hat every power vested in a government is in
its nature _sovereign_," and includes by _force_ of the _term_, a
right to employ all the _means_ requisite and _fairly applicable to_
the attainment of the _ends_ of such power; and which are not
precluded by restrictions and exceptions specified in the
constitution, are not immoral, are not contrary to the essential ends
of political society.

This principle, in its application to government in general, would be
admitted as an axiom; and it would be incumbent on those who might
refuse to acknowledge its influence in American affairs to _prove_ a
distinction; and to show that a rule which, in the general system of
things, is essential to the preservation of the social order, is
inapplicable to the United States.

The circumstance that the powers of sovereignty are divided between
the national and state governments, does not afford the distinction
required. It does not follow from this, that each of the portions of
power delegated to the one or to the other, is not sovereign with
regard to its _proper objects_. It will only follow from it, that each
has sovereign power as to certain things, and not as to other things.
If the government of the United States does not possess sovereign
power as to its declared purposes and trusts, because its power does
not extend to all cases, neither would the several states possess
sovereign power in any case; for their powers do not extend to every
case. According to the opinion intended to be combated, the United
States would furnish the singular spectacle of _a political society_
without _sovereignty_, or a people _governed_ without a _government_.

If it could be necessary to bring proof of a proposition so clear as
that which affirms that the powers of the federal government, _as to
its objects_, were sovereign, there is a clause in the constitution
which is decisive. It is that which declares the constitution of the
United States, the laws made in pursuance of it, and the treaties made
under its authority to be the supreme law of the land. The power which
can create the supreme law in any case, is doubtless sovereign as to
such case.

This general and indisputable principle puts an end to the abstract
question, whether the United States have power to erect a corporation:
for it is unquestionably incident to sovereign power to erect
corporations, and consequently to that of the United States, in
relation to the objects intrusted to