only on the states], I cannot accept that view.

 In Martin v. Hunter, 1 Wheat. 304, 324, 326,
331, 4 L. ed. 97, 102, 104, this court speaking by
Mr. Justice Story, said that "the Constitution of the
United States was ordained and established, not by
the states in their sovereign capacities but
emphatically, as the preamble of the Constitution
declares, by 'the People of the United States.'"

 In McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316, 403-
406, 4 L. ed. 579, 600, 601, Chief Justice Marshall,
speaking for this court, said: "The government
proceeds directly from the people; is 'ordained and
established' in the name of the people; and is
declared to be ordained 'in order to form a more
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to
themselves and to their posterity.' The assent of
the states, in their sovereign capacity, is implied in
calling a convention, and thus submitting that
instrument to the people. But the people were at
perfect liberty to accept or reject it; and their act was
final. It required not the affirmance, and could not
be negatived, by the state governments. The
Constitution, when thus adopted, was of complete
obligation, and bound the state sovereignties. ...
The government of the union, then (whatever may
be the influence of this fact on the case) is
emphatically and truly a government of the people.
In form and in substance it emanates from them. Its
powers are granted by them, and are to be
exercised directly on them and for their benefit.
This government is acknowledged by all to be one
of enumerated powers. ... It is the government of
all; its powers are delegated by all; it represents all,
and acts for all."

 Although the states are constituent parts of the
 United States, the government rests upon the
 authority of the people of the United States, and
 not on that of the states. Chief Justice Marshall,
 delivering the unanimous judgment of this court in
 Cohenv. Virginia, 6 Wheat. 264, 413, 5 L. ed. 257,
 293, said: 'That the United States form, for many
 and for most important purposes, a single nation,
 has not yet been denied. In war, we are one
 people. In making peace, we are one people ... In
 many other respects, the American people are one;
 and the government which is alone capable of
 controlling and managing their interests .. is the
 government of the Union. It is their government,
 and in that character they have no other. America
 has chosen to be, in many respects and to many


purposes, a nation; and for all these purposes her
government is complete; to all these objects it is
competent. The people have declared that in the
exercise of all powers given for those objects it is
supreme. It can, then, in effecting these objects,
legitimately control all individuals or governments
within the American territory."

 In reference to the doctrine that the
Constitution was established by and for the states
as distinct political organizations, Mr. Webster said:
'The Constitution itself in its very front refutes that.
It declares that it is ordained and established by the
People of the United States. So far from saying that
it is established by the governments of the several
states, it does not even say that it is established by
the people of the several states. But it pronounces
that it was established by the people of the United
States in the aggregate. Doubtless, the people of
the several states, taken collectively, constitute the
people of the United States. But it is in this their
collective capacity, it is as all the people of the
United States, that they established the
Constitution."

 In view of the adjudications of this court I
cannot assent to the proposition, whether it be
announced in express words or by implication, that
the national government is a government of or by
the states in union, and that the prohibitions and
limitations of the Constitution are addressed only to
the states. That is but another form of saying that,
like the government created by the Articles of
Confederation, the present government is a mere
league of states, held together by compact
between themselves; whereas, as this court has
often declared, it is a government created by the
People of the United States, with enumerated
powers, and supreme over states and individuals
with respect to certain objects, throughout the
entire territory over which its jurisdiction extends. If
the national government is in any sense a compact,
it is a compact between the People of the United
States among themselves as constituting in the
aggregate the political community by whom the
national government was established. The
Constitution speaks, not simply to the states in their
organized capacities, but to all peoples, whether of
states or territories, who are subject to the authority
of the United States. Martin v. Hunter, 1 Wheat.
327, 4 L. ed. 103.

 In the opinion to which I am referring it is also
 said that the "practical interpretation put by