It shows also the desirability of having all such cases under their jurisdiction rather than under the authority of the State courts.  Associate Justice Brewer wrote, with reference to the influence of the decisions of the Supreme Court on the history of the country:[56] “Its decisions have always been in harmony with and sustaining the proposition that this republic is a nation acting directly upon all its citizens, with the attributes and authority of a nation, and not a mere league or confederacy of States.  The importance of this cannot be overestimated, and will be appreciated by all who compare the weakness of the old confederacy with the strength and vigor of the republic under the present Constitution.”

[Footnote 56:  “The Supreme Court of the United States,” Scribner’s Mag., 33:275,276.]

Suit against a State by a Citizen of Another State.—­In the notable case of Chisholm vs.  Georgia in 1793, Chisholm, a citizen of North Carolina, began action against the State of Georgia in the Supreme Court of the United States.  That court interpreted the clause as applying to cases in which a State is defendant, as well as to those in which it is plaintiff.  The decision was received with disfavor by the States, and Congress proposed the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1798 and is as follows:—­

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States, by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.

Original and Appellate Jurisdiction.—­Clause 2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction.  In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.

The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in “all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party.”  Original jurisdiction means that these cases may be begun in the Supreme Court.  Other cases are brought to the Supreme Court from the inferior United States courts or from the supreme courts of the States and Territories by appeal.  In such cases the Supreme Court is said to have appellate jurisdiction.

Jurisdiction of the Inferior Courts.—­It is difficult in brief space to define minutely the province of each court The following accounts, therefore, give only a general description:—­