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dence of a freeman, and, if it should turn out to be wrong, oppose him with all lawful means. On the other hand, I support an officer or legislator elected by another party, with the same unbiased independence, if he is right. I beseech you, my sons, to act likewise as citizens. In regard to party promises, or platforms, or resolves, the constitution and established justice must guide your judgment. Only those platforms are worth noticing which are truly constitutional.

The constitution is our political theory, which may be corrupted or destroyed by a wrong practice. Every voter must be clear before he decides on a candidate, whether the party by which he is proposed rests, in regard to its aims, on the constitution or not. About special laws-as, for example, whether a naturalized citizen may be admitted to vote in five, or ten, or twenty years — there may exist a great variety of opinions, for such objects depend upon expediency, circumstances, and general principles of justice, but not upon the constitution itself. But whether Congress has the power to enact prohibitory laws in regard to the settlement of the territories or not, is a constitutional question, and not one of mere expediency. If such a power be admitted, Congress may to-day exclude certain classes of Americans, to-morrow catholic Irishmen, and again, protestant Germans, from settling and cultivating wild lands in Kansas and elsewhere, and setting up states.

I warn you, my sons, especially never to be the slaves of party, and always to judge carefully and soberly on the so-called party platforms, whether they are strictly constitutional or not; because, by supporting an unconstitutional party by your votes, you make yourselves guilty of a treason against the constitution, the foundation upon which our social happiness and national welfare rests.

LETTER VII.

Congressional Business or Powers. — Political Institutions. — United States, States, Counties, Towns, Cities, Villages.- Conflicts between them.Supreme Court the Arbiter. Kansas Troubles. - Direct and Indirect Taxation. - Paying Debts.- Estimates. - Tariffs. - Direct Taxation unpopular. Protective and Prohibitive Tariffs.

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We have now arrived at that part of the constitution which tells us what business properly belongs to Congress, and what not. There is more life, more interest, more matter of fact.

The public affairs committed to the care of Congress are called powers of Congress, because they are granted, or given in trust. Properly speaking, these affairs are alike all over the world. Governments, of whatever form, should never assume more business than is required for the realization of justice. To define the limits of the authority of Congress, a special list of the political business granted to it was necessary, to distinguish it from other political business reserved for the states. The framers of the constitution have made this list with great care and a due appreciation of the great difference, as we have already noticed, which exists between national and municipal political affairs.

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I shall try to make this difference plain enough. The political institutions as the United States, states, counties, towns, cities, and villages-are cut out of the same everlasting material, viz., society, which without them would be nothing but a confused maze. However, man being so much given to quarrelling, it can not fail that conflicts or disputes will happen about this political business, whether it may be done by towns or counties, states or Congress. But, under written constitutions, and in unsubjected society, they should never partake of a serious or disturbing character, especially while it is the office of the judiciary to decide on such conflicts.

The argumentation depends, then, upon the reading and interpretation of the constitutions. The federal constitution is so plainly worded, and its purpose (the organization of the national political

business) so clearly set forth, that such conflicts have, up to this time, rather partaken of the nature of common lawyer cavilling, easily set aside by the supreme court. The Kansas troubles make an exception, because faction raised arms against the constitutional territorial government of Congress. Let us see what

business belongs to Congress.

SECTION VIII.

The Congress shall have power

"1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises, shall be uniform throughout the United States."

It is obviously a mere consequence of the establishing of a government, that it must possess the power to raise revenues for its support. Without it there would be no government at all. Taxes, duties, imposts, excises, were revenues in public use in Great Britain and other countries at the time of the framing of the constitution. At present, the terms duties and imposts are synonymous. Revenues are of two kinds, either direct or indirect. The first are generally called taxes; incomes from customs, public lands, the mint, etc., belong to the second class. The difference between the two is, that direct revenues or taxes are levied upon persons and property; while indirect taxes are derived from the use or consumption of certain commodities, and chiefly from imported articles of luxury, fashion, etc.

