Political Science Of The State

CONFEDERATIONS. 1/3
Yet in such a union, in a bundesstaat—that is, a state formed
out of states, there is not one sovereignty more, but there are
many sovereignties less, and the supremacy is lodged in the
federal union. This is what the instrument of our union means
when it declares that " this constitution and the laws of the
United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and
all treaties made or which shall be made under the "authority
of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land,
and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby; any-
thing in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary
notwithstanding." If a law is thought to be against the con-
stitution, it can be brought before the supreme federal judges
and examined in that respect. If found by them to have
justly emanated from the federal legislature, no state or state
law or state power can affect its validity ; and resistance to its
taking effect within a state would call for armed force in the
last extremity, and subject parties in armed resistance to the
penalties of treason.
The question is a fit one to be asked : What are the condi^
tions under which states forming federal unions can expect to
be not unsuccessful ? It may be answered in general that they
must have those qualities or be in those circumstances where
they can have a common feeling. First, then, a common
language seems necessary. Countries united under one sover-
eign, with no separate state organization, can hardly be made
one so long as they have dialects quite diverse. It was a
serious obstacle in the way of union, when the legislature of
the kingdom of the Netherlands, founded in 1814, had three
different languages spoken in its halls—Dutch, Flemish, and
French. This foreshadowed the disruption in 1830, as it in-
tensified every prejudice and difficulty. A common law is also
essential for a complete union—that is, a law so far common that
all the principles of justice are equally recognized by all, and
that all the inhabitants may feel that they can never go where
what they regard their liberties may be likely to be invaded.
A common religion is not so essential, and yet if the sections
of the country differ in this respect so far that a faith pre-'