The only authority given by the Constitution to States is this power of amending it by the concurrence of State Legislatures in propositions made by the Congress of the United States or the Legislatures of three fourths of the States, and also the right of equal representation in the Senate, and that in the election of President the vote is by electors appointed in such manner as the State Legislature may direct. The provision forbidding a State from emitting bills of credit, passing any bill of attainder, _ex post facto_ law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, are a restriction that sovereign nations would never have submitted to. When a foreigner becomes a citizen, he abjures his allegiance to his native country, and the oath he takes is before a United States officer to the United States, not to the State in which he is naturalized. Finally, by the Constitution the President is made the commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States. While an oath or affirmation is required of every Senator or Representative, of every executive and judicial officer of the United States and of every State, to support the Constitution, the President alone--the one having the supreme military power over all forces on land or sea--must swear or affirm that he will faithfully execute the office, and “to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States”; not to keep from encroachment upon the rights of the States, but to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. Can it be said that it is not to be preserved over its citizens and States that are in arms to subvert or resist its laws and supremacy? Jefferson, in the time of the Confederacy, when the States were neglecting to pay the requisitions made of them, recommended that the Continental Congress should show its teeth and send a frigate into the ports of a delinquent State; but the new Constitution intended to draw the teeth of the States by prohibiting them from keeping troops or ships of war; and it reserved to the national government the right “to raise and support armies”; “to provide and maintain a navy”; and gave it the power of “calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrection, and repel invasion.” Thus the Constitution added to the supremacy of the new government the power to enforce it, and took from the States the power, as far as it could consistently with freedom, of resistance.