directly; (4) Territory controlled by a special type of territorial government; and (5) Territory which is subject to special Congressional legislation from time to time, having no settled or fixed outlined policy with reference to its future position, as in the case of the Philippine Islands.

It cannot be questioned that our Constitution did not contemplate such a condition. If we accept the judicial attitude on the subject, we must regard much of this territory as occupying a transitory position with reference to the United States; for clearly we must, in order to be consistent with our organic law, look forward to granting to these dependencies the same degree of self-government as that enjoyed by our organized territory, or else we must bestow upon them complete independence. In no other way can we uphold the fundamental doctrine "that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed."

We can agree with Gladstone when he said that "The paramount question of the American future is a vision of territory, population, power, passing beyond all experience. The momentous exhibition to mankind for the first time in history of free institutions on a gigantic scale."

De Tocqueville saw in this same vision the undoing of the American Republic.

"The history of the world affords no instance of a great nation retaining the form of republican

government for a long series of years, and this has led to the conclusion that such a state of things is impracticable. For my own part, I cannot but censure the imprudence of attempting to limit the possible and to judge the future on the part of a being who is hourly deceived by the most palpable realities of life, and who is constantly taken by surprise in the circumstances with which he is familiar. But it may be advanced with confidence that the existence of a great republic will always be exposed to far greater perils than that of a small one.

"All the passions which are most fatal to republican institutions spread with an increase of territory, whilst the virtues which maintain their dignity do not augment in the same proportion."

After calling attention to a number of dangers that threaten an expanding empire, De Tocqueville says: "It may therefore be asserted as a general proposition that nothing is more opposed to the well-being and the freedom of man than vast empires." These words were never so appropriate and pointed as now. Well may the American people heed them in their search for legal authority when their most vital need is security for personal freedom.

1 Democracy in America, p. 159 et seq.

CHAPTER V

THE THEORY OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS

THE

HE problem of internal improvements was an important one that, by the logic of circumstances, had to arise in the course of the development of the United States. The rapid development of the country at the beginning of the nineteenth century naturally attracted attention to the advisability of resorting to state and Federal support for such purposes. The national debt resulting mainly from the Revolutionary War kept this question in the background for a few years after the establishment of the Federal Government, but by the beginning of Jefferson's administration it was seen that the increasing revenues would enable the authorities to meet all outstanding obligations as they came due, and by December, 1806, there was a substantial surplus in the national treasury. This immediately created the problem of the wise expenditure of our rapidly increasing national surplus.

When Congress convened in December, 1806, Jefferson sent a message1 to Congress, recommend

Annals of Congress, December, 1806; President's message.

ing a policy that was both natural and appropriate to such a state of affairs. He recommended that Congress keep up the Federal impost, and that the accruing surpluses thereafter be used for the general welfare, which should include Federal aid to education, the construction of new roads and canals, and the improvement of river navigation on interior rivers and streams. Jefferson saw in his scheme of internal improvement great possibilities for the future good of the country.

"I experience [he said] great satisfaction at seeing my country proceed to facilitate the inter-communication of its several parts, by opening rivers, canals, and roads. How much more rational is this disposal of public money than that of waging

war.

"I would propose a constitutional amendment for authority to apply the surplus taxes to objects of internal improvement.

"The fondest wish of my heart ever was that the surplus portion of these taxes, destined for the payment of the Revolutionary debt, should, when that object was accomplished, be continued by annual or biennial reënactment and applied, in times of peace, to the improvement of our country by canals, roads, and useful institutions, literary or others."

In the furtherance of this scheme Gallatin, Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasury, began to draw up the specifications of the plan, and on Curtis's The True Thomas Jefferson, p. 297.

2

2 For the complete details of this plan see Adams's Gallatin, p. 351.

April 12, 1808, he sent to the Senate his elaborate proposal, which provided for canals, turnpike roads connecting the East with the West, and the improvement of the waterways in every section of the country. The scheme included a national university, and had it been carried out, it would have consumed all the surplus revenues for a decade or more.

The President believed firmly that an amendment to the Constitution would be necessary to carry out this undertaking, for no such specific power had been delegated to the Congress by the people in the Constitution, and the general grant "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing [those specified in section 8] powers" could not relate to any new grants because such powers were not expressed in set terms. This was the conclusion reached by Jefferson on the subject, but Congress, encouraged by the flattering financial condition of the national treasury, and without seriously considering the constitutional objections, proceeded to create the Coast Survey, and made an appropriation for the Cumberland Road to extend from the Potomac to the Ohio River, and which was later to become a national highway penetrating the West across the Alleghany Mountains.

One of the early champions of this legislation by Congress was Henry Clay, of Kentucky, who had just entered the United States Senate to fill