surrendered, and in the free and full enjoyment of which, it is the
duty, the chief end of government to protect each and every individual.

The convention not only is not a fact, but individuals have no
authority without society, to meet in convention, and enter into the
alleged compact, because they are not independent, sovereign
individuals. But pass over this: suppose the convention, suppose the
compact, it must still be conceded that it binds and can bind only
those who voluntarily and deliberately enter into it. This is conceded
by Mr. Jefferson and the American Congress of 1776, in the assertion
that government derives its "just powers from the consent of the
governed." This consent, as the matter is one of life and death, must
be free, deliberate, formal, explicit, not simply an assumed, implied,
or constructive consent. It must be given personally, and not by one
for another without his express authority.

It is usual to infer the consent or the acceptance of the terms of the
compact from the silence of the individual, and also from his continued
residence in the country and submission to its government. But
residence is no evidence of consent, because it may be a matter of
necessity. The individual may be unable to emigrate, if he would; and
by what right can individuals form an agreement to which I must consent
or else migrate to some strange land?

Can my consent, under such circumstances, even if given, be any thing
but a forced consent, a consent given under duress, and therefore
invalid? Nothing can be inferred from one's silence, for he may have
many reasons for being silent besides approval of the government. He
may be silent because speech would avail nothing; because to protest
might be dangerous--cost him his liberty, if not his life; because he
sees and knows nothing better, and is ignorant that he has any choice
in the case; or because, as very likely is the fact with the majority,
he has never for moment thought of the matter, or ever had his
attention called to it, and has no mind on the subject.

But however this may be, there certainly must be excluded from the
compact or obligation to obey the government created by it all the
women of a nation, all the children too young to be capable of giving
their consent, and all who are too ignorant, too weak of mind to be
able to understand the terms of the contract. These several classes
cannot be less than three-fourths of the population of