Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1850, by W. HICKEY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of ΤΟ THE PEOPLE, THE CONGRESS, THE PRESIDENT, AND THE Supreme Court of the United States, THIS FOURTH EDITION OF THE CONSTITUTION IS DEDICATED BY W. HICKEY. "The Constitution in its words is plain and intelligible, and it is meant for the homebred, unsophisticated understandings of our fellow-citizens." "The people alone are the absolute owners and uncontrollable movers of such sovereignty as human beings can claim to exercise; subject to the eternal and unchangeable rules of justice, of truth, and of good Faith. The moral law is out of its reach; sovereignty cannot violate that, and be more justified than the humblest individual." "Yield away the Constitution and the Union, and where are we? Frittered into fragments, and not able to claim one portion of the past as peculiarly our own! Our Union is not merely a blessing; it is a political necessity. We cannot exist without it. I mean, that all of existence which is worth having must depart with it. Our liberties could not endure the incessant conflicts of civil and conterminous strife; our independence would be an unreal mockery, our very memories would turn to bitterness." (Mr. Dallas in defence of the Constitution.) THE provision under which THIS BOOK MAY BE TRANSMITTED BY MAIL FREE OF POSTAGE, by persons having the privilege of franking public documents, is contained in "An act to establish certain post-routes, and for other purposes,” approved 3d March, 1847, in the following words: "Such publications or books as have been or may be published, procured, or purchased by order of either House of Congress, or a joint resolution of the two Houses, shall be considered as public documents, and entitled to be franked as such." iv the use of In Senate of the United States. Thursday, February 18, 1847. Resolved, That the secretary be directed to procure for of the Senate two thousand copies of the authentic copy the Constitution, with an analytical index, and compilation of other public documents, recently printed and placed in the hands of the members, provided the price shall not exceed the of one dollar and twenty-five cents per copy. sum Resolved, That ten thousand additional copies of the authentic copy of the Constitution, with an analytical index, etc., be procured for the use of the Senate, provided they will be furnished at a deduction of twenty per cent. on stated. the use Friday, April 14, 1848. the price above Resolved, That the secretary of the Senate purchase for of the Senate two thousand copies of the Constitution of the United States of America, with an alphabetical analysis, prepared and published by W. Hickey, provided the same be purchased at a price per copy not exceeding that paid for ten thousand copies ordered to be purchased by a resolution of the Senate, adopted on the 18th day of February, 1847. can Thursday, April 27, 1848. Resolved, That the secretary of the Senate be authorized and directed to purchase hundred copies of Hickey's edition of the Constitution of the United States, and to deliver the one same, in the name of the Senate of the United States, to Mr. Alexander Vattemare, of Paris, to be distributed by him in France, according to his system of national exchanges of books. one Friday, March 2, 1849. Resolved, That the secretary be directed to furnish each member of the present Senate, who has not already received them, copy of the Constitution and other books ordered to be furnished to the Senators by the resolutions of February 18th, 1847, and to the Senators from Iowa, and Wisconsin, the same number of the Constitution as have been already given to other members of the Senate. Monday, September 23, 1850. Resolved, That the secretary be directed to procure from the proprietor, for the use of the Senate, ten thousand copies of Hickey's edition of the Constitution, with an alphabetical ana lysis, Washington's inaugural and farewell addresses, and other important statistical matter illustrative of the genius of the American government and the developement of its principles: Provided, That they be furnished at the same price as those last procured for the use of the Senate. Attest, Asbury Dickens, Secretary of the Senate. |