The same plan was
followed in framing the Constitution.
"Had the people of the several States," said Monroe, "thought proper to
incorporate themselves into one community, under one government, they
might have done it. They wisely stopped, however, at a certain point,
extending the incorporation to that point, making the national
government thus far a consolidated government, and preserving the state
governments without that limit perfectly sovereign and independent of
the national government."
From an unprejudiced standpoint, this presentation of the historic
facts in the case is difficult to answer. "There were two separate and
independent governments," continued the President, "established over
our union, one for local purposes over each state by the people of the
state, the other for national purposes over all the states by the
people of the United States."
He next proceeded to examine the six powers given to the National
Government, which had been so distorted and incorrectly interpreted
in justifying national expenditures for public improvements that, in
his opinion, they threatened the very existence of the States.
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