1842.

1843.

1840. 1844. Whig.Loco. Whig.Loco. Whig.Loco. Clay. Polk. 40 250....93 179....36 310....37 1007. The vote for Polk exceeds the whole num

to undermine and overthrow the Protective hold Plaquemines, an old Parish, not rapidly features of the Tariff, all the time talking increasing its population, lying below Newsmooth generalities and specious clap-trap Orleans, toward the mouth of the Mississippi. about 'equalizing the burthens of the Govern- Here the vote has been swelled after this ex-2 ment,' 'equal Protection,' 'correcting the ex-traordinary fashion : cesses of former legislation,' &c. while sapping the great bulwark of the National well-being. In short, the new Administration will be compelled, by the original sin attending its con-ber of white males of all ages in the Parish in ception, to war at once upon the Public Inte- 1840, although Louisiana exacts a Property rests and the Public Faith. qualification of her voters! And the excessWhat, then, is the duty of the Whigs?-ive majority for Polk over that given for his Evidently, to stand fast by their Principles party at any former Election has given him and their Country. They should offer no fac- the vote of the State. In other words-if tious opposition to the new dynasty-no op- Plaquemines had given no more than her honposition for opposition's sake. est vote, the Electoral Vote of Louisiana) But they would have been cast for Clay. should renew and perfect their organization, That this vote of Plaquemines was abominabe vigilant in the diffusion of facts and argu-bly fraudulent rests on no inference or calcu ments bearing on the great questions which lation. John Gibney, steward of the steammust continue to divide the Country, maintain from New Orleans with a full load of passenboat Agnes, swears that the boat went down? their ascendency wherever the majority is gers, under the charge of Judge Leonard, (the) with them, and strengthen their ranks in Con- great man of Plaquemines;) that he himself, a minor, not residing in Plaquemines, being gress so far as possible. To these ends no persuaded by the Captain, voted three times noisy or vehement effort is requisite. Let at different Polls in that Parish-every time them but adhere firmly to their principles and for Polk and Dallas. Dr. J. B. Wilkinson, a their measures, discarding all solicitations to voter of Plaquemines, swears that he noticed that the Polls were opened before the legal disband and adopt new names and new pur-hour, rad were then surrounded by a crowd Thus prepared, thus guarded, let of strangers, one of whom he ventured to chalthem patiently, hopefully bide their time.-lenge; but, as the Clerk reached out the book, The punishment of the temporarily successful the Sheriff pulled it away, declaring that nobody should be sworn! After this the foreign frauds and deceptions of 1844 cannot fail to votes went in pell-mell. Alfred Vail, a pasbe signal and certain.

poses.

Were the Whigs beaten by Fraud?

If any man doubts that systematic, enormous, atrocious frauds were perpetrated in our late Election, and that James K. Polk is chosen President by virtue of these frauds, we ask his attention to the following facts:

senger, and E. Seymour Austin, pilot of the Agnes, swear to a state of facts within their knowledge similar to that sworn to by John Gibney. Albert Savage, Engineer of the steamboat Planter, swears that his boat went? down with one hundred and forty Loco-Focos from New-Orleans, who voted after the fashion above described; but when he offered a vote

it being a Clay one-it was refused, the Sheriff saying he would swear him! Pauls The total vote of Louisiana in the vehement Cormen testifies that he went with other? contest of 1840 was 18,912; in the late Elec- Whigs to vote, but were deterred by seeing Charles Bruland driven out of the voting tion it was 26.295-an increase of about thirty-room, wounded, bloody, and without his hat, five per cent Accordingly, it will be found having been beaten by the Sheriff for offering by a scrutiny of the Parish returns that the & Whig vote. There being a large Loco-Foco increase averages very nearly that ratio a threatening, the few Whigs were obliged to mob around the Polls, excited, swearing and little higher in the new and rapidly growing leave without voting. Parishes; a little lower in those that are old

This is the way one State was carried for and stationary; though the strong Loco Foco Polk and Dallas. Had we room, we could satisfy any candid mind that New-York was Parishes are apt to swell their vote the most. carried by means equally foul and flagitious. The single exception is the Loco-Fooo strong--Can such victories profit the winners?

