"
Mr. Gouverneur Morris, one of the most pronounced advocates of a strong
central government, in the Convention, said: "He came here to form _a
compact_ for the good of Americans. He was ready to do so with all the
States. He hoped and believed they all would enter into such a
_compact_. If they would not, he would be ready to join with any States
that would. But, as the _compact_ was to be voluntary, it is in vain for
the Eastern States to insist on what the Southern States will never
agree to."[57]
Mr. Madison, while inclining to a strong government, said: "In the case
of a union of people under one Constitution, the nature of _the pact_
has always been understood," etc.[58]
Mr. Hamilton, in the "Federalist," repeatedly speaks of the new
government as a "_confederate republic_" and a "_confederacy_," and
calls the Constitution a "compact." (See especially Nos. IX. and LXXXV.)
General Washington--who was not only the first President under the new
Constitution, but who had presided over the Convention that drew it
up--in letters written soon after the adjournment of that body to
friends in various States, referred to the Constitution as a _compact_
or treaty, and repeatedly uses the terms "accede" and "accession," and
once the term "secession."
He asks what the opponents of the Constitution in Virginia would do, "if
nine other States should _accede_ to the Constitution."
Luther Martin, of Maryland, informs us that, in a committee of the
General Convention of 1787, protesting against the proposed violation of
the principles of the "perpetual union" already formed under the
Articles of Confederation, he made use of such language as this:
"Will you tell us we ought to trust you because you now enter
into a solemn _compact_ with us? This you have done before, and
now treat with the utmost contempt.
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