352 WRIGHT— POWER TO MAKE POLITICAL DECISIONS. 



maintenance of a militia for domestic use or to ward off an actual 

 or imminent invasion. 



" No state," says the Constitution, " shall grant letters of marque and 

 reprisal, ... or without the consent of Congress keep troops or ships of war 

 in time of peace or engage in war unless actually invaded or in such imminent 

 danger as will not admit of delay." * 



They have no powers dependent upon war and treaty-making such 

 as that of annexing territory, nor upon diplomatic and representative 

 powers such as those of recognizing new states and governments, 

 though state legislatures have sometimes passed resolutions recom- 

 mending national action in these matters.^ 



In political matters even indirectly affecting foreign relations the 

 states are excluded. They cannot lay export or import duties ex- 

 cept to enforce inspection laws ; they cannot lay tonnage duties ; 

 regulate immigration or foreign commerce except necessary local 

 regulations upon which Congress has not acted, nor naturalize 

 aliens.'' The intention of the Constitution is undoubtedly to render 

 the states incompetent to make political decisions which affect for- 

 eign nations in more than the most remote degree, yet state laws 

 have occasionally given rise to international controversy, especially 

 where discrimination against resident aliens is alleged. The San 

 Francisco ordinance of 1906 segregating Japanese school children 

 and the California laws of 1913 and 1920 forbidding landholding 

 to certain classes of aliens are in point. '^ 



"Even a state of the Union," said a Senate report of 1897, "although 

 having admittedly no power whatever in foreign relations, may take action 

 uncontrollable by the Federal Government, and which, if not properly a 

 casus belli, might nevertheless as a practical matter afford to some foreign 

 nation the excuse of a declaration of war. We may instance the action which 

 might have been taken by the State of Wyoming in relation to the Chinese 

 massacres, or by the State of Louisiana in relation to the Italian lynchings, 



*U. S. Const., Art. I, sec. 10, cl. 3. 

 , s In 1897 Nebraska adopted a resolution extending to Cuba their sym- 

 pathy. Sen. Doc. 82, 54th Cong., 2d sess. For state resolutions favoring 

 recognition of Ireland, Armenia, Jewish State, the League of Nations, etc., 

 see Cong. Rec, 57: 3866; 58: 43, 48-51, 54, 6859; 59: 7510. 



'^ Ibid.; The Passenger Cases, 7 How. 283; Cooley v. Port Wardens, 12 

 How. 299; Chirac v. Chirac, 2 Wheat. 259. 



'^ Supra, sec. 15, note 10; sec. 50, note 83. 