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

In the Congress of 1776, the great question of American Liberty came first to be discussed. On the 8th of May Mr. Adams offered a resolution, that the Colonies should adopt governments adequate to the wants of the Country, and independent of Great Britain. The success of this resolution on the 15th was considered as decisive of the question of allegiance to any foreign power. On the 7th of June, Richard Henry Lee, seconded by Mr. Adams, moved in Congress the ever-memorable resolution of American Independence. The debate continued until the 10th, vhen the consideration of the resolution was postponed until the st of July. The next day, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and R. R. Livingston, were appointed to prepare a draught of a Declaration of Independence. The two gentlemen first named on this Committee having been deputed a sub-Committee to draw up a Declaration, at the desire of Mr. Adams it was prepared by Mr. Jeferson.

On the 1st of July, the question on the resolution was again resumed, and unanimously agreed to on the second. Mr. Jefferson has told us that "the Colossus of that Congress-the great pillar of support to the Declaration of Independence, and its ablest advocate and champion on the floor of the House, was John Adams. In that moment of darkness, of terror, and of consternation, when the election was to be made between an attempt at Liberty and Independence on the one hand; and defeat, subjugation, and death on the other, the courage of Adams, in the true spirit of heroism, rose in proportion to the dangers which pressed around him; and he poured forth that only genuine eloquence, the eloquence of the soul, which, in the language of Mr. Jefferson, moved his hearers from their seats.' The objections of his adversaries were seen no longer but in a state of wreck; floating in broken fragments on the billows of the storm, and over rocks, over breakers and amid ingulphing whirlpools, that every where surrounded him, he brought the gallant ship of the Nation safe into port."* [* Wirt.

The Declaration already prepared was taken into consideration on the 4th of July, 1776-a day never to be forgotten-when it received the sanction of the whole Congress.

DECLARATION.

WHEN in the course of human events, itly, all experience hath shown, that mankind becomes necessary for one people to dissolve are more disposed to suffer, while evils are the political bands which have connected sufferable, than to right themselves by abolthem with another, and to assume, among the ishing the forms to which they are accustomed. powers of the earth, the separate and equal sta- But, when a long train of abuses and usurpation to which the laws of nature and of nature's tions, pursuing invariably the same object, evinGod entitle them, a decent respect for the ces a design to reduce them under absolute opinions of mankind requires that they should despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to declare the causes which impel them to the throw off such government, and to provide separation. new guards for their future security. Such We hold these truths to be self-evident, that has been the patient sufferance of these Coloall men are created equal; that they are endow-nies, and such is now the necessity which ed by their Creator with certain unalienable constrains them to alter their former systems rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and of government. The history of the present the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these King of Great Britain, is a history of repeated rights, governments are instituted among men, injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct deriving their just powers from the consent of object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny the governed; that, whenever any form of gov-over these States. To prove this, let facts be ernment becomes destructive of these ends, it submitted to a candid world: is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, He has refused his assent to laws the most and to institute a new government, laying its wholesome and necessary for the public good. foundation on such principles, and organizing He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws? its powers in such form, as to them shall seem of immediate and pressing importance, unless most likely to effect their safety and happiness. suspended in their operation till his assent Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that govern- should be obtained; and, when so suspended, ments long established, should not be changed he has utterly neglected to attend to them. for light and transient causes; and, according. He has refused to pass other laws for the

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

accommodation of large districts of people, un-most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally less those people would relinquish the right of the forms of our governments; representation in the legislature; a right inesti- For suspending our own legislatures, and mable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. declaring themselves invested with power to He has called together legislative bodies at legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from He has abdicated government here, by dethe depository of their public records, for the claring us out of his protection, and waging sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance war against us. with his measures.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the

