A GENERAL VIEW

OF THE

ORIGIN AND NATURE

OF THE

Constitution and Government of the United States,

DEDUCED FROM THE

POLITICAL HISTORY AND CONDITION

OF THE

COLONIES AND STATES, FROM 1774 UNTIL 1788.

AND

The Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.

TOGETHER WITH

Opinions in the Cases decided at January Term, 1837,

ARISING ON THE

Restraints on the Powers of the States.

BY HENRY BALDWIN,

One of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.

PHILADELPHIA:

PRINTED BY JOHN C. CLARK, 60 DOCK STREET.

1837.

INDEX

TO

THE PRINCIPAL MATTERS.

Adjudications in the courts in England since the revolution, their weight and effect,
3, 46.

Alliance between the states; nature and effect thereof, 59, 79,

Treaty of, with France; its nature and effect, 80, 86.

186.

Allies in a war, rule as to acquisitions made by, 87.

Articles of confederation, nature and defects of, 11, 61, 66, 79,

105.

Bank notes and bank bills, distinction between, 119, 121.

Bills of credit, what are and what not, 114, 119, 122, 127.

Boundaries between provinces, how settled, 177.

between states; agreements and compacts relating thereto, by the constitu-
tion, 170, 173, 174, 178.

Cessions of power and territory by states, 83.

Charters, violation of, a grievance of the colonies, 5, 139.

protected by the constitution, 138, 140.

to the colonies and proprietaries, 49.

Colonies, their connection with England, and political condition, till the declaration
of independence, 26, 49, 61, 63, 70, 72.

Colonial governments, their nature and powers, 26, 50, 68, 141.

Commerce, extent of the power to regulate, 69, 181, 184, 185.

its limitations, 182, 187.

Common law, the law of the colonies and states, 3.

its rules in construing laws, grants, &c. 8.

Congress, how composed under the constitution, 32.

powers of, within the states, 83, 95, 98, 183.

powers of, within the territories, dock yards, &c. 85, 87, 98.
proceedings of, before July 4, 1776, 4, 26, 59, 68.

proceedings of, from 1776 till 1787, 77.

consent of, to state laws, 172, 174.

Constitution of the United States, its nature and obligation, 11, 23, 29, 44, 66, 83,

101, 104, 137, 140.

how adopted, and by what people, 12, 17, 19, 24, 29, 32.

rules for its construction, 3, 7, 9, 20, 43, 47, 99, 102, 104, 118, 129, 185.

construction of particular parts thereof, 129, 185, 190.

different constructions thereof, 2, 36, 100, 126.

its practical effect and operation, 20.

amendments thereto, 13, 18, 24, 45.

exceptions, prohibitions, and reservations, 44, 64.

Constitutions of states, how formed, 18, 25, 29, 31, 32, 70, 75, 81.

Constitution of England, 4, 7, 51.

compared with those of the United States, 53, 54.

Contracts, obligation of, inviolable by state law, 48, 128, 137, 140.
what impairs and what not, 129, 131, 141, 176.

*

Corporations of government, 51, 82, 84, 138.
private, rights of, 42, 136, 139, 140.

Conventions, of the states of England, 56.

of the states of this Union, 12, 35, 59, 66.

Crown lands, to whom they belonged after the revolution, 49, 66, 75, 86.

Declaration of rights at the revolution in England, 43.

of rights by the colonies and congress, 14, 26, 68.

of independence, its effects on the political condition of the several states,
28, 72, 75, 78.

Exceptions, in deeds and grants, how construed, 64, 171.

Ferries, right of, defined, and grants thereof, 150, 151, 153.
nature, extent, and construction of, 156, 163, 168.

Franchise, corporate, what are, 136.

of port markets, fairs, ferries, their extent, &c. 154, 157.

Government, federal law organized and administered, 20, 25, 33.

its powers, nature and extent thereof, 22, 24, 66, 81, 183, 192.
of states, their powers and restraints thereon, 14, 43, 88, 89, 186.
of territories, how organized, and powers, 85, 88, 91.

Grants, by prerogative or by government, how construed, 142, 143, 148, 164.
to charitable or public use, 142, 143.

for private benefit, 143, 144.

of franchises on public highways and rivers, 142, 144, 146, 152.

of franchises on private property, 146, 151.

ancient, or charters, how construed, 43, 44.

of franchises by prescription, on what founded, 164, 165.
consideration of, and when void, 152, 155, 157, 161, 166.
how proved, and their extent, 146, 149, 153, 154, 165.
when exclusive, or may be concurrent, 157, 163, 165, 167.

Health laws, power of states to pass, 184.

Inspection laws, extent of the power of states to pass, 170, 184, 187.
control of congress over, 189, 194.

Internal police of states, by whom to be regulated, 69, 182.

what is, 187, 194, 196.

Jurisdiction of states defined, and its extent, 88, 186.
cession of, 66, 83, 87, 88, 93, 97.

of federal and state governments, 183 to 196.

King, nature and extent of prerogative, 52, 53, 142, 165.

Land in colonies, the absolute propriety thereof, 49.

Laws of states, when subject to revision and control by congress, 170, 189, 191.
when void and when valid, 185, 188.

Magna charta, the law of the colonies, 4, 6.

its provisions, 77, 137, 139.

New states, how admitted into the Union, 22, 90, 92.

Ordinance of 1787, its provisions and effect, 5, 88, 90.

Paupers, power of a state to prevent their introduction, 185, 194.

People of the United States, the term defined, 31, 44.

how they acted in adopting the constitution, 18, 31, 36.

by what people it was adopted, 30, 32, 82, 97.

how a people act in their "aggregate collective capacity," 32, 52, 60, 67.
how they acted before 1787, 81.

how represented under the constitution, 33, 55.

Powers, prerogative of the states, 75, 143.

reserved to the states by the constitution, 45, 171, 183.

Powers, implied or constructive, their nature and effect, 38, 41, 102, 170b, 193.
necessary and proper to carry into effect granted powers, 105, 182, 189.
extent of enumerated powers of, granted to congress, 1706.

Population of the United States, how represented, 20, &c.

Preamble to the constitution, meaning and construction thereof, 30, 37, 61, 97.
Prerogative powers in the United States, how considered, 53, 55.

Prescription, grants by, defined, 165.

to what estate they attach, 165.

Presumption in favour of the validity of state laws, 147, 162.

Prohibitions on states by the constitution, nature and effect thereof, 116, 170, 172, 187.
Reservation in a grant, nature and effect thereof, 45, 65.

of powers in tenth amendment, to whom made, 64.

its effect in the construction of the constitution, 19, 45, 64, 98, 103, 161, 192.
States, defined, 13, 16.

confederation between, 16, 24.

political situation of, during the revolution, the confederation, and under
the constitution, 13, 14, 71, 83.

boundaries and territory thereof, 87.
how represented in congress, 33.

Territory, original right of, in whom vested, 66, 75, 86, 88, 93, 95.

how it became vested in the United States, 87, 88, 91, 94, 97.
Treaty of peace with England, its operation and effect, 72, 86, 87.
construction of treaties, 83, 172.

United States, the term defined, 13, 85.

boundaries thereof, 86, 170c.