amendment that while it will enable the United
States to accomplish every national object, the improvements made with
that view will eminently promote the welfare of the individual States,
who may also add such others as their own particular interests may
require.

The situation of the Cumberland road requires the particular and early
attention of Congress. Being formed over very lofty mountains and in
many instances over deep and wide streams, across which valuable bridges
have been erected, which are sustained by stone walls, as are many other
parts of the road, all these works are subject to decay, have decayed,
and will decay rapidly unless timely and effectual measures are adopted
to prevent it.

The declivities from the mountains and all the heights must suffer from
the frequent and heavy falls of water and its descent to the valleys,
as also from the deep congelations during our severe winters. Other
injuries have also been experienced on this road, such as the displacing
the capping of the walls and other works, committed by worthless people
either from a desire to render the road impassable or to have the
transportation in another direction, or from a spirit of wantonness to
create employment for idlers. These considerations show that an active
and strict police ought to be established over the whole road, with
power to make repairs when necessary, to establish turnpikes and tolls
as the means of raising money to make them, and to prosecute and punish
those who commit waste and other injuries.

Should the United States be willing to abandon this road to the States
through which it passes, would they take charge of it, each of that
portion within its limits, and keep it in repair? It is not to be
presumed that they would, since the advantages attending it are
exclusively national, by connecting, as it does, the Atlantic with the
Western States, and in a line with the seat of the National Government.
The most expensive parts of this road lie within Pennsylvania and
Virginia, very near the confines of each State and in a route not
essentially connected with the commerce of either.

If it is thought proper to vest this power in the United States,
the only mode in which it can be done is by an amendment of the
Constitution. The States individually can not transfer the power
to the United States, nor can the United States receive it. The
Constitution forms an equal and the sole relation between the General
Gove