or to prevent their misconstruction or abuse to the injury or
oppression of any of the people. In support of this view I refer to the
historical fact that the first ten amendments of the Constitution,
nearly coeval with it, all refer either to the powers delegated, or are
directed to the greater security of the rights which were guarded by
express limitations.

The distinction in the mind of the framers of the Constitution between
amendment and delegation of power seems to me clearly drawn by the fact
that the Constitution itself, which was a proposition to the States to
grant enumerated powers, was only to have effect between the ratifying
States; but the fifth article provided that amendments to the
Constitution might be adopted by three fourths of the States, and
thereby be valid as part of the Constitution. It thus appears that a
smaller power was required for an amendment than for a grant, and the
natural if not necessary conclusion is, that it was because an amendment
must belong to, and grow out of, a grant previously made. If a so-called
amendment could have been the means of obtaining a new power, is it to
be supposed that those watchful guardians of community independence, for
which the war of the Revolution had been fought, would have been
reconciled to the adoption of the Constitution, by the declaration that
the powers not delegated are reserved to the States? Unless the power of
amendment be confined to the grants of the Constitution, there can be no
security to the reserved rights of a minority less than a fourth of the
States. I submit that the word "amendment" necessarily implies an
improvement upon something which is possessed, and can have no proper
application to that which did not previously exist.

The apprehension that was felt of this power of amendment by the framers
of the Constitution is shown by the restrictions placed upon the
exercise of several of the delegated powers. For example: power was
given to admit new States, but no new State should be erected within the
jurisdiction of any other State, nor be formed by the junction of two or
more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures
of those States; and the power to regulate commerce was limited by the
prohibition of an amendment affecting, for a certain time, the migration
or importation of persons whom any of the existing States should think
proper to admit; and by the very important provision for the protection