A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 5, part 4: James Buchanan
History
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 5, part 4: James Buchanan
Buchanan, James, 1791-1868; Presidents -- United States; United States -- History -- Sources; United States -- Politics and government
No State shall without the consent of the Congress lay any imposts
or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely
necessary for executing its inspection laws.
And if they exceed this amount the excess shall belong to the United
States. And--
No State shall without the consent of Congress lay any duty of
tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into
any agreement or compact with another State or with a foreign power,
or engage in war, unless actually invaded or in such imminent danger
as will not admit of delay.
In order still further to secure the uninterrupted exercise of these
high powers against State interposition, it is provided: that--
This Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be
made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made or which shall be
made under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme
law of the land, and the judges in every State shall be bound
thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the
contrary notwithstanding.
The solemn sanction of religion has been superadded to the obligations
of official duty, and all Senators and Representatives of the United
States, all members of State legislatures, and all executive and
judicial officers, "both of the United States and of the several States,
shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution."
In order to carry into effect these powers, the Constitution has
established a perfect Government in all its forms--legislative,
executive, and judicial; and this Government to the extent of its powers
acts directly upon the individual citizens of every State, and executes
its own decrees by the agency of its own officers. In this respect it
differs entirely from the Government under the old Confederation, which
was confined to making requisitions on the States in their sovereign
character. This left it in the discretion of each whether to obey or
to refuse, and they often declined to comply with such requisitions.
It thus became necessary for the purpose of removing this barrier and
"in order to form a more perfect union" to establish a Government which
could act directly upon the people and execute its own laws without the
intermediate agency of the States. This has been accomplished by the
Constitution of the United States. In short, the Government created by
the Constitution, and deriving its authority from the sovereign people
of each of the several States, has precisely the same right to exercise
its power over the people of all these States in the enumerated cases
that each one of them possesses over subjects not delegated to the
United States, but "reserved to the States respectively or to the
people."
To the extent of the delegated powers the Constitution of the United
States is as much a part of the constitution of each State and is as
binding upon its people as though it had been textually inserted
therein.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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