only do they exist as political bodies, as governments, and by whose authority and power only they are sustained and defended.1 Nevertheless

they did so act, both under the Revolutionary government and under the Confederation, till the general government was well-nigh extinct from its own weakness, and the Union itself was at the point of absolute and final dissolution, as it has more recently been for a second time from a similar cause, and will be very likely to be again, if an independent right to govern is accorded to the parts in opposition to the whole, instead of under and by virtue of the supreme law of the land, and in subordination to the paramount authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States. It was under such circumstances that the nation felt itself called upon and compelled to renovate and cement anew the perishing bonds of their inestimable Union.

§ 30. Who were "the people" at the time of the Declaration of Independence, was settled by act of the same Congress which made that Declaration. On the twenty-fourth day of June, 1776, they resolved, "That all persons abiding within any of the United Colonies, and deriving protection from the laws of the same, owe allegiance to the said laws, and are members of such colony." 2 That all persons" means every

1 "As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up." 2 The Resolution of Independence, in the form finally adopted and embraced in the Declaration, was first moved in Congress, June 7, 1776. It was taken up for consideration the next day, June 8, and referred to

body, without distinction, requires no argument. That "abiding" here means permanently residing or inhabiting, is evident from the different provision immediately following, which relates to persons "passing through, visiting, or making a temporary stay in any of said colonies." This must have operated as a complete naturalization law for every person who then was, or afterwards became, an abiding resident of the country, whether born within the king's allegiance, or an alien of foreign birth. It applied equally to subsequent as well as prior inhabitants, because the object was to hold all such persons to the penalties of violated allegiance, in case they proved unfaithful to the Union. Such, doubtless, continued to be the law, until, under the Articles of Confederation, in 1781,1 Congress practically relinquished their jurisdiction over

a Committee of the Whole. June 10, it was discussed in committee, passed, and reported to the House, where the further consideration of it was postponed to July 1; but, by way of preparation for its passage in the House, it was resolved to appoint a committee to draft a Declaration in form, to accompany it when published to the world. This committee was appointed the next day, June 11, and reported their draft, June 28, to the House. July 1, the Resolution and Declaration were considered together in Committee of the Whole; and debated and amended, day after day, till July 4, when they were finally reported to the House, agreed to, engrossed, and signed by the members. So that the Resolution of Citizenship, of June 24, was passed after the Resolution of Independence had been decided upon in Committee of the Whole, and was waiting the preparation of the formal Declaration for its final passage in the House.

1 This Confederation was the work of the State governments; and, while maintaining their own separate sovereignty and independence, they nominally delegated to the United States in Congress assembled the principal rights and duties of sovereignty, and, at the same time, denied them the requisite powers for executing it.

the subject, and each State made its own rules of naturalization. How far this law was subsequently altered in any of the States, before the jurisdiction was again restored to the United States by the Constitution of 1788, has not been ascertained; but, obviously, all who acquired citizenship under it before it was repealed in any State (if it ever was so), all who were admitted under State laws; and all who had acquired citizenship by birthright in the land,' were members of the nation by and for whom the Constitution was made and adopted in 1788. It calls them repeatedly, "people of the United States," "people of the several States," "citizens of the United States," "inhabitants of a State," "citizens of different States," "citizens of each State," and "the people" generally, meaning in every instance the same persons, who are called, in the Resolution of 1776, "members" of the body politic; and in the Constitution, Article I., Section 2, the "free persons," and "all other persons except Indians not taxed," according to whose numbers the representatives and direct taxes are to be apportioned.

§ 31. It was not the particular object of the Congress of 1776 to confer the rights of citi

1 "Every person born in the country is, at the moment of birth, primâ facie a citizen; and he who would deny it must take upon himself the burden of proving some great disfranchisement strong enough to override the 'natural-born' rights as recognized by the Constitution in terms the most simple and comprehensive, and without any reference to race, color, or any other accidental circumstance."- Attorney-General Bates's Opinion on Citizenship, Nov. 29, 1862.

zenship, but it was their object to declare who should be liable to its burdens and duties; and, by doing the one, they incidentally did the other also, for the rights and duties must go together. So it was not the particular object of our Constitution (Section 2) to confer or to declare the right of citizenship; but it was their object to apportion the Representatives and direct taxes among the citizens, "the people of the several States," "according to their respective numbers." And, in deciding who should and who should not be enumerated in ascertaining those "numbers," it necessarily decided who were and who were not those citizens," the people of the several States." Individuals cannot be citizens and not citizens at the same time. If they are citizens for the purpose of ascertaining the rights and duties of others, they are equally so for the purpose of settling their own. People and citizens are synonymous, and include all the members of the body politic, the representative body of the nation, "the people of the several States." "Free persons" and "other persons" are all persons, whatever may be the meaning of the word "free." If anybody can be excluded from both classes, it must be done by some governing principle of law, of sufficient force and extent to limit and control the obvious universality of the words used.

§ 32. It is said that aliens are excluded, because that, being citizens and owing allegiance

to a foreign government, they cannot perform the incompatible duties of allegiance to this. Besides, the government, being republican, must necessarily be in the hands of the people exclusively; and any participation of unnaturalized aliens in the rights of representation and suffrage would be inconsistent with the nature of the government. It is inconceivable that the American people should have intended to authorize unnaturalized foreigners, in any way, to augment or influence, the representative power of any portion of the people; and it is equally inconceivable that they should have intended, in this way, to naturalize all such, and confer on them the rights of citizens, seeing they have expressly provided another mode for the purpose. It is therefore probably true that aliens cannot be counted, either as "free persons or "other persons," in apportioning Representatives to "the people of the several States."

§ 33. It is also said that slaves are excluded, not because they do not belong here or do belong anywhere else, but because they are themselves property, and not persons, or capable of holding any personal right. Citizenship- membership of the nation, the body politic, being a component part of the people is a franchise, a right conferred and guarantied, by the very existence of the nation, on all who compose it. Every citizen of the United States is a component member of the nation, with rights and