CHAPTER VII. LEGISLATIVE OMNIPOTENCE

The American people, when they wrote their first state
constitutions, were filled with a profound distrust of executive
authority, the offspring of their experience with the arbitrary
King George. So they saw to it that the executive authority in
their own government was reduced to its lowest terms, and that
the legislative authority, which was presumed to represent the
people, was exalted to legal omnipotence. In the original States,
the legislature appointed many of the judicial and administrative
officers; it was above the executive veto; it had political
supremacy; it determined the form of local governments and
divided the State into election precincts; it appointed the
delegates to the Continental Congress, towards which it displayed
the attitude of a sovereign. It was altogether the most important
arm of the state government; in fact it virtually was the state
government. The Federal Constitution created a government of
specified powers, reserving to the States all authority not
expressly given to the central government. Congress can legislate
only on subjects permitted by the Constitution; on the other
hand, a state legislature can legislate on any subject not
expressly forbidden. The state legislature possesses authority
over a far wider range of subjects than Congress--subjects,
moreover, which press much nearer to the daily activities of the
citizens, such as the wide realm of private law, personal
relations, local government, and property.