But there are five other provisions of the Constitution by which its
supremacy is positively established. 1. "The citizens of each State
shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the
several States." As Congress has the exclusive power to establish "an
uniform rule of naturalization," it may, under these words of the
Constitution, secure for its newly entitled citizens "all privileges and
immunities of citizens in the several States," in defiance of State
Rights. 2. "New States may be admitted _by the Congress_ into this
Union." According to these words, the States cannot even determine their
associates, but are dependent in this respect upon the will of Congress.
3. But not content with taking from the States these important powers of
sovereignty, it is solemnly declared that the Constitution, and the laws
of the United States made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties under
the authority of the United States, "SHALL BE THE SUPREME LAW OF THE
LAND, _anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary
notwithstanding_." Thus are State Rights again subordinated to the
National Constitution, which is erected into the paramount authority. 4.
But this is done again by another provision, which declares that "_the
members of the several State legislatures_, and all executive and
judicial officers of _the several States_, shall be bound by oath or
affirmation to support this Constitution"; so that not only State laws
are subordinated to the National Constitution, but the makers of State
laws, and all other State officers, are constrained to declare their
allegiance to this Constitution, thus placing the State, alike through
its acts and its agents, in complete subordination to the sovereignty of
the United States. 5. But this sovereignty is further proclaimed in the
solemn injunction, that "the United States shall guarantee to every
State in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect
each of them against invasion." Here are duties of guaranty and
protection imposed upon the United States, by which their position is
fixed as the supreme power. There can be no such guaranty without the
implied right to examine and consider the governments of the several
States; and there can be no such protection without a similar right to
examine and consider the condition of the several States: thus
subjecting them to the rightful supervision and superintendence of the
National Government.
Thus, whether we regard the large powers vested in Congress, the powers
denied to the States absolutely, the powers denied to the States without
the consent of Congress, or those other provisions which accord
supremacy to the United States, we shall find the pretension of State
sovereignty without foundation, except in the imagination of its
partisans. Before the Constitution such sovereignty may have existed; it
was declared in the Articles of Confederation; but since then it has
ceased to exist. It has disappeared and been lost in the supremacy of
the National Government, so that it can no longer be recognized.
Perverse men, insisting that it still existed, and weak men, mistaking
the shadow of former power for the reality, have made arrogant claims in
its behalf. When the Constitution was proclaimed, and George Washington
took his oath to support it as President, our career as a Nation began,
with all the unity of a nation. The States remained as living parts of
the body, important to the national strength, and essential to those
currents which maintain national life, but plainly subordinate to the
United States, which then and there stood forth a Nation, one and
indivisible.