might be seized upon by men disposed to usurpation, in order to furnish a plausible pretense for claiming the power. They might urge with a semblance of reason, that the constitution ought not to be charged with the absurdity of providing against an abuse of an authority, which was not given; and that the provision against restraining the liberty of the press, afforded a clear implication, that a right to prescribe proper regulations concerning it, was intended to be vested in the national government.
§ 1856. It was further added, that in truth the constitution itself was, in every rational sense, and to every useful purpose, a bill of rights for the Union. It specifies, and declares the political privileges of the citizens in the structure and administration of the government. It defines certain immunities and modes of proceeding, which relate to their personal, private, and public rights and concerns. It confers on them the unalienable right of electing their rulers; and prohibits any tyrannical measures, and vindictive prosecutions. So, that, at best, much of the force of the objection rests on mere nominal distinctions, or upon a desire to make a frame of government a code to regulate rights and remedies.[1]
§ 1857. Although it must be conceded, that there is much intrinsic force in this reasoning,[2] it cannot in- ↑ The Federalist, No. 84. See 1 Lloyd's Debates, 428, 429, 430; 3 Amer. Museum, 559.
- ↑ It had, beyond all question, extraordinary influence in the convention; for upon a motion being made to appoint a committee to prepare a bill of rights, the proposition was unanimously rejected. Journal of Convention, p. 369. This fact alone shows, that it was at best deemed a subject of doubtful propriety; and that it formed no line of distinction between any of the parties in the convention. There will be found considerable reasoning on the subject in the debates in congress on the amendments proposed in 1789. See 1 Lloyd's Debates, 414 to 426; id. 426 to 447.
