleman please insert at
this point what Dr. Sprague said about who should control the
price level?"
Congressman Fiesinger: "I may say-I did not expect to answer
that question, but Dr. Sprague, in a conference he had, stated he
believed that the value of gold should be controlled by the
British, because they were more competent, from banking
experience, so to do."
Congressional Record, January 8, 1934
Congressman McFadden: "Why should the United States be buying
gold and paying $35 and ounce for it? Why Should the United
States be making Great Britain a present of $14.33 and ounce on
the hundreds of millions of dollars of British gold that is being
shipped to the United States through this process be favoring
four London gold brokers? Why should the United States set a
price of $35 and pay Great Britain an increase of $14.33 on ever
ounce of gold? This is interesting when you consider that three
fourths of all the gold produced in the world is produced in the
British Empire. Did we do this because Great Britain demanded
it? Is it possible that this $14.33 profit to Great Britain on
every ounce of gold shipped into the United States is for
settlement of a debt that the United States owes to Great
Britain?
Congressional Record, February 20, 1934
Congressman McFadden: " I am quoting from the President's message
to Congress on this very measure. I quote: "That the title of all
gold be in the Government. The total stock will serve as a
permanent and fixed metallic reserve which will change in amount
only as far as necessary for the settlement of international
balances or as may be required by future agreement among nations
of the world for a redistribution of the world stock of monetary
gold."....
Congressman McFadden: "I say again what I have repeatedly said,
that there is a definite plan for the redistribution of the gold
of this country and of the world's gold. The plan has been known
ever since the establishment of the Bank for International
Settlements that through that medium, or one similar to it,
eventually the redistribution of gold would take place."
Congressional Record, January 20, 1934
Congressman McFadden: "The gentleman, of course, is aware of the
fact that the Council of the Federation of Churches of Christ is
an offshoot of the Carnegie Foundation which is operating in this
country as a British-propaganda organization, tied up with all of
the other subversive organizations which are trying to hold down
proper preparedness in the United States. [Applause]
Congressional Record, January 30, 1934
Congressman Weideman: "So the paramount issue of today is this:
Shall the Government of the United States be run for the benefit
of the international bankers or shall the citizens of the United
States be given the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness"? Shall we replace the Statue of Liberty with the
golden statue erected to the god of greed? Shall we forget that
the only time our Saviour used force was when he drove the money
changers from the temple? Let us reestablish the principle that
we all believe in: That all men are entitled to a right to work,
to own their own homes, to reap a just reward for their labors,
and to enjoy nature's sunshine as God intended. We owe it to our
children that we shall not depart and leave them in a condition
of bondage and slavery to organized greed and gold.".....
Congressman Lemke: "....This nation is bankrupt; every State
in this Union is bankrupt; the people of the United States, as a
whole, are bankrupt. The public and private debts of this
Nation, which are evidenced by bonds, mortgages, notes, or other
written instruments about to about $250,000,000,000, and it is
estimated that there is about $50,000,000,000 of which there is
no record, making in all about $300,000,000,000 of public and
private debts. The total physical cash value of all the property
in the United States is now estimated at about $70,000,000,000.
That is more than it would bring if sold at public auction. In
this we do not include debts or the evidence of debts, such as
bonds, mortgages, and so fourth. These are not physical
property. They will have to be paid out of the physical
property. How are we going to pay $300,000,000,000 with only
$70,000,000,000?" Congressional Record, March 3, 1934
Congressman McFadden: "In view of what the gentleman has
just said, recall that Theodore Roosevelt, the year that he
passed on, made a statement to the effect that Felix Frankfurter
is the most dangerous man in the United States to our form of
government."
Congressional Record, March 13, 1934
Congressman McFadden: "...It is right in line with the plan
which is now being worked out in England. I want to point out to
the House that there is a concerted movement not only in England
but in the United States. In the United States this movement is
in charge of certain men now engaged in writing legislation in
Department of Agriculture. I refer to Mr. Tugwell, Mr. Mordecai
Ezekiel, and Mr. Frank, and their immediate associates, some of
whom are in other departments and some of whom are outside; and I
may even go so far as to say that they are aided and abetted in
this matter apparently by the Secretary of Agriculture. Their
action in this matter is also assisted and aided through the
agency of the Foreign Policy Association of the United States,
which is directly connected with the Fabian Society, or a branch
of it, in England, which at the present time is attempting to
take over the control of agriculture and its operation in
England, as well as the industries therein located. I call your
especial attention to the recent article, America Must Choose, by
Secretary of Agriculture Wallace, a syndicated article put out
under the auspices of the Foreign Policy Association of New York
and copyrighted by them. This article is quite in keeping with
the plan of the British offspring of the Fabian group.
One of the stalwarts against the move in England is Stanley
Baldwin. Mr. Baldwin issued a statement which was printed in the
United States recently. It was a statement made over the radio,
and, if I have time, I will read it to you, because he is
standing today against the movement in England that I am speaking
against now, and that movement is evidenced by this legislation
and any other kind of legislation following, which have for their
purpose the regimenting of all production in the United States,
leading up to an absolute dictatorship.
The quotation I refer to from Mr. Baldwin is as follows:
"Our freedom did not drop down like manna from heaven. It has
been fought for from the beginning of our history and the blood
of men has been shed to obtain it. It is the result of centuries
of resistance to the power of the executive and it has brought us
equal justice, trial by jury, freedom of worship, and freedom of
religious and political opinion.
Democracy is far the most difficult form of government
because it requires for perfect functioning the participation of
everybody. Democracy wants constant guarding, and for us to turn
to a dictatorship would be and act of consummate cowardice, of
surrender, of confession that our strength and courage alike had
gone.
It is quite true the wheels of our state coach may be
creaking in heavy ground, but are you sure the wheels of the
coach are not creaking in Moscow, Berlin, and Vienna, and even in
the United States?
The whole tendency of a dictatorship is to squeeze out the
competent and independent man and create a hierarchy accustomed
to obeying. Chaos often results when the original dictator goes.
The rise of communism or fascism--both alike believe in
force as a means of establishing their dictatorship--would kill
everything that had been grown by our people for the last 800 or
1,000 years."
The plan in England to which I am referring is the
"political economic plan", drawn up by Israel Moses Schiff, the
director of a chain-store enterprise in England called Marks &
Spencer. This enterprise declared a dividend of 40 percent for
1933, and was enabled to do so by the fact that it has until now
handled almost exclusively all imports from Soviet Russia, which
has enabled this house to undersell competitors.....
The political economic plan is in operation in the British
Government by the means of a tariff advisory board. This
organization has gathered all data and statistics obtained by
governmental and private organization in administrative,
industrial, trade, social, educational, agricultural, and other
circles. Air-force statistics are in their hands, as well as
those of the law and medical professions. this organization or
group have had access to all archives of the British Government,
just as the "brain trust" here in the United States have had
access to archives of our Government departments.
Through the tariff advisory board, which was created in
February of 1933, and headed by Sir George May, the control of
industry and trade is being firmly established in the British
Empire. This tariff advisory board works in direct connection
with the Treasury, and together with it devises the tariff
policy.
In this bill and the tariff bill which follows it is
proposed to set up just such a board, under the direction of the
President, as the tariff advisory board of England.
The tariff board in England has been granted the powers of a
law court and can exact under oath that all information
concerning industry and trade be given it. Iron and steel, as
also cotton and industrials, in England have been ordered by the
tariff advisory board to prepare and submit plans for the
reorganization of their industries and warned that should they
fail to do so, a plan for complete reconstruction would be
imposed upon them. May I suggest to you the similarity of this
plan with the N.R.A., and also suggest to you that the tariff
advisory board in England has been granted default powers and
can, therefore, impose its plan.
The tariff board is composed, in addition to Sir George May,
of Sir Sidney Chapman, professor of economics and statistics, and
Sir George Allen Powell, of the British Food Board and Food
Council. And it is a well-known fact that this particular
political economic group has close connection with the Foreign
Policy Association in New York.
I wish to quote from a letter from a correspondent of mine
abroad, as follows:
"It appears that the alleged "brain trust" is supposed to greatly
influence the present United States policy. Neither you nor I
are particularly interested in what takes place in England, but
what should interest us both, it seems to me, is that there is a
strong possibility that certain members of the "brain trust"
around our President are undoubtedly in touch with this British
organization and possibly are working to introduce a similar plan
in the United States.
I understand the "brain trust" is largely composed of
Professor Frankfurter, Professor Moley, Professor Tugwell, Adolph
Berle, William C. Bullitt and the mysterious Mordecai Ezekiel. I
think there is no doubt that these men all belong to this
particular organization with distinct Bolshevik tendencies. So
it is quite possible that should this political economic plan be
developed in the United States, if this alleged "brain trust" has
really a serious influence over the judgement of our President,
this plan may be attempted in our country."
Need I point out to you, who have been observing the
activities of the so-called "brain trust" in the writing and
sending to the Congress of legislation, that this legislation has
for its purpose the virtual setting up in the United States of a
plan similar to that which is being worked out in England.
I am assured by serious people who are in a position to know
that this organization practically controls the British
Government, and it is the opinion of those who do know that this
highly organized and well-financed movement is intended to
practically Sovietize the English-speaking race.
I wish to quote again from my correspondent, as follows:
Some 2 months ago when Lsrael Moses Sieff, the present head of
this organization, was urged to show more activity by the members
of his committee, he said, "Let us go slowly for a while and wait
until we see how our plan carries out in America.""
Congressional Record, March 15, 1934
Congressman Patman: "....A Federal Reserve bank has a great
privilege. It has the right to issue a blanket mortgage on all
the property of all the people of this country. It is called a
Federal Reserve note. For that privilege section 16 of the act
provides that when the Government prints a Federal Reserve note
and guarantees to pay that note and delivers it to a Federal
Reserve bank, that Federal Reserve bank shall pay--it seems to be
mandatory--the rate of interest that is set by the Federal
Reserve Board. The law has never been put into effect. The
Federal Reserve Board sets the zero rate. Instead of charging an
interest rate which the law says they shall charge, they set no
rate at all.
Therefore, for the use of this great Government credit,
these blanket mortgages that are issued against all the property
of all the people of this Nation and against the incomes of all
the people of this Nation, they do not pay one penny. Not one
penny of the stack of the Federal Reserve banks is owned by the
Government or the people, but it is owned by private banks
exclusively. They do not pay one penny for the use of that great
privilege, to the people or to the Government." Congressional
Record, April 9, 1934
Congressman McFadden: "....Whereas the lobbying activities of the
said British Ambassador, Sir Ronald lindsay, carried on in the
halls of the Capitol, at the British Embassy, in the houses of
citizens of the United States, in the offices of predatory
international bankers, on shipboard, on the trains, and
elsewhere, have for their purpose the taking from the United
States Treasury of assets which it is the sworn duty of this
Government to protect by every means within its power, not
stopping short of war, if need be; and whereas the said Linday's
lobbying activities likewise have for their purpose the defeat of
measures enacted into law by the Government of the United States
to insure the repayment of moneys advanced to Great Britain on
her written promise to repay them; and whereas the lobbying
activities of Sir Ronald Lindsay likewise have for their object
the overthrow of the Government of the United States and its
reorganization as a part of the British Empire:....
Congressional Record, June 14, 1934
THE UNITED STATES IS STILL A BRITISH COLONY PART 3
Will the real government please stand up!
9/05/97
After writing British Colony parts 1&2 I was amazed how some
people react, when confronted with information that goes against
their prior programming. It is as if to even consider the
possibility that their belief system may be incorrect, was a
threat to their mental well being. They were going to deny any
truth that threatens their belief structure. The good news is
those with such a reaction were of the minority. This is
promising, because it shows Americans can still think past years
of incomplete teaching, concerning our history. Those in the
negative believe the information had to be bogus and they could
not believe the government could wrong them.
So this third part is for them, to show them that government
has and does lie to them and violates their trust on major
issues. As always this information and supporting documents, are
given so the reader can form their own opinion. Other writers, I
will mention one since he uses a pen name, the Informer, has also
done extensive research on this subject and has been forced to
come to the same conclusions. (Check out the latest work of the
Informer, his new book called, THE NEW HISTORY OF AMERICA.)
The information the Informer and I have found is so clear
and undeniable, even the doubting thomas' will have to face
reality. Not to make us right, but for America to become aware
of lost history, that neither of us formed, but are willing to be
criticized in its reporting to correct great error.
Guide to the Footnotes:
1. Quotes on the fraudulent ramification of the 14th. Amendment.
2. Tulane Law Review vol. 28 1953, The Dubious Origin Of The
Fourteenth Amendment, by Walter J. Suthon, Jr.
3. Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867.
4. Reconstruction Act of March 11, 1868.
5. Reconstruction Act of March 23, 1867.
6. Reconstruction Act of July 19, 1867.
7. President Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty & Reconstruction.
8. Veto message by President Johnson, March 2, 1867.
9. Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, April 24 1863.
10.Court cases on Conquest and Military Occupation.
11.Letter I wrote to a local sheriff, August 27, 1995.
12.New Jersey's removal of their ratification of the 14th
Amendment.
13.Expose the fraud the only available remedy, example.
14.Addendum
I will begin with the touch stone of the patriot community,
the Fourteenth Amendment. Everyone knows about the citizenship
issue. I raised another issue concerning the 4th section of the
Fourteenth Amendment in British Colony part 1, and issues
regarding sec. 3, in court documents found in Footnote 13.
Doubting thomas' think this is a conspiracy theory. In the new
propaganda movie called "Conspiracy Theory", the establishment
wants you to think that anyone that believes there is someone
behind the scenes calling the shots is mentally unbalanced. What
the doubting thomas' do not realize, is this is a big puzzle and
is hard to recognize, and can be incorrectly viewed. The biggest
problem is, it can be put together more than one way, totally
changing its appearance and outcome. The doubting thomas' may
say how is it you think you have the correct pieces? My answer
is, I shoot a lot of archery, in archery you shoot for the
bullseye, not the less important areas outside the bullseye. You
have to stay focused on what are the core issues, not the side
issues/collateral issues, where valuable time is lost. I conduct
my research in this way. Two, I rely on God Almighty to keep me
pointed in the right direction. Three, I always tell you not to
take my word without checking the subject out for yourself. Most
people if plagued with a recurring headache, take a pain
reliever, and the headache appears to go away. When in fact all
you have done is deal with a symptom, that caused the headache.
You have not dealt with the cause. Many patriots today are
dealing with the symptoms, like taxes, driving v. traveling and
the zipcode, etc. etc. All are important issues and have their
place, but they are not the root cause of our problem. Until the
cause of the affliction is researched, exposed and then removed,
nothing will change.
The lawful de jure united States government which was
created by the 1787 Constitution/Treaty, between the States, was
made null and void by the fraudulent Congress, that passed the
Fourteenth Amendment. This is a bold and broad statement, but I
will prove it.
"When, therefore, Texas became one of the United States, she
entered into an indissoluble relation. All the obligations of
perpetual union, and all the guarantees of republican government
in the Union, attached at once to the State. The act which
consummated her admission into the Union was something more than
a compact; it was the incorporation of a new member into the
political body. And it was final. The union between Texas and the
other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble
as the union between the original States. There was no place for
reconsideration, or revocation, except through revolution, or
through consent of the States." Dyett v. Turner 439 p2d 266 @
269, 20 U2d 403
"Considered therefore as transactions under the
Constitution, the ordinance of secession, adopted by the
convention and ratified by a majority of the citizens of Texas,
and all the acts of her legislature intended to give effect to
that ordinance, were absolutely null. They were utterly without
operation in law. The obligations of the State, as a member of
the Union, and of every citizen of the State, as a citizen of the
United States, remained perfect and unimpaired. It certainly
follows that the State did not cease to be a State, nor her
citizens to be citizens of the Union. If this were otherwise,
the State must have become foreign, and her citizens foreigners.
The war must have ceased to be a war for the suppression of
rebellion, and must have become a war for conquest of
subjugation." Dyett v. Turner 439 p2d 266 @ 269, 20 U2d 403
The Southern States could not lawfully cede from the Union
without the other States being in agreement. In the last
sentence you will notice the war was either a rebellion or, the
States were made foreign and conquest and military rule took
place during the Civil War. This is very important, because of
what took place next, and what took place after the Civil War and
March 9, 1933. March 2, 1867, President Johnson declared the
rebellion to be over and the Southern States to be once again
part of the Union, before the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment
were passed. So the States were not foreign, they did not have
to be readmitted, they picked up in Congress where they left off,
with the same State governments they had before the rebellion.
If the Southern States had ceded from the Union, without sanction
by all the States, their Legislative Acts would have been null
and void. In other words if a State or the federal government
violates their corporate Charter, it makes any subsequent law
void, unenforceable, other than by force of arms.
The following information should upset you greatly and at
the same time amaze you, that Americans are totally unaware of
this information. How is it in the freest country in the world,
and a nation that prides itself on our history, could you have
200 plus million people ignorant of the truth, and that care so
little about the destruction of our country? The information I
am sharing with you is purposely not taught in the public
schools. Why? It will become clear to you that, if the
government taught this in the public schools, it would cause the
rebirth of American patriotism. Americans would demand our
former overthrown Republican form of government; and that the
Laws of God Almighty be adhered to. We were promised in the
Constitution a Republican form of government, and Benjamin
Franklin when asked, said: you have been given a Republican form
of government if you can keep it,(paraphrase). By the laziness
and greed of the American people over the years our lawful
government was stolen, but not without our help.
The Civil War was fought to free the slaves and reunite the
Union, or so we have been told by selected history, taught by and
through the government. The slaves just changed masters, as I
have said before in other research papers, and the white people
enfranchised, incorporated, and sold themselves into slavery.
Whites along with blacks were made legal fictions so they could
be owned and taxed by the king. However, the only way this could
be done is by destroying the Constitution, but they had to do it
in a way that no one would recognize its destruction, or care
thanks to the offered benefits. Now the Proof.
December 8, 1863 President Lincoln declared by proclamation,
amnesty and reconstruction for the southerners so they could be
readmitted into the Union. Footnote #7 This action along with
what Lincoln was doing with the money is why Lincoln had to be
killed. The South could not be allowed back into the Union
without their enfranchisement. Compare the readmittance oath in
President Lincoln's proclamation of 1863, to the following oath
requirement required by Congress, under the Reconstruction Acts,
Footnotes #3,4,5 and 6.
"An Act to provide for the more efficient government of the
rebel States, passed March second, eighteen hundred and
sixty-seven, shall cause a registration to be made of the male
citizens of the United States, twenty-one years of age and
upwards, resident in each county or parish in the State or States
included in his district, which registration shall include only
those persons who are qualified to vote for delegates by the act
aforesaid, and who shall have taken and subscribed the following
oath or affirmation: "I, _____, do solemnly swear, (or affirm,)
in the presence of Almighty God, that I am a citizen of the State
of _____; that I have resided in said State for _____ months next
preceding this day, and now reside in the county of _____, or the
parish of _____, in said State, (as the case may be;) that I am
twenty-one years old; that I have not been disfranchised for
participation in any rebellion or civil war against the United
States, nor for felony committed against the laws of any State or
of the United States; that I have never been a member of any
State legislature, nor held any executive or judicial office in
any State and afterwards engaged in insurrection or rebellion
against the United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies
thereof; that I have never taken an oath as a member of Congress
of the United States, or as an officer of the United States, or
as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or
judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the
United States, and afterwards engaged in insurrection or
rebellion against the United States or given aid or comfort to
the enemies thereof; that I will faithfully support the
Constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and will, to
the best of my ability, encourage others so to do, so help me
God;" which oath or affirmation may be administered by any
registering officer." Reconstruction Act of March 23, 1867,
supplement to Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867.
You will note that in the above oath Congress creates legal
residence for anyone taking the oath and that this is done by
registering to vote, and made a requirement in order to vote.
The same legal disability still takes place today when you
register to vote. Today you still have voting districts in every
county in the America.
You will also notice that, the oath makes you declare that
you were not disenfranchised, by taking part in the Civil War.
Which means that, before the Civil War Americans were franchised
citizens, incorporated. I covered this in part 1; by the States
adoption of the Constitution, those that lived in the States
became legal residents, incorporated/enfranchised, instead of Sui
Juris freemen. Which was granted to them by the Declaration of
Independence, and in North Carolina, for North Carolinians this
was reaffirmed by the 1776 North Carolina Constitution, see
British Colony part 2.
Also, you will see in the following oaths where the language
came from, for the creation of Section 3 of the Fourteenth
Amendment, this language was also used in the 14th Amendment oath
you just read. Wherein it declares that, elected officials,
judges, legislators and police etc., cannot give aid and comfort
to the enemy. The enemy is anyone unincorporated, because the
king cannot legally tax you, without using the force of
admiralty. The enemy is also anyone that refuses to swear the
oath to the de facto government for the above reasons.
The following is the oath given to those that wanted to
serve in the United States government.
An act to prescribe an oath of office. July 2, 1862
"Be it enacted, That hereafter every person elected or
appointed to any office of honor or profit under the Government
of the United States either in the civil, military, or naval
departments of the public service, excepting the President of the
United States, shall, before entering upon the duties of such
office, and before being entitled to any of the salary or other
emoluments thereof, take and subscribe the following oath or
affirmation: "I, A B, do solemnly swear (or affirm), that I have
never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I
have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no
aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in
armed hostility thereto; that I have never sought nor accepted
nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever,
under any authority or pretended authority, in hostility to the
United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any
pretended government, authority, power, or constitution within
the United States, hostile or inimical thereto; and I do further
swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability,
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States,
against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear
true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this
obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of
evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties
of the office on which I am about to enter; so help me God;"
which said oath, so taken and signed, shall be preserved among
the files of the Court, House of Congress, or Department to which
the said office may appertain. And any person who shall falsely
take the said oath shall be guilty of perjury, and on conviction,
in addition to the penalties now prescribed for that offense,
shall be deprived of his office, and rendered incapable forever
after, of holding any office or place under the United States."
When the war was over President Johnson declared the States
readmitted to the Union and hostilities to be over.
Furthermore; on April 2, 1866, President Andrew Johnson issued
a "Proclamation" that:
"The insurrection which heretofore existed in the States of
Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee,
Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Florida is at an
end, and is henceforth to be so regarded."
Presidential Proclamation No. 153,
General Records of the United States,
G.S.A. National Archives and Records Service.
On August 20, 1866 (14 Stat. 814); the President proclaimed
that the insurrection in the State of Texas had been completely
ended and his "Proclamation"continued:
"The insurrection which heretofore existed in the State of
Texas is at an end, and is to be henceforth so regarded in that
State, as in the other States before named in which the said
insurrection was proclaimed to be at an end by the aforesaid
proclamation of the second day of April, one thousand, eight
hundred and sixty-six.
"And I do further proclaim that the said insurrection is at
an end, and that peace, order, tranquility, and civil authority
now exist, in and throughout the whole of the united States of
America."
Again the power behind the United States government would
not stand for this, so Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts,
Footnotes #3,4,5 and 6. President Johnson vetoed the Acts
because they were unconstitutional. Below are some excerpts from
his veto message.
"It is plain that the authority here given to the military
officer amounts to absolute despotism. But to make it still more
unendurable, the bill provides that it may be delegated to as
many subordinates as he chooses to appoint, for it declares that
he shall 'punish or cause to be punished'. Such a power has not
been wielded by any Monarch in England for more than five hundred
years. In all that time no people who speak the English language
have borne such servitude. It reduces the whole population of
the ten States- all persons, of every color, sex and condition,
and every stranger within their limits- to the most abject and
degrading slavery. No master ever had a control so absolute over
the slaves as this bill gives to the military officers over both
white and colored persons...."
"I come now to a question which is, if possible, still more
important. Have we the power to establish and carry into
execution a measure like this? I answer, 'Certainly not', if we
derive our authority from the Constitution and if we are bound by
the limitations which is imposes."....
"...The Constitution also forbids the arrest of the citizen
without judicial warrant, founded on probable cause. This bill
authorizes an arrest without warrant, at pleasure of a military
commander. The Constitution declares that 'no person shall be
held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless
on presentment of a grand jury'. This bill holds ever person not
a soldier answerable for all crimes and all charges without any
presentment. The Constitution declares that 'no person shall be
deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of
law'. This bill sets aside all process of law, and makes the
citizen answerable in his person and property to the will of one
man, and as to his life to the will of two. Finally, the
Constitution declares that 'the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus shall not be suspended unless when, in case of rebellion
or invasion, the public safety may require it'; whereas this bill
declares martial law (which of itself suspends this great writ)
in time of peace, and authorizes the military to make the arrest,
and gives to the prisoner only one privilege, and that is trial
'without unnecessary delay'. He has no hope of release from
custody, except the hope, such as it is, of release by acquittal
before a military commission."
"The United States are bound to guarantee to each State a
republican form of government. Can it be pretended that this
obligation is not palpably broken if we carry out a measure like
this, which wipes away every vestige of republican government in
ten States and puts the life, property, and honor of all people
in each of them under domination of a single person clothed with
unlimited authority?"
"....,here is a bill of attainder against 9,000,000 people
at once. It is based upon an accusation so vague as to be
scarcely intelligible and found to be true upon no credible
evidence. Not one of the 9,000,000 was heard in his own defense.
The representatives of the doomed parties were excluded from all
participation in the trial. The conviction is to be followed by
the most ignominious punishment ever inflicted on large messes of
men. It disfranchises them by hundreds of thousands and degrades
them all, even those who are admitted to be guiltless, from the
rank of freeman to the condition of slaves."
Veto Message of President Johnson, March 2, 1867, Footnote #8
President Johnson did not realize the king ruled and that in
1845 Congress declared admiralty law to have come on land, nor
did he realize the relevance of the Insular Cases. I cover these
in "A Country Defeated In Victory" part 1 and in Footnote 11.
Once the judiciary decided to look the other way, the De jure
Constitution's days were numbered.
"As a result of these decisions, enforcement of the
Reconstruction Act against the Southern States, helpless to
resist military rule without aid of the judiciary, went forward
unhampered. Puppet governments were founded in these various
States under military auspices. Through these means the adoption
of new state constitutions, conforming to the requirements of
Congress, was accomplished. Likewise, one by one, these puppet
state governments ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, which their
more independent predecessors had rejected. Finally, in July
1868, the ratifications of this amendment by the puppet
governments of seven of the ten Southern States, including
Louisiana, gave more than the required ratification by three-
fourths of the States, and resulted in a Joint Resolution adopted
by Congress and a Proclamation by the Secretary of State, both
declaring the Amendment ratified and in force." Tulane Law
Review, The Dubious Origin Of The Fourteenth Amendment. page 36
To regress just a moment, after the war, after the States
rejoined the Union, the representatives of the South took their
seats in Congress. Later the Thirteenth Amendment was passed in
Congress by the Northern States and the Southern States. By the
1787 Constitution they were considered equal contracting partners
of the Union. The powers controlling the government had to
replace their republican form of government that had existed in
the Southern States since they adopted the 1787 Constitution.
