" The circumstances under which the Union of the Constitution
was formed justified the hope of its perpetuity, but the brief existence
of the Confederation may have been a warning against the renewal of the
assertion that the compact should be perpetual.
A remedy for the embarrassment which had been realized, under the
Articles of Confederation, in obtaining amendments to correct any
defects in grants of power, so as to render them effective for the
purpose for which they were given, was provided by its fifth article. It
is here to be specially noted that new grants of power, as asked for by
the Convention, were under the Articles of Confederation only to be
obtained from the unanimous assent of the States. Therefore it followed
that two of the States which did not ratify the Constitution were, so
long as they retained that attitude, free from its obligations. Thus it
is seen that the same principle in regard to obtaining grants of
additional power for the Federal Government formed the rule for the
Union as it had done for the Confederation; that is, that the consent of
each and every State was a prerequisite. The apprehension which justly
existed that several of the States might reject the Constitution, and
under the rule of unanimity defeat it, led to the seventh article of the
Constitution, which, provided that the ratification by the conventions
of nine States should be sufficient for the establishment of the
Constitution between the States ratifying it, which of course
contemplated leaving the others, more or less in number, separate and
distinct from the nine States forming a new government.
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