1. the supreme power in the united states is lodged in the general government, with its three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. the authority of this government, however, is restricted to the powers expressly conferred on it by the constitution; all other power being reserved to the states, or the people. the states also are sovereign in their own limits, over all questions not expressly assigned to the general government. instead of conflict of authority there is true harmony. the people elect the members of both the classes of legislators and executives, and both are equally employed in attending to the interests of the people confided to their care; the first to general, the second to local interests. all the members and officers of each are the servants of the sovereign people.
2. as soon as the general government was organized under the constitution, there arose two parties. one wished to render the general government prominent in order to secure concentration of strength and vigor of action; the other desired to exalt the state governments in the fear that the general government might prove ambitious of too much power, and disregard the welfare of the people. as in almost all party platforms, both these seemed to take too narrow a view. washington was held to sympathize more with the first, jefferson[445] was the acknowledged leader of the second. together they secured a very fair mingling of both these principles in the administration and general policy of the country. a strict adherence to the meaning and spirit of the constitution would not seem to give special favor to either, or allow a conflict of interests.
3. the supreme court, or the judiciary, is the regulating, or reconciling element, which the constitution set over the whole to see that no undue or improper action should defeat its purposes, and that no collisions of authority should occur. its decision is final, it being the last resort in cases of appeal; and, as the only final and authoritative interpreter of constitutional law, it may revise the action of all other branches of both general and local government, and put them in harmony.
4. it is plain that the authors of the constitution intended to fuse the separate elements, or states, into one whole, where general matters were concerned; and to leave those elements perfectly free and absolute control of all questions involving only their separate and local concerns. the people, and their welfare, are the aim and end of both organizations. the possession of power for ambitious ends by general, state, or municipal organizations, or by individuals, was apparently as foreign to the thought of the whole constitutional convention of 1787 as it seems always to have been to the mind of washington. that great man was the leader of clear-sighted and pure-minded statesmen, and whatever weaknesses and faults have existed at any time (and there have always been an abundance of them, as there were in the times of washington) among political leaders, it must be allowed that the fathers had worthy sons who knew how to work correctly the problems left them by their predecessors. a single question proved quite unmanageable to the sons, as it had before to the fathers, and had to be settled by an appeal to arms; but it demonstrated the strength of the people and the ability of our institutions to withstand the severest shocks.
5. the original states adopted the constitution after deliberate[446] study, and all the states since admitted virtually do the same. their general structure in their legislative, executive, and judicial arrangements is substantially the same as that of the general government. the state legislatures consist of two houses, chosen in different ways, and for different terms; the relations between them being similar to those of congress. every state has a governor, answering to the president of the united states, who is the executive officer of the state government. the courts in all are organized on the same principle as the supreme court of the general government. although there are small variations from the model, in various states, they do not affect the general resemblance; and, due allowance being made for the different subjects to be treated, the analysis of the general, or of any of state governments, will give a sufficiently correct view of all.
6. a state cannot make treaties with a foreign power, nor declare war against it. it cannot raise a revenue by duties on imports, nor control the postal service, or matters involving the interests of other states. it has therefore no department for foreign relations, its secretary of state dealing only with state affairs. it has no department of war, or navy, and no postmaster general. the governor’s signature is necessary to the validity of laws passed by the two branches of the legislature, and in most of the states he has a veto power similar to that of the president. he has an executive council answering to the cabinet. the courts are more numerous than those of the general government, to meet the wants of all classes of the people; ranging from a supreme or constitutional court, whose office it is to interpret and apply the constitution of the state; through all grades, of common pleas, circuit, district, police, and recorder’s courts down to neighborhood courts held by justices of the peace, or aldermen. there are various others in different states for special purposes.
7. states are subdivided for purposes of local government into counties and towns; and these into smaller portions for educational and other purposes.
[447]
thus the whole is like an extensive system of machinery, wheel being fitted to wheel. from the lowest to the highest the people of each local division have entire control over the subjects in which they only are interested; and there is very little opportunity for the exercise of arbitrary power. executive officers may be changed by election, or impeachment, if they do not give satisfaction, or prove unfaithful; and as many securities as it is possible to devise are provided against abuses, or, if a majority in any state (or the united states) believe that an improvement can be made, there are constitutional and legal methods for securing it.
thus our country is insured against serious discontents for which no remedy is at hand; and from the revolutions and internal disturbances that interrupt the progress, and destroy the resources of so many other countries. it is a government of, for, and by the people. the value of any institution or office in the united states, from the school district and director to state legislature, congress, governor, or president, is determined by the relation it bears to the public welfare; and when it ceases to be useful there are, as there ought to be, legal means for laying it aside.
