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$21. The government of the United States is national in its character.-The government of the United States is a national government, and is the only government in this country that has the character of nationality. It is vested with power over all the foreign relations of the country; it has been given jurisdiction over all those general subjects of legislation and sovereignty which affect the interests of the whole people equally and alike, and which require uniformity of regulations and laws. Its action is to be applied to all the external concerns of the nation, and to those internal concerns which affect the states generally; but not to those which are completely within a particular state, which do not affect other states, and with which it is not necessary to interfere, for the purpose of executing some of the general powers of the government."

§ 22. General statement of the powers of the United States government.-It appears from a simple reading of the words of the federal constitution, that the government of the United States is vested with a large and important part of those powers and attributes which nations have always regarded as sovereign, and that it is essentially a national government. It is vested with the power to make treaties, appoint and receive ambassadors, public ministers and consuls, and is charged with the diplomatic, foreign and international relations between this country and the nations of the world. It has the power to levy taxes for national purposes, declare war and conclude peace; to raise and support armies, and provide and maintain. a navy, and to suppress insurrections and repel invasions. It has the power to define and punish the crimes of treason, piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the laws of nations. It has the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states and with the Indian tribes; to establish post-offices and post-roads; to maintain the currency and fix the standard of weights and measures. It has power to control the territories, admit new states into the union, guaranty to every state in the union a

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republican form of government, and to protect each of them against invasion, and, in certain contingencies, against domestic violence; and to execute its laws upon every foot of soil in this country, either by judicial process or force of arms. And the constitution of the United States and the laws and treaties made in pursuance thereof are the supreme law of the land.s

§ 23. Implied powers of the federal government.-In construing the constitution of the United States, what is implied is as much a part of the instrument as what is expressed." There is no phrase in the constitution which, like the articles of confederation, excludes incidental. or implied powers, and which requires that everything granted shall be expressly and minutely described. A constitution, to contain an accurate detail of all the subdivisions of which its great powers will admit, and of all means by which they may be carried into execution, would partake of the prolixity of a code of laws, and could scarcely be embraced by the human mind. The very nature of a written constitution requires that only its great outlines should be marked, its important objects designated, and the minor ingredients which compose those objects be deduced from the nature of the objects themselves. That this idea was entertained by the framers of the constitution is not only to be inferred from the nature of the instrument, but from its language. It must have been the intention of those who framed the constitution, to insure, as far as human prudence could insure, the beneficial execution of those great powers conferred by the instrument upon the general government for the welfare of the nation; this could not have been done by confining the choice of means to such narrow limits as not to leave it in the power of congress to adopt any which might be appropriate, and which would be conducive to the end. Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution, and all the means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consistent with the

8 McCulloch V. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316 (4:579); Knox v. Lee, 12 Wall. 457-680 (20:287); Chae Chan Ping v. United States, 130 U. S. 581-611 (32:1068); Re Debs, 158 U. S. 564-600 (39:1092); Ex

parte Sibold, 100 U. S. 371, 395 (25:715); U. S. v. Tarble, 13 Wall. 397 (20:597); Ableman v. Booth, 21 How. 506 (16:169).

9 Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U. S. 651 (28:274).

letter and spirit of the constitution, are constitutional.10 Congress must possess the choice of means, and must be empowered to use any means which are in fact conducive to the exercise of a power granted by the constitution."1

§ 24. Same Meaning of implication. That some degree of implication must be given to words, is a proposition of universal application. Implication is but another term for meaning and intention apparent in the writing on judicial inspection; it is the evident consequence, or some necessary consequence, resulting from the law, or from the words of an instrument, in the construction of which the words, the subject, the context, and the intention of the persons using them, are all to be taken into view.12 It is the duty of the courts to interpret the constitution according to its true intent and meaning when it was adopted, and in such manner, as, consistently with its words, shall fully and completely effectuate its objects.14

13

§ 25. Same Power of congress not left to "general reasoning.”—The constitution has not left the power of congress to employ the necessary means for the execution of the power conferred on the government to general reasoning. To its enumeration of powers is added that of making "all laws which shall be necessary and proper, for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers vested by this constitution, in the government of the United States or in any department thereof;" and the necessity spoken of is not to be understood as absolute, but the constitution has vested in congress that discretion with respect to the means by which the powers it confers are to be carried into execution, which will enable that body to perform the duties assigned to it in the manner most beneficial to the people.15

§ 26. An implied power deduced from a group of specified powers. It is not, it is said, indispensable to the existence of any power claimed for the federal government that it can be

10 McCulloch V. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316 (4:579).

11 United States v. Fisher, 2 Cranch, 358, 405 (2:304, 320).

12 Rhode Island V. Massachusetts, 12 Pet. 657 (9:1233).

13 Dred Scott v. Sandford, 19 How. 393. (15:691); South Carolina v. United States, 199 U. S. 437.

14 Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 16 Pet. 539 (10:1060).

