|
|
|
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
|
|
WHEREAS, The Constitution of the State of Texas declares that |
|
Texas is a free and independent State, subject only to the |
|
Constitution of the United States, and the maintenance of our free |
|
institutions and the perpetuity of the Union depend upon the |
|
preservation of the right of local self-government, unimpaired to |
|
all the States; and |
|
WHEREAS, The State of Texas acknowledges that the Ninth |
|
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that "[t]he enumeration |
|
in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to |
|
deny or disparage others retained by the people," and that the Tenth |
|
Amendment states that "[t]he 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 |
|
WHEREAS, The 50 states composing the United States of America |
|
are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their |
|
general government but by a compact, described as "a Constitution |
|
for the United States of America," with amendments thereto, through |
|
which they constituted a general government for special purposes |
|
and delegated to that government certain definite powers, |
|
reserving, each state to itself, the residuary mass of rights to its |
|
own self-government; whensoever the general government assumes |
|
undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no |
|
force; to this compact each state acceded as a state, and is an |
|
integral party, its co-states forming, as to itself, the other |
|
party; 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; as in all other cases of a |
|
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 |
|
WHEREAS, The Constitution of the United States delegated to |
|
Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities |
|
and current coin of the United States, piracies, felonies committed |
|
on the high seas, offences against the law of nations, slavery, and |
|
no other crimes whatsoever; 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 that undertake to create, define, or punish crimes, other |
|
than those so enumerated in the Constitution, are altogether void |
|
and of no force; 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 |
|
WHEREAS, 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"; 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 with, and were reserved to, the states or |
|
the people; 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 that cannot be separated |
|
from their use should be tolerated, rather than the use be |
|
destroyed; 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; 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 violates either, throws down the sanctuary |
|
that covers the others, and that libels, falsehood, and defamation, |
|
equally with heresy and false religion, are withheld from the |
|
cognizance of federal tribunals; therefore, all acts of the |
|
Congress of the United States which do abridge the freedom of |
|
religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press are not law, |
|
but are altogether void and of no force; and |
|
WHEREAS, The construction applied by the general government, |
|
as is evidenced by sundry of its proceedings, to those parts of the |
|
Constitution of the United States that 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 its power by the Constitution; 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; the proceedings of the general government under |
|
color of these articles will be a fit and necessary subject of |
|
revisal and correction; now, therefore, be it |
|
RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas |
|
hereby request the lieutenant governor and speaker of the house of |
|
representatives to appoint a joint committee that shall have as its |
|
charge to communicate this resolution to the legislatures of the |
|
several states and to assure them: that this state continues to |
|
esteem their friendship and union; that it considers union, for |
|
specified national purposes, and particularly those specified in |
|
their federal compact, to be friendly to the peace, happiness, and |
|
prosperity of all the states; that being 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 that |
|
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 its own authority |
|
all assumptions of power by others within its limits; that without |
|
this right, the states 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 that |
|
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; |
|
and, be it further |
|
RESOLVED, That this state 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; 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 in 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 that each will 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 its territory; and, be it further |
|
RESOLVED, That the joint committee be authorized to |
|
communicate by writing or personal conference, at any time or place |
|
whatever, with any person or persons who may be appointed by any one |
|
or more co-states to correspond or confer with it, and that it |
|
submit a complete report of its proceedings to the 82nd Texas |
|
Legislature when it convenes in January 2011; and, be it further |
|
RESOLVED, That 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 |
|
that assumes a power not delegated to the government of the United |
|
States of America by the Constitution for the United States of |
|
America and that serves to diminish the liberty of any of the |
|
several states will be considered null and void by the State of |
|
Texas; acts that would make a federal mandate null and void 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; placing further limitations |
|
on freedom of political speech or further limitations on freedom of |
|
the press; |
|
VI. Further infringing on the right to keep and bear arms, |
|
including prohibiting type or quantity of arms or ammunition; and, |
|
be it further |
|
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
|
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
|
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the |
|
senate of the United States Congress, to all the members of the |
|
Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this resolution |
|
be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to |
|
the Congress of the United States of America, and to the presiding |
|
officers of each state's legislature. |