ur political institutions." In short the
obligation is a moral one; and this moral obligation is treated by
Marshall as having been converted into a legal one by the United States
Constitution.

However, Marshall apparently fails to find entire satisfaction in
this argument, for he next turns to the prohibition against bills
of attainder and ex post facto laws with a question which manifests
disapproval of the decision in Calder vs. Bull. Yet he hesitates to
overrule Calder vs. Bull, and, indeed, even at the very end of his
opinion he still declines to indicate clearly the basis of his decision.
The State of Georgia, he says, "was restrained" from the passing of the
rescinding act "either by general principles which are common to our
free institutions, or by particular provisions of the Constitution of
the United States." It was not until nine years after Fletcher vs. Peck
that this ambiguity was cleared up in the Dartmouth College case in
1819.

The case of the Trustees of Dartmouth College vs. Woodward * was a New
England product and redolent of the soil from which it sprang. In 1754
the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock of Connecticut had established at his
own expense a charity school for instructing Indians in the Christian
religion; and so great was his success that he felt encouraged to extend
the undertaking and to solicit donations in England. Again success
rewarded his efforts; and in 1769 Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire,
George III's representative granted the new institution, which was now
located at Hanover, New Hampshire, a charter incorporating twelve named
persons as "The Trustees of Dartmouth College" with the power to govern
the institution, appoint its officers, and fill all vacancies in their
own body "forever."

* The following account of this case is based on J. M. Shirley's
"Dartmouth College Causes" (St. Louis, 1879) and on the official report,
4 Wheaton, 518.

For many years after the Revolution, the Trustees of Dartmouth
College, several of whom were ministers, reflected the spirit of
Congregationalism. Though this form of worship occupied almost the
position of a state religion in New Hampshire, early in this period
difficulties arose in the midst of the church at Hanover. A certain
Samuel Hayes, or Haze, told a woman named Rachel Murch that her
character was "as black as Hell," and upon Rachel's complaint to the
session, he was "churched" for "breach of the Ninth Commandment and also
f