6836. POWERS, Constructive.—
The
States supposed that by their Tenth Amendment,
they had secured themselves against
constructive powers. They were not lessoned
yet by Cohen's Case, nor aware of the slipperiness
of the eels of the law. I ask for no
straining of words against the General Government,
nor yet against the States. I believe
the States can best govern our home
concerns, and the General Government our
foreign ones. I wish, therefore, to see
maintained that wholesome distribution of
powers established by the Constitution for the
limitation of both; and never to see all offices
transferred to Washington, where,
further withdrawn from the eyes of the people,
they may more secretly be bought and
sold as at market.—
To William Johnson. Washington ed. vii, 297.
Ford ed., x, 232.
(M.
1823)
