ably an influential cause of inferiority when
the nation is opposed to other countries which are themselves governed
by a single authority. In the Federal Constitution of the United States,
by which the central government possesses more real force, this evil
is still extremely sensible. An example will illustrate the case to the
reader.

The Constitution confers upon Congress the right of calling forth
militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and
repel invasions; and another article declares that the President of the
United States is the commander-in-chief of the militia. In the war of
1812 the President ordered the militia of the Northern States to march
to the frontiers; but Connecticut and Massachusetts, whose interests
were impaired by the war, refused to obey the command. They argued that
the Constitution authorizes the Federal Government to call forth the
militia in case of insurrection or invasion, but that in the present
instance there was neither invasion nor insurrection. They added,
that the same Constitution which conferred upon the Union the right
of calling forth the militia reserved to the States that of naming
the officers; and that consequently (as they understood the clause) no
officer of the Union had any right to command the militia, even during
war, except the President in person; and in this case they were ordered
to join an army commanded by another individual. These absurd and
pernicious doctrines received the sanction not only of the governors
and the legislative bodies, but also of the courts of justice in both
States; and the Federal Government was constrained to raise elsewhere
the troops which it required. *v

[Footnote v: Kent's "Commentaries," vol. i. p. 244. I have selected an
example which relates to a time posterior to the promulgation of
the present Constitution. If I had gone back to the days of the
Confederation, I might have given still more striking instances. The
whole nation was at that time in a state of enthusiastic excitement; the
Revolution was represented by a man who was the idol of the people; but
at that very period Congress had, to say the truth, no resources at
all at its disposal. Troops and supplies were perpetually wanting. The
best-devised projects failed in the execution, and the Union, which was
constantly on the verge of destruction, was saved by the weakness of its
enemies far more than by its own strength. [All doubt as to the powers