The convention is not the government
like the British Parliament, nor a creature of the state like
the French senate, but the sovereign state itself, in a
practical form. By means of the convention the government is
restricted to its delegated powers, and these, if found in
practice either too great or too small, can be enlarged or
contracted in a regular, orderly way, without resorting to a
revolution or to a plebiscitum. Whatever political grievances
there may be, there is always present the sovereign convention
competent to redress them. The efficiency of power is thus
secured without danger to liberty, and freedom without danger to
power. The recognition of the convention, the real political
sovereign of the country and its separation from and
independence of the ordinary government, is one of the most
striking features of the American constitution.
The next thing to be noted, after the convention, is the
constitution by the convention of the government. This
constitution, as Mr. Madison well observes, divides the powers
conceded by the convention to government between the General
Government and the particular State governments. Strictly
speaking, the government is one, and its powers only are divided
and exercised by two sets of agents or ministries. This
division of the powers of government could never have been
established by the convention if the American people had not
been providentially constituted one people, existing and acting
through particular State organizations.
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