but it is only the more immense. It does not directly
coerce the subject, but it renders the majority more
absolute over those in power; it does not confer an
unbounded authority on the legislator which can be
exerted at some momentous crisis, but it establishes
a temperate and regular influence, which is at all
times available. If the power is decreased, it
can, on the other hand, be more conveniently employed
and more easily abused. By preventing political
tribunals from inflicting judicial punishments the
Americans seem to have eluded the worst consequences
of legislative tyranny, rather than tyranny itself;
and I am not sure that political jurisdiction, as
it is constituted in the United States, is not the
most formidable weapon which has ever been placed
in the rude grasp of a popular majority. When
the American republics begin to degenerate it will
be easy to verify the truth of this observation, by
remarking whether the number of political impeachments
augments.*d
[Footnote b: Chap. I. sect. ii. Section
8.]
[Footnote c: See the constitutions of Illinois,
Maine, Connecticut, and Georgia.]
[Footnote d: See Appendix, N.
[The impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868—which
was resorted to by his political opponents solely
as a means of turning him out of office, for it could
not be contended that he had been guilty of high crimes
and misdemeanors, and he was in fact honorably acquitted
and reinstated in office—is a striking
confirmation of the truth of this remark.—Translator’s
Note, 1874.]]
I have hitherto considered each State as a separate
whole, and I have explained the different springs
which the people sets in motion, and the different
means of action which it employs. But all the
States which I have considered as independent are
forced to submit, in certain cases, to the supreme
authority of the Union. The time is now come for
me to examine separately the supremacy with which
the Union has been invested, and to cast a rapid glance
over the Federal Constitution.
Chapter Summary
Origin of the first Union—Its weakness—Congress
appeals to the constituent authority—Interval
of two years between this appeal and the promulgation
of the new Constitution.
History Of The Federal Constitution
The thirteen colonies which simultaneously threw off
the yoke of England towards the end of the last century
professed, as I have already observed, the same religion,
the same language, the same customs, and almost the
same laws; they were struggling against a common enemy;
and these reasons were sufficiently strong to unite
them one to another, and to consolidate them into
one nation. But as each of them had enjoyed a
separate existence and a government within its own
control, the peculiar interests and customs which
resulted from this system were opposed to a compact
