d this, says Blackstone, differs in nothing
from a grant. The contract between Georgia and the purchasers was
executed by the grant. A contract executed, as well as one which is
executory, contains obligations binding on the parties. A grant, in its
own nature, amounts to an extinguishment of the right of the grantor,
and implies a contract not to reassert that right. If, under a fair
construction of the Constitution, grants are comprehended under the term
contracts, is a grant from the State excluded from the operation of the
provision? Is the clause to be considered as inhibiting the State from
impairing the obligation of contracts between two individuals, but as
excluding from that inhibition contracts made with itself? The words
themselves contain no such distinction. They are general, and are
applicable to contracts of every description. If contracts made with the
State are to be exempted from their operation, the exception must arise
from the character of the contracting party, not from the words which
are employed. Whatever respect might have been felt for the State
sovereignties, it is not to be disguised that the framers of the
Constitution viewed with some apprehension the violent acts which might
grow out of the feelings of the moment; and that the people of the
United States, in adopting that instrument, have manifested a
determination to shield themselves and their property from the effects
of those sudden and strong passions to which men are exposed. The
restrictions on the legislative power of the States are obviously
founded in this sentiment; and the Constitution of the United States
contains what may be deemed a bill of rights for the people of each
State."

It has also been decided, that a grant by a State before the Revolution
is as much to be protected as a grant since.[52] But the case of
_Terrett v. Taylor_, before cited, is of all others most pertinent to
the present argument. Indeed, the judgment of the court in that case
seems to leave little to be argued or decided in this. "A private
corporation," say the court, "created by the legislature, may lose its
franchises by a _misuser_ or a _nonuser_ of them; and they may be
resumed by the government under a judicial judgment upon a _quo
warranto_ to ascertain and enforce the forfeiture. This is the common
law of the land, and is a tacit condition annexed to the creation of
every such corporation. Upon a change of government, too, it may be
admitte