The States under the Federal system are units in the formation of a nation, not Governments independent of a nation. Before the Civil War a number of conflicts arose between National and State power, in which first one group of States and then another asserted its authority to proceed independently of the nation. Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia and other states in turn opposed the supremacy of National power under the Constitu tion. The Civil War settled finally and conclusively that the States are merely units, although indispensable units, in the formation of a single national organization.
The limitations imposed upon the States by the Constitution of the United States clearly indicate the purpose to establish a single national organization, with the States as units in that organization. States are forbidden, without the consent of Con gress, "to keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay." They are for bidden to enter into treaties, alliances, or confederations. These types of limitations upon the States indicate a definite purpose to deprive the States of any independent existence as organiza tions in themselves, and this purpose is supported by the language making the "Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made or which shall be made under the authority of the United States," the supreme law of the land.
The powers of the National Government are such as are granted to it by the Constitution of the United States. They must be found within the terms of that document. It has no others. This basic principle was implied but not expressed in the Constitution as first adopted. So important was its expression in the Constitu tional text regarded that the Tenth Amendment, adopted in 1791, provides that "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are re served to the States respectively, or to the people." The States
gave up certain powers in establishing the National Government. They set out these powers in a written document, and expressly reserved all other powers to themselves or to the people. The powers of the nation, found within the terms of this written document are superior to the powers of the States.
Who is to determine, in case of doubt or conflict, whether such a superior power, asserted by the Government of the United States, is within the terms of the Constitution? Before the Civil War, States often asserted the authority to determine for them selves what powers belonged to the National Government, but such assertions were unsuccessful. Since 1816 the legal principle has been established that the line between National and State powers is to be drawn by the United States Supreme Court, an organ of the National Government.
What are the powers granted to the nation? Express powers, couched in most cases in broad language, are conferred on Con gress, by a series of seventeen paragraphs in Article I, section 8, of the Constitution. In even more general terms powers are con ferred on the Executive and Judicial Departments of the United States. In only one case is the power granted to the National Government expressed as an exclusive power. Certain powers are of such a character that they must be exercised exclusively by the National Government, as for example, the levying of Federal taxes, borrowing money on the credit of the United States, con stituting Federal tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court, and the establishment of a uniform rule of naturalization. Others are made exclusively National by Constitutional prohibitions upon the States. The Federal power to coin money is supplemented by forbidding States to coin money. The Federal war powers are made exclusive by prohibitions upon the States. The Federal treaty-making power is supplemented by forbidding State treaties and by inhibiting State compacts without the consent of Congress.