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STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nine
A RESOLUTION affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles.
Whereas the Constitution of the
State of New Hampshire, Part 1, Article 7 declares that the people of
this State have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as
a free, sovereign, and independent State; and do, and forever hereafter
shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right,
pertaining thereto, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them
expressly delegated to the United States of America in congress
assembled; and
Whereas the Constitution of the
State of New Hampshire, Part 2, Article 1 declares that the people
inhabiting the territory formerly called the province of New Hampshire,
do hereby solemnly and mutually agree with each other, to form
themselves into a free, sovereign and independent body-politic, or
State, by the name of The State of New Hampshire; and
Whereas the State of New Hampshire
when ratifying the Constitution for the United States of America
recommended as a change, “First That it be Explicitly declared that all
Powers not expressly & particularly Delegated by the aforesaid are
reserved to the several States to be, by them Exercised;” and
Whereas the other States that
included recommendations, to wit Massachusetts, New York, North
Carolina, Rhode Island and Virginia, included an identical or similar
recommended change; and
Whereas these recommended changes
were incorporated as the ninth amendment, the enumeration in the
Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people, and the tenth amendment, the
powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States
respectively, or to the people, to the Constitution for the United
States of America; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
That the several States composing
the United States of America, are not united on the principle of
unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by a
compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United
States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General
Government for special purposes, -- delegated to that government
certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary
mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the
General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are
unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact each State
acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as
to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact
was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers
delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not
the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other
cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an
equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode
and measure of redress; and
7 That the Constitution of the United
States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason,
counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States,
piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against
the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever; and it
being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the
Constitution having also declared, that “the powers not delegated to
the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,”
therefore all acts of Congress which assume to create, define, or
punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are
altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to create, define,
and punish such other crimes is reserved, and, of right, appertains
solely and exclusively to the respective States, each within its own
territory; and
That it is true as a general
principle, and is also expressly declared by one of the amendments to
the Constitution, that “the powers not delegated to the United States
by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved
to the States respectively, or to the people;” and that no power over
the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press
being delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, all lawful powers respecting the same
did of right remain, and were reserved to the States or the people:
that thus was manifested their determination to retain to themselves
the right of judging how far the licentiousness of speech and of the
press may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom, and how
far those abuses which cannot be separated from their use should be
tolerated, rather than the use be destroyed. And thus also they guarded
against all abridgment by the United States of the freedom of religious
opinions and exercises, and retained to themselves the right of
protecting the same. And that in addition to this general principle and
express declaration, another and more special provision has been made
by one of the amendments to the Constitution, which expressly declares,
that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the
freedom of speech or of the press:” thereby guarding in the same
sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech,
and of the press: insomuch, that whatever violated either, throws down
the sanctuary which covers the others, and that libels, falsehood, and
defamation, equally with heresy and false religion, are withheld from
the cognizance of federal tribunals. That, therefore, all acts of
Congress of the United States which do abridge the freedom of religion,
freedom of speech, freedom of the press, are not law, but are
altogether void, and of no force; and
That the construction applied by the
General Government (as is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to
those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate to
Congress a power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and
excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and
general welfare of the United States,” and “to make all laws which
shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers
vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or
in any department or officer thereof,” goes to the destruction of all
limits prescribed to their power by the Constitution: that words meant
by the instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited
powers, ought not to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited
powers, nor a part to be so taken as to destroy the whole residue of
that instrument: that the proceedings of the General Government under
color of these articles, will be a fit and necessary subject of revisal
and correction; and
7That a committee of conference and
correspondence be appointed, which shall have as its charge to
communicate the preceding resolutions to the Legislatures of the
several States; to assure them that this State continues in the same
esteem of their friendship and union which it has manifested from that
