uch an exception
was intended by those who framed and adopted the Constitution to be
introduced into it, I hold it to be my duty carefully to consider, and
to allow just weight to such considerations in interpreting the
positive text of the Constitution. But where the Constitution has said
_all_ needful rules and regulations, I must find something more than
theoretical reasoning to induce me to say it did not mean all.

There have been eminent instances in this court closely analogous to
this one, in which such an attempt to introduce an exception, not
found in the Constitution itself, has failed of success.

By the eighth section of the first article, Congress has the power of
exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever within this District.

In the case of Loughborough _v._ Blake, (5 Whea., 324,) the question
arose, whether Congress has power to impose direct taxes on persons
and property in this District. It was insisted, that though the grant
of power was in its terms broad enough to include direct taxation, it
must be limited by the principle, that taxation and representation are
inseparable. It would not be easy to fix on any political truth,
better established or more fully admitted in our country, than that
taxation and representation must exist together. We went into the war
of the Revolution to assert it, and it is incorporated as fundamental
into all American Governments. But however true and important this
maxim may be, it is not necessarily of universal application. It was
for the people of the United States, who ordained the Constitution, to
decide whether it should or should not be permitted to operate within
this District. Their decision was embodied in the words of the
Constitution; and as that contained no such exception as would permit
the maxim to operate in this District, this court, interpreting that
language, held that the exception did not exist.

Again, the Constitution confers on Congress power to regulate commerce
with foreign nations. Under this, Congress passed an act on the 22d of
December, 1807, unlimited in duration, laying an embargo on all ships
and vessels in the ports or within the limits and jurisdiction of the
United States. No law of the United States ever pressed so severely
upon particular States. Though the constitutionality of the law was
contested with an earnestness and zeal proportioned to the ruinous
effects which were felt from it, and though, as Mr. Chief Justice
Ma