Among communities united for particular purposes, it is vested partly in
the general and partly in the municipal legislatures. In the former
case, all local authorities are subordinate to the supreme; and may be
controlled, directed, or abolished by it at pleasure. In the latter, the
local or municipal authorities form distinct and independent portions of
the supremacy, no more subject, within their respective spheres, to the
general authority, than the general authority is subject to them, within
its own sphere. In this relation, then, the proposed government cannot
be deemed a NATIONAL one; since its jurisdiction extends to certain
enumerated objects only, and leaves to the several States a residuary
and inviolable sovereignty over all other objects. It is true that in
controversies relating to the boundary between the two jurisdictions,
the tribunal which is ultimately to decide, is to be established under
the general government. But this does not change the principle of the
case. The decision is to be impartially made, according to the rules of
the Constitution; and all the usual and most effectual precautions are
taken to secure this impartiality.
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