tates themselves are to judge. One of two
things is true; either the laws of the Union are beyond the discretion
and beyond the control of the States; or else we have no constitution of
general government, and are thrust back again to the days of the
Confederation. * * *

I must now beg to ask, sir, whence is this supposed right of the States
derived? Where do they find the power to interfere with the laws of the
Union? Sir, the opinion which the honorable gentleman maintains, is a
notion founded in a total misapprehension, in my judgment, of the origin
of this government, and of the foundation on which it stands. I hold it
to be a popular government, erected by the people; those who administer
it, responsible to the people; and itself capable of being amended and
modified, just as the people may choose it should be. It is as popular,
just as truly emanating from the people, as the State governments. It is
created for one purpose; the State governments for another. It has its
own powers; they have theirs. There is no more authority with them to
arrest the operation of a law of Congress, than with Congress to arrest
the operation of their laws. We are here to administer a constitution
emanating immediately from the people, and trusted by them to our
administration. It is not the creature of the State governments.

This government, sir, is the independent off-spring of the popular will.
It is not the creature of State legislatures; nay, more, if the whole
truth must be told, the people brought it into existence, established
it, and have hitherto supported it, for the very purpose amongst others,
of imposing certain salutary restraints on State sovereignties. The
States cannot now make war; they cannot contract alliances; they cannot
make, each for itself, separate regulations of commerce; they cannot lay
imposts; they cannot coin money. If this Constitution, sir, be the
creature of State legislatures, it must be admitted that it has obtained
a strange control over the volitions of its creators.

The people, then, sir, erected this government. They gave it a
constitution, and in that constitution they have enumerated the powers
which they bestow on it. They have made it a limited government. They
have defined its authority. They have restrained it to the exercise of
such powers as are granted; and all others, they declare, are reserved
to the States, or the people. But, sir, they have not stopped here. If
they had, they