e clearest and most accurate notions
on the nature of the centralization of government. The United States
form not only a republic, but a confederation; nevertheless the
authority of the nation is more central than it was in several of the
monarchies of Europe when the American Constitution was formed. Take,
for instance, the two following examples.

Thirteen supreme courts of justice existed in France, which, generally
speaking, had the right of interpreting the law without appeal; and
those provinces which were styled pays d'etats were authorized to refuse
their assent to an impost which had been levied by the sovereign who
represented the nation. In the Union there is but one tribunal to
interpret, as there is one legislature to make the laws; and an impost
voted by the representatives of the nation is binding upon all the
citizens. In these two essential points, therefore, the Union exercises
more central authority than the French monarchy possessed, although the
Union is only an assemblage of confederate republics.

In Spain certain provinces had the right of establishing a system of
custom-house duties peculiar to themselves, although that privilege
belongs, by its very nature, to the national sovereignty. In America the
Congress alone has the right of regulating the commercial relations
of the States. The government of the Confederation is therefore more
centralized in this respect than the kingdom of Spain. It is true that
the power of the Crown in France or in Spain was always able to obtain
by force whatever the Constitution of the country denied, and that the
ultimate result was consequently the same; but I am here discussing the
theory of the Constitution.

Federal Powers

After having settled the limits within which the Federal Government
was to act, the next point was to determine the powers which it was to
exert.

Legislative Powers *m

[Footnote m: [In this chapter the author points out the essence of the
conflict between the seceding States and the Union which caused the
Civil War of 1861.]]

Division of the Legislative Body into two branches--Difference in the
manner of forming the two Houses--The principle of the independence of
the States predominates in the formation of the Senate--The principle
of the sovereignty of the nation in the composition of the House of
Representatives--Singular effects of the fact that a Constitution can
only be logical in the early stages of a nation.

The plan