And again, at another stage of the debate, the same patriotic opponent of the Constitution declared succinctly,—
“The question turns, Sir, on that poor little thing, the expression, ‘We, the people,’ instead of the States, of America.”[186]
In the same Convention, another patriotic opponent of the Constitution, George Mason, following Patrick Henry, said:—
“Whether the Constitution be good or bad, the present clause clearly discovers that it is a National Government, and no longer a Confederation.”[187]
But against all this opposition, and in face of this exposure, the Constitution was adopted, in the name of the people of the United States. Much, indeed, was left to the States; but it was no longer in their name that the government was organized, while the miserable pretension of State “sovereignty” was discarded. Even in the discussions of the National Convention Mr. Madison spoke thus plainly:—
“Some contend that States are sovereign, when, in fact, they are only political societies. The States never possessed the essential rights of sovereignty. These were always vested in Congress.”[188]
Grave words, especially when we consider the position of their author. They were substantially echoed by Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, afterwards Vice-President, who said:—
“It appears to me that the States never were independent. They had only corporate rights.”[189]