d for, and the States were left to
provide, as best they could, for the others. This much and no more was
sought by the States. That the objects of the Constitution were
different, as well as that they were avowed by a far different
authority, is shown in the declaration with which it opens: 'We THE
PEOPLE of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union'--not
as to time, for both the old and the new union were declared perpetual;
but in kind, for which the States surrendered the former claim to
sovereignty and independence. 'To establish justice'--not to insure the
amicable relations of allied States, but to form a tribunal which should
decide upon the common allegiance and the common privileges of the
people. 'To insure domestic tranquillity'--an object unrecognized in the
Articles of Confederation, and implying, not association but identity;
not the mutual obligations of partnership, but the intimate connection
of the national household. 'Do ordain and establish this Constitution.'
There is no longer the indefinite expression of half-conceived
obligation, nor the imperfect pledge to imperfect union, but there is,
instead, the solemn, authoritative language of a sovereign people,
self-contained, self-sufficing, conscious alike of its duties and its
rights, giving form to what shall be the law of the land, fundamental as
being based on the will of the people, supreme as higher than the will
of any part of the people, whether individual or State.

A difference as radical pervades all the provisions of the Constitution.
By the Articles, the vote in Congress was taken by States. By the
Constitution, a majority controls in all but extraordinary business, and
the vote is always taken by members. The Congress is no longer the
assembled States; it is the assembled representatives of the people--of
the nation. It is no longer charged with the management of the mutual
relations of parties to an alliance, but with the making of laws which
shall be the supreme law of the land throughout its entire extent. By
the Articles, prohibitions to the States are made conditional on the
consent of Congress--but by the Constitution, the more important acts of
sovereignty--forming treaties, issuing bills of credit, regulating the
circulating medium--are unconditionally forbidden to the States. The
Congress now controls foreign commerce, raises the revenue, levies
taxes, and cares for the welfare of the nation. By the Articles, new