" If
there had been no union, it could not and would not have spoken
of providing for a more perfect union, but would have stated its
purpose to be to create or form a union. The convention did not
form the Union, nor in fact provide for a more perfect union; it
simply provided for the more perfect representation or expression
in the General government of the Union already existing. The
convention, in common with the statesmen at the time, recognized
no unwritten or Providential constitution of a people, and
regarded the constitution of government as the constitution of
the state, and consequently sometimes put the state for the
government. In intepreting its language, it is necessary to
distinguish between its act and its theory. Its act is law, its
theory is not. The convention met, among other things, to
organize a government which should more perfectly represent the
union of the States than did the government created by the
Articles of Confederation.
The convention, certainly, professes to grant or concede powers
to the United States, and to prohibit powers to the States; but
it simply puts the state for the government. The powers of the
United States are, indeed, grants or trusts, but from God through
the law of nature, and are grants, trusts, or powers always
conceded to every nation or sovereign people. But none of them
are grants from the convention.
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