"reserved" to the State governments that is entirely given away, "delegated," to the general government. This strictness would place a load upon the general government that they could not carry; and, of course, the construction has been to "leave" ("leave" is the word studiously used by the fathers of our government) the States to exercise such powers as are not prohibited to them, and which the general government, though authorized, decline or omit, for the time being, to exercise. It is on this principle that the States have been allowed, "left," to do many things that the general government might and perhaps should have done, and from which, if they had legislated, being the supreme power, the States would have been excluded. Where the United States have the right to legislate, they have also the right to exclude all interfering legislation.

§ 43. The powers not delegated to the general government, nor prohibited to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people. In the 10th Amendment, the words "States" and. "United States " mean their governments respectively, as then organized: the people are the active governing power, the nation. What they then had, the State governments could continue to hold, under this reservation, as long as they retained their identity. But other States, or other governments in those States, could claim nothing under this clause. When the govern

ments to whom this reservation was made were dissolved, and new ones had to be formed, the people who formed them could grant them nothing but what they then possessed, which certainly did not include any thing they had previously delegated to the general government. The people who had made the original State Constitutions could alter or supersede them, in whole or in part, as they pleased. By making the Constitution of the United States, which was done not only by the whole people of the United States, but by the majority of the people of each State also, they altered every State Constitution so far as to make it conform to the United-States Constitution, which they ordained to be the supreme or paramount law. What the whole nation had thus delegated to the general government, no particular State could re-grant to anybody, because it was no longer theirs to give. What was not granted to the general government remained with the grantees, the whole people of the nation, on general principles, as well as by the 10th Amendment; and this applied to what had been reserved to the original State governments as then organized, as soon as those governments were dissolved, whether new ones were organized in their place or not.

§ 44. But there is another principle available to any individual, or to any legally authorized association of individuals. Whatever violates

no law may be done according to law. Though the government may have ample power to regulate a subject in every minute particular, yet, if it makes no rule, every man is left to make one for himself, or to agree upon one with his neighbors, either in the form of State laws or otherwise. So it has been decided by the Supreme Court, that, although Congress has the entire power over "the subject of bankruptcies," yet, as long as they neglect to make any law on the subject, State laws in regard to it may be constitutionally executed, notwithstanding it is not a reserved power, but a positively delegated power, which, in its nature, must be exclusive; for a power cannot both be given away and retained at the same time. A special power may be reserved out of a general grant that would otherwise include it; but, in that case, the special power is excepted from the general grant, and never was granted.

§ 45. The effect of this principle is to allow the State governments to make what regulations they please, authorized by their own Constitutions, provided they are compatible, and not inconsistent, with the Constitution and laws of the United States. The same is true whatever may be the extent of the powers of the government. If they may "promote the general welfare," and have plenary power and universal jurisdiction to regulate and command any thing and every thing that any legitimate government

could rightfully do; still, if they neglect any subject of which the State governments are not expressly or impliedly denied the cognizance, what but their own Constitutions can interfere with their action? The States, as well as individuals, have a constitutional existence, and a right to make laws as a government; and, of course, may make any laws that their own people, by their Constitution, authorize, — provided they do not contravene the Constitution of the United States, or any law made in virtue of it. This is the precise relation in which the States stand to the nation, the subordinate divisions to the whole. Whatever the Constitution and government of the United States lawfully enjoin is supreme law. Whatever the State governments do in contravention of it, or incompatible with it, is void; and what they do in accordance with it, if authorized by their own people, is constitutional and valid.

§ 46. But the idea that the Constitution or the people of the United States have appropriated any particular department of government, or any particular class of subjects, to the exclusive action and sole management of the local authorities, is entirely groundless. It organizes a government for the United States, the whole nation, and all its interests and people, individual and corporate, and makes it supreme over the whole land. Whatever this government cannot do or will not do, others may do if

unrestrained by national or State constitutions, or it may remain undone; but neither the local governments nor individuals can do any thing to obstruct, retard, or in any way counteract, the proceedings of the general government.

§ 47. A Constitution for the United States is a fundamental law for the whole country; and, if it is adequate to the exigencies of government, it is competent to all the purposes for which a good government is ever wanted. The efficiency of the government is all derived from the Constitution, and is equal in all places within the limits of the United States.1 All its power is derived from the Constitution, and must be exercised in conformity to its grants and within its restrictions. It is not different in kind, or greater or less in degree, in one place than it is in another. It is supreme everywhere. It is exclusive where there is no subordinate government, and it is inclusive where there is one. It is temporarily exclusive where there may be another, till such a one is rightfully instituted; and it is permanently exclusive where

1 "Does this term [the United States] designate the whole, or any particular portion, of the American empire? Certainly this question can admit of but one answer. It is the name given to our great republic, which is composed of States and Territories. The District of Columbia, or the territory west of the Missouri, is not less within the United States than Maryland or Pennsylvania."-By the Court, Marshall, C.J., in Loughborough v. Blake, 5 Wheat. R. 319.

“The exigencies of government" are all the exigencies of any government, all the purposes for which government is instituted. A government adequate to these is a full and perfect government, whether with or without subordinates.