to do so. That authority was in the Government of the States,
respectively, and not in their people in the popular
signification, but through their people in the political meaning
of the term, and what was then done must be regarded as acts
connected with the composition and nature of governments, and of
no minor or different interests of human affairs.

It being admitted, that the power which formed the government,
was legitimate, we obtain one of the purest compacts for the
organization of human society that probably ever existed. The
ancient allegiance, under which the Colonies had grown up to
importance, had been extinguished by solemn treaty, and the
States met in Convention, sustained by all the law they had and
backed in every instance by institutions that were more or less
popular. The history of the world cannot, probably, furnish
another instance of the settlement of the fundamental compact of
a great nation under circumstances of so much obvious justice.
This gives unusual solemnity and authority to the Constitution of
1787, and invests it with additional claims to our admiration and
respect.

The authority which formed the Constitution admitted, we come
next to the examination of its acts. It is apparent from the
debates and proceedings of the Convention, that two opinions
existed in that body; the one leaning strongly toward the
concentration of power in the hands of the Federal Government,
and the other desirous of leaving as much as possible with the
respective States. The principle that the powers which are not
directly conceded to the Union should remain in first hands,
would seem never to have been denied; and some years after the