and federal empires, the particular states, although in certain respects subordinated to the whole, yet have a relative sovereignty limited in extent but not in content. Thus in Switzerland, cantonal sovereignty is distinguished from federal sovereignty; similarly in North America and in the German Empire, there is a difference between the sovereignty of the Union or Empire and that of the federated states." " The practical description of the manner of this apportionment of sovereign power which has been agreed on by statesmen and courts is that each state retains plenary authority over those matters which have not been confided to the general government by the constitution nor prohibited to the states, and that the Union possesses plenary authority over those subjects which the constitution intrusts to its regulation.

Finally, in respect to the regulation of their own system of government and internal affairs, the states possess no more than a limited or qualified sovereignty. The ultimate test of sovereignty, in this respect, as we have already said, is the power to alter the constitution at will. But this the states cannot do. For there are numerous provisions of the federal constitution which impose limitations upon the power of the states, as well in the making or changing of constitutions as in the enactment of laws. For example, no state, in adopting or amending a constitution, could establish anything but a republican form of government, or abridge the privileges of citizens of the United States, or impair the obligation of contracts.

State Rights.

The rights of the several states of the Union, possessed and to be enjoyed by them as such, are political and governmental in their nature. They consist in such a degree of autonomy and such powers of free action and of regulation of their own affairs as may not be inconsistent with the nature of the relation of the Union to each of the states, nor with the exercise of those powers which are confided, by the constitution, to the federal government. They embrace all those powers which were possessed by the several states at the time of the adoption of that constitution, with the exception of such as are therein delegated to the central authority, 9 Bluntschli, Theory of the State, 475.

But it is evident that, with

or thereby prohibited to the states. in the limits of this definition, there is room for great difference of opinion in details. And in fact, ever since the foundation of the Union, two schools of statesmen have been found, divided in their views on the nature and boundaries of state rights. According to one school, the federal constitution is to be subjected to a strict construction in respect to the powers granted to the national gov ernment and a liberal interpretation for the preservation of the autonomy of the states. According to the other school, the rule of interpretation is to be reversed. Those holding the one opinion contend that the government of the Union should be held strictly to the exercise of the powers expressly granted to it, and that its province and jurisdiction should not be enlarged by implication. According to the other party, the true theory of our government and institutions is in favor of such a construction of the constitution as will give the federal government the largest measure of power which is compatible with the continued and useful existence of the states. By them the nation is regarded as the only sovereign power, and they contend that it should be accorded all such rights and powers as may be convenient to enable it to discharge its functions as such and to maintain its place among the nations of the earth. The extreme advocates of the one view have maintained that it was within the rightful power of a state to nullify (that is, refuse submission to, and resist by any adequate force) any act of the general government which, in the judgment of that state, was contrary to the constitution or beyond the boundaries of the legitimate power of the Union. These theorists also contended that a state possessed the power and the right to withdraw from the Union and set up a new government, either alone or with other states which might follow its example, whenever, in its judgment, its own interests required such a dissolution of the tie which bound it to the other states. On the other hand, statesmen of the other party have gone so far as to regard the several states as mere emanations from the Union, and as standing in the same relation to it which is occupied by the municipal corporations of a state towards the state. Between these two extremes lies the truth. Although the two theories of construction, strict and liberal, still subsist, it is now quite generally agreed that both the several states and the

Union are supreme, each within its own appropriate sphere; that the rights of the individual state and of the Union are equally necessary to be preserved and must be accommodated to each other; that the authorities of the Union are to judge of the extent of the powers granted to it; that the rightful autonomy of each state is beyond the reach of federal interference; and that the Union is perpetual and indissoluble.

SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE.

13. In America, sovereignty resides in the people. But the people here meant are the qualified electors, or a majority of them, and they can exercise their sovereign power only in the modes pointed out by their constitutions.

The word "people" may have various significations according to the connection in which it is used. When we speak of the rights of the people, or of the government of the people by law, or of the people as a non-political aggregate, we mean all the inhabitants of the state or nation, without distinction as to sex, age, or otherwise. But when reference is made to the people as the repository of sov ereignty, or as the source of governmental power, or to popular government, we are in fact speaking of that selected and limited class of citizens to whom the constitution accords the elective franchise and the right of participation in the offices of government. The people, in this narrow sense, are the "collegiate sovereign" of the state and the nation. But the sovereign can exercise his sovereign powers only in the mode pointed out by the organic law which he has himself ordained. This will be shown more fully in a subsequent chapter, in connection with the question of the power of the people to revise and amend their constitutions.10

10 See infra, p. 46.

FORM OF GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES.

14. The government of the United States is a federal government. The United States is a republic, and so also is each of the states, the form of government being representative.

Federal Government.

The American Union is commonly described as a federal governAnd political writers and jurists usually speak of the federal constitution, the federal courts and jurisdiction, federal powers, the federal executive, etc. The use of this term is not made imperative by anything in the constitution. The nature of the government is not described therein. Nor can its employment settle anything as to the nature or powers of the government. But the term expresses the common understanding as to the kind of government prevailing in our country. And it is a correct designation, technically, if taken in its true sense. There is, in political science,

a substantial difference between a confederation and a federal government. The former term denotes a league or permanent alliance between several states, each of which is fully sovereign and independent, and each of which retains its full dignity, organization, and sovereignty, though yielding to the central authority a controlling power for a few limited purposes, such as external and diplomatic relations. In this case, the component states are the units, with respect to the confederation, and the central government acts upon them, not upon the individual citizen. In a federal government, on the other hand, the allied states form a union, not indeed to such an extent as to destroy their separate organiza tion or deprive them of quasi sovereignty with respect to the administration of their local concerns, but so that the central power is erected into a true state or nation, possessing sovereignty both external and internal, while the administration of national affairs is directed, and its effects felt, not by the separate states deliberating as units, but by the people of all, in their collective capacity, as citizens of the nation. The distinction is expressed, by the German writers, by the use of the two words "Staatenbund" and "Bundesstaat," the former denoting a league or confederation of

states, and the latter a federal government, or a state formed by

means of a league or confederation.

the American Union belongs.11

A Representative Republic.

It is to the latter class that

The United States is a federal republic. So also each of the states is a republic, and the constitution guaranties to each the continuance of republican government. The exact meaning of this phrase will be more fully considered in another place. At present it is sufficient to say that a republic, as distinguished from a despotism, a monarchy, an aristocracy, or an oligarchy, is a government wherein the political power is confided to and exercised by the people. It is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." It implies a practically unrestricted suffrage, and the frequent interposition of the people, by means of the suf frage, in the conduct of public affairs. The system of government in the United States and in the several states is distinguished from a pure democracy in this respect, that the will of the people is made manifest through representatives chosen by them to administer their affairs and make their laws, and who are intrusted with defined and limited powers in that regard, whereas the idea of a democracy, non-representative in character, implies that the laws are made by the entire people acting in a mass-meeting or at least by universal and direct vote.

THE UNION INDESTRUCTIBLE.

15. The United States is an indissoluble union of indestructible states. No state has the right to secede from it. The Union could be terminated only by the agreement of the people or by revolution.

There is, in this Union, no such thing as a right of secession, no right in any state to leave the Union and set up an independent government. The Union is permanent, and cannot be dissolved or disintegrated by the action of any state or states. This was settled forever by the political events of the last half century, by the

11 1 Wools. Pol. Science, pp. 166-170.