ii, iii, ix, xii, and xxxi.
The second paragraph provides “that the supreme legislative power within this state shall be vested in two separate and distinct bodies of men, the one to be called the assembly, and the other to be called the senate of the state of New York, who together shall form the legislature.”
The ninth provides “that the assembly shall be the judge of their own members, and enjoy the same privileges, and proceed in doing business in like manner as the assembly of the colony of New York of right formerly did.”
The twelfth paragraph provides “that the senate shall, in like manner, be judges of their own members,” etc.
The 31st describes even the stile of laws—that the stile of all laws shall be as follows: “Be it enacted by the people of the state of New York represented in senate and assembly,” and that all writs and proceedings shall run in the name of the people of the state of New York, and tested in the name of the chancellor or the chief judge from whence they shall issue.
The third provides against laws that may be hastily and inadvertently passed, inconsistent with the spirit of the constitution and the public good, and that “the governor, the chancellor and judges of the supreme court, shall revise all bills about to be passed into laws, by the legislature.”
The powers vested in the legislature of this state by these paragraphs will be weakened, for the proposed new government declares that “all legislative powers therein granted shall be vested in a congress of the United States, which shall consist of a senate and a house of representatives,” and it further prescribes, 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, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding; and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this constitution.”
Those who are full of faith, suppose that the words in pursuance thereof are restrictive, but if they reflect a moment and take into consideration the comprehensive expressions of the instrument, they will find that their restrictive construction is unavailing, and this is evinced by 1st art., 8 sect., where this government has a power “to lay and collect all taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States,” and also “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers vested by this constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or office thereof.”
Art. 1st, sect. 7, provides a qualified negative, that is, that “every bill which shall be passed [by] the house of representatives and the senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the president of the United States.”
To conclude my observations on this head, it appears to me as impossible that these powers in the state constitution and those in the general government can exist and operate together, as it would be for a man to serve two masters whose interests clash, and secure the approbation of both. Can there at the same time and place be and operate two supreme legislatures, executives, and judicials? Will a “guarantee of a republican form of government to every state in the union” be of any avail, or secure the establishment and retention of state rights?