forming thereby a more perfect UNION OF THE PEOPLE FOR THE The thirteen original States that formed and confirmed the Union by the adoption of the Constitution, are as follows: NEW HAMPSHIRE. Embraced under the charters of Massachusetts, and continued under the same jurisdiction until Septembér 18, 1679, when a separate charter and government was granted. A Constitution was formed on January 5, 1776, which was altered This State ratified the Constitution of the United States, June 21, 1788. MASSACHUSETTS. Settled under compacts of the emigrants of November 3, 1620, and chartered on Ratified the Constitution of the United States, February 6, 1788. RHODE ISLAND. Embraced under the charters of Massachusetts, and continued under the same jurisdiction until July 8, 1662, when a separate charter was granted, which continued in force until a Constitution was formed in September, 1842. Ratified the Constitution of the United States, May 29, 1790. CONNECTICUT. Embraced under the charters of Massachusetts, and continued under the same jurisdiction until April 23, 1662, when a separate charter was granted, which continued in force until a Constitution was formed on September 15, 1818. Ratified the Constitution of the United States, January 9, 1788. NEW YORK. Granted to Duke of York, March 20, 1664; April 26, 1664; June 24, 1664. Newly patented on February 9, 1674; formed a Constitution on April 20, 1777, which was amended on October 27, 1801, and further amended November 10, 1821. A new Constitution was formed in 1846. Ratified the Constitution of the United States, July 26, 1788. NEW JERSEY. Held under same grants as New York; separated into East and West Jersey on March 3. 1677. The government surrendered to the Crown in 1702, and so continued until the formation of a Constitution on July 2, 1776. Ratified the Constitution of the United States, December 18, 1787. 1776 1845 PENNSYLVANIA. Chartered on February 28, 1681; formed a Constitution on September 28, 1776; amended, &c., on September 2, 1790. Ratified the Constitution of the United States, December 12, 1787. DELAWARE. Embraced in the charter, and continued under the government of Pennsylvania until the formation of a Constitution on September 20, 1776; a new Constitution formed on June 12, 1792. Ratified the Constitution of the United States, December 7, 1787. MARYLAND. Chartered on June 20, 1632; formed a Constitution August 14, 1776, which was amended in 1795 and 1799, and further amended in November, 1812. Ratified the Constitution of the United States, April 28, 1788. VIRGINIA. Chartered April 10, 1606, May 23, 1609, and March 12, 1612; formed a Constitution on July 5, 1776; amended January 15, 1830. Ratified the Constitution of the United States, June 26, 1788. 1776 1775 1776 NORTH CAROLINA. Chartered in March 20, 1663, and June 30, 1665; formed a Constitution, December 19, 1776, which was amended in 1835. Ratified the Constitution of the United States, November 21, 1789. SOUTH CAROLINA. Embraced in the charters of Carolina or North Carolina, from which it was separated in 1729; formed a Constitution March 26, 1776, which was amended on March 19, 1778, and June 3, 1790. Ratified the Constitution of the United States, May 23, 1788. GEORGIA. Chartered on June 9, 1732; formed a Constitution on February 5, 1777, a second in 1785, and a third on May 30, 1798. Ratified the Constitution of the United States, January 2, 1788. The privilege of becoming members of the American Union by the mere ratification of the Constitution, was reserved to those States alone that were parties to the previous confederation and the compact or convention by which the Constitution was formed. The ratification of nine States being sufficient for the establishment of the Constitution; and, it having been ratified by eleven States, it was determined by Congress, on the 13th September, 1736 1788, under the resolutions of the convention, that the Constitution had been established, and that it should go into operation on the first Wednesday (4th day) of March, 1789.-It therefore appears that two of the States did not ratify the Constitution until after its establishment, yet they were not treated as new States, requiring particular forms of admission, but their Senators and Representatives, as provided for in the 2d sect. 1st art. of the Constitution, were admitted in Congress upon the presentation of their authenticated forms of ratification. It was considered necessary, however, that the laws of the United States passed previous to their accession should be extended to them by special acts. The Union having been thus completed, and its Constitution and government established, the United States under the 3d section of the 4th article of the Constitution reserved to themselves, in Congress assembled, the right and the power to admit new States, by declaring that "New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union;" and, as the 4th section of the same article requires, that "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of government," it has in practice been deemed a pre-requisite that the people proposing to form a new State be authorized by law to form a Constitution, to be submitted to Congress, to enable that