Page:Works of John C. Calhoun, v1.djvu/142

 of the United States of America." All this is clear.

It remains now to show, by whom, it was ordained and established; for whom, it was ordained and established; for what, it was ordained and established; and over whom, it was ordained and established. These will be considered in the order in which they stand.

Nothing more is necessary, in order to show by whom it was ordained and established, than to ascertain who are meant by — "We, the people of the United States;" for, by their authority, it was done. To this there can be but one answer — it meant the people who ratified the instrument; for it was the act of ratification which ordained and established it. Who they were, admits of no doubt. The process preparatory to ratification, and the acts by which it was done, prove, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that it was ratified by the several States, through conventions of delegates, chosen in each State by the people thereof; and acting, each in the name and by the authority of its State: and, as all the States ratified it — "We, the people of the United States" — mean, — We, the people of the several States of the Union. The inference is irresistible. And when it is considered that the States of the Union were then members of the confederacy — and that, by the express provision of one of its articles, "each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence," the proof is demonstrative, that — "We, the people of the United States of America," mean the people of the several States of the Union,