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cil, or of the second branch of the Legislature; while in most states that power is exercised exclusively by both branches of the latter. In some instances the executive magistrate is enabled to pursue the dictates of his own unbiased judgment; and in others he is divested of all actual responsibility—either directly, by being placed under the control of a council, or indirectly, from his being chosen by the legislative body, or its more numerous branch. In general, however, the ancient institutions, which the provinces had derived by charter from the crown of England, were, at the change of government, so far preserved as was compatible with the abolition of royal authority and colonial dependance.

Among the most valuable of the institutions retained by the states on the change of government, was that system of jurisprudence by which the absolute and inalienable rights of the people were recognised and secured, their relative rights or civil privileges regulated and maintained, and offences against public justice investigated and punished. It was held as a fundamental maxim, that the colonists, as English subjects, were entitled to the benefits and protection of the common law, and of such parts of the statute law of Great Britain as were applicable to their situation. This system of jurisprudence prevailed in all the colonies. It was brought from England by the original settlers, in those planted under her authority, and had been gradually and silently extended to those provinces which had been conquered by her arms; so that before the Revolution it had been universally established as their municipal code, so far as it was adapted to their circumstances; and it was claimed by the Congress of 1774 as a branch of those "indubitable rights and liberties to which the respective colonies were entitled."

The most essential of these privileges were those natural rights, which are, indeed, common to all mankind, but which, in virtue of Magna Charta, and other fundamental laws of the mother-country, were deemed to be the peculiar birthright and inheritance of British subjects. They comprise, according to Sir William Blackstone, that residuum of natural liberty which is not required by the laws of society to be sacrificed to public convenience, as well as those civil privileges which society engages to provide in lieu of those natural liberties so given up by individuals. In the first class, the learned commentator comprehends, 1st. The right of personal security; 2d. The right of personal liberty; and, 3d. The right of private property. The other privileges of the same character, but subordinate in degree, to which, as English subjects, the colonists were entitled, were, 1st. The Constitution, powers, and privileges of their provincial legislatures; 2d. The limitation of the king's prerogative by certain and notorious bounds; 3d. The right of applying to the courts of justice for the redress of injuries; the most valuable incidents to which privilege, were the right of trial by jury, and the benefit of the writ of Habeas Corpus; 4th. The right of petitioning the king, or either branch of the imperial or provincial Legislature, for the redress of grievances; and, 5th. That of keeping arms for their defence; which was, indeed, a public allowance, under certain restrictions, of the natural right of resistance and self-preservation.

In these several articles are contained what are emphatically termed "the liberties of Englishmen." To their enjoyment, the colonists were entitled by birthright as British subjects; and, to vindicate that right, they first took up arms against the parent-state, and ultimately withdrew from her dominion. Upon that separation, and the subsequent establishment of

plicable without recourse to the common law of Eng land; and not only is the existence of that system supposed by the Constitution of the United States, but it is constantly appealed to for the construction of powers granted to the Federal Government. The general question, however, as to the application and influence of the system, in reference to our national institutions, has not been settled upon clear and definite principles, and may still be regarded, especially in civil cases, as open for farther judicial investigation. The prevailing opinion at present seems to be, that, under the Federal Government, the common law, considered as a source of jurisdiction, was never in force, but considered merely as a means or instrument of exercising the jurisdiction conferred by the Constitution, it does exist in full validity, and forms a safe and beneficial portion of our national code.

The Constitution erected on this basis, and from these materials, is declared, by its preamble, to be “ordained and established by the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity." By the terms, therefore, of this compact, the states are no longer known to each other merely in their sovereign and corporate capacities; but, without destroying their previous organization, the people of the respective states united with each other in founding a new government, operating directly on themselves as individuals, for the attainment of objects for which neither the states separately, nor the former confederation had been found competent. The principle of representation is applied in it, not only to the individual citizens of the respective states as citizens of the United States,

but also to the individual states themselves; and it pervades the three great departments of which the government consists.

Besides a general delegation of the legislative, executive, and judicial powers to distinct departments, so far as necessary to effect the purposes of national union, the Constitution specially defines the powers and duties of each of those branches of the government. This was essential to peace and safety, in a government invested with specific powers for national objects, and formed from the union of several independent states, as well as of the individuals composing them; each of the former yielding for that purpose the requisite portion only of its sovereignty, while they retained the executive control of their local concerns.

In analyzing the Federal Constitution, it may therefore be considered, as has already been indicated, under two principal points of view, viz. :

First. With regard to the particular structure and organization of the government, and the distribution of its powers among the several branches, in reference to which, the necessary provisions for their organization into separate departments, for making, executing, and expounding the laws; for rendering efficient those powers, and for confining them to their respective spheres, as well as for ascertaining the limits between the national and state jurisdictions, are all contained in that instrument. Besides which, it comprises the necessary regulations in respect,

Secondly. To the nature, extent, and limitation of the powers conferred on the government of the Union, and the restraints imposed on the state governments.

All the powers requisite to secure the objects of national union are vested in the Federal Government, while those powers only, which are not essen

tial to these objects are reserved to the state governments, or to the people. In all other respects, the sovereignty of the individual states remains unaltered. The respective obligations of duty and allegiance to them are unimpaired, except that, in all cases within the range of its jurisdiction, the higher obligations of duty and allegiance to the General Government necessarily supersedes that which would otherwise have remained to the separate states. From the nature of the case, the national and state sovereignties cannot be coequal; for two governments of concurrent right and authority in every respect, cannot exist in the same society. The supremacy was, consequently, conferred on the Federal Government, as the government of the whole, rather than on the governments of the constituent parts; otherwise, the establishment of the former, instead of "promoting domestic tranquillity," would have produced perpetual discord and disorder. The Con vention therefore declared, in the name of the people, that the "Constitution, and the laws of the United States made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties" made under the authority of the Union, should be the supreme law of the land.

The powers thus conferred on the government of the United States may be reduced to different classes, as they relate to different objects, each of which will be the subject of distinct, full, and particular investigation, under their appropriate heads and subdivisions. But from the view already presented of the fundamental principles of the Federal Government, in connexion with the general outline exhibited of its organization, it may be perceived that the Constitution of the United States was erected on the founda tion of those inalienable rights, which the people of the several states derive, in common with all man

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