Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/346

 306 ; or if these should fail, by the ultimate appeal to the good sense, and integrity, and justice of the majority of the people. And this, according to Mr. Locke, is the true sense of the original compact, by which every individual has surrendered to the majority of the society the right permanently to control, and direct the operations of government therein.

§ 338. The true view to be taken of our state constitutions is, that they are forms of government, ordained and established by the people in their original sovereign capacity to promote their own happiness, and permanently to secure their rights, property, independence, and common welfare. The language of nearly all these state constitutions is, that the people do ordain and establish this constitution; and where these terms are not expressly used, they are necessarily implied in the very substance of the frame of government. They may be deemed compacts, (though not generally declared so on their face,) in the sense of their being founded on the voluntary consent or agreement of a majority of the qualified voters of the state. But they are not treated as contracts and conventions between independent individuals and communities, having no common umpire. The language of these instruments is not the usual or appropriate language for mere matters resting, and forever to rest in