overnment
till Florida shall become a State; in the mean time, Florida continues
to be a Territory of the United States, governed by virtue of that
clause in the Constitution which empowers Congress 'to make all
needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other
property belonging to the United States.'"

And he adds, "perhaps the power of governing a Territory belonging to
the United States, which has not, by becoming a State, acquired the
means of self-government, may result necessarily from the fact that
it is not within the jurisdiction of any particular State, and is
within the power and jurisdiction of the United States. The right to
govern may be the inevitable consequence of the right to acquire
territory; whichever may be the source whence the power is derived,
the possession of it is unquestioned." And in the close of the
opinion, the court say, "in legislating for them [the Territories,]
Congress exercises the combined powers of the General and State
Governments."

Some consider the opinion to be loose and inconclusive; others, that
it is _obiter dicta_; and the last sentence is objected to as
recognising absolute power in Congress over Territories. The learned
and eloquent Wirt, who, in the argument of a cause before the court,
had occasion to cite a few sentences from an opinion of the Chief
Justice, observed, "no one can mistake the style, the words so
completely match the thought."

I can see no want of precision in the language of the Chief Justice;
his meaning cannot be mistaken. He states, first, the third section as
giving power to Congress to govern the Territories, and two other
grounds from which the power may also be implied. The objection seems
to be, that the Chief Justice did not say which of the grounds stated
he considered the source of the power. He did not specifically state
this, but he did say, "whichever may be the source whence the power is
derived, the possession of it is unquestioned." No opinion of the
court could have been expressed with a stronger emphasis; the power in
Congress is unquestioned. But those who have undertaken to criticise
the opinion, consider it without authority, because the Chief Justice
did not designate specially the power. This is a singular objection.
If the power be unquestioned, it can be a matter of no importance on
which ground it is exercised.

The opinion clearly was not _obiter dicta_. The turning point in the
case was, whether Congr