Manifest it is that to
any extent to which the General Government can sustain and execute its
functions with complete effect will the States--that is, the people who
compose them--be benefited. It is only when the expansion shall be
carried beyond the faculties of the General Government so as to enfeeble
its operations to the injury of the whole that any of the parts can be
injured. The tendency in that stage will be to dismemberment and not to
consolidation. This danger should, therefore, be looked at with profound
attention as one of a very serious character. I will remark here that
as the operations of the National Government are of a general nature,
the States having complete power for internal and local purposes, the
expansion may be carried to very great extent and with perfect safety.
It must be obvious to all that the further the expansion is carried,
provided it be not beyond the just limit, the greater will be the
freedom of action to both Governments and the more perfect their
security, and in all other respects the better the effect will be to
the whole American people.
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