d be left dependent upon the effect of
general expressions, and such, too, as were obviously applicable to
another subject, to a particular exigency contemplated at that time?
Sir, what is this power we propose now to usurp? Nothing less than a
power changing all the proportions of the weight and influence possessed
by the potent sovereignties composing this Union. A stranger is to be
introduced to an equal share without their consent. Upon a principle
pretended to be deduced from the Constitution, this government, after
this bill passes, may and will multiply foreign partners in power at its
own mere motion; at its irresponsible pleasure; in other words, as local
interests, party passions, or ambitious views may suggest. It is a power
that from its nature never could be delegated; never was delegated; and
as it breaks down all the proportions of power guaranteed by the
Constitution to the States, upon which their essential security depends,
utterly annihilates the moral force of this political conduct. Would
this people, so wisely vigilant concerning their rights, have
transferred to Congress a power to balance, at its will, the political
weight of any one State, much more of all the States, by authorizing it
to create new States, at its pleasure, in foreign countries, not
pretended to be within the scope of the Constitution, or the conception
of the people at the time of passing it? This is not so much a question
concerning the exercise of sovereignty, as it is who shall be
sovereign--whether the proprietors of the good old United States shall
manage their own affairs in their own way; or whether they, and their
Constitution, and their political rights, shall be trampled under foot
by foreigners, introduced through a breach of the Constitution. The
proportion of the political weight of each sovereign State constituting
this Union depends upon the number of the States which have voice under
the compact. This number the Constitution permits us to multiply at
pleasure within the limits of the original United States, observing only
the expressed limitations in the Constitution. But when, in order to
increase your power of augmenting this number, you pass the old limits,
you are guilty of a violation of the Constitution in a fundamental
point; and in one, also, which is totally inconsistent with the intent
of the contract and the safety of the States which established the
association. What is the practical difference to the