LECTURE I.

THE CONSTRUCTION, DEPARTMENTS, AND PURPOSE OF THE SYSTEM, STATE AND NATIONAL, WHICH CONSTITUTES THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE citizens of the United States are somewhat conversant with the science of political economy. It is essential to the maintenance of their rights, to a proper discharge of their duties, that a knowledge of these rights, these duties, should be encouraged and increased. All men have certain essential and unalienable rights.* Whenever, or wherever, they reside in proximity with each other, clothed with these natural rights, a limitation upon their exercise must exist, to prevent collision. It is certain that an individual, in a state of society, or of proximity with a neighbor, must exercise these rights so as not to destroy or impair those which appertain to every other individual. Hence the necessity and origin of government, and the recognition of the legal position which requires every person so to use his rights as not to destroy or impair the rights of another. The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of gov ernment is, to secure the existence of the body politic; to

* Constitution of Massachusetts, Part First, Art. I. All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.

protect it; and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquillity their natural rights, and the blessings of life.* In other words, the object of government is, to sustain and enforce limitations upon the supposed, upon the actual, natural rights of the individuals, upon which it operates, so far as a limitation of such rights is essential to the existence of well regulated civil society. Whenever individuals, passing in opposite directions upon the same public way, meet, each with equal right, they pass on opposite sides. Force is the basis upon which the power of every government has reposed, and ever must repose for its security. Government must have in its construction and within its control, capacity or power commensurate with any and every contingency to which it may be exposed. Nothing less is adequate to the accomplishment of the purpose sought to be attained by the establishment of government. This position is true of the system under which we live, notwithstanding we are, more or less, accustomed to think and to act as though we had no government, and no occasion for its restraining influence. The maintenance of private right, which is the purpose and end of government, is, in this country, to a great extent, and so far as the daily and ordinary relations of life are concerned, obtained through the instrumentality of the judiciary, whose noiseless step is perceived only by those who are the immediate parties to its adjudications. In this department, force coextensive with the entire power and strength of the government under which it acts is always found within its power and control. The most important inquiry which can arise in relation to any system of government is, what quantity of power shall be confided-how and by whom shall it be exercised.

* Constitution of Massachusetts Preamble.

A supposed solution of this question was discovered by those who established our system; and it constitutes the difference between it and other systems. This solution consists in an assumption, that the least quantity of power which can with safety be relied upon as adequate to a maintenance of private and of public right, should be conceded; that the direction and manner of using this power should be defined in written constitutions, having to some extent a permanent and fixed character; that the persons or departments intrusted with its exercise should be designated by, and made responsible to, the people, for a proper discharge of the trusts reposed in them; that a well educated people are competent to determine the quantity of power to be conferred, the time and manner in which, and the departments and persons by which and by whom it may be exercised.

Our system of government is the result of this assumption; thus far, its soundness or accuracy has not been disproved or impeached. So long as its main foundation, the intelligence and integrity of the people, shall continue, no reasonable cause of apprehension or danger can arise. Whenever this foundation shall be broken, the system will go down-not because it does. not possess or contain in its construction a grant of power, a grant of force adequate to its support, but because, whenever a majority of the people shall lose their intelligence and integrity, the persons who may, at the time, be charged with the duty of performing and executing the trusts of government, will be no better, no more honest, no more intelligent than will be those by whom they shall have been elected. It must therefore be conceded, that the form of government which may be adopted in any country, with any rational hope of success, must be in accordance with the habits, circumstances, and degree of civilization attained, of and by the people for whom it

is designed, and upon which it is to operate; that the quantity of power to be conferred may, within certain limits, be diminished in the same ratio, as intelligence, education, and integrity shall be increased. It must also be conceded, that the strength of our system, having its origin in the assumption to which reference has been made, does not depend so much upon its form, upon its constitutional capacity for self-preservation, as it does upon the moral power which is derived, and can be derived only from a correct, calm, and disingenuous public opinion. In ancient Greece, it was an admitted and received maxim, that, "to the king and to the commonwealth nothing is unjust which is useful."* In the sense in which the maxim was understood, it had no foundation in morality or reason. In our political theory, nothing is useful which is unjust. I propose to examine this theory in some of its general features-to induce you to make, and, if possible, to aid you in an examination of it. I do not expect to present for your consideration any subject which has not been discussed and examined. I shall use the language and sentiments of others whenever either suit my purpose. If, in some instances, I present views which may be regarded as peculiar or erroneous, their peculiarity and incorrectness may be easily detected. Our system of government is composed of two distinct, sovereign jurisdictions, each limited by a certain and prescribed boundary, beyond which it cannot pass. Each sovereignty, although limited within its limit, is supreme; the limit and boundary of each are established by written constitutions. These sovereignties are known, the one as a national, the other as a state government; each operates upon the same territory, upon the same persons, upon the same things. The rights, duties, and

*Wheaton, Law of Nations, p. 5.

relations of every citizen are defined, regulated, and upheld, in some particulars and at some times by the former, in other particulars and at other times by the latter. The purpose of this double power, of this establishment and construction of an empire within an empire, in its most comprehensive aspect, is individual. It is to secure to the citizen protection in his person, character, and property. The national, designated the federal government, was proposed and designed to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and estate from any and every molestation or injury which might arise from the interference of foreign nations or their citizens, or of one state or its citizens with the internal arrangement and affairs of another; to regulate, in fact, the intercourse of the citizens of the several states with the citizens of every other state, and with the citizens and governments of foreign nations.

The state government was designed to protect its citizens in their intercourse with each other and within the state, to which they belong. This government reaches, if I may so say, nearer home, and operates upon and controls our rights, our duties, and obligations as members of society. It is the shield and the arbiter of our common and daily duties. Each of these governments is a government of law. The liberty of which we boast the enjoyment is regulated by law, and whenever it shall cease to be so regulated it will cease to be liberty. So long as you keep this truth in mind, and adhere to it, your institutions will withstand all assaults, external and internal, - they will enable you to reach the highest point of civilization, - they will enable you to make good the assumption of your fathers, that an intelligent, well educated people are competent to establish their own system of government, are competent to discharge its trusts.