FROM THE PARDON MESSAGE

By Gov. John Peter Altgeld
June 26, 1893
(Quoting from an Opinion by a certain Judge McAllister)

The chief political right of the citizen in our government based upon the popular will, as regulated by law, is the right of suffrage; but to that right two others are auxilary and of almost equal importance. 2. the right of the people to assemble in a peaceable manner to consult for the common good.

These are among the fundamental principles of government and guaranteed by our Constitution. Section 17, article 2 of the bill of rights declares: The people have a right to assemble in a peaceable manner to consult for the common good, to make known their opinions to their representatives and apply for redress of grievances.

Jurists do not regard these declarations of the Bills of Rights as creating, or conferring the rights, but as a guarantee against their deprivation or infringement by any of the powers or agencies of the government.

The rights, themselves, are regarded as natural inalienable rights belonging to every individual, or as political and based upon, or rising from principles inherent in the very nature of a system of free government.

The right of the people to assemble in a peaceable manner to consult for the common good being a constitutional right, it can be exercised and enjoyed within the scope and spirit of that provision of the Constitution, independently of every other power of the state government.