ons restricted by "the
fundamental principles formulated in the Constitution," or by "the
applicable provisions of the Constitution," is to say that the power
of the Union over these regions is exercised under a supreme law which
is not the Constitution of the United States; for "principles
formulated in the Constitution" are not the Constitution, and to say
that "the applicable provisions" of the Constitution are the
Constitution is to say that a part is the whole. Such a supreme law
can only be a supreme common law, and a common law can be supreme over
a group of scattered states only because it is universal. The only
difference between this doctrine and that of the Supreme Court is that
the Court's doctrine protects only civil rights, while this protects
both civil and political rights.

By adopting this theory of the Reformation and the American
Revolution, may not the American System extend indefinitely without
danger to America herself? There would be no domination, no
subjection. The same law of nature and of nations would extend over
and govern throughout the whole Greater American Union. This Greater
American Justiciary Union would be but a logical application of the
principles underlying the American Legislative, Executive and Judicial
Union formed by the Constitution of the United States. It would not be
the Constitution which would follow the flag into the regions which
America has annexed to herself, but the law of nature and of nations
according to the American System. If the Revolutionary theory as I
have interpreted it is correct, this law of nature and of nations is
everywhere pervasive throughout the American System of Free States. It
is greater than the Constitution of the United States. The
Constitution lives in so far as it truly declares the law of nature
and of nations according to the American System. If the Constitution
is interpreted contrary to this law, as authorizing the Union to treat
its annexed regions as subjects or as creating a hiatus or a conflict
between the powers of the Central and the Local Governments, this
overruling law will compel a new interpretation. On this theory the
"Territory Clause" of the Constitution recognizes the law of nature
and of nations as determining the relationship between the American
Union and the Insular regions--"needful" rules and regulations being
those which are adapted to accomplish the end desired and which are in
accordance with the principles of