The petition of the undersigned citizens of the State of New York humbly and respectfully prayeth your honorable body to point out to them and their brother Freemen of the United States the section or clause of the Constitution of the United States in which Congress is authorized to spend whole or any part of a Session in President making for as yet your petitioners have been unable to find it in that much trampled upon and abused instrument.

Your petitioners further pray your honorable body to bear in mind that the people of the United States are competent to choose their own President untramaled by congressional dictation and also independent of the wire pulling that hopeful partizans in congress are now attempting upon the American freemen—therefore your petitioners pray your honorable body to pass a law immediately prohibiting every future congress from sitting longer than twelve weeks in any one year and that if any member of either house meddle in his

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legislative capacity with President making he shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor subject to a fine of not less than one thousand Dollars and that he be immediately expelled from the house to which he belongs.

Your petitioners further pray your honorable body to take some legislative action upon the subject of war as that is one of the greatest evils that can come upon this nation—first because it takes life—Second because ^it^ corrupts the morals of the people—third and not least because it throws into the bosom of the nation a corps of Military Chieftens from which a candidate for the Presidency is thrust upon the people by political knaves and bantling demagogues in the place of a sure and well qualified Statesman whose whole life has been a guaranty of his pure and devoted Americanism and the luminous exponent of the best interest of the American people.

Your petitioners further suggest to your honorable body that they were among the many of ^the^ American freemen who rejoiced and anticipated much in the partizan change in the house of Representatives in the present congress—that through this change [...?] business reform in the house would succeed and that thereby the people’s delegated business would be done up in short order and the people’s treasuery for once relieved from the expense of a long and useless Session, but in this your petitioners acknowledge their mortified feelings and disapointment and therefore pray your honorable body to adjourn immediately—and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.