ence and rights of the several states as necessary elements of the political order established by the one People in the Constitution which they adopted. While, therefore, the whole civil structure, federal and state, is made to rest upon the nationality and sovereignty of the United States, the construction that is advocated guards with equal care against any tendencies towards an undue centralization of power, and upholds the sacred principle of local self-government as the very groundwork of all civil and political liberty. The text of the present edition has been carefully revised and corrected; and whatever errors of fact or inaccuracies of statement had been discovered have been removed. An Appendix has also been added, which contains an abstract of all the decisions involving an interpretation of the Constitution, rendered by the Supreme Court of the United States since the publication of the first edition. The Public Law of the land authoritatively declared by the highest tribunal, is thus presented as it stands at the present day. The subject matter of this Appendix is arranged in an order conforming to that pursued in the body of the work, with appropriate subdivisions and headings, so that it can be easily referred to in connection with the discussions found in the original text. The additions thus made embrace many subjects of the highest theoretical and practical importance; among others, the nature of the Federal Union and its relations with the States, the status of citizenship with the rights and immunities of citizens, the interpretation of the XIIIth, XIVth, and XVth amendments, the regulation of inter-state commerce, the extent and limits of the national and the state powers of taxation, and the questions thus raised and determined, equal in magnitude and in their far-reaching effect any that were ever before passed upon by the national court of ultimate resort. August, 1875. J. N. P. Public Law divided into Political and International Elementary idea of the "State" and of "Sovereignty" Political Law divided into General, and Special Object of this treatise; political law of the United States Importance of the study to American lawyers 66 7-9 WHAT IS THE CONSTITUTION, AND BY WHOM WAS IT CREATED: SECTION II.MEANING OF "NATION," AND OF POLITICAL SOVEREIGNTY. Course of investigation to be pursued "Nation" and "Sovereignty" imply each other SECTION III.-THE PRINCIPAL PROPOSITION IN REGARD TO THE NATURE OF THE CONSTITUTION, AND THE NATIONALITY OF THE UNITED STATES. The United States is a nation and is sovereign Declaration of Independence, its authors, and its effects Sovereign states cannot limit their sovereignty Opinion of modern publicists in reference to last proposition Formative elements were states II. Articles acted upon States and not Individuals III. Government had no power to compel obedience Congress was the sole department of the government Call of Convention by Congress, to amend Articles of Confederation Meeting of Convention in 1787; did not do what they were called Meaning of these proceedings; nature of the acts of the state gov- ernments in submitting the Constitution to the people SECTION I. DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND THE NATION. The people, as a collective unit, are the nation, as distinct from the The theory of the government is involved in this proposition Illustrations from French and from English history Various powers held by a government; the people may wield all - THE IMPORTANT AND DISTINCTIVE NATIONAL ELEMENTS IN THE CONSTITUTION ITSELF; IN THE ATTRIBUTES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE GOV- National character of the Preamble Preamble of the Confederate Constitution, compared The powers of the agent cannot exceed those of the principal I. The Declaration of Supremacy (Art. VI. § 2) . The supremacy belongs to judge-made as well as to enacted law interpretation of the IXth and Xth amendments IV. Nature of the Legislative Powers held by the General Government and forbidden to the States. V. Nature of the Executive Powers State sovereignty theory as applied to the power of amendment The people created, and may amend Significance of the forms to be pursued Legality of the amendment abolishing slavery Conclusion SECTION IN WHAT MANNER AND BY WHOM IS THE CONSTITUTION TO BE Necessity for a sanction to constitutional law; kinds of sanction Subordinate power of the states to interpret II. The final power to interpret authoritatively resides in the Supreme Court of the United States Question stated, whether each department may interpret for itself, or whether the Supreme Court must interpret for all 134-148 Consequences of conceding the power to each department to inter- pret authoritatively 138-140 |