he late war, and the
administration got it in the readiest way; and the nation, glad not to
be more taxed, wholly approved of it. But the fact remains that the
President has now, by precedent and decision, a mighty power to
continue a war without the consent of Congress, and perhaps against its
wish. Against the united will of the American PEOPLE a President would
of course be impotent; such is the genius of the place and nation that
he would never think of it. But when the nation was (as of late)
divided into two parties, one cleaving to the President, the other to
the Congress, the now unquestionable power of the President to issue
paper-money may give him the power to continue the war though
Parliament (as we should speak) may enjoin the war to cease.

And lastly, the whole region of the very highest questions is withdrawn
from the ordinary authorities of the State, and reserved for special
authorities. The "Constitution" cannot be altered by any authorities
within the Constitution, but only by authorities without it. Every
alteration of it, however urgent or however trifling, must be
sanctioned by a complicated proportion of States or legislatures. The
consequence is that the most obvious evils cannot be quickly remedied;
that the most absurd fictions must be framed to evade the plain sense
of mischievous clauses; that a clumsy working and curious technicality
mark the politics of a rough-and-ready people. The practical arguments
and the legal disquisitions in America are often like those of trustees
carrying out a misdrawn will--the sense of what they mean is good, but
it can never be worked out fully or defended simply, so hampered is it
by the old words of an old testament.

These instances (and others might be added) prove, as history proves
too, what was the principal thought of the American
Constitution-makers. They shrank from placing sovereign power anywhere.
They feared that it would generate tyranny; George III. had been a
tyrant to them, and come what might, they would not make a George III.
Accredited theories said that the English Constitution divided the
sovereign authority, and in imitation the Americans split up theirs.

The result is seen now. At the critical moment of their history there
is no ready, deciding power. The South, after a great rebellion, lies
at the feet of its conquerors: its conquerors have to settle what to do
with it.[10] They must decide the conditions upon which the
Secession