The Right of the People to Establish Forms of Government: Mr. Hallett's Argument in the Rhode Island Causes, Before the Supreme Court of the United States, January 1848 ...Beals & Greene, 1848 - 71 pages |
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Page 6
... minority of landholders , who refused to extend suffrage to any person but a landholder , would not and did not pass an act requesting or permitting the people to elect delegates to a Convention to make a constitution ; and refused ...
... minority of landholders , who refused to extend suffrage to any person but a landholder , would not and did not pass an act requesting or permitting the people to elect delegates to a Convention to make a constitution ; and refused ...
Page 14
... minority Assembly , for more than sixty years , to a form of government that should be , in the language of her first charter , " a rule of the people . " The first to proclaim a government of the people , she has been the last of all ...
... minority Assembly , for more than sixty years , to a form of government that should be , in the language of her first charter , " a rule of the people . " The first to proclaim a government of the people , she has been the last of all ...
Page 17
... minority or to any class of men they might select ; and if suffrage were confined to a minority , no matter how small , compared to the great body of the people , the minority might forever hold the power at their pleasure . Upon this ...
... minority or to any class of men they might select ; and if suffrage were confined to a minority , no matter how small , compared to the great body of the people , the minority might forever hold the power at their pleasure . Upon this ...
Page 18
... minority rulers to give a participation in government to the disfranchised ma- jority , and second to prove that the General Assembly of Rhode Island had no power to pro- pose or frame a constitution . " Something better than a void ...
... minority rulers to give a participation in government to the disfranchised ma- jority , and second to prove that the General Assembly of Rhode Island had no power to pro- pose or frame a constitution . " Something better than a void ...
Page 20
... minority even of the landholding minority held the power , through unequal representation , and were resolved to retain it . The act provided " that the freemen ( landholders ) qualified to vote be , and they hereby are , re- quested to ...
... minority even of the landholding minority held the power , through unequal representation , and were resolved to retain it . The act provided " that the freemen ( landholders ) qualified to vote be , and they hereby are , re- quested to ...
Other editions - View all
The Right of the People to Establish Forms of Government: Mr. Hallett's ... Benjamin Franklin Hallett No preview available - 2019 |
The Right of the People to Establish Forms of Government: Mr. Hallett's ... Benjamin Franklin Hallett No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
abolish admitted adopted affirmed alter amendment American argument authority Bill of Rights body call a Convention chap Charter Assembly Charter Government Chartists chosen citizens civil colony Congress contend Court Martial Declaration of Independence defendants delegates deny despotism doctrine domestic violence elected enacted England ernment established Executive exercise existing government fact force form of government forms of law frame of government freemen fundamental law government in Rhode grant held inhabitants institutions insurrection issue Judge judicial Justice King land landholders legal voters Legislative Legislature liberty majority Martial Law ment militia minority officers old government organic law Parliament parties peaceably People's Constitution plaintiff plea political popular sovereignty precedent prescribed President principle Providence question rebellion reform refused republican Rhode Island right of revolution says sovereignty statute law Supreme Court supreme law theory tion town trespass Union United United States Constitution Virginia vote whole written constitution
Popular passages
Page 57 - Philadelphia for the sole and express purpose of revising the articles of Confederation and reporting to Congress and the several legislatures such alterations and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the States, render the federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union.
Page 37 - I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times.
Page 39 - That the people have an original right to establish, for their future government, such principles as, in their opinion, shall most conduce to their own happiness, is the basis on which the whole American fabric has been erected. The exercise of this original right is a very great exertion ; nor can it nor ought it to be frequently repeated. The principles, therefore, so established, are deemed fundamental. And as the authority from which they proceed is supreme, and can seldom act, they are designed...
Page 39 - The question whether an act repugnant to the Constitution can become the law of the land is a question deeply interesting to the United States; but, happily, not of an intricacy proportioned to its interest. It seems only necessary to recognize certain principles supposed to have been long and well established to decide it.
Page 15 - The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the constitution which at any time exists till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people is sacredly obligatory upon all.
Page 62 - In forest, brake, or den, As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude ; Men, who their duties know, But know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain, Prevent the long-aimed blow, And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain : These constitute a State, And sovereign Law, that State's collected will O'er thrones and globes elate, Sits Empress, crowning good, repressing ill.
Page 35 - That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Page 33 - For when any number of men have, by the consent of every individual, made a community, they have thereby made that community one body, with a power to act as one body, which is only by the will and determination of the majority...
Page 17 - That all power 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.
Page 61 - It has been frequently remarked, that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force.