.... To have a just idea of the government before us, and to show that a consolidated one is the object in view, it is necessary not only to examine the
plan, but also its history, and the politics of its particular friends. The confederation was formed when great confidence was placed in the voluntary
exertions of individuals, and of the respective states; and the framers of it, to guard against usurpation, so limited, and checked the powers....
Philadelphia Independent Gazetteer:
. . . . The Freeman, in his second number, after mentioning in a very delusory manner diverse powers which remain with the states, says we shall find
many other instances under the constitution which require or imply the existence or continuance of the sovereignty and severalty of the states. He, as
well as all the advocates of the new system, take as their strong ground the election of senators by the state legislatures, and the special
representation of the states in the federal senate, to prove that internal sovereignty still remains with the States....
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New York-Journal:
I have read with a degree of attention several publications which have lately appeared in favor of the new Constitution; and as far as I am able to
discern, the arguments (if they can be so termed) of most weight, which are urged in its favor, may be reduced to the two following: 1st. That the
men who formed it, were wise and experienced; that they were an illustrious band of patriots, and had the happiness of their country at heart;
that they were four months deliberating on the subject, and therefore, it must be a perfect system....
It was a common saying among many sensible men in Great Britain and Ireland, in the time of the war, that they doubted whether the great men of America, who had
taken an active part in favor of independence, were influenced by pure patriotism; that it was not the love of their country they had so much at heart, as their
own private, interest; that a thirst after dominion and power, and not to protect the oppressed from the oppressor, was the great operative principle that induced
these men to oppose Britain so strenuously....
 
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