274
THE GREEN BAG
"The sovereignty of the Union had been recognized, the idea of the state as a sub ordinate political agency had been formu lated — views to be wholly lost sight of, and to be vindicated two generations later by force of arms in a conflict which ended in their complete triumph. One of the earliest heralds of the true constitutional meaning and scope of that great conflict seems to have been Wilson." The doctrine was thus authoritatively enunciated by the highest tribunal in the land, by a majority vote of one, that we are a nation, and not a mere confederacy of sovereign states. James Wilson's third great mission in America had been accomplislicd. There is yet a fourth — it is yet to be achieved, but it will not be until the spirit of the Constitution as Wilson conceived it and gave it birth, shall pervade the nation; not until there shall be removed, by an application of his doctrine, that "endless confusion and intricacy" with reference to national and state powers, which now exist, and which Wilson predicted would "unavoidably ensue " if the fundamental principles, upon which our dual form of government was established, were not prop erly observed. That this day will come none can doubt who have faith in the future of the American nation. When it does, Wilson will for the first time rise to his true proportions in the hearts and affec tions of the American people. He has left with us these weighty words of wisdom and of warning: "I consider the people of the United States, as forming one great community; and I consider the people of the different states, as forming communities again on a lesser scale. From this great division of the people into distinct communities it will be found necessary that different propor tions of legislative powers should be given to the governments, according to the nature, number, and magnitude of their objects. "Unless tlte people are considered in these two views, we shall never be able to under stand the principle on which this system was constructed." 1 1 McMaster & Stone's Pennsylvania and the Federal Constitution, p. 316.
At another time he wrote in a holographic letter to George Washington : "The most intricate and the most delicate questions in our national jurisprudence will arise in running the line between the author ity of the National Government and that of the several States. ... It is probable . . . that neither vacancies nor interferences will be found, between the limits of the two jurisdictions. For it is material to observe, that both jurisdictions together compose or ought to compose only one uniform and comprehensive system of government and laws. " 1 Elsewhere he asserted: "Whenever an object occurs, to the direction of which no particular State is competent, the management of it must, of necessity, belong to the United States in Congress assembled."3 The thought, which was crystallized into the General Welfare Clause of the Constitu tion, he expressed thus: "The states should resign to the national government that part, and that part only, of their political liberty, which, placed in that government, will produce more good to the whole, than if it had remained in the several states. " 3 Still again he declared : "Whatever object of government is con fined in its operation and effects within the bounds of a particular state, should be con sidered as belonging to the government of that state; whatever object of government extends in its operation or effects beyond the bounds of a particular state, should be considered as belonging to the government of the United States."4 Such is the Wilson Doctrine. On August 2 1,5 1798, James Wilson, at the age of fifty-six, died a broken-hearted man, in Edenton, North Carolina, at the home of his friend and colleague on the Bench of the Supreme Court of the United 1 December 31, 1791 Washington Manuscripts, Library of Congress. 3 Wilson's Works (Andrews' ed.) Vol. I, p. 558. ' s Wilson's Works (Andrews' ed.) Vol. I, p. 53Q. 4 Wilson's Works (Andrews' ed.) Vol. I, p. 538. • Not August 28 as most historians incorrectly have it.