"Despite the fact that the southern States had been
functioning peacefully for two years and had been counted to
secure ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment , Congress
passed the Reconstruction Act, which provided for the military
occupation of 10 of the 11 southern States. It excluded Tennessee
from military occupation and one must suspect it was because
Tennessee had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment on July 7, 1866.
The Act further disfranchised practically all white voters
and provided that no Senator or Congressman from the occupied
States could be seated in Congress until a new Constitution
was adopted by each State which would be approved by Congress.
The Act further provided that each of the 10 States was required
to ratify the proposed Fourteenth Amendment and the Fourteenth
Amendment must become a part of the Constitution of the United
States before the military occupancy would cease and the States
be allowed to have seats in Congress." Dyett v. Turner 439 p2d
266 @ 269, 20 U2d 403
The way they chose to do it was pass the Fourteenth
Amendment. However, the Northern States that put the amendment
up in Congress figured the Southern States would ratify. Wrong,
the amendment fell short of passing the House and the Senate.
The action taken next by the Northern States will go down in
history as the most unlawful act ever taken by any government in
the world. Since the amendment would not pass lawfully, the
Northern States decided to rip the 1787 Constitution up and take
over the government. How did they do this? They told the
Southern States that refused to vote for the amendment they no
longer were members of Congress, denying lawful States suffrage
in the Union. In order to get the amendment through Congress the
Northern Senators also removed a seated Senator from New Jersey
to give them two-thirds in the Senate, and counted 30 abstention
votes in the House as yes votes to pass the Fourteenth Amendment
in the House. See Footnote #12
Observing how 'a renegade group of men from the Northern
States', MY NOTE in quotes, actual text in brackets (Congress)
had taken the Constitution into its own hands and was proceeding
in willful disregard of the Constitution, on the 15th of January,
1868- Ohio, and then on March 24, 1868- New Jersey, voted to
withdraw their prior ratifications and to reject.
The following, is an excerpt from Joint Resolution No.1 of
the State of New Jersey of March 24, 1868, when they rescinded
their prior ratification and rejected:
"It being necessary, by the Constitution, that every
amendment to the same, should be proposed by two thirds of both
Houses of Congress, the authors of said proposition, for the
purpose of securing the assent of the requisite majority,
determined to, and did, exclude from the said two Houses eighty
representatives form eleven States of the Union, upon the
pretence that there were no such States in the Union; but,
finding that two-thirds of the remainder of said Houses could not
be brought to assent to the said proposition, they deliberately
formed and carried out the design of mutilating the integrity of
the United States Senate, and without any pretext or
justification, other than the possession of power, without the
right and in palpable violation of the Constitution, ejected a
member of their own body, representing this State, and thus
practically denied to New Jersey its equal suffrage in the Senate
and thereby nominally secured the vote of two-thirds of the said
Houses."
"The object of dismembering the highest representative
assembly in the Nation, and humiliating a State of the Union,
faithful at all times to all of its obligations, and the object
of said amendment were one- to place new and unheard of powers in
the hands of a faction, that it might absorb to itself all
executive, judicial and legislative power, necessary to secure to
itself immunity for the unconstitutional acts it had already
committed, and those it has since inflicted on a too patient
people."
"The subsequent usurpation of these once national
assemblies, in passing pretended laws for the establishment, in
ten States, of martial law, which is nothing but the will of the
military commander, and therefore inconsistent with the very
nature of all law, for the purpose reducing to slavery men of
their own race to those States, or compelling them, contrary to
their own convictions, to exercise the elective franchise in
obedience to dictation of a fraction in those assemblies; the
attempt to commit to one man arbitrary and uncontrolled power,
which they have found necessary to exercise to force the people
of those States into compliance with their will; the authority
given to the Secretary of War to use the name of the President,
to countermand its President's order, and to certify military
orders to be by the direction of the President' when they are
notoriously known to be contrary to the President's direction,
thus keeping up the forms of the Constitution to which the people
are accustomed, but practically deposing the President from his
office of Commander-in-Chief, and suppressing one of the great
departments of the Government, that of the executive; the attempt
to withdraw from the supreme judicial tribunal of the Nation the
jurisdiction to examine and decide upon the conformity of their
pretended laws to the Constitution, which was the Chief function
of that August tribunal, as organized by the fathers of the
republic: all are but amplified explanations of the power they
hope to acquire by the adoption of the said amendment."
"To conceal from the people the immense alteration of the
fundamental law they intended to accomplish by the said
amendment, they gilded the same with propositions of justice..."
"It imposes new prohibitions upon the power of the State to
pass laws, and interdicts the execution of such part of the
common law as the national judiciary may esteem inconsistent with
the vague provisions of the said amendment; made vague for the
purpose of facilitating encroachment upon the lives, liberties
and property of the people."
"It enlarges the judicial power of the United States so as
to bring every law passed by the State, and every principle of
the common law relating to life, liberty, or property, within the
jurisdiction of the Federal tribunals, and charges those
tribunals with duties, to the due performance of which they, from
their nature and organization, and their distance from the
people, are unequal."
"It makes a new apportionment of representatives in the
National courts, for no other reason than thereby to secure to a
faction a sufficient number of votes of a servile and ignorant
race to outweigh the intelligent voices of their own."
"This Legislature, feeling conscious of the support of the
largest majority of the people that has ever been given
expression to the public will, declare that the said proposed
amendment being designed to confer, or to compel the States to
confer, the sovereign right of elective franchise upon a race
which has never given the slightest evidence, at any time, or in
any quarter of the globe, of its capacity of self-government, and
erect an impracticable standard of suffrage, which will render
the right valueless to any portion of the people was intended to
overthrow the system of self-government under which the people of
the United States have for eighty years enjoyed their liberties,
and is unfit, from its origin, its object and its matter, to be
incorporated with the fundamental law of a free people."
(The 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and
the threat that it poses to our democratic government, Pinckney
G. McElwee, South Carolina Law Quarterly 1959)
Did the political outrage of all history stop there? No!
In order to ratify the amendment in the States, Congress declared
war on the Southern States by passing the Reconstruction Acts.
Declaring the Southern States had unlawful State governments.
They placed the States under martial law, creating military
districts which still exist today. Is not the Fourteenth
Amendment still in existence today? Nothing has changed. They
replaced the lawful State governments with puppet governments, so
the Fourteenth Amendment would be ratified by the required 3/4 of
the States and would not readmit any State until ratification of
the amendment was complete. The illusion is since you vote for
your officials, "we can't be under military occupation". The
privilege to vote would end if your State tried to remove the
Fourteenth Amendment.
Back to President Johnson's veto, the unlawful Congress then
over road his veto. Now picture this, you have a lawful
President who vetoed the unconstitutional Reconstruction Acts,
passed by a de facto Congress. Then the unlawful Congress
overrides his veto since they have a Republican majority in the
Congress after denying the representation to the Democratic
Southern States. This Congress under the 1787 Constitution had
no lawful authority to conduct business under the 1787 Charter
much less destroy the office of the President. What do you call
this? It was a political take over, a coup d'etat.
The Fourteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress to the
States for adoption, through the enactment by Congress of Public
Resolution No. 48, adopted by the Senate on June 8, 1866 and by
the House of Representatives on June 13, 1866. That Congress
deliberately submitted this amendment proposal to the then
existing legislatures of the several States is shown by the
initial paragraph of the resolution." Tulane Law Review, The
Dubious Origin Of The Fourteenth Amendment. page 28
1. Texas rejected the 14th Amendment on October 27, 1866
(House Journal 1866, pp. 578-584 - Senate Journal 1866, p.
471.).
2. Georgia rejected the 14th Amendment on November 9, 1866
(House Journal 1866, p 68 - Senate Journal 1866, p. 8.).
3. Florida rejected the 14th Amendment on December 6, 1866
(House Journal 1866, p 76 - Senate Journal 1866, p. 8.).
4. Alabama rejected the 14th Amendment on December 7, 1866
(House Journal 1866. p. 210-213 - Senate Journal 1866, p.
183.).
5. North Carolina rejected the 14th Amendment on December 14,
1866 (House Journal 1866 - 1867. p. 183 - Senate Journal
1866-67, p. 138.).
6. Arkansas rejected the 14th Amendment on December 17, 1866
(House Journal 1866, pp. 288-291 - Senate Journal 1866, p.
262.).
7. South Carolina rejected the 14th Amendment on December 20,
1866 (House Journal 1866, p. 284 - Senate Journal 1866, p.
230.).
8. Kentucky rejected the 14th Amendment on January 8, 1867
(House Journal 1867, p. 60 - Senate Journal 1867, p. 62.).
9. Virginia rejected the 14th Amendment on January 9, 1867
(House Journal 1866-67, p. 108 - Senate Journal 1866-67, p.
101.).
10. Louisiana rejected the 14th Amendment on February 9, 1867
("Joint Resolution" as recorded on page 9 of the "Acts of
the General Assembly," Second Session, January 28, 1867)
(McPherson, "Reconstruction," p. 194; "Annual Encyclopedia,"
p. 452.).
11. Delaware rejected the 14th Amendment on February 7, 1867
(House Journal 1867, p. 223 - Senate Journal 1867, p. 808.).
12. Maryland rejected the 14th Amendment on March 23, 1867
(House Journal 1867, p. 1141 - Senate Journal 1867, p.
808.).
13. Mississippi rejected the 14th Amendment on January 31, 1867
(McPherson, "Reconstruction," p. 194.).
14. Ohio rejected the 14th Amendment on January 15, 1868
(House Journal 1868, pp. 44-50 - Senate Journal 1868, pp.
33-38.).
15. New Jersey rejected the 14th Amendment on March 24, 1868
("Minutes of the Assembly" 1868, p. 743 - Senate Journal
1868, p. 356.).
16. California rejected the 14th Amendment on March 3rd, 1868
("Journal of the Assembly" 1867-8, p. 601).
17. Oregon rejected the 14th Amendment by the Senate on October
6, 1868 and by the House on October 15, 1868 proclaiming the
Legislature that ratified the Amendment to have been a
"defacto" Legislature (U.S. House of Representatives, 40th
Congress, 3rd session, Mis. Doc. No 12).
Did the military occupation ever come to an end? No! Did
the military presence leave the streets? Yes. Technically do
you have to have a military presence visible in the streets, for
military occupation and martial law to exist? No! Can the
military/Commander-in-Chief/Congress, transfer this power to the
civil authorities? Yes. Read the following cases, and Lincoln's
General order 100, Footnote #9
"But there is another description of government, called also
by publicists a government de facto, but which might, perhaps, be
more aptly denominated a government of paramount force. Its
distinguishing characteristics are (1) that its existence is
maintained by active military power within the territories, and
against the rightful authority of an established and lawful
government; and (2) that while it exists it must necessarily be
[229 U.S. 416, 429] obeyed in civil matters by private citizens
who, by acts of obedience rendered in submission to such force,
do not become responsible, as wrongdoers, for those acts, though
not warranted by the laws of the rightful government. Actual
governments of this sort are established over districts differing
greatly in extent and conditions. They are usually administered
directly by military authority, but they may be administered,
also, by civil authority, supported more or less directly by
military force." Thornington v. Smith, 8 Wall. 1, 9, 19 L. ed.
361, 363. Macleod v. U.S, 229 U.S. 416 1913
"While it is held to be the right of a conqueror to levy
contributions upon the enemy in their seaports, towns, or
provinces which may be in his military possession by conquest,
and to apply the proceeds to defray the expenses of the war, this
right is to be exercised within such limitations that it may not
savor of confiscation. As the result of military occupation, the
taxes and duties payable by the inhabitants to the former
government become payable to the military occupant, unless he
sees fit to substitute for them other rates or modes of
contributions to the expenses of the government. The moneys so
collected are to be used for the purpose of paying the expenses
of government under the military occupation, such as the salaries
of the judges and the police, and for the payment of the expenses
of the army." Macleod v. U.S, 229 U.S. 416 1913
To also prove that military occupation still exists, ask
yourself this. Is the Fourteenth Amendment, which was ratified
under duress, military occupation; and written and passed by a de
facto Congress still in existence? Yes! If a State would today
remove the Fourteenth Amendment and the statutory laws this
amendment created from their State laws, do you think the federal
government would send in the military again? Of course it would.
So did the military occupation end? I hope by now you know the
answer to that.
Have you never wondered why the government sends your tax
dollars all over the world via the IMF and the World Bank etc.
etc., with Americans paying the bill, without ever putting this
up for a vote? Read the following quote.
"In New Orleans v. New York Mail S. S. Co. 20 Wall. 387,
393, 22 L. ed. 354, it was said, with respect to the powers of
the military government over the city of New Orleans after its
conquest, that it had 'the same power and rights in territory
held by conquest as if the territory had belonged to a foreign
country and had been subjugated in a foreign war. In such cases
the conquering power has the right to displace the pre-existing
authority, and to assume to such extent as it may deem proper the
exercise by itself of all the powers and functions of government.
It may appoint all the necessary officers and clothe them with
designated powers, larger or smaller, according to its pleasure.
It may prescribe the revenues to be paid, and apply them to its
own use or otherwise. It may do anything necessary to strengthen
itself and weaken the enemy. There is no limit to the powers that
may be exerted in such cases, save those which are found in the
laws and usages of war." Dooley v. U.S., 182 U.S. 222 1901
To drive home the relevance of British Colony part 1&2 and
what I just said above about taxes, read and understand the below
quotes from the Declaration of Rights, September 5, 1774. Maybe
it will sink in, we are taxed by Britain and we have not only
asked for it but, demanded the benefits supplied by the king,
past and present.
GO FIGURE????
"Resolved, 4. That the foundation of English liberty, and of all
free government, is a right in the people to participate in their
legislative council: and as the English colonists are not
represented, and from their local and other circumstances, can
not properly be represented in the British Parliament, they are
entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their
several provincial legislatures, where their right of
representation can alone be preserved, in all cases of taxation
and internal polity, subject only to the negative of their
sovereign, in such manner as has been heretofore used and
accustomed. But, from the necessity of the case, and a regard to
the mutual interest of both countries, WE CHEERFULLY CONSENT TO
THE OPERATION OF SUCH ACTS OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT, as are BONA
FIDE, restrained to the regulation of our external commerce,
for the PURPOSE OF SECURING THE COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF THE
WHOLE EMPIRE TO THE MOTHER COUNTRY, and the COMMERCIAL BENEFITS
OF ITS RESPECTIVE MEMBERS; excluding every idea of taxation,
internal or ETERNAL, for raising a revenue on the SUBJECTS IN
AMERICA, without their consent." Declaration of Rights, from
September 5, 1774 (The forefathers wanted the commercial benefits
without paying the taxes that go hand in hand, it does not work
that way Patriots.)
"Resolved, 7. That these, His Majesty's colonies, are likewise
entitled to all the IMMUNITIES AND PRIVILEGES GRANTED and
confirmed to them by ROYAL CHARTERS, or secured by their several
codes of provincial laws." Declaration of Rights, from September
5, 1774
As further proof, are not all States divided into military
Districts? At first glance you may not think so. However, look
at your District Courts, in your State. They are the enforcement
arm of the admiralty law/kings law and legislation passed on a
daily basis. As I said before the voting Districts are also left
over from the Reconstruction Acts. In every court room a
military flag is flown, a war flag not the Title 4, flag of
peace. Are you not required to obtain a license from the de
facto government for every aspect of commerce, and the use of
their military script/fiat money? Americans are taxed and
controlled in the following ways, to name a few:
1. Social Security number - license to work.
2. Drivers license - permission to conduct commerce and travel on
the military roads.
3. Occupational license - permission to perform a God given
right.
4. State and local privilege license - license to work in the
State, county or city.
5. Marriage license - permission for a right granted by God
Almighty.
6. Hunting and Fishing license - government taxing property of
God Almighty, etc.etc.etc.
Every license or permit is a use tax and is financial
slavery, you are controlled in every aspect of your life. All
licenses came about after the Fourteenth Amendment and the
military occupation, which we are now under. The reason all
this has taken place in America is, to colonize the world for
Britain. The United States has been the enforcement arm/cannon
fodder for Britain since the Civil War.
"The decisions wherein grounds were found for avoiding a
ruling on the constitutionality of the Reconstruction Act leave
the impression that our highest tribunal failed in these cases to
measure up to the standard of the judiciary in a constitutional
democracy. If the Reconstruction Act was unconstitutional, the
people oppressed by it were entitled to protection by the
judiciary against such unconstitutional oppression." Tulane Law
Review, The Dubious Origin Of The Fourteenth Amendment. page 34
"The adversary or the skeptic might assert that, after a
lapse of more than eighty years, it is too late to question the
constitutionality or validity of the coerced ratifications of the
Fourteenth Amendment even on substantial and serious grounds.
The ready answer is that there is no statute of limitations that
will cure a gross violation of the amendment procedure laid down
by Article V of the Constitution." Tulane Law Review, The Dubious
Origin Of The Fourteenth Amendment. page 43
If you want to read more about the military occupation and
the War Powers Act, read Footnote #11. This issue concerning the
Constitution has to be understood by the Patriots, before you can
help others see the illusion. We Patriots need to be able to
tell others how we arrived in this condition. But, this will
never happen as long as we defend a dead treaty, and expect a
lawful remedy from a de facto government.
Is it any wonder why Americans look at us like were nuts.
We defy a de facto government and take its benefits. We curse
its judges and praise a de facto Constitution that, denies the
judges the ability to give remedy to the enemy. We praise the
legal document that gave Congress the power to declare us as
enemies and curse the Congress for their action. Wake up
Patriots! How do you expect Americans to listen to the truth,
when we are so easily made to look like fools by the government
propaganda machine, and we make it easy for them. We tell the
American people the sky is falling, but never give them a
remedy, other than keeping the same damn document that enslaved
us. We do not tell the American people that there was life
before the Civil War Occupation and the Fourteenth Amendment
unlawful Constitution, so fear of the unknown will keep them from
wanting to learn. The only remedy I see, except for God
Almighty's Judgement, is to expose the fraud. See Footnote 13.
Until you accept the truth about the Constitution you will
not be able to understand the information in British Colony part
1&2. I will end this research paper in this way. Someone asked
me, "are you not afraid to be killed by the government"? I told
them what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendnego said:
"If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from
the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine
hand, O king, But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we
will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou
hast set up." Daniel 3:17-18
Mark Twain: "You see, my kind of loyalty was loyalty to
one's country, not to institutions or its officeholders. The
country is the real thing; it is the thing to watch over and care
for and be loyal to; institutions extraneous, they are its mere
clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be
comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and
death. To be loyal to rags, to shout for rags, to worship rags,
to die for rags--that is a loyalty of unreason; it is pure
animal; it belongs to monarchy; was invented by monarchy; let
monarchy keep it. I was from Connecticut, whose constitution
declared "That all political power is inherent in the people, and
all free governments are founded on their authority and
instituted for their benefit, and that they have at all times an
undeniable and indefensible right to alter their form of
government in such a manner as they think expedient." Under that
gospel, the citizen who thinks that the Commonwealth's political
clothes are worn out and yet holds his peace and does not agitate
for a new suit, is disloyal; he is a traitor. That he may be the
only one who thinks he sees this decay does not excuse him; it is
his duty to agitate, anyway, and it is the duty of others to vote
him down if they do not see the matter as he does."
FOOTNOTES
Footnote #1
The North Carolina Legislature protested [by "Resolution" of
December 6, 1866] as follows:
"The Federal Constitution declare, in substance, that
Congress shall consist of a House of Representatives, composed of
members apportioned among the respective States in the ratio of
their population, and of a Senate, composed of two members from
each State. And IN THE ARTICLE WHICH CONCERNS AMENDMENTS, IT IS
EXPRESSLY PROVIDED THAT `NO STATE, WITHOUT ITS CONSENT, SHALL BE
DEPRIVED OF ITS EQUAL SUFFRAGE IN THE SENATE.' THE CONTEMPLATED
AMENDMENT WAS NOT PROPOSED TO THE STATES BY A CONGRESS THUS
CONSTITUTED. At the time of its adoption, the eleven seceding
States were deprived of representation both in the Senate and
House, although they all, except the State of Texas, had Senators
and Representatives duly elected and claiming their privileges
under the Constitution. In consequence of this, these States had
no voice on the important question of proposing the Amendment.
HAD THEY BEEN ALLOWED TO GIVE THEIR VOTES, THE PROPOSITION WOULD
DOUBTLESS HAVE FAILED TO COMMAND THE REQUIRED TWO-THIRDS
MAJORITY...."
"If the votes of these States are necessary to a valid
ratification of the Amendment, they were equally necessary on the
question of proposing it to the States; for it would be
difficult, in the opinion of the Committee, to show by what
process in logic, men of intelligence would arrive at a different
conclusion." North Carolina Senate Journal, 1866-67, pp. 92 and
93.
"By spurious, non-representative governments; seven of the
southern States, (which had theretofore rejected the proposed
Amendment under the duress of military occupation and of being
denied representation in Congress), did attempt to ratify the
proposed Fourteenth Amendment. The Secretary of ;State, (of July
20, 1868), issued his proclamation wherein he stated that it was
his duty under the law to cause Amendments to be published and
certified as a part of the Constitution when he received official
notice that they had been adopted pursuant to the Constitution.
Thereafter his certificate contained the following language:"
"And whereas neither the Act just quoted from, nor any other
law, expressly or by conclusive implication., authorizes the
Secretary of State to determine and decide doubtful questions as
to the authenticity of the organization of State legislatures, or
as to the power of any State legislature to recall a previous
act or resolution of ratification of any amendment proposed to
the Constitution;"
"And whereas it appears from official documents on file in
this Department that the amendment to the Constitution of the
United States, proposed as aforesaid, has been ratified by the
legislatures of the States of [naming 23, including New Jersey,
Ohio, and Oregon];"
"And whereas it further appears from documents on file in
this Department that the amendment to the Constitution of the
United States, proposed as aforesaid, has also been ratified by
newly constituted and newly established bodies avowing themselves
to be and acting as the legislatures, respectively, of the States
of Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, South Carolina,
and Alabama;"
"And whereas it further appears from official documents on
file in this Department that the legislatures of two of the
States first above enumerated, to wit, Ohio and New Jersey, have
since passed resolutions respectively withdrawing the consent of
each of said States to the aforesaid amendment; and whereas it is
deemed a matter of doubt and uncertainty whether such resolutions
are not irregular, invalid, and therefore ineffectual for
withdrawing the consent of the said two States, or of either of
them, to the aforesaid amendment;"
"And whereas the whole number of States in the United States
is thirty-seven, to wit: [naming them];"
"And whereas the twenty-three States first hereinbefore
named, whose legislatures have ratified the said proposed
amendment, and the six States next there after named, as having
ratified the said proposed amendment by newly constituted and
established legislative bodies, together constitute three fourths
of the whole number of States in the United States;"
"Now, therefore, be it known that I, WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State of the United States, by virtue and in
pursuant of the second section of the act of Congress, approved
the twentieth of April, eighteen hundred and eighteen,
hereinbefore cited, do hereby certify that if the resolutions of
the legislatures of Ohio and New Jersey ratifying the aforesaid
amendment are to be deemed as remaining of full force and effect,
notwithstanding the subsequent resolutions of the legislatures of
those States, which purport to withdraw the consent of said
States from such ratification, then the aforesaid amendment had
been ratified in the manner hereinbefore mentioned, and so has
become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the
Constitution of the United States." *** (15 Stat. 707 (1868))"
Dyett v. Turner 439 p2d 266 @ 269, 20 U2d 403
"Congress was not satisfied with the proclamation as issued
and on the next day passed a Concurrent Resolution wherein it was
resolved:"
"That said Fourteenth Article is hereby declared to be a
part of the Constitution of the United States, and it shall be
duly promulgated as such by the Secretary of State."
"Resolution set forth in proclamation of Secretary of State,
(15 Stat. 709 [1868])."
See also U.S.C.G., Amends. 1 to 5, Constitution, p. 11
"Thereupon; William H. Seaward, the Secretary of State
(after setting forth the Concurrent Resolution of both Houses of
Congress) then certified that the Amendment:"
"Has become valid to all intents and purposes as a part of
the Constitution of the United States." (15 Stat. 708 [1868])"
Dyett v. Turner 439 p2d 266 @ 269, 20 U2d 403
"The Constitution of the United States is silent as to who
should decide whether a proposed Amendment has or has not been
passed according to formal provisions of Article V of the
Constitution. The Supreme Court of the United States is the
ultimate authority on the meaning of the Constitution and has
never hesitated in a proper case to declare an Act of Congress
unconstitutional except when the Act purported to amend the
Constitution." Dyett v. Turner 439 p2d 266 @ 269, 20 U2d 403
"In the case of Laser v. Garnet 258 U.S. 130, 42 SECT. 217,
66 LED. 505, the question was before the Supreme Court as to
whether or not the Nineteenth Amendment had been ratified
pursuant to the Constitution. In the last paragraph of the
decision the Supreme Court said:"
"As the legislatures of Tennessee and of West Virginia had
power to adopt the resolutions of ratification, official notice
to the Secretary, duly authenticated, that they had done so, was
conclusive upon him, and, being certified to by his proclamation,
is conclusive upon the courts." Dyett v. Turner 439 p2d 266 @
269, 20 U2d 403
"The duty of the Secretary of State was ministerial, to wit,
to count and determine when three fourths of the States had
ratified the proposed Amendment. He could not determine that a
State, once having rejected a proposed Amendment, could
thereafter approve it; nor could he determine that a State, once
having ratified that proposal, could thereafter reject it. The
Supreme Court, and not Congress, should determine whether the
Amendment process be final or would not be final, whether the
first vote was for ratification or rejection." Dyett v. Turner
439 p2d 266 @ 269, 20 U2d 403
"In order to have 27 States ratify the Fourteenth Amendment,
it was necessary to count those States which had first rejected
and then under the duress of military occupation had ratified,
and then also to count those States which initially ratified but
subsequently rejected the proposal." Dyett v. Turner 439 p2d 266
@ 269, 20 U2d 403
"To leave such dishonest counting to a fractional part of
Congress is dangerous in the extreme. What is to prevent any
political party having control of both Houses of Congress from
refusing to seat the opposition and then passing a Joint
Resolution to the effect that the Constitution is amended and
that it is the duty of the Administrator of the General Services
Administration to proclaim the adoption?"
"Would the Supreme Court of the United States still say the
problem was political and refuse to determine whether
constitutional standards had been met?" Dyett v. Turner 439 p2d
266 @ 269, 20 U2d 403
Footnote #2
Tulane Law Review vol. 28 1953, The Dubious Origin Of The
Fourteenth Amendment, by Walter J. Suthon, Jr.