body to judge of its Republican character, before proceeding to exercise that high and sovereign power of admitting a distinct community of people to the inestimable rights, privileges, and immunities, secured by the organization of a State government,-and upon an equal footing, in all respects whatsoever, with those States that jointly achieved the independence of the country, and which, together with those that have become members of the Union since that eventful period, have borne the hardships, trials, and difficulties, both internal and external, through which the nation has passed, and which have secured the stability, power, and happiness of the country. The Constitution of the United States declares, that "new States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more 2 D 38* States, or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress." Upon this clause, James Madison, in the "Federalist," makes the following remarks: "In the articles of Confederation, no provision is found on this important subject. Canada was to be admitted of right, on her joining in the measures of the United States; and the other colonies, by which were evidently meant, the other British Colonies, at the discretion of nine States. The eventual establishment of new States seems to have been overlooked by the compilers of that instrument. We have seen the inconvenience of this omission, and the assumption of power into which Congress have been led by it. With great propriety, therefore, has the new system supplied the defect. The general precaution, that no new State shall be formed without the concurrence of the Federal authority, and that of the States concerned, is consonant to the principles which ought to govern such transactions. The particular precaution against the erection of new States, by the partition of a State without its consent, quiets the jealousy of the larger States; as that of the smaller is quieted by a like precaution, against a junction of States without their consent." The Constitution also declares that "the Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular State." Under this clause, Congress exercises the power of creating territorial governments, which in process of time, by the increase of population and other concurrent causes, apply, on behalf of the people, for authority to form constitutions and state governments, with a view to admission into the Union, at a future period, and it is for the Congress of the United States in the exercise of their high constitutional powers, and under the solemn responsibilities imposed upon them as guardians of the rights and the welfare of the whole Union, to judge of the expediency and the time of admitting the people who may have become inhabitants of such territories, to all the peculiar and inestimable rights, privileges, and immunities of the citizens of one of the United States of America. Mr. Madison remarks upon this point that, "This is a power of very great importance, and required by considerations similar to those which show the propriety of the former. The proviso annexed is very proper in itself, and was probably rendered absolutely necessary by jealousies and questions concerning the western territory sufficiently known to the public." But the Constitution requires that "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, 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." And, upon this clause, Mr. Madison has expressed in the "Federalist" the following wise and just sentiments: "In a Confederacy founded on republican principles, and composed of republican members, the superintending government ought clearly to possess authority to defend the system against aristocratic or monarchical innovations. The more intimate the nature of such a Union may be, the greater interest have the members in the political institutions of each other; and the greater right to insist, that the forms of government under which the compact was entered into, should be substantially maintained. "But a right implies a remedy; and where else could the remedy be deposited, than where it is deposited by the Constitution? Governments of dissimilar principles and forms have been found less adapted to a federal coalition of any sort than those of a kindred nature. As the confederate republic of Germany,' says Montesquieu, 'consists of free cities and petty States, subject to different princes, experience shows us, that it is more imperfect than that of Holland and Switzerland.' 'Greece was undone,' he adds, as soon as the king of Macedon obtained a seat among the Amphictyons.' In the latter case, no doubt, the disproportionate force, as well as the monarchical form of the new confederate, had its share of influence on the events. "It may possibly be asked, what need there could be of such a precaution, and whether it may not become a pretext for alterations in the State governments, without the concurrence of the States themselves. These questions admit of ready answers. If the interposition of the General Government should not be needed, the provision for such an event will be a harmless superfluity only in the Constitution. But who can say what experiments may be produced by the caprice of particular |