state,
than those of any other description: so much so, that _ours is the
first instance on record where they have not formed, in an extensive
territory, separate and independent communities, or subjected the whole
to despotic sway._ That such may not be our unhappy fate also, must be
the sincere prayer of every lover of his country.

So numerous and diversified are the interests of our country, that they
could not be fairly represented in a single government, organized so
as to give to each great and leading interest a separate and distinct
voice, as in governments to which I have referred. A plan was adopted
better suited to our situation, but perfectly novel in its character.
The powers of government were divided, not, as heretofore, in reference
to classes, but geographically. One General Government was formed
for the whole, to which were delegated all the powers supposed to be
necessary to regulate the interests common to all the States, leaving
others subject to the separate control of the States, being, from their
local and peculiar character, such that they could not be subject to the
will of a majority of the whole Union, without the certain hazard of
injustice and oppression. It was thus that the interests of the whole
were subjected, as they ought to be, to the will of the whole, while the
peculiar and local interests were left under the control of the States
separately, to whose custody only they could be safely confided. This
distribution of power, settled solemnly by a constitutional compact, to
which all the States are parties, constitutes the peculiar character
and excellence of our political system. It is truly and emphatically
_American, without example or parallel_.

To realize its perfection, we must view the General Government and those
of the States as a whole, each in its proper sphere independent;
each perfectly adapted to its respective objects; the States acting
separately, representing and protecting the local and peculiar
interests: and acting jointly through one General Government, with the
weight respectively assigned to each by the Constitution, representing
and protecting the interest of the whole, and thus perfecting, by an
admirable but simple arrangement, the great principle of representation
and responsibility, without which no government can be free or just. To
preserve this sacred distribution as originally settled, by coercing
each to move in its prescribed orbit, is the great an