5. "To dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting
the territory or other property belonging to the United States," with a
proviso, that "nothing in the Constitution shall be so construed as to
prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular State."
This is a power of very great importance, and required by considerations
similar to those which show the propriety of the former. The proviso
annexed is proper in itself, and was probably rendered absolutely
necessary by jealousies and questions concerning the Western territory
sufficiently known to the public.
6. "To guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of
government; to protect each of them against invasion; and on application
of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be
convened), against domestic violence."
In a confederacy founded on republican principles, and composed of
republican members, the superintending government ought clearly to
possess authority to defend the system against aristocratic or
monarchial innovations. The more intimate the nature of such a union may
be, the greater interest have the members in the political institutions
of each other; and the greater right to insist that the forms of
government under which the compact was entered into should be
SUBSTANTIALLY maintained.
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