ABSTRACT
The Fathers knew that the treaty power, because it could not be securely confined by any constitutional fence, was a likely source of trouble. Therefore individual states could, and did, disregard treaties and other international instruments that had been ratified by Congress. When such legal and political supremacy had been extended to treaties, they had been released, potentially at least, from constitutional control. The Court, in its infrequent dealings with treaty questions, seems to have shared this natural enough opinion. The treaties with which they were acquainted were of two general types. One of these was political, concerned with problems of war and peace, with alliances, indemnities, boundary settlements, and so on: with the preparation for, protection against, conduct and conclusion of, wars. The other type of treaty was economic, concerned with commerce and navigation, the privileges, rights and restrictions applicable to the international shipping and trade of the treaty nations.
