Mr. President, I concur so generally in the very able speech of the gentleman from Virginia near me,[1] that it is not without diffidence and regret that I venture to differ with him on any point.  His opinions, Sir, are redolent of the doctrines of a very distinguished school, for which I have the highest regard, of whose doctrines I can say, what I can also say of the gentleman’s speech, that, while I concur in the results, I must be permitted to hesitate about some of the premises.  I do not agree that the Constitution is a compact between States in their sovereign capacities.  I do not agree, that, in strictness of language, it is a compact at all.  But I do agree that it is founded on consent or agreement, or on compact, if the gentleman prefers that word, and means no more by it than voluntary consent or agreement.  The Constitution, Sir, is not a contract, but the result of a contract; meaning by contract no more than assent.  Founded on consent, it is a government proper.  Adopted by the agreement of the people of the United States, when adopted, it has become a Constitution.  The people have agreed to make a Constitution; but when made, that Constitution becomes what its name imports.  It is no longer a mere agreement.  Our laws, Sir, have their foundation in the agreement or consent of the two houses of Congress.  We say, habitually, that one house proposes a bill, and the other agrees to it; but the result of this agreement is not a compact, but a law.  The law, the statute, is not the agreement, but something created by the agreement; and something which, when created, has a new character, and acts by its own authority.  So the Constitution of the United States, founded in or on the consent of the people, may be said to rest on compact or consent; but it is not itself the compact, but its result.  When the people agree to erect a government, and actually erect it, the thing is done, and the agreement is at an end.  The compact is executed, and the end designed by it attained.  Henceforth, the fruit of the agreement exists, but the agreement itself is merged in its own accomplishment; since there can be no longer a subsisting agreement or compact to form a constitution or government, after that constitution or government has been actually formed and established.

It appears to me, Mr. President, that the plainest account of the establishment of this government presents the most just and philosophical view of its foundation.  The people of the several States had their separate State governments; and between the States there also existed a Confederation.  With this condition of things the people were not satisfied, as the Confederation had been found not to fulfil its intended objects.  It was proposed, therefore, to erect a new, common government, which should possess certain definite powers, such as regarded the prosperity of the people of all the States, and to be formed upon the general model of American constitutions.  This proposal