OCR Text |
Show 190 KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS 0]' 1798--9. migration of alien friends described as the subject of the said act concerninrr aliens, that a provision against prohibiting their migration is a provi iou agninst all acts equivalenL thereto, or it would be nugatory ; that to remove them when migrated, is equivalent to a prohibition of their migra· tion, and is, therefore, contrary to the said provision of tho Constitntion, and void. 6. Resol·ved. That the imprisonment of a person under tho protection of the laws of this Commonwealth, on his failure to obey the simple order of the President to depart out of the United States, a is undertaken by the said act, entitled, ".An .Act conccrniug .Aliens," is contrary to the Constitution, one amendment in which has provided that "no person shall be deprived of liberty without due process of law;" and that another having provided, "that, in n.ll criminal prosecutions, the accused Hhall enjoy the right of a public trin,l by an impartial jnry, to be informed as to tho nature and cau, c of the accusation, to l>e confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining wituc:scs in his favor, and to ho.vo assi. tance of counsel for his d '~'tl.·e , " the same act ttiH.lertakino- to authorize the President to remove a per on out of ~lle United States who is under the protection of tho Jaw, on his own suspicion, wit.hout jury, without puLlic trial, without confr~ ntation of the witnesses against him, without having w~tnesses iu his favo1·, without defcuse, without counsel,contrary to these provisions also of the Constitution-is therefore not law, but utterly void, and of no force. 'rbat transferriug the power of judging· any person who is under the protection of the laws, from the courts to tho President of the United States, as is undertaken by th~ same act concerning aliens, is against the article of the Co~stitution which provides 11 that the judicial power of the U mted States shall be vested in the courts the judges of which shall hold their office during their go;d behavior," KENTUOKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1798--9. 191 and that the said act is void for that reason also ; and it is further to be noted that this tram;fcr of judiciary power is to that magistrate of the gen eral government who already possesses all the excculi ve and a qualified negati v·o on all the legis1ation. 7. Resolved, That the construction applied by tho general government (as is evident by sundry of their proceedincrs) to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which deleo·atc to Congress power to lay nnd collect taxes, d utics, im po ·ts, excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common d fensc and general welfaro, of tile United State:, ancl to oHtkc all laws which shall be neces ary and proper for carryiug into execution tho powers vested by the Constitution in the Govcrument of the Uuited States, or any department th ereo f, goes to tho destruction of all the linlits pre. criLcd to their power l>y tho Constitution ; that words meant by that i ustrumcn t to l>e sn bsidiary only to the execution of the limited powers, ought not to l>e so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a pnrt so to be taken as to destroy the whole rosidue of tho instrument; that the procceuingH of' the g neral government under color of these articles, will be a fit and necessary subject for revisal and correction at a time of greater tranquillity, while thosp specifie<.l in the preceding resolutions call fur immediate redress. 8. Resolved, r.I.'hat the preceding reso1utions be trans-mitted to tho senators and rcpresen tati ves in Congress from this commonwealth, who arc enjoined to present the sumo to their respective houses, and to uso their best endeavors to procure, at the next session of Congress, a repeal of tho nforesaid unconstitutional and obnoxious acts. 9. Resolved, lastly, 'l'hat the governor of this commonwealth be and is authorized and requested to communicate I I the preceding resolutions to the lcgi.·laturcs of the sevcntl States, to assure them that tl1is coHlmou wealth considers |