He has dissolved representative houses re-lives of our people. peatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the work) He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; where- of death, desolation, and tyranny, already beby the legislative powers, incapable of annihi-gun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy lation, have returned to the people at large for scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized? their exercise; the State remaining, in the nation. mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invaHe has constrained our fellow citizens, taken sion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavored to prevent the population their country, to become the executioners captive on the high seas, to bear arms against of these States; for that purpose, obstructing their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refus ing to pass others to encourage their migra- He has excited domestic insurrections amongst by their hand. tion hither, and raising the conditions of new us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabiappropriations of lands. tants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for estab-savages, whose known rule of warfare is an lishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

among us;

undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

We have reminded them of the cir

He has kept among us, in time of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures. Nor have we been wanting in attentions to He has affected to render the military inde-our British brethren. We have warned them, pendent of, and superior to, the civil power. from time to time, of attempts by their legislaHe has combined, with others, to subject us ture, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and over us. unacknowledged by our laws; giving his as-cumstances of our emigration and settlement? sent to their acts of pretended legislation: here. We have appealed to their native justice For quartering large bodies of armed troops and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disaFor protecting them, by a mock trial, from vow these usurpations, which would inevita punishment, for any murders which they should bly interrupt our connexions and corresponcommit on the inhabitants of these States; dence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice For cutting off our trade with all parts of of justice and of consanguinity. We must, the world; therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which deFor imposing taxes on us without our con-nounces our separation, and hold them, as we sent; hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, For depriving us, in many cases, of the ben-in peace friends. efits of trial by jury; We, therefore, the representatives of the UniFor transporting as beyond the seas to be ted States of America, in General Congress tried for pretended offences; assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge For abolishing the free system of English of the World for the rectitude of our intenlaws in a neighboring Province, establishing tions, do, in the name, and by the authority, of therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging the good people of these Colonies, solemnly its boundaries, so as to render it at once an ex-publish and declare, That these United Col ample and fit instrument for introducing the onies are, and of right ought to be, FREE same absolute rule into these Colonies; AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they For taking away our charters, abolishing our are absolved from all allegiance to the British

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

crown, and that all political connexion between acts and things which independent States them and the State of Great Britain, is, and may of right do. And, for the support of this ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as Declaration, with a firm reliance on the proFree and Independent States, they have full tection of Divine Providence, we mutually power to levy war, conclude peace, contract al- pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and liances, establish commerce, and to do all other our sacred honor.

The foregoing Declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed, and signed by the following members:

WE, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America:

ARTICLE I.-CONGRESS.
SECTION 1.-Legislative Powers.

presentative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New-Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island 1. ALL Legislative Powers herein granted shall be and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall New-York six, New-Jersey four, Pennsylvania consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Geor. gia three.

SECTION II.-House of Representatives.

1. The House of Representatives shall be composed 4. When vacancies happen in the representation of members chosen every second year by the people trom any State, the Executive authority thereof shall of the several States, and the Electors in each State issue writs of election. shall have the qualifications requisite for Electors of 5. The House of Representatives shall choose their the most numerous branch of the State Legislature. Speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole Qualification of Members-Apportionment. power of impeachment.

2. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

SECTION II.-Senate.

1. The Senate of the United State shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legis3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be appor. lature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall tioned aniong the several States which may be inclu- have one vote. ded within this Union, according to their respective 2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in connumbers, which shall be determined by adding to the sequence of the first Election, they shall be diviwhole number of free persons, including those bound ded as equally as may be into three classes. The seats to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual expiration of the second year, of the second class at enumeration shall be made within three years after the the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third within every subsequent term of ten years, in such may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies manner as they shall by law direct. The number of happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty of the Legislature of any State, the Executive there. thousand, but each State shall have at least one Re-lof may make temporary appointments, until the next