Note 68 — Chapter I
Reading edition
The Legislature of Pennsylvania adopted a resolution, April 3, 1809, proposing an amendment to the National Constitution for the establishment of an "impartial tribunal" to decide upon controversies between States and the Nation. (State Documents on Federal Relations: Ames, 46-48.) In reply Virginia insisted that the Supreme Court, "selected from those ... who are most celebrated for virtue and legal learning," was the proper tribunal to decide such cases. (Ib. 49-50.) This Nationalist position Virginia reversed within a decade in protest against Marshall's Nationalist opinions. Virginia's Nationalist resolution of 1809 was read by Pinkney in his argument of Cohens vs. Virginia. (See infra, chap. vi.)