1. The United States government has always endeavored to continue, as it commenced, to rule with vigor, and to preserve[578] a wholesome respect for its own authority and the rights of all its citizens, while it has, beyond all other governments, probably, that have ever existed sought to avoid arbitrariness and severity; keeping in mind the principle lying at the foundation of its institutions that it exists, not for itself, but for the good of the people. It has assumed that the people generally would not require coercion to submit to its regulations, and has not, therefore, made that ample provision for punishment and intimidation that is usual among governments. In confirmation of this we call attention to the fact that the general government does not own, and has never built, prisons for the confinement of offenders against its laws. Imprisonment, as the mildest form of punishment, has, indeed, very often been inflicted, ............