Union are supreme, each within its own appropriate sphere; that the rights of the individual state and of the Union are equally necessary to be preserved and must be accommodated to each other; that the authorities of the Union are to judge of the extent of the powers granted to it; that the rightful autonomy of each state is beyond the reach of federal interference; and that the Union is perpetual and indissoluble. SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE. 13. In America, sovereignty resides in the people. But the people here meant are the qualified electors, or a majority of them, and they can exercise their sovereign power only in the modes pointed out by their constitutions. The word "people" may have various significations according to the connection in which it is used. When we speak of the rights of the people, or of the government of the people by law, or of the people as a non-political aggregate, we mean all the inhabitants of the state or nation, without distinction as to sex, age, or otherwise. But when reference is made to the people as the repository of sovereignty, or as the source of governmental power, or to popular government, we are in fact speaking of that selected and limited. class of citizens to whom the constitution accords the elective franchise and the right of participation in the offices of government. The people, in this narrow sense, are the "collegiate sovereign" of the state and the nation. But the sovereign can exercise his sovereign powers only in the mode pointed out by the organic law which he has himself ordained. This will be shown more fully in a subsequent chapter, in connection with the question of the power of the people to revise and amend their constitutions.10 10 See infra, p. 46. FORM OF GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES. 14. The government of the United States is a federal government. The United States is a republic, and so also is each of the states, the form of government being representative. Federal Government. The American Union is commonly described as a federal government. And political writers and jurists usually speak of the federal constitution, the federal courts and jurisdiction, federal powers, the federal executive, etc. The use of this term is not made imperative by anything in the constitution. The nature of the government is not described therein. Nor can its employment settle anything as to the nature or powers of the government. But the term expresses the common understanding as to the kind of government prevailing in our country. And it is a correct designation, technically, if taken in its true sense. There is, in political science, a substantial difference between a confederation and a federal government. The former term denotes a league or permanent alliance between several states, each of which is fully sovereign and independent, and each of which retains its full dignity, organization, and sovereignty, though yielding to the central authority a controlling power for a few limited purposes, such as external and diplomatic relations. In this case, the component states are the units, with respect to the confederation, and the central government acts upon them, not upon the individual citizen. In a federal government, on the other hand, the allied states form a union, not indeed to such an extent as to destroy their separate organiza tion or deprive them of quasi sovereignty with respect to the administration of their local concerns, but so that the central power is erected into a true state or nation, possessing sovereignty both external and internal, while the administration of national affairs is directed, and its effects felt, not by the separate states deliberating as units, but by the people of all, in their collective capacity, as citizens of the nation. The distinction is expressed, by the German writers, by the use of the two words "Staatenbund" and "Bundesstaat," the former denoting a league or confederation of states, and the latter a federal government, or a state formed by It is to the latter class that means of a league or confederation. the American Union belongs. 11 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 suffrage, 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 111 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 guar anties 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." 13 7 Wall. 700. And see White v. Cannon, 6 Wall. 448. NATURE OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 16. The constitution of the United States is not a compast, 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 |