t
great power which has been exercised by the Federal courts of
declaring null and void laws or parts of laws that are regarded as in
contravention to the Constitution. There is little doubt that the more
important men in the Convention, such as Wilson, Madison, Gouverneur
Morris, King, Gerry, Mason, and Luther Martin, believed that the
judiciary would exercise this power, even though it should not be
specifically granted. The nearest approach to a declaration of this
power is to be found in a paragraph that was inserted toward the end
of the Constitution. Oddly enough, this was a modification of a clause
introduced by Luther Martin with quite another intent. As adopted it
reads: "That this Constitution and the Laws of the United States... and
all Treaties... shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges
in every State shall be bound thereby; any Thing in the Constitution or
Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." This paragraph may
well be regarded as the keystone of the constitutional arch of national
power. Its significance lies in the fact that the Constitution is
regarded not as a treaty nor as an agreement between States, but as a
law; and while its enforcement is backed by armed power, it is a law
enforceable in the courts.

One whole division of the Constitution has been as yet barely referred
to, and it not only presented one of the most perplexing problems which
the Convention faced but one of the last to be settled--that providing
for an executive. There was a general agreement in the Convention that
there should be a separate executive. The opinion also developed quite
early that a single executive was better than a plural body, but that
was as far as the members could go with any degree of unanimity. At the
outset they seemed to have thought that the executive would be dependent
upon the legislature, appointed by that body, and therefore more or
less subject to its control. But in the course of the proceedings the
tendency was to grant greater and greater powers to the executive; in
other words, he was becoming a figure of importance. No such office as
that of President of the United States was then in existence. It was a
new position which they were creating. We have become so accustomed to
it that it is difficult for us to hark back to the time when there was
no such officer and to realize the difficulties and the fears of the men
who were responsible for creating that office.

The pr