Page:History of the Supreme court of the United States (IA historyofsupreme00myeriala).pdf/287



From the time of the Fairfax decision to that of Marshall's decease, covering a period of a score of years, four important lines of action were determined by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. These were:


 * 1) The intrenchment of the doctrine that a grant or allowance of privilege to a corporation was an irrevocable vested and perpetual right of property.
 * 2) The extension of the principle of a widening of National authority, and further concentration of power in the National Government.
 * 3) The perpetuation of negro slavery.
 * 4) The validation of vast fraudulent private land claims comprehending millions of acres of land in Florida and in the Louisiana Purchase.

The common belief that the first of these was originally settled by the noted Dartmouth College decision is incorrect. We have seen in detail, how, in the case of Fletcher vs. Peck (that collusive suit for the validation of the act bribed through the Georgia Legislature making a vast grant of 35,000,000 acres), Marshall decided that a legislative act was a contract incapable of annulment by subsequent legislation. That decision was the first precedent. The case of New Jersey vs. Wilson, decided two years later, was the second. This case, admittedly bearing unfailing signs of collusion, was decided