It Is Harder To Preserve

[the Taxing Power Of The State] Divides The Community Into Two Great Classes: One Consisting Of Those Who, In Reality, Pay The Taxes And, Of Course, Bear Exclusively The Burden Of Supporting The Government; And The Other, Of Those Who Are The Recipients Of Their Proceeds Through Disbursements,and Who Are, In Fact, Supported By The Government; Or, In Fewer Words, To Divide It Into Tax-payers And Tax-consumers. But The Effect Of This Is To Place Them In Antagonistic Relations In Reference To The Fiscal Action Of The Government And The Entire Course Of Policy Therewith Connected.

Stripped Of All Its Covering, The Naked Question Is, Whether Ours Is A Federal Or Consolidated Government; A Constitutional Or Absolute One; A Government Resting Solidly On The Basis Of The Sovereignty Of The States, Or On The Unrestrained Will Of A Majority; A Form Of Government, As In All Other Unlimited Ones, In Which Injustice, Violence, And Force Must Ultimately Prevail.

The Error Is In The Assumption That The General Government Is A Party To The Constitutional Compact. The States ... Formed The Compact, Acting As Sovereign And Independent Communities.

The Interval Between The Decay Of The Old And The Formation And Establishment Of The New Constitutes A Period Of Transition Which Must Always Necessarily Be One Of Uncertainty, Confusion, Error, And Wild And Fierce Fanaticism.

In Looking Back, I See Nothing To Regret, And Little To Correct.