The opposition of the federal
government, or the interposition of federal officers, would but inflame
the zeal of all parties on the side of the State, and the evil could not
be prevented or repaired, if at all, without the employment of means
which must always be resorted to with reluctance and difficulty. On the
other hand, should an unwarrantable measure of the federal government be
unpopular in particular States, which would seldom fail to be the case,
or even a warrantable measure be so, which may sometimes be the case,
the means of opposition to it are powerful and at hand. The disquietude
of the people; their repugnance and, perhaps, refusal to co-operate with
the officers of the Union; the frowns of the executive magistracy of the
State; the embarrassments created by legislative devices, which would
often be added on such occasions, would oppose, in any State,
difficulties not to be despised; would form, in a large State, very
serious impediments; and where the sentiments of several adjoining
States happened to be in unison, would present obstructions which the
federal government would hardly be willing to encounter.
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