14. Do you think the bureau of education should be raised to the rank of a department?
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CHAPTER XVIII
THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY
Establishment of the federal Judiciary.—The Articles of Confederation, as we have seen, made no provision for a national judiciary. Hamilton declared this to be the crowning defect of the old government, for laws, he very properly added, are a dead letter without courts to expound their true meaning and define their operations. During the period of the Confederation, the national government was dependent for the most part, as has been said, on the states for the enforcement of its will. Thus if some one counterfeited the national currency, robbed the mails, or assaulted a foreign ambassador, there was no national court to take jurisdiction of the case and punish the offender. The only way by which he could be brought to justice and the authority of the national government upheld was through the kindly assistance of some state court, and this assistance was not always cheerfully lent nor was it always effective when tendered. Congress to be sure acted as a court for the settlement of disputes between the states themselves, but a legislative assembly is never well fitted for exercising judicial functions. In the absence of a national judiciary it proved impossible to enforce solemn treaty stipulations to which the United States was a party, a fact which led Great Britain to refuse to carry out certain of her treaty engagements with the United States.