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CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



to a loftier mood by their contact with great 

 principles and the great sacrifices they had 

 made, turned again to the people of the coun- 

 try, and from them sought anew the authority 

 upon which this Government was founded ; 

 and, clothed with full powers hy the people 

 whom they directly represented, they proceed- 

 ed to establish and ordain a new government 

 with far different, broader, and better-estab- 

 lished duties and powers. 



" Let us look at the objects which the found- 

 ers sought in establishing the Government, as 

 it is expressed in the preamble of the Constitu- 

 tion itself. What did they mean to do ? ' To 

 form a more perfect union, establish justice, 

 insure domestic tranquillity ' not by the power 

 of State laws r the interference of State 

 officers, but by the force and action of the 

 Government itself; and to ' secure the bless- 

 ings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, 

 we' who? 'we, the people of the United 

 States ' do what? Do we enter into an agree- 

 ment between parties ? No. Do we join in a 

 league between States ? No. Do we make a 

 confederation between governments ? No. la 

 this a compact between sovereignties? No. 

 ' We do ordain and establish' 1 What? 'this 

 Constitution ' for what ? ' for the United 

 States of America.' 



" This, then, is not a confederation of pow- 

 ers, not a league between States, not an agree- 

 ment between sovereignties, but a Government 

 established and ordained, constituted by this 

 written Constitution established and re- 

 strained, empowered and restricted by this 

 written Constitution thus ordained. I admit, 

 Mr. Chairman, that all the powers of this 

 Government are and must be found within the 

 written Constitution. Here is the source from 

 which the river of our power must flow or 

 else run dry. Nothing is to be claimed, no- 

 thing is to be exercised except what flows 

 from the powers there declared, the rights 

 there guaranteed. And if there be any power 

 in these laws which can not be rationally, le- 

 gitimately, and logically inferred from the 

 provisions and powers of this written Consti- 

 tution of the country, it should be swept from 

 the statute-book in disdain and dishonor. But, 

 my friends, if there be powers that are neces- 

 sary for the maintenance of the Government 

 itself, if there be powers that are necessary for 

 its security and preservation, and if these 

 powers be clearly derivable by right and prop- 

 er reasoning from the Constitution itself or its 

 proper inferences, it is just as much a violation 

 of the Constitution to misconstrue them or 

 deny their force as if you sought to ingraft 

 some foreign power on the Constitution, to the 

 injury of the people for whose government 

 and protection it was established. 



" We come now more directly to the con- 

 sideration of the authority which is to be found 

 in this Constitution for the enactment of the 

 haws now under consideration ; for, as I have 

 said, if they are unconstitutional, let them be 



swept from the statute-book ; but if they be 

 constitutional, although in your wisdom, act- 

 ing as a majority, you may see fit to repeal 

 them, do not put it on the ground of their un- 

 constitutionality, or else your judgment may 

 remain a false precedent for future action, 

 a landmark and guide-post to error and to 

 wrong. 



" The gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Car- 

 lisle], who has so ably presented his side of the 

 case, has said that the power derived from the 

 second section of the first article of this Con- 

 stitution was a power which I had the honor 

 to discover. I should be proud if that were 

 so, but it is a power which is as old as the 

 Constitution itself, as old as the principles 

 which are there set forth ; a power which I do 

 not believe has ever before been denied by any 

 one." 



Mr. Carlisle : " Was it ever asserted ? " 

 Mr. Robeson : " It would have been asserted 

 if it had been denied. There are many things 

 which are so self-evident when written upon 

 the face of laws that they assert themselves to 

 the understanding of law -givers ; and this has 

 been so plainly written that it needed no re- 

 assertion by the feeble language of men like 

 myself, for there it is, written on pages of the 

 Constitution of our country, a self-existing, 

 self-standing, self- asserting proposition which 

 has challenged denial since the Constitution 

 was formed : 'The electors in each State shall 

 have the qualifications requisite for the electors 

 of the most numerous branch of the State 

 Legislature.' Electors for what ? For the 

 House of Eepresentatives. The House of Rep- 

 resentatives of what? Of the national Legis- 

 lature, of the Congress of the United States. 

 ' All legislative powers granted shall be vested 

 in a Congress ' what of? ' of the United 

 States, which shall consist of a Senate and 

 House of Representatives.' Not the Legisla- 

 ture of a State, not a governmental body to 

 make laws for a State, but a legislature of the 

 United States, deriving its powers directly 

 from the people and not from the States ; a 

 legislature that makes laws for the United 

 States, the members of which swear to main- 

 tain the Constitution of the United States and 

 not the constitution of any State. They may 

 not be civil officers, such as come within the 

 list of those enumerated as subject to impeach- 

 ment. I know it has been held in the case of 

 Senator Blount that he, for acts which he did 

 as a private citizen or as Governor of Tennes- 

 see, was not such an officer, and did not do 

 such acts as made him liable to impeachment 

 as one of the civil officers of the Government 

 under that clause of the Constitution. But the 

 decision of that case goes to this extent, and no 

 more. I care not whether you call Represent- 

 atives in this House officers or not, I care not 

 whether they are civil officers or not, it is a 

 quarrel about words and names ; they hold no 

 commission, but they are members of the Uni- 

 ted States Government, lo whom are commit- 



