The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1911-07-06

lnCluueQ Jne power W ucotioJ oh'
the power to destroy might rendel
useless the power to create.
1t has been declared by Chancellor
Kent and Prof. James B. Thayer thai
in no other case has the supremacy
of the National constitution been de
clared in so clear and convincing /;
manner as in McCulloch vs. the State
of Maryland. $780,.
The most widely known to the peo
pie generally of all of John Marshalls
decisions is that of the Trustees OF
Dartmouth College VS.. Woodward.
The fact that the fortunes of, at
that time, a comparatively small col
lege, was the foundation for one of
the most famous decisions in Ameri'
can Jurisprudence, has invested the
case and it's result with an almost ro-
mantle interest, and interviewer with
the history of the case Is the fact that
in presenting it before the supreme
court, Daniel Webster, the greatest
constitutional lawyer of the times
made one of his most impressive and
powerful arguments. The incidents
attending Mr.. Webster's argument,
the reference to the college as being
his own alma mater, and the visible
effect upon the Chief Justice and his
associates of the argument and its
eloquent peroration are familiar to
us all. 1t is one of the glories of our
profession that such a cause could
have such an advocate as Daniel
Webster, and such judge to render
the decision as John Marshall.
The pivotal facts upon which the
case turned, are briefly these: A
charter had been granted by the
Crown of Great Britain to the trus-
tees of Dartmouth College in 1853.
After the revolution the legislature
sought to alter the charter by in
creasing the number of trustees that
the trustees should be appointed by
the Governor of the state, and in 9TH
err matters, and these and some other
attempted changes and amendments
to the charter, the former trustees
appointed under the first charter, de-
clined to accept. Woodward, the de-
PENDANT. had been secretary and treas
urer of the college. but had been re-
moved. After the attempted changes
in the charter he was appointed to
fill the same offices under the newly
appointed board of trustees.
An action of trover was brought
for the corporate seal, the charter,
and records of the college by the for
mer board of trustees, and the plain
tiffs we're defeated and appealed to
the supreme court of the United
States.
The vital questions in the case
were whether or not the charter
which had been granted by Great
Britain when the college was found
ed was contract, and If so, whether
the act of the legislature of New
Hampshire seeking to amend and
change it, was void under the clause
of the constitution prohibiting the
impairment of contracts. The opin'
ion of the court held the affirmative
on each of these propositions, and es-
tablished the sacredness of contracts
under the supreme law of the land.
1t is impossible to over estimate
the importance of the decision as to
the particular matter with which 1t
deals, and the principle of law thus
established, has never since that
time heen doubted
One of the noticeable features of
these decisions is that in two OF them
no authority was cited whatever. In
the Marbury case two citations were
given by the Chief Justice. Other
wise the decisions were the result OF
that reasoning power which proceed.
ed straight and unerring as ray OF
sunlight on its mission.
cannot and will not detain you
longer with reference to these land
marks of our country's liberay and
greatness. At the right time in our
history and by the right man, were
these and other principles of free
government established and the peace,
tranquility and happiness Of these
states established.
In the old world a conquertng gen
eral was frequently loaded with the
gifts of a grateful people. John Mar
shall has given to this nation more
in substance, in stability and power
than could be gained by territorial
aggression, which is often the result
of bloodshed and war. He died at
the age of 80 years, the same quiet
unassuming man he had been through
life.
No writer has given a stronger and
more truthful estimate of his WORK
than James Bryce in his work, THE
American Commonwealth" when he
SAYS:
THE work of building up and work
ing out the Constitution was accom-
plished, not so much by the decisions
he gave by the judgments in which
he expounded the principles OF these
decisions, judgments which for thei
philosophical. breadth, the luminous
exactness of their reasoning and the
fine political sense which pervade'
them, have never been surpassed ant
rarely equaled by the most famous
jurists OF modern Europe or OF an
n Nssa