de of the operations of each of its departments， of the powers which they respectively claim and exercise， of the collisions which have occurred between them or between the whole government and those of the states or either of them. we could then compare our actual condition after fifty years' trial of our system with what it was in the commencement of its operations and ascertain whether the predictions of the patriots who opposed its adoption or the confident hopes of its advocates have been best realized. the great dread of the former seems to have been that the reserved powers of the states would be absorbed by those of the federal government and a consolidated power established， leaving to the states the shadow only of that independent action for which they had so zealously contended and on the preservation of which they relied as the last hope of liberty. without denying that the result to which they looked with so much apprehension is in the way of being realized， it is obvious that they did not clearly see the mode of its accomplishment the general government has seized upon none of the reserved rights of the states. as far as any open warfare may have gone， the state authorities have amply maintained their rights. to a casual observer our system presents no appearance of discord between the different members which compose it. even the addition of many new ones has produced no jarring. they move in their respective orbits in perfect harmony with the central head and w
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