Direct revenues are based upon certain estimates, corresponding with the wants of the government; indirect revenues are collected by tariffs, and bring either more or less than the government requires, according to the amount of imposts: if more, they are superfluous, which may lead to profligacy and abuse of power; if not sufficient, the credit of the government may suffer from the want of means. Direct taxes are said to be more or less odious, because they can be counted; while indirect taxes are borne more easily, because they can not be readily ascertained by the consumer. Monarchs were and are in favor, and the inventors of, indirect revenues. In the United States, direct taxes must be apportioned in proportion to the population of the several states (see Section ii., No. 3).

The United States treasury is at present, in the main, filled by the

customs, an arrangement which excludes the idea of absolute freedom of commerce. Thus, we are so little accustomed to pay a tax for Congress, that a taxation on this account would be unpopular, as the phrase is. The wording of this clause plainly shows that the framers of the constitution wished not to tie up the hands of Congress in the care for its financial resources, so that our federal government is at liberty to act according to time and circumstances, which, together with public opinion, have a great influence upon the finances of nations. Of course, this part of the public business is the cause of a treasury department with a secretary at its head, customhouses, collectors, sub-treasurers, and a large number of offices for the collecting, controlling, and disbursing of the revenues.

It is self-evident that laws on customs revenues ought to be made with a view to benefit the home and not foreign industry, as long as such customs are raised from a similar view abroad. This is required by the principle of mutuality in social affairs. The natural order of things is freedom of industry, of which commerce is a branch. It is impossible to determine, with mathematical accuracy, the just limits of such customs, especially on account of the influence of foreign customs systems. This has, therefore, been the cause of violent party disputes- one party (the whig) advocating protective and even prohibitive customs; the other party (the democrats) free trade. A middle course, between those extremes, is, under prevalent international circumstances, preferable.

LETTER VIII.

Contracting Debts.-States to pay as they go. - Regulation of Commerce at Home and Abroad. -Law of Mutuality. The Self-preservation of Nations.

WE continue our reading. The Constitution allows Congress: "2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States."

This is a needful proviso to raise a revenue temporarily — for instance, in time of war, or if suddenly the imports on luxuries, etc., should fall off. Public economists maintain that mere muni

cipal governments, as our states, should be deprived of the power to borrow money, and "pay as they go," because they can in their ordinary walk of business never be exposed to a necessity of borrowing money, while Congress, as the manager of our national affairs, may in consequence of an untoward event, as aggressive war, rebellion, etc., be involved in difficulties with foreign nations, requiring such temporary expedients to furnish means for the common defence.

"3. To regulate commerce

a With foreign nations.

b And among the several states.

c And with the Indian tribes."

Three distinct objects are here committed to the care of Congress, which are as such pointed out in print. Those few lines have given rise to frequent debates, often of a very irritating character in Congress.

The intention of the constitution is plain enough, if we read it as the organic law defining the national political business, and not as one written for merchants and traders. Then the words to regulate commerce with foreign nations, or with our quasi nations, the states, at home, and Indian tribes, can not mean that Congress shall tell traders, where to get goods, or to fight the Chinese to force them to buy tobacco from us, or build canals or roads for the transportation of goods, etc.; never, they simply define a plain business, belonging to all national governments, to make treaties or certain rules or laws by which commerce in its threefold direction, clearly pointed out, shall be regulated and protected on land and water. Hence treaties about coasting-trade, fisheries, equality of duties, Danish Sound dues, police over the oceans, ocean harbors, and navigable inland waters, crafts and seamen, pilotage, salvage, ports of entry, embargo, lighthouses, safety of passengers (incidental) on board ship, etc., are exclusive business objects for Congress, whose authority is exhausted as soon as the case ceases to be a national one, when the municipal authority takes its place. Local internal improvements have no connection with this clause. It follows from this clause that no state government has the power to make commercial regulations with foreign governments, or with a government of one of the states, or with Indian tribes. The words "to regulate commerce," have no meaning without the

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