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[165] from the old one. The delegates, intent on the purpose to give greater efficiency to the government of the Union, proposed greatly to enlarge its powers, so much so that it was not deemed safe to confide them to a single body, and they were consequently distributed between three independent departments of government, which might be a check upon one another. The Constitution did not, like the Articles of Confederation, declare that the states had agreed to a perpetual union, but distinctly indicated the hope of its perpetuity by the expression in the preamble of the purpose to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” The circumstances under which the Union of the Constitution was formed justified the hope of its perpetuity, but the brief existence of the confederation may have been a warning against the renewal of the assertion that the compact should be perpetual.

A remedy for the embarrassment which had been realized, under the Articles of Confederation, in obtaining amendments to correct any defects in grants of power, so as to render them effective for the purpose for which they were given, was provided by its fifth article. It is here to be specially noted that new grants of power, as asked for by the convention, were under the Articles of Confederation only to be obtained from the unanimous assent of the states. Therefore it followed that two of the states which did not ratify the Constitution were, so long as they retained that attitude, free from its obligations. Thus it is seen that the same principle in regard to obtaining grants of additional power for the federal government formed the rule for the Union as it had done for the confederation; that is, that the consent of each and every state was a prerequisite. The apprehension which justly existed that several of the states might reject the Constitution, and under the rule of unanimity defeat it, led to the seventh article of the Constitution, which provided that the ratification by the conventions of nine states should be sufficient for the establishment of the Constitution between the states ratifying it, which of course contemplated leaving the others, more or less in number, separate and distinct from the nine states forming a new government. Thus was the Union to be a voluntary compact, and all the powers of its government to be derived from the assent of each of its members.

These powers as proposed by the Constitution were so extensive as to create alarm and opposition by some of the most influential men in many of the states. It is known that the objection of the patriot Samuel Adams was only overcome by an assurance that such an amendment as the tenth would be adopted. Like opposition was by like assurance

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