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Can it be pretended that this obligation is not palpably
broken if we carry out a measure like this, which wipes away every
vestige of republican government in ten States and puts the life,
property, liberty, and honor of all the people in each of them under
the domination of a single person clothed with unlimited authority?
The Parliament of England, exercising the omnipotent power which it
claimed, was accustomed to pass bills of attainder; that is to say, it
would convict men of treason and other crimes by legislative enactment.
The person accused had a hearing, sometimes a patient and fair one, but
generally party prejudice prevailed instead of justice. It often became
necessary for Parliament to acknowledge its error and reverse its own
action. The fathers of our country determined that no such thing should
occur here. They withheld the power from Congress, and thus forbade its
exercise by that body, and they provided in the Constitution that no
State should pass any bill of attainder.


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