Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-03-18

preserved
one side Of the question. They regard only the
supposed danger Of trusting Government with
| ,he interpretation of its own powers. But VIII
they view the question in its other aspect; VIII
they show US how it is possible for Government
to get along with four and twenty i1leTpreters Of
its laws and powers? Gentlemen de. too. as
| if. in these cases, the State would be always
riybt. and the General Government always wrong.
But, suppose the reverse; suppose the State
wrong, and, since they differ, some OF them must
he wrong. are the most impoI tant and essential
operations of the Government to be embarra sssd
| and arrested. because one State holds contrary
opinion? Mr.. President. every argument which
refers the constitutionality OF acts OF Congress
to State deciS1& appeals from the maturity to the
minority; il appeals from the common interest to
particulsr interest; from the councils OF all to
the council of one; and endeavors to supersede
the Judgment Of the whole by the Judgment OF
| part.
I think il is clear, sir, that the Constitution,
| BY express provision, by definite and unegnivo.
cal words, as well as by necessary implication,
has constituted the Supreme Court ut the Unit
ed States the appellate tribunal in all cases oil
constitutional nature which assume the shape oil
suit. in law or equity. And think cannon
do better than to leave this part Of the subject by
reading the remarks made upon it BY Mr.. Els.
worth, in the Convention of Connecticut; gen.
tleman, sir, who has left behind him, on the re-
cords of the Government Of his country, proofs
of the .clearest intelligence and OF the deepest
sagacity, as we'll as of the utmost purity and in
tesrity of character. "This Constitution" says
he, g. defines the extent of the powers OF the Ge-
neral Government. II the General Legislature
should, at any time, overleap their limits, the Jn-
dicai department is constitutional check. IL
the United States go beyond their powers; II
they make q law which the Constitution does not
authorize, it is void; and the judiciary power,
the national judges who, to secure their impair
,iality, are to be made independent, will declare
it to be void. On the other hand, 1t the States
20 beyond their limits, IT they make law which
is an usurpa,ion upon the General Government,
the law is void, and upright, independent judges.
will declare it so"
And let me only add, sir, that, in the very
first session Of the first Congress, with all their
we'll known objects. both OF the Convention and
the people, full and fresh in his mind, Mr.. Els
| worth reported the bill, as is generally under
stood. for the organization of the judicial depart
ment, aud, in that bill, made provision tor the
exercise Of this appellate power OF the Supreme
Court, in all the proper cases, in whatsoever
|
now been exercised for more than forty years,
without interruption, and without doubt
| As to the cases, sir, which do not come before
the courts, those political questions which terml.
nate With the enactments Of Congress. II is OF
necessity that these should be ultimately decided
l-0-------.--, ,Iv5'-'" 49, -,
must be trusted with this power The members
Of Congress are chosen by the people, and they
are answerable to the people; like other public
agents. they are bound BY oath to support the Con.
stituuon. These are the securities that they vii
not violate their duty. nor transcend their pow
ers They are the same securities as prevail in
other popular governments; nor is 1t easy to see
how grants of power can BE- more safely guarded,
without rendering them nugatory. II the case
cannot come before the courts, and II Congress
be not trusted with its decision, Who shall de-
eide it? The gentleman says each State ia to de-
eide it for herself II SO, then, as have alrea-
DIV urged, what is law in one State is not law IN
the other. Or, If the resistance OF one State
compels an entire repeal Of the Law, then mi
nority. and that small one, governs the whole
country.
Sir, those who espouse the doctrines of multi
featon reject, as it seems to me, the flrst great
principle Of all republican liberty; that Is, that
the majority must govern. La matters ct com.
mon concern, the judgment OF majority must
stand as the Judgment Of the whole. This is a
law imposed on US by the absolute necessity OF
the case, and if we DO not act upon it, there is
no possibility of maintaining any Government
but despotism. We hear loud and repeated de-
nunciations against what is called majority go
reranaeat II 10 declared, with much warmth.
that a majority government cannot be maintain
ed in the United States What, then, do gen.
tlemen wish? Do they wish to establish mino.
rity government Do they wish to subject the
will Of the many to the will of tine fewl The
honorable g en,leman from South Carolina has
spoken of absolute majorities, and majorities
concurrent; language wholly unknown to our
Constitution, and to which it is not easy to afix
definite ideas AS far as | understand It, it
would teach as that the absolute majority may be
found in Congress, but the majority concurrent
must be looked for in the States. That is to say,
sir. stripping the matter OF thus novelty Of
phrase, that the dissent Of one Or more States as
States, renders void the decision Of majority
oc (,angress en- far AZ that State ID concerned.-