Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/295

 CH. I.] to a convention of delegates chosen in each state by the people thereof, under a recommendation of its legislature for their assent and ratification;" and that each convention, assenting to and ratifying the same, should give notice thereof to congress. The convention, by a further resolution, declared their opinion, that as soon as nine states had ratified the constitution, congress should fix a day, on which electors should be appointed by the states, which should have ratified the same, and a day, on which the electors should assemble and vote for the president, and the time and place of commencing proceedings under the constitution; and that after such publication, the electors should be appointed, and the senators and representatives elected. The same resolution contained further recommendations for the purpose of carrying the constitution into effect.

§ 276. The convention, at the same time, addressed a letter to congress, expounding their reasons for their acts, from which the following extract cannot but be interesting. "It is obviously impracticable (says the address) in the federal government of these states, to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each, and yet provide for the interest 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