Download or read book The Conscription Act Vindicated (Classic Reprint) written by Thomas Hillhouse and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-11 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Conscription Act Vindicated A writer styling himself "An Original War Democrat," in a series of articles published recently in a leading journal, attacking the constitutionality of the conscription law, passed by the late Congress, sets out with the remark, that "the people of the State of New York proclaimed at the election last fall, and have unmistakably reiterated at the elections this spring, their determination hereafter, to be governed by law, and not by the arbitrary will of any man, or any body of men." It is presumed there will be few who will cavil at this determination, and fewer still, to whom the conviction of the possibility of preserving the government, without even so much as a suspension of the least prized of our civil rights, would not bring with it a sense of relief and satisfaction. It would be an additional ground of hope, if we could be assured that all constitutional laws would be obeyed, and that questions affecting their validity were raised to elicit the truth, and not to embarrass the government. The argument of the writer referred to, rests mainly on the proposition: "that the power to pass such a law does not exist, unless it is affirmatively given to Congress by the Constitution, all other power being reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The act is based on the power "to raise and support armies;" and the first question is, what is the meaning of the clause, and other clauses bearing on the subject, as gathered from a consideration of the ends and purposes for which the Constitution was formed, and as established by the judicial tribunals and laid down by learned commentators? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.