15 McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316-437 (4:579); Knox v. Lee, 12 Wall. 457-680 (20:27); Luxton v. North River Bridge Co.. 153 U. S. 525-534 (38:808).

found specified in the words of the constitution, or clearly and directly traceable to some one of the specified powers. Its existence may be deduced fairly from more than one of the substantive powers specified. It is allowable to group together any number of the specified substantive powers and infer from them all, that the power claimed has been conferred. A power may exist as an aid to the execution of an express power, or an aggregate of such powers, though there is another express power given relating in part to the same subject but less extensive.16

§ 27. The powers of government classified according to their distribution by the constitution.-Under the dual system of government which has been established by the federal constitution, as expounded in the decisions of the supreme court of the United States, the powers of government with reference to their distribution between the national and state governments are divided into four classes, namely: (1) Those powers which belong exclusively to the states; (2) those powers which belong exclusively to the national government; (3) those powers which may be exercised concurrently and independently by both; and (4) those powers which may be exercised by the states, but only until congress shall see fit to act upon them, when the authority of the state retires and lies in abeyance as to such powers until the occasion for their exercise shall recur.17

§ 28. Same-What powers may be exercised by the states.The states may exercise concurrent and independent powers in all cases but three, namely: (1) Where the power is by the constitution vested exclusively in the national government; (2) Where the power is by the constitution vested in the national government and prohibited to the states; and (3) where from the nature and subject of the power, it must necessarily be exercised by the national government exclusively.18

16 Knox v. Lee, 12 Wall. 457680 (20:287); United States v. Marigold, 9 How. 560-570 (13: 257).

17 Ex parte McNeil, 13 Wall. 236, 243 (20:624); Railroad Co. v. Fuller, 17 Wall. 560, 570 (21:710); Bank v. Dearing, 91 U. S. 29, 37 (23:196); Gilman v. Philadelphia,

3 Wall. 713, 744 (18:96); Cooley v. Port Wardens, 12 How. 299 (13: 996); Wilson v. Black Bird Creek Marsh Co., 1 Pet. 245 (7:413); Olsen v. Smith, 195 U. S. 332, 345 (49:224).

18 Gilman V. Philadelphia, 3 Wall. 713, 744 (18:96); Mobile County v. Kimball, 102 U. S. 691,

§ 29. The commercial power-Reasons for vesting it in the national government.-The universally recognized necessity for the rescue of American commerce from the embarrassments and degradation resulting from the diverse and conflicting regulations of commerce adopted by the states, and the hostile regulations of commerce by foreign nations, which could not be successfully resisted by the disunited efforts of the states, and the further and commanding necessity for the establishment and maintenance of a wise, just, equitable and enlightened code of commercial regulations, operating uniformly throughout the union in all matters national in their character, whose execution and administration should be committed to one national government, vested with the power and possessed of the means with which to enforce such regulations, were among the most influential considerations which induced the assembling of the constitutional convention and led to the formation and adoption of the constitution; and congress was given the power to regulate commerce for the purpose of curing the very mischief which had been so influential, as a moving cause, in inducing the states to abandon the articles of confederation and "form a more perfect union" by the adoption of the constitution; and the grant of the power is as extensive as the mischief it was intended to eradicate. and the federal judiciary has constantly and persistently refused to impair the efficacy of the power by restricted construction.19 The object and design of the power to regulate commerce was to establish among the several states a perfect equality as to commercial rights, and to prevent unjust and invidious distinctions, which local jealousies or local and partial interests might be disposed to introduce and maintain.20

707 (26:238); Crandall v. Nevada, 6 Wall. 35 (18:745); Welton v. Missouri, 91 U. S. 275 (23:347); Henderson v. Mayor of New York, 92 U. S. 259 (23:543); Cooley v. Port Wardens, 12 How. 297 (13: 996); Monongahela Navigation Co. v. United States, 148 U. S. 312, 345 (37.470); Olson v. Smith, 195 U. S. 332, 345 (49:224).

19 Brown v. Maryland, 12 Wheat.

419 (6:678); Gibbons v. Ogden, 9
Wheat. 1 (6:23); Cook v. Penn-
sylvania, 97 U. S. 566 (24:1015);
Leisy v. Hardin, 135 U. S. 100, 160
(34:128); Champion v. Ames, 188
U. S. 321 (47:492); Northern Se-
curities Co. v. United States, 193
U. S. 197, 406 (48:676).

20 Veazie v. Moor, 14 How. 568
(14:545); Federalist, Nos. 7 and

11.

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