161
SUMMARY OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.
Division of authority between the Federal Government and the States.—The Government of the States is the rule,—the Federal Government the exception.
The first question which awaited the Americans was intricate, and by no means easy of solution: the object was so to divide the authority of the different States which composed the Union, that each of them should continue to govern itself in all that concerned its internal prosperity, whilst the entire nation, represented by the Union, should continue to form a compact body, and to provide for the general exigencies of the people. It was as impossible to determine beforehand, with any degree of accuracy, the share of authority which each of the two Governments was to enjoy, as to foresee all the incidents in the existence of a nation.
The obligations and the claims of the Federal Government were simple and easily definable, because the Union had been formed with the express purpose of meeting the general exigencies of the people; but the claims and obligations of the States were, on the other hand, complicated and various, because those Governments penetrated into all the details of social life. The attributes of the Federal Government were therefore carefully enumerated, and all that was not included amongst them was declared to constitute a part of the privileges of the
