e themselves at will
and without the consent of the other States from their most solemn
obligations, and hazard the liberties and happiness of the millions
composing this Union, can not be acknowledged. Such authority is
believed to be utterly repugnant both to the principles upon which
the General Government is constituted and to the objects which it is
expressly formed to attain.

It is not pretended that any clause in the Constitution gives
countenance to such a theory. It is altogether founded upon inference;
not from any language contained in the instrument itself, but from the
sovereign character of the several States by which it was ratified.
But is it beyond the power of a State, like an individual, to yield a
portion of its sovereign rights to secure the remainder? In the language
of Mr. Madison, who has been called the father of the Constitution--

It was formed by the States; that is, by the people in each of
the States acting in their highest sovereign capacity, and formed,
consequently, by the same authority which formed the State
constitutions. ... Nor is the Government of the United States,
created by the Constitution, less a government, in the strict sense
of the term, within the sphere of its powers than the governments
created by the constitutions of the States are within their several
spheres. It is, like them, organized into legislative, executive,
and judiciary departments. It operates, like them, directly on
persons and things, and, like them, it has at command a physical
force for executing the powers committed to it.

It was intended to be perpetual, and not to be annulled at the pleasure
of any one of the contracting parties. The old Articles of Confederation
were entitled "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the
States," and by the thirteenth article it is expressly declared that
"the articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by
every State, and the Union shall be perpetual." The preamble to the
Constitution of the United States, having express reference to the
Articles of Confederation, recites that it was established "in order
to form a more perfect union." And yet it is contended that this "more
perfect union" does not include the essential attribute of perpetuity.

But that the Union was designed to be perpetual appears conclusively
from the nature and extent of the powers conferred by the Constitution
on the Fede