Key-Notes of American Liberty - Comprising the most important speeches, proclamations, and - acts of Congress, from the foundation of the government - to the present time

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• Publié par: anfi
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 29
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Key-Notes of American Liberty, by Various
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Title: Key-Notes of American Liberty
Comprising the most important speeches, proclamations, and
acts of Congress, from the foundation of the government
to the presen
Author: Various
Editor: E. B. Treat
Release Date: May 15, 2009 [EBook #28831]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Transcriber’s Note
The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully
preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected.d.Eng by H.B. Hall, from the original Painting by Stuart.
KEY-NOTES
OF
AMERICAN LIBERTY;
COMPRISING
THE MOST IMPORTANT SPEECHES, PROCLAMATIONS, AND
ACTS OF CONGRESS, FROM THE FOUNDATION
OF THE GOVERNMENT TO THE
PRESENT TIME.
WITH A
HISTORY OF THE FLAG,
BY A DISTINGUISHED HISTORIAN.Illustrated.
NEW YORK:
E.B. TREAT & CO.
654 BROADWAY.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: R.C. TREAT and C.W. LILLEY.
B.C. BAKER, DETROIT, MICH. L.C. BRAINARD, ST. LOUIS, MO.
A.O. BRIGGS, CLEVELAND, O. M. PITMAN & CO., BOSTON, MASS.
A.L. TALCOTT, PITTSBURG, PA.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by
E.B. TREAT.
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern
District of New York.
MACDONALD & STONE, PRINTERS AND STEREOTYPERS, 43 CENTRE STREET, N.Y.
P R E F A C E .
This book appeals to the patriotic sentiments of all classes of readers. In its
pages will be found those words of burning eloquence which lighted the fires of
the American Revolution, stirring the hearts of our fathers to do battle for our
independence; the words of wisdom which brought our ship of state safely
through the storms of strife into the calms of peace, and all of the most important
speeches and proclamations of our statesmen which guided our country during
critical periods of our political life. It is a book of our country as a whole; all must
read it with emotions of gratitude and pride at the grandeur and stability of our
institutions as exemplified by the eloquent words of the statesmen and leadingspirits of the great Republic.
First in its pages, appropriately, will be found the "Declaration of
Independence," the great corner stone of American liberty; and as a fitting
close, one of our most distinguished historians has furnished a "History of the
Flag,"—the Flag of the Union, the sacred emblem around which are clustered
the memories of the thousands of heroes who have struggled to sustain it
untarnished against both foreign and domestic foes. To the Declaration of
Independence, Constitution of the United States, and Washington's Farewell
Address—truly "Key Notes to American Liberty"—have been added many
important proclamations and congressional acts of a later day, namely:
President Jackson's famous Nullification Proclamation to South Carolina, The
Monroe Doctrine, Dred Scott Decision, Neutrality laws, with numerous
documents, state papers and statistical matter growing out of the late Rebellion;
all of which will be read with new and ever increasing interest. And as long as
our Republic endures, these pages will be cherished as the representative of
all that is great and good in our country; and will prove incentives to our
children to follow in the footsteps of the patriots by whose genius and valor our
institutions have been cherished and preserved, and liberty, like water made to
run throughout the land free to all.
C O N T E N T S .
PAGE.
Declaration of Independence, 9
Constitution of the United States, 18
Amendments to the Constitution, 39
Constitutional Amendment Abolishing Slavery, 44
Proposed Amendments of the XXXIXth Congress, 48
The Ordinance of 1787, 51
The Fugitive Slave Bill of 1793, 52
The Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850, 55
The Missouri Compromise, 67
The States of the Union, with the Date of their Admission, 69
Inaugural Address of George Washington, 70
Washington's Farewell Address, 77
President Jackson's Proclamation to South Carolina, 105
Monroe Doctrine, 144
Dred Scott Decision, 146
Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States, with the Popular
154
Vote for Each,
Popular Names of States, 166
Battles of the Revolution, 167Neutrality Law of the United States, 168
Population of the United States, 176
Slave Population in the U.S. in 1860, 177
Statistics of Slavery Before the Revolution, 178
Speech of Hon. Stephen A. Douglas,—His Last Words for the Union, 179
President Lincoln's First Call For Troops, 186
Total Number of Troops called into Service during the Rebellion, 188
Resolutions of the N.Y. Chamber of Commerce, 189
Blockade Proclamation, by President Lincoln, 194
Emancipation Proclamation, 197
Confiscation Act, 201
First Inaugural Address of President Lincoln, 204
Balance Sheet of the Government, before and since the War, 1859 and
221
1865,
President Lincoln's Second and Last Inaugural Address, 222
President Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty, 226
President Johnson's Amnesty Proclamation, 232
President Johnson's Peace Proclamation, 237
The Civil Rights Bill, 239
Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 248
Provost Marshal-General's Report, of the killed and wounded during the 261
Rebellion,
The United States Army, showing the number of men furnished from each
265
State during the Rebellion,
History of the Flag, 266
[Pg 9]Key-Notes of American Liberty.
D E C L A R A T I O N O F I N D E P E N D E N C E .
In Congress, July 4, 1776.
By the Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled.
A DECLARATION.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people
to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to
assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to whichthe laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect for the
opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident:—that all men are created equal; that [Pg 10]
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes
destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and
to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments
long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and
accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the
forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and
usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce
them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such
government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been
the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which
constrains them to alter their former system of government. The history of the [Pg 11]
present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations,
all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these
States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for
the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be
obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of
people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the
legislature—a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable,
and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of
fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with
manly firmness, his invasions on the right of the people.
He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be
elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annih