House Unpassed Legislation 1861, laid on the table, SC1/series 230, Petition of John T. Hilton

Petition subject: Military companies Original: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:11018095 Date of creation: (unknown) Petition location: Massachusetts Legislator, committee, or address that the petition was sent to: Simeon P. Adams, Boston Selected signatures:John T. HiltonWilliam C. NellJoel W. LewisJohn ThompsonHenry WeedenThomas PritchettHenry L.W. ThackerCornelius A. WeedenCharles L. MitchellJ.R. AndrewsJohn B. BaileyW.H. SimpsonThomas HiltonHenry HiltonRobert JohnsonAlfred G. HowardGeorge TeamohHenry SmithIra GrayWilliam H. LoganJohn E. RobinsonJames ScottEdward M. Bannister Actions taken on dates: 1861-05-16 Legislative action: Received in the House on May 16, 1861 and laid on the table Total signatures: 23 Legislative action summary: Received, laid on the table Males of color signatures: 23 Female only signatures: No Identifications of signatories: colored citizens, aggrieved petitioners, [males of color] Prayer format was printed vs. manuscript: Manuscript Additional non-petition or unrelated documents available at archive: no additional documents Additional archivist notes: Petition text in William C. Nell's handwriting; To strike the word “white” from the militia laws, legally eligible to every office in the gift of the people, vindication of their constitutional rights and immunities as citizens, duties and obligations imposed by said citizenship, never been found wanting in patriotism, loyalty, great national injustice to which they are in many ways subjected on account of their complexion, display their patriotic zeal and unwavering loyalty, trial hour of the republic, odious prescription, illegal act of Congress, disabled as citizens from defending the commonwealth against its enemies, unconstitutional or of questionable legality, no warrant for the contemptuous prescription of any class of bona fide citizens by Congress on account of their complexion, design of the power thus granted being clearly one of necessary arragements and efficient uniformity, not of odious exclusion, second section of article four of the constitution, privileges and immunities, unjust and unnatural distinctions, Congress therefore has no more authority to establish a complexional rule in regard to the militia of the several states than it has to require uniformity of political or religious opinion or to establish a monarchy, transcended its constitutional power, test the validity of the act of Congress, judicial tribunal Location of the petition at the Massachusetts Archives of the Commonwealth: House Unpassed 1861, laid on the table Acknowledgements: Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-5105612), Massachusetts Archives of the Commonwealth, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University, Institutional Development Initiative at Harvard University, and Harvard University Library.