Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/422

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§ 397. In our future commentaries upon the constitution we shall treat it, then, as it is denominated in the instrument itself, as a constitution of government, ordained and established by the people of the United States for themselves and their posterity. They have declared it the supreme law of the land. They have made it a limited government. They have defined its authority. They have restrained it to the exercise of certain powers, and reserved all others to the states or to the people. It is a popular government. Those who administer it are responsible to the people. It is as popular, and just as much emanating from the people, as the state governments. It is created for one purpose ; the state governments for another. It may be altered, and amended, and abolished at the will of the people. In short, it was made by the people, made for the people, and is responsible to the people.