Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1805-09-12


sure and admiration, the fore. 'sl'eS plea
l7nce through the United State, s1 2 Prev,
PTsme b'1oer reside in the beoole, sn aa' ! 81
they ncOer part 1vith it. 1t NAV %pa that
! the Panaces in politics. There go 'aI'l
disorder in the community bo, - Oi 10
receive radical cure. If the srrn ~ t a:''
the Legislature, /. may BE- correc,-d - y Ia
constitution; if in Inc constitution !. ID:
be corrected by the people" (4o may
Can evidence be more positive O, ~.
conclusive OF the opinion ofjudge WS Sa':
than "the supreme, absolute and - "'a
troulable power which resides il H. s's'a'
Ple," is applicable ouly to their cgs,G Psn
ous '''0''
We come now to the quotation from, ;,
charge OF judge Patterson. "'
What, he asks, is a'consti,u,ioO
is the form Of governmen, deLineqtea h, 4
mighty hand of the people, in which ", VI:
tain first principles, or Fundamental lo w.t.
are established. The constitution is cs,,s:t
and fired; It contains the permanep, ~l1
o. the people; and is the supreme lu,v d
tie land 1t IS paramount TO the power 4
the legislature, and can be reOoked, or olt.,
ed only BY the authority 1hat made it, n. 1
lite-glvlng prince, and the death. dom,
stroke, must proceed from the same hand
What are legislatures { Creatures of II.
the constitution. They owe their exi,
tence to the constitution. They deriy.
their power from the constitution. Itn
their commission, and therefore all their
acts must be c0nE5ymable ~ ii, or els. j,
will be void. The constitution IS the WORK
or the will of the people themselves 10 their
original, sovereign, and unlimited catacilv.
Law is the work or the will of The lesss.
ture, 10 their deri7ative, and sujordinq!ecq ca.
bacity. The one is the work of the rsa.
tor, the other of the creature. The cons,i.
tuition fixes limits to the exercise ofkeish.
tiOe auttority and brescribes the orbit in
which it must move. 10 short gentlemen
the constitution is the sun If the bsEheal
system, around which all Legislative, execu.
tive, and judicial bodies must revoIve.-
Whatever may be the case in other coun.
tries, vet in this there can be doubt that c.
gerry act Of the legislature repugnanth the
constitution is ABSOLUTELY voID."(4D
What is the amount Of these quotations.
That the constitution is the supreme hwd
the land. That If the laws of the leglsla.
ture, (the creature of the constitution err
against the constitution, the constitution as
supreme, corrects the error by means OF
the judiciary or the president, ('he one or
the other as the case may be- and thar IN
the be0ble resides the absolute, uacaltr0uIa.
bic bo1Ver ofthe constitution.
Here, then, is nothing which expresses
or implies that +" the supreme Po1Oer q the
state" is the reserved p9wer which the
people never part with.
On the contrary, the quotations consider
the reserved power as applicable only to
the constitution. 1t cannot, therefore, ln-
tcrfere wi.he fduciary b0zver, or The pow
er vested in certain purposes. The SUI
preme power which always resides IN the
people is, therefore, evidently one thing
and the supreme or sovereign power Of tho
state different thing, The object OF the
one, to obtain for the people, By the To-
strumen,ality of wise laws, the ends i0f
which the constitution was ordained. inc
object of the other, TO change the const'u'
ton, whenever it shall cease, n the "0To'
of the preamble, "to insure domestic traA'
guilty, provide for the common deisnce'
promote the general welfare, and secure inc
blessings of liberty to ourselves and oui
posterity," C42) the ends for which It va
obtained.
(4o) Deb. Penn. Gen. ,. 60, SO. :,