"How remote was this Hamiltonian concept from the events of
1867 and 1888, when a "rump" Congress arrogated to itself the
power to force ratification of a rejected amendment, coercing
ratifications by several of the rejecting States." page 26
"This submission was by a two-thirds vote of the quorum
present in each House of Congress, and in that sense it complied
with Article V of the Constitution. However, the submission was
by a "rump" Congress. Using the constitutional provision that
"Each House shall be the judge of the Elections, Returns and
Qualifications of its own Members..." each House had excluded all
persons appearing with credentials as Senators or Representatives
from the ten Southern States of Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Arkansas and Texas. This exclusion, through the exercise of an
unreviewable constitutional prerogative, constituted a gross
violation of the essence of two other constitutional provisions,
both intended to protect the rights of the States to
representation in Congress." page 28
"Had these ten Southern States not been summarily denied
their constitutional rights of representation in Congress,
through the ruthless use of the power of each House to pass on
the election and qualifications of its members, this amendment
proposal would doubtless have died a-borning. It obviously would
have been impossible to secure a two-thirds vote for the
submission of the proposed Fourteenth Amendment, particularly in
the Senate, if the excluded members had been permitted to enter
and to vote. Of course, that was one of the motives and reasons
for this policy of ruthless exclusion." page 28
"Assuming the validity of the submission of this amendment
by a two-thirds vote of this "rump" Congress, there is no
gainsaying the obvious proposition that whatever "contemplation"
or "understanding" this "rump" Congress may have had, as to the
intent, or the scope, or the effect, or the consequences of the
amendment being submitted, was necessarily a "rump" contemplation
or understanding. The ten Southern States, whose Senators and
Representatives were all excluded from the deliberations of the
"rump" Congress, could have had no possible part in the
development or formation of any "contemplation" or
"understanding" of what the consequences and effects of the
proposed amendment were to be." page 29
"This created a situation which made impossible the
ratification of the Amendment unless some of these rejections
were reversed. With thirty-seven States in all, ten rejections
were sufficient to prevent the adoption of the amendment
proposal. The thirteen rejections, by the ten Southern States
and three border States, were more than sufficient to block
ratification even if all other States finally ratified." page 30
"This is the only action ever taken on the Fourteenth
Amendment by a Louisiana Legislature exercising free and
unfettered and uncoerced judgement and discretion as between
ratification or rejection of the amendment proposal. The
subsequent purported ratification of this Amendment in Louisiana
was by a legislature of a puppet government, created by the
radical majority of Congress to do the bidding of its master, and
compelled to ratify this Amendment by the Federal Statute which
had brought this puppet government into existence for this
specific purpose." page 30
"It is most interesting to read the proceedings of the
Louisiana House of Representatives on February 6, 1867, whereby
that body adopted the Joint Resolution ordaining the refusal of
Louisiana to ratify the proposed Fourteenth Amendment--the Joint
Resolution which became Act 4 of 1867. This Journal shows, by
the roll call, that one hundred members voted out of a total
House membership of one hundred and ten--and that the unanimous
vote was one hundred against ratification and not in favor of it.
This was the last opportunity for a free and uncoerced expression
of views on this amendment proposal by duly elected
representatives of the people of Louisiana." page 31
"The Act dealt with these Southern States, referred to as
"rebel States" in its various provisions. It opened with a
recital that "no legal State government" existed in these States.
It placed these States under military rule. Louisiana and Texas
were grouped together as the Fifth Military District, and placed
under the domination of an army officer appointed by the
President. All civilian authorities were placed under the
dominant authority of the military government." page 31
"The most extreme and amazing feature of the Act was the
requirement that each excluded State must ratify the Fourteenth
Amendment, in order to again enjoy the status and rights of a
State, including representation in Congress. Section 3 of the
Act sets fourth this compulsive coercion thus imposed upon the
Southern States." page 32
"Senator Doolittle of Wisconsin, a Northerner and a
Conservative Republican. During the floor debate on the bill, he
said:
"My friend has said what has been said all around me, what
is said every day: the people of the South have rejected the
constitutional amendment, and therefore we will march upon them
and force them to adopt it at the point of the bayonet, and
establish military power over them until they do adopt it." page
32
"President Johnson vetoed the Reconstruction Act in an able
message, stressing its harsh injustices and its many aspects of
obvious unconstitutionality. He justifiably denounced it as "a
bill of attainder against nine million people at once." page 33
"Notwithstanding this able message, the Act was promptly
passed over his veto by the required two-thirds majority in each
House. Military rule took over in the ten Southern States to
initiate the process of conditioning a subjugated people to an
ultimate acceptance of the Fourteenth Amendment." page 33
"Whatever justification for other portions of the
Reconstruction Act may or may not be found in this constitutional
provision, there could clearly be no sort of a relationship
between a guarantee to a State of "a republican form of
government" and an abrogation of the basic and constitutional
right of a State, in its legislative discretion, to make its own
choice between ratification or rejection of a constitutional
amendment proposal submitted to the state legislatures by the
Congress of the United States. To deny to a State the exercise
of this free choice between ratification and rejection, and to
put the harshest sort of coercive pressure upon a State to compel
ratification, was clearly a gross infraction--not and
effectuation--of the constitutional guarantee of "a republican
form of government." page 37
Madison said in Federalist No. 43:
"....the authority extends no further than to a guaranty of a
republican form government, which supposes a preexisting
government of the form which is to be guaranteed. As long,
therefore, as the existing republican forms are continued by the
States, they are guaranteed by the federal Constitution.
Whenever the States may choose to substitute other republican
forms, they have a right to do so, and to claim the federal
guaranty for the latter. The only restriction imposed on them is
, that they shall not exchange republican for anti-republican
Constitutions; a restriction which, it is presumed, will hardly
be considered as a grievance." page 38
"The enactment of the legislature of the puppet government
of Louisiana which ratified the Fourteenth Amendment is embodied
in Act 2 of 1868. The legislative journals of that session
reflect the presence and dominance of the military, all as
provided for and contemplated by the Reconstruction Act." page 39
"The House Journal shows that on June 29, 1868, Colonel
Batchelder opened the session by calling the roll and reading an
extract form the order of General Grant. The Senate Journal for
the same date shows the reading of instructions from General
Grant to the Commanding Officer of the Fifth Military District
emphasizing the supremacy of the power of the military over the
provisional civilian government. It was under these auspices
that the coerced ratifications of the Fourteenth Amendment in
Louisiana was accomplished." page 40
"Also worth of note in this connection ins the holding in
1895 that the levying of an income tax by the Federal Government,
without apportioning the tax among the States as a direct tax,
violated the taxing-power provisions of the Constitution of the
United States--although, thirty years prior to this judicial
vindication of what the majority of the Court deemed to be
fundamental and true Constitutional provisions, the Federal
Government had levied and collected income taxes for several
years on a large scale, and had financed a major war of vital
consequences to a very considerable extent out of revenues so
obtained." page 44
Footnote #3
Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867
RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS
>From Twenty Years of Congress: From Lincoln to Garfield.
With a review of the events which led to the political revolution
of 1860, by James G. Blaine. Vol. II, pp. 681-682.
An Act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel
states.
"Whereas no legal State governments or adequate protection
for life or property now exist in the rebel States of Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama,
Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas; and whereas it is
necessary that peace and good order should be enforced in said
States until loyal and republican State governments can be
legally established: Therefore."
"Be it enacted, That said rebel States shall be divided
into military districts and made subject to the military
authority of the United States, as hereinafter prescribed, and
for that purpose Virginia shall constitute the first district;
North Carolina and South Carolina the second district; Georgia,
Alabama, and Florida the third district; Mississippi and Arkansas
the fourth district; and Louisiana and Texas the fifth district."
Sec. 2. "That it shall be the duty of the President to assign to
the command of each of said districts an officer of the army, not
below the rank of brigadier-general, and to detail a sufficient
military force to enable such officer to perform his duties and
enforce his authority within the district to which he is
assigned."
Sec. 3. "That it shall be the duty of each officer assigned as
aforesaid to protect all persons in their rights of person and
property, to suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence, and
to punish, or cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public
peace and criminals, and to this end he may allow local civil
tribunals to take jurisdiction of and to try offenders, or, when
in his judgment it may be necessary for the trial of offenders,
he shall have power to organize military commissions or tribunals
for that purpose; and all interference under color of State
authority with the exercise of military authority under this act
shall be null and void."
Sec. 4. "That all persons put under military arrest by virtue of
this act shall be tried without unnecessary delay, and no cruel
or unusual punishment shall be inflicted; and no sentence of any
military commission or tribunal hereby authorized, affecting the
life or liberty of any person, shall be executed until it is
approved by the officer in command of the district, and the laws
and regulations for the government of the army shall not be
affected by this act, except in so far as they conflict with its
provisions:
"Provided, That no sentence of death under the provisions of
this act shall be carried into effect without the approval of the
President."
Sec. 5."That when the people of any one of said rebel States
shall have formed a constitution of government in conformity with
the Constitution of the United States in all respects, framed by
a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of said
State twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever race, color,
or previous condition, who have been resident in said State for
one year previous to the day of such election, except such as may
be disfranchised for participation in the rebellion, or for
felony at common law, and when such constitution shall provide
that the elective franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons
as have the qualifications herein stated for electors of
delegates, and when such constitution shall be ratified by a
majority of the persons voting on the question of ratification
who are qualified as electors for delegates, and when such
constitution shall have been submitted to Congress for
examination and approval, and Congress shall have approved the
same, and when said State, by a vote of its legislature elected
under said constitution, shall have adopted the amendment to the
Constitution of the United States, proposed by the Thirty-Ninth
Congress, and known as a targe."
"After Ten Amend article fourteen, and when said article
shall have become a part of the Constitution of the United
States, said State shall be declared entitled to representation
in Congress, and Senators and Representatives shall be admitted
therefrom on their taking the oaths prescribed by law, and then
and thereafter the preceding sections of this act shall be
inoperative in said State:
"Provided, That no person excluded from the privilege of
holding office by said proposed amendment to the Constitution of
the United States shall be eligible to election as a member of
the convention to frame a constitution for any of said rebel
States, nor shall any such person vote for members of such
convention."
Sec. 6."That until the people of said rebel states shall be by
law admitted to representation in the Congress of the United
States, any civil governments which may exist therein shall be
deemed provisional only, and in all respects subject to the
paramount authority of the United States at any time to abolish,
modify, control, or supersede the same; and in all elections to
any office under such provisional governments all persons shall
be entitled to vote, and none others, who are entitled to vote
under the provisions of the fifth section of this act; and no
person shall be eligible to any office under any such provisional
governments who would be disqualified from holding office under
the provisions of the third article of said constitutional
amendment."
Footnote #4
Reconstruction Act of March 11, 1868
AMENDATORY RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF MARCH 11, 1868
>From Twenty Years of Congress: From Lincoln to Garfield.
With a review of the events which led to the political revolution
of 1860, by James G. Blaine. Vol. II, p. 687.
"An Act to amend the act passed March 23, 1867, entitled An
Act supplementary to 'An act to provide for the more efficient
government of the rebel states,' passed March 2, 1867, and to
facilitate their restoration."
"Be it enacted, That hereafter any election authorized by
the act passed March 23, 1867, entitled "An Act supplementary to
'An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel
states,' passed March 2, 1867, and to facilitate their
restoration," shall be decided by a majority of the votes
actually cast; and at the election in which the question of the
adoption or rejection of any constitution is submitted, any
person duly registered in the State may vote in the election
district where he offers to vote when he has resided therein for
ten days next preceding such election, upon presentation of his
certificate of registration, his affidavit, or other satisfactory
evidence, under such regulations as the district commanders may
prescribe."
Sec. 2. "That the constitutional convention of any of the States
mentioned in the acts to which this is amendatory may provide
that at the time of voting upon the ratification of the
constitution, the registered voters may vote also for members of
the House of Representatives of the United States, and for all
elective officers provided for by the said constitution; and the
same election officers, who shall make the returns of the votes
cast on the ratification or rejection of the constitution, shall
enumerate and certify the votes cast for members of Congress."
Footnote #5
Reconstruction Act of March 23, 1867
SUPPLEMENTARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF FORTIETH CONGRESS.
>From Twenty Years of Congress: From Lincoln to Garfield.
With a review of the events which led to the political revolution
of 1860, by James G. Blaine. Vol. II, pp. 682-685.
An Act supplementary to an act entitled
An act to provide for the more efficient government of the
rebel states, passed March second, eighteen hundred and
sixty-seven, and to facilitate restoration.
"Be it enacted, That before the first day of September,
eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, the commanding general in each
district defined by an act entitled."
"An Act to provide for the more efficient government of the
rebel States, passed March second, eighteen hundred and
sixty-seven, shall cause a registration to be made of the male
citizens of the United States, twenty-one years of age and
upwards, resident in each county or parish in the State or States
included in his district, which registration shall include only
those persons who are qualified to vote for delegates by the act
aforesaid, and who shall have taken and subscribed the following
oath or affirmation: "I, _____, do solemnly swear, (or affirm,)
in the presence of Almighty God, that I am a citizen of the State
of _____; that I have resided in said State for _____ months next
preceding this day, and now reside in the county of _____, or the
parish of _____, in said State, (as the case may be;) that I am
twenty-one years old; that I have not been disfranchised for
participation in any rebellion or civil war against the United
States, nor for felony committed against the laws of any State or
of the United States; that I have never been a member of any
State legislature, nor held any executive or judicial office in
any State and afterwards engaged in insurrection or rebellion
against the United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies
thereof; that I have never taken an oath as a member of Congress
of the United States, or as an officer of the United States, or
as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or
judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the
United States, and afterwards engaged in insurrection or
rebellion against the United States or given aid or comfort to
the enemies thereof; that I will faithfully support the
Constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and will, to
the best of my ability, encourage others so to do, so help me
God;" which oath or affirmation may be administered by any
registering officer."
Sec. 2. "That after the completion of the registration hereby
provided for in any State, at such time and places therein as the
commanding general shall appoint and direct, of which at least
thirty days' public notice shall be given, an election shall be
held of delegates to a convention for the purpose of establishing
a constitution and civil government for such state loyal to the
Union, said convention in each State, except Virginia, to consist
of the same number of members as the most numerous branch of the
State legislature of such State in the year eighteen hundred and
sixty, to be apportioned among the several districts, counties,
or parishes of such State by the commanding general, giving to
each representation in the ratio of voters registered as
aforesaid, as nearly as may be. The convention in Virginia shall
consist of the same number of members as represented the
territory now constituting Virginia in the most numerous branch
of the legislature of said State in the year eighteen hundred and
sixty, to be apportioned as aforesaid."
Sec. 3. "That at said election the registered voters of each
State shall vote for or against a convention to form a
constitution therefor under this act. Those voting in favor of
such a convention shall have written or printed on the ballots by
which they vote for delegates, as aforesaid, the words "For a
convention," and those voting against such a convention shall
have written or printed on such ballots the words "Against a
convention." The person appointed to superintend said election,
and to make return of the votes given thereat, as herein
provided, shall count and make return of the votes given for and
against a convention; and the commanding general to whom the same
shall have been returned shall ascertain and declare the total
vote in each State for and against a convention. If a majority of
the votes given on that question shall be for a convention, then
such convention shall be held as hereinafter provided; but if a
majority of said votes shall be against a convention, then no
such convention shall be held under this act:
"Provided, That such convention shall not be held unless a
majority of all such registered voters shall have voted on the
question of holding such convention."
Sec. 4. "That the commanding general of each district shall
appoint as many boards of registration as may be necessary,
consisting of three loyal officers or persons, to make and
complete the registration, superintend the election, and make
return to him of the votes, lists of voters, and of the persons
elected as delegates by a plurality of the votes cast at said
election; and upon receiving said returns he shall open the same,
ascertain the persons elected as delegates according to the
returns of the officers who conducted said election, and make
proclamation thereof; and if a majority of the votes given
on that question shall be for a convention, the commanding
general, within sixty days from the date of election, shall
notify the delegates to assemble in convention, at a time and
place to be mentioned in the notification, and said convention,
when organized, shall proceed to frame a constitution and civil
government according to the provisions of this act and the act to
which is it supplementary; and when the same shall have been so
framed, said constitution shall be submitted by the convention
for ratification to the persons registered under the provisions
of this act at an election to be conducted by the officers or
persons appointed or to be appointed by the commanding general,
as hereinbefore provided, and to be held after the expiration of
thirty days from the date of notice thereof, to be given by said
convention; and the returns thereof shall be made to the
commanding general of the district."
Sec. 5. "That if, according to said returns, the constitution
shall be ratified by a majority of the votes of the registered
electors qualified as herein specified, cast at said election,
(at least one half of all the registered voters voting upon the
question of such ratification,) the president of the convention
shall transmit a copy of the same, duly certified, to the
President of the United States, who shall forthwith transmit the
same to Congress, if then in session, and if not in session,
then immediately upon its next assembling; and if it shall,
moreover, appear to Congress that the election was one at which
all the registered and qualified electors in the State had an
opportunity to vote freely and without restraint, fear, or the
influence of fraud, and if the Congress shall be satisfied that
such constitution meets the approval of a majority of all the
qualified electors in the State, and if the said constitution
shall be declared by Congress to be in conformity with the
provisions of the act to which this is supplementary, and the
other provisions of said act shall have been complied with, and
the said constitution shall be approved by Congress, the State
shall be declared entitled to representation, and Senators and
Representatives shall be admitted therefrom as therein provided."
Sec. 6. "That all elections in the States mentioned in the said
"Act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel
States," shall, during the operation of said act, be by ballot;
and all officers making the said registration of voters and
conducting said elections shall, before entering upon the
discharge of their duties, take and subscribe the oath prescribed
by the oath 1862 act approved July second, eighteen hundred and
sixty-two, entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of office:"
"Provided, That if any person shall knowingly and falsely
take and subscribe any oath in this act prescribed, such person
so offending and being thereof duly convicted, shall be subject
to the pains, penalties, and disabilities which by law are
provided for the punishment of the crime of wilful and corrupt
perjury."
Sec. 7. "That all expenses incurred by the several commanding
generals, or by virtue of any orders issued, or appointments
made, by them, under or by virtue of this act, shall be paid out
of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated."
Sec. 8. "That the convention for each State shall prescribe the
fees, salary, and compensation to be paid to all delegates and
other officers and agents herein authorized or necessary to carry
into effect the purposes of this act not herein otherwise
provided for, and shall provide for the levy and collection of
such taxes on the property in such State as may be necessary to
pay the same."
Sec. 9. "That the word article, in the sixth section of the act
to which this is supplementary, shall be construed to mean
section."
Footnote #6
Reconstruction Act of July 19, 1867
SUPPLEMENTARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF JULY 19, 1867.
>From Twenty Years of Congress: From Lincoln to Garfield.
With a review of the events which led to the political revolution
of 1860, by James G. Blaine. Vol. II, pp. 685-687.
"An Act supplementary to an act entitled An Act to provide
for the more efficient government of the rebel states, passed on
the second day of March, 1867, and the act supplementary
thereto, passed on the 23d day of March, 1867."
"Be it enacted, That it is hereby declared to have been the
true intent and meaning of the act of the 2d day of March, 1867,
entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient government of
the rebel States," and of the act supplementary thereto, passed
on the 23d day of March, 1867, that the governments then existing
in the rebel States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and
Arkansas, were not legal State governments; and that thereafter
said governments, if continued, were to be continued subject in
all respects to the military commanders of the respective
districts, and to the paramount authority of Congress."
Sec. 2."That the commander of any district named in said act
shall have power, subject to the disapproval of the General of
the army of the United States, and to have effect till
disapproved, whenever in the opinion of such commander the proper
administration of said act shall require it, to suspend or remove
from office, or from the performance of official duties and the
exercise of official powers, any officer or person holding or
exercising, or professing to hold or exercise, any civil or
military office or duty in such district under any power,
election, appointment, or authority derived from, or granted by,
or claimed under, any so-called State or the government thereof,
or any municipal or other division thereof; and upon such
suspension or removal such commander, subject to the disapproval
of the General as aforesaid, shall have power to provide from
time to time for the performance of the said duties of such
officer or person so suspended or removed, by the detail of some
competent officer or soldier of the army, or by the appointment
of some other person to perform the same, and to fill vacancies
occasioned by death, resignation, or otherwise."
Sec. 3. "That the General of the army of the United States shall
be invested with all the powers of suspension, removal,
appointment, and detail granted in the preceding section to
district commanders."
Sec. 4. "That the acts of the officers of the army already done
in removing in said districts persons exercising the functions of
civil officers, and appointing others in their stead, are hereby
confirmed: Provided, That any person heretofore or hereafter
appointed by any district commander to exercise the functions of
any civil office, may be removed either by the military officer
in command of the district, or by the General of the army. And it
shall be the duty of such commander to remove from office, as
aforesaid, all persons who are disloyal to the Government of the
United States, or who use their official influence in any manner
to hinder, delay, prevent, or obstruct the due and proper
administration of this act and the acts to which it is
supplementary."
Sec. 5."That the boards of registration provided for in the act
entitled "An act supplementary to an act entitled 'An act to
provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States,'
passed March 2, 1867, and to facilitate restoration," passed
March 23, 1867, shall have power, and it shall be their duty,
before allowing the registration of any person, to ascertain,
upon such facts or information as they can obtain, whether such
person is entitled to be registered under said act, and the oath
required by said act shall not be conclusive on such question,
and no person shall be registered unless such board shall decide
that he is entitled thereto; and such board shall also have power
to examine, under oath, (to be administered by any member of such
board,) any one touching the qualification of any person claiming
registration; but in every case of refusal by the board to
register an applicant, and in every case of striking his name
from the list as hereinafter provided, the board shall make a
note or memorandum, which shall be returned with the registration
list to the commanding general of the district, setting forth the
grounds of such refusal or such striking from the list:
"Provided, That no person shall be disqualified as member of
any board of registration by reason of race or color."
Sec. 6. "That the true intent and meaning of the oath prescribed
in said supplementary act is, (among other things,) that no
person who has been a member of the Legislature of any State, or
who has held any executive or judicial office in any State,
whether he has taken an oath to support the Constitution of the
United States or not, and whether he was holding such office at
the commencement of the rebellion, or had held it before, and who
has afterwards engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the
United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof, is
entitled to be registered or to vote; and the words "executive or
judicial office in any State" in said oath mentioned shall be
construed to include all civil offices created by law for the
administration of any general law of a State, or for the
administration of justice."
sec. 7. "That the time for completing the original registration
provided for in said act may, in the discretion of the commander
of any district, be extended to the 1st day of October, 1867; and
the boards of registration shall have power, and it shall be
their duty, commencing fourteen days prior to any election under
said act, and upon reasonable public notice of the time and place
thereof, to revise, for a period of five days, the registration
lists, and, upon being satisfied that any person not entitled
thereto has been registered, to strike the name of such person
from the list, and such person shall not be allowed to vote. And
such board shall also, during the same period, add to such
registry the names of all persons who at that time possess the
qualifications required by said act who have not been already
registered; and no person shall, at any time, be entitled to be
registered or to vote, by reason of any executive pardon or
amnesty, for any act or thing which, without such pardon or
amnesty, would disqualify him from registration or voting."
Sec. 8. "That section four of said last-named act shall be
construed to authorize the commanding general named therein,
whenever he shall deem it needful, to remove any member of a
board of registration and to appoint another in his stead, and to
fill any vacancy in such board."
Sec. 9. "That all members of said boards of registration, and all
persons hereafter elected or appointed to office in said military
districts, under any so-called State or municipal authority, or
by detail or appointment of the district commanders, shall be
required to take and to subscribe the oath of office prescribed
by law for officers of the United States. I am not sure that
this is the oath intended here."
Sec. 10. "That no district commander or member of the board of
registration, or any of the officers or appointees acting under
them, shall be bound in his action by any opinion of any civil
officer of the United States."
Sec. 11. "That all the provisions of this act and of the acts to
which this is supplementary shall be construed liberally, to the
end that all the intents thereof may be fully and perfectly
carried out."
Footnote #7
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A PROCLAMATION.
"Whereas, in and by the Constitution of the United States,
it is provided that the President "shall have power to grant
reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States,
except in cases of impeachment;" and
"Whereas a rebellion now exists whereby the loyal State
governments of several States have for a long time been
subverted, and many persons have committed and are now guilty of
treason against the United States; and Whereas, with reference to
said rebellion and treason, laws have been enacted by Congress
declaring forfeitures and confiscation of property and liberation
of slaves, all upon terms and conditions therein stated, and also
declaring that the President was thereby authorized at any time
thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have
participated in the existing rebellion, in any State or part
thereof, pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions and at such
times and on such conditions as he may deem expedient for the
public welfare;" and
"Whereas the congressional declaration for limited and
conditional pardon accords with well-established judicial
exposition of the pardoning power;" and
"Whereas, with reference to said rebellion, the President of
the United States has issued several proclamations, with
provisions in regard to the liberation of slaves; and
Whereas it is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in
said rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States,
and to reinaugurate loyal State governments within and for their
respective States; therefore,"
"I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do
proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have,
directly or by implication, participated in the existing
rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is
hereby granted to them and each of them, with restoration of all
rights of property, except as to slaves, and in property cases
where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon the
condition that every such person shall take and subscribe an
oath, and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath inviolate;
and which oath shall be registered for permanent preservation,
and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit:"
"I, --------, do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God,
that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States, and the union of the States
thereunder; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and
faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the
existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far
as not repealed, modified or held void by Congress, or by
decision of the Supreme Court; and that I will, in like manner,
abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the
President made during the existing rebellion having reference to
slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void by
decision of the Supreme Court. So help me God."
"The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing
provisions are all who are, or shall have been, civil or
diplomatic officers or agents of the so-called confederate
government; all who have left judicial stations under the United
States to aid the rebellion; all who are, or shall have been,
military or naval officers of said so-called confederate
government above the rank of colonel in the army, or of
lieutenant in the navy; all who left seats in the United States
Congress to aid the rebellion; all who resigned commissions in
the army or navy of the United States, and afterwards aided the
rebellion; and all who have engaged in any way in treating
colored persons or white persons, in charge of such, otherwise
than lawfully as prisoners of war, and which persons may have
been found in the United States service, as soldiers, seamen, or
in any other capacity."
"And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known, that
whenever, in any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South
Carolina, and North Carolina, a number of persons, not less than
one-tenth in number of the votes cast in such State at the
Presidential election of the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and sixty, each having taken the oath aforesaid and not
having since violated it, and being a qualified voter by the
election law of the State existing immediately before the
so-called act of secession, and excluding all others, shall
re-establish a State government which shall be republican, and in
no wise contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the
true government of the State, and the State shall receive
thereunder the benefits of the constitutional provision which
declares that "The United States shall guaranty to every State in
this union a republican form of government, and shall protect
each of them against invasion; and, on application of the
legislature, or the executive, (when the legislature cannot be
convened,) against domestic violence."
