But the greatest difference of all was to be found in the Supreme Court of the United States provided in the Constitution. The new Congress would have very large powers of making laws. But the words defining these powers were very hard to understand. It was the duty of the Supreme Court to say what these words meant. Now the judges of the Supreme Court are very independent. It is almost impossible to remove a judge of this court, and the Constitution provides that his salary cannot be reduced while he holds office. It fell out that under the lead of Chief Justice John Marshall the Supreme Court defined the doubtful words in the Constitution so as to give the greatest amount of power to the Congress of the United States. As the laws of the United States are the supreme laws of the land, it will be seen how important this action of the Supreme Court has been.

The great strength of the Constitution alarmed many people. Patrick Henry declared that the government under the new Constitution would be a national government and not a federal government at all. Other persons objected to the Constitution because it took the control of affairs out of the hands of the people. For example, the Senators were to be chosen by the state legislatures, and the President was to be elected in a round-about way by presidential electors. Others objected to the Constitution because there was no Bill of Rights attached to it. They pointed out, for instance, that there was nothing in the Constitution to prevent Congress from passing laws to destroy the freedom of the press. Finally a great many people objected to the Constitution because there was no provision in it reserving to the states or to the people those powers that were not expressly given to the new government.