"
The advocates of this mischievous dogma assume the existence of an
unauthorized, undefined power of a "whole people," or "people of the
whole land," operating through the agency of the Philadelphia
Convention, to impose its decrees upon the States. They forget, in the
first place, that this Convention was composed of delegates, not of any
one people, but of distinct States; and, in the second place, that their
action had no force or validity whatever--in the words of Mr. Madison,
that it was of no more consequence than the paper on which it was
written--until approved and ratified by a sufficient number of States.
The meaning of the preamble, "We, the people of the United States ... do
ordain and establish this Constitution," is ascertained, fixed, and
defined by the final article: "The ratification of the conventions of
_nine States_ shall be sufficient for the _establishment_ of this
Constitution between _the States so ratifying_ the same." If it was
already established, what need was there of further establishment? It
was not ordained or established at all, until ratified by the requisite
number of States. The announcement in the preamble of course had
reference to that expected ratification, without which the preamble
would have been as void as the body of the instrument. The assertion
that "it was not ratified by the States" is so plainly and positively
contrary, to well-known fact--so inconsistent with the language of the
Constitution itself--that it is hard to imagine what was intended by it,
unless it was to take advantage of the presumed ignorance of the subject
among the readers of an English journal, to impose upon them, a
preposterous fiction.
Pages:
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231