"And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that any
provision which may be adopted by such State government in
relation to the freed people of such State, which shall recognize
and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their education,
and which may yet be consistent, as a temporary arrangement, with
their present condition as a laboring, landless, and homeless
class, will not be objected to by the national Executive. And it
is suggested as not improper, that, in constructing a loyal State
government in any State, the name of the State, the boundary,
the subdivisions, the constitution, and the general code of laws,
as before the rebellion, be maintained, subject only to the
modifications made necessary by the conditions hereinbefore
stated, and such others, if any, not contravening said
conditions, and which may be deemed expedient by those framing
the new State government."
"To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say that
this proclamation, so far as it relates to State governments, has
no reference to States wherein loyal State governments have all
the while been maintained. And for the same reason, it may be
proper to further say that whether members sent to Congress from
any State shall be admitted to seats, constitutionally rests
exclusively with the respective Houses, and not to any extent
with the Executive. And still further, that this proclamation is
intended to present the people of the States wherein the national
authority has been suspended, and loyal State governments have
been subverted, a mode in and by which the national authority and
loyal State governments may be re-established within said States,
or in any of them; and, while the mode presented is the best the
Executive can suggest with his present impressions, it must not
be understood that no other possible mode would be
acceptable."
"Given under my hand at the city, of Washington, the 8th.
day of December, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three,
and of the independence of the United States of America the
eighty-eighth."
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State
Footnote #8
Veto message by President Johnson, March 2, 1867
"I have examined the bill to provide for the more efficient
government of the Rebel States' with care and anxiety which its
transcendent importance is calculated to awaken. I am unable to
give it my assent for reasons so grave that I hope a statement of
them may have some influence on the minds of the patriotic and
enlightened men with whom the decision must ultimately rest."
"The bill places all the people of the ten states therein
named under the absolute domination of military rules; and the
preamble undertakes to give the reason upon which the measure is
based and the ground upon which it is justified. It declares
that there exists in those States no legal governments and no
adequate protection for life or property, and asserts the
necessity of enforcing peace and good order within their limits.
This is not true as a matter of fact."
"It is not denied that the States in question have each of
them an actual government, with all the powers - executive,
judicial, and legislative - which properly belong to a free
state. They are organized like the other States of the Union,
and, like them, they make, administer, and execute the laws which
concern their domestic affairs. An existing de facto government,
exercising such functions as these, is itself the law of the
state upon all matters within its jurisdiction. To pronounce the
supreme law making power of an established state illegal is to
say that law itself is unlawful."
"The provisions which these governments have made for the
preservation of order, the suppression of crime, and the redress
of private injuries are in substance and principle the same as
those which prevailing the Northern States and in other civilized
countries. They certainly have not succeeded in preventing the
commission of all crime, nor has this been accomplished any where
in the world....But that people are maintaining local governments
for themselves which habitually defeat the object of all
government and render their own lives and property insecure is in
itself utterly improbable, and the averment of the bill to that
effect is not supported by any evidence which has come to my
knowledge...."
"The bill, however, would seem to show upon its face that
the establishment of peace and good order is not its real object.
The fifth section declares that the preceding sections shall
crease to operate in any state where certain events shall have
happened. These events are, first, the selection of delegates to
a State convention by an election at which Negroes shall be
allowed to vote; second, the formation of a State Constitution by
the convention so chosen; third, the insertion into the State
constitution of a provision which will secure the right of voting
at all elections to Negroes and to such white men as may not be
disfranchised for rebellion or felony; fourth, the submission of
the Constitution for ratification by their vote; fifth, the
submission of the State Constitution to Congress for examination
and approval, and the actual approval of it by that body; sixth,
the adoption of a certain amendment to the Federal Constitution
by a vote of Legislature elected under the new Constitution;
seventh, the adoption of said amendment by a sufficient number of
other States to make it a part of the Constitution of the United
States. All these conditions must be fulfilled before the people
of any of these States can be relieved from the bondage of
military domination; but when they are fulfilled, then
immediately the pains and penalties of the bill are to cease, no
matter whether there be peace and order or not, and without any
reference to the security of life or property. The excuse given
for the bill in the preamble is it establishes is plainly to be
used, not for any purpose of order or for the prevention of
crime, but solely as am means of coercing the people into the
adoption of principles and measures to which it is known that
they are opposed, and upon which they have an undeniable right to
exercise their own judgment."
"I submit to Congress whether this measure is not in its
whole character, scope, and object without precedent and without
authority, in palpable conflict with the plainest provisions of
liberty and humanity for which our ancestors on both sides of the
Atlantic have shed so much blood, and expended so much treasure."
"The ten States named in the bill are divided into five
districts. For each district an officer of the Army, not below
the rank of a brigadier-general, is to be appointed to rule over
the people; and he is to be supported with an efficient military
force to enable him to perform his duties and enforce his
authority. Those duties and that authority, as defined by the
third section of the bill, are 'to protect all persons in their
rights of person and property, to suppress insurrection,
disorder, and violence, and to punish or cause to be punished all
disturbers of the public peace or criminals'. The power thus
given to commanding officer over all the people of each district
is that of an absolute monarch. His mere will is to take the
place of all law...."
"It is plain that the authority here given to the military
officer amounts to absolute despotism. But to make it still more
unendurable, the bill provides that it may be delegated to as
many subordinates as he chooses to appoint, for it declares that
he shall 'punish or cause to be punished'. Such a power has not
been wielded by any Monarch in England for more than five hundred
years. In all that time no people who speak the English language
have borne such servitude. It reduces the whole population of
the ten States- all persons, of every color, sex and condition,
and every stranger within their limits- to the most abject and
degrading slavery. No master ever had a control so absolute over
the slaves as this bill gives to the military officers over both
white and colored persons...."
"I come now to a question which is, if possible, still more
important. Have we the power to establish and carry into
execution a measure like this? I answer, 'Certainly not', if we
derive our authority from the Constitution and if we are bound by
the limitations which is imposes."
"This proposition is perfectly clear, that no branch of the
Federal Government- executive, legislative, or judicial- can have
any just powers except those which it derives through and
exercises under the organic laws of the Union. Outside of the
Constitution we have no legal authority more than private
citizens, and within it we have only so much as that instrument
gives us. This broad principle limits all our functions and
applies to all subjects. It protects not only the citizens of
States which are within the Union, but it shields every human
being who comes or is brought under our jurisdiction. We have no
right to do in one place more than in another that which the
Constitution says we shall not do at all. If, therefore, the
Southern States were in truth out of the Union, we could not
treat their people in a way which the fundamental law forbids.
Some persons assume that the success of our arms in crushing the
opposition which was made in some of the States to the execution
of the Federal laws reduced those States and all their people -
the innocent as well as the guilty - to the condition of
vassalage and gave us a power over them which the Constitution
does not bestow or define or limit. No fallacy can be more
transparent than this. Our victories subjected the insurgents to
legal obedience, not to the yoke of an arbitrary despotism. When
an absolute sovereign reduces hi s rebellious subjects, he may
deal with them according to his pleasure, because he had that
power before. But when a limited monarch puts down an
insurrection, he must still govern according to law...."
"This is a bill passed by Congress in time of peace. There
is not in any one of the States brought under its operation
either war or insurrection. The laws of the States and of the
Federal Government are all in undisturbed and harmonious
operation. The courts, State and Federal, are open and in the
full exercise of their proper authority. Over every State
comprised in these five military districts, life, and property
are secured by State laws and Federal laws, and the National
Constitution is every where in force and every where obeyed.
What, then is the ground on which the bill proceeds? The title
of the bill announces that it is intended 'for the more efficient
government' of these ten States. It is recited by way of
preamble that no legal State Governments 'nor adequate protection
for live or property' exist in those States, and that peace and
good order should be thus recitals, which prepare the way for
martial law, is this, that the only foundation upon which martial
law can exist under our form of Government is not stated or so
much as pretended. Actual war, foreign invasion, domestic
insurrection -none of these appear; and none of these, in fact
exist. It is not even recited that any sort of war or
insurrection is threatened. Let us pause to consider, upon this
question of constitutional law and power of Congress, a recent
decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in ex parte
Milligan, I will first quote form the opinion of the majority of
the Court: 'Martial law can not arise from a threatened invasion.
The necessity must be actual and present, the invasion real, such
as effectually closes the courts and deposes the civil
administration'."
"We see that martial law come in only when actual war closes
the courts and deposes the civil authority; but this bill, in
time of peace, makes martial law operate as though we were in
actual war, and becomes the cause instead of the consequence of
the abrogation of civil authority. One more quotation: 'It
follows from what has been said on this subject that there are
occasions when martial law can be properly applied. If in
foreign invasion or civil war the courts are actually closed, and
it is impossible to administer criminal justice according to law,
then, on the theater of active military operations, where war
really prevails, there is a necessity to furnish a substitute for
the civil authority thus overthrown, to preserve the safety of
the army and society; and as no power is left by the military, it
is allowed to govern by martial rule until the laws can have
their free course."
"I now quote from the opinion of the minority of the court,
delivered by Chief Justice Chase: 'We by no means assert that
Congress can establish and apply the laws of war where no war has
been declared or exists. Where peace exists, the laws of peace
must prevail.'"
"This sufficiently explicit. Peace exists in all the
territory to which this bill applies. It asserts a power in
Congress, in time of peace, to set aside the laws of peace and to
substitute the laws of war. The minority, concurring with the
majority, declares that Congress does not possess that power....I
need not say to the representatives of the American people that
their Constitution forbids the exercise of judicial power in any
way but one- that is, by the ordained and established courts. It
is equally well known that in all criminal cases a trial by jury
is made indispensable by the express words of that instrument."
"...The Constitution also forbids the arrest of the citizen
without judicial warrant, founded on probable cause. This bill
authorizes an arrest without warrant, at pleasure of a military
commander. The Constitution declares that 'no person shall be
held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless
on presentment of a grand jury'. This bill holds ever person not
a soldier answerable for all crimes and all charges without any
presentment. The Constitution declares that 'no person shall be
deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of
law'. This bill sets aside all process of law, and makes the
citizen answerable in his person and property to the will of one
man, and as to his life to the will of two. Finally, the
Constitution declares that 'the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus shall not be suspended unless when, in case of rebellion
or invasion, the public safety may require it'; whereas this bill
declares martial law (which of itself suspends this great writ)
in time of peace, and authorizes the military to make the arrest,
and gives to the prisoner only one privilege, and that is trial
'without unnecessary delay'. He has no hope of release from
custody, except the hope, such as it is, of release by acquittal
before a military commission."
"The United States are bound to guarantee to each State a
republican form of government. Can it be pretended that this
obligation is not palpably broken if we carry out a measure like
this, which wipes away every vestige of republican government in
ten States and puts the life, property, and honor of all people
in each of them under domination of a single person clothed with
unlimited authority?"
"....,here is a bill of attainder against 9,000,000 people
at once. It is based upon an accusation so vague as to be
scarcely intelligible and found to be true upon no credible
evidence. Not one of the 9,000,000 was heard in his own defense.
The representatives of the doomed parties were excluded from all
participation in the trial. The conviction is to be followed by
the most ignominious punishment ever inflicted on large messes of
men. It disfranchises them by hundreds of thousands and degrades
them all, even those who are admitted to be guiltless, from the
rank of freeman to the condition of slaves."
"The purpose and object of the bill- the general intent
which pervades it from beginning to end- is to change the entire
structure and character of the State Governments and to compel
them by force to the adoption of organic laws and regulations
which they are unwilling to accept if left to themselves. The
Negroes have not asked for the privilege of voting; the vast
majority of them have no idea what it means. This bill not only
thrusts it into their hands, but compels them, as well as the
whites, to use it in a particular way. If they do not form a
Constitution with prescribed articles in it and afterwards elect
a legislature which will act upon certain measures in a
prescribed way, neither blacks nor whites can be relieved from
the slavery which the bill imposes upon them. Without pausing
here to consider the policy or impolicy of Africanizing the
souther part of our territory, I would simply ask the attention
of Congress to the manifest, well-known, and universally
acknowledged rule of Constitutional law which declares that the
Federal Government has no jurisdiction, authority, or power to
regulate such subjects for any State. To force the right of
suffrage out of the hands of white people and into the hands of
the Negroes is an arbitrary violation of this principle...."
"That the measure proposed by this bill does violate the
Constitution in the particulars mentioned and in many other ways
which I forbear to enumerate is too clear to admit the least
doubt. It only remains to consider whether the injunctions of
that instrument ought to be obeyed or not. I think they ought to
be obeyed, for reasons which I will proceed to give as briefly as
possible. In the first place, it is the only system of free
Government which we can hope to have as a Nation. When it ceases
to be the rule of our conduct, we may perhaps take our choice
between complete anarchy, a consolidated despotism, and a total
dissolution of the Union; but national liberty regulated by law
will have passed beyond our reach..."
"It was to punish the gross crime of defying the
Constitution and to vindicate its supreme authority that we
carried on a bloody war of four year's duration. Shall we now
acknowledge that we sacrificed a million of lives and expended
billions of treasure to enforce a Constitution which is not
worthy of respect and preservation?...."
"It is a part of our public history which can never be
forgotten that both Houses of Congress, in July 1861, declared in
the form of a soleman resolution that the war was and should be
carried on for no purpose of subjugation, but solely to enforce
the Constitutional rights of the States and of individuals
unimpaired. This resolution was adopted and sent forth to the
world unanimously by the Senate and with only two dissenting
voices in the House. It was accepted by the friends of the Union
in the South as well as in the North as expressing honestly and
truly the object of the war. On the faith of it many thousands
of persons in both sections gave their lives and their fortunes
to the cause. To repudiate it now by refusing to the States and
to the individuals within them the 'rights' which the
Constitution and laws of the Union would secure to them is a
breach of our plighted honor for which I can imagine no excuse
and to which I cannot voluntarily become a party...."
"....I am thoroughly convinced that any settlement or
compromise or plan of actions which is inconsistent with the
principles of the Constitution will not only be unavailing, but
mischievous; that is will but multiply the present evils, instead
of removing them. The Constitution, in its whole integrity and
vigor, throughout the length and breadth of the land, is the best
of all compromises. Besides, our duty does not, in my judgement,
leave us a choice between that and any other. I believe that it
contains the remedy that is so much needed, and that if the
coordinate branches of the Government would unite upon its
provisions they would be found broad enough and strong enough to
sustain in time of peace the Nation which they bore safely
through the ordeal of a protracted civil war. Among the most
sacred guaranties of that instrument are those which declare that
'each State shall have at least one Representative', and that 'no
State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal
suffrage in the Senate'. Each House is made the 'judge of the
elections, returns and qualifications of its own members,' and
may, 'with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member'. Thus,
as heretofore urged, 'in the admission of Senators and
Representatives from any and all of the States there can no just
ground of apprehension that persons who are disloyal will be
clothed with the powers of legislation, for this could not happen
when the Constitution and the laws are enforced by a vigilant and
faithful Congress'. When a Senator or Representative presents
his certificate of election, he may at once be admitted or
rejected, or, should there be any question as to his eligibility,
his credentials may be referred for investigation to the
appropriate committee. If admitted to a seat, it must be upon
evidence satisfactory to the House of which he thus becomes a
member that he possesses the requisite constitutional and legal
qualifications. If refused admission as a member for want of due
allegiance to the Government, and returned to his constituents,
they are admonished that none but persons loyal to the United
States will be allowed a voice in the legislative councils of the
Nation, and the political power and moral influence of Congress
are thus effectively exerted in the interests of loyalty to the
Government and fidelity of the Union...."
"While we are legislating upon subjects which are of great
importance to the whole people, and which must affect all parts
of the country, not only hurting the life of the present
generation, but for ages to come, we should remember that all men
are entitled at least to a hearing in the councils which decide
upon the destiny of themselves and their children. At present
ten States are denied representation, and when the Fortieth
Congress assembles on the 4th day of the present month sixteen
States will be without a voice in the House of Representatives.
This grave fact, with the important questions before us, should
induce us to pause in a course of legislation which, looking
solely to the attainment of political ends, fails to consider the
rights it transgresses, the law which it violates, or the
institutions which it imperils."
Andrew Johnson
Footnote #9
Article 1. "A place, district, or country occupied by an enemy
stands, in consequence of the occupation, under the Martial Law
of the invading or occupying army, whether any proclamation
declaring Martial Law, or any public warning to the inhabitants,
has been issued or not. Martial Law is the immediate and direct
effect and consequence of occupation or conquest."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Art. 3. "Martial Law in a hostile country consists in the
suspension, by the occupying military authority, of the criminal
and civil law, and of the domestic administration and government
in the occupied place or territory, and in the substitution of
military rule and force for the same, as well as in the dictation
of general laws, as far as military necessity requires this
suspension, substitution, or dictation."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
"The commander of the forces may proclaim that the
administration of all civil and penal law shall continue either
wholly or in part, as in times of peace, unless otherwise ordered
by the military authority."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Art. 6. "All civil and penal law shall continue to take its usual
course in the enemy's places and territories under Martial Law,
unless interrupted or stopped by order of the occupying military
power; but all the functions of the hostile government -
legislative executive, or administrative - whether of a general,
provincial, or local character, cease under Martial Law, or
continue only with the sanction, or, if deemed necessary, the
participation of the occupier or invader."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Art. 10. "Martial Law affects chiefly the police and collection
of public revenue and taxes, whether imposed by the expelled
government or by the invader, and refers mainly to the support
and efficiency of the army, its safety, and the safety of its
operations."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Art. 12. "Whenever feasible, Martial Law is carried out in cases
of individual offenders by Military Courts; but sentences of
death shall be executed only with the approval of the chief
executive, provided the urgency of the case does not require a
speedier execution, and then only with the approval of the chief
commander."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Art. 13."Military jurisdiction is of two kinds: First, that which
is conferred and defined by statute; second, that which is
derived from the common law of war. Military offenses under the
statute law must be tried in the manner therein directed; but
military offenses which do not come within the statute must be
tried and punished under the common law of war. The character of
the courts which exercise these jurisdictions depends upon the
local laws of each particular country."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Art. 17. "War is not carried on by arms alone. It is lawful to
starve the hostile belligerent, armed or unarmed, so that it
leads to the speedier subjection of the enemy."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Art. 26. "Commanding generals may cause the magistrates and civil
officers of the hostile country to take the oath of temporary
allegiance or an oath of fidelity to their own victorious
government or rulers, and they may expel everyone who declines to
do so. But whether they do so or not, the people and their civil
officers owe strict obedience to them as long as they hold sway
over the district or country, at the peril of their lives."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Art. 31. "A victorious army appropriates all public money, seizes
all public movable property until further direction by its
government, and sequesters for its own benefit or of that of its
government all the revenues of real property belonging to the
hostile government or nation. The title to such real property
remains in abeyance during military occupation, and until the
conquest is made complete."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Art. 33. "It is no longer considered lawful - on the contrary, it
is held to be a serious breach of the law of war - to force the
subjects of the enemy into the service of the victorious
government, except the latter should proclaim, after a fair and
complete conquest of the hostile country or district, that it is
resolved to keep the country, district, or place permanently as
its own and make it a portion of its own country."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Art. 39. "The salaries of civil officers of the hostile
government who remain in the invaded territory, and continue the
work of their office, and can continue it according to the
circumstances arising out of the war - such as judges,
administrative or police officers, officers of city or communal
governments - are paid from the public revenue of the invaded
territory, until the military government has reason wholly or
partially to discontinue it. Salaries or incomes connected with
purely honorary titles are always stopped."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Art. 41. "All municipal law of the ground on which the armies
stand, or of the countries to which they belong, is silent and of
no effect between armies in the field."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Art. 43. "Therefore, in a war between the United States and a
belligerent which admits of slavery, if a person held in bondage
by that belligerent be captured by or come as a fugitive under
the protection of the military forces of the United States, such
person is immediately entitled to the rights and privileges of a
freeman To return such person into slavery would amount to
enslaving a free person, and neither the United States nor any
officer under their authority can enslave any human being.
Moreover, a person so made free by the law of war is under the
shield of the law of nations, and the former owner or State can
have, by the law of postliminy, no belligerent lien or claim of
service."
Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Footnote #10
"The right to thus occupy an enemy's country and temporarily
provide for its government has been recognized by previous action
of the executive authority, and sanctioned by frequent decisions
of this court. The local government being destroyed, the
conqueror may set up its own authority, and make rules and
regulations for the conduct of temporary government, and to that
end may collect taxes and duties to support the military
authority and carry on operations incident to the occupation."
Macleod v. U.S, 229 U.S. 416 1913
"The right of one belligerent to occupy and govern the
territory of the enemy while in its military possession is one of
the incidents of war, and flows directly from the right to
conquer. We therefore do not look to the Constitution or
political institutions of the conqueror for authority to
establish a government for the territory of the enemy in his
possession, during its [182 U.S. 222, 231] military occupation,
nor for the rules by which the powers of such government are
regulated and limited. Such authority and such rules are derived
directly from the laws of war, as established by the usage of the
world and confirmed by the writings of publicists and decisions
of courts,- in fine, from the law of nations. . . . The municipal
laws of a conquered territory or the laws which regulate private
rights, continue in force during military occupation, except so
far as they are suspended or changed by the acts of the
conqueror. . . . He, nevertheless, has all the powers of a de
facto government, and can at his pleasure either change the
existing laws or make new ones." Dooley v. U.S., 182 U.S. 222
1901
"Look at it practically from another point of view.
Certainly, before revenue laws can be made operative in a
district or country it is essential that the situation be taken
into account, for the purpose of establishing ports of entry,
collection districts, and the necessary [182 U.S. 222, 242]
machinery to enforce them. Of course, it is patent that such
investigations cannot be made prior to acquisition. But, as the
laws immediately extend, without action of Congress, as the
result of acquisition, it must follows that they extend, although
none of the means and instrumentalities for their successful
enforcement can possibly be devised until the acquisition is
completed. This must be, unless it be held that there is power in
the government of the United States to enter a foreign country,
examine its situation, and enact legislation for it before it has
passed under the sovereignty of the United States. From the point
of view of the United States, then, it seems to me that the
doctrine of the immediate placing of the tariff laws outside the
line of newly acquired territory, however extreme may be the
opinion entertained of the doctrine of immediate incorporation,
is inadmissible and in conflict with the Constitution."
Dooley v. U.S., 182 U.S. 222 1901
"The jurisdiction of the conqueror is complete. He may
change the form of government and the laws at his pleasure, and
may exercise every attribute of sovereignty. The conquered
territory becomes a part of the domain of the conqueror, subject
to the right of the nation to which it belonged to recapture it
if they can. By reason of this right to recapture, the title of
the conqueror is not perfect until confirmed by treaty of peace.
But this imperfection in his title is, practically speaking,
important only in case of alienation made by the conqueror before
treaty. If he sells, he sells subject to the right of recapture."
"But although, for purposes of sale, the title of the
conqueror is imperfect before cession, for purposes of government
and jurisdiction his title is perfect before cession. As long as
he retains possession he is sovereign; and not the less sovereign
because his sovereignty may not endure for ever. [50 U.S. 603,
608] Grotius (ch. 6, book 3, 4), speaking of the right to things
taken in war, says that land is reputed lost which is so secured
by fortifications that without their being forced it cannot be
repossessed by the first owner. And in ch. 8, book 3, treating of
empire over the conquered, he shows that sovereignty may be
acquired by conquest." Fleming v. Page, 50 U.S. 603 1850
"1st. That, by conquest and firm military occupation of a
portion of an enemy's country, the sovereignty of the nation to
which the conquered territory belongs is subverted, and the
sovereignty of the conqueror is substituted in its place."
"2d. That although this sovereignty, until cession by
treaty, is subject to be ousted by the enemy, and therefore does
not give an indefeasible title for purposes of alienation, yet
while it exists it is supreme, and confers jurisdiction without
limit over the conquered territory, and the right to allegiance
in return for protection." Fleming v. Page, 50 U.S. 603 1850
"It cannot be denied that these principles, established by
the common consent of the civilized world, must govern the title
to conquests made by the United States. As one of the family of
nations, they are bound by the law of nations, and the nature and
effect of their acquisitions by conquest must be defined and
regulated by that law." Fleming v. Page, 50 U.S. 603 1850
"The messages of the President to Congress during the war,
and the instructions from the heads of departments, contain
authoritative declarations as to the right of the United States
to acquire foreign territory by conquest, and as to the effect of
such conquest upon the sovereignty of the conquered territory, in
accordance with the principles above stated. Thus, the President,
in his message of December, 1846, says:- 'By the law of nations a
conquered territory is subject to be governed by the conqueror
during his military possession, and until there is either a
treaty of peace or he shall voluntarily withdraw from it. The old
civil government being necessarily superseded, it is the right
and duty of the conqueror to secure his conquest, and to provide
for the maintenance of civil order and the rights of the
inhabitants. This right has been exercised and this duty
performed by our military and naval commanders, by the
establishment of temporary governments in some of the conquered
provinces in Mexico, assimilating them as far as practicable to
the free institutions of our own country." Fleming v. Page, 50
U.S. 603 1850
"A war, therefore, declared by Congress, can never be
presumed to be waged for the purpose of conquest or the
acquisition of territory; nor does the law declaring the war
imply an authority to the President to enlarge the limits of the
United States by subjugating the enemy's country. The United
States, it is true, may extend its boundaries by conquest or
treaty, and [50 U.S. 603, 615] may demand the cession of
territory as the condition of peace, in order to indemnify its
citizens for the injuries they have suffered, or to reimburse the
government for the expenses of the war. But this can be done only
by the treaty-making power or the legislative authority, and is
not a part of the power conferred upon the President by the
declaration of war. His duty and his power are purely military.
As commander-in-chief, he is authorized to direct the movements
of the naval and military forces placed by law at his command,
and to employ them in the manner he may deem most effectual to
harass and conquer and subdue the enemy. He may invade the
hostile country, and subject it to the sovereignty and authority
of the United States. But his conquests do not enlarge the
boundaries of this Union, nor extend the operation of our
institutions and laws beyond the limits before assigned to them
by the legislative power." Fleming v. Page, 50 U.S. 603 1850
"The theory that a country remains foreign with respect to
the tariff laws until Congress has acted by embracing it within
the customs union presupposes that a country may be domestic for
one purpose and foreign for another. It may undoubtedly become
necessary for the adequate administration of a domestic territory
to pass a special act providing the proper machinery and
officers, as the President would have no authority, except under
the war power, to administer it himself; but no act is necessary
to make it domestic territory if once it has been ceded to the
United States. . . . This theory also presupposes that territory
may be held indefinitely by the United States; that it may be
treated in every particular, except for tariff purposes, as
domestic territory; that laws may be enacted and enforced by
officers of the United States sent there for that purpose; that
insurrections [183 U.S. 176, 179] may be suppressed, wars carried
on, revenues collected, taxes imposed; in short, that everything
may be done which a government can do within its own boundaries,
and yet that the territory may still remain a foreign country.
