Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/382

 342 to this doctrine; and it has been, at different times, resisted by the legislatures of several of the states, in the most formal declarations.

§ 371. But if it were admitted, that the constitution is a compact, the conclusion, that there is no common arbiter, would neither be a necessary, nor natural conclusion from that fact standing alone. To decide upon the point, it would still behove us to examine the very terms of the constitution, and the delegation of powers under it. It would be perfectly competent even for confederated states to agree upon, and delegate authority to construe the compact to a common arbiter. The people of the United States had an unquestionable right to confide this power to the government of the United States, or to any department thereof, if they chose so