he exercise of all the powers with
which the Government is clothed. And we need not be surprised, if, in
resorting to the new measures which the great exigency of the new
condition seems to require, it shall be found, after the storm has
ceased and the clouds have rolled away, that in some things the
Government has transcended its legitimate powers, while in others it has
suffered, because fearing to use those which it really possesses. It is
dependent in many things upon the States; and yet it is supreme over
them all. There can be no Senate, as a branch either of the executive or
of the legislative department, without the action of the States; and yet
the Government emanates directly from the people. In defending itself
against an armed rebellion of nearly half the States themselves,
struggling for self-preservation, it may rightfully, as in other wars,
grasp all the means within its reach. War makes its own methods, for all
of which necessity is a sufficient plea. But when the defence shall have
been made, when the attack is repelled, and the Rebellion shall have
been fully suppressed, then will come the questions, What are the best
means of restoration? and, How shall a recurrence of the evil be
prevented?

Though the Federal Government is one of limited powers, _the people_
possess _all governmental powers_; and these are spoken of as powers
_delegated_ and powers _reserved_. So far as these are reserved to _the
people_, they may be exercised either through the _Federal Government_
or the _State_. And the Federal Government, though limited in its
powers, is restricted in _the subjects upon which it can act_, rather
than in the _quantum_ of power it can exercise over those matters within
its jurisdiction. Over those interests which are committed to its care
it has all the powers incident to any other government in the
world,--powers necessary by implication to accomplish the purpose
intended. The construction of the grant in the Constitution is not to be
critical and stringent, as if the people, by its adoption, were
_selling_ power to a _stranger_,--but liberal, considering that they
were enabling _their own agents_ to achieve a noble work for them.

We have been accustomed to extol the wisdom of our fathers, in framing
and establishing such a form of government; but our highest praises have
been too small. We have hitherto had but a partial conception of their
wisdom. We knew not the terrible test to which their