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Chief-Justice has been so partisan and nationalistic.

What is meant by "We, the people"?

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Originally it was intended that the preamble to the present Constitution should read: "We, the people of the States of New Hampshire [naming each of the thirteen States] do ordain and establish this Constitution." That was regarded as tautological by Gouverneur Morris and others, as the names of each State are recited in Article I. immediately following. So the phrase, "We, the people of the United States," or, inverted, the States United, for specific purposes, was adopted. The absence of Rhode Island was another reason for omitting the names of the States. She might never ratify. The overture to a great production of the master's is, however, of inconsiderable moment compared with the body of the artistic work which follows. The preamble may be dismissed with the observation, that a State is a corporation, a constitution its charter, and the people the corporators. "We, the people of the United States," means "We, the people of the several States."

What did David Brearly say?

The Chief-Justice of New Jersey, the eminent

David Brearly, one of the number who signed the Constitution, said in the convention: "If thirteen sovereign and independent States are to be formed into a nation, the States as States must be abolished, and the whole must be thrown into a hotchpot; and when an equal division is made, there may be fairly an equality of representation. New Jersey will never confederate on the plan before the Committee. I would rather submit to a despot than such a fate."

What did James Madison say?

In the "Federalist " Madison declares that the parties to the United States Constitution are the people, “not as individuals composing one entire nation, but as composing the distinct and independent States." In the Virginia debates on ratification, Mr. Madison said: "Who are parties? The people; but not the people comprising one great body, but the people as comprising thirteen sovereignties."

Who was James Madison?

The fourth President of the United States was born in King George County, Virginia, March 5 [old style], 1751, and died at Montpelier, Orange County, June 28, 1836, at eighty-five years. The writer remembers the profound respect which

was paid by the whole country to the memory of the statesman.

Mr. Madison was sent to Princeton, where he was educated under the care of Dr. Witherspoon, the President, who told Jefferson that his pupil had never to his knowledge said or done an indiscreet thing in his whole collegiate residence.

The young Virginian was a hard student, and injured his health by allowing himself but three hours of twenty-four to sleep. He literally lived among his books. He was a member of the first Constitutional Convention of Virginia, and also that of 1829. He served in the Congress of 1780, and in the legislature of his own State. In the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States he was invaluable, constant in attendance, engaging often in debate, devising, suggesting, and creating. Like Hamilton, he was in mind far in advance of his years. He was the author of twenty-nine papers in the "Federalist,' which assisted in the ratification of the Constitution, and of parts of the Bill of Rights.

Both Madison and Hamilton, by timely suggestions, assisted Washington in preparing the "Farewell Address." The last written advice of Madison was that "the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated."

What did Hamilton say?

He called the States, "societies of men;" the Union, an association of States.

What did John Marshall say?

The great Chief-Justice said, in McCullough vs. Maryland (4 Wharton, 403): "It is true that they [the people] assemble in their several States, and where else should they have assembled? No political dreamer was ever wild enough to think of breaking down the lines which separate the States, and of compounding the American people into one common mass." This was in 1819.

What was Story's idea?

In 1833 Justice Story wrote his "Commentaries. on the Constitution." He argued in favor of so compounding; and Daniel Webster, in his splendid reply to Hayne, invoked the flag of the United States as the canopy of a people consolidated or compacted into a nation. The legacy of Story and Webster helped to bring on the unfortunate and terrible war between the States.

Is it proper to use the names "America" and

66 'American citizens"?

It is not. History and geography repudiate "America." It is an invention of the consolida

tionists.

The Constitution calls our confederacy "The United States of America." Ours was the first United States of the Western Hemisphere, called North and South America. We are not American citizens, but citizens of the several States and of the United States. We are New Yorkers, Pennsylvanians, Marylanders, Virginians, North and South Carolinians, Georgians, etc., primarily.

Should the words "nation" and "national" be used when speaking of the United States?

By no means. The framers of the Constitution carefully avoided the words "nation" and national." They desired to avoid the vice of the British government.

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What distinguishes the United States from European nationalities?

The federative system. Judge J. Randolph Tucker of Virginia says that the United States are "democratic republican in government;" and, again, a "Federal government," that is, "one in whose organism States are factors, and through which States act with united powers as constituents."

What is a nation?

The word is an exotic. Its derivative, "national," is also foreign. Both have crept into our

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