of the hope
for its perpetuity.

[Footnote 38: Elliott's "Debates" (Washington edition, 1836), vol. iii,
p. 54.]

[Footnote 39: Ibid., p. 72.]

[Footnote 40: Elliott's "Debates" (Washington edition, 1836), vol. iii,
pp. 114, 115.]

[Footnote 41: Journal of the Federal Convention, May 29, 1787, 1
Elliott's "Debates."]

[Footnote 42: For a very striking illustration, see Deuteronomy vii, 6,
7.]

CHAPTER VI.

The Preamble to the Constitution--subject continued.--Growth of
the Federal Government and Accretions of Power.--Revival of Old
Errors.--Mistakes and Misstatements.--Webster, Story, and
Everett.--Who "ordained and established" the Constitution?

In the progressive growth of the Government of the United States in
power, splendor, patronage, and consideration abroad, men have been led
to exalt the place of the _Government_ above that of the _States_ which
_created_ it. Those who would understand the true principles of the
Constitution can not afford to lose sight of the essential _plurality_
of idea invariably implied in the term "United States," wherever it is
used in that instrument. No such unit as the United States is ever
mentioned therein. We read that "no title of nobility shall be granted
by the United States, and no person holding any office of profit or
trust under _them_ shall, without the consent of Congress, accept,"
etc.[43] "The President ... shall not receive, within that period, any
other emolument from the United States, or any of _them_."[44] "The laws
of the United States, and treaties made or which shall be made under
_their_ authority," etc.[45] "Treason against the United States shall
consist only in levying war against _them_, or in adhering to _their_
enemies."[46] The Federal character of the Union is expressed by this
very phraseology, which recognizes the distinct integrity of its
members, not as fractional parts of one great unit, but as component
units of an association. So clear was this to contemporaries, that it
needed only to be pointed out to satisfy their scruples. We have seen
how effectual was the answer of Mr. Madison to the objections raised by
Patrick Henry. Mr. Tench Coxe, of Pennsylvania, one of the ablest
political writers of his generation, in answering a similar objection,
said: "If the Federal Convention had meant to exclude the idea of
'union'--that is, of several and separate sovereignties joining in a
confederacy--they would have sai