moment at which a common danger first suggested a common union: that it
considers union, for specified national purposes, and particularly to
those specified in their federal compact, to be friendly to the peace,
happiness and prosperity of all the States: that faithful to that
compact, according to the plain intent and meaning in which it was
understood and acceded to by the several parties, it is sincerely
anxious for its preservation: that it does also believe, that to take
from the States all the powers of self-government and transfer them to
a general and consolidated government, without regard to the special
delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not
for the peace, happiness or prosperity of these States; and that
therefore this State is determined, as it doubts not its co-States are,
to submit to undelegated, and consequently unlimited powers in no man,
or body of men on earth: that in cases of an abuse of the delegated
powers, the members of the General Government, being chosen by the
people, a change by the people would be the constitutional remedy; but,
where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification
of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right
in cases not within the compact, (casus non foederis), to nullify of
their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their
limits: that without this right, they would be under the dominion,
absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of
judgment for them: that nevertheless, this State, from motives of
regard and respect for its co-States, has wished to communicate with
them on the subject: that with them alone it is proper to communicate,
they alone being parties to the compact, and solely authorized to judge
in the last resort of the powers exercised under it, Congress being not
a party, but merely the creature of the compact, and subject as to its
assumptions of power to the final judgment of those by whom, and for
whose use itself and its powers were all created and modified: that if
the acts before specified should stand, these conclusions would flow
from them: that it would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in
the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our
rights: that confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism -- free
government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is
jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to
bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power: that our
Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further,
our confidence may go. In questions of power, then, let no more be
heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the
chains of the Constitution. That this State does therefore call on its
co-States for an expression of their sentiments on acts not authorized
by the federal compact. And it doubts not that their sense will be so
announced as to prove their attachment unaltered to limited government,
whether general or particular. And that the rights and liberties of
their co-States will be exposed to no dangers by remaining embarked in
a common bottom with their own. That they will concur with this State
in considering acts as so palpably against the Constitution as to
amount to an undisguised declaration that that compact is not meant to
be the measure of the powers of the General Government, but that it
will proceed in the exercise over these States, of all powers
whatsoever: that they will view this as seizing the rights of the
States, and consolidating them in the hands of the General Government,
with a power assumed to bind the States, not merely as the cases made
federal, (casus foederis,) but in all cases whatsoever, by laws made,
not with their consent, but by others against their consent: that this
would be to surrender the form of government we have chosen, and live
under one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from our
authority; and that the co-States, recurring to their natural right in
cases not made federal, will concur in declaring these acts void, and
of no force, and will each take measures of its own for providing that
neither these acts, nor any others of the General Government not
plainly and intentionally authorized by the Constitution, shall be
exercised within their respective territories; and
That the said committee be
authorized to communicate by writing or personal conferences, at any
times or places whatever, with any person or person who may be
appointed by any one or more co-States to correspond or confer with
them; and that they lay their proceedings before the next session of
the General Court; and
FThat any Act by the Congress of the
United States, Executive Order of the President of the United States of
America or Judicial Order by the Judicatories of the United States of
America which assumes a power not delegated to the government of United
States of America by the Constitution for the United States of America
and which serves to diminish the liberty of the any of the several
States or their citizens shall constitute a nullification of the
Constitution for the United States of America by the government of the
United States of America. Acts which would cause such a nullification
include, but are not limited to:
I. Establishing martial law or a
state of emergency within one of the States comprising the United
States of America without the consent of the legislature of that State.
II. Requiring involuntary servitude,
or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or
pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process
of law.
III. Requiring involuntary servitude
or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than
pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process
of law.
IV. Surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to any corporation or foreign government.
V. Any act regarding religion;
further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further
limitations on freedom of the press.
VI. Further infringements on the
right to keep and bear arms including prohibitions of type or quantity
of arms or ammunition; and
That should any such act of Congress
become law or Executive Order or Judicial Order be put into force, all
powers previously delegated to the United States of America by the
Constitution for the United States shall revert to the several States
individually. Any future government of the United States of America
shall require ratification of three quarters of the States seeking to
form a government of the United States of America and shall not be
binding upon any State not seeking to form such a government; and
That copies of this resolution be
transmitted by the house clerk to the President of the United States,
each member of the United States Congress, and the presiding officers
of each State’s legislature.
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