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Quote by Joseph Story

“The true test is, whether the object be of a local character, and local use; or, whether it be of general benefit to the states. If it be purely local, congress cannot constitutionally appropriate money for the object. But, if the benefit be general, it matters not, whether in point of locality it be in one state, or several; whether it be of large, or of small extent.”

Quote by Joseph Story

Book:Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution

Work

Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution

This scholarly work delves into the foundational legal document of the United States, offering in-depth commentary and historical perspective on the Constitution's origins and development. more

Author

Joseph Story was a distinguished figure in the early history of the United States. He served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1812 to 1845. His contributions to American law and legal thought were significant, and he is remembered for his influential writings on constitutional law and his role in shaping the early decisions of the Supreme Court. more

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“To attach full confidence to an institution of this nature, it appears to be an essential ingredient in its structure, that it shall be under private and not a public direction-under the guidance of individual interest, not of public policy; which, would be . . . liable to being too much influenced by public necessity.”

Would Be Individual Interest Too Much Policy Essentials Institutions Structure Guidance Ingredients Liable Public Policy Federalism

Book:The Vision of Hamilton: Hamilton's 4 Reports and LaRouche's 4 Laws

Source: The Vision of Hamilton: Hamilton's 4 Reports and LaRouche's 4 Laws

“The proposed Constitution, so far from implying an abolition of the State governments, makes them constituent parts of the national sovereignty, by allowing them a direct representation in the Senate, and leaves in their possession certain exclusive and very important portions of sovereign power. This fully corresponds, in every rational import of the terms, with the idea of a federal government.”

Source: The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers

“There is one transcendant advantage belonging to the province of the State governments . . . -I mean the ordinary administration of criminal and civil justice.”

Mean States Government Justice Ordinary Advantage Criminals Administration Belonging Provinces State Government Federalism

Author:Alexander Hamilton

“Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a FEDERAL, and not a NATIONAL constitution.”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

Source: The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

“But ambitious encroachments of the federal government, on the authority of the State governments, would not excite the opposition of a single State, or of a few States only. They would be signals of general alarm . . . But what degree of madness could ever drive the federal government to such an extremity.”

States Government Would Be Degrees Authority Madness Opposition Ambitious Federal Government Signals Alarms State Government Federalist Papers Extremity Encroachment Federalism

Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

Source: The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

“The idea that if you don’t like how things are going, you can just leave is so engrained in Texas, the secession movement is no surprise.”

Ifs Ideas Movement Surprise Texas Secession

Author:Gail Collins

“I wish not to be regarded as an advocate for the particular organizations of the several state governments . . . they carry strong marks of the haste, and still stronger marks of the inexperience, under which they were framed.”

Stills States Government Strong Wish Particular Organization Mark Stronger Haste State Government Framed Inexperience Federalism

Book:The Federalist: On the New Constitution, Written in 1788

Source: The Federalist: On the New Constitution, Written in 1788

“The public affairs of the union are spread throughout a very extensive region, and are extremely diversified by the local affairs connected with them, and can with difficulty be learnt in any other place, than in the central councils, to which a knowledge of them will be brought by the representatives of every part of the empire. Yet some knowledge of the affairs, and even of the laws of all the states, ought to be possessed by the members from each of the states.”

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Book:Selected Federalist Papers

Source: Selected Federalist Papers

“I am unable to conceive that the state legislatures which must feel so many motives to watch, and which possess so many means of counteracting the federal legislature, would fail either to detect or to defeat a conspiracy of the latter against the liberties of their common constituencies.”

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Author:James Madison

“The appointment of senators by the state legislatures . . . is recommended by the double advantage of favoring a select appointment, and of giving to the state governments such an agency in the formation of the federal government, as must secure the authority of the former.”

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Book:Selected Writings of James Madison

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison