for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obli-. gations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. SECTION 5.-The Congress shall have power to enforce, - by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. ARTICLE XV. SECTION 1.—The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States: or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. SECTION 2.-The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 4 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CONSTITUTION. ITS ORIGIN. The Union of the Colonies. 1. THE impolitic course of Great Britain towards her North American colonies led to that correspondence, and, finally, to that union between them, which has proved, in large measure, the source of their power and prosperity. Accustomed, however, anterior to the Revolution, to a separate, independent existence, each colony having its distinct government, they still maintained that separate political existence, notwithstanding they united their counsels and resources for the common defence and general welfare. The Stamp-act Congress. 2. The attempt of England to derive a revenue from the colonies by means of a tax on stamps, led a majority, namely, nine of the colonial assemblies, to send delegates to a Congress which assembled at New York, in October, 1765, to consult together, and make a common representation to implore relief. The determined attitude of the colonies on this occasion, and their resolute denial and resistance to the assumed right of taxation, induced Parliament to repeal the obnoxious act. 3. But little more than a year elapsed, however, before the project of taxation was again revived, and early in the year 1767 Parliament passed another act, with the avowed object of deriving a revenue from America. This measure re-opened the fountain of discontent and controversy, and led to that resistance on the one hand, and those attempts at coercion on the other, which at last resulted in open war, and the dismemberment of the British Empire. The Continental Congress. 4. On the 5th of September, 1774, delegates from all the colonies, except Georgia, assembled at Philadelphia to deliberate upon the state of public affairs, and devise and recommend measures of relief. The method of voting in this Congress was by colonies, that is, each colony had one vote. In pursuance of their authority, they adopted resolutions defining their rights and the foundation of them. They de clared the several instances in which those rights had been violated. For the redress of their wrongs they entered into a non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation agreement. They prepared an address to the people of Great Britain, a memorial to the inhabitants of British America, and a petition to the king. 5. If these measures should prove unsuccessful, and their grievances remain unredressed, they recommended that another Congress should be held on the 10th of the following May. The British government still persisting in their system, a second Congress, composed of delegates from twelve colonies, accordingly assembled at Philadelphia in May, 1775. In the course of the year Georgia united with her sister colonies, and sent delegates to the Congress. Powers exercised by the Congress. 6. The second Continental Congress exercised for nearly six years, that is, from their meeting until the final ratification of the Articles of Confederation on the 1st of March, 1781, the powers of a supreme, controlling national council. They declared the colonies free and independent states, raised armies, made treaties, and performed the highest acts of sovereign authority. They did all this, without any express delegation of power, but with the implied |