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NOTE Section VII

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Section 7 It is plain, then, that on general principles

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of law and reason, such principles as we all act upon in courts of justice and in common

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life, the Constitution is no contract, that it binds nobody, and never did bind anybody,

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and all that those who pretend to act by its authority are really acting without any legitimate

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authority at all, that on general principles of law and reason they are mere usurpers,

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that everybody not only has the right, but is morally bound to treat them as such.

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If the people of this country wish to maintain such a government as the Constitution describes,

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there is no reason in the world why they should not sign the instrument itself and thus make

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known their wishes in an open, authentic manner, in such a manner as the common sense and experience

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of mankind have shown to be reasonable and necessary in such cases, and in such a manner

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as to make themselves, as they ought to do, individually responsible for the acts of the

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government.

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But the people have never been asked to sign it, and the only reason why they have never

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been asked to sign it has been that it has been known that they never would sign it,

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that they were neither such fools nor knaves as they must needs have been to be willing

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to sign it, that, at least as it has been practically interpreted, it is not what any

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If any considerable number of the people believe the Constitution to be good, why do they not

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sign it themselves and make laws for and administer them upon each other, leaving all other persons

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Much to the benefit of those who do not interfere with them in peace.

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Until they have tried the experiment for themselves, how can they have the face to impose the Constitution

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upon, or even to recommend it to others?

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Plainly, the reason for such absurd and inconsistent conduct is that they want the Constitution

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not solely for any honest or legitimate use it could be of to themselves or others, but

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for the dishonest and illegitimate power it gives them over the persons and properties

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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.