Constitutions are intended to preserve practical and substantial rights, not to maintain theories. Davis v. Mills, 194 U.S. 451, 457 (1904)General propositions do not decide concrete cases.
198 U.S. at 76 A page of history is worth a volume of logic.
New York Trust Co. v. Eisner, 256 U.S. 345, 349 (1921)
The power to tax is not the power to destroy while this Court sits.
Panhandle Oil Co. v. Mississippi ex rel. Knox, 277 U.S. 233 (1928)