Pertinent Questions.

What is the recognized law of nations in regard to the payment of the debts of a nation when it changes its form of government?  If England should become a republic would this rule apply?  Does it apply when a territory becomes a state?  Were the debts of the confederation paid?  How?  What was the amount of the debt of the United States at the time of the adoption of the constitution?  What is the value of the notes and bonds of the “Confederate States of America”?  Why?

Which is sovereign, the nation or the individual states?  Where else are there any provisions which teach the same thing?  Why should judges be specially mentioned in VI. 2?  What department of the government makes treaties?  Are they binding upon the other departments?  Upon the several states?  Can a state nullify an act of congress?  Has any state ever tried to do so?

Why are state officers bound to support the constitution of the United States?  Is the requirement to take the “oath of office” a religious test?  Why is the choice of oath or affirmation given?  What was the iron-clad oath?

Would the ratification of the constitution by nine states have made it binding upon the other four?  The articles of confederation required the consent of all the states to any amendment to them; by what right was this constitution adopted against the wishes of Rhode Island and North Carolina?  If those two states had persisted in their refusal to ratify the constitution, what would have been their relations to the United States?  Justify your answer.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE AMENDMENTS.

We have now considered the constitution about as it was presented to the states for ratification.  Judging by our own affection for the noble instrument we would expect to learn that it was ratified promptly and unanimously.  But, as a matter of fact, much hard work was required on the part of its friends to secure its ratification.  Its every provision had to be explained and justified.  Probably the most able exposition was made by Hamilton, Madison and Jay, in a series of papers entitled, “The Federalist.”

One of the greatest objections urged against the constitution was that it did not guarantee sufficiently the rights of individuals.  It will be remembered in this connection that the principal grievance against England, as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, was that personal rights had not been respected; and that, in consequence, the first form of government organized after independence, The Articles of Confederation, gave the general government no power to reach individuals.  Experience showed this to have been a mistake, and the constitution authorizes the general government to execute its laws directly, enabling it to hold individuals responsible.  On account of this re-enlargement of power, many people honestly feared that the new government might trespass upon personal rights as England had done.  And several states at the time of ratifying suggested the propriety of so amending the constitution as to remove these fears.