CHAPTER XXXI. PROVISIONS RESPECTING STATES. PROHIBITIONS UPON THE STATES. THE States are absolutely forbidden by the ConstituConcerning For- tion to enter into any treaty, alliance, or eign Relations. confederation; or to grant letters of marque and reprisal; they are also forbidden to keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, without the consent of Congress; nor may they without such consent enter into any agreement or compact with another State or foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. The States, as such, have no relation to foreign powers. They assumed this as a fundamental principle of their Union, when they refused to treat separately with Great Britain just before the war for independence. During the war, the Continental Congress represented the United States in their intercourse with other nations. Next, the same powers were vested in the Congress of the confederation; and now the principle is embodied in the Constitution. If each State were free to engage in war, and to negotiate privately with foreign governments, there would be no security for the permanence of the Union, or for the continuance of the liberties of the people. The States must stand or fall together. Concerning Interests. The States are forbidden to coin money, to emit bills of credit, to make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts. They are also forbidden to lay any duty of tonnage without the consent of Congress; nor may they lay duties on imports or exports except for special purposes, and under the control of Congress. It will be remembered that the immediate cause which led to the formation of the Constitution was the trouble arising from State legislation respecting commerce. Inequality of taxation of imports produced ill feeling between the States, and checked the commercial prosperity of all. Hence the propriety of giving to the general government exclusive power in this direction. Tonnage duties — that is, charges upon vessels in proportion to their carrying capacity are forbidden for the same reason. These duties are not now levied by Congress. The general government, too, has exclusive control of the currency. Corporations within the States, as banks, have been allowed to issue bills of credit, that is, notes designed to circulate as money; but these were not legal tender, and the holders might at any time demand gold or silver coin for them. The States are forbidden to pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts. In the days Concerning Pri of the Roman republic, the State repeat- vate Rights. edly made general laws for the relief of debtors, freeing them entirely or partly from their obligations. Such laws, and all involving the same principle, are forbidden. No State may pass any bill of attainder, or ex post facto law. Congress is also forbidden to pass such laws. The phrase, "bill of attainder," refers to those features of English law by which persons convicted of treason suffer forfeiture of property, and lose the power to transmit to their descendants, so that the children suffer with the parent. An ex post facto law is a law made to punish acts previously committed, and which were not punishable, or not punishable in the same manner, by any preceding law. The fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the ConConcerning stitution lay certain prohibitions upon the Freedmen. States, designed especially to protect the colored people who have become citizens by the abolition of slavery. No State may make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor may any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its laws. No State may deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. PROTECTION OF STATE RIGHTS. In the clause giving to Congress power to admit new States into the Union, it is declared that no new State may be formed within the jurisdiction of another State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of Congress. By this provision, the States secure their continued existence as distinct individuals. But it makes division possible, as in the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, and of West Virginia from Virginia. When the Constitution was formed, the small States were induced to accept it by giving them equal power in the senate with the large ones. To insure the safety of these States, it is provided, that no amendment shall ever be made by which this equal suffrage shall be taken away from any State without its consent. To prevent inequality in the treatment of the States by the general government, it is provided, that no tax or duty may be laid on articles exported from any State; no preference may be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another; nor may vessels engaged in commerce between the States be made to pay the usual charges for entrance and departure to which vessels engaged in foreign commerce are subject. RELATION OF STATES TO EACH OTHER. 1. Public Acts. The preservation of the Union depends upon the mutual good feeling existing among the States. Nothing but complete equality can prevent jealousies and quarrels. Any assumption of superiority by any State would speedily provoke a spirit hostile to union. The Constitution guards against this by two or three declarations. First, every State must give full faith and credit to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. It cannot question the authority under which they are made; and it must give them full weight as precedents for judgment. 2. Citizenship. The citizens of each State are entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in every other State. Thus the unity of the people is promoted. Any person who can claim protection of person and property, transact business, vote, and hold office, in one State, may do all these in any other State, without those conditions and limitations to which aliens might be subjected. 3. Fugitives from Justice. Any person charged with crime in one State, and escaping to another, must be delivered up on demand of the executive of the State from which he has fled. There is nothing that compels an independent nation to deliver up criminals who have taken refuge within its territory. Mention has already been made of the extradition treaties by which the United States has agreed with most of the leading nations for a mutual giving-up of fugitives from justice. If criminals could escape justice by passing from one State of the Union to another, there would be an end to justice in these days of easy communication; and this would be another fruitful source of mutual ill feeling. Service. There is another provision in this connection, which Fugitives from shows the spirit of concession and compromise which actuated the people at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. The Constitution requires that persons held to service or labor under the laws of one State, and escaping into another, shall not be released from such service; but shall be delivered up to the party claiming the service. Slaves escaping from their masters into a non-slaveholding State could not become free thereby, but were liable, if discovered, to be sent back to their servitude. Though this was repugnant to the feelings of the people of some of the States, they accepted what seemed at the time a lesser evil, for the sake of securing the union they so much needed. It is a significant fact, that the word "slave" is nowhere used in the Constitution as originally adopted. While they tolerated the system, the framers |
