A GENERAL VIEW

OF THE

ORIGIN AND NATURE

OF THE

Constitution and Government of the United States,

DEDUCED FROM THE

POLITICAL HISTORY AND CONDITION

OF THE

COLONIES AND STATES, FROM 1774 UNTIL 1788.

AND

The Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.

TOGETHER WITH

Opinions in the Cases decided at January Term, 1837,

ARISING ON THE

Restraints on the Powers of the States.

BY HENRY BALDWIN,
One of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.

INDEX

To

THE PRINCIPAL MATTERS.

Adjudications in the courts in England since the revolution, their weight and effect,

3, 46.
Alliance between the states; nature and effect thereof, 59, 79, 186.

Treaty of, with France; its nature and effect, 80, 86.
Allies in a war, rule as to acquisitions made by, 87.
Articles of confederation, nature and defects of, 11, 61, 66, 79, 105.
Bank notes and bank bills, distinction between, 119, 121.
Bills of credit, what are and what not, 114, 119, 122, 127.
Boundaries between provinces, how settled, 177.

between states; agreements and compacts relating thereto, by the constitu

tion, 170, 173, 174, 178. Cessions of power and territory by states, 83. Charters, violation of, a grievance of the colonies, 5, 139.

protected by the constitution, 138, 140.

to the colonies and proprietaries, 49. Colonies, their connection with England, and political condition, till the declaration

of independence, 26, 49, 61, 63, 70, 72. Colonial governments, their nature and powers, 26, 50, 68, 141. Commerce, extent of the power to regulate, 69, 181, 184, 185. .

its limitations, 182, 187. Common law, the law of the colonies and states, 3.

its rules in construing laws, grants, &c. 8. Congress, how composed under the constitution, 32.

powers of, within the states, 83, 95, 98, 183.
powers of, within the territories, dock yards, &c. 85, 87, 98.
proceedings of, before July 4, 1776, 4, 26, 59, 68.
proceedings of, from 1776 till 1787, 77.

consent of, to state laws, 172, 174. Constitution of the United States, its nature and obligation, 11, 23, 29, 44, 66, 83,

101, 104, 137, 140.
how adopted, and by what people, 12, 17, 19, 24, 29, 32.
rules for its construction, 3, 7, 9, 20, 43, 47, 99, 102, 104, 118, 129, 185.
construction of particular parts thereof, 129, 185, 190.
different constructions thereof, 2, 36, 100, 126.
its practical effect and operation, 20.
'amendments thereto, 13, 18, 24, 45.

exceptions, prohibitions, and reservations, 44, 64. Constitutions of states, how formed, 18, 25, 29, 31, 32, 70, 75, 81. Constitution of England, 4, 7,51.

compared with those of the United States, 53, 54. Contracts, obligation of, inviolable by state law, 48, 128, 137, 140.

what impairs and what not, 129, 131, 141, 176.