Debates in the Several State Conventions/Volume 4/State and Federal Powers
On Powers of the State and Federal Governments.
Mr. GRUNDY. I will proceed to an examination of a subject upon which a great diversity of opinion seems to prevail. I mean the powers of the state and federal governments. As to the true division or distribution of their powers, no difficulty exists so long as we speak in general terms; differences of opinion arise when we come to an act on particular cases. At present, we have no case before the Senate, and are only discussing the subject for the purpose of ascertaining the true rule by which to test cases as they arise; and in the event Congress should transcend the limits or boundaries of its constitutional powers, to ascertain where we are to look for the ultimate corrective tribunal.
The states existed prior to this government. Each of them possessed all the rights and powers which appertain to sovereign and independent nations. For all the purposes of self-government, no want of power, or the means of using it, was felt by any of these communities. Life, liberty, reputation, and property, all found an ample protection in the state governments. If any internal improvement were necessary, within its limits, the sovereign power of the state, having entire and uncontrolled jurisdiction, could cause it to be undertaken and effected. For none of these purposes or objects was there a defect of competency in the state governments. There were objects, however, of high importance, to which the states, separately, were not equal or adequate to provide. These are specified in the recommendatory letter by the Convention, and signed by General Washington, which accompanied the Constitution, when presented to the old Congress for its consideration. The language is, "The friends of our country have long seen and desired, that the power of making war, peace, and treaties; that of levying money and regulating commerce; and the correspondent executive and judicial authorities, should be fully and effectually vested in the general government of the Union." Here is an enumeration of the objects which made it necessary to establish this government; and when we are called on to decide whether a subject be within our powers, we ought not to lose sight of the purposes for which the government was created. When it is recollected that all the powers now possessed by the general and state governments belonged originally lo the latter, and that the former is constructed from grants of power yielded up by the state governments, the fair and just conclusion would be, that no other power was conferred except what was plainly and expressly given. But if doubt could exist, the 10th article in the amendments to the Constitution settles this question. It declares that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people." The conclusion hence arises, that this government is one of limited, delegated powers, and can only act on subjects expressly placed under its control by he Constitution, and upon such other matters as may be necessarily and properly within the sphere of its action, to enable it to carry the enumerated and specified powers into execution, and without which the powers granted would be inoperative.