inconveniences of our system as it left the hands of the framers.
Witness the embarrassment toward Italy growing out of lack of federal
jurisdiction in respect of the New Orleans riots, and the ever-present
danger to our relations with Japan from acts of the sovereign State of
California which the Federal Government is powerless to control. Among
developments from within was the Civil War, with its triumph for the
idea of national supremacy and an indissoluble union. Another, which has
hardly received the attention it deserves, has been the influence of the
large element of our population composed of immigrants since the
Revolution and their descendants. The state sovereignty doctrine was not
a mere political dogma but had its roots in history. It was an
expression of the pride of the inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies in
their respective commonwealths. To them it stood for patriotism and
traditions. These feelings the later immigrant neither shared nor
understood. When he gave up his Old World allegiance and emigrated he
came to America, not to New York or Massachusetts. To him the nation was
everything, the state merely an administrative subdivision of the
nation.

Another cause has been the desire to obtain aid in local matters from
the national treasury. This has proved an exceedingly potent and
insidious influence, leading state officials to surrender voluntarily
state prerogatives in exchange for appropriations of federal money.
Notable examples of this influence may be found in the field of river
and harbor improvements, the creation of various new bureaus in the
Department of Commerce, the enormous extension of the activities of the
Agricultural Department and the Bureau of Education. The temptation in
this direction is particularly strong among the less prosperous states,
for it means the expenditure in those states of federal moneys raised
chiefly from the taxpayers in wealthier states.