The United States And the States Under the Constitution

though limited in its powers, is supreme within its sphere of action," and to the extent, and in the exercise, of the powers delegated to it, it is a sovereignty.9 The restraints upon the states. 6. The restraints imposed by the Constitution upon the states are either expressed or implied. The expressed restraints are those which are specifically stated in the Constitution. The implied restraints are those which result from the express grant by the Constitution of certain powers whose nature, or the terms of whose grant, require that they should be exclusively exercised by the United States.10 The expressed restraints are, first, those which affect the relations of the several states to other states, foreign and domestic; and, second, those which have reference to the relations between the states and their citizens, and which limit the exercise by the states of their powers of legislation. The expressed restraints of the first class include the prohibition of treaties, alliances, confederations, agreements, or compacts with another state or with a foreign power; the obligation not to issue letters of marque and reprisal, or to maintain troops or ships of war in times of peace, or Wheat . 316, 405. Alexander Hamilton's argument of 23d Fedruary, 1791, as to the constitutionality of a national bank. 3 Lodge's Hamilton's Works, 181; Juilliard v. Greenman, 110 U. S. 421; Logan v. U. S., 144 id. 263; In re Debs, 158 id. 564; Downes v. Bidwell, 182 id. 288. 10 ...