ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the acts of political sovereignty in financial legislation. If political power be thus an emanation of economic revenue, the natural tendency of acts of sovereignty must be to facilitate the development of capitalistic income and favour its holders in every possible way. Thus the constitution of Servius, though it established political sovereignty fairly upon the basis of property, nevertheless provided that belli pacisque munia, non viritim ut antea, sedpro habiti pecuniarum fierent. In short, with the exception of the influences already mentioned of the bipartition of the revenues, all the efforts of political authority converge toward one supreme end: to guarantee and augment the income from capital. Thus the economic and political triumph of the bourgeoisie coincides with the systematic and general introduction of the system of indirect taxation. The annexation would have virtually ruined the planters of Louisiana, and acted prejudicially to the Union from every point of view save that of political power.