That this state of things may continue for years, for a century
even, but that, until Congress enacts otherwise, it still remains
a foreign country. To hold that this can be done as matter of law
we deem to be pure judicial legislation. We find no warrant for
it in the Constitution or in the powers conferred upon this
court. It is true the non action of Congress may occasion a
temporary inconvenience; but it does not follow that courts of
justice are authorized to remedy it by inverting the ordinary
meaning of words." The Diamond Rings, 183 U.S. 176 1901
"Footnotes: Resolved by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled, That by the ratification of the treaty of peace with
Spain it is not intended to incorporate the inhabitants of the
Philippine islands into citizenship of the United States, nor is
it intended to permanently annex said islands as an integral part
of the territory of the United States; but it is the intention of
the United States to establish on said islands a government
suitable to the wants and conditions of the inhabitants of said
island to prepare them for local self-government, and in due
time to make such disposition of said islands as will best
promote the interests of the United States and the inhabitants of
said islands." Cong. Rec., 55th Cong. 3d Sess. vol. 32, p. 1847.
The Diamond Rings, 183 U.S. 176 1901
Footnote #11
James Montgomery
C/O 100 Bridlewood Rd.
High Point North Carolina
August 27, 1995
Dear Sheriff ....,
I just want to say at the outset that your reputation
precedes you. Those that live in ....... County are fortunate,
because your method of fighting crime works, and will restore the
public's trust in local law enforcement.
As a matter of introduction I am a former United States
Marine, and I am a Christian. My friend Bill is delivering this
letter; you have already talked to him about this information. I
want you to keep one thing in mind, YOU have the ability to
understand the information in this letter. YOU have the ability
to understand the present law and past law, the Constitution.
That's right!...I'm saying the Constitution is past tense, as a
restrictive document on Congress. I do not make this statement
lightly and I can prove it. The Constitution was a commercial
compact between states, giving the federal government limited
powers. The Bill of Rights was meant not as our source of
rights, but as further limitations on the federal government.
Our fore-fathers saw the potential for danger in the U. S.
Constitution. To insure the Constitution was not presumed to be
our source of rights, the 10th Amendment was added. I will use a
quote from Thomas Jefferson, February 15, 1791, where he quotes
the 10th Amendment...
"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on
this ground; That "all powers not delegated to the United States,
by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States or to the people."
To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially
drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a
boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any
definition."
The created United States government cannot define the
rights of their creator, the American people.
Three forms of law were granted to the Constitution, common
law, equity (contract law) and Admiralty law. Each had their own
jurisdiction and purpose. The first issue I want to cover is the
United States flag. Obviously from known history our flag did
not have a yellow fringe bordering three sides. The United
States did not start putting flags with a yellow fringe on them
in government buildings and public buildings until the 1900's.
Of course the question you would ask yourself; why did it change
and are there any legal meanings behind this? Oh yes!
First the appearance of our flag is defined in Title 4 sec.
1. U.S.C..
"The flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal
stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall
be forty-eight stars, white in a blue field." (my note - of
course when new states are admitted new stars are added.)
A foot note was added on page 1113 of the same section which
says: "Placing of fringe on the national flag, the dimensions of
the flag, and arrangement of the stars are matters of detail not
controlled by statute, but within the discretion of the President
as commander-in-chief of the army and navy." 1925, 34
Op.Atty.Gen. 483.
The president as military commander can add a yellow fringe
to our flag. When would this be done? During time of war. Why?
A flag with a fringe is an ensign, a military flag. Read the
following.
"Pursuant to U.S.C. Chapter 1, 2, and 3; Executive Order No.
10834, August 21, 1959, 24 F.R. 6865, a military flag is a flag
that resembles the regular flag of the United States, except that
it has a YELLOW FRINGE, bordered on three sides. The President
of the United states designates this deviation from the regular
flag, by executive order, and in his capacity as COMMANDER-IN-
CHIEF of the Armed forces."
From the National Encyclopedia, Volume 4:
"Flag, an emblem of a nation; usually made of cloth and
flown from a staff. From a military standpoint flags are of two
general classes, those flown from stationary masts over army
posts, and those carried by troops in formation. The former are
referred to by the general name flags. The latter are called
colors when carried by dismounted troops. Colors and Standards
are more nearly square than flags and are made of silk with a
knotted Fringe of Yellow on three sides...use of the flag. The
most general and appropriate use of the flag is as a symbol of
authority and power."
The reason I started with the Flag issue is because it is so
easy to grasp. The main problem I have with the yellow fringe is
that by its use our Constitutional Republic is no more. Our
system of law was changed without the public's knowledge. It was
kept secret, this is fraud, the American people were allowed to
believe this was just a decoration. Because the law changed from
Common Law (God's Law) to Admiralty Law (the kings law) your
status also changed from sovereign to subject. From being able
to own property (allodial title) to not owning property (tenet on
the land). If you think you own your property, stop paying
taxes, it will be taken under the prize law.
"The ultimate ownership of all property is in the state;
individual so-called `ownership' is only by virtue of government,
i.e., law, amounting to a mere user; and use must be in
accordance with law and subordinate to the necessities of the
State." Senate Document No. 43, "Contracts payable in Gold"
written in 1933.
By our allowing to let these military flags fly, the
American people have admitted our defeat and loss of status.
Read on, you'll see what I mean. Remember the Constitution
recognizes three forms of law, being governed by the Law of the
Flag is Admiralty law. I will cover this in a minute, the
following is a definition of the legal term Law of the Flag.
"...The agency of the master is devolved upon him by the law
of the flag. The same law that confers his authority ascertains
its limits, and the flag at the mast-head is notice to all the
world of the extent of such power to bind the owners or
freighters by his act. The foreigner who deals with this agent
has notice of that law, and, if he be bound by it, there is not
injustice. His notice is the national flag which is hoisted on
every sea and under which the master sails into every port, and
every circumstance that connects him with the vessel isolates
that vessel in the eyes of the world, and demonstrates his
relation to the owners and freighters as their agent for a
specific purpose and with power well defined under the national
maritime law." Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1914.
Don't be thrown by the fact they are talking about the sea,
and that it doesn't apply to land, I will prove to you that
Admiralty law has come on land. Next a court case:
"Pursuant to the "Law of the Flag", a military flag does
result in jurisdictional implication when flown. The Plaintiff
cites the following: "Under what is called international law, the
law of the flag, a shipowner who sends his vessel into a foreign
port gives notice by his flag to all who enter into contracts
with the shipmaster that he intends the law of the flag to
regulate those contracts with the shipmaster that he either
submit to its operation or not contract with him or his agent at
all." Ruhstrat v. People, 57 N.E. 41, 45, 185 ILL. 133, 49 LRA
181, 76 AM.
This is the legality I spoke of. When you walk into a court
and see this flag you are put on notice that you are in a
Admiralty Court and that the king is in control. Also, if there
is a king the people are no longer sovereign. You're probably
saying this is the most incredible thing I have ever heard. YOU
have read the proof, it will stand up in court.
But wait there is more, you probably would say, how could
this happen? Here's how. Admiralty law is for the sea, maritime
law govern's contracts between parties that trade over the sea.
Well, that's what our fore-fathers intended. However, in 1845
Congress passed an act saying Admiralty law could come on land.
The bill may be traced in Cong. Globe, 28th Cong., 2d. Sess. 43,
320, 328, 337, 345 (1844-45), no opposition to the Act is
reported. Congress held a committee on this subject in 1850 and
they said:
"The committee also alluded to "the great force" of "the
great constitutional question as to the power of Congress to
extend maritime jurisdiction beyond the ground occupied by it at
the adoption of the Constitution...." Ibid. H.R. Rep. No. 72 31st
Cong., 1st Sess. 2 (1850)
It was up to the Supreme Court to stop Congress and say NO!
The Constitution did not give you that power, nor was it
intended. But no, the courts began a long train of abuses, here
are some excerpts from a few court cases.
"This power is as extensive upon land as upon water. The
Constitution makes no distinction in that respect. And if the
admiralty jurisdiction, in matters of contract and tort which the
courts of the United States may lawfully exercise on the high
seas, can be extended to the lakes under the power to regulate
commerce, it can with the same propriety and upon the same
construction, be extended to contracts and torts on land when the
commerce is between different States. And it may embrace also
the vehicles and persons engaged in carrying it on (my note -
remember what the law of the flag said when you receive benefits
from the king.) It would be in the power of Congress to confer
admiralty jurisdiction upon its courts, over the cars engaged in
transporting passengers or merchandise from one State to another,
and over the persons engaged in conducting them, and deny to the
parties the trial by jury. Now the judicial power in cases of
admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, has never been supposed to
extend to contracts made on land and to be executed on land. But
if the power of regulating commerce can be made the foundation of
jurisdiction in its courts, and a new and extended admiralty
jurisdiction beyond its heretofore known and admitted limits, may
be created on water under that authority, the same reason would
justify the same exercise of power on land." Propeller Genessee
Chief et al. v. Fitzhugh et al. 12 How. 443 (U.S. 1851)
"Next to revenue (taxes) itself, the late extensions of the
jurisdiction of the admiralty are our greatest grievance. The
American Courts of Admiralty seem to be forming by degrees into a
system that is to overturn our Constitution and to deprive us of
our best inheritance, the laws of the land. It would be thought
in England a dangerous innovation if the trial, of any matter on
land was given to the admiralty." Jackson v. Magnolia, 20 How.
296 315, 342 (U.S. 1852)
This began the most dangerous precedent of all the Insular
Cases. This is where Congress took a boundless field of power.
When legislating for the states, they are bound by the
Constitution, when legislating for their insular possessions they
are not restricted in any way by the Constitution. Read the
following quote from the Harvard law review:
"These courts, then, are not constitutional courts in which
the judicial power conferred by the Constitution on the general
government can be deposited. They are incapable of receiving it.
They are legislative courts, created in virtue of the general
right of sovereignty which exists in the government, or in virtue
of that clause which enables Congress to make all needful rules
and regulations respecting the territory belonging to the united
States. The jurisdiction with which they are invested is not a
part of that judicial power which is conferred in the third
article of the Constitution, but is conferred by Congress in the
execution of those general powers which that body possesses over
the territories of the United States." Harvard Law Review, Our
New Possessions. page 481.
Here are some Court cases that make it even clearer Mr.
....:
"...[T]he United States may acquire territory by conquest or
by treaty, and may govern it through the exercise of the power of
Congress conferred by Section 3 of Article IV of the Constitu-
tion..."
"In exercising this power, Congress is not subject to the
same constitutional limitations, as when it is legislating for
the United States. ...And in general the guaranties of the
Constitution, save as they are limitations upon the exercise of
executive and legislative power when exerted for or over our
insular possessions, extend to them only as Congress, in the
exercise of its legislative power over territory belonging to the
United States, has made those guarantees applicable." Hooven &
Allison & Co. vs Evatt, 324 U.S. 652 (1945)
"The idea prevails with some indeed, it found expression in
arguments at the bar that we have in this country substantially
or practically two national governments; one to be maintained
under the Constitution, with all its restrictions; the other to
be maintained by Congress outside and independently of that
instrument, by exercising such powers as other nations of the
earth are accustomed to exercise."
"I take leave to say that if the principles thus announced
should ever receive the sanction of a majority of this court, a
radical and mischievous change in our system of government will
be the result. We will, in that event, pass from the era of
constitutional liberty guarded and protected by a written
constitution into an era of legislative absolutism."
"It will be an evil day for American liberty if the theory
of a government outside of the supreme law of the land finds
lodgment in our constitutional jurisprudence. No higher duty
rests upon this court than to exert its full authority to prevent
all violation of the principles of the constitution." Downes vs
Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901)
These actions allowed Admiralty law to come on land. If you
will remember the definition of the Law of the Flag. When you
receive benefits or enter into contracts with the king you come
under his law which is Admiralty law. And what is a result of
your connection with the king? A loss of your Sovereign status.
Our ignorance of the law is no excuse. I'll give you an example,
something you deal with everyday. Let's say you give me a seat
belt ticket. What law did I violate? Remember the Constitution
recognizes three forms of law. Was it common law? Who was the
injured party? No one. So it could not have been common law
even though the State of N. C. has made chapter 20 of the Motor
Vehicle code carry common law penalties, jail time. This was the
only thing they could do to cover up the jurisdiction they were
operating in. Was it Equity law? No, there is no contract in
dispute, driving is a privilege granted by the king. If it were
a contract the UCC would apply, and it doesn't. In a contract
both parties have equal rights. In a privilege, you do as you
are told or the privilege is revoked. Well guess what, there is
only one form of law left, admiralty. Ask yourself when did
licenses begin to be required? 1933.
All district courts are admiralty courts, see the Judiciary
Act of 1789.
"It is only with the extent of powers possessed by the
district courts, acting as instance courts of admiralty, we are
dealing. The Act of 1789 gives the entire constitutional power
to determine "all civil causes of admiralty and maritime
jurisdiction," leaving the courts to ascertain its limits, as
cases may arise." Waring ET AL,. v. Clarke, Howard 5 12 L. ed.
1847
When you enter a court room and come before the judge and
the U.S. flag with the yellow fringe flying, you are put on
notice of the law you are in. American's aren't aware of this,
so they continue to claim Constitutional rights. In the
Admiralty setting the constitution does not apply and the judge,
if pushed, will inform you of this by placing you under contempt
for continuing to bring it up. If the judge is pressed, his name
for this hidden law is statutory law. Where are the rules and
regulations for statutory law kept? They don't exist. If
statuary law existed, there would be rules and regulations
governing it's procedures and court rules. They do not exist!!!
The way you know this is Admiralty, is from the yellow
fringed flag and from the actions of the law, compelled
performance (Admiralty). The judges can still move at common law
(murder etc.) and equity (contract disputes etc.). It's up to
the type of case brought before the court. If the case is
Admiralty, the only way back to the common law is the saving to
suitor clause and action under Admiralty. The court and rules of
all three jurisdictions have been blended. Under Admiralty you
are compelled to perform under the agreement you made by asking
and receiving the king's government (license). You receive the
benefit of driving on federal roads (military roads), so you have
voluntarily obligated yourself to this system of law, this is why
you are compelled to obey. If you don't it will cost you money
or jail time or both. The type of offense determines the
jurisdiction you come under, but the court itself is an Admiralty
court, defined by the flag. Driving without a seat belt under
Chapter 20 DMV code carries a criminal penalty for a non common
law offense. Again where is the injured party or parties, this is
Admiralty law. Here is a quote to prove what I said about the
roads being military, this is only one benefit, there are many:
"Whilst deeply convinced of these truths, I yet consider it
clear that under the war-making power Congress may appropriate
money toward the construction of a military road when this is
absolutely necessary for the defense of any State or Territory of
the Union against foreign invasion. Under the Constitution
Congress has power "to declare war," "to raise and support
armies," "to provide and maintain a navy," and to call forth the
militia to "repel invasions." Thus endowed, in an ample manner,
with the war-making power, the corresponding duty is required
that "the United States shall protect each of them [the States]
against invasion." Now, how is it possible to afford this
protection to California and our Pacific possessions except by
means of a military road through the Territories of the United
States, over which men and munitions of war may be speedily
transported from the Atlantic States to meet and to repel the
invader?....Besides, the Government, ever since its origin, has
been in the constant practice of constructing military roads."
Inaugural Address of James Buchanan, March 4, 1857,..Messages and
Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1902.
I want to briefly mention the Social Security Act, the nexus
Agreement you have with the king. You were told the SS# was for
retirement and you had to have it to work. It sounds like a
license to me, and it is, it is a license granted by the
President to work in this country, under the Trading with the
Enemy Act, as amended in March 9, 1933, as you will see in a
moment. Was it really for your retirement? What does F.I.C.A.
stand for? Federal Insurance Contribution Act. What does
contribution mean at law, not Webster's Dictionary. This is
where they were able to get you to admit that you were jointly
responsible for the national debt, and you declared that you were
a Fourteenth Amendment citizen, which I won't go into in this
paper or the Erie Railroad v. Tompkins case where common law was
over turned. Read the following definition to learn what it
means to have a SS# and pay a contribution:
Contribution. Right of one who has discharged a common
liability to recover of another also liable, the aliquot portion
which he ought to pay or bear. Under principle of
"contribution," a tort-feasor against whom a judgement is
rendered is entitled to recover proportional shares of judgement
from other joint tort-feasor whose negligence contributed to the
injury and who were also liable to the plaintiff. (foot note *
tort feasor means wrong doer, what did you do to be defined as a
wrong doer???) The share of a loss payable by an insure when
contracts with two or more insurers cover the same loss. The
insurer's share of a loss under a coinsurance or similar
provision. The sharing of a loss or payment among several. The
act of any one or several of a number of co-debtors, co-sureties,
etc., in reimbursing one of their number who has paid the whole
debt or suffered the whole liability, each to the extent of his
proportionate share. (Blacks Law Dictionary 6th ed.)
Guess what? It gets worse. What does this date 1933 mean?
Well you better sit down. First, remember World War I, in 1917
President Wilson declared the War Powers Act of October 6, 1917,
basically stating that he was stopping all trade with the enemy
except for those he granted a license, excluding Americans. Read
the following from this Trading with the enemy Act, where he
defines enemy:
In the War Powers Act of 1917, Chapter 106, Section 2 (c) it
says that these declared war powers did not affect citizens of
the United States:
"Such other individuals, or body or class of individuals, as
may be natives, citizens, or subjects of any nation with which
the United States is at war, OTHER THAN CITIZENS OF THE UNITED
STATES, wherever resident or wherever doing business, as the
President, if he shall find the safety of the United States of
the successful prosecution of the war shall so require, may, by
proclamation, include within the term "enemy.""
Now, this leads us up to 1933. Our country was recovering
from a depression and now was declared bankrupt. I know you are
saying. Do What, the American people were never told about this?
Public policy and National Security overruled the public right to
know. Read the following Congressional quote:
"My investigation convinced me that during the last quarter
of a century the average production of gold has been falling off
considerably. The gold mines of the world are practically
exhausted. There is only about $11,000,000,000 in gold in the
world, with the United States owning a little more than four
billions. We have more than $100,000,000,000 in debts payable in
gold of the present weight and fineness....As a practical
proposition these contracts cannot be collected in gold for the
obvious reason that the gold supply of the entire world is not
sufficient to make payment." Congressional Record, Congressman
Dies March 15, 1933
Before 1933 all contracts with the government were payable
in gold. Now I ask you? Who in their right mind would enter
into contracts totaling One Hundred billion dollars in gold, when
there was only eleven billion in gold in the whole world, we had
about four billion. To keep from being hung by the American
public they obeyed the banksters demands and turned over our
country to them. They never came out and said we were in
bankruptcy but, the fact remains, we are. In 1933 the gold of
the whole country had to be turned in to the banksters, and all
government contracts in gold were canceled. This is bankruptcy.
"Mr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11. Members of
Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest
reorganization of any bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S.
government." Congressman Traficant on the House floor, March 17,
"1993"
The wealth of the nation including our land was turned over
to the banksters. In return, the nations 100 billion dollar debt
was forgiven.
I have two papers that have circulated the country on this
subject. Remember Jesus said "money is the root of all evil"
The Congress of 1933 sold every American into slavery to protect
their asses. Read the following Congressional quotes:
"I want to show you where the people are being imposed upon
by reason of the delegation of this tremendous power. I invite
your attention to the fact that section 16 of the Federal Reserve
Act provides that whenever the Government of the United States
issues and delivers money, Federal Reserve notes, which are based
on the credit of the Nation--they represent a mortgage upon your
home and my home, and upon all the property of all the people of
the Nation--to the Federal Reserve agent, an interest charge
shall be collected for the Government." Congressional Record,
Congressman Patman March 13, 1933
"That is the equity of what we are about to do. Yes; you
are going to close us down. Yes; you have already closed us
down, and have been doing it long before this year. Our
President says that for 3 years we have been on the way to
bankruptcy. We have been on the way to bankruptcy longer than 3
years. We have been on the way to bankruptcy ever since we began
to allow the financial mastery of this country gradually to get
into the hands of a little clique that has held it right up until
they would send us to the grave." Congressional Record,
Congressman Long March 11, 1933
What did Roosevelt do? Sealed our fate and our childrens
fate, but worst of all, he declared War on the American People,
remember the War Powers Act, the Trading with the enemy Act. He
declared emergency powers with his authority being the War Powers
Act, the Trading with the enemy Act. The problem is he redefined
who the enemy was, read the following: (remember what I said
about the SS# being a license to work)
"The declared National Emergency of March 9, 1933 amended
the War Powers Act to include the American People as enemies:
"In Title 1, Section 1 it says: The actions, regulations,
rules, licenses, orders and proclamations heretofore or hereafter
taken, promulgated, made, or issued by the President of the
United States or the Secretary of the Treasury since March 4,
1933, pursuant to the authority conferred by subdivision (b) of
section 5 of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended, are hereby
approved and confirmed."
"Section 2. Subdivision (b) of section 5 of the Act of
October 6, 1917, (40 Stat. L. 411), as amended, is hereby amended
to read as follows: emergency declared by the President, the
President may, through any agency that he may designate, or
otherwise, investigate, regulate, or prohibit, under such rules
and regulations as he may prescribe, by means of licenses or
otherwise, any transactions in foreign exchange, transfers of
credit between or payments by banking institutions as defined by
the President, and export, hoarding, melting, or earmarking of
gold or silver coin or bullion or currency, BY ANY PERSON WITHIN
THE UNITED STATES OR ANY PLACE SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION
THEREOF."
Here is the legal phrase subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, but at law this refers to alien enemy and also applies
to Fourteenth Amendment citizens:
"As these words are used in the first section of the
Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution, providing for
the citizenship of all persons born or naturalized in the United
States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, the purpose would
appear to have been to exclude by the fewest words (besides
children of members of the Indian tribes, standing in a peculiar
relation to the National Government, unknown to the common Law),
the two classes of cases, children born of *ALIEN
ENEMIES(emphasis mine), in hostile occupation, and children of
diplomatic representatives of a foreign state, both of which, by
the law of England and by our own law, from the time of the first
settlement of the English colonies in America, had been
recognized exceptions to the fundamental rule of citizenship by
birth within the country." United States v Wong Kim Ark, 169 US
649, 682, 42 L Ed 890, 902, 18 S Ct 456. Ballentine's Law
Dictionary
Congressman Beck had this to say about the War Powers Act:
"I think of all the damnable heresies that have ever been
suggested in connection with the Constitution, the doctrine of
emergency is the worst. It means that when Congress declares an
emergency there is no Constitution. This means its death....But
the Constitution of the United States, as a restraining influence
in keeping the federal government within the carefully prescribed
channels of power, is moribund, if not dead. We are witnessing
its death-agonies, for when this bill becomes a law, if unhappily
it becomes law, there is no longer any workable Constitution to
keep the Congress within the limits of its constitutional
powers." (Congressman James Beck in Congressional Record 1933)
The following are excerpts from the Senate Report, 93rd
Congress, November 19, 1973, Special Committee On The Termination
Of The National Emergency United States Senate. They were going
to terminate all emergency powers, but they found out they did
not have the power to do this so guess which one stayed in, the
Emergency Act of 1933, the Trading with the Enemy Act October 6,
1917 as amended in March 9, 1933.
"Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state
of declared national emergency....Under the powers delegated by
these statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and
control the means of production; seize commodities; assign
military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control
all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of
private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of
particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens."
"A majority of the people of the United States have lived
all of their lives under emergency rule. For 40 years, freedoms
and governmental procedures guaranteed by the Constitution have,
in varying degrees, been abridged by laws brought into force by
states of national emergency....from, at least, the Civil War in
important ways shaped the present phenomenon of a permanent state
of national emergency." Senate Report, 93rd Congress, November
19, 1973
You may be asking yourself is this the law, and if so where
is it, read the following:
In Title 12 U.S.C, in section 95b you'll find the following
codification of the Emergency War Powers:
"The actions, regulations, rules, licenses, orders and
proclamations heretofore or hereafter taken, promulgated, made,
or issued by the President of the United States or the Secretary
of the Treasury since March 4, 1933, pursuant to the authority
conferred by subsection (b) of section 5 of the Act of October 6,
1917, as amended (12 U.S.C., 95a), are hereby approved and
confirmed." (March 9, 1933, c. 1, Title 1, 1, 48 Stat. 1)
So you can further understand the word Alien Enemy and what
it means to be declared an enemy of this government, read the
following definitions:
The phrase Alien Enemy is defined in Bouvier's Law
Dictionary as: One who owes allegiance to the adverse
belligerent. 1 Kent 73.
He who owes a temporary but not a permanent allegiance is an
alien enemy in respect to acts done during such temporary
allegiance only; and when his allegiance terminates, his hostile
character terminates also; 1 B. & P. 163.
Alien enemies are said to have no rights, no privileges,
unless by the king's special favor, during time of war; 1 Bla.
Com. 372; Bynkershoek 195; 8 Term 166. [Remember we've been under
a declared state of war since October 6, 1917, as amended March
9, 1933 to include every United States citizen.]
"The phrase Alien Enemy is defined in Words and Phrases as:
Residence of person in territory of nation at war with United
States was sufficient to characterize him as "alien enemy" within
Trading with the Enemy Act, even if he had acquired and retained
American citizenship." Matarrese v. Matarrese, 59 A.2d 262, 265,
142 N.J. Eq. 226.
"Residence or doing business in a hostile territory is the
test of an "alien enemy: within meaning of Trading with the Enemy
Act and Executive Orders thereunder." Executive Order March 11,
1942, No. 9095, as amended, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix 6; Trading with
the Enemy Act 5 (b). In re Oneida Nat. Bank & Trust Co. of Utica,
53 N.Y.S. 2d. 416, 420, 421, 183 Misc. 374.
"By the modern phrase, a man who resides under the
allegiance and protection of a hostile state for commercial
purposes is to be considered to all civil purposes as much an
`alien enemy' as if he were born there." Hutchinson v. Brock, 11
Mass. 119, 122.
Am I done with the proof? Not quite, believe it or not it
gets worse. I have established that war has been declared
against the American people and their children. The American
people that voted for the 1933 government were responsible for
Congress' actions, because Congress was there in their proxy.
What is one of the actions taken against an enemy during time of
War. In the Constitution the Congress was granted the power
during the time of war to grant Letters of Marque. What is a
letter of Marque? Well, read the following:
A commission granted by the government to a private
individual, to take the property of a foreign state, as a
reparation for an injury committed by such state, its citizens or
subjects. The prizes so captured are divided between the owners
of the privateer, the captain, and the crew. Bouvier's Law
Dictionary 1914.
