The Right Of Petition Is An Old

The Proceedings Of This House In 1790, In Reference To Petitions On The Matter Of The Slave Trade, And Of Slavery In The States, Have Been Cited. It Has Been Said That Those Petitions Were Not Received.

I Maintain That The House Is Bound By The Constitution To Receive The Petitions; After Which, It Will Take Such Method Of Deciding Upon Them As Reason And Principle Shall Dictate.

Here, Again, As I Conceive, Gentlemen Forget That This Government Is A Republican One, Resting Exclusively In The Intelligence And Virtue Of The People.

You Well Know, Sir, That When The Constitution Was Submitted To The People Of The Respective States For Their Adoption Or Rejection, It Awakened The Warmest Debates Of The Several State Conventions.

Entertaining These Opinions Of The Course To Be Pursued, I Beg Of Gentlemen To Look At The Question, As I Have Done, In A Calm Review Of Facts And Of Principles.