states, and the latter a federal government, or a state formed by means of a league or confederation. the American Union belongs.11 It is to the latter class that A Representative Republic. The United States is a federal republic. So also each of the states is a republic, and the constitution guaranties to each the continuance of republican government. The exact meaning of this phrase will be more fully considered in another place. At present it is sufficient to say that a republic, as distinguished from a despotism, a monarchy, an aristocracy, or an oligarchy, is a government wherein the political power is confided to and exercised by the people. It is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." It implies a practically unrestricted suffrage, and the frequent interposition of the people, by means of the suf frage, in the conduct of public affairs. The system of government in the United States and in the several states is distinguished from a pure democracy in this respect, that the will of the people. is made manifest through representatives chosen by them to administer their affairs and make their laws, and who are intrusted with defined and limited powers in that regard, whereas the idea of a democracy, non-representative in character, implies that the laws are made by the entire people acting in a mass-meeting or at least by universal and direct vote. THE UNION INDESTRUCTIBLE. 15. The United States is an indissoluble union of indestructible states. No state has the right to secede from it. The Union could be terminated only by the agreement of the people or by revolution. There is, in this Union, no such thing as a right of secession, no right in any state to leave the Union and set up an independent government. The Union is permanent, and cannot be dissolved or disintegrated by the action of any state or states. This was settled forever by the political events of the last half century, by the 11 1 Wools. Pol. Science, pp. 166-170. concurrence of the people, and by the courts, the final interpreters of the constitution. In the important case of Texas v. White 12 we read as follows: "By the articles of confederation, the Union was declared to be perpetual. And when these articles were found to be inadequate to the exigencies of the country, the constitution was ordained 'to form a more perfect Union.' It is difficult to convey the idea of indissoluble unity more clearly than by these words. What can be indissoluble if a perpetual union made more perfect is not?" Thus, when a state has once become a member of the Union, "there is no place for reconsideration or revocation, except through revolution, or through consent of the states." "But the perpetuity and indissolubility of the Union by no means implies the loss of distinct and individual existence, or of the right of selfgovernment, by the states. Without the states in union there could be no such political body as the United States. Not only, therefore, can there be no loss of separate and independent autonomy to the states, through their union under the constitution, but it may not unreasonably be said that the preservation of the states and the maintenance of their governments are as much within the design and care of the constitution as the preservation of the Union and the maintenance of the national government. The constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible states. When, therefore, Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation. All the obligations of perpetual union and all the guaranties of republican government in the Union attached at once to the state. The act which consummated her admission into the Union was something more than a compact; it was the incorporation of a new member into the political body. And it was final. The union between Texas and the other states was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original Considered, therefore, as transactions under the constitution, the ordinance of secession, adopted by the convention and ratified by a majority of the citizens of Texas, and all the acts of her legislature intended to give effect to that ordinance, were absolutely null." 12 7 Wall. 700. And see White v. Cannon, 6 Wall. 443. NATURE OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 16. The constitution of the United States is not a compact, league, or treaty between the several states of the Union, but an organic, fundamental law, ordained and adopted by the people of the United States, establishing a national federal government. Not a Compact or League. The system of government existing under the articles of confederation was not a federal government, but a confederacy, in the sense of these terms as already explained. The articles constituted a league or treaty between the several states. They purported to have been adopted by delegates from the individual states, and to establish a "firm league of friendship" between those states. They were superseded by the constitution of the United States. This new government created a federal republic. It was not established by the states. It is not a league, treaty, convention, or compact between those states. It does not depend, either for its existence or its continuance, upon the consent of the states. The organic act, the constitution, was framed by delegates representing the several states in convention. But it was submitted to the consideration and acceptance of the people. The states did not act upon it. It was ratified and adopted by the people of the United States, who, acting for purposes of convenience within their respective states, appointed delegates for the sole purpose of deciding upon its adoption. Upon the ratification of the constitution, not merely the states, but also the people, became parties to the fundamental act. This is also shown by the language of the preamble, which declares that "We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America." This doctrine is sanctioned by the decisions of the supreme court, the final interpreter of the constitution, from the very beginning of the government, by the course of the executive and legislative departments of the government in acting upon it and practically accepting it, and by the general consensus of opinion among the people, as shown by the events of our national history.13 An Organic Fundamental Law. The United States being a sovereign and independent nation, the constitution is its organic and fundamental law. By this is meant that the constitution is the supreme act of legislation, ordained by the people themselves, by which the sovereignty, nationality, and organic unity of the nation is declared, the foundations of its government laid and established, and the organs for the execution of its sovereign will created. It is moreover a basic or funda. mental law, which is supreme and unvarying, and to which all other laws, ordinances, and constitutions, by whomsoever adopted, must be referred as the criterion to determine their validity. THE CONSTITUTION AS A GRANT OF POWERS. 17. The federal constitution contains a grant of powers to the government which it creates, but is not exhaustive of the powers which the people who maintain it might confer upon that government. The constitution contains a grant of certain enumerated powers to the federal government or to one or other of its departments All other powers of government are reserved to the several states or to the people. Historically, the United States, under its present government, is to be considered the successor of the confederation. And therefore the grant of powers to the United States by the constitution may be considered as an enlargement of, or addition to, the powers wielded by the central government under the articles of confederation. But it must not be forgotten that when the constitution was adopted there came into existence a nation (as distinguished from a league of states) which possessed absolute and unlimited inherent powers. The constitution should 13 1 Story, Const. §§ 306-372; Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall. 419; Martin v. Hunter, 1 Wheat. 304; Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Wheat. 264; McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316; Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1; Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 12 Pet. 657; Lane Co. v. Oregon, 7 Wall. 71; Texas v. White, 7 Wall. 700; U. S. v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 542. hence be considered as defining the powers and prerogatives which the sovereign people of the United States have deemed fit to confide to their federal government. The limits or scope of these powers might be either enlarged or restricted by further amendments to the constitution. But in the mean time, a certain measure of power has been intrusted to the national government, and the remainder is reserved, to be exercised by the several states, or to remain in abeyance until the people shall see fit to delegate it to one or the other government. But from this principle there follows an important difference, in regard to the test of validity, between federal action and state action. This will be more fully considered when we come to speak of the nature and boundaries of legislative power. At present, it is sufficient to remark that if the validity of federal action is questioned, the authority for it must be shown in the constitution. But if the question is as to the validity of state action, it is not the justification but the prohibition of it which must be pointed out. That is, state action is presumed to be well warranted until the objector has been able to point out the specific provision of either the federal constitution or the state constitution with which it is incompatible. THE CONSTITUTION AS THE SUPREME LAW. 18. The constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land, and is equally binding upon the federal government and the states and all their officers and people. Any and all enactments which may be found to be in conflict with the constitution are null and void. The constitution itself declares that it shall be the supreme law of the land. This supremacy of the constitution means, first, that it must endure and be respected as the paramount law, at all times and under all circumstances, and in every one of its provisions, until it is amended in the mode which itself points out or is destroyed by revolution. Secondly, it means that all persons are bound to respect the constitution as the supreme law. It is not merely a limitation upon legislative power, but is equally binding upon all the departments and officers of government, both state and |