Section 7 It is plain, then, that on general principles
of law and reason, such principles as we all act upon in courts of justice and in common
life, the Constitution is no contract, that it binds nobody, and never did bind anybody,
and all that those who pretend to act by its authority are really acting without any legitimate
authority at all, that on general principles of law and reason they are mere usurpers,
that everybody not only has the right, but is morally bound to treat them as such.
If the people of this country wish to maintain such a government as the Constitution describes,
there is no reason in the world why they should not sign the instrument itself and thus make
known their wishes in an open, authentic manner, in such a manner as the common sense and experience
of mankind have shown to be reasonable and necessary in such cases, and in such a manner
as to make themselves, as they ought to do, individually responsible for the acts of the
government.
But the people have never been asked to sign it, and the only reason why they have never
been asked to sign it has been that it has been known that they never would sign it,
that they were neither such fools nor knaves as they must needs have been to be willing
to sign it, that, at least as it has been practically interpreted, it is not what any
If any considerable number of the people believe the Constitution to be good, why do they not
sign it themselves and make laws for and administer them upon each other, leaving all other persons
Much to the benefit of those who do not interfere with them in peace.
Until they have tried the experiment for themselves, how can they have the face to impose the Constitution
upon, or even to recommend it to others?
Plainly, the reason for such absurd and inconsistent conduct is that they want the Constitution
not solely for any honest or legitimate use it could be of to themselves or others, but
for the dishonest and illegitimate power it gives them over the persons and properties
But for this latter reason, all their eulogiums on the Constitution, all their exhortations, and all their expenditures of money and blood to sustain it, would be wanting.