Even outside of the doctrine of implied powers by which our written
Constitution has been made to meet many of the emergencies of our
history, there are important things in our National life that have all
the force of organic law which are unprovided for by the Constitution.
For example, the Constitution does not say that a congressman must
live in the district which he represents. So far as constitutional
law is concerned, he might live anywhere. But no matter--our
institutional law settles that. The theory of local self-government
requires the representative of a locality to live in that locality.
Wherever our Constitution has been weak and insufficient in its
apparent expressed powers, the spirit of our institutions has given it
life. Read Marshall's opinions; read most of our great constitutional
decisions; read the whole history of American constitutional progress,
if you would know the beneficent influence of our institutions on our
Constitution.
Thus we see that our institutions are the preservers of our
Constitution. The doctrine of implied powers, which has saved the
country and the Constitution too, has been made possible only by
reading our Constitution by the light of our institutions, as Hamilton
and Marshall did.
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