IVas the Confederate Soldier a Rebel? To determine the nature and powers of the government under the new Constitution, it is necessary to ascertain who were the contracting parties, and what was their pur pose and intention in acceding to the com pact called the Constitution. Fortunately the Constitution has a his tory, and it is a legal maxim, " that the surest and best means to construe an instru ment is to refer to the times and circum stances under which it was enacted." This may be done by inquiring into the objects of the call made for delegates to meet in general convention; into the de bates upon the call in the State legislatures, and in the conventions nominating and in structing their delegates; into the debates 1n the general convention at Philadelphia which framed the Constitution; into the deliberations in the State conventions which ratified the same, and into the terms of rati fication set forth by each State; by ascer taining the opinions of the fathers of the Republic in correspondence, and otherwise ex-pressed before and after its ratification; and. finally, by examining the internal evi dence of the written document. While the limits of a magazine article are insufficient for a constitutional argument supplemented by copious extracts from all these sources, sufficient may be included to enable a fair determination. The objects of the call for a general constitutional con vention are set forth in the title and pre amble to the acts of the State legislatures, as follows : —
New Hampsh1re. An act for appointing delegates to the con vention to be holden in the city of Philadelphia in May, 1787, for the purpose of revising the Federal Constitution, to confer with such depu ties as may be appointed from other States for similar purposes, and with them to discuss and decide upon the most effectual means to remedy the defects in the Federal Union. . . .
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Massachusetts. For the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and making such alterations therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the States, render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigen cies of government and the preservation of the Union. . . . Connect1cut. To discuss upon such alterations agreeably to the principles of Republican government, as they shall think proper to render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of gov ernment and the preservation of the Union. . . . New York. For the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and reporting to Congress and the several legislatures such altera tions and provisions as shall, when agreed to in Congress and conf1rmed by the several States, render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union. . . . New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia commissioned dele gates in language almost identical with the above, that is, " to revise the Articles of Confederation so as to render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of the Union." From the foregoing it is plain that the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were sent there as the representatives of the several States as States, and not by the peo ple directly. It is also plain that they were not au thorized to change the character of the gov ernment, but only " to revise the Articles of Confederation, so as to render the Federal Constitution, adequate to the exigencies of the Union." It is nowhere shown that the Federal nature of the government was in tended to be altered, but that the govern ment, while remaining a Confederation of States, was to be clothed with authority suf ficient to render it operative within the sphere of its delegated powers.
