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That no amendment shall take effect without the consent of eleven states.

That no person shall be compelled to do military duty without voluntary enlistment.

That no standing army be kept in time of peace.

These alterations were not adopted, except the one in relation to suits by individuals against a state, which is imbodied in the eleventh amendment to the Constitution.

§ 456. The Constitution, after its formation, was addressed to the President of Congress, and accompanied by a letter from General Washington, President of the Convention, from which the following extracts are taken.

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The letter shows, in a remarkable manner, in what light the Constitution was then viewed, and what were the objects of its formation. They were very different from the fanciful constructions which metaphysical politicians have since been disposed to put upon it.

§ 457. 'It is obviously impracticable in the federal government of these states, to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each, and yet provide for the interests and safety of all. Individuals entering into society must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must depend, as well on situation and circumstance as on the object to be obtained. It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the line between those rights which must be surrendered and those which may be reserved; and, on the present occasion, this difficulty was increased by a difference among the several states as to their situation, extent, habits, and particular interests.

In all our deliberations on this subject, we kept steadily in our view that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, the consolidation of the Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety,

1 Elliott's Debates, 249.

perhaps our national existence. This important consideration, seriously and deeply impressed upon our minds, led each state in the Convention to be less rigid on points of inferior magnitude than might have been otherwise expected; and thus, the Constitution, which we now present, is the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession, which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable.

§ 458. The spirit in which our Constituton was formed, and the great object to be obtained by it, were very different from the spirit and objects entertained by some modern politicians. Then the consolidation of our union was the great end, to which all other objects were pronounced, by Washington and his fellow-statesmen, of inferior magnitude. Now, consolidation, whether of the union, of law, or of government, is the great object of fear and danger to a class of men, who either think or assert themselves to be the purest of patriots!

§ 459. At the first session of the first Congress, the Senate and House of Representatives, two-thirds concurring, recommended to the states the adoption of twelve amendments to the Constitution, comprising chiefly those parts of the recommendations of the states which we have already noticed as having been adopted. Ten of these amendments were adopted' by threefourths of the legislatures of the states, and became a part of the Constitution. Subsequently, three other amendments were added.

§ 460. On the 10th of January, 1791, Vermont, the first of the new states, joined the union, and gave its assent to the Constitution. Since then the Constitution has been adopted, assented to, and ratified by ten new states, who have become integral parts of the great whole, and, as we shall hereafter see, indissolubly connected by the union. In this manner the Constitution was ratified, and received its binding force from the

14 Elliott's Debates, 227.

people in the several states, not from the state govern

ments.

§ 461. The language of the ratifications is remarkably uniform, and remarkably explicit, as to the source whence the Constitution receives its authority and force.

All the ratifications commence with, We, the delegates of the people thereof; and all terminate by making the ratifications in the name of their constituents, the people.

It is plain throughout, that some other binding force was thought necessary than mere state authorities. The people,—common constituents, it is true, of both state and national governments, were everywhere summoned, in their original and sovereign capacity, to give authority to that union and Constitution, which was not a compact among state governments, but among the people, who are equally sovereign over both national and state governments, and upon whom the Constitution acts directly and personally.

§ 462. Among the constructions given to the Constitution at the time, in the declarations of the states ratifying it, may be remarked the following fact, that Massachusetts explicitly declared, that the rights not expressly granted were reserved to the states, and Virginia, on the other hand, as explicitly held, that all powers of the Constitution were derived from the people of the United States, and those not granted were reserved to them. These states have now exactly reversed their positions, and exhibit a new evidence of the instability of human opinion. Indeed, to those who love truth more than argument, all the metaphysical subtilties of the profoundest philosopher would weigh little, in construing the Constitution, against such facts as the Letter of Washington, the ratifications of the states, the debates of the Convention, and the declared object of all the statesmen who participated in the acts and doings of that day.

CHAPTER IV.

THEORY OF THE STATE GOVERNMENTS.

§ 463. By article 4th, Section 4th, of the United States Constitution, the United States guaranties to every state in the Union a republican form of government. Most of the colonies had charters previous to the Revolution, especially the New-England States, which conceded to them all the rights of self-government; but after the Declaration of Independence, and at the close of the war, nearly all of them formed Constitutions for themselves. Rhode Island alone still continues under her ancient charter. The new states formed their Constitutions as they were admitted into the Union.

§ 464. These Constitutions are all formed upon the same principles with each other, and with the Constitution of the United States. They all observe the same division of the government into the three parts of Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. They all adopt the representative principle, and are all republican. Onehalf of them are accompanied with declarations of right, -a measure of superabundant caution; for, the evils which they are generally intended to operate against could not take place if the State Constitutions had no existence; as the Constitution of the United States effectually prohibits them.

§ 465. The order of time in which the State Constitutions were formed, is as follows, viz:

1. 'Rhode Island has no Constitution, but is governed by a charter from Charles II., which concedes to the governor and company all the powers executive, legis

1 American Constitutions.

lative, and judicial. The governor and legislature are chosen by the people, and they appoint the officers.

2. The first Constitution formed among the states was that of New-Jersey, which was ratified by the Provincial Congress, July 2d, 1776. As this was before the Declaration of Independence, it was provided that if a reconciliation took place with Great Britain, then that instrument was to be null and void.

3. The next Constitution was that of Maryland, which was formed on the 14th of August, 1776.

4. The Constitution of North Carolina was formed December 18th, 1776.

5. Massachusetts assumed her form of government March 2d, 1780.

6. The next was South Carolina, which adopted her Constitution on the 3d of June, 1790.

7. The next Pennsylvania, on the 2d of September, 1790.

8. The next New-Hampshire, in February, 1792. 9. Vermont, July 9th, 1793.

10. Tennessee, February 6th, 1796.
11. Georgia, May 30th, 1798.

12. Kentucky, 17th of August, 1799.
13. Ohio, November 1st, 1802.
14. Louisiana, January 28th, 1812.
15. Indiana, June 29th, 1816.

16. Mississippi, 15th of August, 1817.

17. Illinois, on the 26th of August, 1818.

18. Connecticut, on the 15th September, 1818. Connecticut had until this time lived, like Rhode Island, under the charter of Charles II.

19. Alabama, on the 2d of August, 1819.

20. Maine, which had previously constituted a part of Massachusetts, adopted her Constitution on October 29th, 1819.

21. Missouri, on the 19th of July, 1820.

22. New-York had a Constitution previously, but her

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