Page:A View of the Constitution.djvu/15



a constitution we mean the principles on which a government is formed and conducted.

On the voluntary association of men in sufficient numbers to form a political community, the first step to be taken for their own security and happiness, is to agree on the terms on which they are to be united and to act. They form a constitution, or plan of government suited to their character, their exigencies, and their future prospects. They agree that it shall be the supreme rule of obligation among them.

This is the pure and genuine source of a constitution in the republican form. In other governments the origin of constitutions is not always the same.

A successful conqueror establishes such a form of government as he thinks proper. If he deigns to give it the name of a constitution, the people are instructed to consider it as a donation from him; but the danger to his power, generally