could levy taxes, reserved to themselves the regulation of commerce, and the right to tax the exchange of products, not only those coming from abroad, but also those which were sent from one state into another; and it was not long before high and vexatious duties were exacted, for the “ encouragement of home industry," on the importation of goods from one state into another, which led, naturally, to retaliatory laws, and presently to such obstruction of the exchange of products as caused a general prostration of all industries in all the states. Production was discouraged, because markets were limited; at every state boundary custom-house officers stood to exact tribute of the man who had something to exchange; and as the profitableness of industry depends on the right to exchange, and is diminished by every check placed upon the freedom of exchange, and by every limitation of the area over which a product may be exchanged, production was fatally hampered, and the whole country fell into poverty. 358. The first movement toward our present form of government arose out of a convention called to remove some unendurably vexatious fetters upon the exchange of products. Commissioners were appointed by the Legislatures of Maryland and Virginia to make freer to the people of those states the navigation of the Rivers Potomac and Roanoke, and the Chesapeake Bay. They were unable to act effectively; and at their instance the Legislature of Virginia, in 1786, proposed a convention of commissioners from all the states, "to take into consideration the state of trade, and the propriety of a uniform system of commercial relations." These commissioners advised a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation, and it was this body which in 1787 framed our present Constitution. 359. Once more you see the extreme importance to the prosperity of industry of freedom of exchange. Our Constitution grew out of the necessity of freeing the exchange of products from the fetters imposed upon it by the states; and, accordingly, those who framed it took care to secure in the most effectual manner this great object. 360. The Constitution differs in but two fundamental particulars from the Articles of Confederation: it gives the Central Government direct power over individuals; and it establishes absolute freedom of exchange between all the states, and leaves the regulation of foreign commerce, which was and is still regarded as a source of revenue, exclusively in the hands of the Federal Government. All other changes were mere incidents arising naturally out of these two. For with power to levy taxes and to punish individuals came the necessity for an executive and a judicial branch of the government. As to other matters: the government of the Confederation, like that which took its place, was charged with the declaration of war and peace, the maintenance of postroads, the regulation of the coinage, the maintenance of embassadors abroad, etc., etc., just as our Federal Government is-only it had no power to cause any thing to be actually done, because it had no power to coerce individuals, to enforce its acts by courts or soldiers, or to raise a revenue. 361. The adoption of the Constitution, by freeing the exchange of products among the states, at once revived industry, by vastly enlarging the market for all products. When men could once more sell without obstruction what they had raised and produced, every energy was stimulated which before was crushed, and we began thus, by the removal of obstructions to exchange, that career of prosperity and growth which has been the wonder of the world. 362. The union of the states under a Central or Federal Government has thus been the direct cause of all our long and remarkable career of prosperity, and this because, first, it has secured to our people, within certain limits, unrestricted freedom of exchange, which has acted as a constant stimulant to their enterprise, ingenuity, and industry. It has set a prize on intelligence by securing its products an immense market, covering the greater and the richest part of the continent. Second, the Constitution assured homogeneous laws and free intercommunication over the whole of our territory, and thus made migration possible and safe, whereby new fields of activity are constantly opened to the thrifty poor and to the restless and adventurous of our population. 363. Finally, the self-government in local affairs reserved to the states has enabled these to experiment safely, and to make changes in the state constitutions, not always for the best, but often needed improvements, and thus, by comparing results, to gradually and safely improve our system of government. XXXV. THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM. 364. Appended to this volume you will find the Federal Constitution, which I advise you to read with care. 365. You will discover that this instrument creates a government of limited powers, but of unlimited authority within its province. For instance, the President of the United States can not appoint any state officer, nor issue a command to him -not even a justice of the peace or a constable in a township; but he may draft or compel half a million of citizens into the army in case of war. Congress may declare war, and levy taxes to carry it on; it may declare who are citizens, how much gold shall go to a dollar, and how many pounds of wheat to a bushel; but it can not enact or repeal a city charter, nor interfere in the acts of even a township's trus tees. 366. This limitation and division of powers we call Decentralization. You have read of it in Section VIII.; and its practical application is one of the most important and beneficial features of our political system. 367. Under it, you must remember, the Federal Government has absolute command and power over every citizen and his property, for certain purposes and in certain relations; and this is necessary to give it efficiency. But it is absolutely without power over the citizens in other relations, and this is necessary to secure our liberties, and to give elasticity to our F political system; which means to make change possible without revolution. 368. The people of the United States are a nation; the Federal Government is a national government in the truest and largest sense of the word; and the Constitution empowers it to do all that any nation can require of its government, and to act in the most direct and decisive manner upon the individual citizen. 369. The Federal Government has the exclusive charge of ́ our intercourse, as a nation, with other nations; and it alone can make treaties. If you travel abroad, your citizenship is declared by a Federal passport; your rights are defended by the Federal Government; you are known as a citizen, not of New Jersey or California, but of the United States; the flag of your country is the Federal flag; and foreign governments have not even any official knowledge of the existence of our states. 370. The Federal Government has the exclusive authority to make treaties, to declare war and peace, to raise armies and maintain a navy; and though the militia in time of peace are trained by the states, it must be according to rules adopted by the Federal Congress. It has the entire charge of the common defense against attack from other nations, and has the power to defend its own existence against rebellion, and make its own laws obeyed by all the citizens-all state constitutions and laws to the contrary notwithstanding-as was shown in the late war. It is empowered to raise revenue by internal as well as external taxes, and, if necessary, to borrow money for these and many other purposes. Its tax-collectors and other officers proceed directly against the individual citizen, and in its own courts. It has the exclusive authority to establish and maintain post-offices, to coin money and punish counterfeiters; to fix weights and measures, to regulate commerce, to take cognizance of offenses committed at sea, in the territories, and against the laws of nations; to enact bankrupt-laws, to declare who shall be citizens, and to grant patents and copyrights. In all these matters the state governments have absolutely no authority; and all laws enacted by Congress, for these and other purposes recited in the Constitution, are the supreme law of the land, and as such entitled to your faithful obedience, even though a state constitution or laws should command you to the contrary. For, an act of Congress, a decision of the United States Supreme Court, or a command of the President when this is in accordance with an act of Congress, is above any or all state laws and constitutions. The states are so completely prohibited from interfering with the Federal Government in its own field, as this is prescribed in the Constitution, that they can not even tax Federal bonds; and the Federal power is so supreme, within its limits, that it may punish even so small an offense as the obstruction of one of its mail wagons. 371. It may be well to explain to you here, also, that when a citizen disobeys a Federal law he is directly dealt with-arrested, tried, and punished-by Federal officers and courts; but when a state adopts an unconstitutional law, the citizen called on to obey it appeals to the Federal Supreme Court, and its decision on the question is final. Thus the President does not act directly against states as he may against citizens; and this is an important distinction. 372. In all that concerns us as a nation, either in our external or internal interests, the Federal Government is thus supreme. But in a great many important relations it has nothing to do with us; and these are left as absolutely to the state governments, and to the county and city governments, as the other and general interests are given to the Federal Government. In fact, great and apparently overshadowing as is the power of our Central Government, it is scarcely felt by the individual citizen, except when we have a war, which involves the raising of armies and a navy, and heavy taxation, or when we are cursed with a heavy debt, or serious internal disorders. Before the late war there were millions of Americans who hardly knew that there was a Federal Government, except when they voted for a President or a Member of Congress. The Federal revenues were then collected entirely at a few |