Between A Balanced Republic And

Seldom Has A Battle, In Which Greater Numbers Were Not Engaged, Been So Important In Its Consequences As That Of Cowpens.

In A Free Government Almost All Other Rights Would Become Worthless If The Government Possessed Power Over The Private Fortune Of Every Citizen.

Certainly All Those Who Have Framed Written Constitutions Contemplate Them As Forming The Fundamental And Paramount Law Of The Nation, And Consequently The Theory Of Every Such Government Must Be, That An Act Of The Legislature, Repugnant To The Constitution, Is Void.

The People Made The Constitution, And The People Can Unmake It. It Is The Creature Of Their Own Will, And Lives Only By Their Will.

Whether A Law Be Void For Its Repugnancy To The Constitution, Is, At All Times, A Question Of Much Delicacy, Which Out Seldom, If Ever, To Be Decided In The Affirmative, In Doubtful Case. ... But It Is Not On Slight Implication And Vague Conjecture That The Legislature Is To Be Pronounced To Have Transcended Its Powers, And Its Acts To Be Considered As Void. The Opposition Between The Constitution And The Law Should Be Such That The Judge Feels A Clear And Strong Conviction Of Their Incompatibility With Each Other.