y, and, perhaps, our National existence." Thus we see not
only the desire of the originators of the Constitution to
strengthen the National power by that instrument, but we also
have the views of Washington himself in regard to the necessity
of consolidating power in the Nation.

The various amendments to the Constitution have been adopted with
the intent of further defining and securing National power. The
first ten, which were called the conciliatory amendments, were
suggested in the conventions of a number of the States at the
very time of adopting the Constitution. The first Congress which
met thereafter proposed twelve amendments, of which ten were
adopted in 1791, only two years after the full adoption of the
Constitution. These ten amendments secured religious freedom,
freedom of speech, the right of people to be secure in their
houses, trials by jury, etc. All of them centralizing power in
the National hands, and at the same time securing broader liberty
to the people. These amendments were passed at the first session
of the First Congress. An eleventh amendment was proposed by the
Third National Congress in 1794, and declared ratified in 1798,
thus making eleven amendments to the Constitution in the short
space of seven years. In 1803 a twelfth amendment was proposed by
the Eighth Congress, and ratified in 1804.

We pass now over quite a space of time, in which the National
power and State power retained their relative positions to each
other. Perhaps in no better place can I mention two constantly
existing, yet diverse tendencies in the people of the United
States, which are well-defined in the minds of but few persons.
There are two kinds of centralized power, one dangerous to
liberty, and the other fortifying and securing liberty. The
dangerous is that which has grown to such dimensions in the
various States, multiplying legislation and regulating each petty
local concern within its borders, down to a village cemetery.
This has led to that destruction of liberty--a multiplication of
statutes which have scarcely been recorded ere a second
legislative body has annulled them. Each State has, in fact, been
an immense centralized power; and as bitter as has been the South
against centralized National power, we have in it seen a most