§ 268. The last defect, which seems worthy of enumeration, is, that the confederation never had a ratification of the people. Upon this objection, it will be sufficient to quote a single passage from the same celebrated work, as it affords a very striking commentary upon some extraordinary doctrines recently promulgated.[1] "Resting on no better foundation than the consent of the state legislatures, it [the confederation] has been exposed to frequent and intricate questions concerning the validity of its powers; and has, in some instances, given birth to the enormous doctrine of a right of legislative repeal. Owing its ratification to a law of a state, it has been contended, that the same authority might repeal the law, by which it was ratified. However gross a heresy it may be to maintain, that a party to a compact has a right to revoke that compact, the doctrine itself has had respectable advocates. The possibility of a question of this nature proves the necessity of laying the foundations of our national government deeper, than in the mere sanction of delegated authority. The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority."[2]
§ 269. The very defects of the confederation seem also to have led congress, from the pressure of public necessity, into some usurpations of authority; and the states into many gross infractions of its legitimate sovereignty.[3] "A list of the cases, (says the Federalist,) in which congress have been betrayed or forced by thePage:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/288
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DECLINE AND FALL
[BOOK II.
