n have differed as to its true construction, and
their differing interpretations are mainly the result of adherence to
one or the other of the adverse principles already stated--the one
aiming to amplify the jurisdiction of the Federal government by liberal
or latitudinarian construction--the other aiming to limit it by strict
construction.

The National, or Hamilton, school of politicians hold that the
Constitution is not a compact between the States, but a system of
National Government ordained and established by the People of the United
States--and Mr. H. asserted "that it belongs to the discretion of the
national legislature to pronounce upon the subjects which concern the
GENERAL WELFARE." John Adams, an ultra Federalist, in his letters to
Roger Sherman in 1789, attempted to show that the Federal government is
"a monarchial republic," or, "limited monarchy," and contended that the
President should have been an integral part of the national legislature
by being invested with an absolute veto power.

The Democratic, or Jefferson school of politicians, on the contrary,
hold that the Constitution is a compact between sovereign and
independent States, and the government formed by it one of strictly
limited and defined powers, delegated by the States.

Among the eminent men who have adopted _the national_ theory of the
constitution, were Mr. Hamilton, Chief Justice Marshall, Justice Story
and Mr. Webster, and to their great abilities and powers of argument,
may in part be attributed the fact that the decisions of the Supreme
Court of the United States on constitutional questions of a political
character, have favored the national or anti democratic theory of
interpretation. These great men were federalists, and no one can doubt
that their general political views have given shape and color to their
legal arguments and opinions.

The people, to whose welfare democratic principles are vital, have not
always yielded to the opinions and reasoning of the Supreme Court, or of
the Federal school of statesmen and jurists; but have gradually from
time to time by their clearly expressed will in the popular elections,
imposed just restraints upon the action of the Federal government. They
have thus repeatedly voted down a National Bank, a high protective
tariff, a national system of internal improvements, and other kindred
measures, based, like the attempt to abolish slavery, upon the same
constitutional theory, that the Federal