Page:Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction.djvu/342

 might be supposed, a very strong leaning towards the latter is discernible in several opinions rendered in the two decades immediately preceding the war. It was found possible, however, in every case, to decide the issue under some clause of the constitution other than that referring to the admission of states. The substance rather than the form of the admitting acts was considered. But whichever of these theories may ultimately prevail, the answer to the question we have set before us — viz., whether at the present time there is any inequality among the states — must be sought in the content of the supposed restrictions that thus far have been enacted. Compacts have been made with new states, by which those states resigned certain powers; fundamental conditions have been imposed, prohibiting the exercise of certain powers. Whether or not Congress was authorized to make the limitations, let us consider to what extent such limitations discriminate against the newer states.

Ill

We have already classified the restrictions that have been enacted and have found the first prominent subject to be the public lands of the United States. Either in the form of a compact or by way of fundamental condition, all but five of the states admitted since the formation of the consti-