CHAPTER IV.

RELATION OF THE STATE TO THE GENERal GovernmeNT

THE BUILDING OF A NEW NATION POWERS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT - WHAT THE STATES CAN NOT Do — THE TWO SPHERES AN ILLUSTRATION.

HAVING now shown the origin and described the constitutional framework of the federal government, and illustrated its mode of action, I shall devote this chapter, and perhaps the next, to a consideration of the relation between the general government and the States. Ours is frequently called a "dual government," and in a certain sense the designation is a true one. But it must not be understood that this involves any conflicting or divided allegiance. The relation of the States to the general government, in our system, is one which ought to be very easily understood. "E Pluribus Unum," from many, one, the old Latin motto which every boy has seen on the coin, expresses it very well. The "one" is the federal government, the nation; the "many" are the States and their governments. These latter have contributed to make the national government to which we all owe allegiance, and, to use the astronomical figure, they may be said to revolve around the general government like the tributary orbs in the planetary system.

MAKING THE NATION.

It is plain that the purpose of the framers of the Constitution was to make a Nation. They had tried the

"Articles of Confederation," a mere league, or contract, between the several colonies to stand by each other under the leadership of the Continental Congress during the Revolution; but when the Congress expired in 1786, this league was found insufficient, and the country was fast drifting into anarchy.

A central government was needed, clothed with the functions and authority of supreme direction. All this was seen by the wise and patriotic men of that day, and so the draft of the Constitution began, not in the form of a contract between the States, as did the Articles of Confederation, but with "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union," etc. This great preamble, declaring the Constitution to be the work of the people, 'is the foundation rock on which our government is built.

The several States, as colonies, had grown up into separate local governments and political organisms, each with a written charter, or constitution, and with the necessary local statutes, passed by their colonial assemblies. The tyranny of the mother country, aimed first at this one, and then at another, had evoked a common sympathy between them, and driven them into a temporary combination for the general defense. So, as Webster said, they stood "shoulder to shoulder through the Revolution." But this temporary arrangement must be made a permanent one, or the chief fruit of their victory would be lost, and they be left scattered communities still, with their local laws and their separate, diverse interests. They wanted "union," they wanted "order," established justice, and they wished to "bequeath the blessings of liberty to their posterity." So they proceeded to establish a national government, a federal union.

POWERS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

To do this the plan was to confer upon the general government, through a written Constitution, certain great powers necessary for its high functions, reserving their local rights and governments substantially as before. That is, to make this central, federal govern. ment, and clothe it with the necessary authority, the States were willing to part with some of their powers, to yield up some of their rights of separate sovereignty, and confer these upon the new central federal authority. The rights and powers which the federal government did not need for the exercise of its functions were left in the common reservoir of the States. As the States were nearer the people, and their local authority touched them in so many ways, these reserved rights and powers covered a wide and important field. Still there were enough conferred to make a strong and efficient national government. The enumeration of these powers in the Constitution will show this. In treating of the Constitution I have already discussed the the great departments of the federal government, the legislative, the judicial, and the executive. The first and greatest step toward the creation of a national authority was in the establishment of a federal House of Representatives in connection with the Congress, thereby enabling the new government to pay and collect the taxes, to impose duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts, and to provide for the common welfare of the United States.

Besides this fundamental and necessary power there were a number of other essentials to national sovereignty given to Congress, such as the power to borrow

money on the credit of the United States; to regulate foreign and domestic commerce; to coin money and fix the standard of weights and measures; to establish postoffices and post-roads; to issue copyrights and patents; to define and punish felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations; to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water; to raise and support an army and navy; to provide for calling out the militia to suppress insurrections and repel invasions, and to command this militia while actually employed in the service of the United States. Congress was also empowered "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States or in any department or office thereof." Out of some of these powers, such as those to coin money, borrow money, to call out the militia, and to regulate commerce, have arisen some of the sharp political questions of to-day.

LIMITATIONS UPON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

But in this plan there were some things which the federal government could not do, and which it was expressly prohibited from doing. These things constituted limitations upon the authority of the general government, what the lawyers call "constitutional limitations." Duties might be laid upon imports, but not upon exports. So we get our tariff revenues entirely from goods brought into the country, but nothing from goods sent out to other nations; and between the States there was to be free trade. All these duties and excises were

to be uniform throughout the country. A census was to be taken every ten years, and this was to be the sole basis of representation in Congress and for any direct tax which might be laid. No money could be taken from the treasury without Congressional appropriations duly made for the purpose. The writ of habeas corpus was not to be suspended, except when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety might require it. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law could be passed. A bill of attainder would be in this country an act of Congress condemning a man to death, banishment, or outlawry without a chance to defend himself in the courts. It was called "attainder" because in the old days, when it was used as an engine of oppression and tyranny, it attainted, or corrupted, a man's blood in law, and cut off his heirs. An ex post facto law, the other prohibition, is a law passed after the offense, or the fact. By the Constitution no title of nobility could be granted by the United States government, and no federal officer could accept a present, an office, or a title from any foreign state without the consent of Congress; which I believe has never been given in any case of office or title. The government could not require a religious test as a qualification for any office, or trust, under the United States. "Full faith and credit" was to be given in each State to the public acts and records, and to the judicial proceedings of every other State; and a citizen of any State was entitled to "all the privileges and immunities of a citizen in any other State." It was provided that criminals might be extradited; that is, taken from one State to another, on requisition of the governor; and the slave-holding States were given the right to a fugitive slave law. This latter was a weak