Think about the mission of the IRS, they are a private
organization, or their backup, the ATF. These groups have been
granted letters of Marque, read the following:
"The trading with the enemy Act, originally and as amended,
in strictly a war measure, and finds its sanction in the
provision empowering Congress "to declare war, grant letters of
Marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land
and water." Stoehr v. Wallace 255 U.S.
Under the Constitution the Power of the Government had its
checks and balances, power was divided between the three branches
of government. To do anything else means you no longer have a
Constitutional government. I'm not even talking about the
obvious which we have already covered, read the following:
"The Secretary of the Treasury and/or the Attorney General
may require, by means of regulations, rulings, instructions, or
otherwise, any person to keep a full record of, and to furnish
under oath, in the form of reports or otherwise, from time to
time and at any time or times, complete information relative to,
any transaction referred to in section 5 (b) of the Act of
October 6, 1917." Title 12 Banks and Banking page 570.
How about Clinton's new Executive Order of June 6, 1994
where the Alphabet agencies are granted their own power to obtain
money and the military if need be to protect themselves. These
are un-elected officials, sounds un-Constitutional to me, but
read on.
"The delegations of authority in this Order shall not affect
the authority of any agency or official pursuant to any other
delegation of presidential authority, presently in effect or
hereafter made, under section 5 (b) of the act of October 6,
1917, as amended (12 U.S.C. 95a)"
How can the President delegate to un-elected officials power
that he was elected to have, and declare that it cannot be taken
away, by the voters or the courts or Congress? I tell you how
under martial law, under the War Powers Act. The American public
is asleep and is unaware nor do they care about what is going on,
because it may interfere with their making money. I guess Thomas
Jefferson was right again:
"...And to preserve their independence, we must not let our
rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election
between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we
run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat and in
our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and
our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of
England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen
hours in the twenty-four, and give the earnings of fifteen of
these to the government for their debts and daily expenses; and
the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must
live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes; have not time to
think, no means of calling the mismanager's to account; but be
glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their
chains on the necks of our fellow sufferers..."
(Thomas Jefferson) THE MAKING OF AMERICA, p. 395
Submitted January 28
"Lloyd Bentsen, of Texas, to be U.S. Governor of the
International Monetary Fund for a term of 5 years; U.S. Governor
of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for
a term of 5 years; U.S. Governor of the Inter-American
Development Bank for a term of 5 years; U.S. Governor of the
African Development Bank for a term of 5 years; U.S. Governor of
the Asian Development Bank; U.S. Governor of African Development
Fund; and U.S. Governor of the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development." Presidential Documents, February 1, 1993.
At the same time, Bentsen was the Secretary of Treasury.
Gee I don't know, this sounds like a conflict of entrust to me,
how about you? Also the Congress is the only one under the
Constitution to be able to appropriate money.
"Without limitation as to any other powers or authority of
the Secretary of the Treasury or the Attorney General under any
other provision of this Order, the Secretary of the Treasury is
authorized and empowered to prescribe from time to time
regulations, rulings, and instructions to carry out the purposes
of this Order and to provide therein or otherwise the conditions
under which licenses may be granted by or through such officers
or agencies as the Secretary of the Treasury may designate, and
the decision of the Secretary with respect to the granting,
denial or other disposition of an application or license shall be
final." Section 7, Title 12 U.S.C. Banks and Banking
How about a few months ago when Secretary of Treasury Ruban
sent tons of money to Mexico, without Congress' approval. Do the
issues I have brought up sound like this is a Constitutional
government to you? I have not covered the main nexus, the money.
If you would like to read about this, read my other papers, The
History of Lawful Money and A Country Defeated In Victory.
Sheriff .... I am one man fighting a giant with a fly swatter
(the pen). If you are bold enough to jerk the flags with a
fringe on them out and put back the U. S. flag, just make sure
you protect you backside. Before you do this, make sure your
constituents in your county are made aware of this information.
Because if you do this you will find the whole U.S. government
against you and for sure they will cut off all money to your
county in the short term, and in the long term, do whatever is
necessary to remove you. I didn't make this information up, it
is the government's own documents and legal definitions taken
from their dictionaries. I wish the hard working Americans in
the government that are loyal to an American Republic could read
this, the more that know the truth the better.
James Franklin Montgomery
Footnote #12
"When the 39th Congress assembled on December 5, 1865, the
Senators and Representatives from the 25 northern States voted to
deny seats in both Houses of Congress to anyone elected from the
11 southern States. The full complement of Senators from the 36
States of the Union was 72, and the full membership in the House
was 240. Since it requires only a majority vote (see Article I,
Section 5, Constitution of the United States) to refuse a seat in
Congress, only the 50 Senators and 182 Congressmen from the North
were seated. All of the 22 Senators and 58 Representatives from
the southern States were denied seats."
"Joint Resolution No. 48, proposing the Fourteenth
Amendment, was a matter of great concern to the Congress and to
the people of the Nation. In order to have this proposed
Amendment submitted to the 36 States for ratification, it was
necessary that two thirds of each house concur. A count of noses
showed that only 33 Senators were favorable to the measure, and
33 was a far cry from two thirds of 72 and lacked one of being
two thirds of the 50 seated Senators."
"While it requires only a majority of votes to refuse a seat
to a Senator, it requires a two thirds majority to unseat a
member once he is seated. (see Article I, Section 5, Constitution
of the United States."
"One John P. Stockton was seated on December 5, 1865, as one
of the Senators from New Jersey. He was outspoken in his
opposition to Joint Resolution No. 48 proposing the Fourteenth
Amendment. The leadership in the Senate, not having control of
two ;thirds of the seated Senators, voted to refuse to seat Mr.
Stockton upon the ground that he had received only a plurality
and not a majority of the votes of the New Jersey legislature. It
was the law of New Jersey, and several other States, that a
plurality vote was sufficient for election. Besides, the Senator
had already been seated. Nevertheless, his seat was -refused- and
the 33 favorable votes thus became the required two thirds of the
49 members of the Senate."
"In the House of Representatives it would require 122 votes
to be two thirds of the 182 ;members seated. Only 120 voted for
the proposed Amendment, but because there were 30 abstentions it
was declared to have been passed by a two thirds vote of the
House." Dyett v. Turner 439 p2d 266 @ 269, 20 U2d 403
Footnote #13
James Franklin Montgomery
C/O 100 Bridlewood Rd.
High Point North Carolina state
District Attorney
RANDY LYON
County of Wilkes
State of North Carolina
ACCEPTANCE REFUSED FOR CAUSE, WITHOUT DISHONOR
To whom it may concern,
I James Franklin Montgomery, do hereby make this ACCEPTANCE
REFUSED FOR CAUSE , WITHOUT DISHONOR OF the Traffic Citation,
7587232-1.
CAUSE
1. My Declaration of separation as of January 1, 1993, (part of
which is contained in the attached document) was not disputed by
the UNITED STATES or any of its political subdivisions et al,
when presented to them, thereby denying any STATE of the UNION to
use its Mala Prohibita statutes to claim dominion over James
Franklin Montgomery James Franklin Montgomery is not one in
contract with the UNITED STATES or any of the STATES united in
UNION carrying the misnomer of JAMES FRANKLIN MONTGOMERY,
corporate fiction, which would then amount to crimes by all
parties in this action of forcible trespass, extortion, peonage,
involuntary servitude and other Title 18 and Title 42 crimes.
Any actions of any party mentioned above or others is now
considered forced peonage and involuntary servitude, which also
includes forced driving license, license or registration of any
kind of property that subverts a right by changing it into a
privilege and charging for it, which subjects those to Title 18
U.S.C. 1581, 1584 and 42 U.S.C. 1994 and other statutes of their
own making that they are bound by their oath to their
constitutions.
"...What is peonage? It may be defined as a status or condition
of compulsory service, based upon the indebtedness of the peon to
the master. The basal fact is indebtedness....Peonage is
sometimes classified as voluntary or involuntary, but this
implies simply a difference in the mode of origin, but none in
the character of the servitude. The one exists where the debtor
voluntarily contracts to enter the service of his creditor. The
other is forced upon the debtor by some provision of law."
Clyatt v. United States 197 U.S. Reports @ page 215
2. The First Constitutional Assembly, 7/25/1774, stated
sovereignty reverts to the individual people, also stated in the
North Carolina Constitution of 1776. James Franklin Montgomery
denies waiving this sovereignty as the Treaty signers had no
right to sell James Franklin Montgomery into peonage making him a
subject of the Crown or citizen of the united States through the
1787 Constitution/ compact/treaty.
In 1776 North Carolina state declared the inhabitants to be
freeman and;
12. "That no freeman ought to be taken, imprisoned, or disseized
of his freehold, liberties, or privileges, or outlawed or exiled,
or in any manner destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty or
property, but by the law of the land." Declaration of Rights
1776
44. "That the declaration of rights is hereby declared to be part
of the constitution of this state, and ought never to be violated
on any pretence whatsoever." North Carolina constitution 1776
In the following court case you will see, that in the Paris
Treaty of 1783, the king did not cede to the states or the United
States government Title for this land, he did grant sovereignty
to the states; and left finial determination of the inhabitants
up to the states. The kings Treaty of 1783 made the freeman
status of the inhabitants retroactive from 1776, declared by the
Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Rights of the
individual states. In 1787 the states sent representatives to
the Constitutional convention to ratify the new treaty between
the states, otherwise known as the Constitution of the United
States. Unknown to the inhabitants of the states several things
took place. The Treaty was an incorporation and created the
United States government; and incorporated the states creating
the State of....; the Treaty also incorporated the inhabitant.
No longer were they freeman, now they became citizens of the
United States. (The word of means belonging to, see Blacks Law
dictionary.)
"Being dissatisfied with the measures of the British Government,
they revolted from it, assumed the government into their own
hands, seized and took possession of all the estates of the King
of Great Britain and his subjects, appropriated them to their own
use, and defended their possessions against the claims of Great
Britain, during a long and bloody war, and finally obtained a
relinquishment of those claims by the treaty of Paris. But this
State had no title to the territory prior to the title of the
King of Great Britain and his subjects, nor did it ever claim as
lord paramount to them. This State was not the original grantor
to them, nor did they ever hold by any kind of tenure under the
State, or owe it any allegiance or other duties to which an
escheat is annexed. How then can it be said that the lands in
this case naturally result back by a kind of reversion to this
State, to a source from whence it never issued, and from tenants
who never held under it?....At the time of the revolution, and
before the Declaration of Independence, the collective body of
the people had neither right to nor possession of the territory
of this State; it is true some individuals had a right to, and
were in possession of certain portions of it, which they held
under grants from the King of Great Britain; but they did not
hold, nor did any of his subjects hold, under the collective body
of the people, who had no power to grant any part of it. After
the Declaration of Independence and the establishment of the
Constitution, the people may be said first to have taken
possession of this country, at least so much of it as was not
previously appropriated to individuals.....Therefore, whether the
State took by right of conquest or escheat, all the interest
which the U. K. had previous to the Declaration of Independence
still remained with them, on every principle of law and equity,
because they are purchasers for a valuable consideration, and
being in possession as cestui que trust under the statute for
transferring uses into possession; and citizens of this State, at
the time of the Declaration of Independence, and at the time of
making the declaration of rights, their interest is secured to
them beyond the reach of any Act of Assembly; neither can it be
affected by any principle arising from the doctrine of escheats,
supposing, what I do not admit, that the State took by escheat."
MARSHALL v. LOVELESS, 1 N.C. 412 (1801), 2 S.A. 70
The general assembly of North Carolina had no authority or
standing to change my legal status from sovereign to a corporate
fiction. Americans have been defrauded into believing they are
free, because they have freedom of movement within obvious
legislative boundaries; while unknown to them by their in-
corporation, they were again made subjects of the king. The
below quotes from the 1663 Carolina Charter reveal why the court
stated in Marshall v. Loveless that the corporate States and the
created corporation, United States did not have Title to this
land.
The king retained Title and interest through his original
Charters and managed to see that his Title and Grants/Charters
were preserved in the 1776 North Carolina constitution, read the
following.
"And provided further, that nothing herein contained shall affect
The titles or possessions of individuals holding or claiming
under The laws heretofore in force, or grants heretofore made by
the late king George II, or his predecessors, or the late lords
Proprietors, or any of them." Section 25, Declaration of Rights
1776, North Carolina constitution
"SAVING always, the Faith, Allegiance, and Sovereign Dominion due
to us, our heirs and Successors, for the same; and Saving also,
the right, title, and interest of all and every our Subjects of
the English Nation which are now Planted within the Limits bounds
aforesaid, if any be;..." The Carolina Charter, 1663
"KNOW YE, that We, of our further grace, certain knowledge, and
mere motion, HAVE thought fit to Erect the same Tract of Ground,
Country, and Island into a Province, and, out of the fullness of
our Royal power and Prerogative, WE Do, for us, our heirs and
Successors, Erect, Incorporate, and Ordain the same into a
province, and do call it the Province of CAROLINA, and so from
henceforth will have it called..." The Carolina Charter 1663
The below court cases make it clear your presence in the
corporate State of....creates legal residence and obligation to
the king.
"Headnote 5. Besides, the treaty of 1783 was declared by an
Act of Assembly of this State passed in 1787, to be law in this
State, and this State by adopting the Constitution of the United
States in 1789, declared the treaty to be the supreme law of the
land. The treaty now under consideration was made, on the part
of the United States, by a Congress composed of deputies from
each state, to whom were delegated by the articles of
confederation, expressly, "the sole and exclusive right and power
of entering into treaties and alliances"; and being ratified and
made by them, it became a complete national act, and the act and
law of every state....
"By an act of the Legislature of North Carolina, passed
in April, 1777, it was, among other things, enacted, "That all
persons, being subjects of this State, and now living therein, or
who shall hereafter come to live therein, who have traded
immediately to Great Britain or Ireland, within ten years last
past, in their own right, or acted as factors, storekeepers, or
agents here, or in any of the United States of America, for
merchants residing in Great Britain or Ireland, shall take an
oath of abjuration and allegiance, or depart out of the State."
Treaties are the "Law of the Land" HAMILTON v. EATEN, 1 N.C. 641
(1796), HAMILTON v. EATEN. Ä 2 Mart., 1. U.S. Circuit Court.
(June Term, 1796.)
"Our Legislature may define and punish crimes committed within
the State, whether by citizen or strangers; because the former
are supposed to have consented to all laws made by the
Legislature, and the latter, whether their residence be temporary
or permanent, do impliedly agree to yield obedience to all such
laws as long as they remain in the State;"
STATE v. KNIGHT, 1 N.C. 143 (1799), 2 S.A. 70
My January 1, 1993 declaration which noticed all relevant
parties, including the State of North Carolina, has stood
unchallenged from that time, I chose to depart from the
corporate State, thereby un-incorporating myself, rather than be
apart of a fraudulent system bent on self-destruction, and a
system which enslaves the inhabitants by peonage, using the tools
of debt, taxation and contract.. James Franklin Montgomery has
never intentionally, knowingly or voluntarily, contracted to
create a legal resident/fiction. Blackstone made it perfectly
clear in his commentaries how this court procedure takes place
under such conditions. This is why the first thing that is done
in court is the naming of the person/corporation, read the
following.
"A suit by or against a corporation in its corporate name may be
presumed to be a suit by or against citizens of the state which
created the corporate body, and no averment or denial to the
contrary is admissible for the purpose of withdrawing the suit
from the jurisdiction of a court of the United States.
There is the Roman fiction: The court first decides the law,
presumes all The members are citizens of the state which created
the Corporation, and then says, `you shall not traverse that
Presumption'; and that is the law now.....So that when a suit is
to be brought in a court of the United States by or against a
corporation, by reason of the character of the parties, you have
only to say that this corporation after naming it correctly was
created by a law of the state; and that is exactly the same in
its consequences as if you could allege, and did allege, that the
corporation was a citizen of that state.
Blackstone Commentaries Book III, pg 1553
PEONAGE BY FINANCIAL SERVITUDE
BANKRUPTCY
Congressman Lemke: "....This nation is bankrupt; every State in
this Union is bankrupt; the people of the United States, as a
whole, are bankrupt. The public and private debts of this
Nation, which are evidenced by bonds, mortgages, notes, or other
written instruments about to about $250,000,000,000, and it is
estimated that there is about $50,000,000,000 of which there is
no record, making in all about $300,000,000,000 of public and
private debts. The total physical cash value of all the property
in the United States is now estimated at about $70,000,000,000.
That is more than it would bring if sold at public auction. In
this we do not include debts or the evidence of debts, such as
bonds, mortgages, and so fourth. These are not physical
property. They will have to be paid out of the physical
property. How are we going to pay $300,000,000,000 with only
$70,000,000,000?" Congressional Record, March 3, 1934
Congressman Traficant said on the House floor, March 17,
1993 that:
"Mr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11. Members of
Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest
reorganization of any bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S.
government."
On March 10, 1933 President Roosevelt ordered that all
Americans had to turn in their Gold, which moved our gold assets
to the Bank of England, as part of the bankruptcy and new
extension of this Nations credit, through Federal Reserve notes
based on the all property of this Nation, and labor of every
American.
This was done by Presidential Executive Order, 6073 and the
subsequent Executive Orders, 6102, 6111 and 6260 [these
documents are still publicly attainable in any federal depository
library]
"I want to show you where the people are being imposed upon
by reason of the delegation of this tremendous power. I invite
your attention to the fact that section 16 of the Federal Reserve
Act provides that whenever the Government of the United States
issues and delivers money, Federal Reserve notes, which are based
on the credit of the Nation--they represent a mortgage upon your
home and my home, and upon all the property of all the people of
the Nation--to the Federal Reserve agent, an interest charge
shall be collected for the Government." Congressional Record,
Congressman Patman March 13, 1933
"The ultimate ownership of all property is in the state;
individual so-called `ownership' is only by virtue of government,
i.e., law, amounting to a mere user; and use must be in
accordance with law and subordinate to the necessities of the
State." Senate Document No. 43, "Contracts payable in Gold"
written in 1933.
The United States government and its sub-corporations,
States of.....are operating under color of law, under emergency
rule, outside of the United States constitution, as stated in the
following quote from the Senate. See also, Harvard Law Review,
insular cases.
"Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state of
declared national emergency....Under the powers delegated by
these statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and
control the means of production; seize commodities; assign
military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control
all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of
private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of
particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens."
"A majority of the people of the United States have lived
all of their lives under emergency rule. For 40 years, freedoms
and governmental procedures guaranteed by the Constitution have,
in varying degrees, been abridged by laws brought into force by
states of national emergency....from, at least, the Civil War in
important ways shaped the present phenomenon of a permanent state
of national emergency." Senate Report, 93rd Congress, November
19, 1973
The Bankruptcy of 1933 and the taxation which created social
obligation for every American is financial servitude, which is in
violation of United States law Title 18 U.S.C. 1581, 1584 and 42
U.S.C. 1994. The king has been using the American courts to
recover his loses. When in the district courts (admiralty
courts) the king is plaintiff, he comes against you in the body
of his corporations, State or federal. The money demanded from
his incorporated persons/corporations after they are correctly
named, is taxation without representation, a collection of the
kings debt. Therefore, all parties are not before the court
which denies procedural due process and notification of who the
true plaintiff is. The Officer is not the Plaintiff. The
Plaintiff has not made an affidavit of truth that James Franklin,
Montgomery has committed a crime or civil cause for the court to
gain jurisdiction. Our courts are based on the English courts
with few exceptions, the district and tax courts were called
courts of Exchequer.
Exchequer: "In English Law. A department of the government
which has the management of the collection of the king's
revenue." Bouvier's Law Dictionary 1914 ed.
The equity court of the exchequer: "57. The court of equity is
held in the exchequer chamber before the lord treasurer, the
chancellor of the exchequer, the chief baron, and three puisne'
ones. These Mr. Selden conjectures to have been anciently made
out of such as were barons of the kingdom, or parliamentary
barons; and thence to have derived their name: which conjecture
receives great strength form Bracton's explanation of magna
carta, c.14, which directs that the earls and barons be amerced
by their peers; that is, says he, by the barons of the exchequer.
The primary and original business of this court is to call the
king's debtors to account, by bill filed by the attorney general;
and to recover any lands, tenements, or hereitaments, any goods,
chattels, or other profits or benefits, belonging to the crown.
So that by their original constitution the jurisdiction of the
courts of common pleas, king's bench, and exchequer, was entirely
separate and distinct; the common pleas being intended to decide
all controversies between subject and subject; the king's bench
to correct all crimes and misdemeanors that amount to a breach of
the peace, the king being then the plaintiff, as such offenses
are in open derogation of the jura regalia (regal rights) of his
crown; and the exchequer to adjust [45] and recover his revenue,
wherein the king also is plaintiff, as the withholding and
nonpayment thereof is an injury to his jura fiscalia (fisical
rights). Black Stone Commentaries Book III, pg 1554
The Department of Motor Vehicles was put under the direction
and control of the Revenue Department by the Act of 1933, chapter
214 - S.B 238, thereby the primary concern is that of being
revenue collectors ...
"AN ACT TO TRANSFER THE STATE HIGHWAY PATROL FROM THE HIGHWAY
DEPARTMENT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE...."
"It is not contrary to justice that . . . America should
contribute towards the discharge of the public debt of Great
Britain. . . . a government to which several of the colonies of
America owe their present charters, and consequently their
present constitution; and to which all the colonies of America
owe the liberty, security, and property which they have ever
since enjoyed. That public debt has been contracted in the
defense, not of Great Britain alone, but of all the different
provinces of the empire; the immense debt contracted in the late
war in particular, and a great part of that contracted in the war
before, were both properly contracted in defense of America. . .
The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith, 1776
Purgatory Oath
"An oath by which a person purges or clears himself from
presumptions, charges or suspicions standing against him, or from
a contempt." Blacks Law Dictionary, 4th ed.
The Acceptance Refused for Cause, Without Dishonor is to be
considered my Purgatory Oath along with my previous January 1,
1993 declaration, which shows my consistent mind set and
conviction.
Refusal to dispute the above or silent acquiescence within a
ten day period from your receipt of this document will show a
fault and the court on its own recognizance will vitiate the
traffic citation. Failure to do this will be admissions that the
parties and the court is involved in forcible trespass on the
Case, extortion, via Highway Robbery and forced peonage and
involuntary servitude.
Mark Twain: "...To be loyal to rags, to shout for rags, to
worship rags, to die for rags--that is a loyalty of unreason; it
is pure animal; it belongs to monarchy; was invented by monarchy;
let monarchy keep it. I was from Connecticut, whose constitution
declared "That all political power is inherent in the people, and
all free governments are founded on their authority and
instituted for their benefit, and that they have at all times an
undeniable and indefensible right to alter their form of
government in such a manner as they think expedient." Under that
gospel, the citizen who thinks that the Commonwealth's political
clothes are worn out and yet holds his peace and does not agitate
for a new suit, is disloyal; he is a traitor. That he may be the
only one who thinks he sees this decay does not excuse him; it is
his duty to agitate, anyway, and it is the duty of others to vote
him down if they do not see the matter as he does."
Congressional Record, April 9, 1934
Year of Our Lord, April Twenty Fifth, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety
Seven.
James Franklin Montgomery
C/O 100 Bridlewood Rd..
High Point North Carolina
President of the United States,
The Executive Branch,
Congress of the United States,
Senate of the United States
January 1, 1993
Dear Sirs,
A long chain of events in the UNGODLY (federal) United
States government's policies, as evidenced by the statutory laws
it passes and agreements, treaties entered into with foreign
countries has prompted this letter. Evidence of the God this
government is subject to is in the laws it's representatives
promote and pass. The United States government no longer abides
by or adheres to God's Laws.1
Thereby changing the original intent of the Fore-Fathers,
which was to establish a government that would promote commerce,
at the same time protect the inalienable rights of the sovereign
Citizens of the several States and bind the hands of government.
While restricting the powers of government with laws based on the
English common law, which is based on Biblical Law.
The evidence is over whelming that our Fore-Fathers intended
this country's government to be based on biblical Laws.2....
....It was not the intention of the Fore-fathers to give
Congress the exclusive control of the territories, without being
in subjection to the Constitution. The words in the
fore-mentioned document have been twisted, obscured and maligned
by lawyers, judges, and the special interest of Congress where
applicable to the corporation, this is a conflict of interest,
which has made it possible for the abuse of power and fraud, past
and present.
Through undue influence and concealment you have created a
title of Nobility for the bankrupt corporation and it's Citizens
giving you unlimited resources to enforce this fraud, via
illiterate and duped citizen subjects who pay for their own
enslavement.
As a result of your concealment of information from the
American people and through your changing the meaning of the
Constitution of the United States, via lawyers, Supreme Court
Judges who make substantive decisions based on their special
interest and a executive branch controlled by foreign agents
(World Bank), you have enslaved the American people.
Citing 17 Am Jur 2d 501 on Contracts:
{151}. Fraud, misrepresentation, or imposition.
In regard to contracts made by parties affecting their
rights and interests. The general theory of the law is that
there must be full and free consent. It is said that if consent
is obtained by meditated imposition or that if consent is
obtained by meditated imposition or circumvention, it is to be
treated as a delusion, and not as a deliberate and free act of
the mind. Although the law will not generally inquire into men's
acts and contracts to determine whether they are wise and
prudent, yet it will not suffer them to be entrapped by the
fraudulent contrivances or cunning or deceitful management of
those who purposely mislead them. Fraud is material to a
contract where the contract would not have been made if the fraud
had not been perpetrated...
{152}. Inducing execution of contract by one not knowing its
contents.
According to the prevailing view, the general rule that
failure to read or have a contract read to a party thereto before
signing it precludes him from complaining about its contents does
not apply in the case of fraud or misrepresentation, as where he
is prevented from reading it or having it read to him by some
fraud, trick, artifice, or device by the other party. If a
person is ignorant of the contents of a written contract and
signs it under a mistaken belief, induced by misrepresentation,
that it is an instrument of a different character, without
negligence on his part, the agreement is void. This rule may be
brought into play by silence, as where it amounts to a
misrepresentation of what a person is asked to sign by failing to
speak when there is a duty to explain the contents of the
instrument. However, the decisions are not entirely in accord in
reference to the effect of a contract by which he has been
overreached. Thus, the question whether one who signs a contract
without reading it is so far concluded that he cannot set up that
his signature was induced by a fraudulent misrepresentation as to
its contents has received varying answers.
{153}. Duress, coercion, intimidation, or threats.
Freedom of will is essential to the validity of an
agreement. Where duress is exerted on one of the parties of such
a kind as to overcome his will and compel a formal assent to an
undertaking when he does not really agree to it, and so as to
make that appear to be his act which is not his, but another's
imposed on him through fear which deprives him of self-control,
the agreement is not binding unless the other deals with him in
good faith, in ignorance of the improper influence and in the
belief that the party coerced is not exercising his free will,
and the test is not so much the means by which the party is
compelled to execute the agreement as the state of mind induced..
