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The Metropolitan Police Act Constitutional

About This Item

  • Title: The Metropolitan Police Act Constitutional
  • Date: 25 May 1857
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: per.01358
  • Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 25 May 1857: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
  • Contributors to digital file: Tara Ballard Thara Michaelis Kaylen Michaelis Kevin McMullen Karie Cobb
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "The Metropolitan Police Act Constitutional." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 16 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: per.01358.xml (TEI)
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THE METROPOLITAN POLICE ACT CONSTITUTIONAL.

Judge Mitchell and Peabody, being a majority of the Judges of the Supreme Court before whom the Police question was argued, affirmed the Constitutionality of the Metropolitan Police Act at General Term this morning.1 Judge Peabody delivering the judgment of the Court.

Judge Roosevelt read a dissenting opinion, in which he made the whole question to turn upon the wording of a section of the Constitution. After he had finished, Mr. Field rose and remarked that it read as quoted in the Red Book, but not in the later and authentic copy of the Constitution, published in the Revised Statutes. Judge Roosevelt only said, "Is it so?"

Notes:

1. The Metropolitan Police Act of April 1857 was passed by the New York State Legislature in order to dissolve New York City's Municipal Police and replace them with the State-controlled Metropolitan force, overseen by a board of commissioners. This new force covered the combined areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Westchester County and was considered controversial in scope, with some parties arguing that the Act was unconstitutional. Embedded within the Act was a series of provisions that impacted both the sale of and access to alcohol. [back]

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