Its safeguards are, that both the State legislatures and
Congress have to concur in the act of raising the funds; that they are
in every instance to be levied upon the commerce of those ports which
are to profit by the proposed improvement; that no question of
conflicting power or jurisdiction is involved; that the expenditure,
being in the hands of those who are to pay the money and be immediately
benefited, will be more carefully managed and more productive of good
than if the funds were drawn from the National Treasury and disbursed by
the officers of the General Government; that such a system will carry
with it no enlargement of Federal power and patronage, and leave the
States to be the sole judges of their own wants and interests, with only
a conservative negative in Congress upon any abuse of the power which
the States may attempt.
Under this wise system the improvement of harbors and rivers was
commenced, or rather continued, from the organization of the Government
under the present Constitution. Many acts were passed by the several
States levying duties of tonnage, and many were passed by Congress
giving their consent to those acts.
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