(1) Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a FEDERAL, and not a NATIONAL constitution. - James Madison, Federalist No. 39, 1788
(2) The true test is, whether the object be of a local character, and local use; or, whether it be of general benefit to the states. If it be purely local, congress cannot constitutionally appropriate money for the object. But, if the benefit be general, it matters not, whether in point of locality it be in one state, or several; whether it be of large, or of small extent. - Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833
Madison makes a salient point in #1 above; each state, while subordinate to the federal government (the Little G to the Big G) is still a sovereign body with its own powers and duties under the Constitution.
If John Marshall shaped the Supreme Court during the earliest years of America, then Joseph Story shaped its through the 1840's. As a constitutional scholar and legal jurist, Story ironically is a tie between the early years and the immediate pre-Civil War era in that he was on SCOTUS with both John Marshall - one of the great Chief Justices in American jurisprudence...and Roger Taney, one of the worst in American jurisprudence.
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