Under the Constitution Congress has
power "to declare war," "to raise and support armies," "to provide
and maintain a navy," and to call forth the militia to "repel
invasions." Thus endowed, in an ample manner, with the war-making
power, the corresponding duty is required that "the United States
shall protect each of them [the States] against invasion." Now,
how is it possible to afford this protection to California and our
Pacific possessions except by means of a military road through the
Territories of the United States, over which men and munitions of
war may be speedily transported from the Atlantic States to meet
and to repel the invader? In the event of a war with a naval power
much stronger than our own we should then have no other available
access to the Pacific Coast, because such a power would instantly
close the route across the isthmus of Central America. It is
impossible to conceive that whilst the Constitution has expressly
required Congress to defend all the States it should yet deny to
them, by any fair construction, the only possible means by which
one of these States can be defended. Besides, the Government, ever
since its origin, has been in the constant practice of
constructing military roads. It might also be wise to consider
whether the love for the Union which now animates our fellow-
citizens on the Pacific Coast may not be impaired by our neglect
or refusal to provide for them, in their remote and isolated
condition, the only means by which the power of the States on this
side of the Rocky Mountains can reach them in sufficient time to
"protect" them "against invasion.
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