ay create are heightened by its independence and its
strength. The source of the evil is not, therefore, in the constitution
of the power, but in the constitution of those States which render its
existence necessary.

In What Respects The Federal Constitution Is Superior To That Of The
States

In what respects the Constitution of the Union can be compared to that
of the States--Superiority of the Constitution of the Union attributable
to the wisdom of the Federal legislators--Legislature of the Union less
dependent on the people than that of the States--Executive power
more independent in its sphere--Judicial power less subjected to the
inclinations of the majority--Practical consequence of these facts--The
dangers inherent in a democratic government eluded by the Federal
legislators, and increased by the legislators of the States.

The Federal Constitution differs essentially from that of the States in
the ends which it is intended to accomplish, but in the means by which
these ends are promoted a greater analogy exists between them. The
objects of the Governments are different, but their forms are the same;
and in this special point of view there is some advantage in comparing
them together.

I am of opinion that the Federal Constitution is superior to all the
Constitutions of the States, for several reasons.

The present Constitution of the Union was formed at a later period
than those of the majority of the States, and it may have derived some
ameliorations from past experience. But we shall be led to acknowledge
that this is only a secondary cause of its superiority, when we
recollect that eleven new States *n have been added to the American
Confederation since the promulgation of the Federal Constitution, and
that these new republics have always rather exaggerated than avoided the
defects which existed in the former Constitutions.

[Footnote n: [The number of States has now risen to 46 (1874), besides
the District of Columbia.]]

The chief cause of the superiority of the Federal Constitution lay in
the character of the legislators who composed it. At the time when it
was formed the dangers of the Confederation were imminent, and its ruin
seemed inevitable. In this extremity the people chose the men who most
deserved the esteem, rather than those who had gained the affections,
of the country. I have already observed that distinguished as almost
all the legislators of the Union were for their intelligence, t