obstacle lies rather in an implied limitation inherent in our dual
system of government and formulated in decisions of the Supreme Court.

The founders of this republic established a form of government wherein
the states, though subordinate to the Federal Government in all matters
within its jurisdiction, nevertheless remained distinct bodies politic,
each one supreme in its own sphere. In the famous phrase of Salmon P.
Chase, pronouncing judgment as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court[1]:

The Constitution in all its provisions looks to an
indestructible Union, composed of indestructible states.

[Footnote 1: _Texas v. White_, 7 Wall., 700, 725.]

In a later case[1] another eminent justice (Samuel Nelson of New York)
put the matter thus:

The General Government, and the states, although both exist
within the same territorial limits, are separate and distinct
sovereignties, acting separately and independently of each
other, within their respective spheres. The former, in its
appropriate sphere, is supreme; but the states within the
limits of their powers not granted, or, in the language of the
10th Amendment, "reserved", are as independent of the General
Government as that government within its sphere is independent
of the states.

[Footnote 1: _The Collector v. Day_, 11 Wall., 113, 124.]

It follows that the two governments, national and state, must each