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eral constitutions, that they should create parties in the bosom of the nation, which present powerful obstacles to the free course of justice.

HIGH RANK OF THE SUPREME COURT AMONGST THE GREAT POWERS OF STATE.

No Nation ever constituted so great a Judicial Power as the Americans. · Extent of its Prerogatives. - Its Political Influence. - The Tranquillity and the very Existence of the Union depend on the Discretion of the seven Federal Judges.

WHEN We have examined in detail the organization of the Supreme Court, and the entire prerogatives which it exercises, we shall readily admit that a more imposing judicial power was never constituted by any people. The Supreme Court is placed higher than any known tribunal, both by the nature of its rights and the class of justiciable parties which it controls.

In all the civilized countries of Europe, the government has always shown the greatest reluctance to allow the cases in which it was itself interested to be decided by the ordinary course of justice. This repugnance is naturally greater as the government is more absolute; and, on the other hand, the privileges of the courts of justice are extended with the increasing liberties of the people: but no European nation has yet held that all judicial controversies, without regard to their origin, can be left to the judges of common law.

In America, this theory has been actually put in practice; and the Supreme Court of the United States is the sole tribunal of the nation. Its power extends to all cases arising under laws and treaties made by the national authorities, to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, and, in general, to all points which affect the law of nations.

It may even be affirmed that, although its constitution is essentially judicial, its prerogatives are almost entirely political. Its sole object is to enforce the execution of the laws of the Union; and the Union only regulates the relations of the government with the citizens, and of the nation with foreign powers: the relations of citizens amongst themselves are almost all regulated by the sovereignty of the States.

A second and still greater cause of the preponderance of this court may be adduced. In the nations of Europe, the courts of justice are only called upon to try the controversies of private individuals; but the Supreme Court of the United States summons sovereign powers to its bar. When the clerk of the court advances on the steps of the tribunal, and simply says, "The State of New York versus The State of Ohio," it is impossible not to feel that the court which he addresses is no ordinary body; and when it is recollected that one of these parties represents one million, and the other two millions of men, one is struck by the responsibility of the seven judges, whose decision is about to satisfy or to disappoint so large a number of their fellow-citizens.

The peace, the prosperity, and the very existence of the Union are vested in the hands of the seven Federal judges. Without them, the Constitution would be a dead letter: the Executive appeals to them for assistance against the encroachments of the legislative power; the Legislature demands their protection against the assaults of the Executive; they defend the Union from the disobedience of the States, the States from the exaggerated claims of the Union, the public interest against private interests, and the conservative spirit of stability against the fickleness of the democracy. Their power is enormous, but it is the power of public opinion. They are all-powerful as long as the people respect the law; but they would be impotent against pop

ular neglect or contempt of the law. The force of public opinion is the most intractable of agents, because its exact limits cannot be defined; and it is not less dangerous to exceed, than to remain below, the boundary prescribed.

The Federal judges must not only be good citizens, and men of that information and integrity which are indispensable to all magistrates, but they must be statesmen, wise to discern the signs of the times, not afraid to brave the obstacles which can be subdued, nor slow to turn away from the current when it threatens to sweep them off, and the supremacy of the Union and the obedience due to the laws along with them.

The President, who exercises a limited power, may err without causing great mischief in the state. Congress may decide amiss without destroying the Union, because the electoral body in which the Congress originates may cause it to retract its decision by changing its members. But if the Supreme Court is ever composed of imprudent or bad men, the Union may be plunged into anarchy or civil war.

The original cause of this danger, however, does not lie in the constitution of the tribunal, but in the very nature of federal governments. We have seen that, in confederate states, it is especially necessary to strengthen the judicial power, because in no other nations do those independent persons who are able to contend with the social body exist in greater power, or in a better condition to resist the physical strength of the government. But the more a power requires to be strengthened, the more extensive and independent it must be made; and the dangers which its abuse may create are heightened by its independence and its strength. The source of the evil is not, therefore, in the constitution of the power, but in the constitution of the state which renders the existence of such a power necessary.

IN WHAT RESPECTS THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION IS SUPE-
RIOR TO THAT OF THE STATES.

How the Constitution of the Union can be compared with that of the States. - Superiority of the Constitution of the Union attributable to the Wisdom of the Federal Legislators. — Legislature of the Union less dependent on the People than that of the States. - Executive Power more independent in its Sphere. - Judicial Power less subjected to the Will of the Majority. - Practical Consequence of these Facts. The Dangers inherent in a Democratic Government diminished by the Federal Legislators, and increased by the Legislators of the States.

THE Federal Constitution differs essentially from that of the States in the ends which it is intended to accomplish; but in the means by which these ends are attained, a greater analogy exists between them. The objects of the governments are different, but their forms are the same; and in this special point of view, there is some advantage in comparing them with each other.

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. I am of opinion, for several reasons, that the Federal Constitution is superior to any of the State constitutions.

The present Constitution of the Union was formed at a later period than those of the majority of the States, and it may have profited by this additional experience. But we shall be convinced that this is only a secondary cause of its superiority, when we recollect that eleven [twenty-one] new States have since been added to the Union, and that these new republics have almost always rather exaggerated than remedied the defects which existed in the former constitutions.

The chief cause of the superiority of the Federal Constitution lay in the character of the legislators who composed it. At the time when it was formed, the ruin of the Confederation seemed imminent, and its danger was universally known. In this extremity, the people chose the men who most deserved the esteem, rather than those who had

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gained the affections, of the country. I have already observed, that, distinguished as almost all the legislators of the Union were for their intelligence, they were still more so for their patriotism. They had all been nurtured at a time when the spirit of liberty was braced by a continual struggle against a powerful and dominant authority. When the contest was terminated, whilst the excited passions of the populace persisted, as usual, in warring against dangers which had ceased to exist, these men stopped short; they cast a calmer and more penetrating look upon their country; they perceived that a definitive revolution had been accomplished, and that the only dangers which America had now to fear were those which might result from the abuse of freedom. They had the courage to say what they believed to be true, because they were animated by a warm and sincere love of liberty; and they ventured to propose restrictions, because they were resolutely opposed to destruction.*

Most of the State constitutions assign one year for the duration of the House of Representatives, and two years for that of the Senate; so that members of the legislative body are constantly and narrowly tied down by the slight

* At this time, Alexander Hamilton, who was one of the principal founders of the Constitution, ventured to express the following sentiments in the Federalist, No. 71 :

"There are some who would be inclined to regard the servile pliancy of the Executive to a prevailing current, either in the community or in the legislature, as its best recommendation. But such men entertain very crude notions, as well of the purposes for which government was instituted, as of the true means by which the public happiness may be promoted. The republican principle demands, that the deliberative sense of the community should govern the conduct of those to whom they intrust the management of their affairs; but it does not require an unqualified complaisance to every sudden breeze of passion, or to every transient impulse which the people may receive from the arts of men who flatter their prejudices to betray their interests. It is a just observation, that the people, commonly intend the public good. This often applics to their very errors. But their good sense would

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