Compulsion produced by threats may be sufficient to destroy
free agency and prevent the formation of a binding contract. To
invalidate an agreement, however, as a general rule a threat must
be of such a nature and made under such circumstances as to
constitute a reasonable and adequate cause to control the will...
{155}. Generally
...At no time in the history of the common law have
agreements in violation of law been allowed to stipulate for
iniquity. The law which prohibits the end will not lend its aid
in promoting the means designed to carry it into effect. It will
not promote in one form that which it declares wrong in another,
and hence contracts which bring about results which the law seeks
to prevent are unenforceable... It may therefore be said to be a
fundamental principle of the law of contracts that a contract
must have a lawful purpose or object, and that transactions in
violation of law cannot be made the foundation of a valid
contract.
The government by becoming a corporator, (See: 22 U.S.C.A.
286e) lays down its sovereignty and takes on that of a private
citizen. It can exercise no power which is not derived from the
corporate charter. (See: The Bank of the United States vs.
Planters Bank of Georgia, 6 L. Ed. (9 Wheat) 244, U.S. vs. Burr,
309 U.S. 242).
Such principles as "Fraud and Justice never dwell together"
Wingate's Maxims 680, and "A right of action cannot arise out of
fraud." Broom's Maxims 297, 729; 38 Fed. 800.
The present operation of the "de facto" government is under
Foreign and Alien Constitutions, Laws, Rules and Regulations.
Through treaties and agreements (The U.N. Charter and G.A.T.T.
and others) the United States has forfeited its Sovereignty and
the Sovereignty of the States, making the United States citizen
subject to a foreign Power. Since the implementation of these
treaties and agreements, entered into as a result of the
privilege of borrowing money from the World Bank, to continue the
operation of the bankrupt United States government, the United
States has been enlisted in collecting the debt for the World
Bank. This debt has been drastically increased by the use of
fiat money which has no substance, because there is no gold or
silver to back the Federal Reserve Notes. This unlawful money
has caused thousands of bankruptcies and repossessions,
fraudulently perpetrated by the government of the United States
and the World Bank. Since 1933 congress and the other
representatives have committed high treason against the people
they are sworn to protect. Congress and the Executive branch
have sold out the American people for (thirty pieces of silver)
the furtherance of the corporation.
Congress and the executive branch have willfully and
purposely auctioned off the assets of the American people. The
selling off of America's assets was made possible by the
President, in Executive Order 12803 of April 30, 1992, entitled
Infrastructure Privatization. In the Executive Order you have
defined the title of this treasonous act, which has been done as
a result of the fraud you the government (representatives) have
perpetuated.
In section 1. (a) it says "Privatization" means the
disposition or transfer of an infrastructure asset, such as by
sale or by long-term lease, from a State or local government to a
private party.
In sub-paragraph (b) the Infrastructure Assets are defined.
Obviously the usury the World Bank has been receiving from the
American people (unconscionable citizen subjects) is not enough,
now the World Bank is foreclosing on the United States and wants
the land and the assets to pay the national debt.
Here is the definition of sub-paragraph (b)
"Infrastructure asset" means any asset financed in whole or
in part by the Federal Government and needed for the functioning
of the economy. Examples of such assets include, but are not
limited to: roads, tunnels, bridges, electricity supply
facilities, mass transit, rail transportation, airports, ports,
waterways, water supply facilities, recycling and wastewater
treatment facilities, solid waste disposal facilities, housing,
schools, prisons, and hospitals."
Through the ignorant volunteered compliance of the American
people, as a result of the deceit and fraud of the United States
government (representatives) you have enslaved the American
people. The corporation created this debt through mis-management
and deceit, the corporation (representatives) should be
responsible for this debt and it's actions. Instead it involves
the American people through deceit, trickery, duress, withheld
information and coercion so the corporation (United States) can
continue it's operation which, defrauds the American people in
the most treasonous and treacherous way ever recorded in history.
The Treasury Delegation Order No. 92 states that the I.R.S.
is trained under direction of the Division of "Human Resources"
(U.N.) and the Commissioner (International), by the "office of
personnel Management."
In the 1979 Edition of 22 U.S.C.A. 287, the United Nations,
at pg. 248, you will find Executive order No. 10422. The Office
of personnel Management is under direction of the Secretary
General of the United Nations.
The I.R.S. is also a member in a one hundred fifty nation
pact called the "International Criminal Police Organization",
found at 22 U.S.C.A. 263a.
The "Memorandum & Agreement" between the Secretary of
Treasury/Corporate Governor of "The Fund" and "The Bank" and the
office of the U.S. Attorney General would indicate that the
Attorney General and his associates are soliciting and collecting
information for Foreign Principals. The offices of Secretary of
State, Secretary of Treasury and the Attorney General whereby the
whole of the government has been compromised and the trust of the
United States citizens violated.
As Robert Bork said "we are governed not by law or elected
representatives but by an unelected, unrepresentative,
unaccountable committee of lawyers applying no will but their
own."
Because of the bankruptcy of the United States and
international contracts and or agreements interred into, the
common law was replaced by the Uniform Commercial Code and or
admiralty jurisdiction otherwise known as statutory jurisdiction.
This treasonous act has taken place for the sake of commerce and
in order to do so common law had to be rendered to no effect or
at least extremely hard to obtain in Federal Court. The
bankruptcy of the United States caused through compelled
performance, the following case.
"There is no Federal Common Law, and Congress has no power
to declare substantive rules of common law applicable in a State,
whether they be local or general in their nature, be they
commercial law or a part of the law or torts." (See: Erie
Railroad Co. vs Tomkins, 304 U.S. 64, 82 L.Ed 1188)
The fifty States are now federal states by treaties and
covenants (U.N. treaty & G.A.T.T. and other agreements) making
the federal states and their citizens (tort feasor's) subject to
the World Bank. The people of America are being drained of their
wealth via I.M.F and the I.R.S. to repay the Bank's usury.
The following are excerpts from the INTERNATIONAL COVENANT
ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS.102d Congress 2d Session, Exec.
Rept. 102-23 January 30,1992
The Covenant states expressly that obligations undertaken by
the Parties extend to all parts of federal states "without
limitations or exceptions." (See: page six #5 obligations of
Federal States I.C.C.P.R. January 30, 1992).
The Constitution of the United States no longer exists as a
working document due to the bankrupt de facto corporation, and as
a result of treaties and covenants made with foreign entities, as
a result of accepted privileges by the United States government
and the States.
The fifty States are no longer Sovereign individual
Jurisdictions subject to God Almighty.10
In 1934 the States became sureties for the bankrupt United
States. After the United States joined the United Nations in
1945 the fifty States became federal states belonging to the one
world government, it's citizens are slaves and valuable only as
long as they can produce labor and products for sale on the world
market.
During the negotiation of the Covenant, the "federal state"
issue assumed some importance because there were legally
justified practices, at the State and local level, which were
both manifestly inconsistent with the Covenant and beyond the
reach of Federal authority under the law in force at that time;
that is no longer the case. (See: page 18 I.C.C.P.R.)
The proposed understanding is similarly intended to signal
to our treaty partners that the U.S. will implement its
obligations under the Covenant by appropriate legislative,
executive and judicial means, federal or state as appropriate,
and that the Federal Government will remove any federal
inhibition to the States' abilities to meet their obligations.
(See: page 18 I.C.C.P.R.)
Nothing in this Covenant requires or authorizes legislation,
or other action, by the United States of America prohibited by
the Constitution of the United States as interpreted by the
United
States. (See: page 24 I.C.C.P.R.)
You have committed high treason against America's people and
thought to elevate yourselves above God Almighty. Through lies
and false information, coercion and duress you have enslaved a
free people, through despotism and for the love of money you have
changed the laws to support your usury and corruption. You have
broken the covenant entered into with the American people. You
have entered into covenants with foreign agents and governments
making you unable through these compromising covenants to protect
the American Citizens freedom and property.
I do not wish to be a party to the fraud perpetrated by the
United States, so I hereby give notice with accompanying
affidavit of the removal of all unqualified signatures and power
of attorney. Thereby removing my signature from all papers,
instruments and chattels implying oblation to the nations debt
created by the fraud of the United States corporation. The
violation of God's Laws and the elimination of the common law,
adhered to and established as the law of the land by the
Fore-Fathers leaves no right or recourse in the federal courts
and or federal state courts. Thereby freeing this informed
citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven of any obligation and or torts
as a result of tacit admissions implying obligation or
responsibility, voluntary or involuntary contracts made with the
defunct government of the United States, thereby relieving me
from any obligation from said government.
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[10] Luke 4:8
And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!
For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him
only you shall serve.
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As practiced by the Senate and Congress of the United
States, I James Franklin Montgomery reserve the right to revise
and extend any and all remarks made in this document of
declaration.
I James Franklin Montgomery declare under penalty of perjury
under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing
declaration of status is true and correct.
James Franklin Montgomery Date
Sui Juris, Jure Divino, Jura Sanguinis
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven
CC: Secretary of State
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Attorney General
Members of the House
Members of the Senate
Secretary of Treasury
Chairman of Banking Committee
Secretary of Commerce
REMOVAL OF UNQUALIFIED SIGNATURES AND POWER OF ATTORNEY
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
I, James Franklin Montgomery, with my presence being in
Guilford County, North Carolina state, but not of the corporate
body politic of either, and being born into the American Republic
and not in the District of Columbia or any of its territories.
I, hereby remove any unqualified signature and power of attorney
on the following documents, but not limited to my birth
certificate and my application for a social security number for
the following reasons listed below, and any and all documents of
incorporation implying 14th Amendment citizenship.
1. Having been made a ward of the State and federal
government without my permission, because of my parents being
mislead into obtaining a birth certificate for there son.
2. Having been mislead as a teenager by persons of
authority, government agencies, public school teachers,
government sponsored adds and IRS instructed tax paying
businesses, who said adamantly that I had to have a social
security number to work. I then obtained a social security
number so I could work, with out any knowledge of the fact that
this made me a contributor of the national debt and equally
responsible for its repayment.
Now of my own right and not under any legal disability, or
the power of another, or guardianship, I do hereby remove, all
unqualified signatures on any instruments and any express or
implied power of attorney therewith. In fact or assumption,
signed either by me or anyone acting as my agent, or legal
guardian, or unsigned, as it pertains to documents implying 14th
Amendment citizenship, which were created by the United States
government acting in its questionable insular capacity. Due to
the use of various elements of fraud and misrepresentation,
duress, coercion, mistake, bankruptcy, by said agencies/entities,
I hereby cancel, repudiate and refuse to accept any benefit,
franchises and or privileges attached to the above mentioned
socialist agreements, but not limited to the birth certificate
and social security number.
I make void for lack of good faith and notice on the part of
the United States government, any and all unqualified signatures
implying 14th Amendment citizenship.
I, James Franklin Montgomery, do hereby remove, annul,
withdraw, abrogate, recant, negate, delete, nullify, expunge,
cancel, repudiate, disavow, renounce, and relinquish all
unqualified signatures and powers of attorney, in fact or
assumption, with or without my consent and of knowledge, as it
pertains to all property, real or personal, obtained in the past,
present or future. I am the sole and absolute possessor/owner and
possess absolute unqualified full right and allodial title to any
and all such property. I have no effectively connected business
within the United States government, nor do I practice interstate
commerce between the United States government and any federal
state including the State of North Carolina "Body Politic"
corporation.
This instrument replaces, cancels, repudiates the prior
instruments that are filed with the United States Government and
any and all other governmental entities anywhere which may
execute on said prior instrument(s), and this document shall
become a permanent part of the records of the United States
government and the State of North Carolina principles.
As practiced by the Senate and Congress of the United
States, I James Franklin Montgomery reserve the right to revise
and extend any and all remarks made in this document of Removal
of unqualified signatures and power of attorney.
I, James Franklin Montgomery declare under penalty of
perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the
foregoing document is true and correct.
James Franklin Montgomery
Jure Divino, Jura Sanguinis,
Sui Juris
The parties below are noticed by Carbon Copy, notice to the agent
is notice to the principle:
CC: Nicholas Lyell, Atty. Gen, Great Britain
Governor/Council of State, Jim Hunt
State Patrol/Revenue, Officer Speas
Clerk of Court, County of Wilkes
Footnote #13b
James Franklin Montgomery
C/O 100 Bridlewood Rd.
High Point North Carolina state
District Attorney
NOTICE OF DEFAULT
RANDY LYON
AND
County of Wilkes
TACIT PROCURATION
State of North Carolina
District Attorney-Randy Lyon,
You were given 10 days and a additional 10 days grace to
answer my claims and to challenge my understanding of the law.
Your inaction constitutes a legal default and is fatal error.
The ticket was an enticement by the officer for me to appear and
demur to the fraud. James Franklin Montgomery cannot be faulted
for not appearing on an unsworn complaint by a revenue agent who
is not the real party in interest, proven by your default?
"Default a failure to discharge a duty, to one's own
disadvantage; anything wrongful--some omission to do
that which ought to have been done by one of the
parties." 90 N.Y.S. 589, 590.
"The term is most often used to describe the
occurrence of an event which cuts short the rights or
remedies of one of the parties to an agreement or a
legal dispute." Barrons's Law Dictionary, third
edition.
Your silence is tacit admission to the fraud exposed in my
notarized refusal to the Traffic Citation, 7587232-1.
"Silence can only be equated with fraud when there is a
legal and moral duty to speak or when and inquiry left
unanswered would be intentionally misleading." United
States v. Tweel 550 F.2d 297, 299-300 (1947)
TACIT PROCURATION
Q. 1. Does the flag that hangs in the court room with the yellow
fringe bordering three sides represent a Constitutional Title 4
flag?
A. No.
Q. 2. Does the un-Constitutional flag with its yellow fringe
represent Admiralty law having come on land through commerce and
the collection of revenue for the king of England, via his cestui
que trust?
A. Yes.
Q. 3. Will Admiralty law be applied since there is no injured
party and the fine is the collection of revenue, since the
Department of Motor Vehicles was put under the Revenue Department
by the Act of 1933, Chapter 214 - S.B 238?
A. Yes.
Q.4 Are the district courts Admiralty courts as declared by the
Judiciary Act of 1789?
A. Yes.
Q. 5. Can the State produce the contract which shows I have
joined your Admiralty proceeding, thereby waiving with knowledge
and forethought my freeman status granted to me by the North
Carolina state in 1776, under the Declaration of Rights?
A. No.
Q. 6. Were the American people ever notified of the bankruptcy of
the United States, and by the continuation of the governments
fraud that the government of the United States became a de facto
government?
A. No.
Q. 7. Do the fines/taxes attached with violating Chapter 20 of
the Motor Vehicle Code constitute peonage, in violation of Title
18 U.S.C. 1581, 1584 and 42 U.S.C. 1994, absent a contract?
A. Yes.
Q. 8. Does your involvement in placing me under peonage violate
your sworn oath to support and defend the Constitution of the
United States and the laws thereof?
A. Yes.
Q. 9. Do you understand your action makes you liable with set
penalties under Title 18 U.S.C. 1581, 1584 and 42 U.S.C. 1994?
A. Yes.
Q. 10. Do you understand that your knowledge of the courts
admiralty jurisdiction and your refusal to inform me of this
jurisdiction and its rules, constitutes fraud and a breach of
your fiduciary trust that you have under Oath and Bond?
A. Yes
Q. 11. Is the State of North Carolina obligated to inform those
that live in North Carolina state and the State of North
Carolina, that the king of England never sold/transferred his
Title to the State of North Carolina or any of the States in
Union and that the king of England's ownership still stands,
making us tenants on his land?
A. Yes.
Q. 12. Is the State of North Carolina obligated to inform those
that live in North Carolina state and the State of North Carolina
that by the incorporation of North Carolina and the United
States, the inhabitants of North Carolina were made
subjects/citizens forever subject to the king's taxes by his
early charter/s and treaties since made?
A. Yes.
Q. 13. Did the general Assembly of 1787 violate the 1776
Declaration of Rights and the 1776 North Carolina Constitution,
by ratifying the treaty between the states making its inhabitants
incorporated legal residents, taxable subjects of the
king/citizens of the United States?
A. Yes.
Q. 14. Do I have the right to face my accuser, the true
plaintiff, the king not the cestui que trust, of which you and
all government representatives are fiduciaries of this trust,
making you not the true plaintiff?
A. Yes.
Q. 15. Are you obligated to inform me that by your naming the
corporate fiction, the Nom de Querre (WAR NAME) and corporate
fiction, JAMES F. MONTGOMERY in open court, and by affirmative
answer confirms the corporate fiction, the legal presumption of
incorporation can then no longer be challenged?
A. Yes.
Q. 16. Is the United States government and the State of North
Carolina obligated to tell the American people that the
Constitution for the United States as a restrictive document on
the corporation it created, has been suspended by the declaration
of war of March 9, 1933, 48 statute 1, declared on the American
people?
A. Yes.
Q. 17. Is the United States government and the State of North
Carolina obligated to tell the American people that the
Fourteenth Amendment substantially changed the Constitution of
the United States, declaring its citizens could no longer
challenge the public debt, which is forced peonage in violation
of Title 18 USC 1581, 1584 and 42 USC 1994?
A. Yes.
Q. 18. Is the United States government and the State of North
Carolina obligated to tell the American people that under the
Fourteenth Amendment sec. 3, judges could not grant relief to
those declared enemies under a declared War?
A. Yes.
Q. 19. Are you aware that since the declared War on the American
people, as enemies they are required to obtain a license for any
government created benefit they may profit from, so they can be
taxed, even though this is fraud because of the bankruptcy and
the unlawful fiat money that creates perpetual debt, which again
is peonage?
A. Yes.
Q. 20. Has the real party in interest filed a sworn statement
under penalties of perjury, showing a damage caused by James
Franklin Montgomery that has been filed as a complaint before a
competent tribunal can claim venue and jurisdiction over the
perceived subject matter?
A. No.
Q. 21. Do you now understand from the above questions and
documentation provided that to continue the action against James
Franklin Montgomery is a continuation of the fraud of the United
States and the State of North Carolina by forced peonage, and
that because of your fiduciary status and that of the judge, you
have no Judaical immunity?
A. Yes.
James Franklin Montgomery
Jure Divino, Jura Sanguinis,
Sui Juris
The parties below are noticed by Carbon Copy, notice to the agent
is notice to the principle:
CC: Nicholas Lyell, Atty. Gen, Great Britain
Governor/Council of State, Jim Hunt
State Patrol/Revenue, Officer Speas
Clerk of Court, County of Wilkes
Footnote #13c
James Franklin Montgomery
C\O 100 Bridlewood Rd.
High Point North Carolina
August 4, 1997
Dear Judge Michael E. Helms,
I have made attempts (en# 1, 1a) to notice the court as to
my status, meaning, a lack of voluntary contractual nexus between
James Franklin Montgomery and the state of North Carolina. I have
attempted to discover, by posing questions to the court, in
regards to status and contract; to find if a involuntary nexus
does in fact exist between James Franklin Montgomery and the
state of North Carolina.
I am not raising these issues in order to defeat a fine. I
have been doing this research since 1988.
I find myself in a difficult position. As a former U. S.
Marine, I swore an oath to support and defend my country and it's
Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. I have
discovered a foreign enemy has waged a silent war from within our
borders. Because of my oath and moral obligation as a Christian,
I am obligated to inform the American people, which I have done.
Listed below are the source materials I have written which
speak to the issues covered in this letter. These papers were
written in the following order. "The History Of Lawful Gold And
Silver", "A Country Defeated In Victory" Parts 1 + 2, these
papers are located on BBS's around the country, including my BBS
called Knowledge Is Freedom, 1-910-869-1945, and they are also
located on the internet. The latest research paper is called
"The United States Is Still A British Colony" Parts 1 + 2, It can
also be found on BBS's around the country, it can also be found
at, http://users.aol.com/dritus/apn.htm.
I am going to cover a few issues that are responsible for my
stance, and God forbid, what appears to be my self-destruction in
order to honor my oath and moral obligation as a Christian. I
leave it to the American people after they know the facts, to
vote me down as stated by Mark Twain.
Mark Twain: "You see, my kind of loyalty was loyalty to
one's country, not to institutions or its officeholders. The
country is the real thing; it is the thing to watch over and care
for and be loyal to; institutions extraneous, they are its mere
clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be
comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and
death. To be loyal to rags, to shout for rags, to worship rags,
to die for rags--that is a loyalty of unreason; it is pure
animal; it belongs to monarchy; was invented by monarchy; let
monarchy keep it. I was from Connecticut, whose constitution
declared "That all political power is inherent in the people, and
all free governments are founded on their authority and
instituted for their benefit, and that they have at all times an
undeniable and indefensible right to alter their form of
government in such a manner as they think expedient." Under that
gospel, the citizen who thinks that the Commonwealth's political
clothes are worn out and yet holds his peace and does not agitate
for a new suit, is disloyal; he is a traitor. That he may be the
only one who thinks he sees this decay does not excuse him; it is
his duty to agitate, anyway, and it is the duty of others to vote
him down if they do not see the matter as he does."
Congressional Record, April 9, 1934
The first issue is, Thomas Jefferson did not want the United
States Bank with foreign ownership to be allowed to incorporate
in this country, because it would violate the law of Mortmain
(en# 2). Meaning our land would be placed in dead hands. This
is the case today. Because of Thomas Jefferson's claim to the
law of Mortmain, he understood himself to be a freeman and
sovereign, equal to the king of England, who made the law of
mortmain for himself, a sovereign. Thomas Jefferson believed
his sovereignty came from the Declaration of Independence.
However, in the court decision Trustees, Davidson College v.
Chambers' Executors, 56 N.C. 253 (1857), the court says:
"I have hereinbefore referred to the opinion of Chancellor
KENT, that none of these statutes of Mortmain had been adopted in
any State of the Union except Pennsylvania. I think I may safely
assert that not one of them has ever been in force in North
Carolina. I do not find in our reports any existence here."
Question #1: Was Thomas Jefferson right, saying the
incorporation of the United States Bank was against the law of
Mortmain, thereby declaring Americans had right to use the law of
Mortmain to stop the Banks incorporation, and since we had the
power to use the law of Mortmain we as freeman were equal to the
King in sovereignty?
Question #2: If you answer no, does that mean that Thomas
Jefferson, the greatest legal mind of our young country, who
spoke five languages and learned the Nordic language so he could
better understand the origin of our laws, was confused or
ignorant of our law and the issues of sovereignty?
In 1845 Congress passed the Act of 1845 allowing admiralty
law to come on land in violation of hundreds of years of stare
decisis and the Magna Charta and also early American law. This
began what is known as the Insular cases: See: Langdell, 'The
Status of our New Territories', 12 Harv.L.Rev. 365, 371; see also
Thayer, 'Our New Possessions', 12 Harv.L.Rev. 464; Thayer, 'The
Insular Tariff Cases in the Supreme Court', 15 Harv.L.Rev. 164;
Littlefield, 'The Insular Cases', 15 Harv.L.Rev. 169, 281.
The dissenting opinion in Downes v. Bidwell leaves no doubt
that the United States Constitution was being abandoned to
promote the kings commerce.
"The idea prevails with some indeed, it found expression in
arguments at the bar that we have in this country substantially
or practically two national governments; one to be maintained
under the Constitution, with all its restrictions; the other to
be maintained by Congress outside and independently of that
instrument, by exercising such powers as other nations of the
earth are accustomed to exercise."
"I take leave to say that if the principles thus announced
should ever receive the sanction of a majority of this court, a
radical and mischievous change in our system of government will
be the result. We will, in that event, pass from the era of
constitutional liberty guarded and protected by a written
constitution into an era of legislative absolutism."
"It will be an evil day for American liberty if the theory
of a government outside of the supreme law of the land finds
lodgment in our constitutional jurisprudence. No higher duty
rests upon this court than to exert its full authority to prevent
all violation of the principles of the constitution." Downes vs
Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901)
Question #3: What obligation do judges have to obey their
oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution, and was your
oath to the 1787 U.S. de jure Constitution or the 1870 U.S. de
facto Constitution, post Civil War and Fourteenth Amendment?
The Civil War brought about the conquest of the south and
also the U.S. de jure government. Under International law which
was codified by Lincoln (en# 2), the occupying army can change
the existing laws of the de jure government, and replace all or
part of them with the occupying armies laws by establishing a de
facto government. See: Macleod v. U.S, 229 U.S. 416 1913,
Fleming v. Page, 50 U.S. 603 1850, The Diamond Rings, 183 U.S.
176 1901, Dooley v. U.S., 182 U.S. 222 1901, 294 U.S. 330 1935,
General Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863.
If you will remember your history, the Fourteenth Amendment
was passed and imposed by force on the southern states. The de
facto government's occupation of America as a result of conquest
and the imposition of this Amendment has not changed since that
time. The government became de facto because President Lincoln
declared war and ruled the government by executive order and
without a lawful Congress for six months. The military occupation
was confirmed by their imposing the Fourteenth Amendment on the
southern states, and its adoption by the northern states out of
ignorance.
The Fourteenth Amendment created citizenship into the de
facto government. It disallows its citizens to question the
national debt in section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which is
financial servitude, it also makes the citizen a legal resident.
The conquered southern states became territories of the United
States, until the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified by the
states, however, the war powers were never ended.
".....This order of a military officer, asserting, in
effect, his right to annul such of our laws as he may deem
unwise, is suspended by order of the President. This arbitrary
step is scarcely arrested, when a measure is proposed by
Congress, looking to the sanction of this military supremacy over
our laws.
In the midst of the progress of these events we are
astounded by a proposition, originated by North Carolinians, and
brought before Congress under auspices calculated to alarm us,
that North Carolina, one of the original thirteen, is no longer a
State, but a territory of the United States." Inaugural Address,
Governor of North Carolina, William Woods Holden 1868
Sec. 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment makes it against the law
for a judge or legislator to give aid to the enemy.
Question #4: Is this why when faced with a de jure
Constitutional argument a judge will threaten the party bringing
it with contempt, because it would violate the public policy
under the courts admiralty powers granted by the de facto
government?
The military occupation and declared emergency are still in
effect, all Americans have been declared enemies of the de facto
government, in order to exact taxes from them to pay the debt
created by Congress. This fact cannot be challenged, denied or
rebuffed by you or Congress, it is a fact.
"Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state
of declared national emergency....Under the powers delegated by
these statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and
control the means of production; seize commodities; assign
military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control
all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of
private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of
particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens."
"A majority of the people of the United States have lived
all of their lives under emergency rule. For 40 years, freedoms
and governmental procedures guaranteed by the Constitution have,
in varying degrees, been abridged by laws brought into force by
states of national emergency....from, at least, the Civil War in
important ways shaped the present phenomenon of a permanent state
of national emergency." Senate Report, 93rd Congress, November
19, 1973
When a permanent state of national emergency exists the
Constitution is suspended and I put to you a dead letter as to
its purpose for creation, which was to restrict the de jure
government from doing just what I am informing you of now. By
military occupation all Americans have been declared enemies.
