The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1870-02-25

treatise made, or which shall h.
made, under the authority of til,
United States, shall be the Su
preme law of the land, and tn,
Judges of every State shall b,
bound thereby, anything in tn,
constitution or laws of any Stat,
to the contrary Notwithstanding.
Not every act of Congress then i
to be regarded as the supreme Law
OF the land; nor is it by every ac
OF Congress that the judges ar,
bound; this character aud thi.
force belongs to such acts as ar,
made in pursuance of the Consti
tuition. When, therefore, a cas-,
arises for judicial determination
and the decision depends on the
alleged inconsistency of lcgisla
tive provision with the fundamen.
tai laws, it is the plain duty of tho
Court to compare the act with tho
constitution, and if the former can.
not, upon fair construction, be
reconcllcd with the latter, to give
effect to the Constitution rather
than the Statute. This seems So
plain that it impossible to make it
palmer by argument. If it be
otherwise, the Constitution is not
the Supreme law.
"lt will be seen from this" says
the Baltimore Gazette, "that the
Supreme Court has taken the op-
rortunity, in this decision, to dis
cuss the powers of Congress, the
usurpations of which, although it
docs not call them by that name,
1T evidently looks upon with some
uneasiness. In the course of the
opinion, Mr. Chase laid particular
stress on the fact that the powers
of the Government established bv
the Constitution we're limited, and
that the object of the Constitution
was to regain the limited Govern
ment from the exercise of powers
not clearly delegated or Iivined by
just interference from powers dele
gated, and that, where Congress
adopted measures prohibited by
the Constitution, or under pretcxt
OF exercising its powcrs,' passed
laws for the accomplishment of
objects not entrusted to tue Gov
eminent, it was clearly the painful
duty of the Supreme Court TO de-
clare that such law was not the law
Of the land.
The decision itself, important as
1t is, is rendered vastly more so by
the able sound and independent
manner in which it is delivered.
1t Is decision which makes one
feel for moment that the Consti-
tuition is not a myth, and liberty
not sham. The many points dis
cussed by Chief Justice Chase as to
the rights of Congress to issue pa
per money, to declare it legal ten
der for any debts whatever, to re-
sort to it as war measure, are of
secondary Importance. There is,
however, anotherquestion incident
ally referred to, which a most i'm
portant one. That is, the rights of
States to regulate their own cur
rency, which Mr.. Chase says they
have the power to do, s1subject as
has been lately determined, to the
control of Congress-, for the pur-
pose of establishing and securing
a national currency Mr.. Chase
does not say whether or not such
control is constitutional, as he now
bodily declares that the issue of
greenbacks, which he himself ad-
vocated and fathored. was in some
respects if not in all, dishonest and
unconstitutional, there is no reason
that he should not declare his own
favorite pet National Bank system
an outrage upon the Constitution
and a fraud upon the people,"