Page:Hawkins v. Filkins 01.pdf/26

RhTERM, 1866.] must, as held by Mr. Justice D, in the case of Millegan ex parte, whether in peace or war, limit and control the action of the government—in his own language: "The constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace." The national government, then, must exist, and that too, under the provisions of the constitution, in war as well as in peace; and if it must exist, it cannot destroy the state governments, which are indispensably essential to its existence. Nor can a state government be altered, or changed by the federal government; nor can it rightfully compel the people of a state to make any change in their local government, because, by such compulsion, the act, in effect, would be the act of the federal government, not of the state.

At this point we are brought to consider another question, which is involved in the range of the argument by the counsel for the defendant, in which he assimilates the condition of the state, to that of a conquered territory of a foreign government. We have seen that the national government was formed by the states, and the people, and is of defined limited powers, under which it must act in time of war, as well as in peace. The power of conquest is no where delegated, and therefore cannot be rightfully exercised. But if such power had been given, it certainly never could be, that the United States could conquer her own territory; because all the while that territory was hers. She could gain no new title by conquest. To suppress insurrections, to repel invasions, and to execute the laws were the only domestic purposes for which she could call into service military force. Such were certainly the views entertained by both presidents, B and L. To Mr. Buchanan the question was presented: "Has the constitution delegated to congress the power to coerce a state into submission. If answered in the affirmative, it must be on the principle that the power has been conferred upon congress to declare and make war against a state. After much serious reflection I have arrived at the conclusion that no such power was delegated to congress, or to any