You will see in the following quote you do not have to have the
military visible in the streets for military occupation or
military martial law to exist.
'But there is another description of government, called also
by publicists a government de facto, but which might, perhaps, be
more aptly denominated a government of paramount force. Its
distinguishing characteristics are (1) that its existence is
maintained by active military power within the territories, and
against the rightful authority of an established and lawful
government; and (2) that while it exists it must necessarily be
[229 U.S. 416, 429] obeyed in civil matters by private citizens
who, by acts of obedience rendered in submission to such force,
do not become responsible, as wrongdoers, for those acts, though
not warranted by the laws of the rightful government. Actual
governments of this sort are established over districts differing
greatly in extent and conditions. They are usually administered
directly by military authority, but they may be administered,
also, by civil authority, supported more or less directly by
military force.' Thornington v. Smith, 8 Wall. 1, 9, 19 L. ed.
361, 363. Macleod v. U.S, 229 U.S. 416 1913
Question #5: In light of this information, by enforcing by
compelled performance involuntary contracts which cause
involuntary servitude on unaware Americans, why are you not in
violation of your oath of office to support and defend the
Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and
domestic?
Also in the above case private citizens cannot be held as
wrong doers for obeying the de facto governments laws and then
made tort feasors. I am not responsible for the use of fiat
money and the obligation of the debt created by the bankruptcy of
the United States and the national emergency declared as a
result. I object to the use of fiat military script and my being
held as a tort feasor for obtaining a social security number
under duress and coercion at the age of 12. I was not informed
that a legal contribution made you a joint tort feasor, see
Blacks Law Dictionary, nor was I old enough to enter into a
contract of any kind, much less one which enforces admiralty
compelled performance.
Question #6: Is the de facto government in violation of
international law and treaties, by coercing those declared to be
enemies, to enslave themselves by requiring them to obtain a
Social Security number, making them under legal definition a tort
feasor?
Question #7: Is the de facto government in violation of
international law, by creating a national debt, and making it
unlawful to challenge the debt created by Congress, which is
forced peonage, financial slavery?
March 9, 1933 President Roosevelt declared a national
emergency with his authority being the War Powers Act of October
6, 1917, as amended by his hand to include all Americans.
"In Title 1, Section 1 it says: The actions, regulations,
rules, licenses, orders and proclamations heretofore or hereafter
taken, promulgated, made, or issued by the President of the
United States or the Secretary of the Treasury since March 4,
1933, pursuant to the authority conferred by subdivision (b) of
section 5 of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended, are hereby
approved and confirmed."
"Section 2. Subdivision (b) of section 5 of the Act of
October 6, 1917, (40 Stat. L. 411), as amended, is hereby amended
to read as follows: emergency declared by the President, the
President may, through any agency that he may designate, or
otherwise, investigate, regulate, or prohibit, under such rules
and regulations as he may prescribe, by means of licenses or
otherwise, any transactions in foreign exchange, transfers of
credit between or payments by banking institutions as defined by
the President, and export, hoarding, melting, or earmarking of
gold or silver coin or bullion or currency, BY ANY PERSON WITHIN
THE UNITED STATES OR ANY PLACE SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION
THEREOF."
Question #8: I hold my sincere held beliefs because of
history and the governments own documents, can you challenge them
and show me that I am incorrect?
At the same time, Constitutional money was suspended and
fiat money was put in place as legal tender. This is military
script and comes under International Law, along with the taxes
that have been collected to pay your salary and the State
patrolman's salary.
"While it is held to be the right of a conqueror to levy
contributions upon the enemy in their seaports, towns, or
provinces which may be in his military possession by conquest,
and to apply the proceeds to defray the expenses of the war, this
right is to be exercised within such limitations that it may not
savor of confiscation. As the result of military occupation, the
taxes and duties payable by the inhabitants to the former
government become payable to the military occupant, unless he
sees fit to substitute for them other rates or modes of
contributions to the expenses of the government. The moneys so
collected are to be used for the purpose of paying the expenses
of government under the military occupation, such as the salaries
of the judges and the police, and for the payment of the expenses
of the army.'" Macleod v. U.S, 229 U.S. 416 1913
Art. 10. "Martial Law affects chiefly the police and
collection of public revenue and taxes, whether imposed by the
expelled government or by the invader, and refers mainly to the
support and efficiency of the army, its safety, and the safety of
its operations." Gen. Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24
April 1863
Art. 39. "The salaries of civil officers of the hostile
government who remain in the invaded territory, and continue the
work of their office, and can continue it according to the
circumstances arising out of the war - such as judges,
administrative or police officers, officers of city or
communal governments - are paid from the public revenue of the
invaded territory, until the military government has reason
wholly or partially to discontinue it. Salaries or incomes
connected with purely honorary titles are always stopped." Gen.
Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863
Question #9: Since you are the trier of fact and you rely on
the imposition of fines for your salary, why is this not a
conflict of interest and create bias and prejudice by the court?
I now come to the final issue. The flag in every court room
has a yellow fringe boarding three sides. This flag is in strict
violation of Title 4 sec. 1. U.S.C, which is a flag of peace.
"The flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal
stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall
be forty-eight stars, white in a blue field."
A foot note was added on page 1113 of the same section which
says: "Placing of fringe on the national flag, the dimensions of
the flag, and arrangement of the stars are matters of detail not
controlled by statute, but within the discretion of the President
as commander-in-chief of the army and navy." 1925, 34
Op.Atty.Gen. 483.
"Executive Order No. 10834, August 21, 1959, 24 F.R. 6865, a
military flag is a flag that resembles the regular flag of the
United States, except that it has a yellow fringe, boarder on
three sides. The President of the United States designated this
deviation from the regular flag, by executive order, and in his
capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces."
The president as military commander can add a yellow fringe
to our flag. When would this be done? During time of war. Why?
A flag with a fringe is an ensign, a military flag. This fringe
also means if flying in a court room that it is a admiralty
(commerce) court, and will render decisions on the type of case
brought before it, common law, equity law, or admiralty which are
cases based on revenue and commerce. The fringe is proof of
military jurisdiction.( en#4.)
Question #10: Are you as judge responsible for the decorum
of the court room, and by this flag of war flying does this not
violate your oath of office?
Question #11: Since Americans that come before you and enter
the bar, bringing themselves under admiralty law which is kept
secret from them, why are you not violating their 4th, 5th and
especially 6th Amendment rights that the de facto government
claims they have?
Until these questions are answered I cannot in good
conscience or morally take part in fraud, or not resist a
government that refuses to answer legitimate questions, which
confirms it is a de facto tyrannical government; and by my sworn
oath to support and defend America against all enemies foreign
and domestic, I must resist in any peaceful means available to
me, even to the point of my imprisonment or death. I must
receive an answer to these questions no later than August 12,
1997.
Psalms chapter 2 verses 10-12
Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O
judges of the earth, Worship the Lord with reverence, And
rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, lest He become
angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be
kindled.
ENDNOTES
Endnote #1
4/28/97
ACCEPTANCE REFUSED FOR CAUSE, WITHOUT DISHONOR
To whom it may concern,
I James Franklin Montgomery, do hereby make this ACCEPTANCE
REFUSED FOR CAUSE , WITHOUT DISHONOR OF the Traffic Citation,
7587232-1.
Endnote #1a
5/27/97
District Attorney
NOTICE OF DEFAULT
RANDY LYON
AND
County of Wilkes
TACIT PROCURATION
State of North Carolina
Endnote #2
"If the American people ever allow the banks to control
issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by
deflation, the banks and corporations that grow up around them
will deprive the people of all property until their children will
wake up homeless on the continent their fathers occupied."
(Thomas Jefferson)
"On February 15, 1791 Jefferson wrote Washington to tell him
his objections of the establishment of a National Bank.
The bill for establishing a National Bank undertakes among
other things:
1. To form the subscribers into a corporation.
2. To enable them in their corporate capacities to receive grants
of land; and so far is against the laws of mortmain.
I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on
this ground; That "all powers not delegated to the United States,
by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States or to the people."......
.....To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus
specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take
possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible
of any definition.
The incorporation of a bank, and the powers assumed by this
bill, have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United
States, by the Constitution.
Can it be thought that the Constitution intended that for a
shade or two of convenience, more or less, Congress should be
authorized to break down the most ancient and fundamental laws of
the several States; such as those against mortmain, the laws of
alienage, the rules of descent, the acts of distribution, the
laws of escheat and forfeiture, the laws of monopoly?"
Endnote #3
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES IN
THE FIELD
Prepared by Francis Lieber, promulgated as General Orders No. 100
by President Lincoln, 24 April 1863.
Endnote # 4
"...The agency of the master is devolved upon him by the law
of the flag. The same law that confers his authority ascertains
its limits, and the flag at the mast-head is notice to all the
world of the extent of such power to bind the owners or
freighters by his act. The foreigner who deals with this agent
has notice of that law, and, if he be bound by it, there is not
injustice. His notice is the national flag which is hoisted on
every sea and under which the master sails into every port, and
every circumstance that connects him with the vessel isolates
that vessel in the eyes of the world, and demonstrates his
relation to the owners and freighters as their agent for a
specific purpose and with power well defined under the national
maritime law." Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1914.
"Pursuant to the "Law of the Flag", a military flag does
result in jurisdictional implication when flown. The Plaintiff
cites the following: "Under what is called international law, the
law of the flag, a shipowner who sends his vessel into a foreign
port gives notice by his flag to all who enter into contracts
with the shipmaster that he intends the law of the flag to
regulate those contracts with the shipmaster that he either
submit to its operation or not contract with him or his agent at
all." Ruhstrat v. People, 57 N.E. 41, 45, 185 ILL. 133, 49 LRA
181, 76 AM.
James Franklin Montgomery
Jure Divino, Jura Sanguinis,
Sui Juris
Footnote #14
ADDENDUM
I have just discovered the following two endnotes. They
completely confirm in a very finial way my research in British
Colony parts 1, 2 and 3, and the Informer's research and book
"The New History Of America". If you will study the following
papers, the Magna Carta and our Bill of Rights, and come to an
understanding of their similarities. Then re-read the Charters
included in British Colony parts 1 and 2, keeping in mind the
issues I raised, then read the following commentary.
"The two main issues as I see them in British Colony are;
one, the financial obligations of the 1213 Charter En #1, are
still in effect, along with the Charters establishing America.
Two, the last sentence of the 1689 Bill of Rights En #2, proves
the following:"
"That the Charters of the Colonies could never be overturned
by a Declaration of Independence, or the 1787 treaty, otherwise
known as the Constitution, I'm talking about the real subject
matter, financial obligation. Title for the land was transferred
to the states and then ceded by Charter to the federal government
under Cestui que trust, but the contracted debt and obligation of
the Colonial Charters, and the 1213 Charter could not be negated.
Rights could be granted to the citizens, subjects or combatants,
which ever the case may be, but the financial obligation cannot,
nor could not be affected, because it involves parties not yet
born. This why King Charles I said, the 1689 Bill of Rights
would not free the kingdom from the obligation of the 1213
Charter. This is why the United States Bank was given right of
Charter in America. George Washington had no choice but to
succumb to the Rothchilds point man, Hamilton. Talk about deja
vu, I mean does this not sound familiar. Our Bill of Rights was
given to us, to give us the illusion of freedom. When the tax
obligation of the Charters above marched along un-impeded and
un-seen, by Americans and Britons alike. Read the Magna Carta
again, they wanted the Pope's blessing for the 1215 Charter, this
same Pope is the Pope in the 1213 Charter where England and
Ireland were given to him. He could not just give back his land,
because of other parties not yet born. The Pope let the barons
presume they were free and gave his blessing to the 1215 Magna
Carta, knowing to do so would in no way lawfully overturn the
grant made to him in the 1213 Charter. Also, it is apparent, it
was recognized as law that you could not even create a Charter,
wherein you declared a previous grant or Charter null in void
unless the relevant parties agreed. How can a Charter be made
void if parties to the Charter will never cease to be born, an
heir can always be found. To prove this, again what did the new
king Charles I do, even though the previous monarchy had come to
an end, its obligations did not, this is why he had to included
paragraph III, a clause to protect the other parties of an
earlier Charter."
James Franklin Montgomery, Sui Juris servant of Jesus Christ
Endnote #1
Britannia: Sources of British History (1213)
KING JOHN's Concession of England and Ireland to the Pope
In the matter of the election and installation of Stephen Langton
as Archbishop of Canterbury, King John, in the words of Pope
Innocent III, had by "impious persecution", tried to "enslave"
the entire English Church. As a result, the pope laid on England
an interdict (1208-14), a sort of religious "strike", wherein no
religious service be performed for anyone, guilty or innocent.
When this didn't work, the king, himself, was excommunicated.
Caving-in under that pressure, John wrote a letter of concession
to the pope, hoping to have the interdict and the excommunication
lifted (1213). John's concession which, in effect, made England a
fiefdom of Rome, worked like a charm. The satisfied pope lifted
lifted the yoke he had hung on the people of England and their
king.
John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke
of Normandy and Aquitaine, count of Anjou, to all the faithful of
Christ who shall look upon this present charter, greeting.
We wish it to be known to all of you, through this our charter,
furnished with our seal, that inasmuch as we had offended in many
ways God and our mother the holy church, and in consequence are
known to have very much needed the divine mercy, and can not
offer anything worthy for making due satisfaction to God and to
the church unless we humiliate ourselves and our kingdoms: we,
wishing to humiliate ourselves for Him who humiliated Himself for
us unto death, the grace of the Holy Spirit inspiring, not
induced by force or compelled by fear, but of our own good and
spontaneous will and by the common counsel of our barons, do
offer and freely concede to God and His holy apostles Peter and
Paul and to our mother the holy Roman church, and to our lord
pope Innocent and to his Catholic successors, the whole kingdom
of England and the whole kingdom Ireland, with all their rights
and appurtenances, for the remission of our own sins and of those
of our whole race as well for the living as for the dead; and now
receiving and holding them, as it were a vassal, from God and the
Roman church, in the presence of that prudent man Pandulph,
subdeacon and of the household of the lord pope, we perform and
swear fealty for them to him our aforesaid lord pope Innocent,
and his catholic successors and the Roman church, according to
the form appended; and in the presence of the lord pope, if we
shall be able to come before him, we shall do liege homage to
him; binding our successors aid our heirs by our wife forever, in
similar manner to perform fealty and show homage to him who shall
be chief pontiff at that time, and to the Roman church without
demur. As a sign, moreover, of this our own, we will and
establish perpetual obligation and concession we will establish
that from the proper and especial revenues of our aforesaid
kingdoms, for all the service and customs which we ought to
render for them, saving in all things the penny of St. Peter, the
Roman church shall receive yearly a thousand marks sterling,
namely at the feast of St. Michael five hundred marks, and at
Easter five hundred marks, seven hundred, namely, for the kingdom
of England, and three hundred for the kingdom of Ireland, saving
to us and to our heirs our rights, liberties and regalia; all of
which things, as they have been described above, we wish to have
perpetually valid and firm; and we bind ourselves and our
successors not to act counter to them. And if we or any one of
our successors shall presume to attempt this, whoever he be,
unless being duly warned he come to his kingdom, and this senses,
be shall lose his right to the kingdom, and this charter of our
obligation and concession shall always remain firm.
Endnote #2
Britannia: Sources of British History
BILL of RIGHTS, 1689
An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and
Settling the Succession of the Crown
Whereas the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons
assembled at Westminster, lawfully, fully and freely representing
all the estates of the people of this realm, did upon the
thirteenth day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand
six hundred eighty-eight [old style date] present unto their
Majesties, then called and known by the names and style of
William and Mary, prince and princess of Orange, being present in
their proper persons, a certain declaration in writing made by
the said Lords and Commons in the words following,
Whereas the late King James the Second, by the assistance of
divers evil counsellors, judges and ministers employed by him,
did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion
and the laws and liberties of this kingdom;
By assuming and exercising a power of dispensing with and
suspending of laws and the execution of laws without consent of
Parliament;
By committing and prosecuting divers worthy prelates for humbly
petitioning to be excused from concurring to the said assumed
power;
By issuing and causing to be executed a commission under the
great seal for erecting a court called the Court of Commissioners
for Ecclesiastical Causes;
By levying money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of
prerogative for other time and in other manner than the same was
granted by Parliament;
By raising and keeping a standing army within this kingdom in
time of peace without consent of Parliament, and quartering
soldiers contrary to law;
By causing several good subjects being Protestants to be disarmed
at the same time when papists were both armed and employed
contrary to law;
By violating the freedom of election of members to serve in
Parliament;
By prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench for matters and
causes cognizable only in Parliament, and by divers other
arbitrary and illegal courses;
And whereas of late years partial corrupt and unqualified persons
have been returned and served on juries in trials, and
particularly divers jurors in trials for high treason which were
not freeholders;
And excessive bail hath been required of persons committed in
criminal cases to elude the benefit of the laws made for the
liberty of the subjects;
And excessive fines have been imposed; And illegal and cruel
punishments inflicted; And several grants and promises made of
fines and forfeitures before any conviction or judgment against
the persons upon whom the same were to be levied;
All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known
laws and statutes and freedom of this realm;
And whereas the said late King James the Second having
abdicated the government and the throne being thereby vacant, his
Highness the prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased Almighty God
to make the glorious instrument of delivering this kingdom from
popery and arbitrary power) did (by the advice of the Lords
Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal persons of the
Commons) cause letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal being Protestants, and other letters to the several
counties, cities, universities, boroughs and cinque ports, for
the choosing of such persons to represent them as were of right
to be sent to Parliament, to meet and sit at Westminster upon the
two and twentieth day of January in this year one thousand six
hundred eighty and eight, in order to such an establishment as
that their religion, laws and liberties might not again be in
danger of being subverted, upon which letters elections having
been accordingly made;
And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and
Commons, pursuant to their respective letters and elections,
being now assembled in a full and free representative of this
nation, taking into their most serious consideration the best
means for attaining the ends aforesaid, do in the first place (as
their ancestors in like case have usually done) for the
vindicating and asserting their ancient rights and liberties
declare:
That the pretended power of suspending the laws or the execution
of laws by regal authority without consent of Parliament is
illegal;
That the pretended power of dispensing with laws or the execution
of laws by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised
of late, is illegal;
That the commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners
for Ecclesiastical Causes, and all other commissions and courts
of like nature, are illegal and pernicious;
That levying money for or to the use of the Crown by pretence of
prerogative, without grant of Parliament, for longer time, or in
other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal;
That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and
all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are
illegal;
That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in
time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is
against law;
That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their
defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law;
That election of members of Parliament ought to be free;
That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in
Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court
or place out of Parliament;
That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted;
That jurors ought to be duly impanelled and returned, and jurors
which pass upon men in trials for high treason ought to be
freeholders;
That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of
particular persons before conviction are illegal and void;
And that for redress of all grievances, and for the
amending, strengthening and preserving of the laws, Parliaments
ought to be held frequently.
And they do claim, demand and insist upon all and singular
the premises as their undoubted rights and liberties, and that no
declarations, judgments, doings or proceedings to the prejudice
of the people in any of the said premises ought in any wise to be
drawn hereafter into consequence or example; to which demand of
their rights they are particularly encouraged by the declaration
of his Highness the prince of Orange as being the only means for
obtaining a full redress and remedy therein.
Having therefore an entire confidence that his said Highness
the prince of Orange will perfect the deliverance so far advanced
by him, and will still preserve them from the violation of their
rights which they have here asserted, and from all other attempts
upon their religion, rights and liberties, the said Lords
Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do
resolve that William and Mary, prince and princess of Orange, be
and be declared king and queen of England, France and Ireland and
the dominions thereunto belonging, to hold the crown and royal
dignity of the said kingdoms and dominions to them, the said
prince and princess, during their lives and the life of the
survivor to them, and that the sole and full exercise of the
regal power be only in and executed by the said prince of Orange
in the names of the said prince and princess during their joint
lives, and after their deceases the said crown and royal dignity
of the same kingdoms and dominions to be to the heirs of the body
of the said princess, and for default of such issue to the
Princess Anne of Denmark and the heirs of her body, and for
default of such issue to the heirs of the body of the said prince
of Orange. And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do
pray the said prince and princess to accept the same accordingly.
And that the oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all
persons of whom the oaths have allegiance and supremacy might be
required by law, instead of them; and that the said oaths of
allegiance and supremacy be abrogated.
I, A.B., do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful
and bear true allegiance to their Majesties King William and
Queen Mary. So help me God.
I, A.B., do swear that I do from my heart abhor, detest and
abjure as impious and heretical this damnable doctrine and
position, that princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope or
any authority of the see of Rome may be deposed or murdered by
their subjects or any other whatsoever. And I do declare that no
foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought
to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or
authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm. So
help me God.
Upon which their said Majesties did accept the crown and royal
dignity of the kingdoms of England, France and Ireland, and the
dominions thereunto belonging, according to the resolution and
desire of the said Lords and Commons contained in the said
declaration. And thereupon their Majesties were pleased that the
said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, being the two
Houses of Parliament, should continue to sit, and with their
Majesties' royal concurrence make effectual provision for the
settlement of the religion, laws and liberties of this kingdom,
so that the same for the future might not be in danger again of
being subverted, to which the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal
and Commons did agree, and proceed to act accordingly.
Now in pursuance of the premises the said Lords Spiritual
and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled, for the
ratifying, confirming and establishing the said declaration and
the articles, clauses, matters and things therein contained by
the force of law made in due form by authority of Parliament, do
pray that it may be declared and enacted that all and singular
the rights and liberties asserted and claimed in the said
declaration are the true, ancient and indubitable rights and
liberties of the people of this kingdom, and so shall be
esteemed, allowed, adjudged, deemed and taken to be; and that all
and every the particulars aforesaid shall be firmly and strictly
holden and observed as they are expressed in the said
declaration, and all officers and ministers whatsoever shall
serve their Majesties and their successors according to the same
in all time to come.
And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons,
seriously considering how it hath pleased Almighty God in his
marvellous providence and merciful goodness to this nation to
provide and preserve their said Majesties' royal persons most
happily to reign over us upon the throne of their ancestors, for
which they render unto him from the bottom of their hearts their
humblest thanks and praises, do truly, firmly, assuredly and in
the sincerity of their hearts think, and do hereby recognize,
acknowledge and declare, that King James the Second having
abdicated the government, and their Majesties having accepted the
crown and royal dignity as aforesaid, their said Majesties did
become, were, are and of right ought to be by the laws of this
realm our sovereign liege lord and lady, king and queen of
England, France and Ireland and the dominions thereunto
belonging, in and to whose princely persons the royal state,
crown and dignity of the said realms with all honours, styles,
titles, regalities, prerogatives, powers, jurisdictions and
authorities to the same belonging and appertaining are most
fully, rightfully and entirely invested and incorporated, united
and annexed.
And for preventing all questions and divisions in this realm
by reason of any pretended titles to the crown, and for
preserving a certainty in the succession thereof, in and upon
which the unity, peace, tranquility and safety of this nation
doth under God wholly consist and depend, the said Lords
Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do beseech their Majesties
that it may be enacted, established and declared, that the crown
and regal government of the said kingdoms and dominions, with all
and singular the premises thereunto belonging and appertaining,
shall be and continue to their said Majesties and the survivor of
them during their lives and the life of the survivor of them, and
that the entire, perfect and full exercise of the regal power and
government be only in and executed by his Majesty in the names of
both their Majesties during their joint lives; and after their
deceases the said crown and premises shall be and remain to the
heirs of the body of her Majesty, and for default of such issue
to her Royal Highness the Princess Anne of Denmark and the heirs
of the body of his said Majesty; and thereunto the said Lords
Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do in the name of all the
people aforesaid most humbly and faithfully submit themselves,
their heirs and posterities for ever, and do faithfully promise
that they will stand to, maintain and defend their said
majesties, and also the limitation and succession of the crown
herein specified and contained, to the utmost of their powers
with their lives and estates against all persons whatsoever that
shall attempt anything to the contrary.
And whereas it hath been found by experience that it is
inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant
kingdom to be governed by a popish prince, or by any king or
queen marrying a papist, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal
and Commons do further pray that it may be enacted, that all and
every person and persons that is, are or shall be reconciled to
or shall hold communion with the see or Church of Rome, or shall
profess the popish religion, or shall marry a papist, shall be
excluded and be for ever incapable to inherit, possess or enjoy
the crown and government of this realm and Ireland and the
dominions thereunto belonging or any part of the same, or to
have, use or exercise any regal power, authority or jurisdiction
within the same; and in all and every such case or cases the
people of these realms shall be and are hereby absolved of their
allegiance; and the said crown and government shall from time to
time descend to and be enjoyed by such person or persons being
Protestants as should have inherited and enjoyed the same in case
the said person or persons so reconciled, holding communion or
professing or marrying as aforesaid were naturally dead; and that
every king and queen of this realm who at any time hereafter
shall come to and succeed in the imperial crown of this kingdom
shall on the first day of the meeting of the first Parliament
next after his or her coming to the crown, sitting in his or her
throne in the House of Peers in the presence of the Lords and
Commons therein assembled, or at his or her coronation before
such person or persons who shall administer the coronation oath
to him or her at the time of his or her taking the said oath
(which shall first happen), make, subscribe and audibly repeat
the declaration mentioned in the statute made in the thirtieth
year of the reign of King Charles the Second entitled, "An Act
for the more effectual preserving the king's person and
government by disabling papists from sitting in either House of
Parliament."
But if it shall happen that such king or queen upon his or
her succession to the crown of this realm shall be under the age
of twelve years, then every such king or queen shall make,
subscribe and audibly repeat the same declaration at his or her
coronation or the first day of the meeting of the first
Parliament as aforesaid which shall first happen after such king
or queen shall have attained the said age of twelve years. All
which their Majesties are contented and pleased shall be
declared, enacted and established by authority of this present
Parliament, and shall stand, remain and be the law of this realm
for ever; and the same are by their said Majesties, by and with
the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and
Commons in Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same,
declared, enacted and established accordingly.
II. And be it further declared and enacted by the authority
aforesaid, that from and after this present session of Parliament
no dispensation by "non obstante" of or to any statute or any
part thereof shall be allowed, but that the same shall be held
void and of no effect, except a dispensation be allowed of in
such statute, and except in such cases as shall be specially
provided for by one or more bill or bills to be passed during
this present session of Parliament.
III. Provided that no charter or grant or pardon granted before
the three and twentieth day of October in the year of our Lord
one thousand six hundred eighty-nine shall be any ways impeached
or invalidated by this Act, but that the same shall be and remain
of the same force and effect in law and no other than as if this
Act had never been made.
======================================
The United States is Still a British Colony
=========================================
Knighthood: Knights In The News:
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Judge gets orders from England
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