Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/372

 332 distinguished statesman, "the constitution itself in its very front refutes that. It declares, that it is ordained and established by the of the United States. So far from saying, that it is established by the governments of the several states, it does not even say, that it is established by the people of the several states. But it pronounces, that it is established by the people of the United States in the aggregate. Doubtless the people of the several states, taken collectively, constitute the people of the United States. But it is in this their collective capacity, it is as all the people of the United States, that they establish the constitution."