Virginia advocate. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1827-1860, 1830-05-07

der 20 cure and prevent these evils Ifnot,
then the guarantee contained in me constitution,
the righ, of revision and control over election
laws. inspection laws, and owe. state legislation
upon many other subjects that might be men
toned, isa dead letter, or mas mean any thing
and every thing that fancy or s,phis,ry may
dictate and tho constitution Of tue Unite
States has erected no government at all, hu,
merely league, more inpotcut than our old
confederation (; n treaty 81 alliance between Sc
paratc and independent states and should any
of the parties violate its s,ipulatiuns there can
uc no civil or legal correction by The ordinary
| forms oi'law. Any state in this union may coin
money, make deprecated Pcpcr legal hnderin
tie payment Of deb,s, pass baHs of attainder, or
| erpoSt facio ia,os !; aud the people of The United
States bay he dcirauded of their property, or
condemned to death, under laws expressly for
| bidien by that constitution Which is declared
and admitted to be the supreme law of the land
Conclusions like these VIC can never admit, so
long as the constitution contains, as we are con-
| iidest il does, ample provision for its own ex-
position and enforcement, by the ordinary means
of Legislative and judicialla jucation. Whether
| the means provided are the best that eau he
found, or whether the expostions given have
always hcen correct or not, ID not now the ques-
ton. But, that the authorities or agents of
| the general government regularly appointed TO
| execute the powers conveyed by the consttu-
| ton, must be the proper persons to decide final
| Iy upon the extent of those powers, appears to
MS according to the principles Of our American
constitution, to be just and necessary conclu-
sion Ihc constitution ofthe United States is
the supreme law of the land' Congress shall
have power to pass all laws tiat may be- neces-
| sary and proper for carrying into execution the
powers contained in tho constitution ) that is
they shall have the power to provide for tho ex-
| ecution of the supreme law of the land. The
judicial power shall extend to all cases in law
| and equity, arising under this constitution, &c
Is there not here the most positive pfavision Ger
the construction OF the constitution by the de-
partments ofthe general government, according
to the nature of the eases that may arise under
the constitution? The frat congress that met
under this constitution, composed of many of
many of the ablest men who had assisted in
framing and adopting it, were SO confident that
the power Of final construction had bsen vested
in the departments of the general government,
that they passed the judicial act, the 25llt see
ton of which f(lately so much criticised and
| condemned) provides the means of bringing
| these questions, no matter where they may
have originated, before the judicial power of the
| United States, in order to preserve uniformity
| and correctness in deciding and executing the
| supreme law ofthe land.
We will now proceed to examine as con-
cisely as we can, few ofthe objections most
frequently urged against our conclusion II is
said that the people Of the United States have
delegated to the general government limited
powers only : but that, ifthe agents appointed to
| administer that government be vested with the
power OF deciding upon the extent of those linn
its, they may, by the operntiouof constructions
multiply and enlarge the powers ofthe govern
ment and render it altogether unlimited.
We have already observed, that it is essential
to every free government, that its powers should
be limited. An examination Of the bull of rights,
and Constitutions, of all the states of our union
existing at the time of the adoption of the feder-
al constitution, will show that these state 60
vernmcnts were all limited but from this ex-
animation, it will be equally manifest that the
agents appointed to Eli the departments of ad-
mfnstration under these constitutions composed
the tribunals for deciding upon the extent of
the powers vested in these governments And
why are we 10 suppose that the people of thess
states, when framing government which was
To be common TO them all, in order 10 form a
moro perfect union, establish Justice, &C. lin
tied tile power of construction, with regard to
this government upon different principles from
those which they had ingralted into all their
state governments We cannot perceive, in all
the provisions ofthe constitution, any thing to
Justify this suDpositon and the anomalous
principle that each party to the compact has
| reserved to himself the right of deciding upon
the extent of the powers conveyed by it, cansiot
DO admitted, unless it be apparent upon the
face OF the constitution itself The admission
that the agents OF the general government are
the constitutional Judges of the extent of pow-
or delegated 10 that government, can no more
render 1T unlimited, than the und enable eSis-
| tence OF the same principle in the state govern
ments can render them unlimited Should it
be said, that the Limitations Of the state govern.
nienis are different from those imposed upon the
general government, SIC reply, that the differ
| eDce is in degree and not in principle The
| subjects of coGRjZance and control assigned 20
them rcspe ctivcly may be different but the
meaps by which they arc to be confined to thci,
proper subjects have been provided and rcgu!a-
ted upon the same principles
But 1t is said that, by allowing the right of
construction to belong to the department of the
general government, the judicial department,
not being amenabe to tbepcope through the
elective franchise, becomes dangerous and A.
| 1or,,
MS, 1t 1T be true, may be good reason for ma
King tie judiciary more directly responsible to
The people but it does not prove that the con.