faculty so keen and searching that cavilers That the Constitution created a nation in were silenced and answer was impossible; he fact as well as in name. brought a personal character as pure as the That all means, appropriate and adapted ermine he wore; and he brought the calm, for carrying into execution the powers ex clear vision of one of the first statesmen of pressly granted to the government, and the age. In solving these questions he lifted which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, the Federal judiciary into a position of re sponsibility and independence, and made it are Constitutional. what it was meant to be: the guardian of the That the Constitution and the laws made Constitution and the shield and defense of in pursuance thereof, are supreme within the personal liberty for the American people. . . territory of every State. The ultimate propositions which his great That enactments, whether of Congress or decisions, as a whole, sustain, may be thus the Legislature of a State, repugnant to that epitomized: That the United States is not Constitution, do not enjoy the sanction of a mere compact but a sovereign nation; that valid laws, and may be disregarded. within the scope of the powers dele That the Constitution, to use his own lan gated to it its government is supreme; that guage, contains what may be deemed a bill it was instituted directly by the people and of rights for the people of each State, serving acts directly upon and for the people; that as a shield for themselves and their property, States and State agencies are powerless to from the effects of those sudden and strong obstruct its operations, mar its integrity or passions to which men are exposed, and terminate its existence; that its Constitution, which sometimes find vent in the exercise and the laws and treaties in pursuance there of legislative power. That it is the duty and within the power of, are the supreme law of the land, and that in all cases of conflicting opinions as to the of the Supreme Court of the United States meaning of the Constitution the Supreme (a proper case being before it) to crush, with Court has the right and power to ultimately its annulling edict, any statute, State or Fed eral, in conflict with the national organic law. and authoritatively construe it.1 That the Supreme Court has been ordained Marshall was a public educator. It fell to by the fundamental law as the arbiter for him to demonstrate to the people of the the final determination of all questions aris United States, by its practical application, ing under it, and that its judgments are en the true meaning of the instrument by which titled, not only to respect, but willing obedi they had elected to be governed. In the ence; with the unvarying consequence, that face of sincere and determined efforts to ren in all the broad domain of the Republic, no der nugatory certain of its provisions, a authority, judicial or executive, Federal or weaker man would have wavered and perhaps State, recognizes or presumes to enforce any given way. His prophetic instinct clearly enactment, whether of Congress or of a State discerned that the continued existence oTthe Legislature, which has been declared by that nation depended upon the assertion and un court to be repugnant to the Constitution of yielding defence of the doctrine of its own the United States; and, if unrepealed, it re supremacy. And he resolved that never, with tain its place upon the statute book, its pres his aid or concurrence, should the powers ence there serves only as a warning of the conferred upon the government, be, by so fate which threatens all acts of legislation in much as one jot or one tittle, surrendered or disregard of the prohibitions or limitations disclaimed. He taught the American people of the supreme law of the land.1 certain important lessons, which were well With great wisdom, with great common learned, and have never been forgotten: 1 Honorable Isaac N. Phillips.
1 Honorable Sanford ]{. J.aild.
