This conclusion is
fortified by the fact that the Constitution itself indicates a process
by which harbors and rivers within the States may be improved--a process
not susceptible of the abuses necessarily to flow from the assumption of
the power to improve them by the General Government, just in its
operation, and actually practiced upon, without complaint or
interruption, during more than thirty years from the organization of the
present Government.
The Constitution provides that "no State shall, without the consent of
Congress, lay any duty of tonnage." With the "consent" of Congress, such
duties may be levied, collected, and expended by the States. We are not
left in the dark as to the objects of this reservation of power to the
States. The subject was fully considered by the Convention that framed
the Constitution. It appears in Mr. Madison's report of the proceedings
of that body that one object of the reservation was that the States
should not be restrained from laying duties of tonnage for the purpose
of clearing harbors.
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