The people, in whom alone sovereignty inheres, remained
just as they had been before. The only change was in the form,
structure, and relations of their governmental agencies.
No doubt, the States--the people of the States--if they had been so
disposed, might have merged themselves into one great consolidated
State, retaining their geographical boundaries merely as matters of
convenience. But such a merger must have been distinctly and formally
stated, not left to deduction or implication.
Men do not alienate even an estate, without positive and express terms
and stipulations. But in this case not only was there no express
transfer--no formal surrender--of the preexisting sovereignty, but it
was expressly provided that nothing should be _understood_ as even
_delegated_--that everything was reserved, unless granted in express
terms. The monstrous conception of the creation of a new people,
invested with the whole or a great part of the sovereignty which had
previously belonged to the people of each State, has not a syllable to
sustain it in the Constitution, but is built up entirely upon the
palpable misconstruction of a single expression in the preamble.
In denying that there is any such collective unit as the people of the
United States in the aggregate, of course I am not to be understood as
denying that there is such a political organization as the United
States, or that there exists, with large and distinct powers, a
_Government_ of the United States; but it is claimed that the Union, as
its name implies, is constituted of States.
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