The Massachusetts Gazette, (Number 394)

Tuesday, December 25, 1787.

For the Massachusetts Gazette.

To the Inhabitants of this State.

(Concluded from our last.)

The 3d section, in article IV. also provides, that Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property of the United States; and nothing in this constitution shall be construed as a prejudice to the claims of the United States, or any particular state.

There is not, certainly, anything contained in the aforementioned clause, which can be opposed on reasonable grounds. It is certainly necessary that Congress should have power to make all needful rules and regulations respecting the concerns of the Union; and if they exceed what is necessary, their regulations will be of no effect; for whatever is done by them, which the constitution does not warrant, is null and void, and can be no more binding on the inhabitants of America, than the edicts of the grand signior of Turkey.

You will remember, my countrymen, that the words of the constitution are, “All Powers Herein Granted.”

Section 4, of article IV. says, The United States shall guarantee to every state in the Union a Republican Form of Government; [pg 044] and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.—At the perusal of this clause, anti-federalism must blush, and opposition hide its head. Could anything have more openly, or more plainly evinced to the world, the noble motives which influenced the conduct of the delegates of America, than the clause aforementioned? it provides, that a republican form of government shall be guaranteed to each state in the Union. The inhabitants of America are surely acquainted with the principles of republicanism, and will certainly demand the establishment of them, in their fullest extent.

The section just mentioned, secures to us the full enjoyment of every thing which freemen hold dear, and provides for protecting us against every thing which they can dread.

This article, my countrymen, is sufficient to convince you of the excellency of that constitution which the federal convention have formed; a constitution founded on the broad basis of liberty, and, should the citizens of America happily concur in adopting it, its pillars may be as fixed as the foundations of created nature.

Say, ye mighty cavillers, ye inconsistent opposers of the new plan of government, of what avail, to the thinking part of the community, do you suppose will be all your clamours about a bill of rights? Does not the abovementioned section provide for the establishment of a free government in all the states? and if that freedom is encroached upon, will not the constitution be violated? It certainly will; and its violators be hurled from the seat of power, and arraigned before a tribunal where impartial justice will no doubt preside, to answer for their high-handed crime.

Article V. of the new constitution, says, That Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution; or on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which in either case shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states, or by conventions [pg 045] in three-fourths thereof; as one or the other modes of ratification may be proposed by Congress; provided that no amendments which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article, and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the senate.—

On what grounds can the opposers to the new plan found their assertions that Congress will have it in their power to make what laws they please, and what alterations they think proper in the constitution, after the people have adopted it? The constitution expressly says, that any alterations in the constitution must be ratified by three-fourths of the states. The 5th article also provides, that the states may propose any alterations which they see fit, and that Congress shall take measures for having them carried into effect.

If this article does not clearly demonstrate that all power is in the hands of the people, then the language by which we convey our ideas, is shockingly inadequate to its intended purposes, and as little to be understood by us, as Hebrew to the most illiterate.

The 6th section provides, that this constitution, and the laws which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, in pursuance thereof, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.

This is the article, my countrymen, which knaves and blockheads have so often dressed up in false colours, and requested your attention to the construction of it. Adopt not a constitution, say they, which stipulates that the laws of Congress shall be the supreme law of the land—or, in other words, they request of you not to obey laws of your own making. This is the article which they say is so arbitrary and tyrannical, that unless you have a bill of rights to secure you, you are ruined forever.

But in the name of common sense I would ask, of what use would be a bill of rights, in the present case?... It can only be to resort to when it is supposed that Congress have infringed the [pg 046] unalienable rights of the people: but would it not be much easier to resort to the federal constitution, to see if therein power is given to Congress to make the law in question? If such power is not given, the law is in fact a nullity, and the people will not be bound thereby. For let it be remembered, that such laws, and such only, as are founded on this constitution, are to be the supreme law of the land;—and it would be absurd indeed, if the laws which are granted in the constitution, were not to be, without reserve, the supreme law of the land. To give Congress power to make laws for the Union, and then to say they should not have force throughout the Union, would be glaringly inconsistent:—Such an inconsistency, however, has hitherto been the evil which the whole continent have complained of, and which the new constitution is designed to remedy.—Let us reverse the proposition, and see how it will then stand.—This constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made under their authority, shall not be the supreme law of the land—and the judges in the several states shall not be bound thereby.—This is exactly what the anti-federalists wish to be the case; this, and in this alone would they glory.—But, fellow citizens, you will discern the excellency of the aforementioned clause; you will perceive that it is calculated, wisely calculated, to support the dignity of this mighty empire, to restore publick and private credit, and national confidence.

Article IV. further provides, That the senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound, by oath or affirmation, to support this constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or publick trust under the United States.

Thus, my fellow-citizens, we see that our rulers are to be bound by the most sacred ties, to support our rights and liberties, to secure to us the full enjoyment of every privilege which we can wish for; they are bound by the constitution to guarantee to us a republican form of government in its fullest extent; and what is there more that we can wish for?

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Thus the people of the United States, “in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestick tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,” have appointed a federal convention to “ordain and establish,” with the concurrence of the people, a constitution for the United States of America. That federal convention have assembled together, and after a full investigation of the different concerns of the Union, have proposed a form of government, calculated to support, and transmit, inviolate, to the latest posterity, all the blessings of civil and religious liberty.

Citizens of Massachusetts! consider, O consider well, these important matters, and weigh them deliberately in the scale of reason! Consider at what a vast expense of toil, difficulty, treasure and blood, you have emancipated yourselves from the yoke of bondage, and established yourselves an independent people! Consider that those immortal characters, who first planned the event of the revolution, and with arms in their hands stepped forth in the glorious cause of human nature, have now devised a plan for supporting your freedom, and increasing your strength, your power and happiness.

Will you then, O my countrymen! listen to the mad dictates of men, who are aiming, by every artifice and falsehood, which the emissaries of hell can invent, to effect your total destruction and overthrow? who wish to ascend the chariot of anarchy, and ride triumphant over your smoking ruins, which they hope to effect, by their more than hellish arts: in your misery they hope to glory, and establish their own greatness “on their country's ruin.”

If they can effect this, they will laugh at your calamity, and mock your misfortunes—the language of each brother in iniquity, when they meet, will be, “hail damn'd associates,” see our high success!

Think, O my countrymen! think, before it is too late!—The important moment approaches, when these states must, by the most wise of all conduct, forever establish their glory and happiness, on the firmest basis, by adopting the constitution, or by the [pg 048] most foolish and inconsistent of all conduct, in rejecting it, entail on themselves and on their posterity, endless infamy.

“There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallowness.”——

If you embrace not the golden moment now before you, and refuse to receive that which only can establish the dignity of your towering Eagle, this and generations yet unborn, will curse, with an anathema, your dying fame, and breathe, with imprecations and just indignation, vengeance and insults on your sleeping ashes! But should you, on the contrary, with energy and vigour, push your fortune, and, with earnestness and gratitude, clasp to your arms this great blessing which Heaven has pointed to your view, posterity, made happy by your wisdom and exertions, will honour and revere your memories. Secure in their prosperity, they will weep for joy, that Heaven had given them—Fathers!

Cassius.