With Us There Is Nothing Beyond An Act Of Parliament.
An
act of Parliament with us cannot be unconstitutional.
But no such
power has been confided to Congress, or to Congress and the
President together. No amendment of the Constitution can be made
without the sanction of the State legislatures. Congress may
propose any amendments, as to the expediency of which two-thirds of
both Houses shall be agreed; but before such amendments can be
accepted they must be ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths
of the States, or by conventions in three-fourths of the States, "as
the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by
Congress." Or Congress, instead of proposing the amendments, may,
on an application from the legislatures of two-thirds of the
different States, call a convention for the proposing of them. In
which latter case the ratification by the different States must be
made after the same fashion as that required in the former case. I
do not know that I have succeeded in making clearly intelligible the
circumstances under which the Constitution can be amended; but I
think I may have succeeded in explaining that those circumstances
are difficult and tedious. In a matter of taxation why should
States agree to an alteration proposed with the very object of
increasing their proportion of the national burden? But unless such
States will agree - unless Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York
will consent to put their own necks into the yoke - direct taxation
cannot be levied on them in a manner available for national
purposes.
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