Indeed, in
treaties, the usual formula includes a declaration of their
_perpetuity_; but in either case the power of the contracting parties,
or of any of them, to dissolve the compact, on terms not damaging to the
rights of the other parties, is not the less clearly understood. It was
not necessary in the Constitution to affirm the right of secession,
because it was an attribute of sovereignty, and the States had reserved
all which they had not delegated.
The right of the people of the several States to resume the powers
delegated by them to the common agency, was not left without positive
and ample assertion, even at a period when it had never been denied. The
ratification of the Constitution by Virginia has already been quoted, in
which the people of that State, through their Convention, did expressly
"declare and make known that the powers granted under the Constitution,
being derived from the people of the United States, _may be resumed by
them_, whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or
oppression, and that every power not granted thereby remains with them
and at their will."[92]
New York and Rhode Island were no less explicit, both declaring that
"the powers of government _may be reassumed by the people_ whenever it
shall become necessary to their happiness."[93]
These expressions are not mere _obiter dicta_, thrown out incidentally,
and entitled only to be regarded as an expression of opinion by their
authors.
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