Mexico weekly ledger., 1877-05-10
A THESIS ON "TIIE RELATION
OF THE STATE TO THE MA
TION."
written by I. b. Buckner, while at
tending the law school of the Univer-
sity OF Michigan.
Continued from last Week.>

'ile oIlSlilal anu primary for
nation of the Union, all of which have
mad numerous and Jealous advocates
lst. That thirteen original sovereign
and independent States. each indie
pendent in itself, by mutual consent.
formed a confederacy. 2d. That a
nation came into existence by revo-
and that the people composing
It proceeded to form State govern
ments. According to this theory. the
State government is the creatnra OF
he national government, made wiSfl
he license Of that government; this
hcory is III contrayention to our con-
,titutional history. The third and
most plausible theory is that of thir-
cen States existing as governments
orming Il national government and
or its support and maintenance made
mutual concessions of power to this
newly formed government. This be-
ng the correct and accepted theory of
he formation of our government, we
are now prepared to answer our sec
)nd inquiry, namely: how is it to be
15t. Being the creature
IF the States. it is to be construed as
being an instrument Of enumerated
powers and can exercise only those
prerogativcs expressly given by the
States, and those which are of ncces-
sary implication. 2d. Where there
are limitations mentioned in the Con-
stitution they are presunptivcly linn
tations on the general government,
and have no reference to the inGivid-
ual States unless the word State is eX-
prcssly mentioned.
To illustrate this the CONSTITUTE on
in one article says ''no bill Of attaind-
ers or eXpost facto law shall he
passed" This must he construed as
a limitation on congress. because
where State is intended to he linn
ted in power, We find the limitation
made in express terms. The Consti-
tuition also provides chat no State
shall pass any bill Of attainder or cX-
post facto law were it not for tn .
latter clause prohibiting the State in
express terms there is no doubt that
they could pass bills Of attaindcr and
axpost facto laws at their own discre-
ton and not in any way violate the
national Constitution. For further
illustration the Constitution nrnvihc~
that in all criminal prosecutions the
accused shall have right to Il speedy
and impartial trial by jury " this.
also must be construed as referring to
those cases in which the United States
is a party, and not to those cases i'll
which State is Il party, because be-
inc an instrument of enumerated
bowers We cannot infer Il limitation
upon any other power than itself un-
less the limitation is made in express
terms.
In Interpreting the terms and clauses
in the Constitution we must interpret
them according to the sense of the
terms and the intention Of the parties
using them; try, and as near as pos
sible, give them the same meaning
that was given them by the original
trainers of our Constitution when il
was first established. The interpre-
tation must be gathered from the light
of surrounding circumstances ano
from the speeches of statesmen made
near the time Of its adoption. Tho
rule of Interpretation
would be, according to tho intend,
ment and understanding of the whole
people who ratified and adopted the
Constitution as their guiding instru
ment; but it is to be presumed that
the intention of the leading minds
who framed the Constitution was the
same as those who adopted it, and al
we can ascertain their intention mucl
easier than that of the whole people
we can reasonably give words ant
clauses the meaning that the Trainer,
intended they should have withou
falling into any gross error.
This is the only means we have b,
which we can preserve tho correct ans
na;eaEy ciRaI9e"tuaT The hffu riys3ShlpsttanyGsee
quent time the language employed il
the Constitution may convey a differ
ent meaning from that originally in
tended, and were we not to follow thi
rule strictly the meaning and interpre
tation would be as various and divers,
as the number interpreting it. Hence
the Importance Of going to the origin
al intention is to preserve uniformit,
and the true meaning. All the com
mon law terms are to be understood
in their technical and common law
meaning. and all other words anC
clauses must be Interpreted according
to their ordinary and natural mean
ing; for rs men whose actions require
any concealment usually employ the
words which most aptly and directly
express the ideas they intend to con.
vey, the enlightened patriots who
formed our Constitution and the peo-
pie who adopted it, must he under,
stood to have employed words in their
natural sense and to have intended
what they have said. But if from the
imperfection of human language there
should be some ambiguity of express
sion or serious doubts respecting O
clause or the extent Of any given