" Mr. Hamilton, in another chapter of the
"Federalist," calls particular attention to this, saying (and the
italics are all his own) "that the laws of the Confederacy, as to the
_enumerated_ and _legitimate_ objects of its jurisdiction, will become
the supreme law of the land," and that the State functionaries will
cooeperate in their observance and enforcement with the General
Government, "_as far as its just and constitutional authority
extends_."[76]
3. In the third place, it is not the _Government_ of the United States
that is declared to be supreme, but the _Constitution_ and the laws and
treaties made in accordance with it. The proposition was made in the
Convention to organize a government consisting of "supreme legislative,
executive, and judicial powers," but it was not adopted. Its deliberate
rejection is much more significant and conclusive than if it had never
been proposed. Correction of so gross an error as that of confounding
the Government with the Constitution ought to be superfluous, but so
crude and confused are the ideas which have been propagated on the
subject, that no misconception seems to be too absurd to be possible.
Thus, it has not been uncommon, of late years, to hear, even in the
highest places, the oath to support the Constitution, which is taken by
both State and Federal officers, spoken of as an oath "to support _the
Government_"--an obligation never imposed upon any one in this country,
and which the men who made the Constitution, with their recent
reminiscences of the Revolution, the battles of which they had fought
with halters around their necks, would have been the last to prescribe.
Pages:
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259